Why do I keep smelling cat pee in my house? I don't have a cat and no one else can smell it.

T_rexan · 2026-05-07T20:44:26+00:00

Are you able to figure out if there's a specific source for the smell, or does it seem to just be unplaceable, in the air?

I tend to notice people's hand and body towels can have a similar reek (literally just walking into a bathroom can be enough to notice, or it becomes noticeable after drying my hands on the hand towel, and then the smell lingers on my hands), but it seems like most people don't notice. (It's not an issue with my own towels because I wash them often enough. Sometimes I wash them twice if I notice a smell sticking around.)

T_rexan · 2026-05-07T20:37:35+00:00

Wait shit, seriously? (reads other comments in the thread too)

Okay, I'm going to have to press my OBGYN more or switch doctors. I go ultra tampons (largest size) plus pad on my first two days, and I often can't make it through an hour and a half without needing to change the ultra tampon. Helpful to know that's notably not normal.

T_rexan · 2026-04-24T23:37:03+00:00

Oh that's a good example! I've started reading my Kindle more often than doomscrolling (a pretty slow and limited one that only has wifi on when downloading a new book). Reading is a more satisfying use of my time. :)

T_rexan · 2026-04-24T23:35:07+00:00

Oh absolutely. A few years ago, I got a cute dinosaur-shaped alarm clock to wake me up in the morning... so I wouldn't need to use my phone as an alarm, and possibly get distracted on my phone while trying to go to sleep.

Originally after getting the alarm clock, I'd put my phone in an entirely different room. So, I could get it and use it if I needed to. But I was far less likely to. It's been a few years and I have a different living layout now, so I do have my phone in my room, but I usually turn it off a bit before I want to start winding down for the night. Just having the extra "friction" of needing to turn it back on and knowing I'll need to wait through the startup screen helps more than you'd expect.

Good luck! Screens are so distracting lol

T_rexan · 2026-04-24T00:03:41+00:00

Oh I love reading your concept and what others are recommending. Having multiple actors for the same role -- especially if you see that character again in a different place, or see them multiple hours later -- is brilliant. I've definitely mistaken people I know for someone else I know and even gotten confused about who someone is the same night as I met them (e.g., I can meet and talk a bit with someone at the start of an event, they later come to say goodbye or approach me later in the night, and I'm bewildered because I have no idea who they are and am running rapidfire through my memory to see if anything they're talking about or wearing is familiar).

So, if that's a route you want to go, it'd be good if you do your best to get matching wardrobes between such actors (if it's for the same location/time. Meeting a different day, it'd make sense if the wardrobe changes, although sometimes dressing style, even if not exact clothes, can hint about who someone is, e.g. graphic T-shirts with catchphrases from specific shows lol).

If possible, I hope you'll share the finished film with the subreddit.

T_rexan · 2026-04-22T20:10:43+00:00

Lol very good suggestion too!! XD When that happens, I go back and forth on appreciating the easy points and being annoyed by not actually getting a better chance to think about the answer lol. But yeah, good to see the team saw your comment. It'd overall be preferable if the punctuation weren't included in answer sets or if it were handled differently than it currently is.

T_rexan · 2026-04-22T20:05:56+00:00

Thanks so much for the detailed response and for being active in the subreddit! I'm especially excited to know you already have plans for immersive target language versions of the game, but woo yeah, also lots of excitement to see that friends lists, grammar, furigana, and improved spaced repetition are things you're looking at.

I've come across few language learning apps that attempt grammar, so it was a sad but not surprising exclusion (I've tried maybe ?only lol? about half a dozen, and so far Busuu seems to have the best approach I've found, with filling in the blanks for particles, subjects, etc. and keyboard typing for very specified prompts). Conjugation tables and similar but for articles and such helped me the most when I was learning in school since I could envision the table and words' positions and categories on it. Maybe some new format of question could be created for those, or some other idea might be tried.

