Posts by Lawrence Bailey77

Neither option, really; I suppose it’s just sex 😛

I wouldn't necessarily view it as a primary issue, but rather as a potential symptom of one. I suppose there are those who consciously poison themselves just to find a reason to laugh... then again, some people seem naturally gifted at finding humor in just about anything, which they claim extends their lifespan. Others simply use wit as a coping mechanism when faced with larger, insurmountable problems that they can't possibly fix. It's a spectrum, I guess.

In high-stress scenarios, people tend to react in all sorts of ways—some might even spiral—but generally speaking, you also have those individuals who are perpetually unserious, or shall we say, somewhat eccentric.

The real question lies in where we draw the line for ourselves. When someone sets out to define or explain the world they inhabit, how far are they willing to go? And more importantly, what was their actual goal to begin with? Or perhaps, what should their objective have been from the very start? 🧐

p.s. Sometimes, for various reasons, people go out of their way to manufacture or hunt for minor issues, while the "true problem" remains perfectly shielded from scrutiny, tucked away safely behind a mountain of trivialities.

Joshua Garcia56 said:It seems like those little stories about how "special" you are have really taken root, haven't they? Based on the feedback you've received from a few people in your life, it’s pretty clear that your claim isn't holding much water!
You’re definitely a small person with a massive ego, but since you're still so young and immature, I honestly think there's still a real chance for you to turn things around.

It honestly feels like I personally know more people who have been labeled "special" or "exceptional" at some point in their lives than those who haven't. I'm talking about the ones who were constantly singled out and praised by their professors in high school or through college. It doesn't even matter what field they were in—whether it was athletics, the hard sciences, social studies, or linguistics—there always seems to be that group of people who were recognized as standout talents early on!
They’re nowhere to be found today. It seems they’ve become so accustomed to constant praise that they’ve completely lost their drive to actually perform. It’s such a shame to watch—all that raw talent just goes to waste because of complacency, leaving people to settle into being nothing more than totally average, or even below-average, citizens of this planet.
It’s a sad reality, but that's just how things are.

The truth is, even older folks have the potential to change... age isn't really the deciding factor here..

My own father is significantly less mature than most people I encounter, and he's already seventy 😵 ... honestly, I find it hard to believe he's even still around, let alone managed to raise children (myself included) 🤣

Just ignore all that empty rhetoric and the whole Carpe Diem thing... though, I suppose she was right, and it is a fitting username! 👍

quietnomad13 said:It’s almost like I’m reading my own life story here, except for the parts about conquering and reshaping the world.

Look, speaking from raw experience, let me give you this one bit of advice: study. Learn for yourself, not because someone else is breathing down your neck to do it.

Back when I was your age, I was the exact same way—I dodged books like the plague and tried to find every possible shortcut through life. Luckily, I ended up picking a solid trade in high school that actually pays the bills now.
If I had actually listened to the older folks who kept nagging me to "reach my full potential," I probably would've achieved way more than I did.

The truth is, I’m still a student today. To be honest, what really lit the fire under me was someone incredibly special to me. Being around them made me realize just how much general knowledge I was missing—stuff I either skipped over or completely blanked on during my school years.

In a pretty short amount of time since then, I’ve knocked out foreign language courses, discovered so many places and things I never even knew existed, and I’m finally diving into the classics I should have read a lifetime ago.
Don't get me wrong, I'm pulling about 10-hour shifts most days and working weekends too, so finding time to hit the books isn't exactly easy.
I’m old enough that, age-wise, I could practically be your father.

Whether you take my advice to heart—to keep learning and keep growing—is entirely up to you.

