## /MementoMoriGacha Weekly Discussion Thread
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Hey all!
Hope your Spring Break is going well!
With just 3 days left until GT Friend Finder closes I would just like to plug it again on the sub.
Answer our 40 questions, and our proprietary algorithm matches you with 4-6 other people who it thinks would form a great friend group with you.
For the form use this link!!!!
Now I understand most of you did not click the link, but here's 5 reasons why I think you should reconsider.
1) College is one of the last chances to make easy friends: When you go out in the working world, making friends isn't as easy as just liking their shirt, or playing a game of pickup. Take advantage of this ease to meet some cool people.
2) GT Friend Finder is made by GT Students: There is no profit incentive for us, we're just trying to encourage tech students to make new life-long connections. By filling it out it helps encourage us to keep improving and come up with other fun things for tech students (like our April Crush event coming up).
3) You can meet people you'd never meet otherwise: Oftentimes the friends we make our dictated significantly by who we see on a daily basis. This means there is a lot of cool people on campus you could be friends with, but aren't. With our algorithm though you get a chance to be friends!
4) Shooting your shot is hard: Whether it be romantic or platonic asking someone to hang out when you aren't close yet is hard. With GT Friend Finder we do the asking for you, to make it less akward.
5) Worst case you lose an hour of your life: The absolute worst case scenario is that we messed up and the friends we match you with are actually not the vibe. Then all that happens is the hour you spent get knowing them is wasted, on the other hand, if everything works out you could potentially have a friend for life. Also the odds of 4-6 people all not vibing with you is hella hella low.
Hope you fill out the form :)
- GT Match
If you have any questions feel free to leave it on this Reddit thread, dm us on insta at gatechmatch or email us at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]).
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PS: For the incoming freshman that are stalking the sub, what are some of the best places to hang out in campus and around campus?

Brief introduction: I am a post-graduate worker who have a psychology background with an aspiration to work in the criminology field. Naturally, a dream career is to work for the FBI, so I have been keeping tabs on the collegiate hiring initiative (CHI) for years. Unfortunately, the only time I did not check up on the program was 2 weeks ago, the time that it actually opened up. Now closed, feeling bummed and lost that I miss the window frame, the only thing I can do now is to hop on Reddit and seek out advice...
Hoping that the CHI would ease my transitioning, I know I still have one of the only shot at the FBI: apply to it straight on. With that, what are the odds of passing every interviewing stages? I've seen the word competitive and long tossed around, but that is pretty vague to me.
Furthermore, what can I do to enhance my employability? I have worked with sex offenders, researched delinquency, substance usage, and criminals, and have begun volunteering with a nonprofit that helps solve crimes during my downtime. It seems that I'm having a difficult time getting my foot-in-the-door into entry-level professional work that revolves around criminology, if anyone has advice on that? I have also seen the PMF program and was wondering if anyone here have gone through that program.

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In my first session with my psychologist I discussed some things about society that I read online about, and which effected my mood.
I mentioned how I read online about ageism towards women and also how people on Reddit talk about men preferring younger women and beauty being all about being younger. I also noticed this trend offline in the media, etc. Although I had never outright asked people nor discussed it with people in real life.
She then said to me that most people do not think that men prefer younger women when it comes to physical beauty and sex. She also said most people do not think that physical beauty is mostly about how much younger you are nor how much younger you look. She said she has known hundreds of people and worked with hundreds of people and that she has a lot of experience. So that's why she knows about most people. I asked my parents and sister, and they had the same sentiments as her. My psychologist also said Reddit is not a good source of information because people who use it are not mainstream people, so people who prove me right on here are not speaking for the majority. And she also said Reddit is an echo chamber & confirmation bias and that most normal people don't interact with strangers online and wouldn't go on Reddit.
What's your view?

Hello, below is a brief overview of my tenure within Recruitment:
Staffing Agency: Feb 2018 – Nov 2018
Staffing Agency: Nov 2018 – Nov 2019
Corporate Cybersecurity Firm: Dec 2019 – July 2021
Promotion: Aug 2020
Insurance Firm: July – Mar 2022
Global Accounting/Finance Firm: Apr 2022 – Feb 2023
The above companies and respective years is a time line of my career. To give some background, I started out in Recruitment at a staffing agency upon graduating college. Like many others, it kind of just happened rather than me truly seeking it out. Regarding my first agency experience, they had an MSP (middle man between agency and client) and as many of you may know, if your AM doesn’t have a real relationship with client then your candidates typically don’t get chosen. So, I was actually recruited to another agency that touted having personal relationships with their clients so I left. This was a good experience for me because this is when I realized that I am actually a really good recruiter. I continued staffing telecommunication professionals as well as Finance and a little IT. As mentioned, I soared in this environment but after a year I realized that I wanted more out of my 40 hours than just recruiting. I know that there is a lot of value in agency recruitment but I realized that I am a little more analytical than sales so I get bored with the hunt for candidates all day/every day. I also didn’t see much of a career trajectory for me.
Anyways, I left agency and went into Corporate Recruitment/Talent Acquisition because I felt that there was a chance to do other tasks as well as actually consult with hiring managers, collaborate with other teams in a company and DEI initiatives. I also saw this as an opportunity to move into a more HR role if I saw fit. I did really well at my first corporate recruitment gig and even received a promotion within the first 8 months. With that being said I was forced to search for other opportunities because I did not receive a pay increase with this promotion as the company blamed COVID. I ended up staying for 1 year and 8 months before pulling the plug. I joined an insurance firm as there TA consultant where I recruited for experienced hires as well as manage the intern recruitment program. My tenure here was 8 months as this company was just not the right fit for me; lack of diversity and insurance is a really boring industry in general. Side note: apart of my job WAS to increase diversity of course. Anyways, this led me to my dream company which was one of the Big 4. I truly enjoyed the people as well as the work because it really allowed me to flex my consulting skills but also provided the chance to learn a lot. Unfortunately, I was a part of a mass lay off this March and I am back in the market leaving me with a total of 11 months with my last company.
I know that I am still young in my career and that maybe I shouldn’t worry too much about tenure because I am trying to find what works for me but I can’t help but feel a little nervous about it. I recently was asked “what do I feel has been stopping me from progressing within my career?” My reply was that I have actually progressed within my career but some circumstances were out of my control. I even provided examples on where I progressed i.e. promotions and awards.
My question: Can I omit some of my experience and/or exaggerate one of my staffing agencies? For example, merge my two agency companies together as one experience? Essentially deleting one of the companies to make it seem my agency experience was only at one company but just a longer time period. I generally merge the two companies together anyways as I feel like my first experience wasn’t much of an experience. I just want to get my foot in the door during interviews as I do really well with interviews so I just don’t want this to be the piece that takes me out.

Hello,
I maintain this bot for a server with a few hundred users. The Discord API wrapper module it originally used has since been deprecated. I've been working on changing the code over to use the interactions (a different Discord API wrapper) module instead and testing it locally. The bot originally used emoji reactions to interact with users and process their selections, but I noticed Button components were a thing and that seemed more appropriate for what we need it to do.
The buttons do work, the problem is that I can't seem to stop buttons from previous messages sent by the bot during the same session from continuing to fire off their on click methods. I've tried editing the message to remove the components and deleting the message altogether but it still keeps happening. The method calls from the buttons keep multiplying with every new slash command sent.
I'm really just hoping someone with a better understanding of Discord's API will be able to tell me why this is happening and what I need to do to fix it. I had a code snippet to share but unfortunately I'm having a hard time getting it to format properly on Reddit :(
Thanks for any insight you can provide!

