I just had things ended because a guy I was talking to finally told me today that he didn't want me and that I wasn't for him, but it ended up going way worse than I wanted.
Everything started with me reconnecting with him in Walmart. I knew him prior to this because we used to go to the same high school together but never really talked. I gave him my instagram and we were talking about our exes cause that is how we even knew each other. While I was texting him, he asked me for my number then we started texting on imessages. He would text me, send me pigeon games, and call me every now and then.
There was one day where he called me and he wanted to ask me sexual questions, I was cool with it cause we had been friends for 2 weeks and plus I don't really have anything to hide. I didn't think much about it while telling him and asking him stuff cause we were friends, he had started talking about how he wanted someone to be friends with benefits with that it wouldn't end up ruining the friendship and I told him I could never do that stuff cause I want to be in a relationship with those that I am sexual with, plus I get clingy with them cause I tend to actually like them.
At some point of talking, he even asked for me to send and I told him that I wanted to do all of that stuff when I get married because my last ex (the ex he knew about) had taken my virginity to get his ex (the guy i was talking to's ex) jealous. I don't know exactly what he said but he said something like "Well it would suck to wait for someone during the relationship just to realize that they aren't good at sex", which made me feel like I was waiting for no reason because after that ex, I never was sexually active with anyone (about 2-3 years counting). I ended up sending some old nudes because I thought it wouldn't matter anymore and that he was kind of cute. After that, the more we talked the more the sexual tension got heavy, he was talking about how he liked my body and how he wanted to fuck me, and I was eating it up cause he was making me feel pretty and wanted. He ended up jerking off to my picture when I let him take the time to (cause I really didn't want to do e-sex cause I've always felt unfulfilled doing it) and when he came back everything was fine.
After some days, we had gotten into this habit of me sending him nudes, taking them how he wanted them to look, with him complimenting me and jerking off to them, there was only one time where we did e-sex, everything else was sending. The sending nudes ended up making me feel how I did in my previous relationship which was like a whore, not an actual person, and like a porn magazine, so I talked to him about it and he told me to just tell him to stop when he does ask. Time passed some more and he would still asked so I talked to him again about it because everytime we would have a sweet moment he would ask me for nudes or say something sexual, but this time he was still entertaining the idea, I assume he was thinking I was playing hard to get, I really don't know, but this time I told him, "I don't think you'll get to the point of actually liking me" because during this time he made it seem like we were leaning into a relationship while I always said that I wanted a relationship, he had backed off when I said that but he replied saying "(my name) don't be like that". After that, the only time that we would be sexual was whenever I initiated it, which would be about once every 2-3 weeks.
During that I would treat him like a boyfriend, but he was still being plain towards me, (he even told me that he liked the way I treated him) the only time he would compliment me was when I dressed up, so I asked him about how he was rarely lovey dovey towards me and he told me that he needed more time to get to like me even more than he did cause he wanted to take things slow, I got salty and told him that sexting me and wanting me to send nudes wasn't take it slow, he didn't say anything about that but smirked and change the topic. Every now and then, I'd make slick comments about stuff that didn't make sense. We had gotten to a point where he told me that he wasn't going to be texting and calling as much because he wants to start his business up, which I had no problem with that, I told him that I would always be there for him and when needed me, if there was anything I could do to just let me know, and I even told him if he felt like he needed to not pursue a relationship right now that we could stop or cut ties for now. He agreed with him not pursuing a relationship, again stating that he wants to put all of his focus in the business, and that there was nothing wrong with me, just that he wanted to focus on himself. I told him that I didn't know if I was cool being just friends because I was actually trying to pursue a relationship with him and that if I figured out how I felt about it I would let him know so that things didn't get toxic between us.
