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My 9 mo used to be an awful sleeper, so I feel silly complaining about too much sleep, but I’m feeling conflicted about how it’s dispersed.
This girl can sleep SO LONG during the day. A lot of times her first nap is 2.5h. Second nap 1-1.5h.
She’s recently pushing her WW a little bit. When we dropped to 2 naps we were good on 9.25h/day. Then slowly I added another 15m and we were good for a while.
Recently she has pushed a lot of naps and bedtime and was getting 10.5h days, but nights weren’t the greatest (though nothing like they have been in the past).
I used to cap naps, but I find any time I wake her (morning or naps), she’s cranky the entire WW, even if I’m waiting until she has some major movement that might signal some light sleep to wake her. I would slowly turn her white noise down (Hatch app) and turn the night light up (it’s on a dark orange, so it never gets too bright). It was always much gentler than my husband busting into her room in the mornings 😅
Anyway, she slept amazingly on a 10h day last night. But I capped her second nap at 40m to keep bedtime no later than 8:30p and she was cranky a lot of the last WW. Bedtime was 8:15p, which is pushing about the latest I want to put her down. Woke up at 7a yesterday.
Today, I had to wake her, because it was 7:15a. I was beginning to get nervous that she’d sleep long and our day would get pushed to 9p. Generally I’m crawling into bed at 9p (but asleep by 10p). While it’s not the worst idea, it would be nice to have a little bit more of an evening to decompress and spend time with my husband.
TLDR, if she’s cranky when I cap naps, should I let them go on their own? Is my new life until 1 nap going to be a long day with no evenings for myself?
INFO: - 2.75/3.75/3.5 (she pushes the middle WW more than bedtime) - DWT: 7a - DBT: 8p - independent sleep at bedtime and occasional wake ups - wakes once for nursing (I’d like to wean, but so far she won’t put herself back to sleep if she’s hungry and rocking her to sleep only makes crib transfers impossible. It’s just easier to keep that feed right now, because I’m awake when she’s laying there trying to fall back to sleep anyway) - have been rocking to sleep for naps, but the first one has been successful on her own. The second one I’m unsure if maybe she still needs more sleep pressure/longer WW, but I usually have to rock her. - she’ll be 10mo at the end of the month, so maybe the nap fighting is the rumored 9mo regression/separation anxiety? She has been clingy

So I (23F) have been working for a sports club for two years now. Last year, I reached out to my 2 bosses who both coach D2 college sports teams about taking up new responsibilities and doing graphic design for the club.
I have since graduated but I was studying design all through college and wanted an opportunity to grow my portfolio and I knew the girl that currently did graphics was just doing it as a favor and did all of them on Canva (not that there’s anything wrong with that). They agreed and I met with one of my bosses, I’ll call him Phil.
Phil told me he was excited about the prospect of content creation and was interested in me doing photography and videography on top of my graphic design work. He also wanted me to make videos for his and my other boss’s college teams. I told him I had little experience in that but was excited to try and learn. Cut to now.
The year I’ve been working there is almost up. I reached out to my boss and asked him if he wanted to meet or talk about the prospect of me continuing my work next year as well. His response was NOT what I was expecting. He told me he was disappointed because the main thing he wanted me to do was videography. He said photos and graphics can be done by “most anybody” and the video editing for the college teams and the sports club never really happened.
We made 2 videos for the sports club over the year that we planned out together. I traveled with him and his college team to their championship where I took photos and videos but I never made an edited video of the championship games. I have never received negative feedback from my other boss about the work I had been doing graphics wise which I spend a lot of time and effort creating.
I hadn’t received any feedback at all from Phil until now. 1 month before my contract is up. I truly was not expecting it and feel so angry, hurt, and upset. This is my first job in the design field and I have been so proud of the work I have been doing. I knew he wanted me to make videos, but he never followed up on a video after our first conversation when he offered me the job. I could’ve maybe been more proactive? or maybe he wanted me to take the initiative on video creation? Either way, I had no idea he felt this way until today. My boyfriend and parents say I should quit. I truly don’t know what to do or if I am really in the wrong here. I don’t think I am, but I don’t know it’s my first job in my field and maybe I should’ve known the expectations. Any advice would be really appreciated as well.

