Funny comedy skits for two people two minutes

What's up dudes,
I'm learning how to wheelie my Z400 but I'm thinking about the next step.... BUT, I kinda want to see if there's any options that aren't a 636, MT07/R7, F4i and a supermoto. The two options I'd kinda like to consider is an MT09 or a Street Triple. But I see a couple issues with those.
For the MT09, plenty of part availability, so that's not my concern. My issue is the power band, Its just so short and torquey, I feel like it would be hard to keep at a steady balance point.
For the Striple, I think the power band would be better than an MT09 and it seems like quite a few people stunt these in Europe. My concern is part availability in the U.S.. For a 675cc, parts are easier to find. But I've had issues finding stunt parts for a 765 Striple in the US.
I'm never going to be at like a competition level with stunting. But I do want a bike that I'll be able to learn how to do standing wheelies (on stunt pegs), some stoppies, the basic-ish stuff.
Lmk what you guys think. I have a feeling for parts availability alone, it'll make sense to just do a 636 or an 07 but I want to explore options before I pull the trigger bc it would be neat to do something a little different instead of being one of the thousands of 636s or MT07s at bike night

My guy and i just had our first part of our big evaluation. Everything webt super smooth, he only ignored a couple commands cause he was tired due to the recent heatwave. The one thing that we barely didnt fail at was the garbage test, where my evaluator put a bunch of garbage containing socks, paper and plastic bags, a croissant and tissues (the best temptation for my guy unfortunately). We had to go through the trash both on and off leash and he grabbed a couple tissues and ate them.
My trainer said i did a really good job, the highlight was my go find mom command, that i couldnt really do sonce my mom was at work, so my trainer suggested to try sending him to her, to see what would happen. He enthousiastically went forward and didnt stop at a particular person (there were my trainer and two volunteers as evaluators) but my trainer was really impressed since he understood he was meant to look for someone, he just didnt know who.
We only covered inside behaviours, including waiting for fifteen minutes, people entering and exiting and a couple commands like sitting, lying, waiting and cuddling and we covered how he handles grooming and what hes like when hes touched everywhere (which he passed with flying colors). Well have our outside test, where we walk around the city and enter some businesses, in two weeks, cause my trainer is expecting puppies somewhere this or next week.
Im so happy and so proud of us. We practiced a lot and i get performance anxiety but i managed to keep it in check, so it went really well. Well practice the garbage test in the next six months since ill have my reevaluation then and before that ill practice our walking and pa.
I just had to post this, cant wait to change my flair from in training to service dog

"I remember awesome dates and deep conversations. I thought i finally found my person. Why did you say we were in the wrong time of our lives, why did you want this to end so bad just to come back crying, absolutely mad at me, saying that i used you, that i take goodbyes so easily, meanwhile you knew i was absolutely broken inside? Your hot and cold behaviour, your mixed messages, your looking so distant. I was so much conditioned by your mood that it makes me crazy lol. My heart was shattered, we argued, you said so many bad things about me.
Now you're in my head all the time and i'm disgusted by it. Those few memories aren't sweet anymore, they fail to bring bittersweet joy in my daily life, just a lot of pain. I go from melancholy to sadness, loneliness, anger, frustration so fast that i feel on an never ending rollercoaster. I can't stop myself from thinking about the person i shared so much with in such a short period of time, the person that i tried to make feel understood and loved, the first person i was so comfortable to share my cringeworthy poems to. The person that sent all of that back to me in a bunch of painful words.
Now i really want to say that i don't care no more I really want to try and date someone again. I really want to forget you just as i'm sure you already did. But i can't. This little story reminded me of why i don't trust people often and why i don't share my deepest, truest side so easily. I want to move on, it' been two months now, two months for a f*cking one-month situationship lol. I'm even ashamed of it, it doesn't make sense I'm going on with my life (slowly) but i really want to move forward, all the love that i wanted to give to the wrong person will stay with me for now. Winds will change directions someday. If you ask, no, i don't hate you, i just want you out of my head."
This is just the chaos of thoughts i have in my head that i tried to write into a sort of letter, dedicated to LO, probably by all of those who can't heal so easily from unrequited love. Stay strong my friends, things will get better.

BOGO: Buy (1) Bestie and receive (1) dad joke (Not guaranteed to be funny)
Work, school, 4 hour nap, rinse & repeat. Sometimes I’m feeling a little adventurous so I throw in an extra nap here or there. I have a national exam coming up at the end of next month so you know what that means… Yeah I got a Disney pass. So I’ve been doing that almost weekly.
About me? I live in a constant state between fully confident and needing my gps on to go to a place a mile away I’ve been to a thousand times. On my free time, I’ll usually be watching anime, kdrama, or an unhealthy amount of 30 second YouTube short recipes as I’m trying to learn how to cook. Bonus points if you can teach me a recipe or two!!
When I feel like touching grass I enjoy museums, orchestras (new), or just visiting cute little coffee shops. I’m also 15 lbs down on my fitness journey!!! Diet + anxiety is a fascinating combo.
Overall I try to be a safe place for people. Non-judgy and optimistic cause I get we’re all at different places in life. So come and vibe out w me!! Just for a little or pull up a chair! There’s space for you :)

Hi everyone,
This is a follow up on my post made yesterday morning which got so many responses. A lot of people were asking me for the update and here I am after making a decision. Before that, I honestly am very grateful that you all shared your valuable life perspective with me.
I decided to not confess my feelings for her and from the pointers you people all mentioned here is what I have concluded:

• I fell in love with her. It is not the fault of the girl. And definitely the guy she is dating is definitely not the one who should suffer because of any of my decisions because that poor guy does not even knows me. I can make delusions that they are in LDR, he might not love her as much as me but yes they might all be just delusions and that guy can be in deep love with her and I don't want to do the sin of being an asshole doing this shit.
• The major reason I planned to not confess was also because I realized that through our conversations I definitely gave her a lot of hints. I was being very expressive (and probably now i think at some points creepy too), complementing her smile, her words, her accent and her nature and if she had been interested she should have reciprocated but she did not.
• I saw this post today in the sub where one of the girls doubts about her marriage with his BF because of his best friend and I felt bad for his BF and imagined myself at place of his best friend and definitely understood the prospective that I might have been wrong.

