Been waking up feeling 'off' for the past week, I know its my fault because I've been smoking joints every day for the past month so now I'm putting it aside again cos it seems like I just can't have a regular relationship with it. I quit after smoking daily for months from Feb-Oct last year, then had a 2 month clean stint til mid December where I started smoking daily again pretty much immediately, then quit again for 2 months mid jan up to early april and been smoking multiple times a day since then. I keep kidding myself I can use casually but it obviously affects my studies and I'm way less inclined to be social since I just feel a bit reluctant/out of place/at loss for words when sober with people. When I'm high it's almost always by myself since I like to get in a zone for hobbies, work, whatever, so I become really introverted. I'm just pissed that I gotta do another detox cos I'm so unmotivated during them and spend hours listlessly arranging and rearranging stuff instead of working and I don't really feeling like talking to people, I have nothing to say bcos I'm dissociating. I don't even really like getting high that much, its just that I get bored so easily and it gets rid of that 'itch' for me to focus (ADHD meds help but not 100%)
Plus I was rejected by someone I had a crush on for a year after working up the guts to tell them (twice, cos the first time I was too drunk to remember anything). Which is mostly fine but my brain is clearly stuck on it anyway since I keep dreaming about kissing them even though I was rejected like 4 months ago. Kinda awkward cos we are still in the same loose friend group and coupled with my lack of confidence in socialising, my self-worth is abit lower than it could be cos I don't feel like I can act relaxed and confident around them, which I would hope sends a message that I'm not upset or hung up over it (lol I totally am but I don't want the friend group dynamic to be weird plus I enjoy their company). I'm gonna persist with quitting cos I like my sober self much better and will probably try to avoid seeing the dude, though it kind of means I'll miss hanging out with friends sometimes but I just feel so lame and unwanted when I am around him so I guess it's better that I do some work anyway
don't really need sympathy or advice but if you relate pls share your stories so I can feel a little less pathetic in mutual solidarity lol

Yes this is a madness and an illusion - a real illusion - but still an illusion.
This is the truth.
And all those who think that ignorance is bliss will get a big shock when they finally decide to step out of their ignorant comfort zones and face themselves and the Reality.
This life is only meant to open to that Truth which is there, which exists and which is the Consciousness - the Spirit. That is the only thing that makes you go through day and night in this insanity which we call life.
And yet this is not the only reality - and for that we have to go beyond the body and the physical identity and open to the higher layers of existence - while keeping the body in order and operating it like an instrument but taking a seat / station in the higher Psychic Depth - in the Soul-Reality - in your Self and your Psychic Being.
So that is the process which we have to repeat until it becomes a permanent movement of consciousness out of the physicality to the Soul/Psychic level/being.

If you are a good girl, forget a genuine relationship with a man, how much I hate having an honest and genuine heart because I’ve worked very hard on myself to be myself now back in the past I wasn’t like that, years ago I healed myself to find out who I am I had to go through so much to find myself, I showed genuine emotion and I help and I try so hard to be there for them but in return you are nothing, he said what we have is weird and he wouldn’t try to make a move because I am too good he needed to be careful with me like a vintage glass he needed to hide, they come and vent complain about their life but I am just unknown I had no identity or anything it’s like I never had a past they would worry about it because I am just here to comfort them and make sure they sleep feeling okay, I was a nurse a cook a therapist and everything I would offer them help, and if I was lucky I will get “ I care about you” when he had to tell me what he did for his ex who cheated on him with his friend, the times he took her out or bought her flowers, just to end up telling him she just used him and never loved him but I was his friend who can’t get me into his “shitty life” , the times I was trying to open up and tell him what happened to me because now I want my moment he would just suddenly disappear, like I wasn’t there worrying about him when I knew he started drinking, the irony that happened with different men, the last one I wanted to let it off my chest what I was going through he was gone always, I can’t help I want to make everyone feel good, how can someone ignore that? You can’t simply you want to help everyone in need, I just wonder how he can disappear when I was at the hospital maybe I was sick maybe dying, like something not that important, then I will have to feel ashamed he was working he was busy like I don’t have one, never ending cycle, and it happens like that I meet someone and I feel the motherly energy but without the unconditional love, it doesn’t work this way you want that back you want them to care and ask you and want to know about you but it doesn’t work that way.

Hey all. I was trying to look for ways to finally improve at the game, since I started as a kid and never really got better than basic, as I’m sure is common of many players.
Is it true to just get the fundamentals like playing in the middle, getting better at developing, unit priority and other basics is more useful for a super beginner than doing any fancy openings? Are endgames useful to focus on earlier than openings or should both be kind of treated loosely when you’re a beginner?
I probably will get into all of that deeper anyway eventually if I do actually enjoy this because I do hyper focus on things lol but for now I just wanna make sure my time improving is spent efficiently.
Thanks in advance!

ANALYSIS:

• FX analysis:
• We see looking at EURUSD that skew is v elevated as IV is elevated on calls vs puts.
• EURUSD is stuck under 1.08 but traders are looking for a break towards 1.09. Note that traders seem to be pricing in softer inflation data. If PPI comes hot and CPI too tomorrow, we can see strong downward move in EURUSD as traders are seemingly complacent from positioning on soft inflation data
• BTC:
• BTC positioning shows traders sell calls. Skew points downward. Can see some pressure for this OPEX as a result, but should push up after that. Hence why price is lower in premarket.
• https://imgur.com/a/mShRPhn
• Oil:
• Range bound as traders waiting for US economic data this week. But skew is still pointing higher. Buyer momentum is higher, so it is positioned for a move higher but I suppose traders hold their breath waiting for the data.
• Silver:
• Looks like can continue higher. Skew is higher, IV change is rising.
• Calls on 28 adn 29 are the main options.
• https://imgur.com/a/q3KxHuN
• USDJPY - gamma wall at 157C. Can get stopped there, before move higher after. Positioning on JPY v bearish.

DATA LEDE:

• Japan PPI:
• YOY came 0.9% vs 0.9% forecast, last month was revised to 0.9% YOY too.
• So is gradually increasing since November.
• German Final inflation revision showed no change to preliminary reading. Confirmed the prelim reading. inflation of 2.2% vs 2.2% last time.
• UK EMPLOYMENT DATA
• 178k people got laid off in the last month, less than the 215k expected.
• More than the 156k last month.
• So labour market is continuing to weaken.
• Unemployment rate rose to 4.3% in line with expectations. Highest reading in over a year.
• Average earnings still came hot though, at 5.7% growth YOY vs 5.3% forecasted. Last month was 5.7% YOY.
• Average earnings growth has come down a lot though in the last year and is now near yearly lows of growth.
• So UK labour market data showed weakening of labour market.
• EURO ZEW Economic Sentiment index:
• Came 47 vs 46.1 expected.
• Highest economic sentiment reading in over a year.
• Economic sentiment in Eurozone continues to improve.
• German economic sentiment index came 47.1 vs 46 expected. Highest in a year.
• US PPI Data
• Fed’s Powell is due to speak at 10am, unlikely to say anything in particular.

MARKETS:

• Markets are flat, waiting for PPI.
• SPX trading flat around the levels it was at yesterday, ahead of PPI. Market waiting for PPI
• Nasdaq: 18,200. Trading flat around these levels.
• DJI flat at 39.5k
• GEr40: Trading flat at the highs, trading at 18,700.
• HKG trading lower by 0.8%. Tested close to 19k and held.
• OIL trading flat the last week or so around 77-79.
• GOLD: trading flat at 2,344.

FX:

• GBP down due to weak employment data, which points to firstly, rate cuts being on the horizon, and weakness in UK economy.
• Also down because BOE’s Pill says that Rate cut is likely to come under consideration in Summer, after employment data. Gilts are up in UK as a result. V explicit mention of rate cuts to come.
• Recovered somewhat with EURO which headed higher after ZEW Economic survey
• Yen continues weakness after failed intervention
• DXY flat ahead of PPI
• EURUSD trading t the 1.08 resistance
• AUDUSD trading at 0.66. Still stuck under the downtrend trend line.

