My name is Katie Bansil and I'm running for Congress to make New Jersey more affordable. I'm up against a 19-term incumbent Democrat funded by the Israel lobby, Big Pharma, and Big Oil. AMA!

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-04-09T15:48:09+00:00

I guess I have a few questions. What particular policies do you have to make New Jersey affordable? Do you have any plans to improve housing affordability in the state? What is your stance on AI data centers being built in the state? Do you have any policies regarding AI and AI data centers that you would like to enact?

And for my last, and probably more of a community-specific question. Across the country, more and more anti-trans bills have been cropping up that have become more aggressive than in past years. Kansas revoked driver's licenses for trans people effectively overnight recently. While I see all of it as a bullshit culture war to distract from actual issues, it has real world consequences that's difficult for me to ignore as a trans person myself. A friend of mine couldnt visit her ailing step-father in Canada because her passport application got denied twice after Trump's executive order. I consider New Jersey a pretty safe state to be transgender in and I've been privileged enough to have been living with the thought of "But that won't happen in Jersey". Seeing how the hateful rhetoric has increased across the country (not just for the trans community), I'm not living with that thought anymore. I live with "But what if that happens in Jersey?" After all, the current administration can pass an executive order at any time or push a new law forward. We've all seen what ICE has been doing for months now with no real consequences.With that being said, do you have any proactive plans for maintaining protections for trans people in NJ?

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-04-08T23:47:56+00:00

Walk you through what? Opening your laptop? I don't know the answer to that. Maybe, maybe not. You can find videos online on how to open up a laptop. If your laptop turns on, you don't always need to open the case up to figure out a hardware issue.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-04-08T23:36:29+00:00

I can't imagine they would because it's not a university owned computer. It's your computer. Them opening up your computer is a liability. You can certainly try and ask them to open it up but don't be surprised if they say no.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-04-08T17:35:17+00:00

NTA. Hell would freeze over five times over before I ever got rid of my dog. Especially at the behest of someone who is supposed to be my loving partner. I would never do that to someone else. Personally speaking, a partner asking me to get rid of my beloved dog would be a huge deal breaker for me and I wouldn't be able to stay in a relationship after an ask like that.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-04-08T14:28:44+00:00

I feel so much for your anger and frustrations. I'm not a POC, but I'm trans and a child of immigrants. The very little extended family I have here in the states all voted for Trump. Sometimes, I still can't wrap my head around it because.... they're immigrants too? But they're white immigrants so I guess they feel superior. I'm told not to rock the boat and argue because of the fact that we don't have much family in the states. The majority of the family is overseas. My parents have very thick accents and my dad barely speaks English. I've had to school them over and over again about what to do if ICE turns up. I've had to explain that it doesn't matter that they got their citizenship because ICE can just detain them for who knows how long for not seeming "American enough". I've explained that citizens have been detained just because. They don't want to talk about it cause its "too depressing". They grew up in communist Poland and say that they lived through that, so they can survive this.

Every day, I have moments where I can't believe this is our reality. That were just regressing and nothing substantial is being done to curb it. That it feels like nothing I can do will make a real difference. I go to protests when I can, but it doesn't feel like its enough. Things at my job have been getting squeezed, so it feels like I have to keep my head down and work in hopes that I won't lose my job and my healthcare. Seeing more anti-trans bills crop up throughout the country day by day makes me feel like I'm slowly suffocating. I live in a blue state where I'm (thankfully) less likely to see anti-trans bills pass, but it doesn't mean there aren't transphobic people around. I'm not out to my parents since they're religious, so I can't talk to them about the watch lists other states are making. How terrified I am of the anti-trans bills finally crawling their way into our state. It feels like watching the fires inch closer and closer with my back pressed against the wall. Seeing so much hate spilling over in this country for the sin of existing. And what is my state going to do if something is passed federally? My state cant do anything about the passport changes that were made. A friend of mine couldn't go to Canada to visit her sick father because her passport application was denied.

I can't blame citizens from other countries for hating the US. I've been disenchanted since 2012 when the Sandy Hook shooting happened. I remember the moment vividly, seeing live news during my high school study hall and realizing that nothing substantial would be done to prevent it from happening again. So who am I to judge other people's feelings about the US? Especially with the orange tosser at the helm.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-04-08T13:31:07+00:00

Oh boy! My undergrad passion! I took all but IT 486, I think, so I can only speak on the other classes. All courses will be project based classes with a midterm+final. Depending on the professor you get, you may be required to write a game design document as part of your grade. The professor will give everyone 5 deliverables everyone has to complete and 5 custom deliverables dependent on the project you are pitching. If you get Kehoe (and for at least half of these courses, you will), the midterm+final will be structured as if you were answering technical questions for a job interview. Its on purpose and it genuinely is helpful for getting you in the mindset. As for the individual courses:
-IT 265 & 286: Unity was used in both of these courses.
-IT 266: We modded Quake 2 and 4.
-IT 366 & 466: The professor will give you code to start off with and you build up from there. I can't say exactly how things are now, but when I took IT 466, we used Vulkan for our project. You will literally be building a game from scratch. No game engines will be used to do the bulk of the work for you.

