This whole thing was like a play by play of most of my first relationship and a friendship from three years ago.

Oh and one last thing, There were many many commentators on this thread who were trying in many ways to be decent people. You've managed to wear almost all of them down. If this is even a marginal indication of how you interact with people IRL...

But what are the chances I've spent my entire life around jerks? I mean, this has been a pretty constant pattern since I was very small. Either absolutely everyone around me is a jerk.... or I'm awful, and am bringing it on myself somehow. The latter one seems like a far more plausible explanation, don't ya think?

Not to say my impressions of what other folks value are the be-all, end-all truth. It just seems to be the case from my perspective.

Yes, you should.

Argh, my whole comment is not posting for some reason:

Somehow the entirety of my response didn't post. So I'm posting again:

"I work very hard at the things I care about"

reboundstudent, let me ask you something.

So anyone can volunteer to speak at these panels and they let them? They don't have to be knowledgeable about the topic or have something possibly of value to add? You just say I would like to be on a panel and you're on one?

There are over 200 comments on this thread. Half of those are pointing out that you're needlessly negative and harsh about yourself. And you still insist that you're just 'honest'. doubletroublepox just explained that you don't have to amazing at your hobby and that almost every comment you've made is dissing…

Holy uncle of god, yes, so much depends on attitude. And it took me so long to realize it.

Hooboy, the conversations with you go like this:

Almost every single commentator in this post starts out by trying to empathize, sharing with you their own life experiences-and let me tell you, this may be anonymous internet commenting, but it's still hard to open about certain things in one's life—and pointing out the real issue, which is your negativity. Your…

I have to say, I've been that annoying friend myself; I had a lot of self-loathing about my appearance.

It's also possible that—well, I grew up internalizing a lot of stuff about my appearance. I come from a culture where dark skin=ugly. It fed into my other insecurities, and whenever someone would say anything nice about me, I couldn't take it, and I'd say things like, Pretty For a dark girl, right? Or Do you really…

Wow. So many supportive, considered, superhelpful comments, and that's what you take away? Amazing.

oh my goodness, is that her photo holding a monocle (I think that's what it is)? And the blurry one with the black scalloped top? she's more than okay looking, what the hell is she talking about and who the fuck are these men who tell her she's ugly?

This, so much!

,,,,,