Hello everyone, I was diagnosed 3-4 months ago with obstructive sleep apnea. AHI of 25.9 on my back, 10 on my left side and 12.7 on my right side. My symptoms is sleeping 8-10 hours and still feeling tired. Getting hot flashes when I am closer to being tired again. High blood pressure that fluctuates a lot depending on how much sleep I got. I also got anxiety now ever since my apnea go more noticable. I generally do not wake up during night, but I do sometimes wake up an hour after trying to go to bed with some small panic attack or palpations. I also get now more easily stressed out then I used to and it's harder to control whereas say year ago it was fine.
I am 5'10 and 185 pounds, which technically makes me overweight for my BMI. But I know this is not major part of my apnea though as I always had hard time sleeping for < 8-9 hours even as a kid and I was very very skinny with bones showing as a teenager.
Anyway, this post is mainly to celebrate the that I finally was able to start the APAP treatment, got ResMed 11 autoset machine with N20 nasal mask. First night it's working fine, the mask doesn't seem to bother me. I mentally prepared myself to commit to dealing with any issues and potentially have to tweak things and equipment before I got the right thing for me. So this first night I slept for 4:30 hours with mask on without any leaks. My AHI was 3.9 during it, my settings are the default auto stuff with steering pressure of 5 and ramping up automatically. When I woke up and took off the mask pressure was at 10. I am not sure, I woke up after 4:30 hours and couldn't fall asleep right away (before I kinda woke up couple of times but dozed back. I am usually heavy sleeper and doze off quickly). I took the mask off and tried to lay there for a bit to just take a quick break from it. But I accidentally fell asleep and slept for another 4 hours lol. I assume sleeping that other 4 hours without mask probably undid all the good the other 4:30 with mask did.
But anyway, according to my Samsung smart watch the mask experience helped me a lot. I had almost an hour of deep sleep while wearing it, my oxygen did not dip below 90%. Usually it dips to 87%. I also didn't snore at all as well (my watch records snoring, usually I snore 2-4 hours a night of total snore time). I was worried that I would open mouth at night and this nasal mask won't work and will need a full one. But seems like I don't open mouth if my airways won't get blocked.
My understanding is that it's common for people to not sleep full night with masks on at the beginning of the treatment and 4 hours is a good starting point? I am of course going to try and wear it as much as I can, I accidentally fell asleep without it. I meant to take a break and put it back on

