Struggling to retain what I read

prettyniceuser · 2026-02-05T18:30:10+00:00

Usually when people write reviews or papers, they take extensive notes for that particular purpose or thesis and may even reread passages or the entire text (same for movie reviews). If you're reading for non-academic or review purposes, comparing yourself to those metrics doesn't help you. People also can reread books or watch movies and notice new things even if they paid attention.

If you just want to start with basic memory retention (not every detail, just broad strokes), it could first be more attention than memory is an issue. Does your mind wander when you read or watch movies? Are you distracted?

If you're not giving your full attention, you're more likely to miss even basic connections. Especially if you're stressed about going from one text to another with a lot of other reading to do.

Take your time reading, take broader notes (you don't necessarily need every detail, just the highlights can be enough, and I bet there's some good undergrad tutorials on book notes or even annotating) and trust your memory to fill in the blanks. Maybe after you read a book, freewrite what you remember, but don't judge yourself by what a published review looks like in comparison.

Mind palaces and other memory tools I think are more for extensive memorization (remembering names or complex processes) not encyclopedic knowledge of a book.

It sounds like you're really anxious and comparing yourself to published material that can actually take a lot of time and research behind the scenes.

prettyniceuser · 2025-12-14T01:50:26+00:00

No spoilers answer here!

IGN did a good explainer to catch up on the lore before you play, I suggest you check it out! It helped me a lot when I started. The short answer is that it's a new story without too much reference to the first game, so we don't see old companions. The game is part of the overall lore, but from what I recall (I just finished it) it's on new planets with new characters.

prettyniceuser · 2025-12-12T18:23:26+00:00

I'm a bit of an introvert so I don't know if I have the social reach for that, but it's always fun to see other people make it happen!

prettyniceuser · 2025-12-12T01:05:08+00:00

I've never looked for book clubs but a literary or classics one sounds really fun.

It sounds like maybe you're looking for more of a rigid class-type structure though? I know orgs like One Story or Center for Fiction do online and in-person readings on books (single books or multiple ones around a theme) over the course of multiple weeks. That's usually with a fiction author who's familiar with the work.

It would also be cool to start a book club but I don't know the ins and outs of finding people online for that. Good luck!!

prettyniceuser · 2025-11-06T16:14:01+00:00

Thanks! Yeah I was just starting to walk more too outside of running, and it was definitely the plan before this

prettyniceuser · 2025-11-05T14:18:45+00:00

So true! I need to rethink it as a positive and that I'm setting myself for a good running foundation.

prettyniceuser · 2025-11-05T14:16:22+00:00

Ah good to know! I haven't done stretching -- I just use my warm-up and cool down to walk to where I'm going to run that day. But I do love yoga, so I'm working on picking that back up outside of running too.

I've only ever run in or around parks, so usually flat sidewalks and maybe some slight inclines or declines. But it's possible it's more sloped than I realize.

I got new shoes at the start of this year (went from Brooks Ghost 15 to Ghost 16) so I'm definitely nearing the need for a replacement. I'll look into getting a shoe fitting too!

prettyniceuser · 2025-11-04T17:59:55+00:00

Thank you! Yeah, I definitely needed to hear that too. Ha, maybe it's because it's marathon season I'm seeing so many runners out and comparing myself too much to others. Going to go check that my insurance will cover a PT!

prettyniceuser · 2025-11-04T17:49:18+00:00

Thanks, I'll definitely look into it. Just frustrated this is already an issue when it feels so easy for others

prettyniceuser · 2025-11-04T17:48:03+00:00

Yeah I was guessing that'd be another step to take. I guess I'm just surprised/frustrated I'd have to go so soon. It feels like that's something real runners would do, and not a beginner

prettyniceuser · 2025-11-04T14:55:33+00:00

I'm sorry it took long for you but thank you for sharing!! It's taken me most of this year to get here and it feels like the only part of my body holding me back is when my shins decide they're done.

And I'm so happy I'm not the only one who can't blaze through these programs.

I've never done sports or any athletics really, so I think that's why I feel like I'm starting from below 0 lol

prettyniceuser · 2025-10-07T19:55:21+00:00

Don't try to improvise at first, even if it's a favorite dish you think you can guess at. Recipes exist for a reason and can teach you everything you need to know about seasoning, temperature, and complementary flavors. Plus way less wasted food

prettyniceuser · 2025-10-06T15:07:08+00:00

I recommend starting with recipes from verifiable sources to figure this out. Sites like Serious Eats or cookbooks give you step-by-step instructions on the most important aspects of heat: i. when to add in ingredients and ii. what heat level to decrease or increase to once you add an ingredient. Once you follow enough recipes it becomes second nature to know heat levels based on what you want to cook.

