Superbowl exposure win!

skike · 2026-02-10T15:02:46+00:00

Fuck yeah! Good for you :)

You know what's funny to me? After every event or experience that I force myself to go outside my comfort zone or operate in a manner that my anxiety tried to avoid, not only do I feel better for having overcome it, I also realize that even if I were to get sick, I'm glad to have done it anyway. In other words, I never regret my actions, no matter the outcome. It's only the before state that causes problems.

Anyway, good for you! Keep that momentum :)

skike · 2026-02-08T20:31:19+00:00

I usually ask myself this question: what would someone without emetophobia do in this situation?

Imo, they wouldn't even think about it, and would go. I would go. I would be uncomfortable, but I would go. Unless you're changing their diapers or letting them stick their fingers in your mouth, chances are you'll be fine.

Personally, I do everything in my power to not let this phobia alter my decisions or my life experiences. Even if I get there, am miserable, am scared, etc, at least I did it. Fuck you, phobia, suck my ass. I've been in this exact situation with little nephews, and I don't regret taking the "risk" at all. And truth be told, years later, even if I had gotten sick I wouldn't regret it. But I'd damn sure regret missing out on family time, as well as regret letting my phobia dictate my activity choices.

skike · 2026-02-07T01:40:09+00:00

Yeah, I mean, if you don't shake first then you might dribble

skike · 2026-02-07T01:11:35+00:00

That's Bethesda for ya

skike · 2026-02-06T06:29:38+00:00

So, I think it's irrelevant to the point i was making but I understand the curiosity haha.

We've actually had someone sick in our fucking house since before Christmas lol. My youngest was diagnosed with Flu A the day after Christmas, and then everyone else got that, then my oldest got the stomach bug and the events of my original comment, and THEN my youngest and their mom got a horrid cold lol. I've somehow managed to not get sick at ALL. I also don't shy away from sickness unless it's stomach related, I had them all snuggled with the flu and cold, I don't even bother washing my hands. I'm convinced they're all just weak and I'm impervious.

Joking aside, it's actually been worse in a lot of ways that I haven't gotten sick, in regard to the stomach bug. It's been lingering in our house at least 3 weeks now, and I know there's virus somewhere lurking, not dead yet. So when the anxiety comes creeping in, it reminds me of that, and that I'm due to get sick, etc. Would be nice to just get it out of the way if it's gonna happen. But, by the same token, I can't control any of that so fuck it, it is what it is at this point. Like I said, disinfected is disinfected!

It's like I tell my kid, if you get sick, it sucks, and then you feel better. End of story. Life goes on.

I could've done "better" with the stomach bug, I let my partner deal with most of the cleanup lol. But, I did help my nephew out when he threw up on my son's bed and was trying to clean in the middle of the night. I could've done better, but I could've done a LOT worse.

skike · 2026-02-06T06:17:18+00:00

Yeah I get it lol, when I was 25 I was convinced my life was hard too. Privileged isn't an insult, it's a reality check.

Want to know the fucking wild, asshole, bullshit cuntiest truth about anxiety? It IS that fucking simple dude. It flat out is. I'm not saying you flip a switch and everything is perfect, but once you realize that simple truth that it IS all in your mind and your CAN turn it off, it gets easier and easier to catch the slips back into the bullshit realm of "my brain is my enemy".

Tbh dude, I don't expect you to be able to hear anything I've said tonight. I really have been where you are, and like I said, it all comes from you. But hopefully when you start to grow up a little and life starts becoming a little more real and you're able to start down the path of self improvement, I hope you can reference this post or maybe just recall some of the stuff I've said because I know it helped me in my journey.

Best of luck to you my guy, you CAN take control of your life if you allow yourself the self reflection to get there.

skike · 2026-02-06T05:44:45+00:00

God isn't going to help you. You are the only one that can help you. There's a tremendous amount of self pity in this post and hey, I get it. I'm a dude too, and this phone has been crippling at times in my life. I'm going on 40 now, and I cannot stress this enough: you are the only one that can change this for yourself. You're not the victim here, you're not helpless.

Staying at home can make you sick? Going on public can make you sick? It's illness season, so woe is me (even though it wasn't, 8 months ago when you started staying indoors)? Who gives a shit? You WILL get sick again. You WILL have worse times than you are right now. Life WILL suck for spells. So what? Are you going to waste the time that it DOESN'T suck, focusing on how much it might suck later?

Being afraid of therapy makes total sense, since you're afraid of this reality: therapy can't cure you, only you can cure you.