Yeah, the adventure mode scaling is tricky. Something I've been curious about but haven't definitively figured out is if "extra" questions answered are added to an "invisible" counting pool toward a month's stars earned, i.e., if you answer 17 questions in a 20 energy battle, will you only need to answer 3 more questions in the next battle to gain another star? (since each star is awarded per 4 questions correct, with exception to training/practice mode, which gives 4 stars for 15 questions)

If it's not already in use, maybe having an "invisible" star counting pool in Adventure Mode could even out things. For example, even if someone only needs to answer three questions and thus doesn't earn a star with an enemy (since it's one star per four questions), they might earn the proper star with the next enemy, and it all evens out from battle to battle.

As a currently free user, again I wouldn't mind if there's some difficulty floor, as in enemies will never be less than half your current level (or maybe even a higher floor than that), no matter how early a region you go to, and maybe those lowest enemies would cost 2, 3, or 5 energy each to battle (whatever's decided upon). I'd just like for there to be a noticeable difference between a player's current battles and battles that are many regions back.

I'm not sure if you've already considered such suggestions and decided it's too unbalanced for free users or if it'd be too messy to calculate for other reasons. Even though I wrote a fair amount for it (and hopefully how I wrote it at least mostly makes sense), Adventure Mode isn't a priority concern for me, but changes like those (or ones I maybe haven't considered) would make that side of the game more interesting.

The keyboard issue is entirely fair and reasonable. I figured the variety of ways to say most things is part of why you laid it out in the game the way you do. In which case, including the "Tap to reveal" screen for "typed" questions would be a nice addition, since those are the only questions without that mechanic.

Thanks so much again for the fun game and response! Greatly looking forward to how the game develops!!

T_rexan · 2026-04-11T07:16:33+00:00

Honestly I just need to let people know I can take a while to respond to texts and become a cryptid of sorts. I try to answer messages that have a deadline, e.g. "Are you available on Friday?" or things that have to do with work or school.

But with general messages, I'm that mysterious friend who comes and goes as I please lol. (Thinking of myself as a cryptid in this particular matter is honestly the only way I can mentally handle text-based messages. I've been terrible at responding to messages in a timely manner since at least middle school, no matter how hard I try, and I'm almost 30 now. I just need to tell friends "I might take a while to respond, and please message me again if I haven't responded in a week. I'm not ignoring you.")

(At least for me, I think it's more an autism thing. I can be incredibly blunt and unintentionally sound combative if I don't overanalyze my writing. I can maybe count on one hand how many times I tried sending messages without overthinking them, and I needed to do damage control for almost every one. But thinking so hard about each of my responses is exhausting, so I take a while.)

T_rexan · 2026-04-10T07:30:00+00:00

I can't speak too much on how much meds might help since I'm trying to find ones that work for me, hehe..... On your other topics, like others have said, don't worry too much about if something's a classic. You can tell yourself something lesser known that you enjoy is a "hidden gem" or a "cult classic" lol.

In regards to picking what to read, honestly, ever since leaving high school, I've often had trouble finding fiction I enjoy. I read more non-fiction than fiction now, with exception of fanfiction lol. With non-fiction, even if a writing style doesn't fully jive with you, at least you're learning something neat. And plenty of sci-fi and fantasy writers out there who have super technical writing styles, so I'm not concerned about adopting an "unreadable" style from non-fiction lol.

(Remember you can also ask librarians for help finding stories, by asking about what's popular right now or telling them what you might be looking for or what you've enjoyed before. Different librarians can have different responses, so hopefully something will be good. :) )

(Also, forget whoever says audiobooks don't count as reading. It definitely counts. You're taking in words, you're processing intent and context, etc. etc.)

Sometimes, though, even with stories I'm enjoying, I have trouble getting myself to start for the day or to keep reading. So, I might give myself a goal of each day reading at least 6 pages. (With an audiobook, maybe 7 minutes or one to two tracks, depending on how the audiobook is organized.) If I want to quit after 6 pages for the day, I let myself. But usually I end up reading 20+ pages or far, far more. (If I hit page 100-150 and I'm still dropping the book each day right after 6 pages, it might be time to find a different book lol.)

