chat

Things that have gotten better for me personally:

• Moved out of my parent's house.
• Finally escaped retail hell for a bullshit corporate job.
• Had multiple partners, including my current lovely partner that I'd like to spend the rest of my life with. M-Maybe we could even be in a larger poly relationship in the future??? o///o
• Partner went from $15/hr to $25/hr in less than a year.
• I frequently managed to pay off my credit card, in part because I used to get a ton of paid OT.
• I lost 55 pounds during covid and made some long term online friends that I need to hang out with more.
• I'm vegan now btw. uwu
• Not a lib anymore that goes on YouTube for free educational slop only to land on "North Korea bad, China building empty cities" propaganda and believing it without any critical thought.
• I was one of the few that got to WFH full time during covid, and it was glorious.
• Embraced my younger self and admitted to myself that I am in fact still autistic and that it doesn't go away with time.
• Stopped trying to mask with sad fat old lady wardrobe and got built a nice plus size goth wardrobe over time. I even got the confidence to dress casual goth at work.

Things that have gotten worse:

• Over 7 years into this job, and I'm still a contractor with no paid days off or real career progression, just like retail.
• The job market is too shitty to look for a higher paying job externally.
• Once upon a time, 2 people making a combined $100k a year or more (even pretax) could afford a "starter house" in a couple of years, especially if they didn't have kids. Or at least a nice condo. Yeah, we're still renters, and I wouldn't be shocked if we stayed renting even after I turn 40.
• Building on the last point, the concept of a "starter house" is now considered a joke by the average person.
• Not that we want them, but affording kids went from unlikely to impossible (unless we want them to go through American poverty and fascism, no thanks lmao).
• Pretty much EVERYONE, for one reason or another, has no hope for the future, my depressed ass included.
• Climate disaster gets worse with each passing year, and depending on what party you ask is either considered a joke or too inevitable to do anything serious about in the USA.
• Grocery prices exploded.
• Rent prices exploded.
• I had to beg for my wages to go up with inflation, and they're already falling behind again.
• AI is a cyberpunk nightmare.
• I gained most of the weight I lost because they made us go back to work.
• I finally told work about my disability right when the gross Kennedy shit was happening this year (yeah I have autism) and work didn't even let me WFH more days.
• I got super burned out this year, and I can't remember most of the year very well. It took like a half a year to recover fully while I was still working full-time.
• They're taking away most of our paid OT at work right before a recession hits.
• The 10-year break from official recessions was nice while it lasted, even if a couple of unofficial recessions happened during it. Getting mentally prepared for the next big one happening to a capitalist hellscape near you.