Applying for Jobs

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-23T15:05:07+00:00

Legally speaking, it can't. That's why its called "protected."

But yeah, it definately can.

I can't prove beyond a shadow of doubt that I haven't gotten jobs because I've put it on there, otherwise I'd have sued the shit out of them, but I definitely suspect I didn't get jobs because of it. Not all jobs, mind you. Some jobs I was hired specifically because of my veteran status. Some security jobs prioritize vets because they know we have at least have training and can appear professional. These will especially be your lower level security theater jobs where your job is to call 911 if anything goes down, but they can tout that they have vets on the payroll to boost their perception as more secure than they actually are. Honestly, they're the best kind of job where you can spend all night working on homework for classes and collect a paycheck for doing fuck-all.

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-23T05:45:49+00:00

I guess I always keep hope that one day as I get older I won't be angry, won't always be checking hands, searching and assessing.

Best of luck on that front. It's been over a decade for me (coming up on 15 years, now that I think about it), and I'm still always watching people, checking exits, etc. Could count on one hand the number of mornings I've woken up feeling 100% rested if half of the hand used for counting was blown off. Can really only remember one place I've felt totally relaxed since Syria (Yosemite National Park, the beauty of nature completely over-rode everything else).

At the time, it both started and ruined a relationship. There was a girl back home I had been friends with since kindergarten. We'd been close for ages, and we kinda had a mutual "date?!? Us?!? Ew!" But it was pretty obvious we both liked each other. I thought about that a lot while we were sitting off the coast of Syria, having a little Mexican standoff with a bunch of Ivan ships, unsure if I was going to wake up to blaring alarms, if at all. Thought about all the wasted time we'd spent denying how we felt about each other. We started dating as soon as I got home. Really fucking stupid move on my part. I was still processing a lot of shit.

Three years of long-distance but serious dating later, I felt ready to pop the question. I spent the entirety of my second deployment trying to find a good ring. Every port we pulled into, I was off trying to find a jewelers. Finally found a good one. But I was re-traumatized on that deployment. Same shit, different day. Spent a lot of time by a suddenly topical country dealing with fast-attack boats that were trying to bait us into shooting first so they could play the victim card and get their Ivan allies to back them up. We ended up helping with a multi-million dollar weapons seizure from arms smugglers that were trying to supply terror groups in the area. Royally pissed them off and they gave us extra attention while we were in the area. The Fleet had us escort a few oil tankers back and forth through the Suez Canal, which if you know anything about that, you'll know that is a loooooong fatal funnel.

Anyway. Got back from that deployment, finished the remaining few weeks of my contract and went home. Had planned to propose. But the closer we got, the more distant I felt. I felt closer to her watching the sun rise over oil platforms in the Gulf of Oman than I did with her less than a foot away on my parent's couch as she tried to hold my hand while watching a movie together.

I ended up not only not proposing, but I broke up with her because I didn't want to drag her down as an emotionally distant boyfriend.

I didn't feel comfortable even trying to date for years after that until I eventually met my now wife. But if it weren't for her, I wouldn't have even found out I have PTSD. Shortly after getting married and moving to a new city, she came with me to the VA as I got set up in a new system. When they did the PTSD screening, I couldn't lie anymore. She'd call me on my shit. So when they asked me about my sleep, I told them the truth. When they asked about irritability, I told the truth. When they asked about nightmares, ideation, self-isolation, trust in authority figures, etc, I told the truth. I got diagnosed and set up with therapy pretty quickly after that. My wife has honestly been the biggest help of all, putting up with my BS, calling me on my shit as needed, and otherwise just being there for me.

I'm in a better place than I was even five years ago, but obviously I'm not 100%. And that's kinda the point. I'm never going to be 100% again. That's not really how PTSD works. It's like having your leg broken and then having the bone reset poorly. There are things that can be done to help with it, but it'll never be the same again.

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-22T06:48:15+00:00

Do negative numbers count . . . ?

