Cute things to say to a girl you like

so im gonna build a guitar, and i have an idea for a cool neck joint, it makes routing, assembly, and measurements so much better if done right, im thinking about a hybrid between a set neck and neck through, where the area where the pups and bridge go are all routed out, because thats the neck joint, the neck is basically a neck through joint in the sense that the neck itself goes into the body, but its also a set neck in the sense that the neck joint is glued in place, giving us a shape where the actual neck joint itself is about 7" wide 12" long and 3/4" deep, its like the guitar itself is the guitar neck, but the body is simply a shell with knobs. im hoping this design can also improve tone since all the vibrations are happening on the same piece of wood, and itll be easier to route because you simply have more room to work, since you can easily route the pup cavities on the rectangular part of the neck, and you can easily do routing in the body, since you literally only have to make some holes for the knobs, and do a regular wiring plate on the back. also, it seems a lot easierto build since you can do scale length measurements on the same piece of wood, without dealing with the complexity and accuracy of a neck thru. a good way a describe the idea is this: the neck is shaped like a 3/4" thick cigar box guitar, and a space in the guitar body is routed out so the neck sits inside. does this make sense? like take a cigar box guitar, and take a strat body or something, and route the strat body so you can fit the cigar box inside, but in this case, its carefully planned out so that it fits snuggly inside the cavity, flush with the body. chat gpt says its a great idea, but chat gpt isnt a real human being, so i need y'alls opinions. thanks!

I’m a alternate looking Irish fella looking to talk to people and see where things go so here is a little bit about me!
About me: well I’m a massive film nerd, i studied it at university and hoping at some point to get into that industry. I love my music, mainly rock, emo, alt, indie and stuff like that. Bands and artists such as twenty one pilots, my chemical romance, movements, Joji, enter shikari, bad omens, bring me the horizon, korn, Crywank and spiritbox just to name a few. Along with that I love concerts/gig, be it a comedy gig or live music I’ll be there. I love anime and gaming to so I am a big nerd like that. I enjoy hiking, walks and nature in general and always make time for that. Lastly I love to travel and planning get aways.
Physical: I’m a tall (6’2) chubby white guy. I always say I’ve a dad bod without the kids. I’ve 18 tattoos all of my arms, a nose ring, brown hair and I wear glasses. Happy to share pictures of myself if you’d like that.
What I’m looking for is someone I can just connect with, someone kind and nice and all that type of stuff. Physical I tend to go for more alternative looking people but that’s not a dealbreaker, as long as you’ve a personality I can connect with all good. It would help If you could share a picture of yourself!
So yeah that’s me. Send me a message telling me a random fact about yourself or something you love

So feel free to read through my posts if it’s important but I don’t post this to get into it. I just need to say I’m going through a lot. Not the worst. But a lot. And it just dawned on me as I was laying in bed a bit down on myself. And I felt a sudden sense of compassion. A rare, sudden sense of compassion.
So now a friendly reminder. If you’re going through a lot, don’t forget that these things happen. You can’t always be at your best. Give yourself some slack. You’re hurting. It’s a lot. You’re trying.
Best of luck to everyone.

Like the title says, I have been working at a restaurant and the owner is a slimeball. He has been pocketing servers and bartenders tips for himself and had me sign up for payroll but then when i started working, he just said he would pay me under the table. I can't go to small claims court because I have no proof of what I am owed other than the hours I have worked. I have gotten very little money from him over the past couple months and he says I am being overpaid (a pre negotiated number) and is withholding money. I have since stopped working there as have other servers, but I am trying to at least get what he owes me. I contact him every day with no response and when I go to the restaurant he berates me and gets super angry. Any options I can pursue? Any help would be so much appreciated as I am dead broke right now. Thank you

