Rob T Firefly

Thank you!

Mine’s HOPE, but awesome that you can also get back to DEF CON! Have fun and enjoy your return.

HOPE.

Please don’t give up on finding a mental health care provider who works for you! If it helps, think of it like shopping for any other product or service; you want to pick out food that works for you, clothes that fit you well, electronics you can use well, the right beverage you’re in the mood for in the moment, etc. and finding a psychologist who provides the psychological care that works for you as an individual is just as important.

It’s very important to remember that not jiving well with one psychologist, therapist, etc. is not in any way a failure on your part. Sometimes someone just isn’t the right service provider for you, and that’s nothing you need to be ashamed about.

If you are getting a builder to work on your house, a mechanic to work on your vehicle, and such it’s perfectly normal to consult with more than one person before picking out who you think is the best for for the job and to change providers if one isn’t working out, and your health is no less important to get the right person to work with you on.

I’d go so far as to say that the vast majority of people who use mental health providers have encountered one or more that just weren’t right for them, and I certainly count myself as one of those clients. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with shopping around for someone who works out better for you.

Two years ago I had to miss a biennial hacker conference I’d been going to (and helping out on) every other year for over two decades, something I love a lot and always deeply look forward to attending, because I’d finally got hit with my first case of COVID. The virus hit me hard, and not only did it make me miss the conference but it left me with heavy long COVID effects which knocked down my ability to do a lot of things for a long time.

Last week I had a checkup with my doctor who congratulated me on how much I’ve come back from the long COVID. That hacker conference is happening again next week, and I’m extremely excited to see everyone again! (I’ll be masked, of course!)

At the fancy Little Caesars they have Pizza Pizza Pizza.

This may reveal me to be some kind of weirdo, but I’ve never managed to finish any Zelda other than the very first one on NES. I’ve gone back and tried other Zelda games over the years, they all seem interesting to start with but I just end up putting them down at some point and losing interest entirely.

I love a lot of single-player action RPGs and always have, but for some reason the most popular series of them ever consistently fails to vibe with me.

This Is MIT’s Jurassic Park-Inspired Project

They did get to the end of that story, right?

Joke’s on them, I’m no good for money even when it’s legit. 💸

Dude… you’re getting “or else.”

These are good points, and a lot of people may find that sort of separation useful.

Personally I’m also an activist involved with hacker culture, independent journalism, and weird art and comedy stuff, but I’ve come to a point where I don’t really feel much need to separate that from the rest of my life; the mundane me is hacker me, activist me, etc. I’m also pretty confident that if I said or did something stupid enough to involve backlash from anyone whose opinion matters to me, not only would I probably have earned the criticism but my wife would be first in line to tell me I’m being an ass.

If everyone in my real life already knows what I’m like online and vice versa, what’s to exploit?

I ain’t never met nobody I didn’t not dislike.

Unlike Gallowboob, Flying Squid posts interesting things I genuinely enjoy instead of generic gruel obviously calculated to farm upvotes from the mainstream. Flying Squid is also an interesting and fun participant in the comments and seems like a pretty cool person, while I seen to remember Gallowboob coming off like he’d be an insufferable jackass in real life.

This is an interesting way of thinking about things. I would have probably agreed entirely with this when I was a kid on the early Internet, experimenting, making mistakes, and figuring out who I was and what sort of person I wanted to strive to be.

Now, as a middle-aged old fart who has used the same screenname everywhere online for decades, I generally prefer to fully consider everything I say, whether online or in real life, and contribute things I truly mean to put out there as myself. I also prefer to have a real life, job, family and friends, etc. compatible with the weirdass person I genuinely am everywhere, which includes my online work, activities, opinions, shitposts, etc.

For example, I got so active in subcultural projects and stuff from my online life over the years that things from it built up into legitimate features of my real-life portfolios and resumes and get talked about in job interviews, so I simply don’t pursue work at places which would have a problem with finding that stuff out about me. Similarly, my universal screenname and weird online stuff were in my profile on the dating app where I met the person to whom I’m now happily married, and that person enjoys and even helps me do my weird online bullshit while being the greatest real-life partner I could ever ask for.

It’s all come together in a rather comfy way for me, and I ultimately find it a much more freeing way to live than trying to do the secret-identity thing.

I’m thinking of quitting the Taco Bell deep-marketing department.

In some towns that makes you the mayor.

Maybe you do, though. It might be worth getting tested if you have access and haven’t already.

The same way you can wear warm clothes in freezing weather and still feel the cold, but at a level which won’t physically damage you.

I do know that, it’s prominently featured in the extensive dossier my superiors issued me about you. But perhaps I’ve said too much…