I actually do plan to move to Canada through the skilled worker route, I have to finish college and university first but I will definitely be leaving as the future of the UK does not look bright at all

I wonder if Canada is really better than other countries like the UK or United States or is it just a case of the grass being greener on the other side of the fence?

Well I have always wanted to move country since I was young, the current state of the UK has just made me want to leave quicker (leaving the EU, transphobia etc)

I actually do plan to move to Canada through the skilled worker route, I have to finish college and university first but I will definitely be leaving as the future of the UK does not look bright at all

Well, I am a disabled adult with no degree, and no hope of ever returning to the workforce, so I have 0 hopes of being able to leave this country unless it's via marriage. And of course, since I am a disabled adult with no degree, plus also, y'know, fat, I am also not very desirable as a partner. The fact that I'm a lesbian pretty much drains out completely an already impossibly small pool of anyone who'd be interested, so, yeah. More or less I am doomed to sit here, alone in my tiny apartment, and wait for death...

Which, with the way the covid is going, plus the continuing erosion of the social programs I'm dependent upon, will probably come sooner rather later, heh. I reckon I've only got a few more years.

I wonder if Canada is really better than other countries like the UK or United States or is it just a case of the grass being greener on the other side of the fence?

Well, there are lots of dimensions to be better or worse on. Though I think we can agree that some countries are overall better than others, like pretty much anywhere is better than North Korea...

Pretty much all other developed countries are better than the US in universal access to health care, in college costs, often in daycare costs, and I think in economic equality. The US tends to be a nice place to be rich in, but you're better off being poor elsewhere. Consumer prices are often lower in the US - - we have a powerful market and efficient distribution of goods -- but you have a higher chance of not being able to afford essential for a family or even survival.

If you want to live without a car, and don't have the money for the handful of increasingly expensive US cities with good walkability and mass transit, you want to live outside the US. Actually, even our "good" transit systems are kind of terrible. Canadian cities have much higher transit ridership than US cities of similar size and density, and Canadian transit isn't all that awesome, really.

If you're a non-white immigrant, the US is actually fairly good relatively speaking, though Canada is probably comparable. US is less good under Trump, but in general, for all our bumps, we've been pretty good at integrating immigrant populations, compared to Europe or Japan, say.

[Actually I could maybe leave off "non-white". The UK seems fairly hostile to e.g. Polish immigrants.]

For most of us the chance of being murdered isn't all that high, but on average it's definitely higher in the US than in most other developed countries.

The US is completely flubbing coronavirus response.

last edited at Jul 4, 2020 3:02AM

I think the US is better at youth employment than most of Europe, though again we provide less safety net for unemployed people to not be homeless and hungry.

If you don't know what you want to do, US education is pretty flexible and forgiving, compared to countries where you get tracked as early as high school. Of course US college has become insanely expensive. I believe Switzerland and Germany in particular are better at providing vocational tracks that are respected and well-paid.

If you want to home school your kids then much of the US is excellent. OTOH if you want to raise free range kids then you should probably avoid the entire Anglosphere, and certainly stay out of the US and UK, which rapidly became very hostile to the idea of unattended minors.

Broadband, whether home or phone, is probably better outside of the US.

If you want to be or use a sex worker, any rich country other than the US will be better. Some of them aren't close to good but they'll be at least marginally better, and some of them actually are good.

If you want handguns, then probably stay in the US.

I'm no expert on trans issues, but my impression is that for the actual process of transition or sex-reassignment surgery the US is pretty good compared to many countries. Expensive, maybe, but without the gatekeeping that e.g. Sweden has had. Having a job or being safe as a trans person may be another matter.

I'm no expert on trans issues, but my impression is that for the actual process of transition or sex-reassignment surgery the US is pretty good compared to many countries. Expensive, maybe, but without the gatekeeping that e.g. Sweden has had. Having a job or being safe as a trans person may be another matter.

Someone with better knowledge please correct me if I'm wrong, I'm always looking to better myself with correction of incorrect facts, but if I'm not mistaken it's a pretty harsh journey here in the US. You have to be under the care of a psych, you have to have an official diagnosis of gender dysphoria, you have to live as as your real gender for several months to years before being cleared for SRS, and then the SRS is NEVER covered by insurance, so that's a major surgery in the 10s of thousands that has to be paid out of pocket... so.... yeah.....