I’ll try to keep this short as I can, I’ve made several posts over the years. I’m just feeling defeated and confused.
I’m currently a 25(M), and had a microdiscectomy on L5-S1 for a 20mm+ herniation (I don’t remember the exact size) in June 2022. Prior to that I was extremely active, I played college water polo up through the December 2021 season. Swimming for cardio is something I’ve done all my life and want to continue, I hate running.
I have a hard time remembering what the pain was like back in February 2022, but it must have been pretty bad since I wasn’t able to exercise (I have a high pain tolerance).
Post surgery was fine, I started walking again, getting back to work and normal daily activities such as running errands. Starting PT after 6 weeks (July 2022) and that was a brutal process I was so stiff and tight. I’ve never been very flexible.
The following 6-7 months, I solely did PT, stretched, and walked every day. Got to where I’d go for 4-5 mile walks at a 16 min pace. In February 2023 I began lap swimming again, this time I didn’t do flip turns, decided I’d just do touch turns to not put my back in a flipping motion. I started very slow and just did about 20 laps/500 yards (which is nothing compared to what I would do in the past).
From February 2023 – June 2023 I just slowly eased into swimming, got back to swimming 2,500+ yards. I also began lifting again, doing light machines and light weights. Did weight training at my PT office to make sure I was doing things correctly.
June 2023 – December 2023 I did well, I was swimming and lifting 4-5x a week. I might have been overdoing it but I felt fine. I’d do 30+ mins of pt warm up and stretches before swimming to make sure I was warm, then would do some lifting after I swam. I was doing some free weight stuff (bad idea) and was swimming fast again. I felt good and I felt like I wanted to start training again to play competitive water polo again.
December 2023 – was doing some light 10lb RDLs that I’d learned at PT. Hadn’t done them in a while and wanted to change it up for my hamstrings. After one set I felt some pain and discomfort in my back, something I hadn’t felt in a while and knew something was wrong. I stopped Immediately.
Went to the Dr. and got another MRI. New MRI shows disc herniation of 6mm at L5-S1 significantly smaller than the original. My surgeon told me it wasn’t surgery worthy and that it wasn’t compressing my nerve, and I don’t have much pain so I agree. He said many people can live with them, and they don’t even know, but I need to listen to my body and modify etc.
January 2024 – Since then I went back to PT, tried to come up with a good game plan for safe forms of exercising. It was hard to accept, but I decided I’d stop trying to push playing competitive water polo again for health reasons. I started slow again, swimming 3 times a week very slow and building up laps every week. I now do light machines to keep myself tone, that’s all I need and am happy with.
March 2024 - I got back to swimming 4x a week at a slower pace, I can maintain good form but still get winded. And I’ve been lifting 4x a week, all somewhat light weight all on machines. My feet are grounded, and my back or chest is against padding for support. Still do PT warm up stuff ahead of time, and stretch and roll out my glutes, hamstrings, and hip flexors after.
April 2024 - I felt pretty good, just general stiffness when I wake up sometimes, and some days I get some achiness in my lower back and glut area but I accept that’s normal.
PT thinks my gluts and hip flexors are weak and my backs compensating for them. I guess I trusted them and agreed to do what thy said. But they started having me do back squats which made me nervous but felt fine. I started doing those several times a week. Then they had me start do incorporate hip trusts for my gluts, either with the barbell on my waist or using a machine at the gym. Then they wanted me to start doing weighted RDLs again and that’s where I drew the line. I was confused how if that’s how I hurt it in December then why would I do it again. They tell me I can do anything as long as I have good form, but I’d rather not risk it. They make it seem like I need to do them to strengthen my muscles and learn to load my spine again.
The surgeon told me no deadlifts and no hip thrusts. He said goblet squats are fine. It just made me not trust PT anymore. No matter what I tell them they tell me it’s normal and say I just need to get stronger. I felt like since doing some of the leg stuff I was getting stiffer and achier, so I wanted to get a second opinion
May 2024 – My dads good friend is a sports medicine professional, and he referred us to a good doctor he knows/went to school with in my area, he studied medicine at UCLA and works with sports and Olympic teams. I went to visit him to get some clarity on what exercises in the gym are safe for me to do and what to stay away from or maybe a new PT that he trusts. I was shocked when I went last week, he looked at my MRI results and said I have the herniation at L5-S1 and another 5mm herniation at L4-L5 that my surgeon didn’t even mention. The new doctor said I was having muscle atrophy from nerve compression and it could be serious and could need another surgery. He put me on a 6-day steroid pack and said if it relieves my symptoms then there would be some hope without needing another surgery. I have a call with him tomorrow to follow up on how I feel.
I’m confused. I don’t have bad symptoms. I’m stiff and my hamstrings are tight, but they loosen up during the day. I don’t really have any radiating pain down the leg. So, I can’t tell if the steroid even helped because there wasn’t much there to begin with. Over the last 6 days it hasn’t been as achy and tight when I get up in the morning, but honestly, just doing my daily activities such as going to work, walking around, etc. I don’t notice it at all. It’s just when I do certain movements like bend down, or twist a certain way, or lean backwards, then I feel some stiffness and pulling in my lower back and glut, but it doesn’t go down my leg it’s all centralized in my lower back. I don’t feel as achy and stiff so that’s good, but my QL and left glut still are a little achy when I think about it.
I’m just confused and frustrated. My surgeon told me in January there was no nerve compression and didn’t mention the second herniation. But then this new doctor makes it seem very severe and now I’m nervous. I’m frustrated that squat, hip thrusts, etc. have maybe been making things worse and I wonder If I need new imaging to see if they’ve gotten worse over the last 5 months. My dad’s friend who referred us to the new doctor also read my MRI report and said he would agree that if I don’t have that bad symptoms that my results wouldn’t suggest I need another surgery.
As I mentioned, up until a week ago I’ve been swimming 2,500 yards and doing some machine lifting 4x a week. And the symptoms aren’t bad, a little tight when I stretch and warm up, such as getting up off the ground after stretching I’m kind of stiff standing up straight again. Once I swim it loosens up and might get a little tight, but overall feels better after.
Just been a long two years since the surgery, and I don’t want another it was the most depressing thing I’ve ever gone through. All I want is to be able to swim some laps for cardio purposes (which I assume is safe) and then do some light machines at the gym to keep myself tone and have some muscle definition. But I want to know what machines are safe/what types of exercises to stay away from.
I know this is a long read. But any thoughts and Insight would be helpful. Thanks