👍 .. here is a starting point Philosophy of Science 🙂

To be honest, books have always been somewhat tedious to me... my primary sources of knowledge have always been people. Questioning others, questioning oneself... constant re-evaluation and observation. Reading has always felt like a final resort to me—perhaps a pessimistic way to learn, if I may say so—where I feel one should either read a book or simply experiment. I find myself constantly questioning everything. 😉

Now, I don't mean to advertise my own limitations here; I suppose I do regret not reading everything within my reach, as it certainly wouldn't have hurt. But as I mentioned... it just isn't my style. 😬 Subjectively speaking, I believe I am utilizing my potential quite well, and I am satisfied with my particular "path," though of course, there is no end in sight. One might call it a sort of greed for knowledge and experience. 👋

One of the first channels that really caught my eye was Khan Academy .. just pick a field that interests you... whatever you desire... and study. 👍

In the past, access to education and information was reserved for the privileged few. Now, before they manage to privatize the internet and all of human history along with its collective wisdom, take advantage of the opportunity. And don't forget future generations; just as those before you enabled you to access all their knowledge—regardless of how questionable it might be—future generations will look back and question it all as well. That is the very essence of science and discovery. Don't forget that. 🧐

Go ahead and keep making fun of the man if you must... though, if I may offer a perspective, it seems to me—given his silence regarding how they’ve actually handled him, and the fact that he’ll likely resurface with far more trauma than he had just a few days ago—that if they actually let him go while he's in this state, within this specific system... well, one can only marvel at how incompetent those in charge are being 😢

But then again, I suppose once he moves on to a different body, he'll finally be better off 😵

Carl Rivera43 said:I know this, I am not looking for hatred, illusions, or falsehoods.

If I may offer some advice—perhaps you shouldn't leave behind the very things you claim not to seek? 🙂

I am not saying that you *are* doing that, I am merely suggesting it... you see... when someone feels like they are "running in circles," there is a significant possibility they will eventually stumble upon exactly what they "lost." 😉

I am seeking love, happiness, and kindness.

Well, then go out and find it... because even if you "find" it, the question remains whether it will actually want you, right? ... especially if it knows exactly what it does NOT want, much like yourself. 👍

And please, try to understand that the words you choose are perhaps the most important thing of all, or at least as vital as anything else you might hear.

You chose the word SEEKING... so... imagine you are searching for a flower in the middle of the Mojave Desert... it isn't exactly the most intuitive place to look... I am not saying they don't exist there... but... you see... if you are searching for something and can't find it, don't be surprised... because a search is fundamentally required to reach a discovery... I suppose... it's just common sense... a search is necessary to find what one seeks... if that is truly what you want...
Or perhaps I have misunderstood the context or the nuance of your words... and what you actually mean is that
you are "DEMANDING" in the sense of "I want," "I need," or "I must": those sort of childish justifications people use to excuse their own misery:

So, you are seeking... seeking... but who says you can't enjoy the journey along the way? Why shouldn't the search itself be the most interesting part?

Either way, you are already seeking. Now, you could spend your time complaining about how you can't find it, or haven't found it yet, or obsessing over why you are seeking what you are seeking, or what you will do when you finally find it, or whether you are still seeking the same thing you were seeking when you first started... and countless other variations of that struggle... because if you worry too much about the act of seeking, your perception might become so distorted that you lose sight of the goal entirely... ☕ do you follow my meaning? Please, don't kill me with "maybe" or "probably"—just give me a yes or a no. 🙂

Carl Rivera43 said:Then I will probably......

😵 man... honestly... I don't even know what to say to you at this point... though, I suppose it might not even matter. 😛

Carl Rivera43 said:And honestly, I’m just wandering through life, searching for some semblance of Comfort.

What are you actually going to do with Comfort once you finally track it down?

Are you planning to eat it, drink it, or sleep with it?

I mean, are you some kind of alien? What even is this concept of "Comfort"... do you truly understand what it is you're hunting for?

You present yourself with such uncertainty... is nothing about who you are enough to provide that Comfort? Are you happy? How do you actually feel? Are you satisfied with the person staring back at you in the mirror?

.. At the end of the day .. have you ever actually found fulfillment in life, by any measure whatsoever?

Carl Rivera43 said:Every single one of the seven-plus billion people on this planet considers themselves the center of the universe—assuming, of course, they subscribe to certain fundamental values.