What next for me:

• Well, I definitely love the girl a lot and probably will keep loving her the whole life. She has a pretty face, kind nature, everything beautiful but I died on her because she had a beautiful burn on her arm which she got while cooking food. I was just obsessed with that mark that although i will joke about it , I just actually love it.
• I am not sure, how and when I will move on because as I said yesterday due to nature of my job, my family (we are typical conservative families, so never had to been a club or used stuff like tinder) but I definitely will limit my conversation with her. I am gonna absolutely kill the conversations from my side though I am not gonna block her or anything.
• One part of me, still has an "umeed" that one day she will come back but I have packed it in a bag and kept that umeed in one part of my brain and will let it be there.
• Lastly, I definitely ended up putting blame of all of this on god. My life had been a fucking roller coaster in last 3-4 years because of some financial reasons. Only recently my side hustle started paying off results and I comfortably left my job and in the last 10-15 days of my job this scene happened. I am definitely gonna keep grudges with god for this... :( I have been lying like a dead body since last two days because when I am depressed i sleep a lot haha ... but i hope in 2-3 weeks I will be doing better.

Request:

1. Some people commented bad about the girl in my last post. Well, she never gave me any direct signals, never flirted back. If she had been dishonest she probably have never told me about his ongoing relationship and had let me continue flirting with her but she made clear to me she is committed.

So she is definitely a queen and will request anyone to avoid commenting bad about her....

People are acting as though they've never watched a 'true story' movie or TV show before.
These shows and movies are made for our entertainment, so of course they add things which didn't happen, and exaggerate the things which did - to make it interesting enough for screen.
People seem to be dead-set on finding out if Fiona actually did go to jail - and if not, have decided the entire show must be fake - but how else was a show about a stalker going to end?
If in reality, she one day just stopped harassing him, or he moved away (not saying either are what happened, but are most likely how things ended if she didn't go to jail) both would be pretty disappointing/unsatisfying endings for the show and the characters. And the fact that the characters have different names to the real people, surely they're able to make more artistic decisions and changes.
Other examples of this are how both the Versace and Gucci families have slated that 'The Assassination of Gianni Versace' and 'House of Gucci' are complete fiction, stating that basically everything in their respective show/movie was a lie (contradictory to sources) - just like how Fiona is.
Marcia Clark didn't cry in the courtroom during the OJ case when the judge mocked her appearance, but it was a big plot point and the focus of an entire storyline in 'OJ vs the People'. In reality, the Press were mean about her new hair etc, but the scenes in the show were added and exaggerated for dramatic effect - just like how a bunch of things from Baby Reindeer would have been.
Rose and Jack didn't even exist, but the Titanic still hit an iceberg and sank.
In 'Pam & Tommy', the stress of the sex tape scandal caused Pamela to suffer a miscarriage, but in real life, this happened in June 1995, the tape was stolen in November 1995, and wasn't leaked until mid-1996.
If it is discovered that Fiona didn't go to jail, that doesn't mean that the entire show was fake, or that Gadd is 'lying'. It just means that scene was added for TV. The events of what happened between the two of them are basically a less exciting version of the show - but the 'general' storyline would have been the same.
If not, Ryan Murphy must be the biggest liar around.

I am on day two of a remote fast with a group of people. I grew up Mormon and each first Sunday of the month as a child I was forced to fast which resulted in a deep physiological resistance to fasting. When I was younger no one taught on the actual health benefits of fasting 🤦‍♂️ also, not that the lessons of benefits would really matter to a child crying from hunger 🤷‍♂️ but maybe in my teenage years when I was active in sports and cared about health more. About 6 years ago I started learning about intermittent fasting and began healing my conditioning to fasting. I have never gone more than 24 hours intentionally without food so this is a first for me today and this week. Im excited to see what I learn and welcome advice to support me full out.

My daughter will be two next month. Sleep has always been a bit turbulent for her, but never more than what is to be expected. About three weeks ago, she woke up after about two hours of sleep. We calmed her down and got her back into bed. Two hours later, she’s right back up. This has been going on all night, every single night without deviation for over three weeks now. My wife and I are taking shifts getting her back down, so no one in the house has slept soundly for almost a month. It’s really starting to take a toll on us. We’ve basically just been in survival mode.
I’ll try to provide as much context as I can:
-Before this, she would typically sleep 8 or 9 hours through the night.
-She’s falling asleep easily, just not staying asleep. My wife or I will sit in a chair in the nursery and hold her in our arms until she’s sound asleep, then gently place her in the bed. She’s usually asleep within 5 minutes.
-She was in a crib in her own room, but she was getting dangerously close to climbing out of it and falling, so we took the front rail off.
-We adhere to a fairly strict schedule for dinner, bath time and bed time.
-We watch her on a monitor. Before this started happening, it wasn’t uncommon to see her poke her head up in the middle of the night, look around the room for a second, and lay back down and fall back asleep. Now she pokes her head up, realizes she’s alone and immediately runs to the door and starts crying for my wife and me.
-She typically falls asleep with a white noise machine and a star projector light on in her room. We have tried every combination of having those on and off, to no avail.
-We have tried an appropriate dose of melatonin, lavender essential oils in her bath and in a diffuser, and magnesium lotion. None of those have had the slightest effect.
-We’ve tried shorter naps during the day. We’ve tried longer naps during the day. We’ve tried no nap during the day. We’ve tried exhausting her with play time in the late afternoon, all to no avail.
-We tried the “cry it out” method. She screamed at the top of her lungs until she made herself throw up, at which point my wife and I went in to clean her up and calm her down. This bit us in the butt, because now she’s waking up and trying to throw up, because she knows it will get us in the room with her faster.
-We took her to the pediatrician about a week and a half ago to see if they could offer any insight, to no avail. She’s a happy, healthy kid.
This has hit us like a freight train. My wife and I are really struggling, and it feels like there is no end in sight. Any insight at all would be greatly appreciated.