Hey everyone. Figured I would come to this subreddit for some advice on getting a new mattress. In late 2019 I bought my first ever Casper hybrid mattress as my old mattress was giving me back pain. It took me a month to get used to it, but I ended up loving it until this past December when I started getting back pain again. I ended up getting a new Casper hybrid (dream hybrid). At first It felt ok but it noticably had a Lower height (12in vs 13 for the original). My back pain did go away but I developed pain in my right glute as I’m a side sleeper and mostly sleep on my right side. I felt as though I didn’t have enough support for my mid section. I ended up returning it and going for a more firm mattress and therefore got a nectar premier hybrid (it has a pillow top). First few weeks were good but I feel that the pillow top has worn off and now pain in the right glute is back. I was on vacation last week and my pain was completely gone when I slept on a different mattress. The nectar does seem like a good mattress but it is very firm when compared to a Casper. I was hoping someone can recommend a good medium firm mattress that can help with my issue. I am also going to try PT to see if maybe a muscle injury. Thanks!

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First of all my concept upon humans is that they are "apes". I mean that we clap, we cheer, we dance, we boo, etc. I've just started to see a lot of animalistic actions in the world. It's what I call the "ape theory". It means that we haven't gone over evolution, but that we are still in the process. In such I feel that we are all "biological machines". If a person thinks about him/herself then we can't even think "outside the box". If a person starts to think "outside the box" - it's just because in that given action by the reality - the person started to think "outside the box", but it's not about thinking "outside the box", but the situation.
Of course that could seem a bit strange start, but what I'm on about in this subreddit in terms of such - is that I believe that when we are "biological machines" where consciousness doesn't create anything, but simply experiences. IF so then artificial general intelligence (or artificial superintelligence) doesn't seem that impossible.
Still I could be wrong, but I just don't believe in "free will" in any sense. I think that all of our behaviour is tied to our evolution, genes, environment, etc. and just how things come to be in the reality.
I know that you here most likely know about ChatGPT-4o (Introducing GPT-4o (youtube.com)) that came yesterday and you probably know about Unitree Robotics (Unitree Introducing Unitree G1 Humanoid Agent AI Avatar Price from $16K (youtube.com))? Okay, if you don't know then the latter had a pretty astonishing video about their $16000 robot that could do many things like Boston Dynamics have done before. Still for the price it was quite astonishing. (Very cheap) Also you might know about Figure (Figure Status Update - OpenAI Speech-to-Speech Reasoning (youtube.com)) which uses ChatGPT to understand surroundings and act upon them...
I mean that there seems to be a very clear future? Robots, bots, robotics, etc.? I've even started to think that the mass-production of robots, bots, robotics, etc. isn't even in year 2030 - but it would happen much faster? Maybe in couple of years the world could start to change very much?
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But what I'm on about is that I only see one path to utopia. I know that some could argue that prices will drop with automation and they probably do, but at the same time, when unemployment rates would hit 25 % for me the only sensible thing to do - is that you make four-day working week. But for me it - in such - makes most sense that you have "robot tax". I mean that you tax companies which automate and then you circulate that wealth through the governments for things like negative income tax. I mean that you would could even have a positive tax return. It would just mean that all workers would be appreciated. A dynamic society where - not by - minumum wage you create salary, but just by redistributing wealth. It's a very simple thing and you probably comprehend because I'm not that smart.
I don't believe in universal basic income, because people might work for a new Playstation and then just quit their jobs. The bureaucracy is important. Of course maybe when there would be three-day working week could be universal basic income - I just mean that "robot tax" is a very simple way to create the utopia. It doesn't even have to do with robots, bots, robotics, etc. (I mean tech firms), but just companies that would make high profits - and all work would be appreciated.
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Also like with the AlphaFold 3 (?) understanding all the 200 million proteins - I just assume that we need artificial intelligence. I don't remember correctly, but was it like million tons of plastic goes to oceans every year. Maybe we could have solar working robots for that - or better - maybe mushrooms could be used to reproduce oil from plastic? I know that the latter is a very stupid thing to think about - with a very little understanding of sciences - but also it's better to send robots, bots, robotics, etc. to Mars, asteroids, Moon, etc. to collect resources. I just feel that mankind has capped their intelligence and we need something new. Maybe we could have pharmaceutical drugs at some point that would unlock different parts of the brain. It could come from new kinds of hallucinogenics which would be simply to attack certain parts - I don't know?
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Still I'm a very "retarded ape" and I don't mind people saying so - because for me most of the people who write in reddit are quite "retarded". It's just that I would be very happy - if the "retarded apes" wouldn't just push out their thoughts. I just don't like the world of today where "retarded apes" - like myself - have started to think that they "know". Shut the f--- up - and let the geniuses speak their minds. "No deep state, etc." I mean that we need geniuses, we need AI and we need some kind of new form of thinking where we can live in unity in this world of constant (and very ridiculous) battles which are just coming from us being "apes"
No! There is no good and evil! If people boil dogs in China - it just means that as a species we are quite violent. If a person starts to see so then you'll start to see a lot of behavior that exists in our society coming from our past of being "a bit more apish".
But you see? I do believe that there are mysteries to the universe - like why everything seems to exist for life? I mean that we should have died with coal - but we just seem to progress? If there is progression here and some kind of weird "understanding" for such then why couldn't have there come more than the universe - which would be for life? But why do people make such kinds of thoughts as their "meaning"? "I mean maybe...", but just try to act towards the society in a good manner - and who cares? Things will be revealed or they might not be, but can't we just make the society function so that all people could have good experiences?
A bit of a rant? But even the Pope is an ape who is doing weird kind of rituals? Are we all unsane? But I don't mean that he would be wrong completely, but he still is an ape who does weird rituals?
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But this is just a stupid post in reddit. I see the simplicity and I'm a very simple person. I'm just waiting when the geniuses will start to speak about this kind of stuff, but much better. (I probably should have put artificial intelligence to write this...?) I have a very stupid sense of humor when I'm a bit tipsy.

