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What are you doing that isn't for your job? Are you taking classes. painting your bedroom, writing a book, completing your hit list, or anything?

 

I've been laid up and working on stuff from my bed. Today I finished setting up two Raspberry Pi projects. One if a network based ad blocked and the other is an Alexa-like home assistant that doesn't give all of my info to Amazon or Google. Still working on it because I want it to play CDs as well, and then I want to make a case from it, thinking that I'll try to have it 3D printed somewhere, but also considering waiting until I'm better to try to make a nice wooden case, but I"m not talented with woodworking, so that may not be the best thing to do.

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What are you doing that isn't for your job? Are you taking classes. painting your bedroom, writing a book, completing your hit list, or anything?

 

I've been laid up and working on stuff from my bed. Today I finished setting up two Raspberry Pi projects. One if a network based ad blocked and the other is an Alexa-like home assistant that doesn't give all of my info to Amazon or Google. Still working on it because I want it to play CDs as well, and then I want to make a case from it, thinking that I'll try to have it 3D printed somewhere, but also considering waiting until I'm better to try to make a nice wooden case, but I"m not talented with woodworking, so that may not be the best thing to do.

This reminds me! The NES emulators I got from you have both bugged out over time. Can I shoot them back and have you re-format them?

 

I like to come up with a lot of story ideas that I'd like to write someday. I'll write synopses, character sketches, make spreadsheets, draw maps, list specific plot points... but never actually do any writing. Maybe someday?

 

What you're doing counts as writing.

 

Since I am lucky enough to get to be creative for my day job, my down time is now spent doing stuff with my hands. I am still super interested in hunting down the found parts used in OT props, especially lightsabers, and re-creating the way the ooriginal prop department did.

 

I also just bought a chop saw and some wood and am going to rebuild the fence in my front yard and add some crown molding to my living room.

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Youre right, and I know it counts... just doesnt feel like it since Im not working in the body of the story. My latest one, all Ive got could at best qualify as a blurb. I like it though, so I hope I dont end up abandoning it like so much else Ive tried to write.

 

Also wtf handy Seth freaks me out. But I get it, Im a lot handier than I used to be. Ive had to take apart and fix our garbage disposal twice in the last few months and not only was it easier than I thought each time, it was very fulfilling to accomplish something. But Im rambling now cuz its definitely NOT a hobby.

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Literally...everything. Ok not literally. And "job" would have to include my 2 paid positions that total less than $5k a year so there's that.

 

Most of my big projects right now revolve around homeschooling. I'm creating some "workbooks" for Noah. Turns out, he really likes having different "workbooks" for each subject. So I'm scouring a bunch of online and paid-for resources to piece together some different "workbooks" for him. I put "workbooks" in quotes because they're not actual your typical workbook. They're a mix of planning pages, daily and weekly checklists, a few worksheets, some one-page reference sheets, and a lot that are sorts just notebooking sheets/worksheets for him to keep all of his work that might normally be done on just a sheet of notebook paper (for some reason getting him to copy a sentence onto a sheet of paper is torture but asking him to do it on a pre-printed sheet with 3 lines is ok). I can organize these by week, so he can open to the next week and do work at whatever pace he wants.

 

Since I'm also tutoring a class on grammar, writing, and math, I'm also making plans for that. As a contracted tutor for Classical Conversations, most of the lesson planning is already done for me, but it can be overwhelming for new parents/students. We're going to have 6 new parent/student pairs this year our of our class of 12. I've been compiling a lot of information for them to peruse slowly before the fall semester. My hope is by then they'll be familiar with some of the names/jargon, layout of the guides, scope of the program, and resources available to them before we begin, so the first few weeks can be spend learning the content as opposed to be overwhelmed by all of this other stuff. This is technically for a position that pays, but this extra work isn't exactly included in the pay. So this counts.

 

Since we started 2 brand new Scouts BSA troops back in February, I'm still trying to set up a good system for our advancements (entering and tracking) and working with our Merit Badge Coordinator so he can do the same (he's brand-new to scouting, so I'm helping while he becomes familiar with all the programs and guidelines).

