u/heinskies

Hi everyone! I’m a 19-year-old philosophy major currently in my first semester at Miami University Hamilton, which is one of Miami’s regional campuses. My plan has been to transition to the main Oxford campus next semester, but recently I’ve been seriously considering the University of Dayton instead.

For some background, I graduated from Badin High School, a Catholic high school in Hamilton. I’m actually an agnostic atheist, so I’m not religious, but I genuinely loved my experience there. The people were great, the environment felt welcoming, and I really think the school helped shape who I am today.

I go up to Miami Oxford pretty frequently for debate club, bars, parties, and just to hang out. But for some reason, I’ve never really felt like I fit in there. I don’t know exactly how to describe it, but sometimes the atmosphere just feels almost evil, gross, or grimy to me. I’m also not a fan of Miami’s Greek life whatsoever, and I have absolutely no interest in participating in it. Between the heavy drinking culture, what I’ve seen and heard about cocaine and steroid usage, and the general party atmosphere, something about the environment just throws me off.

On the other hand, Miami Hamilton feels like the complete opposite. In my experience, a lot of students seem pretty reserved and uninterested in socializing. Sometimes it feels like people specifically chose the regional campus to avoid the bigger college environment. Obviously, that’s not everyone, but it’s been difficult to have the kind of social interactions I was hoping for. It’s almost like Hamilton is too quiet socially, while Oxford feels like too much.

A lot of my friends attend schools like UC, Thomas More, Mount St. Joe, Cedarville, and others. Interestingly, one of my friends who goes to Dayton seems to be one of the only people I know who genuinely loves his college experience. My grandparents also attended Dayton, and they’ve always spoken highly of it.

Academically, I’m majoring in philosophy, which brings up another concern. Since Dayton is a Catholic university, I wouldn’t want my philosophy education to be overly centered around religion or theology. I have absolutely no problem studying philosophy of religion, and I actually find it fascinating, but I want a well-rounded philosophy education that includes metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, logic, philosophy of mind, and other areas. I’m also curious whether Dayton’s philosophy program is as academically strong as Miami’s, especially considering that philosophy is already a somewhat niche degree when it comes to career opportunities.

Also, please don’t factor tuition or cost into your recommendations. Fortunately, finances aren’t an issue for me, so I’m really just trying to compare the quality of education, campus atmosphere, and overall student experience.

I guess what I’m really asking is whether Dayton has a noticeably different social environment from Miami Oxford. Is it more welcoming? More laid-back? Easier to meet genuinely good people? Is there still a fun social scene without everything revolving around Greek life and partying?

And for anyone familiar with both universities, how would you compare their philosophy programs?

Part of me wonders whether Miami simply isn’t the right environment for me. Another part wonders whether I’m just struggling with the transition from high school to college and would feel similarly at Dayton. I don’t want to romanticize another university only to discover that it’s essentially the same experience somewhere else.

I’m genuinely torn because I’ve always planned on going to Oxford, but lately I’ve been questioning whether that’s actually where I want to spend the next few years.

I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences, especially from anyone who has attended or transferred between these schools. Thanks!

I’m hearing some stuff about there possibly being an Afterthought remix on the Deadbeat B-side, and honestly… does anyone else kind of hope there isn’t?
Don’t get me wrong, I love Afterthought. I just feel like I’m getting a little tired of remixes. When you look back at Tame Impala B-sides, we’ve gotten some genuinely insane original songs.
Beverly Laurel, List of People (To Try and Forget About), Powerlines, No Choice… there are so many great songs that could’ve easily been on the main albums.
That’s what I want from the Deadbeat B-sides. Give me a few weird, unfinished, psychedelic songs that still have that Deadbeat sound but didn’t quite make the album.
I’d take 3 new original songs over a bunch of remixes any day.
Anyone else feel the same, or would you actually want an Afterthought remix?

