/lit/ - Literature

For the past several years, I’ve wanted to dedicate myself to being an author and even managed to publish a few small things in a few small publications. It’s very minor success, but success nonetheless. Still, I’ve never for a moment felt confident that this is anything remotely approximating a viable career.

>>22384699
Maybe get in touch with an agency that deals with larger publishers?

Also I continue to seethe about what is happening to book covers.
>Don't judge a book by it's cover.
Fuck off. I will!

I'm so fucking horny. This sucks.

drinking is just killing time for me.

I read varenka olesova. I dont know what that was supposed to be about desu, I guyss my definition would be that women don't really know what they want because she described how she wants guys to act but then when he acts alongside it, she's turned off
>I want men like from romance novels, who talk unlike normal people in grand romantic statements
then when MC gives her some poetic compliment she just frowns and doesn't get it
>I want men who are spontaneous and physical
then when he grabs her during storm she recoils and moves away
>Men should be honest about their desires and demand them outright
when he wants to kiss her she just giggles and moves away
>Men need to be bold and rough and arrogant
then the story ends when he refuses to stop looking at her as she bathes in the lake and she throws a rock at his head and beats him up saying they will never meet again

it's such a sudden ending i dont know what to make of it. maybe it's more about how main character was opposite of all these traits and him behaving unlike it just couldn't work. I think it's mroe likely that it's just more about men being unable to understand women because there's this subplot where his sister and her keep talking to each other away from his hearing range and he can't figure out what they talk about, to me that's the point that

I can't find any discussion of this story except for this Tolstoy quote

>"If a girl who has turned fifteen in healthy, she desires to be touched and embraced. Her mind is still afraid of the unknown and of what she does not understand; that is what they call chastity and purity. But her flesh is already aware that the incomprehensible is right, lawful, and, in spite of the mind, it demands fulfillment of the law. Now you describe `Varenka Olesova" as healthy, but her feelings are anaemic--that is not true to life."

I constantly say I am stupid so that people don't have high expectations for what I do. I enjoy observing the reactions of other when I do. My female coworkers just agree that I am a stupid fuck and laugh when I say it while male coworkers are like 'Man, nah, c'mon, don't be like that." Why is that? So far I've only guessed you don't have that many opportunities to feel better than someone else when you are an instable, childless and child-hating woman in your thirties. So you just take what comes. I think they just gather sometimes and talk about me like 'It's funny because that guy is si dumb lolXDDDD' and feel better about themselves. I don't particularly enjoy being laughed at but I don't really care either. The thought makes me smile sometimes. It's just a funny thought I wanted to say.

>>22384671
I started a tier list of every book I've read. I'm certain I'm missing more than a few but it's what I can recall

>>22384713
I really haven’t written much as of late. To be quite honest, I’m not even sure what a larger publisher for things I write looks like. It seems like it’s all long fiction and non-fiction. It’s really besides my point though. I just feel like I’m living a hopeless life.

I have more fun writing fanfiction than my own work. Fuck.

Is it normal to feel awkward as fuck while visiting home after a long time?

who else sheds a few tears while masturbating to masochistic porn? it doesn't take me out of it or anything I just tear up a bit and wipe them off. When I google this its mostly just results for crying after masturbating rather than doing. And it's not a proper cry, just a bit of fluid, like masochistic emotional nutting

In the future, every woman will be a whore, and every man will be a coward.

I haven't had a drink in four (4) days.

>>22385480
Dramatic! Why do you believe this defines the future and not the present?

>>22385242
Yes.

I wish I could do my adult life over. I made so many mistakes. I think I’m going to be okay, but I don’t know if I can really be okay with just okay.

I need to learn to stop joining arguments I have no intention of continuing if they press me for rebuttal. Yes, I have something I need to do that prevents me from committing 2 hours of my life to debating over something I really don't care about. So maybe I should just start with this fact and not get involved before ending up having to say "Yeah good response but I actually don't really care about this argument just watch this video to get the gist of my position"
It probably will lead to people not taking me seriously if I keep doing this. I need to both care less about seeming intelligent about others and care more about what people think of me. There's a point where not giving enough of a fuck about what others think can be a bad thing.

I hate the concepts of romance and intimacy.

>>22385641
Why?

I'm starting to think these threads aren't all that beautiful but are just places where people can fulfill their desperate need to be seen.
Or maybe to get help with vaguely described problems.
Still, the naked expressions of suffering here are appreciable but probably not much better than going to /r9k/.

>>22385644
Too encroaching, too invasive, too impractical. We should develop technology to reproduce asexually or we should just stop reproducing.

>>22385652
No, we shouldn't. You're just mentally ill.

>>22385652
Go back to San Angelino from 2032, dumbass.

>>22384671
roses are red
violets are blue
mooooslimes fck goats
and fck op too

20-25 really are your most important years aren’t they? I read that book “Defining Decade” and it made me want to shoot myself.

>>22384671

I spent most of yesterday celebrating the Feast of the Assumption through spending a lot of the day at my local parish, praying the rosary, and a lot of handwriting/sketching of thoughts/feelings that came to mind. I'm not quite what anyone would call an orthodox Christian or even a theist in the conventional sense of the word. Nonetheless I've found that delving deep into my latent religiosity has really helped improve my executive function, including but not limited to my writing ability. At this point I'd tentatively call myself a, "Death of God" panentheist who would still choose to be religiously active even if there was some hard proof of non-theism. Think Amos N. Wilder except with much more traditionalist axes and less of an interest in worldly affairs. I'm thinking that if I write anything with any longevity, it'll probably come through tapping into my very pathological tendency towards religion and wrestling with God.

Also finished my reread of picrel today. Highly recommend it.

15 THOUSAND DOLLARS TO THE RETARD MAFIA, OR RATHER, THE MOSSAD UNIT 8200 AGENT ASSIGNED TO STALKING ME, IF YOU HELP ME GASLIGHT A WOMAN INTO BECOMING MY GF

POST YOUR MONERO ADDRESS NOW

BE APART OF HISTORY. ACHIEVE THE UNACHIEVABLE
>the third temple soon brother

>>22384671
>>22385732
both the arabic jew and the arabic muslim wear the little black headband

I am the original memetic warrior, the catalytic agent of The Memetic Singularity.

I wrote all the posts in the pic.
Much more info here: https://old.reddit.com/r/NarrativeDynamics/comments/15qcnkl/i_am_the_original_memetic_warrior/

8/01/2023 was the tipping point.

Theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmwXkJV_B-w

>>22385804
>eccentric schizo imageboard poster #27864

>>22385670
What's the thesis of the book? Why are the years so important?

For a long time I thought to hold your liquor meant to not throw up from drinking so I would get sloppy drunk and act like an asshole but I never threw up so I thought I was doing it right.

>>22385879
Ngl I used to think it literally meant holding a glass of liquor

I'm the guy that drives the hotdog car. Your kids see the hotdog car from their backseat window and are mesmerized. What are you going to do about it? I'm the guy they look up to.

>>22385515
I'm so glad I don't like alcohol much.
The hangovers seem brutal.

>>22384671
My sublime discovery of procelan hylozoism will most likely die with me

The fact that conscious beings can just fucking come into being and start thinking and engaging with the world is so fucking weird and scary to me.

>>22386035
they didn't just come into being.

I'm pissed off. I'm frustrated. I'm working too much. 12 hour nighshifts 6 days a week for the next 2 months. I'm bored. I'm lonely. Nothing is open. I am stressed out. I am doing this voluntarily. I don't need the money. I am in a foreign country. I don't know anyone. Nothing to do on my day off. I am depressed. I am getting older. I need to relax. Redlining. My eyes are red and dry. I want to go home. I want to kill myself. I am hungry. I have too much shit to do.

What's a surplus person meant to do with his life?

>>22386040
I mean from the perspective of the individual being. Absolute nothingness > sense of self > absolute nothingness of being once more. Such an odd thing to consider.

>>22386060
Your sense of self disappears every time you lose consciousness anyway, what's the big deal?

>>22386076
It's just odd to consider, that's all. The idea that my entire perception of existence is just a factor of the mind and nothing more is fascinating.

>>22386060
the sense of self is a social and semiotic illusion that comes from always considering yourself from the perspective of others, as others perceive you as a unified entity due to the outward appearance of your body. since the purpose of language was originally to communicate, using language straightjackets you into having a sense of self because it only makes sense in a social context where other people perceive you as a unity. in actuality there is no sense of self. there is merely an idea of yourself which you mistake as a sense of self. consciousness is not that deep once you step back and analyze what it actually is after breaking down your social constructs and illusions. not only is non-consciousness not nothingness since experience precedes consciousness, but non-consciousness isn't really that different from consciousness. most people cannot learn this though because they are incapable of disconnected themselves from the concepts they have learned and use to interpret their experience. even if you experience how your experience really is, as soon as you think about you twist it and you can only have knowledge of your experience that can be forced to fit into a conceptual model that usually is just a rough approximation, since the thinking part of your brain is barely related to consciousness at all, though again most people will never discover this because they won't disconnect themselves from the schizophrenic imagined social context of their existence.

