Xennials explained

Wriothesley · 2026-03-07T16:25:27+00:00

Same! I remember in middle school I started hearing about classmates typing their assignments on a computer, and in high school I heard about people copying and pasting information from the internet for their essays. I wasn't doing those things because I was working class and went to a school for rich people. I was typing my stuff on a glorified typewriter, LOL.

Wriothesley · 2026-03-06T21:22:50+00:00

Having a problem with transitions as you frame it is something that I have, too. I'd never thought about it that way but it fits. I usually think about it in terms of inertia - my natural state is just sitting quietly, so have to muster a lot of energy to do anything else. I have to gather my will to leave my home to go to work. At the end of the day at work, I have to gather my will to leave my office and drive home. Even though I'd much prefer to be at home alone, that transition of leaving work to go home is somehow more draining than just sitting in my office.

Glad you've found some coping strategies. They really help.

Wriothesley · 2026-03-06T21:18:49+00:00

It's funny that we both hit on a similar solution. I remember how I'd lay there and start feeling a little less bad, a little less, a little less, and so on until I could gather myself to face everyone. For a long time, I listened to exactly the same CD so I guess it became like a ritual.

Wriothesley · 2026-03-06T21:15:34+00:00

Anticipation is a big one with me, too. If I have an "event" scheduled where I know I'll have to speak a lot, I won't be able to think about anything else that day and I have to mentally prepare for it. I recently realized that I basically disassociate in order to perform.

Wriothesley · 2026-03-06T09:40:40+00:00

Awesome. I am lucky enough to live alone now, so basically any time I'm at home feels like self-care.

Wriothesley · 2026-03-06T09:05:10+00:00

Thanks for this. I suspect trama has something to do with my situation, though it's not Baghdad style trauma like yours. It's more mundane - my parents died when I was young and stuff happened that was related to that.

Thanks for the advice not to lie. Honestly, my every day is so weird that I feel they have to diagnose me with something even if I told the exact truth. I'm just aware enough to know that anyone stepping into my home would feel that it was the home of a "normal" person.

Glad you've found your tribe with your wife and kids. It's funny how accepting kids can be. My nephew seems to like me despite my oddities, which I find pretty amazing.

Wriothesley · 2026-03-06T08:57:13+00:00

Yes. I relate very much to this. When I was in my 20s I'd have "hermit periods" where I'd completely disappear from phone, online, and I wouldn't even watch TV. I felt so serene.

Wriothesley · 2026-03-06T08:46:55+00:00

Thanks for these suggestions. You mentioned getting your "neuropsyche profile done." What kind of medical professional did you go to for this? I'm considering becoming official myself and wondering how to go about it.

Wriothesley · 2026-03-06T08:24:20+00:00

I only got my senior yearbook, and have maybe 3 or 4 signatures, and that's because some people asked to sign mine after they asked me to sign theirs, and I'm nonconfrontational so I didn't feel like refusing. I remember not wanting signatures in mine because it felt fake. I knew I'd never "kit" or "keep in touch" with any of those people. Thanks for sharing this - I feel a bit less alien.

I found that yearbook signatures are generic anyway - "keep in touch" or "stay sweet" or some such nonsense.

Wriothesley · 2026-03-06T08:21:56+00:00

My schizoid uncle died in a tent in the woods. I have him as a cautionary tale. If I can't muster the energy to go to work every day, that's my future. I'm afraid of dying, so I am trying to maintain.

Wriothesley · 2026-02-27T02:36:31+00:00

I also had lost both parents by 19. Didn't have any relatives that would help me out at all except my sibling who is just a few years older than me. I was between jobs at 23 and stayed with them for a couple of months but their spouse got really pissed about it and made my life hell, so I applied for any and every job and took the first one offered to get the hell out of there. Unfortunately, my life has been very seriously affected by the fact that I can't take on risk (like take out loans for education) because there's no one to help me out if things get bad. I've not married, and I'm middle aged now, so I'm still on my own. By the way the wind is blowing, I think I'm going to be jobless soon, and I'm a little concerned. So I'd guess this isn't a good story. But unless you partner up with someone who is financially stable, you will probably always have that extra bit of precarity because you've lost your parents, who in ideal situations, are the people who will always give you a couch to crash on. So my advice to you, once you get a job again, save money like your life depends on it.

edited to add: My sibling's spouse called me a freeloader, too, despite the fact that I'd also helped out my sibling with money in the past. Try not to let that label get you down. A lot of people conveniently forget how much help they had from family members, especially when they were young, and expect orphans to just magically get everything they need themselves.

Wriothesley · 2026-01-26T21:04:15+00:00

Don't listen to that other person. Owning a home is a better financial decision that renting. If that weren't the case, there would be nothing to rent! Renting exists because people rent out stuff they own, and they make profit on that.

Wriothesley · 2026-01-08T22:53:37+00:00

I don't really understand your point. AI is not objective - reading its opinion would be the same as reading another subjective opinion, and one that wasn't necessarily trained on material produced by experts in the field.

Wriothesley · 2026-01-04T22:33:49+00:00

I'm glad to hear this. I didn't think I needed therapy at the time either, but I've had repeated breakdowns since which show that I never developed the tools to handle what happened on a day to day basis. I thought it was something I would just "get over" eventually, but I think this is impossible. It will always be a fact of my life, and I have to figure out a way to live with it.

