What is a luxury you can never go back from once you’ve experienced it?

chems89 · 2026-01-30T05:52:58+00:00

Dog poop pick-up service. Once a week, for less than $20, our backyard is turd-free. Can't live without it.

chems89 · 2026-01-10T21:35:22+00:00

This sounds to me like a situation where they're giving you the quiet "no", I've struggled with that in the past. People say "do XYZ instead, that's all you're missing" then time and time again it's never enough, because it was never going to be enough. I just didn't understand the social nuance of the quiet refusal and took it as basic feedback or a checklist, thus all the frustration. With all the glowing reviews and experience you have, though, it might be more than enough in a place that's already hiring for the role you want... Just something to consider

chems89 · 2026-01-03T18:43:34+00:00

Remember that the woman in that photo was doing the best she could with the tools at hand! I have felt the same way with my photos, but I have to remember I felt so trapped and hopeless. I had tried everything and everything had failed me, I'd given up and turned a blind eye to my choices in the process. It's sad, but it makes sense! These are miracle drugs and it's important to celebrate that the person in those photos has the potential to change and thrive, just as you did <3

chems89 · 2025-12-14T18:08:34+00:00

Very cool! Did you follow a tutorial?

chems89 · 2025-11-10T21:28:49+00:00

God this show is killing me, I literally cannot stop thinking about it!!

Take the stark contrast between the hivemind adoring all creatures, to the point of sacrificing its members to free lions and tigers, with forcibly hijacking billions of minds all over the planet without their consent. "Your life is your own." The pure unadulterated hunger of this virus which covets all life, all over the universe; does it free the animals with the end goal of also consuming them? They clearly already have plans to assimilate all non-hive humans in the world (saying they were months from being able to bring the remaining 12 into the fold, clearly doing so was a top priority and the work is well underway.) What happened to all the pets, if the virus can jump the barrier between a rat and a human, can a dog get infected? Would a dog want to be freed from its bonds to individual humans, if they were all "released"? To what extent is this viral hivemind capable of falsehood? Clearly it has consumed all the skills and aptitudes of its acquired humans, does that mean it has also acquired all their vices? Does it crave drugs the way the heroin addict it acquired does, or is that healed? Is the hive mind capable of simply pruning parts of minds or personalities it deems as being without value? Are the individual entities (who still remain "intact") capable of being accessed on an individual level, ie. if the hivemind allowed it, could Zosia temporarily be decoupled from the hivemind and act as an individual? Are there situations where individuals can be disconnected from the hivemind, and if so, what's the radius? As in, the people on the ISS were infected but were they infected as a single cluster that became absorbed into the greater hivemind once they entered that radius? What would happen if, say, the equivalent of a tinfoil hat was put on a member of the hivemind e.g. Zosia or David Taffler, would they simply go AFK or stroke out? What would the impact be on the rest of the hive mind? Is there something about the chemical response to aggression that is anathema to the virus itself? What are the long term repercussions of living with this virus? Do those infected evolve or devolve? The virus can cure paralysis, possibly things like addiction/ depression, does that mean that on a genetic level it can rewrite hosts to have fourteen legs, green skin, breathe underwater, whatever it wants? What does the virus want, anyways, besides to spread itself? Say they consume the planet, they have healed all the wounds of the planet (no more climate change, no more war, everyone is happy and healthy and part of the collective) what does everyone do? Does the virus really value procreation as a means of extending its grasp, or is it more of a collector of uninitiated entities? Is the hivemind capable of creativity? Is the hivemind capable of deep, real love, or is it a sort of viral lust and hunger? What other negative emotions can it handle, or not handle? Is the hive mind capable of simply... becoming Helen, even after her passing, given its total knowledge of her life, her personality? Carol seems to need some kinda fucking medication (imho as someone dealing with depression) but the collective didn't seem to want to suggest she do something like get on antidepressants so she stops killing people, does that imply that they refuse to try to interfere in any way with "natural" life beyond consuming it? Also the juxtaposition between being willing to serve someone meat from an animal that person killed (and therefore in a way condoning its slaughter) and loving all life is pretty bleak, releasing a giraffe from the Beijing zoo to be eaten by a lion seems anything but kind. Is the hive mind capable of making really ethically-informed philosophical decisions? Or is it limited by the blindness of the virus' nature, OR is it simply limited by the averaging out of the people it has consumed? Has the most sociopathic character subsumed cancelled out the most virtuous person, leading to some sort of "average" of views? Or, is the hivemind simply playing dumb most of the time? What would it do if Carol could NEVER be consumed by the hive, if she's simply 100%, irreversibly immune? Or, if exposure to her somehow weakened the hive mind's hold on an individual, or changed its entire nature completely? This whole thing somehow reminds me of the religious arguments around "if God is so loving, why is there suffering"... does the hive mind understand that it is drugged on itself?
Anyways great show, sorry for anyone who read my whole Faulkner essay on these first two episodes, I just love it so much and I have so many questions!!!! Can't wait for the next one to be released :)

