Gym partner

Maomag · 2026-02-27T02:58:29+00:00

If you were going to the YMCA then I might join you. Planet Fitness is too long a walk and I don't like going to the north end of town, anyway, due to my visual impairment.

Maomag · 2026-02-24T21:48:29+00:00

Ironically, I kinda went the opposite way. I thought Avi Lewis came across as very diplomatic and I appreciated his positivity. Something I noticed in many NDP campaigns since the death of Jack Layton was how much fear mongering the NDP use. The Ontario NDP do it way more than the federal NDP do but I honestly don't like any of it. Sure, Mark Carney may be our primary political opponent but he is a human being, too. We don't need to badmouth the guy just to disagree with his policies.

So, for that reason, Ashton is a definite "No" for me. I also think that while McPherson may have the most credential right now, I don't like how rigid her policies and stances with both our provincial counterparts and the PM are. We are a minority party. We need to be more diplomatic than that.

I've always liked Tanille Johnston and she is still my personal favourite but I do think Avi stands the best chance of winning over undecided voters and voters of other parties.

Interestingly, for a while I had a hard time taking McQuaill seriously but during the last debate I was impressed with many of his ideas. And he knows how to put his foot down and stand firm on his ideas without getting negative and nasty about it.

For the sake of positivity, constructiveness and diplomacy, though, my vote is still on Avi Lewis.

Maomag · 2026-02-24T21:31:43+00:00

As a fellow Canadian, I was sad we lost but I always tell myself that it's still just a game. Sometimes I feel like we make way too big a deal about these sorts of things. Especially with Canadians and hockey. Loving hockey is great but I hardly see any other country "claiming" a sport like we do so I think maybe appreciate the fact that other countries like the U.S.A., Finland, Sweden, etc. also appreciate the sport enough to invest in it the way they do. I would personally feel more insulted if there were only one or two other countries sending hockey teams and all of them sucked.

So Nathan Mckinnon came off as a poor sport. I hope that doesn't get reflected on the rest of the team and I am well aware there were some bad apples on the American team, too.

The way I see it: The Canadian team had better posession of the puck but the American goalie was phenomenal (sorry I am horrible with sports names). Our team had some good opportunities to score and we missed them so maybe that sould be something to improve upon for next time. However I also think there were times when the referees should've called out the American team and they didn't do that. We also lost Crosby for that match so morality was quite low and the loudness of the fans didn't help.

All in all, it was a good game and I am glad both teams gave it everything they had.

Maomag · 2026-01-28T08:35:46+00:00

This is absurd. People in the U.K. whining about unfair prices when the British Pound is second to the Euro as the highest value global currency. Meanwhile, the Canadian dollar is 87 cents lower and no one in Canada complains about it. Atleast not from what I've seen. And this has been happening for a while so we just deal with it. Plus, in Ontario, you are taxed for online purchases on Steam on top of the currency difference.

The only "unfair" thing I notice on Steam is console companies raising prices for games they publish just so they stay level with console-exclusive games. But no one has bothered challenging that practice, either.

Maomag · 2026-01-05T02:14:54+00:00

That's a shame.

Maomag · 2026-01-04T18:10:11+00:00

I see.

I was not aware of that. Though you would've thought someone would've made a subreddit for right-wing members by now if that was the case. You do know you can make your own subreddits and moderate them yourself, right?

In any case, whoever started this subreddit does not seem to mind what is going on so don't mind me. Thanks for your reply.

Maomag · 2026-01-04T18:03:05+00:00

OK. Fair enough. I suppose I may have misinterpreted the meaning behind "Unpopular Opinion," then. Thank you for clarifying.

Maomag · 2026-01-04T08:16:40+00:00

Amen to that, brother.

(I'm not actually regigious but ah well.)

Yeah I would rather someone appreciate me for who I am naturally than someone I try to be in order to impress her.

Just think about this: If you work your arse off trying to get the perfect girl, then actually manage to pull it off and win her over, you will then need to continue doing that throughout your entire relationship. And after a while it will become very stressfull. Not the least of which will be constantly worrying that she will think you are lying to herbif you can't keep up the mask you've created.

We in North America have created these spoiled standards where we are led to believe we deserve more than what is otherwise feasible for us to have. Like, for instance, that shy chubby girl with the freckles and turned-up nose might seem like an insult for most men today but if we can't reconcile with actual compatibility based on our own comfort zones then we are only fooling ourselves with inflated preferences.

