Update for Everyone IV - Hungover

[Antonio the Sixth]

I just experienced ego annihilation. I was in my garage and I died. My heart burst. It made a popping sound. The most important question of all time is the existence of God: I answered it. I love you guys.

Edit: Oh and he said Ayn Rand was right. Kinda.

Edit Edit: She said. She's a big, black woman and boy is she sassy. Who would have guessed Afleitch of all people got it right.

?

[windjammer]

I just experienced ego annihilation. I was in my garage and I died. My heart burst. It made a popping sound. The most important question of all time is the existence of God: I answered it. I love you guys.

Edit: Oh and he said Ayn Rand was right. Kinda.

Edit Edit: She said. She's a big, black woman and boy is she sassy. Who would have guessed Afleitch of all people got it right.

Are you alright?

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

I just experienced ego annihilation. I was in my garage and I died. My heart burst. It made a popping sound. The most important question of all time is the existence of God: I answered it. I love you guys.

Edit: Oh and he said Ayn Rand was right. Kinda.

Edit Edit: She said. She's a big, black woman and boy is she sassy. Who would have guessed Afleitch of all people got it right.

You're on some good stuff, I see!

[Confused Democrat]

I just experienced ego annihilation. I was in my garage and I died. My heart burst. It made a popping sound. The most important question of all time is the existence of God: I answered it. I love you guys.

Edit: Oh and he said Ayn Rand was right. Kinda.

Edit Edit: She said. She's a big, black woman and boy is she sassy. Who would have guessed Afleitch of all people got it right.

Acid or shrooms?

[Antonio the Sixth]

Well, there it is, for your enjoyment. Ranked from most constructive to most cruel.



Some are definitely deserved, others really make me wonder (a "heavy accent", seriously? ).

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I just experienced ego annihilation. I was in my garage and I died. My heart burst. It made a popping sound. The most important question of all time is the existence of God: I answered it. I love you guys.

Edit: Oh and he said Ayn Rand was right. Kinda.

Edit Edit: She said. She's a big, black woman and boy is she sassy. Who would have guessed Afleitch of all people got it right.

Acid or shrooms?

The latter. I knew the night would be special when I realized I was eating them without gagging or reacting to the taste. Then the effects kicked in stronger than usual for these things, and I began to get overwhelmed and thought a bad trip was coming on. My mind within ten minutes disintegrated. Thought I had gone insane or fried my mind. I couldn't read anything and couldn't even know the time or try and put some music or TV on. I was gripped by pure terror and trembled violently on the couch, trying as hard as possible to not scream and wake my parents. I tried to smoke a cigarette in the garage when I just went black. I don't think I was unconscious but when I came too at least 30 minutes past and I was in the same chair. The experience was incredible. I usually prefer the electric mayhem of acid but I went green and did the wholistic thing for once, and I'm not disappointed.

[LLR]

By the way, we're gonna need a new thread soon, so if anyone wants to calculate the cool numbers and stuff like Tik did at the beginning of this thread, I'm sure we'd all appreciate that.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Wow, a lot of that's pretty harsh, Antonio.  I've never been a TA or anything, but if this is your first year and you're not used to speaking to rooms full of people, I can guarantee it'll all come natural to you in time.  I used to stammer through every word whenever I had to give a presentation or what-have-you, and the fact that I have severe social anxiety did nothing to help with that.

I guess I'll need to make some order in my workspace

[img]

Quit the cigarette smoking.

If this only were as easy as said.

I managed to do it, but I guess everyone is different. Have you tried vaping?

Horrible advice.

Technically, that was the intended purpose of vaping before edgy tryhards got wind of it and started doing it instead of smoking cigarettes.

FTR I vape, but it's mostly for the taste and because it's actually pretty relaxing if you get some good juice and a device that doesn't break every two weeks.  Not getting cancer is just an added benefit.  Obviously, people who advertise it constantly rival stoners for the title of most annoying.*

*EDIT: Not directed at you, Sanchez.

[Confused Democrat]

I just experienced ego annihilation. I was in my garage and I died. My heart burst. It made a popping sound. The most important question of all time is the existence of God: I answered it. I love you guys.

Edit: Oh and he said Ayn Rand was right. Kinda.

Edit Edit: She said. She's a big, black woman and boy is she sassy. Who would have guessed Afleitch of all people got it right.

Acid or shrooms?

The latter. I knew the night would be special when I realized I was eating them without gagging or reacting to the taste. Then the effects kicked in stronger than usual for these things, and I began to get overwhelmed and thought a bad trip was coming on. My mind within ten minutes disintegrated. Thought I had gone insane or fried my mind. I couldn't read anything and couldn't even know the time or try and put some music or TV on. I was gripped by pure terror and trembled violently on the couch, trying as hard as possible to not scream and wake my parents. I tried to smoke a cigarette in the garage when I just went black. I don't think I was unconscious but when I came too at least 30 minutes past and I was in the same chair. The experience was incredible. I usually prefer the electric mayhem of acid but I went green and did the wholistic thing for once, and I'm not disappointed.

That come up sounds terrifying.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Wow, a lot of that's pretty harsh, Antonio.  I've never been a TA or anything, but if this is your first year and you're not used to speaking to rooms full of people, I can guarantee it'll all come natural to you in time.  I used to stammer through every word whenever I had to give a presentation or what-have-you, and the fact that I have severe social anxiety did nothing to help with that.

Well, undergrads certainly know how to be mean when they want to (especially since it was an intro class, meaning most of them are basically high schoolers). Still, it's true that stammering and constantly trailing off is not very professional for a teacher, and it means I'm failing at my responsibility to convey the course material clearly and effectively. The consensus seems to be that I've gotten better over time, so I can only hope that continues.

