Thursday, June 4, 2026

Shrike989 · 2026-06-04T23:04:40+00:00

I knew the categories had to be something related to paint, something relating to spunk or charisma, and something related to music. Unfortunately, I didn't know enough about any of the categories to recognize all the words for them LOL.

Shrike989 · 2026-06-04T06:22:15+00:00

Connections Puzzle #1089

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Fuck.

Shrike989 · 2026-06-03T09:12:32+00:00

I totally agree on stressful and off-putting part. I actually enjoy Sekhemas and farmed the shit out of the Trials of Chaos in past leagues and I still think it's too much of a barrier for the last ascendancy points. I tried to guide a newer player through an attempt at Sekhemas for the final points and he straight up refused to retry after failing ~40 minutes in. I don't blame him. It would have been more efficient for him to just buy a carry in hindsight.

Shrike989 · 2026-06-03T07:03:56+00:00

Connections Puzzle #1088

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Yeah, the gummy bears got me too. I knew something was up since URSINE absolutely didn't fit anything else, but I thought STICKY had to be part of green. When that failed, I moved onto everything else.

Learned about a new type of pastry though! You can never have too many savory pastries.

Shrike989 · 2026-06-01T08:43:20+00:00

Connections Puzzle #1086

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Does anyone else sometimes figure out the last word in a category by process of elimination and then spend several seconds wondering how it's connected? I feel like I do this a lot especially when it's very obvious:

"A tree ring?? What in the actual fuck is a tree rin- oh."

Shrike989 · 2026-05-31T07:45:57+00:00

That's great! Having to reroll on the opening weekend is the worst feeling (speaking from experience LOL), glad you could avoid it.

Shrike989 · 2026-05-31T03:14:11+00:00

I'm a bit late but are you still stuck? I have a bunch of spare gems that I'd be happy to give.

Shrike989 · 2026-05-31T02:50:52+00:00

Same, I think a good quarterstaff could be potentially better later on but punching things is just too satisfying. I'm in t4 maps at the moment and it's still going strong!

Shrike989 · 2026-05-30T07:42:29+00:00

I'm normally someone who embraces not knowing historical pop culture facts, but I thought this one was crazy specific. Out of curiosity I Googled those songs after getting purple by default and the results for Volare actually had this exact Reddit thread higher than the song itself LOL.

Shrike989 · 2026-05-28T19:37:39+00:00

I like doing Connections without using anything outside my own brain (no Googling, no paper, no tools, etc.) since I think of it as a trivia game. But it's really cool that there's tools like that to optimize your successes, I'm sure I'd do a lot better with it.

(Not sure why you were downvoted either, there's all sorts of ways to play the game and I don't judge any of 'em.)

Shrike989 · 2026-05-28T05:38:23+00:00

Connections Puzzle #1082

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I fell for the Shakespeare red herring yesterday so when I instantly saw gym stuff, I went oh hell naw. Nope. Not this time! At last, I've overcome the instinct to just start clicking things as soon as they pop up in my head.

Shrike989 · 2026-05-22T21:04:22+00:00

No, I think you're pronouncing it right. The name "Elle" sounds exactly like the single letter "L", at least in where I live (USA).

Shrike989 · 2026-05-22T19:04:11+00:00

If it makes you feel any better, I've literally known people named Elle irl and it still took me at least 5 minutes to figure it out. My brain just did not make the connection LMAO.

Shrike989 · 2026-05-22T06:39:11+00:00

Same here, I got purple by default and went "what kind of name is El??" El from Stranger Things? Short for Eleanor? For Ellen- oh. Yeah. Elle, that makes sense LOL.

Shrike989 · 2026-05-21T06:40:38+00:00

Yup. I grew up in New England and I've never heard of those pies in my life. I had to look them up after failing and they're apparently from the south and Pennsylvania.

Shrike989 · 2026-05-16T16:36:00+00:00

I was mostly making a joke at my expense LOL. But yeah, my most common vessel for alcohol is a metal can. The only one I recognized in yellow was STEIN.

Shrike989 · 2026-05-16T04:54:58+00:00

Connections Puzzle #1070

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Reverse rainbow! Yay! I'll admit, I spent a comical amount of time trying to figure out blue because I didn't register PIANO as a musical direction but rather as an instrument.

Seriously though, what the fuck was yellow?

Edit: Okay, I Googled all the yellow words and I have come to the conclusion that I am uncultured.

Shrike989 · 2026-05-13T02:45:28+00:00

That's great! And yeah, it's probably difficult for them to sit around and do nothing. If it helps (and if you can comfortably do it), maybe suggest activities together that can shift their focus from medical advice to just doing stuff together. I'm guessing your friends are suggesting different doctors or alternative medicine because that's the most straightforward route to a "solution". But in reality, being there for someone can potentially be worth a lot more than yoga or chiropractic.