My boyfriend and I have been together for two years. He is mostly a really great and thoughtful partner. He makes meals for me when I’m feeling down, always has the house picked up when he knows I’ve had a long day, always thinks of me when he is out and about and surprises me with little treats. He treats me really well, and I can tell how much he loves me. That being said, we have an issue of not knowing how to manage escalation. We both get defensive in arguments, but he begins to talk constantly to where I can’t get a word in or even follow what he is talking about anymore. He gets so heated and just starts ranting. He doesn’t call me names, but he will say that I’m manipulative, that his life matters too, and will try to bait me by making comments ab how the relationship should end. He gets mad when I say ok and tells me I should fight for it and that’s why he said it. He gets louder and louder and more frustrated, and I usually end up crying and not talking until it ends. He will usually say something about how now he’s going to feel bad and crazy for freaking out and how it’s not fair that I cry. I usually try to end the argument when it starts escalating, but he won’t let it go and will just keep pushing even if I say it’s getting out of control. Once it ends, he will end up saying that he was wrong, that he doesn’t know why he freaks out, that something is wrong with him, that I don’t deserve that, that he loves me. It takes me some time, but I usually eventually come around because he really did have an awful childhood and I think he has a lot of anger that needs dealt with and he really is sweet and kind. It’s like he blacks out during these times.
We have been looking for engagement rings, and the other day I told him that the raising of his voice really has to stop because I’m not comfortable getting married if this is going to continue. He was 100% on board with that. Five days later, he freaked out and blew up. This time it felt worse because it was in our car at a gas station where I felt like people could see. I was so embarrassed. It continued on the ride home and then outside of our home where anybody could have heard. I didn’t say a word the entire time, but I did start that conversation when I could’ve just not but I wanted to communicate my feelings.
This is where I’m stuck. I think my bf could tell this was a breaking point for me. He bought seven books about managing anger, how to talk to your partner like you love them, etc. He also asked me to help him find an individual therapist, and we attended an intro couples counseling session together. I know he cares and will do anything to make our relationship work.
However, I don’t know if the damage has been done or not. It’s up to me to decide if I want to continue the relationship or not because it’s clear that he does. But I don’t know how I feel. I feel really sad because I do love him, but I am also tired. I told him he would never let someone else talk to me like that and he’d never let his dad yell at his mom like that. He agreed with both of those statements. I can tell how guilty he feels. I know he is putting in effort now, and I told him idk how I feel or if I can continue in the relationship or not. He’s offered me space. Some moments I feel great and normal with him and some I get really sad when I think about it.
The counselor said this is a common issue that he can help us work through. I know we can fix it, but it’s happened often enough that I don’t know if it’s too late or not. I feel guilty that he wants to work on it and I might not.
I wouldn’t say that this happens often necessarily, but it did start happening very early on in our relationship and is still happening.
Any insight is welcome, as this isn’t something I can bring to family or friends without it becoming a “thing.”

Been around 2 years or so now (genuinely can’t remember, been too busy) since my(M28) ex(M42) discarded me for someone younger. More details about that in previous posts, but recently he’s been trying really, REALLY hard to get me to talk to him (kid was a rebound, ended rather quick) and I haven’t talked or texted since. He’s Hispanic, so am I and almost all my immediate family, and my Mom wanted to go out for Cinco De Mayo. Guy runs a Mexican food truck, he was bound to be at the venue and reluctantly I accepted the invite from her cause we’ve had a rocky relationship and the bar is the only way she can get me to open up sadly.
Right before entering, I get stopped by a few friends I haven’t seen in years with their firstborn son. In conversation, the food truck is RIGHT in front of the door, and immediately he pops out and starts talking to my Mom in Spanish (can follow but not speak) saying “your son won’t talk to me”. She follows with “well what the hell did you do to him”, made me wanna hug her so much but doubling down, the taco guys from the truck started staring and saying hi one by one. Tried ignoring it, said by to friends and waddled inside.
Sitting down, it only took about 20 minutes or less for him to “casually” drop in and force himself into the conversation, rapid fire texting me minutes beforehand with “happy 5th man” and “how you doing”. Almost immediately he took the time to give me a hug and spoke in the ear with “I’d like to be friends with you”, ngl all I heard was “I feel guilty” but told him with sincerity that that’s “gunna take time”. Granted there was so much I wanted to ripped out of him and held back “time I’ll never get back”, but public event and he’s a vendor. He pulled back and looked at me funny, they said his goodbyes. This happened a few more times, once with his brother wondering around the area and him coming straight to us with tacos. After having couple beers and 4 margaritas, we were done and leaving. He pops up one last time and speaks purely in Spanish to my Mom, bring up certain things I did for him (giving bear meat, promise of moose tounge, making a homemade recipe for kiwi salsa, etc.) and asking for it again. We both looked at each other in amusement and said our thanks/goodbyes. We gave them 30 to cover the food, my Mom’s idea, cause she didn’t want me to owe him anything. Since then, I don’t know how to feel about the experience. Loved hanging with my Mom and we had a blast, but I think it came at a cost, not sure exactly what though.
I should mention my Mom claimed she knew exactly what he was trying to do, drunkenly saying “hE wAnTs YoU MiHo” and how disappointed she’d be if I even considered talking to him again. That alone was a sobering moment, but what do you guys think of this?

I am in the market for a new macbook (upgrading from 2018 intel mbp). Of course for big models, I can fit on remote servers. But i find for my domain, it's often simpler to just run things on my laptop for anywhere between 10 minutes to 10 hours while I go do something else. It seems like the new macbook airs are quite capable and I'm wondering whether I really need a macbook pro. I'm certainly not a rich person, but I'm willing to shell out for something that I use the majority of my waking life. However, it's not worth the extra cash (~1000 more with specs i'm looking at) if a macbook pro would only be a small improvement over a macbook air. What specs would this community recommend for someone who is looking to fit modestly sized models on their laptop? How much extra bang do you think I would get for a mbp vs air?