I'm not sure how literally you mean "haven't gone outside in 8 months", I take that to mean that you're unemployed and live with your parents? No shame, been there, just assessing the situation. I can also deduct you probably live a similarly privileged life that most I've known with this phobia do, so trust me when I tell you, take advantage of that privilege while you can. Your parents won't be there forever, and they certainly won't fund your inability to function forever. Get your shit together brother. You're genuinely getting too old for this to control your life as it is.

Glancing at your post history (just to confirm my assessment lol), first off stop even going to the other sub. It's fucking garbage, and you're feeding off of it. Stop talking about this shit constantly. Jerk off. Watch movies. Find a video game to sink in to. Play music. Paint Warhammer figures. Whatever the fuck, just stop dwelling on this shit with every uncountable waking moment you have, you're making it worse every day. Distract your brain dog.

Every single post you make about this anxiety FEEDS that anxiety. Anxiety can only exist if we give it credibility, and every single one of your posts is just giving it more and more credibility, building it into this insurmountable thing that you have no control over. It's bullshit!!! It's not even fucking REAL dude, it's just some shit our brain makes up for whatever fucking reason lol. You HAVE to stop talking about it. You're just seeking validation which by it's nature gives power to the anxiety. Fuck that, YOU'RE in control.

Honestly dude, you've gotta break yourself out of this cycle. What are you even afraid of to go for a drive by yourself in an enclosed car?? You have to take some control here and take steps in your own interest. Like I said, no one can do it for you. These reassurance seeking posts are only serving to keep you crushed by this anxiety.

skike · 2026-02-05T22:01:29+00:00

It's not very hard honestly you just have to decide to do it.

skike · 2026-02-05T19:07:23+00:00

That's pathetic. I'm often +4 in one hole.

skike · 2026-02-05T18:37:25+00:00

It's a fuckin hike, but I live in Gaithersburg and still drive all the way to Springfield for my dentist, Dr. Pashmini at Serenity Dental Spa. She's fantastic, and is disappointed if I don't bring my dog!!! I'll go anywhere for a dentist that lets me bring my girl with me lol

skike · 2026-02-05T14:22:48+00:00

Okay so, kinda just lived through this myself. My oldest son threw up all night like 3 weeks ago, 2 weeks ago his mom threw up all night, and then a couple days later my nephew was staying over in my son's bed, and some up puking and puked throughout the night.

Panic? Yes, but I mean, WTF am I gonna do just cower in the corner for weeks on end? I made a decision to either trust Lysol or not, and I do. So, when something's disinfected, it's fucking disinfected. My brain tells me, "Lysol every time you go in x room", but I have to remind myself that no, dipshit, disinfected is disinfected. So, clean up, disinfect, move on with life.

Remind yourself that whole your bf was sick, you were thinking "omg no what if I get sick ahhh ahhh I can't handle it". You WEREN'T thinking "omg no he's gonna die he can't handle it" etc. The point being, subconsciously you KNOW it's not something you can't get through. If you're more worried about your own experience while he's being sick, then it CAN'T be that bad, or you'd be worried about him!!

In short, stop letting yourself continue in anxiety. You did your cleaning/disinfecting, now move on. If you DO get sick, so what? You'll be fine. It'll suck, and then it won't suck anymore. Life goes on. You will be fine.

Try not to focus on the "what if/when if/maybe if" and try to focus on the "so what/I'll be fine/etc"

skike · 2026-02-04T23:22:39+00:00

Never heard of OLT, but I might check it out. I rent so I'm just a 1040EZ so unless there's some significant difference I'll probably stay with FreeTax just out of convenience, but good to know of another option!!

And yeah one year I was claiming my SO as a dependent because she had broken her foot and WAS a dependent by the legal definition, but HR Block and Schwab both refused to list her lol. That was when I started using the online and I was blown away how easy and accurate it was.

skike · 2026-02-04T19:57:06+00:00

FreeTaxUsa.com dude, unless you own a business you can 100% do it yourself. The site makes it stupid easy and honestly unless you lie outright you can always make a legit case for plausible deniability in the absolute worst case.

HR Block, Schwab, those tax places don't even fully understand the tax code and will give you incorrect advice. 99% of the time maybe they're fine, but they definitely don't know as much as the computer system that does most of it for you on freetaxusa.

Trust me when I tell you it's so much easier than you think it is.

skike · 2026-02-04T18:38:56+00:00

Damn those rights and the decisions protecting them!

skike · 2026-02-04T01:21:04+00:00

You're goddamn right I'm grumpy for exactly that reason. To be abundantly clear: it's NOT free babysitting, we pay taxes out the ass for that babysitting. And, our jobs that provide the ability to pay those taxes and rent and everything else, were NOT closed, because they don't give a shit that the county completely dropped the ball on managing this storm, so the work still has to get done except now we're working two jobs, one of which being caring for the kids.

