Escapist Community Outreach: Building Bridges (Hopes and Fears Edition)

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

Common Ground is the key to anything.

We're spending a lot of time championing our ideals that I think we're forgetting that we're dealing with fellow humans and gamers, instead of political sounding boards. This is more of a structured way than I normally like to do things, but it might help if we just find things to connect with. I know a few of us don't see us as a true community. I get that. But we spend a lot of time with each other, even digitally. Why not attempt to make it more pleasant? If you feel, why not share some of your hopes or some of your fears? Let's try to humanize ourselves.

So, hey, I'm Obsidian Jones. I've been around for a decade now. I have the coolest character in the last few years as my avatar because he's about bringing voices to those who need it the most, and he's all about positivity. That makes my heart sing.

My biggest hope is to move to Toronto soon. I used to live in Montreal and while I do miss it, I feel like going back there would be like trying to relive my past. I went to Toronto before and I absolutely loved it. It's a city that fits me more than Manhattan, even though I was born in the Bronx and spent most of my life there. That does mean I'm going to try to immigrate to Canada. I hope the process takes.

My current abstract hope is that this not caring about how I look stays with me. I made a thread before about attractiveness. And it used to be a big part of my life because I was afraid I was the literal ugliest man in the world. I was a sensitive kid raised in a somewhat rough and tumble family. Mockery was more prevalent than anything else. So it was easier for me to see bad than good. But I feel ok with who I am now. I try to please me and worry little about how I come off to others. I have so much stress on my shoulders, but I rather take feeling like this while dealing with that stress than not having anything to worry about other than how my mind wants to belittle me.

My biggest fear is obviously that I can't immigrate to Canada. I don't know what I'll do then. Even typing it now is causing that fear tightness in my chest. But I can only continue forward.

My abstract fear is having kids. Like, I want to be a dad. I always did. But as I see the world deteriorate around us, I fear that it would be a cruel thing to do to plop them into this world because I just want to be there for them. In reality, I'm failing more and more to see how this world will get better. That means said children will have to deal with the repercussions of my selfish love. And that feels bad in my chest.

I don't know what will come from this post. It might go by the wayside, and I get it. But yeah, I know I'm for one curious to know about the lot of you. Others might feel the same. Let's be people with each other.

 

[the December King]

It's a nice thought, ObsidianJones. I certainly do appreciate it. I cannot understand wanting to live in a giant city like the Tee Dot, but I do hope you make it to Canada. It's pretty good... I mean, it's alright, I guess. I haven't been anywhere else, so I can't really say how it is elsewhere.

Being a dad is a definite shift in perspective, in an "am I leaving the little one to a shitty world" sort of way, but you will also worry about hovering over them as they wander around, or feeling bad about absolutely needing an alcohol-fueled break from a screaming, inconsolable, tantrum-having brat - who you love with all your heart, don't get me wrong, but still.

I'm still getting over the shock that my sperm worked

And he just graduated day-care to move on to Primary yesterday (And I made coloring books for his graduating class- I think?)

Come to Nova Scotia instead!

It's a 'have-not' province.

How's that for a sales pitch?

EDIT: I suspect you were looking to pull some of the political 'movers and shakers' into this thread with your olive branch-style post. But they are all losers if they don't see the point you were trying to make.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Nice to know I'm not the only one sick of all the politics around here.

Anyway, my handle is CrazyGirl17, and as my icon shows I'm a Hamilton fangirl. I finally got into it about a year ago and I'm annoyed with myself that it took so long. The same goes for Welcome to Night Vale, which got into fairly recently.

I'm a wannabe writer, though a combination of laziness and a fear of how my works will be regarded aren't helping. Anything thing about me is that I'm autistic so my brain is wired differently than everyone else's. By that I mean my tastes and opinions are all over the place.

My current hope is that my dad's latest business venture goes well. It's been one step forward, two steps back repeatedly and I just want things to work out.

My fears....well that might be getting political. Let's just say I'm sick of how things are going. Especially since no one can agree in anything anymore and I'm worried this will end up biting us all in the ass... that's kinda why I prefer the world's of fantasy to be honest.

