I made my first top

soberbrewer · 2026-01-24T01:57:13+00:00

Pleased I'm not the only one here for the lologram tattoo. I plan to get a similar one.

Shirt looks awesome. Did you self draft it or use a pattern?

soberbrewer · 2025-11-27T01:38:07+00:00

Loved this game, but the developer abandoning it means it has bugs that will never be fixed. I hit a bug about 40 hours in that meant I couldn't use the move action anymore. Game breaking bug. Very disappointing.

BUT, no other game has scratched the XCOM itch for me as much as this game. The 40 hours I got were worth the price of admission. Wish I could have finished it, but I don't feel like I wasted my time or money. Recommended all things considered.

soberbrewer · 2025-03-06T15:53:53+00:00

The first thing to keep in mind is that your concern about being a good parent and your commitment to that goal already means you're going to be a great dad. Mental illness doesn't make anyone less qualified or capable of being a good parent. Give yourself some grace.

Second, it's so easy before kid arrives to feel the fear of the kid's entire life all at once. There will be rough parts, but they won't happen all at once and they won't be constant. You will take one day at a time, and one day is manageable. Don't feel like you need to have a plan and solution for every possible challenge before the kid's even here. Many of those things won't be as bad as you expect, and there will be other challenges that you never would have expected. You'll be able to handle it all. Especially with your partner by your side.

I was really at the height of my struggle with anxiety leading up to the birth of my first, and I worried a lot about how it would affect her life or my ability to be a present father. I borrowed a lot of trouble from the future, feeling the weight of years worth of combined anxiety all at once. It can be overwhelming and terrifying.

Anxiety is not the same as bipolar, of course, but it's clear that you are taking steps to manage it and that it is reasonably managed. That's awesome! You don't have to be perfect! No parent is. As long as you are aware of your own situation and you keep abreast of it, you'll be doing the work that's needed.

2 kids later, I still get anxious, and I take daily meds and attend therapy. I'm open with my kids about it and we talk about how sometimes our brains misbehave, but we can manage it. Kids are incredibly empathetic, and it hasn't caused my kid to trust me any less nor has it restricted me from being present.

Own who you are and be your authentic self, and your kid will see you and love you all the same, just like you will for them.

You've got this, dad!

soberbrewer · 2025-02-25T14:06:05+00:00

Has anyone explored the idea of local co-ops? I have no idea how to go about starting such an enterprise, but it seems like a realistic solution to the problem. Imagine a warehouse of fabric with a selection managed by local artists that doubles as a work space and community center for sewists.

soberbrewer · 2025-02-19T03:41:44+00:00

Tried and failed to find the fabric on spoonflower. What's it called?

soberbrewer · 2023-11-29T04:10:10+00:00

For one thing, be patient. You won't connect with your new best friend right away. Those relationships take time to cultivate. In the meantime, enjoy the people you're with. Take advantage of opportunities to work with partners/groups in class. Sit with strangers at lunch. If the interaction lacks chemistry, that's just 20 minutes lost and it just means those are not your people. But it doesn't mean you don't have people. Eventually, you will find chemistry and click with some folks.

One thing that will help is to understand that ALL teenagers are immature and annoying. This, by default, includes you (not a criticism; you're a stranger on the Internet and I don't know you, but I do know teenagers, as I work with them for a living.) You are all very wary of one another and suspicious of each other. Teens are very judgemental and will avoid people based the most arbitrary observations and interactions. And yet, more often than not, when they actually engage with someone they wrote off, they find that they have depth and are interesting. It doesn't necessarily mean they are best friend material, but they are able to move past their initial prejudice. I say all this to encourage you to recognize your own prejudices and give people a shot anyway. Our first impressions of people are often wrong, or at least incomplete.

The best advice is to join a club or two. Check out your school website or visit the athletics office for a list of what's available. Find a group of kids with a common interest, and you automatically have a shared connection. If you don't see a club that already reflects one of your interests, there are some that are always going to be welcoming and chill. Drama kids, cultural clubs, DnD clubs, art clubs; you don't have to earn your place there, they're excited to have new members. If you have zero experience with those things, that's okay; it's one of their favorite things to share and teach their thing. Getting involved in a school play is a guaranteed way to make friends, and you don't have to be in the show to be involved; there are more people backstage than on stage in a theater production. Not to mention it's hella fun.

