BenjaminGeiger

I'll be honest: I kinda suck at games. I was pretty good as a kid (cut my teeth on the original Super Mario Bros), but my reflexes have slowed down as I entered early geezerhood. I did get through chapter 3 with 288 deaths and minimal cursing, though.

I'm aware of the existence of >!B-sides!< and >!C-sides!< and >!"Farewell"!<, but if I don't complete them, how much of the story will I miss? Where does it go from "I have to complete this to finish the story" to "I only have to complete this to prove something to myself"?

I'm meeting [via telehealth] with an EMDR-trained specialist on Friday and trying to figure out what to expect.

I don't really remember my trauma because there were so few flash-bang moments. A few, sure, but most of it was day-to-day bullying and isolation.

The analogy I've come up with is that it's like being made to march in shoes that don't quite fit. Each individual step doesn't particularly hurt, but when you get to the end of the day your feet are blistered and bleeding and you're barely able to stand. When you think back, you don't remember most of the steps, because each step wasn't individually damaging, but the combined effect of a day's march caused severe pain.

What little I

Something I wrote yesterday, transcribed from my (dead trees) journal:

Again the question comes up: can you heal from trauma you don't remember? My trauma isn't a single flashbang event. It's years of day-in, day-out pain, the kind that fades into the background and you learn to ignore, until the cumulative effect is so severe it cripples you. It's the mental equivalent of having to wear shoes that don't fit, so you end up with massive bleeding wounds and blisters. You don't remember every step because each step was only mildly painful, but a day of walking leaves you bedridden.

Specifically, my trauma was extensive childhood bullying and ostracism (mostly due to undiagnosed-at-the-time

I've been asking my endocrinologist to test my E2 levels for several visits now and somehow the test never ends up in the list of labs to be drawn. Is there a legitimate reason for not having them drawn, other than incompetence?

I'm currently on lisdexamfetamine (generic Vyvanse), 50mg each morning. And honestly, I can barely tell if I've even taken it. The only real effect I've noticed is appetite suppression (it seems to be doing more for my weight loss than the Wegovy (semaglutide) I'm also taking).

Is this just what it's like, or should I ask for/insist on another medication when I see my psychiatrist next?

I have a Galaxy Watch 5 and a Pixel 7, and for the life of me I can't find any way to retrieve the battery diagnostic information that I know for a fact is being stored (because there's an option in the Samsung Members app to view it, but it only runs on Samsung phones).

How does this not run afoul of antitrust laws?

I have a very hard time setting boundaries. It's something I've discussed at length with my most recent therapist.

A week or two ago, I was at Goodwill and saw a book called "Boundaries". I put it in my cart immediately. Perhaps I should've skimmed it first, because it's thoroughly Jesusy. Just in the first couple of chapters there's a great deal of "our god will fix you" nonsense, to the point where it didn't feel worth continuing. (I was raised Christian, but I've been openly atheist for more than half my life now.)

So, the question is, is there a comparable resource that isn't trying to sell you on a particular church? It doesn't have to be written by or for atheists, but if the autho