By gatekeeping they are talking about getting HRT, for example in the UK there is an average of 3 years gatekeeping before you can start HRT (and then you have to wait many more years for any surgery)

Most trans people in the UK go private or DIY, private is quite expensive and still has gatekeeping, DIY can be dangerous but a lot of trans people can't wait 3 years (trans people have a 40% suicide attempt rate before 30)

The US has an informed consent thing where you can start HRT instantly, which is a lot better than most countries.

It's also harder for trans men/transmasc NB people to DIY in the UK as they can't order stuff online legally (it is banned because of doping in sports)

I like this discussion. I don't like my country and non-cis of any kind are mostly treated like lower class citizen. You're practically indoctrinated into hate and tease anyone not hetero.
I feel like the US inspired pride parades help a bit but I still remember a politician saying on tv: "you can't be here, you're gay. You're gay go away." Or something garbage like that anytime same-sex marriage is discussed. Tras right? What rights? sigh
I did hear from a somewhat progressive news channel that allegedly UN(?) had some kind of meeting with our corrupt government about same-sex laws, but covid happened and it's probably shoved under a rug now. I don't even know it that was fake news or not.

What is that even supposed to be? At first glance, I thought it was chicken, but it doesn't look like it has any meat inside of it. Looks more like just breading.
Also, what the hell did you eat in December at you got an IV in the hospital? ಠ_ಠ

It's sorta like fried tortilla...? It's the closest approximation I can give. Panama loves it's oily flour "food" and we have a lot of fried dishes that are supposed to be breakfast. And our "tortillas" are also different.
Decemeber was nothing unusual. I just had another horrible experience, my body started rejecting food and I had gastritis. It was awful.
I did say 2019 was horrible for me didn't I? 2020 isn't much better...

No one:
Retoree:

I think in Sweden you had to be sterilized before even starting hormones. Source: dim memories of trans people complaining on rpg.net.

Unrelatedly Sweden also pioneered the "we won't jail sex workers, just their customers, despite the complaints of actual sex workers" model.

The sterilization law was abolished like 8 years ago, but I have heard there is a lot of gatekeeping there

last edited at Jul 4, 2020 1:33PM by

To all the misfits living in a world on fire:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vojrVQeOYI

I really hope you are doing alright ✌(◕‿-)✌

I feel better now but I might be disconnecting from the simulation. I'm having the weirdest deja bu/mandela effect...it could've been a fever, I guess.

https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/78958803
Atelier Ryza Ryza x Klaudia

I finally purchased Kindred Spirits on the Roofs last week when i saw the discount. I've made some progress , i've just finish August main story with Yuna and i'm soon gonna start the side story ofthe camps.
My impressions so far of every couple
The ghosts Strangely complex for 2 peoples without seemingly problems at first but Sachi also have some troubles she should take care of. Megumi is really a bit annoying but honestly not that much

Seina/Miki A bit hard to say after all summer camp since they were absent of it. Like most couples in the VN, communication is the majot problem combine to Miki's own mindset and Seina being,well, inexperimented and having doubt about the future. I know from the manga (yeah i read the manga before the game)that they weren't together at the festival so i'm looking a bit forward to know what happen

Kiri/Sonou At first glance, seem complicated with Sonou's attitude buuuuut change very quickly with Operation Sparkling Sunshine. But the Summer Camp kinda killed the mood, at least from the Yuna main story's perspective so i will just wait to see how the side story play it

Broadcast Club I was honestly surprised that wasn't a love triangle or poly thing and a bit dissapointed ngl. But yeah, turn out Nena is just wingwoman for her 2 useless lesbians friends. Not helping that Umi was a bit dense and even after that, afraid of neglecting Nena and Sasa was just a gay mess and confessing make her less resistant to Umi, seemingly not capable to keep her on a leash or say her no. Also very surprised that they will have been the ones to go all the way the first, given how chicken they wereabout their relation and the fact that they do it nearly 3 weels only after coming out to Nena.

Aki/Kouka Ngl, Kouka is my favorite character and so i'm a bit sad she didn't have that much screentime.She have the same energy as Umi but she didn't chicken one bit is really straight forward. I'm still waiting to see exactly why Aki is interested in her given her position.

Track Team As soon as Miyu talk about the rules, i know it will a complicated one.Matsuri seem to be the clingy type and really want to flirt but feel restricted by them. I think their one need to make some compromises about those rules. Also a bit worried about the fact that they both wanted to date Hina after their last fight.