 

I also volunteered to create and organize a mentorship program in our homeschool association. We have 300 families enrolled, and every year 20-30% of that are families brand-new to homeschooling. So I'm finding experienced homeschoolers to match up with the newbies who've requested a mentor. I'm trying to find a good way to match people based on a lot of different factors that can drastically change how you homeschool - special needs and worldview being the largest. Plus, I also have to prepare materials to advertise this at our Open House next month, AND I somehow got handed the job of hosting a new family meeting/orientation in September.

 

And my friend and I are playing around with the idea of writing some of our own curriculum or unit studies to sell to other homeschoolers. Namely we want to write our own Constitution and civics studies. There just aren't that many available out there to our liking. There are a lot for younger students that are highly watered down and very, very basic, and there are a lot for older students but they tend to be dry or entirely too left or right leaning (and obvious about it.) We're also seriously lacking appropriately in-depth Texas history and government curricula.

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I draw and paint. Well, I do that for work too.. My work is storyboarding mostly, cause the coin is good. But when I'm not doing that I'm tutoring drawing and painting workshops. And if not that then I'm at home painting or illustrating either digitally or traditionally. I try to spend a minimum of 6 hours a day making images. I don't really have hobbies or projects outside of work because my work is what I do. If that makes sense. I like getting in the garden sometimes, mowing the lawns, weeding and planting things.

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I'm a miniatures hobbyist. I collect X-Wing Miniatures, Armada and Legion and play them when I'm not D&Ding at my gaming group. I've recently gotten my brother in to X-Wing so I'm thinking about building a table-topper to make it easier for us to play since my table isn't quite the right dimensions to make it easy to play.

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I was working on a book, science fiction blended with fantasy, involving Da Vinci. I completed 100 odd pages and just countless pages of background stuff I wrote basically to play like a kid does, stuff that fleshed out the idea etc. My wife read the first chapter and was mad I didnt let her read more. My kids love the idea, as Ive told them bedtime stories about that world their whole lives. Im both pretty happy and truly not happy with it, the not happy part comes from struggling to find a voice I wanted for it. Besides, everyone and their mother writes something with Da Vinci.

 

Anyway Im now working on something based around Alaska, family and stuff.

 

Work wise, Im still a Mr. Mom. My oldest son will be 21 this year, his fiancé just turned 21 late last year. Their college endeavours are in peril at the moment, with a madman conservative governor hacking away the state budget except for anything that involves corporation tax benefits. As such my son is very seriously considering the military in order to finish paying for his degree in a state that still has a functioning university system. All that said just to then say, when they finally do have kids they hope to be near me and his mom too, of course. They said, how could we not take advantage of the fantastic daycare environment you provide, Dad?! So I guess, eventually, I will be a Mr. Grandmom if that is a thing. lol

 

I have thought about being a Daddy Daycare and several of the parents in my neighborhood have inquired as to my availability in that sense, but I dunno. I do like being involved with the neighborhood kids in the loose supervisory sense that an active parent in a neighborhood is... and everyone (even past neighbors that were dicks) are all hey Mr. Robin and jovial. But... actually being responsible every weekday for them all... eh.

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One thing I always wanted to get into but have never actually gone for it is customizing GI Joe figures. Ever since my brother and I discovered you can take them apart with an eyeglasses screw driver, mix and match body parts, and use an O-ring to replace any snapped bands, I've loved the idea of creating my own figures.

 

I've gone as far as buying the right sized screws and O-rings from GI Joe fan sites and buying a ton of loose body parts from ebay and at cons (not to mention still having all our figures from when were kids), but have never actually committed to doing it. Part of it is my hands are quite a bit larger and less subtle than they were when I was younger--the other parts are patience, time, and children. But I still have the idea in the back of my mind to do someday.

 

Hell, even without customizing, I can piece together rare and hard to find figures by just assembling their loose parts if I can find them all. Much cheaper than buying, say, an original straight arm 1984 Snake Eyes, for example.

