Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

@NintendoByNature Welcome back!

@Tyranexx The talk of Mountain Dew and headaches reminds me of one of my university roommates. The dude used to down between 12 and 16 liters of Mountain Dew every week. He used to just go through at least one 2 liter every single day - amazingly he wasn't overweight nor did he exercise to counter it. Frankly I don't know how that works. But eventually he started getting serious stomach ulcers and vicious acid reflex disease - so he stopped drinking the stuff straight - and had like a 72 period of literal withdraws from the lack of caffeine.

I get headaches if I go long enough without caffeine too - but I've never had it in the amounts he used to.

@Heavyarms55
Yo, you were so busy with Pokemon Shield recently, weren't you ?
How about some ACNH for tonight at 6 pm ?
Last time i requested the outfits and the cap from Pocket Camp.

I had my last lesson today - students begging me to stay, co-workers remarking how America sounds like a nightmare right now, and the simple fact that I don't want to leave all ripping my beating heart out and showing it to me... I'm not remotely stable right now. I veer back and forth between wanting to scream, cry or smash something and yet old habits from childhood of just hiding everything behind the smiling face mask are already returning. It was even worse at the elementary school as the kids were literally holding on to me begging me not to go. At least the jr. high kids are sarcastic about it. Although they all wrote me little notes and good-bye cards. Lots of them drew pictures of me and for me (they all know I love Pokemon and Gundam so I got lots of that <3 )

Add to everything that even though I bent over backwards for a non-stop flight from Tokyo to LA, Delta just decided "Yeah, I know you paid for that but we're sticking a layover in anyway. Deal with it."

I pretty much only feel calm when I'm completely engrossing myself in fiction right now.

Even though literally no one I actually work with wants me to go - to the bureaucrats about 5 steps up the food chain, I'm just a number on a piece of paper like everyone else. The contract was for 1 year, extendable up to 5 and nothing more. And actually, from the sound of it, they are not replacing me - they are cutting funding over all.

The more things change - the more they stay the same. If not for anime and video games, I would be resorting to drinking and... perhaps other options to deal with my stress. I know people back "home" love to bash on my hobbies all the time, but they've always kept me from resorting to other means of relieving my stresses.

@Anti-Matter Sorry about that - I keep seeing your messages when I'm away from my Switch. But I'll try to remember to hop on and order those things for you tonight. Just keep bugging me and eventually I'll remember.

@Heavyarms55 Was there no chance of finding another similar job with the experience you got from there, just before the expiration of the contract?

@Zuljaras I can't say there was no chance, but if I applied for it and didn't get it, I'd be 8 levels of screwed. And honestly as much as I desperately want to stay here for myself - my mother is alone back in the US and she isn't getting any younger. I was not there when my father's health rapidly declined and arrived right as he passed and I wasn't there for my mother in the aftermath. I have no siblings and while her siblings are around - they aren't that much younger than her and actually their health is far worse.

If family wasn't a concern I'd do anything to stay here. But the only thing worse than leaving is the thought of my mother having no one around to take care of her and ending up in those glorified death traps waiting to die of COVID-19. I had already resolved not to let her end up in one of those places if at all possible before the pandemic - now they look vaguely like death houses.

I'll smack myself in the face and suck it up so I can get myself established back in the states in a reasonable time frame, so I can earn enough money to take care of myself and spare some so my mom can retire comfortably.

All that said - it doesn't change that this is incredibly hard for me and I get that I sound contradictory even... but that's what it is.

@Heavyarms55 That is admirable! I salute you. Nothing is stronger than love

I myself HATE to travel and anything like that but for that one person I could even move to live in Syria

@NEStalgia Well. overdone... that's just marketing for 'ya. It needs to look attractive. A McDonald's burger also looks more colorful and arguably better than in real life, but the same goes for just about any other food- or drink related item that companies want to sell. Either way, it's still one of the most sugary drinks in the world, and banned in well over a 100 countries, contrary to any of the sodas we have here. And which also don't use the kinds of sweeteners that you use over there, which alone already makes them more toxic than European sodas.