Today complete 1 month without watching porn. I am happy for that. I am also trying to sleep well. During the last two days I have slept at least six hours and 30 minute. The goal is 8 hours. In the afternoon, I had strong urges to have sex and considered calling an escort. Fortunately, I was at the office and the urges didn’t last much time. I wanted to call a girl that I like to eat something but it was late ( I also was nervous because I don’t talk to her very often). I will try again this Thursday.

Most men nowadays think it is normal to be frequently low on energy, feel sluggish, depressed, and tired, have brain fog, anxiety, and social anxiety.
Fair enough for the men who have never come across NoFap and Semen Retention. I was once like these men who just thought this is the way I am supposed to be. I kept up the habit of daily release and PMO because I didn't think twice about it. I thought it were normal.
Then there are those who know about the dangers of porn and have come across the practice of SR but still refuse to put two and two together about what is causing their misery and hardship in life.
What made my eyes open is the fact that while I would PMO, I'd still make an effort to eat a relatively healthy diet, sleep decently, exercise, and so on but I'd still feel like crap. It was only after I started practicing semen retention that I noticed this was the missing piece of the puzzle and life was starting to become more vivid and vibrant.
Julian Lee in his book Bliss of the Celibate states that when we waste our semen through sexual behaviours, this is what is causing our own inner Garden of Eden to slowly fade away. This rings bells in my mind.
I doubt it was a coincidence that my eyesight started to deteriorate at the age of 14 around 2 years into regular masturbation. My vision of my Garden of Eden started to fade since then.
I guess some people really aren't ready to be unplugged from the Matrix if ever.

Apologies if this gets long-winded. Up until last month I was a journalist covering anime and manga, so I think I just have to get some words out of my system. Also, and obviously: Spoilers for Dress Up Darling to its current chapters, as well as the manga/anime One Week Friends.
I really enjoyed reading the recent posts from everyone on the analysis regarding chapter 100, if it feels like the book has lost its momentum, how the Comiket arc has made everyone feel, and so on. As someone that came to SBD/DUD via the anime but has dove into the manga heavy during the lull, it's refreshing to see a community taking an introspective look at the story, its arc, and the tug-of-war that seems to go on in regards to romance story versus cosplay tale.
But I also think that, by and large, falling into and caring too much about the "Will They/Won't They" of the story is a trap, and one that, if obsessed over for too long, inevitably leads to feeling let down by the time this story hits its conclusion.
On that note, let's talk about One Week Friends.
Initially released in 2012, Isshūkan Friends shares a lot of DNA with Dress-Up Darling. Both Square Enix joints, the two feature a very similar two-character lead romance dynamic. OWF is the story of Hase, a nervous high school boy who has a massive crush on his seemingly-ice queen class mate, Kaori. Taking a chance one day, he declares to her that he wants to be friends. However, she rejects him almost immediately. He comes to find that it wasn't because she doesn't want friends, but that she suffers from a condition that causes her memories to reset after a week. So, as a protective measure for herself, she just lives a life of stagnation--never making friends, never changing anything. At least until Hase comes around.
The story from there is familiar to Dress-Up Darling, in that a lot of the romantic tension comes from the perspectives of our two leads, as well as the "when are they going to get together?" of it all. In this case, the two sources of tension are as follows:
Kaori: Is entering into a friendship or having romantic feelings in her state fair to the other person? How does it affect her personally to have those feelings but only remember them through a journal--though her memory does begin to improve slightly over time. Is she worthy or friendship or love?
Hase: At a point, he places Kaori on a bit of a pedestal because he's been the only one to reach out to and make progress with this friendless girl. However, as their friend group grows and she becomes a more normal and stable person, he begins to resent not only losing this feeling of specialness, but the fact that he's feeling that way at all--no longer feeling like he's worthy of being there for her.
The parallels to Dress-Up Darling and the most recent stretch of the manga are apparent, as heartbreaking as its been to watching Marin and Gojo fumble in the metaphorical dark in that way that teen romance does so well. For Marin, she's in love with a boy that, at times feels distant, or that his main focus is the work. She's hesitated to confess her feelings time and again, both for the sake of comedy but also just because she's a teenager, and that kind of thing is hard for anyone to confess. She keeps hoping to create situations--some magical moment--where things fall into place and they both confess their true feelings, but circumstances and fate have kind of interfered to that point. However, she knows he's the only person in her life that's ever saw her for who she really is, and that's something she probably feels disconnected from as she approaches the precipice of cosplay stardom and feels more disconnected from Gojo than ever.
Meanwhile, Gojo has a similar issue to Hase in One Week Friends: He's placed this girl on a pedestal. A perfect doll that he isn't worthy of. So, he did the only thing he could ever do: Focus on the work and trying to show he cares through supporting her. However, he's hit the end road of that path, with 'Princess' now seen by the work at Comiket and feeling like, to him, that Marin has outgrown him. He feels unworthy of telling her how he feels.
And yes, both of them are idiots, but that's why we love stories like this in manga and anime.
In the case of One Week Friends, I always felt like that story somewhat fumbled the ball. The anime and the first run of the manga end on a very saccharine, melodramatic note. The two leads have a falling out, but then a memorable reunion on new year's day where they both somewhat confess their feelings. A lot of fans felt left out in the cold that the series didn't end in a full-blown confirmation of love--or even a kiss, but thems the breaks sometimes.
In the case of Dress-Up Darling, I think the takeaway to learn from is that the big, apex moment for this story is inevitably going to be the confession of love. It's what drew the most people into the story and thing that everyone on this sub is obviously waiting for. However, we really don't know if that's the way the mangaka views it, nor if that's the focus.
As insane as that feels to say. After all, what are we doing here if not waiting for Marin and Gojo to figure things out, stop being dumb, and just say how they feel?
Whether or not Dress-Up Darling nails the landing is going to completely depend on that moment. However, I remain optimistic. In a perfect world, I'd want the story to end with that confession finally happening: Marin realizing she needs to go after the things she wants and that the thing that kept her going all this time wasn't the finished product of the cosplay, but the memories made along the way. For Gojo, he needs to stop treating Marin like another hina doll--something to be placed up on a shelf and put behind a glass case, un approachable and only deserving of love from afar. He has to take agency in his own life and needs.
Personally, I could think of nothing better than this series ending with that confession happening and the last chapter detailing how Marin wants to do a cosplay of a traditional Hina Doll, making Gojo think its for an upcoming event. They work together as normal on it, the process and journey being the important part--with the final scene being them getting her ready in his room as always, with Gojo finally asking what the event is for. She responds, fully dressed as that thing Gojo has so admired for the longest time, that the event is just for him, and it always will be. Cut to that big two-page spread shot smile of her, but this time in Hina Doll garb.
Anyways, I'm going back to work.

