amberSuperMario

And what other people count as ‘not a spoiler’ is often very, very misjudged.

I feel this, my friend tends to tell me about stuff they like that I haven't seen/read/played/etc. and is very relaxed about what they consider spoilers. Thankfully our tastes don't overlap much so it's usually not a problem, but occasionally they'll start talking about something I'm interested in and I have to be like, wait please don't lol. I always feel a little bad for it because I'm glad they want to share their interests with me, but I'm so picky about spoilers and if I don't stop them then they will say something I don't want to hear...

Oh, I definitely understand depression making it difficult. I used to have a lot of trouble keeping motivated for reading even for things I really enjoyed. What changed it for me was when I started having a long bus ride to and from work, which was an ideal time for me to read and kept me consistent. Maybe audiobooks would help?

As for drawing incorrect conclusions, I think as you learn more about history and political theory, it becomes easier to have confidence in your own understanding. There's no shame in needing help either! I saw some people already suggest companion pieces, which can make the more difficult theory easier to understand. There's also communities here and on Lemmygrad (like !asklemmygrad@lemmygrad.ml or !genzhou@lemmygrad.ml) where you can ask questions about things that confuse you, people are often happy to answer questions for those looking to learn. Something I think that could help too is reading a book written more recently as well, since they tend to use language that is easier for us to understand. A lot of the foundational Marxist works are very old, and personally I'm not sure about any good modern substitutes for them, but I'm sure there's stuff out there. Maybe someone else can chime in with suggestions.

Sorry if this response is overwhelming, I have a hard time judging that kind of thing and this is just something I get a little overzealous about.

Me reading the first chunk of State and Revolution, not knowing who any of the people Lenin was criticizing are:

I think reading small stuff is just fine for getting practice! It will get you more comfortable with reading and build up your stamina for it just the same.

what do you mean by you haven’t been able to read theory? like is something making it difficult for you or are you not sure where to start, or is it something else? someone here might be able to help you out

i see there was a dog/cat split. personally i would have just embraced chaos and started inter-bureaucracy war and forcibly changed the icon/header/pronouns to cat stuff but maybe this is a more mature solution

Oh, I should have edited my comment, I went looking after this and technically federation has been open since late February, but as far as i can tell you can only host personal single-user instances for now.

are there actually any other instances than bsky.social?

Doubt it, these people are already fucking up their kids with Covid and don't care at all

I don't know about for bearded people, but I own an Envo Pro and have had to stop wearing it for work because it was hurting my face. I still wear it if I'm going out for less than like 2 hours but just wanted to warn others since it's kind of expensive.

Cool! I’m not really sure what to suggest because unfortunately my knowledge of queer history is still lacking in a lot of ways, but I crossposted to hexbear’s !traa to hopefully help get some more insight.

Used a sick day to get out of work. I do not have the energy to put up with the holiday rush lol. I don't know what the plan is for the rest of the day now, maybe read some more? I started The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People's History of Ancient Rome on my way home last night, so maybe I'll get comfy and read the next chapter of that. I've been meaning to watch Nosferatu as well, so maybe it's time for that. I don't really know anything about the movie other than the fact that it's an old vampire movie, so hopefully it'll be interesting.

Do you all prefer to go into media blind, or do you prefer to know what you are getting into? Personally, I like going in knowing as little as possible, but for movies/shows I sometimes end up learning a lot before watching anyways, because I like to watch with my wife if she's interested, but she can't watch really violent stuff and unfortunately there is a lot of that out there.