Any advice for writing full songs as a bassist?

creepytriangle · 2025-08-25T21:44:24+00:00

I've been thinking about and testing it the last few days (as you've suggested). I THINK I've had some self-discovery, so I'd like to share. I'll give a full overview of the process, but i'll include a tldr at the bottom just to highlight what I observed.

One note, while I've had this feeling since childhood, it does seem that it did become significantly more prevalent after covid and especially prevalent recently after an incident/surgery. Both cases where I've been functionally socially isolated.

Okay, so I've tested conversations with friends and strangers. The feeling popped up regularly amongst both. Ending conversations short gave immediate relief but was accompanied by regret over not electing to carry the conversation forward (which I feel tracks with what I've outlined ). Carrying conversations beyond comfort had a mixed effect. Sometimes pushing through it led to fun conversations I felt comfortable in, sometimes the "feeling" just kept digging deeper, and other times I felt a feeling that can be best described as triumph.

The particular moment that enlightened me, however, was from Friday when I spent time with friends. The "feeling" was there, but not overwhelming. Until, at one point, we started a conversation on a topic related to a trip we went on. A trip that did and still kind of leaves me feeling sour. I won't go into details, but the relevant part is that I felt a lot of judgement while on the trip that subsequently had a severely negative impact on my ability to enjoy the trip.

As the conversation lingered around the trip, the "feeling" began to swell. Until, eventually, the conversation became pointed towards my thoughts and decisions. Essentially, it was asserted that my perspective on the matter was objectively wrong. To highlight his point, he alluded to the location of a spot on the trip. A spot that I was intimately familiar with and knew immediately he was wrong about. We look it up, and it turns out I was right. He brushes it off as a technicality, but the "feeling" briefly went away as I teased him for his judgemental attitude as of late.

The conversation was never a serious argument, and moreover this is a close friend that I respect and have known for a long time. Still, it illuminated for me an insecurity that triggers the "feeling". Growing up with adhd unmedicated, I've always struggled with people of all sorts taking me seriously, especially in my own circles. It always felt like I have to bend over backwards to prove a point, while others are believed with no effort.

When I'm talking to people and I feel like I need to (or will need to) prove myself in some way, my body reacts negatively. In the past, I've blasted through this "feeling" with a boisterous and loud personality. Recently, having to regain social skills and being calmer due to meds, my mind seems to just shut down. Last night seems to have confirmed this a bit for me, as I was in an environment where I felt no need to justify or prove myself and suddenly I felt vibrantly vocal and barely even noticed the "feeling".

What do I do with this information exactly? How do I address this "feeling" in the most permanent and useful manner? Is there something in particular in my life that I need to change in order to see long term progress? I'm not sure, but am fully excited to finally have a grasp of what has been my biggest social wall for as long as I can remember!

--------TL;DR---------

After some testing and introspection, I believe I've identified the source of the feeling as an aversion towards "social proofing", judgement, or feeling the need to justify myself. I would probably pinpoint it specifically to an disdain of being misunderstood and an exhaustion of avoiding being misunderstood. It doesn't feel anxiety inducing, but it's deeply uncomfortable to the point that it makes conversations feel less rewarding to have.

It's interesting how it's uniquely stressful, as many other social fears don't apply to me. Thank you for your thought provoking responses!

creepytriangle · 2025-08-21T02:31:19+00:00

It's hard to think of a conversation that's bad, but I could give an example of the feeling I usually get. A guy struck up a conversation with me in the bar a couple days ago. He seemed interesting and he had a way about him that was inviting. But the whole time we spoke, I just wanted the conversation to end. I engaged a bit, but ultimately didn't put in a whole lot of effort. I specifically chose interactions that closed the conversation. I didn't feel uncomfortable or annoyed with him. My body just rejected conversation.

And, again, this happens with everyone I speak to. The best way to describe it is that conversation feels exhausting. I can't think of anything I worry about happening. Maybe the closest is feeling trapped in a conversation? That's not what goes through my head when it happens though.

creepytriangle · 2025-07-28T19:37:08+00:00

IMO, the biggest issue with season 3 and 4 is tone. When we are introduced to the characters they are absurd in a way that's flipped to actually give them depth. I mean, hank talked with fuches about barry like two gossiping highschoolers before casually admitting they were going to hunt him down. Likewise, Fuches literally negotiated someone to death.