You ever realize just how unbelievably gay and childish "antiracism" is? What the fuck even is "racism" in the first place? Is it thinking other races are inferior, or is it just disliking other races? If I post "I hate Mexicans" anywhere online I get banned, even on many 4chan boards. But think about how unbelievably gay that is. Grown adults freaking out that some random person hates some random people. It's so childish and retarded I can't even believe it. Imagine seeing someone else go "dude I'm so sick of Vietnamese people after living around them for 2 years" and going NOOOOO STOP HIM FROM SAYING THAT

Future cultures are going to look at ours and call us retarded pussies.

>>22386099
>semiotic

I forgot I had cum all over me until my dog started sniffing my tummy

>>22386190
>tummy
why do people use this word? you only say this when you talk to toddlers.

>>22384671
https://youtu.be/eIYxg9Z5qQ8

>>22386059
Commit rape

I scoff at myself

>>22386059
>surplus person
No such thing

It feels like the more I read, the less I know. Makes me wonder how people (especially well-read) can have a stance/opinion on complicated topics. This shit is hard.

>>22386303
not having a stance is knowledge

>>22386306
Nah it's pussy shit

>>22386141
It's just as retarded and childish to hate Mexicans or whatever

>>22385515
How you doing man? You get the shakes or anything like that?

>>22386350
Have you ever lived around Mexicans?

>>22385627
Same. I hope we can make it through. Good luck man.

>>22384671
I'm a 28 year old virgin who has never heald a girl's hand and spends all of his time daydreaming about what it would be like if he was in a loving relationship, and also killing myself sometimes in my early 30s.

>>22386443
How many times have you been rejected?

i entertain thoughts of joining some branch of the armed forces. such work is not my calling, but perhaps i could tolerate it for a while. would it be a waste of time or a career setback, if my career could be set back any further than it already is? i don't know.

>>22386474
cont.

perhaps i only envy the comradship and sense of honor that so many service members seem to share, and which seems to be conspicuously absent from day-to-day life in america.

>>22384671
Some days I feel like a Catholic other days I feel like a crypto-Norse pagan.

I’ve been feeling especially lonely lately. Recently, I’ve had a few bigger social events due to family stuff. I do fine at those. My social skills are good enough. These events are fun for a while, but the longer they go on the more I start to feel totally exhausted and I want to go home and be by myself. It feels good to get home. I put my feet up and get high and play video games or whatever. But it’s not long and I’m feeling lonely again. When I’m alone, I long to be with others, but when I’m with others, I long to be alone. I guess I’m just an extreme introvert and I have a really low battery for socializing. It’s a frustrating way to live.

You lie there: Body inert, mind restless. Waiting for something. Numbing yourself with games and chit-chats, with booze and drugs and fast speed internet. With media and the things you bought or dream of buying. You scroll and scroll hoping that at some point a thing - anything - among the endless drought of content and apathy will give you an answer. A direction. The missing piece to your magnum opus. The one you chased for a lifetime thorough days that feel like years and years that pass like weeks. Never feeling right about yourself while looking for the wrong answers in the wrong places. Craving the alchemy that would aureate your life.
Would you even recognize it at this point?

I'm pretty suicidal. Like, I wish I could change my appearance and everything. I just wish I have a better family, a home where there's laughter and happiness but everytime I go home, it's just depressing. My mom hates my dad, at times, she refused to eat dinner when my dad is around. It made me sad. Why? They're my parents, they're supposed to be an example. My siblings are depressed, we're in fear. We haven't been playing games or having fun together for quite a while. We haven't have a vacation since 2019. My mom is severely depressed and starving herself because of her being jealous of her richer coworkers, she can't impress them with money so she impress them by being skinny. I'm losing friends because I am severely depressed too because of... many things.

I don't know how the human mind manage to survive this but it's pretty painful to witness foolishness around you. I wish I am somewhere, somewhere peaceful.

I had a dream about playing basketball, but embarrassingly I didn't have the right plugs inserted into my arms to allow me to dribble or shoot properly, and for some reason in this game you had to crawl like a worm up to the hoop before shooting. Then my sister gave me a handjob because the blood in my boner was about to burst after a shapeshifter teased me in the parking lot of a grocery store by offering sex while looking like a hot girl but showed its true form as a tall dark-skinned sunken faced androgynous humanoid.

i need to know what Jack White says on the song Consolers of the Lonely... is it "i'd double track that?" i'll never know because it's a mondegreen

>>22386641
I recommend you talk to a medical professional if you've attempted suicide before.
>I wish things could be different
Many people do, but it's rarely enough of a reason for them to be suicidal.
You're clearly able to make sense of what's happening to you and at least rationalize your negative mood, and you're clearly able to at least hypothesize the reason behind your parents' behavior, so why is this affecting you so much?
>we're in fear
In fear of what?
>how the human mind manages to survive
Life's good overall if you have the time and resources to post on 4channel, you're not dying as a result of something outside your control, you know for sure where you'll sleep tonight and you don't have any preoccupation regarding paying the bills.

>>22385156
Maybe you should work on some kind of group project if you like doing derivative work.

>>22385515
All things pass, bro.

>>22386042
>Nothing to do on my day off
Just step the fuck outside and start walking.

>>22386141
I was walking down the hallway at work and, coming up to a corner, we heard some dude shouting -
>ching choing ding doing la la la la la di la ding doing
The other dude with me commented that the person ahead of us needed to watch it or he'll get fired for making fun of the Vietnamese. As we rounded the corner, it was an actual Vietnamese dude sounding like a full blown exaggerated caricature of himself.

>>22386474
the army is divided into the higher ranks and the lower ranks. and i guarantee being a peon is not funny one bit and there is no honor. Ans this is even in societies based on military. In democracy, army people are managed by civil servants which means they are even more badly treated.

>>22386303
Abraham Lincoln said something like that.
>I used to know a little and could spin a lot. Now, it seems that I know too much and I cannot make out any patterns.

my biggest achievement in life is posting coinslot thread and drag it to archives

>>22386774
>don't have any preoccupation regarding paying the bills.
I'm supposed to pay the bills after my parents retire. My mom's retiring soon. I have a bit of worry considering my current salary is pretty low. Thanks for the reply tho. I feel better now, but I won't deny that it's hard times now.

>>22386350
>retarded and childish
Not any more so than disliking anything else with which one has bad experiences.

>>22386452
Yeah, it had better be a big number before I would take him seriously. Too many dudes have a feminine fear of rejection.

>>22384671
As an autistic person I feel society is like a raging storm out on the sea, composed of vacillating meaning, symbols and values. Everybody seem to have their own bubble thats allows them to follow the current seamlessly, while I spent all my effort trying to stay above waters lest I drown from the pressure. To stay alive I must be alone away from the never ending tempest of fluctuating subjectivity.

Also I learned the word arrogate last week, a nifty word I must say

>>22386914
The cultural order is supported by comfortable lies, possibly even necessary for its existence. While others navigate the lies seamlessly, you and I struggle with the discomfort of seeing lies go unaddressed. In earlier times, I think that we would have had the myths explained to us and we would have dealt with their existence. As it stands now, we are left to our own devices as children to figure everything out on our own.

I might be just stupid or at least my mind is full of chaos and im always tired as shit. Im getting neetbux but its the bare minimum. How the fugg can i make monies?

>>22385959
Fuckin highway pervert

There has been a weird, oily taste in my mouth since I got up. I wonder if it's ketosis but I haven't been hungry for that long.

>>22385652
What a crock of shit.

>>22386873
Ugly guys with natural charm can get girls, and average/handsome guys who lack charm will inevitably eventually get a few. Off-putting ugly guys are kind of screwed, barring a miracle.

>>22386350
I think a case for labor protection might counter the latter but the former is just an exercise in futility

>>22386389
100 dollars says he hasn’t

>>22386873
Not so fast, women have no clue about rejection so I’d think twice before calling it “feminine”. Females idea of rejection just means that Chad hasn’t noticed them.

>>22387030
I managed six or seven girls through sheer dumb luck despite being a bit off putting both physically and socially. I dunno how I did it.

I'm vain!