That's all I go so far, here's hoping this thread gets attention.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Sure, why not? I'm SilentPony and I'm here partying in St. Louis because the Blues won the Cup baby! Not a huge hockey fan, but you root for the home team no matter what.

I got tired of working small jobs and being a martial arts instructor so I'm in Culinary school now. Last weekend I entered a charity cook off and took home first place. Its actually kinda nice after years of just being okay to being told I'm exceptional at something

 

[EvilRoy]

If it helps assuage your fears a bit, although you may not get to stay in Toronto as part of our "welcome to our country" immigration package (depending on you and your background, they may require that you shift ass to a different place as a condition of immigration for a period of years, but it will always be a major city with job prospects for your skillset), you have a lot going for you in terms of education, employment, experience and language skills. Its been a while since I was immersed in the process, but last I was involved those four things typically blew everything else out of the water.

In the time I've been a member of this website I have completed two degrees (I was already mostly done one), and become a recognized professional in my field after four years of training and effort. These days my biggest hopes and fears have rather unfortunately blended into a marbled pile of crud that is my professional life. After bouncing between a number of companies that involved variable levels of employee abuse and misery, I finally reached a position that I am comfortable with in a company that I like. That achievement has spawned hopes that I will be eventually welcomed into the associate and possibly even partner levels of the company, and fears that the company will face setbacks that will result in my termination. Simultaneously I've found myself attached to projects that might go well and shine up my resume, or go poorly and end up as another unfortunate bald spot.

My abstract fear is the reality of my own plodding progress in terms of my life. I have a girlfriend I love and a job I am happy with, but it all teeters on the results of gambles and choices and random chance far beyond my control. 15 years of effort could get upended because some asshole doesn't understand basic odds and hit when he should have stayed. I keep pushing forward in hopes that eventually I'll either be one of those assholes, or I'll have achieved a modicum of protection from them, but there's no guarantee either potential ever comes to fruition.

 

[Baffle]

On children, you could always adopt - those guys are already in a shitty world, but you can try to make it better for them.

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

Howdy. I'm PsychedelicDiamond. I'm 25 years old live in Bavaria, the south east of Germany. About an hour from both the border to Austria and the border to Czechia. I could just casually drive over there and buy cheap cigarettes. If I smoked. Which I don't. Either way, I currently work as a desk jockey in a small software firm. Simple administrative work, nothing that requires any actual IT knowledge from me. But... well, I've been around a bit. Studied unsuccesfully to work in tax administration, which didn't work out, was a janitor for a while, a postman, a factory worker... always been working class, which I guess shaped my political views quite a bit. I'm a member of the ver.di labour union and consider joining the German Communist Party.

My passions are movies and video games. I'm not exactly what you'd call a very romantically inclined person but my love for art and storytelling are mostly what keeps me alive. I write movie reviews on letterboxd, in German. I sometimes post somewhat abridged versions of those here in the "Rate the last thing you watched" threads.

My biggest hope is to one day be able to get a career in film criticism. I don't think it'll ever happen but it's a nice thing to think about. I guess it's what everyone would like to do. Turn their hobby into their job. Another one is moving to Iceland one day. Again, mostly just a pipe dream, I'd probably have major trouble with the language and finding a job there but it's something that seems very nice to me. A country that's a bit more stable and a bit more peaceful. Not that Germany is all that bad, of course.

My biggest fear is poverty, I guess. My career so far hasn't amounted to much and the German welfare state's been getting worse, rather than better, for about as long as I've been alive. Doesn't seem like that's gonna change anytime soon. It's one of the reasons I've been moving to the left, politically, since I've actually started working. At about the same rate as the Overton Window in Germany has been moving farther to the right, which is my other big fear, I guess. I've become a pretty strict antifascist over the last half a decade, I've never made a secret of that.

Other than that... I don't know, I try to be a good person. I have some mental issues that I try to live with and I think I'm doing an alright job. I'm afraid they'll get worse but worrying wont make it better.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

*snips*

Hey, first and foremost, you are a mover and shaker. We all are. We were here when we had no support, nothing, and we just banned together and kept the forum going just by talking. We could have abandoned and we didn't. That's what a leader does.

