u/VictorianAfterDark

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So for starters, I haven’t played the game in about 20 years, but I’m looking to start playing it again. I’m fully aware that it’s way different now than it was in 2005. With that said, I have a few questions

1. Should I simply buy a few starter decks to get…..started? There was a post here linking a few of them. I’m interested in the Exodia one since that’s familiar to me.

2. Just how hard is it to get into nowadays? Which starter deck is a good one for beginners? I’ll link the post about them to the end of this one.

3. Anyone know of places in the Seattle/Puget Sound region with casual play? I also play the Pokemon TCG, but the place I do so at doesn’t do YuGiOh stuff very often.

Any advice is welcome!

https://www.reddit.com/r/Yugioh101/s/p5I6xvgF8X

So there’s a guy I used to work with, and he came to America from Fiji about 20 years ago. He’s not an ethnic Fijian person (pardon me if that’s not the correct term) but is rather an Indian guy who was born there.

Whenever I’d talk to him, he heard me say I was a socialist (which I am) and he proceeded to tell me all about how he grew up in a socialist country, that being Fiji. His claim to fame is that he “grew up in a tin shed in a socialist country, moved to a capitalist country (the USA) and now owns two houses”.

Not to call him a liar, but every bit of research I’ve done shows that Fiji has never even attempted socialism. Other people from Fiji I’ve spoken to say they have no idea what he’s talking about.

For added context, this guy not only fully supports Trump, but is very anti immigrant despite being one himself. He insists he only hates “illegal” immigrants, but in practice is quite hostile to most of them, legal or illegal. Despite who he is and where he came from, he talks and acts like some good ‘ol boy from Georgia or Alabama.

He’s also told about how he was raised Hindu in Fiji, but became a Mormon from the missionaries there. Considering all the weird things that the LDS church teaches, it’s not out of the realms of possibility that this guy is either lying about everything, or is completely nuts. He did say he left Fiji during a coup, so that might have something to do with it.

Is this guy telling the truth? Or is he spreading lies?

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Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against trans men, I support them as much as I support my fellow trans women. However, there’s two things regarding FTM transitions that I’m somewhat envious of,

1. The fact that testosterone HRT makes voices deeper and more masculine, whereas estrogen HRT doesn’t make voices higher and more feminine.

2. It seems like it’s easier to pass as a short man than it is to pass as a tall woman. As long as I can remember, my height has always been an issue and it goes way beyond gender issues. I’m tall enough that it’s noticeable, but not tall enough to be exceptionally tall, it’s easily the biggest stumbling block for passing in my case. I’ve met plenty of cis men taller than me, but maybe two cis women that are my height.

Anyone else feel this way? Also, I’m not saying that trans men have it easy, they don’t, they have just as many issues as we do. I’m just saying that I’m envious of those two particular things.

So I’m a bit torn right now,

On one hand, I’m glad that I’m fairly stable as far as finances, food, and housing go. I have my basic needs met and I don’t go without.

However, I kind of feel bad that I have everything I need despite not “earning” any of it, all while people who don’t have SSDI and subsidized housing are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet while working due to stagnant wages and increasing cost of living.

Has anyone else ever felt this way?

So I’ve lived in MN before and I might move back in a few years (long story). One candidate for where I might move to is Stillwater.

One problem I have with that area however (despite liking it quite a lot otherwise) is that it has one bus in each direction daily, and only on weekdays at that. One westbound trip in the morning, one eastbound trip in the evening, and that’s it.

Has Metro said anything about expanding this? I plan on driving/biking within whatever town/suburb I move to, but plan to bus into the cities if I wanna go there.

Another option is to drive to where the gold line is and get on the bus there, but that’s just another step.

Any info on Stillwater service being expanded?

So when the Union is talked about, Lincoln and Grant are often mentioned as it’s main leaders. Makes sense considering Lincoln was the president and Grant was the highest ranked general. However, when the confederacy is talked about, it’s typically only Lee who’s mentioned as the main leader, even though he answered to Davis, who was president of the confederacy. The way it gets talked about, you’d think Lee was a general and in charge of the confederacy politically like a military dictator or something. Almost every other southerner I’ve spoken to insists that they’re related to Lee, but I don’t think I’ve heard even one say they’re related to Davis.

Thoughts? Why isn’t Davis mentioned as often?

So right out of high school, in the year of 2013, I went to community college and got an associates degree that was more or less worthless. I didn’t really wanna do it in the first place, but I didn’t have a lot of options at the time (long story). I graduated in 2016, and was approved for SSDI 3 years later in 2019. To give you an idea of how little I cared about getting the degree, when I graduated, I didn’t even attempt to go to the graduation ceremony, I had my diploma mailed to me and barely looked at it.

If my degree was worthless before, it became even more so after getting on SSDI. My folks wanted me to get SSDI right out of high school, but I turned it down, and ended up kicking myself for that when I realized it could’ve helped me escape the bad situation I was in that lead to me doing a degree I didn’t want to do. I’m also kicking myself for going to all that hassle of getting a degree, just to go on SSDI a few years later.

Thoughts? Did this happen to anyone else here? Did you get a degree only to go on SSDI and the degree not matter?

So when I was growing up, most other spectrum kids I knew weren’t really expected to do much. Their parents and teachers gave them a lot of leeway, let them make choices on their own, and never expected much out of them.

My situation, was the total opposite. I was expected to be the next big autism miracle who beat the odds and became a success story. I was expected to follow in the footsteps of Temple Grandin, Mozart, Bill Gates (who was born rich by the way) and others. Then when I inevitably didn’t live up to that expectation, my folks, teachers, and relatives acted shocked and surprised. Right now, at age 32 and on SSDI, my folks still think there’s gonna be a miraculous turnaround and I’ll be the underdog who wins it all.

