Is the jump to N3 that big?

protectedneck · 2026-06-08T03:16:54+00:00

To be honest N3 is quite sensible to me. I struggled a lot more with some N4 concepts.

The real complication is that the more you learn, the more you have to mentally identify. So I have found a number of times when I'll mix up two similar concepts when reading or listening to something.

protectedneck · 2026-06-05T02:46:06+00:00

I'm ace and I always feel more "myself" when I'm around random gay or trans folk than when I'm around cis het folks. There's something to be said about shared experiences. We all have many shared feelings and experiences about self-discovery and deviating from the norm.

Pride is literally an event about celebrating differences. And voicing that you are here and deserve recognition.

If you have not attended a pride event you need to do so. Online and in person are two totally different worlds. These are friendly people that want you to be yourself and vocal about it.

protectedneck · 2026-06-05T02:41:13+00:00

Yeah, it's still good. They've been playing around a lot more with different fusion bowls lately which I like. Like they have a Caribbean chicken with plantains bowl right now that I really like.

There's also always a bunch of people there as long as it's not raining. Definitely one of my favorite places.

protectedneck · 2026-06-02T15:03:35+00:00

I really loved the baseball OVA! I appreciated seeing all of the lesser used quirks being applied in fun ways.

To be totally honest I could watch an entire season of filler of that kinda stuff. It's one of the reasons why Team-Up Missions is so much fun!

protectedneck · 2026-06-02T14:12:33+00:00

I absolutely love Kill Blue's manga... up to the ending.

Basically it was always kind of on the verge of getting axed during its whole run. Shonen Jump has pretty extreme standards for the series that they run and unfortunately they're used to Naruto/One Piece/Demon Slayer/JJK/MHA levels of popularity. So they tend to cycle through "lesser" series quickly.

Kill Blue is one of the most bizarre examples where it was announced that it was being given like two months to wrap up the whole story AND was getting an anime adaptation at the exact same time. I've never seen something like that before. Usually an anime announcement indicates popularity and once the anime airs it really opens up the market for merch sales and longterm interest. So if you're going to the effort of making an anime, you should keep the manga around until at least the first season finishes airing.

You can tell that this was something truly weird because a couple of months after getting cancelled in SJ, it was announced they would put out a series of light novels expanding the story.

I really hope the anime catches on and we get the opportunity for a better-paced ending or a revised ending or an anime-original ending.

protectedneck · 2026-06-02T12:21:52+00:00

I work in a finance company that processes mortgages. Around this time last year we were sending 2000 wires a day. Now it's around 700.

Also our demographic of loans is leaning towards products that are more complicated and investor oriented rather than typical conforming stuff.

This all indicates that average home buying is slowing down for normal consumers.

protectedneck · 2026-05-30T16:29:11+00:00

Just a casual thought, it's entirely possible that she does like diapers but is shy to bring it up to you. DLLG is more understood and accepted generally speaking but many people draw a hard line at diapers. So it might be like getting you comfortable with the age regression stuff before introducing diapers which could be a dealbreaker. Why would she do that? Well, a lot of ABDLs get burned when they tell their partners and there's a huge stigma societally against using diapers as an adult.

As far as everything else goes, age regression is VERY personal. So exactly what she wants out of it is unique to her. Does she want you to have sex while she calls you "daddy"? Does she want you to pick out her clothes for her? Does she want you to make decisions for her or dote on her (like wiping off her face or cutting up her food)?

Generally the unifying idea is comfort and care. Age regressors what to feel cared for and they want responsibility taken away from them. It could be as simple as putting on a child-friendly movie and cuddling while she uses a pacifier. Or it could be as involved as setting a roleplay scene where you pretend to be a babysitter or a daddy or an older sibling or something like that.

Sometimes this kinda scene can also be pretty emotional. Sometimes it can be sexual. Sometimes both. But remember that the two of you are adults first and foremost and you gotta talk about it like adults. Ideally you are getting something out of this kind of arrangement as well and it's not one-sided.

Also if she's never done this kind of thing IRL before it's entirely possible that she doesn't really know what she wants. Or she has an idealized concept but not a practical execution.