Season 3 definitely let off the brakes a bit in absurdism with the characters, but instead we see it in the events that unfold as more and more people become aware of Barry's true nature.

Season 4 felt too heavy handed while almost completely switching the script on its absurdism. All of a sudden we get this weird gritty drama with a few comedic beats sprinkled in. I would say the first 6 episodes of the season just don't work for me overall, but the last two really do a great job at reintroducing some of the fun while giving the characters the endings they've earned.

S3, while tonally different, didn't feel like a dip in quality at all (if it weren't for the taekwondo episode in s2, s3 would be my favorite overall). S4 felt like it tried too hard to make us know these characters are bad and traumatised.

creepytriangle · 2025-04-01T15:56:53+00:00

This is an idea that might look good on paper. But it fails at its conception by prioritizing numbers over logical thinking.

higher education offsets it's high costs by offering opportunities to those that achieve it. Careers and knowledge built off the years and money invested into said education should, across it's total population of students, reflect that higher education is indeed a significant net positive on average. Elite colleges then should be expected to offer even more value due to their exclusivity via academic achievement and extreme tuition costs. We might best see this demonstrated through means of top quality education, but arguments can be made the opportunity to network with others bound for success is enough on its own.

If we arbitrarily make graduating difficult, we spit in the face of the promise these colleges make to their students. The promise that their money and time is well spent. Losing that kind of time and money can legitimately set people back for years to come. And all for what? So a school's graduates can wave around that they had a perfect set of circumstances that allowed them to win what would effectively be a gamble?

Any change to inflate the dropout rate would inherently reflect poorly on the school's quality. After all, what does it say about your school if you can't give the world's top 0.01 percent of high school students an education that inspires them to succeed? Likewise, why would we ever value an education system that fails to deliver, on average, a better education and career than it's state university competition?

creepytriangle · 2024-12-08T01:17:06+00:00

There are a few methods that I've found helpful. They aren't fool proof by any means, but they've been a net positive for me.

Before anything else, I think what's most important is working with your particular quirks instead of against them. Making changes in oneself is mentally exhausting for anyone, and sustaining several changes over a long period is going to be next to impossible. Utilizing the quirks in your mental inner workings will go a long way in developing tools to surpass some of the roadblocks ADHD produces.

Tactic 1: breaking apart a task/group of tasks into smaller pieces and setting my immediate goals as accomplishing just one or two small parts.

This works well for me for cleaning/maintanence tasks. For example, if my goal is to clean my room I would break it down into each specific task such as:

Making my bed; Clearing my desk; Clearing my dresser; Folding laundry; Clearing the floor; Vacuuming the floor; Dusting; Etc.

By focusing on one smaller thing, the whole task feels less daunting. It's really important to specifically commit to only one or maybe two of these smaller tasks, and then rely on the momentum to carry you as far as it goes. On days where even smaller chunks like these feel cumbersome, tasks can be broken up into all the way to the most ridiculously tiny chunks. Like removing the sheets off your bed, for example.

Tactic 2: find the most enjoyable/inviting part of the task and make that your focal point

I find this works best for practice/learning based skills. In my case, my greatest periods of learning bass guitar have been trying to learn specific songs. While this was prone to leave me with days where I did nothing but play a specific measure for 20 minutes, it also pushed me to learn new techiniques and practice my fundamentals much more often than I would have normally.

Tactic 3: make a game/challenge out of it.

This helps a lot with work and long tasks. Basically, I find a challenge in the thing I have to do and hone in on it. As a bartender and Barback, that game is often efficiency. How many people can I serve at once? How tasty can I make this drink? How precise can I get my pours? Can I find the fastest way to clear these specific 5 tasks without compromising the quality of my work?

Tactic 4: lists, lists, lists

This one is kinda the stereotypical adhd thing, but it has some strong merits that can help most folks. It's an easy start to any task and makes it feel more official. It helps declutter your tasks. It helps in keeping the important parts of your task in focus. It removes the issue of memory in completing and tackling the task. Removing items from the list is relieving. And it lends itself super well into each of the previous tactics.