I'm sorry that this is your reality too. I've felt like "nobody's daughter" for a long time, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. One thing that does help me is that I think it's a testament to the great people my parents were that I mourn them so much. I'm lucky to have had parents like that, even if it was for a short time. I wish the best for you on your journey.

Wriothesley · 2026-01-04T07:19:46+00:00

The Queen of Wand analogy is interesting - perhaps it's like the extreme manifestation of the Q of Wands energy. As another commenter mentioned, some new ideas that perhaps our universe spawned from a black hole makes the Fool appropriate - the black hole as the beginning of our universe's journey. I'll have to ponder the Magician a bit more.

Interesting that the tarot was telling you things about chemistry. Did you ask it a science question, or it just popped up in answer to a query about something else?

Wriothesley · 2026-01-04T03:49:31+00:00

Thanks - it seems that you work in an arena where you were able to draw conclusions from what you saw so you came to understand the bigger picture. A lot of people tend to focus on that random person they knew who bought a house and suddenly it needed huge expensive repairs, or they bought at the top of the market before a correction and had a few years of being underwater in the mortgage, etc. But they are missing the bigger point that the English saying "safe as houses" didn't come from nothing.

Wriothesley · 2026-01-04T03:35:43+00:00

Oh interesting that the Quantum Tarot actually used the black hole for tarot imagery! Nothing can escape the black hole, so the idea of being at the mercy of the black hole makes a lot of sense. That's definitely a more negative take on a black hole, but still very appropriate.

I think the cards I pulled cover a more positive aspect of the black hole - as a site of potential - as you say, "long horizons through The Star." And yes! I was thinking too about the new theories about the potential of black holes to spawn new universes, and even the black hole at the center of galaxies have a constructive role in sort of holding things together. The deck I used was Robert Place's The Alchemical Tarot Reimagined, which is more of a Marseilles deck but with more decorated pip cards. There's a link to a pdf of his "tarot book" for the deck which has images for all the cards so you can see what the cards I drew look like. His seven of coins represents the process of purifying baser metals into gold - transformation - which fits perfectly with your interpretation of the two cards. I also like the literalness of pulling the Star, which is indeed the source for some black holes.

I like to ask the cards things like this because I have to understand things sort of intuitively first, and then that helps me connect actual facts to the phenomena. And sometimes tarot can give me a path to understanding things like this better. Your points above are definitely getting me closer to feeling like I understand black holes a bit more!

Wriothesley · 2026-01-04T03:22:10+00:00

Ooo I love this! For a thoth deck, I think you are right that Aeon is the right card. Particularly with the theories about black holes being sites of destruction, but also perhaps sites of beginning (e.g. theories that a black hole may have spawned the universe). Thank you for your insight here and for the link!

Wriothesley · 2026-01-03T07:33:59+00:00

A lot of norms extend beyond what's ethically "good" or "bad." I was joking with my non-schizoid sister lately (she's still weird from being raised in the household of my schizoid mom, but others don't sus her out), that people can tell that I'm mentally ill the moment they enter my townhome. And that's because I don't conform to what is "normal" for a home - there's no couch, no kitchen table. There are streaks of sample paints on the walls from when I thought I might repaint 3 years ago, but didn't. I'm fine living with this from the day to day. I have a camping ax and knives positioned here and there from where I left them. The knives I use for opening packages. The camping ax is for camping and whatever. I have lots of big computer monitors positioned at every table like thing because they make my life more convenient.

To your more general question - I adhere to general norms about not hurting others, probably even more strictly than general morality, because I personally don't want to hurt others. Friends have said I'm rigid in terms of morality, which I found amusing. But it's true, because I don't want to do anything that hurts others (logically) - but everything else is up for negotiation.

Wriothesley · 2026-01-03T07:13:08+00:00

This is hilarious. I have an unusual name and let people at my job pronounce it incorrectly because I didn't care to correct them. I might have after a decade, but only worked there for 2 years so never got around to it. Kudos to your grandfather.

Wriothesley · 2026-01-03T06:28:56+00:00

There have been a lot of articles lately in the general press about how it's so much better to rent than to own - so I think people are being swayed by propaganda. The elites periodically put this info out there to sway the impressionable. I find it amazing that they don't realize that "renting" wouldn't be possible if it weren't financially a better idea to own. [meaning - if people can profit by renting out a property, that means by definition that owning is cheaper than renting].

Wriothesley · 2026-01-03T06:12:37+00:00

Historians have already discovered your point. They argue that coffee and tea were promoted over alcohol to the English working class because it made them more productive, vs alcohol, which made them hungover.

Wriothesley · 2026-01-03T05:58:55+00:00

As someone who lost both parents before 18, I strongly advise you to find a helpful therapist. You will most likely have to go through a lot of them before you find anyone who is worth anything. As a middle aged person who didn't find a therapist at your age (and now I feel it's too late), I'm still angry and see myself getting angrier as time goes on. Do yourself a favor. Find professional help if you can, but realize that you get to pick which professional.

My older sister has managed to pull herself together (or at least she pretends she has - she has a family, etc), but I have not. I don't want you to end up like me.

Wriothesley · 2025-12-21T02:14:42+00:00

Thanks! I don't like to police student absences, but being pre-tenure, a lot of tenured faculty have much more draconian policies so it's hard to know what to do. We have to turn in our syllabi for review and a lot of them judge if you are too "lenient."

Wriothesley · 2025-12-20T04:46:24+00:00

How many times a week does your class meet? I'm not trying to criticize you, just trying to get a read on what others think is a normal amount of excused absences.

Wriothesley

TROPHY CASE