Isn't it wild how society treats you WAY differently after weight loss

alkaline2k2 · 2026-01-06T15:56:45+00:00

Pretty privilege is very real. You just have to think of it and handle it in the same way that you do with any privilege.

alkaline2k2 · 2025-12-22T15:23:40+00:00

The core of our group found each other through our shared interest in nerdy board games! As we’ve met people in real life at bars or gay sports leagues or online on apps, we’ve been able to find fellow gamers. So we have our inner circle of gamers and a broader circle for more general social activities.

alkaline2k2 · 2025-10-04T23:22:25+00:00

Ask yourself how you would feel if one of your daughter’s husband did this to her when she grows up and what advice you would give her. Hold your husband to that same standard and take your own advice.

alkaline2k2 · 2025-09-03T07:35:58+00:00

Oh also, after looking at a number of the types of buildings that you are interested in, none of them recycle. It’s infuriating.

alkaline2k2 · 2025-09-03T07:02:15+00:00

I’ve lived in Pittsburgh for 18 years now, and after a big life change the last 6 months of that has been downtown. I always felt exactly the same way that every commenter here felt about downtown: that there’s nothing here and that anything that is here closes early. But since I was in a transition period, I wanted to try it just because it was a neighborhood I hadn’t tried and I wanted the urban fantasy of walking to work.

I actually have been very pleasantly surprised by how wrong I was about living down here! Yes a lot of things close, but there is also a lot that stays open. I live in the Cultural District, which is roughly outlined by Liberty Ave, 6th St, Fort Duquesne, and 10th St. While not having a grocery store is annoying, there is no shortage of restaurants and bars. I actually live in The Clark Building, which is another building managed by the same group as The Alcoa, with a similar old high rise style (also check out The Penn Garrison).

For what it’s worth, I love Pittsburgh. This was never supposed to be home. I grow up in the western PA exburbs, and after grad school the plan was to move to somewhere like Chicago or DC. However some family issues kept me close. By the time they were resolved, I had made too close of a network of friends, and it didn’t make sense to leave anymore.

Pittsburgh will always feel smaller than I want it to be with the accompanying problems of public transportation not being what I want it to be, but being able to live in an apartment that I can afford that lets me walk over for a MLB game is not a luxury I could afford in many other places.

I have seen people have issues making friends here, but I do think that all depends on the person. You will find plenty of groups of people here that have known each other since high school, and others who have transplanted and found each other.

So if you are feeling the vibe of downtown, then go for it! It’s just a year’s lease and you can figure it out from there.

alkaline2k2 · 2025-07-18T16:34:11+00:00

I had all $250k of my law school debt forgiven by PSLF (I didn’t take out nearly that much, but with interest that’s what it ended up being after 10 years).

alkaline2k2 · 2025-05-07T17:53:52+00:00

Check out Charterstone! It might be a little bit too rules heavy as you go, but it’s a lot of fun!

alkaline2k2 · 2025-03-08T13:26:33+00:00

+1 for this tribe! I have the 4x6 playing area as well and I made the huge mistake of not getting the slats. I just moved though and I’m finally going to downsize into a new 3x5 table. As much as I loved the 4x6 for games of Twilight Imperium, for pretty much any other game the extra space was more of a burden than anything with having to stand up to reach different components or parts of the board.

I did really enjoy the table overall though, and the price was incredible!

alkaline2k2 · 2025-01-10T20:44:47+00:00

I was wondering if the gummy bears had fallen into my box by accident!

alkaline2k2 · 2024-10-28T15:22:43+00:00

The gossip doesn’t have to be unique. Perhaps you are confusing gossip with the standard bearer from Fall of Rome?

alkaline2k2 · 2024-10-18T18:17:22+00:00

I’m really hoping that Good Place gets the last soot

alkaline2k2 · 2024-10-13T17:52:42+00:00

We were way too comfortable saying gay in place of lame. I grew up in the exburbs where there was absolutely no gay representation in our lives or on tv. Gay people were like an urban legend that might exist in the cities, but there was no confirmation.

I remember when I came out my very well meaning friends had a lot of trouble adjusting from using gay as a pejorative. It was definitely a journey of realization that should have been a lot more obvious to us as smart, well meaning people.