>>22386914
A lot of my written philosophy attempts to subjugate the lack of objectivity in morality by pointing towards mankind’s intuitive understanding that technology and progress has separated him from truth

>>22387035
>Females idea of rejection just means that Chad hasn’t noticed them
Which is exactly what you're betting anon's idea of rejection is

I can't stop myself from fantasizing about being part of the friend group from my favourite podcast. I don't know if you would describe this as parasocial behaviour or what but I can't stop, I'm always daydreaming about hanging out with them and joking around with them and playing games with them and shit. I'm seriously fucked in the head, this is the first time I've ever had thoughts like this about anything, how do I stop? Recognizing that I'll never be part of the friend group isn't enough.

>>22387038
You’re probably more physically attractive than you think. Consider the actually ugly guys you know. I feel the urge to call myself ugly and off-putting too (I am posting here after all) but girls have asked me out and the proof is in the pudding I suppose

>>22387062
Stop listening to the podcast. Every time you feel like grabbing your phone, just don’t. Do a weekly tech cleanse. Your brain will bombard you with reasons to grab the phone for the first two days. Resist it.

>>22387066
I have a handlebar moustache and am norwooding a bit. Ofc I’m 41 but I can’t understand how I managed a decent chunk of females. I’m also short too, which confounds me further.

>>22387081
Technology isn't the issue, I think the issue is not having any friends and the guys on the podcast being cool people that I want to be around.

>>22387050
>A lot of my written philosophy attempts to subjugate the lack of objectivity in morality by pointing towards mankind’s intuitive understanding that technology and progress has separated him from truth
Care to share some? Sounds like an interesting read

>>22387097
Your brain is doing the thing your mother used do
>we have friends at home
>friends at home cannot reciprocate
You need to stop feeding it pseudofriendship from the parasocial relationship to get realistic about the irl friendships you could be having. Anon's tech cleanse isn't a bad idea but you also need forced proximity. Time to sign up to a class or hobby group until your brain forces you to like them instead.

>>22387198
>Time to sign up to a class or hobby group
Too bad I have no interests.

>>22387047
What are you wearing today then?

Out of the blue I thought about the first girl I liked. She liked me to but I was too naive to know what to do at the time. I googled her around 2018 or so. There wasn't much. She was studying oceanography. That sounded nice, better than the shit I graduated in.
There was also one photo of her. I can't remeber it after all this time, but I recall finding her pretty, standing on that empty beach smiling by herself. She seemed happy.
[Spoiler]last time I heard about her she had said she wished that I was dead to a guy we both knew[/spoiler]

>>22386474
I’ve also been considering trying to get an Army commission. Obviously, there are a lot of problems with the military these days, but really no more or less than any other very large bureaucracy and I still have the impression that an Army officer can still have an impressive and admirable career to a point. I’m basically torn between it and staying in academia and going to law school and I’m having a really hard time deciding.

>>22386350
what business is it of yours who people hate? why do you want companies and governments enforcing something as nebulous as "b-be nice!!"

>>22387062
You either need to quit or re-train your brain and think about the real reason you listen to these people. When I listened to podcasts I focused on what kind of information I could gain from them. I never felt a “parasocial” attachment to the speakers, even if they were good friends. I was selective and only listened to interviews where I was interested in the guest speaker, or listened to single-host podcasts. It helps if you only have a set time where you listen to podcasts, so if you don’t commute to work don’t listen to them all day.

>>22387508
>torn between it and staying in academia and going to law school and I’m having a really hard time deciding.
Well if you're in the US and you join the military they'll pay for your schooling so you can do both. I don't know if that only applies to someone that hasn't started school yet or not, I don't know if they'll cover the costs of your already started major.

>>22387565
>think about the real reason you listen to these people.
I listen to them because I think they're entertaining, the fantasy of being part of their friend group is just a bonus. They only release one episode a week so it's not like I'm constantly bombarded with their content or anything like that.

>>22387566
Joining the military is such terrible advice bro

I'm nostalgic for a past that wasn't even that good. Maybe it's because as an adult I see the dozens of opportunities that were right in front of me and I was too naive/inexperienced to recognize. It's hard not to resent your family when you understand how much they crippled you during your most vulnerable years.

>>22387260
I don't believe you

>>22386474
Joining the military will essentially be like putting your life on hold for 4 years. Unless you work in a handful of related career fields you likely won't gain any experience you could apply towards your current career other than general leadership and management experience.
As an enlisted service member you will literally do manual labor and clean toilets and shit in addition to your regular duties. If you have a degree you might resent being told what to do by a 22 year old with a GED or having to live in the barracks with an 18 year old private as a roommate.
As an officer you'll find yourself playing office politics with 23 year olds with little career experience, crusty amd bitter Majors who will throw you under the bus without an ounce or guilt if it means they can get a top block evaluation, and your own gaggle of NCOs and soldiers you'll alternatively supervise and tard-wrangle. You'll come out of it with at least a decent shot at getting an MBA or something but you'll also experience very stressful work with relationship-straining hours for much of your time in.
If you're looking to change career fields, get college paid for, get a security clearance, or get a vested federal retirement after 20 years the military might be a decent choice, but know what you're getting into and don't go in expecting some Call of Duty experience of camaraderie and grit under fire with a platoon of steely-eyed Men or whatever. That shit doesn't exist for the vast majority of service members and chasing it will only lead you to make emotionally-driven decisions about your future.
t. Army infantry NCO

>>22387655
While I agree in general, I don’t think that’s true if your ultimate goal is something like a government or political job. Any large public or semi-public job views veterans more favorably than non-veterans.

>>22387655
Can you go to graduate school while you’re an active duty officer? I have a bachelor’s degree and a university job with a pension. I wouldn’t mind taking a break to challenge myself in the army a bit while also securing a second pension, but I’m also considering a graduate degree.

>>22387566
I don’t know how that works though. I am 30 and a military obligation is 4-5 years minimum. If I can’t go to school until after completing my obligation, that would put me at 35 starting a graduate degree, which is undesirable simply because that’s not where I want to be at 35. I’m aware that some officers get to pursue graduate degrees while they’re on duty, but I have no idea how that works. As for law degrees, I don’t even know if that’s possible. Online and part-time law degrees aren’t really a thing as far as I can tell. So I don’t know what to do.

>>22387675
Join the reserves or National Guard or something. You only show up to base once a month.

>>22387623
I'm not advocating for it by any means, I also think it's retarded, I'm just tryna help him weigh out his options cause he seems to be having trouble deciding.

>>22387655
You literally get free fed jobs if you're a 'veteran' and you get free college and healthcare for life. You sign up to be an indentured mercenary but don't pretend you dong get anything out of it. You get a job at the EPA in data analysis or IT and make 100-160k a year. And you cut to yhe front of the line and are treated with kid gloves in the hiring process.

>>22387653
Why not?

>>22387623
It really isn't. If your iq is high on the asvab you will get a good job and then free college and a fed job after.

>>22387708
Are you speaking from personal experience?

>>22387677
I could do that, but I’m really looking for a bigger life change for a while. I’m very bored with my full-time life.

>>22386873
Where do I meet women to even have the opportunity to be rejected?

>>22387659
Sure, as long as you think it's worth going through to reach that. Your mileage may vary heavily depending on your unit.
>>22387664
Actuve duty I've heard of a couple cases of officers going to school while AD but afaik they incurred an additional service obligation for it. You can use TA and do online school with some places thaf offer graduate programs, though whether those schools and programs meet your needs I can't say. There's also ILE and the Army War College for certain ranks but those aren't really Master's programs in the proper sense. Honestly you might get a better answer on >plebbit's army board or by asking a real recruiter, I know relatively little about officer stuff and graduate school.
NG or reserves should be able to no problem, just know that the "one weekend a month/two weeks a summer" thing is bullshit and some states/units will work you as close to the bone as they can get away with, especially those with the border mission.
>>22387695
Sure, though said free healthcare is 1) only for retirees and those with more than a 30% disability rating and 2) ran by the VA.

>>22387739
Thanks. I asked /meg/ on /k/ but they are basically useless. I’m not opposed to doing a graduate degree in something like Penn State’s World Campus, but they have no degrees I think are worthwhile and I can always just do that anywhere without joining the Army. I don’t think I’m interested in going reserves at this point, but I appreciate the warning.

>>22387738
In all seriousness, Barnes and Noble. Every time I go there I end up talking to a younger women.

>>22384671
A while ago while reading the dao de jing I realized that I could just be happy if I wanted to by giving everything up. So I had an experience of bliss, but while in that I decided I would rather suffer than give up my goals, so I ended it. But ever since then I’ve just intuitively known that I can be happy if I want, and now it’s like I’ve retained that ability but forgotten the part where you have to give up your goals and now I can just choose to feel good at any time. I don’t know why other people don’t have this ability and laugh whenever someone says “just be happy”. Probably my extreme loneliness basically meant I didn’t participate any real reality outside my head and that allowed me to realize that it was all in my head.

