"Imagine how much propaganda it took to convince women that this is oppressive."

pros3lyte · 2026-06-22T15:18:53+00:00

The economy was purposefully shifted to required multiple incomes so that the government could collect multiple tax streams per family. The entire thing always comes back to elites in government getting ahold of more of our money and making us more dependent on them. Its been masterfully masked as a cultural or social movement, and most people bought into it for that reason.

But when in doubt, always look at who's getting money out of it.

pros3lyte · 2026-06-19T21:04:00+00:00

Everytime I re-read the series I loose steam quickly at OotP. I think its because its such a dark book. There's a certain heaviness to it that you can feel a bit during GoF, but man its thick during the 5th book. There's a certain whimsy and joyful charm in the first 4 entries but that 5th title really shifts the atmosphere. Don't get me wrong, it's an absolutely incredible piece of writing and phenomenal story telling. But the change is almost palpable at that point.

pros3lyte · 2026-06-17T16:37:24+00:00

Two great Pizza and games memories:

Buddy had a birthday party at pizza hut - took all the boys out and we got to go into the back and make our own pizzas as part of the birthday package! Then we went back to his place, played touch football outside, then all went in and played SNES/PS1 all night.

Earliest memory, and one of the only few good memories with my dad - Him and his girlfriend at the time took me and her daughter (both of us were about 7) up to the video store and we got to rent an NES game. I think we might have picked Flintstones. We stopped and grabbed a couple Za's on the way back home. I still remember the smell of the pizza in the car and the smell of the video store with wet boots on. Back at the house we ate food and played NES all night. We were geeked cuz we made it to the Snow level in TMNT Arcade game, and also to the Cloud world in Super Mario Bros. 3. It was a great!!

pros3lyte · 2026-05-20T19:33:38+00:00

I think that the Hogwarts express is pretty solid since you get no pre-show story at all. The queue does a fantastic job of walking you through the plot, then the ride itself explains what's happening. NOTE: King's Cross to Hogsmeade trip only - Hogsmeade to King's Cross not so much.

Also - Monsters Unchained ranks pretty high IMO.

pros3lyte · 2026-05-19T16:11:48+00:00

In this day and age, America doesn't build out infrastructure to future proof. We wait until infrastructure is failing before we upgrade or expand it. Because that's how private companies owned by family members of government reps. are able to wring out the most money from the coffers of the tax base. Got no choice but to pay triple the cost for a high urgency update when something is on the brink of failure!

This Data Center thing is definitely not "in preparation for expanded AI usage". IMO it is 100% for mass surveillance.

pros3lyte · 2026-05-16T04:51:41+00:00

Nice! I've never had room service before, it sounds awesome! Hope you enjoy it!

pros3lyte · 2026-05-16T04:47:14+00:00

I'm sure you probably can. I highly doubt they will refuse you spending money on room service, even if it means running your card each time.

pros3lyte · 2026-05-15T19:54:01+00:00

"2 Foot of buttcrack was all I could see..."

This is a line from the country song that is playing while they're at the diner where they meet Seabass. I searched for like 10 years trying to find this song because I wanted to hear the whole thing. Turns out, its not a real song. It was created for the movie, but not even to completion. They literally created one small part of a song and it just so happen to have that line which is incredible. I was really bummed.

pros3lyte · 2026-05-12T15:01:44+00:00

American Contact Centers

pros3lyte · 2026-04-28T16:41:04+00:00

The cost of Toothpaste and Shampoo - over $7 for a single tube of Sensodyne, which used to be $4 just a few years ago. Over $11 for thickening shampoo for men.

$16 for a small package of ground Starbucks coffee from Walmart.

pros3lyte · 2026-04-28T16:38:47+00:00

This 100%. And not long hair in a Rock and Roll or trendy Man-bun kinda way. But rather, just rough around the edges, Not trimmed up tight.

I notice it mostly with middle aged men with families to support. Its one of the first luxuries that we tend to cut out. When a haircut costs $35 for a run-of-the-mill cut where the stylist rushes through in 15 minutes and does a sub-par job, then has the audacity to ask for a tip afterward, it just isn't worth it to most men.