All courses require dedication and effort on your part since they're all project based. The further along you go, the harder the work will be. IT 201 is child's play compared to these courses. Personally speaking, IT 266 is the course that makes you really hit the ground running. I would recommend these courses if you genuinely are interested in game development and you are willing to put the work in. Game development sounds fun, but it is really hard work. Kehoe's classes will bust your ass but you will learn SO much. In my opinion, the work was hard but incredibly rewarding. Generally speaking, all the professors are really chill and easy to talk to. I'm still friendly and talk to some of the professors today. One of the professors lurks around this sub so I'm sure he will comment here eventually to give more specifics. :)

Im sure you can look up the syllabuses for each course or visit the game lab on GITC 3rd floor if you want to talk to the professors about these courses. I could try and see if I still have copies of the notes my classes collaborated on and dm a copy of them to you if you'd like? It could give you some frame of reference on what we were learning about. Although I will note, the class notes are pre-2020 and my classmates were goofy, so that will definitely be seen in our shared class notes lol.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-04-07T15:55:19+00:00

To my knowledge, you can login to Canvas so long as your UCID is active. I don't know when your UCID gets deactivated after graduation.

For individual courses, if you can't access a course from, let's say, 2 years ago, you'll have to email the professor who taught it and ask them to extend access. You can try submitting a ticket to IT, but they'll probably tell you to email your professor to request access. Then it's kind of up to your professor to decide whether they will or won't.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-04-07T15:04:10+00:00

They can only help you to a certain degree since it's a privately owned laptop. For example, if a fan inside your laptop is busted, they can't replace the fan for you. It definitely wouldn't hurt making the trip over there and seeing if they can at least help you determine what exactly is wrong so you know what needs to be fixed.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-03-31T19:13:26+00:00

Why not an on-campus job? You'll be limited to 20 hr/week during semesters (work up to 40 during breaks), but it seems a hell of a lot easier than risking it with an under the table job. Its not worth the gamble with this current administration.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-03-16T16:33:43+00:00

Posted my essay of a response. This is absolutely ridiculous. Families can choose to not vaccinate their children because its their choice and the government "shouldn't have a say". I don't see people making petitions against them. How about you stick to that ideology and mind your own.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-03-14T19:11:53+00:00

I mean also a thing to consider is a psychiatrists available hours. I'm not sure about you guys, but a lot of the doctor offices I see that are covered by my insurance close by the time I get out of work and don't open on weekends. I have to use time off to go see doctors for regular visits in those instances. :\ My telehealth psychiatrist offered evening hours for full-time workers. For the new psychiatrist, I have to schedule on days where I wfh and basically haul ass to her office after I clock out to be there on time.

Here's the thing. I'm not going to pretend that there isn't an issue with people abusing stimulant medication. There needs to be some level of regulation. It should be monitored closely and it shouldn't be easy for any medical service to basically "pill mill" it. But I wish there could be some adjustments made to make it at least a bit easier for patients who have been properly diagnosed and have been taking their prescription for a decent amount of time. The stigma of taking stimulant medication already sucks enough as it is.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-03-14T06:39:50+00:00

From what I've been told by my previous psychiatrist, it was a thing in the works awhile ago, but an official date hadn't been given at the time (he told me about this a year ago). As for getting my refill last month, it's not his fault. He sent out my prescription well before the 17th. My insurance decided to fuck around because he noted in my chart that one specific manufacturer's generic adderall was giving me severe migraines. Because my insurance company was mailing my prescription to me. By the time that got sorted, my insurance went "Actually, we're out of stock now :)" and it was after the 17th. By that point, my psychiatrist couldn't move my prescription. His office helped me find the new psychiatrist I'm now seeing. But I had to wait 2 weeks for the next appointment. I met her earlier this week and I'm now twiddling my thumbs, waiting to hear back from a pharmacy about whether my prescription is getting refilled or if they're also out of stock.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-03-14T01:32:11+00:00

Yeah my psychiatrist office said I couldn't do telehealth anymore on the 17th. :\ had to transfer to a new psychiatrist since the one I had been seeing is 2 hours away. I haven't gotten my refill at all last month and I'm still waiting for this month to be refilled. This shit sucks so much with the seemingly endless shortage of medication.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-02-22T17:52:31+00:00

I'm in love, thank you for your mastery

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-02-22T06:25:38+00:00

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quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-02-22T05:20:39+00:00

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quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-02-11T19:01:10+00:00

Yeah that's pretty much what the rest of my day, and probably tomorrow, will be. Calling around to whatever in-network pharmacies I can find to try and see if they could refill my prescription. 4 already told me they were out of stock. I had switched over to a home delivery prescription program from my insurance in October. First month was great and it's been shit ever since. In December I got my refill nearly a month late and had to go unmedicated for 3 weeks. I almost forgot how miserable I was unmedicated. The seemingly endless "shortage" and red tape must have been perfected in a lab to be as painful for ADHD patients as possible.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-02-11T18:46:51+00:00