original setting by Michael McNeill
Myrla sat at one of the tables in the food court area of Nantrella Station. The Greylin’s crew had discovered several ships docked with family members on board and this had led to a rather impressively large impromptu family reunion with several dozen kwonese spacers gathered up in one space.
She was sitting slouched over the table, the only human in a sea of furry ratfolk, nursing her drink. It was a chocaf that one of the family from another ship had spiked with something s/he said was an intoxicant that she would enjoy. Myrla wasn’t sure if it was intoxicating, but it did add a pleasant richness to the drink and it warmed her in a way chocaf didn’t normally do.
She was reaching the end of her drink and was starting to wonder if she should try to find the kwonese who had spiked her drink to ask for a second round when she realized some of her crewmates nearby were talking about her. She hadn’t been listening, really, her mind just floating along in the comfortable feel of the “group-snuggle” as they called it, so she wasn’t sure what was going on.
After a few seconds of focusing on the conversation, she realized they were bragging about her. That was when one of them turned to her, dragging her into the conversation.
“Yah, see! This Myrla, she top stevedore, better than ya porter drone!” Nellin, one of the crew-family she had little interaction with other than when it was time to hustle cargo, had grabbed her by the sleeve and was tugging her into a small cluster of kwonese sitting around one of the tables. She only recognized one other face as being part of the Greylin crew. Nellin served as the ship’s load-master and chief stevedore, so she assumed the others in the group likely held similar positions on their own ships.
Myrla hoisted her cup in greeting, a lopsided smile on her face. Then she realized she did know another of the faces in the group – the cousin who had spiked her chocaf. Grinning, she pulled her arm free of Nellin’s grip and pointed to him then to her almost empty cup. “I’m going to need some more of that, cousin.”
This set off titters of laughter around the crew as the kwonese in question hauled out a silver flask from his vest pocket. “Powerful stuff, yah!” He made smacking sounds as he fixed her another chocaf from the table’s dispenser. “Makin’ it on the Yeongja, we do. Best you find.”
She drained her first cup and picked up the second. If it was an intoxicant, it was either incredibly weak or it was so smooth that it would hit her like a sledgehammer later. Either way, it was a delightful pairing with the bitterness of the chocaf. She took a sip of the fresh drink, smiling as the warmth seeped into her. The group shuffled around to make a spot for her to sit.
One of the others, a grizzled older kwonese, looked at her one eyebrow raised. “Nellin say you top stevedore. Say you outwork drone. Been load-master on Yeongja ten year and four more now on /San Matteo/. Not seeing that happen yet.”
She looked over Nellin and raised her cup in his direction. “[Samchun ]()[[MM1]](#_msocom_1) has never voiced displeasure with my work. If he wishes to say I work harder than a cargo drone, that is his choice.”
Her comment brought hoots of laughter from around the table. Out-bragging in a family was something of a sport with the kwonese and diplomatically saying they were boasting without calling them a liar was an integral part of the game, even better if you were doing so in support of them.
“Well-saying, [olinee]()[[MM2]](#_msocom_2) .” The grizzled cargo-chief crinkled his snout and raised his glass at her. “But now chincheog making me curious. Never seeing such a thing not being the same as impossible thing.” He paused to scratch his whiskers. “Not working much with your kind, true, so never seeing how much you can do.” Several of the group lightly slapped the tabletop and looked in her direction.
She glanced down at Nellin, seeing his whiskers twitching. His body language was just like it would be if they were playing cards and he were holding a winning hand, waiting on the pool to grow. Long seconds passed before the one she’d mentally dubbed “Mister Flask” leaned in.
“Let’s make it interesting.”
And there it was. Cred-chips started hitting the table and in moments, crew from all the ships were aware of the betting taking place. She sat, sipping her doctored chocaf, as the kwonese around her seemed to turn into a boiling pool of sleek fur and whiskers. Across the table, “Mister Flask” raised his cup to her … and winked.
She grinned back at him, returning the gesture. Now what was that all about?
One of the twins – probably Mikkeulon, from the scent – saw the exchange and leaned close to her. “Oh-ho! You catching Peulla’s eye, then! Good choice, but he wild.”
Myrla sputtered into her cup, but before she could say anything, the twin was gone. Then Nellin leaned in close. “You got this, girlee. Seen you move more easy. Just be going slow and easy and Greylin family got drinks for all station-time, ya.”
Myrla smiled to herself, shaking her head. The cargo-master may have said the Greylin’s crew would have all their drinks covered during their port-time, but given the kwonese need for these family get-togethers, “hajog-poog” they called them, every kwonese on the station would be regular visitors to the Greylin. The betting was just the method they used to pick which ship the party was held on.