But what if they don't subscribe to those values?

What if they don't follow the forum rules?

Or what if someone starts a thread and then rambles about everything except the actual topic, because they aren't even entirely sure what they're trying to say themselves?

Look, Carl Rivera43, it’s all well and good, I suppose... you just need to find a way to address your own issues. You won't solve anything by dodging them or spinning off into new threads. These discussions aren't really about you. Maybe you should focus on yourself rather than me. Don't look for others to bail you out; perhaps you ought to save yourself. Forget about everyone else. Politics is a hollow pursuit... honestly, the political machine doesn't care about you or anyone else. It will strip everything away, and eventually, it might even trigger a conflict just to get rid of people once there's nothing left to plunder. And that cycle can last for millennia. Slaughter... people simply vanish... we're left wondering what happened... 😵 while entire groups are systematically wiped out. Not just villages, but whole cities, entire populations. True genocide. Look at the Native Americans... five centuries of Black slavery following the genocide of the indigenous people... the internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II... and yet, most people just sip their Coca-Cola, blissfully unaware of what they're actually consuming. 🤣 This little speck of dust we call Earth... just a tiny planet... nothing particularly special... the third rock from the sun.

So... well... I don't know... is there a way to even quantify... how much... is... five hundred... years? Five hundred years of laboring, surviving, and dying in bondage?

It seems to me that even calling it genocide feels like an understatement.☕

Carl Rivera43 said:It’s all perfectly legal, I suppose. Or, if you want to get mystical about it—and perhaps I should avoid such whimsy—maybe I just have some bad karma going on.

And besides, why on earth would you assume you're the center of the universe? I’d like to be the center of the universe too, for goodness' sake!🙂

Carl Rivera43 said:Well, it is highly probable that...

Carl Rivera43, I am running quite low on ideas here. I suppose I will check back in once... perhaps... maybe... inspiration decides to fall from the sky.

🙂

Carl Rivera43 said:Well, I suppose... quite likely......

Aha... so... "quite likely"? How fascinating, Carl Rivera43... truly fascinating. ☕

Let us return to the crux of the matter for a moment. Imagine, if you will, that these responses were actually coming from different individuals entirely..

Suppose you pose a question and they respond... and the answer is just... well... "quite likely." 😵

Jacob Sullivan10 said:Lawrence Bailey77, I love you, really, but I don't have any intention of giving a serious answer to everything you just wrote. Maybe it's just that I'm a curious, meddling old lady who happens to be interested in what my neighbor is up to : D . I figured that "THAT" 🤣 might have some fancy little name, something like "pyromania," maybe "water-mania" or something similar, so I could look it up and read a bit more about it. 😬 But I suppose, according to you, even that counts as an invasion of privacy. 😬 Plus, next time I can try to act all intellectual in front of the neighbors by using a sophisticated term for whatever is bothering someone 🤣 (though I'll make sure to mention it's a joke, since it seems you aren't picking up on my sense of humor quite the same way I am : ) .
Anyway, Lawrence Bailey77 showed up and basically "Lawrence Bailey77-ed" my whole thread and me along with it. 😬 Now I really ought to include a proper signature 😬 : Jacob Sullivan10, the diagnosis hunter. And of course, Lawrence Bailey77, I don't exactly keep my own diagnoses displayed at my front door, right? It should be pretty obvious that I keep a little black book where I jot down everyone else's 🤣

🕺 .. why did you have to make me laugh .. really .. you disarmed me with my own logic 😛

p.s. In my "defense," I honestly didn't think anyone was actually reading my posts 😬 let alone enjoying them 😍

Carl Rivera43 said:Of course you deserve that; I was referring specifically to the video—though, given my current state of total exhaustion, I suppose I neglected to pose a direct question.

An immutable fact is simply a truth that manifests itself in a way that remains universal to the individual experiencing it. I suppose, if one considers it long enough, reality is less about objective certainty and more about how a single person perceives the inevitable. It’s a heavy thought, perhaps, but then again, everything feels somewhat heavy these days.

