Have you tried the death stranding series? I just finished 2 yesterday. It was fantastic. In both, you can tailor your experience - skip cut scenes, drop difficulty to ‘story’ for frustrating fights, etc. But those games tell a story in a way only video games can. And all the little flourishes that emotionally connect you to your character, like rocking the controller to sooth the baby sealed in your chest pod, are so charming and affecting.
If ‘the curse’ looks good to you, Rachel Deerling’s Anathema is another take.
Alan Moore’s The Curse is in that direction.
For math, I think 3blue1brown does an incredible job. Here is his take on the essence of calculus. If you prefer textbooks, there are many open-source options. MIT is a good source of open lectures, texts, and problem sets.
For general expert suggestions about a variety of subjects, I like five books, for example here are some suggested books on linguistics, religious studies, international relations, and art theory.
I got a lot out of Saundra Yancy McGuire’s books “teach students how to learn” and “teach yourself how to learn”. If your library has them, that might be the way to go. Not sure they’re meaty enough to justify a purchase.
But that said, her illustration of Bloom’s taxonomy using the story of Goldilocks could provide a week’s-worth of lessons.
The old Alan Rickman movie Truly madly deeply is great. Definitely not tacky. Probably wholesome? I definitely felt more happy than sad when credits rolled, and better for having watched it.
I’m about halfway through and it is incredible so far. Wholeheartedly recommend it.
Caliban and the witch is an amazing book about this.
‘There are two errors…’ by Robert M Martin?
Have you read Rage becomes her? It really helped me feel less completely worthless. It takes time to find your people. A bit of a cheat I’ve found: take some classes, like pilates or watercolor painting or whatever, and make friends with the older ladies. They are usually hilarious, and they will lift you up.