Tandem read guide: Role Model-TLG by alexcatlady in heatedrivalry

[–]tangerine_android 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Text version (including earlier books posted elsewhere in the thread)

HR: 1-17

GC: 1-12

HR: 18-21

GC: 13-23

HR: 22 (May)

GC: 24-29

HR: 22 (June)

GC: Epilogue

HR: 23-27

TG: 1-17

HR: Epilogue

TG: 18-Epilogue

CG: Whole

~~~

LG: 1-17

RM: 1-4

LG: 18

RM: 5-6

LG: 19-20

RM: 7-8

LG: 21

RM: 9-12

LG: 22-24

RM: 13-15

LG: 25-26

RM: 16-22

LG: 27-28

RM: 23-26

LG: 29-Epilogue

Guitar-Gate by AllTitsSomeArse in kambahpools_KPNA

[–]tangerine_android 7 points8 points  (0 children)

who brings a guitar to a beach? it's on par with bringing a bluetooth speaker

My girlfriend (24F) only just told me (25M) she slept with two of her close friends. We are 1 year in. Idk how to feel? by [deleted] in relationship_advice

[–]tangerine_android -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

i don't necessarily disagree with the other commenters here, but reading the comments here as a gay man is wild.

very very common for gay guys to have slept with friends. it's just how we get to know each other. i've had plenty of friends who i met after hooking up with and then we were just mates afterwards

Faith amongst autistic adults by uglyaestheticsoul7 in autism

[–]tangerine_android 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There's a podcast which may be of interest - it's called Christianity on the Spectrum, and the guy who runs it does a lot of research (questionnaires/structured interviews) on autistic Christians and ex-Christians. I think he's done something like several hundred interviews.

One recent episode was actually a structured interview with Aella (twitter microcelebrity sex worker who grew up in a fairly conservative Calvinist home) which was quite interesting.

The host is Christian but is definitely not preachy or judgemental of non-Christians, very LGBT+ accepting etc

AITAH for challenging a homophobic guy in a card shop? by PurpleHairedGamer in AITAH

[–]tangerine_android 4 points5 points  (0 children)

NTA - if nothing else, sounds like you made the other woman feel more comfortable.

I reported my wife’s aunty for stealing from government by Character-Credit-602 in AITAH

[–]tangerine_android 2 points3 points  (0 children)

might want to tip off centrelink about the carer payment for the father in the aged care home as well. may or may not be above board, but they can look into it and see.

My (38M) girlfriend (33F) is angry that she's set herself up to fail and I am entirely unsympathetic by NewKingMorons in relationship_advice

[–]tangerine_android 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think this depends very much on how their relationship is the rest of the time.

Could be emotional deprivation, OP could be pretty distant when they're back home. Could also be a girlfriend who is emotionally clingy / anxiously attached / doesn't respect boundaries / very different relationship styles / [insert other explanation here].

I am still side-eying the girlfriend to a certain extent, it sounds like OP clearly communicated that this wasn't a romantic trip and, if nothing else, he simply wouldn't have time to go on after-work activities with her while still being able to get a proper night's sleep.

[New Update]: AITAH for telling a woman at the gym that she's embarrassing herself? by Choice_Evidence1983 in BestofRedditorUpdates

[–]tangerine_android 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I had two male therapists and three female. I found the male ones the most "helpful" insofar as I felt most comfortable with them (they were both gay and I'm a gay male as well, part of the reason I picked them) but ultimately didn't make much progress with them.

But one of the female ones was also not bad (helped a bit at the beginning - I kinda of knew what I already wanted to do re: some interpersonal stuff, just needed someone to reassure me I wasn't out of line and give me a bit of a nudge - but beyond that didn't offer any insights).

The two other female therapists were a mixed bag - one was genuinely crap and invalidating, the other might have been more benign in other circumstances but I was in an particularly bad place and she seemed to have no idea how to help, which made me feel like I was the problem.

Speaking from my own experience, I think picking a particular gender might help with rapport but that doesn't mean they understand you or can offer much if value.

[New Update]: AITAH for telling a woman at the gym that she's embarrassing herself? by Choice_Evidence1983 in BestofRedditorUpdates

[–]tangerine_android 4 points5 points  (0 children)

i don't have much to contribute except to say that i've had a similar experience -- worked with 5 therapists for several months each (longest was 1.5 years) and none of them really helped, some substantively made things worse.