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Mine is essentially my lakehouse which I'm fairly obsessed with. My grandparents owned a house on this lake since the 60's which my cousin bought a few years ago. We got one last summer, although it needed alot of work. Was hard to really stay in it at all and in fact despite having our own house we nearly always would sleep at my cousins. So this fall and spring were spent getting the house more liveable, which was did. We can stay in it now, although its still not a year round house and maybe never will be. It's more than nice enough for the summer. Been spending the summer getting things exactly how I want them. Spent forever trying to find these damn porch lights that the grandparents used to have on their porch. Finally found some new in the box from probably the 60s, so that was exciting. A bit expensive for plastic porch lights but worth it.

 

I was lucky in that the lakefront that came with my house was somewhat large but the dock was completely falling apart. My cousins lakefront has a solid dock on it but is very small. He has more money and a boat and jetksi and all that so I sold him my larger lakefront, which he then had a nice big dock put on, for cash and his old dock. Which helped fund some of the fixing up of my house.

 

Really though we treat both houses and both docks as just for the family as a whole anyway so it's a total win-win.

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It's funny also to see people saying they write things just for enjoyment. A couple years ago when my parents moved we went into attic to go through crap. I found a box full of old notebooks which basically consisted of these fictional countries I had come up with from say 5th-8th grades. I remembered doing it and even the name of the major countries:Pilodia, Milania, Buteria, Sman and The United Federation of Chocs (Im serious). I didn't remember just how much I wrote on this fictional world though. A whole 5 subject notebook filled plus some other stuff.Fairly elaborate histories covering centuries for each of those 5 nations. Plus there were about 2 dozen smaller nations which really were just there to support and play small parts in the histories of the 5 major ones. Some of it is fairly detailed and not even all that bad. Although it's fairly derivative of real history.

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I have played with customizing Joes, both when I was a kid and an adult. As an adult it was more difficult until the kids were both interested and of course old enough not to want to eat the pieces. We have moved onto LEGO now though, as it was becoming increasingly rare to find Joes at our local thrift and charity shops (never thought to use the internet). LEGO minifigure wise we must have at least a hundred or probably well more, and we definitely have the pieces for at least twenty more figures in our stash. eBay is great for finding LEGO minifigures btw, especially if you find a Chinese seller willing to still ship to the US, way cheaper than buying numerous box sets for the different figures.

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I'm admittedly not a super creative type. Instead of projects I play sports, I guess? I wanted to run Ragnar Northwest Passage again this year, but with everything going on with my son, I decided I couldn't really afford a weekend away from the family. So instead I think my daughter and I are going to do her first 5k on Saturday. We will walk a lot but that's ok. I also signed her up for a Kids Obstacle Course Challenge in August. I think she will really like that. I do Orangetheory 2x a week and play on an indoor soccer team once a week. Going to try playing on an all-women team this next session. I hate playing guys because I'm 5'3" and only have 2 speeds (good players have 3+): slow and fast-for-me-but-not-really. It's annoying when you're trying to play defense and they literally just run away from you to beat you. I'm also never going to win headers so I never jump either lol.

 

Other than that, most of my "creative" energy goes to Girl Scouts. They are finally Brownies and there is a ton to do at that level, so trying to plan out a fun year for them. My son is going to do Cub Scouts next year, but no way am I running his Pack or Den. Its going to be enough work being his chaperone at meetings without having to worry about a bunch more Kindergarten boys. (Figured Cerina would get a kick out of us doing it, though.) He has been so jealous of his sister in Girl Scouts that I've been promising him for like 2 years that he can do Cub Scouts.

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One thing I always wanted to get into but have never actually gone for it is customizing GI Joe figures. Ever since my brother and I discovered you can take them apart with an eyeglasses screw driver, mix and match body parts, and use an O-ring to replace any snapped bands, I've loved the idea of creating my own figures.