6 days later (5/10/2024),
At night, I told him the way everything is right now is making me confused and overwhelmed because I didn't really understand what our status was, and it wasn't somewhere I wanted to be especially after sending him pictures of my body using a voice message. I also told him that I was regretting showing him my body cause of how I felt I was being used but didn't want to assume and was hoping that he just needed time, he replied the next day during the afternoon telling me that I was a good person just that he couldn't see a future with me, that he thought he made his want of being only friends clear, that we would go different directions if we did get together. I got confused about that part because everytime I would try and talk to him about us meeting up and how we would maintain the relationship, he would tell me that it was too soon to talk about it, so i got a bit mad and asked him how he came to that conclusion knowing that we didn't talk about it at all, how he knew my boundaries but didn't straight up tell me that he didn't want me so I could save my time, and how he didn't make anything clear cause I thought we were on pause for now and going to attempt to try again once the business started up. He then told me that I was trying to guilt him, to not be mad at him because he didn't want a relationship, that he didn't want me, that I wasn't for him, and to not get mad at him for something he couldn't control.
I told him that I wasn't meaning to guilt him (cause I wasn't, I was just being transparent and honest on how I felt) and that I wanted to call instead of texting cause i didn't like it, I felt more miscommunication was happening, he told me he didn't want to call because he didn't want me to call him an asshole and how my problems are his fault, I told him i never said it was his fault but he corrected me by reminding me i said it in the voice message i sent last night (I was really high when I made it, so i didn't remember much when I woke up), so i listened to it and I literally told him that it was half of his fault that I'm confused about our status and how I needed more stability from him, so I told him that just adding that I was also at fault to for not knocking him down when he first came at me. After that, I started screenshotting the messages for my notion journal to dissect more on how I feel about it to try to understand more on how i felt and to help me move on, but he gets PISSED, he texted me on imessage.
him: "yeah no, fuck your screenshots"
me: "why you don't even know what i'm going to do with them?"
him: "1 screenshot. Sure. 3??? Nahhh. You trynna catch me up. I one you and screenshots and I don't fuck with it. That drew the line for me. You right. We shouldn't talk."
THEN HE FUCKING BLOCKS ME ON EVERYTHING EVEN GETTING A MUTUAL FRIEND OF OURS TO BLOCK ME. So i start racing to talk to him because I didn't think it was a big ass deal, so i text him on discord and he's telling me to fuck off and blocks me. I kept finding ways to contact him trying to explain to him and apologizing that I'm keeping it to myself and that its nothing more but he tells me to fuck off even more to the point where he even threatens to report me. I gave up and I sent my last message to him telling him that he basically sucks, doesn't reciprocate any mercy I've given to him or treat me as if I mattered to him, how it was unfair how stubborn he was to not even try to understand how i felt, how i still, despite, the entirety of the situation, love him, and hopes his life goes well.
I do want to add that I understand constantly texting him and calling him about it was a bad move, I truly was just acting on my emotions instead of calming down then making a choice.

