Hey look! Smoky’s over here takin’ A shit!

… Well, I ain’t gonna tell nobody else

Steam doesn’t kick me out of my single player games when my internet connection drops for a split second. I quite like that

This is like the video for ‘Aphex Twin - Come To Daddy’, only far more horrifying.

I’m so, so sorry to hear this.

I feel really lucky that I get some government support because I have autism / bipolar. It’s not much, but the specific benefit I receive also allows me to do some work… and I’m also very lucky to be self employed in a field I enjoy (writing music). So I’m certainly not rich or even that comfortable, but it does allow me to morph my days and nights to suit my unnatural rhythms.

One thing I find about lack of sleep… it makes me really emotional, grumpy, increases likelihood of a depressive state. For me, it’s SO important to almost literally inject happiness. If we have a condition that takes away our happiness, it’s really crucial to create happiness in any way possible. Binge funny TV shows, go for a walk, watch some standup comedy, call a friend (not at 2am unless they’re also a night owl haha), make some art (doesn’t matter if you’re good at it), try learning a new skill, play a game, join a volunteering group. Those are my go-to activities, probably different for you.

Also, and I know it’ll sound trite, but I got into a couple of things during lockdown that made a big difference to my overall happiness; Buddhist and Stoic philosophy. I’m not a Buddhist, probably never will be. I definitely have a long way to go in applying Stoic principles. But they have really improved my life. Meditation is very hard at first but incredibly beneficial. If I could recommend a couple of books (one is an audiobook and for me was more transformative than Buddhist principles)… if you’ve never used Audible, you can sign up for a month trial and keep the audiobook you select, no charge if you cancel within 28 days.

1. Derren Brown - Happy (not sure if you’re familiar with this guy, he’s a legit mind wizard, almost terrifyingly intelligent and has a long career as a ‘mentalist’ aka psychological magic)
2. Thich Nhat Thanh - The Heart Of The Buddha’s Teachings

Thanks, I do suspect I have delayed phase sleep disorder. It’s good to know I’m not alone. Do you have any coping strategies?

My coping strategy is ‘modafinil to keep me from not being a zombie when particularly sleep deprived’, and ‘zopiclone for if I have been up longer than I should and it’s early enough to push me back into normal sleep pattern’. But of course I’m very wary about doing that more than twice in a row, so it’s never enough to establish ‘normality’.

Thank you so much for the detailed response, I really appreciate it. Over the years I’ve looked into this a lot but you’ve given me some really useful new information!

Health care in the UK, especially for lesser known genetic diseases, can be a bit of a lottery… I moved up the country 6 months ago, and within a month had been tested & diagnosed for a generic mutation called FMF (familial Mediterranean fever). My dad / sister both have it but despite nearly a decade of requests I was unable to get a doc to investigate it. So far up here the gp response has been a referral to a website for cognitive behavioural therapy.

I’ll push on though and see if there’s anything more they can investigate. Thanks again for the info :)

Sorry to piggyback onto your comment, and I know you can’t give medical advice, but I wonder if you have any insight into a problem I have with sleep.

I’m early 40s now. One of my earliest memories, aged around 4, is not being able to fall asleep. I’ve tried EVERYTHING over the years. Sleeping pills are a guarantee if things are getting squirrelly, but give me severe rebound insomnia the next day. When I do fall asleep, it’s like I can sleep for way longer than is normal (so either cause of sleep debt or poor sleep quality).

I’ve always joked that maybe I should be on a planet with a 28 hour day. But I also know that my lack of normal sleep is potentially storing up huge problems like increasing my risk of cancer, heart disease etc.

Melatonin kind of helps. But no matter what I do… My sleep pattern goes out of synch.

I’ve gone through school, ‘normal’ 9 to 5 jobs, relationships, all a big struggle as I have to perform at a normal level despite not having slept for 24+ hours fairly regularly.

I can do everything ‘right’ (no light in the evening, exercise, healthy diet, no excitement in the evening, no caffeine, mild sleep supplements) and still find myself unable to sleep. What the frick is wrong with me… Am I doomed to continue like this? I just want to sleep like a normal human being!

My initial response is prob as sarcastic as the others but a thought just occurred to me.

Skyrim, v1. The og release, before all the mods and bug fixes.

Undoubtedly still a better game than Star field. But was it the Skyrim we revere today? Will Starfield be transformed into something fun over the next decade?

What am I on about. Almost certainly not lol.

Not fucking up the f/c Fallout London mod would’ve also gotten me to play more (or at least, again). I played & enjoyed FO4 on PS, bought it again for Steam specifically for the new mod.

