u/StrongAd7346

Favorite dialogue moments attached (grabbed the last 2 from YT because I didn’t think to take screen captures)

The End made me laugh when I first got it. This game is full of fun and clever surprises and they really pulled out all the stops. 9 is my favorite - but I’m glad I didn’t play this one when I was a teenager, because experiencing it for the first time as an adult has been such a delight. I think the characters are well written; they NAILED the different flavors of clueless teenager/young adult. Laguna is the poster child of falling in a pile of sh*t and coming out smelling like a rose — and Squall somehow inherited his father’s bad but good luck (and thankfully his mother’s looks).

I feel that the game is paced to reward curiosity and patience. Gilgamesh was a pleasant surprise too (can you believe I never spoiled this game for myself?). And I am a huge fan of the junctioning and refining, even though clicking back and forth between menus, taking notes, and comparing/contrasting/managing resources has gotten a bit cumbersome at times.

I’m now on Disc 4, out in the world map grinding. I’m doing the same thing I always do, which is procrastinating the last dungeon of the game.

What’s your favorite moment in FF8?

Edited for grammar

Woman, early 30s. Married and divorced, two children from that marriage, eldest was born when I was 17. I never wanted kids and that journey basically turned me inside out. But I’m fine now - kiddos are now teenagers and we live together in a small apartment.

I lost my stepdad to lung cancer last July. He and my mom blamed the military, but in the funeral slideshow he had a cig in his hand in EVERY photo. One morning in November, I read an article about how vapor gets trapped in your house and circulates in the HVAC system, and that mental image - I’d been lying to myself saying it was better for my kids vs my upbringing going to school smelling like an ashtray - was powerful enough to break the “I know I should quit but I can’t” loop. I used patches for 5 weeks and have been nicotine free since.

Since November, I have gained about 50 pounds. Stopping vaping did help my anxiety/etc tremendously, though it was not the magic bullet I’d hoped it would be. I work from home. My kids and I have a decent relationship, but it’s easy for me to slide into resentment, especially when they don’t keep up with cleaning/grades or run late or oversleep or… well, a lot of normal kid stuff wears me down if I’m being honest. I’m home 99.9% of the time. If I’m not working, I’m playing my Switch or sleeping or taking care of the house. On weekends my kids aren’t home, I go with my partner of 2 years and we go hiking.

I am in a rut. I feel like I’m where I was before I stopped vaping. “I need to be outside, I need to be working out.” But it feels stupid and embarrassing and I don’t know what to do - other than physical labor for a few years I’ve otherwise been sedentary my whole life, partially thanks to chronic bronchitis when I was a kid, which led to steroids, which led to a lot of weight gain, which led to a reluctance to be seen in motion. Maybe? That’s my guess anyway.

My mom has mentioned taking the kids out with me to exercise, but honestly the way they complain and fight, I hate taking them anywhere. But maybe that’s something where our relationship might improve?

I also know that weight loss - and a lot of good changes - happen in the kitchen. I cognitively know this. But my daughter complains if I cook with beans, mushrooms, or if I even use the Garden Variety spaghetti sauce. The other day she said my chorizo con papas looked like dog food and “slyly” threw it away. We end up eating fast food way more often than I would like, especially the latter weeks in my menstrual cycle.

Oh there’s that too - I have PMDD and I think (hope?) that exercise could fix it.

Clearly a lot of overlapping factors here. Thanks if you made it this far. Has anyone else been anywhere like this? What’s your advice? A good therapist is hard to find and right now my money is going toward school extracurriculars and dental work (finally gave myself permission since I stopped vaping) so I don’t think therapy is a realistic option right now. I’ve tried over and over again and for one reason or another it never worked out.

Thanks for your time!! <3

I’m playing 8 for the first time and it has rapidly become one of my favorite games

I stopped vaping six months ago… and have plateaued since. Where do I go from here?