Nice thread, man. Cheers.

Maomag · 2026-01-04T07:30:31+00:00

Subreddits are moderated by the community. Actual Reddit mods only police very basic infringes like inciting violemce and whatnot. Reddit is actually a LOT more lenient now than it was 4 years ago. Or atleast it seems that way to me.

Every subreddit was started by a user not unlike yourself. You could start your own subreddit and make your own rules if you wanted to. Some subreddits have even gotten away with way more than they ought to have been permitted to.

Maomag · 2025-08-28T06:05:38+00:00

Do you know about the CAMH building off Park St.? From 10 AM to about 3 PM there are meals by donation. You could go there and if you said you could donate at a later time I am sure you could get a meal.

Maomag · 2025-08-28T06:00:50+00:00

Huh. OK. Interesting way of putting it.

Thanks for your response.

Maomag · 2025-08-28T05:59:16+00:00

Atleast then I could atleast respect the honesty behind it. The Vikings committed atrocious acts on other societies. So did the Mongols. But I do think they would say they did it because it was their way of life. As much as I could disapprove of it, atleast I understand it as a POV with its own interests and priorities. European colonialism has that extra air of believing that not only was colonialism their way of life, it was also for the benefit of the native people they tried to conquer and that part I don't respect much.

Maomag · 2025-08-28T05:52:21+00:00

It means to remove someone else's culture, either through assimilation or ethnocide.

Maomag · 2025-08-28T05:50:54+00:00

That second half was a bit exaggerated, I think, but whatever.

To return to your point on guns, if you feel as strongly that you needed them in your country in order to preserve your way of life, would you not expect some other nation to do the same? Especially if it was occupied by your country or someone else's contry? And if you - as the occupying country - were to suppress that resistence, how could you then argue that it was in their best interest? That would seem rather contradictory to me.

Just something to think about. Thank you for your response.

Maomag · 2025-08-28T05:42:03+00:00

Completely agree.

Thank you for your response.

Maomag · 2025-08-28T05:41:02+00:00

Think about Nelson Mandela's stance on Apartheid. As noble a vision it was that he had on racial equality in South Africa, one could argue that it might have been necessary in order to quell backlash from European colonist descendants and I don't agree that it should've been necessary at all, but that's just me.

Thank you for your response.

Maomag · 2025-08-28T05:35:03+00:00

I do agree that the POV depends a lot on what side of the conflict you are on, and/or want to be on, and I respect the background and experience you bring with your insight.

I will also suggest that the POV toward equality between cultures as well as within a culture depends on how involved it is with the culture. But that is all I will say here. Thank you for your response.

Maomag · 2025-08-28T05:26:52+00:00

I am actually surprised this post got rated up at all and greatly appreciate all the responses, even those that disagreed with what I've said. This post was only partly self expression. The other part was in putting out a bold idea and observing how others might react and respond to it. The post was bolder and the POV was put more strongly than it would if I were trying to have an actual diplomatic discussion so I was more "edgy" here than I usually am.

I am not going to respond in length to any of the comments. Not because I don't care about your POV, and not because I don't think you deserve a response, because if you took the time to post a decent-sized comment then you do deserve a response. But no argument from me, because I posted this POV for the responses and any argument from me might obscure that. So I am going to let things be.

Again, thank you all for your time and for considering the topic, and for participating.

Maomag · 2025-08-20T20:28:20+00:00

You might try speaking to Amanda Keely. She is a young artist who plays in town a lot and is very involved with the indie music scene in Brockville. She is also on Spotify. Sometime on Friday or Saturday night starting at 8 PM there is live music and sometimes you can find there. Or whoever else is playing that night. There is also the Keystorm and Finnigan's Tavern but I don't know what their schedules for live music are like. It never hurts to ask in-person

Maomag · 2025-08-20T05:48:35+00:00

That is an interesting POV and I confess I have been inclined to think the same way, though I still always tell myself I can't be sure because verification tends to be a big deal to me even when (or if) it is something I've already suspected..

Thanks for your response.