@Heavyarms55 No offense taken. Also because those particular people I was talking about, are not the people online, but the people in your direct environment. What I actually meant was that the people online do NOT judge you for whatever reason, because they don't really know you. As such, it's a good place to vent/rant, probably also because it's anonymous, but also because a lot of us specifically use this as an outlet for such things, besides it being a place to get informed about all game-related topics, so in some ways, we can relate to each other better than any real life contact ever could. So, have at it, and I promise I won't judge, and I'll try and offer up something sensible whenever I can or wherever applicable.

@Tyranexx Confession time: it was me. I started the whole Mountain Dew thing. But it was actually only in relation to @Eel's new computer desk, which is made of solid stone/marble, so I commented that it would be a surface that's easily cleaned in the case of any coffee, soup or Mountain Dew-related accident. The latter of which was actually just meant as a kind of common denominator for soda drinks, and besides Coca Cola, Mountain Dew is probably the most famous (or infamous) brand that is US-specific, which is why I used that specific example.

@NintendoByNature Hey, man. Welcome back. I'm good. Or at least: better than I've been in quite a while.

@ThanosReXXX well that's good. I've been ok myself. Just been busy with the house and whatnot.

ACNH time. 😀
Terraforming in progress.
I changed some locations on my ACNH island.
I used Corel Draw 2019 to help me the Terraforming process.

@PrincessAzunyan Do whatever it is that made you guys friends in the first place. Or what you both enjoyed doing

@PrincessAzunyan Do what @NintendoByNature said. Just be yourself. Do what you used to do as kids.

Today is my 20th birthday!!!! Enjoying NY Strip Steak and twice-baked potatoes for dinner!

@Andrew_R_2000 happy birthday, whats twice baked potato?

@Andrew_R_2000 happy birthday!!

@Ninfan Its a special type of baked potato where you cook it first, then take it out of the oven, put toppings on it, and then put it back in the oven.

@Heavyarms55 I also don't know how that works. XD Some people are gifted with better metabolisms, I guess. I'd love to be able to eat junk food and not deal with many of the health effects that come with it...at least in the short term. Not a possibility with my genetics lol.

I function on some caffeine on work mornings, but I don't really need it; it just gives non-morning me a kick in the rear more than anything else. I didn't drink coffee at all when I was working from home. No I'll effects either, though I used to work with someone who had to have a minimum amount a day, otherwise he'd also go into caffeine withdrawal.

On your later comment...Man, sounds like a rough day with a few highlights. If I were you, I'd keep quite a few of those pictures! I can also relate on wearing a "mask" around others, so to speak.

Also agreed on how certain hobbies that some view as "weird" keep us out of more dangerous behaviors. I sometimes wonder how things would have been like if I had been more of the social butterfly/partier type (I definitely am not). Instead, I'd bury myself in games or books.

Safe travels when the day(s) come. Layovers aren't fun. Hopefully it's on the shorter side.

@ThanosReXXX Ah, so it was just used as a generic example. All is forgiven.

I know quite a few people that enjoy it - my brother being among that number - but I've never been a fan of the taste. Add to that all the health issues that can result from drinking it long-term, and it's probably one of the worst sodas out there. Not that the others are amazing for you by any means, but there's a reason that neon green beverage is so infamous. XD

I watched some ACNH island tour videos to learn about island layout.
Most of them i watched were very complicated and artistic island.
They were indeed stunning but they looked very difficult to terraform.
I found some basic looking island that suddenly recalled me to basic terraforming to make it simple yet still stunning.

Hooosha...!
I changed drastically my island layout on ACNH after i got better ideas from Youtube.

Time for working hard to change my island.

Edit:

So far so good.
Looks like my plan is working.

@Tyranexx Well, yes and no: on the one hand, I took that example as something other than what I first thought of using, which was Mexican examples, but I didn't know any brands, and I decided that it would border too much on something akin to ethnic profiling, so I decided against it, but on the other hand it actually WAS meant as a specific example, in regards to something typically American, otherwise I could have just said Fanta or any other brand that's sold worldwide (and isn't banned in half of the world's countries).

@Anti-Matter That looks very empty and barren. Where are all the fruit trees and flowers? Not only do they make an island look good and inviting, they're also highly useful for all kinds of things, so you'll want to have or collect a full range of all the fruit trees available in the game. Right now, my island has orange, cherry, apple, pear and peach trees. And palm trees for coconuts...