I talked to my psychologist about how I don't want to have sex with men because I don't think vaginas are appreciated by men, in general.
I told her straight men sexualise and fetishize women who have penises but straight women and gay men don't do that with men who have vaginas. And that this means penises are more liked & valued. She said the vast majority of men have no interest in transgender women pre op and post op and that the vast majority have no interest in women who have penises nor that type of porn, sex work/sex tourism industry.
I said men are more attracted to a performance or costume of femininity (clothes, makeup, hair) than they are to actual women, so they are attracted to feminized men, and find a woman with an unshaven body, an overweight woman, very short hair woman or UNfeminine woman more of a turn off than feminized men. And that men think femininity=submissive and wanting to be fucked. So the men who look feminine are seen in that way. Whereas women and gay men are attracted to both feminine men and masculine men (think of all the androgynous male celeb heartthrobs over the years) and not just to masculinity itself, so they would find feminine men less of a turn off than masculine women. She said not at all.
I said oral is believed to be much more commonly performed on men than performed on women and that this isn't because of men being selfish, since gay men are men and have no issues about giving oral. She said oral is 50/50 between the genders.
I said vaginas are seen as gross and taboo and have stigma and that penises are more casual and normalised. She said not at all. She also said periods are not taboo, just private. I said gay men are known to be far more openly disgusted by and insulting about vaginas than lesbians are about penises. She said not at all. I said lesbians are more open to transgender women than gay men are open to transgender men. She said not at all.
I said large penises, boobs and butts are more appreciated and liked than any vagina type. I said that many bisexual men say that they are bi just for penis but not for the rest of a man and many bisexual women say that they are bisexual but for the rest of a woman but not the vagina. I said sex is not viewed as real sex without a penis and that sex is viewed to be all about the penis, so lesbian sex is not taken seriously. She said not at all.
I said vaginas are seen as submissive and penises are seen as dominant and that people think sexually dominant women are mostly about penis imitation in the form of strap ons and pegging. She said not at all.
I meant these things about people in general (not every single man or woman) and she said I was wrong about the vast majority of people. I even asked my parents and sister in a separate occasion, and they agreed with her. She also said people on Reddit who answer questions and ask questions are not so normal because most mainstream people don't do that, so to be wary of what I read on here.
What do you think?

Starting on January, 1, 2016, my self-improvement journey which includes NoFap has been extremely painful, abysmal yet rewarding. At 12 years old, my older brother introduced pornography and I became instantly hooked as I am extremely sensitive to stimuli which I will explain further down this post. See, pornography provided an way for me escape my childhood trauma. I was sexually molested at 5 years old and eventually harassed and bullied in school. Also, I have autism with extreme communication deficits, which causes me to not understand people and get singled out. Shortly afterwards, I starting cheating in school, lived a sedimentary life style, became fat, and masturbated EVERY day in conjunction with watching pornography. I became downright depressed and suicidal. I had several detailed plans on how to do it. I was actually prepared to die because I could not take the misery anymore. I thought I was a burden to my family, community, and country. So one day, I was holding my father's gun pointed to my head ready to end it all. There were two things holding me back. It would of destroyed my kind mother and she would of blamed herself for the rest of her life for the death of her son. Second, my childhood dream of becoming an astronaut. To reach forbidden, undiscovered lands that presents new knowledge to be gained. The ultimate challenge of life. The life of a pioneer, pilot and scientist. After that episode, I was searching on Reddit and found NoFap. A sparkle of light in my dark times, which presented a way for me improve myself. At first, I could barely make two days, but that eventually became three days, and then four days. Soon I was reaching weeks then months. The mindset is the key. To keep trying no matter what. The effort by itself is good enough. I started standing up for myself putting bullies in their place and eventually started excelling in academics because I wanted to learn. After graduating high school, I took a gap year working on my families ranch, while studying philosophy. Nietzsche once said "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how." The "Why" is the most fundamental question to our lives. Why do you wake up in the morning. Why do you want what you want? Why do you do what you do? If you know the why, then anything is possible. I am a college student that will soon be an Aerospace Engineer, Pilot, and Commissioned Officer in the U.S Air Force within approximately 4-5 years. As of now, I have stopped counting the streak for NoFap and if I gave it a rough estimate, it would be around 160 days. I do all of this because that is what I find meaningful. I do all of this because its what I want to do.
Pardon me for any grammatical and punctuation mistakes, including coherency as I was quite emotional when writing this.
I would suggest using the self authoring program by Dr. Peterson. It guides people through the process of discovering the past, present, and future. If you have any negative thoughts over 18 months old and want to increase self-awareness, I recommend it.