Well, like I said, I'm from the Bronx. I'm a city guy at heart. But actually, I'm getting used to the slower life. I'm not at a major city now. It's nice seeing people just out walking to walk. It's still baffling. but it's a great change of pace not to have to be hyper-alert 24/7.

It seems like a remarkable experience. I've always loved being around kids. Never was afraid of it. It was the whole pesky "You need a woman to want to have a baby with you" thing that prevented me from doing so. I know it isn't glamour. Vast amounts of it in the early years deal with the absolute opposite of glamour, bodily fluids and all. But damned if that look in their eyes that says "Hey, I love and trust you" doesn't make it all worth it.

And all I know of Nova Scotia is Halifax and Salmon. Tell me more of your mystical land of Fish and LAGtv.

*snip*

Here's a funny aside. My mind always autocorrected your name as CrazyGirl117. Made me always think about the Master Chief when you posted.

I just saw Hamilton in April when it came here for the tour. The loud fangirls behind me who were quoting and spoiling the next bits aside, it was a damn good time. Whenever someone misses something or forgets something around me, I say "...And Peggy!"

No one understands why. It's glorious.

Writing is about a frame of mind. When I write (I love to write myself)), I have to just be at a place where it flows from me. I don't think. It just happens. However, I need to be at peace for that to happen. Due to family emergencies that still are ongoing... nope. No free flow. This is all to say the process is unique to the individual. You call it laziness, but you just might not be at the right place now. No shame in it. If the drive is in you, it will always be in you. Trust in it.

And bonus, your tastes and opinions being all over the place works in your favor. We need new voices and new perspectives. Do what you can when you can. We owe our stories that much.

*snips*

I just added Boxing for fitness to my work out. The grounding needed for a proper punch almost negates the use of legs for kicking. They are certainly more powerful than any punch I've ever done in my martial art life, but I've always been more of a kicker. Tough business, that.

And to the rooting for the home team... My basketball home team is the knicks. I don't even like sports, and I know these guys sucks out loud. How about we always wish our home team well?

You're actually living... mulitple dreams I've had. I wanted to teach martial arts, and I wanted to go to culinary school. But I'm just such a picky eater that even trying certain foods will make my stomach turn. Cheese chief among them. I didn't think I would have a chance if I was making food that would make me nauseated. But good on you in finding your passion. Is there a cuisine you're honing in on, or are you just discovering the wide wood of food that you can't possibly think about specializing now?

*snips*

I'm sure everyone wants Toronto. I know that. And in fact, like I said before, I'm getting used to the small town life. I was thinking about Brampton or Etobicoke. I should have said more of the GTA area.

Hey, belated congrats on completing the second degree. No matter what, that achievement should always shine on. And I get that you worry about your position in the company. Don't you think your effort would be valued as much as the outcome? You don't seem like someone who would half ass anything professionally. That always has to count in your favor, right?

The fear that you have is one that we should all be grateful for. And I know how weird that sounds when I'm on the outside, but I see people who are comfortable and they just become complacent. They don't move forward. They don't know how to. They just sit in the same place and do the same thing and barely function with their family because they don't have to expect that much from themselves. Life on autopilot and all that.

That fear will keep you on your toes. It will hone you. And while I know how it will cause sleepless nights, it will keep you from that dreaded complacency. And you got people rooting for you, so that's something as well

*snips*

I'll tell you, I've been honestly, truly looking into it. Not just a baby, but an older child as well. There's not enough love to go around in this world. Especially for those who need it the most.

But some horror stories family members have told me makes me think that I might have some issue doing this for the same reason I have issues with... everything I do.

*snips*

One day, I might actually try my really horrible High School German with you. But my last class was 1998... So, that might end poorly.

Hey, passion is passion, no matter what it's for. Are there particular genres you gravitate towards, or do you just love Movie and Video games so much that you can consume it all and not get tired of it?

Have you thought of a youtube channel? There are many ways of doing it. If you're shy, you don't have to show your face. You can make your own unique spin, or you can just deconstruct the media in anyway you see fit. I think the problem that most of us have (myself included) that we worry more about how our passions will be accepted by others than we worry about following through with it for our own sakes. Even if it's just for fun, it's steeped in something that you care about. That's always a good first step.

