Update for Everyone V: Born Under A Bad Sign

[Mike Thick]

Ripped off Buttigieg in an e-mail coming out to my parents (even though I've already done it to my mom). I feel like I should probably cut some of it, and also that I'm going to throw up, have a heart attack, and die at the same time.

I sent it, after realizing I don't have much to lose (at least, not from this directly). Best case scenario: The folks let me transition. Worst case scenario: The folks ignore it and I have to pretend to be a dude for the next 2 1/2 years, like I was going to originally, except now I don't have to deal with the awkward coming out thing - I already did it.

Massive kudos for having the courage to come out!

[Mike Thick]

Can't sleep

I just experienced the same thing last night. Not good!

As did I...

[Mike Thick]

Just got home from a MUN conference. I represented Antiochus (Athens) in a Crisis Committee reenactment of the Peloponnesian War.

We were able to squeak out a victory by stoking helot rebellions, launching a surprise attack at Pylos (which I helped devise) at which we established a helot army led by Pythagoras and decimated "invincible" Spartan troops by inflicting a 60% casualty rate on their forces even as they retook the city months later, and widespread guerrilla warfare at the Isthmus of Corinth on top of expanded border fortifications. It ended when, after gradually cutting down their massive land army, we stormed Sparta with helot and Macedonian reinforcements as they were launching a massive and costly offensive in Attica.

Lots of weird stuff happened -- we killed a Spartan king when he attempted to walk across the Isthmus of Corinth with a force of only 100 men, and ten triremes loaded with Greek Fire ran aground after we attempted to send them down an extremely shallow and narrow river in order to suicide-bomb Sparta.

Most interestingly, civil war broke out within Spartan troops occupying Athens because Lysander had secretly created a death cult centered around him to take power after we imploded. Despite the fact that he that he was killed at sea after we ambushed his fleet, the cultists were instructed to start massacring their fellow soldiers as soon as the long walls were breached, which gave us time to regroup at the Acropolis and defeat the decimated Spartans.

Most of the craziness was caused by the Spartan committee constantly trying to backstab each other as the Athenian committee united to protect their territories.

This is way, way too much detail, but whatever

[Mike Thick]

Just got home from a MUN conference. I represented Antiochus (Athens) in a Crisis Committee reenactment of the Peloponnesian War.

We were able to squeak out a victory by stoking helot rebellions, launching a surprise attack at Pylos (which I helped devise) at which we established a helot army led by Pythagoras and decimated "invincible" Spartan troops by inflicting a 60% casualty rate on their forces even as they retook the city months later, and widespread guerrilla warfare at the Isthmus of Corinth on top of expanded border fortifications. It ended when, after gradually cutting down their massive land army, we stormed Sparta with helot and Macedonian reinforcements as they were launching a massive and costly offensive in Attica.

Lots of weird stuff happened -- we killed a Spartan king when he attempted to walk across the Isthmus of Corinth with a force of only 100 men, and ten triremes loaded with Greek Fire ran aground after we attempted to send them down an extremely shallow and narrow river in order to suicide-bomb Sparta.

Most interestingly, civil war broke out within Spartan troops occupying Athens because Lysander had secretly created a death cult centered around him to take power after we imploded. Despite the fact that he that he was killed at sea after we ambushed his fleet, the cultists were instructed to start massacring their fellow soldiers as soon as the long walls were breached, which gave us time to regroup at the Acropolis and defeat the decimated Spartans.

Most of the craziness was caused by the Spartan committee constantly trying to backstab each other as the Athenian committee united to protect their territories.

This is way, way too much detail, but whatever

Oh my goodness!

How do you get into this stuff, and what does MUN stand for?

Model United Nations. Crisis Committee plays with the proceedings more than most other committees, but basically it's a mockup of the actual United Nations.

As for how I got into it -- more or less half because I was dragged in by a close friend and half because I actually want to learn.

[Mike Thick]

Mere minutes into the Netflix series "FRΔT STΔR" and it is rife with, not only stereotypes, but absurd exaggerations.

This, but with "13 Reasons Why"

[Mike Thick]

Mere minutes into the Netflix series "FRΔT STΔR" and it is rife with, not only stereotypes, but absurd exaggerations.

This, but with "13 Reasons Why"

My sister and mother are addicted to this show.

Yeah, all my friends are tweeting about it incessantly. I guess I kind of get it, since I haven't really been able to peel away, but the premise is just really depressing, and since I'm not a part of the cliques that are constantly involved in drama I can't relate much.

[Mike Thick]

Gah, just noticed the grammatical error. I need to edit my posts more thoroughly.

Mere minutes into the Netflix series "FRΔT STΔR" and it is rife with, not only stereotypes, but absurd exaggerations.

This, but with "13 Reasons Why"

My sister and mother are addicted to this show.

