Middle ages pest controlc

Trigger warning - religious differences
I always bragged about how awesome my extended family was. NO family is perfect, but I heard horror stories and always counted my blessings that I had strong ties with my Aunt and uncles since I was raised an only child. That was until a few months ago when my last living Aunt, whom I considered a second mom, shattered me.
Ok, some backstory here. My aunt is a Jehovah’s Witness. Now before you get all judgy, I have always loved her, my uncle and her son with all of my heart. I still do. I respect that they have found faith and live by this code on the daily. I have met many people from their congregation and loved them all (ok, a couple of exceptions). I also appreciate the community they have and love they all show each other. If it weren’t for the religion itself, I would have converted.
I, however, am pagan and have always been since I was about 5 (even the first book I signed out from the school’s library was about witchcraft). Not raised that way, but always found spiritual comfort in nature and the natural world. I have a very strong connection and dedication to my Powers That Be and work every day to help the world be a better place. My Aunt did not know my religion until about 7 years ago. That being said, she and I would have very philosophical conversations when we hung out together. Even at the age of 8, I would listen to her preach to me and ask questions to which she never had answers. I remember her telling me how only 144,000 people would be allowed in heaven and didn’t I think that would be wonderful knowing that our whole family could be together again after we died. We’d all be in heaven if we were all Jehova;s witnesses. I had gone with her many times to do field service (door to door) and asked her why they do that if there’s only a certain number of people allowed. Didn’t that lessen her chances of getting in because I’m sure there were many people more deserving than myself. How did she know for sure she’d be one of the ones to get in and was that fair to keep bringing people into the religion when all the spaces were probably already filled up?
At 8 years old, I had many questions and was just trying to figure these things out. Since she was an adult, I figured she had the answers. My questions were not with malice, just for a want of better understanding. When she didn’t have the answers, I'd ask my mother and grandmother. While they were extremely amused, they said they never understood either. They never said anything bad about her or her attempts to get them to convert, just allowed me to explore religion and spirituality as I wished so I could make my own decision of what was right for me.
Once I was an adult, I avoided talking to her about religion, but found that if I didn’t ask questions and just let her talk, it made her happy. I know she’s a good person at heart and that’s all that matters. After my Mom passed, my aunt and I talked almost every week. I loved talking to her and she became even more like a mom to me. She gave me encouragement and we supported each other through health and emotional crises. I’d make it a point to try and visit at least once a year for a few days so she could visit with my daughter and I. We’d always do lunch with her friends and I loved it. I fell in love with some of the people in her congregation and wished we could live closer to hang out more. I, however, never wavered on my spiritual beliefs, but I have never cared about the religion, race, or sexuality of anyone. If we got along, we were friends and that was that.
My aunt and I had come to an understanding that I would not convert and that we would love and respect each other regardless. Religious talk was off the table for the most part until both of my uncles (my aunt’s two brothers) passed and she had a very hard time dealing with it. She was the last surviving sibling and she was sinking into a depression. I’d talk to her at length and listen to her as she mourned the fact that she would never have contact with them (and my mom) in heaven because they never converted. When she asked me what I believed, I told her that I believed that the soul lived on after the body died and that I believed in reincarnation. I explained my beliefs were closer to hindu and buddhism than christianity (so she had context). We had very long talks and she expressed that she respected my views and actually found comfort in talking with me.
That was until my daughter and I opened our store about 3 years ago. It’s a metaphysical shop and we have crystals, teas, gifts, jewelry, candles and more (about 10% strict;y pagan). My aunt was happy for us until it dawned on her that we might sell pagan stuff. I told her what we sold and she asked me if I was a witch. I replied that I suppose that was one way to describe me, but, again, I considered myself spiritual and that I followed a path closer to buddhism, hinduism, native american. I sent a couple of pictures of the jewelry that we made and she said when we came down, we should bring the jewelry making.
We did, I brought down our best crystals to wrap and bracelet materials and my daughter and I made her a necklace with a very expensive stone (A $200 piece). She brought her friends over and they picked out crystals that they wanted, made bracelets and such. We had fun and I was happy to do it, though I wasn’t expecting people that I had never met before. Still, we had fun. My daughter and I also brought her a basket with local items from our hometown, (Raw honey, handmade stoneware mugs, cutting board, herbal tea and some other items made by us as well) She was thrilled. My aunt and uncle had taken a couple of bad falls a few months before and so my daughter and I made them hand carved cedar walking sticks as well because we knew they went for regular walks and thought it would help their balance. It felt amazing to lavish expensive and heartfelt gifts on them as I has struggled so long with money. I was finally in a place that I could do it. To say the gifts probably totalled in excess of 1K is on the low side, but I was still happy to do it.
Besides the fact that they tried converting my daughter when I wasn’t around, it was a lovely visit. The only problem I had was with a new person my aunt introduced us to. This woman, we’ll call her Dee, ignored me and only talked to my daughter. She was my age if not older, but conversed with my daughter, 17, like I wasn’t there. They traded contact info and Dee insisted that they keep in touch while my daughter was in college. Dee said she was going to keep an eye on her. I thought that was odd, but I did enjoy the feeling of having an extended family sort of since I actually had no family besides my Aunt.
Let’s jump forward to the following year and we were struggling financially. Not horrible, but unable to lavish the gifts that we did the year before. Instead, I created a beautiful aromatherapy candle, some delicious herbal teas and we found a couple of very rare antique tea cups that had amazing value to them (about $100 a piece). We made a basket for her and I decided we would cook for them. (gluten free, soy free, dairy free etc). Our visit went so well, it was great to see them. We just enjoyed hanging out with them and talking. They loved the meal we made for them and the dairy free organic chocolate I made. Everything was great until the day we were leaving. Dee showed up and again ignored me, talked to my daughter and chastised her for getting a pet snake as that was an animal associated with the devil. My daughter is one to push the envelope a bit and said how she wanted to get a tattoo as well, one of a snake. Both my aunt and Dee were shocked and said she should never get a tattoo.. Again related to the devil, I went to the bathroom as I was not involved in the conversation and knew my daughter could hold her own. Little do they know that my daughter is also trans. I told her not to say anything to them just yet. I came back to them talking about how college was going and I thought my aunt and Dee would faint when she said her college roommate was male. She quickly explained that it was fine because he was gay and how awesome he was (he is btw). She quickly realized what I meant when she saw their reaction to him being gay. It wasn’t that she was living with a boy, it was that he was gay and “why did he choose to be gay.” I tried redirecting the conversation a couple of times, but they ignored me.
They finally let it go, but just after Dee left, we were getting ready to depart as well. My aunt returned the basket I made for her (minus the expensive tea cups). She said she could not accept them as they were touched by the devil. Shocked, I asked what she meant. She said that because they came from my store, they carried Satan's influence and she could not have them in our home. Truthfully, I explained that I made those items for her and that the only things that came from the store were the teacups. She was confused why I had gotten upset. When I explained that I gave her a gift and if she didn’t want it, she could regift it or throw it away. That gift came from my heart with all the love I have for her and that I didn't need to know her opinions about the gifts because It insinuated I, myself, was evil and it was extremely hurtful. She basically continued on insisting that I was just not aware of how much Satan had a hold of me. All I could do was tell her how much I loved her and leave.
I didn’t take her calls and cried about this for over a month. I finally felt strong enough to talk to her and again she insisted that because those items touched my hands, they were influenced by satan and she wished I could understand how they just can’t have that influence in their home. Frustrated, I asked how she could shop at grocery stores or buy anything from department stores because she can’t guarantee that those items didn’t touch hands that were influenced by satan. Also , I asked her how they could have eaten the food I prepared for them and why did they even invite me into their home to begin with if that’s the way she felt about me. She suddenly needed to go.
We talked a few times since then but it always came back to religion. At one point I asked her again why she would even invite us to her home if she felt that way. Her response was to save my daughter. The pain and heartache she has inflicted is immense, but I cannot bring myself to argue the point because I’m afraid if I make my point to her, it will break her. She’s in her 80’s and I believe has the beginnings of dementia. Her religion brings her comfort and I don’t want to say anything that might make her doubt her religion at her advanced age.
I’ve decided it is probably best for both of our mental health to stop all contact with her( with the exception of sending cards telling them how much I love them) even though I’ve always seen her as a second mom. AITA for making this decision and not trying to work things out with her or allow her to believe that I still might convert?
*** Please understand this is not a bash on any religion. Everyone has the right to believe in whatever religion they wish. That includes me, so if you feel the need to bash them or me for our spiritual choices, you can move along ***
I have never felt like I needed to hide any part of me from my friends, family, and the public in general. Not until now. Buckle up, this is a bumpy ride.
I've always been kind hearted, almost to a flaw. I took care of my grandmother, my step-dad, my mom and helped with a family friend during long term and terminal illnesses. I had my daughter and, without her father's help, raised her on my own with very little to no support. I helped friends with their farm who left me homeless in the end because I want interested in an extramarital affair. I lost my home and all that I loved including my husband because he lied to me and never paid it mortgage while I was recovering from an illness. In short, I have had a tough life, but it has never made me turn my back on anyone who needed help or in difficult family when they were ignored by the others. That's just some background before I tell you this situation.
Three years ago, after a bout of covid, my daughter was suicidal. She had been in the top three of her HS class and yet at that point almost failed her junior year. Not knowing if she would have the emotional strength to face college and adulting in general, I set up a plan B for her. I started a store in her name and that way she'd have something at least to fall back on if she was unable to function in the m-f 9 to 5 world. We started slow by doing craft fairs, seeking crystals, candles, jewelry, and gifts. We were kicked out of one because the person running it assumed we were witches. She was not wrong exactly as we identified as pagan, but we lived our life closest to the Buddhist and Hindu traditions, not traditional wicca. These were people who knew us for years and were considered acquaintances if not friends.
Our business flourished and we ended up opening our brick and mortar that fall after remodeling our garage/ barn and turning it into a store front. Even though I run it for my daughter, it is hers and we work together to keep it going.
In the past few years I've lost my mom, and two uncles. I have no family besides my mother's sister and her husband which we were pretty close. My aunt knew that I was pagan and had tried recruiting me into her religion since I was 5. Even at that tender age her religion never made sense and I would ask her questions to which she never had answers. I accepted her and respected her and her religion even though I didn't agree. I loved the people she introduced me to that were in her church and I always got along with them. That is until we visited the year after we started our store. My aunt was thrilled about us bringing crystals down and making jewelry with her. We met a new friend of hers (middle aged woman) who ignored me completely and oozed affection on my daughter. She got my daughter's contact info and contacted her frequently. Trying to convert and ”save” her. My daughter wasn't having it as even though she was in a delicate state, she is very level headed and strong willed.
This year we visited and we brought herbal tea, candies, and rare vintage tea cups for my aunt. The day we were leaving, she handed back everything but the vintage tea cups and told me she couldn't accept them because they were touched by Satan (aka made by my hands). To say I was devastated is an understatement. This woman was always like a second mom to me and we had grown closer after my mom passed away. It was a 20 hour drive home and I cried most of the way. I cried for weeks after a well. Thinking of it now still brings me tears. As she was telling me that Satan had a hold on me and that she was trying to save me, all I did was remind her how much I loved her and my uncle. Every time since then that we have talked, she says the same thing, but now she told me I was a lost cause. I feel like trying to stay in touch is detrimental to her mental health ( and my own). I don't want to give up or abandon the last of my family, but I can't talk to her and endure the endless insinuations that I'm evil because I don't believe in her religion. She took a bad fall and broke her arm. The last time we spoke, she talked as if it was my fault for bringing the devil into her home.
While I could usually brush this off as delusional ranting, it hits hard because the same day she fell, my dad died. I know the Powers That Be only give as much as we can handle, I just wish they didn't have so much faith in me.
They are in their 80s. I know in all the pieces of my broken heart that they'll never be able to accept my daughter and I unless we change religions and it has crossed my mind just to say we have to put her at ease, but I can't lie like that to them and we cannot betray ourselves like that either. By

