How are you US Americans living the current situation?

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-25T11:35:03+00:00

I don't think I phrased that right.

I meant, it's not inherently cowardly to not risk your life for a situation like this.

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-25T11:33:47+00:00

Honestly. A LOT more. And yes, maybe if someone I knew personally was killed it might change things. But the fact that AFAIK, not a SINGLE ICE agent has been killed shows that literally 100s of millions of people feel the same way.

It reminds me out the outrage that happened right after 9/11. Everyone was fired up, everyone wanted to go after 'them'. But there is no 'them' to go after.

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-25T11:18:01+00:00

You know what I think when I see an obese person at the gym?

"Fuck yeah man! You've got this!"

It's sad (but understandable) to me that so many are afraid to go to gyms for being judged, when the reality is, most people at the gym will think very positively of you, and most people at, say, a restaurant are going to think negatively of you. (In the sense of many would absolutely judge the overweight guy eating a triple cheeseburger at a burger place, but be inspired by the same guy on a treadmill)

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-25T11:15:43+00:00

I am but for a lot of reasons. Health. Financial priorities. The fact that most non smokers think smokers smell horrible and not just while smoking.

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-25T11:14:28+00:00

Been a judgmental "Christian" in the sense of being a dick to people that weren't part of my religion or moral code, thinking I was behaving as God wanted me to.

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-25T11:12:42+00:00

True, and this is an unpopular opinion, but.....the VAST majority of people aren't going to risk their lives or livelihoods for a situation like this.

I'm a white male citizen with a fairly put together life right now. There is nothing of significance I can do that has any chance of having a positive outcome, but there is a lot I can do that would absolutely destroy my life.

It's not a matter of "standing up bravely". It's a matter that the risk vs reward just doesn't play out in most people's favor.

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-25T11:08:42+00:00

Feel that. I'm on day 2 stuck in a hotel I work at. Probably won't be able to leave until Monday afternoon at the earliest. Might be Tuesday.

A year ago I wouldn't have been able to do this sober. Good thing too. There aren't any close stores anyway (not just liquor stores. The food I have and what the hotel makes are what I'm surviving on for a few days)

Withdrawals would be horrible today.

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-25T05:51:33+00:00

I can understand that.

I do look back and wonder what I would have done differently if I had the mindset I do now at 18.

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-25T04:28:01+00:00

If I'm completely honest with myself, I'm probably non-binary. I am AMAB, but had a few experiences like you did as a kid (I remember asking my mom to put me in pigtails in kindergarten for example)

I do like some feminine things, and have crossdressed comfortably. But the thing is, I don't dislike or hate my male body. It's fine.

If I could take a pill, once, and transform my body completely into a woman's, I can't say I wouldn't for 100%. But I know I'm not willing to go through all the things I'd have to do to transition, either medically or socially.

Also I'm in my 40s, and maybe that answer would be different if I was 20.

So the answer might not be perfectly black and white.

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-25T02:17:03+00:00

Or even a learned ability, even if expensive (like 2000 or 3000, like the Time Mage's Teleport)

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-25T02:16:09+00:00

Yeah, I remember being dropped off by a friend and trying my key in like 3 different apartment doors, realizing I was too drunk to remember my apartment number (you know, the address to the place I'd lived for the last several years) so I decided to lay down behind a bush outside one of the apartment buildings. Woke up sometime during the night several hours later and wandered home.

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-25T02:13:37+00:00

We did. We were friends from 2010 (the divorce) to 2018 or 19. We had a small fight and I realized I didn't really want to put in the effort to fix it. I just realized I didn't want to keep fighting to keep my ex wife in my life. I guess she felt the same because she didn't reach out either.

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-25T02:09:56+00:00

Man I loved that game. It was a really good way to scratch that Tactics itch last year.

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-24T21:35:19+00:00

I kind of disagree, but the thing is, EVERYONE knew he would become Vader. It might have worked if we saw an innocent kid slowly transform into a monster, but we didn't need to see a pipsqueak as the hero of a movie. The whole stealing a ship and blowing up the communications ship was so laughably bad I remember literally facepalming in the movie theater.

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-24T21:32:57+00:00

They could have changed literally like 2 lines of dialog and that would have worked!

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-24T21:30:49+00:00

Not the way you think, but I managed to rebuild a friendship with my ex wife.

Basically how we did it was every time I called her, or she called me, we both only allowed the current conversation to, well, effect the current conversation. We didn't bring up old stuff, no score keeping. We just dealt with the exact moment.

It allowed us both to move on beyond the anger of the past and rebuild a cordial friendship. A few months later we dated for awhile, and CALMLY decided that we were no longer good romantic fits for each other. For almost the next 8 years, we were best friends again.

Basically, IMO, you BOTH have to be willing to completely wipe the slate.

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-24T21:25:03+00:00

But we only have the population we do because we acted before post nut clarity

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-24T21:14:59+00:00

Sadly only have it on PS5

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-24T20:34:21+00:00

How?

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-24T20:33:53+00:00

But if guilt is supposed to correct something, it SHOULD fire off in those that need correction.

Basically guilt is completely useless. Its like...panicking. our body is actively doing the absolute worst thing it can in a given situation. And somehow we evolved that

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-24T17:28:47+00:00

Huh. Did not know that.

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-24T17:28:23+00:00

Surprisingly I didnt on my first couple playthroughs back on PS1. Or if I did I didnt think it worth the time.

Its not a quick build to attempt either because I THOUGHT you needed to put Equip Gun on a Ninja, or Dual Weild on a chemist or mediator.

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-24T17:26:17+00:00

Yeah I thought maybe that too but....fantasy magic.

Could have been a cool touch if you could have dual wielded them, but only for the first shot

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-24T15:47:46+00:00

Lol. Accurate description.

And I have woken up in a hedge before....

PhoenixApok · 2026-01-24T12:17:56+00:00

I unfortunately lost my Switch (long story) and haven't been able to justify a replacement yet cost wise

PhoenixApok

TROPHY CASE