What causes rashes at the hairline

My hands feel extremely itchy for some reason. It doesn't seem to be skin related (as in.. My skin isn't dry, no color difference from the usual, no rash, etc..) It almost seems like it might be nerve related. I simply can't stop scratching my fingers. It's on both hands, and it's on both of my index and middle fingers, and in between them. It almost feels like a mosquito bit me in both fingers, and between them, on both hands.. But when I look at my fingers, there's no sign of any mosquito bite, or anything whatsoever. What could this possibly be?
*Flair is skin and nails, cause it seemed to fit best. But I dont believe it's an external issue (as in, outside the skin outside the body. It seems to be internal somehow..

like when I see people, especially when they’re talking about shit from their lives, it just reminds me of how ugly and alone i am. I wish I had that persons skin, instead of eczema rashes all over my face that causes it to sometimes bleed randomly for no fucking reason; I wish I had friends like that person does,I.e. friends at all; I wish I had someone that cares about me like that person does, and didn’t think of killing myself every fucking day; I wish I could be happy about anything; I wish I didn’t spend every birthday alone without even a fucking cake; at this point it’s almost comical, seeing all the things life can offer while not being able to experience any of it and that makes me so jealous. but instead I’m useless and unwanted , and if I disappeared, no one would care, no one would notice. I already basically don’t exist, I just consume food and and do nothing, what a fucking waste of resources

28 m, I have had one girlfriend for like 7 months when I was 22, two one night stands, the most recent being two years ago, and have been on one first date in my lifetime, the rest of the time I have been celibate

• I have a fairly high pressure job that has caused me worse and worse panic attacks, and given I am wound so tight, I’ve developed awful pelvic floor tightness, lot of lower back pain and my libido is pretty much gone, lately I’ve just wanted to quit
  
• in the past few months, my parents have stated that they are getting worried aboume (assuming they’re picking up on the panic, existential dread lol)
  
• Currently transitioning from receded hairline to legitimate balding, spent like 2 hours trying to style my hair to look normal tonight
  

I’ve honestly been so lonely lately I don’t know what to do. I have a good amount of friends but at this point like all of them are in committed relationships, and tagging along with them frequently is a tad depressing. I also think people who have known me for a long time probably think I’m weird for not having relationships. The worst part of all of this is I have like no hope left (unlike prior crises in my 20s). I’ve honestly never felt such a “wish I wasn’t alive” feeling as I’ve experienced the past few months.
FYI I don’t have any negative feelings towards women, just hate feeling unlovable given my appearance and disposition.

I was diagnosed in March but have had symptoms since last August (they were that backed up, I had no choice but to wait and be on beta blockers). Just a disclaimer, I’m not saying what I’m currently doing is advisable, it’s just the truth. Please do not lecture me because I’m already aware of the risks and consequences.
I tried methimazole in early March, and everything was okay until I hit week 7. It was like overnight I gained 7 pounds. I lost about 23 pounds from the graves but I’m still 233lbs standing at 5’9. I’m still not close to a healthier weight. The weight loss helped with some of the symptoms. I basically panicked and stopped taking it until I can figure out what I can handle dealing with.
I was only on 5mg once a day, so it was already a very low dose. I have always had issues mentally when it comes to weight, and in truth I can’t convince myself that the meds and weight gain are better than the symptoms and issues that come with them. I don’t have anything in my life that I’d rather be fat and alive for, that’s the best way I can put it. Being in the dating scene makes this no easier. Before this I couldn’t get a pound to budge. I had my thyroid looked at years ago and they said it was normal, but it was on the very low spectrum of normal. I’m not sure if I was having issues prior to this causing the lack of weight loss.
I’ve been doing research on various supplements: fish oil, selenium, magnesium glycinate, probiotics, and vitamin D. I do not currently take any supplements at all, just my prescriptions/other meds like allergy pills. I’ve also been looking into gluten free and anti inflammatory diets.
I did gluten free many years ago and experienced a lot more regular bowel movements and I looked like I lost 10 pounds from the lack of bloating. I didn’t stick with it because I find it to be one of the hardest diets to adhere to and not the cheapest either. I’ve never really cut out dairy but I use lactose free milk and butter whenever I can. I don’t eat a ton of cheese, and I like Greek yogurt. I do better with dairy lower in lactose as a whole. I’ve never had a good gut, I can ping pong between diarrhea and bad constipation but more often the former so I end up taking Imodium often.
Has anyone had success with just these changes? The 5mg brought me down from 373 to 309 on my T3 and from 2.0 to 1.8 on my T4, so not significant results. As far as I’m concerned I’m not even considering RAI or TT, I’d have to be in a seriously bad position to consider it at all. I have to figure this out because the heat intolerance is the worst, I’m getting tremors more often, and my eyes have been getting a very dry feeling lately. I may add that I was getting these raised red rashes on my eyelids while taking the meds, and the endo refuses to associate the 2 even though it only happens when I take it.
Thanks for any input, I appreciate it.

I’m doing pretty unwell mentally at the moment and feel I’ve regressed with my BDD the worst I have in years. It started a month and a half ago when I was dealing with a lot of stress and had an allergic reaction to something (still unknown) and my previously mostly clear skin that was actually looking the best it had in a long time developed an itchy red rash which, throughout the course of a single day, escalated into a cluster of 8 cyst-like blisters along my jawline and cheek. I’ve never had any breakout anywhere near as severe as this one. As someone who has always been pretty sensitive about my skin, this devastated me and it took me about a month of rigorous skincare to heal the lesions and the scarring these blisters left behind. Still dealing with some slight hyperpigmentation. At its worst, I spent a week completely isolated in my apartment.
At first, I thought this was a weird hormonal breakout or something, despite never having problems in that area of my face until recently. I saw a dermatologist who looked at my blisters and suggested I do a second course of Accutane (I did a course for mild but extremely stubborn acne when I was 17 and am currently 24). I thought I was well on my way to solving my skin woes.
During the month long waiting period for Accutane (I’m FTM transgender, so I had to do iPledge, which also was a major blow to my self esteem and dysphoria), I suddenly developed a pretty bad case of perioral dermatitis for the first time in my entire life. I still have no clue what caused it—I think stress from college finals, lack of sleep, caffeine abuse, and starting a stressful relationship with someone who worked night shifts/attempting to adapt to their schedule triggered it. Nonetheless, it was pretty gnarly and only escalated throughout the course of the week and a half it took me to identify what it was and make an appointment with a dermatologist. I was prescribed doxycycline and told I’d have to wait to finish my 3-4 month course before I could be considered a candidate for Accutane again as the two medications have severe interactions. When I was told this condition is typically chronic and often results in relapses after the first breakout, which would require this very same treatment, I cried for days.
I have never in my life seen my face look anything like it did at the worst of the flare up, and even though it sounds dramatic, it was honestly traumatizing for me. I had dozens of red, itchy papules in a quarter-sized cluster by my smile lines on the right side of my nose. I had redness, itching and a few smaller papules on the other side of my nose, and about 6-7 large red papules on my chin. All of this quite literally cropped up within the span of three days starting with two small papules in the most affected area. Thankfully, I was able to get an appointment with a dermatologist fairly quickly and was prescribed the doxycycline as well as two topicals. It’s been 3 weeks and my perioral dermatitis looks significantly better; in fact, it’s barely noticeable at this point, just some residual redness with a few small papules that come and go within 24-48 hours. Nonetheless, it’s been very emotionally taxing to see my skin behave in such an unpredictable way, and it’s impacted my mental health massively—especially as I’m not sure what triggered it or how to avoid future flare ups. I’m terrified to go off the antibiotics as I’ve heard horror stories about rebounds.
Ever since the flare up, I’ve been taking hundreds of photos of my skin a day, analyzing it from every angle. I’ve been terrified the perioral dermatitis is going to spread or will come back. Every time I see a pimple on another part of my face, I completely break down, convinced I’m going to have to relive the past few weeks. I’ve been obsessing over the potential of getting fungal acne as it’s a side effect of doxycycline and I’ve been dealing with some (albeit very mild) spots along my hairline and forehead and now cheeks, in places I’ve never had any kind of acne before, likely as a result of yeast overgrowth. I’ve been dealing with increasingly sensitive skin, also as a result of this brutal medication, and now am experiencing weird symptoms like face flushing and red discoloration after washing my face or touching it. I’m so itchy all the time, which makes it even more difficult to forget about, even for a moment. It has been an absolute nightmare to see my skin change so drastically as it has the past few months, and I just keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and for my skin to do whatever next big crazy thing it’s now suddenly prone to, for still completely unknown reasons. I’ve also started developing mild rashes that come and go beneath my facial hair, and I burn easily in the sun even with SPF 50 slathered all over.
I’ve been so depressed. My OCD and BDD are at levels they haven’t been at in years. I only leave my apartment to go to work and see my current situationship since unfortunately casual sex is the only thing that can temporarily make me feel desirable right now. I was feeling the most confident I had been in YEARS prior to all of this crazy skin stuff. Was seeing multiple different people, casually dating and sleeping around, receiving tons of validation for my appearance. Feeling like a version of myself I didn’t realize I even could be, and now I’m haunted by this insane skin condition I never in a million years thought I’d develop.
On many days, when my BDD was/is the worst, I consider suicide. I can’t handle the anxiety. Sometimes I don’t want to go to sleep out of fear of what my face will look like in the morning. I’ve had the most panic attacks I’ve dealt with in years since this started. None of my anxiety medication is helping and no one seems to understand. “It’s just a little rash!” but it’s not on their face, it’s on mine, and it makes me want to die. The rash spreads and worsens when you attempt to conceal it with anything, so I’ve had to deal with this extremely publicly. While it’s mostly gone now, I find myself holding the rest of my skin to insanely high standards, so as to make up for the fact that I’ve been suffering from this crazy rash that makes me feel worthless. I’m hoping that my skin calms down while I finish this course of medication and am counting down to the day in 3 months that I can potentially start my second course of Accutane to hopefully prevent this absolute nightmare from ever recurring. Until then, I’m stuck in anxiety limbo, and it’s torture.
This is all too much for me to handle, I’m hanging on by a thread. I want my life back, and if this is my new life now, I don’t want it. I’d honestly rather die than deal with all of this again.

