Retired

 Retiring this blog. 

New blog @ aceofmonsters.blogspot.com

Depression

I'm using Google's speech to text, so things are probably not going to be very accurate. I just don't feel like typing.

Things have been very rough today. I'm not very sure how to explain how I'm feeling right now, but I feel as if there's a strange numbing sensation from my upper arm down into my fingers. I feel like I can't fully move my hands, like they're stiff, or bit like pins and needles. It's as if my grip is not as strong as it should be, or my spacial awareness of my hands is not proper. I know that sounds very strange, but that's the only way I could possibly explain how I'm feeling at the moment. In addition to that, I feel completely despondent. Nothing I do gives me any sort of satisfaction. Nothing gives me any pleasure. Being alone has been really getting to me as well, it is so incredibly lonely being in a space that was once always occupied. I find myself crying and mourning, although I'm not sure what I'm mourning for. Am I just crying for myself? I really can't tell, and that's what's driving me crazy. I can't put my finger down on what I'm feeling, and I think a lot of it has to do with the withdrawal symptoms. I'm sure there's some depersonalization that I'm going through right now, because a part of me feels like I'm just playing pretend. That my whole life is just an act, and I'm just the actor. That I'm just saying things, and I don't feel anything. This emotional flatness is really terrible, and I wish it would stop. I just want to be able to feel something other than feeling dissatisfied with the current state of affairs.

Survey + Beermoney Apps - Followup Report

Hello again, everyone!

If you have read my first Survey + Beermoney App blog post, you might be wondering... How did these apps hold up in the long run? Which did I end up keeping? 

Well, here's a follow-up to my original post.

I have used each of these apps for approximately three months now. (My previous summary was after a month of use.)

Remember that my experiences with these apps might not be reflective of yours! Every survey has a different target audience, and while I might be rejected from every survey an app throws at me and think it sucks, you might adore it and hit bank.

ONTO THE REVIEWS!!!

#1 iPoll

Since my last post, iPoll has been completely reworked to be oddly familiar... 

...because it looks and fuctions exactly like QuickThoughts. The difference is that there is no $0.10 consolation prize for being rejected from a survey, and you most likely will get rejected from most. The pay is also a lot lower, with most being under a dollar.

Final verdict: The amount of money I have made from this app has not changed at all. I'm still at $0.30, and frankly this app pisses me off. It's like QuickThoughts' illegitimate cousin. I would honestly pass on this one.

Referral Link: http://bit.ly/pSgd31

#2 1Q

Oh 1Q, how I love and hate you. Questions come rarely, but I always seem to be asleep or busy when they do... And then they expire. 

As you can see, I haven't been too lucky when it comes to answering questions as soon as they become available. I went and switched my notifications to pop-ups and am hoping for better luck.

Final Verdict: Okay, so I only made $0.50 more since my last review, but remember... This is cash that gets sent straight into your PayPal account. No thresholds, no gimmicks. I'm still holding out hope that more companies will use this app for data collection, and thus more questions will become available.

Referral Link: http://1q.com/SJLPd

#3 Surveys On The Go

Surveys On The Go still fails to live up to its name as being a go-to for a bored person with some free time.

Still, I've been getting a new survey every once in a while, and they're rather short. If you don't qualify, you get a $0.10 consolation, which I was previously unaware of.

Final Verdict: Since my last review, I have amassed $7.60 which is pretty close to the cash out threshold of $10. I'm definitely going to stick through to get my money.

#4 Survey.com (the app!)

Survey.com continues to disappoint in a whole new way.

Rather than giving actual surveys, they're now giving me work opportunities to do product demonstrations. What the hell? I'm trying to make money from my phone... In my spare time. I don't want job offers.

Final Verdict: This app has been a complete waste of space. My account remains unchanged at $1.00 and I don't see that changing. What a waste of a good app name.

#5 Swagbucks

Though many people love Swagbucks, I just haven't been feeling it. Being rejected from lots of surveys sure gets you down.

I don't check this one as often as I probably should, but I just hate survey disqualifications so much.

Final Verdict: Don't let my lack of enthusiasm for Swagbucks get you down. Ask any Beermoney expert, and they will put Swagbucks on their list of essential sites/apps. Also keep in mind that every survey is looking for different demographics. I might just not be what they're looking for.