Hello,
I'm a graduate student and I'll be spending the summer at an Erasmus+ internship in Lodź. The student dorms are cheap, but I prefer having my own kitchen, toilet etc. so I decided to try and look for a 3-month lease via Erasmus Facebook groups.
One user gave me contact to their former landlord (or that's at least what they said. It might've just been his alternative account), everything was going well - he sent me the address and pictures, the monthly rent is reasonable (400€ with 450€ security deposit). I agreed to the reservation and told him to prepare the Lease Agreement (after sending necessary personal details).
This is where I got really suspicious - the Agreement was sent for me to sign, but it's formatting is weird and not like an official document at all (maybe I just have high expectations), also with some typos. I haven't signed it yet, but they're already rushing me to make a payment (I got three emails in a row). This has got to be a scam, right? They are surely hoping to force me into sending the money (via some "Family & Friends" paypal method) before the contract is finished. Can someone tell me I'm onto the right track? Or am I just being too paranoid? Will appreciate all of your opinions. :) I think I'll just cancel the entire deal because something feels off to me.
Screenshot of the pushy emails: https://imgur.com/a/JgIcxpt

I’m curious if anybody has any insight into this. Recently I’ve had several promoters offer to promote me for free. Have you worked with or do you know anybody who has worked with promoters like one on one? I’d love to get your feedback or have had any experience with them positive or negative to work with me for free on Twitter and they always say you know can you send me some pictures and videos and obviously when you work with a promoter, they need your picture and video to do your promo, however I’ve become much more suspicious than I ever was in my life since Starting my only fans and I wonder are these guys trying to sell your stuff elsewhere and make money off of it if so, is there any DRM software that we can get as an individual that doesn’t cost like a ridiculous amount of money I’ve been looking. I haven’t found anything that really is easy that that easy use, I might not be looking at the right place however. Another promoter turned out to be really very ski and wanted to get me involved with all sorts of his alternate businesses. I won’t say anything more than that but definitely not my scene and it just seems like the old adage there’s nothing for free in this world couldn’t be more true when it comes to this business however I’m pretty decent person and when I offer to help people, I actually mean it, so I wonder are some of these promoters legit and if so, how do you know? Hasanybody who worked with promoters like one on one? I’d love to get your feedback or learn what your experiences have been with them either positive or negative.

I grew up in a very homophobic country where the mere thought of being gay was inconceivable—girls were expected to grow up and marry men. When I was 21, I moved to the US. Even before I could shed my ingrained homophobic views, I started dating a man, eventually marrying him. We had two kids, but by the time I was 35, he left me. I think one of the main issues was our sexual relationship; I never enjoyed being intimate with him, especially not in the past ten years, and I used every excuse to avoid it, even sleeping separately. I had convinced myself I was asexual. So he found someone else, since I know how sexually unsatisfied he was.
The first three months after he blindsided me were filled with pain from the betrayal, anger, and worries. But this week, my friend asked me a seemingly innocent question: "Hey, now that it’s been three months, do you find yourself looking at guys and thinking—this one is cute?" That question made me realize I had been finding people cute, but they were all women. First, there's this mom at my kids' school—just seeing her makes me feel happy and safe. Second, I remember looking at a woman in the car next to me at a stoplight and thinking, "I wonder if she knows how beautiful she is." Third, I often find myself thinking about boobs; I’m curious about them and enjoy looking at them. I haven’t felt even a twinge of attraction to a man in these past three months, but I wonder if that's just due to the trauma of being hurt by a guy...
I’m very confused and unsure how to resolve these feelings. My preteen child so effortlessly knows they are attracted to both boys and girls, yet here I am at 35, still uncertain. I’ve always found women more attractive than men, but I assumed that was universal. Maybe it’s because one gender is inherently more attractive? I love reading Alison Bechdel and looking at pictures of naked women. Though I’ve had crushes on men, I’ve never allowed myself to acknowledge a crush on a woman. I’ve never liked the idea of being intimate with a man, and I detest the thought of male anatomy, perhaps due to being sexually assaulted by a man when I was a child.
I find safety in thinking I’m asexual—it allows me to focus on my job, my kids, and my friends without exploring sexuality, which frightens me. But am I denying my true self? I often feel like an imposter.
I would welcome any tips or thoughts. As a keen reader, are there books you could recommend? If I decide to explore dating women, how would I even begin to meet someone?