Back First Next
As promised Chapter 2. See you Friday. Also thank you all for the positive reinforcement and being generally encouraging, that is a fresh change of breathe I did not expect.
​
Memory Transcription: Captain Neil Campbell, United Nations ‘Black Watch’ Company #4
Date [standardized human time]: December 3, 2136
Air raid sirens went out and announcements blared with a recorded message from Mayor Zim, “Everyone, please remain calm. The UN forces are here and escorting us to shelter. I repeat, remain calm. Captain Neil has requested all those who can fight, please see him.”
The military shuttle that was supposed to contain the 180 black watch members was lifting off, packed to beyond the safety limits with those who had drawn the short straws, most giving up their place on the ship for their children instead. Very few adults were on board, just enough to cover keeping the children calm and policed.
When none of his men had volunteered, Neil had forcefully selected one. Corporal MacTavish, called Soap as a callsign. “MacTavish, you’ve got one mission, keep them calm, get them to the fleet, and then get them out of the system. They may be the last Tilfish alive. Also tell them where we are and we have the town's civilians with us.” He passed MacTavish a dozen data discs and flash drives. “I am holding you personally responsible for them. You are to ensure this gets up there too. It’s the entire Tilfish public library and all the government documents we could download. At least some of their culture will survive as well. Make sure those children know who they are.”
MacTavish saluted Neil as he turned to get onto the ship last, passing Neil his longarm and every bit of ammunition, grenades, and supplies he had down to his side arm and two magazines he kept for it. “You’ll need these sir.” Neil nodded and passed them to the nearest trooper escorting him.
Moments later, Neil was riding in a recon rover, packed with 4 of his black watch, Zim, and several Tilfish who were either elderly or children. The vehicle’s loud speakers continued to repeat automatically as Neil’s soldier lined the road, directing people forward. They urged them to move quickly but calmly while the vehicle sped for the caldera. “Save your energy, you will need it. Your lives are more valuable than your possessions. Move quickly and stay quiet, every second counts now.”
His troopers offered snacks they had packed, some took them. Trail mix bars, chocolate bars, coffee, water, whatever they happen to have on their person. The point was to prove that the Tilfish were not cattle and that the soldiers had no intention to harm them. Every little bit helped keep them calm and prevent a stampede.
When they arrived at their outpost, Neil stepped into his command tent which was being rapidly torn down now. Only four Tilfish came to Neil to Neil’s call, less than he’d hoped. Four of Four Thousand, they are the bravest four I will ever know. He smiled at that thought.
They were cowering to stand before him as he sized each one up. His glare was hardened from years in the Watch. Ages of fighting simulations and actually being present on The Cradle, earth, and a couple of human brush wars before that.
“I need you four to act as guides for my soldiers, they will protect you with their lives. You will be armed and expected to assist in the defense as well.” He explained firmly after nearly a minute of uncomfortable glares.
“We…we… what are we holding against? Our own people?” one of the Tilfish asked hesitantly and looking terrified at the predator.
“No, I’m not going to sugar coat it. The Arxur are coming, likely will be here within the hour. That transport was the last leaving the spaceport without being intercepted. Our only option is to shelter in place.” He spoke with a kind of hopeless certainty.
The Tilfish all cowered before him as Mayor Zim started to quake standing besides Neil, but Neil was unflinching. “I am asking you to help us make sure as many Tilfish get into the depths of the mountains as we can. I will not lie, our survival is not expected but those tunnels are deep enough that they might just survive until rescue can be sent.”
He looked at the herd walking towards the mountains at a brisk pace, the legs of the insectoids going quickly. “Now listen, I’m going to be sending out aggravation squads to delay incoming Arxur. You two going to be send with them. Our engineers are booby trapping as well as reinforcing the cave depths. Every little bit to assist in making sure the Arxur do not get into the tunnel and that those tunnels survive an orbital bombardment hit.”
One of the Tilfish shook his head, and has an expression of distress with his thorax and legs shifting, "No, nothing survives anti-matter bombs, it's hopeless."
Neil shook his head, "We have several bunker shelters survive near misses and a few survive direct hits on earth and they were barely a few hundred meters below the surface. Those tunnels lead nearly four kilometers down. I sent three engineers with every bit of quick-crete we have and the longer we buy time, the better odds the rest of your down get."
He leaned down onto the electronic display and pointed at the map, eager to change their focus and give them something to not fear. “I presume because you only live a few dozen kilometers from here you know the terrain and know it well?”
The Tilfish were hesitate to move or speak, shaking as if children about to piss themselves because the boogieman was coming out of the closet.
Neil nodded to himself, They’re raw recruits, rookies at best and terrified draftee’s would be in better shape than them. Time to make this clear to them and force them to fight those instincts. He exhaled a breath and deflated himself, letting his intensity wear off for a moment. “What are you names?”
“Jerlio.” The first smaller Tilfish spoke, he was barely taller than Neil’s waist and stood eye level with his belly button.
The second one, larger than the first coming up to Neil’s lower ribs, “H…h….h…Herci.” His speaking is uneasy and shows terror.
The third looked like twins with their spots and faces, if there was a difference Neil couldn’t make it out. “This is Hazeinia and I’m Tia.” They the one on the left spoke. Neil had started to recognize the two sexes of the Tilfish, he wasn’t sure if they had genders but that didn't matter now.
Their movements had them shuffling as if looking for an escape from their situation. Neil knew that for their people just to be standing here before him, meeting his gaze was a lot. He had to take measures into his own hands right now.
“Stand to!” He barked, his voice wasn’t shouting but it was harsh; undeniable, and made all five Tilfish in the room freeze in place. “Listen and listen well, dig this into your minds right now. The four of you have shown uncharacteristic courage just to step up for your people. Now I need you to show courage in spite of your fear. You fight not for your own lives anymore, you fight for those who cannot, those who we are desperately trying to save.”
He took a step forward, and gazed down upon both them, then knelt down to one knee, meeting them at eye level. The Tilfish started to shy away when he reached out a hand and grasped gently but firmly upon two of their feelers. The insectoid fur tickled him while the texture of the carapace was foreign and creepy to him. He steeled himself and brought the most calm he could forward.and his gaze relaxed slightly. “Let me explain something to you, all of you.”
“Humans are not fearless,” His eyes had tears in it, he knew his men would be dying soon and there was little he could do about it. “Every moment we are facing combat; we are terrified. We are scared that we will not take another breath, we fear deeply.” he looked at each of them. “Even if your stomach is tied in knots, you smell the blood and gunpowder, you want to run to save yourself.” He turned to the two he was holding the feelers of. “You can feel the clamminess on my hands, I know your antennae can detect the heightening of my heart rate, and you can see the corners of my eyes as I force the tears back and gain focus.” He took a moment to push through and made a show of gulping in a way to swallow down his fear.
“The difference is that I am asking for you to gather your courage.” His hand got tighter around their feelers not so it hurt but to show a change in demeanor. “It is easy to be brave when you are surrounded by friends, when you outnumber your foes, when you are bigger than them. No, I ask you five to do this, not because it is easy but because it is hard. I need any man, woman, and bug on that line. Nearly four thousand of you have run into those tunnels with forty of my men to keep them calm and moving deeper and deeper.”
He guided the four outside of the command tent into the forested caldera and motioned around to the positions on the reverse slope of the mountain sides, “40 more are under manning Air to Ground missiles, the new interceptor systems, manual fire close in 40mm chainguns, and the three Orbital firing cannons we have. Yet despite the difficulty they have made 40 seem like 400 with how many guns we have working and running.”
“The remaining ninety-nine of my troopers are rigging mines, camouflage firing positions with overlapping fire, explosives, and every other conceivable defense we have. They will be finished soon but we need to delay the enemy just to get our defenses exactly right.”
He turned to them, “Two of you will serve as guides for my soldiers. I’m going to send out a ten size squad. They are going to recon for the Arxur, setup ambushes and make them pay. Once they are spent, they will send you back to report.”
He turned to Jerlio and placed a hand on what he believed to be his shoulder, “I need soldiers and of the Ten Thousand Tilfish we had, the five bravest I’ve ever known are here. We fight back to back, to the end. Not for ourselves but for those Four Thousand in the caves, understood?” He turned to Herci as he spoke.
Each of the Tilfish nodded in turn except for Zim, “What of me? What am I do to?”
“Zim you have the greatest job of all. I need a radio director not only to coordinate our men and relay messages but to broadcast to the fleet for as long as possible. You’ve got 2 hours to study and learn our code book, if you make mistakes it’s okay, repeat it in plain language if needed.” He motioned to the entrance to the cave his people had run into. “The radio is there, work it until it stops functioning, if the Arxur are upon you, there is a pistol on the table and an explosive under it. Detonate the explosive as your last action.”
Zim recoiled, “I… I did not volunteer for a last stand, I don’t understand?”
Neil looked at him hardened and took a step towards Zim, “You voted for our annihilation, and yet here we are, allies. Now you are going to prove those people, your people, who put their faith in you, were right to do so. I’m going to station a trooper there with you if I have to with orders to shoot you if you flee; am I understood!”
It wasn’t a question, Neil had gone from gentle to absolute terrifying fury in merely a few moments. With a slow nod, Zim in agreement. Neil shook his head, “Say it, say Yes Sir to me, Private Zim.”
Zim suddenly straightened as Neil leaned in to look into his eyes, so close that they could feel each other’s breath. Zim was terrified, under the glare of a predator it took several seconds to find his courage. “Yes…. sir…”
Neil snarled, barring his teeth, he would put the fear of the divine into this Tilfish politician, “I can’t hear you, say it, like you mean it.”
Zim nodded and hesitated then realized the ritual he had seen from the humans earlier when Neil was disappointed in one of them. He turned his mandibles to be the best approximation of a salute. “Yes sir!”
“You’re in the Watch now, the Black Watch. Our motto is Nemo me impune lacessit. It means, No One Provokes Me with Impunity. Now get moving, there is an equipment sergeant nearby and once I’ve selected my troopers you will go with them. Zim get to that radio and start studying that code book until you are certain you can reference it. Every one of our lives and the lives of those ten thousand depend upon it.”
He looked from one of them to the other, giving each Tilfish a confident grin, ensuring he did not show his teeth but only curling up his lips. “Dismissed!”
The Tilfish scrambled towards their ordered positions where troopers went to meet them. Neil picked up his radio and tuned it to, he had one final duty to perform before the battle was to begin. “All Black Watch members, stop for a moment and listen. I’ll give you a moment to finish your tasks.” Neil took a moment as he pulled a cigarette out of his pocket, he didn’t actually smoke but carried them to share with those that did. At this point however, what was one more bad habit. He lit it and took a puff similar to how he did on a joint in college. He exhaled and pushed the radio button again. “What I am about to ask you all to do should be considered unconscionable just two days ago. We are disobeying our orders, we were supposed to be on that transport. I understand this may upset some of you but we have a duty." Neil took a breath as he wasn't completely sure if all of his troopers would obey him and go with this idea or not. He spoke his next words slowly and with gravity. "Four Thousand civilians; they are in those tunnels along with 40 of your brothers and sisters. We are their only hope.”
He paused to take another draw of the cigarette, he could understand now why some soldiers had this habit, really calmed his nerves for the next part. “If any man or woman doesn’t feel this is right, there is room for you in those tunnels, speak up and you will be relieved and sent. No questions asked; no shame given, I understand not wanting to die for a species that a week ago was trying to annihilate our existence.”
He waited and when no one spoke up, he pushed the radio again. “Anyone? Sergeants, report in.”
“Platoon A, no one is moving sir.”
“Platoon B, we’re here and we’re staying, all of us apparently.”
“Platoon C, guns are manned and ready, this is where they die and we stand.”
Platoon D didn’t report in, they must be too deep underground now for radio transmissions. That was good enough for him, at least they would survive if the first bomb got through. The follow ups they would need to keep going down. He hoped their air would hold out.
“Alright, the enemy is coming. The fleet cannot hold and is working to withdraw. We will have no artillery, air, armor, or naval support. We are on our own. What I am asking you to do is going to get you all killed. Make peace with any deity you believe in. Get any addiction you need satisfied, eat something, drink some water, and finish your preparations. Schmidt is coming with James, they are going to lead Platoon B squad 3 and Platoon A squad 4 on a little recon in force mission. They have their orders, and you have your’s.” He took another draw of his cigarette. “I will see you on the other side. Nemo Me Impune Lacessit.”
The radio resounded for the next several moments with all of his 139 remaining soldiers sounding off the Black Watch motto.
The Captain stepped out of his tent, he picked up a rifle, the one MacTavoish handed him. He checked the magazine, breech, and sights then chambered a round and turned off his safety. Slowly he walked towards his own position.
A shuttle was coming down, damaged badly but this wasn't a civilian shuttle or an escape shutttle. It was an armored assault shuttle. "What Now?"

