u/jakattack64

So my friend is looking to get a gaming PC, I'm thinking a desktop for upgrade potential and general durability and was looking for recommendations. Currently his budget is about 500 and that would be for the whole setup though I already found some 20$ speakers for him that I personally use a ton and reccomend (creating labs pebble v2) and I'm sure I can find a keyboard, mouse, and monitor or at least tv for them.

But yeah any reccomendations for either parts lists or pre builds/refurbished PCs he could get, when it comes to building he's not the best with computers, but I have a bit of experience performing upgrades on mine and know someone who's good with that stuff.

He doesn't need anything overly fancy btw as it's mostly for party games and stuff like satisfactory but really just anything that'll run games better than integrated graphics on a few years old HP laptop.

So I know I'm going to get infinite hate for this especially because I'm posting this in a place where these ideas aren't welcome but I've unintentionally gotten sucked into this debate and I need to get this off my chest.

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So first the constant use of the word mutilation when referring to male circumcision honestly is not helpful. It implies that circumcision ruins a penis and that every guy whose cut should feel sorry for themselves and hate their own penis. This honestly doesn't do anything but alienate guys who are cut from this cause because you're constantly calling them wrong, and with a lot of guys already having body image issues all that really does is make those issues and stressors worse, which when it's something they can't control is literally the worst thing that could happen to their mental health. (speaking from experience by the way growing up I had major body image issues I'd stress about everything and hated everything about myself it took years to just get to a state I could except everything about myself) I don't know what your goal is, if it's to bring cut guys to your cause or alienate them, but when the entire vibe is they shouldn't exist and if they do they should feel sorry for themselves just drives those guys away especially when most cut guys don't care or prefer it. While I know you probably don't want guys who got cut later in life for medical reasons and enjoy being cut in your cause cause that defeats the message of all circumcision bad, not alienating those people is a good thing especially when one third of guys in the entire world are cut. Additionally if you're a mother don't go an apologize to your kid for having them circumcised, again speaking from experience my mom watched some documentary or something on circumcision and the fight against it and then immediately after they apologized to me even though I literally didn't care cause honestly I prefer it this way, but looking back concidering I was basically in the middle of puberty and already dealing with a lot of body image issues at the time apologizing and acting like it was some horrible thing done to me would have screwed me up so badly if I cared. So please unless your kid starts expressing they don't want to be cut and would've rathered stayed uncut don't apologize and if you feel like you should keep it to yourself or between you and your therapist.

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Also going back to the issue of rhetoric used, even ignoring the aspects of how it affects men's mental health and general inclusivity to your cause, much of the rhetoric used is very emotionally charged. You're constantly calling for unbiased research yet the research you support is constantly using arguably incorrect terms, like mutilation, which achieves nothing but bringing emotion into research thus making it biased. All that achieves is making this cause look like a joke to anyone outside of it because you proceed to share research that feels biased while calling all research that disagrees with your cause biased even if all it does is use official terms that aren't your own. On a similar note while I know part of it is just people wanting to argue but not knowing how to do it properly, I have had multiple times where I've been told I was uneducated or an idiot all because I politely disagreed with their view based on my own research, personal experience, and experience talking with both cut and uncut guys. Obviously that's not indicative of the validity of your cause it should be a thing the majority of you frown upon, but from what I've experienced it feels less like a minority and more like a majority but please prove me wrong.

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Finally what will likely get me the most hate, as a guy it feels weird that the majority of people obsessed with and strongly advocating against male circumcision are women. It's a thing of why are you, a person who hasn't even experienced having a penis, so concerned with whether a guy is cut or uncut. I know a large part of this is consent and that's great but at the same time most of the general vibe from this is that guys should never be circumcised, I've even seen people compare guys wanting to be circumcised to being mentally ill and you should stop them at any means necessary. I don't know if this is secretly a movement to make guys feel bad about themselves for things they couldn't control and make guys question their own mental state just because they prefer something different from the norm in an effort to get revenge for how men have treated women for much of history but honestly that's what this movement can feel like at times. It especially doesn't help when people get swept away and start demanding all circumcision is bad and evil even when it's done for medical reasons. In general all that makes this movement feel less like a group of people advocating for more bodily autonomy to instead be a bunch of people who are trying to imply that there's something wrong with every guy who's cut and if they enjoy it well that's just cope and they should actually feel bad about it. Arguably though this is a less important point than the rhetoric used and the general vibe towards guys who are cut but I felt it still needed to be mentioned especially when many of the sentiments and ideas shared don't align with the vast majority of cut guys and that likely comes down to who strongly supports and advocates for this cause.

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Also I should say, I in no way support female circumcision that is fully barbaric and has no benefits whatsoever nor has any medical basis. Just wanted to say that because I've had people use the argument that make circumcision and female circumcision are fundamentally the same thing and if is support or don't care about male circumcision I must support female circumcision, even though that's not how things work especially not when male circumcision really isn't that bad while female circumcision is fundamentally the definition of mutilation and has no reason for it to be necessary. There is a reason why one is banned in the majority of countries while the other isn't.

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So I got a bunch of duluth shirts a few years back as a Christmas gift from family and what is going on with the sizing. Typically I'm an XL or maybe an L or medium depending on my weight, the shirt length, and the company, but with Duluth stuff even the large is too big. I know part of this is the family member that got this didn't buy the correct size, some of the shirts that I really like the design of I can never wear cause it's an xxl, but when even the standard fit L is too big I don't get it. So yeah does Duluth stuff just run stupidly big or is it cause some of these are relaxed fit or what?

