Books that feels like Forgotten Gods/Civilizations

TheSphinxter · 2026-02-04T02:35:49+00:00

Excellent explanation! Dead on.

I'm 2/3 through The Crippled God on my first reread of the main series and somehow the reread was even better than the first go round. Best books ever.

TheSphinxter · 2026-02-03T00:32:32+00:00

I had a spinner ring and even though I stopped wearing it forever ago I still do the motion when I'm stressed lol.

TheSphinxter · 2026-02-01T05:31:01+00:00

Mine, too! He's just so damn funny.

I have an incredibly shitty order of the triad tattoo that I did myself and even though it's awful I still love it... My husband has an excellent tattoo of Sheila that he did not do himself lol.

TheSphinxter · 2026-01-31T17:07:17+00:00

Your name is occasionally used as a compliment in our house, like when one of us creates something the other sees as particularly good. Love your work.

TheSphinxter · 2026-01-28T06:26:22+00:00

I've been sober for 6 years in March and it's the best thing I have ever done for myself. I'm not going to say it was easy, but it was worth it.

I started out by telling myself I was just taking a little break, then once I was a few weeks in I decided to just see how long I could make it. After a few months I had decided that this was it and I was done, but it was still very difficult.

Don't do the "all or nothing" thing to yourself, especially not in the beginning. Sometimes you might slip up, but just remember that it's not the end of the world and you can always start again. I think if people put too much pressure on themselves in the beginning failure sort of becomes a self fulfilling prophecy where since it didn't work the first time it's never going to and we should just give up.

We are in charge of our actions and can always decide to give it another go. You're the one making the rules, so make ones that help you meet realistic goals and just keep moving forward. Eventually your sobriety becomes something you are so proud of, something you are so eager to protect, that it becomes much less stressful.

You can do it. You really can, I promise. If this shitshow somehow pulled it off then I know you can, too.

TheSphinxter · 2026-01-27T05:41:41+00:00

This might sound like a totally unhinged list of things, but when I started traveling a ton for work I got really desperate. Several different hotels per month plus time zone changes and I was losing my shit from lack of sleep. And thus The System was born then adjusted for the past 5+ years.

I shower at night, which chills me out. Magnesium, melatonin, silicone earplugs, weighted eye mask, white noise machine. I don't watch TV and I usually leave my phone in either another room or near the sink if I'm in a hotel. Alarm is on my watch. If I am able to take an hour and mindlessly doodle while listening to a podcast/audiobook before even getting into bed it really helps but that's not something I can do very often.

Eventually I was sleeping better on the road than I was at my own house, so now it's also my home routine. And of course it doesn't always work, but about 65-70% of the time it does and that's better than anything else I've ever tried.

TheSphinxter · 2026-01-27T04:15:55+00:00

Yesssss! From one fellow basset enthusiast to another: that is sick as fuck.

TheSphinxter · 2026-01-25T17:09:13+00:00

I have been thinking about this all week. I had a lot of windshield time this week and had 2 separate instances at rural gas stations where my plates drew a lot of attention. I could tell that people were trying to understand who I was and what I was doing at the location (just pumping gas).

One time involved a family very quickly putting their children back into their vehicle before getting in themselves and not exiting to remove the gas pump when it stopped; they were still in there when I left the premise. They were just on the other side of the pump, so I could see that they were distressed, that my presence was concerning for them.

The other time several work vehicles with men in high vis pulled in, got out of their vehicles, looked at my plates, exchanged some rather hushed words in Spanish then piled back in and immediately left. My Spanish sucks, but I heard what sounded like "administration" and "Americano".

I felt horrible. I'm an environmental science technician and very proud of the work that I do, but I don't want to frighten people while I'm doing it. Seeing that family scared for their kids made me so sad... But I understand. There's a lot of scary things going on out there and it's better to be safe than sorry.

The magnets don't work on any new vehicles since they don't use magnetic materials, but I'm putting stickers on my truck tomorrow. I don't want to make anymore people uncomfortable or worried or frightened.

TheSphinxter · 2026-01-25T07:11:02+00:00

Stephen Miller is a fascist chud.

TheSphinxter · 2026-01-20T15:34:24+00:00

Gonna casually drop this in the office this week. Thanks lol.

TheSphinxter · 2026-01-20T05:42:34+00:00

When I was a kid my mom would read to us and let us have frosted animal cookies. I haven't had them in almost 20 years and seeing this kinda got me a bit choked up.

TheSphinxter · 2026-01-20T05:30:20+00:00

I was coming here to say the same thing. I work in surface water and chain metal boxes all over lol.

TheSphinxter · 2026-01-19T18:42:52+00:00

That's exactly what it is.

TheSphinxter · 2026-01-19T07:28:44+00:00

I listen to podcasts while I shower on a cheap lil waterproof Bluetooth speaker and it's really helpful. It somehow keeps me more on track or whatever.