hi guys, i’m currently on day 6 of no porn.
i’m in a relationship and my girlfriend is very aware of my problem. this addiction started way before i ever met her, and she knows that. obviously she would prefer that i quit, and she’s told me she isn’t exactly okay with it, but she understands that addiction is hard and that a lot of guys struggle with this. she hopes i can quit, but she’s also never made me feel like she’s going to leave me over it or anything. she’s been really understanding.
we’ve had sex twice this week, so i’m not trying to completely avoid anything sexual. my goal right now is really just getting porn out of my life.
one thing i’ve noticed already though is how differently i’m starting to look at people. especially in the mornings, my thoughts can still be insanely sexual, but i feel like i’m slowly starting to see women more as just normal people instead of immediately sexualizing them or almost viewing them through the lens of porn.
i also go out with friends occasionally, and i feel like bars can make this harder. the whole environment can be pretty sexualized. people are drinking, flirting, dressing to go out, hooking up, etc. when my brain is already used to porn, i notice it becomes really easy to look at people sexually in that kind of environment. then i feel guilty about it because i have a girlfriend. obviously you can’t completely control every thought that pops into your head, but i don’t want my automatic reaction to seeing an attractive person to always be sexual.
i’ve actually been trying to quit porn since probably sixth grade, and now i’m a freshman in college. something that’s really hitting me this time is basically just thinking, dude, when are you actually going to quit? how many more years am i going to keep saying i’m trying?
the longest i’ve ever made it was 16 days. weirdly enough, when i relapsed, it wasn’t even because i had some uncontrollable urge. it was almost like i just gave up and decided to do it. looking back, that almost bothers me more because i know i was capable of continuing.
i also wanted to ask something without getting too tmi. has anyone here had success quitting porn first while still occasionally masturbating without porn?
like if you’re having a really bad urge, instead of watching porn, just masturbating without it and moving on. i know the ideal for some people here is quitting both, but i’ve read that masturbation by itself is way less stimulating than combining it with endless porn, novelty, scrolling, etc.
in my head i almost compare it to someone trying to quit vaping or smoking and temporarily using something else to deal with the cravings. it might not be the final goal, but maybe it helps separate masturbation from porn first, and then later you can work on reducing masturbation too.
i don’t know if that’s actually a good strategy though, so i’d really like to hear from people who have been through this.
the past few mornings have been rough and i could honestly just use some encouragement. if you’ve successfully quit or made it significantly longer than me, what actually helped you?
and for anyone else in a relationship, did quitting porn eventually change the way you looked at other people sexually? did the guilt or constant sexual thoughts calm down over time?
day 6 right now. really trying to make this the time i finally stop.

I’m definitely having some post-concert depression right now. I miss the show, I miss the whole experience, and honestly I miss the man. I was lucky enough to meet Kevin after the show and talk to him for a minute, which was genuinely incredible.
But ever since then I keep thinking about how badly I want a live album from this tour specifically.
The Deadbeat tour is the only Tame Impala tour I’ve actually gotten to see in person. I never got to see Currents or The Slow Rush tours, although I’ve watched an embarrassing amount of footage from them on YouTube. Obviously that’s nowhere near the same as actually being there, but I genuinely think some of Kevin’s vocals and live arrangements on this tour are among the best he’s ever done.
The extended Apocalypse Dreams intro alone deserves a proper recording. The way it slowly builds, sounds slightly different from the studio version, and then shifts into that beat is incredible.
The My Old Ways intro where he starts harmonizing is beautiful. The End of Summer outro where he’s harmonizing again is probably one of my favorite moments of the entire show.
Even Gossip. Obviously him laying on the floor during it is cool as hell visually, but I love the way his voice basically floats over the instrumental, almost like he’s humming in harmony with the song itself. That’s one thing I noticed so much seeing him live: Kevin is insanely good at using his voice almost like another instrument and harmonizing with himself and the music.
Elephant was awesome too, especially when it gets into that almost disco-y section. Obviously the visuals make that part even cooler in person, but it also just sounds insanely good and I’d love an official recording of it.
Nangs sounded slightly different too, in a way I can’t even really explain, but it sounded awesome.
And We Only Go Backwards, those first few seconds with the “dun dun dun” rhythm and the clap sounded so good live. Again, it was just different enough from the studio version that I immediately noticed it.
Breathe Deeper is another huge one. The second half live is ridiculous. All the weird little glitchy sounds and the way it transforms toward the end would sound amazing on an official live recording.
Borderline is another one I REALLY want. Especially when Kevin gets to “here comes the sun” and instead of just singing it normally, he holds it out like “here comes the suuuuuunnnn” for what feels like forever. I love that little change so much.
And even Loser has those tiny little things I love. He’ll randomly throw in a super quick “I’m a loser, babe” or “I’m a tragedy” ad-lib, and it’s such a small thing, but that’s exactly the kind of stuff I want a live album for. All those little vocal changes and random moments that only happen live make the songs feel different and fresh.
Then you have the Deadbeat Jam, which was cool as hell too.
What’s funny is I actually felt like some of the biggest songs sounded the closest to their studio versions. The Less I Know the Better and New Person, Same Old Mistakes, for example. Maybe you guys disagree, but it felt like a lot of the deeper cuts and other songs had more noticeable little changes, extended sections, vocal harmonies, intros, outros, ad-libs, etc., and those are the things I really want preserved.
I just need these versions somewhere I can actually listen to them whenever I want. Mind Mischief from Live Versions is genuinely one of my favorite Tame Impala tracks he’s ever released, so imagining a modern live album with Kevin’s current vocals, production, and all these little changes is killing me.
I don’t even know which show from the tour would be the best one to record, but I really hope they properly recorded one of them.
Please Kevin. Deadbeat Live Versions.