I’m so sorry for the long post. Please read if you can:
I can’t express the grief and sadness I feel. I’ve had 2 miscarriages. About 3-4 canceled FET cycles because thin lining (ranging between 6-7.5mm). Before this most recent cycle, the doctor had me take Oralissa for 2 months for Adenomyosis (which was a new diagnosis after 2-3 years of doctors staring into my uterus) but it didn’t help my lining, in fact, after Oralissa my lining was the thinnest its ever been (~4mm).
I had a phone call with him yesterday where he basically said that my thin lining “could be” because of my 2 D&C. He asked me a range of questions trying to see if I have an infection in my uterus, but my answers were no to all the symptoms. He wants me to take 2 weeks of antibiotics anyway, which is fine.
Although I’ve had two hysteroscopy, and a biopsy for endometritis which came back negative, he feels that looking at the pictures of my uterus, there are areas that look red and inflamed which he thinks indicates endometritis. As a result, his next line of action is to have me take the antibiotics for two weeks and then depo Lupron for three months to treat me for an infection, adenomyosis, and endometritis. However, I have only been formally diagnosed with adenomyosis and the other two he’s just speculating that I have and wants to treat it.
The doctor also suggested I take human growth hormone medication which he says is experimental and has shown preliminary effectiveness for thin lining. He highlighted that its purely experimental and insurance companies rarely if ever cover it.
Of course, I asked him why he didn’t see the “red inflamed” areas of my uterus prior to my last failed FET, to which he admitted that he didn’t look at the pictures and was going off of the previous doctor’s diagnosis, but now that he’s looking at it himself, he sees it…
So, hearing all this information had me feeling very overwhelmed and fearful. I asked the doctor what happens if this new regimen that he came up with is not effective for me, to which he answered, “well it would be the end of the road” and that generally speaking surrogacy would be the next option if this failed. He also ended the phone call by saying, “good luck.”
I hung up the phone and I just couldn’t believe that this will be it for me. I guess a part of me thought that if this doesn’t work there would be other options.
I feel so defeated, and truly, for the first time, I actually feel very scared that I won’t become a mother. I feel depressed and hopeless today.

Currently 9 months pregnant with my first baby. SIL got me a mother’s day gift which I appreciate… but the gift was two stale bags of chips from a gas station and a dish to serve the chips… her and my MIL laughed and said it was for when I’m “entertaining” guests visiting the baby. I know I’m hormonal and obviously very sensitive at this point in my pregnancy but am I wrong for being upset about this “gift?” I quickly responded with “I will not be “entertaining” anybody after giving birth” Am I the asshole for being upset?