Is there an underlying reason why the shift in German politics has been happening? Something that you can make clearer than these stuffy articles overlook? A personal account is worth more than a disinterested accounting from someone who's getting paid for it.

It's going to be a overarching theme of how I answer things, but all I can say is keep on keeping on. You're absolutely right. Worry just robs us of the time we have in the present. It's a great outlook to have.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Elvis Starburst, found this handle in an randomized online username generator with my best friend when I was 14, ended up using it here a few years back. Just turned 26 a few weeks ago. Living in Canada, and have been my whole life.

I have no true aspirations or ambitions, never have been able to figure it out. Nothing ever truly spoke out to me as a passion or thing I love dearly enough to become my future. But I am making steps to figure that part out. Currently working as a minimum wage cashier at a hardware store, trying to blank out as much of the actual work part as possible so I can concentrate on the good I have there. I've had 18 jobs since I turned 12 till now, and hoo boy it's been a cluster fuck and a half at times, cause a lot of them were not ideal.

I run a Sunday night D&D campaign and it's probably one of the biggest and few things that really pushes me forward. Especially the recent setting and story, it's been incredible, and it's only going to get better with a friend and his help. Otherwise, I game, waste my days away watching videos and streams while playing said games, and generally not doing much else. Used to do more in the world, but then I broke up with the person who brought me out there, and now I'm back to old habits. Might be one of the reasons for a slowly deteriorating mental health, but I'm also making efforts there to curb it as soon as possible.

Other than that, not a whole lot to say really. Nothing special in general, but at the same time I don't aspire to be that. I'd rather eke out a more modest living eventually, rather than be the thing that changes the world. The world will do its own thing without me, so I'll do what I can to make my life and the life of those that matter most to me a better place

 

[JoJo]

Hey, I'm JoJo, I'm an Escapist addict. I have another name, but I've been using this one for nearly half my life in various different contexts, and so by now it feels just as true to me as my "real" name. I hail from deepest, darkest Dorset, England.

Hopes? I've been writing fiction as a hobby for a few years (most recently children's fantasy and science fiction) and would love to see it published. I'm realistic about the chances of this turning into a lucrative career, though, and so I'm also planning to run my own tax advisory business eventually, which is the field I currently work in. That way I would be able to decide my own hours and still have a stable source of income to fall back on if the writing never takes off.

Fears? I haven't had a great year for health so far, and continue to be troubled by my neck, which I suspect I injured last year doing exercises. I've got a hospital appointment this Wednesday and I hope they can shed some more light on what might be causing the problem, as it's very frustrating not being able to lift even moderately heavy weights without causing pain and numbness. I value my independence and an active lifestyle, and so I fear being stuck with permanent issues.

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

*snips*

One day, I might actually try my really horrible High School German with you. But my last class was 1998... So, that might end poorly.

Hey, passion is passion, no matter what it's for. Are there particular genres you gravitate towards, or do you just love Movie and Video games so much that you can consume it all and not get tired of it?

Have you thought of a youtube channel? There are many ways of doing it. If you're shy, you don't have to show your face. You can make your own unique spin, or you can just deconstruct the media in anyway you see fit. I think the problem that most of us have (myself included) that we worry more about how our passions will be accepted by others than we worry about following through with it for our own sakes. Even if it's just for fun, it's steeped in something that you care about. That's always a good first step.

Is there an underlying reason why the shift in German politics has been happening? Something that you can make clearer than these stuffy articles overlook? A personal account is worth more than a disinterested accounting from someone who's getting paid for it.

It's going to be a overarching theme of how I answer things, but all I can say is keep on keeping on. You're absolutely right. Worry just robs us of the time we have in the present. It's a great outlook to have.

I think there aren't so much specific genres I gravitate towards as there are a few individual ones I don't see any appeal in. I don't think there are any movie genres I dislike on principle. For video games, however, there are a few I never managed to get into. Mostly turn based RPGs and games simulating real sports of any kind. Actually, I'm not really into games with multiplayer focus in general. I don't know. I just consider games a medium for art and entertainment rather than a competetive activity.