Last week Thursday when I took my Apple Watch off before going to bed I noticed a red welt about the size of a nickel on my skin under the watch face. It was mildly irritated, but did not itch, so I didn’t think anything of it, put a small bit of healing balm over it and went to bed. In the morning when I went to put my watch on I noticed it was blistered and quite red, so I didn’t put my watch on. As the day went on and I watched, it looked like a burn. There was zero irritation around the spot, other than some redness, nothing extending like a rash or anything indicative of an allergic reaction, no hives and no itch. It wasn’t painful, but was sore to the touch. Being human, I googled “Apple Watch wound” and the photos that came up all looked exactly like what was on my wrist and said their watch had burned them.
So I reached out to Apple, assuming there must be something malfunctioning on the watch itself. When I gave the reason for my call I was immediately told I’d need to speak to a “senior safety technician” and was transferred. He was nice enough, but asked me about a dozen questions about the “irritation spot” (he never used the word burn or wound), my personal medical history (any history of allergies, eczema, or skin conditions) and asked for photos of the wound as well as a clear photo of the front and back of my watch. I was told he’d send the report to their advanced engineering department for investigation. I found it a little odd that they didn’t have me do any kind of diagnostics with the watch, but he told me someone would call me back Tuesday and I thought maybe that was when we’d go through some diagnostic steps.
Cut to today, the same person called me back to tell me it had been determined that what likely happened is I’m having an allergic reaction to something in the watch itself, and/or some kind of irritant got onto the back of the watch and I need to clean it “better”. I’m a little offended because I wasn’t seeking their opinion on the wound itself, if it gets concerning I’ll reach out to an actual doctor, not an engineering technician who is only looking at a photo.
I told him I am only reaching out to Apple to have them investigate potential issues with the actual watch, and I find it unreasonable that they can tell me there’s nothing wrong with the watch because they looked at a picture of the front and back, and didn’t check it in person or run any kind of diagnostics. He said if it made me feel better, he’d set me up with an in person appointment at an Apple Store to have the watch checked in person.
I am concerned that they are going to look at the watch and claim there is nothing wrong with it. I haven’t been wearing it because I want to let the spot heal, which it is, and I know that I can’t operate on what if’s. I guess what I’m looking for is advice on anything I should or shouldn’t do or say. I don’t want to forfeit any future liability against them should something happen again with the same watch, but I also am not looking to start some huge class action lawsuit. I honestly just want to be able to wear and use my watch again without worrying that it’s going to harm me. I just get the feeling they won’t admit to any kind of problem with the watch because then they’d be admitting liability to the wound, and I’m stuck with a watch I either can’t wear anymore or will wear but it’ll potentially continue to cause physical issues.
I did not go to the doctor, because it’s a mild wound and doesn’t appear infected. It’s healing and I’m keeping it clean.
Watch is an Apple Watch series 9 45mm GPS purchased from Apple in September 2023. I wear it with a braided solo loop band purchased with the watch and I always wear it in the same spot on my left wrist, for about 12-14 hours per day since I got it without any issues or signs of skin irritation. I do not sleep, shower, swim, or exercise with it on. Prior to this I had a series 6 that I wore the same way on the same wrist for about 2-3 years. I did try wearing it on my right wrist the day after this happened, and noticed a red spot where the face makes contact after about an hour so I took it off. I will say, though, it’s much more snug on my right wrist than my left. The watch is still under warranty with Apple Care+. I clean it about once a week with a microfiber cloth, and do not use any kind of cleaning agents on it.
I am located in Michigan, if that matters.
Thank you so much for any guidance in advance! I know this was long, I just wanted to give any and all details that could be important.

