vibinya

I very much go through this. It can be hard looking at all the niche things around my house which I spent so much energy pursuing - specialized photography rigs, magic cards, jewelry making tools+storage, exercise gear, crazy keyboard setups for multiboxing, etc. With all of those came the community aspect. I feel so guilty just disappearing after gaining so much attention and recognition in various areas. I can confidently say I’m paralyzed with some type of fear to get into new things- I know they’ll consume me, but then one day I’ll wake up and just see it as a source of stress and drop it. If I had infinite money and loved socializing, I’d not be too stuck, but I just can’t afford to keep cycling through interests right now. The things which tend to interest me always demand a financial sink.

I would caution your and other people’s perception of your intelligence as having significance. Doing well academically (especially pre-college) and thinking that this equals intelligence can be a bit of a trap. I, along with other high functioning friends, also did well academically and many people, teachers, peers, etc all viewed us as intelligent - the problem is, we understood expectations and how to create a mask and personal systems which allowed our brains to succeed in school. Entering college, that all changed for us. The expectations changed and the system changed- everything I created for myself to succeed no longer applied. I went from a 4.0 high school student in all advanced classes to dropping out of college the first semester. I saw peers who did terribly in high school thrive in college. I saw how they easily formed new connections and found support which allowed them to continue where I stumbled.

I would ask yourself what value you are expecting out of being viewed as intelligent and why you feel you might need that label applied to you. Growing up, I personally put a lot of effort into being seen as smart to make up for my ASD thinking I could outsmart it or something. Being 30+ now, I no longer really care how people view me- I just care that they are kind and respectful.

Music is my escape as well. I consider myself an audiophile and listen to music very technically as it’s one of the only things which distracts my inner monologue. Gives me a chance to visualize the sound stage and appreciate every little production decision. Also, great username! Glassware was one I used for the longest time.

My brain shifted towards the end of high school. Growing up, I had an uncontrollable imagination and mental environment - it was essentially a never ending plot line consisting of characters from movies, shows, books, comics- anyone that I found interesting. It was a way to cope. My brain constantly had these characters interact and create conflicts. Their actions and dialog would sometimes spill out into the real world, and I had to remember to keep everything inside. I saw it all in my mind- it was honestly super creative. I eventually wanted it all to stop because I felt like I couldn’t control it, but it took effort. I had to slowly turn the extremely detailed characters into lesser versions of themselves until they were just mental stick figures; eventually, I was able to stop the story as I got bored maintaining personalities for 2d characters.

I can still access my visual mind, with effort, but it’s nothing like it was. It is now instead a constant inner monologue which converses at nothing- usually it’s about topics which I might have to explain to someone later or a way to navigate my thoughts/feelings. There’s never anyone talking back, just my mind talking at nothing. It can be helpful as my brain bricks during random/spontaneous conversations with people, and I can lean on rehearsed talking points/sentences.

As for memory- It’s on point when something is actively in my life, but the moment that thing becomes uninteresting or I step away for a few weeks, it feels less accessible and usually makes me super anxious and avoidant. Learning about things initially is super fun, but knowing I’m missing information which I previously was very confident in is tough for me.

I’ve played so much of it and didn’t realize it only supported two players! I guess I’m glad I only talked one friend into playing with me 🤭.

I would definitely recommend some roguelike shooters like Roboquest, Gunfire Reborn, Crab Champions, etc. These are all 4 players, but you could always have a few different lobbies.

Maybe also consider something like Palworld, Grounded, Raft, and other Survivalcraft games. There should be a good few in that genre that will allow you all to play together!

Sounds like a fun group ready for some great memories! Good luck on your game hunt!

The only thing I can offer is a small warning. I also was a habitual neck cracker- up until one night where my normal twist had an unfamiliar popping sensation which kind of felt like a muscle snapping. I was then greeted with incredible pain anytime I tried to move my head or just move in general. Had to go to the ER/urgent care that night. The doctor was very straightforward with their advice- there’s no reason I should be cracking my neck and I need to stop. I had pulled one of the muscles and it had severely swelled.

I also used to crack my knuckles, elbows, back, etc. I eventually stopped by catching myself in the act, acknowledging that I don’t like feeling like I can’t control myself, and giving my hands something else to focus on.

Good luck!!

I definitely can’t argue about the size of their library! While the continued dragging of their feet on HiFi was frustrating (years of telling us it was coming), the thing which finally drove me away is their constant tweaking of playlist and queue management.

I mainly use their desktop client and controls would disappear with each update- no way to block songs, inability to remove a song from auto generated queues, playlists not syncing between devices, songs being weighted in a shuffle. I made a post on their forums about the missing options for their autoplay queues- their response was that while there was no button or context menu option to remove a song, I could select it and use the delete key. I just gave up on whatever type of user experience they want me to have.