I suppose I should point out that this entire line of reasoning seems entirely disconnected from the actual issue at hand. It’s possible, though I hesitate to be too certain, that we are drifting quite far from the core subject. One might argue that these two things simply don't have any meaningful correlation whatsoever. I suppose one could argue that we are finally confronting reality, though I find myself questioning whether anyone is actually prepared for the implications. It is all quite heavy, isn't it? I guess there is no use in dancing around the issue anymore. One might say we have reached a point of no return, if that isn't too much of a cliché. Perhaps. Regardless, the facts remain stubbornly indifferent to our feelings on the matter.?

I suppose there isn't much to say here, really. It’s just a single word, a choice, a fork in the road that leads nowhere in particular. I find myself staring at it, wondering if there was meant to be more context, though perhaps the ambiguity is the point. It feels somewhat like being stuck in a waiting room at a DMV in some mid-sized Midwestern town—just endless, silent possibilities with no direction provided. Maybe I'm overthinking it. I guess I'll just leave it at that.

What exactly constitutes a variable fact? It is a concept that I find increasingly difficult to pin down, though I suppose I can attempt an explanation. In a strictly logical sense, one might argue that a fact is meant to be an immutable truth—something fixed and unyielding. However, in the messy reality of our modern existence, truths often seem to shift depending on which news outlet you happen to be watching or which political pundit is currently dominating the airwaves on CNN. I guess what we are really talking about is a proposition that holds true under specific circumstances but loses its validity when those parameters change. It is a conditional truth. Perhaps it is like a market trend on Wall Street; it remains a "fact" for the duration of a fiscal quarter, yet once the economic winds shift, that very same data point becomes obsolete. One might say it is a truth held hostage by context. I suspect, however, that calling something a "variable fact" is perhaps just a sophisticated way for people to avoid admitting they were wrong. It’s a bit of a linguistic hedge, isn't it? Maybe.

I find myself wondering if you are becoming so preoccupied with constructing your own private little universe that you might eventually lose touch with the actual, tangible ground beneath your feet. It’s a possibility, I suppose. One might even worry that you could drift away entirely—perhaps you’ll find yourself taking flight, though I suspect the descent would be rather unceremonious. 🙂

Does anything else ever cross your mind besides that one specific forum? I suppose it’s possible, though I find myself questioning if there's truly anything else worth occupying one's headspace. Maybe.

I suppose Google is just an endless sea of data points from all sorts of people... even these forums are essentially just massive datasets. You act as if you are the central processor interpreting it all, but I suspect that’s a bit of an overstatement. Subjectively speaking, there isn't much point in debating how we perceive the world—everyone sees things differently—but objectively? Between human beings? Honestly, what you're saying feels about as logical as claiming you're a tree and I'm a cloud floating in the sky. It's a bit absurd, if I'm being honest. Get it together, man. 😵

P.S. I wonder if you’ve had a chance to look at it yet. Or perhaps you haven't, which, given the state of things lately, wouldn't be entirely surprising. It seems I have been presented with nothing more than a single word—"video"—and quite frankly, it leaves me somewhat adrift. One might wonder if this was intended as a prompt for a critique of modern digital media, or perhaps a commentary on the sheer deluge of moving images that currently saturates our daily lives. If there was supposed to be an attachment or a link accompanying this, it appears to have failed to manifest. It is a common enough occurrence in these digital spaces, I suppose. We navigate these platforms expecting seamless connectivity, only to find ourselves staring at empty space. Perhaps it is a metaphor for the current state of communication itself: plenty of noise, yet very little substance actually being transmitted. I guess it doesn't matter much either way. If you intended to share something specific, you may want to try again.?

Carl Rivera43 said:It’s a fairly solid video. I suppose the implications regarding border security are quite interesting; if power is abused, we tend to see—and perhaps still will see—an unnecessary amount of conflict and avoidable tragedies.