EARNINGS:
BABA

• EPS of 10.14 vs 10.21 expected. Miss by 0.7%
• Revenue of 221.8B beat by 1%. Up 6% YOY
• Adjusted EBITDA was 30.81B yuan, beat by 1.4%
• Segment revenue:
• Taobao group was 93B, beat estimates by 1%, down 28% QOQ
• Cloud intelligence was down 8% QOQ
• Local services group revenue was 15B Yuan
• Cainiao Smart logistics network was 20.12B yuan
• So mixed segment revenue.
• Approved a $4B dividend for Fy 2024.
• One time extraordinary cash dividend
• Repurchased $12.5B worth of shares in Fy 2024.
• They are focusing on enhancing customer experience and growing AI product capabilities
• Significant investments in strategic business priorities, particularly in ecomm
• CEO comments:
• Returning to growth, our china and international commerce business saw double digit GMV growth
• Accelerated revenue in cloud computing
• NOT GREAT EARNINGS ON THE WHOLE. EPS was dissapoitning, segment revenues were dissapointing.

HD

• Down as they say that delayed spring selling is hurting sales.
• Weak current quarter, comps were down worse than expected. But they maintained the Full year guide, which was better than many expected imo
• Rev $36.4B vs $36.7B est. missed narrowly
• Comps -2.8% vs -2.2% est. worse than expected
• EPS $3.63 vs $3.60 est. slightly better than expected
• Customer transactions were down 1% YOY
• Average ticket down 1.3% YOY
• Sales per retail square foot were down 3.4% YOY
• Maintains FY guide
• FY EPS of $15.26
• FY sales of 154.2B
• The 1Q weakness is in-line with what we highlighted, but FY guide maintained = better than feared by some.
• Delayed start to sprint and softness in larger discretionary projects hurt sales.
• Still seeing challenges
• But are trying to look forward to rest of the fiscal year with robust plans to engage customers.

SONY:

• Announced new leadership structure.
• Is adopting a new dual CEO structure for their video game Unit.
• Net profit was 189B yen , up 34% YOY and beat by 26.8%
• Revenue was 3.48T, up 14% YOY, beat by 14%
• EPS of 153.6, beat by 34%
• Segment performance:
• Game Business revenue was 3.481T, up 14% YOY
• Game business operating profit was 105.9B, more than double YOY
• Moving business operating profit was nearly double YOY
• So strong quarter results
• GUIDANCE FOR FY2025:
• Revenue of 12.31T, down 5.5% YOY
• Net profit of 925B down 4% YOY
• Planning partial spin off of financial unit
• Conducting 5-1 stock split
• Announced buyback of 250B shares
• Seen strong performance in game and movie business, leading to robust quarter.

MAG 7 NEWS:

• MSFT - OPENAI announcements yesterday:
• Releases voice assistant, which acts as a translator in real time.
• OpenAI GPT 4o which is faster, omnimodel and easier. It will launch on desktop version too. Said this model will be available for free.
• Showcased use of AI for tutoring.
• Announced they have over 100m+ users using chatGPT worldwide.
• TSLA - rehires their key Supercharger Team, reversing recent cuts.
• GOOGL, AMZN - Anthropic, which is backed by these companies is launching its GenAI chatbot Claude throughout europe including EU countries Switzerland and Iceland.
• GOOGL - has their own IO developer event today. Is expected to showcase its latest AI tools and AI linked enhancements to products.
• AAPL - Foxconn reported earnings. Whilst their results jumped a lot YOY, they missed estimates. They said they saw strong server demand due to AI, but consumer electronics sales were down 9%, weakness in iPhone in CHina.
• Said they are cautious about near term consumer electronics demand.
• AAPL - preparing o sell Vision Pro device outside of US for first time, plans to expand to CHina, Japan and France.

COMPANY SPECIFIC:

• SPWR up as part of a short squeeze of meme stocks, and other heavily shorted stocks.
• GME - Up 40% in premarket. The squeeze continues.
• AMC up 50% too, BB up 15%
• The meme stocks are seeing momentum continuing on from yesterday, after coming into focus due to Roaring Kitty’s tweet during weekend.
• Chinese EV company, BYD is unveiling Plug in hybrid pickup truck in Mexico. It’s called the shark and will be distributed globally except for US.
• RUM - Rumble sues Google for $1B over anticompetitive ad practices. Files lawsuit
• WMT - to lay off and relocate hundreds of corporate workers. Remote workers have been asked to move to larger corporate hubs. Small office employees in Dallas, Atlanta and Toronto to relocate
• UBER - Willa acquire FoodPanda’s Taiwan business for 950M
• ULTA - maintained at hold by Stifel

OTHER NEWS

• Meme stock rally this morning continues.
• US small business index ahead of expectations, but much below the historically average level. Cost pressures remain the main issue as many small businesses still raise wages to retain workers.Inflation still the main issue for small businesses in US, but less so than before.
• Yesterday’s trading saw the lowest volume day since Thanksgiving 2023. This is as traders await the key economic news coming out this week.
• Yesterday saw inflation expectations rise for next year to 3.3%, highest since November 2023.
• From the data this morning then, we can see that the macro trends are:
• UK labour market continues to weaken
• Euro economic sentiment improves
• Bank of America sees slower growth but still positive spending in the US. People are getting user to higher rate environment.
• US administration increases tariffs on $18B of Chinese imports. Including semiconductors, batteries, solars, EVs etc. Trying to bolster domestic manufacturing.
• Yesterday, Yellen said that China is not really playing by the rules on trade, said it is unacceptable to be dependent on China in key industries.
• B of A fund manager survey shows fund managers are most bullish since 2021. Not seeing signs of big pullback here. Cash allocation decreasing as fund managers INCREASE exposure to the market too. Lowest cash level since 2021.
• BOE’s Pill says that Rate cut is likely to come under consideration in Summer, after employment data. Gilts are up in UK as a result. V explicit mention of rate cuts to come.
• Said we can cut rates and still have restrictive policy.
• OPEC sees demand for doc crude in 2024 at 43.2M BPD in 2024, and says they will now only forecast demand for doc crude
• OPEC said that despite some downside risks, there is further upside potential for global economic growth in 2024.

My daughter Anne has issues and a lot of horrible qualities. But she calls me every day and needs my help with basic tasks because she doesn’t have anybody anymore. No friends, partner, anybody. She had a daughter young. Her name is Sara. She didn’t treat Sara well and it caused problems within the family for years. She would isolate Sara from us the second we said something she didn’t like. But she treated her horrible. I supported her financially by buying essentials, foods, and clothes for her because Anne couldn’t be bothered.
Anne has struggled with mental illness since she was a teenager and I had to get her hospitalized twice. When Sara was growing up, it took over her. She was a neurotic control freak. Controlled how often she showered (Not letting her every day) Hid and monitored the food in the house. And we got into multiple arguments and screaming matches about Anne being odd about things. Such as not letting Sara sleep on her bed or eat at the dinner table because of her OCD fear of messes. She made her sleep and eat on the floor for years.
Every time I saw this, I yelled at my daughter and asked her why the fuck she’s treating her like that. I came over their place one evening when Sara was about 10-11, and she was screaming on the hallway floor scratching herself saying she can’t take her mother anymore. I took her out of the house for a week, and my heart broke for her.
As a toddler, I heard Sara screaming for somebody to help her. We all lived together. She would put Sara in dark hallways, closets, scare her with the dark when she’d get frustrated with her. Sara told me that she’d say things like “The aliens are coming to get you. Goodbye” and lock her bedroom door so Sara can’t get in. All I heard was screaming all the time. My daughter screams daily.
She tore her down about her looks, body, everything. When she moved out at 18, she came to my house insecure and lost.
She hasn’t spoke to Anne in over a year. It makes holidays impossible. Because I love my granddaughter. And want to see her. But she won’t even be in the same room as her mother.
And I told her “Sara, I had to forgive my mother and it freed me. You will forgive her. For yourself. You never know how you’ll feel in the future” and now she wants to stop talking to me. I’ve never excused what my daughter did. I condemned her all the time.
I did everything for her. Bought her what she needed. Took her out of the house growing up when I could. Fought endlessly with my daughter. But it’s never enough. She’s taking it out on her grandmother. I did everything I could for her. I would never excuse what my daughter did. But I remind her sometimes that life can change, and she won’t know how she feels years down the road. Nobody knows what to do in situations like this. It’s unfair that I’m the one getting blamed and forced to chose between my granddaughter, my daughter, and her other kids. I speak to my daughter still because she will use the other kids as leverage and isolate them from me.