I did recently and will not be going back to Spotify. There are so many small things with Tidal - actual patch notes each update, updates which clearly address user reported concerns/issues, straightforward playlist management and queue controls, an actual shuffle that isn’t some weird interaction based algorithm, and of course the quality. There’s been so many times I’ll be listening to a song, which I’ve listened to many times on Spotify, and notice something in the backing track which I wasn’t aware of or some aspect of a singer’s voice or instrument which really pops and adds texture. They also have great recommendations and a Daily Discovery playlist. And finally - it’s just music; no scrolling through podcasts or non-music this… Just high quality, easy to manage, music.

I don’t think I see knowledge in a digital vs non-digital sense. People often learn things in different fashions - I’m sure you’ve heard people say they are visual learners vs auditory or something like that. There is some truth to that, but overall it’s easier to remember and retain things when we’re exposed to them in a variety of ways. Teaching someone or explaining something you just learned is a great way to retain things- yes, it may come out all over the place at first, but you’ll often find it becomes easier as you revisit the topic or try explaining it again later. There’s also a difference between knowing something and understanding something. You can watch tutorials on something, but until you start applying that knowledge, it might not feel as tangible. Oftentimes, there’s a point with any knowledge where we hit a wall and mentally spin our wheels trying to understand it- super normal, else everyone would be experts on everything. Overcoming that wall usually means taking some steps back and picking up some pieces of knowledge which we might not have been exposed to previously. This is one of the reasons we’re seeing more education efforts focused on Project-Based Learning.

I did! I do think it’s a great alternative, but when moving some of my playlists over, I saw too many missing songs. They were my more niche playlists/genres so I was kind of expecting it. Tidal didn’t have all of them either, but did have more so I decided to go with them.

One place I frequent anytime I’m looking for an upgrade or just general information is https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php

The people there tend to discuss things which can go slightly over my head, but that’s something I appreciate since it gives me things to look into and learn.

My current chain is Tidal + Schiit Asgard DAC/amp + Audeze LCD-X. Moved from Spotify to Tidal last month and will never go back. I definitely prefer headphones over speakers, but have really been enjoying IK Multimedia iLoud Micro Monitors.

Pick up orders have improved my shopping experience so much! It’s allowed me to try new recipes and meals too; I normally tunnel when I physically go shopping and don’t have the energy to look at or try new things.

Fortunately, this is something I solved by establishing a set of routines which I do not deviate from. Each day is a repeat with minor variations depending on the day of the week. This helps me keep my place spotless, eliminates any mental energy put towards figuring out what to eat, and makes things like shopping less stressful as I just place the same pickup order each week. The BIG struggle for me is when I make the effort to change my routine for people (friends) to accommodate plans and they cancel on me or try to change them last second. I don’t think they will ever understand how much energy it takes for me to change my day and mindset for them.

I believe you can edit .doc(x) files using Google Docs.

I feel this. A few months ago I lost all my energy to maintain my mask- completely removed myself from my friends because I couldn’t be the person I wanted to be for them. The energy it takes to be patient doing things I don’t want to do, showing interest in things I’m not interested in, and supporting people who can’t support me just drains me. While it’s been moderately lonely as I also wfh, it’s a bit liberating having a completely consistent flow throughout my day; all that mental and emotional energy I can now put towards me. Familiar cycle though… Once I glue my mask together, we go again!

I tend to think world building should explain why certain races in an RPG behave the way they do. If your world building includes reasons why gnomes behave in a way where there is overlap with autistic traits then I don’t see the harm.

What traits are you referring to? Are they more isolated and keep to themselves? Explain what happened to their race to encourage that behavior. Also, just because a race is isolated, doesn’t mean they want that- sometimes they are forced into isolation and it’s not a natural thing for them. Are they tinkerers? How did they get started in that and where do they get materials? How do they contribute to the world as a whole? If there’s an option to exclude them outright, then it feels like there might be a hole in the lore of your world.

Especially considering platform availability. I think it says more about ToTK being 3rd on a single platform vs the other two being available on multiple platforms.

A few years ago I had a specialized photography hobby which turned into a small business. I enjoyed certain aspects of branding and really liked connecting with people who had similar interests, but the daily weight of interactions eventually bubbled to the point where I no longer enjoyed running things. I realized towards the end that I probably needed someone to handle all the interest and scheduling communications. This has happened with a few things in my life- the eagerness, excitement, and positivity of whatever I’m into gets snuffed out over time by the growing expectations to communicate with people interested in my work. It’s made getting into new things difficult for me.