In the 80s, when I was a kid in my late single digies… I loved Garfield. LOVED him. I owned every digest there was and read them all into worn out rags. I remember following my mom around reading her my favorite panels with sheer delight and nearly containable hilarity at poor Odie being kicked off the table, yet again.
As I approached middle school, my morning comic preference inevitably moved to Calvin and Hobbes and in general, comic books trumped newspaper comics until I aged and I lost my sense of humor due to the crushing weight of adulting. As an adult it became painful obvious to my nostalgia brain that Garfield was atrocious. Even in its heyday, it was just so mindless, repetitive and unfunny… small nuggets of chuckles could be found in Jon’s panels but even those weren’t really exceptional until Garfield Minus Garfield came out.
Well, queue 2024 and I have 3 kids aged 7-10 who are absolutely infatuated with Garfield. My youngest daughter literally followed me around all evening reciting panels, nearly in tears of hysterical laughter at each subsequent pane. I stopped and laughed about an hour in to it as it dawned on me that I had gone full circle. At first I was anxious for the phase to end but now I think I’ll be a little sad as the inanity of Garfield and how a person not yet jaded by maturity can find it so satisfying. As I barked that they should be reading chapter books instead of being glued to the comics, I started to feel guilty for trying to “mature” them out of this phase.
I think I’ll read some Garfield with my kids tonight.