This is part 4 of my infertile vampire series. You can find the other parts in my masterlist: My masterlist :
I put the script in scriptbin for ease of recording (I heard some VA's prefer reading it from there): Virtual-Grade592: [A4A] [F4A] [M4A] Your vampire partner is infertile [vampire] [established relationship] - scriptbin
It's okay to fill this script and make minor adjustments. Please give me credit for writing the script and put a link in the comments so that I can find your audio. It's okay to paywall, but send me a copy of the audio then.
This part will have 2 speakers, the infertile vampire partner and the adoptive vampire. I’ve given the infertile vampire partner the name Alex, so I’ll use an A to indicate when they speaks and the adoptive vampire is called Ender, so I’ll use an E to indicate when they speak. Feel free to change pronouns and names to fit your audio.
(several days have passed since Ender started living with Alex and the listener. Ender has been gradually getting more at ease with their vampiric nature. Today all of you sit down to discuss the next step in Ender’s education as a vampire.)
[The listener, Alex and Ender sit down on a couple of chairs in the living room]
E: *nervous* I’m not ready for this.
A: *reassuring* Everyone is anxious for the first time they need to feed. You’re such a calm vampire, I’m sure you’ll do fine.
E: *still anxious* But what if I lose control? The blood bags you’ve been feeding me taste so much better than the animal blood I drank before. What if I can’t stop once I start?
A: You’re worrying too much. We aren’t the bloodthirsty monsters that the media portrays us as. Your hunger is the same as when you were human. Only starving or psychopathic vampires would drain a human to the point of death.
E: *unsure* I still feel that this is dangerous. When I arrived here, I had trouble restraining myself from drinking from them.
A: Back then you were starving. Your survival instinct was screaming at you that you needed blood. And you didn’t even give in to it. Now you aren’t starving. At this moment does it feel like you need to bite a human?
E: No, I’m fine now.
A: My point exactly. You’re fine and you’ll still be fine if you feed.
E: *slowly building up courage* I suppose you are right. It feels daunting though. I imagine many things could go wrong, like I could accidentally bite their artery. But those are worst case scenarios right?
A: Yes, that’s right. Those are just worst case scenarios and they are very rare. In all the years I’ve been feeding off of them *pointing at the listener* There were never any problems. All that will happen is that your partner gets a bit fatigued. *cheeky* Or they’ll get turned on if they have a thing for vampires.
[pause]
A: *amused* Aw that’s cute, look at the both of you blushing. I understand that Ender might be flustered at their first time feeding, *Alex turns to the listener* But I’ve fed plenty of times on you, my darling. Why are you bashful about the notion of Ender drinking from you?
[pause]
A: You’re afraid it’ll be too intimate? Hey sweetheart, there is nothing wrong with how you’ll react or feel when being fed on. I won’t see it as cheating if you get hot and bothered. It’s only cheating if you act on it. You don’t need to be ashamed if you get a bit, um how to say this … excited? Yeah excited. It’s okay if you get excited from being fed on. You’re married to a vampire, it’s normal to like being bitten. And if it gets too much for you then *suggestive* we can always retire to our bedroom to ‘deal’ with any overwhelming emotions.
[pause]
A: That seems to have put you at ease. It’s going to be okay darling. It’ll just be like me feeding on you. And I’ll guide Ender through it all to keep you and them safe.
E: *stammering nervously* Um, c-could we do this another time? I-I still don’t feel r-ready. I t-think It’ll be easier if I had more time to mentally prepare myself.
A: *encouraging* Ender, I can tell that you are ready now. You’ve been doing fine this last week and you are cautious. I know this will go alright. If we delay it now, it’ll just become more daunting to bite a human. The extra time will just increase your nervousness, not lessen it. So please believe me, because now is the best time to do your first feeding.
E: *getting more confident* Maybe you’re right. I should try at some point, so why not now. Even if something goes wrong, you’re here to help.
A: That’s the spirit. So when you’re ready, sit down next to our prospective bite victim.
[Ender sits down next to the listener]
A: Now, feeding takes three simple steps. First, put some of your saliva on the part of the skin you want to feed on. Our saliva has a numbing effect on humans, so this way your prey won’t feel pain from your bite. If your victim has been particularly annoying, then I’d spit on them, but otherwise it’s nicer to apply your saliva with a kiss. Second you bite the skin and begin drinking. Third when you’ve had your fill, you remove your fangs and catch your prey if they got too drained from the blood loss. Then you are done.
E: Okay, I think I can do that. Human, if you want me to stop at any moment, just squeeze my hand or tell me to stop. Are you ready as well?
[pause]
E: Good, then I’ll begin.
[sound of Ender giving one kiss on the neck]
E: *uncertain* There’s the saliva. Is it working? Are you feeling numb?
[pause]
E: Yeah? Okay, then I’ll bite you now.
[sound of a bite and the sucking of blood]
[after a few moments Ender stops the bite]
E: *pleasantly surprised* Huh, that was a lot easier than expected. Are you feeling okay?
[pause]
E: Phew, that’s good. I’m glad you’re fine.
A: To me it seems alright as well. Sweetheart can you tilt your neck? I want to check the wound just in case.
[listener tilts neck]
A: *pleased* This is a very clean wound. It’s hardly worse than a papercut. You did well Ender, you can be proud.
E: It felt surprisingly good. I could certainly get used to this.
A: *amused* My, my, you’re really getting used to your vampirism aren’t you. Already eager to bite more humans and taste their delicious blood. It’s a good thing you are kind-hearted or humanity would have to fear a new predator in the night.
E: *flustered* If you put it like that, it sounds like I’m getting bloodthirsty. I just liked biting them. But I don’t want to go hunting them and forcefully feed off of them.
A: *chuckling* That’s adorable dear. You won’t have to worry about hunting anyone. There are plenty of humans with a thing for vampires. Whenever you feel like biting anyone, just find one of them. They’ll happily consent to being fed upon. Especially wit the internet it’s easy to find people who want to do some vampire ‘roleplaying’.
E: *Surprised* It’s that easy? People even like our bite?
A: Oh yes, they certainly do. Just look at my partner. They seem quite satisfied from the ordeal. And you’re happy with how it all went, right darling?
[pause]
E: That’s a relief. I’d hate it if I had to hurt someone every time I ate.
A: Oh that won’t happen. Tomorrow I’ll teach you to find these humans eager to be bitten. And you’ll be surprised how many of them there are.
E: *excited* Ooh, I can’t wait for it.
A: Great, then we’ll pick this up first thing tomorrow morning. But for now let’s start on dinner. My sweetheart can use some food after losing blood.
[fade to black as the three of them get dinner ready]

This is the strategy I used recently to get my first Roc very early on in the game - before even making my full diamond armor set. It's quite easy to do and overall I think it takes less time and is safer for any gear you have than the "intended" way, that being hunting and killing or soulgazer-ing multiple Rocs and then hunting for trolls for materials for the saddle.
Part 1: Needed materials (minimum, you can add other stuff for utility or whatever)

• Multiple shovels (1-2 diamond shovels should do the trick, or their equivalent durability-wise of iron shovels)
• Some basic materials for a small temporary base - blocks, furnace, crafting table, bed, etc.
• A boat
• Soulgazer
• Soulstone
• Name tag
• Basic Saddle
• ~20 bones
• 20-30 river fish
• At least level 1 in treasure hunting skill ("L" hotkey) - the more, the better
• A few stacks of easily breakable blocks (dirt will probably be your first choice here)
• Any of the matierials mentioned in Part 2 as things to farm that you might already have