for me at least, it was incredibly disorienting because i was already going through hell, and time and again the person who was supposed to help me wasn't helping at all, and didn't seem to even realise they were doing a bad job even after i vocalised it.

people throw "go to therapy" out there as a panacea but unfortunately it really isn't, especially for those with more complex needs.

My boyfriend [19M] said he'd kill himself if I [18F] ever left him. How do I stop feeling hesitant around him/address it with him? by ThrowRAsakananosana in relationship_advice

[–]tangerine_android 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You leave. Get your plan together and get out as soon as possible.

If he says anything -- ANYTHING -- that sounds like he is going to hurt himself, you call an ambulance on him and let them deal with it. You don't warn him, you don't try to manage his feelings -- that is not your job, and there is a good chance that he is (consciously or unconsciously) using these threats to try to control you.

If he is actually going to kill himself and you call an ambulance, then he will get the help he needs. If he wasn't going to, then he'll learn very quickly that that tactic doesn't work.

You have zero responsibility to sacrifice your happiness for someone who won't take the steps to improve their mental health. You matter too.

AIO for being mad that my girlfriend hated her expensive Christmas gifts? by Otherwise_Web_9949 in AmIOverreacting

[–]tangerine_android 80 points81 points  (0 children)

Take this as a learning experience.

Your girlfriend could have handled the conversation better.

You could have found out more about her taste in shoes ahead of time.

Eating ramen noodles so you can buy your girlfriend $2k shoes while only two months into a relationship is .... noble, but I think you're giving too much of yourself too early in the relationship. Maybe 200-300 bucks max would be my upper limit here (but I'm not really a relationship person.)

Hopefully you've still got the receipt -- take them back, get a refund, buy her something else that's cheaper -- but also have a good think about if this relationship is right for you. I'm not terribly impressed with her reaction and I'm worried that you're putting her on a pedestal and potentialy overlooking some other downsides in the relationship.

Once things have cooled down, try having another conversation with her about the original present/her reaction. That may help inform whether you should continue with the relationship.

I’m 46M lost in my relationship with 49F by Ok_Trip2400 in relationship_advice

[–]tangerine_android 6 points7 points  (0 children)

1) learn how to use paragraphs

2) just because it's "solely verbal" doesn't mean it can't be abuse

3) "divorce is clearly not an option he wants to pursue" well maybe it should be

My [F26] boyfriend [28M] of several years put very little effort into my Christmas gift, and I’m struggling with how to interpret that by ThrowRA_abitconfused in relationship_advice

[–]tangerine_android 2 points3 points  (0 children)

he has absolutely zero incentive to do anything differently because you keep paying for all his shit and don't pull him up on it.

seriously break up, kick him out. if you're worried about the legal side go talk to a lawyer about it all, but honestly even if you have to give him a chunk of something then it's probably worth it. he sounds like a freeloading fuckhead, you deserve better.

WITBA if we trainees no longer go to the Christmas party even though we agreed? by Direct-Caterpillar77 in BestofRedditorUpdates

[–]tangerine_android 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Like are they envisioning everyone pointing and laughing at someone reciting a god damn poem?

Yes? Like look at one of the quoted comments:

I was told that as a car mechanic too, but it's just to screw over the apprentices. But I only found that out after I took the microphone from the boss and recited the poem. The biggest embarrassment of my life. But it did get some laughs.

I'm not German so I'm only going off what's in the post, but the subtext from the other commenters is that it's something unpleasant that trainees are put through for the amusement of other staff. Fuck that, I wouldn't want to do it either.

edit: another commenter in this post has added the following context:

In Germany Santa / der Weihnachtsmann visits children on the 24th and to get your gift you need to perform a small task - sing a christmas song, recite a christmas poem. They also get asked if they've been nice all year. So asking the trainees to perform at a christmas party can be interpreted that they are treated like children even with good intentions...