Think about it. You are born. You are a baby maybe a happy baby maybe a fussy baby maybe a quiet baby. You pee and poop and dont think twice. Then maybe you get a little older and your sensory issues come out where someone hands you soup with parsley on it. You taste the crunch of the parsley. You aren't freaking out in your head that it's rude to retch you just retch from the crunch mixed with liquid texture (crunch from parsley liquid from soup) and you say "ewwww" or you push the bowl away. You aren't forcing yourself to eat it you aren't even thinking about anything but ew no I'm not eating this weird texture shit. But then your parents get mad at you and say "you eat this soup WITH the parsley or you starve". And that sticks with you. First step in LEARNED BEHAVIOR.
Fast forward to middle school. You're in the hallway. It's your first day and you think you look good and you're super comfortable in your black baggy jeans and loose black shirt (not saying this is your style this is just a scenario) and your favorite bright pink beanie. If you're a boy you get made fun of for the pink beanie or if you're a girl you get made fun of and ostracized for wearing baggy plain black clothes. You LEARED yet again to feel self conscious about these clothes you're comfortable in without thinking about it. The next day you change and wear what is more expected of you and you throw out your favorite pink beanie or ask your mom to buy you makeup or more colors or other "accepted clothing.
Now in high school. You are in class just sitting there when the teacher is speaking about let's say the structure of poetry and you notice a little flaw or they confuse two types of poetry styles with each other. You politely raise your hand eager to help. You correct them accidentally interrupting them because you were excited . They grimace at you and say "I'm sorry but who is teaching this class? You can teach if you want to come up here otherwise please let me continue thank you ". You were shut down and embarrassed in front of the whole class and you go home and tell your parents and they take the teachers side and send you to your room. It is confirmed that you need to " learn how to be more respectful".
Now fast forward to adulthood.
Jobs: the interviews you struggle to get hired because you aren't good at eye contact and you ramble or get stuck and all your friends and family tell you. Or you get the job but apparently you did something wrong by telling multiple customers you are tired cause you barely slept and it's enough to get called in the back or you're suspended or admonished because an emergency happened but you " overreacted or were too loud when trying to alarm people to help". Even if you never been fired you learn you need to walk on eggshells with what you say at work you can't have comfortable conversations with coworkers or customers at work or you will be at risk of getting in trouble. And you have to prepare better for interviews and force eye contact. Also if you work at a crappy job you may get threatened to get beat up by coworkers if you say things they don't like even if you didn't mean it in a bad way and it wasn't inappropriate.
Roommates: you happen to move in with people you thought were friends. They are a couple. You try their horrible cooking but you're afraid to retch or reject their food because you learned from a young age you can't act like you dislike the food that is gross or the texture is off to you. You slip up and express you don't like it. They start screaming to each other the next morning about how your behavior when the mask slipped was disrespectful the night before and they didn't appreciate how you didn't make yourself eat their food because in their mind they cook good. One of them now threatens to punch you in the face or kick you out on the streets and it's a whole big thing. You go to the library in tears hyperventilating but trying to hide it.
The result: you try to force eye contact, force yourself to ignore sensory issues like eating cooking you do not enjoy, every new roommate you have you're terrified of making them upset or being kicked out even if they are the nicest people and you actually end up "stuck" standing there trying to figure out if you should wash your own dish or if they'll secretly be mad at you that you didn't offer to wash the dishes everyday despite telling you washing your own dish is fine and when you go to lunch or out to the bakery for fresh donuts you are subconsciously nervous that what you wear will be acceptable and spend extra unnecessary time obsessing about what to wear to a casual bakery and still feel out of place until your friends compliment your clothes or pay them no mind. Even though you still wonder if they secretly disapprove.
NT beliefs about autism is that autistic people are just naturally anxious around others but I don't believe that to be true. I think these examples here and many others are the reason why autistic people LEARN whether from a young age or once they become adults to live in fear of messing up. The more traumatized they become the more obsessed with avoiding that trauma many become. You're gonna be too scared to reject eating someone's food that goes directly against your sensory issues if your previous roommate threatened to beat the fk out of you if you reject their food ever again. And that happens too... It's the people that surround us that make us learn to be like this.

For those persevering through aging, hormonal fluctuations, stress alone how do you do it? I feel so silly asking this because I could do a PhD on the subject of persevering solo, but these past couple of weeks have been so difficult. Not sure what exactly messed me up like this. Haven’t feel this way in a really long time—horribly hormonal, crying nonstop over absolutely fucking nothing. I just feel suffocated all the time. I get chills. Horrible migraine. My vision changed and my eyes become sensitive to light. Fibromyalgia flare ups. I can tolerate all of that but that sense of dread that creeps up on me. I don’t know how to deal with it. Like there’s zero motivation. I don’t feel there’s any sense to doing anything. I dragged myself out of bed this morning feeling the worst. Pushed myself to do a project. Tried cooking last night. It’s just so hard. I have to take care of my senior relatives and I feel so lousy. A few weeks ago I completely crashed and I couldn’t ask them for help. I felt terrible. I had to drag myself to the emergency room on my own. I’m terrified all the time. It feels exactly like I’m getting my period any minute now but I’m still due for another week. I did blood tests and things are normal. I don’t know why I’m so messed up like this.
I’m curious how do you do it on your own? When I wake up in the middle of the night and can’t sleep, shaking, feeling overall dread, worried, just feeling suffocated— I dunno what to do. I used to rely on books, games, shows to keep me mentally engaged and move through life, but lately none of this works and I’m scared.
I know I’ll be fine. I just needed to talk to other women going through this. Just wanna feel less alone.
Is this normal in your 40s? I’m 42. My hormones work came out ok but I’m just not feeling right at all.

I'm going for a holiday and will be in Capetown for a few days and was thinking of dropping in.
I googled and there's a Renzo Gracie gym near where I'm staying, anyone know if it's a good place to drop into? or any other gyms in Capetown?
I'm just weekend warrior approaching middle age looking for some fun technical rolls. If they're going to porrada a visitor, I'm a bit lazy so will probably skip that and leave it to a younger guy to visit instead.
Thanks in advance

TL;DR. Our duplex neighbor was a spiteful Karen. We got revenge on her until she got herself evicted.
I'd shared this story previously (Neighbor Karen Gets Evicted). But that one got really long really fast. I'll do my best to boil it down for you here.
When my then GF and I shared a duplex together, our unit neighbor was a middle aged cat lady that just hated existing, best we can figure. When we first met her she yelled at us for being on her side of the front yard, even though the sidewalk from the driveway went in front of her unit so we had to. Then she demanded we stop using our garage door opener because she didn't like the noise. Her unit was directly over the garages so there was no way around it. We attempted to compromise by offering to only use it during certain times of day, but she was having none of it. Just demanded that we never use it again. So no middle ground was reached. Instead she just ranted, yelled, threatened, and cussed (did I also mention my GF's 7yr old son was there too?) So to respond to that little outburst, I settled the GF down with a cigarette and a beer, her son with some ice cream, and Karen with some petty:
I went downstairs to the garage, and began working on both of my motorcycles one at a time. Loudly. Blaring the pipes as much as I could stand right under her floor. When I'd had my fun, and put the bikes away, I heard her on the phone with the landlord demanding that we be put out immediately. We were in good with the landlord so I wasn't worried. We did get a "alright don't do it again" call from him later.
But thus began a lengthy battle of petty enactments between us over the next year. Some too small to even mention, some getting the cops called. She liked to place a lot of noise complaint calls anonymously. She also took liberties with her lease that we delighted in narcing on her about. But I can honestly say we made her more miserable than she made us. We were enjoying making her life suck.
On Halloween, we took her son out for the usual round of ding-dong-give-me-candy in our little neighborhood. Every kid we met along the way, we informed: "Hey, you should go to 'karen's' unit. She's got the GOOD candy. But she's a little old and hard of hearing so you'll have to bang on the door real hard, and yell trick-or-treat really loudly. I know it was mean to all of those kids, but each of them were a worthy sacrifice upon the Altar of Petty.
The main even came when our unit sprung a leak from the kitchen, somewhere under the sink. We quickly shut off the main valve to the whole house while we waited for the LL to come and address. Meanwhile I typed up a note informing Karen about the water situation. She wasn't home yet. Turns out a small part was needed. LL would run to the store for it, and we'd be fine in 30-45min. Before that happened, the water started spraying again. I looked out the window and sure enough, Karen was out there with a wrench standing over the valve.
I quickly ran out to try and shut it off again, but Karen wouldn't move. she stood guarding the main with her wrench and I was sure if I tried anything she'd brain me with it. We attempted to explain, again (the note I left was wadded up on the ground by her door) that there was a leak and we needed to have the water off until our kitchen sink was repaired. She retorted with something about her needing the water anyway for her animals. They were more important. It became a shouting match between us and her until the LL returned.
By the time LL got back, the water was already pouring out the front door. Our carpets were soaked. LL broke us up and had us explain. But by that time the damage was done. I showed where I left a note, and where she was the one that turned the water back on, flooding our unit. Hearing this, LL refused to renew her lease and evicted her. He kept her deposit to pay for our damages. Once the reality of her situation sunk in, she relented and became just the sweetest old lady you've ever met. Kind and begging. Even to us, apologizing. I remember just flipping her off as we went back inside to start packing. We stayed in a decent hotel for a few days while we got new carpets. One day we came home and Karen was just gone. Moved on to shit on someone else's life. Gone but not forgotten, Karen. You will be remembered.