It wasn’t long before the entire party had relocated to the docks where San Matteo was set to disgorge its cargo. The grizzled cargo-master, who Myrla now knew to be named Tostiklin, had one of the enormous cargo bays set up for the impromptu competition. She’d sent Orak off to the /Greylin/ to retrieve her backpack, leading to a humorous scene as the young kwonese came running into the docking area dragging the pack that was easily as large as he was. She stripped away the actual pack and her possessions that it held, leaving just the pack-frame. She tasked Orak with perching on the pack itself, to make sure it didn’t get lost in the excitement.
She walked over to the small cluster of cargo-masters and hefted her packframe. “I assume I’m allowed to use a cargo rack, since the drone has one?” She watched as several of them suppressed snickers and Tostiklin wrinkled his snout in amusement.
He waved absently. “Yahyey, of course! Wanting a fair run, we.” He motioned the cargo drone over, which stood almost twice as tall as its crewmates. The crowd settled down to a low murmur as the cargo master addressed the two. “This being the rules. Moving cargo for one minute, as much as you can, ya. No helping from others. No interfering with other stevedore. Move you stack from where it is to indicated position.” He pointed to a pair of chalked squares some thirty feet away from the initial stacks. “Is good?”
The drone’s head rotated from the kwonese to Myrla to the two stacks of cargo containers and back. “I to compete against this gentlebeing? Moving cargo like normal work?”
“Yes, Ledo.”
The drone dipped its head. “Understood but I do not understand why.”
Myrla leaned close to the drone. “They gambling on us. Who can shift more.”
The drone tipped its expressionless face first to one side then to the other while looking at her, a low whir of servos barely audible. Then it looked toward the group of kwonese for a moment. “Oh. Oh. Then … perhaps I should apologize now?”
Myrla grinned. “Apologize for what?”
“I am made to shift significant amounts of cargo. You do not appear to be. I shall apologize now for embarrassing you in front of your shipmates.”
Myrla laughed and patted the drone on its arm. “It’s all in fun, Ledo. I won’t be embarrassed.”
She could detect a faint note of smugness in the mechanical’s speech. “Very well. Then let us proceed.”
“Geebees, are clear on rules?” Myrla and Ledo both indicated their assent. “Then please stand by cargo.”
When they had taken their places, Tostiklin pulled a whistle from his pocket and blew on it. Myrla and Ledo began quickly assembling their loads. Remembering Nellin’s admonition, she carefully restricted her load, adding two containers more to hers than the drone loaded onto itself. It was enough weight to slow her down considerably, but she could still keep up with Ledo without straining.
Together, they dropped their cargo loads inside their assigned squares and Myrla fought the urge to race ahead of the drone, keeping pace with it instead. Twice more the cycle repeated itself, with Myrla carrying just enough extra to stay ahead in the count.
When the whistle blew a second time, the gathered cargo-masters counted the crates in each stack. Tostiklin’s face was a study in surprise as he counted Myrla’s stack again.
He looked at Nellin. “Your stevedore has clearly won. By a mere six crates, but she has won.” The kwonese erupted into cheers and groans, depending on the amount of credits they had won or lost. Tostiklin held up a hand and the crowd quieted down. “But you say she outwork drone. Win by six is much as keep up with drone.”
The crowd inhaled as a whole. /San Matteo/’s cargo chief was treading the fine line of being rude, almost accusing Nellin of lying. The older kwonese narrowed his eyes, looking for at Nellin, then Myrla, then at the crowd. “I like very much to be seeing her truly outwork drone. What is prize money?” One of the younger cargo-masters gave him the figure. “I say offering own creds to match that, double or nothing.”
The crowd went wild, the line of propriety saved. Myrla doubted Nellin had that sort of funds available, based on his change in body language. From behind her, she heard a female kwonese start chanting, “Match! Match!” She and Nellin turned to look, seeing Captain Wanniv shaking her fist in the air. In seconds, all the /Greylin/’s crew was chanting with her.
“Match! Match! Match!”
Nellin looked at her, his nervousness evident, even though things were going exactly like he’d told her they would. She winked at him and gave him a quick nod.
His bearing changed imperceptibly as he turned back to Tostiklin. “Yahyey, chincheog. You be seeing truth.”
Ban Baekui had sidled up beside her, patting her arm. “Time be taking off the governor, ya.”
She nodded absently, her gaze wandering around the room, watching as dozens of groupings indicated the level of betting taking place. “Got your bets made, chief?”
“Already making creds plenty. This to be sheer kwaja!”
She looked down at him, grinning. “The captain plays cards with Nellin, doesn’t she?”
Ban gave her a curious tilt of his head. “Frequently. Why you ask?”
Myrla nodded to herself, looking around again. “She backed him up at the perfect time. This gonna bring some notoriety to the Greylin. And that converts to …” She looked back at the ship’s lead mechanic, grinning broadly.
“Jobs. Bigger and better.” Ban nodded, grinning back. “Not playing cards with you, girlee. Best getting ready, then.”
Ban faded back into the crowd, leaving her with Nellin. “You good with this? Tossi want longer timeframe for this.”
Myrla dropped to one knee, making it so she had to look up slightly at the cargo master. “I need some advice, chief.” Nellin blinked in surprise at the abrupt change in the situation. When he signaled his assent, she continued. “There’s more going on than what I’m seeing. You just used a blood-kin name for him. The captain backed you up publicly under his challenge, so she’s now tied the two of you together, your win is now her win, and your loss her loss. Tostiklin almost called you a liar in front of everyone, but pulled it out by upping the bet.” She scanned the crowd, seeing several non-kwonese beginning to intermingle. “And that is interesting. More geebees are joining the party. And those aren’t spacers.” Her eyes narrowed. “Those are brokers – I recognize two of them.”
Nellin wrung his hands, a faint tang of nervousness coloring his odor. “Is … is complicated.”
“Not from my end, chief. Tostiklin wants to see how hard I can work, because he wants to learn more about my people and is willing to pay for the privilege. And he wants to see me lose to gloat…” She looked at Nellin as he started squirming again. “He doesn’t want me to lose.” She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “Who is he related to by blood on the Greylin?”
“He brother to captain’s father…” Myrla’s eyes lit up in sudden understanding. “…and is brother to my mother’s mother.”
Myrla’s jaw dropped slightly as several puzzle pieces clicked into place. “He … he doesn’t want us to fail at all. He’s loaning the captain operating money as well as boosting the ship’s reputation.”
Nellin put his hands out to shush her. “Not be saying this!”
The good side of her mouth pulled up in a smile. “Don’t worry, not a word. Plus, by challenging you like this, you gain even more credibility with the family after I smoke that presumptuous cargo drone at his own game. You gain a reputation for understating how good something is.”
“See … is complicated.”
“Chief, go make your personal bets. This run is about to get interesting.”
The next ten minutes was a flurry of action as bets were made and new spectators arrived from stationside. At one point, Peulla drifted by, pressing another cup of that deliciously spiked chocaf into her hand with a wink. Soon, the cargo masters were huddled up again.
Tostiklin had found a voice amplifier somewhere, letting his voice be heard over the noises of the much-larger crowd. “We be setting round two. Nellin, loadmaster of the Greylin Bostlin, say he crewmate outwork cargo drone. We see earlier this geebee do that.” He indicated Myrla and she waved at the crowd, to delighted cheers from more than just her shipmates. “I say she barely beat cargo drone and I ask for a rematch. I offer double to see she truly outwork drone!” The crowd roared excitedly. “I ask to see geebee outwork drone and just minutes not enough. I ask for one whole hour!”
The crowd erupted into a frenzy and Myrla blinked in confusion. Nobody mentioned hauling cargo for an hour, she thought.
Captain Wanniv had slipped up beside her. “Just another day on the docks, ya?”
Turning to the captain with a smile, she said, “Using my own words against me as inspiration? I’m … well, I don’t guess I’m shocked. And yes, I’m good for it.”
“Is good. All this good.”
Myrla gave the captain a wink. “I love how they brought in some of the local cargo brokers and the Dockworker’s Guild to watch. San Matteo is a respected crew. To see them give the Greylin respect will carry weight later.”
The captain’s eyes crinkled. “I have no idea what you mean.”
Finally, the crowd calmed down again. Siezing the moment, Myrla stepped forward to address the Matteo’s cargo-master. “Samchun, it seems to me that all of our competition is being done handling cargo from the San Matteo. If we are unloading cargo, then am I working for you? And, if I am working, then as a member of the Stevedore and Dockworker’s Guild, I have to be paid or I lose my license. And I cannot bet on myself.”
The crowd fell to a dead silence as Tostiklin’s eyebrows rose slowly, first one then the other.
“FAIR!” Someone in the crowd shouted.
Tostiklin glanced in the direction of the speaker and turned back to Myrla, nodding slowly. “Wisdom speaks.” A grin slowly spread across his face. “I will pay you one hour with a bonus in proportional to how well you outwork the drone.”
Myrla nodded. “I accept these terms and your grace in offering them.” This brought a round of applause from the crowd.
“Again! This being the rules! Moving cargo for one hour, as much as you can, ya. No helping from others. No interfering with other stevedore. Move you stack from where it is to indicated platform.” He pointed to a pair of conveyor platforms some thirty feet away from the initial stacks. “Is good?”
Both workers gave their assent.
“Geebees, to your starting places!” Again, a blast from the whistle signaled the start of the competition. Both fell to their task and worked steadily, but Myrla thought it looked as though the drone knew it had already been beaten. For every stack of crates it moved, she moved twice as many. When it tried to match her volume, its speed dropped off significantly to the sound of overloaded drive motors.
They were well and thoroughly inside the cargo bay of the /San Matteo/ and the crowd was only able to keep up by watching on a series of holoscreens that had been set up for the purpose. True to Bae’s request, she “pulled the governors off,” falling into her work-trance, letting the crates guide her flow. The conveyor platforms advanced with them, never more than thirty feet away, making the job a bit less arduous. The cargo-master group was inside with them, as well, and Myrla shut them out by treating them like she did any other client who hung out to watch her work.
She was so deep into her work that the whistle caught her by surprise and Nellin had to physically intervene to get her attention.
“Is good, girlee. We done it. YOU done it.”
Myrla walked out of the cargo hold, blinking and shaking her head, trying to get refocused on where she was. Then she realized the entire hajog was chanting her name. Bae and Wanniv were waiting on her at the bay-door. Bae handed her a bottle of water and Wanniv grabbed Myrla’s free hand in both of hers. “You best lucky charm!” As the crowd caught sight of her, the chant broke into a wordless cheer that threatened to overwhelm her.
Finally, the cargo-masters made their counts and conferred together with a lot of nodding and one shaking their head incredulously. Tostiklin motioned her and the cargo drone forward to join them.
“Thinking it clear who wins.” He broke off with a grin as the crowd erupted into cheers again. He tried to continue twice before the cheering died down enough to let him be heard. “Seeing you never slowed down, girlee. Thinking maybe you having another gear or two.”
Smiling, Myrla shrugged as the crowd went wild again.
“And!” He held up a pouch for everyone to see. “And, here is your payment. One hour’s wage for a class five stevedore. And since you performed double what the drone performed, your wages are doubled.”
Again, the crowd roared and she fought to keep the surprise off her face. She was a class one stevedore and class five rates were significantly higher than she was used to getting. As she accepted the pouch from him, she leaned in to be heard above the crowd. “You are a wise and honorable gentlebeing, Samchun. May your words echo among many gajog.”
That got her an extra cheer from the cargo-chiefs and a pat on the cheek from a grinning Tostiklin. “You taking good-good care of the Greylin crew, then. So, let’s be drinking to this!”