Today’s review is for Tales of the EdgeWorlds Volume 1 by Shawn Frost. I was given an ARC copy back in July of 2023, but didn’t finish reading it until recently because I bogged myself down with too many activities, and something this long takes me a while. I will go through the things I liked about it, the things I hated, and wrap it up with a score from 1-10. My scoring system goes through 5 key components, with each one going over the creative aspect and the technical aspect. I will explain that part when we get to scoring later on, so let’s plow on through.
This is a collection, about 266 pages long, and is meant to be the first installment of a comedy series. Shawn runs a Youtube channel where he covers lolcows and does gaming streams, so comedy should come naturally to him. As a volume, this holds 4 short stories, each one holding about 8 chapters, with each story running for about 20k words. Technically, we can say it’s 4 novelettes, but as I explain the situation, you’ll see why they are so long. The plot may seem complex but the main characters go through the same situations: the dimensional merge occurred, between all of our creative properties and C-197, with a group of rambunctious penguins doing mercenary work.
Sadly, it’s not really the Chris-Chan version of a dimensional merge, so we do not see Sonichu or any of that wacky world… yet. It's volume 1, so it's too early to say it's not open to the possibilities. The style runs close to internet memes and those old Newgrounds cartoons, with the focus aimed at action scenes and descriptions of the creative world around their setups. But, as you read through the massive amount of descriptions and banter, you'll realize that very little happens in each story. I would say each one is very simple and with a low reading level needed to get through them, which is a double-edged sword in this case.
I say this because the writing tries too hard to claim a joke was made when it wasn’t really a “ha-ha” joke to begin with. It’s more like “ah… humor is detectable somewhere in these pages” kind of comedy. It relates to the offensive animals of Fritz the Cat, where the comedy comes from the absurdity of a setup, rather than a punchline that is found. Unfortunately, because the satire is absent and it focuses too much on the premise, the result becomes more like my favorite episode of Heil Honey I’m Home, minus Hitler and his annoying neighbors. The banter bogs down the pacing, turning each chapter into a short, yet overly long, sample of a scene, chained together by constantly shifting points of view.
Thankfully, this simple way of approaching a story allows a casual reader to speed on by. Things are easy to follow and characters are easy to remember. The main cast of Edgy, Jeff, Todd, and Hylus are separated by their brand of chaotic addictions. Addiction to drugs, addiction to hentai, addiction to video games, addiction to murder; all greatly expressed in what are meant to be running gags that resemble a sitcom cast. The ship they travel around in, from job to job, can easily be imagined as a "That '70s Show basement" version of the ship in The Orville, as each story goes to different planets where they meet different aliens.
There is enough in each story to understand what is going on, with the stories more as an exploration of lore than an exploration of character or theme. The lack of focus, as well as the indifferent prose, harms the way each tale is told. I would never say these are bad ideas or bad concepts, just bad ways to get them across. High concept, low composition. I would say the main value is from the promise of more to come than what is presented in the pages.
Time for the rating, which will be given between 0-2. 1 point goes to the technical aspect and 1 point goes to the creative side of things. Flaws within a point will reduce it into smaller decimals, but a single aspect is not able to entirely kill a story on its own. If it’s all technical or all creative, a story will be treated as mediocre. Even if I like something, it is still possible to get a 5/10, meaning it’s not suitable for the average reader who is more accepting of a 7 or an 8.
Plot: 1.5 Things happen and people go places in the form of a violent travelog. The pacing bogs down the destination with tourist traps.
Characters: 1.5 The characters play their roles well, even though their roles don’t play well with the plot. Their banter and quirks fall flat in parts.
Prose: 1 With clear points between A and B, wet and sloppy ideas are delivered dry and brittle. With each paragraph shoving lore down the reader’s throat, it can become death by a thousand detours.
Theme: 1 There is a great message about how chaos and anarchy transforms people into primitive animals. Unfortunately, the author couldn’t find it in the infinite vastness of subspace.
Setting : 2 It is a world you want to know more about and look forward to the next bit of info. Creative, exotic, to the proper point of chaotic, yet still comprehensible. Everything about this book is in the setting.
Final verdict: 7/10
The book is niche, it takes a while to heat up, and even then it’s as appealing as a mystery flavor hot pocket. If you’re into absurdity, you will enjoy it. I just wish the absurdity had some life behind it. There is room for expansion and I hope that opportunity is taken.

