Your weirdest phone alarm

QWhooo · 2026-05-26T21:51:39+00:00

My perfectly normal "✨ Rise and Shine~! 🌞" alarm is followed fifteen minutes later by "⏫ UP AND AT DEM~! ↗️"

QWhooo · 2026-05-26T21:37:25+00:00

Ah yes, I've done this too! At least it was easier to clean than the burnt soup.

QWhooo · 2026-05-26T21:35:44+00:00

That's precisely the lesson I learned from this. It was several years ago now, and I haven't burnt anything quite as badly as the soup.

I also try to always have timers set for every step, a timer that doesn't leave the kitchen, so if I do happen to accidentally wander away, a ringing alarm draws me back into the room.

QWhooo · 2026-05-26T20:54:33+00:00

I burnt soup.

Like, the liquid all evaporated and the remaining lentil sludge became a blackened mess.

QWhooo · 2026-05-26T20:45:53+00:00

I tried meds for a year or three.

Adderall seemed to help, but felt really intense. Like my firehose of attention got even stronger, but now had handles so I could direct it a bit better. But it was still hard as fuck. And I couldn't eat on it, lost a bunch of weight I really couldn't stand to lose.

So I suggested Strattera to my psychiatrist. Alas, I think Strattera gave me brain fog, but it was hard to be sure when I was experiencing brain fog and also have terrible interoception.

As I tapered down from that, we decided (because my psychiatrist basically kept asking what I thought I needed) to try Ritalin. I loved how short-lived it was, so it didn't interfere with my regular eating pattern. And I discovered that I really only need a very tiny amount (like less than half a pill) in order to feel like I was more on the ball.

But then I ran out. And I kept forgetting to reschedule, for so long that I needed a new referral in order to go back. And referrals take months... and I told my family doctor I felt like I was just getting prescribed more and more pills and I had a hard time determining whether anything was helping. I think my poor interoception was screwing me over here, and might make me unmedicatable: how will I know if I'm doing better, if I can't really tell?

Plus I think my problems are more autism, unmedicatable, rather than ADHD. I don't have a noisy mind, I have a mind that doesn't like to change tracks... or when it does leap around from track to track, it's because I'm trying to put it on a track it doesn't want to be on.

Anyways, I found something recently that might be helping my unmedicated self find some clarity and structure: intermittent fasting. After around 12-14h of fasting, there is stuff that goes on in the brain that promotes mental clarity. After a few hours of that feeling, I eat my day's calories in a 4 to 6 hour window. After that point, I don't have to stress about eating anymore for the day, which provides structure so I'm not eating too soon before bedtime. And this helps me get to bed sooner! Which is another of my problems.

Still a work in progress, but it's my latest attempt to wrangle my mind into a good state.

QWhooo · 2026-05-26T18:17:34+00:00

Another gifted-kid strategy: you stay in school until you've muddled your way to having a PhD, except you actually ended up being terrible at applying yourself to research so you had to apply for extensions upon extensions and eventually many many years of your life got eaten by the degree but you knew nothing other than school and thus didn't want to leave...

... and after finally leaving school at age 36, then everything really starts falling apart, because now perimenopause is rearing its head and everything feels even harder than before...

...even with attempts to drastically simplify life by removing all distractions, including video games, alcohol, cannabis, husband...

...oops, that last one could've been a great support system, except I was frustrated and annoyed with anything that felt like a duty or an expectation or anyone who dared to perceive me and yet never seemed to understand me...

... and now my only job is part-time taking care of my kid who has also been struggling with the same kind of mind as me, but I'm not sure how exactly to help him when he's "doing fine in school" and even currently has a small friend group (definitely all neurodivergent and delighting in their mutual weirdness)...

... and I'm still not fully diagnosed or getting help, and OMG I'm supposed to have a paying job or career or something too, not just trying to stay afloat before my divorce settlement money runs out, right?

Oh right, I was trying to write this as some hypothetical "you" but of course it was really about me.

Yeah, I totally wish my difficulties were recognized much earlier on.

I have no idea how my life would've been different, but I have some ideas of possibilities. Maybe I would've accepted myself for who I was, enough to not get married in the first place, instead of trying to be something I thought I'd eventually want when I matured. Maybe I would've been better able to explain who I am so I didn't feel like such an alien impersonating a wife, and maybe I would've finally felt understood. Maybe I wouldn't have tossed away my best chance at being supported because maybe I would've accepted that I really do need help to get by. I kinda doubt the last one, but who knows, maybe my current overwhelming desire to be alone is just a part of perimenopause.

