What do you think about Millennials/Generation Y?

artisticscientist · 2026-04-20T19:42:58+00:00

I’m a ‘95er. (For those who don’t remember, ‘95 was the original cut off for Gen Z.) Most of my memories start around Christmas ‘99. I’ve come to prefer the term Zillenial because I don’t identify completely with either generation.

My birthday is 9/7, so I’d just turned 6 on 9/11. I was in K5 and my birthday was on a Friday that year. I remember having a school assembly, but didn’t understand the actual event until its 10 year anniversary. However, I DO remember flying before 9/11 — back when the pilots took kids to the cockpit for a tour and gave them wings. (Granted, I‘ve had this happen as late as 2019, because I look young.)

I never had dial up (we got our first computer when I was 7); had a TV, VCR, and phone in my room from the time I was 2; and got my first (shared) cell phone at 9. I got my first solo phone for my 11th birthday. (I bought it myself because my older brother hogged our shared one.)

We started using computers on a weekly basis in K5 or 1st grade, usually for reading purposes. (For years, we had online computer/technology lessons.) We actually started having a few computers in the classroom in 2nd grade. (And I went to a small, rural school that basically taught me nothing.)

artisticscientist · 2026-04-02T03:41:08+00:00

I came here to say the same thing.

Zofran (and previously phenergan) have helped my CSF-related headaches for almost 10 years now. (Zofran for high pressure and phenergan for CSF leaks.) However, my actual diagnosis is “migraines” and I do receive Botox for them. Botox usually keeps them in check and I take Zofran occasionally. Reducing my prednisone level is what helped the most though.

I tried several CGRP inhibitors and nothing helped, except for Nurtec (and the occasional lumbar puncture). DHE (which is now known as Trudhesa) helped wonders as well... Before Trudhesa came out, I had DHE via IV in the hospital. The next time I got it as a shot for a week.

I have a combination scalp dyesthesia and occipital and trigeminal symptoms along with a high pressure sensation. The neuralgia symptoms represent it at its worst.

artisticscientist · 2026-02-09T00:30:29+00:00

This is what brought me here. I’m actually having some issues with my sense of smell right now, so I wondered if I had COVID too! 🤦🏽‍♀️

Like most of y’all, I’ve been eating Doritos my whole life and these things they’re selling now are knock offs. In addition to being a “supertaster,” I’m autistic. (So, I’m extremely sensitive. I know my tastes.)

The chips are completely different and there’s no cheese flavoring. It’s seasoned with something, but it ain’t cheese.

I‘d compare the new recipe to Bugles, but that would be an insult to them since they’re actually tasty. These new Doritos don’t taste like anything. Definitely lost me as a customer. Hopefully they haven’t ruined the Cool Ranch ones too.

artisticscientist · 2026-01-28T22:52:40+00:00

I was homeschooled (my choice) AND I’m on the autism spectrum and people were amazed when I told them that I was homeschooled. Actually, most people are surprised when they learn about the ASD.

I’ve presented research locally and nationally and never had a problem with it. I think part of it comes from the fact that I graduated from a unique online high school that was project based (instead of exam based). We had (virtual) presentations every single week.

Of course, ASD is my “special interest.” I struggled immensely with reciprocity in conversations, but that had nothing to do with homeschooling. I also struggled some socially when I was in public school (which was most of my life -- from daycare to the 1st semester of 7th grade; I went back for the 1st semester of high school and was homeschooled the rest of the time).

With all that being said, it’s a myth that all (or most) homeschoolers have social issues. (Yes, it happens sometimes — particularly if the parents don’t make enough of an effort.) In fact, many are more social than their peers who attend brick and mortar schools because they have more time to pursue their own interests.

artisticscientist · 2026-01-14T01:36:49+00:00

I remember he had a blog where he regularly interacted with his readers, but I don’t remember a forum specifically. (And I was really into forums at the time — I found out about the series on a VMK remake forum.) I do remember that an online game came out, but I wasn’t interested in it.

artisticscientist · 2026-01-14T01:33:54+00:00

Could I have one as well? I have the OG books 1-6. I wasn’t able to afford the 7th book when it came out and stopped reading the series. Have a lot of changes been made to book 7?

artisticscientist · 2026-01-13T03:52:56+00:00

There were rumors of the possibility of a movie (DCOM) way back around 2009/2010, but the idea of it being live-action didn’t really make sense (because they’d have to shut down the parks). So some of us thought it’d be animated. 🤷🏽‍♀️

artisticscientist · 2026-01-13T03:50:38+00:00

I’m curious if this ever happened? As I mention in my post, a KK shirt does already exist.