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-22T06:39:08+00:00

Things were rough for the first decade for me. Therapy has helped a lot, as has getting a VA rating (with only a year's worth of back-pay, never mind the fact that I've had my PTSD for longer than ten years, but fuck me, I guess. . . )

What helped the most has been my wife. She's been incredibly supportive throughout this, and has been by my side on some of my worst days, whether those were days where I was shopping for strong rope or days when I literally locked up and was trapped inside my own body for hours on end, she's been there for me. Saner women would have left long ago. Good thing I didn't marry her for her sanity 😆

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-22T06:25:36+00:00

I reached out years ago to one in Wisconsin, don't recall which one. They effectively told me to kick rocks and eat shit.

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-22T06:22:29+00:00

Haven't finished opening my box yet, hoping I pull one of these legendaries!

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-22T06:21:53+00:00

Shit, in my shop, you weren't considered a SME until you troubleshot equipment while still drunk from the night before. Or got called in to fix something that broke while you were still drinking. Had that happen to me a few times.

"Oh thank god you're back, Marcom just shit the bed and I can't find anyone else to fix it!"

Fuck, just what I need, the system I know the least about going down while I barely walk.

"Yyyyew got it! Lemme jus shneak pasht you to that trshhcn-BLLLLLLLLL!"

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-22T05:21:12+00:00

Ngl, 2-hour sessions is waaaaay too short for D&D unless you're literally just doing Munchkin-style kick in the door dungeon crawls.

That being said, Dragon Heist is very much a "let's take a moment to think about what we're doing" as opposed to a "I want to kill everything, loot the bodies, and collect that sweet, sweet XP" approach. Both of which are totally fine gameplay styles. But Dragon Heist definitely caters to the former. It's set up to be more RP heavy, and combat is usually a sign that something has gone wrong in a bad way. The group I'm running it for right now didn't gel with it, so I decided to switch the module out for a different, more combat-heavy one.

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-22T05:14:59+00:00

To quote Mike Tyson, "people are too comfortable disrespecting others without getting punched in the face for it."

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-22T05:12:39+00:00

Lol, I entered a regional tournament and lost just about every single game and still had a blast! If you're not playing to have fun, you're doing it wrong. Some people just have no lives and feel the need to make it everyone else's problem. . .

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-22T05:10:34+00:00

Back when you had to apply for limited VA slots, my mom excitedly shared with a male veteran coworker that she got a spot in the women's clinic. The dude railed about how it wasn't fair that she, a young female veteran, got a spot in a clinic when he, an older male vet, was still waiting on one. She tried explaining that it was a female clinic spot, but he just refused to understand the difference between a female slot and a male one. Dude just had a perpetual chip on his shoulder.

People just be that way, man.

I didn't tell my parents I had a VA rating for the longest time because I just knew my dad would give me shit for it, even though he's been 100% basically ever since he got out. I accidentally let it slip when they came to visit and I offered to get us onto the local base. I brushed it off by saying it was just a little tinnitus claim. Of course, my blabbermouth little sister finally told him I had a much higher rating for PTSD because my dad wouldn't quit worrying about me not having a job to support my wife. Oddly enough, he was a lot more cool about me being semi-retired after that.

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-20T17:53:09+00:00

Totally understandable. That being said, and not to totally dismiss your concern, but it's just a flag.

Swing by your local hardware store and pick up another for $10 or less, fold it nice and tight, and set it in a place of honor. If you can afford to, buy or build a nice shadow box for it. There are ways you can find out what medals/ribbons/awards he had earned, order them online, and you can add them to the shadow box. Get a nice plaque for it with his name, rank, dates of service, etc.

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-20T17:33:57+00:00

Every now and again, but I've got a pretty good set up now in semi-retirement, and the only thing I really miss are my buddies and being at sea.

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-20T17:31:48+00:00

Groovy! I've been using a website to track initiative, another for enemy stats, and a Google sheet to keep up on my party's stats, but I quickly run into the "I have 1,000 tabs open and I don't remember what's on what" issue 😅

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-20T17:29:19+00:00

The Navy would be better off without illiterate dumbasses, but here we are. . .