I talked to my psychologist about how I don't want to have sex with men because I don't think vaginas are appreciated by men, in general.
I told her straight men sexualise and fetishize women who have penises but straight women and gay men don't do that with men who have vaginas. And that this means penises are more liked & valued. She said the vast majority of men have no interest in transgender women pre op and post op and that the vast majority have no interest in women who have penises nor that type of porn, sex work/sex tourism industry.
I said men are more attracted to a performance or costume of femininity (clothes, makeup, hair) than they are to actual women, so they are attracted to feminized men, and find a woman with an unshaven body, an overweight woman, very short hair woman or UNfeminine woman more of a turn off than feminized men. And that men think femininity=submissive and wanting to be fucked. So the men who look feminine are seen in that way. Whereas women and gay men are attracted to both feminine men and masculine men (think of all the androgynous male celeb heartthrobs over the years) and not just to masculinity itself, so they would find feminine men less of a turn off than masculine women. She said not at all.
I said oral is believed to be much more commonly performed on men than performed on women and that this isn't because of men being selfish, since gay men are men and have no issues about giving oral. She said oral is 50/50 between the genders.
I said vaginas are seen as gross and taboo and have stigma and that penises are more casual and normalised. She said not at all. She also said periods are not taboo, just private. I said gay men are known to be far more openly disgusted by and insulting about vaginas than lesbians are about penises. She said not at all. I said lesbians are more open to transgender women than gay men are open to transgender men. She said not at all.
I said large penises, boobs and butts are more appreciated and liked than any vagina type. I said that many bisexual men say that they are bi just for penis but not for the rest of a man and many bisexual women say that they are bisexual but for the rest of a woman but not the vagina. I said sex is not viewed as real sex without a penis and that sex is viewed to be all about the penis, so lesbian sex is not taken seriously. She said not at all.
I said vaginas are seen as submissive and penises are seen as dominant and that people think sexually dominant women are mostly about penis imitation in the form of strap ons and pegging. She said not at all.
I meant these things about people in general (not every single man or woman) and she said I was wrong about the vast majority of people. I even asked my parents and sister in a separate occasion, and they agreed with her. She also said people on Reddit who answer questions and ask questions are not so normal because most mainstream people don't do that, so to be wary of what I read on here.
What do you think?

In my first session with my psychologist I discussed some things about society that I read online about, and which effected my mood.
I mentioned how I read online about ageism towards women and also how people on Reddit talk about men preferring younger women and beauty being all about being younger. I also noticed this trend offline in the media, etc. Although I had never outright asked people nor discussed it with people in real life.
She then said to me that most people do not think that men prefer younger women when it comes to physical beauty and sex. She also said most people do not think that physical beauty is mostly about how much younger you are nor how much younger you look. She said she has known hundreds of people and worked with hundreds of people and that she has a lot of experience. So that's why she knows about most people. I asked my parents and sister, and they had the same sentiments as her. My psychologist also said Reddit is not a good source of information because people who use it are not mainstream people, so people who prove me right on here are not speaking for the majority. And she also said Reddit is an echo chamber & confirmation bias and that most normal people don't interact with strangers online and wouldn't go on Reddit.
What's your view?

Hey guys, so basically, I am nine months into my current job that I got as a SEO analyst right after college through the placement cell at a large digital marketing agency. For the first 3 months, they taught us the basics of analytics, SEM (Google's ads), and SEO and then allowed us to specialize in one to be trained further. I ended up choosing SEO even though I wanted SEM, as people advised me that it’s better to start off with SEO. It turns out that regardless of whether SEO is the better option or not, I have started to find it extremely boring and mundane. I have now been given a senior analysts' work, which involves link building through profiling 100s of websites every week and then negotiating with website owners to get a good deal. The reason I was chosen for this role was because I have a really good knack for conversing and negotiating with people, which may be partly attributed to the fact that I was a national level debater back in college. But what I now really crave is the need to brainstorm creative ideas instead of just doing routine stuff. However, I now have a major problem: I do not know if I should go and leave my current company and start applying for account roles in advertising agencies, or should I continue working in my current company for the next few years and hopefully move from SEO to SEM and gather specialized knowledge in the field of digital marketing. A major hindrance to this decision is the fact that my current job pays me way more than the industry average (dealing with the guilt of being ungrateful is another issue, lol), and hence I feel it may be tough for me to move to another company as they may not be able to match my current pay. Hence, here I am on Reddit asking for advice from anyone who has/had been in a similar situation.

I thought I would give everyone an update (and possibly motivation) on my Lexapro journey. You can find a more blow by blow in my log I started here: https://www.reddit.com/lexapro/comments/10nq48j/my_lexapro_journey/
Warning: Long post ahead. Writing this seems therapeutic for me, but I also hope it helps others.
First some background:

• I’m a 54 year old male, with a wife and a 16 year old daughter.
• I’m a white collar professional who leads a large team and experiences high stress at work.
• I don’t have any other health issues at all and consider myself in excellent physical shape.
• My dad’s side of the family has a history of anxiety and depression.
• No previous experience with these kinds of meds at all.