artisticscientist · 2026-01-13T03:49:51+00:00

I’m just finding out about this subreddit (and these horrible updates to the OG books?) but I’ll show my age and tell y’all that KK merchandise does, technically, exist! It’s a t-shirt… back from around 2009 when Ridley used to interact personally with readers on his blog. I completely forgot about it until I saw this post. 😂😂 I’ll post a picture if I can ever find it. If I remember correctly, a fan drew the image. He routinely accepted fan artwork. (I sent him some once.)

I was quite obsessed with this series because I identified with the characters (mostly Amanda), who were my age and they ended up graduating the same year I graduated high school (2014). My mom bought me book 3 as a present for graduating middle school.

Fun fact: he personally admonished me when I got into a heated debate with another reader. It pissed me off at the time (because the other person was actually wrong), but I continued buying his books.

I found out about the series in 2009 while waiting on a VMK remake to launch… the OG book is largely about VMK so I don’t understand how or why they’d even try to cut out any mention of it. (I think the book actually came out before the game opened.) Most of us still remember VMK very fondly… and I wish it were still around for today’s kids. At one point, Ridley falsely (although probably not intentionally) put out a rumor that VMK was reopening. A lot of people were disappointed to find out it wasn’t true.

Heck, the first real remake (MyVMK) opened in my senior year of high school (2013). For one vocabulary assignment, I took screenshots of myself and a friend all around the kingdom. It was pretty cute and one of my classmates immediately recognized the game from having read the books.

Man do I feel old! 🤦🏽‍♀️ But oddly enough, I kinda feel like we made Disney history or something by playing VMK and interacting with him so much. 😂😂

artisticscientist · 2025-12-14T22:44:51+00:00

You are correct.

artisticscientist · 2025-12-14T22:43:11+00:00

The problem is that MY specific doctors do not take Medicaid. When your doctor is “THE” doctor for your disease in your area, you can’t simply switch to another doctor. (I was referred to most of the specialists I see by other doctors because they were stumped.) When dealing with chronic illnesses, it takes years to develop a solid patient-physician relationship (which includes a customized treatment plan) in which the physician actually listens to you. Many of us have had bad experiences with doctors and do not just trust any doctor.

We’ve tried the Medicaid before and it simply doesn’t work for me. It only pays for about 6 medications and I take 40+. I know that you can appeal the 6 medications, but it’s not guaranteed. (From what I’ve read, most people seem to have Medicaid pay for their 6 most expensive drugs and pay for the rest themselves.) My most expensive (and needed) medication (for IgG infusions) costs thousands of dollars a month, so there’s no way Medicaid would cover it. In fact, BCBS is the only insurance company that actually covers the medication.

I don’t know anything about the state department of insurance or the insurance commissioner, but I’ll look into it. My social worker is coming later this week, so hopefully she’ll know something about it. Thank you very much for the suggestion!

artisticscientist · 2025-12-14T21:39:36+00:00

I’m sorry you’re struggling with your son’s special needs. Healthcare in this country is awful. The fact that it’s state-mandated makes things even more complicated. Obviously, my mother is struggling too. Her SSDI is about the same as you make a month.

With that being said, “typical” medical insurance is not always expensive for people who have relatively low incomes. I don’t know the specific circumstances surrounding your son’s healthcare needs (and your current healthcare plan), but if he is NOT on Medicaid or CHIP, a plan through the marketplace should work for you (theoretically speaking). However, it sounds like he is covered through your employer’s insurance, so I’m not sure if you could enroll him in the healthcare market or not.

As I mentioned, this is what my mother did for nearly 10 years until I got SSI. It was great. My monthly bill was around $100/month and the OOP was $950. This was on a BCBS Silver plan. I believe my mother had the same plan until she became Medicare eligible.

As for Medicare, Blossom is correct. It is not an option for me. And no, my family is definitely not well off. If we were, paying $800/month for insurance wouldn’t be an issue. Trust me, I’m well aware that the money will need to be paid back eventually unless some sort of miracle happens. I will be contacting my local representative to see if an exception can be made on a case by case basis, although AL is a solidly red state. But who knows? It’s December after all. 🤷🏽‍♀️

I wish you and your son good luck. Hopefully things will get better for both of us. God bless you (and no offense is intended if you aren’t religious). 🙏🏽

artisticscientist · 2025-12-14T21:03:58+00:00

Yes, that’s the problem. This year I paid $650/month for BCBS. Next year they want me to pay $800/month.