Warning: mention of pregnancy loss and death of family members by gun violence
I, 31 female, have been together with my husband, 37 male, for 10 years and married for almost 9. We have two beautiful children, a 4 yr old son and a 2 yr old daughter and he has two other children with two other women that he doesn’t get to see and pays child support for. Before my son we had 12 losses, one of which I hemorrhaged from and then I ending up almost hemorrhaging to death after our son was born. We also had one more miscarriage after our daughter was born and I’ve since decided to not try for anymore even though this breaks my heart a little because I always wanted a bigger family.
I recently lost my mother and 10 year old niece in August after they were unalived by a family friend who also unalived himself. Less than two months later, my sister tragically passed in a car accident. To say that broke me is truly an understatement. For months all I could do was cry everyday and feel excruciating pain. My mom and sister were extremely close. We messaged and called every day, multiple times a day even though we all live within a 10 mile radius. They were there for me through everything life had to spit at us. We already have lost every female on my dad’s side of the family. My sister and I were all that was left besides our own daughters. The future feels daunting knowing that there may very well be decades with them not here with me.
It’s been many months now and I feel like I am finally starting to feel happiness and I’m just doing my best to spend as much time with my kids and remaining niece and nephew. My oldest niece is my partner in crime especially now that we are in the no mom and no sister club. She’s only in her early teens and she had also been shot but thankfully survived.
On to the issue. My husband has honestly never really put in any effort for birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc. Usually my birthday I don’t give a crap for but it’s only because in the past I’ve been disappointed because no one ever did anything for it. And I’m talking about just like a card and cake. Nothing serious. I really have dirt floor standards to be frank because I just have learned throughout life not to expect anything. That said I am the person who no matter what kind of financial situation I am in will find a way to show love and appreciation no matter the budget. I’ll make you hand made cards, I’ll personally call you on your birthday or special holidays, and I’ll make cake or cupcakes from scratch. If I have a budget I’ll plan dinner and some time to spend out. I just love making people feel happy and special. I was just raised that way.
So of course I find and marry the one person who honestly could kind of care less. I don’t think he has ever gotten or done anything for my birthday, not for Christmas. I remember he got me something for Mothers Day a few years ago…AFTER I had said something. My mom and sister on the other hand always made sure I got a card and we all had a Mothers Day dinner where we would cook and just enjoy time with our kids and ourselves.
This is my first Mothers Day without them and tomorrow and my sisters birthday without her. I had already verbally mentioned how hard it was going to be and my husband fully knew that it was going to be a hard day for me. My friends even sent him ideas for me, like just cleaning up the house and waking up to make breakfast for me. Things he’s honestly never done ever, but hey those are free things anyone could do to make someone feel special. All he said to my best friend was “lol I don’t have any money.” She got pissed. She ended up buying me flowers, a wind chime, some NA beer (I’m sober), and spent extra time with me because she knew I needed my support people on Mother’s Day. My dad also came out in support and got me more NA beer, bought me lunch, and we picked up my oldest niece and I got to spend a ton of time with her. My husband? Slept in until 10:30am. Didn’t do anything all day. I was up at 6 am with the kids and made breakfast after I realized he was still sleeping because ya know, kids can’t starve and I’m not going to wait 4 hours to have breakfast myself.
The thing is, this is just the tip of the iceberg. He can’t stay employed and oftentimes will switch jobs to avoid paying child support. Sure he’s present for the kids now, but when the going gets tough he pretty much stops putting in effort. I bet if I lived even 20 minutes away from him he wouldn’t see the kids often. He has never ever done much around the house despite me working MULTIPLE jobs at times (at one point I was working 3 and going to school). I work full time for a Fortune 500 company and he can’t even schedule a damn doctors appointment for himself. Any time I try to bring things up he’s dismissive or just denies things. And now he’s also getting more angry and aggressive because child support is being taken out again and he ended up swatting our son so hard our son doubled over…in front of my whole family! This along with Mothers Day has got me just thinking I need to divorce him. He can’t hit our kids like that period. All our son did was throw a damn smore at him! And I have multiple witnesses including my niece, grandfather, brother and SIL. I want to protect our kids. I feel like after that happened if I stay with him I am essentially condoning his behavior. I absolutely confronted him about it and he says he feels bad and should never have done it but he felt justified in that moment. I can’t trust someone like that. And it’s not the first time he’s swatted at our son but this was certainly the worst. So I am ready to leave just for that but then our son would have to be with him unsupervised.
If I am overreacting I want to know. He says I am and constantly says I am. I just need some clarity and maybe just support because if I do this, this is something that once the ball is rolling you can’t really stop it. I’m just afraid…but I think I’m more afraid of what will happen if I stay.