19(soon to be 20)m, at this point I'm just done with everything, I don't want to say I'm like suicidal cause I don't think I could ever, at least my entire reason for living is other people and I can't leave my pets, friends, family, or especially brother alone or force them to deal with everything without me, not to mention if I did anything it would likely start a domino effect in the people around me cause my brother already has been suicidal same for my mom and neither are doing very well mentally right now. But sorry I'm getting off track.

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So yeah I just don't see the point in anything life related at the moment, right now I'm in college and really my only goal is to just finish it and find even a Simi decent job so I don't have to constantly rely on other people for even the smallest things and can at least live comfortably ie not having to stress a ton about money or if I can afford food. So overall I'd say I have a simple goal that most people would say is achievable, so why does that feel like the most unachievable thing. I have had a 4.0 gpa all my life, done everything I'm supposed to yet everything I do just ends in failure, I try to transfer to a better school, nope can't transfer fall can only go spring when you pretty much can't move, I try to apply for a job so I can build up my savings over the summer, congrats you've been applying to places since essentially the start of May and you've been in a ton of interviews and guess what nothing constantly ghosted and now because you're in a different town over the school semester no one wants to hire you cause it would only be for about a month, oh any you know every goal you had for the summer yeah you can't do those now because it all hinged on getting a job. Then even ignoring that everything around me is just in a constant state of slow decay because family says they'll help and despite having the means to they do nothing because they live in a separate house so it's just constant oh I forgot from everyone who isn't my brother who's in the same situation I am.

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At this point everything just feels hopeless and honestly it has been for a long long while, even ignoring how the world is turning to shit, it feels like I've just been screwed from the start. At least hard not to feel like the world is just against you when you're born with cancer that almost kills you, you're left to take care of your disabled mother and an entire house with only your brother to help you when you're 7, and then despite managing to slowly carve out some bit of comfort in your situation every time you attempt to make something better it either fails or another thing breaks so you're just left trying to maintain what you have as everything just crumbles and feels like it could implode at any second. Honestly the worst part is that every time I try to be hopeful about something or not have a pessimistic mindset about everything I'm proven wrong, I'm constantly proven that even planning for the worst case scenario isn't enough that you'll still get screwed by something you didn't even think would happen. At this point I don't know what to do, I know part of this is just the negative side of my brain winning over the positive side because I'm tired cause it's 4am but at the same time even without that it's still constantly exhausting and I can't ignore the thoughts that everything's hopeless especially when it seems nothing I do matters yet I'm surrounded by praise being like oh all your hard work is important or be proud of a 4.0 because it's so important even though it means nothing in the real world, maybe it meant something in the past but not anymore not when the only key to having a successful life is being born rich, not when the wealthy of this world are hell bent of destroying it and watching everyone die with them. Honestly the only bit of hope I have is that one of my older friends dealt with similar ish things and now they're essentially where I want to be in life post college, but at the same time that hope is consistently crushed by remembering the fates of all my siblings where my sister is stuck permanently working in resteraunts after covid scared them out of nursing, and my brother is stuck not being able to find a job even after constant applications and years after graduating all because he's stuck at home because someone has to take care of our mother and he insisted I go out of town to UGA for collage.

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You know maybe I should take my friends advice and go to therapy but at this point even if I know how I couldn't even do that considering I don't even have insurance anymore haha.

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Also I should say I don't even know if need support is the appropriate tag for this cause while part of me just wants to hear it'll be okay, there's no advice that can help me because it's all lies about an uncertain future where the final outcome for everything is just disappointment, maybe venting is the more appropriate tag.

So I recently applied for a transfer to ga tech, currently I'm at UGA doing the astrophysics major and was hoping to transfer to tech and do their aerospace engineering major. I had already applied to go there in high school but didn't get in and instead got an option to do the first generation transfer pathway. Unfortunately while I technically can still take it I couldn't transfer until spring of 2027 which is just kind of a garbage time especially cause all the logistics of figuring it out would have to be planned during Christmas and possibly even before right in the middle of sophomore fall exams at UGA so in general it just sucks. But yeah because of that I applied to transfer fall of 2026 and that leads to my question.

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Currently I have a 4.0 gpa, I'm in plenty of clubs/extracurriculars, I'm currently going to be either club president or vice president for UGA's HEMA club (the election is still going but it's literally me and one other guy running), and have already taken all the required classes to transfer. Despite all that I didn't get in and while I don't mind too much cause I have a ton of high school friends at UGA so staying is kinda nice at the same time I'm still sorta annoyed cause like wtf, I know a 4.0 gpa means nothing anymore but still. It also doesn't help that family thinks I can apply to places like mit and other even fancier places then tech and get in even though again grades mean nothing nowadays. Honestly my only idea as to how I didn't get in is that I suck at writing essays but most people I've shown them to say it's decent and when it comes to the essay questions like name some challenge you've overcome academically or not imma be honest I can't think of any better ideas than pulling either the cancer card (which I never really mention) or the disabled parent card you've had to take care of since you were 7 (which is honestly my go to for the some challenge you've overcome cause like that's the biggest possible thing I can think of and you know what passing every class I've ever taken with nothing lover than an A all while managing that and taking care of the house with the only person to help being my brother at least sounds like a decent challenge at least better than some bs of balancing school with sports)

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So yeah is tech just really hard to get into, is it something with me, or is it just getting unlucky.

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Side note if it's relevant in terms of ethnicity and junk I am white, a guy, and broke, really my only bit of flair person wise is being like pan. I also suck when it comes to getting scholarships so maybe I'm just bad at making applications. Advice is appreciated btw.