I’m 19, a freshman in college, and lately I keep looking around wondering: **what am I actually here for?**
I’m majoring in philosophy because it’s genuinely what I care about. I love thinking deeply about things, arguing about ideas, religion, morality, meaning, consciousness, all of it. But at the same time, I feel completely trapped between a thousand different messages about what I’m supposed to do with my life.
Go to college. College is a scam. Get a useful degree. Follow your passion. Start a business. Get a normal job. Make money online. Don’t chase money. Learn a trade. Learn AI. AI is going to replace everything anyway.
You open social media and there’s some 17-year-old supposedly making $50k a month telling you that if you aren’t building a business, you’re wasting your life—and conveniently, they have a course to sell you.
Then I go to college and sometimes even that feels surreal now. Everyone has AI. Assignments get written with AI, discussion posts get written with AI, and then someone uses AI to respond to the other person’s AI-written discussion post. At some point it feels like two computers doing homework with each other while we collect the grades.
And I’m not even anti-AI. I use it too. That’s part of what bothers me.
It feels like we’re slowly losing the ability to sit with something difficult. Instead of reading 20 pages and forming our own interpretation, we read an AI summary. Instead of being bored for ten minutes, we open TikTok. Instead of sitting with loneliness, discomfort, anxiety, or sexual frustration, there is an instant source of stimulation waiting in our pocket.
Porn. TikTok. Vapes. Weed carts. Alcohol. Fast food. Gambling. Short-form videos. Constant music. Notifications. AI. Everything is instant.
Think about how absurd the average day can look for someone my age.
Wake up, immediately check your phone. Hit the vape or cart. Scroll TikTok. Get in the car with extremely stimulating music blasting. Maybe scroll at a red light—or, terrifyingly, while actually driving. Get to class. Half-pay attention while checking your phone. Use AI to finish an assignment without really thinking about it. Go home. Fast food. More scrolling. Porn. Gaming. More nicotine. Then on the weekend throw alcohol into the equation.
Then repeat.
We’re eating crap, watching crap, inhaling crap, drinking crap, and flooding our brains with stimulation basically every waking hour.
And before someone thinks I’m standing on a pedestal judging my generation: **I’m not.**
I struggle with this stuff too. That might actually be why I notice it so much. I’ve gotten sucked into social media, instant gratification, fast food, porn, worrying about money, comparing myself to people online, all of it. I’m right in the middle of the thing I’m criticizing.
Sometimes I just look around and feel like everybody—including myself—is becoming slightly robotic.
People seem less comfortable having long conversations. Reading feels harder. Attention feels harder. Relationships feel harder because there is always another person one swipe away. Being content feels harder because there is always someone richer, better-looking, more successful, more interesting, or supposedly happier being pushed onto your screen.
And then you’re supposed to somehow confidently choose what to do with the next 60 years of your life while consuming all of this.
Even religion feels caught in it.
I’m currently agnostic, but I actually think Christianity—and Catholicism specifically—can be incredibly beautiful. The philosophy, architecture, tradition, ritual, community, history, ideas about sacrifice and meaning—I genuinely appreciate a lot of it even though I’m not sure I believe it.
But then even religion gets dragged into the modern attention economy. Mega-church aesthetics. Influencer pastors. Political tribalism. Rage bait. People turning incredibly complicated theological and philosophical questions into 30-second clips designed to make the other side look stupid.
Politics feels similar. Everything has to make you angry. Everything has to be a crisis. Every politician is either your savior or literally destroying civilization depending on which algorithm you happen to be inside.
It’s exhausting.
The weirdest part is that I don’t even know what alternative I’m proposing.
Move into the woods? Delete every app? Become religious? Grind for money? Ignore money? Finish college? Drop out and start a business? Read philosophy all day? Get a normal job and build a family?
I genuinely don’t know.
I just increasingly feel like human beings were not built to receive thousands of opinions, advertisements, tragedies, arguments, attractive people, lifestyles, political messages, sexual images, financial advice, and opportunities every single day.
For most of human history, you probably compared yourself to a relatively small number of people around you.
Now I can compare my life at 19 to a millionaire in Dubai, a bodybuilder in Los Angeles, a philosophy PhD at Oxford, a Christian monk, a tech founder in San Francisco, a guy traveling the world with no job, and a 17-year-old claiming he made $100k last month—all before I even get out of bed.
How are you **not** supposed to feel like you’re doing life wrong?
I think that’s what I’m really trying to say.
There are so many possible paths constantly being shoved in front of us that freedom almost starts feeling like paralysis.
I don’t think I’m “awake,” I don’t think I escaped the matrix, and I definitely don’t think I’m better than everybody else. I’m probably just as addicted to parts of this system as anyone.
I’m just 19 and trying to figure out what kind of life is actually worth living before I accidentally spend the next ten years chasing whatever an algorithm convinced me mattered.
So genuinely: **how do you guys deal with this?**
How do you decide what deserves your attention?
How do you figure out what you actually value versus what the internet taught you to value?
And in a world where basically everything is competing to overstimulate you, sell something to you, scare you, outrage you, or make you feel inadequate—what does a sane, meaningful life actually look like?

