Smoking. Accidentally through vaping? Switched to vaping never intending to quit, but ran into issues with my vape, couldn’t use it, and one day I just sort of realized I was fine.

I had one of those early Kangertech models and i kept having issues with coils (even new ones) and then later with the battery. I guess I could have gone to the disposable kind but yeah. It just sort of happened.

I remember the fear i used to get thinking a certain cig was my last one ever. I think taking that out of the equation is critical. Either by lowering your dose or just cutting back in number, working down slowly, and keeping the process open ended is best.

I’ve been rocking it for a couple weeks now. So far it’s been great

These days I’m more of a boomer shooter dude, but the trailer hooked me and I regret nothing. Haven’t tried the newest Postal yet. Played postal 2 back in the day. blood west is likely next up for me.

Devs like Hyperstrange and New Blood are killing it these days, in a time when the big devs are laying off entire teams. It’s amazing what happens when you have smaller devs who are focused on the games and not chasing number-go-up.

As New Blood says, “We love you. We hate money.”

Elderborn. In its own words, a METAL AF SLASHER. Kind of like a first person souls-like. rolled straight out of beating it into a new game+

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I play a lot of boomer shooters, some of the more nostalgic ones give me that feeling.

But the cozy exploration, and childlike wonder of Sable are feelings I yearn for long after completing it. So far nothing else has scratched the itch.

It’s not my primary device but it fills a couple niches really well. And travel device isn’t even the most important, though obviously I love it for that.

Sometimes I game with it over my PC when I want to be outside in the summer.

But most of the time I end using it with the tv. I have the dock and it’s become more like a Nintendo switch than a Sega game gear. My friends and blasted through Streets of Rage 4 in an afternoon for example. And im in a couple discord movie servers and when I’m watching I just switch to desktop mode and full screen it.

So yeah I’m not using it the way I thought, but it gets used couple times a week minimum, a lot more if I have along bus or train ride.

Here’s the closest I’ve got.

Priest - History In Black

Priest is an electronic music project originally formed by ex-members of the hugely popular band Ghost. I’d call this Darkwave, but the label doesn’t matter, it’s depeche mode-y and don’t let the gimp mask put you off, I believe the song is very sincere.

I can't stop, it's too late, it pours out, it's my fate
My legacy in black
Looking in to my eyes, see the things i despise
My soul is tainted black

I traveled with the enemy, i thought it was my destiny
I'm free of all the lunacy
I never want it back, my history in black

Silent screams longing voice, violent dreams, ringing noise
My memory is black
It's not a mask, it's my skin
Please don't ask where i've been
My heart is painted black

I traveled with the enemy, i thought it was my destiny
I'm free of all the lunacy
I'm never want it back, my history in black

I escaped from the cage inside

I traveled with the enemy, i thought it was my destiny
I'm free of all the lunacy
I never want it back, my history in black
My history in black

It’s a song that speaks to your flavour of depression. Makes you feel like someone feels the exact same way you do. That in turn makes you feel sane. Like you’re heard. Even understood.

Over time, songs (or movies or other things) can become a ritual - you feel awful, listen to the song, eventually you come out the other side as the depressive episode fades. Then the next time it happens you associate the song with your recovery. So over time it becomes What You Do when you Feel That Way.

This by far my favourite album of theirs. Every one a banger. Especially those you listed.

Electric Wizard - Saturnine

A black sun rises everyday / Shadows cross my path as if to say / “Change your life, change your ways, look up to the sky” / Tomorrow’ll soon be here then time to die

This is some loud stoner/doom metal. Cheesy? sure. Self indulgent? Absolutely. But when the mood strikes it hits the spot every time

I will continue to recommend the Staples Hyken All Mesh Chair. My office uses them. My wife and I each have one after going through several budget chairs. It’s the best all-mesh budget chair that I have found.

I believe that that “cancel culture” is really just “consequence culture.” At one point users could hold powerful entities to account. The flattening of the public sphere twitter provided was a feature.

Absolutely there have been people who got targeted who did not deserve it - regular folks who posted a shit take that caught the mobs attention. But I think one of the motivations for Elon acquiring twitter and threads’ non-chronological feed is to clamp down on this kind of of organizing and centralize power.

As for hate speech, the problem that is that any solution at scale means AI and that reveals the biases of those who wrote it. These solutions can’t serve everyone.

And outrage fuels engagement - these companies are incentived to allow that.

So basically I think large networks can’t solve the problem. What’s needed is a decentralized approach with small interoperable communities vetting their members. Even if you get a hate filled instance it can be locked off so it can’t spread. Hate-motivated jerks have always existed, they just had no real access to the discourse until the internet. I really think the answer is the fediverse of tomorrow - if we make it that far.

404 media in particular do great work. They’re all defectors from Motherboard (vice) and I think supporting them is both worthwhile and worth it.

“Interesting.”

Pimento! Especially if they’re feisty.

I quit smoking by gradually stepping back until I got to the last 4 darts, which I just couldn’t shake. Then I moved to vaping, not trying to quit, but to be less worse for my health… Then my vape broke repeatedly in a short period and I realized going without wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Certainly not as bad as other methods of quitting it tried. So in this way I finally quit.

So I don’t recommend vaping as a way out really. It’s more that if you consciously realize which cigarette is your last you’re gonna freak out and relapse. It’s more that if you reduce your intake, then replace, you can step off more easily. Don’t focus on quitting or changing your lifestyle drastically, just keep taking steps. Eventually one will be the last.

They’re not really the same vibe, but they do have an extremely far future setting, vast intelligences called Minds that run society, and my favourite part, luxury space communism. Most people recommend you start on book two - The Player of Games since it’s a better example of what the series is. While that’s true I stated on book one - Consider Phlebas - and liked it, so up to you I guess.

Wishlisted!

As a fan of the Culture series and really any far, far future stuff, this looks to be my jam.