Growing up, I was expected to be a success story and have my whole life figured out at age 16, while also being treated like an invalid. At age 18, I had the privileges of and was treated like an 8 year old, while being expected to have the accomplishments of a 40 year old. My family was just barely middle class, and I was expected to become a 1%er by the time I was 22.

Thoughts? What was expected of you? Did you live up to it? If not, how did people react to you not living up to expectations?

So here’s the situation,

I know that my 7/8 year review is on the horizon, and while the pass rate is 95%, there’s an issue in my case.

Next year, I might finally reach my dream of being a voice over artist, there are voice jobs I can get that’ll pay below SGA so I can theoretically do own job a month and still get my SSDI.

Thing is, I’d rather start this *after* my review so I’m not working during said review. I know I *can* pass a review while working under SGA, but I know it can lower the odds as well.

Should I call up the SSA and ask when my review is going to be? Or should I just wait? Knowing when it’s gonna be would make it a lot easier to make plans for what I want to do, but I don’t wanna accidentally trigger a review too early.

Thoughts? What should I do?

So in currently writing a book that takes place in an alternate universe where 3 ft tall humanoid animals exist alongside humans. Some parts of said story take place around this world’s version of the 1890s-1930s, in what would be this world’s version of the USA.

One element of the story will be racism/speciesism that the humanoid animals face living in a mostly human world. Thing is, during this time (and sadly even nowadays) different types of humans faced similar issues in this settings.

If I wanna depict animal people and the issues they face, should I also acknowledge the issues that different types of humans faced? For example, in this worlds version of the US South, a similar situation to Jim Crow laws exist, but they apply to both black humans and the animal people.

Some white humans in this setting look down on both black humans and animal people, while others only look down on one or the other. Some animal people see black humans as allies and vice versa, others in each group see the other as a threat/rival.

What’s the best way to handle this? One specific story beat I had in mind was an animal person (possibly a fox or beaver) and a black human going on a journey from this worlds version of Mississippi to this world’s version of Minnesota and the issues they face along the way, perhaps encountering a white human along the way who’s sympathetic to them and helps out.

Any advice?

So not all, but quite a few Christians (groups and individuals) are opposed to green energy, cleaning up the environment, reducing fossil fuel dependency, conserving wildlife, and other related actions.

Why is that? If God created this planet, wouldn’t it make sense to make sure it’s safe and habitable? Wouldn’t it honor him to take care of it and reduce or even eliminate any harm that comes to it? How is allowing it to be ravaged and destroyed anything but an insult to its creator?

Or better yet, you’re supposed to love your neighbor and help others. Wouldn’t making sure the world they live on is safe to inhibit be in line with that?

Thoughts? Why so much opposition to environmentalism?

So at the start of Incredibles 1, the heroes are forced into hiding. They can’t legally use their powers publicly and have to live normal lives.

However, that doesn’t address what happened to the villains, who would be far less likely to comply with the super relocation act.

I’ve thought about this, and I’d say there’s a few possibilities, they aren’t mutually exclusive, different things could’ve happened to different villains

1. Some of the lesser ones got a similar deal to the ones the heroes got. However, they’d be under tighter scrutiny and more restricted.

2. Some were recruited for Black OPs missions à la Suicide Squad.

3. Some of them turned to more subtle forms of crime. As in, crime that doesn’t involve purple suits and hammy monologues.

4. Syndrome could’ve killed a few of them, if he’s willing to kill heroes, why not villains? In DC and Marvel, villains fight each other all the time, so why not here?

Thoughts? What could plausibly have happened?

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So it may be that where I live is a fairly accepting place, but most cis women that I know and encounter (even ones who knew me pre transition) are fine having me around them and are happy to count me as one of them. On multiple occasions, I’ve been approached by a cis woman in public and complimented on my fashion, and/or even given supportive comments!

I’ve had exactly two cis women give me grief, and one of them was clearly not playing with a full deck of cards. The other one just yelled at me from her car and that was it.

Back to positive moments, the first time a cis woman referred to me as being female with the phrase “well, we’re both women here” it definitely caught me off guard and I’m sure I blushed a deeper red than I ever have before.

Another was when I came out to my folks (father and step mom) and this one was unintentional on their part. Step mom asked me if this meant I was “gay” and into men. When I told her I was still into women, I also mentioned that, other than family members and close friends, I don’t like most guys. Without skipping a beat, she said “I don’t blame you, most guys are dicks!”.

Thoughts? What’s your experience with cis women? Are they accepting of you?

Basically the title,

Who sang the backing vocals that are just the song’s title?

Was it Neil like on Subdivisions? Or was it Geddy’s voice with an effect like Roll the Bones? Or was it possibly Alex?

This has been bugging me all day

Basically the title,

On one hand, it takes place before everything else despite being written later, and gives some good context and backstory.

On the other hand, LWW, PC, and VOTDT can be read and understood without it. Sort of like how one doesn’t need to read the Silmarillion in order to understand The Hobbit and/or Lord of the Rings.

On the other *other* hand, starting with it is a good way for Netflix to differentiate their take on the story from the Walden movies. If they started with LWW, people might get confused about it being a “remake” of the old movie. If they start with Nephew and then do LWW, it’ll be more clear that this is a whole new thing.

Thoughts? Is it a good thing that Magician’s Nephew is being adapted first this time around? Also, it’s neat to see one of the books that hasn’t been adapted before be adapted.