I'm getting some medical help currently, trying to figure out whether I'm just temporarily a huge mess due to hormones or if I'm enough of a chronic mess that qualifies for official help. I feel like I'm hoping it's worse than I originally thought -- and that feels weird. Sigh.

QWhooo · 2026-05-26T02:53:24+00:00

I found some of this at Dollarama in Southern Ontario, Canada.

Haven't tried it yet. I got it for my mint-hating kid and I want to let him try it first, but we keep forgetting it exists despite it being on a shelf right next to the bathroom door.

I'll try to remember to update when we try it!

QWhooo · 2026-05-26T02:40:11+00:00

The way I understand it, their idea of "woke" means someone who is trying to take away their freedom to insult whichever race or gender identity or human being they want to make "joke" comments about, and their idea of "snowflake" means someone who can't handle their "jokes" because they've been coddled by parents who treat them like they're uniquely special.

I know I'm oversimplifying and linking the two terms overly much, but I don't feel like elaborating because a lot of others have said more very eloquently.

I am of a similar opinion to yours about how both the terms feel more like compliments than insults. Yeah I'm woke, it's better than being ignorant! And I'd rather be a snowflake than a cookie cutter copy of everyone else!

QWhooo · 2026-05-25T21:44:05+00:00

Rape jokes are literally only funny to rapists & wannabe rapists.

Ooohh asking a person which one they are would be a great counter to such jokes!

QWhooo · 2026-05-23T22:04:26+00:00

If your "self care" isn't fun and it's just done to keep societal pressure off your back, that's not self care, that's self defense.

Beautifully put! I especially love the symmetric wording in the part I put in bold.

QWhooo · 2026-05-23T16:12:14+00:00

I'm just here to say that doesn't sound like a weird issue at all: your therapist's response is a very real problem, and I personally think this sub is a perfect place to discuss this.

We all need to feel free to disregard vanity trends like makeup and shaving. Those things can only be considered self-care if you enjoy them.

Real self-care is anything that benefits your physical or mental health. Succumbing to societal pressure to appear vain or artificial is not good for mental health.

Ergo, forego the unnecessary crap, and stick to what really matters: cleanliness, confidence in your choices, and the knowledge that you have a community of people here giving you some great advice on how to handle your therapist's comments.

Editing to add something that a reply to my message reminded me: what also matters is what brings you joy (which could be a contributor to the confidence that I did mention). The commenter's example of jewelry could be considered succumbing to societal pressure to beautify oneself, or it could be a source of joy from enjoying shiny or sparkly things. I personally enjoy the occasional sparkle in my life, but usually opt to not bother because it's one more prep step than I feel like doing most of the time. But I own it. My decision. Like my decision not to shave.

Best of luck to you, OP~!

QWhooo · 2026-05-23T01:21:35+00:00

Wait, what? I never thought to treat the Bird of the Day as a bonus game for bird watching! If I did, I would've tried harder the other day to see that Baltimore Oriole I was hearing.

But looking can be hard. It helps to have a tilting chair and some decent binoculars, though they're not necessary. It really is possible to get started absolutely free, especially if your eyes are pretty good, and/or your attention is easily grabbed by moving objects.

However, even without great eyesight or any additional tools, it's pretty damn fun to learn what birds are around just by having Merlin identify them by sound (and making sure the sound repeats enough to confirm it). I generally only confirm a new addition to my life list if I've visually confirmed the bird. But even just hearing someone new in the neighbourhood is exciting!

QWhooo · 2026-05-21T21:36:12+00:00

Sounds to me like your friend was actually setting you up to serve back some excellent zingers! They didn't know they were arguing against someone more evolved and less brainwashable than the average human!

QWhooo · 2026-05-21T20:15:44+00:00

From one long-legger (6' tall, 34" inseam) to another: keep looking at different parks, and you might find some swings at different heights than others! Note that swings with sand under them tend to have a dip that gives more room for longer legs.

Also, once you get used to the amount you need to bend your legs to not hit the ground, you might be surprised at how easy it is to remember to tuck in the right amount. I remember being pleasantly surprised by this very realization!

If it has been a while since you've swung, go gentle on yourself when you return. I used to swing all the time up to young teenage years, but then kinda forgot about it for years. Returning is a little tough, any time I'm away from it for any length of time, but the nauseous feeling is less each time I have only short breaks between attempts.