MC Yuna has come a long way for founding her feelings for Hina but Summer Camp has finally start to nailed them. To me, it's pretty clear that Hina loved Yuna but couldn't bring herself to say it because she didn't know how Yuna would react. Also a bit surprised that Sachi didn't spot that love but who know.

It's like dark souls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRJ1QtQxSWE

^ Completely unrelated, but as soon as you mentioned Dark Souls, I thought of the track Slave Knight Gael (I never actually played Dark Souls, but the Rat of Mapping used some music from there in some of his series, most notably with Slave Knight Gael in the Battle of Constantinople scene of episode 14 of AHOE Rome's Legacy).

last edited at Jul 5, 2020 3:38PM

Alright, I have a question that I have had for a long time and I want to know other people's opinions on it.

Is it wrong that a lot of pairings and ships I like are from shows or games that I haven't played or watched yet? Out of 57 pairings I have in my favorites (there are probably more I left out), 29 of them were from something I haven't seen or played yet. Though the pairings were I haven't seen the source has motivated me to watch the shows they are based on. Like how Nozomi x Eli got me to watch Love Live!, Shamiko x Momo got me to watch The Demon Girl Next Door, and multiple pairings got me to play Fire Emblem: Three Houses. And several pairings do make me want to watch the shows they are based on, like BanG Dream, Little Witch Academia, and Symphogear.

So, is it wrong that I like pairings of shows I haven't watched?

https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/49154510
Original NSFW BDSM

Like how Nozomi x Eli got me to watch Love Live!

NozoEli got me reading Love Live doujinshi and I never even watched any of the show, but they're still one of my favorite yuri ships. I think I'm a fan of the characters themselves and the specific vibes of the relationship, so I think it's totally fair to get into the characters first as a gateway to the canon media

Yeah Diana x Akko it's a really great ship, but if you watch the anime specially the second half you might be like... ugghh and I don't need to play the pokemon games to enjoy all the yuri fanart that comes from it, what? am I'm gonna miss a couple of lines that they say to each others? sometimes the fans make a better job.

Besides I'm sure that A LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT of touhou yuri fans don't play the game hahahaha.

I might even start a ship from a game I don't play just because I like the characters together (well I at least saw their wiki).

But for some ships you might need context like NanoFate or at least be familiar with the lore in Touhou, others are too easy like pokemon or girls that are idols

last edited at Jul 6, 2020 12:18AM

Is it wrong that a lot of pairings and ships I like are from shows or games that I haven't played or watched yet?

Nah, it really isn't. If liking a pairing gets you to watch a show (you should watch Symphogear!), then good, but if you end up never watching the show a pairing is from it doesn't matter. And if someone tries to gatekeep you, they're an idiot.

I've read quite a few Im@s Cinderella Girls doujins even though I failed to get into the anime and never played the game. Besides, some good artists actually make doujins that are more interesting than the original work could ever be. Or some doujins flesh out side characters, or show what they would be like as adults, which the original will never do.

RIP Ennio Morricone, one of the best movie composers of all time. My favorite track of his (and of any movie) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYI09PMNazw

I have shared pairings I'm not familiar with. Its not strange or "wrong". I do prefer context which is why I don't pay much attention to crack.

It's like dark souls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRJ1QtQxSWE

I saw this game when it came out. Its...a thing. I think people are running it too.

https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/53641746
Slayers Lina x Naga

2020 feels like a simulation of all the possible things that can go wrong

I think I'm a fan of the characters themselves and the specific vibes of the relationship

I do have to agree, most of the ships I like do seem to come from the character dynamics and chemistry

Besides I'm sure that A LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT of touhou yuri fans don't play the game hahahaha.

Can confirm, have a lot of different Touhou ships I like, yet I haven't played any of the games. I am interested in them, though I am aware that they have no romance in any of them.

(you should watch Symphogear!)

Oh trust me, I am going to watch it very soon. Gonna see just how well it lives up to the name of Symphogay.

And if someone tries to gatekeep you, they're an idiot.

Well so far, no body has gatekeeped me. I was mostly asking because I was curious about how other people felt about something like this. And even if someone on this thread did say it was wrong, I would still keep shipping them.

https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/76718982
Original Swimsuits

2020 feels like a simulation of all the possible things that can go wrong

No major bolide impact events or supervolcano eruptions yet... :v