Posts made by Derp

@Ganymede

Totally not saying that being a professional panhandler isn't lucrative. It is. I've seen it. Why I was saying is that being a professional panhandler won't get you into a life where being a panhandler is no longer necessary. Professionalizing your skill cements it further, it doesn't break you away from it, and for some reason we keep hearing from certain factions that we all just need to be willing to give to the needy.

I'll give to the needy. But I also know that those people probably aren't actually needy, they're playing you, and that charities get way more bang for their buck.

But we still have to deal with preachy bullshit from the folks who have never experienced this beyond some academic talking point.

@Sunny said in RL Anger:

Because selling the thing that they apply for jobs on, get call backs from jobs on, or call the cops with....for the 20 fucking dollars you can get for it (if you are lucky) makes complete sense.

First off -- twenty bucks for a current iPhone. Haha. Good one.

Second, explain to me what this can do that this $10 tracfone cannot.

Being truly desperate means making some hard decisions, and being willing to confront some uncomfortable truths, and willing to sacrifice and put in the work to lift yourself out of that situation. Being a professional panhandler doesn't do it. You actually have to get smart and use every resource you have available, and that means that sometimes, downgrading that phone so that you can eat that week.

Again, this isn't me just spouting off. I lived this. For over a year. And you can fucking bet that there were times when it was hard, and I had to make some hard choices. But I did it, and I pulled myself up out of that hole, and I started with absolutely nothing. So you're never going to sell me on whatever fucking bleeding heart head-in-the-clouds theories of homelessness people put forward, because those of us who have actually been there know that these people hurt the ones that are actually trying to get themselves out of the goddamn hole.

@wahoo said in RL Anger:

@Derp Jesus fucking christ, you're abominable.

And you're deluded.

@wahoo said in RL Anger:

@Derp

It's a terrible opinion and not rooted in fact at all.

That cell phone is likely the ONLY computer that person has access to. Which means it is how he or she applies for jobs. Which means it is how he or she can hope to elevate him or herself out of poverty.

Begrudging people asking for money that assistance because you don't like that they've adjusted to accommodate our increasing reliance on non-cash transactions is reprehensible. It's disgusting.

@surreality -- I admittedly don't know the square hoops, so "fair enough", perhaps, to that. But still: it's not our job to police people when they ask for help. If we can help, great, do that. The end. What they use it on and how they choose to spend the assistance given is not our business.

Bull. Shit.

Look, I actually get to speak on this one, because I was homeless for over a year. While doing so, I went to fucking college. I took advantage of every program available to me. And I sure as fuck didn't harass yon passerby for money, because that's ridiculous. If I needed something specific, I would ask for it, and I knew who and where to ask for it, as can just about everyone else.

Most of the "homeless" that you see, out there on the street and looking oh so unkempt, are doing so on purpose, because they know that's the most effective way to get you to give them money. They can easily make a grand a month doing so. It's a pretty lucrative gig, if you don't care about personal hygiene at all.

Public libraries can be used to access computers, and most 'help me find work' programs run by state agencies provide the exact same thing.

This problem is so well known that multiple studies have been done on it, and it even had its own goddamn article in The Atlantic.

So don't come at me with 'disgusting worldview not at all based in fact' when it is, in fact, based in fact, and the only reprehensible thing here is how completely these people have beguiled you into thinking that their harassing behaviors and lack of personal motivation are the product of institutional barriers, when all manner of institutional assistance exists.

They know this. They don't want that.

@Jaded said in Potent Potables:

My goto lately has been 3 shots of vodka, 3 shots of everclear; add a half-ounce of bitters and 3/4oz of honey syrup, then sprinkle cinnamon on the top.

Good warm or cold.

That sounds teeth-grindingly strong. Three shots of everclear, plus cinnamon and vodka? Good lord, my everything would be on fire and I'd be halfway to 'can't walk'.

@wahoo said in RL Anger:

@Darren Why is this "worse" or "bad" at all?

Fair warning, I'm about to pull out my soapbox on this.

For the same reason that you don't generally get to file for bankruptcy and then fly away in your private jet. You have items of value that you can liquidate or downgrade, but you're asking strangers for money in this ultra high-tech way? At best, it suggests that you don't actually need the help. At worst, it feels like someone running a con.

Might not be a popular opinion, but there we go. Soapbox away.

@Auspice said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

I wish I understood morphine.
Any time I've ever been given it, I just feel like I'm on fire.

'Oh but that's how it feels' people tell me.
Really? really?
if that's how it feels why does anyone take it.

Because spending a few hours just feeling like my body is burning from the inside out does not really seem like it's the purpose of a pain killer

It's supposed to burn for a few seconds going in. Not, like, all the time. That is definitely something that is not supposed to be happening.

@Sunny said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

Omg I think I am going to die. My face started itching yesterday. Bad. I survived. Today, my face, my hands, and the INSIDE OF ONE OF MY EARS. It pretty clearly seems to be an allergic reaction of some sort, but I haven't gotten into anything that I know of. ITCH.

It can also be stress shingles. My mom gets those.

@Tinuviel said in The Weirdest Thing I Ever Purposefully Did on the Internet:

@Auspice The number of times I've had to self-explain my search history as "I'm a writer" or "I'm a teacher" astounds me.

I'll see both of those and raise you "I'm a lawyer" or "I'm a paralegal" or some other form of "I work for the government."