Next month will be two years since my boyfriend (22M) and I (22W) broke up. We started dating in 2019, which was the summer before out senior year of highschool. Prior to us dating, I accepted a college offer in Florida and he planned on going to aviation school in our home state in the midwest. Everything was perfect when we were together and we had no problems. It was the healthiest relationship, that made me feel on top of the world. We would do spontaneous stuff all the time, hangout almost everyday, and he was my absolute best friend.
The first year at college came around quick. He helped move me into my dorm and the day we left each other we were both crying in the airport. We both would visit at least once a month the first year and everything was normal. Towards the end of our first year in college and seemed to stop caring and trying much less. I was the only one asking to facetime, planning trips to see one another, and virtual dates. He was in aviation school and had to spend a great amount of time with his studies and flying, so I tried to understand that we are both just busy. He started to make a ton of friends, which was different thatn me because I was only allowed to be in my dorm due to covid so my only friends were my roomates.
This was a bit of a change because he would be busy often with his friends and I would sometimes feel like a loser when I would be waiting around for his calls.. but when he would call I would get SO excited and it was the beset part of my day. The calls started to be less and less. I would call him too of course, but he started to seem to have less and less time for me.
My sophomore year the relationship gradually started to get worse. He forgot to buy me anything for Valentines day and forgot my birthday. He would constantly miss online dates I was planning ( I planned because he didn't make initiative to). All I ever told him was that it didn't matter at all what he got me EVER, I just really appreciate the thought. I even told him I would send him the card and as long as he wrote in it I would love it (now looking back.. pathetic). After valentines, he said happy birthday on the wrong day and sent me an e-gift card to chipotle to my email. Of course I appreciated anything, but I was sad because I knew once again that he just hadn't cared enough and forgotten.
The thing that really changed our relationship was when I caught him lying about going to a strip club. I personally don't like strip clubs. I have been and find it disgusting. The men watch like absolute dogs and often times show little respect for the women. My boyfriend's friends on facetime would say " Can he go to the strip club? Come on! The place has ugly strippers anyways so It'll be funny". I said he can do whatever he wants and whatever he finds respectful to our relationship. I had the discussion in private with my boyfriend before and he showed no interest in going to a strip club and has declined himself in the past. Either way if they were going to either make fun or these women or to observe hot women, I find it disrepectful.
I ended up finding out via his friends snapchat story that they went. I confronted him the next morning and he tried lying and saying they didnt go. He ended up admitting and apologizing and saying he "knew I would be mad". I was more bothered that he lied to me rather than the fac the actually went. I NEVERRR took him for someone who would lie. He always told the truth because he didn't see any point in lying. In highschool one of his friends got caught smoking and his parents asked if he did it. Even though he wasn't even caught he just said yes because he said he saw no point in lying to them. There were just so many indications that he wasn't someone I would ever have to worry abou tlying or cheating. We fully trusted each other and were always honest.
This changed the dynamic for myself and I stopped trusting him. I remember checking through his phone once, which is something I would never ever imagine myself doing. At this time I was struggling with mental illness bad which didn't help the situation for me. I found nothing on his phone except for all pictures of us and messages between us and his family. I felt really guilty and knew I should never had done it, but I knew I no longer had trusted him the same anymore, which would eventually never come back.
Fast forward a few months into sophmore year of college and we start talkin gless and less. He was going without talking to me for days, I probably could've been missing for 48 hours and he wouldnt have known lolll. I eventually asked if he didn't want to be together anymore and got a "Thats what its feeling like" so I called it off from there. I discussed with him his lack of effort and he said it was because of the distance. Me personally, I am someone who would rather wait 2 years until we are out of college rather than never see him again,, but that feeling was not mutual. He also told me it just " wasn't fun anymore" , I needed to work on myself, and that he felt like he didn't know how to help me at times ( I have bad depression but often tried not to show it to him)
We went no contact for months and then ended up seeing each other again. We saw eachother for three days and slept together on the last day. I remember crying in his bathroom the last day because I knew it wasn't right and nothing changed. Since It just really didn't seem like anything changed and I distanced myself after this trip. We really didn't talk after that and within a short few months he had a new girlfriend. I was not surprised from this because he had never gone long without being in a relationship and seemed to always be in one since we knew each other from a young age. He was my first boyfriend and first person I had ever had sex with, so I think this has something to do with why I am having a hard time getting over it.
When we first broke up I would check his socials all the time and even found he had a new girlfriend from his Venmo account. I couldnt help myself from looking and would make myself feel worse everytime i looked. This last 6 months to a year I have really tried to not look at all his stuff, but I CONSTANTLY have dreams of him. Sometimes more than others, but I would say I at least have one dream every two weeks. This week I have dreamed about him the past three days every time i close my eyes. The dreams range from being happy to sad to angry. Lately they have been happy, but I try hard to differentiate that the dream is really not who he is.
He changed over the years we were together, and by the time we were done it just was not the same guy I fell in love with. My issues are the constant dreams reminding me of him and the fact I still feel really crushed over it. I don't understand how he could say he wanted to be with me forever and is my soul mate, and then do that to me. I often have questioned if Love is real after the break up, and find it hard believing I will ever find a connection like that again. I find it extremely hard to find someone I have feeling for in a romantic way because I refuse to drop my standards and the fish in the sea are seeming a little limited.
My question is how can I get over this broken heart? I feel I have done the right things and have not slept around with anyone, went to the gym, started new hobbies, but the aching feeling doesn't go away. It's felt unbearable lately and I feel the similar chest pain as the initial heartbreak. I want to move on and not feel sadness towards this anymore.

When people ask for food and are super vague about what kind they want or where to get it. You want pizza or chinese food what specifically? What place specifically? It's like when I'm at my deli job and a customer says turkey ... what turkey specifically. What baffles me is that people want some food how do they not know what they specifically want. If I go to McDonald's Bacon Cajun Ranch Deluxe, LRG, Drink Strawberry Banana smoothie, not chicken sandwich and smoothie.

