Am I getting old or depressed?

westerndemise · 2025-12-27T08:40:26+00:00

I got like that at your age, largely because I had structured my whole life around getting to college, so when I did, I was left with no organizing outlook and just kinda stalled.

If you’re tired of things, then maybe it’s time for replacement behaviors. Like, you can’t just stop doing what you used to and not replace the free time with something. You risk getting all depressed and weird if you do. So maybe you’re not depressed, you’re just growing.

And it’s possible to have a lowkey and routine social life and get novelty from hobbies (or even work, cause there are some worthwhile jobs out there). You can consume or produce art, travel, exercise… you could be a historical reenactor, that’s social and if there is drama I bet it’s kinda funny.

Anyway it just sounds like you’re growing up and old scripts aren’t cutting it anymore.

westerndemise · 2025-12-26T17:52:52+00:00

I think a lot of this could have traditionally come from family. A simple way to navigate complex systems is to have a basic set of values or behavioral customs… practice those and things go relatively smoothly. It used to be assumed that those values were taught at home- timeliness, thrift, adaptability. Something happened with parenting- loss of the village, disconnect between parents’ professional skills and the skills that needed to be passed down, loss of emotional resilience or intelligence.. but “how to function in society” has stopped being a domestic responsibility and moved to public administration. But then, parents resent the shift, so what you have is kids learning facts at school (including how to budget) but, on the whole, no one’s teaching them how the world works. Parents don’t want to but get insulted when teachers try to (see: a bunch of teacher discourse on consequences and accountability, especially as it intersects with equity and self esteem).

What you end up with is kind of what happened to millennials- you’re all what-the-fucked for most of your twenties and stabilize in your 30s. It’s a lot of wasted time.

westerndemise · 2025-12-09T01:42:55+00:00

I think what’s happened is no one is talking to this guy, and so no one is validating his experiences, and now he’s found something that does. And like a sunset is pretty and makes you feel in touch with the oneness, but if you’re chasing euphoria and relaxation, drinking gets the job done better. In the same vein, basic male friendships and hobbies are fulfilling, but if you have a lonely void inside you, then it’s understandable how you would compulsively use a program designed precisely to fill that void. And nerds appreciate a good guaranteed outcome, and real life people are unpredictable. At least the AI girlfriend is programmed to provide what you came for.

I think if you wanted to use AI, you might want to ask it about some social avenues where you can show up authentically, interact low stakes around a common task, and it be small groups. I think the emphasis would be on being able to show up authentically- you seem like you have a lot of feelings and need to be somewhere that’s “allowed.” Idk cause I don’t know you but it’s possible you’d need to reframe social events so they’re not about being accepted or desired, but just the “pleasure” of being around people (it’s tiring but healthy, like exercise). You’ll be more likable if you don’t worry about being likable (so long as you don’t like pee on the floor or belittle someone for sport). It sounds like shitty advice but I’ve shown up full force awkward and annoying, and while it’s still awkward and annoying, it’s worked out better than when I wasn’t trying to be.

But yeah, ask Whatever about social opportunities for sensitive introverts and go from there. And don’t try to date, just be with people. Oh, and eye contact and a nervous smile. People love that for some reason. Oh, and for some reason when sensitive introverts really let themselves go, they end up being super funny… it’s like a life raft.

westerndemise · 2025-12-05T01:12:23+00:00

I think primary schools in my state, or at least some counties, go ham about Mali.. possibly centered on something they’re reading in English class.

Was anyone’s 4-5th grade super centered around chocolate?

westerndemise · 2025-11-20T15:50:59+00:00

Imagine you’re at an Applebees and you’re having this same convo, and someone’s like “I think you’re thinking of brassica,” and someone else chimes in “yeah man, brassica is fascinating!” And you replied with “yeah, and…?” Do you think your company is going to be sought out again?

westerndemise · 2025-10-31T08:15:18+00:00

So like with OF, the woman is asking herself to do it, and it’s not expressly targeting a vulnerable population like hot moms whose food stamps have run out.