>>22387702
Everyone has interests. What do you do with your time, just sit around staring at a wall?

My family is very dysfunctional and makes me miserable. I want to largely remove them from my life, but this makes me feel incredibly guilty because I know they’re ultimately well-meaning. I don’t want to hurt them.

I have a lot of resentment towards my father. I’ve tried to get over it, but all I’ve done is have my expectations lowered. I’ve spent a lot of time with him over the last few years and even lived with him on and off, but I no longer know if I want any relationship with him or if I want my children to have any relationship with him.

>>22384699
apparently most writers who even publish 'successful' books also have a day job. don't look at it as a career because that's like the top 1%. just do it for fun and maybe make a few dollars. its like being a musician and doing a few shows but expecting to become a famous celebrity.

>>22387842
What did he do?

>>22387838
Dysfunctional how?

>>22387871
That’s the thing. He never really did anything. He never talked to me or showed me anything as a kid unless it was a sport he had an interest in and even confessed to my mother one time that he didn’t feel a particularly strong affinity for me like he did my brother. They divorced when I was 14 and I basically didn’t see him again until I was 24. In that time, we really struggled, and I really struggled. At 24, some deaths in the family pushed us to kind of “get over it” and just reconnect, but he’s never shown any remorse for that time, and apparently doesn’t even think he was at fault in anyway. Getting to know my father as an adult has also revealed to me that he’s basically a selfish, self-interested person and sometimes I suspect he actually wants his kids to fail so he can feel superior to them. He barely knows me, but talks to me like he knows everything about me. I’ve come to discover a lot of things I don’t like about him, but at the same time I want my siblings, my kids, my nephews to have some sort of relationship with him (I had none with any male adult, not father, not grandfather, nobody) so I feel like I have to have one too.

>>22387833
I do shit to pass the time but I don't particularly care about any of it. Nothing drives me, I'm not passionate about anything, I've only got two goals in life and neither has anything to do with interests.

>be me
>be wannabe aus writer
>start looking up writing contests online
>want to start small
>find a few $200-$500 ones
>okletsdoit.jgp
>working on those
>find contest for aus only
>called 'best Australian yarn'
>prize is $50k, what the fuck
>1 month before deadline
>think theme is Australian yarns, aka tall tales a grandfather would tell the kids or men would tell each other at the bar
>excited as I have an interest in australiana and have several books of traditional yarns
>start thinking up some yarns, plan to write 3-5 and choose best
>finally read entries from last year. none of them are yarns
>just random ass stories
>totally defeated as theme isn't at all what wanted to write.
>decided to try anyway because $50k is a lot of money (30k USD)
>last years entries arent super professional so think i might have a chance
>fast forward one week of story brainstorming
>entirely random severe health issue sets in. unable to get out of bed or think clearly. unable to write. in hospital for a bit. worst health crisis of my life.
>finally feel alright. 3 days before deadline. still sick but can think for once
>write the first part.
>friend asks to check it out
>put in pastebin to send.
>forgot to sign in
>post is public and cant be deleted
>contest rules say no form of the story is to be posted online in any capacity
>have to rewrite entire beginning because Im scared of plagiarism checker picking it up
>write for abut 6 hours total over 2 days. 'family friendly' story id never write ever but tried anyway.
>submitted right before entry
>couple friends like it even though its not my usual genre
>has a decent, relatable story the average Australian could read. has aussie references. has enough poetic phrases without being overly obnoxious
>suitable for newspaper publication which is the contest goal
>winners will be listed in November
>trying to forget about it unless i get an email but still think about it
>forcing myself to write even when sick built my confidence
>looking for more contests to join because it was a good challenge
>glad i did it even if i dont win
>(still want to win, will update in November if i hit top 50. there were 5500 entries. pray for me)

>>22387950
This reminded me that I really got send out a few submissions this month or next if I want to get them published this year. Thanks.

>>22387950
>>22387956
Where do you guys even fijd places to send your writing?>

>>22387774
I tried creeping around bookstores to no success. Women can sense when a man is on the hunt. Wish we could go back to the caveman days where I could just club a qt over the head and drag her by the hair back to my cave. But instead I have to make "small talk" and get scolded for "staring at my boobs"

>>22387989
Just google "writing competitions (your country)"

>>22387950
Anon, I can't tell, are you Australian or not? I'm Australian and I'd be interested in reading your shit if you'd ever care to post it in /wg/ after the results get sent out in November.

>>22387992
>Women can sense when a man is on the hunt.
This really does suck, it's impossible to approach a chick because she'll be able to tell if you're talking to her to try to get in her pants or if you're just trying to be friendly and she'll always base her responses off what you're attempting to do.

>>22387956
godspeed anon

>>22387989
google helps just be sure to find out if the contest holders seem legit and the terms of service are legit. for basic short stuff

>>22388002
not aus but I live here. i might try to post in/wg/ sometime when i get more done but im also worried because it would have to be something i wouldnt want to eventually submit to something or put on my writing sample website. maybe i can write stuff just for /wg/ idk im new to this board and just came here to complain.

>>22388099
oh i forgot to finish my second reply. reedsy has a lot of contests listed as well as weekly themes and a lot seem open to international writers

Somethinf thaf annoys me about this work project is that I'm left on the job with no instruction or direction. I literally have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing and rhe boss woont answer my calls

>>22388012
then don't approach them

>>22388105
Maybe you need to go Downtown. Its likely all downtown. Just like the song says

>>22387950
Are you an abo or non anglo australian, a woman maybe or some other bipoc, a homosexual? Are you a straight white male? If yes then you are not going to win anything

>>22388012
how about you dont try to approach a woman when shes out and about mindng her own business. go to a singles meetup or a place where people are open to meeting others. most people don't want anyone to approach them for any reason who is a stranger.

>>22388124
winner of contest last year was a white guy and a lot of the top 10 were as well. they say the entries are blind and I doubt it but the winners being mostly white men makes it seem true.
i did just write in another thread though that there's 17 agents in aus and none of them are ever open except if you're disabled or abbo

>>22387989
University and local (city) publications mostly.

>>22387992
Well, don’t creep. You just go to the book store often, take your time, and if you see an attractive girl, make a comment about what she’s looking at or reading and turn that into a conversation. Girls basically dream about attractive men doing this. If you’re unattractive, it obviously won’t work.

>>22388105
Then don’t do anything. Honestly, showing initiative nowadays is a surefire way to get promoted to middle management but never any higher. Just do what you’re told directly and only what you’re told directly, nothing more.

>>22388126
To attend such an event a man has to be attractive/handsome, tall, well off and with good personality, funny, friends with other successful people, have a following and be active on socia media. Most 4chan people wouldn't even be allowed near the entrance to the premises.

>>22388152
if you cant attend that kind of event what makes you think you can make an instant impression on a stranger who isn't even open to meeting someone. retard behaviour. not tall, or handsome yet believe you could dazzle a woman within seconds just by being in a book store and making some dumb comment about the random book shes reading.
there are tons of event type meetups for various hobbies on sites so you'd be better off going there. they arent specifically for singles but you could meet a man or woman who may introduce you to a friend. and if you cant get a friend in the first place you'll never get more than that unless you pay.

>>22388126
Do you mean like people have done for all of human history everywhere? Yeah, how fucked up to do that?

There’s something wrong with you freaks honestly.

>>22388126
>how about you dont try to approach a woman when shes out and about mindng her own business
That same broad would have likely no compunction against approaching me when I am minding my own business if she wanted something from me. Limiting himself to ''singles meetups'' is massively limiting his options for interaction. I can see the subtle nuance in your text.
>how about
>you don't try to
>she's minding her own business
All of this adds up to you implying that his approaching broads is some kind of nefarious activity. Would you feel the same way about the situation being inverted?
>how about she doesn't try to approach me when I'm out and about minding my own business
Broads have no right to privacy in public any more than I do.

>>22388206
Strawman.

>>22388229
i can almost entirely bet no one on this board is attractive enough to instantly dazzle a woman in a random encounter. there may be a few but certainly not someone whining about it here. if you're too ugly for a singles meetup you will never instantly impress a woman in public who doesn't even likely want to be approached while shes out shopping. its not a strawman to say a man complaining he's too ugly to get into a singles meetup is too ugly to meet a random

>>22388206
>if you cant attend that kind of event
>what makes you think you can make an instant impression on a stranger who isn't even open to meeting someone
I don't talk to females.