I used to be a wrestler and extremely fit (29 now), but as I switched to a desk job I’ve gained some weight.
I’m 6’0” and in college was about 170 with an 8 pack. I was skinny though and have more muscle now also for sure.
I was shocked a few months ago to weigh in at 234… like couldn’t believe it.
I am not currently going to the gym, but have ramped up from skipping a meal here or there to basically fasting 20 hours a day minimum 5 days a week.
It was hard for two weeks but now it feels fucking fantastic! I dropped from a 36 waist that I could barely fit and now am in 34s, eying getting back to 32s!
The only other changes I’ve made I can think of are that I use my standing desk at work at least 90% of the time, I go home and start working on projects until 9 or 10 or 11 pm without stopping (just moved into my first house!).
Eating mostly healthy but not super strict. No fast food or restaurants. Tons of water.
I am probably consuming anywhere from 1000 (uncommon) 1800 calories a day and even still have a couple beers from time to time.
This has been going on for 3 months at most, probably 2.5 and I just weighed in at 208! 26 lbs in 2.5 months feels crazy to me I’ve never shed weight like this. I am probably burning a ton of calories from projects (tons of yard work, cleaning, fixing, unpacking) yet don’t feel remotely tired and wake up easily for work at 5:30.
Hoping to keep this up until I get to about 190 and should be summer ready!
Is this sustainable?

I (19F) have been seeing this guy (20M) for almost four months now. I’ve known him for 1 and a half year, so I would say we were already on a friendly basis. We started this friends with benefits situation because I sent a drunk hookup text, and we’ve been hooking up semi-regularly since.
After coming back from spring break, he told me he had missed me, unprovoked! The other day he also texted me that he loves me — given, it was in a casual context, but it still made me kick my feet and scream into my pillow. The other day I initiated a hang-out that didn’t involve sex for the first time (we just chilled on campus), and he was the one that initiated physical contact and was generally quite touchy, in public no less. Another thing to mention, every time that we’ve hooked up post-spring break we’ve slept at each other’s places, which we did not do before.
Are these signs that I should make a move to take this situationship to the next level? I’ve had an astronomical crush on him since the first few weeks of us seeing each other, but I’m doing everything I can to take it slow because I’ve had crappy experiences with being rejected by situationships in the past after confessing my feelings. On the other hand, I can’t tell if it’s worth being patient with this ‘unlabelled’ thing we’ve got going on, or waiting for him to ask me to be his girlfriend. At this point I want a serious relationship, and I don’t want to waste energy with a guy that might ultimately see me as a pasttime. But I also like him an embarrassing amount and I’ve never been this compatible with a guy before. Please send help.

TL’DR: Unreal- show about reality tv production- having scary parallels to Bravo. Do you or anyone you know work or has worked in reality tv and and give us the real tea?
Y’all - I have been watching this show called UnReal (free on Tubi if you want to check it out). It’s a scripted show about a reality tv show production except more like the bachelor than a VPhousewives type of show. Anywho - it is crazy to see what the BTS of a reality tv production might look like. It has given me a new prospective on everything.
In the show I’m watching, producers are assigned to specific cast members and are incentivized with bonuses to manipulate the cast to act in whichever way makes better tv. They are meant to connect with cast, have them trust them, learn their insecurities/deepest darkest fears, and use that against them, while seemingly (to the cast) making it that production is looking out for them and has good intentions 🙄 this relates to something Stassi said recently in the podcast talking about Taylor swifts new album. (Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6JaUKLgOfY/?igsh=MXVvbHpuczF6MWRiag==) She mentioned something that she was rewarded on VPR for bad behavior (screen time, attention, “star of show”) which is confusing. She says that then when she turned into this bad person they wanted her to become, she was kicked to the curb. Now, Stassi started this show as an adult, and ultimately, how she acts in any given situation is totally up to her. But in this show I’m watching, the lengths they will go to get “good tv” is bonkers. Total disregard to the person who has been manipulated into a character that is entertaining to watch. It is an abusive relationship I can only imagine messes people up for awhile. (this does not excuse Stassi’s awful and racist behavior, just her account of what it was like to be on VPR)
Something else that felt scary similar to this show and something Andy Cohen has said regarding the reality reckoning. In UnReal, the main character of the show is a producer lady who goes back and forth on loving the job/adrenaline and hating herself and hating hurting others. At one point, she claims that her job is about helping people. When asked who it is she helps, she says the X amount of people who watch this show is who she is helping. That basically ruining the lives of a small number of people for the greater sake of entertaining the audience (us) is worth it. When AC was asked about the reality reckoning of it all back when it first happened (Oct/Nov 2023), this was his response (source: https://www.etonline.com/andy-cohen-reacts-to-reality-tv-reckoning-amid-bravocon-exclusive-214199?amp) "You know what I'm doing, I am focusing on the joy that these shows bring people and everyone here is so happy and they're happy to embrace our 170 Bravo-lebrities that are here, that are happy to be here and embrace the shows themselves, So, that's really where I'm at. I'm in a place where I'm living my joy, like Oprah."
Idk it’s all a lot to take in. Has anyone else watched this show and thinking the same thing? Does anyone work in reality tv or know anyone who does for the real tea? I would love to get insight from someone who actually has experience working on a set.