Yeah, all my friends are tweeting about it incessantly. I guess I kind of get it, since I haven't really been able to peel away, but the premise is just really depressing, and since I'm not a part of the cliques that are constantly involved in drama I can't able to relate much.

"Humans" are bombarding social media with references to it as though the rest of humanity is supposed to know what it's about by simple reference to the title. Presumably, it is preachy.

That's exactly the word I was looking for. Moral lessons are often a critical component of storytelling, but I don't like it when shows tell me that I'm a sh**tbag.

[Mike Thick]

My grandmother died today, but it has been long coming, she really has been suffering a lot and not really living lately. While I do feel sad, I also feel like she, and my father who was strongly suffering seeing his mother's condition, finally have peace.
I have to say that all of this increased my support for euthanasia- for what is life, really, if you just suffer all day long and know that there is no hope for recovery? It's not really life.

That sucks, man. Wishing you and your family the best.

[Mike Thick]

Currently in the theater, waiting for a local-ish production of "Sister Act" to start.

[Mike Thick]

I have to sell advertisements door-to-door for a school project. It's genuinely depressing work.

[Mike Thick]

I have to sell advertisements door-to-door for a school project. It's genuinely depressing work.

I once left an internship with the MI GOP due to the fact that they wanted me to get petitions signed.

Can't blame you.

Talked to one lady who cut me off as I spoke because she wasn't interested, stopped me as I walked out the door to ask what I was selling, and then cut me off again (more harshly) because she wasn't interested.

[Mike Thick]

Thanks for the advice, guys. It means a lot.

[Mike Thick]

I have deleted all of my social media apps. There's a giant, Twitter-shaped hole in my life, and I can't even tweet about it.

[Mike Thick]

I have deleted all of my social media apps. There's a giant, Twitter-shaped hole in my life, and I can't even tweet about it.

A secondary purge may be required. I recommend embargoing Atlas Forum from your life from between twenty-four and ninety-six hours, or one to four days. Using this time, I challenge you to develop one new friend and engage in minute conversations with at least one stranger every half hour of free time dedicated to it.

Note: This is only recommended on a slow expansive route. If you suffer any withdrawal symptoms, return to Atlas immediately. Overuse of this may result in mental scratches, social damage, serious injury, or death. In any case we are responsible for none of the above.

Believe it or not, I'm actually better at social interaction than I was when I joined. True proof that correlation does not equal causation.

In other news, I just got back from a very bland and generic city council meeting. Learned a lot about pension issues on the municipal level, though.

[Mike Thick]

I finished law school. Yay.

So you didn't use "Dong Bong Falun Gong?"

[Mike Thick]

Does rescuing a stray dog in front of a leader of a community group you're angling for an internship with boost your chances?

[Mike Thick]

I'm now the proud father of a baby girl.

That's terrific, DC!

[Mike Thick]

Well, this is going to be REALLY awkward.  I'm renting a room in a house for my internship this summer, and one of the other renters just moved into another room in the house.  It just so happens that she is interning for Planned Parenthood, and I'm not really sure what to do.  Any advice on how to live with someone who is literally fighting at work for the exact thing I'm fighting to stop at work?

I don't have advice, but this would make a fantastic sitcom.

[Mike Thick]

I don't have advice, but this would make a fantastic sitcom.

Are you actually a Democrat now or are you just toying with us again

I've been meaning to explain this. The short answer: Yeah, for keeps this time.

Long answer: It's a combination of how PO'd I am at the current administration, a general leftward drift on fiscal issues, reading about how a few dozen rich guys have paid for most of the political literature I've read to this point, and just starting to think about immigration/social policies in terms of the actual people they affect instead of abstract concepts and numbers.

If Winston Churchill thought that people who were conservative before twenty didn't have hearts, and people who were liberal after forty didn't have brains, I can't imagine what he would say about Atlas's libertarian teenagers.

[Mike Thick]

I have decided I am going to run for the Florida House of Representatives!

Really? In the future, or you mean next year?

Yes.

Good luck, dude!

[Mike Thick]

I had a dream that I was rifling through my produce drawer to get a peach, but antifa mad scientists had turned all the bell peppers into murderous gremlins that were tasked with assassinating the President.

[Mike Thick]

Happy birthday CXSmith!

[Mike Thick]

I came out to my sister tonight She took it pretty well.

Congrats!!!!

[Mike Thick]

Everybody, GO SEE THE EMOJI MOVIE!!! It is your civic duty.

[Mike Thick]

I have pneumonia during the week I have to write my final paper, find storage for some friends possessions that I've been holding, and move out of my apartment. It's gonna be a hell of a week.

That sounds like absolute hell. I'm probably mistaken, but I thought pneumonia was more of a winter time disease? I hope you're able to find the time and energy to write a good final paper.

It's actually Bronchitis, the CVS MinuteClinic got it all wrong. But my papers coming along and the anti-biotics work so it's way better now.

Get well soon, dude. Bronchitis is pretty nasty.