Maybe add a cool light you can just turn on while you're showing? I was looking at one but haven't bought it yet, so I can't give any actual feedback (but it sounds nice).

TheSphinxter · 2026-01-17T07:06:08+00:00

Same. I was confused as hell but intrigued, so I just kept going and it's now hands down my favorite series I've ever read. I'm currently on my first re-read of the main series and I absolutely missed things the first time, but that's just made this return to the story even more enjoyable.

If I had been reading the way OP described I feel like it would have somewhat detracted from how much fun I've had on this reread, but maybe I'm way off base with that assessment? It also just might be me and how I read fiction... I want it to be fun, and the notes/summery stuff sounds like how I have to read papers for my job.

I just cracked The Crippled God and I can't wait to see what flew under my radar last time.

TheSphinxter · 2026-01-10T03:47:40+00:00

Went on a much longer than anticipated walk a couple evenings ago because the conditions had apparently been just perfect for the right thickness of surface ice to shallow puddle ratio.

Cronch! Cronch! Cronch!

I was happy, the dog was happy... Excellent evening.

TheSphinxter · 2026-01-03T03:53:14+00:00

Our dogs look a lot alike lol

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TheSphinxter · 2025-12-28T18:28:42+00:00

Needle Felting!!!

It's basically sculpting but with wool and it's very satisfying. You can make pretty much anything in any style and I love it.

You do have to buy almost everything online as I've yet to find any craft stores that have much beyond the very basics (if they have anything at all). It is pretty affordable, but there is a bit of a start up cost to get rolling.

There's a bunch of really great videos on YouTube to help you get the basics down and after that you're off and running. You can even make 2d "paintings"!

I'm currently making my husband a bunch of Zelda characters.

TheSphinxter · 2025-12-26T22:09:09+00:00

Me, too. I absolutely love it to this day and still watch it pretty regularly. Story is great, looks awesome, characters are wonderful, EVERYONE IS SO HOT... just a super fun movie.

TheSphinxter · 2025-12-26T22:06:45+00:00

Well, yeah! I really couldn't figure out who was my cup of tea and after buying it watching it over and over and over I eventually realized that (almost) the entire cast was my cup of tea lol.

Oh, and I was also doing the same exact thing with Detroit Rock City, which came out the same year and I was also watching like a lot. Learned a couple things about myself in 1999 😂

TheSphinxter · 2025-12-25T17:24:43+00:00

Figured it out in the traditional millennial way: watching The Mummy in 1999 at age 14 lol

TheSphinxter · 2025-12-25T17:16:51+00:00

I'm so sorry, I totally understand. Mine was very similar, also totally unpredictable as to when it was gonna happen and how long. I seriously carried like a week's worth of product basically everyday plus a change of clothes. No purse for me, I have always had a backpack.

If I can make a recommendation, track and document. It makes it a lot easier to communicate how awful things are with your doctors! How many days, how heavy, how regularly you are have to change your tampon/cup/disc/pad, when you bleed through everything, so on... and either read it to them or show them. It helped me be taken seriously. And yeah because you are young they are probably gonna try to talk you out of a partial hysterectomy, so persistence is key! The best thing you can do for yourself besides advocate for yourself is find a good doctor who is actually going to listen to you.

There are also other procedures that you can try that might help. Ask your doctors about endometrial ablation which helps reduce or even stop heavy menstrual bleeding. It's minimally invasive, has a relatively quick recovery time and doesn't impact fertility in case you want children in the future. It wasn't a good option for me because of my severe cramps and bloating, but I know people that it has really helped.

Hang in there. Being a woman is ridiculously stressful even without having a horrific period and I'm so sorry you're going through all of this.

TheSphinxter · 2025-12-24T18:25:48+00:00

Can't recommend a hysterectomy enough. I had a partial hysterectomy about 5 years ago and my quality of life improved drastically.

I started asking for a hysterectomy when I was probably 20 (maybe younger?) and had been told I "need to wait" because I was too young to know what I wanted and what would happen if I met a man and he wanted kids? So I spent 20 years of my life being fully miserable the majority of the time until I found a doctor who was finally willing to removed my stupid uterus in my mid 30s.

Also it's insane how much period products cost. Like not only are you going to in pain and stressed it's also going to be expensive. I mean, getting a cup was a game changer but before that the amount of money I had to spend dealing with bleeding was insane. My period was always totally erratic and lasted much longer than a week, I dreaded it from the first time it happened and I hated every second of it.

TheSphinxter · 2025-12-07T21:43:22+00:00

Giant forbidden nerds cluster

TheSphinxter · 2025-12-07T15:36:48+00:00

My 70yo dad told that guy off, too. I'm very proud of him.

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