I used to do Let's Plays but I was never good at it and it wasn't really what I enjoyed doing in the first place. Getting into gaming criticism might be more up my alley but I don't know which would be the best approach to it. I'd like to do really long form reviews like Noah Gervais. Maybe I should try. Film criticism on YouTube is in a pretty bad state as it is.

There's a variety of reasons, yes. But I don't think it's much different than anywhere else in the western world. People, especially older people are becoming poorer, both mainstream and alternative media are, to some extent, scapegoating immigrants, far right parties and protest movements with suspiciously good funding from god knows where crop up and spread propaganda, Germany specifically saw a fairly noticeable temporary increase in immigration during the Syrian civil war, laws against propaganda and hate speech are way too lax to deal with it... doesn't help that Germany's had a practically unchallenged conservative government for about as long as I can remember and all leftist opposition is practically dead in the water, or simply promoting another form of neoliberalism.

 

[Saelune]

I am Saelune, but you know who I am already, or atleast you have your biased perception of me.

My biggest fear is that existence wont be worth it. I don't know what happens when we die. I don't think we just cease to exist, I have my theories on why, but nothing Id make a religion over. Id rather everyone find peace in death than have the afterlife be a karmic response. Id rather Trump have a happy afterlife if it means everyone else gets one too. The idea that a baby unmoistened by specific water would rot in purgatory is a horrible thought.


My biggest hope is finding a reason to grow old. I need something more than wanting to play DnD and Elder Scrolls games, but currently thats all I got.

I often think about how Zontar, a classic rival of mine loves MCU as much as I do. Perhaps not for the same reasons, but still. I do believe I have something in common with literally everyone on this site, I just dont think they are all worth selling out my morals for.

I wish I was more known here for being fun and funny, not for being the loudest left-winger on this site. But I feel like I cant be quiet, that being quiet now is wrong.


No one listens to you when you're quiet.

 

[Nedoras]

Hey, I'm Nedoras. I'm here in the Chicagoland area scraping by and doing alright I suppose.

My biggest passion is easily music. Sure I really dig video games and playing pen and paper rpgs, but music is at the top of the list. I can easily just sit around listening to music for hours on end and regularly do. I spend a lot of time digging around and finding new stuff to listen to on a regular basis, but lately I've been going back and listening to bands that have slipped my mind over the years. That's been a blast by the way. It's always great to listen to an old band's new stuff and love how much they've developed or see that they still got it. I know it's cliche as hell to say, but I do and can listen to pretty much any genre of music. Even if I'm not super into the genre, I can appreciate a well crafted and performed song. Music that I regularly listen to though is death metal, melodic death metal, power metal, and symphonic metal. I also play guitar, have been for a decade now. I'm just as passionate about playing music as I am listening to it. My current guitar is a Dean Razorback Explosion of which I've replaced some stuff on. I swapped the licensed Floyd-Rose bridge for a real one, and I also put some EMG pickups in it.

Also, we do not live in an era of trash music. I see that being said so damn much lately, and I feel like people just aren't looking. There's so much damn good music in our era, and it's so much more developed than it was decades ago. Masterpieces are still being made. For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTN2ZzpQRh4

My hope is for things to get better. Don't really mean for myself, I'm doing okay, but rather for the world. Who the hell knows when the market will crash again? And climate change is already clawing at the door. Not to mention the rise of hate groups and policy being implemented to marginalize and hurt people. But at the very least more and more people are starting to realize and see this though. Something can be done about it, we just need to fight for it and that's already happening to some degree. There's still some hope to fix things and mitigate the damage, no matter how small that hope may be. We just need to stand together and make it happen.

My fear is that my hope is for nothing and the future is fucked anyway. But hey, live and dream right?

 

[Asita]

Honestly, I've been mulling over making a similar thread for a few weeks now, but I never could seem to get the wording right. So yay, commonalities!

Anyways, I'm Asita, I'm on the east coast of the United States, and as you might guess from how vague that is, I value my privacy. However, in the interest of this thread, here are a few particulars.