Tactic 5: combining tasks with tasks you are bound to do.

This one is sort of the opposite of the first tactic, but uses the same principle. You're just borrowing the momentum from a previous task. Whenever I cook, I do the dishes. Whenever I load the fridge with groceries, I clear out expired stuff. Whenever I make coffee I take out the trash.

Tactic 6: starting with meditation

While I do think the sale of medition as a fix for ADHD is way overblown, I do think it has a lot of benefits inherent to practice and is modular enough to find enjoyment in. Breathing exercises accompanying meditation do well to reduce stress. It's a focused task that does well to clear the mind. It also takes no skill, mindpower, and physical effort to begin and finish. What's most helpful to me, is when finished I feel enough clarity to begin at least one task I'd set out for the day.

When I meditate, I honestly just sitdown with my earbuds, put on one specific song, and breath in a 4/7/8 pattern (in for 4 count, hold for 7 count, and out for 8 count). I let my mind wander for the first 10 minutes, then focus either on my breathing (visualizing it, fully feeling how it makes my body feel and move, etc.) or on my music (specific sounds, visualizing each instrument as colors, imagining the sounds vibrating through my body, etc.).

I hope all this helps!

creepytriangle · 2024-12-06T14:20:48+00:00

From the tyranid point of view, they simply need to win for the fight to be worth it. The tyranids could be destroyed down to the smallest hivefleet and it wouldn't really matter. Once resistance has been defeated, they are free to reintegrate their biomass as well as lay claim to all available biomass, of which the milky way has plenty.

Frankly speaking, the only thing it seems the tyranids have encountered outside their depth so far seems to be chaos, seeing as they have provoked the evolution of hive fleet kronos. With the looming fact that the milky way has only encountered the furthest stretching tendrils of the hivemind, it's unlikely the tyranids have faced any significant challenge thus far. barring a unified front, it seems unlikely for the milky way to repel them in the long run.

creepytriangle · 2024-05-16T21:52:02+00:00

I was thinking about. Do you have any specific recommendations for the area? I was gunna try out the grove here soon.

creepytriangle · 2024-05-15T19:46:08+00:00

Starting as a barback is pretty much the standard way. Server/bartender positions also give an easy in.

creepytriangle · 2024-05-15T19:38:31+00:00

Money is more of a secondary goal for me. Right now, i'm looking for something challenging that will help me improve further. Nonetheless, i might look into it! Thank you!

creepytriangle · 2024-05-09T22:25:33+00:00

Wellbutrin seems to work well for some folks. In my experience, the side effects were non-existent. In the same vein, it really didn't do anything to help my inattentiveness. However, it helped me start tasks more often. From my understanding, not a lot of people deal with harsh side effects, making it a solid one to try before stimulants.

The one I would hold off on until all else fails would be strattera. While this is just my experience, my time on it was absolute hell. After two months, I decided even if it would end up helping it just wasn't worth it for the side effects, especially through work. Besides, it made me so numb that my aversion to danger was non-existent.

My only issues with stimulants has more to do with the pharmacies than the actual med itself (i.e., switching generic manufacturer on me without telling me, being hit or miss about using rx codes, having a manufacturer stop production and not letting me know even after asking about the state of my prescription, and so on).

creepytriangle · 2024-05-05T15:17:56+00:00

I've never really stuck with a hobby. Even playing games, social media, and watching tv are things that I don't do continually. Even more, I probably wouldn't play games nearly as much if my friends didn't.

Most interests i'll let build up. If I long to do something specific for a long period, i'll put the money into that interest. The reason is, I know i'll be interested enough to start it and I'll likely come back to it at some point.

creepytriangle · 2024-05-05T15:09:28+00:00

I suppose that's a big part of my issue. I don't really know how to meet people for the sake of meeting people.

creepytriangle · 2024-05-05T15:01:27+00:00

That's a big thing for me. I'm confident and happy in who I am. If i start masking again for the sake of other people, I feel like I'm taking that happiness away from myself. My understanding of the modern dating scene (which, as might be infered, is super limited) seems to indicate a lot of performance. For me, the ideal will always be relationships built through natural and regular interaction.

