Goldkin @Goldkin@awoo.space

The thing is, I never faulted Eli for existing that way. The kid was hurting, his friends clearly put him up to it, and he was bullying to fill a hole in his life where care should have been. I hope he found a way out of it and ended up okay.

I've since had other bullies, and the story is usually the same: they hurt people because they're hurting badly themselves. And the only corrective they respond to is the power to fight back.

So too with Elon.

In which Popehat points out Elon is really just a very rich high school bully: https://post.news/@/popehat/2Mhvz30rv7RfDGhgCRKNsThYLb5

So fun story. I was bullied all the way through middle and early high school by a kid named Eli. One day, he finally got the courage to jump me after school, and I fought back. Hard.

The bullying immediately ceased. Permanently. Saw him again one time: the day he transferred out of my math class.

I think about that a lot.

The fictional timeline they projected forward from 2004 didn't really come to pass.

But the technologies: AWS, algorithmic social media timelines, and AI learning models, did. And it's still weird to hear all of that predicted one or two decades early.

I still think about this video a lot: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPIC_2014

Mirrored on YT: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eUHBPuHS-7s

Anyway, sharing this mostly for introverts having trouble sharing this and extroverted folks who care a ton and fail to understand why their introverted friend is sad and avoiding attention on their birthday.

Proper care and feeding of your introvert is important, and what may have no cost and be easy for you may be different. Doing your best to take the load off and live their experience is so, so valuable. 💜

This message brought to you by loving and caring family who pulled me into a Zoom call to wish me happy birthday, used two phone calls with me to bargain for schedule, then tried to drag me to a big birthday dinner with lots of people.

No, please, I beg of you, I just want a day to chill and vibe with my friends and without my specific anxiety of coordinating with large groups of people.

Today's my hatchday. It's on the balance been positive, but I kind of want to package a specific anxiety from it that family (no one here) have flared up unintentionally, in case it helps other introverted folks like me struggle to communciate this to well-meaning people they love.

I like the attention, I love the well wishes, and I love being recognized on my special day, but please don't make social obligations for me that I am expected to meet. I just want to relax and vibe.