I thought this was really interesting and was curious what everyone else thinks about it. Back in 2020, Kevin was talking about Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the bushfires/climate change situation in Australia, and he said, “At least he’s not as bad as Trump. He’s not a cartoon character.”
Kevin has never really seemed like an extremely political person publicly, but environmental issues definitely seem to be something he cares about. Tame Impala also donated $300,000 from their Australian tour proceeds to bushfire relief around that time.
I just find that side of him really interesting, especially because caring about the environment/climate seems to be one of the political issues he’s actually been willing to speak about. Obviously I don’t want to assume all of his political beliefs based on a couple quotes, but I’m curious what you guys make of it or if there are any other interviews where he’s talked about stuff like this.
Personally I think it’s pretty cool and honestly makes me like him even more lol. Curious what everyone else thinks.

Following up on something I posted just before this — for those of you who play piano or guitar, what do you actually recommend learning?
I can obviously memorize a song on guitar or piano and eventually play it, but I feel like that doesn’t necessarily mean I actually know how to play the instrument, if that makes sense.
What would you guys consider the point where you can genuinely say, “Yeah, I know how to play guitar” or “I know how to play piano”?
For piano, is learning how to read sheet music necessary? I know that seems less important with guitar, but I’m not really sure. Should I be learning every note, chords, scales, chord progressions, music theory, etc.? Should I learn how to play by ear?
Basically, if my end goal is to eventually make my own music rather than just memorize other people’s songs, what are the fundamentals I should actually focus on for guitar and piano?
I’m completely new to this, so I’d appreciate any advice on what you wish you learned first.