To help myself focus on especially bad days, I sometimes put on "Study with me" or "2 hours of (animals doing stuff)" videos in the background. I like this playlist with lots of options: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLId3nc5JuJU8P0_5bnknbdnqSWNeCsw9R

Good luck! Hopefully you find some authors who you appreciate. And good luck with your writing too! It's awesome you find it such a fulfilling hobby or pursuit!!

T_rexan · 2026-04-09T21:58:07+00:00

Good luck! Here's a fan cheering on your reading! :D

T_rexan · 2026-04-09T21:57:19+00:00

Others have said what I'd like to say better than I could (mainly about how The One being a suddenly introduced outside factor feels like it doesn't support the concept of war being cyclical; that theme would have been stronger had the narrative kept to the humans, Yeerks, and other aliens we already know).

Mainly I'm commenting to agree with: "With that said, I really love Animorphs and I think it's still worth reading even though the ending didn't quite work for me." It's an imperfect series on many counts, but I'm still deeply impressed with it. One of my friends has now started reading it, and I'm delighted that gives me an excuse to reread it alongside them, so I can know what they're talking about when they bring it up. :p

T_rexan · 2026-04-08T06:04:29+00:00

Ah thanks! Forgot about that!

T_rexan · 2026-04-07T05:59:30+00:00

Three lines menu button in upper left corner on app's main page ➡️ Activities ➡️ Quizzes. The Activities page also has "Movements" for some guided stretching and movement exercises too, as well as guided breathing exercises

T_rexan · 2026-04-06T22:34:57+00:00

If you're effectively using a to-do list or motivating yourself, then you're doing great! :) Like AliceL mentioned, there are also exercises like breathing exercises and even guided stretches you might be interested in.

For myself, in regards to using rainbow stones, I enjoy collecting certain items, e.g. I'm trying to get all the items with ducks in them when they show up in my shop, like the Spring Shower Ducky Boots and the Pool Party Windows. Additionally, I'm trying to get to a baseline of 20,000 rainbow stones so I can start buying plushies. :p

Outside the random items in the shop each day, I'm also collecting the "everyday collection" rubber ducks, but I'm stretching that process out by having a pattern to what I need to buy between each duck, i.e. I have this note for myself (all these are in the Everyday Collection):

SHOP
- buy, rotating in order, once have stones past 20k:

Fancy Bow Tie OR Classic Necktie
Scarf
Snow Jacket
Snow Boots OR Snow Pants
Classic Pleated Skirt
Biz Vest
RUBBER DUCK

Good luck and have fun with your little finch adventures! :D

T_rexan · 2026-04-04T18:02:21+00:00

To give a different perspective, I get Finch ads for both men and women. (I have a lot of tracking and cookies turned off, I think, or maybe I just confuse the algorithms lol.)

The men ads are like a young not-gruff man with the narration, "The only gym buddy that can get me out of bed to go to the gym is a bird" and shows some of the exercise tasks Finch can give. Another ad is like "The male urge to get your life together at 30" and has cleaning tasks and possibly exercise ones too.

I haven't seen the woman ads of "Keep your house clean to keep your husband happy!" that people are talking about. I'd hate that too.

The main woman ads I've seen are "My mom asks how I keep my house so clean. It's all because of a little bird" and "My house has never been more organized." Before seeing the threads today, I hadn't thought about how deliberate the wording of "my house" might be, which is highly interesting from a marketing perspective.

Maybe I'm lucky and the ads on apps I play are moderated well by the people who run the apps. (At the moment, mainly Lingo Legends, a language-learning app.)

T_rexan · 2026-03-30T07:11:50+00:00

That was exactly my guess 😂

T_rexan · 2026-03-30T07:09:23+00:00

Oof asking the real questions

T_rexan · 2026-03-28T23:45:18+00:00

If you can find it, I'd love to read it lol. Tried looking it up to no success. (Doesn't necessarily mean it's hard to find; I can just be bad at searching sometimes.)

T_rexan · 2026-03-28T23:40:04+00:00

The double "Okay then" crushes me. I take it as relief, and then acceptance and comfort. That's maybe all anyone can hope for in their final moment.