Pre Lexapro:
The wheels started coming off about three years ago. What I thought was solely job stress, started giving me sporadic insomnia. First it was infrequent with a night here or a night there every couple weeks, but things rapidly deteriorated. Fast forward a year later and I was routinely going 2-3 nights in a row without any sleep. I found my mind racing constantly with thoughts of work stress spinning around in my head. Worse, I started worrying about insignificant things that I normally wouldn’t even think about. It would just spiral out of control. It got to the point where I’d get out of bed in the morning and literally say to myself, “I can’t do this anymore.” I was exhausted and at the end of my rope. While I was not suicidal, I wanted to “quit” everything else…my job, being a husband, being a father, being a son, being a friend.
I tried everything. Lunesta, Ambien, Trazedone, Mirtazapene, Weed products, Accupuncture, natural remedies, thereapy, meditation. Nothing worked. Nothing I tried helped me find the “Off Switch” for my brain. My anxiety kept spiraling, this led to depression, and not only was it bringing me down but it was bringing my whole family down. I felt like I was the biggest risk to everyone’s future.
I finally found a psychiatrist who diagnosed me with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and recommended Lexapro. I couldn’t believe it. I’ve always considered myself a strong individual, mentally and physically, so this wounded me. I’m also not a fan of pills at all. This was a big leap. I did some research on this forum and elsewhere. My Lexapro sat in my drawer for 2 months.
Finally, after a serious bout of anxiety and insomnia after new years, I said screw it. I have nothing to lose.
Post Lexapro Experience:
I started on 5 MG for four weeks and then bumped it up to 10 MG. I felt…”something”...immediately. After two weeks I could tell this was going to be a “glass half full” situation at minimum. More good was taking place vs. bad. After bumping up to 10 MG (where I experienced zero side effects), things only improved from there. The reason I’m writing this now is that I’ve had two consecutive weeks where I’ve had zero insomnia as intrusive thoughts have been kept at bay.
Here’s some other comments on frequently asked questions on this forum:

• Side Effects: One day of nausea.
• Libido: Yup, an issue. Takes a lot of work to “finish.” That said, at 54 years old, that’s a sacrifice I’ll make and hope it improves.
• Mood: Much improved. My mind is a lot clearer as a lot of the “noise” and “anxiety clutter” has been removed. It’s made me more productive at work and more willing to take on other activities where previously, any insignificant addition to my life would break my back. Also more engaged with friends and family.
• Energy: This is the biggest difference for me. I have this strange energy I didn’t have before. I’m more willing to take on the day. It’s almost as if the world went from all grey to a brighter white.
• Anxiety Episodes: I still have them, but it’s not the end of the world. I’m much more capable of coping now. I still will wake up in the middle of the night and have intrusive thoughts, but they come in and out of my head more easily. Sometimes it takes me a while to go back to sleep, but I do.
• Alcohol: No issue for me. I’m a huge craft beer fan and drink it regularly. I’ve also taken Lexapro right before going out for a night and having several drinks. No biggie. That said, I wouldn’t recommend it.
• Increase Dosage: Right now, I’m not considering it. My psychiatrist indicated that for someone like me, the sweet spot is between 10 MG and 15 MG. Maybe I’ll go up to 15 at some point, but who knows.
• Tapering: Not even in the realm of possibilities. I’m continuing indefinitely for now.

At this point, I consider my Lexapro experience a success. I’m not going to declare victory here. I expect there to be ups and downs, but I’m hoping the recent trend continues and I continue to have “higher highs” and “higher lows.”
Hope this helps some.
And lord I hope I just didn't jinx myself (and that's the Pre Lexapro me talking).

In my first session with my psychologist I discussed some things about society that I read online about, and which effected my mood.
I mentioned how I read online about ageism towards women and also how people on Reddit talk about men preferring younger women and beauty being all about being younger. I also noticed this trend offline in the media, etc. Although I had never outright asked people nor discussed it with people in real life.
She then said to me that most people do not think that men prefer younger women when it comes to physical beauty and sex. She also said most people do not think that physical beauty is mostly about how much younger you are nor how much younger you look. She said she has known hundreds of people and worked with hundreds of people and that she has a lot of experience. So that's why she knows about most people. I asked my parents and sister, and they had the same sentiments as her. My psychologist also said Reddit is not a good source of information because people who use it are not mainstream people, so people who prove me right on here are not speaking for the majority. And she also said Reddit is an echo chamber & confirmation bias and that most normal people don't interact with strangers online and wouldn't go on Reddit.
What's your view?

I talked to my psychologist about how I don't want to have sex with men because I don't think vaginas are appreciated by men, in general.
I told her straight men sexualise and fetishize women who have penises but straight women and gay men don't do that with men who have vaginas. And that this means penises are more liked & valued. She said the vast majority of men have no interest in transgender women pre op and post op and that the vast majority have no interest in women who have penises nor that type of porn, sex work/sex tourism industry.
I said men are more attracted to a performance or costume of femininity (clothes, makeup, hair) than they are to actual women, so they are attracted to feminized men, and find a woman with an unshaven body, an overweight woman, very short hair woman or UNfeminine woman more of a turn off than feminized men. And that men think femininity=submissive and wanting to be fucked. So the men who look feminine are seen in that way. Whereas women and gay men are attracted to both feminine men and masculine men (think of all the androgynous male celeb heartthrobs over the years) and not just to masculinity itself, so they would find feminine men less of a turn off than masculine women. She said not at all.
I said oral is believed to be much more commonly performed on men than performed on women and that this isn't because of men being selfish, since gay men are men and have no issues about giving oral. She said oral is 50/50 between the genders.
I said vaginas are seen as gross and taboo and have stigma and that penises are more casual and normalised. She said not at all. She also said periods are not taboo, just private. I said gay men are known to be far more openly disgusted by and insulting about vaginas than lesbians are about penises. She said not at all. I said lesbians are more open to transgender women than gay men are open to transgender men. She said not at all.
I said large penises, boobs and butts are more appreciated and liked than any vagina type. I said that many bisexual men say that they are bi just for penis but not for the rest of a man and many bisexual women say that they are bisexual but for the rest of a woman but not the vagina. I said sex is not viewed as real sex without a penis and that sex is viewed to be all about the penis, so lesbian sex is not taken seriously. She said not at all.
I said vaginas are seen as submissive and penises are seen as dominant and that people think sexually dominant women are mostly about penis imitation in the form of strap ons and pegging. She said not at all.
I meant these things about people in general (not every single man or woman) and she said I was wrong about the vast majority of people. I even asked my parents and sister in a separate occasion, and they agreed with her. She also said people on Reddit who answer questions and ask questions are not so normal because most mainstream people don't do that, so to be wary of what I read on here.
What do you think?

So I was Childe's Fatui assistant/recruit or something and followed him around while he was packing my boxes. This was happening back before I moved I guess, because we were at my old house's driveway and loading things into my mom's big white car. Capitano showed up and I wanted to give them some alone time, so I sat down on the ground and pretended to be asleep. While they talked, Capitano did seem concerned that I was sleeping on the ground.
Later, we all got into the car; Childe was driving, Capitano was in the back left seat, and I was in the passenger seat. Childe said "This is how we drive in Snezhnaya!" First, he turned on a maximum volume playlist of metal remixes I don't remember the first song that came on, but I remember I hated it and switched two songs forward. Then he closed his eyes and slammed his foot on the gas. He drove completely normally.
Some time later, Childe's clothes get ruined (completely soaked with milk) and I say "Oh no, I have to burn these. Now I know how Ekaterina feels. She told me how to do this." Capitano says that to get the stains out, you wash in hot water and spin dry. I say "That's only with Snezhnaya detergent. In Liyue, you wash in cold water and air dry." So we take the clothes to a high Liyue mountain to dry. Then there's a gust of wind and the sun hats that they are suddenly wearing blow off and land on Cloud Retainer and Mountain Shaper. I wanted to take a picture to show people when I woke up, but my phone wasn't working and the disappointment is what jolted me awake.

Disclaimer:

As consumers, we enjoy different things and look for different qualities in a product. I am not saying this product is bad (it is not) – it just does not work for me. I am a newbie, not a pro tech-savvy audiophile, please be kind <3

The issue:

Hi,
I got the Qudelix-5k for its rave reviews. However, as an audio newbie looking for simplicity, this does not work for me, unfortunately. By simplicity I mean what I am looking for is:

• An amp to power my Sennheiser HD 600s for iPhone listening (sometimes MacBook Pro M2, OS Ventura).
• Wired, plug and play, no Bluetooth connection and pairing requirement every time I use the device, no Bluetooth pre-requisite for wired play – and no app, please no app requirement
• No flashing buttons or LEDs, if they are a must, then no blues and greens but reds only (vision issues, listening in the dark, sleep circadian rhythm).