It’ll sit unplayed until the mod is ready!

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES.

YES.

Hahaha that proper made me laugh

I tried buckie once! Drank a whole bottle, later that night had some sort of weird seizure while trying to go for a piss. Mashed my face against the skirting board, looked like I’d been in a fight the next day.

Buckfast. Just say no.

OK for the Xeelee series (by Stephen Baxter), you’re really spoiled for choice… the author designed all the books to be standalone, doesn’t really do ‘cliffhangers’. But he has a suggested reading order:

Vacuum Diagrams (collection of short stories which will set out the overal story of the universe)

Timelike Infinity / Ring (tells the story of a character integral to the series, Michael Poole)

Raft and Flux (incidents amongst the wider background)

Destiny’s Children (three-parter in the same universe, exploring different evolutions of humanity)

Then whatever else you like the sound of.

As an example of the sorts of timescales he writes over, ‘Xeelee: Redemption’ is set between the years 4060 and 5,000,000,000! Personally I prefer long books over short stories, which to me always feel like they end just as they get going. So while Vacuum Diagrams is excellent, if the same is true for you, maybe jump in with Timelike Infinity. It’s a shame all my stuff is in storage atm as I could post you some of these. Hopefully you can find them at your local library.

For Banks, there’s an excellent reading order here: https://www.howtoread.me/the-culture-reading-order/

Have you read much by Iain M. Banks? It’s classed as ‘hard’ scifi, but I think that’s just because he refers to actual known physics quite a lot. Really really really cool worldbuilding, especially in the Culture series. The Xeelee series is also fantastic and there’s a ton of books there!

Hopefully S02 Severance will be out this year. Obviously there was a big break because of the writers strike, they’re currently filming right now and from the sounds of the statement I read, seem really keen to have it out ASAP.

And yes the Altered Carbon books are amazing! I feel like it’s almost always best to watch the TV show / film first before the books, it’s often a little disappointing the other way around as we’ve built our own internal universe of how characters look and sound. Plus the books by the nature usually have much more detail.

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Yeah, this was the exact reason why I was so tentative about Foundation at first. After seeing how Altered Carbon S02 floated like a lead balloon, it became quite apparent that audiences, along with a sense of progression, want a sense of continuity. Audiences don’t seem to gel with TV shows that have a different lead every season, so Altered Carbon really struggled as the audience had spent a previous season connecting to an actor who then disappeared at the start of S02. Of course, anyone who’d ever read the books was well prepared for this, but the ‘average viewer’ was not and sadly it was cancelled.

I assumed the same would be true of Foundation, where in the books you’ve got a different lead in practically every chapter! So that probably also played a hand in the changes.

And hell fuckin’ YEAH Severance was incredible. Super weird. I love TV shows that create an inexplicable universe then go about slowly revealing it. Season 2 is a go, so I can’t wait to find out how Mark reacts to the knowledge he gained in the finale.

Tbh I did strongly expect massive changes to the Asimov books. They were written quite some time ago in a different social climate… I read the entire Asimov collection over lockdown and while he’s an excellent writer (reading other authors after a year of Asimov was like wading through treacle!), with massive inventive potential, I remember thinking to myself reading a lot of the stories “Well. That wouldn’t wash in this century”. Mostly casual sexism.

I imagine the showrunners read the source material and thought “Oh no, there’s no lead women characters. That’s not going to go down very well” and then the changes cascaded from there. Still a very enjoyable show, just have to try and disengage from the OG source material.

Fingers crossed for 3BP season 2! The bit with the ship and the military nanofibers was gruesome as fuck, I can get why the Augie character would’ve been very unhappy about that haha. But yeah I also found her character a bit annoying.

Yeah they’d have to do a LOT of R&D to make sure the Shrike looks suitably terrifying. The speed of it wouldn’t be a problem, they could get all the people who worked on The Flash!

I’ve been pleasantly surprised with TV versions of late. I didn’t watch Foundation until S02 dropped, I just saw no way they could do a show set over aeons. They’ve taken a lot of artistic license and I’ve heard from many who loved the books saying they’re unhappy with that, but I really enjoyed it. Three Body Problem season one was also fantastic, so fingers crossed that gets a second season (apparently it was very expensive to make so S01 may be all we get unfortunately).

For some reason, I only got the alert for your reply today!

I adore the Hyperion Cantos, it’s one of my favourite scifi book series ever, and I hope one day it gets the TV treatment it deserves. Always felt it would make an amazing show.