>>22388211
ive never met someone that has had success approaching a stranger outside of an environment like work or school where they see each other around or have a common goal that isn't just being in the same store. a lot of people also end up meeting through friends or other common hobby interests that regularly are in the same place. 'people' may be able to cold call but like i said in the other post no one here could so you might as well get a hobby you can do irl and meet people

>>22388241
Strawman.
captcha is ''YRNGR''

>>22388285
if you think im missing the point feel free to explain. i might be reading things wrong so ill admit that

>>22388257
I just did it last week.

>>22388306
define success then because we sure have different ideas what that means

>>22388206
The hard truth is that traditional family and social life has totally collapsed in the West, and dating has fallen to animalistic lust. The single best thing you can do as a men to get a date is to present yourself as attractively as possible. You have to keep in mind that these girls have been brainwashed by decades of pop stars, girls magazines, and social media. It’s just the reality. If you’re fat, ugly, and/or awkward, you have to try to fix that.

>>22388257
I know a man like that. He is genuinely handsome, good manly face with 10/10 smile, his character is also daring and funny. I know it happens because I am friends with this guy, I have seen it happen personally, good looking women randomly starting conversation with him at a fucking supermarket, asking him out. while fat roasties openly stare from distance knowing they have 0 chances with the guy.

>>22388314
I met a girl at a book store last week and we have a date scheduled for Friday.

>>22388326
you should give the other anon some tips. is that your usual hunting ground? how would you rate your looks and what was the situation

>>22388317
partially true. 'traditional family' was only ever a thing that existed in advertisements or was for very, very few families. poor people never had that and now everyone is poor cause the economy is shit. you wont get a stay at home wife because shes too busy working 40hr a week so you can buy a shitty house and then drive 45 mins to work, unless you're upper middle class.

people always have high standards for a partner but never try to reflect on what said quality partner would want. and if they're looking for a type of partner who would never like them, they need to improve or lower their standards. look around, ugly people get married all the time. meth addicts get married all the time. anyone can get a relationship if they drop their standard low enough. and that's what you have to do if you're not willing to improve

Test

>>22388299
Yeah, you jumped way ahead from basic interaction to amorous liaison. There is a wide breadth here for him to explore before he makes that jump.

>>22388377
Were you naughty?

>>22388384
op directly complained about making small talk. he will never tolerate basic interaction long enough to make that jump. self reported autism

Is a society with no reading possible? With artificial intelligence cheap and available in everyone's pockets people could easily just tell their phones to record and convert to text then edit and read back making written word pointless

>>22388417
>he will never
Maybe. Maybe not. If he has any skills then he can literally just be present and broads will approach him for help with whatever their problems are. Hiding in his basement will definitely not do the trick. I hold out no great hope for him but the chance is there if he is willing to do the work. He will probably give up, but that is up to him and cannot be predicted with any real certainty from what we know. A hardon is a very powerful driving force and can overcome a lot of adversity.

>>22388438
Bro needs an AI driven translator that he can feed his autistic stuttering into that will output irresistably seductive come on lines.

>>22388444
>approachhim for help for problems
>guy creeping in bookstore, not employee

this goes back to the woman's purpose of being there. why would she ask a random man for help with a 'skill' in this case I guess relating to books because its a book store, if he doesn't work there. im not saying he should hide in the basement im saying he needs to go to places where people go to socialise on purpose. how can one even display skill in a book store so someone would know to approach? i guess a woman could ask for help getting something high up but id imagine most people would choose staff first. some people approach strangers but id say most wouldnt.

anon doesn't have to hide in his basement he needs to accept small talk is a fundamental part of getting to know someone in most interactions.

in a socialisation/hobby setting one could clearly display some sort of skill or knowledge by participating in said hobby. you cant do that in a store unless its a very rare situation, maybe he's holding a book by an author she wants to read. but that's not a realistic way to go about things.

>>22388438
I will never fucking talk to my phone

>anon complains he's single
>"umm sweaty just ask girls out"
>anon asks where to meet women
>"lol, dont, that's creepy"
Why are women like this bros

>>22388391
I was a bad boy ;)

>>22388490
roastie mind cannot comprehend logic

>>22388490
Standing around a bookstore trying to pick up chicks is creepy you fucking sperg. Go to a bar like a normal person

>>22388513
I don't drink

>>22388513
bar is cringe. if anon fails with women 1vs1 he will fail harder because women go to bars in groups. and any woman drinking alone at a bar is a roastie

Sometimes you’re up
Sometimes you’re down
Oh well

>>22388534
>woman drinking alone at a bar
Never seen it in my life

>>22388513
I'm not looking to hook up with an alcoholic girl

>>22388332
No. I just happened to be at the book store. Looks, I don’t know. I don’t particularly like the way I look for a bunch of reasons but I’m 6’ feet tall and pretty stereotypically masculine looking.

>>22388343
That’s such bullshit. This idea that a family is a manufactured prop made up by capitalists is progressive revisionist history.

>>22388343
>no one was ever happy before, families never existed, the eternal present is the norm

>>22388591
FAMILY is real. the 'trad' stay at home wife cleaning and cooking homemade meals was fake handmade to sell vacuums and boxed cake mix so women could pretend they had the skill to cook. there is no trad family and even historically a lot of the time women worked especially if they were poor.

>>22388596
you going directly from 'trad family isn't real' to 'the concept of family isn't real' shows you've taken the cake mix sales campaign bait pill

>>22388513
You freaks still don’t get it. You don’t go to book stores or bars just to pick up chicks. You just go to book stores, and grocery stores, and public parks, and all sorts of other places and just live your life. And when you’re taking your time in the book store, or a park, or anywhere else and you see another human being that you can have a connection with, you reach out and establish the connection. That’s it. It’s that simple. You’re not prowling around for a pickup, you’re not loitering waiting for a hot chick to come in. You’re just living a life and when you can talk to another human being, you do it. You have to approach it from this mindset of just living life and allowing a brief connection with a human being, to ask them questions about themselves and their life, and even ask them for help, and if it’s a less than bad connection you take the risk to ask them on a date. If you’re attractive and well-spoken and they’re available, this will work.

>>22388598
That was real as well in the sense that it was the norm at that time, just like other things were the norm at other times. You’ve just accepted bullshit propaganda from progressives. If what you’re saying is true, then nothing we do in modern day is real or true.

>>22388611
>If you’re attractive and well-spoken

>>22388616
Believing this is like believing every millennial lives in a spacious grey and white open floor plan house because that's how it is in the movies

>>22388469
>if he doesn't work there
Projection. Broads are constantly asking for help with shit from strangers. Just because you do not do it does not mean that they do not.
>he needs to go to places where people go to socialise on purpose
No. This tips the hand. They automatically know for sure what you want in these situations and the dynamic is badly skewed in the broads favor.
>how can one even display skill in a book store so someone would know to approach?
Be present. The act of not being present puts you at a 0 percent chance of success. I am promising .01 percent chance, and that is all he needs.
>he needs to accept small talk is a fundamental part of getting to know someone in most interactions
Bingo.
>in a socialisation/hobby setting one could clearly display some sort of skill or knowledge by participating in said hobby
Yes, but again, this is much like the singles club. The dude/broad ratio is probably going to be skewed.
>you cant do that in a store unless its a very rare situation
Every dog has his day.
>maybe he's holding a book by an author she wants to read. but that's not a realistic way to go about things
Posing is for broads.

>>22388499
And if they could, they would not care.

>>22388628
still wrong

>>22388611
is the only nuaced, good take.

>>22388513
>Standing around a bookstore trying to pick up chicks is creepy you fucking sperg
How about broads that pick up dudes at the bookstore? Will you judge them the same way?
>Go to a bar like a normal person
Bars are only good for one thing - getting in fights. Otherwise, I avoid them at all costs.

>>22386282
Sure there is. If I'm too autistic and ugly to form solid relationships with people and don't really contribute to anything substantial in any other way then there's not really a good reason for me to be here.

>>22388606
>mothers and fathers NEVER raised their children together, that's a capitalist fantasy invented by cake mix corporations

>>22388611
This is the most retarded thing I've ever heard. And no, these spontaneous meetings still don't happen because women are retarded.

>>22388617
Don't worry anon, we're all gonna make it. Probably.

>>22388667
yeah youre right. enjoy your discord tranny because that's all you're going to get when you only go to places to hit on women and don't socialise in any way that would allow you to meet women irl I a casual setting

>>22388678
You still don't get it. I do have an active social life and I go out often. Women are neurotic and skittish and only permit mingling in controlled and curated environments which exclude 80 percent of men. No women ever magically pops into my life as I'm out with friends

>>22388686
>No women ever magically pops into my life as I'm out with friends
Your looks just aren't good enough for that to happen

>>22388343
trad families are real but the ones that still exist are pre-modern and/or non-white so westerners shudder to think about them. atomized westerners in particular cannot fathom multi-generational families where you must follow the matriarch or paterfamilias unconditionally.

