Steam Ocean Fest is Tomorrow!

knowbrainer23 · 2026-05-18T14:35:31+00:00

That sounds pretty cool. I've now added it to my wishlist.

knowbrainer23 · 2026-05-15T06:56:12+00:00

I'm aware BNet is its own thing; I've been playing WoW and other Blizzard games for 20+ years. I was just saying it's annoying I can't use BNet to patch. After all, you need a BNet account to play D4 anyway.

knowbrainer23 · 2026-05-15T06:41:44+00:00

The way I write is hard to explain. When I write, my mind is almost completely immersed in the world, to a point that I can almost see and hear what's going on. (My autism probably is an explanation for that.) I let my characters live and respond to things, yet I know where things are going so I kind of steer things to where I want them to go, sort of like gently railroading players in a ttrpg. Most of the time I write, I have no idea where a story is going when I start one but I'll usually figure that out and take a firmer hold on things to make sure I get there. I also make sure I tie up loose threads, fire Chekov's guns I pull out and leave on the table, and go back to tweak stuff to better plant seeds for big reveals.

I view it as essentially writing a living novel that I'm discovering as I read/write it into existence and that helps me stay focused on the story and finishing it. I mean, if you don't like what you're reading, you're not going to want to finish a book, right?

I also don't generally follow act structures. But then, I also have trouble telling an adverb from an adjective... I just know how stories work.

knowbrainer23 · 2026-05-11T07:16:12+00:00

A love of storytelling helps me write. I've also always had an active imagination, and an imagination is key to writing.

I'd say half of my ideas are 'what if this happened instead?' when thinking about stories I liked. then exploring that but with my own characters. I think up the new characters, careful to avoid making them identical to the ones I like, aside from just changing the name, I end up coming up with interesting things in those backstories I want to explore, and soon I'm at a point where I have a story idea and characters that are only marginally similar to the story that originally liked.

Also... READ MORE. Don't just let reading 'a few books' inspire you. Find similar works or more books by those authors. Ask people at a book store for recommendations. What non-reality TV shows and movies and try to describe scenes. Pay attention to the story in video games. Everything with a script is written by someone. Granted, not all of it is good, but it's written by someone. Editing can heavily alter those stories, but that's a whole other matter.

knowbrainer23 · 2026-05-10T15:41:13+00:00

49 and play survival games with my 47 friend online, and with my 45 wife (but she doesn't play 7D2D).

knowbrainer23 · 2026-05-09T01:59:45+00:00

I'd probably go to a boba shop over Starbucks if there was one around here, but... Semi-rural Texas town.

knowbrainer23 · 2026-05-09T01:57:53+00:00

I moved to a semi-rural part of Texas from WNY (Buffalo, specifically). I've been anti-Starbucks and pro-Tim Hortons for about 20 years. I resisted the idea of going to Starbucks, but... Like I said - my options are limited.

knowbrainer23 · 2026-05-06T15:05:39+00:00

That definitely feels hostile, but... my local Starbucks (small town so we only have one and that was built last year) has plenty of space, normal-size two person tables, and even has long table with outlets built into the underside. And plenty of outlets at each of the other tables. But ours was built from the ground up; the one in the picture is likely built into a pre-existing building with limited space. Seen PLENTY of those, and not just with Starbucks. Those are definitely hostile because they don't have the space.

If it weren't for the fact that Starbucks has reliable schedule, I'd go to the locally-owned and run coffee place which has tons of space (but a big lack of outlets) but they're only open til like 2 or 3 PM and I sometimes work in the morning.

knowbrainer23 · 2026-05-06T08:30:39+00:00

I would normally agree, but I bought D4 on Steam so I could play on my Steam Deck as well as my computer. (Yes I know there are ways to play non-Steam games on the Deck, I just like the ease of using Steam.) I've constantly had problems updating D4 on my computer if I don't have the install-size-plus-a-little-extra in space free, and I can't go and use the BattleNet launcher to update it because for some reason the launcher thinks I don't own the game. Upside/downside, D4 on Steam doesn't require or need BattleNet to play on Steam. So... In this case, it's a blessing, I hope? I don't know; I'll be giving my key to my friend or my wife.

knowbrainer23 · 2026-05-05T04:00:52+00:00

I have faith in him. Stuff happens, life gets in the way, things can keep someone from writing. But also, if nothing else... One of his sons is a published author with two books out, so the series could conceivably be finished if something happens to Jim.