Hey everyone! I’m new to Reddit and on mobile, so apologies for any formatting errors and for the length of this post.
Basically, I have a name picked out. I use it on all my socials that my family/friends don’t follow me on and when I need to give a name at a coffee shop/restaurant. Additionally, I work at a job where I have to introduce myself to customers and I’ve been using my chosen name when my boss isn’t around, and hearing myself say it (and hearing customers address me by it) has been really validating for me. I’m pre-everything (hoping to start T when I can get an appointment with a trans-friendly doctor in my town) and don’t pass as masc super well despite my best efforts so being referred to by a masculine name felt really good. The main problem is that I’m struggling with how to tell people.
At this point, I’m fine with using my chosen name as more of a nickname, with my legal name being on documents and the like. I’ve mentioned it to my parents and they’ve been super supportive of everything. I just don’t know how to broach the subject with people who’ve known me my whole life, especially since I haven’t really found a definite label for myself in terms of gender. It’s a pretty traditionally masculine name, and while I’m pretty sure I’m some flavor of transmasc, I don’t think I’m 100% a trans man, if that makes sense (I’m using they/them pronouns, but I prefer masc terms of address to feminine ones (ie sir vs ma’am)). I’m probably overthinking this, but I’m worried they’ll think I’m jumping in too quickly or overthinking things. I really only came out as anything other than a cis woman this past December.
So, does anyone have any advice on how to start that conversation? Or, alternately, are there any reasons I shouldn’t/should wait a bit?

Pretty much just what the title says, I’ve been staying in the city with a few friends for a little while now (originally from the US) and we’ve already started making plans to come back. I’ve lived in cities all my life, but there’s nothing I can really compare to the time I’ve spent here and I plan on spending a lot more in the future. I’m not looking for anyone to meet up with or anything like that, I just think it would be cool to connect with some people in the area.
I’m currently a student working on two degrees, as well as starting my own business. I enjoy learning (and teaching), gaming, going out (even if it’s just wandering around alone aimlessly) and just a little bit of everything.
If you’re bored, feel free to respond to this post or shoot me a message. English or not, I’ll do my best respond. I look forward to talking!

SABOTAGE?! And it all started out as such a nice idea… A cliche as tall as my ex-roommate’s erection live-blending Kelly Bundy Mike Kelley and Ted Bundy parafernalia wearing blondes to the sound of gekko’s mating in the Amazon. Cut the bullshit! There’s no such thing as a nice idea getting detourné by some smart art postpostsituationist pranker or right-wing gaswhitey flexfrat, no, my dear well-meaning peace dove friends, if an idea can gets turned into its opposite during its execution, it probably was flawed from the start! Sometimes people use Woodstock 99 - the limp dickshit rape and pillage slash and burn disaster edition - as an example of how a great, positive, wonderful, hell, holy idea can turn into the worst kind of evil in the hands of the wrong people. Well, dear naivopino’s, let me inform you: bull-shit! The whole idea of Woodstock, be it ’99, ’94, ’69 or 2219, is just batshit dumbwhat asking for the baddest kind of trouble right from the bat. Or, what? Do you honest-to-dogly think that during the original (I retrovulsely puke into my stomach even using that wretched word) edition of 1969 nothing was burned, stolen, no women were raped? What, just because there were no sperm dna tests, nigh to none options for women to speak up against sexual violence let alone the fact that speaking up against rape during that whole shitshebang of a weak acid trip’s campfire get-together was near to blasphemy in the hippie community means that no women were raped? Because men all of a sudden turned into meek little dickies lambs for three years from 1968 to ’71? Fuck that shit. Please. I don’t even want to spend a single move of a single digit of my old hands having to make anything about that largest circle jerk-off in history clear to you. Read your books. Do your homework. Anyway, that’s what I was thinking about when a friend told me recently about another of those so-called great ideas gone hilariously wrong in a little map smudge of a town in of all fucking places Belgium for chrissakes. Let me admit to you, right here and now, no smirk no smile on my face: I laughed so hard when I heard it I shat my new Calvins. Framed them afterwards, too, in a nice little Nielsen A2 birch. It’s sitting there, stinking the fuck out of my storage, waiting for a good stock market crash to come. Never underestimate the potential of the future art market gold rushes. My shit, my gold, bruv. So, these two clowns of artists in Belgium (are there any other there? don’t get me started on rené ma bite or marcel bread arse here!) had the ammazing idea to get themselves funded by the local government in this hamlet of three houses called Watou which apparently would be part of - ok, stop me here. Not in the history of mankind has ever ended a sentence well which tried to explain any aspect of Belgian politics, topography or whatever the call the thing there where a man rides a horse stark naked and bites the neck of living goose hanging from a tree? (See, that sentence didn’t end well either, did it, what’d I tell you? Cursed stuff!) Let’s try that again: two artists in the Belgian town of Watou had the splendid idea to organize a festive event, in the middle of summer, whereby all the people of this little village (if you’re thinking of blue skinned vikings charging Roman legionnaires in a berry-induced bad trip frenzy, well, so am I) for one day left their houses, dropped the key of their house in a transparant bowl on the town square and all went to the field adjacent to their village to well be (as in: not fornicate) together and thereby, if I had a press release I’d quote this from it: practiced a performative experiment in hospitality and neighborship where no fixed rules are applied. I’m guessing if you’re sensitive like I am to the finer things a life, you might as well start looking for your nearest Nielsen frame too by now, but hey: we haven’t even gotten to the joke yet! This was all the serious stuff. Let me summarise it even more briefly for you, just to get it out of my haemorrhoidical system: Imagine a village. Everyone leaves their house at the same time. Leaves their front door open. Drops the key to said door in a large bowl. Drifts into a field somewhere off to do fripp knows what (no rules applied, but probably: no fornication whatsoever.) Got the mental image? Good. Now get the fuck out of that dream and imagine any sad little teardrop of a town you know. Imagine who lives there. Imagine all the people you know who live in a town, or rather, fuck that, imagine all the people you know. Now imagine that some dogoodydoodydoobywah wants to “bring the people together again” and “mend the social bonds which had been broken by” yaddah yaddah yaddah. Okay? Now imagine the fucking assholes - they might even be you - who get they absolute mostest pleasure out of ruining the naive, well-intentioned ideas of others? You see what I see? The doodygoodoo is a bit all alone on his white ivory hilltowertop, right? All the others apparently prefer to start mayhem, to jinx other people’s efforts, to laugh - loud! - at their friends tripping over their own feet. No? You think in your ‘reality’ people are ‘decent’ and ‘rough diamonds’ or ‘deeper than you’d think they are’? Well, my dear, that paradisiacal odor you’re smelling all around you is the smell of your own shit cause you got your head up your ass! Listen and suffer! Because what happened in our not-just-proverbial Belgian village on that sunny morning in July… a couple of the townspeople - we’ll never know how many but I’m guessing almost everyone except for the government-funded, from-the-city hippie artists was in on the joke - had invited some acquaintances from the town next door to quietly enter the village while everyone was not-fornicating on the idyllic field, to take all the keys from the bowl, lay them on the train tracks which run along the town, flattening them to perfectly unusable little steel flabs and placing them back in the bowl. So when our supposedly resocialised townspeople entered their village that afternoon, ready to get their key, run to their house and close their door for at least the next 364 days, the immediately realised they couldn’t close their doors anymore. Total mayhem ensued. Men started chasing women, people pillaged their neighbours houses, children and adults alike pooped on all toothbrushes they could find, underwear was thrown into compost heaps, compost heaps were thrown into unlawful indoor spas, hundred thousands of untaxed euro piles were find inside old televisions and grandmas paintings. There was no stopping them. Housewifes hung themselves after their portrait, tits out and all, was found hanging above at least three beds in different houses. It was bad. Real bad. By the time news of this feast of anarchy and murder had spread to the nearest villages and the police arrived, the artists had of course long disappeared, no doubt to narrativise their failure into a story of experiment and learning and cash in a couple of fat pay checks.
And you know what the name was the artists had given their beautiful day of harmony and collective connecting: Open Doors Day. They sure got it, their open doors day, they sure got it. Serves them right. Serves them damn right.
peace - out!