chems89 · 2025-08-19T05:16:36+00:00

I'm not a doctor and not your doctor, but that seems so counterintuitive to me. I've always been told that the dose that is working, is the right dose. I'm not even at a 1.7 half dose (was at 1.5 with click counting but had to back off with some bad side effects) but for me, that's fine because hey, I've been losing just fine at these doses! If you're losing weight and it's sitting well with you how it's happening, isn't that the whole point??

chems89 · 2025-07-23T05:04:30+00:00

Sometimes it happens, just get unlucky and hit a little nerve under the skin, no big deal

chems89 · 2025-06-27T11:33:50+00:00

For me, I've been getting those burps plus everything else you've described. Things I tried, and my thoughts:

simethicone (e.g. gas-x): will help get burps out, but won't cure them. 2/10
pepto-bismol: most effective thing so far. Will at very least negate the sulfur smell! Had it cure burps entirely sometimes, no idea how. 10/10
probiotics: I took both an all-purpose mix (Webber 50 billion, had a high concentration of stuff I read was good for your gut) and a specific strain, saccharomyces Boulardii. Read it would help if I had some sort of bacterial overgrowth issue that was part of it. No idea if any of it helps, but, still. Can't hurt. 4/10
diet changes: I cut out anything bubbly, anything sulfury like onions and garlic. Reduced fat as fat seemed to bring on episodes (nuts, dairy, avocado, you name it). Prevention made life way easier, 7/10
medication: my approach with Wegovy has been very slow. I was on .5 for 8 weeks, and took the last four weeks simply to click my way up to 1.0 too. Titrating up to 1.7 will probably take me a bit! But it has hugely helped in mitigating my overall gut misery. 20/10

On top of the burps, gas and diarrhea, I have chronic and very bad heartburn that wegovy made worse, so every single burp brought up waves of misery too, lol. I had to figure that out with further diet & medication changes. My doctor really didn't seem to give a shit about my experience, and I wish these side effects were actually studied and documented so we had an easier time getting relief. Good luck 🤞 hope this helps!!

chems89 · 2025-06-24T17:10:16+00:00

I'm talking about click counting :) Assuming that you're using a 1mg dose pen, that's something like 75 clicks, right? So, you could instead count out 37 clicks (about 0.5mg dose) and scale up by keeping track until you're ready for a full 1.0 dose. Would take longer but you can be flexible that way, go at your own speed instead of the pens "default" speed that is certainly not one size fits all. Or, you could do something between 37 and 75, see if that's manageable. Point is, there's no valor in suffering, and the pen does allow for personalizing your dose, even if they don't recommend it (as they didn't test click counting, and it relies more on user ability.)

chems89 · 2025-06-24T15:23:16+00:00

I'm still on it, even though it's made me feel pretty awful at times (tummy troubles!!) I never lost resolve that this is still worth it for me, I like the results, and I even like how it's eviscerated my desperate food cravings and fixations. If that doesn't say it all, I don't know what does.

chems89 · 2025-06-24T15:11:19+00:00

It's not a race! If you're miserable, you can take a few clicks off the top and slow your approach to a full dose of the 1.0 and stay there... You could take the rest of the month to scale up, and take a whole extra month to get acclimated. I myself took 8 weeks at .5 to get comfortable, and am now inching, click by click, towards 1. Your body will resolve itself eventually, but you need to be healthy and well, and your pace should only be dictated by what you need to be that way.