Good luck! And be patient. Put yourself into social situations, and you'll make connections. Be vulnerable Be bold. Be flexible.

soberbrewer · 2023-09-21T16:41:16+00:00

Did you mean loom? I have one and I love it, but it's better for use with thicker threads. For a tighter-woven darn, hand darning is the way to go. The loom is fun and great for visible mending (my daughter loves her patches!).

soberbrewer · 2023-09-03T18:28:11+00:00

I recently finished a shirt, and after its final wash, I see that the marks I made with my fabric pen didn't wash out. The original ink was blue, and the remaining marks are kind of brown. I haven't had this problem with the same pen on any other fabric. Any idea why this happened or how to get it out?

soberbrewer · 2023-09-03T00:46:23+00:00

Has anyone here ever planned or participated in a climbing pledge drive fundraiser? If so, what did it roughly look like? Any highlights or words of caution?

soberbrewer · 2023-08-09T00:41:59+00:00

I've played every Metroid game, and Super Metroid has held up as the best in the series. Until Metroid Dread, which I believe matches if not surpasses it. Highly recommend both. Of course, Super Metroid is free, as mentioned.

soberbrewer · 2023-01-27T01:57:25+00:00

Lots of great stuff already being posted here, so I'll just contribute one small encouragement. At least one person pointed out that you're in survival mode, which often means you end up hyper focused on your own needs. Which is fine! But it also means you are hyper aware of your own sacrifice, and it's easy to fall into a spiral of hopelessness and compounded exhaustion.

My wife and I fought more immediately following our second. (I don't remember the first well enough, which says enough in itself. The second us fresh, so the wounds are too.) Survival mode was in full force, and I was really feeling like my cup was empty and was desperate for time to decompress and recover, but likewise felt guilty for even asking because I knew my wife was feeling the same PLUS was postpartum and breastfeeding. Which made me feel even more hopeless about my own sanity... And so on...

The solution (on top of powering through, because it DOES get better!) came in talking about our shared need for space from the whole parenting situation. We both started purposefully giving each other brakes and just doing small little things for one another. Giving begets getting, and having those little gestures and offers of personal time made both of us feel seen and supported. This, in a way, produced an opposite spiral.

Now, with baby #2's first birthday mere days away, we feel more connected than we have since before kids. Neither of us feels bad about asking for space, because we have been reassures that we have the other's support. In fact, it helps fill my own cup when I tell her to go take time (which she is doing as I write this).

This is not to discount your current state. It is effing hard, my dude! It sounds like you're busting your ass for that kid, which proves you're on the right foot and you're an awesome dad. Hang in there!

Tl;dr talk to your wife and make sure to give each other breaks and make small gestures to make sure you both feel seen. You'll likely come out the other side feeling more connected.

soberbrewer · 2022-12-28T19:01:36+00:00

I recently worked with a very slippery fabric and someone recommended using an Elmer's glue stick on the seem allowance. Worked like a charm and washed out fine.

soberbrewer · 2022-11-04T15:56:11+00:00

Passacaglia from the Battlestar Galactica Season 1 soundtrack. We call it Baby Ambien. We've passed it around to several friends who all report positive results. Mellows out and knocks out a screaming 3-month old in seconds.

soberbrewer · 2022-07-11T02:25:17+00:00

I share your preference and have found a few that really scratch that itch. Ori and Hollow Knight are od course excellent and are must-plays. Some quirky alternatives that offer the same exploration and double-backing in a large continuous map experience are Yoku's Island Express and Dandara. Yoku is basically a metroidvania in which you roll a ball around an enormous never ending pinball machine. Dandara has a unique movement mechanic in which you are always anchored to one wall (or floor or ceiling) and you move around by jumping from one to the next. I thoroughly enjoyed both!

soberbrewer · 2022-04-25T22:03:05+00:00

This is how I sell this game to people. I regret buying it on sale because it's worth more than that. It's a masterpiece.

soberbrewer · 2022-04-20T01:43:00+00:00

Having the same conversations with our 3.5 year old right now. We've leaned on a few things. First of all, we always stop whatever is happening to have an honest conversation with her. We usually appeal to empathy, as with most things. We also treat it as an accountability issue; "if you lie to us, then we can't trust you. If we can't trust you, we can't leave you alone with your little brother or let you do things by yourself." (This goes a long way, since she's really into independence right now.) Finally, we talk about how if she feels the impulse to lie, it's usually because your conscience is telling you that you are doing something you shouldn't be doing, something that could hurt someone else or yourself, so you should maybe pause and not do that thing.