I recently received the Dime sample set as a gift, and I noticed when I searched that there weren't a lot of posts about the brand so I thought I'd do a quick review/summary.
Dime is a clean beauty brand that makes skincare and fragrances. I am not someone who particularly follows/cares about clean beauty and clean fragrances but if you are, that could be a plus for you.
The sample set has five 2ml spray bottles that are nice quality and easy to spray.
7 Summers (Juicy Pear, Sweet Coconut, Fluffy Musk) - clean girl summer coconut. If you find a lot of summery scents to be too sunscreeny or to have too strong a pina colada note, this might work for you. I find it a little bland on its own but it was very nice layered with Leisure in Paradise.
Dans Le Bois (Red Saffron, Jasmine, Cedarwood) - this is their BR adjacent scent. Imagine BR with just the cedary, woodsy notes and no burnt sugar or bandaid notes. I am surprised I like this as much as I do. I am generally not interested in dryer, woodsier scents but this would be really good at an event like a work conference where I want to wear fragrance but I need it to be unobtrusive and professional.
Lovely Sweet Dreams (Freesia, White Moss, Vanilla Cream) - this is just Cheirosa 40 or Mod Vanilla. Like...it is exactly those two. I already own both of those so this is redundant, but it DOES smell nice so if you're in the market for a clean vegan version of either of those, this is the scent for you.
I Love Your Smell, Baby (Lemonade, Sparkling Pomegranate, Warm Vanilla) - I am creeped out by this name, but I do like the scent. It's a basic warm vanilla bean with some sparkly citrus up top. I would have thought that it would be more of a skin scent like Not A Perfume but it's a warm vanilla floral, basically. Nothing spectacular, but easy to wear.
Malibu Night (Muddled Raspberries, Coconut Cream, Soft Musk) - this is my favorite. It smells like a more upscale, adult version of the Victoria's Secret body sprays we used in 2004. It's berries, coconut, vanilla, and a little undertone of soap that I think is the "soft musk". I'd buy a bottle of this to wear to bed or on the weekends when I want something easy and that doesn't linger.
Final thoughts: like a lot of clean scents, the lasting power on these is eh. But, sometimes that is ok. I noticed when reading the reviews on the Dime website a lot of people really liked that the scents "aren't too strong" "aren't overpowering" etc. It's worth reminding ourselves sometimes that people who are not into fragrance as a hobby or form of self expression like we are often find strong, distinct and long lasting scents to be too aggressive and a scent that doesn't stick around more than four hours is a feature and not a flaw to them.
50ml EDTs are $54 which for someone who is used to Lucky Scent niche bottle pricing feels like a steal.
None of these are scrubbers, none of them are incredibly noteworthy or distinctive but they all smelled nice and I had fun trying them out.