Part 2: Strategy

1. First you obviously want to get everything mentioned above. Everything can be found easily in many structures around the world, both safe and unsafe (villager "mansions" with basements, battle towers, etc.)
2. Next, you want to have waystones at specific locations
   • In a snowy biome, close to ice villages (the common small ones), best to have a few of these
   • In a regular plains or forest area with a nearby rivelake/sea
3. Once you've found those, the next step is to make a small base in the plans/forest area. Obviously, make sure it's not near a dragon and also not near a village (unless you don't care about keeping villagers alive in that village). You'll be spending quite a bit of time here now
4. Before your first night, get at least 5 Silex meat from the nearby body of water. If near an ocean, Ika and Crab meat works too. Cook the meat and make your first avian treats
5. Once night falls, wait for a Roc variant to spawn (Scarlet or Golden) -> variants give double knowledge when using Soulgazer (or avian treats if still at knowledge level 1), giving +200 instead of +100 and therefore requiring only 5 interactions with the Soulgazer. Place your boat near your base, then lure the Roc to it by holding your avian treats. Once it's in the boat, use your name tag on it so it doesn't despawn, then use your Soulgazer and go to sleep.
6. From now until you make the Roc your pet:
   • Keep it daytime the whole time (sleep as soon as you can)
   • Use your Soulgazer on the Roc when you can
   • Keep farming Silexes/Ikas/Crabs for their meat and making avian treats
   • While waiting for new ones to spawn, start digging dirt. Once you have about a stack or 2, just start building a pillar and then digging down. This will give you some random stuff occasionally due to Treasure Hunting skill. The chance of getting any drop at all is 5% per level of the skill, and out of those 5% approximately 0.016% is the chance for a Troll Tusk (this is 0.016% per each block, which equates to about a 1% chance in any 64 dirt blocks broken), which is the main thing we're after here. This might sound like a very low chance, but considering how many dirt blocks you'll end up breaking the chance is actually quite high. At level 2 Treasure Hunting, I gotten both of my Troll Tusks (one for avian saddle, other one for dragon saddle) within 20 minutes of placing and breaking dirt. On top of this, you can get some other stuff as well, including enchanted stone tools (usually with quite good enchants), enchanted diamond sword, dragon bones and even a pig spawner!
7. Once you have level 2 knowledge of the Roc, you can start taming it with your treats. On average, you'll get 50-100 taming points per treat, and you'll need 1000 total for the Roc to be tamed. This means that most of the time 20-30 treats should be more than enough. After the Roc is tamed, make sure to use the Soulstone on it so it can respawn when it dies!!!
8. If you still haven't gotten a Troll Tusk, keep digging for it. If you have, move on to the next step.
9. Now take all your river fish and any dragon bones you're fine with trading and go to the ice villages (wool armor highly recommended). Find a Fisherman (they usually have a spear in their hands) that's buying the river fish at a 1:1 ratio and sell your fish for Sapphires. You can do the same with your Dragon Bones at a Shaman.
10. Next, find a Craftsman and level him up fully (usually 1-2 trades are enough for him to level up once, I just went with the cheapest one and spent maybe 5-10 Sapphires to level him up fully). His final trade will ALWAYS be Ice Troll Leather. You should have enough Sapphires left over to buy 3 pieces of leather, but if not just get more by finding and trading more river fish and Dragon Bones. Shamans will also buy Blaze Powder, so that's another alternative for getting Sapphires.
11. Only the last material left for the saddle now: 2x Amphitere or Stymphalian Bird feathers. Unfortunately, hunting and killing them is damn near impossible in early game (as most RLCraft players know). Fortunately, however, you don't have to do that. You can get both of the feathers in those small floating structures high up in the air (kinda like small "cubes" with a single chest in the middle). Just pillar up to them with your easily-breakable blocks, optionally take a few lockpicks with you in case the chest is locked (or do what I did and look for a different one, they're very common) and see if you got lucky. From my experience, at least half of the chests will have the feathers in them and there will always be at least 2 feathers if they are in there. Added bonus is that you can often find Potions of Wings in the chests too (seems to also be at least half the time), which give you free flight for 3 minutes and can make finding more of these structures a lot easier and faster if you get unlucky with the first one.

And there you have it, you now have all of the stuff you need to craft the avian saddle and a Roc to use it on! A quite simple strategy that requires about as much effort as hunting for trolls for the materials would, but a lot safer and requiring very minimal gear. Plus added bonus from all the additional stuff you get thanks to Treasure Hunting.

I've had this urge and interest since I've known myself to have my own thing. Not because of the money, but because it felt natural - like you know, how some people know that they will sing, act, dance - it's the same that I want to be an entrepreneur.
For the last two months I have been working on a small candle business - buying supplies, testing, attending masterclasses, learning, researching, marketing strategy, legal side, etc. and I've been talking about the journey on my TikTok.
The thing is - I am only 22 years old and yes I've liked candles and it came to me naturally (actually dont know from where it came from), but at the deep deep DEEEP down I know that it is not something I'm like willing to die over. It is purely professional (how I perceive my candle business) and considering I have a full time job, it takes time and energy to do extra stuff outside of work. Also, I noticed that this changed that I'm kind of not going all in with it and I am reluctant to spend money on it.
My dillema is that at the same time and before candle business I've been passionate about social media & marketing. I want to have a community, I want to help people optimise their profiles and sometimes help local businesses with content creation. My friends, family and strangers I've met at masterclasses for social media tell me that I have a knack for it. The downside to this is a lot of things:

1. I'm fearful of putting myself out there - talk about this on my actual profile (Instagram,Tiktok) bc I do not count myself as an expert + my boss at work wants me to do their social media, but I said no, because I was not interested (in their social media)
2. I've already put in energy into my candle business that now I would have to go on Tiktok basically and say that hey, I'm actually not passionate about this and would that not be such a fail? I mean I have a year's supplies of candles now.
3. I would have to restart (but this also a good thing, but the thing is what if I change my mind AGAIN?)
4. I'm scared to reach out to people - I see that it is easier and you face less rejection if you sell a product, versus are the face of the business literally or in some way, because with services, you market your skills and time, knowledge, energy.
5. I feel like there are so many SMM (social media managers) already out there and I would not stand out. But then again, there are so many candle businesses.

With the candle business, I have already told some friends, and it seemed like paving the path and that if this worked, I would have a real life case study that my social media skills work (because that is how I market my product), and it is an extra income. But it feels overwhelming that I get lost and overthink over this at night. Any suggestions?

My wife and I have dated 2 years, married 3 months. For about half of that we were long distance/international. She lived in Ecuador, I met her on a trip there, and continued to go back every few months to see and take trips with her. Eventually I had her meet my family, she moved in with me in NYC for some time, and I proposed.
We were very in love. While the proposal and eventual wedding was relatively quick due to practical and immigration reasons, I still felt good about it and felt she was my person.
Now the rough parts, she has debilitating anxiety (from living in a dangerous city her whole life and a rape 12 years ago) and is anti-vax/pro sketchy naturopath medicine. I had seen her have an episode here and there but they were infrequent. Starting literally 3 days before the wedding the panic attacks got more severe and more frequent. She was hospitalized just days before the wedding with no clear trigger or solution. She had another one because of a dog we were sitting acting a little nuts and seemed like every week there would be some episode of lower severity compared to the one before the wedding. I was supportive of her through this. Not as much as her parents (who really baby her a lot). Stayed with her in ER, made her soups and teas, walked with her. Made sure she figured out insurance, got her a therapist and primary care doctor. I wasn’t the perfect husband, eventually grew tired/irritable of sleepless nights consoling her and was more distant, not sexually interested but sincerely I was trying. We became more distant after the wedding not closer. Though to be clear I never considered or committed any infidelities and would never. About the naturopath part, she knew how I felt about it. I told her as long as she would never withhold needed medicine in favor unproven natural solutions from our hypothetical child (which would be a dealbreaker and I told her this) I wouldn’t make an issue with how she chose to treat herself. She agreed and understood.
All this came to a head when we were filing for immigration paperwork for her marriage based green card. USCIS requires her have a COVID vaccine and while I knew she wouldn’t like this, I never predicted a meltdown. She had several panic attacks, went to dozens on doctors seeking one that would write her a waiver, and considered hiring a vaccine lawyer to get her a religious exemption. When it seemed none of these avenues were working, she told me would be leaving the US and likely me because she refuses to get this vaccine. That she wouldn’t get it under any circumstances. We had already finished all the paperwork, got all the letters of recommendation, and were so close.
I tried so hard to convince of the safety of the shot, showing her study after study, the relative worse dangers of COVID. In addition, the city where she’s from and would likely move back to where she is too scared to walk at night would surely trigger her anxiety way more than having to recover from the vaccine for a couple days. Once she started telling me she was considering leaving I just felt so numb. Like Jesus this is my life. Her mother and these sketchy doctors she talks to from back home convince her this vaccine will mess her up and she trusts them more than me
We’ve only been married 3 months. I spent about $15K on the wedding in NYC in January with all family and friends and now this is what it’s come to… I’m not super worried about the financial consequences of divorces at this point but damn. This woman has been my life for two years. I feel embarrassed, helpless, like an idiot to be honest. Why I didn’t see this sooner. I know this is a lot. Does this seem at all salvageable to any of you? I feel if we can just sort out her anxiety and get her this shot we’ll be off to the races but things are seeming pretty bleak