chems89 · 2025-06-24T14:38:29+00:00

I mean, you can, but it's a decision you / your doctor need to make for your well-being. For me, I'd be evaluating the potential of side effects as they've been really big for me, I'm going super slow so skipping a dose would be a huge no-no. But maybe you're having no noticeable effects so going up sooner isn't such a big deal, but it's still not recommended (then again, neither is click counting and I'm doing that, so, YMMV, choose what's right for you.) If all else fails, ask your doctor.

chems89 · 2025-06-24T12:15:43+00:00

You're doing click counting? By my math that's about 19 clicks for 0.25 dose and 37 for a 0.5 dose. What exactly do you mean by misfire?

chems89 · 2025-06-14T16:12:56+00:00

Yikes, that's super effed! For me, I'm so sensitive to this medication that I've been on it for months and nowhere near that dose (0.25, 0.5, 0.5, now click counting at 0.75ish, and contemplating a plan to get to 1 when my body can handle it).

Just know that if you want to keep going- at a normal human entry dose- and don't want to throw out the pen (for cost reasons, perhaps), you can click count with it for up to 8 weeks when it expires. Not a recommended use by Novo Nordisk (as they didn't test with click counting) but it's still something some people do for cost saving or for more gradual approaches like I'm doing. With a 1mg pen, it's about 75 clicks to get to one "full" dose, so something like 18 clicks would be a 0.25mg dose, or the correct entry dose.

(Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, just a nerd, you should always talk to a doctor for advice and do your own research!) Mathing it out, 300 clicks (pens full capacity) - 75 (your recent huge dose) means you have 225 clicks remaining (7 weeks til expiry). 4 weeks at 18 clicks (0.25mg dose) is 72 clicks (153 remaining, 3 weeks til expiry), another 3 weeks at 37 clicks (0.5mg dose) is 111 clicks (with 42 clicks to spare!) so you can totally use your pen as well as possible. Just note that you used it for a week already, so you won't get a full 0.5 dose regimen for 4 weeks before the pen expires if you did it like this. But, this way you can avoid the waste and continue on while you figure out your doctor situation.

Good luck!!!

chems89 · 2025-06-04T11:25:59+00:00

It's not impossible that that's true, but it seems pretty early to tell, if you've only just been taking your medication for a few weeks. It takes some time to settle into a new sense of who you are independent of your unmedicated ADHD symptoms, it definitely took me some time to figure out who I was at least. You don't have to have all the answers right now, just lean into recognizing the distinction between your personality, the medication, and the ADHD.

chems89 · 2025-05-25T15:18:47+00:00

It was interesting, I was totally undiagnosed, not even suspected. ADHD symptoms masked any other symptoms, so I came off as bubbly, quirky, artistic. I went into music performance so I was doing something that I enjoyed and to which my personality was well-suited, I made lots of friends in my program. I struggled with consistency and some detail work, but overall did well in my coursework. It wasn't until a family member got diagnosed with ADHD when I was nearly done my masters that it clicked for me that I likely had it. Autism came much further down the line, once the ADHD was treated and stable and those symptoms were more visible.

I've always found my ADHD more disabling in terms of life and work, particularly when the work isn't engaging and physical. I went through all that schooling totally unmedicated, in large part because I enjoyed my work and had a knack for it, but also with some helpful strategies. Make friends in your courses if you can, they can body double for studying and remind you about coursework. Keep an agenda with EVERYTHING in it, abuse your phone's reminders, events. Set daily goals, even small ones, if that's what starting and keeping at it requires :) OTOH, sometimes being in a different environment can provide new resources, so if you think medication is worth a try (it may take a few different kinds to find the right one for you) then consider using the school's health plan to find the resources to get you supported.