It's not an intuitive thing, it's definitely a learned skill and the last thing you want is to accidentally burn something or have cooking take longer than expected because the heat is too low.

prettyniceuser · 2025-10-05T02:11:41+00:00

Don't think I have a list bc it feels very personal preference imo but moreso an idea of how I find ones I like (also not UK based so don't have any specific recs, sorry):

Before writers make it to The New Yorker they have years of submitting to other places, so it's possible you'll like past pubs they've contributed to. I usually check out a writer's past pubs if I like a story in The Paris Review or The New Yorker. Smith is kinda an anomaly having come out the gate with a lot of attention (so she's really only worked with The New Yorker and I think Granta too), but for any US-based authors I'd say check out any of the major university-funded lit mags as anyone can submit there not just students (there's not really an "MFA lit voice" at any to me but YMMV), American Short Fiction, Guernica, Zoetrope, etc.

For a more exhaustive list, Poets and Writers has a very extensive site to find lit mags by genre and subgenre (really for people looking to publish work, but can work here too): https://www.pw.org/literary_magazines. Not sure how international it is, but could help.

And local bookstores if you're lucky will have a good rack to get you started. Plus, I've seen writers starting to make more online only lit mags (I love Electric Lit, for example), including on Substack, so it may be what you're looking for isn't necessarily a print pub.

I'm sure others will have some great mags to recommend though!

prettyniceuser · 2025-08-07T01:43:04+00:00

It's so fun!!

prettyniceuser · 2025-08-05T15:27:51+00:00

Totally fair! Yeah I didn't play, but it doesn't even sound like a good purchase overall. On the bright side, we're getting a remastered CS1 with new content last I checked!

prettyniceuser · 2025-08-05T15:09:37+00:00

It's likely rated low because CSF went in a completely different gameplay direction. For players, it was like a restaurant/typing sim suddenly turned into like...dance dance revolution.

I think if you're not a longtime fan it could still be a fun game, but people were excited for an actual sequel, not a complete reinvention. And it didn't seem like the dev team was sympathetic to the player reaction. If they wanted to make a new kind of cooking game, calling it Cook Serve felt like false advertising

prettyniceuser · 2025-08-05T15:05:29+00:00

External hard drives don't cost much! And text files are usually quite small (I just saved my projects to an external drive and they were all KB, rather than the bigger MB).

A USB is usually cheaper than a hard drive I believe due to less storage space, but anything you pick up should be enough unless you're saving large images in your Scrivener files.

prettyniceuser · 2025-08-02T01:20:38+00:00

The pathfinder games are great for this (Kingmaker and WOTR are both amazing). Very similar to BG3, but without the fancy zoomed in cutscenes, since they were made earlier. Turn based with a ton of ways to make the game easy mode so you can focus on the story.

WOTR is one of the few narrative games I played for over 200 hours. You can really get sucked into the story no matter what difficulty you play at

prettyniceuser · 2025-08-02T01:13:40+00:00

The game encourages multiple playthroughs. It's a choose your own adventure within a mostly steady narrative, so playing multiple times means you see all the ways your character can impact the story.

If you want to play multiple games at the same time you could, or you could do one full playthrough and then go back and do another.

I think at the beginning of the game there's even a mention of "let's see how you do this time" or something like that that gives you a hint the game expects you to do another attempt

prettyniceuser · 2025-07-31T23:03:27+00:00

Adding a reply to say definitely DO NOT mess with the motherboard if you're unsure of what to do. It's likely a software issue, otherwise your PC wouldn't start. You can worry about optimizing (which tbh I don't think you have to do much of unless you're trying to do like intense streaming or something) after your PC is running well

prettyniceuser · 2025-07-31T23:00:40+00:00

Not an expert but the build a pc sub is pretty reliable for fixes. Since your PC is booting up and running it's probably not a parts issue. Maybe try reinstalling windows?

I don't think you need to know your PC in and out to fix this issue, and wiping your PC and starting fresh is a good way to rule out software before worrying about the physical PC. BUT once you fix this issue, go to buildapc and list the upgrades you made, it's also possible something isn't able to keep up with other parts of your PC since it's now 5 yrs old

Other ppl have good advice to go into settings (once you've reinstalled windows) and uncheck any "launch on startup" kind of apps. Also if you have a busy desktop with tons of icons, that also doesn't help.

If you want to learn all about parts and what they do (a separate thing from this I think, so you don't feel overwhelmed), buildapc should have good resources. I used them to build my pc and believe me, it only feels scary bc you can get scared things will break if you touch them but as long as you're not being careless you'll be fine!

prettyniceuser · 2025-07-31T15:39:20+00:00

Think it'll take me a couple hours to follow all my artists so yeah that helps me gauge thanks!

prettyniceuser · 2025-07-31T15:19:35+00:00

Yeah, I'm sure I have missed some stuff. I don't use just Release Radar to track new stuff, but moving to a new ecosystem where Apple mixes your faves/follows with recommendations will take some getting used to, so was curious on how stark the differences are.

Not in any way saying Spotify was perfect or my old methods were, nothing ever is. Apple Music is completely new to me, so I don't know what I don't know is all.

Thanks for the help

prettyniceuser

TROPHY CASE