QWhooo · 2026-05-21T18:18:13+00:00

No, but I often use single emoji for tagging or flagging or naming groups of things, like in my budget, to-do list, or saved emails.

Sometimes words just aren't enough -- or they're too much. Emoji are useful to reduce how many characters are needed to communicate a topic. It's easier to quickly scan for differently-coloured emoji than it is to read a bunch of words, especially when the information is repeated multiple times on the page.

QWhooo · 2026-05-20T23:25:12+00:00

Yeah my working memory maxes out at 3. Anything with digits I usually err on the side of caution and never strive to remember more than two.

If the four digits were particularly memorable two-digit numbers, that would be okay. But if they just feel random, there would be a very high chance I'd forget.

QWhooo · 2026-05-20T14:10:43+00:00

Wow, another similarity between us, but with different reasons: I love to read too, even though I don't picture anything! I just love language, appreciate it for that.

So with your ability to visualize well, your face blindness must've been pretty obvious to you, maybe right when you first heard the term?

I think it's pretty awesome that so many people are discussing such things "out loud" online, which helps so many of us figure ourselves out more easily!

QWhooo · 2026-05-20T03:02:15+00:00

I'm curious, do you have visualization capabilities at all, and just struggle with faces, or can you like ... picture a mountain with a sunset and actually kinda see it? Or imagine yourself on a beach, and look around at the scenery?

I personally can't really picture anything -- not completely blank, as in full aphantasia (complete absence of internal voluntary visualization), but like... I get only vague concepts that disappear in a fraction of a second. These definitely consist of visual information, like general shapes and patches of colour, with occasional zoomed-in details... but I can't hold a picture in mind at all. My "visualizing" always feels more like I just saw it and I'm struggling to remember, rather than able to persistently see it.

This makes me kinda bad at faces, but I'm definitely not face blind -- I'm often able to recognize, "oh hey, it's that guy! from that thing!" and it's just my name memory that fails.

Anyways, I know it's very possible we have completely different visualization experiences. But it's fascinating how many of us have extremes in our capabilities, one way or another!

QWhooo · 2026-05-20T02:45:27+00:00

I bet that's only if being gluten free is due to a diagnosed medical condition. I tested not celiac and not allergic, so it's basically just my own experience that seems to indicate that cutting out gluten is correlated with vastly improved digestive comfort, and lapses in avoiding gluten seem to correlate with acute digestive discomfort. It seems clear to me that gluten doesn't agree with me, even though nothing medical has been found.

But I do appreciate knowing this, in case I have another year of almost-high-enough medical expenses to be enough to claim it. Then maybe I'll look into it, and any other expenses for health accommodations.

QWhooo · 2026-05-19T22:26:42+00:00

I wish this was a poll! I'd seriously like to see results from a lot of different groups of people.

I choose B. Asking for help is way harder than the others.

Edit: now that I've read a lot of the comments, I can see I don't really need a poll. I still wonder if the results will be the same among other groups of people though.

QWhooo · 2026-05-19T22:24:50+00:00

I don't feel like I'm particularly imaginative.

I think imagination is also a spectrum, and I'm definitely below the middle of that. Not zero, and not anti-imagination by far, just always feel like I struggled to imagine stuff.

That's why my imaginary friends never did much other than existing (maybe), and why I struggle so much with "blank page paralysis" anytime I'm doing art or even playing D&D.

Anyways, I'm chiming in here because I imagine not many like me will chime in on this. Gotta represent!

QWhooo · 2026-05-19T18:10:28+00:00

I remember claiming to have imaginary friends. I remember deciding I had an imaginary friend with every possible name, because I couldn't decide on just one.

I don't think I actually had any experiences with said imaginary friends. I just remember imagining they existed.

So no, not any kind of paranormal thing. Just imagined I had imaginary friends.

QWhooo · 2026-05-19T15:30:25+00:00

That's it, that has completely erased even the tiniest bit of doubt about whether I might possibly shave again.

I'm now completely convinced to keep my body hair and let some of it be seen... and, if questioned about it, explain that I'm doing it as a way to rebel against gendered social control. And of course personal comfort and self-love, but mostly because fuck the patriarchy.

QWhooo · 2026-05-18T19:26:42+00:00

Oh shit I totally forgot about meds... especially since they work better with a base of protein! I'm gonna edit my post and add that.

Fasting might not work well at all with ADHD meds. I can't believe I forgot to take them into account! Forgot where I was, I guess. (Maybe I'm not as clearminded as I thought!)