I own the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 (the first edition) and had health with it for 2 years and I'm sick and tired of it! I'm too hesitant to buy any of the new versions of the Book Pro because of my terrible experience with my current one. I purchased the 360 so I can take notes with it on tablet mode, and ever since I started using the laptop back in 2020, it's just been terrible. I repurchased it in December of 2021 during my senior year of high school, and I didn't use it until the summer of 2022 after I graduated so I could use it for college. After 1 month of using it, I had a hairline crack on my screen (even though I never remembered dropping it) I tried to ask Samsung for a warranty and they said it was my fault. (then I checked on the subreddit and the screen cracking was a common issue). But whatever I put a screen protector on it and call it a day. My biggest issue was the fan noise! From day one the fan noise has been ridiculously loud for such a then device. It's high-pitched and annoying and when you are in a quiet setting, it can be very loud and high-pitched when I have like a couple of tabs open! It also overheats like crazy to the point it s very hot to the touch. I know some people say to use quiet or silent mode but it makes the laptop extremely hot, and what is the point of using the laptop in a reduced performance mode, so the fan isn't blaring every 5 seconds? The battery life is also trash and terrible it lives on the charger cause without it it can only last 3-4 hours, maybe 5 at best. I don't know what to do now, I want to try to fix it but it will cost money, so I'm interested in just trying to sell it for a normal laptop, and then purchase an iPad separately because 2 in 1 laptops are a joke. I don't know if anyone has had this negative of an experience with these laptops, but I am looking for a way out. If anyone, what laptops are better than this? If I want to sell it, I'm looking for anything under $1,500 because I bought this laptop on a black Friday sale in 2021 for $999. I know this negative post probably doesn't belong here but I'm just trying to deal with it cause I don't this laptop will last the way I want it too. Also, additionally, the build quality of it is trash. The bottom part sometimes pops off and I would have to push it back in.

I bought the Omnilux facial red light mask in January 2024. I use it about 3-5 days per week for about 20 minutes at a time (2 cycles). The mask reaches my hairline around my face.
So the other day I was getting my hair colored and the guy asks me after working on my hair for a bit, if I have been recovering from an illness. I was like — what??? He said it looks like I was coming back from an illness BECAUSE MY HAIRLINE HAD SO MUCH NEW GROWTH!!!
And like a criminal who has been caught I confessed all of the possible ailments that I could have but none of them caused severe hair loss.
All of the growth was around my hairline where the mask overlapped.
Later I was like — duh — it’s the red light therapy!! I have definitely noticed a lot more new hair growth now that I am paying attention.
Side note that because of this my partner got a cap for red light therapy for hair and I have seen his hairline start to come back —- it’s much easier to notice on him because his hair is so short.

So around 2 years ago, I started to become popular but then came my huge downfall. We moved to a new place and my new barbers were all trash. I tried to grow out my hair to get a long haircut but my teachers always insulted me (which damaged my reputation a lot) and forced me to cut my hair every single fucking time. After all this, I learnt how to perfect do the UwU so literally everyone started calling me feminine. Last year, I befriended a lot of females just cause every guy had a shitty egoistic personality so everyone thought I was def a femboy. I also used to be kinda popular for my fluffy hair and decent looks but due to the water quality being absolutely dogshit at my new place, my hairline receded, my forehead got bigger, my hair became flat, broken, thin and is much less dense than it used to be. These days people don't even approach me. All they do is ostracize me from their friend groups and joke abt me. What's seemingly odd is that 2 years ago I used to be 5'3 but still simped for by females but now I'm 5'7 and people don't even look at me.
I started hitting the gym around 4 weeks ago, often mew since last year and even do proper skincare (tho the irregularities of my skin don't get better) but my reputation does not heal. This proves that personality matters over looks.
Anyways I'm really really desperate to fix my dignity so any advice or help or advice will be immensely appreciated

So around 2 years ago, I started to become popular but then came my huge downfall. We moved to a new place and my new barbers were all trash. I tried to grow out my hair to get a long haircut but my teachers always insulted me (which damaged my reputation a lot) and forced me to cut my hair every single fucking time. After all this, I learnt how to perfect do the UwU so literally everyone started calling me feminine. Last year, I befriended a lot of females just cause every guy had a shitty egoistic personality so everyone thought I was def a femboy. I also used to be kinda popular for my fluffy hair and decent looks but due to the water quality being absolutely dogshit at my new place, my hairline receded, my forehead got bigger, my hair became flat, broken, thin and is much less dense than it used to be. These days people don't even approach me. All they do is ostracize me from their friend groups and joke abt me. What's seemingly odd is that 2 years ago I used to be 5'3 but still simped for by females but now I'm 5'7 and people don't even look at me.
I want to be seen as more masculine. I started hitting the gym around 4 weeks ago, often mew since last year and even do proper skincare (tho the irregularities of my skin don't get better) but my reputation does not heal. This proves that personality matters over looks.
Anyways I'm really really desperate to fix my dignity so any advice or help or advice will be immensely appreciated

So around 2 years ago, I started to become popular but then came my huge downfall. We moved to a new place and my new barbers were all trash. I tried to grow out my hair to get a long haircut but my teachers always insulted me (which damaged my reputation a lot) and forced me to cut my hair every single fucking time. After all this, I learnt how to perfect do the UwU so literally everyone started calling me feminine. Last year, I befriended a lot of females just cause every guy had a shitty egoistic personality so everyone thought I was def a femboy. I also used to be kinda popular for my fluffy hair and decent looks but due to the water quality being absolutely dogshit at my new place, my hairline receded, my forehead got bigger, my hair became flat, broken, thin and is much less dense than it used to be. These days people don't even approach me. All they do is ostracize me from their friend groups and joke abt me. What's seemingly odd is that 2 years ago I used to be 5'3 but still simped for by females but now I'm 5'7 and people don't even look at me.
I started hitting the gym around 4 weeks ago, often mew since last year and even do proper skincare (tho the irregularities of my skin don't get better) but my reputation does not heal. This proves that personality matters over looks.
Anyways I'm really really desperate to fix my dignity so any advice or help or advice will be immensely appreciated

As one of many lower realms to the immortal realm, Gulathnia suffered a horrific fate in which its already mediocre cultivation population began to lack dao energy, even in the air, such power was thinned immeasurably. Eventually, cultivators disappeared almost entirely and resigned themselves to places that were of extreme abundance once upon a time and are now slightly better environments for culitvation. While this was happening, the world took martial arts as its centre stage, the martial artists are like cultivators and will refine their techniques to bring better harmony with their body and mind. Though they won’t become immortal, if they keep persevering, they can attain body reformation and will be able to purify the impurities they have gained throughout their life. Everybody reformation becomes harder since the things that were perfected or purged will not be needed to be removed again. After the first body reformation, the next ones become about strengthening the body, then the mind and so on. This attainment is considerably harder than cultivation since it’s steeped in the lack of dao energy and the inner refinement of the person, instead of the uplifting of one's mortal existence to a heavenly stage. But this pays off and often results in a stronger fighter than a cultivator in the equivalent stage of martial arts, even allowing martial artists to ascend to the heaven realm.
With the removal of cultivator tools and society, different ethnicities began to take the common stage due to not being able to resist the elements. The worst part is that the world was heavily reliant on dao energy to keep up nature and mystic aspects, leaving only very few and very large forests or reefs.