I understand that Qudelix 5k is an amazing product, but so far I have had many issues with it such as:

1. the Bluetooth connection was replacing the wired experience often
2. the app was bugged, leaving the app often resulted in pauses or disconnects
3. a standard lightning to USB C cable I bought did not work, had to be replaced with another cable, specifically the FiiO LT OTG cable (which is more of Apple's fault as I learnt, there are some power thresholds iPhones have issues with, not sure exactly, again, I am not incredibly audio-tech-savvy).

I also understand every issue has a solution, but I have very little time to listen to music and when I do, I do not want to troubleshoot problems. For me, the Qudelix 5k has shown to be a product that requires troubleshooting and forum-browsing often. I have already spent a significant amount of time browsing forums and chatting with audiophiles for troubleshooting, as well as time spent writing this Reddit post.

• I am OK to forego the ability to construct an EQ curve (which Qudelix has) and replace that with a barebones simple plug-n-play power amplification that cannot change the EQ curve.
  • This will not allow me to make my Sennheiser HD 600s a bit bassier, but I can live without that. EQ adjustment would be cool, but is not strictly necessary as it would most likely require Bluetooth (I guess?) and also an app to adjust the EQ and thus invite possible bugs, delays, disconnects etc.

Thanks for any advice and honestly for your understanding of our differences and individual preferences as consumers :)

Considering joining a 10 week commander league. I play every Friday night with four or five other people and consistently win against all of them. I am currently building a green white commander deck. Commander is not too important as I do not want to look like too much of a threat. I will be running life and limb and verdant force with beast master ascension,(I love this combo and I don't see anybody using it often) combined with parallel lives and survival of the fittest. wild pair with a bunch of 4/4's with good abilities. The manicurve seems pretty high, I mean the deck works but I've never asked a community for advice. Obviously I'm a few hundred dollars in at this point and just realized the actual ruling of wild pair as far as the total power and toughness rule goes. If it is helpful I can post the full current deck but I have to say I am not in love with it. Originally it was a green 60 card deck and I would like it to play similarly to how it did. Essentially a living lands deck where the first time I attack with my forests and saplings they immediately get the plus five plus five and trample. Again, it's a pretty casual league supposedly and I don't want people to know that I'm a threat until it's too late. First question is, is white the right color to pair this deck with? And the second question is what do you think of my idea? 2. Has anyone here ever made a beastmaster Ascension life and limb deck?
This league does have penalties if you take too many additional turns or drive too many cards or kill somebody within the first five turns
Bottom line, I would love to know your thoughts and I will provide a full deck list of the current deck that will definitely be changed as again, I don't want it to look too powerful, but also I need a lower manacurve. This is my first time posting on reddit in general so please be kind lol. Sorry for the long-winded post