Next quarter, I'll be teaching Political Theory - which isn't even one of my subfields and which implies lots of reading, something I'm awfully slow at. Wish me luck!

[Ban my account ffs!]

Well, there it is, for your enjoyment. Ranked from most constructive to most cruel.



Some are definitely deserved, others really make me wonder (a "heavy accent", seriously? ).

There isn't any love lost between the two of us...but those bottom comments are unnecessarily brutal.

Keep your head up Antonio and keep at it.  You will do alright.

Have you thought of talking to a speech person on campus to improve your delivery?

[Antonio the Sixth]

Have you thought of talking to a speech person on campus to improve your delivery?

The thing is, judging by my own (obviously biased) impressions but also by the reactions of my interlocutors, my delivery isn't normally bad. I never stutter in everyday conversations with colleagues and professors. I think it's mostly stage fright. Still, it might be one of the things I should discuss with campus resources, yeah.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Have you thought of talking to a speech person on campus to improve your delivery?

The thing is, judging by my own (obviously biased) impressions but also by the reactions of my interlocutors, my delivery isn't normally bad. I never stutter in everyday conversations with colleagues and professors. I think it's mostly stage fright. Still, it might be one of the things I should discuss with campus resources, yeah.

A suggestion for you, Antonio: when you're holding a lecture, try to focus as much as possible on the subject you're speaking on and not the people you're giving the lecture to.  If it's something you happen to have a lot of background knowledge or personal interest in, set your energy on that and only that so you won't be distracted by what your students might think of you.  I've found that when I do that, I'm less likely to run into sudden, awkward pauses or stammers that would otherwise direct the audience's attention to me instead of the subject matter.  And if the subject matter is boring or not something you care about that much, pretend it is anyway.  Just take all the energy you put into the initial stage fright and use it on your delivery.

It's been a good while since I've last had to speak to a group of people, but that's what got me through some student presentations as well as certain, more emotionally intense occasions (like my father's eulogy, for one thing).

Not sure if that would work for you, but it helps me immensely.  If you're not much of a casual talker in person (which I'm certainly not), then just think of it as acting: fake it 'til you make it.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Thanks, Scott. I definitely think it might help.

There's also the fact that I'm not really giving lectures, but rather moderating a class discussion (which, in practice, means asking students a bunch of questions and pestering them until they come up with the right answer). The back and forth makes it a lot harder to not stop and think about how I'm doing and how students are reacting. Lecturing might be easier in that respect (though it would also be far more boring - as I said earlier I actually do enjoy what I'm doing now).

[Grumpier Than Thou]

I just experienced ego annihilation. I was in my garage and I died. My heart burst. It made a popping sound. The most important question of all time is the existence of God: I answered it. I love you guys.

Edit: Oh and he said Ayn Rand was right. Kinda.

Edit Edit: She said. She's a big, black woman and boy is she sassy. Who would have guessed Afleitch of all people got it right.

This is the best thing I've ever read in my life.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I just experienced ego annihilation. I was in my garage and I died. My heart burst. It made a popping sound. The most important question of all time is the existence of God: I answered it. I love you guys.

Edit: Oh and he said Ayn Rand was right. Kinda.

Edit Edit: She said. She's a big, black woman and boy is she sassy. Who would have guessed Afleitch of all people got it right.

This is the best thing I've ever read in my life.

Agreed. My theory of life as performance art realized.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Started my second writing project in English.

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

Listening to hopeful triumphant Undertale final boss music while browsing Atlas.#LivingTheLife

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

My chest has been hurting mildly nearly non-stop for the past 48 hours.

[Antonio the Sixth]

My chest has been hurting mildly nearly non-stop for the past 48 hours.

Yikes! Please get yourself checked ASAP.

[LLR]

I stand in solidarity with the oppressed people of the Sahrawi Arab Republic by changing my profile flag to that of Western Sahara. I ask that you all join me to call attention to this important diplomatic issue and further the cause to restore a proper two state solution to the Sahara. It is a simple change but it says miles. 🇪🇭🇪🇭🇪🇭

God bless,
LLR

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I just got mugged at gun point on the street outside my unit. All I had were my keys and cigarettes. The guy who did it said he was just "punking" me and that he filmed it as if he walked off laughing. I think it's just plausible deniability seeing as I had nothing but four cigarettes on me to steal. I'm definitely going to smoke in my buildings courtyard for now on considering this.

[Kingpoleon]

I have found a very interesting person named James O'Keefe.

Interesting video by him: https://youtu.be/4Khn_z9FPmU

[Confused Democrat]

I just got mugged at gun point on the street outside my unit. All I had were my keys and cigarettes. The guy who did it said he was just "punking" me and that he filmed it as if he walked off laughing. I think it's just plausible deniability seeing as I had nothing but four cigarettes on me to steal. I'm definitely going to smoke in my buildings courtyard for now on considering this.

Keep an eye out to see if you pop up on youtube. "REALISTIC MUGGING PEOPLE AT GUN POINT PRANK!!!! MUST SEE!!!!" Or it might have been a "social experiment."

On a serious note though, did you report the incident to the police?

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

No, it's not worth calling the police because nothing was stolen, even the cigarettes. I think he was 100% serious, but at the same time I've found that calling the police will have little effect and the scariest people I've encountered usually tend to disappear. I'll never see him again, but I'm keeping my late night smokes to the interior courtyard of my building, even if it is somewhat of a hike up the stairs and down the hall .