1. Most people died of hunger or from the elements and had to devolve into small tribes or go to where the dao energy was still plentiful enough. This place became a nation called Gigwan and was the equivalent to ancient China, allowing for the Murim to form. Famous families would rise like the Tang Clan, Beggar Sect, Mount Hua Sect, Imperial Family, Buddha Sect, Wudang Sect, Demonic Sect, Ocean God Clan, Sound Sect, Assassins Hall, Dragon Blood Family and many others. Famous individuals also came about like the Knuckle King, Spear Saint, Sword Saint, Dual Bladed Demon, Golden Emperor, Shadow Executioner, the Great Beast Tamer, Pickaxe Of Doom, Poison Dragon, and others. Like the wielders and groups, many infamous and revered weapons also circulated the Murim. Weapons like the Blood Sword, Diamond Daggers, Lightning Spear, Steel Mountain Great Sword, Flood Spraying Bottle and the Shadow Axe were simply some of the weapons that circulated the Murim. Yet despite the knowledge and fame of the weapons, people or organisations, they all seemed to form under 3 banners, the Orthodox Faction, the Unorthodox Faction and the Demonic Sect. The Orthodox Faction only had people who were seen as above board or standard within the Murim like sword wielders. The Unorthodox Faction contained groups and forces that were not traditional like axe wielders, potion users, beast tamers and others. The Demonic Sect was their own faction and group with others only being allowed to work under them or for limited operations. Together the 3 factions helped the Murim in a vice with other martial artists having to choose a faction or remain as a random, since those who attained martial might would become threatened by the three as a threat or demon.

Yet, no matter what they did, even the martial artists couldn’t sustain themselves in such a world that could only drain its dao energy over time. Eventually, the dao energy dissipated so much that even the martial world could not stay and people were left to be able to only become cultivators or martial arts at the early tiers with much effort and a lot of resources.

1. Though the world was mostly deserts, wastelands and other horrors of decay and death energy. The Western Continent, Philidel, mostly survived since they already specialised in selling crops to the mortals around the world. Though they were in a similar state to Gigwan, they were off dao wise but were better infrastructure wise. This did not stop their research into power with even their more miniscule dao energy playing to their strength. By infusing dao energy into their crops, the long history of farming played to their strengths and allowed them to create something similar to pill refinement and even better in certain aspects. Working alongside their desperation, the countries and people on the Philidel continent developed an explosive martial arts technique that absorbed the abundant dao energy from the crops and the lesser energy in the air. Once collected, they used the explosions in their core to forcibly expand all filter the cultivation roots and veins. This allowed them to create aura and magic, with magicians using their staffs to recoup their energy and without it they would not be able to use magic. With these powers in mind, the Philidel continent developed several cultures and swords, mainly taking on ideals of chivalry and knightly cultures.
2. With the world in disarray, the tribes that survived had to find new creative solutions or needed to make tough decisions and scrape by. Enormous cities were made empty and had been stripped down, so people could go to their towns and villages underground and eat the fish and moss they were farming. Geniuses devised various different methods of witchcraft from sacrifices that forcefully pulled out inner dao energy to create rain or other miracles to the use of death energy to make an undead army to spirit and soul shamans to rune crafting. Though most of the world became places for conquest, other places outside of Gigwan and Philidel were also able to become prominent, like the Fizzle Kingdom which created massive homunculus beasts.

But this isn’t where the desperate story of the people in their world ended, for though Gigwan had lost its mystic splendour and shine, a dao energyless world had surfaced. Like Earth, science became a staple while the majority of the planet raised stories and legends of mortal feats. Born from the prestigious history of their cultivator ancestors, the martial artists and cultivators still found ways to shine alongside a third type of legend, mortals. While martial artists used similar techniques to cultivate themselves like cultivators, mortals are not simply ordinary people and do not focus on dao energy or substitute energies. Mortals take the essence of their existence and push it even further, like making a swordsman reach the strength of an aura knight. Whether this be assassinations, leadership roles, cavalry, taming or other feats, these special Mortal Legends have become their own classification of heroes and villains. Since improving is hard for them in their respective category, they are more akin to superheroes and will not have any growths in powers but will still reach heights akin to Immortals, Gold Core cultivators and so on.
Regardless of all of the mortals, martial artists and cultivators, the world progressed. Reaching a modern era with motor combustion, planes, race cars, tourist groups, office workers and so forth. The world was slightly more advanced than Earth since the moon had already had a colony started with cultivators and even a sect adapting to the moon’s special energies. Without cultivation or dao energy, the moon and Gulathnia became reachable to one another, allowing cultivators and martial artists to enter and strengthen their passages. But, ultimately, the most significant show of improvement for Gulathnia is how it didn’t simply stick with its systems or create new techniques to cultivate. With such cultivation resource scarcities, the general public had long received information about cultivation and martial arts techniques. The impressive part is that they didn’t simply destroy themselves to learn things that would take them multiple lifetimes without resources. Instead, humanity would spend time on and off, whether as discussions or research endeavours, to advance the beginning stages of cultivation, since their people could barely get halfway to becoming an immortal. Now, though there are still people who can’t cultivate, either because they are part of the extremely small minority who don’t have cultivation roots or because their aptitude and talent are so abysmal. 97.3% of the population around the world has at least reached the Dao Energy Establishment Stage. Along with this advancement in cultivation, martial arts also continue to progress by establishing sects around the world and advancing martial arts by becoming more effective in their usage of dao energy. The two of these groups continue to stand side by side, advancing to new frontiers so that they can prosper to even greater heights and share public versions which are also being advanced even more rapidly. Knight houses have also grown around the world and become like slightly less overseen police precincts in mediaeval times as they patrol the streets and refine their skills in the knight temples. Like martial arts, the other more obscure crafts are also prevalent like the magicians and shamans who offer a magical alternative. To deal with mystical energy deficits, they either use the unusual ones like martial artists and cultivators or they create crystals and vats that store their magical energy needs. This has allowed the creation of magic towers which are really just giant storage facilities where magicians and shamans can conduct their research and experimentation.
Though people have a focus on cultivation and martial arts are usually in sects since it is necessary to have a group of people training in the same technique to rouse the dao in such a dao energy-lacking world. Martial arts are also studied around the world as much or even more than cultivation. Either by supplementing with demonic energy from the demon realm or death energy from funerals, graveyards and such, many people have found ways to make up for the lack of dao energy. Even those who stick with dao energy can become powerhouses in the world and be comparable to Gluf’fisten, arousing the personification of power through spirits on hallowed grounds. Such things aren’t even considering the factions and sects that still remain from the Murim days:

• The Tang clan didn’t simply disappear from the world and stood strong like many others, becoming an influential family that is popular for creating poison experts and poison-based martial artists. Though they have their hands in the medical sector, their family personally works on the experimentation of new poisons and their antidotes, working towards more deadly and scary poisons. If a poison appears that needs diagnosing, people can go to the Tang family app or website and report the poison’s symptoms, colour and place. The website will then quickly relay an antidote and the necessary ingredients/steps. They also sell special kits that come with all the parts and things needed to analyse the poison and check with the database expertly.

The Tang clan still maintain their martial arts training and will try to obtain people with specific martial arts bodies like how cultivators look out for people with specific cultivation bodies. For the Tang clan, they look out for 2 types of bodies, the martial arts poison immunity body and the cultivator poison body. When such members are found, they are recruited into the sect and will be attempted to be integrated into the family bloodline, either by using their sperm for IVF in a married couple of the main line or by playing matchmaker. Though the odds of finding them are vast, the selective breeding and connections all over the world allow them to have 1 from every 10 generations, either from the poison immunity hall or the poison body hall. This does not mean they will not be on the prowl and also secretly donate such sperm and eggs to the city they control along with simply relocating people with poison-related physiques to the city. Either naturally or scientifically, the family acts as shepherds and mayors of the city and has created both a poison-loving culture and a high percentage of such people. Coincidentally, Fallgrave, the city the Tang clan controls, has also developed unique cuisines which involve poisons since they are usually immune in one way or another. Gourmets and foodies travel to Fallgrave in waves to try the unique foods of the city and will either buy antidotes or build up immunity beforehand.

• The Mount Hua Sect remains a virtuous, upright and renowned sect that has only become more splendid in its techniques and personification of plum blossoms.
• The Demonic Sect deal with the criminal underbelly and allows their practitioners to train their martial arts using the shady mokes from black markets and drug empires. They also help deal with addicts by either weaning them off or using their addictions to refine their sins and recruit new members who, though are ironically more needy for drugs and other addictions, seldom partake in them. The Demonic Sect also peers into the demon realms and request for aids of powers but are by no means puppets or servants. Though their powers are demonic in origin, their sect goes by the laws of strength, no matter what principles prevail and as long as their organisation stands and is not harmed by itself, the Demonic Sect is fine with anything. This has caused modern bias despite their PR work and the actual good they are doing, but they do not let this top them as they allow their members to teeter on the edge or even go past it for power.
• The Imperial family continues to rule over Gigwan like how the British royal family rules over England, though they have all the power and can do as they like, they aren’t taking on the extra stress. That being said, the Imperial family do still command ministers and prime ministers when the need suits them, like when they want food to be distributed to poorer regions or to attack another region or to simply spend the government budget.
• The Buddha sect has been able to build temples in even more remote locations and continue to do Buddhist things. The Buddha sect and their branches live in reclusive places like top of mountains but will regularly make pilgrimages to towns or cities to recruit new believers, offer prayers, offer their hands and bless places. Although the sect allows reproduction among its members, love between sect members is prohibited since everyone needs to treat each other fairly. This doesn not mean they close their gates to people who come unprompted since they will allow everyone to join them, so long as they pass the sect’s trials and purity training.

Often, Buddha sect members will end up leaving the sect after a number of years and training and will take up a married life or join the workforce or do other things in society while maintaining their virtues and wearing their orange cloaks and scarf-like clothing, either on top of normal clothes or on its own.