 

I've gone as far as buying the right sized screws and O-rings from GI Joe fan sites and buying a ton of loose body parts from ebay and at cons (not to mention still having all our figures from when were kids), but have never actually committed to doing it. Part of it is my hands are quite a bit larger and less subtle than they were when I was younger--the other parts are patience, time, and children. But I still have the idea in the back of my mind to do someday.

 

Hell, even without customizing, I can piece together rare and hard to find figures by just assembling their loose parts if I can find them all. Much cheaper than buying, say, an original straight arm 1984 Snake Eyes, for example.

Aw crap.

Now I have to do this.

 

I have this problem of OVER hobbying. Years back I got excited about repainting nerf guns. So of course I got WAY into finding weird and rare ones to swap parts around, spent a ton of money, painted half of them... and the other half are still waiting.

 

Same with custom lightsabers-- I've got soooo many parts in boxes that have been sitting for months.

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I'm right there with you with that. Over the years, I have bought so many dvds/blurays, games, books, and comics in various forms (which has only gotten worse with Comixology's massive sales). It was hard enough finding the time to watch/read/play all of them before my wife and I started dating, but it's just even more difficult now.

 

I don't know if any of those can really be considered projects, though, but they are really the closest I get that are hobbies and not related to work. My creative energies get taken up by teaching and my many ongoing research projects, which I am also always behind on because of how many of them I have, so I find that I like to spend my downtime enjoying the products of other people's creativity.

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This reminds me! The NES emulators I got from you have both bugged out over time. Can I shoot them back and have you re-format them?

 

Sure! I'll PM you my address.

 

I like to come up with a lot of story ideas that I'd like to write someday. I'll write synopses, character sketches, make spreadsheets, draw maps, list specific plot points... but never actually do any writing. Maybe someday?

 

Youre right, and I know it counts... just doesnt feel like it since Im not working in the body of the story. My latest one, all Ive got could at best qualify as a blurb. I like it though, so I hope I dont end up abandoning it like so much else Ive tried to write.

Also wtf handy Seth freaks me out. But I get it, Im a lot handier than I used to be. Ive had to take apart and fix our garbage disposal twice in the last few months and not only was it easier than I thought each time, it was very fulfilling to accomplish something. But Im rambling now cuz its definitely NOT a hobby.

 

I feel you. I switched back over to the Raspberry Pi projects so I could complete something. If I can't finish something, it tends to not feel like I'm doing it at all.

 

Your work around the house counts for this thread, since it's about projects and things you're doing away from your main "job". Plumbing scares me, but I had to replace the bathroom sink drain around Christmas. I've gotten a lot handier over the years, too. When we moved in one bedroom was a big walk in closet so I had to tear it all out, put up new baseboard and crown molding, and paint it. That was a huge accomplishment for me.

 

Literally...everything. Ok not literally. And "job" would have to include my 2 paid positions that total less than $5k a year so there's that.

 

Most of my big projects right now revolve around homeschooling. I'm creating some "workbooks" for Noah. Turns out, he really likes having different "workbooks" for each subject. So I'm scouring a bunch of online and paid-for resources to piece together some different "workbooks" for him. I put "workbooks" in quotes because they're not actual your typical workbook. They're a mix of planning pages, daily and weekly checklists, a few worksheets, some one-page reference sheets, and a lot that are sorts just notebooking sheets/worksheets for him to keep all of his work that might normally be done on just a sheet of notebook paper (for some reason getting him to copy a sentence onto a sheet of paper is torture but asking him to do it on a pre-printed sheet with 3 lines is ok). I can organize these by week, so he can open to the next week and do work at whatever pace he wants.

 

Since I'm also tutoring a class on grammar, writing, and math, I'm also making plans for that. As a contracted tutor for Classical Conversations, most of the lesson planning is already done for me, but it can be overwhelming for new parents/students. We're going to have 6 new parent/student pairs this year our of our class of 12. I've been compiling a lot of information for them to peruse slowly before the fall semester. My hope is by then they'll be familiar with some of the names/jargon, layout of the guides, scope of the program, and resources available to them before we begin, so the first few weeks can be spend learning the content as opposed to be overwhelmed by all of this other stuff. This is technically for a position that pays, but this extra work isn't exactly included in the pay. So this counts.