throwaway account <3, NY Metropolitan Area based
Hello personalfinance!
I am currently a senior in college that is looking down the barrel of some relatively (?) serious debt that I would like help navigating. Let me lay out my situation as best I can below:
Got into some legal trouble last year, and it is still pending, so lawyer fees will likely increase, but right now they are sitting at just over $22k. I did not take out a loan, but this was money lent to me by my father. We sent a retainer of $25k that we have been eating at, but with the case pending this could end up being anywhere from $25k to $50k. We have not sorted out a payment plan yet, as the focus was and has been on making sure I am legally okay.
Despite being a senior in college, I am returning in the fall to finish some classes I need to graduate. Tuition + living (and food) expenses are looking to be around just above $17k. The bulk of that ($14k) is really my tuition. I will be subletting from a friend on campus so my living expenses are already far lower than the norm for my university/area. My 4 years of college have already been covered, I just have to cover my remaining semester. This is an upcoming cost, and not something I have paid for yet, but will have to come end of summer.
Those are my two financial stressors at this point in time. As for income and savings, lets dig in:
I plan to work at least one job this summer. I am currently interviewing for positions in NYC doing software engineering and data science. I am entering the final rounds of interviews at several companies, and I hope *knock on wood* to receive offers from 2 of them. If that is the case, I will work both, one full-time, and one part time. I have already talked to the (prospective) part-time company about this, and they have told me if I get a full-time offer from them, they would still take me part time. With that said, I do not have wages for either.
I also plan to work in the fall. I have started applying for positions, but most of my job search has been focused on this summer for now. I would love to find a computer science adjacent role for next fall, but if I cannot, I will at the very least find an on campus lower wage position, to have some income. After graduating in December I plan to find a full time position somewhere and be salaried where I can start earning real sustained income.
The real meat of my question though, is that I have $45k sitting in a fidelity account that has been earning interest (variable based on rates). This account has been continually added to by my parents as I grew up. The purpose of the account is to start off my life/career with a good sized fund to keep adding to and use a solid foundation for savings moving forward. As I look down the barrel of more debt, I am wondering what is the best way to deal with this. I understand it is hard to say with certainty without having a total value and payment plan setup for my legal debt, but I hope I can still get some valuable advice.
For example, is it more advantageous to take out however much is needed and cover my tuition and legal fees, or is it better to pay those off over time while that $45k keeps working for me? I feel like people are always anti-debt (for obvious reasons), but I also know that there are cases where leaving your money in the market may be more beneficial.
Anyway, thank you very much in advance, I will answer comments as best I can and edit this is I missed anything big.
tl;dr I have $22k in legal debt lent to me by my father. Case on going, legal debt will likely increase, but not more than $50k. I have to pay $17k in tuition/housing fees for next fall (final classes before December graduation). Have income prospects, but nothing locked in at the moment. Have 45k in savings account accruing interest. Spend savings or other options??

I’m going to try to get to the point with only the important details. I(34f) had a best friend(34f) of 20+ years. It was no secret that her and her husband were having problems. He’s an ass hole and he is emotionally abusive to her and her kids. I always supported her in doing whatever was best for her family. She cheated on him. He cheated on her. Woopty Doo. I didn’t support her cheating and she knew that, but I didn’t tell her husband. Anyway, about half a year ago he found out about her cheating. It was big and nasty, he was threatening to kill her, kidnap her and make her watch him fuck other women, crazy shit. He was acting CRAZY. I thought their painful relationship would be over. I was trying to give her all the support she needed. Told her I’d be there whatever happened between the two of them. A few days passed and she stopped talking to me. Then one day I get a call. The call is of her letting me know that she needed to take a break from our friendship for at least six months to work on her relationship with her husband. She couldn’t talk to him like she could me so I needed to be removed from the picture for them to succeed. I told her, hey, I support whatever it is that you think is best for your family and I wish you the best of luck. I hung up on her, and blocked her. In my opinion, that isn’t how friendships work.
Today I get a message from a random number asking if I could unblock them so we could talk. I had no idea who it was, so I asked. She told me her name and I didn’t respond. She then told me not to hate her. I told her I don’t, but I do hate her husband(but maybe I do honestly hate her to). She told me not to hate him either, that she had some shit to work out, and I let her know that was good for her. Now she’s asking if I’m really going to end our friendship for her doing what was best for her family?
I think yes. If removing me from your life is what is best for your family, that says everything about our relationship. I haven’t responded yet.
I came on here asking for advice on how to move forward. 1. Am I being an asshole or not? 2. Is it in my best interest to keep this person out of my life?
It is weird. I about to get married and thought of her recently and this happens. I feel confused on the situation.
Thanks for any advice.