I am 18yo female,
have been dealing with a lot of exam stress recently and i have to admit that i pick my skin a lot but exams are about to end and i am planning on stopping. So i need help with product recommendations to help me fix this hot mess,
Originally my skin was somewhat clear but unfortunately during the last two years I've been picking it without even noticing and i ruined it with a lot of scarring and even my arms and legs look the same but i guess let's just focus on my face in this post.
My current routine: i only wash my face with the cerave fomaing cleanser for normal to oily skin. And i wash it 1 to 3 times a day (i know it's bad but my face gets so oily around my nose and sometimes i just need to freshen up before studying so i don't fall asleep)
And i get so uncomfortable with having any sort of product on my face especially that i wear glasses and the area around my nose gets quite oily so i just avoid having more product on that will make me more uncomfortable. I don't mostrize and i guess it shows :,( I don't wear sunscreen and i live in a very sunny place but i don't go out that often anyways.
I overall just feel so guilty for ruining my skin and i am still young but somehow i have wrinkles on my forehead. I get these small acne around forehead, neck and jawline area and my picking makes it 10 times worse.
I want products that will not feel heavy or oily on my face but will still make it glossy and plumbed.(for reference i want my face to look like the girl in the last picture)
I've considered getting the Elizabeth Arden serum or that snail thing popular on tiktok but the thing is i don't really understand much in skincare and i don't really want to clutter my place with hundreds of products that i won't ever use. So can anyone help me with a routine and preferably recommend somewhat popular brands that i can find easily in pharmacies and drugstores in my little 3rd world country( eg. Garnier, l'oreal, nitrogena, vichy, la roche posay, Yves rocher, popular korean products....etc)
I also got this(6th pic) sunscreen as a gift... maybe I'll add it to the routine too what do you think ??
https://preview.redd.it/6p90wcmctd0d1.jpg?width=540&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a32b469bdc8a3a4f065e98043d7db6a401d33495
https://preview.redd.it/cflxes3etd0d1.jpg?width=540&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c906a5a63043ef414b4c4401ee2cffe14febc502
https://preview.redd.it/ucbjqyggtd0d1.jpg?width=540&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d2ffe03fdee8e0722de4fad752bba8256be54262
https://preview.redd.it/f1k2otbitd0d1.jpg?width=540&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6dfb7ca49dc6245d77137f9451308eb7cf41a739
https://preview.redd.it/i4vwimfltd0d1.jpg?width=540&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=48cce1b5f04739380591ab14fa0ffb38424cbde2
https://preview.redd.it/so98qn7rtd0d1.jpg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3a2e9bb16064afd251e4ac64d67bed95a41f8a7d
https://preview.redd.it/r8epzz3std0d1.jpg?width=540&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e70a45435962a7044dd10dfde31394da5dfcdebe
https://preview.redd.it/csc7bcystd0d1.jpg?width=622&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ad64924857176538f8f7350bf683bec4abe0fbcc

My daughter Anne has issues and a lot of horrible qualities. But she calls me every day and needs my help with basic tasks because she doesn’t have anybody anymore. No friends, partner, anybody. She had a daughter young. Her name is Sara. She didn’t treat Sara well and it caused problems within the family for years. She would isolate Sara from us the second we said something she didn’t like. But she treated her horrible. I supported her financially by buying essentials, foods, and clothes for her because Anne couldn’t be bothered.
Anne has struggled with mental illness since she was a teenager and I had to get her hospitalized twice. When Sara was growing up, it took over her. She was a neurotic control freak. Controlled how often she showered (Not letting her every day) Hid and monitored the food in the house. And we got into multiple arguments and screaming matches about Anne being odd about things. Such as not letting Sara sleep on her bed or eat at the dinner table because of her OCD fear of messes. She made her sleep and eat on the floor for years.
Every time I saw this, I yelled at my daughter and asked her why the fuck she’s treating her like that. I came over their place one evening when Sara was about 10-11, and she was screaming on the hallway floor scratching herself saying she can’t take her mother anymore. I took her out of the house for a week, and my heart broke for her.
As a toddler, I heard Sara screaming for somebody to help her. We all lived together. She would put Sara in dark hallways, closets, scare her with the dark when she’d get frustrated with her. Sara told me that she’d say things like “The aliens are coming to get you. Goodbye” and lock her bedroom door so Sara can’t get in. All I heard was screaming all the time. My daughter screams daily.
She tore her down about her looks, body, everything. When she moved out at 18, she came to my house insecure and lost.
She hasn’t spoke to Anne in over a year. It makes holidays impossible. Because I love my granddaughter. And want to see her. But she won’t even be in the same room as her mother.
And I told her “Sara, I had to forgive my mother and it freed me. You will forgive her. For yourself. You never know how you’ll feel in the future” and now she wants to stop talking to me. I’ve never excused what my daughter did. I condemned her all the time.
I did everything for her. Bought her what she needed. Took her out of the house growing up when I could. Fought endlessly with my daughter. But it’s never enough. She’s taking it out on her grandmother. I did everything I could for her. I would never excuse what my daughter did. But I remind her sometimes that life can change, and she won’t know how she feels years down the road. Nobody knows what to do in situations like this. It’s unfair that I’m the one getting blamed and forced to chose between my granddaughter, my daughter, and her other kids. I speak to my daughter still because she will use the other kids as leverage and isolate them from me.

Like the title says please guys do some u cant let us play like this for 2 weeks now, i know its in EA but still at least let ppl have some fun in this game. The bots are just so annoying turns and headshot or 1 tap in to the heart. What's challenging about this? Fk that's simple ass bots... u gave us a game barebone and now please change something losing interest to play it because of time waste. TIME is money! Every move matters now move pls... no need a huge patch just little by little is that so hard? You guys get so much feed back... now use this... ppl will say yeeee they did 3 hotfixes but what was in the hotfixes idk wasn't that much...
Not playing it till any patch comes out. To at least lower the bots aimbot or something... man so frustrated i mean ok dying 3-4 times can happen but if u die 20 times to the same shit, it feels like getting scammed!

I (23-F)know my current best friend (21-M) since 1,5 years. We do everything together, he calls and texts me everyday, knows my family and friends. We met each other at my workplace, and we instantly clicked. I felt nothing romantically at first, but as time flew by, we became closer to one another. We went to the movies and theatre together, went to coffe and tea shops, he helped me around my house (i live alone), came over frequently. I go over to his place often, his friends andd roommates seems to like me as well. He cooked for me, when i was at work and stopped by to give me the food, because he knows, i rarely eat at work. Also we both live in the same city now, but we came from little villages (not the same area). He came to my hometown as well, my whole family adores him and thinks we should get together, because they think we have good influence on each other and great chemistry. He helps my mom with chores, talks buisness with my dad, play games with my brother. So we were at my hometown, at my cousin’s graduate party, when my cousin told him that maybe he should think about his actions, because it seems like he gives me mixed signals. (Like he bought himself a matching shirt to my dress to the party on purpose, had his hands around my waist multiple times, danced with me and wanted to know where i was all the time, proudly talked about my achievements, etc.) He then realised that he didn’t do these kind of things to other female friends, and said, he will talk to me about this. When we were on our way home, he told me about this chat he had with my cousin. I freezed of c, but i was curious about what he wants to say. He told me he would never ever play with my feelings, and he is sorry if he gave me mixed signals, but at the moment he is not ready for a relationship and he is enjoying being single. ( he doesn’t talks to other ppl, doesn’t really have interest in dating as well) Well, it bothered me, that he said this instead of he thinks about ME as a friend, cause he never spoke about what he feels about me. Then he started crying, and said he is really scared that i will keep distance or won’t speak to him ever again, because i am the only person is his life, who supports him the way he needs to be supported, he cares about me more than other friends, and also HE SAID I AM KINDA LIKE HIS SOULMATE. Well, i wasn’t honest, i said that its not a big deal and i don’t really have feelings, its just ppl around us who ships us to get together. Now everything the same, except he calls, texts and makes plans for the two of us more often. I really like him, he is always around when i need help, and we have the most genuine, deep conversations… But i feel like friendship is not enough for me. What should i do?

For more of my daily analysis please join Tradingedge
ANALYSIS:

• FX analysis:
• We see looking at EURUSD that skew is v elevated as IV is elevated on calls vs puts.
• EURUSD is stuck under 1.08 but traders are looking for a break towards 1.09. Note that traders seem to be pricing in softer inflation data. If PPI comes hot and CPI too tomorrow, we can see strong downward move in EURUSD as traders are seemingly complacent from positioning on soft inflation data
• BTC:
• BTC positioning shows traders sell calls. Skew points downward. Can see some pressure for this OPEX as a result, but should push up after that. Hence why price is lower in premarket.
• https://imgur.com/a/mShRPhn
• Oil:
• Range bound as traders waiting for US economic data this week. But skew is still pointing higher. Buyer momentum is higher, so it is positioned for a move higher but I suppose traders hold their breath waiting for the data.
• Silver:
• Looks like can continue higher. Skew is higher, IV change is rising.
• Calls on 28 adn 29 are the main options.
• https://imgur.com/a/q3KxHuN
• USDJPY - gamma wall at 157C. Can get stopped there, before move higher after. Positioning on JPY v bearish.

