Casual Conversation

Sooo... yeah! I don't really have IRL friends to chat about this so I figured I'd make this post. Didn't want this to be super consequential like hosting an AMA or anything since it's just me going back to where I was born but yeah

A few funny observations and maybe conversation starters:

• Everything I read in the US seems to talk about how China is simultaneously a futuristic paradise and an authoritarian hellscape... both seem fairly overblown. There are a lot of public transit and the food is amazing though
• The rumors are true, in China they really use Wechat for everything. Wechat is used for payment (almost no one uses credit cards or cash), booking tickets, ... and all of these are tied to your national ID and your face recognition. It's a bit terrifying
• There are sooooo many ads everywhere! Heck my parents' apartment building has an ad billboard right in the elevator, and this is apparently the norm. On the app store the Microsoft Edge browser literally got a 5-star rating and was praised for not running ads... it's that bad.
• My god the internet is atrocious compared to the US, and having to do half of the stuff I need to with a VPN doesn't really help. It's so bad that I was missing my Gentoo days of compiling packages from source...
• I thought there would be a ton of anime stuff, especially since I had the impression that Mihoyo games (the company that developed Genshin Impact, Honkai series, etc) is a topic of national pride... I think I have made a mistake. I have met three cosplayers just walking on the street so far though, so the culture definitely is there
• I like rhythm games and I'm delighted to find out there are maimai DX cabs everywhere, this thing is impossible to find in the US. Haven't found SDVX or IIDX cabs, or even CHUNITHM cabs though... Also China apparently has their own Pump It Up clone (not DDR, PIU) with four more outer arrows. Imagine the five PIU step keys and four more outside...
• Lemmy.world is somehow not blocked by the Chinese internet firewall. Not that I feel safe browsing Lemmy with the type of posts I make... On that topic, my own little web domain isn't blocked lmao I can still use SearXNG as usual

But I haven't tweeted since 2014, and I logged out a few years ago and deleted the app. I just left my account behind so nobody took my name, but Twitter says I'm banned for inauthentic behaviour. Is Space Karen a little bored without his orange rapist bestie?

Someone you don't have a relationship with, or even know their name... What was your most recent selfless thing you did for other people?

I’m having a can of chili beans with an egg and some shredded cheese mixed in while it was heating up.

I'd only become aware recently that it's become less common for newer cars to have a spare tire. It was a bit of a shock to me.

The norm I'd been accustomed to was that a lot of cars would include a "donut" spare tire; a smaller, lighter, cheaper-to-manufacture thing. It would shave some cost off of the car, probably let the manufacturer increase their MPG rating a bit. However, it was only rated for something like 50 miles (80km) at a limited speed (say, 55mph or 90km/h) before it should be replaced. It was really designed to let a driver reach the closest tire shop and get a regular tire replaced.

What my dad always did, and recommended, and what I'd done, was replacing the thing with a full-size tire. That way, when you have a flat, it's not all that much of a problem. You just swap in the new tire, and next time it happens to be convenient, you get a new full-size tire. In my experience, spare tire wells included the space for a full-size tire; the manufacturer just didn't provide you with one.

However, in 2025, the situation doesn't look like that much anymore.

A number of spare tire wells don't appear to have enough space for a full-size spare tire. This seems, in my quick skim, to be something more common with hybrids or BEVs than ICEs, I assume because the battery is space-constrained and the tire is competition for space (and in the case of BEVs, range).

Some vehicles apparently ship with "run flat" tires. These can be driven for a limited distance, and appear to have about the same capabilities as a "donut" spare tire

they can go about 50 miles at a reduced speed before they need to be replaced, and I assume are aimed at letting one reach a tire shop.

A number of vehicles don't have a spare tire or storage space for one or a jack at all; for example, the 2025 Corolla Hybrid. The manufacturer provides a pump and a goop kit, and the idea is that if a flat is only a slow leak, one can hopefully nurse the car along well enough with that to reach a tire shop.

As best I can tell, full-size spares are only common today with pickups or off-road oriented vehicles.

I assume that part of this is because cell phone coverage is more widespread now, and the idea is that one should just call for roadside assistance and have them bring and change it. I saw some discussion on Reddit talking about how a lot of younger people don't know how to change a spare tire.

I'm not entirely sanguine about this. While I'll agree that it can save a bit of space, I really prefer knowing that even if I get a flat, the worst that can happen to me, even if I'm outside of cell range, is that I go swap in a new tire. I've only rarely gotten flats, but it's something that I'd certainly rather have.

I guess that one could just put a tire in a trunk or hatchback/crossover/SUV's cargo space as long as one is willing to expend some cargo space, but especially with a hatchback/crossover/SUV, I'm not entirely enthralled about the idea of having something large and unsecured crashing around the cabin in the event of a crash; normally, a spare tire well prevents shifting around and has a system for securing the tire.

Thoughts? Is a spare tire something that you want to have today in your vehicle?

As the world can be a cruel place, you can say fuck it🖕 and carve out your own place in the world (hopefully not at the expense of others).

One tip I'll share from what I've learned is that:

• The best thing you can do for your present and future self is find trustworthy allies who are willing to go against the tides of now to seek the truths of the world.

"I've yet to see a stable home built upon a sea of lies."

• Source: recursive_recursion 2025

Anyways thanks for reading my sleep deprived ramblings🤗

Honestly, I’m not sure. Part of me wishes I never existed. There have been so many nights I’ve wished to never wake up. Other times, when my anxiety causes chest pains (right side), I wish it were in the left (heart attack). But then there are times when I see my boys working together to solve a video game problem (I grew up abused by my brother because he thought “that’s what brothers did”), or they make a casual comment about how much they want to do something with me (spend my birthday with me and take me to dinner, on their mom’s week), and I couldn’t be happier to be alive, and I wish I could just be happy because they are all I need.

~I’m sorry, I’m just so very tired.~

It's quite difficult to handle.

For way too long now I have had to plug it in and not let a breeze pass it lest it stops charging. I went at it and it quickly got a lot better where I didn't have to wiggle it around to the right position to start charging.

But I kept going, dug out a lot more stuff than I expected, and when I tried it again, get this, it actually went in. It doesn't just slightly penetrate to establish contact. It proper locks in.

Charging while on the go has been impossible for a long time, but I think it should now be easy as ever.

USB-C btw

When I was about 12 I had a maths lesson on Friday afternoons at school. Towards the end of term, I remember my teacher dumping a pile of holiday brochures on his desk and setting the class the task of planning and costing up a holiday. This was pre-Internet, so brochures and travel agents were how you did it back then.

Location, flights, hotel, meals, activities, excursions, hire cars, spending money etc all had to be considered for a family of three on a fixed budget. I remember that the submitted work was never actually marked since there was no "correct" answer, and the reasoning behind it was essentially to get experience of planning and budgeting. A great application of numeracy skills for a real-world task.

These days simplified versions of that exercise are relatively common for teachers to give to pupils but as we discovered the following term, what we were actually doing was literally planning his summer holiday with his family because he couldn't be arsed. He'd crowd-sourced his research.

Absolute genius of the man.

So that's all really fun.

How's your week?

Back when I was like 9, on my birthday, I went and knocked on a neighbor's door. Told her it's my birthday and left. This was someone I'd never spoken to before.

Later that night she shows up at our house with a stuffed bunny. Turns out she interpreted "It's my birthday!" as "We're having a party and you're invited!" not "I just wanted everyone to know!" like I meant it.

My mom made some emergency tea and received her in our messy living room. They ended up becoming friends after that.

I couldn't imagine doing anything like that as an adult. Just knock on a stranger's door to announce it's my birthday and walk away lol.

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