Sometimes listening to Tame Impala genuinely frustrates my brain because I just cannot comprehend how someone makes this shit.
I don’t even mean that in some obsessive fan way. I genuinely cannot fathom recreating some of these songs. The fact that Tame Impala is basically one random dude sitting in a studio building these songs layer by layer is insane to me.
And what makes it even crazier is Kevin has openly talked about not being some insane technical musician on every instrument. He’s talked about not being a great piano player and basically finding ways around his limitations through recording and layering. Yet somehow the finished product sounds like it came out of someone’s brain who understands music on another level.
That’s probably what fascinates me most about him. It’s not necessarily “I’m the greatest guitarist alive” or “I’m a piano virtuoso.” It’s that he hears something in his head and somehow figures out a way to make it exist.
And I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Tame Impala almost feels like its own genre to me.
People will say “listen to King Gizzard” or “listen to MGMT” or recommend some psychedelic band or electronic artist like RÜFÜS DU SOL. And I understand the comparisons. You can find pieces of Tame everywhere. The psychedelia exists elsewhere. The electronic stuff exists elsewhere. Dreamy vocals exist elsewhere. Synths exist elsewhere.
But I’ve never heard all of it put together the way Kevin does it.
And just to throw this in there, every time I’ve heard this dude remake or cover someone else’s song, I’ve genuinely ended up preferring his version. His version of Fleetwood Mac’s That’s All for Everyone? I thought he fucking murdered it. Then I went back and listened to the original and was like damn, that’s not what I just heard at all. Same thing with the newer Hummer cover by The Smashing Pumpkins. I thought he blew that shit out of the water. I went back to the original afterward and had the exact same reaction. Obviously that’s completely subjective, but there’s something about the way Kevin takes an existing song and somehow makes it sound like it came from the Tame Impala universe.
Breathe Deeper sounds almost simple at certain moments yet I’ve never heard another song that sounds like Breathe Deeper.
Let It Happen? Nothing like it.
Reality in Motion? Nothing like it.
Alter Ego? Nothing like it.
Runway Houses City Clouds? Nothing like it.
You can dissect those songs and find influences or individual sounds that exist somewhere else. But when everything gets layered together it becomes this thing that I can only describe as sounding like Tame Impala.
The live show makes me feel the same way. I’ve been to concerts and watched a ton of performances online and I’ve genuinely never seen another show where the lights and visuals feel so connected to every little sound happening in the music. It feels less like watching a band play songs and more like stepping inside the music for two hours.
And weirdly enough that’s started inspiring me.
After seeing Tame live I’ve had this thought of like… fuck it. I want to try making music.
Because Kevin wasn’t born sitting in some giant professional studio. He was a kid obsessed with music who had instruments laying around and started recording himself and layering shit together because he thought it sounded cool. His own dad even warned him against pursuing music as a career because he worried making it a job could ruin the magic of it.
Obviously the chances of becoming Kevin Parker are basically nonexistent lol. But there’s something inspiring about realizing that all of this came from one person obsessively experimenting until he developed his own sound.
I don’t know. The more I listen to Tame Impala the less I understand how he makes this shit and somehow that makes me want to try making music even more.
Does anyone else get what I mean? Like you can hear Kevin’s influences everywhere and find individual pieces of his sound in other artists, but when it all comes together, Tame Impala still feels like it’s from its own planet.