Mine is westerns. I love science fiction too. Any movie that intersects, like cowboys and aliens, and pandorum for example, I'm very keen on. Obvious others world be alien and predator universes. Historical monster movies are the shit, especially the sinister mood we get from middle ages terror flicks like 13th Warrior etc...

Today, while having lunch with a friend by a glass window in a restaurant around Lavender, I noticed a middle-aged Indian man walking by. Dressed in a sarong and short-sleeved shirt, he made eye contact with me and pointed to the middle of his forehead with his index finger, while smiling at me. I returned his smile and continued my conversation, but the encounter lingered in my mind.
This wasn't the first time something like this had happened. Back in 2019, as I walked past a row of shops in Bugis, another middle-aged Indian man, resting at one of the units, made eye contact from a distance and did the same gesture—pointing to the middle of his forehead and nodding approvingly.
Both times, the men seemed uninterested in starting a conversation, maintaining their distance.
For context, I'm just a random Singaporean Chinese male. What does this mean? Is there a hidden message behind this gesture?

I have been noticing my (34f) bf (47m) has been eating less and less food. He said months ago that he had lost weight but made it seem like a positive healthy thing after visiting the doctor, which I was happy for him until now.
He has lost waaaaay more weight than he lets on. He’s created an aversion to just about anything like bread or fried things, or honestly eating much of anything.He always happens to have eaten a big lunch when he gets back from work. Sometimes he’ll even bring back “evidence” of a mostly eaten meal.
I noticed months ago and mentioned that he’s kinda on a Mediterranean diet because he loves seafood and veggies and he agreed and joked that he’s half Italian so he can’t help it. I also pointed out on a different day that maybe he had an aversion to gluten which he also half heartedly agreed with. We used to bond over me cooking for him and him jumping in every once in a while.
It clicked last week when he mentioned that a coworker came to him and asked if he were ok and said a separate coworker had commented too. I finally felt validated that it wasn’t just me. I mean, I see him naked and feel his body while we have sex, I know his body. His clothes just hang off him. I love his body regardless because I love him, but I can feel his bones and his lack of energy. He’s always had a high libido but not anymore, everything feels so off.
We actually haven’t been having sex as often which is another thing that’s been bothering me. I was a little offended at first but now I’m just worried.
It’s possible he has medical stuff going on that he’s too uncomfortable to share, so I don’t want to jump to conclusions but with my own issues with my weight in the past, I figured people here could possibly help.

My son asked his crush out last night, and she said yes! I'm so proud of him.
He reminds me so much of myself back when I was his age, except he is all around better in every way. When I was 12, I was overweight and basically hiding from the world. There's no way I would have asked my crush out, even if I had heard she liked me too. I had confidence in my book smarts and confidence that I could make people laugh, but that's about it. My son is kind of shy, like I was. He is into video games, like I was. He doesnt like the spotlight on himself, same as me. He isnt the most athletic, but plays middle school sports anyways, same as I did.
Yet, unlike me at age 12, he had the courage to ask this girl out, face to face, in spite of being scared to death to do it.
I'm just proud that he is better than me.

For some background - my husband and I have been together since junior year of high school. We are now 37 - have been married almost 14 years, two kids ages 7 and 9.
His relationship with his mom has always been strained. The first time I met her when I was 17 she looked at me then back to my hubby and said “well i hope you use a condom”. When we got engaged she told him “theres so many fish in the sea”. So obviously her distaste for me has been since day one.
Ive expressed so many times over the last 20 years how I dont want to be in the middle of their discord and finally in 2022 asked her to please not call me or text me and to communicate only with her son as I need to protect my mental health and can not put up with constantly being blamed for my husband wanting no relationship and not allowing her around the kids.
My husband has also not spoken to her or responded to any calls or texts from her since around this time. So naturally in her head this is all my fault.
On Mother’s Day she called my cell. I did not answer. She starts off her message purposely calling me by the wrong name and then saying “whatever u wanna be called”. She then moved on to say its so difficult to talk to me bc Im always so mean. Its horrible and unhealthy for us to hold onto anger or the past. Everyone thinks its strange we behave this way.
This obviously ruined my day a bit. My husband was like just ignore it, she wants you to react and wants to piss us off so we look crazy. Anyone who knows us knows you arent mean and that shes not right in the head.
I know he is right and that shes just trying to get a reaction and she craves attention even if negative.
Should I just block her phone number at this point to not have to read or listen to her messages - I really dont understand why she cant respect such a simple request to not call or text me and only communicate with her son.

