My ex never ever turned his laptop off because he didn’t want it to update and would lecture me that I was never to turn it off completely.  He would then come to my house and marvel at how fast my gaming PC was, how quiet, envied that I could play games with the picture quality on the highest setting, etc (he could only play on the lowest level where things were just pixelated blobs).

Dude, maybe if you let it update it would solve the vast majority of its problems!  It hadn’t had an update in years so it was barely functional at times.

A collector friend has given me her PE so I can take the good parts and Frankenstein them with the better parts of my PE as she doesn’t plan to display hers so she doesn’t mind if hers is sun damaged, etc.

All was going well until I realised that we have different floors on some of our rooms.  I’ve looked up PE instructions and I couldn’t  find it stated which floor textures belong to which rooms.  I’ve tried looking at other collectors photos but the floors aren’t visible or are too blurry to tell which is which.

So, what floors do you have on each room, fellow PE owners?

On a similar note, you have to really make a conscious effort to put yourself out there and talk to strangers.  I spent most of my life terribly shy until I decided that I had to make myself change.  I can really easily talk to strangers now which I use to dread and avoid whenever possible.

I started small by extending conversations initiated by someone else.  If someone complimented my bag or something I wore I would say thank you and compliment them on something of theirs or explain where I got my thing or if I had an amusing story about it, tell them it.

I started saying more.  Instead of “thank you”, I now say “thank you so much” or if the situation calls for it “thank you, I really appreciate you doing that for me”.  I found it makes people really listen to what you say when you don’t say the default reply.  Even if you never see that person again, use every human interaction as practice.

At social events with people you do know, try and talk to as many people you don’t know as possible.  Even if other people are talking together, it’s ok to linger and insert yourself into the conversation when the timing is right.  By hanging around with obvious “include me” cues, more often than not people will recognise this and let you in.  Exclusively talking to people you already know or isolating yourself in a corner will never result in new friendships.  It’s hard and awkward but you just have to put yourself out there and engage.  If you feel like you have nothing to add to the current topic, change it or ask questions.

If it fails miserably (which is honestly unlikely), so what, you’ll probably never see them again and even if you do, they won’t remember it the same way you do.  When I first started I would make myself a goal such as “when I go to church I will talk to one person I don’t know” or “I cannot leave until I’ve spoken to two people”.

I think a nice way to phrase it was how a friend of mine did.  She set it up as a “buy us a meal” while they honeymooned.  This meant some people were gifting them a fine dining experience while others paid for a more modest but still enjoyable dinner.  It was a way for people to give them a memory and feel included without it coming across as them wanting their honeymoon paid for, etc.

You will always have traditionalists who would prefer to give a physical gift.  In that case, I would consider making a registry of not things you don’t have, as most living together couples have that well and truly covered by the time they marry but rather upgrading things you have to something nicer/more modern.  Likewise, “experience” gifts are popular, anything from spa treatments for two to hot air ballon rides.

Nobody knows anything about cape variations?

I've recently added a glass cabinet to my pony room that fits both my Dream Castle and lavender Dream Castle.  As I put them in I noticed that I have two purple capes for the original and they are definitely different colours.  The deeper purple (bottom) matches the felt flags and came with it but I somehow managed to acquire a second one at some point and it's been in my trade box under the assumption it was a double until I compared the condition between the two.  I can't find any source that suggests that there are cape variations for the original DC.  I know the Italian DC is a different shade of pink but I've not been able to find information on what colour it's cape is.

Does anyone know what the deal is with this weird colour cape?  It's definitely not faded.  Is there non-US pony wear that uses a cape like this?


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How would Hasbro handle queens?  As is the true and pony way, in song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvUX2NbsLxE

By right, I should be queeeeeen!  Look what I can dooooooo!

Toy collecting and chronic pain quite often go together - I've heard someone say that it could be down to something like toy collecting being something which is enjoyable and uplifting as well as something that can be controlled unlike chronic pain. It's a way to do something that brings joy and satisfaction while also being non-physically draining compared to active hobbies like sport or exercise.

Like many of you, I have fibromyalgia, restless legs syndrome, chronic migraines/daily headaches, arthritis, bursitis and depression. Last year an intense fibro flare lead me to being bedridden and barely able to walk for 5 months. I couldn't use my hands, couldn't drive, couldn't hold anything to the extent that I started using kids plastic bowls and plates because I could barely lift a thing and at 31, was using a walker. As you can imagine, it was an exceptionally dark time and now, almost a year after it stopped, I am still not back to my equivalent of "normal".

My collections were one of the very few things that brought me any joy. I couldn't leave my house and only got out of bed to go to the toilet and to get food from the kitchen. A package in the post was a ray of sunshine.

I think the most important thing in regards to cleaning up ponies is to be kind to yourself but also realistic. Bring a small pile of ponies up to work on whilst in bed or on the couch. On very low energy days, just combing pony hair is a reasonable goal that requires little work whilst still being satisfying. On better days, external body cleaning and shampooing hair on as many ponies as feels comfortable without too much energy wasted. On good pain days, internal cleaning, customising work, etc.

On top of that, the best thing I ever did for myself and my collection was replacing my cabinets with ones with glass doors. Zero dusting and zero ponies being knocked off by the cat.