Agreed. Go to Patreon and let me pay for an ad-free stream. I’m a member of fourteen different Patreon projects. Used to be more, but a couple of podcasts drifted from where they were when I signed up and I lost interest.

I buy software licenses too. And I buy my music. I rent movies on streaming services and sometimes buy for things I know will have a high replay value.

I feel no shame blocking ads. They’re invasive and annoying. People have been conditioned to accept them, but I got rid of television in 2021 and started torrenting content. Now that there’s good infrastructure to pay for my media (ad free) and I can afford it, I choose to support those who make what I enjoy. Fuck ads. If I can’t block them, I’ll just go elsewhere.

I liked this premise. Nerd it up nerds. I’m also a vim user and anyone who disagrees can spend the weekend with Patrick Bateman. And Sublime Text. Come at me.

I kid, I kid.

I used to steal a lot when I was a teen, mostly for the thrill. We grow and we mature and we change. It sounds like you’re becoming a better person and also watching out for your future. That’s commendable.

I agree with another user who suggested therapy. I’ve been in therapy most of my life (with some gaps) starting when I was the teen who was constantly getting arrested and causing trouble. It switched from a thing I was forced to do and became a thing that I do to help realize my goals in adulthood. Example: figured out why I was still angry about a thing from years ago and successfully put it behind me in a recent session.

Maybe you don’t need to speak to someone. That’s fine, too. Your brain is still developing. If you succeed in not stealing any more and you pay back your brother perhaps it’s all fine. But again, I think there’s value in understanding the compulsion if you still feel it but aren’t acting on it.

You’re not a shitty person. If you go back to stealing, you’ll be something of a shitty person. But if it’s a phase you’ve outgrown and you try to make it right, that’s called being young and stupid. We all go through it to some degree in our own ways. Focus on your future and on being a good person each day. It’s fine.

In the case of my mother, I instituted a no-politics rule in 2020. However, as of last week, I’m sending her accusatory emails about the various articles of his fucked up actions. I’ve decided that she is partially a bad person for having full info about who and what he is and chose not to know. I’m very angry and she’s going to keep hearing about it. The relationship might be over.

I know that doesn’t help your situation. I just needed to vent. As noted, I’m very angry. With her in particular. For choosing this again.

Hype bubble. Has potential, but nothing like what is promised.

Also fragility.

As a former smoker who carried my cigarette butts until I found a trash can, I truly hate those assholes.

I believe the real issue was that repubs had spammier content and they called bias. As usual. So Google decided to let all political emails to go through so that they’d back off.

Persecution complex is high.

Sigh, and I was about to praise the country.

“Listen, we might run our entire company on this platform, but that doesn’t mean we respect it.”

Consider it a nudge in the right direction.

Zionist: “Just a little more genocide, mmkay?”

Same age, buying a Freddy glove for Halloween, asked my dad if we could rent it and he said yes. I was scared when the boyfriend pranked them in the backyard, but I thought the scene where she got cut to shreds and floated was awesome. I wanted to rewind and see it again and this time Dad said no. Wisely.

Emigration or civil war, I’d wager. My home country will be a fascist state during my lifetime, as I’ve been saying for about three to four years.

I wish you luck. Wish I had advice but this was the best I can do.

It’s cool how he can level taxes on a sovereign nation. /s