Getting an iPhone in India is basically a huge deal for an individual. It involves a lot of financial planning and timing to get the latest iPhone. I come from a middle-class Indian family and I am no different. When Apple released the iPhone 14 Pro series with the Dynamic Island, I was really into it. But, working as a tech writer and having the knowledge that Apple would add the same to the lower-end iPhone 15 models, I waited a year, and Apple did add the Dynamic Island to the lower-end iPhone models in 2023.
As I was already planning to get the iPhone 15, I had saved for it. Hence, without a second thought, I got the device in October 2023. It was a blue iPhone 15 and it was a big deal for me!
Fast forward to February 2024, I was going on a planned trip to Kasol with my friends. We had to catch a train from Sealdah, Kolkata, and to get there, we planned to take a local train to Sealdah station. So, we got to our nearest local station and were waiting for the train. During that whole waiting time, a person was standing right next to us and was fiddling with his phone but also giving questionable looks to us.
The train finally came and if you are an Indian, you would know the amount of struggle that one needs to go through to get on a packed local train. We all had rucksack backpacks and went through the struggling ordeal to simply get on the train. That was not all! During the whole ride, I could not move anywhere or any body part due to the sheer amount of people surrounding me.
When we reached Sealdah, our final station, I got down with my friends. Then, my mother called my girlfriend's phone to check on us and told her that she could not call me as my phone was switched off. I thought that my phone was not switched off and should be right in my pocket. I went on to check my pocket only to find out that it was gone! It most probably was the guy who was giving the looks to us when we were waiting for the train.
Naturally, I started panicking big time and went straight to the Railway Police station nearby to report it. By the time we filed a report, our main train left the station and as a result, our entire trip was canceled. Without a phone in my hand and after having a dreadful day, I went back home.
Find My [The Savior]
Now, as my girlfriend also had an iPhone 11 and was a part of the Apple Family plan, I used it to put the stolen iPhone 15 in Lost Mode via the Find My app. I checked the location of the phone in Find My and it showed a station that falls between our local station and Sealdah.
My aunt is in the police force, so I informed her about the stolen device. She told me that as it is an iPhone, it would be difficult to locate its position. However, she got the IMEI slots of the device blocked and said that if anyone puts a SIM card in it and tries to use it, the device will be marked. Only then the police could locate the user and grab him.
I knew that no one would be able to unlock it and put a SIM to use it. Apple has some great security features that prevent thieves from accessing personal information stored in an iPhone. Hence, I was sure that he would never be able to unlock or reset the device.
Someone once told me that stolen mobile devices are taken to Bangladesh and sold in black markets. If the mobile devices are locked, they even open up the parts and sell them individually.
Days went by and there were no updates about the phone, neither from the police nor from Find My. As I work with iPhones and as it was so dear to me, I broke an FD to get another iPhone 15 in the meantime. I also closed the EMI for the previous device with the same and accepted the situation.
Now, a few weeks ago, the stolen iPhone 15 started pinging locations in Find My on my iPhone. In the meantime, my girlfriend also got an iPhone 15 and started checking the Find My app obsessively on her device to track its locations daily. Some days it showed multiple locations, and some days it was stagnant.
The more regular locations from where the iPhone was pinging were near a place called Canning. The place is known as the "Gateway of Sunderbans" and is one of the biggest crime hubs. If you search for Canning on YouTube or Google, you will get a gist of it.
Citing the last known location of the iPhone showing Canning station, I and my partner went there one day despite the risks, dangers, and warnings. Although we did not get any further location updates that day, we scoured around the place but did not talk to anyone. While returning home disappointed, we stopped by the police station there to let them know about the situation.
The next day, the iPhone showed multiple locations near the city of Kolkata, though none of them were much closer to my home. However, the day after that, my girlfriend woke me up in the morning to show that the phone was pinging a location that was very close to my place. Not only that, the phone pinged the same location thrice since she started checking the Find My app. So, I immediately got up and went to the location.
It was in a place called Dover Lane (Kolkata), near a residential tower and a hotel. I went there, parked the car, and started hovering around the place, trying to locate the person who we suspect stole the phone. During that time, the phone pinged the location once or twice, and at one point, it even showed that the device was "With You" in Find My.
I stood at the location for four hours and tried to spot the suspect. During that whole time, I kept the Find My app open on my current phone to aid the stolen device ping the location. However, it showed location was updated 3 hours ago.
Hopelessly, I sat in my car, thinking of returning home without the device. Just then, I saw this guy with a red t-shirt passing by my car. He looked like a young migrant worker or a daily laborer. His t-shirt was a bit torn and his pants were pretty dirty. I don't know why I looked at him in the first place but that is when I saw him take a phone out of his pocket.
"Is that a pale-blue colored phone?" Yes. He turned on the screen. "Is that the iPhone's Dynamic Island?" Yes! "Why is he on a setup screen?" I have no idea!
Right at that moment, I check the Find My app. After 3 hours, the location was finally updated and the "With You" tag was back. I hurriedly got out of my car and followed the guy for a few meters. He stopped at a local shop to get a beedi. Just when he was about to light it, I went up to him and said "Show me your phone, brother!". He answered, that there was no balance to make a call. I said that I didn't want to make a call.
"Just give the phone. I want to see it once!", I said. He immediately got it out and handed the device. During my usage, I once dropped the iPhone 15 and that made a tiny dent on the chassis, just above the screen. I checked for it, and it sure was there!
I grabbed the phone tight and said "Let's go to the police, kid!" Bewildered, he said, "That is not my phone, I got it from a friend! My own phone was stolen a few days ago and my friend gave this to me for the time, until I get a new one. If you want to go to the police, I sure can but believe me I did not know that this phone was stolen."
Now, it is worth noting that this guy was not the guy who we suspected stole the device. He was 25-28 years of age. This guy was just 18! He was still a kid.
I asked him where does he live and what does he do for a living. He said that he lives near Canning and works as a housekeeper in the city. Then I asked him, you cannot use this iPhone whatsoever, it is in the setup-screen and is showing locked to owner, so what exactly are you doing with this device? He said that when my friend gave it to me, I liked this phone. So whenever I leave the house, I carry it around just for "fancy"!
We knew that if we took him to the police, they would lock him up and beat him. The kid was just 18. So, after taking his name, address, and father's name, we let him go!
I emailed the GRPS at Sealdah where I first filed the FIR that I got the phone back.
To be honest, I had zero hopes of getting back the stolen iPhone, and that too with Find My. But thanks to my girlfriend who never lost hope and also motivated me to try and retrieve the device.
After all this, I have a newfound respect for Apple's Find My network and am surprised that it works so very well. It is one of the most underrated features of an iPhone that more people need to appreciate.
So, that is my iPhone story. If you ever lose your iPhone or have it stolen, do not, I repeat, DO NOT underestimate the power of Find My, and above all, never lose hope!

Salam to the person reading this, and may Allah bless you in this world and the hereafter.
I tend to have a habit of spiralling into my own thoughts and being stuck there, which is why I am asking for any kind of advice regarding hardships, the reason why we have them, if I will eventually succeed after the hardship and anything relevant.
For context I am a 22 (f). I applied to med school this year and didn’t get in and I know 80% it’s because I have a lower end gpa. I most likely need to do a few more years of undergrad to boost it. I need to retake a class because it’s lowering my average by a lot. I’m in a really competitive program so everyone around me and all of my friends are highly successful individuals. I am a perfectionist and overachiever by nature so any kind of setback makes me immensely upset and depressed. I’ve always wanted to pursue a career in medicine (since middle school as far as I can remember). And one of my primary intentions behind it is to be able to represent muslim women in the West in the best way, and I know that having a career in medicine would help facilitate it because of how highly people regard doctors within society. So growing up I would always notice that there weren’t a lot of muslim women role models. I was born an raised in the west as a muslim, so I want to be able to represent the idea that being a muslim does not prevent a woman from being educated or doing sports or travelling, etc etc (this is a larger part of my goal).
I know that some of my friends will be getting in. Everyone has earned their spot fairly, and I am happy that others get to reap the fruits of their hard work. But this whole situation that I am now officially behind others, or not where I envisioned myself to be makes me incredibly upset. I believe in the qadr of Allah, and everything happens because he has willed it to happen. But my heart hurts, and I often get teary eyed thinking about this, and I sometimes do think why I am going through this tough time. I want to believe that at the end of all of this I will eventually achieve my goal, but there is no guarantee. I don’t have a problem doing more schooling, but the fact that others are ahead of me bothers me. The fact that all the girls my age talk about finding a husband and having to getting married soon (or else they’ll loose their opportunity) and potentially freezing their eggs makes me anxious to my core. On one hand you have people telling girls to not wait long and not be a careerist. On the other hand, I want to do this because I am genuinely passionate about it, and I want to have something to fall back on with the skyrocketing divorce rates. My family is fully supportive of me (no issues in that regard). But I’m an overthinker so all of these thoughts are constantly in my head and it actually tires me so much.
This is the first time I’ve been this transparent on a reddit post, and it’s because I’m going through one of the lowest moments of my life. I love Allah, and I know things happen for a reason whether it be to purify me, perfect my character, prepare me for the future, or to test my imaan. But I just need some advice to help calm my mind. Any ayahs, hadiths, personal anecdotes, or anything would help

My hairline is receding from the middle, at an alarming rate for a woman of age 28. I am suffering from anemia and that might be making it worse. From the last 2 months, I have been using minoxidil as suggested by doctor, but its only a temporary solution as hairs will fall out, once you stop it.
While I will treat my anemia, are there any solutions ? Should I go for hair transplant at this age ?