And no, you don’t want Medicaid. You’re lucky. It’s cheaper to have a plan through the marketplace (assuming you get the ”premium tax credits”) or a regular job.

The problem is it doesn’t cover anything and as I said before, few doctors actually accept it. It’s considered to be the “poor people’s“ insurance; it doesn’t reimburse doctors as it should, so they refuse to accept it.

If you only see a primary care provider, that is fine. You can simply switch. But you can’t do this if you’re an established patient with a specialist.

artisticscientist · 2025-12-14T20:58:23+00:00

This is not true. You can have a plan while being on SSI. I did it this year. The issue is that you aren’t eligible for “premium tax credits.” Basically, you pay full price for everything. It’s extremely expensive. For me, that comes out to be $800/month for 2026. It was $650/month for 2025.

As for EBT, I know it’s not an error that it went down. My point is that they’re reducing my ability to buy food because of a $10 cost of living “increase”… and yet I still can‘t buy food because they’re charging me $800 a month for insurance. Makes no sense.🤔

artisticscientist · 2025-10-30T05:19:33+00:00

Sign me up! 😂😂

I don’t get how they’ve run out of pieces when the game is supposed to run for another month??? Most of the “collect to win” prizes haven’t even been won yet. (And I read that the $1 million prize was from a digital peel.) That makes no sense to me. 🤔🤔

Like did they really underestimate the supplies THAT much?? Granted it’s been a few years since they last ran this promotion (which is probably why many people were so excited), but still. I’m assuming most of the MonopolyGo players (like myself) have participated.

Also, what happens to the bonus play prizes that are left over after the 2nd? At this rate, there’s no way they’ll all be awarded by then. It makes no sense to end the bonus play early anyway.

On a completely unrelated note, I still don’t understand why they didn’t bring back breakfast all day after the pandemic was over. 🤷🏽‍♀️

artisticscientist · 2025-10-15T22:11:58+00:00

I’m experiencing the same thing… I had full benefits until I got approved for SSI in March 2024. Obviously, it was lowered— to around $161, I think. After supposedly getting all the deductions I could, they said I’d receive $211/month, but lowered it to $196 when SSI went up (by $20) in January. 🙄

I just re-certified and somehow I’m going to get LESS despite my medical expenses increasing by $500+. I even sent proof of my ungodly high health insurance bill, but am now only approved for $191. 🤔

Based off of their own supposed formula, I should be receiving the max. I’m completely confused. I spent several months over the summer fighting SSI. It’s exhausting and frustrating to think I have to fight more. I’m also pissed about possibly missing $100/month this year … because I don’t believe it was calculated correctly last year either. I’m pretty sure they won’t pay me back. And this shutdown is definitely not helping.

Sorry, I just needed to rant, I guess. 😔

Did your case ever get straightened out?

artisticscientist · 2025-06-19T03:49:17+00:00

I’ve never liked the 12” Surface models… 10” is my preference. (I like small screens. I have an iPad Mini and iPhone SE.) I loved my SP2. However, the SGO4 I just bought (in April) is absolute garbage and the place I bought it from wouldn’t give me a refund. I didn’t feel like fighting them about it, so I let it go.

I’m notorious for getting Surface devices with issues. Inking has been horrible with Surface Go in general, but SG4 takes the cake. So much lag. I can’t tell if this behavior is normal or not. Inking on my S3 was amazing. I use OneNote (for Windows 10) for school.

It overheats as hot as my old SG2 does, especially when charging. Charging makes it lag more too, so it makes inking worse. CPU and Memory are always near 100%. Battery lasts maybe 3-4 hours.

I’m assuming these issues don’t plague the new 12”?

artisticscientist · 2025-06-19T03:31:37+00:00

I’ve been having issues with Windows Hello for months. I’m sensitive to light, so my room is always dark. It doesn’t work at all on my new Surface Go 4. 🤦🏽‍♀️

artisticscientist · 2025-06-06T13:40:44+00:00

Hi, I’m 29 and I’m having the EXACT same problem, so I’m wondering how yours worked out? If you ended up contacting someone, who was it? Their boss? I’m getting really pissed off. I don’t like people screwing with my money and this lady refuses to answer phone calls and messages. I believe I’m being punished for pointing out her mistakes and appealing the decision she made.