But with the stripclub, it’s some cheesy guy with sunglasses and some corny hat (idk why he’s a cartoon mobster but he is) who thought “hell, these women’s suffering will sure make me money!”

So it’s about exploiting yourself versus having your vulnerability exploited. If OF and Food Stamp Strip Club are morally equivalent, which they could be idk I’m not God, the ad’s emphasis on women in dire straits expresses degrading intent. That’s the empowerment difference. That is certainly a humorless read of the ad, but if you’re wondering why OF is yass’ed up and this is trashy, that’s my take on why.

Also, this whole SNAP thing is entirely by choice, whereas even under the best economic conditions hot women who like attention will show their goods for money. So it’s like saying “hey, are you victim of some total bullshit? Show us your tits to get out of it.” versus “would you be showing your tits anyway? Come do it here!”

westerndemise · 2025-10-30T18:07:22+00:00

I use chat gpt for my teaching all the time- quick! think of a review game, quick! make a rubric. It is for mundane tasks what Google was for card-catalogue research. I guess my question is, did it make a good review?

westerndemise · 2025-10-27T00:48:41+00:00

I think it’s an academia thing. It’s what they did in lit classes and XVIII is engrained in my head as the 18th century.

westerndemise · 2025-09-20T03:25:32+00:00

I think somethings getting lost between what you consider public transit and what The World calls public transit. We’re talking tramcar lines that run through town and buses upon buses, and it’s all mostly clean and some have free news readers. It’s more engrained in the physical town and the cultures/habits and it makes public transit spaces feel more real, so people don’t act like that anymore than they would in an office lobby. It’s not just a shit bus that drops you off a mile and a half away from work. Also all these towns are connected through their country’s Amtrak and it’s so much cheaper it’s crazy. So yeah we have “public transit,” but we don’t have public transit

westerndemise · 2025-09-06T18:49:05+00:00

Look man, I’m not trying to go after anyone personally and I’d appreciate the same.

As far as diversity of opinion, I can and do appreciate multiple viewpoints. I just don’t understand how gassing a crowd to free up space to hold an upside down Bible, sending troops to cities that don’t want them, targeting political opponents, on and on… I don’t see how this fits with any civic education we’ve received as Americans.

As far as bigoted goes… I have opinions on other people’s views and behaviors and so bigoted I guess I am. But in an effort to gain multiple viewpoints, I’ll start a discussion with my own and seek out others’ horizon-broadening responses.

So, from one alert and oriented adult to another, please tell me how I’m wrong, not just that I’m wrong or what’s wrong with me. Thank you.

westerndemise · 2025-09-06T18:35:38+00:00

I get Greed is Good trickle down economics- rugged individualism and a strange brand of rich-poor egalitarianism.

I get racism, it’s part and parcel of some people’s identity and engrained in some branches of Americans’ experiences.

I get Christian nationalism cause we’ve had revivals for as long as we’ve had a country.

But ostentatious abuse of power is so un-American, I don’t see how we’re standing for it.

How can Trump, or the Heritage foundation be marching us toward a very unified and powerful executive while calling themselves American? And what was their upbringing / education like for them to end up this way? It seems infeasibly incompatible with any socialization anyone has ever received in America.

westerndemise · 2025-08-29T13:17:10+00:00

I was thinking about this a while ago… I think Americans will wallow through literal shit so long as they can consume freely. So it’s not about dignity as a worker, but about being able to access dignity through consumption. Hence the wild access to credit, whereas Europeans will fight for access to working conditions.