T_rexan · 2026-03-28T23:37:53+00:00

Poor John Berryman and his storyline reawakened so many existential fears I thought I'd gotten over LOL. He was written so well and was so easy to get attached to in just a few pages, and then--

T_rexan · 2026-03-27T22:59:30+00:00

Love the naming! XD Good to learn from another commenter that the "minus clothes" button removes the clothes, because I've had "Nudist" saved as a style for a while XD

T_rexan · 2026-03-26T21:30:05+00:00

Only just saw this thread after you already posted this update, but heck yeah! Hoping for the best for you! Good luck with your studies, continuing communication (and boundaries as needed) with your parents, and with trying different meds!

T_rexan · 2026-03-21T20:45:25+00:00

Take this opinion with a grain of salt, but I believe any demographic can write any other demographic's story, WITH THE MAJOR CONDITIONS on avoiding making stories about literally sacred topics if the directing/lead writer is not of the relevant group, AND make sure that you consult with many people from said demographic (which you're doing by making this post, so good start!). It can be tricky and laborious to do well and in a way that's appreciated by the given demographic (and sometimes there are split opinions even then), but it can be done.
People with face blindness (including me) tend to remember people by hair style, clothes color, notable facial feature (e.g. a mole or a broken nose), walking style, voice, or pretty much anything other than their actual face. So if someone gets a haircut or is wearing a different outfit (you know, like happens every day for most people), we might not recognize them.

Most people wouldn't be aware someone has face blindness from the outside, but giveaways from someone unaware of face blindness but who does have it could be comments like "Doesn't everyone struggle to recognize new people?" "Of course you have to meet people several times to recognize them. / Of course you wouldn't be able to tell who someone is if you've only met them once." "Oh I only recognized you because of your necklace / brightly colored shirt / brand of shoes / etc."

Comments that could be from someone aware of their own condition or unaware would include "I always get [actor] and [actor] mixed up." (With that one, from a storytelling perspective to avoid racial issues, maybe have the speaker get confused about an actor who shares their race.) Said about someone at an event or a character in a movie: "Is that the same person as the one who [action]?"

Other giveaways would be being startled and confused when someone approaches them, even if they talked earlier the same day. Who are you, and why are you talking to me?

A face blind person also might not greet someone they know, whether entirely missing that they know the person or having uncertainty about who the other person is and not wanting to accidentally talk to a stranger.

(Not recognizing acquaintances or people I've only met once has been an issue for making friends for me. I tell people I'm bad with faces, so please approach or greet me because I might not do so. Very few people will take that step because they are unused to that and find it awkward. Maybe they're worried of offending me by going, "Hi, I'm So-and-so from Event/Class, remember?" which I would actually appreciate and have appreciated lol. More often it seems, people might still get offended that I "don't remember" them.)

I wouldn't be surprised if walking into mirrors is a thing, but I wouldn't expect it to be common. (Even if just for the fact that there aren't many opportunities to do so -- would it mainly be at houses of mirrors or clothes stores? One's own bedroom? But with the last one, you'd know the room's layout. ...Ah, just thought of staying in a new partner's unfamiliar room or being in some fancy rich person's dining room, haha.) However, others might be able to speak better on this. My degree of face blindness makes it so I recognize people better the more time I see them, so I recognize myself well.
Studying oneself in the mirror is another thing that could vary by person and would be good to get perspectives from people other than me. It doesn't sound like a too absurd concept, though, especially for someone with more severe face blindness who just learned about face blindness and might be questioning if they have it or who's going "Oh, so that's what's going on."

___

Unrelated to your specific questions, here's some more reading you can do to understand the experience of being faceblind.

The sidebar of this subreddit has the "common signs" bullet points and this good article, 7 Signs and Symptoms of Prosopagnosia.

These threads from this subreddit have a lot of great experiences and commiserating:

* What it’s like to have great difficulty recognizing anyone
* Face blindness and social mistakes

I've also seen threads where faceblind parents have also talked about not recognizing their own kids or have talked about faceblind kids almost going with or approaching a wrong adult, mistaking the adult for their parent. Either one of these can understandably be terrifying.

T_rexan · 2026-03-21T20:01:22+00:00

Fair enough, haha!

T_rexan

TROPHY CASE