I suppose it is simply better to be a person of goodwill {wishing everyone the best}

.. am I not worthy of a response? 🙂

Jacob Sullivan10 said:There's no need to be sarcastic; it was meant as a joke, which is why I added the :roflko at the end 😁

Come on, just admit it—you probably enjoy this kind of stuff too, deep down 😬 Instead of being mean and judging my curiosity regarding mental health issues, maybe you could actually help me understand people better 😬. I don't necessarily need to know a specific diagnosis; I just want to grasp how his mind perceives things, and what drives or feelings he experiences when he turns on the faucet 😬.

It is certainly a matter of personal choice, I suppose.👍>

Quincy:

Come on, just admit you actually enjoy this kind of thing too. You really do. :z ubo:

As for what I enjoy... I probably shouldn't discuss that on this forum.😛

Quincy:

Instead of being malicious and judging my curiosity regarding psychological disorders, maybe you could help me gain a better understanding of people. :zu bo:

.

Me... malicious?! 😲 I wonder why on earth you think you need assistance. 😉

Quincy:

Perhaps he could be helped.

Wait... him or you? What am I supposed to be here, some kind of neighborhood counselor? 🙂

Quincy:

I don't necessarily need to know the specific diagnostic code, I just want to understand how his mind perceives things, and what impulses or feelings arise when he turns on the faucet. :z ubo:.

Then why not reveal how your own mind perceives it? Isn't everything happening here arguably worthy of a diagnosis? I can't exactly observe your neighbor... I don't even know if the man exists. I only know what you tell me... and frankly, you are far more interesting, mostly because I can actually communicate with you, whereas with the neighbor, I'm stuck with telepathy or relying on you as a sort of broken telephone.

Just imagine if that neighbor were to start a thread on some other forum, claiming that his neighbor (you) is opening threads here asking for diagnoses for his behavior... wondering what might be going on in his neighbor's head. Maybe he likes me and is interested in my installations... maybe he's just acting out without any backbone... or perhaps he has sleep issues or concentration problems... or maybe he's just bored with life and counts raindrops while it pours... and so on and so forth. ☕

And who can say how endless the possibilities are once you open up questions that are actually of vital importance? In this tedious world, devoid of serious problems or existential inquiries, the behavior of neighbors seems to be the alpha and omega of all mental activity. 🙂

And what is YOUR take on this? If I may be so bold as to ask, why exactly do you hold that view? 😉
What is the actual significance of that information to you?
Where exactly do you draw the line when it comes to your own privacy?
Do you happen to have a list of your own medical diagnoses posted and presented on your personal bulletin board?

What qualifies as an (unchangeable) fact?

🙂

Jacob Sullivan10 said:Things have calmed down for now, but only for a few weeks. He went months without anything happening, and then there was that incident in the basement. The only thing is, over the last couple of months, it happened at least once a month 😬. I'm heading back home next week, so when I happen to run into him, I'll try to read his body language and facial expressions. Maybe I'll just go ahead and ask 😬 🤣

Do you honestly think that would be a wise course of action? 🤣

🙂 Just imagine if everyone else treated you with that level of consideration. 😵

Forgive my sarcasm, but really... 😵

The priority here, I suppose, is ensuring Reddit is properly informed about what the neighbors are up to. ☕

Cooling down... water cooling... maybe just a cold shower running against a tiled wall while you stand there... back before air conditioning was a standard thing, that’s how we used to beat the heat.🙂

Then there’s this whole business regarding psychological disorders... it seems like it’s become a sort of fashion statement lately. It feels as though every single minor lapse in judgment or outburst of temper has to be categorized under some specific diagnosis—as if everyone requires a label just to make sense of their own behavior. I suppose I am merely asking, though.🙂

Perhaps a little more education and empathy toward the laws of gravity might be in order, ?😵

Let us approach this from a different angle, shall we? What exactly is it that has absolutely no impact on psychology? 😵