How to tell that Ripp is not averse to commitment, despite being a Romance sim:
His pair of orange Converse All-Stars that are literally rotting on his feet because he won't get rid of them.
Reblogged
Peer Support
This evening I am attending our last mental health peer support group meeting.
The organization which hosts the group is closing its office in favour of other services and online groups (which don't work for me). It's very sad. End of an era. I have attended for nearly 10 years. I met my best friend there.
I have gotten so much from that group over the years and have been honoured to meet other people with vastly different experiences, and yet see how much we all have in common as well. Talking openly about things like suicide in a room full of people has been very healing to me.
We're having a meal. I missed the meeting last week when it was announced, so odds are I will cry. My friend said she cried last week, and it hasn't really fully hit me yet.
Well, I cried. No, I sobbed.
Nothing had hit me until I hugged the coordinator goodbye, and then it all came out in one big wailing ugly cry. And I'm the one known for not crying very much or noticeably. I usually cry in a quiet trickle down the side of my face and no one's the wiser.
My first group meeting was on the day I was released from the hospital (relating to my bipolar disorder). I showed up a shell of a person and said almost nothing. Years later, they've been with me on this whole journey.
I can still see the coordinator one on one, and I do plan to do that. She's been the throughline, with other participants coming and going. I was, with 100% certainty, her longest running and most consistent participant.
Peer Support
This evening I am attending our last mental health peer support group meeting.
The organization which hosts the group is closing its office in favour of other services and online groups (which don't work for me). It's very sad. End of an era. I have attended for nearly 10 years. I met my best friend there.
I have gotten so much from that group over the years and have been honoured to meet other people with vastly different experiences, and yet see how much we all have in common as well. Talking openly about things like suicide in a room full of people has been very healing to me.
We're having a meal. I missed the meeting last week when it was announced, so odds are I will cry. My friend said she cried last week, and it hasn't really fully hit me yet.
The Tank and Ripp age difference
In SHWC, I wanted all the teens to go to college at the same time, because that was far more interesting to me for story purposes (and the game mechanics allow it). Recently, I was wondering how it could possibly make sense for Tank and Ripp to be both the "same age" and the older and younger brother, and I realized that it could, even in real world terms.
They were born in the same calendar year, and thus are in the same grade. So Tank is the older brother, but Ripp was born just a little more than 9 months after Tank. And oddly enough, it can even be supported by their Zodiac signs. Tank is a Capricorn (so let's say Jan. 1st) and Ripp is a Sagittarius (gonna go with Dec. 21st).
Them being born so close together only adds to their dynamic. Siblings with less than a year gap can be very competitive and have a lot of conflict, but they could also have a strong bond (Which Tank and Ripp are very gradually working towards in my story).
It can also be much harder on the parents to have two babies so close in age, which could create or add to the strain on the relationship. So yeah, that also makes sense.
It's funny we were talking about bubble blowing yesterday, because I actually went out last night (we don't do it that often) to listen to records at a friend's house with some other people and there were so many "bubbles" being blown that I think I blew a bit secondhand.
I've been completely sober for 5 years, so it wouldn't take much, but still. lol.
Our friend is such a huge stoner, he seems exactly the same, no matter how much he smokes. It's baked into his personality (pun intended). He's also the nicest guy in the world and a musical genius (he's in Mr. Tomato's band). If anyone has seen his plumbbob, I'd bet on him.
Jaxy's Theory
“So, hey… lean in. I have a little theory…
Yeah, so… I don't think the baby is Ripp's. Hear me out. We know he took like a briefcase full of condoms everywhere he went, right? It is so out of character. I think it was 'Johnny’. Was that a good Ripp impression? Maybe a bit dopey-er? How about… ‘Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny…aww, he’s so fucking awesome.’ … Right? Think about it.
Ripp would 100% raise Johnny's kid. Ripp would probably give birth to his kid. No... he definitely would.
I'm Tank, the oldest of the family. I was molded into my father's image from birth, to the point that I have no identity of my own and have no idea who I really am. Am I angry? Yeah, sometimes, but it's fine. I just push it all inside until it eventually explodes out in a violent rage. I used to, anyway. I'm working on it.
Also, don't believe anything Ripp tells you about me.
I'm Ripp, the middle child, and boy am I ever. I’m the fuck up who Buzz would have been happy to send back, and yeah he said as much. I still hear him inside my head, as like my internal monologue of self hatred. And yeah, I'm in a lot of therapy now. But I'm not here to depress you. I'm also hot. Obviously.
Did Tank say anything about me? It's all lies, if he did.
I'm Buck, the baby. My father barely noticed me most of the time. But seeing how things went with Tank and Ripp, I'm okay with that.
I'm actually the most sensible of the three of us. You can ask them, and I'm sure they'll agree. I can't tell you how many times I've had to mediate between them and try to keep them from killing each other. It's exhausting. I wouldn't trade them for anything, though. They are always there for me when I need them.
Reblogged okaycontinue
(This post is brought to you by the fact that tumblr are, hilariously, claiming that 50% of current users are gen z, and i wanna see how accurate claim that is.)
Edit: so far it looks like there are way less Gen X than I thought there were on here, and way more Gen Z. Huh. How about that. Colour me surprised.
On moods and thoughts...
You might find it hard to believe, but when I was more symptomatic, I quite often thought that people disliked me. Here in the sims community, despite so much evidence to the contrary, that was what my brain was often telling me.
Now, with my moods regulated, I don't think that way. Obviously, not everyone is going to like me, and that's fine. I don't have to be for everyone (pretty impossible, really). But I trust that many people do like me. I can take in the positive evidence of this and not disregard it in favour of the opposite. I can believe it.
I hope that saying this here might be helpful to someone. It may have been rejection sensitive dysphoria, or just some product of the depressed brain. Either way, medication has quieted this. I think that's a very hopeful thing to be able to say.
Negative moods generate negative thoughts. Just because we think it, doesn't make it true.