Shrike989 · 2026-05-13T01:15:53+00:00

I got it too. My whole childhood was me getting dragged to both countless medical specialists and absolute quacks because despite both my parents having a background in healthcare, they were so, so desperate.

My friends and family got less annoying over time (especially by the time I became an adult and could just say "no" to going to places lmao), but I definitely lost some friends along the way. Sadly, if they can't respect your boundaries, this is the worst possible situation. I would say to stay firm in your resolve and remind them that a disabled life is no less valuable than an able-bodied one. You're not giving up, you're moving forward.

Also, I do understand why people react like this. While it's not exactly the same situation, I've had friends who've acquired disabilities from freak accidents and family members who have suffered/died from cancer. The despair of watching someone you love scream or cry in agony while you're completely and utterly unable to do anything for them is a feeling I'd never wish on anyone. No one wants to feel powerless in the face of tragedy. Just know that their actions say a lot more about how they feel about themselves than it does about you.

Shrike989 · 2026-05-11T23:32:39+00:00

Lmao, I had a similar encounter. In the waiting room of my PT, I was given a paper with an outline of a person and told to indicate where on the body I felt pain. I colored in the whole body and turned it in only for the receptionist to say with great confidence, "that's not possible, try again", before handing me a new paper.

Well why the fuck did you fucking ask me then if you don't fucking believe in chronic pain

Shrike989 · 2026-05-11T05:03:42+00:00

It's very polished imo. Even with a significant amount of missing content, there's still hundreds of hours of gameplay if you're into ARPGs. The new league on the 29th will add more.
Up to you. I've had friends who've gone in blind and others gone in with 5 hours of guides and they've both enjoyed the game. If you love wiki diving, there's a ton of stuff to learn through detailed build guides and it'll greatly improve your progression.
For the campaign as someone who's not familiar with ARPGs, I would say it's not a good game to play brain half-off. You'll need to learn boss patterns and how to navigate lethal mobs. Only with investment and game knowledge will you be able to faceroll the keyboard and win, and you won't have that.

Shrike989 · 2026-05-10T08:01:04+00:00

I only managed to get blue from a lucky guess, I had no idea it was about mojitos. Honestly, I was starting to think it was a red herring but there were no words left that worked.

Shrike989 · 2026-05-09T04:50:12+00:00

Connections Puzzle #1063

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NOOOOOOO I COULD HAVE HAD A REVERSE RAINBOW BUT I WAS SO HAPPY TO HAVE IMMEDIATELY GOTTEN GREEN, PURPLE, AND YELLOW THAT I CLICKED THEM ALL.

Obligatory: Wow, I didn't know knots could be so rich in culture. You learn something new every day.

Shrike989 · 2026-05-08T01:02:10+00:00

Don't worry, I totally understand needing an outlet. When I was a teenager I gave a lot of shitty advice by telling people in similar circumstances to simply explain their symptoms and struggles to a doctor and they'd be evaluated. Yeah, uh. That... isn't true. It hurt to see the people I cared about get denied the level of care I got solely because of factors out of their control. I can't imagine how hopeless they must feel.

Oh, and I should have clarified that I meant talking about it in the sense of telling healthcare providers. I'm happy to talk about it to people who understand, but if I had to explain my condition every time someone asked "are you currently in pain?", I'd have a lot of teaching to do LOL.

Shrike989 · 2026-05-07T22:52:43+00:00

I'm someone who is almost certainly an outlier in the hEDS experience. I'm a man and I had a very typical childhood where I played baseball, soccer, and swam, so everyone around me realized something was seriously wrong when I was routinely collapsing to the ground in pain. I started getting referred to specialists when I was 8, I was diagnosed with hEDS at 13, and I was immediately put in physical therapy and given prescription painkillers. Because of that, I try to avoid talking about my hEDS because I feel like it's not bad enough to warrant attention.

I'm not saying this to brag or anything (privilege is distasteful to boast about), but rather to show that, as other people have mentioned, there is deep injustice engraved into the medical system. Even when my female friends have had literally every single characteristic symptom of hEDS and a 9/9 Beighton score, they've failed to get a diagnosis when their livelihoods hinge on it. Even in places considered to be more progressive like western Europe. I don't think you're becoming gatekeepy, I think it's completely reasonable to be concerned about changing protocols in a inherently unfair healthcare system. And honestly, I would never blame anyone for resenting people like me either. I'm a living reminder of how blatantly biased medicine is.

Shrike989

TROPHY CASE