u/austinmoon365

I was born in 2005, so 4 years after the attacks. I'm autistic, so 9/11 has become one of my special interests, in which I have learned so much about it and have become so invested in learning about the history of the attacks and how it was covered on television specifically. Part of the appeal is that it was a world so close to when I was born, but I just barely missed it. I sometimes feel a sense of fomo for a pre-9/11 world.

Most people in my generation believe the conspiracy theories that either the US, Israel or both committed the attacks, the attacks were fake, they were committed by al-Qaeda but they were justified, etc. It feels isolating especially because I'm a pretty left-wing individual, and for some reason acknowledging the tragedy of 9/11 is equated with supporting imperialism for many leftists.

It seems like nuance doesn't exist with my generation; if you understand the severity of 9/11 then you're somehow right-wing and MAGA. I feel like it should be common sense that just because the US government does terrible things, that doesn't mean civilians deserve to suffer for it.

I have an 11 year old Yorkie (M), who, for the past few months since I've been home from college, has made it his duty to bark at the bottom of the stairs every single night. We know it's because he wants to go upstairs, and sometimes one of us will cave in and bring him up just to stop the barking for a short period of time. But eventually, he always gets restless and wants to be brought back downstairs, only to start the barking routine again.

In addition to the barking, sometimes he will paw at the little gate we keep at the bottom of the stairs to prevent him from going up. He'll push it with so much force for a 6 pound dog and it's so loud. He also recently started whining really loudly, to the point where the first few times he did it, I went to check on him because he sounded like he was being hurt.

We've tried taking him on long walks during the day in hopes of getting his energy out during the day so he'll be more tired at night, but that doesn't work. We've been turning all the lights off downstairs to signal to him that it's bedtime, also to no avail. We have not been able to find a permanent solution and it's driving me and my family crazy.

At the end of the day, the only solution we've found is the temporary one of taking him upstairs briefly, which keeps the one who brings him up awake. This is not sustainable for any of us, and I'm wondering what we should do?

So my ex and I broke up in April of last year, and he was a terrible boyfriend. We were only together 4 months but I spent most of that time crying because he only cared about me when it came to sex and basically ignored me the rest of the time. And he also tried to gaslight me into thinking I was the problem for being suspicious of his relationship with his girl best friend who he knew had a massive crush on him.

Anyway, that was over a year ago and for the most part I’ve healed. I don’t think about him every day like I used to and I never want him back in my life again. But I used to follow his mom and sometimes her stuff will show up on my feed, so recently I saw a video she posted of her and the whole family doing some sort of 5K for Father’s Day. Included in the video was his new girlfriend, who I know he’s been dating for at least 6 months now.

When I brought up meeting my family to him, he got so uncomfortable and would try to change the subject, but why is it different with her? Did he suddenly change for her? I just can’t stop comparing myself to her, and I can’t fathom how someone who treated me like shit is now in a relationship that lasted longer than ours, and I’ve been single this whole time.

What do I do here?

I’ve had several jobs since I was 16 and I’m only 21 now. Most of them were in customer service, and every job is the same. I do very well for about the first month, I start to like it, and then after that I burn out. I hate going in every single day, talking to people makes me so frustrated, and I come home everyday dreading having to do the exact same thing the next day.

I’m scared that even if I do find a job I really like, it’ll be the same. I try to talk to my parents about it, but they always say “welcome to being an adult, that’s part of life”. But why does it have to be? Why do I have to force myself to go to a place where I’m overstimulated, exhausted and I don’t even get paid enough to do it?

I don’t want this to be my life. I want something better for myself. How do you guys cope with it and not go crazy?

One of my special interests is Taylor Swift, I love her music and I admire her philanthropy. I just get so happy when I listen to her music and I think she’s a great songwriter.

Of course, I feel like we all know that Taylor Swift is a very controversial topic on the internet, especially now with her wedding and everything. I’ve been seeing so much hate for her lately and it’s making me really upset. I consider myself to be a leftist, and so many people are telling me I can’t be a leftist and be a swiftie because she hasn’t spoken out about Palestine.

Do I wish she would? Absolutely. But I get so sad when I think about not listening to her music anymore just because someone on the internet said that I can’t like her and be a leftist at the same time. Many neurotypical fans of hers can just shake off (no pun intended) the criticism but it seeps into my everyday thoughts and I start to wonder if people are right, if I’m a bad person for liking Taylor Swift.

Does anyone else feel this way, and what are your tips for dealing with this?

So I'm 21, and I could never imagine having kids at my age or any age for that matter. I consider myself childfree for a multitude of reasons, mainly that kids are expensive asf and they are so loud and overstimulating that as an autistic person, I feel like I would be a terrible parent. That and pregnancy seems like a horror movie.

Anyway, this one girl I work with is only 3 years older than me and she has 2 kids, and we're at a minimum wage job at a grocery store. Like there's no way you can provide well for those kids on your income, I'm lucky I'm only working this job in between semesters because I cannot imagine having to actually survive on that income.

I'm just thinking to myself: we generally have better sex education where we are compared to most of the US, how could you be so (and I mean this as respectfully as possible) ignorant and naive to want to have children before the age of 25, in this terrible economy no less?? It just makes me so mad for no good reason.

Before 25, your brain is not fully developed, so making a decision like that of having children is way too big for that stage of life. I'll also see when walking through the store I work at, so many women that appear to be under the age of 30 with like 3-4 little kids, and I just can't even comprehend how fucking stupid some people are who think that they can raise all those kids while they're basically still kids themselves.

For anyone who doesn’t know what YTP’s are: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube\_Poop

Every time I watch this scene I’m dying of laughter 😂 especially at the end:

“This is a Ricky Ricardo production.
I got wind of it!”

So I saw this report on NBC News where they were talking about a family who was having trouble getting insurance coverage for ABA therapy for their 10 year old autistic son. It annoyed me so much I wanted to make a list of my grievances with the report:

1. They referred to the boy as “having severe autism” which is a term I hate.

2. They showed several clips of his meltdowns and one included the mom getting him dressed, and I think that vulnerable moments like this from a child who can’t consent should never be shared so publicly.

3. They described ABA therapy as being medically necessary and a “life saver”, completely ignoring the abusive and questionable practices implemented by ABA.

4. The story focuses more on the parents struggling to raise an autistic child and less on the child himself.

Overall, I hated how they portrayed ABA in a positive light, making it seem like it was detrimental for these parents that it wasn’t covered by insurance and they couldn’t get it for their son. I understand why the parents are upset, but they treated it like it was as necessary as chemotherapy for a cancer patient.

My order was 3 LR and 1 RC, and I feel like it went pretty well. Don’t underestimate how much easier the RC is when you actually read the passage slowly and thoroughly first before reading the question or any of the answers.

So I’m a cis woman (21) who has identified as bisexual for about 8 years but so far I have only dated men.

I would love to have a relationship with a woman sometime in the near future, but I’m also open to dating men still.

However, my attraction to men is very complicated to say the least. I’m sexually attracted to them in the sense that I’m attracted to their general presence and physical touch overall, but I am absolutely disgusted by penises and don’t want to ever see one or touch one ever again. I thought it was something that would go away after my first sexual encounter but I am just so repulsed by them.

This makes me wonder if I could ever actually have a relationship with a cis man, because I don’t want it to be purely romantic with nothing sexual, but I absolutely hate penetration and having to perform for the man’s pleasure.

I have no idea what this means for my future with potential partners and I wonder if anyone else has felt the same way?