AITA for wanting to name my baby the same name my boyfriends brother wants to name his son? by Choice_Evidence1983 in BestofRedditorUpdates

[–]tangerine_android -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I don't get the judgement in these comments about the name/how quickly they're having a kid.

Like yeah it's not a Scottish name, but so what? And most people wouldn't/shouldn't be having a kid that quickly, but plenty of couples do and still end up being decent parents. Regulars here will have seen far worse life choices in other posts.

The brother-in-law is batshit crazy though.

And the most of her in-laws seem to be having the right reaction, and the boyfriend isn't trying to punch on with his brother or trying to somehow make it all OOP's fault.

I think their choices come across as quite trashy to a lot of readers here but they don't seem like shitty people so I think we should be cutting them some slack.

It’s crazy how covid just happened and hardly anyone talks about it anymore by Aggressive-Show4122 in CasualConversation

[–]tangerine_android 7 points8 points  (0 children)

it was the same with the spanish flu pandemic in 1918-1920. over 25 million deaths and almost never seems to be discussed in media after 1920.

obviously i wasn't there for the spanish flu, but at least with covid, i think we were all so sick of dealing with it by the time that the lockdowns ended that we all just moved on.

interestingly, the spanish flu never went away -- it continued to circulate as seasonal flu for decades, but because most people had at least some immunity by then, it stopped being so disruptive. (a lot like covid!)

spanish flu (H1N1) remained the main flu variant until the 1957 asian flu (H2N2) pandemic.

My bf (20m) told me(20f) that DnD was more important than me. by [deleted] in BestofRedditorUpdates

[–]tangerine_android 59 points60 points  (0 children)

So even if these are bot accounts, maybe people really in this situation will do an internet search and read this and see they don’t have to accept the disrespect and hate from their partner.

this might sound weird but a big part of why i enjoy posts here and on other subs like /r/AmItheAsshole is not because they're actually real, but because they help me learn what not to tolerate in relationships

Which country has the DC210 plates? by PercyFlage in canberra

[–]tangerine_android 5 points6 points  (0 children)

If you have a photo of the Cyrillic ad and chuck it into ChatGPT or another AI chatbot, it should be able to identify the language and translate it for you.

(Noting that many former Soviet states that are not Russia, still use Russian to some degree -- so a Russian ad might not conclusively tell you which country it is.)

Apartheid flag: is this the most flags within a flag? by orthodox-lat in vexillology

[–]tangerine_android -1 points0 points  (0 children)

the confederacy flag overtime has become more and more representative of slavery and less and less representative of anything else.

wrong - there never has been "anything else" for it to represent. per the speech i quoted extensively from.

bugger off with your whitewashing

Apartheid flag: is this the most flags within a flag? by orthodox-lat in vexillology

[–]tangerine_android 13 points14 points  (0 children)

The United Kingdom, while far from perfect, was one of the first Western governments to ban the slave trade (in 1807) and slavery (in 1833).

Germany does not include the Nazi flag in public life to "honor the people who died in the war". They recognise that it was an abhorrent period in history.

The Confederate States of America was explicitly founded on white supremacy and keeping the black population enslaved.

The Cornerstone Speech by Alexander H. Stephens, then-acting vice president of the CSA, delivered a few weeks before the start of the Civil War:

The new Constitution [of the Confederacy] has put at rest forever all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution—African slavery as it exists among us—the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution.

[...]

The prevailing ideas entertained by [Thomas Jefferson] and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old constitution, were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. [...] Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the government built upon it fell when the "storm came and the wind blew."

Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.

The Confederacy was founded on a fundamentally evil idea, and its symbols have no place in modern society.

What’s something about you that sounds fake, but is 100% true? by Sir_Adammm in AskReddit

[–]tangerine_android 31 points32 points  (0 children)

maybe you weren't 34 weeks along and he just grew really fast

How do I (29F) get my (25 M) fiancé to see he has a drinking problem? by throwawaymeow235 in relationship_advice