 

Since we started 2 brand new Scouts BSA troops back in February, I'm still trying to set up a good system for our advancements (entering and tracking) and working with our Merit Badge Coordinator so he can do the same (he's brand-new to scouting, so I'm helping while he becomes familiar with all the programs and guidelines).

 

I also volunteered to create and organize a mentorship program in our homeschool association. We have 300 families enrolled, and every year 20-30% of that are families brand-new to homeschooling. So I'm finding experienced homeschoolers to match up with the newbies who've requested a mentor. I'm trying to find a good way to match people based on a lot of different factors that can drastically change how you homeschool - special needs and worldview being the largest. Plus, I also have to prepare materials to advertise this at our Open House next month, AND I somehow got handed the job of hosting a new family meeting/orientation in September.

 

And my friend and I are playing around with the idea of writing some of our own curriculum or unit studies to sell to other homeschoolers. Namely we want to write our own Constitution and civics studies. There just aren't that many available out there to our liking. There are a lot for younger students that are highly watered down and very, very basic, and there are a lot for older students but they tend to be dry or entirely too left or right leaning (and obvious about it.) We're also seriously lacking appropriately in-depth Texas history and government curricula.

 

 

I have a friend who is a teacher who is going to start putting his lesson plans up for sale on the internet. It should just take a little extra work to make them ready for sale, and then it's just passive income. Especially when there aren't a lot of other options for the subject.

 

I'm admittedly not a super creative type. Instead of projects I play sports, I guess? I wanted to run Ragnar Northwest Passage again this year, but with everything going on with my son, I decided I couldn't really afford a weekend away from the family. So instead I think my daughter and I are going to do her first 5k on Saturday. We will walk a lot but that's ok. I also signed her up for a Kids Obstacle Course Challenge in August. I think she will really like that. I do Orangetheory 2x a week and play on an indoor soccer team once a week. Going to try playing on an all-women team this next session. I hate playing guys because I'm 5'3" and only have 2 speeds (good players have 3+): slow and fast-for-me-but-not-really. It's annoying when you're trying to play defense and they literally just run away from you to beat you. I'm also never going to win headers so I never jump either lol.

Other than that, most of my "creative" energy goes to Girl Scouts. They are finally Brownies and there is a ton to do at that level, so trying to plan out a fun year for them. My son is going to do Cub Scouts next year, but no way am I running his Pack or Den. Its going to be enough work being his chaperone at meetings without having to worry about a bunch more Kindergarten boys. (Figured Cerina would get a kick out of us doing it, though.) He has been so jealous of his sister in Girl Scouts that I've been promising him for like 2 years that he can do Cub Scouts.

When my wife played soccer, I hated it. All of the guys were douchebags who would just try to hurt anyone to prove how manly they are, and my wife was about your size. I almost got into a fight at one game, to the point that I went and sat in the car and forced myself to hold on to the steering wheel until the game was over. The guy was also ready to fight, but I grew up in a really rough area and know that I don't have to prove myself. The last fight I was in involved throwing a Marine through a door, which is the last thing anyone would ever expect from me.

 

My son was a Lion scout this year. We had a really small den with just 4 boys, so we just had the dad's lead once a month. They give you a book that has all the plans, so it's basically getting the stuff together and doing it. I probably spent 10 minutes on my activities.

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Re: Modifying 3 3/4 figures.

 

As a kid I discovered a method (discovered should be in quotes), thanks to my little brother throwing a hissy and then throwing my Star Wars figures against the garage floor and wall, that a bit of force (no pun intended) can pop the glue and clasp that holds them together. After seeing this I started experimenting in ways that would best accomplish this without undue damage to the figure, especially the face. Holding the legs and then over hand tossing the figure with a good bit of whip to it so it would land squarely on its back would then pop the glue and clasp as if it just hadnt even been assembled.