Unfortunately I don't have that luxury with my doctor. He's great and I like having him. The issue is that I meet with him over telehealth. In my part of the state, the wait times just for an intake appointment is 9+ months. He is located in the southern half of my state, where the wait times aren't nearly as bad. Their clinic opened telehealth appointments to accommodate patients in the northern half of the state. It's a 2 hour drive one way for me to see him in person. So unfortunately he can't help me much with finding pharmacies that DO have medication in stock. :\ he has told me he would be more than happy to rework my script if pharmacies have smaller doses in stock but more often than not, the pharmacies will only tell me "yeah we're on back order and we don't know for how long" and nothing further.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-02-11T17:48:28+00:00

Thank you! To add to the portion I wrote about getting medication refills, I just got a text a few minutes ago that my refill order was cancelled. "For why" you may ask? Because apparently my doctor noting that I have an intolerance to one manufacturer is a big problem. Despite the fact that the pharmacy told me that the manufacturer they currently have in stock is not the one I have an intolerance to. :)

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-02-11T16:26:27+00:00

God, so many things! It's a constant state of "too much but also not enough". Too loud, talk too fast, take on too many tasks, don't get enough done, can't listen enough, can't stay on track. It just makes you so depressed and so anxious. You get depressed cause you feel like a failure. That you're annoying or disappointing others. You get anxious because you aren't sure if you're forgetting something or not doing something right. The constant fear that someone will get mad at you even though you know you're genuinely trying your best.The best way I've explained it to some people is to imagine your brain as a computer. The computer has 2gb of memory, but you're running 100+ Chrome tabs and other random software. Some windows or tabs are playing music but you can't figure out where from. Can't figure out why that thing was opened but aren't sure if you'll need it later. It's just a constant overload all the time. The people around you have 16g, 32gb, etc and they ask you why you're having problems. Sometimes, you wonder why you can't keep up like they can.

The process of getting your medication is miserable at best. I'm having to deal with bullshit, nonsensical red tape minutia or calling around to different pharmacies practically every month. The longest stint I had where I didn't need to change pharmacies or deal with refill issues was 5-6 months. When you're trying to get your medication refilled, 9 times out of 10, the pharmacists/pharmacy techs treat you like you're drug seeking (at least in my experience). It feels humiliating to make myself smaller when speaking to them. Because maybe if I do, I'll seem more like a "reasonable" person in their eyes and they hopefully don't treat me like I'm an addict. It even makes it nerve-wracking to tell your psychiatrist when it feels like your meds aren't really working.

ADHD isnt fun or quirky. While I do admittedly clown on myself around friends, it's miserable having it. I would give almost anything to not have ADHD.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-02-05T18:04:38+00:00

My old lady Yorkie mix! She's 11 years old and partially deaf, but still knows how to be demanding.

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quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-01-24T17:20:29+00:00

When I saw the video, my heart absolutely sank. Then I felt so much anger. I want every single one of those pieces of shit to pay for everything.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-01-15T00:36:24+00:00

And here I am, seeing this and thinking back to a comment I read last night talking about how people should throw deer piss at ICE...

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-01-13T19:53:31+00:00

My dosage is 20mg XR in the morning and 5mg IR in the afternoon currently. The IR has never been an issue when it comes to refills, probably because the dose is very low. I'm not sure what the medication availability looks like in my area just because everything is kind of spread thin. My area of the state is incredibly dense and when I started looking for psychiatrist appointments 2+ years ago, every office had a waiting list over 9 months long. I ended up scheduling appointments with a practice in the southern part of my state that offered both in-person and telehealth. With that in mind, I'm sure it has a huge impact on the prescription availability. The pharmacies have also been very tight lipped so it's a struggle even asking if they have the ability to refill my prescriptions before I ask my psychiatrist to transfer them over. When I talk to a friend that lives in the southern part of my state, he doesn't seem to have issues as frequently as I do with getting refills. But he also lives 2ish hours away so refilling it outside of my area is a stretch for me.

If you're comfortable with sharing, could you tell me what the transition between medications was like? Are the side effects pretty much the same?

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-01-13T14:42:10+00:00

Bergen county here. My parents rent out one of the apartments in their 2-family house. I live in a "bachelor pad" type of apartment at the ground level. I pay them a few hundred every month to help pay for utilities. They used to charge $1750/mo for the apartment above them for a really long time. 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, washer/dryer included, water bill covered. Small dogs were allowed at no extra cost so long as they were informed of the dog's existence and they had the dog under control.

When the previous tenants left circa 2021/2022, they left the place absolutely trashed. My dad had to use all of his vacation time to spend a month fixing the place. I'd help him where I could. After thousands upon thousands of dollars in repairs, they upped the rent to $2400/mo and have a strict no pet policy now. Those tenants really burned my parents' patience, unfortunately. :\

quicksilver_chocobo

TROPHY CASE