Hello! I have been ttc for about 5 months now. My period has been pretty regular.
I’m about two days late, however am testing negative.
Did anybody who is pregnant test negative during the first few days of a missed period?
I guess I’m just trying to hold on to any glimpse of hope haha

Hey all! I (23M) am going to my first rheumatology appointment tomorrow. I did blood tests back in November, pretty much everything was abnormal (ANA, CCP, Titer, Pattern) EXCEPT for my RF. I've been scouring this sub seeing that there are people who have been diagnosed with similar results, but I guess I am worried that I won't be taken seriously because my RF is negative, and I've had the past 6 months to think about it.
I do have a family history (my mom has RA and lupus + others), which is what made me go to the doctor in the first place when I was experiencing pain, but I guess I'm just worried that because I don't have everything, that I won't get diagnosed with anything and I waited 6 months for an appointment for nothing. So I guess if you are also in a similar boat, how did y'alls diagnosis process go? Did you ever get any pushback from anyone? And how long did it take you to get the diagnosis?

What would you recommend an incoming PhD student do in the couple of months before starting their PhD?
Rest? Prepare? Anything else?
I just finished undergrad and other than wrapping up a few lab tasks (2-4 hrs per day) I am totally free. I have a textbook I want to crack open to acquaint myself with a subject I'm nervous about taking this fall and a stack of papers I could review to better understand the lab I'm joining. But I also have a long list of books, movies, TV shows, and friends I want to catch up with before I totally focus on grad school.
So, from those who have already been in this position, what's the optimum way to spend time before starting a PhD?

I saw Destiny at a college protest in Texas the other day. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my chanting, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I went back to my tent I saw him trying to walk through the encampment with what looked like an ISIS flag.
The girl at the front was very nice about it and professional and was like “Sir, you are an agitator please leave.” At first, he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and started leaving.
When she took one of the megaphones and started chatting "free free Palestine" multiple times, he stopped her and told her to say free singularly “to prevent an electrially intifada,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she started just chanting "free Palestine", he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly into his own megaphone and saying that she was a typical privileged liberal white college kid with no policy substance, so he was falling asleep listening to her.

Hey all, I’ve recently met the love of my life and she just so happens to be 19 weeks pregnant. (Has her ultrasound in less then a week.) We’ve been connecting for over a month now and things are going wonderfully, never have I found someone that I connect with as much as this girl. I haven’t been in a relationship for 2 years before I met her. For starters, she’s 18 and I’m 19. She had a really rough go with previous relationships and she has never felt true love before, which gives me a sense of responsibility over her. My parents think this is going to ruin my life. If you can relate to this post please feel free to respond, thank you.

Hello, this is DNema[M23], from China. You can call me denny. I learned Japanese and English during my study in uniersity. I will be in dubai & riyadh & perhaps some other arabic cities for business reasons since next month. I hope to train my arabic and find some long term arabic friends to learn its culture. Japanese (Already N1 level) as exchange language will be better I think.
こんにちは、中国人のDNemaです[M,23]。私をエマと呼んでも大丈夫。大学寮で住んでいる間に、日本語と英語をよく学びました。私はビジネスのために、ドバイとリヤドに行く予定なので、アラビア語を練習したり、長期的なアラビア語の友達を見つけることができることを願っています。日本語を交換言語とするのは良いと思います（すでにN1）、ほかのも大丈夫です。
Language fluency might decrease without oral pratice!
Feel free to let me know if any interests！