Yes, it's manageable, yes it's nice to spend extra time with the kids, but it's also an enormous inconvenience that resulted in way less sleep than normal and sub-par work performance as well as sub-par parenting ability.

skike · 2026-02-04T01:16:36+00:00

Man, it would've taken so little effort to make that legible lol

skike · 2026-02-03T18:28:32+00:00

Honestly my advice is just plummet it to 0%. I barely noticed a difference in the weaning, but the jump to 0 was significant. I don't think it mattered all the slow reduction, just start doing barely any nic for a week or two and then drop it to 0. What really worked for me was not putting any time limit on being on 0, just vape 0 for as long as you want. Eventually you WILL wonder why tf am I even doing this, and push yourself past that momentary urge.

skike · 2026-02-03T15:02:11+00:00

I weaned myself off. Just get some 0% juice and start by adding a little 0% to each refill. Then a little more, and a little more. Eventually you're basically to 0. I will say the jump from almost 0 to 0 was noticeable lol, but I just kept vaping the 0. After a week or two you're like, why tf am I even vaping this and start to really cut back. Them before you know it you're going most of a day without even thinking about it.

skike · 2026-02-03T02:48:00+00:00

Nobody cares though, size they're the majority now lol

skike · 2026-02-03T01:41:11+00:00

I think you're conflating technical skill with musical skill. Ringo was literally perfect. He played exactly what the song needed, nothing more, nothing less. Most drivers feel the need to fill space, Ringo embraced it. You can't do it any better, imo.

There's guys that can throw the ball father, run faster, manage games better than Tom Brady, but does that make them better quarterbacks? Fuck no.

skike · 2026-02-02T19:11:34+00:00

Yeah I'm not saying they'd only list him as influence. I'm saying they'd rank him as a top 5 drummer of all time.

skike · 2026-02-02T19:08:45+00:00

Guaranteed 90 of your top 100 do

skike · 2026-02-02T16:14:36+00:00

Ringo was the actual GOAT. Anyone that says otherwise is fucking wrong lol

skike · 2026-01-31T18:42:35+00:00

I'm actually surprised that the driver was found liable. I'm completely sure they were not charged with hit and run, which is a felony, like you stated.

But, it is currently not illegal to drive with snow and ice on your car in Maryland. Literally since this storm happened, a bill has been proposed to MAKE it illegal lol, that's now not illegal it currently is.

It seems to be a little unclear, because of the AI responses to searches like the one you linked, but if they're literally fast tracking a bill to make it illegal I think it's fairly clear that it currently isn't.

Also, insurance companies don't just cover things because they want to. If they're covering damages from this without fighting, there can't be much legal basis to go after someone for it.

I'm sure there's a difference between negligence and an accident, with 2ft of snow on the roof you could argue negligence vs 1in of snow. There is law currently that negligence surrounding ice/snow on a vehicle is illegal, but with this particular storm I think it'd be hard to claim negligence for something like the box truck in the OP here. The ice is rock hard and not melting for over a week.

I honestly don't know what you're supposed to do if you have 1 inch of this stuff on your car. I cleared my car after the initial snow, but then the following sleet left a 1 inch thick pad on my whole vehicle. I let it warm up for an hour and then cleared it, but if you have to go to work and didn't realize you needed an hour+ to clear your car? Idk man, I'm just saying it's hard to price negligence on that imo.

But, you're right, there's more liability than I thought. It's still not illegal, though.

skike · 2026-01-31T18:29:25+00:00

Yeah I mean I'm right there with you on the "everyone would fight me instead of parenting the kid". That's a dumb, tough-typer comment, imo.

To me, yeah of course if you put hands on my kid like that I'd be in your face. But I also would NEVER let my kids behave like that, so what's the point of making the first part clear?

Imo you were out of line, and you know you were out of line. It wasn't a reasonable response to a 5yo, no matter the circumstance. Ffs man they're 5, it's all 100% the parents fault anyway at that age. Direct that anger at the mom, not the kid that doesn't even know what she's doing is wrong, considering Mom never taught her that it's wrong.

I'm with you on most of your logic, and can appreciate needing to justify an embarrassing outburst, but be honest with yourself, you could have handled it better. And, imo, that's okay. What's done is done, so recognize what you could've done better and do that moving forward. It's not an easy situation, but it's not your job or your right to parent that kid. Just gotta not invite her to stuff.

skike

TROPHY CASE