• The Wudang Sect has become reclusive like Mount Hua, but unlike Mount Hua, the Wudang Sect remain active in the martial arts world and operate like a knightly house.
• The Ocean God clan adapted to the even thinner amount of dao energy and created happy underwater settlements which were free from surface strife and wars. The Ocean God clan either lived in simple towns underwater or they lived in domed cities which also worked for tourism with the split being for those who weren’t as innately blessed by the water element. It is also because of this that all children are recovered to be birthed in air pockets or one of the domed cities and is also why there is a somewhat high orphan rate since their culture sees it as acceptable to not want to relocate.
• The Sound Sect refuses to be performers or bands after already having to deal with such issues in the past. Instead, the Sound Sect sings to nature and acts as a reclusive sect that creates sound techniques and devices which play into their strengths by allowing them to discover poisons.
• The Dragons Blood family continue to show off their innate power and talent as a family of high-level cultivators and people born with both high intellects and immense strength. Managing their own business empires and a slight interest in the Gigwan political stage, the Dragons Blood family keeps good ties with the Imperial family and have been known to entangle children to one another.
• The Assassin Hall has become more reclusive and taken some hits but they remain as a renowned assassination group that employs a lot of mortal legends in the modern era.
• The Unorthodox faction and Orthodox faction have remained rivals but have also created strong ties to one another. They aren’t as harsh about recruiting talents and let many try to make their mark. For the most part, they are spending their time setting up competitions and managing the creation as well as the upkeep of universities along with schools and high schools that are aligned with their faction which all have martial arts courses or are completely for training martial artists.

Though the major and ancient forces exist within the world, they do not have their own sovereignty and are instead regarded as forces to listen to and be cautious of, like the Demonic Sect who controls the local mountain range. Various nations in Gulathnia include:

• The Fizzle Kingdom, which exists above Gigwan on the world map, is similar in size to Gigwan. The Fizzle Kingdom continues to use outdated soldiers who are armed with spears, swords and heavy armour. Despite this, the Fizzle Kingdom is not to be underestimated since they are one of the 3 major powers. The reason they can be on the main stage despite not being Gigwan or from Philidel is that the Fizzle Kingdom had long since mastered biomancy arts. Against a cultivator, the creations would be like sludge against a brick, even if the brick couldn’t do anything, at most they would be splashed. But this is not a problem against the low-quality martial artists and cultivators who find 1 homunculus to be a dangerous threat. Ironically, though the larger ones can cause more damage, it is the more human and smaller ones that the Fizzle Kingdom create which are the things to fear. In the wars of contention where kingdoms and groups fought over supremacy and dominance, the Fizzle Kingdom quickly rose to power once they started using homunculi as their main force. Though high-level cultivators can better deal with them, unless they are immortal, the homunculi are still a threat to cultivators, martial artists and traditional cultivation puppets, even from the heaven realm.

As it currently stands, the Fizzle Kingdom has 3770 large homunculi, 27000 lesser homunculi, 300 high-quality homunculi made from the bodies of powerful and legendary figures and 10 top-tier homunculi. The top 10 homunculi are made as 1 of a kind and cause the kingdom strife to make even a single one of them, from blackouts to food shortages to the spreading of diseases and beyond.

• Like many other nations, Stevontasia is a nation that sprang up in the massive power vacuums around the world with Stevontasia being one made by Steven from Philidel. Unlike the rest of the world, though Stevontasia was a progressive nation of its time by inventing steam power, it chose to stagnate and not move to fossil fuels, nuclear or renewables. But this is not where Steontasia ended, as another nation on the central continent, Stevontasia knew they had to adapt, lest warlords or outside influences consumes them. Starting by building up their infrastructure via retrofitting their factories to run through homes so people could have free warmth. Stevontasia used their steampunk society’s scientists to create something similar to cold fusion using steam power. With that creation, they were able to create autonomous robot units that weren’t plugged into machinery and could utilise electric attacks. The move forward also enabled the people of Stevontasia to not be worked so hard and enjoy an even further prosperous life.

In the modern era, Stevontasia remains a steampunk nation with all sorts of contraptions that utilise steam power. But the most marvelous part of their society is the utilisation of their automatons as soldiers and workers, allowing for more people to live middle or upper-class lives with an incredibly small poor percentage. The Stevonians also enjoy some of the best prosthetic organs and limbs that only have the downside of being somewhat heavy. Although people are happy with the way their lives are technologically, the Stevonians still have their technology exported as Gulathnia’s equivalent to alternative medicine (not used for healing) or as pieces for study. The only notable problems for their society is the enormous water and smoke that fills the air. They deal with the water costs using well maintained and extremely efficient aquaducts and canals while they deal with the smoke in the air using large vent towers that collect the smoke and pumps it away from the country. The pumping is used for energy as well by deploying wind turbines where the thick air is pushed, since they can tolerate alternative energy methods as long as it involves steam power.
The Stevonians are also very conscientious about keeping the world green and their people updated with old timey designs put on modern tech which often ends up being more advanced since they like to stick to old sizes, allowing them to put in more. Though they aren’t going to stop their ways of steam power, they understand its effects on the global climate and know that they need to be part of the solution and are researching ways to remove the smoke in a cost-effective manner. The Stevonians are also working with other nations on green initiatives and trying to include more groups and powers in the struggle for the planet that cannot heal itself like other cultivation worlds. This combined with the love for old-styled modern tech has turned out a large number of mechanics for and outside of Stevontasia. This has only benefitted their nation because the high number of engineers and mechanics has allowed them to improve their steam tech and get authorisation for absolutely gigantic projects like the steam accordion/pipe organ. It uses rain and floods as water in its pit and is the size of the Opera House in Australia. Other projects include the goliath which has similar strength to a top-tier homunculus by the Fizzle Kingdom. The only reason they aren’t produced on a larger scale is because they are extremely costly resource-wise and has only allowed the nation to make 3 of the goliaths with 27 supporting gundams. But out of the mechs, goliaths, hyper pressurised rifles and other creations of this gifted people, the most fearsome thing is the police androids which look like if a humanised cleaning robot became an old-timey cop, got yoked and constantly kept a smoking pipe on him. Though it is only at the capacity of a soldier coming up against a gorilla, for law breakers and other such types of people, the cop bots are things of nightmares. With electricity moving around the outside of their body, bright red eyes, smoking coming out of the pipe and the cops gripping onto smooth tower walls, they come, literally, crashing down on enemies. One can only imagine the fear coursing through a thief or drug dealer who has his roof crashed through while his chemists are working.

• Oomerocomerica is a continent sized nation which inhabits the Brizigna continent and operates very similarly to America. Though their political and civil situation are a lot more controlled, especially with gun control, the ideals of freedom and the anime stereotypical idea of blonde women is true. People can still purchase guns with regulations to make crime and school shootings a thing of the past, and most of all, Oomerocomerica continues to spend most of their budget on military development and upkeep. Cutlivation bullets, something other nations consider extremely costly and is something only the super rich use on a limited basis is used by the Oomerocomerica army. Every soldier is given at least 30 bullets of cultivation bullets and the rest are spiritual bullets which most armies of other nations use. Just like their bullets, the amour, vehicles and other tools of the army are treasured items and are kept in extremely high regard. 3 of the 92 states are completely converted to the creating of military arms, if only due to the long amounts of time it takes to produce them. The states are also not simply created to control territories and are instead designed for water and dao energy in mind as well as farming and specific exports of certain states. The ordinary people, however, are stuck using normal firearms with no rapid fire like pistols and will need to pass several evaluations from mental health to criminality.

Oomerocomerica, besides being the land of freedom and the right to bear arms, is home to the largest number of “superheroes” who are in actuality mortal legends. Though fairly autonomous and beloved by the people, the mortal heroes are still beholden to the law and will have other superheroes and the government take them down if they do anything illegal.

• Beast Country is a nation of animals, insects, plants and anything that isn’t human which has attained some semblance of consciousness. Regardless of the value of their corpse, the Beast Country has taken in many refugees using secret shelters around the world. From caves in the forest to gatherings in sewers, the Beast Country takes in all walks of all and species. This has been both to their benefit and harm since they often take in creatures that are amazing tonics for cultivation or powerful beasts that people wish to tame. The only reason creatures still go to Beast Country is because it is either their only alternative or because they can trust the agents in the shelters because the agents are veterans or escapees themselves.

As one would imagine, just because they are refugees doesn’t mean that there won’t be crime. Although borders are tight and creatures from Beast Country do not like humans near the continent, there are still exports and goods through the black market. This is only possible because Beast Country isn’t a unified territory under a powerful existence and is instead a conglomerate of packs, groups and even kingdoms. The factions are not the most friendly to one another but they do not try to separate or cause too much strife. Instead, a council has been constructed for the various states and special locations like the Tranquility Garden which is a paradise for creatures who couldn’t defend themselves and were a massive prize, like the rainbow infused butterfly or rock elemental with its high value magic core. In total, there are 13 seats on the council that oversee the continent and 7 more seats for various positions like head general or finance minister. But even the possession of such creatures could not warrant entire nations to wish to assault their doors until the Beast Country began taking in weapons of war that had gained sentience like homunculi from Fizzle. This started a conflict between Fizzle Kingdom and Beast Country which quickly escalated as mercenaries offered their services for free, nations hopped on the train for free resources and people signed up as mercs for the war. If not for the fore warning, Beast Country wouldn’t have been able to prepare border defences in the form of a wall, armed with cannons, around the continent. Even though the wall did not completely stop the invaders, it certainly helped a lot and allowed the continent to only lose a state, half of which they recovered after the war, the other half crumbled and fell to the ground.