DATA LEDE:

• Japan PPI:
• YOY came 0.9% vs 0.9% forecast, last month was revised to 0.9% YOY too.
• So is gradually increasing since November.
• German Final inflation revision showed no change to preliminary reading. Confirmed the prelim reading. inflation of 2.2% vs 2.2% last time.
• UK EMPLOYMENT DATA
• 178k people got laid off in the last month, less than the 215k expected.
• More than the 156k last month.
• So labour market is continuing to weaken.
• Unemployment rate rose to 4.3% in line with expectations. Highest reading in over a year.
• Average earnings still came hot though, at 5.7% growth YOY vs 5.3% forecasted. Last month was 5.7% YOY.
• Average earnings growth has come down a lot though in the last year and is now near yearly lows of growth.
• So UK labour market data showed weakening of labour market.
• EURO ZEW Economic Sentiment index:
• Came 47 vs 46.1 expected.
• Highest economic sentiment reading in over a year.
• Economic sentiment in Eurozone continues to improve.
• German economic sentiment index came 47.1 vs 46 expected. Highest in a year.
• US PPI Data
• Fed’s Powell is due to speak at 10am, unlikely to say anything in particular.

MARKETS:

• Markets are flat, waiting for PPI.
• SPX trading flat around the levels it was at yesterday, ahead of PPI. Market waiting for PPI
• Nasdaq: 18,200. Trading flat around these levels.
• DJI flat at 39.5k
• GEr40: Trading flat at the highs, trading at 18,700.
• HKG trading lower by 0.8%. Tested close to 19k and held.
• OIL trading flat the last week or so around 77-79.
• GOLD: trading flat at 2,344.

FX:

• GBP down due to weak employment data, which points to firstly, rate cuts being on the horizon, and weakness in UK economy.
• Also down because BOE’s Pill says that Rate cut is likely to come under consideration in Summer, after employment data. Gilts are up in UK as a result. V explicit mention of rate cuts to come.
• Recovered somewhat with EURO which headed higher after ZEW Economic survey
• Yen continues weakness after failed intervention
• DXY flat ahead of PPI
• EURUSD trading t the 1.08 resistance
• AUDUSD trading at 0.66. Still stuck under the downtrend trend line.

EARNINGS:
BABA

• EPS of 10.14 vs 10.21 expected. Miss by 0.7%
• Revenue of 221.8B beat by 1%. Up 6% YOY
• Adjusted EBITDA was 30.81B yuan, beat by 1.4%
• Segment revenue:
• Taobao group was 93B, beat estimates by 1%, down 28% QOQ
• Cloud intelligence was down 8% QOQ
• Local services group revenue was 15B Yuan
• Cainiao Smart logistics network was 20.12B yuan
• So mixed segment revenue.
• Approved a $4B dividend for Fy 2024.
• One time extraordinary cash dividend
• Repurchased $12.5B worth of shares in Fy 2024.
• They are focusing on enhancing customer experience and growing AI product capabilities
• Significant investments in strategic business priorities, particularly in ecomm
• CEO comments:
• Returning to growth, our china and international commerce business saw double digit GMV growth
• Accelerated revenue in cloud computing
• NOT GREAT EARNINGS ON THE WHOLE. EPS was dissapoitning, segment revenues were dissapointing.

HD

• Down as they say that delayed spring selling is hurting sales.
• Weak current quarter, comps were down worse than expected. But they maintained the Full year guide, which was better than many expected imo
• Rev $36.4B vs $36.7B est. missed narrowly
• Comps -2.8% vs -2.2% est. worse than expected
• EPS $3.63 vs $3.60 est. slightly better than expected
• Customer transactions were down 1% YOY
• Average ticket down 1.3% YOY
• Sales per retail square foot were down 3.4% YOY
• Maintains FY guide
• FY EPS of $15.26
• FY sales of 154.2B
• The 1Q weakness is in-line with what we highlighted, but FY guide maintained = better than feared by some.
• Delayed start to sprint and softness in larger discretionary projects hurt sales.
• Still seeing challenges
• But are trying to look forward to rest of the fiscal year with robust plans to engage customers.

SONY:

• Announced new leadership structure.
• Is adopting a new dual CEO structure for their video game Unit.
• Net profit was 189B yen , up 34% YOY and beat by 26.8%
• Revenue was 3.48T, up 14% YOY, beat by 14%
• EPS of 153.6, beat by 34%
• Segment performance:
• Game Business revenue was 3.481T, up 14% YOY
• Game business operating profit was 105.9B, more than double YOY
• Moving business operating profit was nearly double YOY
• So strong quarter results
• GUIDANCE FOR FY2025:
• Revenue of 12.31T, down 5.5% YOY
• Net profit of 925B down 4% YOY
• Planning partial spin off of financial unit
• Conducting 5-1 stock split
• Announced buyback of 250B shares
• Seen strong performance in game and movie business, leading to robust quarter.

MAG 7 NEWS:

• MSFT - OPENAI announcements yesterday:
• Releases voice assistant, which acts as a translator in real time.
• OpenAI GPT 4o which is faster, omnimodel and easier. It will launch on desktop version too. Said this model will be available for free.
• Showcased use of AI for tutoring.
• Announced they have over 100m+ users using chatGPT worldwide.
• TSLA - rehires their key Supercharger Team, reversing recent cuts.
• GOOGL, AMZN - Anthropic, which is backed by these companies is launching its GenAI chatbot Claude throughout europe including EU countries Switzerland and Iceland.
• GOOGL - has their own IO developer event today. Is expected to showcase its latest AI tools and AI linked enhancements to products.
• AAPL - Foxconn reported earnings. Whilst their results jumped a lot YOY, they missed estimates. They said they saw strong server demand due to AI, but consumer electronics sales were down 9%, weakness in iPhone in CHina.
• Said they are cautious about near term consumer electronics demand.
• AAPL - preparing o sell Vision Pro device outside of US for first time, plans to expand to CHina, Japan and France.

COMPANY SPECIFIC:

• SPWR up as part of a short squeeze of meme stocks, and other heavily shorted stocks.
• GME - Up 40% in premarket. The squeeze continues.
• AMC up 50% too, BB up 15%
• The meme stocks are seeing momentum continuing on from yesterday, after coming into focus due to Roaring Kitty’s tweet during weekend.
• Chinese EV company, BYD is unveiling Plug in hybrid pickup truck in Mexico. It’s called the shark and will be distributed globally except for US.
• RUM - Rumble sues Google for $1B over anticompetitive ad practices. Files lawsuit
• WMT - to lay off and relocate hundreds of corporate workers. Remote workers have been asked to move to larger corporate hubs. Small office employees in Dallas, Atlanta and Toronto to relocate
• UBER - Willa acquire FoodPanda’s Taiwan business for 950M
• ULTA - maintained at hold by Stifel

OTHER NEWS

• Meme stock rally this morning continues.
• US small business index ahead of expectations, but much below the historically average level. Cost pressures remain the main issue as many small businesses still raise wages to retain workers.Inflation still the main issue for small businesses in US, but less so than before.
• Yesterday’s trading saw the lowest volume day since Thanksgiving 2023. This is as traders await the key economic news coming out this week.
• Yesterday saw inflation expectations rise for next year to 3.3%, highest since November 2023.
• From the data this morning then, we can see that the macro trends are:
• UK labour market continues to weaken
• Euro economic sentiment improves
• Bank of America sees slower growth but still positive spending in the US. People are getting user to higher rate environment.
• US administration increases tariffs on $18B of Chinese imports. Including semiconductors, batteries, solars, EVs etc. Trying to bolster domestic manufacturing.
• Yesterday, Yellen said that China is not really playing by the rules on trade, said it is unacceptable to be dependent on China in key industries.
• B of A fund manager survey shows fund managers are most bullish since 2021. Not seeing signs of big pullback here. Cash allocation decreasing as fund managers INCREASE exposure to the market too. Lowest cash level since 2021.
• BOE’s Pill says that Rate cut is likely to come under consideration in Summer, after employment data. Gilts are up in UK as a result. V explicit mention of rate cuts to come.
• Said we can cut rates and still have restrictive policy.
• OPEC sees demand for doc crude in 2024 at 43.2M BPD in 2024, and says they will now only forecast demand for doc crude
• OPEC said that despite some downside risks, there is further upside potential for global economic growth in 2024.

