I think that's what bothers me. From the picture, you can tell the lady is wearing an outfit. The gloves, the hat, the boots, the scarf; they are all pulled together. From the back, it looks like the guy's coat is not as striking and coordinated. Maybe it's just the orange/cream shoes, blue socks, and khaki pants rolled up, maybe it's because the picture is from the back, but it looks like he's wearing a bathrobe while she's wearing a coat.
I have a friend who has, give or take a couple, wrecked vehicles more than 20 times. Most were minor, barely involving damage to the vehicle he was driving or the vehicle/object he hit, but a couple were catastrophic. I think the majority were because he has roadway hypnosis/narcolepsy. I've had him fall asleep mid sentence talking to me when he was a passenger. A perfect candidate to have that license taken, right? The two ways I know of to take a license involve driving while intoxicated or a doctor personally notifying the licensing agency about a person's inability to drive. Believe it or not, most doctors have a vested interest (because they want clients) in not personally notifying the agency. However, there is no set path to revoke a license for simply being a bad driver.
Iain M Banks was making transgender the norm before some current republican politicians were born. I can't help but think that some of my ease with accepting them came from his amazing writing about a culture that could be anything they want, from child to adult, male to female, furry to electrons whizzing in hyperspace.
Jesus, that dude shaped a lot of peoples worlds. I honestly don't know if I was scared of the drain at the bottom of the public pool because of him, because I know that I didn't read his short story until I was in college, but I wonder if it had already started spreading around in the secret and sly ways of the school hallways, before text messages were ever imagined.
So you're saying that if we can get a vaccine made, we may not have to put up with the anti-vaxxers for much longer? What do you want to bet they'll have 'anti-shutdown parties' or something similarly foolish?
Didn't it have the crazy taxi game, and one of the original rainbow six games? I still remember discovering a particular bug with a submachine gun and flashbangs that would reset a match. So satisfying if my friends started winning a little too much...
That one put me in fear every time I walked into a room in my house for weeks. I would always be looking above the door and to the sides, just in case a spider was on the wall ready to pounce. ugh!
I remember watching that movie on the Sunday-nothing-on channel that would showcase all the older but really good in their day movies. They would play it about once a month or so. I think it's where I got my taste for certain types of D&D campaigns.
All I can think is that she has a completely different personality as a therapist.
I am sorry you're having to experience this. It is a horrifying behavior that is very, very common among people with different social groups, and especially professions that 'serve' or help people. Doctors, EMTs, nurses, therapists, even cops or firefighters... I've seen it in all of them. They are exceptionally kind and caring until they clock out, and then are vehemently demanding of perfection, calculating in their coldness and disdain, and nearly psychopathic about other things that they find irritating in those they help while on the job. They completely suppress or sidestep their feelings about the issues while on the job, and let it all out on the people who are close, like family.
I know you're having advice chucked at you from all directions, and in the last big post you said you had tired of that, so ignore everything after this if so and I'll put it in spoilers.
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I knew of an individual who had issues (not similar to yours, but hauntingly parallel, in some ways) that were not responsive to medical interventions. The only thing we could do for him was seek psychological therapy for the depression that was plaguing him due to his health. Some of the physical symptoms were alleviated, and some became responsive to medications. While not completely healthy, the easing of the psychological illness altered the psychosomatic symptoms that blended with the more typical physical causes, enough that they weren't masked and making the overall effects much, much worse.
I would really, really avoid your mother, who seems to be a negative spot in your world, and see if professional psychiatric/psychological intervention could help at all. I'm not saying you're crazy, or it's all in your head. Psychosomatic illnesses are real, and a horrible thing to suffer. They are definitely not something you can "just stop thinking that" away. I'm also not saying that's what you have, but if no other doctor has suggested therapy while they continue their work in diagnosing you, maybe consider it.
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I still do. If it works, it works. Until my video card self-immolates, I'll keep using it. Damn these modern infants and their cable endings! shakes fist at sky
This person's actions are an outlier, but the beliefs are not. My own mother held very similar ones during my early years, and the circle of women at the church was not shy in voicing their opinions which, oh so outlier-like, were also similar to this woman's. That was in an eastern US state, in a protestant church. Don't forget that the US had the (insanity of) belief in the childcare cults of satan, that D&D was from satan, that rock music was the road to satan, etc. Those were massive, widespread beliefs. They haven't gone away entirely. Talk to members of a rural church, and you'll hear the subtle hints of all those things, but they've learned not to be overt.
When it comes to mormons, never forget that they had networks of their pastors and elders to hide and ignore abuse. They were more systematic about it than the cuntish catholics.
No, and yes. You can start a brand new account on the first day of a league and be at par with everyone else. The vast majority of the game is accessible with no demands on you aside from time and skill. Every purchase you make is cosmetic only, simply changing the way some spells look or giving you a pet that follows you around and looks cool while doing nothing extra.
The one exception? Stash tabs. Tabs that specialize in holding certain items for you in your stash. Tabs that let you sell items to others with greater ease. It has gotten to the point where if you want to be best of the best, you should probably have the extra tabs. Why? Because at the endgame, you'll need to start trading for items that make your build sing, or simply eke out the extra 15% damage that multiplies with other sources to make your dps soar into the millions, because PoE is all about finding something that you can push past where it was supposed to stop being good. Without those stash tabs, making cool items or easily trading with others is much more difficult.
Now, how much would it cost you to be 'competitive' with tabs? Probably $10 at most. For a game that I've played for over a decade and probably 1000-2000 hours at this point, I think the <$100 bucks I've thrown their way is worth it. I have friends who love the game and likely have 3k+ hours in it, and they've only spent $150 or so. I think that's pretty reasonable for that much enjoyment.
I remember melting plastic pens onto the nintendo screw heads in order to get them out. Fun times.