Short version, I wanna change my names (first and middle two) sometime this year to something more audibly enby. I have a bunch of stuff I think sounds neat, but is that all it needs?

Like it feels fake at some level, or like an affectation. I don't know what names resonate with me or if they're even supposed to. I feel like this is a common experience so maybe I could get some advice?

I do want names that stand out, but also ones that don't make me sound full of myself, but...also need something that resonates with me and I'm so confused and lost

Hi everyone!

Basically I want to change my legal name to something way more non-binary, including my middle names. I already know there's a state application process and I'll have to get my passport changed and all that.

Are there any more hurdles I'm not considering? I don't even know what I want to change my names to yet, but I know at least one of my middle names won't be "normal" so I'm a little worried about how that might work legally? Maybe I'm worried about nothing. I live in Texas if that makes anything different.

If anyone has advice or had any experiences they hadn't considered at first, please let me know. I'm kinda excited about this.

Oh, and I still haven't decided on any names, so feel free to suggest any lol. I'm looking for mainly like neutral to femme stuff and also naturey sciencey words that aren't typical names. I kinda have a punk vibe too.

Thank you everyone and I love my trans comrades!

I just realized I have no idea why this happened. Does anyone have a good dialectical materialist explanation?

Every chud in my life is obsessed with someone breaking into their house and the situation being resolved with the discharge of a firearm. And these are people living in low crime areas out in the suburbs, with no pedestrians. It's frustrating to talk with these people since their whole worldview is a racist panic over some imagined brown interloper invading their white fortresses.

One of my coworkers tells me he always pulls out his Glock to check the corners when he comes home in the evening. Another has a CCTV system and an AR15 by his bed. I personally don't own a gun anymore because I don't trust myself with one, and chuds will ask me what I'll do if some mentally unwell person high on amphetamines decided to enter my apartment. I guess I'd leave or call an ambulance? It seems so unlikely of a scenario that even if I had a firearm I probably wouldn't use it right, or even register this person as a threat quickly enough to do a John Wick style takedown.

How many home invasions are actually stopped this way? Do chuds all think they're Robocop?

I learned I naturally do goofy stance

It looks a little different than it did a few years ago? There's been radio silence since Paradox started over with the new devs. This game has had a really troubled production, I think Paradox has been trying to get it off the ground since 2015. Now it's being done by The Chinese Room, most known for Dear Esther and Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs.

Bloodlines is one of my favorite games of all time, so I'm trying to stay optimistic that the devs also hold it in high regard and will try to make a worthwhile sequel. The gameplay from this new trailer looks a little clunky and weird, but maybe that's ok. VTMB never had great combat in the first place. The dialogue, writing, and vibes are where it's at. Looks like there will be gliding around and parkour stuff? Might be cool.

Anyone looking forward to this game? There's even a release window, Fall of 2024, but this game was supposed to originally release in March of 2020, so don't hold your breath.

I just got around to checking out Psychonauts 2. The first one was always a favorite of mine, really clever platforming and cute story. The second game starts out with a disclaimer that it does portray real mental illnesses, but it's supposed to be playful and humorous. I thought that was kinda neat.

I'm amazed at how much the sequel feels like the previous game too. It came out 16 years later and it still feels fresh and good. Seamless transition, picks up almost immediately after the previous game. Platforming feels smooth and tight. Gameplay is actually the same, which is good to me.

I went into this game thinking it'd just be some nostalgia pandering repeat of the first game, or some kind of hollow cash grab, but nope. Genuine extension of the first game. Worst you could say about it is that it's too similar to the first one, but...that's what I wanted. Good times. Feels like Double Fine at their best, like a culmination of all the stuff they've done in previous games. Jack Black is even in it.

No spoilers please

I suppose it makes sense. I have no close friends and I completely avoid social situations unless I have to be in them. It would explain why I always feel like the center of (negative) attention in any given room, or why I always feel like I'm annoying people or that I sound smug.

The doctor told me people with AVPD often have trouble understanding who they are as a person, and can't latch onto specific identities, but I haven't thought about that much. The pamphlet and stuff I'm reading online also seems to suggest AVPD has such overlap with social/general anxiety they're almost the same thing.

Anyone else have experience with this?

It's literally like this:

Materialists/Physicalists: "The thoughts in your head come from your conditions and are ultimately the result of your organs and nervous system. Your consciousness is linked to your brain activity and other parts of your body interacting with the physical real world."

Dualists: "Ok but what if there were an imaginary zombie that has the same organs and molecular structure as a living person but somehow isn't alive on some metaphysical level. If this zombie is conceivable, that means it must be metaphysically true somehow."

Materialists: "That's circular and imaginary, isn't it?"

Other dualists: "Ok but what if I were in a swamp and lightning strikes a tree and magically creates a copy of me but it's not actually me because it doesn't have my soul."

Am I reading this stuff wrong or are these actually the best arguments for mind-body dualism

I like making weird noise music involving samples. Some of my favorites have been sample CDs from the 90s, and using archive.org to look through PSAs and old news broadcasts. But it's really difficult finding anything good in the piles of just...local community radio and the mountains of college lectures. I like finding stuff that's really eerie or odd, like that one recording of that time the US tried scaring the Viet Cong with scary ghost noises (which didn't work lmao :uncle-ho-2: )

Does anyone else have a more streamlined approach or do any of y'all have any favorite media that's esoteric/creepy?