Referral Link: http://www.swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-register&rb=1186798&cmp=197&cxid=2001-app

#6 CheckPoints

This app confuses the hell out of me. Nothing has changed, but I get notifications to "check in" to shops all the time.

I open the app, and I receive no points. I haven't been shopping lately either, so I haven't had a chance to check out the bar-code scanning feature.

Final Verdict: I'm still keeping this one despite my confusion and lack of use. There will be a time when I'm at the mall and will have a use for this app. It just hasn't come up yet.

Referral Code: hellointerloper

#7 Acorn Hunt

I'm going to be honest... This app is a drag. Videos give you barely any acorns. The GIF section was broken for a while and may still be broken, but I wouldn't know because it's been ages since I bothered to open this app.

I don't want to complete offers, and surveys provided by Peanut Labs suck big time.

Final Verdict: Peanut Labs is awful. The pay rate is awful. Offers that make you pay to get a little bit of money back are awful. I just dislike this app altogether.

Referral Code: MLAMEDICA

#8 QuickThoughts

This app is the absolute bomb. It continues to provide surveys that pay a dollar each, $0.10 for surveys you don't qualify for, and just generally has been my favorite app.

The surveys have been released on a consistent basis and I can't say enough good things about this app.

Final Verdict: If there is one app that you should have, it's this one. I have already cashed out a $10 iTunes gift card and am working my way towards my second. Keep in mind that if iTunes isn't your jam, there are many places online where you can sell or exchange your giftcard code for something else. I personally used mine on an app game. No regrets.

#9 Inbox Dollars

This app annoys me. The surveys are constantly broken (whether they're dead links, never load, etc...) and the money just isn't coming in.

Did I mention the telemarketers? I get at least 4 calls a week. I'm convinced it's thanks to InboxDollar's "offers."

Final Verdict: If you're into masochism, then be my guest... Download this app. I'm done with it.

Referral Link: http://www.inboxdollars.com/?p=z&qid=1370608954&ic=c5ZYZ8894525&aid=9

Well, I hope this review write-up helped you determine which survey and money-making apps are worth your time and which to avoid.

Cheers and happy hunting!

ADHD Mini Essay

ADHD was actually an evolutionary advantageous adaptation to hunter/gatherer societies. The ADHD brain needs constant stimulation and short-term rewards. Hunting and tracking an animal, or searching for food/resources is full of stimulation, sensory data, and great reward. In other words, people with ADHD were amazing hunter/gatherers, and it started to become more genetically common because hey, people who can bring food home were sexy back then.
When we moved towards an agricultural society, aka very boring, repetitive crop and animal care with long-term instead of short-term rewards, ADHD started to become a "problem." Watering crops and weeding each day is boring, with very little reward on a daily basis. Feeding an animal, breeding it, waiting for it to give birth, and waiting for it to reach maturity for eating takes a very long time too. People with ADHD do not thrive in these kind of jobs. It's boring, it isn't stimulating, and has a low reward factor.
In our society ADHD is no longer an advantage, because we are all expected to do the same shit every day, keep the same routine, etc... Wake up, go to school, sit still, graduate, get a job, wake up, go to work. It's a terribly boring routine. This is unfortunately why so many kids and adults with ADHD look for outside stimulation. Some become addicted to tech like video games (constant stimulation and rewards), drugs (instant reward), or high-risk behaviors (high stimulation and rewards). They get punished or drugged for trying to seek what their genetics and brains crave.
This is why people with ADHD need to throw away other people's expectations and do what they know they enjoy, and schools need to stop expecting every kid to "sit still, shut up, and learn."
I have ADHD, really fucking badly. Meds gave me really scary heart palpitations and sent me to the cardiologist, because my heart rate shot up to 140. That's not normal. It was so hard to make it through school. But you know what? Now that I'm done with it, I finally figured out what my real talents are. I love mycology, the study of mushrooms and fungi, and hunting for them out in the wild. I love dogs and taking care of them. I love herping... literally hunting for amphibians/reptiles. I love making art. What I really want to do is breed pacman frogs. Can't do it now because of my living situation, but it's a legitimate job that a lot of people can't handle or can't be bothered to do because it's a shit load of work. For me though, that constant stimulation sounds like a dream.
So fuck the system, and fuck society trying to make people with ADHD fit into their idea of what a "normal" person should be. Drugging people with ADHD isn't the answer. We're just good at different things. We just need to stop being told that different is bad.