I don't know what to do anymore, I feel like my relationship is just doomed and I can't tell if I'm being reasonable or completely irrational. My partner's left me alone several times in important moments and on important days and it feels like I can't get over it even after they've apologized, we've tried really hard to work on my BPD but they still do the things that I've told them cause me to split, like leaving me alone for a long time. The other day I was sick and feverish and I got left completely alone for the full day and I just, couldn't handle it I guess, I split on them and I don't know if I'm in the wrong? If they have a nightmare I will literally drop all my plans to stay with them and comfort them and they just, don't do the same and I don't understand, am I being too much? Is it unreasonable to be this upset? I don't feel like I can forgive them because this has happened several times before and it doesn't feel like they're learning or taking my feelings into consideration. Should we break up?

He never cleans anything, never replaces any of the communal things we all use, never asks for help. He is not proactive and has no initiative, if he needs something he won't ask for help, won't look for what he needs, will not just go and buy what he needs and apparently has never heard of google.
He has never taken out the trash, vacuumed, cleaned the bathroom or done any weekly cleaning of areas we all use and therefore all contribute to the mess. He is also disgusting and has a great talent for making things as dirty as possible and doesn’t clean up after himself.
If something has run out or isn’t in the usual spot or not working he won't try to fix it or find a solution. For example I used the last of the dish liquid so for 6 days he piled his dirty dishes up on the bench and just did nothing about it. That whole time there were 3 full bottles of dish liquid under the sink, we also have a dishwasher he could have used…
There have been multiple times where he's seen me clean something or move a blanket off the couch or replace a dirty kitchen towel with a new one or unplug the kettle to plug in the vacuum cleaner and he says “oh i didn’t know we could do that”….YOU ALSO LIVE HERE?? you are allowed to exist and do stuff and be part of the house, if you aren’t sure then just fucking ask or work it out your damn self.
Any time the rest of us bring something up he gets defensive and immediately says it wasn’t him or not his fault, even if we aren’t directing it at him. A few quotes straight from him:
“it’s not my fault there’s lint in the dryer”
“other people use toilet paper more than me so I shouldn’t have to pay for it”
“I can’t control that water gets everywhere when I shower”
I pointed out to him that the rest of us also do make mess, we just clean up after ourselves. The rest of us empty the lint tray every single time we use the dryer, so the lint that's there after he uses it is truly just from his clothes. He said that’s not true and we are just blaming him for everything.
We all moved in at the same time, he acts like it’s our house and he is just visiting and doesn’t know where things are or doesn’t want to impose but we are literally all in the same boat and I don’t get what his problem is

For more of my daily analysis please join Tradingedge
ANALYSIS:

• FX analysis:
• We see looking at EURUSD that skew is v elevated as IV is elevated on calls vs puts.
• EURUSD is stuck under 1.08 but traders are looking for a break towards 1.09. Note that traders seem to be pricing in softer inflation data. If PPI comes hot and CPI too tomorrow, we can see strong downward move in EURUSD as traders are seemingly complacent from positioning on soft inflation data
• BTC:
• BTC positioning shows traders sell calls. Skew points downward. Can see some pressure for this OPEX as a result, but should push up after that. Hence why price is lower in premarket.
• https://imgur.com/a/mShRPhn
• Oil:
• Range bound as traders waiting for US economic data this week. But skew is still pointing higher. Buyer momentum is higher, so it is positioned for a move higher but I suppose traders hold their breath waiting for the data.
• Silver:
• Looks like can continue higher. Skew is higher, IV change is rising.
• Calls on 28 adn 29 are the main options.
• https://imgur.com/a/q3KxHuN
• USDJPY - gamma wall at 157C. Can get stopped there, before move higher after. Positioning on JPY v bearish.

DATA LEDE:

• Japan PPI:
• YOY came 0.9% vs 0.9% forecast, last month was revised to 0.9% YOY too.
• So is gradually increasing since November.
• German Final inflation revision showed no change to preliminary reading. Confirmed the prelim reading. inflation of 2.2% vs 2.2% last time.
• UK EMPLOYMENT DATA
• 178k people got laid off in the last month, less than the 215k expected.
• More than the 156k last month.
• So labour market is continuing to weaken.
• Unemployment rate rose to 4.3% in line with expectations. Highest reading in over a year.
• Average earnings still came hot though, at 5.7% growth YOY vs 5.3% forecasted. Last month was 5.7% YOY.
• Average earnings growth has come down a lot though in the last year and is now near yearly lows of growth.
• So UK labour market data showed weakening of labour market.
• EURO ZEW Economic Sentiment index:
• Came 47 vs 46.1 expected.
• Highest economic sentiment reading in over a year.
• Economic sentiment in Eurozone continues to improve.
• German economic sentiment index came 47.1 vs 46 expected. Highest in a year.
• US PPI Data
• Fed’s Powell is due to speak at 10am, unlikely to say anything in particular.

MARKETS:

• Markets are flat, waiting for PPI.
• SPX trading flat around the levels it was at yesterday, ahead of PPI. Market waiting for PPI
• Nasdaq: 18,200. Trading flat around these levels.
• DJI flat at 39.5k
• GEr40: Trading flat at the highs, trading at 18,700.
• HKG trading lower by 0.8%. Tested close to 19k and held.
• OIL trading flat the last week or so around 77-79.
• GOLD: trading flat at 2,344.

FX:

• GBP down due to weak employment data, which points to firstly, rate cuts being on the horizon, and weakness in UK economy.
• Also down because BOE’s Pill says that Rate cut is likely to come under consideration in Summer, after employment data. Gilts are up in UK as a result. V explicit mention of rate cuts to come.
• Recovered somewhat with EURO which headed higher after ZEW Economic survey
• Yen continues weakness after failed intervention
• DXY flat ahead of PPI
• EURUSD trading t the 1.08 resistance
• AUDUSD trading at 0.66. Still stuck under the downtrend trend line.

EARNINGS:
BABA

• EPS of 10.14 vs 10.21 expected. Miss by 0.7%
• Revenue of 221.8B beat by 1%. Up 6% YOY
• Adjusted EBITDA was 30.81B yuan, beat by 1.4%
• Segment revenue:
• Taobao group was 93B, beat estimates by 1%, down 28% QOQ
• Cloud intelligence was down 8% QOQ
• Local services group revenue was 15B Yuan
• Cainiao Smart logistics network was 20.12B yuan
• So mixed segment revenue.
• Approved a $4B dividend for Fy 2024.
• One time extraordinary cash dividend
• Repurchased $12.5B worth of shares in Fy 2024.
• They are focusing on enhancing customer experience and growing AI product capabilities
• Significant investments in strategic business priorities, particularly in ecomm
• CEO comments:
• Returning to growth, our china and international commerce business saw double digit GMV growth
• Accelerated revenue in cloud computing
• NOT GREAT EARNINGS ON THE WHOLE. EPS was dissapoitning, segment revenues were dissapointing.

HD

• Down as they say that delayed spring selling is hurting sales.
• Weak current quarter, comps were down worse than expected. But they maintained the Full year guide, which was better than many expected imo
• Rev $36.4B vs $36.7B est. missed narrowly
• Comps -2.8% vs -2.2% est. worse than expected
• EPS $3.63 vs $3.60 est. slightly better than expected
• Customer transactions were down 1% YOY
• Average ticket down 1.3% YOY
• Sales per retail square foot were down 3.4% YOY
• Maintains FY guide
• FY EPS of $15.26
• FY sales of 154.2B
• The 1Q weakness is in-line with what we highlighted, but FY guide maintained = better than feared by some.
• Delayed start to sprint and softness in larger discretionary projects hurt sales.
• Still seeing challenges
• But are trying to look forward to rest of the fiscal year with robust plans to engage customers.

SONY:

• Announced new leadership structure.
• Is adopting a new dual CEO structure for their video game Unit.
• Net profit was 189B yen , up 34% YOY and beat by 26.8%
• Revenue was 3.48T, up 14% YOY, beat by 14%
• EPS of 153.6, beat by 34%
• Segment performance:
• Game Business revenue was 3.481T, up 14% YOY
• Game business operating profit was 105.9B, more than double YOY
• Moving business operating profit was nearly double YOY
• So strong quarter results
• GUIDANCE FOR FY2025:
• Revenue of 12.31T, down 5.5% YOY
• Net profit of 925B down 4% YOY
• Planning partial spin off of financial unit
• Conducting 5-1 stock split
• Announced buyback of 250B shares
• Seen strong performance in game and movie business, leading to robust quarter.