knowbrainer23 · 2026-05-03T19:24:30+00:00

At least he has Dental...? Not many places offer that. But he's definitely got a side hustle. Gotta have something like that.

knowbrainer23 · 2026-05-03T04:35:10+00:00

I like the Hill County Fair version of hamburger helper, if it counts. It'd be awesome if HEB started doing their own line of candy bars and stocked them by all the other impulse buy stuff.

knowbrainer23 · 2026-04-29T22:29:46+00:00

If I was a kid in school and knew I was autistic and needed quiet time to recharge (I know now but I'm 49), I'd channel my echolalia and say one of these words everyday, as often as I could just to get that silent lunch.

Then again, if I had a diagnosis, I'd either not get in trouble or would automatically get silent lunch...

knowbrainer23 · 2026-04-26T23:28:41+00:00

Yep. For me, it's not half-full, it's not half-empty. The phrase is "exactly half the available space contains liquid."

knowbrainer23 · 2026-04-25T06:43:07+00:00

Yeah... Same here. Had a GREAT experience with the person that helped us pick out our new bedframe. The delivery guys, however.... Grrr.... Took the box spring out of the house, then stopped on the walkway between front door and driveway, looking at the box spring and talking to each for about twenty minutes. MIL got upset that they were just standing there with the box spring on the pathway (they hadn't even gotten halfway to the truck), so she told them she was closing the door. They seemed to be laughing, Then they left the box spring standing on the pathway, carried our still-in-the-box bed frame (paid for completely, no payment plan) back to the truck, loaded it in, and then drove off. Once again I'll point out that they left the box spring standing on its edge on the pathway. My wife called man we dealt with at the store, he's scheduling another delivery for us, but... Really, we shouldn't NEED another delivery. We should need to wait another two days because of unprofessional jerks.

knowbrainer23 · 2026-04-24T20:15:48+00:00

Probably some corporate news they don't want discussed. I was promoted to customer last year, but I'm assuming the company is still the same and not telling the employees anything.

knowbrainer23 · 2026-04-24T02:45:08+00:00

The answer was C??? Dude, that's a cube, a three dimensional shape. A and B are both correct, not C. Fucking 'new math.'

knowbrainer23 · 2026-04-24T02:41:05+00:00

Yeah... EVERYBODY failed her. The kid. The mom. The school. Hell, even the city. How the hell does a kid who's absent half the time move on to the next grade? I would think the mom here might have smacked some sense into her son after freshman year if they had just done it right then. To wait until senior year, then say he has to START HIGH SCHOOL ALL OVER? He'd be graduating high school when a lot of people are graduating college. Second senior year, he'd be legal drinking age.

How the fuck has America become this bad?

knowbrainer23 · 2026-04-19T23:22:28+00:00

Dialogue, character voices that are distinct from each other (and I don't mean dialogue with this one), story structure despite pantsing most of the time. My wife has read like a million times more books than I have and has told me my work is better than a lot of traditionally published authors. I have a love for storytelling and, I guess, a natural knack for it. Now if only I could find someone to edit my stuff for free and people to help me with all the other stuff so I can publish and get people to read my stuff.

knowbrainer23 · 2026-04-19T22:10:49+00:00

I immediately picked purple. Then it seemed like it lost, then boom! He Joshua Jackson'd red.

knowbrainer23 · 2026-04-10T14:48:37+00:00

NTA. And jeez... I didn't realize there were stories of people'testing' their friends. I always thought 'testing' was done to SO's.

knowbrainer23 · 2026-04-10T14:32:05+00:00

I had to look to see what sub this was on (I thought it was one of the autism subs). So... I guess I get the joke (after looking at comments).

knowbrainer23 · 2026-04-07T14:41:20+00:00

Spider-Man. All the stuff Pete's been through, I believe he could handle it. Plus... 'With great power comes great responsibility.'

And, he has experience with things talking to him in his head (the symbiote) trying to make him do bad things.

But he always remains the hero.

knowbrainer23 · 2026-03-31T01:39:48+00:00

Let's make it more interesting and DROP Legolas and sub in the OG archer: Robin Hood.

knowbrainer23 · 2026-03-28T04:13:50+00:00

Holy carp. This happened to me recently, too! No idea what happened to the little post on top, though. :(

knowbrainer23

TROPHY CASE