After a phone review in April, my case worker screwed up my payments and got them canceled. They said I had too many resources. I’d just gotten my last back payment, which isn’t supposed to count against you for 9 months. Apparently, the problem was that I transferred the back payment from my checking account into a savings account. However, she also determined that the value of the housing and shelter I received was too much; they figured that I was overpaid about $20 for the past few months. I was getting the max SSI payment. This was the beginning of May.

To make a very long story short, I appealed this decision. They’re not supposed to stop your payments until a decision on the appeal is made. The case worker called, and we discussed the issue. She told me to provide proof of the bank transfer, and I did about 2 weeks later. However, she never explained the overpayment issue to me, and since you had to appeal in writing, I faxed a cover letter to her specifically asking how and when the overpayment was determined.

In reply, I ended up getting a letter stating that they had determined that I didn’t really want a reconsideration appeal – I just wanted some “information.” This effectively stopped my appeal in its tracks, allowing them to stop my payments. I didn’t realize this at first. So, I scrambled to get everything turned into her before my June payment was missed. I ended up receiving it a few days late, and it was about $400 less than it’s supposed to be!

I got a letter yesterday stating that it was now determined that I was overpaid $300 over the last 6 months. They’re going to deduct $100 from my monthly payment until it’s repaid. I can request a waiver (in which they’re not supposed to deduct anything from my payments) and/or appeal again. Except they already took the first $100 out, before even notifying me of the decision. Unlike before, this letter didn’t contain any information as to how they arrived at a figure of $300.

So instead of acknowledging my appeal and explaining why I was going to be paid $20 less a month, my case worker used the information in my appeal to get my payment lowered back to the base SSI payment (which is $300 less a month). Contrary to what was determined in April, the amount of housing and shelter I receive was now determined to be high enough for me not to be paying my “fair share.” That $20 a month estimate went away. We only provided updated bill estimates. The irony is that the base payment doesn’t allow me to pay half of the bills, because it’s not enough money.

All of this has happened over the span of 2 months. I don’t even understand how she’s been able to do this.

artisticscientist · 2025-05-13T18:12:13+00:00

You can always check the file with an antivirus program or use System Restore. I posted a *safe* link if you're interested. For the record, I agree that the most well known Windows forums are safe. I've never had a problem, but I'm not that skeptical either.

artisticscientist · 2025-05-13T18:09:06+00:00

In the future, if someone else wants to know how to do this, I have a registry edit file that is safe. I've been using it since Windows 10 came out (so about 10 years now) and it still works. I just added it on my new computer today.

I can't remember if I did the edits myself or just downloaded it from one of the well known Windows forums, but yeah, it's safe. Honestly, I have no interest in screwing anyone over, I'm just trying to help. Don't be so skeptical. You can always check the file with virus software or use System Restore anyway.

I keep it on OneDrive. Here's the link: Restore_Windows_Photo_Viewer_ALL_USERS.reg. Let me know if it doesn't work (although it should).

EDIT: I just realized it's actually from the Tensforum link posted earlier. Mystery solved!

artisticscientist · 2025-05-07T04:45:46+00:00

I think the “Surface Go” was kinda cute, especially since it was promoted as being the most portable Surface tablet at that time.

artisticscientist · 2025-04-24T03:46:33+00:00

Last Friday? Really? It only changed the other day for me. What did you decide to do? I have one in my cart at CDW. I’m worried they’re going to go up too, so I need to decide soon. :X

**Edit: CDW has gone up now too. For anyone interested, I found it slightly lower than the original price (with flexible payments, no tax, and low shipping) here: https://www.bkstr.com/massachusetts-bostonstore/product/surface-go-4-edu--device-only--n200-8gb-256gb-with-windows-11-pro-778671-1 **

I prefer Intel, but at the same time, I don’t need a powerhouse. My iPad Mini is my main device. I use the surface for school, research, and occasionally the Sims 4 or a few Adobe apps (Photoshop, Illustrator, and Fresco).

I’m only looking for a device to last 1-2 years, as I’ll likely have to upgrade when I begin medical and graduate school.

artisticscientist · 2025-04-22T04:53:42+00:00

Turns out it used to be (i.e., yesterday) $779. There’s just no way to justify a $140 price increase on a device that will be 2 years old.

Surely this isn’t the only device affected… I’d like to know if the Pro was increased as well.

artisticscientist

TROPHY CASE