MAG 7 NEWS:

• MSFT - OPENAI announcements yesterday:
• Releases voice assistant, which acts as a translator in real time.
• OpenAI GPT 4o which is faster, omnimodel and easier. It will launch on desktop version too. Said this model will be available for free.
• Showcased use of AI for tutoring.
• Announced they have over 100m+ users using chatGPT worldwide.
• TSLA - rehires their key Supercharger Team, reversing recent cuts.
• GOOGL, AMZN - Anthropic, which is backed by these companies is launching its GenAI chatbot Claude throughout europe including EU countries Switzerland and Iceland.
• GOOGL - has their own IO developer event today. Is expected to showcase its latest AI tools and AI linked enhancements to products.
• AAPL - Foxconn reported earnings. Whilst their results jumped a lot YOY, they missed estimates. They said they saw strong server demand due to AI, but consumer electronics sales were down 9%, weakness in iPhone in CHina.
• Said they are cautious about near term consumer electronics demand.
• AAPL - preparing o sell Vision Pro device outside of US for first time, plans to expand to CHina, Japan and France.

COMPANY SPECIFIC:

• SPWR up as part of a short squeeze of meme stocks, and other heavily shorted stocks.
• GME - Up 40% in premarket. The squeeze continues.
• AMC up 50% too, BB up 15%
• The meme stocks are seeing momentum continuing on from yesterday, after coming into focus due to Roaring Kitty’s tweet during weekend.
• Chinese EV company, BYD is unveiling Plug in hybrid pickup truck in Mexico. It’s called the shark and will be distributed globally except for US.
• RUM - Rumble sues Google for $1B over anticompetitive ad practices. Files lawsuit
• WMT - to lay off and relocate hundreds of corporate workers. Remote workers have been asked to move to larger corporate hubs. Small office employees in Dallas, Atlanta and Toronto to relocate
• UBER - Willa acquire FoodPanda’s Taiwan business for 950M
• ULTA - maintained at hold by Stifel

OTHER NEWS

• Meme stock rally this morning continues.
• US small business index ahead of expectations, but much below the historically average level. Cost pressures remain the main issue as many small businesses still raise wages to retain workers.Inflation still the main issue for small businesses in US, but less so than before.
• Yesterday’s trading saw the lowest volume day since Thanksgiving 2023. This is as traders await the key economic news coming out this week.
• Yesterday saw inflation expectations rise for next year to 3.3%, highest since November 2023.
• From the data this morning then, we can see that the macro trends are:
• UK labour market continues to weaken
• Euro economic sentiment improves
• Bank of America sees slower growth but still positive spending in the US. People are getting user to higher rate environment.
• US administration increases tariffs on $18B of Chinese imports. Including semiconductors, batteries, solars, EVs etc. Trying to bolster domestic manufacturing.
• Yesterday, Yellen said that China is not really playing by the rules on trade, said it is unacceptable to be dependent on China in key industries.
• B of A fund manager survey shows fund managers are most bullish since 2021. Not seeing signs of big pullback here. Cash allocation decreasing as fund managers INCREASE exposure to the market too. Lowest cash level since 2021.
• BOE’s Pill says that Rate cut is likely to come under consideration in Summer, after employment data. Gilts are up in UK as a result. V explicit mention of rate cuts to come.
• Said we can cut rates and still have restrictive policy.
• OPEC sees demand for doc crude in 2024 at 43.2M BPD in 2024, and says they will now only forecast demand for doc crude
• OPEC said that despite some downside risks, there is further upside potential for global economic growth in 2024.

I was born with Tetralogy of Fallout and had that repaired as an infant. But in my senior year of high school, I had open-heart surgery to replace my pulmonary valve. It's now time for that to be replaced, and my cardiologist recommends the transcatheter valve replacement, but my insurance has still denied it after multiple appeals citing the procedure as "investigative" / "experimental." The only option I have now is open-heart surgery. I'm 35, overweight, and have two rowdy children and a job. This is the last thing I want to do.
My cardiologist is pissed and says that "they are fucking wrong." I've seriously never seen a professional doctor lose his cool at an appointment like he did with me.
He, the hospital and I have all appealed to my insurance company and the denial has been upheld. I've contacted my state's department of insurance, who does not have jurisdiction over my employer's type of insurance. Insurance says the only recourse I have is to either file a complaint with the insurance company, which I feel won't do anything at this point. I am reaching out to my HR team at my employer to see if they can appeal it or talk to the insurance company, but I've got little to no hope right now.
My cardiologist even says that if I sue the insurance company, he'd be glad to take the witness stand and testify against them. The valve is deteriorating and its worsening is measurable; their delay tactics are only causing this to get worse, so he's saying I should sue for cost + damages. I don't even know if I can afford a lawyer at this point.
I feel so lost and frustrated. Open-heart surgery kept me in the hospital for two weeks and knocked me on my ass for two months when I was in high school... I can't imagine how much harder it will be now. I'll have to take months off of work and take a pay cut for short-term disability for the time. If they would just allow the procedure I could be back to work in a weekend's time.
I fucking hate corporate America and health insurance bullshit.
I just needed to rant and get some support. I'm glad this subreddit exists. I hope you all are doing well.

After a circus comp, the WC was flooded with “I know they gonna use the full clown set”, “how uncreative”, “disappointing”, “the game is just full of kids with no creative mind” 🤷‍♀️
A CIRCUS THEME and some suitu players be like suprised pikachu face “how dare you use the expensive full set that you spent gazillion gems to buy even if it’s fit the theme?” clutch pearl
Not to mention anytime people share a full set, there will be “you just use a full set, how dare youuuu” comment.
I really don’t understand the high moral ground some people like to stand on at all. Tbh I don’t think criticize people on how uncreative they are - make you any more … creative?
A full set cost an arm and a leg, personally I can’t afford it but let be honest, I gonna use a pose a full set a sparkling gown or whatever if it FITS THE PROMPT and I have it.
With the new “off-theme” button, let’s see how many beautiful entry get downvoted to oblivition just because they use expensive items.
Suitu is a business, they make digital clothes and urge players to buy said clothes. Let people dress how they want without the unneccessary critism please

I just can't deal with the length of the day, the soul crushing boredom that comes with anything I try to occupy myself with, or the anxiety of "why aren't you going to the liquor store right now?" I don't drink "a lot". Equivalent to 3.3 or 6.6 drinks a day, but it's the only thing that gets me through. I can sit and watch a TV show, I can work on little hobbies, dive into cleaning. The booze just makes it bearable when it otherwise is not. The time just goes faster.
I normally go and get my 1 or 2 big beers at 10am when the store opens. Yesterday I made it til like 2pm, at which point it hit me "Jesus Christ, it's ONLY 2pm.... NOW WHAT!?!?!" So I went to the liquor store and got my equiv 3.3 drinks, the day was profoundly easier from there on.
I just don't know how to handle it. "Go for a walk", "Read a book", "Immerse yourself in a hobby." Yeah, great. Except I can't, anything I do loses interest within 15 minutes and becomes tedious. Go for a walk? Where? I'm gonna end up at the liquor store.
Yesterday I cleaned the apartment, washed a good deal of clothes by hand and swept my deck. Audiobooks are the only thing that got me that far, and the fact that once I started I kinda had to finish. Now even the shit I kinda have to do is done. I don't really have anything I need to do today, and I can't imagine a single thing I want to or will be able to do completely sober. It's just gonna be forcing myself to do things I find unpleasant to kill time and it's going to suck so bad the whole time.
Just how the hell do I deal with the mind numbing boredom, apathy towards any activity and restlessness that won't let me persist on something for more then 15 mins or so? It's not like the drinking made me get bored of things. I was bored first, and drinking became a good solution, so it doesn't seem like eliminating the drinking kills the boredom, when that was my struggle subsequent to drinking.
Like please you guys, I'm lost here. How the fuck do I get through it? Any advice or whatever would be appreciated greatly. I'm actually wanting to try and stop, I don't know why on earth I would, but it's cutting into my food budget now so unless I'm gonna steal food I actually can't afford even the $5 to drink today.
Just give me something to work with, tell me anything, please...