I used to love doing web design. Was perfect career for me, a mix of creativity and coding. Websites then were art, creative, took risks. Then cms became standard, sites all looking the same. Sites are more user-friendly now, but I miss the wild, weird internet of its early days.

This is a genuine question I've wondered about a lot. Kudos for oddly realistic originality.

I spent the last 8 years living in homeless shelters. I'd say at least 95% of my fellow residents were fleeing domestic violence, drug addicts, people out of jail, elderly, pedophiles, sex offenders, wide variety of mental health issues, some physical disabilities.

Mental health was the majority, so much so that shelters work in concert with mental health programs. Some short term crisis stabilization places for homeless people leaving psych hospitals.

Remember one guy in above category refusing to stay in a shelter, said it was more crowded, less freedom. Some people so beaten by bad experiences, trauma, unable to hold jobs their entire life, who'd give up, living on the streets was only stability they could muster.

It is freeing, in a way. But not as romantic, idealized as some might think.

Fat dyke. Cracker. Loser. Piece of shit. Failure. Being sexually harassed by guy throwing me against a wall, shove him back, told im a typical snowflake, yet another stupid bitch who can't take a joke. Get the fuck out , go back where you belong. Was especially fun living in homeless shelter, standing out front smoking a cig, and black guys driving by yelling at me that I'm a gentrifier.

Homeless shelters are fun.

It look me til mid, late 30s. Had drank so heavily for so long, was getting sicker and sicker. Realized was heading straight into Leaving Las Vegas territory, had to quit.

Used to. Constantly wanting their approval, ways to impress them, make them like me. Constantly trying, making an effort to connect, join.

Then realized was focusing on my needs. Often, people so wrapped up in their own drama, realized I wasn't the center of the universe. So I stopped trying.

Once I did that, weird thing happened. People started to come to me, wanting to chat, hang out.

Of course, this was in a psych ward, and I'm 43, no friends, living in a crappy studio apt, and only people I talk to are myself and random strangers on the internet. So what do I know.

First job was at a fast food place. One day, a car at the drive thru was hurling abuse, threats at the cashier. Manager of the restaurant made sure their order was ready as quickly as possible. Then, as a bunch of us watched, she opened each burger and spit on each one, smeared it into the bread so it wouldn't be noticed, rewrapped, and then handed them to the customer personally.

That's when I learned to ALWAYS be polite to the people who prepare and serve your food. And to always open up a burger or sandwich b4 I bite into it.

A dead rat. I found it, gave it funeral rites, put it in a tiny plastic coffin, stored it in the freezer. From time to time, I'd take the coffin out, put it in my bag, carry around with me for several hours, so the rat's soul wouldn't feel lonely. Then back in the freezer. This went on for at least a year.

I'm old enough to have seen fads, social movements, come and go, technology changing constantly. I've learned one must adapt, things always change, and one should be careful about what one gets used to, what one depends on. Sometimes you have a good thing, then it dissappears. What matters is how you respond. I've learned to prepare for emergencies, what would I do if this is suddenly taken away?

Reddit was where I realized the online world has changed a lot the past 2 or so decades. Back in the day, we'd actively curate, use rss feeds, find a bunch of sites we liked, and create our own customized feeds.

But by the time of reddit, we were no longer doing that work for ourselves. I started to notice a pronounced echo chamber effect, less variety, seeing same stuff over and over.

Suicide. I say that seriously. You can plan, prepare, accept, rehearse, make peace. But when it comes to the moment of actual doing, the human survival instinct is insanely powerful, frustratingly so.

I change laptops frequently. Used to buy songs from iTunes and every time I changed laptops, transferred music over, I'd lose access to them. Would have to go thru insane process to be allowed to listen to the music I'd paid for.

Similar thing would happen with some software, Adobe especially.

If you're going to treat me like a criminal, then I might as well be a criminal. Same with purchasing movies on Amazon.

I tried to pay for minecraft, but 2 hours later, Microsoft wouldn't let me. Kept trying to make me an Hotmail account.

Growing trend in software I'm not happy with. No longer allowed to own the things we buy, and forced to hand over my email, phone number, address, name, create account... used to be, you could just buy things, simply. That was that.

Corporations are getting drunk with power, overreaching, infiltrating people life.

Also, if in poverty, no food, homeless, etc. If I can't afford what I need. And can get it another way, I will

YES! it's so rare I find anyone else who's seen farscape. only tv show I wish I could see again for the 1st time.