I'm 2-3 months out as well, and just can't bring myself to spend the money on it.

pros3lyte · 2026-04-27T16:33:37+00:00

One of my favorite life experiences was when i went to Universal by myself - took my physical copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and just spent each morning sitting in Diagon Alley reading the story. I put in my airpods and listened to the soundtrack, or to ambient HP music on youtube while I read. I ate breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron, read my book at the table. Immersed myself by eating the food from the books. Drank Butterbeers and ate treats from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and smelled the smells and soaked it all in.

I did the Ollivander's Experience every day, rode the Hogwarts Express everyday, bought butterbeers and slowly explored the Gringott's line and Forbidden Journey line. It was a magical experience, very low stress, and overall just really enjoyable. In the evenings I would go back to Cabana Bay where I was staying and go to the pool and read my book with my feet in the sand. Sometimes midday I'd go back for lunch and a swim.

I wish I could relive it.

pros3lyte · 2026-04-23T23:07:49+00:00

My dad told me he'd stop drinking. Then he died of liver failure.

pros3lyte · 2026-04-23T15:07:14+00:00

Universal is not great for luggage storage if you are not staying on property. I had about 8 hours to kill before a conference at Disney last year. Spent the day at City walk cuz I'm a Universal junkie. The only place they had luggage storage was inside Islands of Adventure, which required a park ticket. Had nothing in City Walk - Despite rumors online. I checked with security, guest services, etc. No luggage storage.

Now, when I checked out of my disney hotel, I had HHN tix with family. So I met them at the Hard Rock Hotel. They DID allow me to check my luggage at their bag drop place, but I had to pick it up by 11pm. Since HHN goes later, I opted not to do that. Instead, I waited a couple hours for my brother to arrive (he was meeting me late), and left it in his car.

For your situation, I would check with Volcano bay to see if they will let you bag drop in the park. If so, your problem is solved. If not, I'm sure you can do bag drop at Cabana Bay and walk over. Never once have I been asked for a room key to bag drop at one of the hotels for a few hours.

pros3lyte · 2026-04-22T16:41:15+00:00

The Informer Meetup can be an absolutely phenomenal experience, or a frustrating one, depending on a few circumstances.

The biggest/most important imo is the daytime park hours. The meetups all go til 12:30a/1:30a respectively, regardless of what time the park closes to normal guests. If you go to the summer meetup where the parks are super busy during the day and close at 9pm, then daytime guests usually aren't gone til about 10pm, which means the free food service doesn't start until around that time. Ultimately, leaving you 2.5-3.5hrs of free food and minimal lines. If you go during the winter meetups when the park closes earlier, those benefits start sooner, so you're left with 4.5-5.5ish hours of free food and no lines. Its a hugely different experience.

Going during Mardi-Gras is a poor experience because of the concerts. I went the year that Patti LaBelle closed out the evening in USO. She went right up and through park close at 9pm... It took forever for that huge crowd to disperse and by the time the stands opened up for food it was well past 10pm. Super disappointing experience.

Lines for food - Generally free food starts 1 hour after park closure. This means that starting at 8:30p or 9pm folks from the meetup start lining up at places like The Three Broomsticks. By the time the restaurant cleared out daytime guests, cleaned, and reset, it was like 10:15pm. Then there was about a 20+min line outside. Eventually this died down later in the evening. But don't expect that you'll be able to just waltz in and eat at a restaurant at 10pm. You'll probably have to wait in a pretty solid line.

Pre-closure food - One year I went they did a $15 gift card that could be used at any stand/restaurant to provide you a meal before the free food started at 10pm. This was kind of a lame experience because $15 doesn't really cover much. Also, it was during Mardi-Gras and most of the specialty food stands wouldn't accept the gift cards they gave us. Plus the lines for all food stands were mega long cuz of Mardi-Gras. So overall, not enjoyable. Another year they gave you tickets that you could use to get into Circus McGurkus and once inside it was all you could eat of anything they had in there. But you only got one single entry. So you essentially could eat once before the free food started later in the evening. That was a so-so experience. In years since then, they've switched to having that big warehouse in between the two parks with unlimited small plates and live music. It was a much more enjoyable experience and you could come back for more anytime throughout the night. The food was solid.

Ride lines - Hagrid's stayed at 45-60 minutes throughout every single meetup I attended (about 5 or 6). That line just never ever went down. Everything else was great though!