Hello all,
I am looking for an amazing woman who is 20+ in age that is interested in being friends with the intent of an LTR coming out of it if the connection is there. Let's mutually obsess over each other, spend lots of time together laughing, playing pc games, and watching shows/movies along with doing all the “cringe” couple stuff like having pet names for each other, matching pfp, and making everyone jealous with how lovey-dovey we are. Then in the future, we can take it IRL when the time is right so we are not purely online. I prefer if you were on the West Coast or Central because of time zones, and it will be easier to plan visits, but I don't mind if you are in another state as long as you are in NA and are willing to put effort into an LDR with the potential of us seeing each other eventually. I know physical attraction is semi important too, so I have no problem exchanging pictures early and if we end up not vibing, we can be close friends!
Some things about me:
➯ Mixed Asian
➯ Laid-back demeanor & chronic yapping
➯ Currently taking a break from college and focusing on work
➯ Loves music
➯ Naturally affectionate and highly value communication
➯ Loves TikTok/Memes and my humor is broken. I laugh at everything and at the wrong times. I like dark humor as well.
➯ Devoted and fully committed when in a relationship
➯ Loves the “cringe” couple stereotypes. From pet names and mutual obsession to matching profile pictures, we will make others envious of how affectionate and loving we are. I also lowkey like when a girl is clingy/obssessive/possessive.
When I'm not working, I'm playing games. My current main games are Valorant, Fortnite, FF14 (new), and League of Legends (peak masters)/TFT. However, I have many more that I periodically play, such as: Honkai Star Rail, BG3, WoW, Genshin Impact, Guild Wars 2, Eternal Return, Apex Legends (I'm new), Dead by Daylight. There are many games I want to play more of listed here, though. I also have different survival games and co-op games, such as It Takes Two. If you are interested, my DMs are open, and we can move to disc eventually. Please read the post and please only dm if we have main games in common & you want a potential relationship!

Storytelling is a powerful tool that can captivate an audience, evoke emotions, and leave a lasting impact. When it comes to authentic storytelling techniques, here are some key points to keep in mind:

• Begin by knowing your audience inside and out. Understand their preferences, interests, and values to tailor your story effectively.
• Authenticity is key. Share personal experiences, vulnerabilities, and challenges to create a genuine connection with your audience.
• Use visuals and sensory details to paint a vivid picture and engage your audience on a deeper level.
• Craft a compelling narrative arc with a clear beginning, middle, and end to keep your audience engaged and interested in your story.
• Incorporate relatable characters and real-life scenarios to make your story more compelling and impactful.
• Embrace vulnerability and transparency in your storytelling to build trust and credibility with your audience.
• Use storytelling as a tool to inspire, motivate, and empower others to take action and make positive changes in their lives.

For those looking to elevate their brand storytelling and create a lasting impression, consider reaching out to me at https://MCurtisMcCoy.com/brand-manage. Authentic storytelling has the power to differentiate your brand, resonate with your audience, and leave a lasting impact. Remember, the art of storytelling lies in its authenticity and ability to connect with others on a deeper, more emotional level.
Master the art of authentic storytelling and watch your brand soar to new heights.

I am DYING to know what kind of life/childhood trauma made Martha into the person she became as an adult. In the one voicemail* at the end she said her parents fought a lot and the baby reindeer comforted her. Could acrimony between parents make a child grow up with such a bonkers lack of boundaries? Maybe violence against her mother or against her? There’s always a blend of nature and nurture, right? I just can’t picture the elements that would have to be present for a person to grow up to think and behave like a stalker. Stalkers are not unusual so maybe I’m wishing for a formula or at least an explanation that makes sense. But I know plenty of trauma survivors who did not cope by becoming stalkers. The bottom line is there must be a space between she’s a villain or a victim. She’s a human. And I can’t help but feel sorry for her, still. Even after all that.
Could it really be as simple as she used her stalking victims like a child uses a beloved toy, to soothe and comfort the real life painful feelings and injuries from her family of origin? Because that is really fucking sad!
PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK.

• the vm that made Donny cry right before the bartender offered him a free drink, a compassionate touch point to the first act of kindness that set off the whole twisted relationship between them.

I built my own NAS server to store client artwork for my business, but I'm having the most weird issue I've seen over my years of building various computers.
I completed the build and took my time, but when I would power it on for the first time, it wouldn't post, or fully power on. The CPU fan would spin for a couple seconds and that's it.
When I disconnect all 4 HDD's, it'll post and I can access it from the web UI.
I've tested this and the second I plug in power to any of the drives the screen goes black and I lose connection. I've tried combing over the BIOS to see if anything there stood out, but outside of disabling the USB Legacy and making sure boot priority is from my NVMe with TrueNAS installed, I'm stuck.
The specific mobo I'm working with is a HKUXZR N5105 NAS board with 32GB of DDR4 Crucial RAM and it's running AMI Version 2.22.1282 BIOS on it.
Is anyone here familiar with this board or know how to fix this issue?