I've always been an introvert, but I also used to be painfully shy and self conscious. When people I wasn't already close to turned their attention to me I'd try to shrink into the nearest wall. This naturally became a big problem in my adolescence when my family moved. After a year or so, I decided I needed to actually do something about it and started getting involved in my school's theater productions, if only to try to get a small social circle. I ended up taking quite a shine to it, and was heavily involved in the theater through college. I got much more comfortable in front of crowds, and became much more playfully melodramatic in my demeanor (eg, I commonly respond to apologies over incidental details with a "you fiend!" that wouldn't be out of place in the cheesiest soap opera).

While I'm much better than I was, I would be remiss to claim that I'm not still very self-conscious. I know well enough that people talk about others behind their backs, and probably one of my biggest fears is that others might not be honest with me about my own failings. I worry about what others are saying about me when I'm not there and that I'm not as welcome as I want to believe. So I suppose you might sum that up as insecurity and/or social anxiety, and it has historically made me a bit too eager to prove myself.

Hopes...honestly I just hope to see a calm in the figurative storm. There's a story I remember hearing about WWI that stuck with me over the years, and that was the Christmas Truce. Christmas 1914, just five months into the first World War, there was a brief cessation of hostilities on the Western Front. The Germans set candles and started singing Christmas Carols, the British responded by singing their own and shouting Christmas greetings to the enemy line. Eventually soldiers started crossing the battlefield, not to fight but to exchange some small gifts. There were prisoner exchanges and the corpses of fellow soldiers were retrieved to properly bury during the lull...to joint services, no less. It's one of my favorite historical snapshots, because it's a moment that the soldiers set aside the war itself and treated each other as human beings rather than just enemies to be crushed. It also highlights the sheer tragedy of the war in that it neatly shows how the soldiers could easily have gotten along famously under other circumstances. I think we're in increasing need of another moment like that.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Ok, I'll bite.

My name is Grouchy Imp, and I have a drinking problem.

Sorry, wrong forum.

<..>

So, yeah, I'm Grouchy Imp. Been active on here for over nine years now - even longer if you count the lurking that went on beforehand. I live in Cumbria, and when not on this site being snarky I fill up my time with roleplaying games (video & tabletop), going to live music gigs and cooking.

Hopes? Looking forward to being more active this summer. Recently finished an eight month weight-loss trip that has seen me lose seven stone (!) so am looking forward to restarting some outdoor hobbies I haven't done in years. As mentioned above I love to cook, and am in talks with my local allotment committee about the acquisition of a decent-sized plot where I am looking to grow not only my own fruit and veg but also to keep bees and maybe a few chickens. Got a few gigs lined up for later on in the year, not least of which the Cool Britannia festival down in Knebworth which promises to be an incredible revisiting of all the music I grew up with in the 90s.

Fears? I don't really want to get too heavy here, but my only real fears are keeping my company afloat and profitable in the currently uncertain climate and keeping value in my property in (again) the currently uncertain climate. Other than that, nothing. Generally speaking I have quite a laid back, 'what-will-be-will-be' approach to life's problems.

 

[CaitSeith]

My name is CaitSeith and I'm an Escapist Member.

I'm kinda reserved and not good at opening. But, oh boy, don't mention videogames in front of me, unless you want me to talk about my favorite ones for at least 2 hour (one for praises and one for complains).

Some years ago I moved to Canada and I'm doing well; but all has been thanks to the help I got on the way. I fear that people in need may not get the help that I received, and that this place will become hostile to them instead. I hope to find my next step in life as well.

 

[Tireseas_v1legacy]

My name is Tireseas, and I am and have been an Escapist Member since 2009.

I am a 30-year-old transwoman and currently live in the Seattle Metro Area. I am an Eagle Scout, former congressional intern, and current attorney maintaining a decent solo practice and serve on the board of a local non-profit. I am married and live with my trans husband in a condo we got for a good price.

Politically, I identify as a liberal technocrat and am a registered member of the Democratic Party. I tend to favor higher taxes (particularly on non-labor income sources), unions, more expansive government services and assistance (notably education), more free trade, and effective regulation. On social issues, I tend to be pro-firearms-regulation, allowing for less restrictive immigration, protected equal rights and treatment for women, racial minorities, and LGBTQ+ identities, and treating abortion akin to regular medical procedures such as getting stitches. I tend to be less enthusiastic about zoning and building regulations, particularly relating to residential housing (industrial zoning is fine). Voting should be quick and easy, and the US has too many elections and elected offices (administrative heads and judges should be appointed, not elected). I am of the opinion that democracy by design is hard, requiring compromise and constant vigilance by the public to function properly. Norms are to be respected by all sides, not simply discarded when convenient.