Hi! My nephew is turning 9 and loves football cards. I've read through some posts but know absolutely nothing about football cards, so I'm not really sure what I'm looking for. Do I buy a pack? Are there good/bad brands? Do the packs have all different teams? He's a Miami Dolphins fan. Thank you!

I’ve always been really into ghost stories, or urban legends in general. The White Lady, haunted dolls, vampires, black eyed children, that kind of stuff. I know that, today, people my age aren’t big fans of that kind of horror anymore, preferring it things like the Backrooms, analog horror, all the new kinds of scary media. Honestly, I get it, things do need to evolve, and when we see everything that’s happening in the world, it’s understandable that a good old ghost story don’t do the job anymore.

Still, the “old fashioned” horror (it’s not that old, but things move fast on the internet) is always my jam. I grew up watching youtubers investigating haunted places, ghost hunting, with all their accessories, EMF meters, their little radio thing that they use to listen to radio frequencies so that they can hear any interference, their antenna that beeps when something approaches it, voice recorders, special flashlights, and let me tell you that all this, it was doing it for me.

So, since my, probably 7 years, I dreamt of doing these things myself. Of course, I tried everything a young boy is able to do, like Ouija or stupidly walking around my house with my phone filming, hoping that some random deceased person with unfinished business will show up to, I don’t know, have a chat. I wish I could say that other people’s judgement doesn’t affect me, but that would be a lie, so, going in to high school, I had to socially tone down my interest for those things in order to have friends. None of my friends and classmates knew about my persisting passion for ghosts and creepy stories.

I realize that keeping this such a secret is a bit ridiculous, especially approaching my 18^th birthday, but, you know, it would be even weirder to reveal it after hiding it for almost 6 years like it was something super taboo. So here I was, I started hiding my passion at 12 to avoid other’s judging it, and I’m now still hiding it at 17 to avoid others judging the fact that I hid it… A bit pathetic I got to admit.

Anyway, everything started a few days ago. I have an art history class at school and the teacher really likes to give us big works of research. This time, he had a new idea, the whole class will be divided into groups of two, and each group will receive a building from our city that the teacher had choose for his architectural and artistic interests, and we’ll have to give it a visit and write an analysis on the different things we’ll notice and link it to what we saw in class. Since all the buildings were not public places, he had asked the authorization of every property’s owner.

Honestly, this could have been worse. This actually sounded kinda cool to do. Now, what I was concerned about was who will be my partner. Obviously, I was hoping for one of my friends. After explaining the rules and exact instructions for the work, he started to announce the groups. I was waiting to hear my name, anxious, as all my friends were slowly starting to be put into their groups.

“Joshua!” The teacher said (yeah that’s my name). “You will be with…” I was holding on to my chair. “… Elizabeth!”

I turned to Elizabeth, and we looked at each other. Neither one of us seemed excited. It wasn’t a terrible pair, I thought to myself, I just didn’t know what to think of it exactly. Elizabeth was a pretty popular girl, not that I was an outcast or anything, but she was still way more popular than me. I didn’t know much more about her, despite the fact that we were in the same class since my first year of high school, but it looked like she was going to be an okay partner.

The teacher then gave us our building. I won’t reveal the real name of what he gave us so I’ll call it “Guaraldi’s Street 22”. Apparently, it was a pretty old house that had somewhat of an historic value to it. The teacher gave us some information so we wouldn’t stumble there without any prior knowledge. The owner was an old woman who had always lived there. She was apparently very glad to open her doors to young students and was ready to answer any questions we could have. He warned us that she had a weak audition and that we would have to speak loudly. The teacher then recommended us to do a little bit of research before going there, so we could already have some idea of where we were entering.

I then found myself in front of Elizabeth. I think the last time we even talked to each other was months ago when she was distributing a test to the class and that I said “Thanks”, so, yeah, not a lot of background. I noticed, and I don’t know why it took me so long, I guess I never paid much attention to her, that she was dressed in kind of an old style, she wore some clearly used dungarees. The date the teacher had scheduled for our visit was on Sunday, and we were Thursday.

“So, hum, I guess, we can both do research on our side, and we’ll meet, maybe at lunch break tomorrow to get on the same page. Is that good for you?” She asked me.

“Yeah, that’s good, we can do that.”

“Okay, then, see you tomorrow.” She said.

“See you.”

On that she turned her feet and left for her break. The rest of the day went by and I got back home. As usual, my mom wasn’t there, she often has to work late as she’s a single mom to me and my little sister Rosa. I ate my diner and went to my room. I opened my computer to start my research. It wasn’t hard to find information, even though things were repeating themselves a lot: “so much historical meaning for the city”, “a perfect example of “art-deco” architecture”, “a house filled with stories”. There was a lot of talk by local medias about it, but not much actual facts.

It was so weak, that I had to go to page 2 of the search results on google, or, as I like to call them, “the abyss of the internet” (I’m exaggerating a bit, but it’s not often that you have to go there).
Then, something caught my eyes. It was a forum about paranormal experiences, and the address was mentioned on a post. I immediately clicked on it and read the whole thing. It wasn’t exactly the most thrilling story I’ve read, but here’s what it basically said.

Apparently, the owner opened the house as a cottage during the summer, and the person posting was narrating what he experienced during his passage there. He described a very special and kinda suffocating vibe that was apparently all around the house, and the feeling of being observed all the time. He also talked about hearing voices at random moments. They were brief but often mentioned his name. The end of his testimony talked about his last night, when he said he saw a little child with no facial expression in front of his bed, who slowly started to climb into it and grabbed his legs, trying to pull him outside of his bed. The poster said he eventually succeeded to push the kid away, despite his unreal strength, and that the boy ended up running out of the room, laughing. When he spoke to the owner about it the next morning, she said that it must have been his imagination playing tricks on him, as she didn’t believe in paranormal and that nothing similar ever happened to her.

This wasn’t much, it could have been a complete lie, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t peak my curiosity. The story was as basic as it could be, but it was so specific for it to happen in that place, which was absolutely not famous, and even less for any paranormal events. I kept that in the back of my mind and continued my research, but I didn’t find much more, so I went to sleep.

As I was lying in my bed, I was thinking. What if the person who posted his story said the truth. This was the first time I was going to enter somewhere that old and charged with history, this could be the perfect place for my first ghost-hunt. But of course, I was going for school and won’t be alone, plus, it’s not really respectful to the owner, who kindly opened the doors of her family house to us. And even if I wanted to, I’d be constantly with Elizabeth, so, it was not really an option. I looked at the EMF meter I received for a birthday on my shelf and thought to myself that this would be for another time.

The next day, as planned, I met with Elizabeth at lunch break. We started to share the results of our research, where I did not include the post from the forum for obvious reasons. We talked a bit before coming to a clear conclusion.

“Yeah, the thing is, we have the same exact stuff, there isn’t much interesting infos to be found online, except very surface level stuff.” She said.

“Yes, I think we should prepare the questions we want to ask the owner instead.” I answered.

“You’re right, do you think you can have yours for Sunday?”

“Yeah, no problem.”

We exchanged a bit more and eventually went back to class.

On Saturday, I prepared a few questions to ask the owner.