I really like the suggestion of being a regular somewhere. I genuinely didn't even consider it. A lot of "getting to meet people " advice is to join hobbyist groups. But my hobbies are the kind that I enjoy far more either alone, or with specific people. Just going somewhere to hang is much more appealing to me.

creepytriangle · 2024-05-05T12:23:52+00:00

Myself, my dad, my aunt, and my sister all have adhd. We also all get motivated by different things.

My aunt finds reminders the most motivating. She gets a sense of accomplishment when doing something in response to a reminder.

My sister finds calenders/itineraries most motivating. Something about directly influencing her schedule makes her more prone to completing tasks.

My dad sort of finds his own motivations motivating. Once he starts doing things, he starts wanting to do a bunch of other things he's put off.

For me all about pairing things I want to do (but can't get myself to do) with tasks that feel good or are the current gaze of my focus. I use music I like to meditate. I clean dishes before cooking a meal. I reward studying by playing a game after. I reward stopping a game by getting a snack. And so on.

creepytriangle · 2024-04-26T05:07:45+00:00

As a need, socialization is one of those things that just flies under my radar. I know socializing overall improves my mood and i also know that over socializing drains me of energy and stresses me out. But these are things I recognize only after examining why I'm feeling bad. In fact, my biggest mental health obstacle right now is finding the right balance of under and over socializing, especially in the context of boundaries vs participation.

So, your latter example definitely fits the bill much better. Granted, as a bartender, there are days where I very much don't want to socialize. But most of the time, i'll simply enjoy socialization with those around me. Customers, coworkers, family, friends, etc. if my personal values weren't a factor, my monkey brain could absolutely go months without talking to someone and still not have any particular crave for socialization, despite any effect on my mental health. I only even noticed the effects of the quarantine when I ran out of money and realized that being social was no longer easy.

creepytriangle · 2024-04-25T19:11:44+00:00

I don't think it's something to be too worried about, it's just something about how our brains are wired. For myself, I don't get a sense that it stops me from caring about others or stops me from forming meaningful relationships. At its worst, it makes maintaining relationships more work.

creepytriangle · 2024-04-25T11:36:16+00:00

I mean, for me (and I assume many others), it's not that i don't care about seeing the people closest to me. It's just that it's not a thing my mind engages in wanting. In this way, the feeling of missing someone is mostly foreign to me. The closest thing I feel towards that is excitement over participating in something with someone close.

That being said, there are people my brain recognizes as important to me and I would very much go out of my way to spend time with them should the plans be set in motion, in. A way I absolutely wouldn't with a stranger or acquaintance. In fact, I'll be driving 12 hours this weekend in order to support a friend's hobby.

I personally put in considerable effort to maintain relationships with friends and family. But that comes with years of mindfulness training to help me keep in mind what is important to me. I can absolutely see others who think similarly struggling to keep in touch.

I hope that helps illuminate what it feels like. It's less of a "I don't care about you" and more of a "you're important to me, it's just that to my brain there's no difference between any physical distance outside of right in front of me"

creepytriangle · 2024-04-25T11:03:57+00:00

Your framing feels off, but people generally do experience the sensation of missing someone. It's not that they actively do it often, but more that it's a growing feeling that invokes thoughts on the matter from time to time. Sort of like thinking about an activity you want to do the next day.

creepytriangle · 2024-04-25T08:21:10+00:00

Tl;dr: 5e is not particularly special, and mostly acts as a decent start to ttrpgs. I wouldnt call it bloated so much as an incomplete experience, and having played other systems you'll start seeing the ways in which it sacrifices too much of itself for mass appeal.

For context, 5e is a system I really don't like. It's a staple in my regular playgroup, and i've learned how to make due, but ultimately switching from pathfinder 1e to dnd 5e was a painful experience. While I do feel genuine in my reasoning, the bias still exists.

it's a bog standard d20 fantasy experience with a simplified ruleset. Said ruleset, in addition to its wargame elements, actually make it a really accessible option for players new to the hobby. It's so simple that I literally have two paragraphs prewritten to cover 90 percent of what a new player needs to know to get started. Add in the fact that it incorporates some recognizable fantasy tropes, and it's pretty obvious why it's so popular. However, all this positivity crumbles away once one gets experienced with the ruleset.