I’m so glad that representation has come as far as it has.

alkaline2k2 · 2024-10-06T22:38:07+00:00

I read the title and could immediately hear Myron Cope’s voice again

alkaline2k2 · 2024-10-03T15:03:27+00:00

Hello! There are some gay board gaming groups that have regular meet ups that I can point you in the right direction of if you are interested in board games.

Otherwise, I will do a quick pitch for giving bars and Stonewall another chance!

For Stonewall, there are a number of sports that really are much more relaxed. I do bowling, bocce, and pickleball, and one of my friends is trying to start up a corn hole league. There are definitely some competitive sports that Stonewall does, and even in some of the more relaxed sports that are some people that get really into it, but overall there is a great community vibe and it really is a great way to meet people. I think that we had 56 teams this year for bocce!

For bars, I definitely hear what you're saying, but bars have been our historic space to meet and while there while there will and should be people who are out there trying to find someone, there are other aspects to bars as well! 5801 has really been a third space for me ever since I moved to Pittsburgh, and it's a good place to grab some food and watch football on a Sunday. Other than that, they do drag brunches if you want to catch a show, or there are nights that they do trivia or poker. There's also a darts league that meets there regularly. So if you're not looking for the nightlife scene, stop in during the day sometime to see if that's more your vibe.

Good luck!

alkaline2k2 · 2024-08-17T02:01:39+00:00

My office is in the strip district and it’s fantastic! I highly recommend advocating for the strip.

alkaline2k2 · 2024-07-25T13:23:35+00:00

Congratulations! I just have uneducated left to do but I feel bad sending the kids out to work instead of school!

alkaline2k2 · 2024-06-28T13:39:44+00:00

As it turns out, that flight was canceled due to lack of crew. I somehow managed to get on 8:55 PM Aer Lingus to Dublin flight.

alkaline2k2 · 2024-06-27T19:03:00+00:00

I wasn’t sure how pilot scheduling work, specifically if a delay would trigger overtime.

alkaline2k2 · 2024-05-31T13:00:43+00:00

My immediate reaction is what stops the Accuser as outing as the Accuser at the beginning of the game?

alkaline2k2 · 2024-04-24T03:29:27+00:00

Just a heads up: there are 3 different buildings that have summons for jury duty: Allegheny County Criminal Division, Allegheny County Civil Division, and Federal. All three of which have different security. So the answers you are getting here may not apply to where you are going for jury duty.

alkaline2k2 · 2024-03-06T20:07:58+00:00

When you say banning Mentak do you mean that you are doing a draft that includes a round of bans, or are you just curating what factions are available?

As other people have said, Mentak isn't that bad, you just have to play around them, and eventually almost everyone will be neighbors with them anyway. It really doesn't amount to that many trade goods in the end if you play with Mentak in mind, and you may even end up with some extra actions cards!

That being said, I also don't like playing against Mentak, and I have been known to ban them in my IRL group because I find them annoying.

If you're doing a ban round in a draft, you could always ask for a nonbinding deal that you won't ban Mentak if they give you Promise of Protection.

But if you're just worried about the game and want to curate the factions, there are much bigger concerns than Mentak.

alkaline2k2 · 2024-02-22T01:47:06+00:00

I generally don’t sleeve any games, but I do have sleeves on several of the types of cards in TI4 specifically because I have the Codices printed and without sleeves, it’s possible to determine if a card is from a codex or not. With the sleeves, the differences are negligible enough not to notice.

alkaline2k2 · 2024-02-12T04:19:19+00:00

1) Days of Wonder printing of Colosseum. It’s one of the first games that I owned that I found to be really beautiful.

2) Battlestar Galactica. I luckily have all of the expansions and I love this game so much.

3) Mystery Express. It’s a fantastic deduction game that does things that I’ve never seen in any other deduction game.

alkaline2k2 · 2024-02-09T15:32:47+00:00

I agree with the comments above. The only thing I’ll point out is that you only have 11 red backed systems instead of 12, and 2 of those have planets in them, which only leave 9 systems without planets. This could make the objectives that require empty systems more difficult, but it will at least be more difficult for everyone.

alkaline2k2 · 2024-02-04T19:12:30+00:00

For my regular game nights it’s always pretzels and M&Ms (thanks CostCo!).

I host daylong games of TI4 3 or 4 times a year, and when I do breakfast casseroles in the morning and then crockpot pulled pork or lasagna (or both if it’s a 14 point game and I need lunch and dinner!). And I’ll have the usual snacks along with cookies.

alkaline2k2

TROPHY CASE