• Pinnacle is another nation in Gulathnia that exists in Glubnuke and has control over 90% of the islands above the continent. Despite being a rather small nation on the continent, Pinnacle is a paradise for advancement and modern ideals. From art to history to science and all other fields that are believed to enrich peoples lives. It is this love for science and discovery that allowed Pinnacle to quickly rise above the others and control the islands on the surface. No matter the emotions of other nations, the relations and ties that Pinnacle manages alongside their advanced society means that they are a threat that no one wants to destroy easily, especially considering the rap they would get. Their strength has only gotten more impressive as they have heavily invested in the islands above and manage a border similar to a mushroom. Unless people went to enter through the less amicable eastern islands, Pinnacle is the one collecting 99% of all tithes for entry. It is because of this immense profit margin that Pinnacle invests a large amount of their population into the islands with smooth and comfortable lifts down to the air bubbled underwater continent. All of this only makes it more frightening for invaders and aggressors to find out that though Pinnacle is willing to make some concessions, piss them off enough and they will go balistic. From the Island Wars of 372 ACW (After Centention Wars) where they quickly retook all the taken islands in a night to the siege of the Night Moon castle. Though they are pacifists that keep a calm approach which couples with their enlightened attitudes, poke the bee nest and a dragon attacks.
• Gigwan is the oldest and most ancient empire in Gulathnia and is home to some of the strongest styles, techniques and abilities for cultivation and martial arts. Because of their long history and fortune, Gigwan has created many legendary figures, almost all martial artists of legend existed in Gigwan, due to it being the golden age of martial arts. Similarly, most older generation cultivators with renown and greater power are also based in Gigwan for the same reasons, along with powerful cultivation and martial arts families.

Though they aren’t filled with the latest tech and most sophisticated researchers, Gigwan remains a leading power and a driving force for advancements. Although their research and initiatives are usually geared towards cultivation and martial arts, despite them not being the strongest nation, thanks to Oomerocomerica.

• Ashrihan Republic’s Mcfarnach Dukedom is a dukedom that is still recognised by both parties as part of the Ashrihan Republic. The reason they are still a dukedom and not reincorporated as a state is because the dukedom could succeed at any moment it wished. Though the Ashrihan Republic is a democracy with a president ruling over a council and an outdated monarchy who are treated like monuments rather than a ruling power with any authority. The dukedom is kept around with its classic noble lineage because the Duke of the Mcfarnach territory and his people are impossibly strong. Although they lack the military power to stretch beyond their dukedom, the Mcfarnach Dukedom is possibly the most impenetrable place in the whole world. Being only the size of a major city, the city-state has its main population behind its inner walls around the city while it is protected by 3 entry points that both generate the territory wealth and give them safety. By all measures, the dukedom can separate as an independent nation and only chooses not to do so because of their love of the Ashrihan Kingdom and its royal family. Although the royal family is kept around as a trinket for tourists with a section in their home dedicated for tourists, the reason they still keep even this much power and stability is because of the Mcfarnach Dukedom. In fact, when the Mcfarnach Dukedom has to have talks and discussions with the Ashrihan Republic, they require the presence of the royal family who acts as the last say in the conversation. Despite what people may think, the royal family of Ashrihan is both strong and defiant against the republic for though they might bend the knee on most matters, they will not allow the dukedom which has given such loyalty to be dishonoured. This has led to many issues with the republic who thought they could simply put in a fake monarch and order them to disarm or quickly replace the dukedom’s army long enough to enact their “democracy”. Every time this has failed and led to the republic giving the dukedom compensation, something they will always bend the knee to because not only do they lack the ability to take the city-state but they are also dependent on the dukedom. The reason that is the case is because the Mcfarnach Dukedom is mostly secured by their high mountains and treasure trove soil which supply the republic with precious metals every week. This only exemplifies their trustability because despite being next to other nations or with easy access, the dukedom ensures that 70% of all mineral trade and business goes to the Ashrihan Republic and is sold in a way that allows the people to experience greater wealth and prosperity. No matter if it is the royal family’s influential friends or orders of the government, the Mcfarnach Dukedom will not simply shuffle off their minerals to big organisations and companies that will export the minerals elsewhere. This has made them extremely well-liked within the people’s eye and makes it so that they cannot act rashly against the dukedom, especially since the dukedom with an open and vocal advocate against corruption.

The entrances of the dukedom include a passage between 2 steep mountains, a river ending inside the dukedom and a part of airspace that doesn’t have constant storms of mineral ice. Though the storm that is constantly staying around the region has given them air defences, the main and primal form of defence has and always is the steep mountains surrounding the dukedom. With these natural defences and phenomenon, only the 3 entrances are needed to be defended. The defences are not to be worried about though, since the entry points are secured and filled with high and thick concrete walls, anit-air defences and armed guards guarding the borders.

• Black Country is the last standing nation in and on the Hydraniliion continent and is slowly losing their grasp. Although they re-appeared in Gulathnia during and after the Contention Wars, Black Country has remained unaided, despite constant cries and requests for aid. The situation is so desperate because the Hydraniliion continent is threatened to be consumed by massive leviathans that lurk in the ocean under the world, giving the darkness malevolent sounds. But the leviathans are but a secondary issue for the prime problem is the Tainted Ones, both an ethnicity and an organisation that has consumed 63% of the continent and destroyed all other nations. The only reason the Tainted Ones have not taken over the sacked and ruined territories is because Black Country is using whatever forces tehy can gather from their nation and the ruined ones to enforce the borders. Though it is unknown what conditions brought about the Tainted Ones, what is known is that they use the powers of darkness and have become its apostles under the world. Every inch of ground they take only seems to empower them while every ground taken is only a slight annoyance or inconvenience, signalling that the controlling and corruption of land is not their strength but some grander entity rewarding them. What makes things worse is that even if people wanted to come and help the Black Country, the trench is simply too thickly filled with the essence of darkness, meaning that a quantitative difference or an economic one is not possible. Only those with high cultivation or advanced martial arts powers can enter and no one wants to play delivery man with such strength, nor does a single man or woman’s efforts mean much when combating a seemingly endless tide.
• Moon Dancer’s Sanctum is the nation of those who live on the moon and is in actuality a shared territory between various powers in the world who colonised the moon during their space race, giving the moon enough autonomy to not be any groups puppets. Their special trait is that they have a unique energy which is similar to celestial or star dao energy that acts with an earthy mix. Unique to Gulathnia, since most cultivation worlds cannot access the moon unless they are one of the strongest cultivators or possess meteor shards. The moon of Gulathnia allows for unique insights in cultivation, new styles of martial arts and an affinity to this unique dao element that others couldn’t realise they had without harnessing their innate elemental affinity.

Though people almost always have a wood, fire, water, earth, air or lightning element affinity, something that cultivators don’t usually need to care about since it doesn’t help them cultivate and they can simply use a range of techniques. For more rare elements like moon dao energy, it can at the very least offer insight or enlightenment to cultivators, already making it a treasure. The fact that the moon dao energy is so unique and otherworldly that it can greatly help cultivation progress only enhances its value, by several folds if specifics are involved. It is for this reason that the moon of Gulathnia is heavily invested in with the most modern techn and why there is significant amounts of infrastructure for mining already put in. The most astonishing part is the launcher track which takes the harvested moon pieces and shoots it out of a conveyor belt to the planet’s many launch bays. There often needs to be security details in the sky to prevent theft but the reward for reselling or using moon pieces is astronomical. Entire temples or training grounds are built out of moon rocks to enhance a person’s cultivation progress. Most buildings on the moon are either built with, in or from converted pieces of moon rock, making citizens on the moon extremely exotic in their powers. It is for this reason that the Moon Dancers, the group the moon is named after, exists. The Moon Dancers are like if a swat team, power rangers and ballerinas mixed together. They guard the planet from criminals and invaders, giving them a great reputation and several statues built in their honor. If people want to work in law enforcement on the moon, they will have at least minimal training as a Moon Dancer, allowing them to dash and dance across the buildings, thanks to the low gravity.

• On the west of Glupnia, Grizan is a nation that is extremely blessed to have several dragon veins contort over the centuries into their land, allowing them to become a powerful nation once they relearned cultivation. Though the times were tough with overthrowing foreign rule and reuniting their lands and taking a bit extra from hostile neighbours who were just outside of the dragon veins to get such riches. The Grizan people have a 100% cultivator population and extremely rich and beautiful environments. They don’t export anything and the whole nation is almost always cultivating or working on big cultivation projects like absorption towers that condense and collect the power underground and overlapping under them to make especially powerful or advanced cultivators. The only problem they have is that a lot of them are stuck on emerging immortal and have massive border restrictions after the heavenly tribulations of 96 and attempt to unify the world, leading to MASSIVE war.

