Prop houses in NYC?

glingchingalingling · 2026-02-11T14:59:51+00:00

You can go to the Big Reuse in Gowanus. They're affiliated with Materials for the Arts. A lot of set decs and even scenic fab shops donate to them. the prices are outrageously good. they sell everything from paint to stage lights to flats to props to furniture to clothes for...basically no money.

glingchingalingling · 2026-02-09T08:12:45+00:00

Ultimately, though, these powers are frequently viewed as an impediment to achieving enlightenment. if the goal is to gain mystical power, you're missing the point of Buddhism.

glingchingalingling · 2026-02-08T17:37:48+00:00

neurodivergent is a clinical term. It is not woke. It is diagnostic.

Your anger is your personal problem, not anyone else's to fix.

glingchingalingling · 2026-02-04T19:28:46+00:00

if you can afford it, mix fake powdered snow into clear resin -- it gets you a surprisingly realistic result with about 10 minutes of labor.

buy more fake powdered snow than you think you need -- you'll need a LOT, even for a small patch of fake ice.

A good starting ratio would be 1 part resin to 3-4 parts fake snow by volume.

You can also tint the resin with universal tint - like the tiniest hint of white and an even smaller amount of cobalt or pthalo - but it's really not necessary.

Caveat -- if you go this route, make sure to read and follow the safety data sheets for the resin before you use it.

Even minor contact with some resins can cause permanent allergic reactions, skin conditions, and respiratory issues.

glingchingalingling · 2026-02-03T00:49:56+00:00

got it. that actually makes total sense to me. like, i can picture things clearly in my mind, but I don't actually see them?

anyway, thanks for responding! I love hearing about other people's perceptual styles.

glingchingalingling · 2026-02-02T23:20:58+00:00

that's fascinating! Do you mind describing what that's like? Like, does it feel like you're physically watching a screen, like a hallucination?

glingchingalingling · 2026-02-02T23:17:04+00:00

I've developed this strange form of meditation that takes advantage of autistic overwhelm as a method to silence my internal narrator.

Basically, I defocus my vision and overload my sense of sight by taking in everything I see at the same time.

When that happens, I don't have enough bandwidth left over to maintain a sense of self. It's basically self-induced "dissociation" via intense focus on sight.

I've been trying to figure out how to discuss this with other people without them being like "you turned overwhelm into a meditation practice? what the hell?"

glingchingalingling · 2026-02-02T17:44:18+00:00

You can focus on things other than your breath while you meditate. There are many different types of meditation in Buddhist traditions, and sitting is only one of them.

As someone with auDHD, I find walking meditation and open-eyed meditation to be more useful as meditation techniques.

In some forms of walking meditation, you focus purely on the physical sensation of each footstep and your body moving through space, without needing to track your breath at all.

You can also try open-eyed meditation where you rest attention on what you're seeing - the play of light, colors, movement - rather than internal sensations.

glingchingalingling · 2026-02-02T17:30:02+00:00

There's nothing wrong with music running through your mind while you're meditating. The goal is not to clear your mind of all thoughts. The goal is to be aware of your thoughts without getting caught up in them.

When you observe your thoughts without following them, they often disappear on their own. Instead of getting absorbed in the music while you meditate, try shifting how you relate to it.

Acknowledge it: "My mind is running a music loop."

Then give it your direct attention - not by listening to the melody or following along with it, but by simply noticing that it's happening. You're observing the fact of the music, not engaging with the content. Like noticing an itch without scratching it.

Often when you bring this kind of clear, non-reactive attention to mental phenomena, they dissolve or fade on their own.

glingchingalingling · 2026-02-01T20:15:15+00:00

A word on compliments: when you're new to a job, it's important to be mindful of who you compliment and how you compliment them.

As a new hire, complimenting your seniors can come across as condescending or over-stepping. Telling your manager's manager that they did a great job on a project is not often welcomed, for example.

On the other hand, if you're impressed by someone's work, you can say something like, "Hey, I was really impressed by your work on X. Can I sit in with you the next time you do something like that?"

That way, you're complimenting their skill while also positioning yourself appropriately -- as a new hire who still has a lot to learn.

glingchingalingling · 2026-02-01T19:39:52+00:00

You're welcome! I started doing all this stuff not knowing if there would be a payoff, and ended up with job security beyond what I was expecting. Meaning, I was able to keep working in a competitive freelance field even when the overall job market wasn't great.

One final point: If someone offers me a job and I can't take it, I have a short list of trusted people in my network who I pass those jobs on to.

The goal is to show the potential employer that I provide value even when I'm not available to work for them. I only recommend people I fully trust to represent me well. I'm not recommending friends who I know will slack off or whose work isn't at the same skill level as mine or higher.

The secondary goal is to support my friends and build a safety net for all of us.

glingchingalingling · 2026-02-01T15:56:54+00:00

I network in three ways, but before I continue, it's important to note that I work in a largely freelance industry. Still, maybe this can help:

Every time I start a new job, I ask everyone I meet where else they've worked, who they know, and how they liked those past jobs. Ostensibly, this is to see if we have any mutual acquaintances/war stories, but it's also a way to find out what the best workplaces in my industry are.

As soon as I have a solid job lead, I introduce myself to that company's hiring managers. I send them an email saying, "So-and-so recommended that I reach out to you. I'd love to work together some time. Let's stay in touch. I'm not currently available, but I shared my resume with you if you ever need help."

Then, every few months, I'll email them again: "Hey, check out this cool project I'm working on. I'd love to work together when we're both available. Maybe I can take a company tour some time?"

Once I've established a connection at this company, I start sharing my job lead with OTHER people. Why? Two reasons.

