And then, in the case of it explaining how to counterfeit money, the AI gets so excited about solving the puzzle, it immediately disregards everything else and shouts the word in all-caps just like a real idiot would. It’s so lifelike…

Okay, I think I need this one explained to me. Neither the addition nor subtraction of Heathcliff make me understand this any more or less.

Is there a pun I’m missing, or is this a “cow tools” situation? I really hope it’s the latter, because I always get kind of a kick out of the absurdity, hahah

I’d really like to know what it’s like to be normal. Like, to be able to look and my life and say, “wow! I’m a perfectly functional, capable adult with a stable life. That’s great.”

Mostly, I guess I mean having a neurotypical brain, but I don’t know if that’s a hard requirement. I’d like to be able to socialize properly. I’d like to be able to go out and engage with people without my social battery being dead within 10 minutes, or without my anxiety of other people scaring me off from the thought of interacting with a stranger altogether.

I’d like to live somewhere with things to do and a way to easily access those things. I’d like to live somewhere where I’m not terrified to go outside, because it would mean having to risk my life behind the wheel of a car, or pay a ton of money I don’t have for a stranger to drive me where I want to go. I’d like to be able to fearlessly walk out my door and explore the world around me instead of hiding from it.

I’d like to know how to be able to do the things you’re supposed to do to have a full, well-adjusted life. I’d like to be able to live that life without having to combat a mountain of anxiety before every meeting or appointment. Logically, I know things will be fine, but when every other part of my brain screams that everything will go catastrophically wrong, it’s hard to ignore. I’d like to not shake, or be nauseous, or feel like I’m gonna shit my guts out before every little thing I have to do that isn’t sitting at home. I’d like to just be able to go do those things, and not worry about it.

I don’t know. There’s probably more, but these are what I can think of for right now.

When I was a kid, all the way up to when I was a young adult, I used to adore being quirky and unique. It was my identity, and I loved it about myself. I just wasn’t tired yet.

I turn 33 next month, and, honestly, all I want is to be normal.

Love the little exclamation point at the end. We did it, guys! 🎉🥳 🎊🕺

It’s just how things rotate out. Gen X had it, Millenials had it, now it’s Gen Z’s turn. It gets views from older generations who want any excuse to look down on those who’ve come after, and the generation in-question when they see the headline and think “what? Who the fuck is doing that? What are they talking about?”

Get ready for it to go on through the next decade or so.

(That said, it is horseshit, and “that’s how it’s always been” is no excuse to let things continue like that. I wouldn’t mind seeing an end put to it, myself)

Adding lime branches onto a lemon tree to grow the Sprite Tree™.

That, combined with the number of times I’ve seen a mobile game ad try to open my browser (without the phone even being in my hands, so I didn’t touch shit), makes me genuinely wonder how bad it can possibly get before any authority steps up and holds Google accountable.

…If any authority ever holds them accountable, of course.

Maybe the mods can restrict it to, like…Windows Wednesday or something.

One day a week, everyone can post about leaving Windows, why Windows sucks, why Windows is gonna fail in 2024, maybe post a picture of their monitor saying “Now Uninstalling Windows,” all the good shit we’ve seen a hundred times by now.

Then, we can all get the hell on with our lives until next week.

Not only that, but if you have no choice but to buy a car with internet connectivity, these are supposed to be the kind of bells and whistles they give to at least make it SEEM like you’re not being completely taken advantage of. It’s like a double-dip. “We’re giving your car connectivity so we can sell your telemetry, AND we get to charge you for all the useful features, too!”

If it costs SO much to maintain these services, cool. I’d be happy to save the poor little car manufacturers money by buying a model that uses no connectivity whatsoever. But, for some reason, they don’t seem to want to offer that. Gee, I wonder why.

Demand more out of them, because they’ll always be looking to get more out of you.

Yeah, I like to think I’m immune to advertising until I see one that makes me think “damn, I haven’t had Burger Restaurant in a while.” The worst part is that I’m fully cognizant of what’s happening, and yet I still want some and it’ll make me think about it for a while afterward, simply because I’m familiar with the food and how it (usually) tastes.

But, joke’s on you, Burger Restaurant! I’m fucking broke, son! Now we’re BOTH having our time wasted

I think that’s an important thing that seems to get overlooked when this topic comes up. It’s a two-way street- if you just want to vent, be sure to say so. Don’t get upset when your partner doesn’t just assume that’s what you want.

Of course, the “two-way street” thing really needs to be emphasized, since the person venting is likely frustrated and can’t always be expected to be clearheaded enough to remember to communicate it properly. Also, if all they ever want to do is vent, y’know…maybe that’s a pattern you should pick up on eventually (the hypothetical “you,” of course. Not the person I’m specifically replying to :P)

I like doing entire phrases with some rhymes thrown in. Makes it easier to remember them.

“BonyTonyMoansHe’sOnlyGrownLonely” has a shitload of characters, and a full sentence (even a nonsensical one like that) is more memorable to me than a random handful of disparate words.

The more ridiculous, the better. (And, naturally, don’t forget your numbers and symbols)

EDIT: Actually, no idea why I made it all one group of words. So long as spaces are in the password’s character space (and they very well should be if friggin’ emojis are), there’s nothing stopping you from doing an entire, punctuated sentence- other than that we’ve been conditioned not to think of a password that way.

“Skinny Kenny’s friend, Mini Ben, has 20 chins.” That should be a fully-acceptable password with 46 characters (48 if you add the quotes), capital letters, numbers, and special characters.