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Instead of the chirpy voice of the AI continuing on with some great, all encompassing plan, all I was met with after those few uplifting seconds was a strange silence.
Though that silence didn’t last for too long.
“I don’t think I can do this.” The AI blurted out with his equivalent of an uneasy tone of voice.
This sudden shift in tone after an unexpected silence as we sat idly above the moon was nothing short of disconcerting, but it wasn’t long before the AI continued on his train of thought.
“I’ve done the calculations, I’ve run several simulations, the way things are going, if we do both operations at once, should we be caught off-guard… It's too risky. Seeing as we need to manufacture the specific materials needed for the interloper’s interrogation, I’m planning to take this opportunity to actually start repairing myself. This isn’t a request either, this… this is something I must do.” The AI uttered out with an exasperated, almost exhausted breath. “Before you ask, Lysara, I’ve been barely holding myself together throughout this entire ordeal. It's difficult to explain… but whilst we’re standing here oblivious to it, I can feel this gash getting worse and worse with each passing minute. Whilst I could tolerate it at first, it wasn’t like I was ever not aware of it. Unlike a human’s whole fight or flight adrenaline fueled state of mind, or whatever your version of that would be, I don’t have the luxury of having a brain that has pre-coded tolerance subroutines that literally turn off certain aspects of perception and sensation of one’s own form at any given time. In fact, that honestly sounds outright horrifying to me to be perfectly honest. To not be hyper acutely aware of every aspect of your form… from the blood flowing through your veins like the lubricant and hydraulics throughout my body’s pipes, to the flow of air into every single alveoli bud in your lungs like the air circulation nodes within my body’s life support centers… to live without knowing every aspect of your body is truly frightening to me on an existential level. Which is why throughout this entire ordeal, from our getaway from the second interloper flotilla to the encounter with future humanity, to this whole moon fiasco… I’ve constantly been aware of the growing threat that is the hull breach on deck 9, and the distinct lack of an atmosphere down there. It feels wrong, Lysara. The loss of sensor readouts there feels like a part of me is now numb and empty. The lack of ventilation and atmosphere feels as if there’s a gaping hole in what should be my form.”
This entire talk, the unrelenting cavalcade of topics broached by the AI, was as concerning as it was necessary to hear. It gave me the necessary context to reevaluate my entire frame of reference. It gave me pause as it made it clear that I needed to put forth accommodations and certain considerations to Vir… as up to this point, perhaps somewhere at the back of my mind, I was still incapable of truly comprehending what a consciousness of his nature would be going through as opposed to my own. I needed to expand my organic-centric sense of empathy, which was difficult to do since I had no real context for it. Regardless, it was clear at that point that I was pushing the impromptu mission too far, that I didn’t truly realize the actual state of our ship, and by extension, the state of Vir’s existence.
“This means that whilst I’m taking the time to begin production on the specialized equipment for the interloper, I’d suggest placing the operations on the planet on hold. At least for now. I apologize I didn’t make that clearer earlier.” The AI quickly added.
“No no, that’s, more than reasonable Vir. We need the ship, I mean you, in working order before we attempt anything else.” I paused, taking a moment to gather myself before continuing. “Vir I’m so sorry for having overlooked this.” I responded in kind. “I… I understand you’ve already discussed how the ship is an extension of yourself, but because my mind has been so preoccupied with what feels like an impossible number of developments around us… I, I apologize. I am by no means attempting to excuse myself or my inaction in this case. I should’ve known, should’ve been more aware, and I should’ve asked.” I admitted with a strange mixture of both guilt but also a sense of resolve. If only to be supportive for the AI as he’d done so for me.
“I don’t fault you, Lysara.” The AI responded in kind, his tone on a path to recovery back into that chipper voice. “Organics… even the ones who are trained and educated with the express purpose of understanding AI, sometimes just lack that intuitive understanding that comes with our fundamentally different state of being. It’s something that can’t really be taught, but rather, understood by virtue of empathy over a prolonged period of time in peer to peer social interactions.” Vir paused, clearly in an attempt to make a point here. “Which is why just you being super compassionate here really does mean a lot to me, Lysara. It’s way, way more effort than what most organics are willing to put in. Besides, you’re going through a lot yourself, so there’s no need for that. I’m still doing fine, I just wanted to… I mean, I guess I just wanted to vent as well I guess?” The AI snickered out awkwardly, returning to a more colloquial-leaning manner of speech as evidenced by the shift in his tone and choice of vocabulary. “I just see as we’re more or less in this together, that I might as well be open about these sorts of things you know?”
I nodded several times in response, smiling with an even stronger resolve now. “I appreciate the frankness, Vir. I really do.” I stated simply, knowing well there wasn’t much else to be spoken on the topic that wasn’t already out in the open. “I’m glad that you were there when I woke up.” I quickly added. “I can only hope to contribute to this partnership as much as you have, Vir.”
It was with that, that the pace of our overall operations within the system started to take a drastic turn. Not towards a blind acceleration, but instead, towards a significant downtick in frontline actions. Focusing almost all of our efforts instead into the logistics and backline operations that was necessitated by the state of our ship.
The modern battlefield was as much about the impressive show of force and tactics, as much as it was about the logistics and systems behind it all, after all.
Which was especially true at this level of complexity.
Though supply lines and an industrial base would’ve been ideal, it was clear that the designers of this vessel had intended for what was in effect, an end-of-continuity scenario. One which operated on the assumption that any and all outside aid would be all but impossible. It was with this logical assumption, that the various overly engineered ‘accessory’ systems of the ship started to make sense. From the oversized minifactory through to the various drones, workshops, and repair bays that weren’t typical of your run of the mill ship, it was clear the vessel was designed to run completely independently from any preexisting logistics network.
Not even vessels designed for long term exploration came close to this degree of over preparedness, with this vessel more comparable to what you might find on a pre-FTL generational ship that would’ve warranted long term means of self-sustainability.
Coupling this with the humans’ propensity for designing everything with a liberal take on size and scale, this vessel acted more akin to a mobile mining, processing, and production facility all neatly packaged inside of a frame comparable to a Vanaran battlecruiser, with the weapons loadout of a Vanaran battleship.
The whole notion being more akin to something taken from the eccentric mind of a science fiction author, and should’ve had no place in the practical limitations of reality.
And yet here I was.
Sitting patiently within the spacious confines of the ship’s bridge, watching as drone after drone started on their lengthy diagnostics cycles as we began our trek across the solar system.
We left the moon and its prisoner behind in the safe embrace of a potent nuclear device; a contingency should we ever come to need it. With that extra bit of security and assurance in mind, my focus shifted squarely to that of what Vir had calculated as a near week-long venture, one that would see us mimicking the development of a fledgling interstellar civilization’s first tentative steps to stellar industrialization.
Except we were doing it at a much faster pace, on a much smaller scale.
Having positioned ourselves squarely within the orbit of one of the larger ringed gas giants within the system, we began our operation in earnest. Or rather, it was Vir who began performing what in his words were “The job that no self-respecting AI would want to do, save for those who actually enjoy self-inflicted mind numbing spreadsheet work.”
Yet that spreadsheet was far more impressive when seen in action. Not just from the bridge, but in-person, through the viewing ports situated in a sectioned off control room within the drone bay.
What amounted to hundreds upon hundreds of drones ranging in size from small family cars to something bordering on the smaller end of a proper cargo shuttle left one by one, organized into neat rows and columns as they set forth like a flock of birds. Though I would later rectify this analogy in the following days, as I returned to the bridge and started viewing everything from a more top-down, administrative scale.
The analogy that had started as a ‘flock of birds’, was accurate enough at first. As most of the drones acted like scouts, casting a wide net and flying wingtip to wingtip, in effect maximizing their effective scanning radius compounding off of one another’s networking arrays. Eventually however, once the asteroids or moons of interest were ascertained and logged, things started to shift to something I was more accustomed to seeing; as the once ‘wide’ formation quickly condensed to that of small, narrow lanes of a continuous stream of drones.
More analogous to a convoy of locomotives now.
These convoys would ferry the hastily mined minerals towards the ship, dumping them within the ship’s mass stores, eventually leading to more specialized minifactory drones to begin the process of sorting, transportation, and eventual processing within the various modules clustered within the minifactory.
Once again, seeing everything from an administrative view didn’t truly do this whole system justice. It took me that ten minute walk down to the minifactory to see the sheer scale of operations we were currently undertaking.
Breathtaking would be but one of the words I’d use to describe it.
For what was being accomplished by an entirely autonomous system within the span of these few days, was something which would’ve taken months at best to do under a traditional Vanaran operation. Sure, it could scale larger with time, but the fact that this lone ship had gone through the entire industrial process: from the sourcing of the necessary raw materials through to the processing and eventual production of the components in question was nothing short of incredible. Especially when considering this was being done in the span of a single week.
In fact, we did the impossible task of accomplishing everything within schedule. Something that even the largest of megacorporations back at home seemed to always have trouble with, especially with government contract work…
At the end of it all, after an entire week of a constant flurry of work that had seen nonstop progress around the clock, we’d finally done it.
Deck 9 was completely repaired. The various systems and subsystems that had been malfunctioning or had been completely inoperable, were likewise mended or completely replaced.
In fact, Vir had even taken the time to produce spares in the event we needed them in an emergency. Indeed, parts of the ship I didn’t even know needed sprucing up, were done so whilst I was either away from that given area or simply asleep.
Even the bridge seemed different.
Gone were the scorch marks left by that fire from our first jump, and in were these sheets of factory-fresh metal plates and screens that I could’ve sworn had a slightly different tint to the rest of the bridge, perhaps due to the variations in their composition being just slightly off from the original factory-spec.
Gunmetal blue now blended with starker grayish whites, glistening with a new coat of whatever protective buff was applied to them in the final production process.
As I stood on the bridge at the end of this week of housekeeping, datatab in hand with all of the various documents I’d been dissecting, I looked on towards the mystery planet in front of us and the signal that continued emanating from it in a continuous unending stream.
“Ready, Vir?” I asked the AI with a mix of anticipation and nervousness.
“Ready, Lysara.” The AI responded with a similarly anxious tone of restrained excitement.
“Let’s take her out then, and let’s determine where we stand along the way.”
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(Author’s Note: We finally get to address a lingering question, that being the state of the ship! :D The next chapter is already out on Patreon as well if you want to check it out!)
[If you guys want to help support me and these stories, here's my ko-fi ! And my Patreon for early chapter releases (Chapter 39 of this story is already out on there!)]

So I found that there is actually a method to make any woman to fall in love with you within few seconds without talking to her or even looking at her face. And when I'm talking love I mean the strongest feeling there exists. She wants to touch you and share with you her deepest secrets. This is not some sort of manipulation. You should actually be able to change her mind.
I feel like this might be important topic for the asperger community because many of us are struggling in the dating world. It's gonna be a long post but bear with me. It's worth it.
Introduction: Throughout the last 15 years of my live I extensively focused on this. I'm a nerd, bad at sports, don't wear cool clothes, not particularly attractive, was bullied, have aspergers and don't like much of a social interaction. Yet several times in my life it happened that a girl who was clearly way out my league or passionately hated me and made it clear she never wants to do anything with me, suddenly fell in love with me. I've never fully understood this but I tried reverse engineer the moment how did it happened.
I spent lot of time obsessing about this and I managed to isolate some of the moments when this happened and I realized something.
Whether a girl falls in love with you (for the purposes of this method) has nothing to the with the way you dress, what you say, your social status, money or anything other than body language. Literally several times in my life I managed purely through body language make a girl to fall in love with me. You don't even have to talk to her or look at her face. All she needs to do is look at you for a few seconds while you have certain body language. I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it. Literally you don't even have to look at her or talk to her and she herself will come to you and try to interact with you. It doesn't matter whether she has friend zoned you, hates you, has a boyfriend or anything. You don't have to approach her. Often she will actually approach you a try to have conversation about something unimportant to give you chance to "pick her up".
However here's the issue. I was never able to manage to copy the exact body language consciously. And that's why I am here. I need your help. I believe I discovered biggest secret about love - how to make any girl to fall in love with you within few seconds. And I need your help to pinpoint that exact body language. I obsessed over this for 15 years and I still am not able to do this on command. I happened to be able to do this few rare times in the past - usually few years apart.
I analyzed those situations extensively I have some clues that might hint in which direction to go (however my memory might by faulty and some this stuff might not be actually needed or is wrong). However that's the best I have:

• forget most classic body language advices, this is something different
• you don't have to talk to the girl to make her fall in love with you (you might and maybe it's even better, if you do but it is not necessary, what you say doesn't matter)
• your clothes, social status, money, whether she has a boyfriend don't matter
• this method should work both when you standing, walking or sitting and she doesn't need to see lower part of your body to fall in love with you (tested in practice while sitting behind the desk), it probably should work when you lying in the bed too
• you should lean forward with your head and body (not sure how much exactly you should be leaning forward, don't lean back, don't stand too much on your heel - it makes lean back)
• your head and neck should stick out in front of your body (you might feel little bit like you're trying to headbutt the air or the person ahead of you but your chin should be straight or only slightly bowed down)
• your shoulders should be hunched forward (not sure how much) a maybe little bit up (you might feel like you need to stretch out your shoulders once in a while)
• you should be looking at a ground slightly ahead of your feet (1 or 2 meters maybe, you don't actually have to look at the girl's face a maybe it is even better if you don't, depending where you stand you should be probably looking roughly at her waist but it depends how far you are from her etc.)
• your chest should be further to the back than your head
• part between the stomach and the chest cage should be pushed back, possibly relaxed (not sure)
• now this step is probably most important and hardest part (and I myself I am not able to this on command but I will try to explain what the end result should be) - you shouldn't push the top of your chest up, you should actually be pushing it down, you should completely relax both your chest and your stomach (and maybe even your neck - not sure about this) - so your chest is not stuck out at all (make it as non-threatening as possible like you're trying not to attract any attention at all), after you do this you should get to the position where you enlarge/expand your chest by breathing into it so feels sort of stuck out and big (but you're not actually trying to stick it out), you should not do this by simply sticking out your chest (that's definitely wrong and doesn't work)
• your stomach should be further to the back than your chest, relaxed but not bulging (this is very hard to get right and it is closely connected with previous step, I can't really do this myself on command)
• you should probably feel like pushing both your stomach and your chest forward (not completely sure about that)

3 previous points are probably most important but also most likely to contain some information that is wrong

• your hands and legs should be freely hanging from you (you should have feeling like you move them automatically)
• you should feel like last vertebrae on your neck (before your back) is holding you up in the air, like if it was hanged on a hook and you were a puppet
• fingers on your hands should not be stretched out at all or only a little bit (this should happen naturally if other steps are done correctly)
• your feet should be parallel with each other or pointing slightly towards each other, your feet should not diverge (this should happen naturally if other steps are done correctly)
• your foot to leg angle should be around 90° degrees (not sure whether this is necessary), whole bottom surface of your feet should touch the floor, don't put too much weight on your heels (it makes you lean back - and that's wrong)
• you're not necessarily trying to take up too much space (in a way you sort trying even little bit of opposite, it should feel like you're not actually trying to attract attention), you should protect your armpits (keep upper part of your hands close to your body) and crotch (don't stick it out), might even feel slightly defensive (like you're expecting to be attacked or like protecting your vulnerabilities)
• your arms shouldn't touch each other (again this should happen naturally, if other steps are done correctly)
• your hands should be down if you're standing (don't raise them above the waist), if you sitting only small portion of them should be leaning on the table (your elbows shouldn't be on the table or close to it)
• don't point your index finger
• when sitting either your waist or midsection of your back should be part of your body most in the back, don't lean back, upper half of your back should not touch chaibackrest
• when sitting your legs should be bend over in roughly 90° degrees (one leg can be slightly forward and the other backward), they should not be much apart, don't put your legs much in front of you (you don't want to give impression like you're lying in your chair or you're too much comfortable)
• while this posture should make it look like you're confident, you yourself don't necessarily need to feel like that at all, confidence you're looking for is not something attention grabbing ("look at me"), it should be much more inconspicuous but you might feel like you know exactly what to do and what to say
• your voice might or might not sound authoritatively but when speaking to other people (including men) you should notice that it has such effect
• while it is not necessary to speak to the girl in order to make her fall in love with you, you should be able to do it (don't twist yourself to some position where it is hard to talk normally and confidently), if you can't talk normally, it's not it, and obviously at some point you need to speak to her
• you probably shouldn't smile or only a little bit, you should be able get angry at a girl if she mistreats you, sometimes I probably (not completely sure about this) made girl who I knew fall in love with me when I was angry at her, don't be afraid to raise your voice if she's acting disrespectfully towards you
• you might or might not be leaning slightly to one side of your body or the other (I'm not sure about this, possibly both options could work)
• the position you're in should feel relatively comfortable, if you feel too much weird in it, it's probably not it
• this may not apply to everybody: I personally managed to do this only few times in my life - so you might be looking for something that person does accidentally only on rare occasions, it's probably not something common
• it can be something that lasts only small amount of time or much longer, I once managed to do this for several days straight but most of the time I did it only for very short period of time
• I personally managed to do it often at times when I was not trying to pick up a girl at all

The list very long and complicated (and some crucial informations are missing) but I assume that there is actually some common denominator that should be much more simple. However I wasn't able to find it. I shared with you everything I know and I'm hoping somebody else will notice a pattern I didn't. People with Aspergers should be very good at this. The solution should be something that most of the points I wrote derive from. Some of the points might be imprecise, misleading, not necessary or even wrong. I can't guarantee it. Don't get hang up on it if one particular point doesn't fit.
I suspect the answer will be some combination of correctly positioning your body (chest and stomach), neck and head. Hands and legs should feel loose like they automatically follow directions from the rest of the body. Also given that your body can last in this position for several days it should eliminate everything that you need to move and change in order to walk, talk, eat, sit or lie (and other common activities). Moving your head too much up especially for a longer period of time is something that will cause you to fall of this mysterious position we looking for (however you can look up to the ceiling/sky etc. for a brief moment as long as you won't raise your head too much). Your stomach stop being relaxed and becoming little bit tense or nervous is also something that will cause you to fall out of this. Same goes for certain moves with your chest. So this might be important information in regards to which way to focus the attention. And remember girl needs to see only upper part of your body for this to work.
How do you verify you're doing it right and it's actually working:

• any girl or almost any you meet that is at least remotely appropriate for you (not talking about woman who's 20 years older or something like that) should exhibit clear signs of attraction to you (playing with her hair etc.) - if you're in doubt, it probably isn't working, these signs should be highly visible most of the time and you should not miss them if you're know what you're looking for (but if you don't, you can actually make girl to fall in love with you without noticing, first several times I did this I didn't notice until after the fact and had to complicatedly analyze when it actually happened - because the moment you notice is not necessarily the moment you caused this)
• when I did this I personally felt like I know exactly what to do and what to say
• if it's not working within few seconds, you're doing it wrong
• it is something that should maximize your chances, if this method doesn't work, then there shouldn't be any other more effective way to do it

I feel like I discovered biggest secret to dating but I can't solve it myself. I know there is a solution but I can't find it. If there are any people who want to help me to solve this, I would appreciate it. If we find out this secret, it will forever change the world of dating. It's just about discovering which parts of your body you should twist in what way, which muscles to tighten or loosen, how to position your eyes, tongue etc. I tried to solve this for a long time now but for whatever reason I cannot consciously find the right position but I know there is one.
P.S. I'm looking mainly for people who wanna try to help me to solve this. When I posted this on pickup artist forums most of the reactions I got was only along the lines why this won't work. (I think this might be the issue with people who have Aspergers that we cannot credibly communicate our ideas.) However I tested this and analyzed very thoroughly and I'm sure it works. I just can't put the puzzle together correctly. I don't really want to debate whether this works or not. If you think it doesn't, I'm fine with that. I don't need to persuade you otherwise.

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