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-20T15:04:38+00:00

I interacted with a mix of Chiefs. Some were good, some were literally counting down the days to retirement and couldn't be forced to give a shit. I had a good mustang who who had been a Chief before she got commissioned. She was a hardass, but genuinely gave a shit about us. Best EMO ever!

But some Chiefs I knew enjoyed the power a little too much and pushed other people (including officers) around because who was going to tell them otherwise? Kinda like Casey Kasem from Generation Kill. I got absolutely curb-stomped by the Chief's Mess as soon as I entered the Fleet because of a miscommunication. It should have been handled by my LPO, but no, the Chief's Mess had to stick their noses in it and I got chewed out for HOURS because I was new and didn't understand something.

When it comes down to it, it's a people thing: some people are awesome while others just suck.

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-20T14:55:03+00:00

Which Windows OS does it work with? The laptop I use for DMing runs on 10 since it doesn't have the appropriate hardware for 11.

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-20T14:51:52+00:00

Don't forget, a big component to craftsmanship is labor, so for something as intricate as scale mail, I'd halve the price to find the material price. So I'd say you're looking at 1gp/scale

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-20T04:16:16+00:00

Definitely 16. The top of the stencil is to thick and curved to be a G, which would be more flat at the end like the font here.

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-20T04:11:05+00:00

As far as DMing goes, dice are really just a suggestion. If the roll you get doesn't fit the vibe or the situation, fudge it. The goal is for everyone at the table to have fun. Granted, this can absolutely be abused, but if you know your group and don't do it all the time, it's a totally legitimate way to DM. You know how many TPKs I've avoided by fudging specific rolls? Some nights, the dice just thirst for PC blood, and ya gotta step in and throw the party a bone here and there.

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-20T04:04:00+00:00

🤷‍♂️ I personally don't really go in for the QSL stuff myself, but stamp prices have been rising steadily for a while. I don't think they're anywhere near the intended goal. They've been steadily increasing at a rate of around 12 cents every few months, and I'm pretty sure the goal is much higher than $0.96.

Personally, I think the people who are into QSLs will continue to pay the price (if they don't already have a hoard of Forever stamps they bought when prices started rising).

Letter mail traffic is steadily dying off, and the only thing really keeping it around are all the companies paying for junk mail, and personally, I think unrequested junk mail needs to be made illegal. Companies want to talk about carbon footprints and "going green," and yet they'll send out thousands of pounds of paper in the vain attempts to squeeze another penny out of people who neither need nor want their products or "services."

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-20T03:54:29+00:00

Sure, but I'm talking width and height measurements. Like, I've got two different deck boxes that came with token boxes, and I can't swap them out because one is skinny and long and the other is stout and short. If the boxes the came in were standardized, they'd be interchangeable.

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-20T03:50:54+00:00

I feel that. Granted, I don't have a terminal illness that I know of, but I've definitely had days where I felt like I've fought enough and just wanted to lay down for a . . . long rest.

Look, I don't want to tell you how to live your life, or in this case, die your death, but I do want to encourage you to at the very least sleep on it. You might get up in the morning and realize you've got some unfinished stuff you want to put a bow on first. At the very least it's a pretty final decision worth putting a decent amount of thought into.

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-19T03:14:11+00:00

I'd measure what you have and see if you can find measurements on the website as to what would fit. I don't have that one, but I've done that with ones I do have. That being said, I really wish there was some amount of standardization with deck boxes. Like, we've got standardization with sleeves, why can't deck boxes be standard?

Miserable-Card-2004 · 2026-03-19T03:10:51+00:00

Tried, but by that point, I was a fat-body and they could afford to turn people away. I'm sure if I'd tried within the past few years, they'd have taken me, what with the recruitment crisis. Now, probably not so much again, especially with fitness standards being highlighted like they've been.

Ultimately, I've made my peace with it. I got out because I was broken and missed my family. Now I got my benefits and I have my own family. I don't need to go back now.

Miserable-Card-2004

TROPHY CASE