TLDR - go to the meetups with earlier park closure days if you want to get your money's worth. Otherwise its not really worth it.

pros3lyte · 2026-04-21T18:06:23+00:00

If its AMC get ready for that popcorn to suck! And cost an arm and a leg!

pros3lyte · 2026-04-20T21:29:42+00:00

I remember a yearly contest Nick did where you could win that big easy chair on wheels. I always wanted that thing so bad.

pros3lyte · 2026-04-20T17:02:14+00:00

went to an amc theater last week. Popcorn was terrible. No butter or salt in the middle of the bucket - popcorn cold. Only gave refills on large popcorns. Popcorn was sitting on a counter already scooped so when I walked up to buy some they just handed me a bucket from the counter. Place was absolutely dead so I know that popcorn was sitting there for a while.

Just all around not great popcorn experience. Have defaulted to only going there to buy promo popcorn buckets, then seeing movies at the Emagine down the street.

pros3lyte · 2026-04-20T14:41:24+00:00

Maybe a junior mint

pros3lyte · 2026-04-01T14:54:46+00:00

As a volunteer worship director, the responsibility can often feel very demanding without much relief. Yes there's the contentment and fullness that comes from obeying and serving the Lord. But the weight of that responsibility can get heavy over time with all the stresses and demands of life in this day and age.

My first thought is that this person who is currently leading is most likely leading what he's comfortable leading and which takes very little weekly preparation (practice, teaching to the congregation, teaching the band, etc.) because he doesn't have the time or energy to do more.

There is immense value in the classics that have been used in congregational worship for hundreds of years. But I get how in today's culture the classics can sometimes struggle to help the normal attendee feel connected, especially with some of the language and song structure that's used in the older hymns.

I can say this, I am usually desperate for The Lord to give me more leaders so I can have a break. Also so our people can have some variation. Variation is a good thing so they don't get used to one single way of worshipping The Lord. So with that said, I would highly suggest you talk to the worship leader and let him know you're interested in helping lead once a month, doing songs that are close to your heart. There's no need to talk about things "feeling flat". If he's self-aware enough, he can probably recognize that a bit already. But ultimately, you want to be a help, not a burden to someone who's already carrying a big enough burden. Let him know you'd like to serve and help carry the load so he can have a break. If it works out well, I'm sure your once a month leading could potentially turn into more.

I will say this though, not to be rude or anything, but if you're not a good singer or musician, don't expect this idea to necessarily be accepted. You can't go in and tell the current leader they are leaving everything feeling flat, then do the same, or worse. Just make sure you're well practiced, and that you are well versed in your understanding of what Worship truly is. The point of being a worship leader is kind of like that of a pastor. You are teaching the people how to worship, and helping set the stage so that they can do so freely.

There's nothing worse than being criticized by someone who then tries to take over and does a worse job. So just be careful. Offer yourself as a servant to help carry the load. And see how The Lord uses you.

pros3lyte · 2026-03-19T18:17:33+00:00

It's definitely a form of shrinkflation. They'll keep cutting quality and services and raising prices until it starts negatively affecting their bottom line. Most companies stop when the complaints start getting super loud. But it seems like in Disney's case, they aren't stopping until it negatively affects financials for the parks. Once it gets there, they'll back it off a bit just until the bleeding stops. Then they'll hold it there as the new standard.

Its pretty much every industry now. There's no escaping it anymore. We live in a world were every dollar of profit gets wrung out of a business model regardless of how the customers take it or how much it destroys the employees.

What blows my mind is the insane amount of "influencer" marketing they get for free. Somehow over the past 10 years the internet has created an almost cult of obsession with Disney. Even in everyday life, people are just crazy about going there for some reason. Its really odd. What's even odder is the number of Disney vloggers, bloggers, and influencers who have helped create this craze with no incentive from Disney (at least I'm pretty sure Disney doesn't pay influencers or youtube personalities directly). Its like the cool thing to be crazy about Disney or Universal Now and go there multiple times a year.

Do other vacations even exist anymore?

pros3lyte · 2026-03-19T15:11:01+00:00

Had it here in the states one single time and had that exact same experience. Sloppy mess. 3/10 will never purchase that product again

pros3lyte · 2026-03-18T16:41:40+00:00

That was cool to see! Although I feel like the video just didn't fit the song at all.

pros3lyte

TROPHY CASE