I'm really distraught.
I have dark ash brown hair and had been getting light brown highlights for a couple years now. It was always just enough to lighten me up slightly and give it some dimension. It was also really important to me its blended and doesn't look unnatural or stripy. I was also growing my hair out for the wedding.
When I went to my hairdresser last month, my hair was to my boobs. I told her take a couple inches to make sure the dead was gone and she cut it to my collarbone.
That alone would be enough to upset me but the color is a nightmare.
When I went in I told her I thought my hair was starting to look a little brassy in pictures so we needed to darken/cool it down, otherwise everything the same. I left with HOT YELLOW STRIPES. Like, she couldn't have done more opposite of what I asked for. And she seems to have only done the top layer of my hair and did it super heavy. So its like yellow stripes sitting on black (in comparison). It looked shocking.
A different salon managed to squeeze me in a week later. They were all horrified. They said all they could really do about it was put a toner in it to get the color closer to normal. Nothing they can do about the stripes. But the toner should make it look closer to my natural color so maybe the stripes won't be noticeable. They did that and it looked fine (not what I want, just fine), but its only been a month and the yellow is already starting to pop back through.
I'm already super upset that it seems like I'm going to have to drop $100 every other month for the next several years just to hide what she's done and still not look how I want to look, but the fact this happened right before my wedding just makes me want to cry. Actually I did start crying typing this out.

Hi, I'm almost two years sober, I work my program and I have a sponser. I'm posting here because it's very late where I am and I can't sleep! A few nights ago I googled my ex, why? He was awful! And I am happily married to a great guy for 10 years. You know what? I saw a picture of him at a festival, probably pissed and off his head, and I thought he still looks gorgeous, and he's having a great time. I'm laid in bed next to my snoring husband, and my head is doing the what ifs. What if I stayed with him? What if we'd had a baby? Oh how great it would all be. I've asked my higher power to remove these thoughts, I've listed my gratitudes, and still, my head is spinning! Why??? At least being in AA I know I won't drink on this, and I know I won't do something daft like contact him, but my head just won't switch off. This bloody cunning, baffling and powerful disease is trying to sneak in and tell me my life is shit right? How do I make it go away?

Hello everyone! I'm a little overwhelmed right now, but I saw a job listing from Anthropic which I applied to. I'm an engineer from a third world country who graduated with an Avionics degree (Electrical for Aircraft) for my Bachelor's, and have been working in AI (mainly electro optics and computer vision) since graduation. I did some research, because I saw a bunch of job listings from Anthropic that seemed just too good to be true.
They were offering visa sponsorships, an extremely generous pay, and just a deal that seemed to be cordial, understanding, and incredibly accommodating. I legit thought it was a scam but I'm familiar with Claude so I've heard the name before, and I looked into it.
In my understanding, I found out that Amazon had recently completed its investment in Anthropic for a very hefty chunk, so I understand that it's definitely plausible for them to make the offers that they're making, but even so! I'm wondering if it's as sweet as it sounds, and whether I have any hope? Just any advice or words from people who work there so I can check in?