Then came today, Sunday. The meeting was planned at 11AM. I woke up normally, took a breakfast, got dressed, everything. Before leaving my room, I took one last look at the room and I saw my EMF meter. It was like he was begging me to take him. I grabbed it and left. I didn’t know if I would actually use it, but I had it. It had an option where instead of lighting the small lamps he was vibrating, so I activated that and put it in my pocket.

I arrived at the house and Elizabeth was already waiting for me. We knocked and we could hear the owner walking towards the door saying “Yes, yes, just a second.” She opened and she looked like the sweetest thing ever. She was short and had a naturally kind face. We could see that she was clearly dressed and make up for the occasion. She welcomed us and let us in happily. The hallway was very pretty, I understood why our teacher got us this house, it was indeed very interesting. The walls were covered with paintings and old pictures, mostly portraits. On everyone of these, the people had a very serious look, but that’s not unusual for old pictures.

We walked to the living room where she served us tea and we sat together.

“So, I think you have some questions for me?” She asked. You could see that she was very glad to talk. “Don’t be shy, I’m open.”

Elizabeth started to ask her first question then I did, and we could ask her everything.

The house was her family’s for many generations, but it hadn’t always been theirs. All the persons in the hallway, paintings or pictures, were previous habitants of the house, and they went as far as the 15th century, so, yeah, it was all pretty old. She said they could only know the identity of some of the first generations but that a lot of the people were non identified. She answered a lot of other questions regarding the architectural and artistic heritage of the building, and she was surprisingly very interesting to listen to. Her enthusiasm and kindness were contagious, and we both couldn’t help but ask more questions.

Eventually, we arrived to the end of our list, and it was time for us to visit, take notes, analyze, all that. She asked us not to touch anything, as a lot of things had a lot of value, but let us wander free in the house. She said she’ll be making cookies for when we’ll be done. Elizabeth and I found ourselves alone in the living room and finished our tea.

“God,… She’s adorable.” Said Elizabeth with a smile.

“Yes, she’s so sweet, I wasn’t expecting that.” I said.

“Let’s, maybe start with there.” She said, pointing to the room besides us.

We got up and entered it. The walls were covered by huge bookshelves. Elizabeth started to take notes, looking at the room, and I started inspecting the books. There was probably a more than a thousand books, and some of them looked super old. I read the titles of some of them, and the least I could say was that it needed to be rearranged. “Cooking Asian Food”, “Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince”, some old book with the title erased, and even a CD in the middle, it was a bit random.

We eventually moved on to the hallway. It was a bit oppressing with all those eyes who seemed to observe us. Elizabeth did mention how it felt a bit weird and we started to take notes again. At some point, my look stopped on one painting at the back of the hall. It was a young lady, dressed classically, maybe a bit poorly even, for someone who would have lived there. She was kinda pretty, if I’m being honest. But the reason why it caught my eyes was that it was the only one who was smiling. All the other people represented looked dead serious, but her, she smiled. A sweet, even caring and warm smile. I noticed that it seemed like she was staring at me. Of course, a lot of paintings give that same impression, but it was more intense on her.

My heart skipped a beat. I was sure that I just saw her winked to me. I let out a gasp. I was convinced she winked at me. The vibe went from slightly oppressive to extremely heavy. Then we both heard it.

“Elizabeth.”

An unrecognizable voice had just whispered. Elizabeth turned to me.

“Did you say that?” She asked.

“Elizabeth.”

A younger voice this time. We were facing each other, so we knew it couldn’t be one of us this time, and the owner was in the kitchen. Elizabeth’s eyes opened wide and she slowly walked towards me.

“Elizabeth.”

She jumped.

“WHAT THE… fuck?” I let out. We were looking around us.

“Joshua, I don’t like this…”

“Yeah, me neither.”

We were frozen in place, with all the paintings looking right to us.

“Elizabeth.”

That time it was a deep voice, and it came from behind us. We turned. Slowly, all the faces of the paintings and pictures started to clearly move. They were opening their eyes wide and opening their mouths, maintaining their serious, and now even melancholic look.

“Holy shit, holy shit, what the fuck is that, what is it!” Elizabeth was mumbling, panicking as I was starting to breathe faster.

All the people started to say her name together on repeat: “Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Elizabeth…” I turned my head to the painting of the young lady from earlier, and she was the only one that wasn’t moving, still the same smile, she looked at peace.

I don’t remember exactly what I was whispering at that moment, but we were both freaking out.

We heard some scratching noise. Long, dirty hands with sharp nails, almost inhumans, were piercing the pictures and paintings. The eyes of the people were becoming all black, and their jaws were opening more than humanly possible as they kept on repeating her name. The hands were all getting closer from us. We were now touching one another, completely surrounded by those hands. Then, they moved way faster and a lot of them got their nails right into Elizabeth’s skin and pierced it while descending all over her body.

She screamed loudly out of pain. It was a terrifying scream. All the hands got to their pictures and back inside of it while closing what they pierced. Soon, the pictures and paintings were back to normal, but Elizabeth was bleeding from all over her body and was on the floor, crying. I got to her level and tried as much as possible to reassure her, but I wasn’t very effective as I was myself in shock and terrified.
We heard the owner walk towards us.

“What’s happening to you two? I heard screams, are you okay?”

She entered the hallway and saw the scene. She looked completely shocked.

“But what happened?” She asked.

Both of us were unable to answer to her, we had no idea what to say that wouldn’t make us sound crazy, so we just looked at her with whatever faces we were making at that moment. She didn’t wait long and went to take a first aid kid. She sat down and put some bandages all over Elizabeth, as I was reflecting on what happened. When she was done, we both wanted to leave, so we said that we had what we needed for now. She looked sorry and packed some cookies for each of us. As we opened the door to leave, she articulated one last phrase.

“I hope you’ll come back.” She had a look and a tone of sadness. We got out and were now on the street.

We both looked at each other. She was covered in bands, like she got into a huge fight. I started to speak but she lifted her hand.

“Not today. Another one.” She said. “I’ll see you at school.” And she left.

I got on my way too and gave one last look to the house. The old owner was watching me from her window, and I couldn’t tell what her expression was.

I was too tired so I ignored it and went back to my house.

I’m posting this now that I’m back at home. I have no news of Elizabeth, but she did add me on Instagram, so…

I have no idea what I should do now, I have so many questions, so, if anyone has any theories, I’ll take it. I’m also open to questions of course…

