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PaperclipPerfector  7mo ago (text post)   3225 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 10, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Do you think that surviving life and death struggle will make me less neurotic and more attractive? I'm seriously training for the Hock, and it's making me look at life a little differently. The idea that I might wind up dead in six months or so certainly makes me evaluate what is important in my life, and the act of training causes me to look at my faults and my strengths in a new light. Perhaps the pale sun of the tundra shines a powerful light indeed on us...

I'm seriously training for the Hock,

By this, do you mean that vague idea about air-dropping people into the middle of the Alaskan wilderness and seeing who makes it back to civilization alive?

If so, as an Alaskan, I'm asking you to please reconsider. We do not need more outsiders coming in and freezing to death, getting themselves eaten by bears, starting a forest fire, et cetera.

I have heard it said that Alaska Natives respected the deeds of one Christopher McCandless, for his attempt to live with the land. Arguably he was a dumbass, but he put his money where his mouth was. The pointlessness of the Hock is itself the point. It's a feature, not a bug.

Freezing to death is a possibility. Eaten by bears is unlikely and if I manage to start a forest fire with a foot of snow on the ground I should be dubbed the Human Torch.

Son, if you want confidence with women, it seems like you should practice confidence with women instead of this other thing that you think might be correlated.

If you struggle, I suggest going to a social dance put on by a hobbyist dance group and assigning yourself the goal of ask a woman to dance. The culture assumes men ask women, it’s low stakes and beginner friendly, and most of them women there are there because they like dancing and not to meet chad so if you’re bad with women, it doesn’t matter too much. There’s undoubtedly alternatives, of course. That’s just what I can suggest off the top of my head.

Unironically, I have a lot of female friends. I am reasonably sure that most women would be OK dancing with Quasimodo but not going on a date with him...

I doubt you’re as ugly as you say you are. Try having more confidence.

What sorts of people are your female friends? Do they not invite you to events with their other female friends?

Risking your life is a great way to gain respect... from men. In which case it might work, if what he needs is more self-respect

I've heard it said that if Hocks worked, Hocking would be normal. I believe instead that Hocks work...but that the cost of Hocks, in blood and treasure, is too damn high. Hocks are like a yacht: if you have to ask, you can't afford it. I've seen drug-addicted combat veterans dying of liver failure that had girlfriends; I haven't seen non-veterans with those kinds of medical conditions and girlfriends. The Hock is an imperfect, poor man's substitute for war.

Have you considered enlisting instead?

Uncle Sam doesn't take autists.

This is untrue - or at least was ~20 years ago. I know a former Marine who is very obviously on the spectrum.

I am betting that he lacked a formal diagnosis.

You’d be surprised at how much recruiters are happy to overlook if you don’t announce it and your ASVAB is nearly maxed.

Man, I sympathize with your struggle, I also used to have difficulties with women, but this really isn't healthy. Some nature living vacation with hard physical labor and no internet access might help you get a clear head and make you less neurotic, but risking your life is just plain stupid. I'd certainly consider it entertaining, though.

I'll post a longer reply later: but the unhealthiness is a feature, not a bug. The point is to endure great suffering for no good reason and, if you survive, know for the rest of your life that you are a conscientious and determined individual. Lazy, weak willed chumps do not survive the Hock.

I'll post a longer reply later: but the unhealthiness is a feature, not a bug. The point is to endure great suffering for no good reason and, if you survive, know for the rest of your life that you are a conscientious and determined individual. Lazy, weak willed chumps do not survive the Hock.

Huh.

Sooo, are you willing to entertain the idea that seeing unhealthiness "as a feature" is not what you should be doing? You are literally living the meme of "men would rather [blank] than go to therapy." In this case, I guess the blank is "die."

But the "therapy" also doesn't have to be therapy. I like what /u/hydroacetylene said, which is just go take some dancing classes and ask women to dance. I get the distinct sense doing that would be harder for you anyway. Training alone to climb a mountain (???) is probably the easier option for you, an introvert.

I second this. Touching grass while completely disconnected from tech (ideally with social interaction) is a great way to deal with neuroticism.

I looked up "hock" and only see results about horses.

It doesn't look like anyone will answer so my best guess is Hock Mountain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hock_Mountain

No one corrected you, so you must be right.

I'm curious what ST means too. Hock Mountain looks like it's a 16 mile in and out hike with a class 2 scramble to the summit. That's not a hike to take on a lark, but it's not really something to train for and equate with war.

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