- originally a comment I was making on Facebook, but it devolved into an essay

Anxiety and the daily suffering it brings

I feel that a lot of people get anxiety and stress confused. Sure, they both sound like similar afflictions, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Stress is something that we all feel, usually in response to something that makes us uncomfortable. For example, an upcoming exam could be stressful because we do not know for sure what is on that exam, or if we have studied all the material that is necessary to pass it. Anxiety, however, is very much a different thing, and I would go so far as to say that it is more of a medical condition.

Of course, is very difficult for people who do not suffer from anxiety to understand what exactly it feels like. There are so many possible symptoms of anxiety that one cannot simply summarize it by its symptoms alone. To give a quick example, it is a common misconception that a panic attack is when somebody begins to hyperventilate and lose control of themselves. While that is one type of panic attack, and it is true that many people do react that way in response to their anxiety disorder, there are many different other kinds of panic attacks. Someone suddenly overheating terribly and feeling as if they need to throw all of their clothes off, even when it is not warm in the room, can be a panic response. A panic attack is just a very extreme reaction to anxiety, and that is really all that can be said about that matter in particular without over generalizing.

In order for one to actually understand what anxiety is compared to stress, we must keep in mind that all humans have a flight or fight response. Is something that is ingrained in us and passed down through Evolution. It is what has helped us survive and evolve all this time, and it helps us in our daily lives to this day. When we are faced with stress, like that exam for instance, we know we must either study for it, or just give up completely. It is very simple to do either one, and therefore we are only stressed out. We can fight the exam through studying, or we can just simply concede defeat and not study at all. We could even drop the class if we so choose. We are uncomfortable, but we do not have anxiety. We have a solution to our problem that we can act upon, and that is solvable by our own means.

Now, here is the main difference between Stress and Anxiety. Anxiety is the response that we have when a fight-or-flight response is triggered, but we can do neither. Whether or not we are missing the means to fight it or it is all in our own mind does not matter. Mental illness doesn't have to be rational, so perhaps one could fight it yet their own afflictions are keeping them back from doing so. We could also just not have the means, because fighting back in every situation is not possible. The same goes for flight. We cannot run away from every problem, and there are some things that we simply cannot give up on or avoid in life. When you can neither fight something nor run away from it, anxiety takes over and begins to consume you. You panic, and it hurts whomever it affects tremendously.

In order to explain a little more accurately, I will begin to get into my own personal case. I have been diagnosed by a licensed psychiatrist with what is known as situational anxiety. It is different than generalized anxiety disorder because it is caused by a certain environment or life situation. Once I am away from that environment or that situation ends, the anxiety will be alleviated and no longer be a problem for me. For me that environment happens to be my own home, and the situation is that I am 27 years old, currently disabled, unable to work, and have no income. That is probably over simplifying things; what is needed to have some background into my source of anxiety. One of the most prominent sources of my anxiety is specifically the topic of income.

Without telling my entire life story, I did have to drop out of 4 year college because of a bad case of anemia. After my recovery I began to work and was making very little money. I had decided to go back to college after almost a year of working, and despite my worsening physical and mental health, I continued on with my education. It was only when I got to the very last credit needed for graduation, English literature, that I realized that I had a huge issue with the class. It actually triggered anxiety in me, where I had night terrors, extreme chest pain, and terrible dizzy spells. I was trying my best to fight, but was losing the battle. I absolutely did not want to flee, because all I wanted was to finally graduate. Either way, no option was possible because I could not mentally handle the symptoms I was suffering from taking that class. Though in the end I did have to drop the class, and subsequently tried and dropped two more times, flight was never considered an option for me until the very last moment. Then it was the guilt that I could neither fight nor flee from, along with the overwhelming feeling of failure.

When it was clear that I could no longer continue my education and I could not work, that is when I began to look into signing up for disability. It did take a very long time to come to terms with the word. Disabled sounds so negative. I felt ashamed, and almost as if everything was my fault, though I know all of it was out of my control. When I did finally muster up the courage to apply, I felt a sense of relief knowing that perhaps I would get a little bit of financial aid to help me move out someday. When my application was denied I couldn't have been more crushed. I did not have enough work credits because I had chosen to go back to school instead of working, and because my health was so poor during that time, I had quit my job in favor of going to college. The only way to possibly get more work credits would be to get a job, but that was exactly why I had chosen to apply for disability in the first place. I obviously would never graduate college, and I couldn't work, so I needed help.