I want to preface this for reddit by saying that I am in a sound state of mind and am not considering any form of self harm in any capacity. She has improved dramatically over the course of the past decade due to an environment change and escaping her own abuse. I am happy with my life, have a partner I love dearly, and have no desire to do anything stupid.
I am ready to forgive her for most of what happened when she was being abused, but she really, really needs a psychiatric specialist and heaps of therapy.
—
Mom,
I don’t think I can say this is person without breaking up or getting yelled at, so I’m typing it.
I feel like I can’t talk to you because I’m afraid of you. A few years ago in the car you told me you were scared that you would become more like the nasty, bitchy side of (her mother) that you hate. Your words, not mine. Well you’ve been doing that a lot lately. You did it a lot when I was a kid.
A lot of the time when we speak you say mean, nasty things that serve no purpose aside from making me feel bad. Last night in the kitchen you asked me what I was eating. I told you. Immediately, you took that opportunity to ask me if I had offered any to dad. I said no. Before I could explain, you made a nasty comment about how it was rude of me not to offer. When I got upset and cut you off to explain, you tried to pretend like you were just asking an innocent question and I was wrong for being upset. You pull that specific trick constantly.
You absolutely know that you only did that to make me feel like crap. You had no good reason to say that to me. You do little things like that all the time now.
So I avoid you. I can’t take it. You say that you love me, but then you turn around and act sadistic like you get some enjoyment out of hurting me. I can’t take it. You deny that you do it, but you do. Constantly.
Then when I feel terrible and avoid you because of the way that you treat me, you suggest that I have some kind of mental issue and I need medicine to fix it. Like you genuinely think I’m crazy or broken because it hurts when my own mother treats me like that. How would it feel if people treated you like you’re insane because you get upset when they talk down to you?
You never politely ask me to do things. You bark orders at me. “When can you do this?” “Come out here when you get a minute.” “I need your help with this.” “When are you going to do that.”
The other day at work I was busy unloading a ton of carpet. You texted to ask if I heard you honk and acted like it was just you following up and innocently saying hi. Then you turned it into nagging me over a chore while you knew I was working. I couldn’t respond to your text right away, so you asked me where I was working tomorrow. You know why you were asking.
A few years ago you said some really nasty things to me. You tell me I could always talk to you if I have an issue, so I told you in text because I was scared to tell you in person. I was upset when I told you and I cursed a couple times. I didn’t curse at you or call you names.
You responded by raising your voice, beating on my door, telling me never to talk to you like that that, and then you were nasty to me and ignored me for three days.
When I was in middle school we were at the outlets and got taco bell. I tapped you on the back twice and tried to tell you that I wanted something slightly different. You didn’t hear me and I kept my mouth shut. I mentioned it offhand in the car. You locked the car doors and screamed at me for several minutes about how I’m a liar and a shitty kid and how sometimes you wish you didn’t have me.
I have PTSD from that. It flashes through my head every time you raise your voice. I don’t feel safe telling you things that upset me because you respond with anger. You blame me for your actions. Everything is my fault.
You want to know why I got fat? I stress eat.
All through school I was bullied. Constantly. Then I came home and you treated me like shit for having bad grades.
You locked me in my room by myself with nothing for years and acted like it was my fault because I couldn’t get good grades.
I tried to make friends. I wasn’t allowed to hang out with them because I was “grounded.” You acted all proud of it and said you were “fixing me” by being “mean nasty mom” like it was something you had to do.
When I was seven or eight (brother) and I were playing by the door. We were going to go to the school for some event in the cafeteria. They were going to play kung fu panda and we were going to watch it as a family. (Brother) tripped and hurt himself. You rushed over and asked what happened and (brother) pointed to me and said I kicked him. You got nasty and dad screamed at me and you told me I ruined the whole evening. Dad made me sit and do nothing in the living room the whole time while he say quietly as you took (brother) to see the movie and babied him.
He lied constantly throughout our childhood to get me in trouble and I got treated like shit for it. Then you acted like I was a mean, bad brother for hating him.
All those times at the therapist I would tell them how you treated me, then you’d go in afterwords and they’d tell you. Then you’d get pissed and yell at me in the car for “lying” and making you look bad.
The two times I found therapists that actually helped me, you said you didn’t think it was doing anything or that you couldn’t afford it pulled me out, and I lost all of that progress.
I have PTSD from all of that too.
And you can hand-wave it and act like it didn’t happen because you “don’t remember” like you always do, but it still happened. You still hurt me. I spent years growing up afraid and alone. Every day I was locked up like that, I wanted to kill myself. I never tried to do good in school because I really did think I would do it before I graduated highschool. I thought it was for nothing. I wanted to die. There were times after you or dad yelled at me I go to my room and plan it out. I can’t count the number of nights I spent alone in my bed, sobbing, hoping I just wouldn’t wake up.
I was abused. You abused me. I’m tired of pretending that you didn’t and that everything is happy and smiley. I never needed medicine as a kid, I needed to be loved instead of punished.
I love you and I am trying, desperately, to love you and have a relationship with you as my mother, but you make it really, really hard sometimes.