 

These figures then essentially could be mix and matched just like Joes, of course it was a one time thing as after glueing the figures back together the disassembly process would not always work as flawlessly as it had originally.

 

Later Star Wars figures and even the Galoob 3 3/4 TNG figures could also be mix and matched this way, and with a little adjustment to the neckballs of a Joe figure then their heads could fit into the later 90s Star Wars figures too. The late 90s early 2000s Jurassic Park figures would work the same way.

 

As such I ended up with quite the original figure assortment.

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I like to come up with a lot of story ideas that I'd like to write someday. I'll write synopses, character sketches, make spreadsheets, draw maps, list specific plot points... but never actually do any writing. Maybe someday?

 

This sounds a lot like me. For years now, I've been wanting to write a fantasy story, but so far all I seem to be able to do is build the world in which it is set. I've developed the overall geography and history, the different races and their religions and mythologies, etc. But when it comes to actually writing a story, its like I have block. I just keep developing the setting but I can't get an actual story off the ground. I have a very analytical mind and I'm starting to think I don't have the creative abilities to do something like this. For example, I know what events need to happen, but I get stuck on how to get there. I get lost in the details of how to go from A to B. It always ends in frustration and I just go back to world-building again.

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Would it help with your problem to focus on filling in the sub events and less on the details of the story?

 

For example:

 

1) Get up

2) Go to work

 

1) Get up

a) Go into the bathroom

b) Go downstairs

c) Get in the car

 

2) Go to work

 

1) Get up

a) Go into bathroom

i) Brush teeth

ii) Shower

iii) Get dressed

b) Go downstairs

 

etc

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I am obviously not a professional, and I am probably doing it wrong or working at it harder rather than smarter, but this is what I do:

 

I get an idea and then will write what I call an Idea Blurb. It is usually a few paragraphs, sometimes just a sentence.

 

When I want to, whether immediately or not, I will blow up that Idea Blurb to a Quick Outline. It is sometimes a page, it sometimes ends up at double digits, but usually it is in between.

 

I then break the outline into three acts. As this is happening if ideas pop in there I will then list those certain things in the acts that I think should have them, at least initially. When the basic points for each act is set, I put the outline to the side (not always literally in this day of digital writing) and I will start writing.

 

If I get stuck or my mind wanders, then I will look back at the outline and whatever notes or snippets of dialogue I may have jotted down. If that doesnt help, I will see if I can brake down the chapter or act that I am working on into essentially three acts within themselves. Doing that sometimes helps me see why I am having an issue. Its a lot of this thing happens, why does this thing happen, what exactly is this thing, why does this matter and to who, who does it affect, why does it and how, what do they do about it.

 

During this entire process, ideas flow like silly fast, so if I need to I will take a break from whatever I am writing or structuring and immediately jot down any thoughts or dialogue strings that occur to me. I tend to hear the dialogue of the characters a lot easier than I do many other types of details like what such and such looks like or whatever. BTW hear should be in quotes, I dont actually hear voices. I dunno why the dialogue comes to me first, or at least with more emphasis, or if that is unusual, but thats how it comes to me.

 

Once I am happy enough with the overall concept and outline, I will look at the outline to review how it feels and if what I have down logically progresses. During this I also play around a bit more. I ask myself if this particular thing has to be the start or does this have to be the end, or would it be neat if this moment was the start and then that thing or this moment should be here and not there etc. Does it feel too quick to start and then lull really bad. Is it too simple, more likely too complicated, how simple can I make it without it losing whatever it was that drew to write it. Stuff like that.

 

TL:DR Summary

 

Write the Idea down.

 

Expand the Idea to a Beginning, Middle, End.

 

Always write down any flash ideas separately.

 

Jump in there and just write it.

 

Look back at notes if you get stuck.

 

Allow yourself to play with it... the writing, I mean, but science says the other is healthy too.

 

Dont worry about it being good, the moment you worry about whether your writing is good is the moment the drive to write will probably evaporate.

 

I tend to believe that what I am writing will be seen as some really dumb shit in someone elses opinion, but that is probably just a coping mechanism.

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