Since I was 9-10yrs of age, I've had incredible pain in my joints. Sitting down to listen to our teacher read us books in class and having everyone around me jump up afterwards, and have me cringe and groan trying to move, caused a lot of difficulties growing up.
I'm 38 now. My 80+yr old neighbor came by the other day when I was sitting cross legged on my deck building a planter and I hobbled up, visibly grimacing at the pain in my hips and knees. He, obviously, asked if I was okay. I didn't have an answer, I just laughed it off and told him I was 'the youngest old person he'd ever met'.
My world is pain. I have had pain and inflammation in every joint since a child. I actually welcome getting to the age where people don't scoff at my joint pain.
I've realized, recently, that what I thought was a weird insect bite and rash, as a child, might have actually been a tick bite. (Medically neglectful parents, etc)
I was tested for tick born bacteria in 2015 and carried several strains in both categories of bacteria.
Could that have been what caused the inflammation in my joints since childhood? Or could I have some allergy that I'm not aware of and am continually exposed to? Aspartame causes extreme joint inflammation and swelling, could there be something else?
I'm realizing, watching my child grow, he's 11yrs old and wonderful:) that my childhood and physical symptoms weren't normal. Where in the world do I even begin?!

I recently stopped speaking to my best friend of almost 4 years.
We became very close over the last 4 years and did a lot together. We are same gender (male).
About a month or two ago, he joked around with me one morning, sending me gifs and memes like he usually did. Then, when I sent a meme/gif, he told me he wasn't in the mood and was thinking about eliminating people from his life that were not there for him at that moment to be his support, heavily implying myself. I apologized and told him I was trying my best but was also dealing with the recent death of my child and trying to support my wife who has been struggling to cope with that as well. He apologized but then went on to say that he was mad I still wasn't there and how I should put him first above my family (he cut contact with his family when they did nothing wrong) and then proceeded to gaslight me, which was something he was always pointing out from other people.
He also:
-wasted a WHOLE evening of mine as I had to cancel dinner plans with my wife as his partner and himself needed helping moving from one apartment to the next. I was only supposed to help move couches but then was expected to pack everything because him and his partner had NOTHING packed. I also worked until 3pm that day, went straight to his house, did not leave until midnight, and then had to work at 7am. The only reason I left at midnight was because my wife finally told me to come home and showed up to get me.
-demanded I pay for a surge protector power bar that I "wrecked" during the packing/move as I accidentally put a bottle of water in the box that had a lid that was not fastened tight (cost me $130 and I got paid nothing for helping him move).
-tried getting me to cause drama with his partner when they broke up with him and found a new beau just so he could film them flipping out and humiliate them.
-flipped out at me for not removing a piece of furniture that I wanted from his apartment, after forgetting it was there due to a disability I have. He then told me he was throwing it out. This happened the same day he gaslit me and I stopped speaking to him
-constantly made his ex-partner's life Hell all because they left him. He: Gave their dog to the local shelter after being paid to watch it. Called his ex's workplace to report them bashing the workplace on social media. Basically forced his ex to call the Board of Labour because he wasn't happy with how they didn't allow certain things in their line of work after being told by his ex that they didn't want to lose their Jon and cause a scene. His ex was terminated and made a laughing stock
He is moving out of the country within the next few months as he hates the government. He made the rash decision to move to a country where an ex-friend of his is currently residing. This ex-friend cut contact with him as they felt pressured by him to always be there as well.
I could go on but he put me in a lot of uncomfortable situations, especially around that one ex. I get people need support from their friends and I tried my best to be that to him but, when he brought up how he wanted to be first before my wife, that is just not right.
I did not respond to that last message he sent. I just simply blocked him on my phone, Snapchat, WhatsApp, etc.
Is it wrong of me to feel the way I do? Are my actions justified?

I finally finished watching the Neon Genesis Evangelion series, and I must say, I can see why it's such a beloved classic for many, even to this day. Though I wouldn't place it among my top 30 favorite anime, despite watching many episodes and movies from the series, there were still some elements I enjoyed. This series originally caught my attention when I was browsing TV Tropes and came across the nightmare fuel page for my favorite horror anime, Higurashi: When They Cry. The first sentence mentioned that it rivaled Evangelion in terms of psychological terror and mindf**kery. For this reason alone, I knew I had to eventually watch the series. It took a long time, but I finally managed to sit down and watch all 26 episodes and five movies of Neon Genesis Evangelion. I've decided to talk about each entry individually before giving my overall thoughts on the series.
Neon Genesis Evangelion:
The original and the one that started it all (if the manga came first, I didn't know, so don't witchhunt me). It had a really cool concept. The idea of using angels as the overarching threat to humanity, similar to the titans in Attack on Titan, was interesting, as there was a lot of mystery surrounding their motivations and origins (I missed this info, so I still don't know). We follow this timid boy named Shinji Ikari, who is brought in to pilot an EVA, large biomechanical beings that children pilot to help fight against the angels. If you lose control of them, you lose your humanity. Shinji goes through inner conflict about whether he wants to pilot his EVA Unit 01 or not. He's also very lonely, but everyone is either distant from him, or he shuts them out himself. He meets other pilots such as the aloof kuudere, Rei Ayanami, and the brash and harsh tsundere, Asuka Langley. Shinji is forced to learn to work together with them. There's Misato, who is easily one of the most likable characters, acting as a parental figure for Shinji, even though she's inexperienced and has her own baggage to deal with. Shinji also has a very strained relationship with his father, Gendo Ikari, the leader of NERV, the organization Shinji arrives at, and he hopes to reconnect with him, even if it's in vain.
While I can see Asuka's influence on more modern tsunderes, I just couldn't find myself liking her. She was WAY too hostile, and even when we get to her dark and tragic backstory, it still becomes difficult to fully justify her attitude. Rei was much more likable, given how mysterious she was. I was even hoping that Shinji would pair off with Rei instead of Asuka... until it is revealed that Rei is a clone of Shinji's mother. So that ain't ever happening. The rest of the cast is also fine. One thing I do like about the original series is the action, which is really good and still holds up today. Some scenes really make you feel the weight of these giants, making you feel small. The opening theme song is an absolute banger. Definitely in my top ten anime OPs. I also really loved Shinji and Kaworu's relationship, even low-key shipping them together. It made the ultimate reveal all the more shocking and heartbreaking.
Now, as for the sole reason I began watching this series: the psychological horror aspect. I will say this: by the second half, when it goes full Lovecraft mode, it DOES start entering nightmare fuel territory. There are a lot of frightening shots, and even the angels themselves are really terrifying. It was indeed really cool to see most of what I came for.
However, now we get to the negatives. This may anger some hardcore fans, but I found the pacing of the series to be off most of the time. I often found myself forcing my way through the episodes, and the final episodes... I felt like I had wasted my time. They felt so underwhelming and inconclusive that I felt like I was watching a cliffhanger. But that's where the movie, The End of Evangelion, comes in. Shinji is also very hard to like. I know he's meant to be a deconstruction, but still, I hate when it feels like a chore to follow a character, especially the protagonist, if he/she is not likable.
Overall, it's not terrible. It took a while to get through it all, but I eventually completed it before moving on to the movies. Is it perfect? No. Did it deliver what I came for? Kinda, yeah. I still feel glad I saw it. I didn't feel like I wasted my time, as I was still overall invested in the story.
Neon Genesis Evangelion Movie - The End of Evangelion:
The movie definitely had a much better ending than the TV series. It picks up two episodes or so before the final episodes of the show, giving us a more action-packed and nightmarish climax instead. SEELE, the mysterious organization possibly pulling most of the strings, unleashes an invasion on NERV. Then begins the dreaded Instrumentality Project, a mysterious motive for Gendo. It turns out to be an apocalyptic event that will merge everyone into a single consciousness.
They definitely go all out with the nightmare fuel and more... disturbing scenes in this one. For disturbing, I'm talking about the uncomfortable moment with Shinji and Asuka in the hospital. Then there's that weird kiss scene between Misato and Shinji... just why?
Now, similar to the series, while the ending IS better, it still doesn't feel very conclusive. The ending left me with more questions than answers.
You Are (Not) Alone:
Now begins the first movie in the Rebuild series, a reboot/remake/sequel of the original. This might divide even more people, but I think I enjoyed the Rebuild movies more than the original series. For one, the pacing was a lot better. Even Shinji gets a huge character upgrade, and everyone is just a lot more likable. The story also has a much clearer plot, not to mention amazing animation. The downside is that I was watching the dubbed version by Netflix, so I tried hard not to cringe most of the time I heard Misato and Shinji's voices. Sadly, I couldn't find the original dub until Thrice Upon a Time, so I was stuck with the terrible dub for three movies until the last film.
Asuka's crush on Shinji is a lot less subtle this time, and Shinji's relationship with Rei feels a lot more engaging. The action scenes look really cool, though comparing them to the original feels a little unfair due to the different styles and atmospheres. The movies, at least until the later films, feel a bit more lighthearted compared to the original series, but they eventually return to their more despair-inducing roots.
The only issues are, of course, the dub and that it's mostly the same story as the original, just with better animation and a few different scenes. A new character named Mari is introduced. She's fine but feels somewhat random. I don't hate her but feel she came out of nowhere.
You Can (Not) Advance:
I definitely enjoyed this one more. There's more focus on Shinji and Asuka's relationship, as well as Shinji and Rei's. Seeing Rei's attempt at bringing Shinji and Gendo closer together was really wholesome, but alas, the angels had other plans. It also answered a few questions I had. The ocean is red, but I assumed it was just red for atmospheric effect, for the style. No, that ocean is BLOOD.
The ending of this movie is where things really kick off. By the time we reach the ending, it goes in a completely different direction from the original series. Up until this point, it was more or less the same story with a few changes here and there. But from this point on, it's uncharted territory, and I was excited for it.
You Can (Not) Redo:
After Shinji accidentally caused the apocalypse, we fast forward 16 years into the future, and now everyone hates and distrusts Shinji. They see him as an enemy. Even Misato has turned her back on him and sees him as the enemy. This was very hard to sit through. Kaworu returns and once again develops a strong bond with Shinji. Gendo is back as well, but there's something off about him. From this point on, Shinji's dad pretty much takes over as the main villain, which I thought was interesting, especially given Shinji's significant conflict with Gendo.
This movie was really tough to sit through. While the softer and wholesome moments between Shinji and Kaworu were nice, seeing everyone else turn against Shinji was hard. Even Rei isn't acting like herself. Ultimately, Shinji does something rash once again, but this time with less catastrophic consequences.
It's decent, but still a bit stiff in places.
Thrice Upon a Time:
Now we reach the final movie in the Evangelion anime franchise (now with the original voice cast!), and it has a WAY better conclusion than the TV show and End of Evangelion movie gave us. For one, the ending feels a LOT more conclusive and finally gives us insight into Shinji's dad's motivations: why he was so neglectful of Shinji but nice to Rei, and why he was so obsessed with going through with the Instrumentality Project. I think making Shinji's dad the final antagonist was a smart choice, given he's who Shinji had the most conflict with in this series.
The nightmare fuel stuff comes back with a bang, with a semi-realistic model that just doesn't belong, making it somewhat more disturbing. There are also a lot of cool action scenes.
Rei, the version we follow now, also gets a huge amount of character development here which... well, I'll get to it now. But Shinji gets the best of his character development. After being depressed for most of the beginning of the film, he eventually begins to mature and gain confidence before he's finally able to face his father. This is where we get genuine, heartwarming closure between Shinji and Gendo. The ending still feels wild, but at least now I get the sense the story is finally over.
Now for the negatives: the first thing I want to say is that Rei's new character development felt wasted when she got... wasted like that. Also, I don't hate Mari, but the biggest WTF moment is in the ending, which, although it has a satisfying conclusion, ends with Shinji implied to be in a romantic relationship with Mari, someone with whom he had NO romantic chemistry. Shinji had more romantic chemistry with even Kaworu than Mari. There's also a bit of inconsistency with the characters. In the previous film, everyone treated Shinji like the enemy, but here, everyone besides the pink-haired chick acts like Shinji was not to blame and like they never hated him to begin with.
Still, it's not a bad film. I still much prefer this ending over the one we got from the original.
*****
Overall, I can see why this franchise is so loved. It was certainly a journey and I did find it somewhat entertaining, but I wouldn't exactly rank it among my top 30 favorite anime of all time. However, I can definitely feel its influence on a lot of the modern anime we have today. It's a solid watch with a really engaging and terrifying concept.
Final Score: 7/10