>>22388686
if you think all women are neurotic why would you even tolerate a gf. if its just for sex then hire someone

and if you don't have enough friends who know literally any single woman to introduce you to, then you don't have that many friends or they don't like you enough to introduce you

>>22388715
makes sense. i bet india has tons of families with arranged marriages where there's a stay at home mom but anons would have to be directly approved by the family and then controlled by said family forever.

a single income home is just not a reality and wont be for a long time.

>>22388717
Most young men are single. The sexes have bifurcated socially and culturally. You're obviously insulated from real life.

>>22388717
>If you think all women are neurotic why would you even tolerate a gf. if its just for sex then hire someone
Nta, men tolerate their gfs because they have high tolerances for all kinds of bullshit when they are young, that changes when men get older or just live with their gf together for a year or two. Their biggest mistake is of course marriage, thinking that marriage will somehow improve their lives and all bs will disappear because they saw parents/grandparents living in marriage is the most dumb and retarded way of thinking ever

>>22388739
this implies younger men arent also retards. that's why women date older. Young men arent 'tolerating' neurotic behaviour, they're taking what they can get.

>>22388724

I'm pretty sure the opposite sex has just bifurcated itself from you.

>>22388724
if you meet enough people you will meet a single female or meet someone who knows one. a friend recommendation is 1000% stronger than a random encounter. even hitting on someone in an area you see them regularly would have a way higher chance than someone encountered once in a store.

>>22388753
>Young men arent 'tolerating' neurotic behaviour, they're taking what they can get.
that's still tolerating it, they take what they can get and all bs that comes with retarded roastie they tolerate because they have no other option (other than to split up)

>>22388775
Are you speaking from experience? Are you single?

>>22388775
I don't have friends

>>22388797
if you arent capable of holding a platonic friendship you wont have the emotional ability to nagivate a romantic one

>>22384699
Mind sharing your work?

>>22385515
>haven’t had a drink in 4 days.
I will soon be unable to drink for 4 months with recent meds I will be on. Gl anon, I’ll be suffering with ya

>>22388813
I am capable just have no desire to do any of that

>>22385515
>>22388820
Stopped drinking in 2009

>>22388828
think about your ideal woman. describe her. write in in detail. and let anons honestly tell you if they think that kind of woman would be interested in a man with no ability to hold a platonic relationship

>>22387062
Describe what you are doing without using the term parasocial. You could just as easily be pathologizing harmless behavior. For instance, if these podcasts make you laugh when otherwise you'd go the whole day without laughing, it can have a net positive impact on your wellbeing.
I'm pretty confident the people warning about parasocial behavior are hypochondriacs and pathologizing relatively benign activity.

>>22388840
I don't need anons to tell me the obvious,
however understand that when I put my ideal woman in an underground cell, her preferences in men are going to be irrelevant.

>>22388641
If you would read my posts with a more careful eye, then you would see that he and I propose nearly the same thing - yet, you agree with one of us and disagree with the other.

>>22388660
You are not required to remain in that state. That is your choice.

>>22388717
>if you think all women are neurotic why would you even tolerate a gf. if its just for sex then hire someone
You are not my supervisor and I will not surrender to your defeatism because of a natural state to the specie.

>>22388871
anon 1
>wait in a bookstore maybe some woman who happens to see you will not only ask for help but be single

anon 2
>go about your normal life while being open to encounters. when you meet a lot of people you'll end up meeting single woman in an authentic way.

>>22388879
yes, ugly by choice, poor by choice, short by choice.
Just don't be ugly/poor/short and you will easily find a woman

>>22388910
false. ugly poors who are short get married all the time.. to women who are within their league. lower your standard to what you can actually get and if you're ugly and poor and short but think you're above ugly and poor and fat women then you're deluding yourself. identify what you actually have to offer and if it isn't much then you can either change that or accept your fat ugly wife. even hideous people end up with partners when they can accept other ugly people

>>22388922
That's all fine but if a man is ugly/poor/short, that's not by choice.
I am 6'1 and have 10% body fat or less, I have a nice body but average or below average face yet only girls who give me any attention are fatties, I will never go out with a fat hambeast.

>>22388936
it is by choice that a man decides to see himself as ugly/poor/short - or to allow these adjectives to define who he is

>>22388936
only top tier retards with no personality really believe their only choice is fatties. even physically disabled men can get non fat wives.

either get a fat gf and use your gym knowledge to train her, or stop the cope. and if your 10% body fat isn't due to exercise or health choices then you're likely not attractively thin and it works against you.

if you have an ugly face and no personality or status you will never get a non ugly gf be it fat or not. face is hugely important because that's where you look when speaking so if you don't have that, 10% doesn't matter nor does height and yuo need to start building something interesting enough about yourself to offer a partner vs just expecting her to go off looks alone

>>22388908
>go outside, be around people, and be open to social exposure
Basically the same

>>22389026

>go to a place for the sole purpose of meeting a woman

>go where you normally would and see who you meet along the way

>>22389008
>if you have an ugly face and no personality or status you will never get a non ugly gf be it fat or not. face is hugely important because that's where you look when speaking so if you don't have that, 10% doesn't matter nor does height and yuo need to start building something interesting enough about yourself to offer a partner vs just expecting her to go off looks alone
just like face matters to women so does body weight matter to men.

>>22388969
how I see or define myself is not important when looking for gf, how others see me is what matters.

>>22388908
>Wait
>CTRL+F ''wait''
>3 hits
>none of them mine
Strawman. Once you remove the added ''wait'', they become essentially the same.

I watched two horror movies. One was pretty good and the other one was trash.
The good one was called The Dark Tapes. It was interesting and worth checking out.
The other one was called The Parish. It was so boring and gay. Literally nothing scary even happened. It was just some ugly woman drinking wine and having nightmares about her dead husband and they weren't even scary nightmares. It was just his face with burn marks and dirt on it. It was so gay and stupid and also the cinematography was ugly and the woman was ugly and the music was bland, generic """creepy""" violin and piano music. The whole thing was like if a soulless NPC tried to make a horror movie.

>>22389062
>watching movies
>in 2023
nvgm

>>22389042
>sole purpose
The strawman is strong with this one. No one said that but you.

>>22389062
>says nothing substantial about the movie he liked
>writes a whole paragraph about the one he hates
Adjust your priorities

>>22389059
youre encouraging op to wait in bookstores by saying things about how women might ask him for help. he goes there directly to wait and you're giving him reason to think it will work.

>>22389084
>youre encouraging op to wait in bookstores by saying
I may have originally allowed that permutation, but further clarification has abundantly revealed that that was not my intent.

>>22389083

>>22387655

it doesn't seem like there's much in the way of engineering/science, which is what i had in mind, otherwise i would be considering it more seriously. i imagine nearly all of that work is done by contractors, which is unfortunate.

>>22389139
>it doesn't seem like there's much in the way of engineering/science
Who do you think runs their nuclear reactors?

Everyone has a religion. Whether they are aware of it or not, they acknowledge it or not, everyone has a religion: A system of beliefs that shapes how they see the world. This can be highly-organized and tightly-structured (see big world religions) or poorly-organized and lightly-structured (broad, nebulous, inconsistent even contradictory beliefs about various things, the default of most). But the word belief is key here.

Because not every goes through some rigorous, logical examination of why they belief this or that. They simple believe, based on their experiences in the world. If every person they ever meet with a red hat acts like a jerk, they may have a belief that red hats are always jerks, or that wearing a red hat causes one to be a jerk. It doesn't have to make sense for a belief to exist, because oftentimes people belief unconsciously, it just is.

And this leads to an interesting dichotomy. Is one's beliefs rooted in the world, i.e. the material world, the world that they can see or touch, or is it rooted in the immaterial, a world beyond them? How does one see the immaterial? Can one imagine an object, just from witnessing it's shadow? Can one see a reflection, without the thing being reflected? These things shape people's beliefs, because a belief in just the world is just that: A cold, material place, full of material people, and nothing more. When one passes away, they are gone, a shell, no more.

But if one believes that there is more to this, that when one passes away, their body may have left materially, but not their soul, then they believe in the immaterial. This is one example. This is why everyone has a religion, whether they acknowledge it or not, because this is the lens by which they see the world: They either see a dead man's body, or just another start of that same man's journey to somewhere else, to be at peace.

Everyone has a religion, and that is the question if one is lost (broad, nebulous, inconsistent even contradictory beliefs about various things, the default of most), or if one has found truth in the world from what little time they're given.

