PlanetOfOrd

I created a signal group called "Global Church for the Broken" (since "International" made the name too long). The description: "A community of broken people seeking Jesus, no matter their issues, baggage, background, or challenges."

Basically an open group for whoever wants a community. We can share encouragement, prayer requests, questions, or just ask how we're doing with light-hearted conversation about off-beat TV shows. If you'd like the link, DM me, and I'll try to respond within 1-2 days.

My inspiration was that I'm in the middle of trying to find a church where I belong, and I'm weary because it seems like Christians tend to be some of the most closed-off and unwelcoming people (and, yes, I am, myself a Christian). I wanted to find Jesus-followers who are willing to admit they don't have it all together and are willing to reach out and help others.

...except that Sam & Frodo get all the way to Mount Doom and Frodo realizes he forgot the ring back at home in the Shire

From what I understand privacy.com does not have a method of ensuring your identity is separate from your card, but IronVest does. Been using IV for a while now, but earlier this year they put their masked cards under construction

Which is kind of a shame because I had online purchases in mind.

Is there any alternative people have found?

Thanks!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13583666

The plot summary is as follows:

Secret Service agent Rebecca Carter's world is upended when her husband goes missing in 2002. Two years later, Rebecca and her team are protecting the President during a high-stakes trade deal in China. But their mission is cut short when an assassin appears out of nowhere, kills everyone, and disappears, leaving Rebecca as the lone survivor. In the year 31,462, Xel-Na, a shifter (an individual who can move through time and space at will), receives no word from Thes-Omatz, the deep space research vessel carrying his wife and daughter. Upon launching probes to investigate, he finds everyone either dead or missing. Suspecting a fellow shifter, Xel-Na embarks on a mission to confront the perpetrator. In his quest he soon comes across Rebecca. Together, they face insurmountable odds, all while grappling with the weight of their personal losses. But as they delve deeper into the heart of the conspiracy, they discover that the murderous shifter isn't just after Rebecca, he's after power. And no matter what Xel-Na and Rebecca do, this cunning adversary is always one step ahead of them.

I finished the first draft of the novel, but being out of work I'm not able to fund it myself. I was kinda like, well, nobody's giving me a call, might as well write it.

Would love to hear your thoughts. Do you like it? I have a thick skin, so even if it's crap, go ahead and let a rip.

And before you ask, no, it was not written by AI 😆 (though I did use AI to assist in editing).

If you'd like to fund publication, I would greatly appreciate it. Or if you like and and don't like to give strangers money online, I'd be forever grateful if you share the post on social media.

One thing I've found is that I have kind of a fear of repetition. Usually this manifests at work if I'm in a job that's repetitive. I have this kind of out of body experience where it's almost like I wonder how long I've been there and how many times I've done the thing.

And in college I always tried to sit in a random seat for lectures. Any time I felt I sat in the same seat more than once I would start to feel anxious.

I've somehow been able to cope exercising, not sure how since I take a few laps around my block when it's still dark out. I think it might be that I set a timer? I'm not sure, but there are times when I get that anxiety when I repetitive exercises.

I've been trying to research online for ways of coping, but I'm not finding much. The link I posted seems to be just an article on phobias in general, and "dittophobia" sounds like something someone just made up.

I'm in tech; senior level. But I've been looking for work for over 3 years. I've been getting advice/tips/tricks from other people, but nothing has worked so far. These are things I've tried:

• Blindly applying for a job through the job form
• Working with a recruiter to get me a position.
• Asking to chat with someone on a team with an open position.
• Asking to chat with someone on a team with NO positions.
• Working to establish myself as an expert on social media.
• Asking friends if their company is hiring.
• "Slow networking" (not asking for a job directly, but trying VERY hard to be patient and get to know someone first)
• Fast networking...taking the direct "hey, you hiring?" approach.
• Lynchpin networking (connecting people w/ other people)
• Giving talks at conferences
• Guerrilla tech support (providing my 2 cents on a post even if no one was asking for it).
• open source contributions
• Temp agencies
• state jobs
• looking for "hiring" tags on social media.
• connecting with high-profile people and asking if they need help.
• developing a complete MVP that would help someone (yet I couldn't quite market effectively).
• Leveraging previous employers to see if they have anything new.
• Offering "low hanging fruit" gigs on social media.
• Putting my resume on job boards.
• Getting a role well below my pay grade and working my way up (if I try this I get automatically disqualified for being too overqualified).
• Providing free consultation to businesses.
• Hosting a podcast interview with someone from a company.
• Writing a guest post for an article (I've kind of done this, I think).

Edit:

• I've also had my resume, LinkedIn profile, and other social media, looked over by professionals and nonprofessionals alike. I've even gotten coaching. I've probably gotten more coaching than interviews at this point.

Another edit:

• The only think that's worked lately (as terrible as it sounds) is groveling and telling people the severity of my situation. And that's just gotten me very very small dead-end projects in someone's back pocket. I'm definitely trying to leverage these as best I can.

Any other strategies people have found that works? How did you get your job? I'm running out of ideas.

I've been a believer for a while, and always assumed scripture that talked about Jesus coming soon was intended to be "someday." But lately I've learned that most NT writers (Paul, John, James) were expecting Jesus to come back in like a generation or 2. And most wirings seem to incorporate Jesus's return as an answer to ancient Rome's brutality.

So in the 21st century, how can we reconcile this? Did Jesus say he was coming soon and the NT writers like Paul were basically assigning their own timeline? If Jesus returned to overthrow Rome today I think the most he'd have to do is have a coffee chat with the Pope on ways he can lead the Roman Catholics back to him. So what's with all the imagery of Jesus coming back to annihilate the Roman emporor?

I'm so conused. 😅