Not like anyone really asked for this lol, but I figured I’d give my opinion because a few days ago I was on here asking if RÜFÜS DU SOL was worth seeing.
The main reason I even bought tickets was because when I saw Tame Impala, I noticed a surprising amount of people wearing RÜFÜS shirts or talking about seeing them. I figured there had to be some crossover there, so I spontaneously bought tickets like 3–5 days before the show.
First off, RÜFÜS was fucking great. I had a really good time and I’m definitely glad I went. I also want to make it clear that this comparison is insanely unfair because I’ve loved Tame Impala for years. I knew basically every song Kevin played word for word, whereas with RÜFÜS I only knew a few songs going into it.
That being said, I think if I had never seen Tame Impala before, the RÜFÜS show would’ve blown me away even more.
There were definitely songs where everything came together perfectly. In the Moment, Lately, Music Is Better, and obviously Innerbloom were all incredible live. Innerbloom especially was probably the point where I thought the lights made the most sense with the actual music. Everything just felt like it was building and moving together.
And I’m pretty sure it was Until the Sun Needs to Rise when the confetti came out for the first time — I could be wrong on the song — but that entire moment was fucking incredible. The song felt long in the best possible way, the buildup was great, and when the confetti finally came out it felt earned and perfectly timed.
The biggest difference for me, though, was that RÜFÜS got slightly repetitive as the show went on. The first time the lasers came out I was like, “holy fuck, this is awesome.” But then they came out again, and again, and eventually I started noticing that some of the lighting/laser sequences felt pretty similar. They were still really fucking cool, but I started expecting them.
And this is a VERY slight critique because I don’t want to sound like a dick nitpicking an awesome show, but the second time the confetti came out felt kind of oddly timed to me. I actually like that they only used confetti twice. I definitely wouldn’t want it every song, and I think Tame Impala only uses it like three times, maybe four, during his show.
I’m a huge tempo/rhythm guy, though. I love hearing a song build and almost feeling when something is about to hit. It’s hard to explain, but when the second confetti blast happened, musically I just didn’t feel like that was the moment for it. It almost caught me off guard in a way that didn’t completely match what I was hearing. Still looked fucking awesome, obviously, and RÜFÜS builds their songs incredibly well. It was just one little thing I noticed.
That’s where Tame Impala really separates himself for me. Almost every song felt like its own completely unique experience. It genuinely felt like the entire stage/show changed from song to song. The lights were constantly doing something different and seemed insanely synchronized with every little sound.
Even just thinking off the top of my head — Nangs with the whole circular visual while Kevin is laying on the stage, Elephant randomly turning into this insane disco jam for a few seconds, Apocalypse Dreams and its massive switch/drop. There were so many little moments where I genuinely had no idea what was about to happen next.
I think that’s also where the musical difference comes into play. RÜFÜS obviously makes much more house/EDM-oriented music, so after a while I started being able to feel when a buildup and drop were coming. It was still awesome, but it became a little more expected.
With Tame Impala, something like the Apocalypse Dreams switch just comes out of fucking nowhere if you haven’t experienced it before. The whole show felt less predictable.
And I’ve actually seen Tame Impala twice. Obviously the second time I knew a lot more of what Kevin was going to do, and somehow it still felt incredibly fresh.
But again, I don’t want this to sound like I’m shitting on RÜFÜS at all. They were awesome. I probably walked away with 10 new songs that I’m going to be listening to consistently now. They were exciting, the crowd was great, the music has such a positive feeling to it, and the guys themselves seem incredibly genuine.
I’m also obviously EXTREMELY biased toward Tame Impala, so take this entire post with a grain of salt.
But I saw people comparing the two live shows before I went, and after seeing both, I personally don’t think they’re really that close. RÜFÜS was one of the better shows I’ve been to.
Tame Impala was an experience on an entirely different level.

I heard someone say the other day that if you think you’re the only person who feels or thinks a certain way, you’re probably wrong. There’s not just one other person there are probably a shit ton of people.
So I figured this is probably the #1 place to ask this lmao.
Throughout sophomore–senior year of high school (I’m a freshman in college now), I genuinely felt like nobody around me knew Tame Impala. If I mentioned the name, almost nobody at school knew who I was talking about unless they were one of my friends who had already heard me talk about Kevin 900 times.
But do any of you guys genuinely listen to almost nothing but Tame Impala?
And I don’t mean that in some weird gatekeeping way. I mean I genuinely struggle to consistently listen to other artists because his music just never gets old to me. Even the Tame songs I don’t like at first somehow end up becoming some of my favorites months later. His shit just ages insanely well for me.
I know pretty much every song off every album, the singles, B-sides, random shit, all of it. And somehow I’m still not tired of it.
It’s actually funny because going to a Tame concert almost gives me this fake sense of jealousy 😭 Like I’ll look around and think, “Damn, I thought this was MY guy. Why the fuck do all of you know him too?”
Then part of my brain is like, “Yeah whatever, these mfs don’t know him like I do” LMAO.
Obviously I’m joking and I’m not actually mad that other people love his music. If anything, it’s cool as fuck seeing thousands of people who are just as into it. But I’m curious:
Are any of you genuinely like this too? Like Tame is 80–90%+ of what you listen to, you know basically the entire discography, and somehow you just never get bored of it?