>>22389122
ok thats fine. im not above misreading and im not going to take the time to go back and review the chain of comments just to continue arguing if i was right so ill take the L

>>22389158

some technician. i get the impression that everyone is either tooling on some war machine or involved in one or another form of management.

>>22389166
>some technician. i get the impression that everyone is either tooling on some war machine or involved in one or another form of management.
cont.

their requirements for the job of a "reactor engineer" are a bachelors in something technical and at least a C in calculus (hardly reassuring) so i doubt it involves very much actual research or engineering. i get the sense that the job title is more impressive than the work.

>>22389203
>i get the sense that the job title is more impressive than the work.
It is a legit reactor. They are not [for the most part] run by tards. The military is full of doctors, scientists, and engineers. It has been since way back. IIRC, Socrates went on the expedition with Cyrus.

I can’t move on. Don’t say that it’s over.

>>22389203
engineer can also mean someone who deals with the use of a machine,not just the creation so id say calling a tech who runs or cleans or works on it a reactor engineer even though they didn't design it seems fair.

>>22389213
>It is a legit reactor.

i'm sure it is. the boat wouldn't run without one.

>>22389224

yes, i know. but the job is essentially just operating and babysitting a piece of machinery.

>>22389232
...its still a reactor. its not like its the ice cream machine at Mcdonalds. and babysitting and operating something like that has a pretty bad result if it goes bad

>>22389226
Well, that's not my point. My point was more centered on the fact that the reactors are very much similar to civilian reactors. It's not some dumbed down version that is designed for tards to run. That might have been a reasonable assumption, though it would be false.

>>22389236
>...its still a reactor. its not like its the ice cream machine at Mcdonalds. and babysitting and operating something like that has a pretty bad result if it goes bad

same with driving a schoolbus, but i get what you are saying.

>>22389245
i know nothing about nuclear energy and made no such assumption.

>>22389236
It sounds like he is having trouble parsing research, development, prototyping, manufacturing, installation, and function. I think that he has a preference for one aspect and he has not thought through everything enough to identify which he wants.

>>22389042
Why are we acting like trying to meet women is some kind of existential evil?

>>22389255
Anyways, I worked in several aspects of electronics manufacturing for several years, so I have a general understanding of technical environments. Besides ''something technical'', what do you think that you want, or are you heavily undecided? There is a lot of overlap, whatever road you take.

i am unclear about exactly what is expected of me.

If I had to give some general advice to my younger self it would be “don’t make friends but feel free to use people as leverage to get what you desire” sort of Max Stirnerish but it’s nothing against humanity it’s just the last ten years or more has taught me most people only look out for themselves.

>>22389259
In all fairness, broads have defined it as such for men that they individually judge as being below their standard. A lot of dudes accept the paradigm as such and tailor their thought processes around this rule set. You can see it in the words that are chosen to describe, as well as in logical disconnects that must inherently follow. He has probably been browbeaten by friends, family, and associates to follow this unspoken ruleset and he takes it as a given that anyone operating outside of it needs to get corrected. If one falls within a broad's selection criteria, the ruleset no longer applies.

>>22389259
its not evil, its stupid because it has a low success rate and other options should be used. and if the other option of living a normal life where you interact with people irl is impossible, then they'll ever have luck attracting an entirely random woman because they likely have no social skills. some combo of both could probably be ok but saying you hate small talk and then trying to cold call a woman in a store is retard status

>>22389274
Being open about this is a huge first step. There are unspoken rules, many of which contradict what is openly expressed. Firstly, accept that men and women are different and that each must satisfy certain expectations, no matter how hard one wishes that the conditions were different.

>>22389281
if only retard 'broads' follow this rule set then whats to stop any man who disagrees from simply... finding women who don't accept that. there might be fewer to compete for but surely they'd be a better match than a random encounter status quo female

>>22389292

not helpful.

>>22389287
Okay so
>going into public with intent to talk to girls is bad
But
>just bee urself :) is good

>>22389159
Why call it a religion, then? Why not say that religions are a specific subset of these vague, unsystematic bundles of useful/compelling beliefs?

Also
>a belief in just the world is just that: A cold, material place, full of material people, and nothing more. When one passes away, they are gone, a shell, no more.
A big blue summer's day, a mysterious VHS documentary about an ancient civilization, the unnerving desolation of an empty train station platform, a rare glimpse of a friend's brave compassionate nature -- surely these are all material things, but it seems to me that their power precedes any system of beliefs, and it also seems to me that they don't lack for a human spark. Why do things have to be eternal to escape the cold? Why is eternity the measure of meaning? Surely what's materialist is to care about things as they actually are, as living things, before you and around you: to consider people and places and not the corpses and voids.

Ultimately, I think we shouldn't draw a harsh line that tries to divide (a) the world, cold, material, empty, meaningless and (b) beliefs, transcendent, personal, meaningful. You could equally say: it's all one big life process, and beliefs and ideas could be just as much thought of as organs like bee-wings and snail-feelers, or tools like cameras and chariots. They emerge from the vital, swampy, colourful muck of reality: they are part of its ongoing collective history, not an individual, mind-bound imposition on it.

>>22389287
>because it has a low success rate
This is inherent in the system. You just let this ride. Nobody cares about the thousand failures leading to a single success outside of the man in the ring.

>>22389298
specifically curating your activities to talk to entirely random women with no connection other than being in the same store is bad.

women can smell you're there only to pick them up. do things you would actually enjoy doing and say hi to people along the way but don't camp out somewhere. if you don't have any irl hobbies where you can meet people you'll never pull a woman anyway so you better get some unless you want a discord tranny

>>22389296
Well, coming to grips with the fact that there are rulesets needs to be helpful. It takes it from ''unknown unknowns'' into the realm of ''known unknowns''. If you think that I am being unhelpful then you are not in the right mindset to begin with. Known unknowns are problems that can be resolved one at a time with success on the horizon.

>>22389307
this goes along with my other post. there are things you can do to improve your success rate. if you want to waste your time for a chance it works then that's fine and no one is going to force you to stop. take your chance, waste your time, but don't bitch about it and expect people to not call you a retard. if you want someone to support your rare success delusion then talk to chatgpt instead of posting where people can disagree

>>22389299
agree. calling the world cold implies it is positive or negative toward you. it is entirely indifferent and not set out to cause failure. meaning is a personal choice and not an affront to reality

>>22389287
Being an ugly weirdo autist must be hell. Like just talk to a bitch and let her think shes worth a damn, protip simp shes not, and you will have her gagging on your dick and eating your ass.

>>22389294
>whats to stop any man who disagrees from simply
Nothing. Carpe diem. I only indicated that there are rulesets, not that they were not meant to be broken or sidestepped. The rulesets are better navigated when known, and better broken with full understanding of how most people will react to one's doing so.

>>22389322

yes, i understand what rules are.

>>22389313
>just be urself with no intent or action to meet people
>relationships spontaneously arise!
I'm sure you're single.

>>22389326
>your rare success delusion
It's not a delusion. No one in this thread is likely to have high success anywhere with broads.

I quit my job today. I'm fucked aren't I?

>>22389353
met a guy at a niche interest club. met a couple of his friends, one was female. became casual friends, eventually she was single. we had a pre established connection and mutual friends and interest, dating for 4 years now.

only targeting random women will be worse than meeting general people of mutual interest and in turn meeting their friends. that's not spontaneous, its a direct choice to engage with people of mutual interest. even if it doesn't lead to a gf it will likely lead to knowing people with shared interests anyway who you can see irl.

>>22389345
Well, now it is time to start identifying specific rules that create barriers to success. Next, one examines the dialectic to determine how the rule is best followed, broken, or sidestepped. Getting back to the beginning, you are expected to do something - to not just rot. Almost no one will respect that. Also, whose expectations are you trying to meet? Many will have conflicting expectations of you. Sometimes you need to keep things to yourself and only expose the things to someone that they expect from you.

>>22389365
Depends on your work experience. Even then getting some shit steady job like warehouse or security work is easy.

>>22389160
>ill take the L
No loss, just a misinterpretation of a permutation that should not have been allowed.

>>22389365
if you did it because you were standing up for yourself instead of being a cuck then its a positive step forward as long as you can find something better and not die in the meanwhile

>>22389379

this is hopelessly vague

Some girl is beta courting me hard what do I do, she calls me everyday.

>>22389299
>>22389337
ah but you see, that big blue summer's day, that VHS documentary, the empty train station, your friend -- these things independent of themselves are just that: a blue summer's day that to someone else, they pay it no mind. A VHS tape that another person would just ignore. A train station that's just a train station, and your friend no more a stranger than any random person you walk past in the street.

now you say that these things have power that precedes any system of beliefs, or that they have that human spark. But where does that spark come from? That power? What is its origin, in the same way that when one finds a river, they drink the water, they think it magnificent -- but if they follow the stream, from where does it all originate?