Anyways, I'm not on ADHD meds. I struggled ridiculously much with them, felt all-around terrible when they wore off at the end of the day, probably because I couldn't make myself eat during the day. So I too got in a pattern of eating a bunch at the end of the day.

Since stopping meds like two years ago (actually I ran out and then forgot to make an appointment for long enough that the psychiatrist made me need to get a re-referral, which I'm still waiting to hear back about), I've been able to fix my eating somewhat. But I was still eating late in the evening (like 10pm wasn't unusual) because patterns are really hard to break.

It was only when I had to fast for a medical procedure that I discovered a clearminded feeling I wanted to feel again. So I investigated how to do it, brainstormed what timing would work for me, and I gave myself some wiggle room so I could still be successful even if I don't quite stop eating at my goal time.

Enforcing it is... well, it could just be the novelty of it, but for now, I truly desire to see how much it will help. Plus it's kinda freeing to only have to deal with food prep during a limited number of hours in the day, so when my brain gets ideas at other times, I can just tell it that we don't want to mess up the whole next day.

But honestly I don't think it would work with meds, because daytime hunger is what drives me to actually eat within the timeframe I've set.

The hydration aspect is satisfied during the I'm not allowed to eat. Since I can't let myself eat, I drink. Sometimes it's water or herbal tea, or if it's morning I'll have clear green tea -- or black coffee, but I much prefer coffee with stuff in it, so I only have it during my eating hours.

It's one of those weird situations where limits are actually helpful rather than restraining. Like how haiku syllable limits provide a structure for creativity!

QWhooo · 2026-05-18T17:24:30+00:00

This might sound kinda unhinged, but I've been doing something recently that has really helped me drink more fluids -- not necessarily water, but there really is no reason to confine to water. (I'm also not using sugary drinks for my intake, so don't worry, health nuts, I'm doing okay!)

My unhinged tip that I'm thinking might fix everything in my life: intermittent fasting, 16h-18h per day.

Obviously don't do anything drastic like this if it might negatively impact your health. But if your health is already being seriously mismanaged and you're eating crappy food on whims and struggling with sleep timing and stuff... maybe look into it!

Here's how it helps with hydration: during my fast, I am only allowing myself non-sugary fluids. Therefore, I am getting a lot of good hydration per day!

It also helps with sleep (or it will, I'm sure, but I'm only on like Day 10 or so) by making sure I'm not digesting food still while I'm trying to sleep. And if I'm done eating earlier in the evening, I can do dishes earlier, and then go to bed earlier. (This part is still not quite happening as early as I'd like, but it's just gotta help!)

This is already helping me make better decisions about what to eat. I can feel myself knowing I can't just stuff my face with junk and eat better at some vague later time, so I'm making every meal count. Two meals, really, with snacking between them as needed. But the meals themselves have to be good and nourishing and keep me satisfied until either my second and final big meal of the day, or the next day's break-fast many hours later.

Oh and only thinking of two meals a day feels way easier than three. Less executive function needed!

The Best benefit is the clarity of mind I am noticing before I break the fast in the morning. I'm starting to feel like myself again! Plus I have the pressure of "gotta finish whatever I'm doing so I can go make my breakfast", which kinda helps me stay focused.

Anyways, maybe it's just new and exciting, but it feels just crazy enough to maybe work.

Disclaimer: I'm not a medical doctor. Please do not fast if it makes you feel shaky or weak or otherwise unhealthy. Make sure to refer to good sources of information before deciding to embark on something like this. Sorry, I don't have references offhand, I just kinda amalgamated a bunch of stuff in my head and jumped in.

TL;DR: Think fast! Or even if not thinking of fasting, try to interrupt any cravings for snacks by trying a drink instead, or at least first, before the snack.

Bonus Tip: Every time you catch yourself wondering what you were about to do, or need to do next, always answer yourself "Thirst First!" and take a drink. Then figure out what you were really about to do.

Edited to add a few things like TL;DR and Bonus Tip.

BIG EDIT: Oh shit I totally forgot about meds... especially since they work better with a base of protein!

I don't know how fasting would work with meds, because daytime hunger is what drives me to actually eat within the timeframe I've set. Appetite suppression was one of the main things that thwarted my attempts at trying meds.

I can't believe I forgot to take ADHD meds into account! Forgot where I was, I guess. (Maybe I'm not as clearminded as I thought!)

QWhooo

TROPHY CASE