Generally introverted, I do have a love of video games and table-top games, though I do not identify as a gamer (having no longer identified as one following the incident-which-shall-not-be-named). I still play the occasional game of Magic the Gathering with friends and am part of multiple ongoing D&D campaigns (3.5, and 5.0) and am thinking of drafting a Starfinder Campaign. Video Game wise, I'm a sucker for Pokemon, Borderlands, Fallout and the Modern-Future entries in the CoD series, though I also enjoy Elite Dangerous and turn-based games such as the Endless series and Darkest Dungeon. I'm looking forward to Cyberpunk 2077 (recent controversies aside), Borderlands 3, and the Outer Worlds.

In the last fifteen years, I have lived in Portland, OR, New York City, NY, Washington, D.C., Spokane, WA, and multiple cities in the Seattle area including Seattle itself.

I love cooking and going out to restaurants, though a medically-necessary diet change has required me to be a little more selective than my occasional "bag o' Dicks" (cookie for the local reference) diet that I had prior to the current minimal-grain diet.

My hopes are that we, nationally and globally, are experiencing the pangs of growth as we become a more tolerant and open society, and that the recent trends of right-leaning individuals and parties towards authoritarianism and ethno-nationalism/racism are more a blip rather than a longer term trend. Technology will hopefully figure out a solution to climate change and that market forces and government action combined would be able to halt, if not reverse, climate change.

My fear is that we are not in a moment of irregularity; that we are, in fact, now on the trajectory of a dying species before we were able to leave our star and insure our long term survival as a species; that authoritarianism's and anti-intellectualism's renewed resurgence is a sign that democracy has failed and that we as a species are unable to handle the great and terrible power of instant communication. I do not believe in a total Venus-like greenhouse affect is likely to happen, but I suspect that, absent real progress on climate change, we will see a dramatic contraction of the human species as drought, famine, and the resulting political instability wreck havoc on the planet.

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

I am Anti-American Eagle, I've been here since 2011, and I'm just tired of everything. I wish we could go back to the glory days and hope to see the RP section restored at some point, hopefully when 2.0 happens we can begin rebuilding the community away from politics and the dual reputation the site has built over the past couple of years.

I farm crickets for a living, and this will probably be my contribution to society.

 

[Xprimentyl]

I?m Xprimentyl, a username I?ve used since getting my first PC back in ?98. It originates from my love of electronic music (particularly the more experimental subsets that challenge you intellectually as much as they intrigue you artistically) and the phrase ?X prime,? first heard in my Algebra I class in high school and I thought it sounded cool. Joined Escapist 8 years ago for Zero Punctuation, but stuck around for the forums.

Hopes? I?m a simple guy who knows his capabilities and his limitations, so I keep it simple and just hope for happiness. Not things or money, just the general feeling of life being worth it. I admire people who work for specific goals like starting a business or get degrees in specifics fields of their passion, but I feel so much of life is ?work,? I?m comfortable getting in where I fit in (i.e.: a doing well at a job I?m capable of, supports my lifestyle and I don?t hate,) and at the end of the day, relax with friends, the woman I love, a cocktail and just enjoy my life away from work.

Fears? Losing loved ones. I?m am fortunate to come from a very tightly knit family that?s never met a stranger; we have a gravitational pull so strong, ?friends? become ?family? almost immediately. I?m further fortunate that in my 39 years of life, I?ve lost very few people close to me. But every day, I?m reminded that my parents are both 70. My grandfather, the undisputed patriarch of my family, just turned 90. I lost a childhood friend to illness about 4 years ago, and that was the first time I had to face the mortality of someone my age whom I knew very well. The loss and inevitability of it all terrifies me.

 

[bluegate]

My fears?

One my fears is my genitals touching the inside of the toilet when I'm"going #2", so I always put some paper there so that I don't touch cold porcelain &#128513;