Trouble in Paradise
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
I hate words
Well, not words so much as words that describe medical conditions. Agoraphobia. Aspergers. Social Anxiety Disorder.
I understand that people actually do have medical conditions, but the internet has ruined me, turned me all hard and skeptical.
My mom told me a while back that my dad was an agoraphobic because he REALLY doesn't like to leave the house by himself. I felt like screaming. Words MEAN things. And that's not what they MEAN.
Between TIP and my time playing Glitch (yes, gaming, I know), my tolerance for self diagnosis... or even quack doctor diagnosis has been worn down to nothing.
Words. Mean. Things.
Okay, I feel better now.
Re: I hate words
What is Glitch?
Online game who no real point, aside from wasting time and milking virtual butterflies.
I play it because a couple of people that I know IRL play (like my sister) and it's fun to go on little missions with them. But yes, there are stereotypical gamer grrls complete with the dramatic medical conditions on the system, as with any game.
What's up with that? Seriously?
My friends and DH laugh because every time I encounter someone who calls herself a "gamer girl" I cringe. They say it's because I don't like another girl coming in and being my competition. No, it's because there's a ridiculously high likelihood of them all being the exact same brand of weird, needy and clingy. What is it about the gaming community that attracts people who like to wear hats with ears on them, emo glasses, and hoodies? Some of these chicks have a bigger collection of self-diagnosed mental issues than they do of Hot Topic t-shirts and spiked accessories.
I think the "gamers" are the reason I don't believe people when they first tell me they have some sort of issue. I'm so soured to people who have gleefully departed the knowledge of their myriad of "problems" upon first meeting. I knew a girl one time who told me she gets startled easily because she had a fever when she was little and it burned part of her brain so that's why she squeals a lot. Really? I thought it was because you want attention. Did it also burn away the part of you that feels shame or pride in yourself?
Obviously, I could go on like this for a long time. So I'm going to stop. Just let it be known that if you ever want to learn about a new mental disorder... walk in to your nearest comic store and ask the confused girl in black sitting near the group of guys.
Is it glitch.com? Can you send me an invite? I need a new time waster. I actually signed up for Second Life yesterday because I'm getting bored with my games. Then I remembered that I hate Second Life.
Glitch.com
I'm all out of invites though. Late-comers like me only started off with THREE and two months later, I haven't gotten anymore. When they open it up (or if you run into anyone with invites left) I would definitely sign up though. It's very cute.
Exactly.
It irritates me because I like to game a lot, but it seems like any game with a social aspect becomes an outlet for attention seekers. I've started to get involved in RL gamer groups three times and each time found myself dropping out because there was some ridiculous drama. Generally involving people who sound like your squealer. I gave up.
And I've totally heard the you don't want to compete with other women thing and it is patently ridiculous. I never minded working with and competing with anyone in school, in my work, in road and trail races but DH thinks that I'm disparaging about people who wear the gamer girl badge because I'm just a woman hater with can't take it when a chick steals my broad sword? No.
I've collaborated with women professionally who have been amazing and when they show me up, I'm inspired to be better. But when the FIRST thing that I know about someone is either their "medical" history or that they game... it will probably not be a positive relationship.
psh, I want to compete with women, provided they're on my level of skill. I hate carrying people when they suck, and it sounds like what you're describing is a bundle of 'feel sorry for meeee' crapitude.
Though like I said, I've never run into the sick gamer chick. I've run into a bunch of different types of attention whore, but not the sick one. Weird.
I signed up, so I will have to wait to see how long until I get an invitation. They said a couple of weeks.
I haven't run into that type of female gamers either. I usually play first person shooters and there doesn't seem to be many females. I've noticed that the PS3 gaming crowd tends to be older than the XBOX crowd. The little kids on the mic drive me crazy whenever playing XBOX. I don't mind playing with women. At least they don't send me pervy messages. I play a little Skyrim, Sims 3, and Sims Medieval, but I don't interact with other players on those.
Usually the hypochondria associated with the gamer chick is because they believe that if they are helpless the gamer "hero" will save them. Self diagnosis & all the emo-BS of the social scene of gaming is a big turn off, I agree.
I do still love me some Halo though. Grenade launcher or flame thrower? Ah I do miss being able to spend time aimlessly wasting other players. Alas, I got trout-slapped by real life.
You should head over to the Knot and see all the brides who blame their refusal to have uneven wedding parties on OCD.
Currently Reading: Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes
I should disclose that this rant was fueled in part by the women on the server I game on coming on and being a complete d!ckbag to everyone a couple of days ago and then coming back an saying, basically, I can say whatever I want because I have THA ASPBERGER'S!
Plus mourning of my belief that people who are sick are trying to get better because, as I know from past experience, being sick gets in the way of being awesome. And I thought that being awesome was everyone's underlying mission.
There is a character on Glee this season (Sugar Motta) who pokes fun at this very thing. She'll say "your eyes are too close together... but I can say that, I have Aspberger's". Hilarious.
Currently Reading: Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes
I actually read up on Aspergers because I suspected that my father was diagnosable. He's insanely intelligent, but has huge amounts of anxiety and really struggles to relate to people based mostly on references to it I'd heard in pop culture.
My conclusion: No. He's just smart. Some people are just smart.
The bolded is, wait for it, waaait for it, awesome.
I think everyone wants to be so fricking special, and illness is their way of being special, and getting attention.
I kind of feel like BVal felt herself falling in to a routine and BAM I'm sick!! I'm special! My life is no long mundane!
I think LHC is on to something about being over medicated and not having a single spark left. It's "easy" to not walk- easier than trying to stand out by doing something good.
And, I'll admit, I laughed at the part about the "gamer hero." Hero is not the first thing I think of when I hear the word "gamer."
I remember when I took abnormal psychology in college - the professor said there was a tendency for students to read about an illness and self-diagnose. He said there's no way he's teaching hundreds of sociopaths, LOL.
I admit that I got mired in this self-diagnosis crap when my marriage was imploding. I was just so convinced that there was something mentally wrong with him. Once I left the denial stage, I abandoned that line of thought. He's just a garden-variety azzhole.
My brother and I have both been diagnosed with chronic illnesses. It took years to receive a diagnosis, and we both work damn hard to overcome them. There are maybe 5 people IRL who know that I have lupus. I don't want to be treated differently. I work. I have relationships. Lupus is like .01% of my identity. My brother's had a harder time of it (Asperger's), but he's been in intense therapy for years to try and live a normal life. He doesn't complain though and he certainly doesn't wear it as some kind of badge. He gets on with his business.
I'm always highly suspect of people who wave their conditions around like they're banners. It's always been my experience that these are the people who aren't all that sick. The ones who are sick are expending their precious energy in getting better and/or advocating for others to get better. They don't care about becoming Cancer Girl or MS Guy. I cringe at the thought of putting myself up on a pity-pedestal like that.
Exactly, Sailorette!
I do catch myself mentally diagnosing people sometimes, but my justification is that I'm studying (since I'm about to submit materials to get approval to take the first licensing exam). I try not to share what I think people's diagnoses are, though.