fracture

if it's not worth preserving

IT'S NOT WORTH PURCHASING

rarely, i like to play a fluffy, feel good game with no real stakes. enter: Flynn, Son of Crimson

there is absolutely no chance of anything really bad happening in the game, the worst that happens is your powerful guardian diety dog loses his powers at the beginning of the game (but it's OK, he just rests until you reclaim his powers and he feels better). you never really feel like anyone is really in danger, you get to play a pretty fun 2d action platforming game, and it has some really fun sections later on that make you feel awesome

it wraps up nicely in probably 20 hours too, if you want to 100% it, so it doesn't overstay its welcome and lets you experience all of its content with low demands. really a lovely little experience. it's not pushing the envelope at all, but if you want basically 20 solid hours of lighthearted fun, this is a great way to get it

gonna throw in my caveat here; ITT is a really good co-op game but there's like a 25% chance the story isn't for you. it's the kind of story where, if you think about it too much, you start to realize that the characters do some pretty fucked up stuff including

::: graphically tearing a plush doll apart while it screams for mercy

:::

i don't want to come across as judgemental if you enjoyed it; i get that some people are gonna find it more slapstick than anything. but it was more than enough to make me and the person i played it with flush it, and i wouldn't feel right not mentioning it for specifically "uplifting games"

if you can ignore the story, the co-op gameplay is super solid, though

(sorry if the spoilers don't show up right, my client doesn't show them properly)

to clarify, i'm talking about the hypothetical situation where OP's wife, who has chronic fatigue, also has a baby. i'm sure there are people out there with chronic fatigue who have had babies, of course, and they are champs, but uh, i believe that would be a future situation for OP :)

haven't had a kid, but 2 weeks with a wife who has chronic fatigue seems really short. honestly the start up life doesn't strike me as great for having a kid, but idk what your job situation is. can you peace out for a day or two every week without things going off the rails? if so, you might be fine. but usually, start ups are pretty lean, and rely pretty consistently on the presence of each person on the team (or at least, this is what i've heard, i haven't done a start up, either)

how much do you have to help your wife? have you asked her thoughts on the situation? does she work?

you'd might want to do some research on child development to help form some timelines. e.g. when does the baby start crawling around / how long are they breastfed? learning stuff like this should help you roughly forecast how much supervision you'll need to give (it's probably not linear, fwiw)

last thing to consider is, what if your wife or baby comes out of this requiring more care than average? what benefits does your work provide in those situations? not everything goes as planned, and i'd be a little worried about that given your wife already has one chronic condition. pregnancy is not exactly easy on a body

regardless, i hope you can figure things out and everything works out well for you and your family!

lots of great suggestions in this thread, just wanted to shoutout this little indie i played and had a delightful time with: Flynn, Son of Crimson

it's a little 2d adventure game with pretty linear progression, although there will probably be some backtracking if you want to 100%. but it's level based and not open world at all. the movement and combat both feel pretty good, the story is very fluffy and feel good, and you have a giant dog as a pet, what more could you want?

it's probably like a 15-20 hour game in total, if that. a great time if you want something short, fun, and uncomplicated

beyond the obvious ways this is fucked up, imagining this happening with AI gen text is insane. trying to craft a post to both empathize with another poster, kindly demonstrate flaws in thinking or logic about a point they usually care a lot about, and trying to explain how the different point of view better supports the things they care about it such a monumental effort already that AI just cannot do. no actual persuasion will come out of this (not that a ton happens on the internet to begin with, but even less than that)

and honestly if you're firehosing people like that, AI is just going to absolutely drown out any actual communication from happening. at some point, we'll just have bots going to war for us about our points, and no one will be reading it

big shoutout HOTS... i should tap back in... FUCK deadlock (note: this user has not played deadlock)

i would have liked it if this had offered a COVID perspective on communal baths. i'm inclined to think that a hot moist environment is a likely place for it to flourish, and it seems odd to neglect to mention that three years of a pandemic probably had an outsize impact on the number of bathhouses still open in 2022

obviously we probably don't have a ton of data on how to circulate air and filter COVID out of bathhouses, but i also bet there's a way to do it in a relatively energy efficient way

anyways, it feels like a major spot that's lacking in an otherwise informative and well thought out read

really good thoughts and write up that you linked, thanks

that's YOUR union, go get involved and fix it!

even unions are gonna eventually fall to corruption and laziness if ppl think they'll solve your problems for you

the union IS you (and your coworkers)

i think this one starts with you

one half of the equation is to be comfortable and firm in your boundaries. if someone asks something of you that you're not comfortable with, don't do it. say you're not comfortable. if they insist, or say it's normal, decline again and leave the interaction

this is the bread and butter of navigating these encounters. if you're not comfortable with this, try to practice with a mirror, a trusted friend, or a therapist

the other half of the equation is to get in touch with your own feelings and emotions. the best way we understand others is by understanding ourselves. take some time to practice mindfulness meditation and spend that time listening to and observing how you feel. as you practice more, this skill will come more naturally to you in day to day interactions. soon, you'll be able to tell when people are being fake or manipulative by understanding how you feel in relation to it

you may think this won't help you understand others, but humans are wired with very good mirror neurons which are very perceptive of how others are feeling. when you understand how something feels for you, you will understand how it feels for someone else, and you'll be able to notice more subtle things like a missing emotion - for example, a lack of joy when feigning interest in something you're interested in

both of these take some time and dedication to develop, but i think it will help you with your problem

an additional skill you will probably want to pick up is breathing practice. check out 4-7-8 breathing (the first number is the count for inhaling, the second is for holding, the third is for exhaling; so breathe for 4, hold for 7, exhale for 8; if this is too hard, you can try 4-4-4). this is to help keep you calm when asserting boundaries or remaining patient with your feelings during meditation