Hi I’m a 18 year old male, ever since I was young around the age of 11-13 I would have dreams about very scary or weird occasions such as being killed, killing others, arrested with weapons, and more . I even had dreams of seeing my family from my passed away uncles point of view, well now that I’m 18 things got more weird because the dreams are continuing but as I look on social media my dreams are actually taking place … one time I had a dream I was chilling with friends with no weapon when the police randomly wanted to search us where a weapon appeared in my pants , I woke up from the dream where I later found someone was arrested with the same weapon on a local news page from my city. The dreams continued again be thinking nothing of it but being weirded out about it I started to feel when people are somewhere else like my girlfriend was in the mental hospital I felt her there and could feel what she was doing when she came home she described her actions to me which linked up with my thoughts , I then had a dream i was shot by someone in the southern part of my city around 3, open my Instagram to discover a man in the same situation at the same time, in the southern part of my city . My girlfriend and I are now a little up in arms because she believes I’m being tormented by something negative can anyone who knows about this type of stuff inform me or help me with these situations … google just says it’s from traumas but if that’s the cause how are my dreams popping up in my face !! I need help all medians and foresight people please comment below with advice or heads up .

I mean, the title says it all, really. I ended my relationship after two difficult abortions and a move across the state. It was a whirlwind break up. I truly didn’t know I was going to end the relationship until it was happening. I understand there was build up to this, but I still sometimes find myself in a state of shock.
We considered getting back together, but I had moved back to the area we originally lived in for a wonderful job in my field (which I couldn’t find in the area we moved to). I didn’t really want to move away, but my work was unstable and housing was expensive for us both. He thought moving a few hours away where housing is more affordable would be better for us both. He made good money & worked from home, so we really could have lived anywhere in theory. He chose the area, which I was never over the moon about, but recognized it could be a good decision for us both. I was vocal about my concerns for the move, but he says he “checked in with me often” and “would have reconsidered” if he knew how I felt about it. Needless to say, we had issues with communication in multiple ways.
It became evident after our breakup that, within all the conflict we had, that we had significant differences in communication style. I thought I was being confrontational by saying “this happened and now I feel this way,” but because I was not “aggressive” or “yelling at him” he did not realize the severity of my emotions. I often feel so troubled by this now because I felt I created a lot of space for us to be emotionally vulnerable, but he ultimately struggled deeply with that.
He started going to therapy after our break up and has been putting in the hard work to grow & unlearn. I am so proud of him and truly wish him all the best. I want him to feel good in his heart & his mind. I want us both to heal. Only now, I wish we could be together again. I miss him every single day. I dream of him almost nightly. I want to hear his voice again, see our dog, cook us dinner, exist together. We haven’t really spoken aside from handling things with our lease. It just breaks my heart. I ended the relationship because he let me down severely through his lack of emotional support throughout my pregnancies/abortions and other events. I feel like I made a massive mistake and now I don’t know where to go.

