Just got home from being called out at 5am.

This post is for casual conversation if you don’t feel like making a post of your own.

Duo is bullying me in french now which must mean I am very good at french (I am not)

That's rough! Hope you can get a nap. Boyfriend came over to cuddle last night, and he brought me to airport this morning. There were other people there at TSA, but there was no wait. I walked straight through. It was the lightest TSA line I've ever seen. On a Friday at 8 AM. This economy is a total nightmare.

I'm a bit overwhelmed actually. A lot, if not all, of household stuff lands on me and now my bathroom has a leak. Which I'm just expected to deal with.

Besides all that I've also got work. Tomorrow I'm hosting a dinner for family which some other drama going on. It'll be fine but I just feel unsupported.

It's not got that much to do with autism but it doesn't help. I internalise all my issues I have with this stuff because I've pretty much already ran the conversation in my mind 50 times and I really don't want to be complaining about stuff knowing nothing is really going to change anyway.

I absolutely hate how when one becomes an adult one is just expected to know things (like how to know you have a leak and what to do about it).

I hope the day improves.

Thanks for the kind words.

I think that we're not really expected to know, we're expected to find out. But for me, it becomes a form of hyperfixation. I want to know exactly how my bathroom works, where the pipes run, how they can leak, what damage a leak can do, how to fix it, what it'll cost, what my options are... And I know it's not popular on this platform but I just love having AI in my corner for this kind of stuff. Normally I'd bore my wife to death with hypotheticals about what could happen and overstress us both, but with just talking it out I managed to get the pipes inspected, found someone why can strip the floor and fix my already poorly installed bathroom, all in all I feel I'm doing great. I think normally you'd have a dad for stuff like this but we've got a bit of a difficult relationship.

Eggs were on sale for a dollar a dozen, so we bought the max and gave them to my mother. Which meant I drove to mother's, which I hate. But we got there and back safely.

The dehydration of...everything goes well. More celery done, and I'm at a point where I'm happy with the celery. It takes up a little under half a pint jar. I'm now dehydrating mushrooms to put into ramen but also probably grind into powder. Exciting! Fun! Mushroomy!

Still been playing Fields of Mistria and might try and romance one of the two secret options.

Might just go out and buy more mushrooms for more dehydrating instead.

AI has been helpful for this stuff for me too. Even if the "answers" are garbage, it alerted me to things I didn't know existed. If I just started searching the internet, I can only go based on what I know. It's not that likely alternatives will come up. Using it as an outlet for hyper fixation sounds like a good idea too!

I'm projecting a bit with the "expect". I'm an engineer with a reputation for being good at troubleshooting complex mechanical systems but like at the control system level. I don't know fuck all about the machines themselves. So when my coworkers find out I also don't know how my car works and that I just depend entirely on the mechanic they get super judgey. It's a point of pride for them to understand and be able to do a lot of the work themselves.

Sure, it would be cheaper. But I don't want to. I resent owning a car, I didn't drive regularly until I was 35, and the trade off of paying more is so worth it to me.

Took the family out to the Korean joint last night. Daughter varies wildly on what she's willing to eat, but she cleaned out a whole plate of spicy pickles and ate half her meal. I had the spicy pork, which might be the best meal in town (subjective.) I'm only kind of regretting it this morning.

I've spent the last three weeks helping to put out vibe coding fires and am dead inside. Going to go play Magic over lunch to decompress a little.

I recently switched jobs... now my old job wants me back...no real raise or any tangible benefits... but the promise of a new position in less than a year.

I'm not super happy at my new job, but it's not unbearable either... and I left my old job due to some issues with leadership decisions, which they have since taken steps to mollify, but not outright correct. There are pros and cons to each... but I'm in the same boat as when I left and it sucks.

I loathe change, I suffer from decision paralysis... this is awful and it's weighing me down big time.

Major Pros of current job:
WFH, interesting tech

Major pros of old job:
Upward mobility, salary, direct management (not leadership)

Major cons of current job:
Drama, stagnant wages, low morale, no where left to go upwards

Major cons of old job:
In-office, lack of respect, possibility of no promotion and being stuck

Not opposed to discussion or suggestions... but more just getting this off my chest...

They can take their promise and shove it.

Does that mean where are you roughly or where have you gone?

Just got out of a job interview. It felt good, I think I represented myself well. My default is self-deprecation and being funny but I think I suppressed those tendencies and was able to "sell" myself well. There will be plenty of time to be myself once I get the job but the interview is no place for cracking jokes or being self-deprecating.

I don't know if there will be a better candidate but I feel like I have them a good option.

I understand it as "Is there anyone there?"

Hell yeah, I think your comment shows remarkable emotional maturity about the whole thing and I love that for you.

Ughh, i kind knew Y is a place pronoun and Quel q'un is someone or whatever but I wasnt putting it together

My gut reaction is to agree with Lexam, strongly.

Reading the specific concerns, I'm not so sure. I'd like to make some comments and ask some questions in the hope it helps, but feel free to disregard.

• Upward mobility - this isn't real until it happens. I can understand comparing a job with no higher positions in the org to one where there are higher positions you are interested in and could reasonably move to, but going with my gut again I'd be tempted to say, "I'd love to discuss returning, please call me when you are ready to commit to the new position."
• direct management (not leadership) - Having good direct management is priceless, but if leadership is the problem a good direct manager can't fix everything. I've asked myself, "Can you be a loyal advocate for the orgs position and values?" If the answer is no, I need to move on.
• Drama, stagnant wages, low morale, no where left to go upwards - this sounds unhealthy. Do you have options in case you need to leave? Maybe if you don't go back to your old job, you could use some energy to refresh your CV and do some networking (whatever that means to you)?
• lack of respect - yikes, that can really drain tolerance to adversity.

It sounds like overall if you leave your current job the main benefit is financial and good direct management. Do you think those are enough to make the rest of it tolerable?

Oh goodness, don't feel bad. I had to google it.

Part of me was Game of Thrones "where is a Man"?

You're absolutely right, and I've had that exact discussion with my self a thousand times, in both directions. You've given me more angles to think about it from though, and I appreciate that immensely.

A non-zero part of me agrees with this.

I try to be emotionally mature. Sometimes the 12 year old escapes but I think most of the time I am in control. 🤣