Why do things have to be eternal to escape the cold? Because most things aren't eternal. In another day that summer day will turn into a cold winter morning, that VHS tape will be lost to time, your friend will grow old, pass away, be no more. Eternity MUST be the measure of meaning, because how else can something compare fragility, mortality, entropy, to something divine, forever, unbreakable?

To see how dirty something is, you must see something clean. To understand, people must see contrast. To witness and appreciate death, one must see a woman give birth. If you say, it's all one big life process, and see it all under the umbrella of life, it begs the question: Who or what is holding this umbrella? From where did it all come from, and why?

Ignoring this is no more different than drinking from that stream of spark, of meaning, and then just stopping at that moment and drinking only from a little stream. It does not mean that the spark wasn't there, that the water isn't glorious, that there was no beauty. But there must an ocean ahead, if one only follows the river. And to witness such a thing must be the height of beauty, of sheer absoluteness in the magnificent.

>>22389431
You are fag for not fucking all her holes and ghosting her just so realizes she isnt worth shit even to a 4chan autismo.

>>22389446
I’m going to but I might feel a lil bad

>>22389431
Wish I could personally fgm her and murder you in the predawn hours <3

Imagine being a 6'10" autistic malaysian half caste and beating in a sex tourist britbong head in XD. Throwing his brain matter into the ocean and saying "pip pip ol chum" in your own beautiful filthy oriental pigeon english accent

>>22389379
>Also, whose expectations are you trying to meet?

my own, and those of the people around me. however, i only know what i expect of myself and what others make clear that they expect of me. likewise, i have my own expectations of others, which i feel are generally obvious. i can't go about guessing and foolishly attempting to satisfy those who refuse to make their expectations known, but clearly want something of me.

>>22388617
If you’re unattractive and not well-spoken, you can improve with effort.

>>22389405
Thanks Anon, that's actually the reason. I feel better now :)

>>22389538
>i can't go about guessing and foolishly attempting to satisfy those who refuse to make their expectations known, but clearly want something of me.

especially not when they consciously violate my expectations of them. if that's how they're going to be, then i'm at a loss. i can't hope to deal with someone like that.

Is anyone else radically disappointed with life? Sometimes I wonder if I would still feel this way if I had FU money.

I miss her so goddamn hard. Everyday I have to remind myself she's doing her own thing and doesn't give a shit about me. When I can't handle it anymore I send her a message. It's usually little things that are positive and have nothing to do with 'us'. It's about one message per three or four months. She isn't responding anytime soon and I know that but I still do it anyways.

I just miss her so hard. I don't understand why I'm so obsessed by someone who doesn't even exist anymore. The girl I loved is gone and the fact that another version of her is moving around in her body is killing me. Why does God put me through this? I've got the lesson down already. I wish I could bury the feelings forever and not have them come back every night.

>>22389576
Total Simp Death.

>>22389573
you would be even more radically disappointed when you realize money can't buy long-term happiness

I’m slowly losing my zoomer brother to digital heroin and retarded zoomer thinking. Even his face and body are showing it.

>>22389410
Examine your use case. Who are the subjects that need to be satisfied?

>>22389538
>and those of the people around me
This is where I am going. Who specifically is this?

>>22389570
Man, there is a chapter in Stealing the Network wherein the character ''Paul'' is introduced. Make sure to keep yourself in the narrator's perspective if you read it. This character has some of your issues. You might get perspective by seeing how someone outside of your position describes you to someone else also outside of your position. [two normalfags talking about you]

I've been enjoying learning that I'm actually good at multiple different things and have some weird untapped potential, but the problem is that I'm a deadbeat 27 year old with not much time left and can't focus on a single thing so end up choosing nothing. I feel like it's completely impossible for me to enjoy the actual process of anything

Man, I really fucked things up.

>>22389666

family, friends, acquaintances. who else?

>>22389697
>can't focus on a single thing
In the moment or day to day?

>>22389677

i don't own that book. perhaps you could give me the gist.

>>22389764
Yes, exactly that group. Narrow down to one for now. Each will have a combination of overlapping or contradicting expectations with the others in the group. Do not be surprised when someone gets angry that you made someone else happy. Try to keep things compartmentalized if you can.

>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt7xiu1-YHM
hard techno set for all the tradbois who retvrned to the farm

>>22389768
It sounds like a cop out answer, but honestly kind of both. I can't seem to get into a flow state and usually I end up either forgetting to do things, or just drop off within a week and cycle around other things. I thought it was a passion thing but I actually enjoy all of them. Though I'm not sure what a "true passion" is supposed to feel like anyway

>>22389774
One example was that he disassembled his father's computer, which made his father very angry. Then he reassembled the computer which made his father very happy. His father scolded him to never do it again and rewarded him with a computer from work. It was a conundrum for him. He would never have been rewarded with the computer of his own were he not to have done the thing that angered his father. He was only supposed to have a heap to play with because the password for the computer that he was given had been forgotten. People at the shop had wracked their brains trying to remember the password, but the child just fiddled his way through it. The locking feature was no more than a dialog box. All he had to do was click on the X for the dialog box and it went away. He made full use of the computer, only having to close the dialog box every time he booted it. This is realistic because things were like that in the early days of computing. There is a whole chapter dedicated to him and he continues through the book series to the very end. It's worth a read for spergs to see how others see them.

>>22389785

everything you're saying is obvious.

>>22389803
Literally make a list. Preferably something like a white board that is hard to miss when you walk by it. This will help with the day to day part. It may help with in the moment as well, if you refer back to it and realize that you quit something without finishing.

>>22389825

you've lost me. how is that relevant?

>>22389826
I was trying to get it nailed down to specifics. Sorry I am too retarded to help. good luck.

>>22389836
Because the conundrums are what cause the doubt that drive a lot of guys to go into lockdown for fear of offending/getting in trouble. Maybe it does not apply to your case.

>>22389850

that does not help either. i'm about at my wit's end.

>>22389870
cont.

i'm not particularly afraid of offending anyone, so i don't get the point of this allegory.

>>22389906
cont.

and i can go along to get along, to a point. it seems as though people aren't even willing to meet me half way.

How do you cope with not being who you want to be and it being too late to change?

>>22389750
How?

>>22389906
He was not afraid of offending. He was confused at being told not to do the thing for which he was rewarded, and he had no avenue to the reward without doing the thing that was prohibited.

>>22390011
You cope, seethe, and dilate just like Julius Caesar did at not having matched the accomplishments of Alexander. Then you move on and do whatever you can.

>>22390017

your point, if you have a point, is lost on me. i never receive rewards for doing the opposite of what others expect, least of all from the people who have such expectations.

>>22390023
Julius Caesar had been a successful military officer and Senator by that point. He was a far cry from Alexander but hardly a failure or some boring bourgeois professional.

>>22390033
cont.

perhaps there's nothing for it but to cut ties, but it's really a depressing prospec.t

>>22390043
He wrote that he wept for failing to have accomplished what Alexander did. This is his own evaluation of his personal case, which I think is important. He did not fall back and sob forever. He moved on, and that is the advice that I am giving - that whatever bar was beyond reach, some other bar can be reached.

>>22390033
>your point, if you have a point, is lost on me
Sorry, bro. I missed the mark. That chapter helped me a lot, even if just to confirm for me that other people have similar problems. If you have an opportunity, I do recommend it for a read.

>>22387062
>Recognizing that I'll never be part of the friend group isn't enough.
“Recognizing” that you’ll never be part of the friend group is the problem. Thoroughly and genuinely BELIEVE that you ARE part of the friend group, and it is reality.

>>22390416
Believe! Just believe hard enough and it will happen!

had a date with a girl from bumble this week
after a 3 hour walk she invited me back to her place but I couldn't get it up for sex so we just cuddled and i ate her out
but now she doesn't want to meet anymore supposedly because she "just broke up with someone"
the date felt really good and I can't stop thinking about her - haven't felt that good on a date in a long time
how is one supposed to affirm life if everytime it gives you a glimpse of happiness it instantly gets taken away

>so we just cuddled and i ate her out
It's guys like you who make any hoe I fuck on the first date think I'm gonna stick my mouth in her pussy.
>the date felt really good and I can't stop thinking about her - haven't felt that good on a date in a long time
Stoo simping for some dating app woman who opens her legs for any guy who manages to amuse her for a couple of hours.
>how is one supposed to affirm life if everytime it gives you a glimpse of happiness it instantly gets taken away
Look anon, I care for you in the same way I care for all my fellow autists but for fucks sake, stop acting like a bitch.