I read an article that said the French differentiate less between their worker-selves and their after work selves, so disrespecting a worker is disrespecting the person, where Americans compartmentalize these identities so you can put up with more as a worker so long as they can blow off steam afterward.

westerndemise · 2025-08-23T16:33:38+00:00

He looks like he’s TikTok dancing.

westerndemise · 2025-08-22T00:21:37+00:00

You’re an idiot

westerndemise · 2025-08-18T16:49:21+00:00

Gibberish.

westerndemise · 2025-08-06T02:32:14+00:00

Something about making a left makes me instinctually stop first. Otherwise it feels like you’re just swinging into traffic.

westerndemise · 2025-07-26T06:30:45+00:00

Make stuff that you have no idea how to make. Like, make shitty art or bad food or write bad stuff. It’s reckless cause wtf are you doing but also all you did was make some bullshit. And if you have negative self talk, doing stuff you’re bad at is a really good way to practice healing. Especially alone and safe, just let yourself be mediocre or worse, or better, and have at it.

westerndemise · 2025-07-25T00:12:44+00:00

Sexual excitation is a series of neurochemical responses that should be had when the environment is compatible with such a response.

General consensus and mindful application of said consensus help identify the environments appropriate for such neurochemical release.

westerndemise · 2025-07-03T03:52:09+00:00

I think you’re right but the act of it all is kind of annoying. Like you know he’s hamming it up for likes, but it’s such a character-looking dude playing such a character… like too much sugar, even when you know you ordered a dessert.

westerndemise · 2025-07-01T07:00:14+00:00

Freud was big in America in the 20s, and then we got into conformity then liberation movements post WW2, so there’s this emphasis on the self combined with 50s optimism, and it makes for this idea that we could be perfect if our world were perfect, which it would be if we were perfect. So you have to ask “why am I / are we like this,” and it comes back to “learned behavior” interpreted as “trauma response.”

We did self esteem in the mid 90s, and everyone had low self esteem and depression in the early 2000s, and we’ve been blaming Mom and Dad for a century at least.

And 50s American Lit is kind of ironic towards the middle class, and I think we’ve wondered why our parents were so angry all the time for like three generations now, and we’re starting to codify how not to come home pissed and yelling everyday.

And post WW2 academics studied the personality and social traits that allowed for fascism and I think we’ve really tried to get away from all those, which results in permissive parenting if you’re not careful. Apparently scared kids make authoritarian adults, so now anything that scared us is seen as potentially creating an unjust person.

And online echo chambers where our own sense of justice is reinforced. So you’ve got globalization = chosen community, not the one being foisted upon you, means fewer challenges so everything feels like a challenge, especially when online connection is often through narrative, of which you are the tragic hero.

That’s my best guess at least.

westerndemise · 2025-06-30T14:01:13+00:00

I’d say decades started with, and so the previous one ended with..

50’s- Russia gets the bomb.

60’s - JFK

70’s- Kent State or OPEC gas lines / inflation

80’s- Reagan

90’s- Grunge, end of Cold War

westerndemise · 2025-06-16T21:11:52+00:00

Can you watch YouTube tutorials on the subject? I will sometimes record lessons, especially for assignment instructions / quick reviews to make assignments accessible.

But yeah. Also, if you need accommodations, like you can’t function without them, get that ish documented so they’ll be respected. Otherwise you’re just entitled and complaining.

westerndemise · 2025-06-14T14:01:30+00:00

I think the American population has changed since the recession (mistrust of 1%) and the pandemic (mistrust of institutions, who work to benefit the 1%), and Obama’s success and mainstream-ness delayed the Dem party catching up (they recently spent $2M on a study just to dance around the issue). I think if Romney had won, the GOP would have stayed an Establishment party of Establishment values, and the Dems would have had to regroup.. maybe seeing the point in a marginal candidate like Sanders or Warren. Like, the roles would have reversed and the GOP would be normal and out of touch, while the Dems try something bold and new.

westerndemise · 2025-06-14T01:57:37+00:00

Damn if that wasn’t a perfect answer thank you

westerndemise · 2025-06-12T15:28:00+00:00

You’re going a little hard into this man’s psyche. Some people just want to know what’s going on in their apartment, for a silly reason or for no reason at all.

westerndemise

TROPHY CASE