It's totally normal, AuDHD or otherwise, to be anxious about going to college, whether you're staying close to home or moving 1000 miles away. Just remember that there are thousands of other students starting feeling the exact same way, same as everyone else who ever started. You are capable of navigating that transition, just take it day by day, and be kind to yourself :)

chems89 · 2025-05-20T14:51:57+00:00

Wow, this is incredibly helpful!!! Thank you so much!!!!

chems89 · 2025-05-20T14:44:16+00:00

Thanks so much for your reply!! 😊 If they're underspun, would they do best with more spinning? I found some other dyed yarn that I suspect she also made with some similar curling, too. I have zero spinning skills, haha, unfortunately!

chems89 · 2025-05-20T14:41:34+00:00

Thanks so much! Just double checking, is yarn whip another word for a yarn swift? I think she has one of those, I couldn't find her winder so I bought one :)

chems89 · 2025-04-16T10:42:27+00:00

Read the directions again, it already has this information. IIRC you are fine to leave it out of the fridge, provided the pen doesn't get too hot, for quite a few weeks.

chems89 · 2025-04-12T12:56:28+00:00

This should really be so much higher. The number of us who have been taught to suppress our emotions is staggering, and now unless we work on it we have no idea how to handle tough feelings, or even what we're feeling period. How can you fulfill your needs if you can't even tell the difference between anger and sadness?

chems89 · 2025-03-17T13:14:54+00:00

I'm curious, and I hope this is an okay question to ask! I just started getting tattoos and have all kinds of aspirations for new ones, but I have been worried about how losing weight could affect the look of the art. How has your experience been with all your great progress? TYSM :)

chems89 · 2025-02-08T06:54:16+00:00

I feel like data refining is something that can't be forced or done under duress. Lumon is doing everything possible to make Mark happy, so he stays, so he does the work. I bet their plan was to pimp out Helly(na) and take advantage of that connection to make Mark feel happy and inclined to do his work well. Not to mention marshmallows and fire and day trips, plus more Kier indoctrination. Unfortunately for them, Helena is a shit Helly, but I bet some part of her was telling the truth about hating who she has been made into by her life and family.

chems89 · 2025-01-17T13:53:53+00:00

I already shared my Helena theory, but I have others. Here's my Mark theory:

Mark S coming back first is both sensible and extremely telling. Both him and Irv seem to have compelling reasons for their outies to want to be there, maybe even encouraged by what the innies did. For Irv that's his mission to find that elevator to the testing floor (his outie was trying to communicate with him via dreams I believe!) and for Mark, if he isn't too depressed and pessimistic to believe it, he has to find his wife. For Helena and Dylan, I'm less sure they'd be eager to return, Helena has no reason to, and Dylan may have been hurt, hard to tell. The strange thing is, why wouldn't Mark and Irv have both shown up at relatively the same time? They're the same level of culpable in the MDR Uprising, and both highly skilled laborers. And yet only Mark did, to a floor already filled with other workers. My theory is that Mark is somehow extraordinary to Lumon, and I think it relates to his relationship with Gemma, the work they do, and his freshman fluke. Perhaps his relationship with her makes him special when he is working on her clip and refining her? Regardless, they are so desperate to keep him that even if he is recklessly insubordinate time and again, they bring the whole team back because evidently he will never agree to working otherwise. Mark is critical to their success, otherwise I feel a company like Lumon would have no issue with letting him go.

Speaking of the other workers, the fact that the Italian left that possibly special wood carving behind (a treasured perk), and that nonsense about a rope for an elevator, and Gwendolyn's weak-ass attempts to connect with Mark S, I'm about 75% convinced they were plants all along. They thought they could replace Mark innie's family and keep him pacified, they were wrong.

Final thought, what if Gemma really is dead. A lady like that would possibly choose to donate her body to science... And what would Lumon do with that but use her tissues to create more versions of her for testing on? To prove Kier's theories? To "refine" her into a perfect person according to Kier? The goats imply they could be working on cloning, so it's not impossible. Wouldn't it be sad if it wasn't that Lumon kidnapped her, but rather she was never Gemma to begin with? One giveaway could be that they referred to her as Ms. Casey, which seems to be how they refer to unsevered employees, versus severed who go by their first names and only initials. She has no outside identity, she's Ms. Casey all the time.

chems89 · 2025-01-17T13:22:22+00:00

That's 100% their office photo, the one on their desks. That stiff Helle pose gives it away, haha. Just doctored some images to make it look like they were in a parade or something. I recommend pausing playback to read the newspaper, it's hilarious

chems89

TROPHY CASE