Brother me and my girlfriend started dating in 2015 both 15 , we moved in together at 21- as of now basically almost 24* (im 23 shes 24 , a couple months older) , she had her own dark world and toxic household and so did i. Difference is i had a complete “family” , she was raised by her mother who treated her indifferent because she is her dads twin. She gave the most purest and sweetest love . It even gives me chills to write about it. She surprised me countless times , validated my feelings , took care of me more than own mother did bro. She put her ass on the line for me whenever and vice versa. We traveled to her country mu country and countless other places at a young age all alone . Im gonna be honest i cheated by grabbing another girls ass in 2018 and a year later in 2019 the girl from hs called her to tell her and she waited for me in my house but i was such a coward i kept denying and denying even though she knew exactly what had went on. Fast forward in 2021 shit got so rough my family always hated her for no reason (jealousy is a real thing bro) and so much happened. And imma be honest in 2022 i was taking care of her since we moved in together but 2022 i told her quit her job around early January February i told her i got us cause i found a job paying great so why not? That was my baby you know? So that year i went to a whorehouse with this dumbass loser i was working with and i fell for the temptation. Mind you this was a bad year for her she gained weight up to 260 and her family (mom and sister) they always treated her like shit and always was jealous of even me getting her stuff and just loving her and supporting her. Im not gonna lie yes i cheated and she found out about it the same day cause i fell asleep and went through my phone. My dumbass recorded a voice note that those whores can’t even give oral correctly they use all teeth , so when she found out that was a dealbreaker. Bro i destroyed her with that and i know i fucked up so bad this chick had a hot meal from scratch ready for me every single day after work.
Anyways fast forward to 2023, she told me when i get a job i got you and everything you ever did. She got the gastric sleeve surgery in September 2022 so 2023 in February she had started losing weight drastically and then eventually got a job the same month. Brother she was destroyed and still gave me food everyday still helped me still gave me sex just still was trying not giving up. I unfortunately didn’t see it this way due to my own internal problems and trauma and my selfish and stupid ways. Anyways even for my bday she took me to miami wasted $3k on the trip and it was amazing. Eventually it got toxic i got fired around October and i wasn’t really fully employed after that for a while so she had to pick up alot and my egocentric ass said hey i did it for you whats the problem a couple months you hold me down? (She should of been left me) but it got toxic and the stress from work her family me and me not working she was crashing out she would spazz on everyone and i dont blame her looking back she was just going though alot. We started cursing eachother out really bad and even got physical. Not fists punch or slaps just grabbing eachother , breaking stuff, throwing stuff out, breaking property.
Anyways for her birthday we went to paris (February 2024) and it was great till we argued (i really shouldn’t have gone cause i got a job in February the whole month and first month on the job i requested a week off already and i lied saying it was something else but it was really this trip i had) anyways after this trip she someway somehow forced me to quit my job because i was out from 6am-7pm everyday monday through Friday. March came and dont get me wrong guys my family i am blessed enough that they were sending me little amounts of money here and there to get me through they know i needed to pay rent food etc. march came and someway somehow when she said something to me she slammed the door and walked out so i immediately reacted and then slammed the door open to chase her . I come back the whole door is ripped off the frame . All the hinges ripped off. I ran away like a coward because she kept screaming at me and cursing me out saying you gotta replace it now but i didnt have 1$ to my name and im asking my mom and she is being a bitch on purpose. Long story short that was march 23rd i get arrested 4 days later because of property of destruction and then get out on limited order of protection. We ran into eachother a couple days later and we spoke she invited me over and i lived with her again the whole month of April.
Anyways in april im still just relying on my parents at this point because all these jobs im applying for are not in my favor to respond to me (no one hit me back up) . So towards the end of the month literally the Sunday before the 1st of May we get into another heated argument she said you dont do shit around here you a grown ass man this that and that and tbh bro i can show you my cashapp my mother send me like $1500 that month and every time she would send me $100 here or $300 there for food or something she would tell me waste it on weed. (We kinda of had a weed addiction we were wasting $40 a day 7days a week on weed, you do the math) so anyways most of the money my mom is sending me is being spent very inconsiderately and bad . I didnt think much of it cause i thought hey fuck it man im here whatever she wants to make her happy.
Anyways fast forward after the argument sunday before may 1st the weekend before may 1st i leave again because it got so crazy i wasn’t trying to spazz out so i walked out and left. Monday she tells me come back ik your mom isnt cooking im not heartless i still wanna be friends with benefits or friends . Whatever she said and also she said i built this bond with you no one knows me like you do. (We lost our virginity to eachother , we literally told eachother our deepest darkest secrets , met eachothers families, did all this together was very intimate) so i went back and as she said we ate we cuddled etc. the next day after work we go out the whole day because her and mom and sister arent on good terms i forgot to mention we lived in a basement and her mother on the 1st floor. The whole month of april they were on bad terms (just walking by eachother not even talking or acknowledging eachother) so we go out the next day after that Tuesday before May 1st. After work we do all that and come back home at 6/7 ish . I havent checked her phone in ages cause i fucked up alot and honestly i kind of had a feeling if i did i was gonna see exactly what i was looking for.
Anyways i still did it cause im a stubborn hardheaded motherfucker, and ofc i saw her texting sexual with some guy she told me she was talking as friends on and off for since November. The convo went like him: im dying to find out i just wanna carry you on top of me , her: omg i forget you’re so tall i love it , him: omg i forget you’re so short i love it, her: Stoppppp omg with the emojis, him: plus if you aren’t gonna wear that dress when we go out atleast where it when you invite me over :p , her: lol i guess im small ( she posted a picture in a shirt blouse showing her curves and body and curly hair) , bro i saw this and went back inside from checking her phone in the middle of the road and said is this what you’re doing to me ? Are you serious? She laughed in my face and said well you’re reading it aren’t you? I lost it and spit in her face and called her a nasty you know what just like her sister. How shes just like her sister (her sister fucks any guy to fill her void and to get money/gifts in exchange. (Going back as to why they weren’t on good terms in april her and her sister got into a physical fight because her sister wore her deadstock jordans i got her from 2018 that are now worth $700 and fried them . What blew my mind during the fight was her sister looked and me straight in the eyes that day and said i know alot about you as if she got something on me. That made me wonder alot. Also she called my ex gf a slut which made me think what the fuck) anyways fast forward after i catch her cheating on me she chases me in her underwear for 12 blocks and im toying running around cars with her at that point and i threw her phone on the ground and she ran right past it. Long story short i got arrested and now im facing a felony cause of that and its no contact as of rn till July when this court date happens. I miss the fuck out of her and regardless of anything i wish her the best and miss her dearly . Side note my brother showed me she was what appeared on a date Yesterday

Good morning! We've still got a few spots left for the Learn to Row May session that starts today! Even though it'll be raining, we'll be in the boathouse today anyway working on form, touring the facility, terminology and safety, so don't be put off by the weather.
The Augusta Rowing Club will be hosting some Learn to Row classes in May and September. If you've ever thought about trying the sport out, this is a great opportunity!
Our Learn to Row (LTR) Program is designed primarily for working adults and area college students (age 18 and up) who are interested in rowing and would like hands on experience. We will accept middle and high school aged people who are interested in joining the junior program as well, and are working on a summer camp geared primarily for teens.
Each session is arranged into six classes which are neither competitive, nor overly physical. They are simply an introduction to the sport for people who have never rowed. You do not need to have an athletic background to participate in these classes.
At the end of the class, students may join the club and begin rowing as a regular member with access to our weight room and rowing equipment and your Learn to Row dues will be applied toward the membership dues.
You will not need to purchase your own equipment to participate in the LTR class. You may mail in membership materials, or bring them with you the first day of class.
For signups and more info, see https://www.augustarowingclub.org/learn-to-row
Session 2 - $185 Per Person
May 14th, 2024 6:00 p.m.
May 16th, 2024 6:00 p.m.
May 18th, 2024 8:00 a.m.
May 21st, 2024 6:00 p.m.
May 23rd, 2024 6:00 p.m.
May 25th, 2024 8:00 a.m.
Session 3 - $185 Per Person
September 10th, 2024 6:00 p.m.
September 12th, 2024 6:00 p.m.
September 14th, 2024 8:00 a.m.
September 17th, 2024 6:00 p.m.
September 19th, 2024 6:00 p.m.
September 21st, 2024 8:00 a.m.
I'm happy to answer any questions in the comments and hope to see some of you on the water soon!

Older guides needed too. It would be nice if Pablo could hire a few middle age guides for us oldies.