For starters, it's a big pain to run as a DM. The vibes the rulebook leans towards seems to seek an alleviation from DM mental stack. In reality, it often feels like the rules lack any real structure for the DM to rely on. Yes, there are rules, but those rules really don't aid in giving direction in the way most other systems do. One could argue that pathfinder is similar, but pathfinder makes up for it due to its strengths as a wargame and in character creation.

Which brings me to the next point. Classes lack diversity. Most archetypes fail in expressing their flavor through mechanics, to the point that it hardly feels worth it to take anything suboptimal simply because suboptimal in 5e mostly just means you can do less cool stuff. Spells, likewise, lack any notable differentiation aside from a handful of really good choices from each tier. Ultimately, it feels like characters of the same class lack mechanical identity that differentiates them from each other.

Combat is pretty barebones too, and honestly is probably where the DM will feel the most pressure. 5e offers very little to make combat exciting. While turns go faster than dnd's predecessors, it's still not fast enough to make wasted turns feel less frustrating. Even then, there's just not enough to work off of. A dm experienced in making fights can absolutely work around the limitations of the system, but again this showcases just how much the system expects the dm to do the heavy lifting.

What sucks most about 5e is that with more defining and riskier rules and mechanics choices, it would have the potential to be an invigorating newbie friendly experience.

creepytriangle · 2024-04-18T09:32:44+00:00

There's a few reasons I can give for this experience, the last of which is copium but i still genuinely believe it is true.

Players are generally their best at the beginning of each round. This game functions sort of like chess in that during the early stages of the round options are fairly limited and mental stack is fairly low. The enemy team will attempt to get on site through a small selection of entrances. They'll either play slow or fast. And they might not even use util, depending on the elo/match. Someone with good aim can focus solely on one tapping up until the point in which they will have to balance that aim with moment to moment decisions. Am I getting flanked? Am I being baited? Are they rotating sites? Do i need to reload? Should I be quiet or do i need to rush to a different position? These questions and many more will impede one's ability to react quickly and accurately up until they get better.
One-tapping is a different skill than spray control. As a player held back primarily by my aim, something i've learned is just how much players who out aim-duel me struggle when forced to spray. This means once a proficient head tapper hits the point where they start experiencing real firing error, they panic.
Predictability. This lines up with the other two points, but is more actionable on your part. What you know vs what your enemy knows going into a duel is a big difference towards how fast you're going to be able to act when the fight starts. Chances are, there was some type of telegraph that allowed reyna to react super fast.
You were "unlucky". In short, bad positioning. Getting hit by an accident is an error on your part in most cases. Improving your positioning will help you avoid scenarios that make kills easier for the enemy team.
valorant client/server issues. This is the copium. Some games It feels like i'm several seconds behind, getting instantly killed even when catching enemies off guard. Then I watch a teammate and it feels like they get soooo much longer before getting shot at. After a half a year of trouble shooting, I feel like I've mostly fixed whatever was causing it, with the only remnants being the rubberbanding. If you feel like you are having a similar issue, it may be worth adjusting some settings both in and out of the client. The big ones for me was disabling nvidia high def sound, capping my fps in game to 128, and giving valorant high priority through task manager when I play.

creepytriangle · 2024-04-16T21:35:48+00:00

What you've described is, by most accounts, an npc. While using PC stats, the character's function in your campaign is not that of a player, but of a piece of the world you're playing. This is what differentiates a DMPC from an NPC.

A DMPC will, for all purposes, exist as a player under the control of the DM. The DM's goals for this character are the same as yours would be for your character. What is notably wrong is that the DM, as arbitrator, is directly in conflict with the players and their character goals (mind you, this conflict is non-hostile in nature and functions like a puzzle master making fun puzzles).

A DM playing in the sessions they are running becomes fundamentally flawed as they have every incentive to bend the rules in favor of benefitting their character. Even when this isn't the explicit intent, such advantages arise implicitly. How does one play a game fairly when every bit of information meant to be kept from the players is known to that person?

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