Sorry for the lack of photos, but this one is easy to follow since the repair was so simple. This should be the same for all of the blue headphones with an internal amp
The blue ella has been discontinued, so it's selling for about $110 on amazon, down from its $700 MSRP. If anyone saw my review, I think they're easily the best closed backs under $200 by a country mile right now, with the ability to be used without the internal amp, with it to just cleanly amplify a weak source (amazing for my miyoo mini which has a stupidly weak amp) or with an "analogue" EQ mode that bumps the sub bass and warms it up a bit. I've been using them and adoring them, they're superb gaming cans. HOWEVER, I noticed the amplifier battery was lasting an absolutely wretchedly short amount of time, like 45 minutes. Turns out a battery powered device sitting in a box for like 7 years means the battery isn't gonna be very happy.
However, the repair was dirt cheap and super, SUPER easy. The battery is a very standard 3.7v, 1000mAh unit with the standard charging PCB covered in capton take inside the right earcup. I ordered a replacement one off amazon for $9 along with a $4 roll of double sided electrical tape. The replacement battery is 5x34x50mm, but the original is about 4x36x60 with another 1mm thickness of double sided adhesive foam. But the new battery fits just fine with some double sided tape that isn't 1mm (I used 1mm tape and it was a hair thick, but still worked. regular double sided tape is ideal) and the repair was a snap, only requiring a spudger or something to gently pry the earcup off (a butter knife would work) a t5 torx bit, and two little dots with a soldering iron (you should also get some solder and a little flux, some isopropyl alcohol and a Q tip to clean up the flux) and a pair of pliers or flush cuts to snip the connector off the replacement battery and strip back some wire. A pair of tweezers would be helpful too.
Firstly, remove the earcups (do both sides since it's easy and makes accessing the rest much easier) by gently placing the spudger or device between the brown of the earcup pad and the black plastic trim, and prying until it pops, then just work around, they'll pop right off. The bezel is very sturdy but be mindful of not nicking the pleather cups, they are glued to the frames and replacement pads are only really available through a custom pad maker like Vesper.
Now all we need to work on is the right side. Unscrew the 6 long T5 torx screws holding the driver and its bezel in place. The two short t5 screws just hold the bezel to the driver and can be left in place - removing them makes the whole thing a bit more unwieldy. The driver and bezel come right off, there's no adhesive. Don't lose the foam pad that goes between the driver and the rest of the earcup. Now remove the 2 t5 screws on the little cross brace that holds the battery down and set it aside.
Now we can remove the old battery - Safety dictates that you desolder the battery first - just follow the super obvious two wires to the board, make note or take a picture of which is red and which is black, and desolder them. The solder joints on mine were quite aged, so a touch of flux and fresh solder was necessary, but this is about as easy as soldering work gets. Once the battery is desoldered, use your spudger or pry tool to gently pry on the sides of the battery to release the adhesive. it's not super strong adhesive and mine came free with minimal effort.
Now place some double sided tape on the replacement battery and put the replacement battery in its place. the little battery "tray" makes lining it up easy. Align it the same way the old battery was, with just tape on one side. My new battery had a JST connector, so I snipped it off and stripped the wires back about 2mm. Tin your wires by touching them with some flux and fresh solder. Then I used some tweezers to hold the wire down while I soldered them in. Wipe up any excess flux with a little isopropyl alcohol on a Q-tip, make sure the solder didn't bridge between the positive and negative, and put it back together! Don't forget the little cross brace that clamps the battery down first, then orient the foam/drivebezel pack in place and screw it down. Pop the ear cups back on by pressing down on their very outside edge to make 'em clip into place. Charge it up and enjoy!
(one piece of advice when screwing screws back into plastic - when you put the screw into the hole, first turn it backwards until you feel a little bump or click, and THEN drive it in. This prevents cross-threading and accidentally chewing up the threads. And be mindful of not over-tightening. They aren't going to come loose on their own very easily, plastic is a lot grippier than screwing metal into metal, so you don't need to torque anything down.)
If your amp switch ever starts to get wonky, I also discovered in my disassembly adventure that the knob just engages with a regular slider switch like a gameboy uses. You can just touch some contact cleaner in that switch if it ever gets weird.
Overall, I was really impressed at how easy they are to repair and how pleasantly standard the battery is. I was worried that maybe I'd only ever just use them unamplified (which isn't too hard, as I understand they're fostex T50 drivers) but for maybe... 15 minutes of work start to finish, they're as good as new.
Now I just need to see how long these vinyl pads last before I have to get vesper audio to make me some proper leather replacements. I hate pleather.