I don‘t know if I‘m in the correct subreddit to ask this. Sorry if I‘m not.
In the last two months unknown numbers (often from my country) keep calling me. It‘s about 20 now. It rings for a like two seconds and then they hang up. At the beginning I tried calling a number back but no one picked up. I haven‘t done that since, it‘s clear to me that this has to be some kind of scam.
When I save the numbers and look at the profile pictures on What‘sApp it‘s often just regular people. To me it seems like someone else is using their number to call me? Is that possible?
Yesterday I got a VoiceMail from someone saying I called them. It was an elderly women from another city than I live in and I definitely did not call them.
Now I‘m asking myself if someone else also uses my number to call people?
What‘s the point? Is this dangerous? I‘m getting paranoid because I just saw a tiktok about a girl in court for a call someone made using her voice in an AI. Should I change my number?

I always follow directions exactly for all orders. I always drop off exactly how the customer requests for "leave it at the door" orders, and when I have to hand it to them I am extremely pleasant. I always try to get the food to the customer as fast as reasonably possible, keeping cold things cold and warm things warm. Yeah most of my ratings are 5 star, but the two 4 star ratings with no complaints are baffling to me. Maybe I just didn't realize the etiquette that I'm supposed to do a little dance in front of their ring camera to entertain them? 😂 Seriously though, what is the point of giving 4 star ratings instead of 5?? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad it's not lower, I'm just so confused about what, if anything, I could have done better. I guess people always have something to complain about.

I feel like Reddit is my only option to be able to receive insight or advice for my situation. So, to get right into it.. I was dumped on Valentine’s Day by my partner after 3 years of being together. Listen, my situation is different than most other breakups in a sense that it wasn’t mutual but we but mutually agreed to “take a break” while he’s busy with both work and school. He was in a nursing program while also working at a hospital. He had too much on his plate. I 100% understand that. The reason why he dumped me on Valentine’s Day is because I was supposed to see him after 2 months of waiting to see him in person. We got into an argument because he said that he would be free during the weekend but meant Thursday and Friday because that’s “his” weekend. Like bruh, of course I’d assume Saturday and Sunday. I called him to settle the confusion because I really wanted to see him. Like I said, I waited for 2 months to finally have a day to see him. Which then led to him saying mean things about how I’ve achieved nothing and need to figure that out while he focuses on what comes first. School and work. He promised to send a picture of all of his puppies, which I miss so much. That was February and I just got one picture of the dogs. Here’s the kicker though. He has no remorse or empathy towards the breakup. Whatsoever. He made it seem like it was a break, he even said “ we’ll see what happens during the summer.” Just to never even check up. I understand being busy but he didn’t even wish me happy birthday, which yeah, let’s say he’s too busy. No, he texted me on my birthday actually responding to a picture I sent of my pup. (His request was to give pictures of my dog) I responded THE SECOND HE TEXTED. I simply said “today is my birthday” I didn’t get a text until 2 days later. He’s going through a lot right now, especially since he failed out of the program. He’s planning to go to university and work more to pay for it. I understand he has so much to think of but how is he able to forget me and all of the three years we had together, so quickly. I figured he’d understand that it would be hard on me too. I cry about him everyday. I miss him so much. We were together one day and then broken up the next. He left and never looked back. I just thought maybe people could help me understand how to take that. I’m mad that he has no emotion or empathy towards the pain he’s caused me. I forgot to mention that I told him my grandpa was diagnosed with cancer two days before he broke up with me. He said that the call stressed him out and he didn’t need the stress. I get not being first, I get school and work being important but, did he even love me if he’s able to forget and move on so easily? I feel like I loved him too much and definitely more than he did for me. 3 years of dating and he’s said” I love you “ to me once. And it was like 6 months into dating, he said it by accident, then tried to play it off as if he was saying it to the dog. Then said jokingly to me, “ I was going to say something mean”. Of course I asked him to say it anyways. He goes on to say, “I was going to say, I don’t love you, I could never love you” and that was the last time he ever said it first. The first time I said it he told me thank you, that was 2 years into dating. I just, I don’t know how to take this. I thought he was my soulmate. What do you guys think? Just try and forget about him too? I cry about him every night. My soul feels empty. Everything hurts. I just wish things could’ve worked out.

I (22f) a few months back lost an old childhood friend (22f). To preface this, she went missing for around a month before she was found dead in a river, weight down by items. Her death was ruled no foul play, they think she overdosed (toxicological report was done, not sure the results but those are the rumors.) I've also heard from people closer to her that they were looking at suspects and narrowed it down to two people. I assume for messing with her body, but no one knows really what happened. There wasn't even a funeral for her and her mom moved away even.
Anyway, I wasn't really close to her anymore. We were friendly but we had a heavy history. I only talked to her during her shift at the gas station by chance. But a week before she went missing she called me. She never calls me, she never texts me, it was years since the last time she did that. She calls me and just asks for pilers out of the blue. Doesn't even explain why just that she "needs to unstuck two things that are stuck together." I didn't give her pilers or meet with her beacuse I was just weirded put by this conversation, and extreamly busy at the time.
I texted her mom the weird conversation after I heard she was missing. But that's it. Recently it has been weighing on me if I should give this information to the police. At the time it doesn't seem like much but I don't know where they are with her case.
So, got any advice?

But my partners and I have already immigrated to another country once together, they don't want to do it again plus their work requires licenses which means on top of learning the language and new business conducts they'd both have to go back to school to get certified in a new country.
The job offer is really good but I'd be sacrificing my relationship with two people I've loved for the last eight years if I decide to take it.