I've been lurking for a while, reading posts. I'm still on the fence, so I thought I would write this out and get input. I'm looking for a tummy tuck, muscle repair, breast reduction/lift, and potentially lipo.
I am looking at Southern Surgical Arts in TN, with Dr. Chad Deal. I live about 45 min from Atlanta, so a three-five hour drive on way depending on their office in Chattanooga, TN or Calhoun, GA.
Reasons I am scared: 1. I've had several minor laparoscopic surgeries, none major. This would be my first major surgery. My belly button has been gone through 4 times, and I can feel the scar tissue around it. Will this be an issue?

1. I'm allergic to most antibiotics except three, Cipro, Levaquin and Azithromycin, all of which cause severe side effects, so infection is a concern. Has anyone else had this experience? How was it handled?
   
2. I'm allergic to pain medication. They either cause a rash or I am so sensitive to them, a regular single dose puts me to sleep for 3 days. Worried about handling pain. I did my first birth induced and with no epidural, just Dilaudid. Is it similar?
   
3. My potential surgeon is a three hour drive one way. What does the post op visits actually look like? How bad is riding in a car after surgery?
   
4. I hate tight clothing, mostly due to all the loose skin, so I've been wearing loose clothing for years. I have trouble even wearing a regular bra. Can spanx be done as compression? I'm afraid a faja would cause a panic attack.
   
5. I'm allergic to the dermal glue. My last laparoscopic surgery caused blistering and itching and took three times as long to heal and required medication.
   
6. Does the tummy tuck muscle repair actually fix stress incontinence? That's one of my issues after pregnancy and I really want that to be fixed by this surgery to make it worth it.
   
7. Has anyone had any sort of vaginal rejuvenation done as part of their mommy makeover? Lots of tearing and scars from giving birth twice and stitches, and wondering if it helps actually "rejuvenate" things.
   
8. What questions did you ask and take to your doctors office? What concerns did you bring? What am I missing and haven't thought of?
   

Thank you guys so much for any of your input...it is incredibly appreciated.

