Sorry to hear about your mother. Her loss because her daughter is clearly an awesome person.
We've never really made that much of a big deal about it around here (in my family at least). I still wish my mother happy mother's day (and these days I also wish one of my sisters who is now a mother happy mother's day too) but apart from that, it's mostly just like any other day. The acknowledgement is enough but I don't think we've ever actually all out celebrated it like Christmas.
How are YOU doing? Here you are providing this space for people to offload and actually reading things and responding to things but what about you? A couple of weeks ago you seemed to be going through a hard time. Getting control of the anxiety?
I've definitely picked up that people in these spaces are mainly accepting and understanding. And sympathetic to people who feel their only option is self diagnosis. So the final barrier is me wondering if I really belong as usual lol. But I'm learning to get over myself and allow myself to find my people. Thank you for always being so kind.
Wow no way! Are you telling me that the guy who hosted Fear Factor isn't a scientific expert? Next you'll be telling me that he isn't an expert on politics or sociology either. And I'm not sure that I believe it. I mean, just look at how swole and manly he is. How could you not trust this guy with everything from voting advice to issues that should be left to scientists?
I haven't actually looked into if there are any charities dealing with diagnosis. That might be a possibility. I've never been in any job that would bother though. South Africa has this thing about being 'tough' and too cool for school all the time. If I had to bring it up to a boss, I'd probably be laughed at and called "gay" or something. Or be told something like "we're all a little autistic, deal with it". I'm 100% making assumptions because I've never tried it but I think I've got this place pretty well figured out by now.
I think my only option is private, which means that it's just another thing that needs saving up for. On a growing list of things I need money for.
Glad to hear that you're finally getting answers. I really get the impression that you're on a mission to live your best life right now and I love that. I'm not completely giving up myself. I'll still lurk in neurodivergent spaces and pick up tips and learn things. Just without any medication I guess (unless you count self medicating with pot).
Or a reality star and news reader. Even if they weren't both cooked in their heads, it's still a reality star running a country and a news reader running the military.
Not diagnosed but at this point I'm about 99% sure I'm high masking either ADHD or autism or both. I don't like self diagnosing personally (ever since coming across a warning against it when I did psych 101 and 102) but starting to feel like I need to for my own sake, just so that I can find the resources I need to live successfully.
Tried going through the public healthcare system for a diagnosis and was left with the impression that unless I have visible tics and 'act' like something is wrong, I'm not going to be getting any help there.
I'm gonna jump in here with my own two cents as well!
I am most certainly ecologically conscious so that is part of it. Although it's probably also an excuse and something to make myself feel better about it.
The main reason is that I feel like I would be a danger to others lol. I used to ride motorbikes (plural because I crashed all 3 of them), absolutely sucked at it and wrecked my knees in the process. And I just feel like it's one of these areas in life where everyone else seems to just automatically know how to do it correctly but no one is sharing the secret. I mean, I was bad, I even wiped out once or twice just slowing down for an intersection and hitting the brakes too quickly or something (to this day I'm still not 100% sure what I did wrong).
Even with bicycles. It didn't take long to learn to balance and pedal and whatever but beyond that I was awful and crashed for stupid, preventable reasons. Also tried skateboarding at one point and seemed to have a knack for hitting every small stone in the road that would lock my wheel up and send me flying.
I worry that I'm behind the wheel of a car, I'm gonna daydream or something, or do something stupid and wrong that I don't even realise because apparently it's obvious to everyone else except me. And then injure someone other than myself this time. At least if I fuck up on a motorbike, it's going to likely just be me facing the consequences and I won't take out a family with me.
I've also started priding myself with walking though. I'm part of a select few that could walk from here to the next town over if I felt like it, and I like being part of a select few. It also keeps me slightly in shape. The "fast metabolism" that I coasted on for years has definitely slowed down and I'm definitely getting a little bit of a belly now. And if I drove everywhere instead of walking, I'd probably be in much worse shape right now.
Trans men are foolish women who were tricked
A couple of months ago I was trying something with a second account on Facebook. Gave myself a gender neutral name, used a profile picture where it's hard to tell, and set the non-binary flag as my banner.
Ended up in an argument with a TERF at one point. She was so convinced that I was a biological woman falling prey to "trans ideology" that she even showed up on my profile the next day, commenting on something and trying to convince me to change the path that I'm on. And just because it's relevant to this story, I feel like I should mention that I was shipped with male factory parts.
So yeah, I experienced that first hand with a TERF who can "always tell", who was convinced that I was one of these foolish women being tricked.
It was pretty affirming at first but as time went on it felt less like a win and made me feel awful and deceptive. Because I didn't once mention anything about my sex but didn't correct her either and just let her keep making assumptions. Deleted that account not long after that.
Edit: fun fact, not long after that on my main Facebook account that uses my very gendered real name, in another argument with a bigot, I was accused of being a woman pretending to be a man online.
100k a year for me. I don't want to work and I don't want to buy a mansion and sports cars or anything either. I just want to be able to exist and do whatever the hell I want with my own day. I want to be able to spend today working on some creative project, tomorrow not leaving my bed, the day after going out to movies etc.
Basically to do whatever, whenever, without needing to cut my hair, put on a uniform, put on a fake smile and pretend that I'm actually fine with spending 90% of my life in some office or workshop ensuring that the boss gets another Mercedes Benz this year and can send their kids to study overseas.
100k a year would be great. I could rent a flat in the city somewhere, get a scooter or something, or just keep walking and using public transport. And have the money to buy that cool jacket I saw in the second hand store, or go out once in a while and have a social life, or save up a bit and pick a new country to go and be a tourist in every year.
I wouldn't say no to the 2 million but I think I'd just prefer having the guaranteed income for life.
Not sure I completely understand the question but as far as infrastructure goes, it's probably half half old school telephone wires and fibre optic cables at this point. I think most cities have switched to fibre optics at this point but rural areas still have the old telephone poles. Some people on farms and in one horse towns will use satellite internet. There's also cellular networks but mobile data is unreasonably priced as far as I'm concerned and I'm not sure how people without wifi even manage to keep their apps up to date without breaking the bank. Although the majority of the country probably uses mobile data to access the net.
As far as social media goes, I get the impression that most South Africans prefer mingling with other South Africans. Which is kinda fair, there's 12 official languages here and quite a few distinct cultures, so I think a lot of people wouldn't get much value out of US and Euro dominated platforms like Reddit with walls of English text and Western references and in jokes. So places like Facebook and Twitter that try to keep you in your local bubble and circles make the most sense for a lot of people.