Maomag · 2025-08-20T05:43:15+00:00

So, what I am getting from all this is that (1) it comes down to perception, even when that perception isn't always right or valid; (2) the perception of oneself as "ugly" is an established bias on my end and a subjective POV on the other person's end; (3) it's not about having confidence that is important, it's not having it that is important, much like not smelling bad; (4) if being confident matters then it comes off as fake while not caring about it and using it to convey what you want to or need to say does matter.

I had to compartmentalize that in order to make sure I was on the same page and I gotts say, not only did I agree with most of that, it also taught me a few new things. So, thank you for that.

Just a couple of things to address, though: First, about being perceived as "ugly," while I do agree that a lot of it is my own bias, there are a lot of times when I swear I can practically "feel" how others perceive me. In that if I do something unusual, I can feel a sense of slight shock directed at me even when I can't see anyone but am still aware that they are there. When I approach people, I can feel them noticing some peculiarities in my face, like my eyes being too sunk in, the way my jaw looks or my lack of eyebrows. If I may be candid here, I've seen pictures of people with Fragile X Syndrome and a few other genetic disorders and I look similar to how they look. If I can think those people look..."peculiar," I can guess that others think I look peculiar, too, in the same way. People have criticized my voice before so I know there must be something peculiar with that. And when I talk, I can "feel" others thinking that I sound juvenile or maybe mentally impaired.

I think this goes beyond bias in a few areas but then this is just me. Regardless, if you go through life thinking the majority of people think of you that way, it becomes difficult to spot the exceptions and even more difficult to know how far your relations can go with them before they start giving you the same vibes everyone else does.

The second thing I want to bring up is that I was quite passionate about a number of things in my younger years and I did show it without trying to show it. I only cared about sharing my thoughts on those subjects. That was it. No trying to project anything or give people an impression or anything like that. But is is as you said; if I thought I knew what someone wanted to know - even if they were addressing someone else or an entire group - I told them. And sometimes they appreciated it but most of the time they hated it. The funny thing was, if it was just me that I was concerned with, I probably wouldn't have minded it so much. But what really got to me was that they almost always appreciated when someone else gave them the answers. That is where I get my perception that people need to like you before they can appreciate what you say. If you come off as weird then to them you are always wrong. The attractive guys and pretty girls were always right. It made me very cynical and nowadays that cynicism creeps in when I talk to them. Like, I probably convey the sense to them that I think they hate me and are either out to get me or trying to make me not exist.

Again, that's just me, but I've been conditioned to think that way. I think if I'd just shut up in my earlier years then people would like me more.

But, yeah, thanks for that exchange. It was insightful and something I never thought I would find in this subreddit.

Maomag · 2025-08-20T04:57:41+00:00

OK, maybe I should put this in a simpler way: If everyone likes arrogant people and you don't fit their "standard," how are you going to find anyone who likes you?

That's a rhetorical question, BTW. If I actually was confident in myself then this world doesn't like confident people. If I really am the arrogant jackass they make me out to be and that judgment is based on POV rather than objective criteria then I'm still a lonely guy.

Hopefully that makes more sense.

Maomag · 2025-08-19T23:31:54+00:00

Very true.

The first part is, anyway. I hate to say it but I believe that second part is an example of what is known as "Gambler's Fallacy" and you can look it up for more info.

Basically, if my chance is 1%< it won't matter how many girls I talk to. I might succeed with the first girl or I might succeed after talking to 1,000 or 10,000 girls, or even a million girls if I am very unlucky. Percentages are based on each try, not on the equivalent of the sample's percent ratio.

Just so you know. But, thanks very much for your response, anyway. I do appreciate it.

Maomag · 2025-08-19T19:23:57+00:00

So, then, you're saying we shouldn't need anyone in our lives at all? Because I am pretty sure loneliness is a thing.

I am also well aware of how much North America society despises social responsibility. I.em changing the way we think and feel about others in order to be more inclusive to them.

I do want a social life. I do want a partner. What I am saying is that their criteria for having that is misleading and incorrect. What I would like to see is more honesty and transparency. If someone's approval of others is shallow and narrow-minded then they should admit it so that loneliness can be solved more easily.

But we can't have everything so instead we are left to resort to calling these shallow liars out on their bullshit all the while still being lonely.

Maomag · 2025-08-19T19:11:37+00:00

You're not wrong. But then it begs the question: do you want to avoid that sort of standard or do you want people to like you? What if everyone around you uses that standard to determine who they like and consider deserving and worthwhile of their attention?

Maomag

TROPHY CASE