I am grumpy. Short check and lots of bills means that I can pretty much afford to make one grownup thing this week -- pasta aglio e olio. Which is really just a fancy name for something dead simple. Pasta, olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, parsley, salt, pepper, lemon juice. Easy.

On the upside, it is delicious.

On the downside, it sits in my stomach like a lead ball.

I rarely make pasta, but it's dirt cheap, and while rocking a whopping $3.27 in my bank account, that's gonna be about the only option.

Ugh. Friday cannot come fast enough.

You know, for a hobby full of socially awkward people, we sure do nitpick at social awkwardness a lot.

@Coin said in What Types of Games Would People Like To See?:

Man, I gotta say, I side with @Herja here, pretty hard.
Nothing matters if the players don't care about it. Mechanics, system, all that is there to facilitate or guide the narrative. Some people may only want to play a certain narrative because it uses a certain system or code or whatever, but that doesn't mean that the real value isn't on the narrative. If people don't care about the story, they aren't going to play it, no matter how cool the system is.

Disagree. I've been on games that were basically treated like MUDs, where the only thing people gave a shit about was the system. Interesting character? Not necessary. Don't even pose until it's time to roll and kill things and get xp!

But what was the poem?!?

Sure, Status is one thing. But then we talk about things like Renown. There is no way I'm letting your slobbering spirit-eating locus-destroying werewolf have Wisdom 5 just because you have the xp for it. Sorry, no. Also fuck you.

@Rinel said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

@saosmash said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

today, i drove to the wrong courthouse, in the wrong city, for a hearing.

This is meant in the spirit of solidarity, not oneupsmanship.

Today I learned that in relation to the writ application I filed last week (my first time personally filing anything), I:

1. Failed to complete the index, which was also incorrectly numbered (violation of the uniform rules of the state's appellate courts),
2. failed to send a copy to opposing counsel and the trial court and include an affidavit thereto (violation of the local rules of the court), and
3. failed to ensure that our office manager scanned a copy of the complete file into our digital records.

My boss is calling in an hour to discuss the event. I'm hoping I can put on my big girl pants and stop being a total wreck before then.

See, here, that would be NBD. Our court will just stamp it with a NOTICE OF DEFECT, and send it back like 'do it again'.

@Auspice said in The ethics of IC romance, TS, etc:

@Derp said in The ethics of IC romance, TS, etc:

@Auspice said in The ethics of IC romance, TS, etc:

@insomniac7809 said in The ethics of IC romance, TS, etc:

skrulls

maybe we're all skrulls

No. I don't want no skrull.

Look, I didn't have the energy to make a whole meme ok?

@Auspice said in The ethics of IC romance, TS, etc:

@insomniac7809 said in The ethics of IC romance, TS, etc:

skrulls

maybe we're all skrulls

No. I don't want no skrull.

@Thenomain

I not only provide a list of questions that I specifically want you to answer, I provide sample answers that are generally about a paragraph.

• What was your character like before they Awakened? Was there always something off about them, or did Awakening come as a surprise? DId they have any prior experience with the supernatural before Awakening? How did Awakening change them?

Example: Selene grew up a normal girl from a middle class working home. Awakening hit her like a freight train at full force, showing her a whole new world that she had no idea ever existed. Although the Mysterium assured her that her soul was prepared, even if her mind was not, the fact that the experience nearly broke her still causes her to wonder if the magic didn't make a mistake, initially.

Example: Shenan was never 'normal'. The voices in his head had been with him since he was a child, and the heroin he used to dull them down only ostracized him further from everyday reality. When he Awakened, he almost didn't even notice. His world was already a shifting nightmare of maddening symbols and strange whispers. Awakening helped him see the meaning behind them.

I don't expect everyone to agree with my philosophy on it. But it's mine, and it's my responsibility to make the sphere run, and at the end of the day, I'm the one that gets to decide what I need to know about your character.

Is it a punishment? I mean, if that's the way you feel about it, I can't stop you, but I would suggest that maybe the game isn't for you if you can't get excited even going through chargen. Yes, it's sometimes tedious, but I also need soemthing to start with. I need to know how your character fits in the world if I'm going to have any way to pull you in with things like plot hooks, or know who to steer you toward to find RP, etc. If you're Faceless Mage #73221 that's just another collection of dots, I don't know you from Adam, and probably am not going to give you nearly as good a time as I could if I knew something about you. Like, where you come from, and what your Awakening was like, and how you view magic. Etc.

@Thenomain said in Punishments in MU*:

they are not fun and do nothing for my involvement to the game.

As someone who requires these short essays, let me counter this with: they aren't for you, so whether or not they do anything for your involvement with the game is only half the story.

Staff have no idea what you have in your head for a character. If all we see is a sheet, I can show you a collection of dots and skills and merits for a person, and then show you an equivalent sheet, and only in the background would you find that one is a doctor and one is a knife assassin.

I require those short essays because I need to know what you have in your head, and where you see the character fitting into the world, because I need to maintain some internal consistency. And players really should be willing to give staff some slack in that regard, whether or not it's fun for them. Doing apps isn't fun for staff, but we do it because it's necessary to maintain consistency within a set of rules and theme.

@Tinuviel said in Staff’s Job?:

@Derp said in Staff’s Job?:

Unlike others, I prefer people who are excited about the theme and the game.

In my experience, which is not universal, passionate people are the ones you want to keep as players. Ideally you'd want them in staff as well, but no matter how passionate a person is that will drain when it turns into work.

There is some truth to this. In my ideal, however, players and staffers are both working from different angles to make the place fun.