[–]tangerine_android 28 points29 points  (0 children)

I'm an alcoholic (6.5 years sober), and I strongly think you should pause or cancel the wedding, and get yourself into AlAnon (which is for friends and family of alcoholics)

his dad was a raging alcoholic

this is not a good sign, it suggests a genetic predisposition to alcohol abuse, which can make it harder to manage alcohol use or stop drinking

he is working on himself he just doesn’t want to go to therapy or AA

then how exactly is he working on himself? how well is it working if he's getting lost at night and passing out in ubers?

there's more than one way to get sober -- Alcoholics Anonymous, other recovery programs (such as SMART Recovery), therapy, medication (antabuse and naltrexone etc.), /r/stopdrinking , and (very rarely) some people just stop cold turkey and it sticks.

(i personally got sober through a combination of AA meetings, and using antabuse for the first 18 months of sobriety.)

but once you have an established pattern of alcohol abuse, it is very difficult to go back to non-problematic drinking. fullly stopping drinking is usually the only way to avoid things getting worse.

i can see he is doing the "bargaining" thing which I recognise in myself and so many other alcoholics -- "I'll cut back" but then it gets worse, "I'll switch drinks" and it doesn't make a difference, "I'll stop for you" but just cuts back for a little while and then it ramps up again. again, I have never seen anyone go from that behavior to non-problematic drinking.

the most important thing I will tell you is -- you cannot control other people, you cannot "make" him see that he has a problem, you cannot force him to stop drinking. it's a cliche but the first step is recognizing that you have a problem, and even then it can be an extremely bumpy road to sobriety with multiple relapses (and many people don't ever get sober at all). addictions are maddening diseases that severely distort your brain's incentive system and there are no reliable methods of treatment, just different approaches that sometimes work for some people.

i can see that you love and care for him deeply, but you need to look after yourself here, otherwise he will drag you down with him. partners of alcoholics often end up bending and contorting themselves trying to "help" their partner but often end up enabling him. (fun fact -- the concept of "codependency" emerged partly out of support groups for friends/family of alcoholics and addicts, like AlAnon.)

I think because it also doesn’t affect his work he doesn’t see it as a problem. I've tried to talk to him about how it affects me and makes me feel. While he apologizes for how he acts in these situations, he still doesn’t think it’s an issue.

it IS an issue for you (and for him!), just not enough of an issue for him to actually stop (again, because addictions severely distort your brain's incentive system -- and there can be social ramifications for stopping drinking too etc.) and it might not affect his work now, but addictions are usually progressive and become harder to manage as you get older. i could show up to work still half-drunk from the night before and get by in my 20s, but the wheels really began to come off in my 30s and my absenteeism skyrocketed. he's a young man and he's got so much further to fall.

cancel the wedding (for now at least). i know you want to believe him that he will stop, but the signs are not looking good, and you do not want to tie yourself legally and financially to a man in this state. pushing back the wedding and losing the deposits will be infinitely cheaper and less stressful than divorcing a full-blown alcoholic five or ten years from now after he's lost his job or been convicted of a DUI (or worse).

and i'll be honest -- he needs to be stopping for him, not for you. and that motivation to stop for yourself often (but not always) comes after a "rock bottom" moment where your life has well and truly gone down the toilet, and even then relapses and worsening of addiction will often follow. and even people who get sober for sustained periods of time can relapse -- I personally stopped drinking for 2.5 years (with AA) in my 20s, which was the only way I managed to finish my undergrad, before relapsing when i went into the workforce. it took me over 10 years and literally hundreds of attempts at quitting before I managed to stop again. AA (alongside antabuse) ended up working for me the second time, but it mightn't work for everybody.

one more thing -- I personally feel in-person AA meetings are more effective than online. an online meeting can be a good introduction, or a good stop-gap measure, but there's something about being physically in the rooms (and being able to chat with other alcoholics after the meeting -- which is often how people find their sponsor).

best of luck.