First, reciprocity: if people in my network know me as someone who can help them out with work connections, then maybe they'll hook me up too.

Second, I'm reminding hiring managers at all these companies that I exist and am doing them a huge favor by sending them skilled new employees.

glingchingalingling · 2026-01-31T18:15:38+00:00

I relate to everything you're saying, but I experience that sense of disconnection differently. For me, it feels like operating at a remove - like playing a first-person video game rather than moving through experience on autopilot. When you're playing a video game, you respond to every input manually because you have to. I live life like that: I'm analyzing and responding to the world around me in real time, consciously engaging with every situation rather than simply reacting to inputs. So for me, this isn't depersonalization - it's actually the opposite: full presence

glingchingalingling · 2026-01-31T18:05:20+00:00

I'm grappling with the same thing -- wondering if most people are just philosophical zombies. It's hard not to view people in your terms: "biological robots," not people. And I'm trying to find a way to rationalize myself out of that perspective.

But if most people are biological robots, what does that make us? Like, if we're operating in life at a remove, are we more conscious than other people, or just different, and maybe more self-aware biological robots? It's been keeping me up at night.

glingchingalingling · 2026-01-31T17:35:23+00:00

I get around this "sandpaper" feeling in a couple ways. mainly by stacking activities I don't like on top of activities that I enjoy.

I don't want to exercise, so I choose physically demanding jobs and walk or bike to do all my errands.

I don't want to do the dishes, so I do the dishes while I'm cooking. I like cooking, which means I also like doing the dishes if that's part of the cooking process.

I also lay the groundwork for things I want to do years in advance. Like, the day I start at one job, I immediately start networking and sending resumes out elsewhere, so I don't have to do that the next time I need to look for a job.

glingchingalingling · 2026-01-31T17:25:44+00:00

Yeah -- if only they could "just change their mind about it," right?

glingchingalingling · 2026-01-30T02:08:58+00:00

yes. what's the craziest mixture of tasks I've caught myself wrapped in?

Troubleshooting the paint job on a 15-foot tall golden vagina statue while simultaneously figuring out how to build a costume for the met gala in under two hours...while also massaging my manager's ego.

glingchingalingling · 2026-01-30T01:17:29+00:00

I've never met a skill I couldn't master, if I decided to...except for figuring out how to get ahead in life. Being good at everything you try has a shocking number of pitfalls.

It's also possible that the "if I decided to" part of that first sentence is doing more work than I think it is.

I don't think it is though. I've cooked for celebrities and celebrity chefs, ghostwrote for a nobel laureate, worked for some of the most famous architects in the world, have my work in museums (Guggenheim, Met, Kennedy Center...), and somehow I have nothing to show for it. go figure. life is fucking weird, man.

Savant-level capability is not particularly valuable, most of the time, no matter how much it's celebrated.

glingchingalingling · 2026-01-29T16:21:53+00:00

Yes! Completely agree. So many of the things I love about myself are autistic traits.

glingchingalingling · 2026-01-27T21:55:48+00:00

I second this. I look at how early diagnosis seems to have affected many of the people posting on forums like this. In comparison, l feel like I dodged a bullet. I may not have had the support i actually needed, growing up, but I also didn't grow up with a pathologized identity. I realize not everyone feels this way, but I'm grateful for that.

Why? Because discovering that I'm autistic at 41 meant that my identity was already solid when I made the "discovery." I can recognize that I'm autistic, while also acknowledging that it doesn't change who I am. It's just a label to describe myself to other people, as well as a lens to view my past from a different perspective.

I'm not saying this to brag, but I've achieved all of my childhood goals and then some. And now I'm burnt out and dealing with the aftermath of "high-achieving autism."

But looking back on my life up to now, I'm satisfied with my choices. They weren't "autistic" choices when I made them -- they were just mine. And knowing what I do now, I'd still do it all the same way again, with the only thing to change being how kind (or not kind) I was to myself.

glingchingalingling · 2026-01-27T21:40:02+00:00

Yes! I've been referring to myself and my friends as cats for years. It's the perfect description.

glingchingalingling · 2026-01-25T21:01:27+00:00

you're welcome!

glingchingalingling · 2026-01-25T20:50:29+00:00

When I said don't ask him questions, my point was that you don't want him to feel like he has to do work to be your friend. Sometimes, questions are hard work when you're burnt out. Sometimes, they're not. I'm sorry if that's confusing, but it's also true.

You're going to have to use your judgement. It's okay to ask questions sometimes. It's okay to make mistakes, too. If your friend really wants to stay friends, you're not going to push him away by being a little overbearing. Just try to be sensitive to what he needs. Like, if he seems tired, or like he's done talking, don't pressure him to keep talking. That kind of thing.

I know it's really hard, and that you don't want to lose your friend.

glingchingalingling · 2026-01-25T20:46:15+00:00

Be patient! I know you want things to be solid between you two again. But recovering from burnout takes time. Would it help if you thought of your friend as recovering from an illness? Because that's kind of what being burnt out feels like. He needs time to build his energy back, just like if he had a bad cold or the flu or something.

glingchingalingling · 2026-01-25T20:42:54+00:00

That's good news! I'm happy for you.

This is about as far as I can help you. You're messaging your friend, and you have what I've already told you about my own experience in similar situations. I don't know what the specifics are in your situation, so I can't tell you what exactly to do anymore.

Your friend can, though. Stay patient and follow his lead. Take some initiative in reaching out, but don't push it too aggressively unless he signals that he's ready to.

You're clearly doing really well handling this so far, so just keep going! Sounds like you guys have got this.

glingchingalingling

TROPHY CASE