So, this landlord is asking me to pay for a lawyer and tdp custodian fee (£300) before viewing the house. He said he has done a contract which I didn’t sign yet and plans to give it to me with the keys of the house during the viewing. I have already given a 300£ deposit and he doesn’t want to refund it even if I have told him that I found a place already. I have been insisting him to send me the tdp confirmation email from their side but all he says to me is “rest assured it will be given once you have paid for the fees and viewing is done” Is this even legal most likely a scam (which I think it already is)? Just want to confirm my thoughts on this.

I am looking for basically subs where people help each other out, out of the goodness of their hearts, subs with resources listed (like a list of links/sites that have resources people need/possibly even a clothing swap sub or something like that where you can find clothes being given away/give clothes away also the same concept but with things like basic necessities)
Looking for a place for people that don't have friends, have trouble making friends, etc
Looking for a sub for those who are dealing with infertility, a sub where you can find resources for fertility health, fertility freebies, sharing wisdom etc
Also I am looking for subs that arent super strict, don't require loads of karma, don't require you to have been a member for a specific amount of time (if this is possible idk) or one that says you have to have been active with no inactive periods of time. I know actually finding that exact things I am looking for is a long shot, now finding the exact things im looking for while also having specifications such as those listed, not going to happen. So that's why I don't expect an exact match of what I have described. Just anything similaclose-ish. Sorry about the longer list... Thanks reddit!!

The game was like a small collection of minigames. But the only game I remember clearly is a bowling game. Classic 3D graphics and probably not that much effort put into it. Like if you got a strike the character would turn to the camera and do and do a punch in the air with a few frames and it didn't really have a mouth. Or that's what I remember from the first character that you could play as out of I think three. The first one I think was a boy with a yellow shirt and blue cap. I think the second one was another boy but I don't remember how they looked like. The third one was a girl which I also don't really remember when it comes to looks. But I remember her throwing-the-ball-animation was her tossing the ball with her two hands. I think I managed to mostly get a strike on the first turn in every game (game as in session or something). Now back to the menu. It was like a window in the middle of your screen that kind of looked like this layout:
┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
┃#X##O##O##O#┃
┃#O##O##O##O#┃
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
Pretend the hashtags are invisible. Reddit doesn't like too many spaces. The X is where the bowling game is. I don't remember if it was 8, 10 or 12 games but that's probably what it was. And that's all I know. I think.
I don't think it was a game from a disc. I just remember it... Being there on the desktop. Was it downloaded from a website or some shareware thingy? No idea.

Yes I know this is oddly suspicious but every Dutch girl I have met on here has been insanely cool, easy going, and adventurous. I’d like to find someone like that again. Let’s get to know each other.
I wanna chat about the dumb stuff you did today, the next adventure you’re planning, your go to gym routine, or why life is so much better when you’re not wearing pants. Let’s chop it up for a bit and see where it takes us.
I like gin, lame puns, continually snacking, watching food network and pretending I can cook, trying every flavor of Oreo, and avoiding karaoke at all costs. Toss me some music recommendations, or tell me if you think a grilled cheese or a taco would win in a fight. There is absolutely a correct answer and I will die on that hill.

Hi all,
I have a question about IEEE TMI since I am starting to be skeptical about their review process and acceptance criteria. In our lab, my PI began collaborating with two well-known oncologists and radiotherapy researchers. Together, we developed a new method that advances the current "state-of-the-art" for a certain type of cancer radiotherapy planning and submitted it to IEEE TMI back in December.
After two weeks, we received a desk rejection (without an invitation to resubmit), citing a lack of proper benchmarking and a narrow scope.
After several months of work and seeking advice from various experts, we significantly improved the paper. During this process, I realized a few things:

1. We were referred by the Editorial Board to datasets, current methods, and challenges published solely in IEEE TMI.
2. The author of the challenge we were referred to was also the winner of that challenge.
3. The winner of the challenge also had their paper published in IEEE TMI.
4. The benchmark they referred us to was not entirely appropriate for our research. In fact, we had multiple meetings with the developers/owners of that benchmark before our first submission, and they agreed that our methodology was not 100% compatible with it (reason why we did not do that benchmark in the first submission).

Now, since I really want our paper published in IEEE TMI due to the journal's prestige, we have submitted it to the same journal again. However, I am now questioning the fairness of their review process. Since it is a single-blind review process and my PI does not have any other papers in IEEE TMI, I wonder if our lack of a reputable name in the IEEE TMI community is a factor in the rejection. Additionally, the fact that we were referred to a challenge where the author is also the winner triggered some warnings for me.
Therefore, I would like to ask about your experiences with IEEE TMI. Did you have a hard time publishing there for the first time? Does it get easier once you have more publications with them?
Thanks in advance!