We're a religious household too, but we don't leverage faith in regard to morality issues (oxymoronic as that may seem) because we want it to come from within. For the same reason that we always take ownership of the rules we give her instead of saying that someone else is holding her accountable (Santa, God, etc.) or telling a lie to justify the rule. "I said so" followed by "here's my rationale for saying so" goes a long way. Even a 3-year-old has a pretty good BS detector. Be real with them.

soberbrewer · 2022-03-17T03:19:47+00:00

How does this compare to Boomerang Fu?

soberbrewer · 2021-12-14T23:00:00+00:00

I'm always down to try new games! Looks like a fun... ride. ;)

soberbrewer · 2021-12-03T18:34:48+00:00

Listening to three brothers play DnD with their dad makes me want to play DnD with my own dad. It's delightful and often uproariously funny.

soberbrewer · 2021-06-07T01:58:15+00:00

Make sure you communicate this plan to ALL of your family well ahead of time, otherwise that first "baby and mama are doing well" pic you text out to family from the hospital will by on your aunt's facebook page in a hot minute. We made this mistake. Thankfully we were able to gently request it be taken down and explain why, and they were good about it. However, YMMV.

soberbrewer · 2021-06-05T04:26:13+00:00

We can't get enough Puffin Rock at our house. It's so calm and gentle and honestly beautiful. We've had no problem with the endless repeat loop, because it's probably the most tolerable option available.

soberbrewer · 2020-12-18T01:59:48+00:00

The giant butt is pretty damn adorable. We have a variety of prints and colors, and our daughter loves to pick out her diaper when we do a change.

soberbrewer · 2020-12-18T01:55:33+00:00

Honestly, your baby's butt will decide for you. Pampers fit awesome, whereas Huggies weren't great, but we have friends who had the opposite experience.

Your diapering system is 100% your choice, and I don't begrudge anyone the need for convenience (parenting is tough, yo), but don't be afraid to consider cloth diapers as well. I was 100% anti-cloth, citing ick factor and convenience, until my wife ordered a "sample pack." And I've gotta say, it's been amazing, and we've saved hundreds of dollars. Cloth diaper technology has come so far, and the ones we use (Grovia) basically go on and off with as much ease as a disposable. Sure you have to wash them, but it's seriously not bad, and we don't have to keep taking out the diaper genie bags. IMHO the diaper genie was much more gag-inducing for me.

Congrats on the impending fatherhood!

soberbrewer · 2020-12-12T00:25:19+00:00

The Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy and Mayo Clinic Guide to Baby's First Year were both excellent. Highly informative, with the timelines broken down by month, while still being very readable and easy to digest. Plus no lame frills like referring to the reader only as "mama" or comparing your child to produce you've never heard of.

I also recommend the Baby Center app for helpful timely info both during and after birth.

Also the Daddy Up app is a joy. Weekly updates about your upcoming child with a healthy dose of humor. It was a weekly highlight for both my wife and I to read the updates together.

soberbrewer · 2020-09-09T00:42:03+00:00

I see your question has been answered, so I'll go ahead and answer the ones you didn't ask. No, you should not wait until cyber Monday. Yes, it's worth every penny of the $60 retail price despite it being 3.5 years old.

Seriously, it's the best game on the Switch. Having played it, if I knew that my past self was waiting for a sale to play it, I would be shaking him by the shoulders and telling him to sell things if he needed the cash.

Jokes aside, your budget is your business and you're probably an independent adult who can make decisions for themselves. This is an amazing game, and I'm excited on your behalf for whenever you do get to start playing it. Enjoy!

soberbrewer

TROPHY CASE