I finally finished watching the Neon Genesis Evangelion series, and I must say, I can see why it's such a beloved classic for many, even to this day. Though I wouldn't place it among my top 30 favorite anime, despite watching many episodes and movies from the series, there were still some elements I enjoyed. This series originally caught my attention when I was browsing TV Tropes and came across the nightmare fuel page for my favorite horror anime, Higurashi: When They Cry. The first sentence mentioned that it rivaled Evangelion in terms of psychological terror and mindf**kery. For this reason alone, I knew I had to eventually watch the series. It took a long time, but I finally managed to sit down and watch all 26 episodes and five movies of Neon Genesis Evangelion. I've decided to talk about each entry individually before giving my overall thoughts on the series.
Neon Genesis Evangelion:
The original and the one that started it all (if the manga came first, I didn't know, so don't witchhunt me). It had a really cool concept. The idea of using angels as the overarching threat to humanity, similar to the titans in Attack on Titan, was interesting, as there was a lot of mystery surrounding their motivations and origins (I missed this info, so I still don't know). We follow this timid boy named Shinji Ikari, who is brought in to pilot an EVA, large biomechanical beings that children pilot to help fight against the angels. If you lose control of them, you lose your humanity. Shinji goes through inner conflict about whether he wants to pilot his EVA Unit 01 or not. He's also very lonely, but everyone is either distant from him, or he shuts them out himself. He meets other pilots such as the aloof kuudere, Rei Ayanami, and the brash and harsh tsundere, Asuka Langley. Shinji is forced to learn to work together with them. There's Misato, who is easily one of the most likable characters, acting as a parental figure for Shinji, even though she's inexperienced and has her own baggage to deal with. Shinji also has a very strained relationship with his father, Gendo Ikari, the leader of NERV, the organization Shinji arrives at, and he hopes to reconnect with him, even if it's in vain.
While I can see Asuka's influence on more modern tsunderes, I just couldn't find myself liking her. She was WAY too hostile, and even when we get to her dark and tragic backstory, it still becomes difficult to fully justify her attitude. Rei was much more likable, given how mysterious she was. I was even hoping that Shinji would pair off with Rei instead of Asuka... until it is revealed that Rei is a clone of Shinji's mother. So that ain't ever happening. The rest of the cast is also fine. One thing I do like about the original series is the action, which is really good and still holds up today. Some scenes really make you feel the weight of these giants, making you feel small. The opening theme song is an absolute banger. Definitely in my top ten anime OPs. I also really loved Shinji and Kaworu's relationship, even low-key shipping them together. It made the ultimate reveal all the more shocking and heartbreaking.
Now, as for the sole reason I began watching this series: the psychological horror aspect. I will say this: by the second half, when it goes full Lovecraft mode, it DOES start entering nightmare fuel territory. There are a lot of frightening shots, and even the angels themselves are really terrifying. It was indeed really cool to see most of what I came for.
However, now we get to the negatives. This may anger some hardcore fans, but I found the pacing of the series to be off most of the time. I often found myself forcing my way through the episodes, and the final episodes... I felt like I had wasted my time. They felt so underwhelming and inconclusive that I felt like I was watching a cliffhanger. But that's where the movie, The End of Evangelion, comes in. Shinji is also very hard to like. I know he's meant to be a deconstruction, but still, I hate when it feels like a chore to follow a character, especially the protagonist, if he/she is not likable.
Overall, it's not terrible. It took a while to get through it all, but I eventually completed it before moving on to the movies. Is it perfect? No. Did it deliver what I came for? Kinda, yeah. I still feel glad I saw it. I didn't feel like I wasted my time, as I was still overall invested in the story.
Neon Genesis Evangelion Movie - The End of Evangelion:
The movie definitely had a much better ending than the TV series. It picks up two episodes or so before the final episodes of the show, giving us a more action-packed and nightmarish climax instead. SEELE, the mysterious organization possibly pulling most of the strings, unleashes an invasion on NERV. Then begins the dreaded Instrumentality Project, a mysterious motive for Gendo. It turns out to be an apocalyptic event that will merge everyone into a single consciousness.
They definitely go all out with the nightmare fuel and more... disturbing scenes in this one. For disturbing, I'm talking about the uncomfortable moment with Shinji and Asuka in the hospital. Then there's that weird kiss scene between Misato and Shinji... just why?
Now, similar to the series, while the ending IS better, it still doesn't feel very conclusive. The ending left me with more questions than answers.
You Are (Not) Alone:
Now begins the first movie in the Rebuild series, a reboot/remake/sequel of the original. This might divide even more people, but I think I enjoyed the Rebuild movies more than the original series. For one, the pacing was a lot better. Even Shinji gets a huge character upgrade, and everyone is just a lot more likable. The story also has a much clearer plot, not to mention amazing animation. The downside is that I was watching the dubbed version by Netflix, so I tried hard not to cringe most of the time I heard Misato and Shinji's voices. Sadly, I couldn't find the original dub until Thrice Upon a Time, so I was stuck with the terrible dub for three movies until the last film.
Asuka's crush on Shinji is a lot less subtle this time, and Shinji's relationship with Rei feels a lot more engaging. The action scenes look really cool, though comparing them to the original feels a little unfair due to the different styles and atmospheres. The movies, at least until the later films, feel a bit more lighthearted compared to the original series, but they eventually return to their more despair-inducing roots.
The only issues are, of course, the dub and that it's mostly the same story as the original, just with better animation and a few different scenes. A new character named Mari is introduced. She's fine but feels somewhat random. I don't hate her but feel she came out of nowhere.
You Can (Not) Advance:
I definitely enjoyed this one more. There's more focus on Shinji and Asuka's relationship, as well as Shinji and Rei's. Seeing Rei's attempt at bringing Shinji and Gendo closer together was really wholesome, but alas, the angels had other plans. It also answered a few questions I had. The ocean is red, but I assumed it was just red for atmospheric effect, for the style. No, that ocean is BLOOD.
The ending of this movie is where things really kick off. By the time we reach the ending, it goes in a completely different direction from the original series. Up until this point, it was more or less the same story with a few changes here and there. But from this point on, it's uncharted territory, and I was excited for it.
You Can (Not) Redo:
After Shinji accidentally caused the apocalypse, we fast forward 16 years into the future, and now everyone hates and distrusts Shinji. They see him as an enemy. Even Misato has turned her back on him and sees him as the enemy. This was very hard to sit through. Kaworu returns and once again develops a strong bond with Shinji. Gendo is back as well, but there's something off about him. From this point on, Shinji's dad pretty much takes over as the main villain, which I thought was interesting, especially given Shinji's significant conflict with Gendo.
This movie was really tough to sit through. While the softer and wholesome moments between Shinji and Kaworu were nice, seeing everyone else turn against Shinji was hard. Even Rei isn't acting like herself. Ultimately, Shinji does something rash once again, but this time with less catastrophic consequences.
It's decent, but still a bit stiff in places.
Thrice Upon a Time:
Now we reach the final movie in the Evangelion anime franchise (now with the original voice cast!), and it has a WAY better conclusion than the TV show and End of Evangelion movie gave us. For one, the ending feels a LOT more conclusive and finally gives us insight into Shinji's dad's motivations: why he was so neglectful of Shinji but nice to Rei, and why he was so obsessed with going through with the Instrumentality Project. I think making Shinji's dad the final antagonist was a smart choice, given he's who Shinji had the most conflict with in this series.
The nightmare fuel stuff comes back with a bang, with a semi-realistic model that just doesn't belong, making it somewhat more disturbing. There are also a lot of cool action scenes.
Rei, the version we follow now, also gets a huge amount of character development here which... well, I'll get to it now. But Shinji gets the best of his character development. After being depressed for most of the beginning of the film, he eventually begins to mature and gain confidence before he's finally able to face his father. This is where we get genuine, heartwarming closure between Shinji and Gendo. The ending still feels wild, but at least now I get the sense the story is finally over.
Now for the negatives: the first thing I want to say is that Rei's new character development felt wasted when she got... wasted like that. Also, I don't hate Mari, but the biggest WTF moment is in the ending, which, although it has a satisfying conclusion, ends with Shinji implied to be in a romantic relationship with Mari, someone with whom he had NO romantic chemistry. Shinji had more romantic chemistry with even Kaworu than Mari. There's also a bit of inconsistency with the characters. In the previous film, everyone treated Shinji like the enemy, but here, everyone besides the pink-haired chick acts like Shinji was not to blame and like they never hated him to begin with.
Still, it's not a bad film. I still much prefer this ending over the one we got from the original.
*****
Overall, I can see why this franchise is so loved. It was certainly a journey and I did find it somewhat entertaining, but I wouldn't exactly rank it among my top 30 favorite anime of all time. However, I can definitely feel its influence on a lot of the modern anime we have today. It's a solid watch with a really engaging and terrifying concept.
Final Score: 7/10

TLDR: As a 19-year-old binary trans man on the autism spectrum who's been medically transitioning since I was 17, I don't feel comfortable with a beard because of sensory issues, and I've undergone two laser beard hair removal sessions so far to permanently stunt its growth. I don't regret or doubt my decision to start hormone replacement therapy; I simply recognize that facial hair isn't for me.
When I began my medical transition at 17, I had a very clear mental list of the changes I wanted and needed most to alleviate my gender dysphoria. Before testosterone, my face was traditionally feminine, with round cheeks, a soft jawline, a heart-shaped hairline, almond eyes, heavy lower lips, thin eyebrows, and a relatively thin nose. I also used to wear my straight, sometimes frizzy hair short, so all these features were on full display, making my gender dysphoria even worse.
I always thought the only time I would feel masculine enough was when I finally had a beard to hide under, as I doubted testosterone alone could transform my face from traditionally feminine to masculine. And I was right; it didn't, at least not in the way I had hoped at 17.
Emotionally, the beginning of my transition was challenging. Though I had known I was a man (boy at the time) since I was 10 or 11, finding the words to express it took time. When I finally spoke up, I faced a lot of questioning from my family and medical team, which, though expected, was draining. I found myself trying to be as masculine as possible, not only because it was I needed to alleviate my severe gender dysphoria at the time but also to be taken seriously and start my medical transition quickly.
Today, two years on hormones and almost two years post-top surgery, my quality of life has vastly improved. My body, face, and voice are more traditionally masculine, and I've been cis-passing since approximately one year on testosterone. I don't have straight passing a lot of the time but I'm completely okay with that since I'm gay anyways, and proud to be.
My style has completely changed since I was 17 years old and I've never felt more like myself. Although I still tend to wear more traditionally masculine silhouettes, I love adding color to my outfits, wearing clothes from the feminine section of stores, and simply having fun with patterns, textures, and overall self-expression. I've also realized that I'm in complete peace with the fact that my face will most likely never be 100% traditionally masculine. I've found peace in the phrase "feminine in a masculine way" and being called both "pretty" and "handsome" by my partner.
My period of self-acceptance was also the time my beard started coming in. I was neutral, leaning towards okay with it at first, since it was mostly just dark peach fuzz and could easily get rid of it. I even considered one day letting it grow since I've always been curious as to how I would look with a beard. I thought I had escaped the prickly facial hair gene, but I was quickly proven wrong. Thick, black, and prickly hair began protruding from my chin, jawline, and worst of all, neck. I realized that even after shaving, it was impossible to get rid of it completely like I once could. The area where I removed the facial hair would be gray, the smoothness would only last a couple of hours, and no matter the routine or shaving method I used, I would have rashes and spots all over the area, exacerbating my sensory issues.
I realized I could only shave once a week if I wanted to avoid at least the rashes and spots, and it turned into a routine of feeling horrible in my skin all week until it was finally Friday (the day I chose to shave). Friday turned into the only day a week I truly felt comfortable, happy, and confident in my skin, and even then, it would only last a couple of hours before I felt the hairs prickling beneath my skin again. I got diagnosed with autism when I was 15 and have experienced sensory issues before, but the feeling of having sensory issues that I couldn't escape from, especially on my face, was horrible. I imagined having this feeling covering more than just my neck, chin, and jawline, and it brought tears to my eyes. The curiosity I had once felt about what I would look like with a beard was simply not worth it anymore. It took me a long time to accept that I was simply not cut out for facial hair, and I was able to make my final decision based on one question I asked myself.
Who are you keeping it for?
I was keeping it for a version of myself that no longer existed, and I was keeping it for the expectations of what it means to be a man (or a trans man that consciously made the decision to start HRT). When a person makes the decision to begin HRT, they must be open and prepared to everything it entails. With that said, at this point in my transition, I don't feel like someone who's regretting a side of HRT or doubting if it was the right choice for them. I truly just feel like a man who realized facial hair isn't for him, because that's what I am.
I'm open to questions and happy to answer them. Thank you for reading!