And here we have the biggest conundrum of all. How can I gain work credit if I cannot work? Simply put, it's impossible. I am stuck in a terrible situation, one which I can either fight, because I cannot work and get those work credits comma and because rules are rules. There's no way around the work credit problem, so there is no way to fight it. I can't just flee either, because there is nothing to flee from. How can I run away from all my troubles? Do I become homeless? Clearly, I would never want that to be an option, so I continued to stay at home with my parents. It is an absolutely miserable life though, because I have no sense of independence.
I cannot drive a car due to my anxiety and the medication that I take. I'm not allowed to operate heavy machinery. I tried to learn how to drive, and just ended up getting screamed at by the instructor. Trying to drive with my boyfriend got me screamed at by my boyfriend. It is clear I'm just not competent enough to drive, or maybe my brain is too addled to focus on it. Either way, it is not an option for me.
I can no longer sculpt with clay or cast in resin because of the mess involved. There is no work space in my house where I can do either of those things that I used to love so much. Previously, my parents were unaware of the process that I would go through because I did everything in the morning hours while they were asleep. It was an accidental awakening that clued them in to what exactly I was doing, and how it could possibly damage the surrounding area. Even though I insist that I am neat, I can no longer do either of these things. I could potentially work in the garage, but once again, there are problems. There is no room whatsoever to work because there's too much being stored there. I would also need to open the door for ventilation, which could be potentially dangerous in the middle of the night. Our neighborhood is a prime area for car robbery, and I do not want to be out in the open like that.
I tried painting on canvas, but none of my paintings sold. That was very disheartening and I no longer feel like doing any more paintings. I don't cope very well with failure.
I wanted to raise dragonfruit cacti, but my parents did not allow me to bring my cactus into the house this year because it was way too large, and it died due to the cold weather in the garage. That was six years of nurture and around $200 worth of actual cactus and trellis wasted. It absolutely broke my heart.
I have taken up an interest in frogs, and proposed raising a few in order to start a breeding operation. In order to do so, I would have to keep each frog for about a year until they are mature enough to go through the breeding process. By then, I would hope, I would somehow have moved out so my parents would not have to deal with the breeding. There is no room to do that anyway, as I previously have stated. They absolutely will not allow a frog in the house, not even in the garage if I rigged it with heating.

Every potential thing that I want to do is blocked from me somehow. I do not have the means to fight. To be honest, I don't know if I even have the strength anymore. I've suffered from depression since puberty, because unfortunately the case I have is hereditary and comes from both sides of my family. I feel like all of the restrictions I have on my life through my parents, my health, and just society in general, are causing my depression to come back in full force. Still, the most prominent thing that I am suffering from is the anxiety. The anxiety is absolutely terrible.
I have no income. I cannot work. I cannot make art in my spare time to possibly sell. I cannot start new hobbies that might potentially lead to money. Even hobbies that I was into previously have been destroyed, like my cactus. I am stuck, constantly stuck in this fight or flight mode, always dealing with the symptoms of anxiety. I wake up at night and don't know what to do with myself. I cannot fall asleep some nice. The chest pains, the dizziness, the lack of appetite, the voracious hunger, the racing thoughts, the feeling of being a caged animal, I absolutely cannot take it.

I am not stressed out. I have anxiety. I have it badly, and I feel like I am slowly being defined by it. It has made me want to avoid contact with people. It has made me unable to fall asleep without the aid of a sedatitive, because being alone with my own thoughts eventually leads me into a panic. It has taken the fun out of my hobbies because I can no longer focus on them without having the worrying and pain of knowing tomorrow will be no different gnawing at the back of my mind. It has kept me from keeping up completely with my personal hygiene because sometimes I feel too dizzy to stand in the shower. I still try my best, but some days I just fall asleep in my clothes, and others I don't change out of my pajamas for the entire day.

In summary, anxiety is horrible. It is so much different than stress. It is an all-encompassing mental affliction that saps away your being... and I feel like I am fading away more than ever.