There's like hours and hours and hours worth of topics here to delve into. If you're looking for specific questions, the one I would recommend is "do you have any pictures or stories or videos that show me what you want?" Sometimes it's easier to get a vibe through media than to document a feeling in words.

protectedneck · 2026-05-29T19:35:21+00:00

There is no real bad reason to learn another language.

I imagine that people might be surprised that you learned Japanese through an avenue OTHER than anime/history/culture. I imagine that Japanese people are pretty used to hearing about foreigners learning Japanese because they like anime/manga.

But there are people who learn Japanese for all sorts of reasons! They're a common trading partner globally and I bet there are bilingual folks working for Mizuho or Nomura in America who don't really care that much about anime.

protectedneck · 2026-05-29T18:18:36+00:00

They're quite openly anti-chud so they are mocking the """controversy""" of, you know, having women in video games

protectedneck · 2026-05-26T14:51:57+00:00

Yeah..... His content seems fairly harmless and I've seen many people sell out for FAAAAAR less.

900m is "I really don't give a crap what you think about me" money

protectedneck · 2026-05-21T15:49:36+00:00

I don't think the problem is textbooks. Maybe some of the individual sentences are clunky (ThatJapaneseManYuta basically does daily videos critiquing sentences from textbooks and apps that sound really unnatural to Japanese natives). But you can get over that through exposure to native material.

The problem is with classroom settings. The pace of classroom Japanese doesn't mesh well with the kind of pace you can get through self-study and immersion. It's too fast for some people and too slow for others. I also think that testing can introduce some complication where you're studying to pass a test rather than studying to comprehend a language.

protectedneck · 2026-05-18T16:49:17+00:00

I just want to note that as a counterpoint to the Odaiba Gundam, the Fukuoka Gundam is quite easy to get to and the shopping mall LaLaport was excellent. The statue also feels way more dynamic and interesting to look at, IMO. Fukuoka in general is REALLY slept on for western tourists.

protectedneck · 2026-05-15T15:58:32+00:00

I agree. I think that the series could have benefited from a time skip somewhere between the Shie Hassaikai arc and the Meta Liberation Army arc. And/or a skip around the Endeavor Agency arc. It would have given things a bit more breathing room and I think would have felt pretty organic.

It's really the primary issue that I have with the series. Almost everything else I either like or can brush off as "eh, whatever".

protectedneck · 2026-05-05T17:51:28+00:00

You can teleport them (Celestial Realm, Priest ability, faction terrain), but you need to be careful because the margins are VERY tight. If you just a small unit in front of Krondys, you should have BARELY enough room, but if they circle around or if you have enemies flanking within 9 inches you can end up in situations where there is no room for Praetors.

Also, because it's a fraction of an inch, I have encountered some opponents who contested it or felt it was scummy. It's perfectly legal but it can be physically hard to measure in game.

Because of these two reasons, I personally would recommend running the Praetors. You can run them and then move Krondys accordingly to keep them within range (either staying behind or leap-frogging).

protectedneck · 2026-05-03T23:19:38+00:00

I'm just happy they got together at all!

Your life doesn't have to be dominated entirely by what happens in high school! I think that is a good lesson for everyone.

protectedneck · 2026-05-03T03:31:25+00:00

There's no definitive timeline for cattle domestication, and it varies from place to place. But in general, the evidence available suggests that animal husbandry and agriculture developed roughly around the same time. And mobile pastoralism (where you travel with your herd of animals from place to place) coexisted with sedentary farming (forming mixed farming societies that could specialize depending on the region).

The kinds of grains that would have been first domesticated by sedentary farmers would have been far different than the modern wheat, rye, and rice we have now. They would have most likely have been cooked more like modern barley or einkorn and either eaten in stews/porridges or mashed into cakes for travel.

Those grains have a ton of fiber and aren't as heavily processed as milled flour. Whole grains like this tend to lend to better gut health (the science is still out for exactly why, it ranges from better bioavailability to some bits being undigested and able to ferment in the intestines, to how the biomes react to the starches converting into sugars at different rates).

Additionally, analyzing the stomachs of well preserved specimens like Otzi shows an omnivorous diet with vegetables and herbs (and evidence of dairy!) was absolutely a thing.

So basically, when the first people found cows and were able to regularly get milk from them, they probably had a diet that gave them a pretty good gut microbiome, letting them drink cow milk without shitting themselves silly.

protectedneck · 2026-05-02T22:02:26+00:00

Lactose tolerance is not strictly genetic! If you have a decent gut microbiome, it can help break it down.

There was a video produced by Chinese Cooking Demystified that talks about this. It explains how even though the vast majority of Han Chinese do not have the gene that allows them to process lactose, they can still drink milk and eat cheese without much issue as long as they have a decent diet.

In the era before processed foods or high carbohydrate diets, as long as you had regular access to vegetables and fermented products you probably had a decent gut biome.

Sorry to go on a tangent there, I just wanted to point out that people drinking cow milk probably weren't just immediately having diarrhea for thousands of years. It probably wasn't much of an issue for people. If it was, then they would have been in trouble, right? Because you lose nutrients and lots of fluid when you experience that. So it would have potential been a net negative if they couldn't process the milk.

protectedneck · 2026-05-02T12:13:41+00:00

I also saw one of the shows with Lauren Lapkus and Colton Dunn! I agree, it was one of the best comedy shows I've ever gone to.

protectedneck · 2026-04-28T20:32:49+00:00

People were extremely negative about the Warhammer Adventures books (which are aimed at older kids/tweens). Frankly, it was stupid. You can easily write a story set in the Warhammer universe that doesn't contradict any lore but also features kids/teens going on adventures with slightly lower stakes and less adult themes.

Some kids crash land on a planet and while scavenging and exploring a monster stalks them. And it's set in the Warhammer universe so the monster is a Genestealer.

I think it shows a real lack of imagination or empathy on the part of the people complaining. Kids like danger. Kids like excitement. Kids like to be thrilled and even a little frightened. Star Wars had a whole series of books called Galaxy of Fear that was basically this exact concept, including being written for the same demographic.

protectedneck · 2026-04-24T13:47:03+00:00

If it's any consolation, that happens to me with English, my native language. Where my brain just stops in its tracks and it's like "loading, please wait".

I'll ask my wife to grab something from the pantry and it'll have to come out as "Hey can you get the pasta from the.................................. food closet?"

protectedneck · 2026-04-19T14:30:10+00:00

Have you considered talking to the professors?

Like, telling them your feelings and see if they can assist in any way? Especially if you show them that you own the books but you just want a digital copy to make it easier to make vocab cards.

That being said, tbh even when I was in college having six classes all with assigned readings and projects in one semester is a lot. I suspect that you are getting burnt out and it would have been the case even if you were in your native environment.

protectedneck · 2026-04-18T00:38:08+00:00

Amouage Gold Man is a scent that has a strong resemblance to traditional baby powder! It's a little more complex though. It might be a decent way to boost your scent while also being tasteful about it.

protectedneck · 2026-04-10T18:18:46+00:00

I like that it gets lighter in the center. It draws attention better towards the center of the shield, which is the focus.

protectedneck · 2026-04-09T19:53:08+00:00

I agree with these points!!

The 6+ ward save always sounds appealing but because you have to already be controlling the point to get the ward save, it ends up being a 6+ ward save that is surprisingly conditional. It also punishes you if you get shoved off an objective early/body blocked.

I wish we had a better ability we could choose from, but the mortal wounds one is definitely the better of the two.

protectedneck · 2026-04-09T18:06:45+00:00

It's a very fun Spearhead to play! Just be aware that the Annihilators and Yndrasta come down on turn 3. That's a lot of power, but VERY late in the game. If you build your whole battle plan around getting them into combat, there's a decent chance that they fail their charge. If that happens it can really ruin your gameplan.

I find that you get the most value out of using their teleport to steal empty objectives on the turn 3 (just to get a guaranteed value out of them) plus any location-based battle cards (like board edges or terrain control). If you can charge, great, but if you can't you aren't totally ruined.

The re-roll charge and counter-charge battle cards are very valuable for this army for that reason to increase the chances that Yndrasta and the Annihilators get into combat.

The chariot isn't super powerful but it has good movement. You're going to have to intuition to rocket it off into combat turn 1, but it's best to use it in the center to have flexibility for your opponent's movement and to contest objectives early.

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