Cute things to put on boyfriends birthday card

I (24F) have been in a relationship with my (25M) since I was 16. I apologize for how all over the place this is. I just need help.
We’ve grown up together. I love this man with all my heart. I feel as if he’s my person, but he doesn’t feel the same. He tells me he loves me, but his actions haven’t always said the same.
To set the stage, it was like any other high school relationship. You believe you’re gonna end up married and pregnant a year after you graduate. It’s not the case. Honestly the red flag should have been when he laughed in my face when I told him I loved him for the first time. We were 3 months into dating and spending every day together. We got a place together on my 20th birthday. Everything was perfect in my eyes. We were own our own, sex life was up, and it was all ours. No rules or parents. It wasn’t until 8ish months later I discovered he was sexting my friend. I did the worse thing possible and cheated too. Everything went to shit. He moved out, we fought, all that. Well, we ended up back together after a few months apart. He moved back in and everything was fine. Here I am 2 years later after all this happened and I’m doubting if coming back was a good decision. My whole family hates him. My friends hate him. Every single person I know that has met him, hates him. He doesn’t put in the effort to be around the people important to me. He never attends a single family event of mine. Absolutely nothing. Not even my birthday party. We no longer live in the house that’s in my name. Everything is his. We had a conversation a couple weeks ago about how we have to live our lives for us and I broke down crying because it sounded like he didn’t want me in his. He told me I was overreacting and he’d buy a ring in two years time. He refuses to get married. He refuses to have kids before he’s in his 30s. I try to make him see my point but he fails to see why it bothers me so much. I’ve always wanted a happy family. We both make decent money. There’s no reason why we couldn’t support a child. I’m afraid his fear of commitment is because he’s still sleeping with someone behind my back, but I have no proof. It’s eating me alive. I can’t get his phone to check messages or when I do there’s only two conversations left. It makes me feel like he’s deleting the truth so I don’t see. I attend everything of his family’s. I treat his sister like my own. I feel trapped down. Everything is his and I will have nothing but my car and clothes. My mom said I can move in with her, but after being on your own, how do you go back to that? Am I overreacting? I’m not asking to get married tomorrow, but we’ve been together so long that boyfriend and girlfriend sounds fucking stupid to my ears. I wanted a future with him, but what happens if we do have a kid? Will he allow the kid to see my family or is he going to fight me? What do I do?
It’s not like we’re fighting either. I just want more. I feel guilty for wanting more. We still get alone. We’re still loving towards each other. He has no idea what’s going through my head since that conversation. I’m lost.

To preface, I'm looking for an answer for "dummies". I generally understand how system structures work, but I've never imaged a thing and all of the google searches I've found have either been not exactly what I'm looking for but close or I just don't understand them.
I have a micro SD card that got corrupted, so I made a bit for bit copy of it using FTK Imager so that I could run a chkdsk on it and not have to worry about data loss. After running the chkdsk, I ended up with data loss, so now I have the copy of the data as both a .001 and a .exfat, and since I lost the stuff on the SD I just reformatted it. I'd like to put that bit for bit copy back on the SD and I think that means I have to image it. I just don't know how. I also don't care that I'm putting a corrupted image back on the SD. That's fine.

Apologies as this is probably going to be a long entry.
Earlier this year I started a new job in the police, to do this I left another job in the prison service where I was doing well. This was a position which my girlfriend told me to apply for as it was where she worked and was more money. I accepted, applied and got the job. She appeared really happy that I got the job and it was supposed to be our way out of my mum's house where we both lived.
On the evening of my second shift I had to stay up to the early hours of the morning to pick up my girlfriend. She had to stay late as she was having some serious issues with her mental health including self harm and suicidal thoughts. I have been supportive of this taking up extra duties in the house and doing my lions share to sort her as I always have. She told me that she stayed late to talk about previous traumas. She told me about them when I picked her up and I stayed up to talk to her to make sure she was ok. We had a really good talk where I was supportive and said we would get through it together and I'll do what I can to make life easier. I woke up and went to work and when I finished I was walking to the gate and 3 detectives asked me to follow them and took me to the gate where everyone was leaving took my eppilettes and badge and informed me that I was under arrest for an alleged assault on my girlfriend.
Just for context I would never lay a hand on a woman especially not in anger or frustration, I know the second you lose your temper you lose the argument so if anything ever started feeling heated I would leave so we both had time to cool down and have a proper conversation.
I was very confused however pressumed they had mistaken me with an ex-boyfriend who I know had assaulted her and she was talking to her manager about it. Because of this I wasnt to worried as I knew I had never done anything that was even close to assault, I'm not saying we were perfect , we argued but it was always verbal (at least from my end) and always came to a reasonable end. We never lost our temper with each other.
When I got to the station they said that she had said that I slapped her once outside a bar, I was shocked by this and when they said it was 9 months ago I knew they hadn't mistaken me for her ex as we were together for four years by this point. I was placed in prison Grey's and put in a cell then interviewed. They released me on bail with conditions not to contact her and they took my phone for evidence incase I had messaged anyone admitting that I slapped her. I need to stress at this point that THIS NEVER HAPPENED.
The case was classed as a no further action after a month of pointless attempts to crack my phone and trying to persuade myself and my girlfriend to give them the pin which I refused to do without being told by the court that I had to. As a result of this whole incident I lost my job in the police and cannot reapply as now I have an arrest on my record. My life fell apart as a result of this whole thing and now my degree in policing and criminal investigation seams like a complete waste. Any jobs I want and suit are in public service or military and this throws a massive spanner in the works.
When I first saw her we went through everything that had happend and why she said it. She said that we were playing about and that I had tapped her face which she found disrespectfu but that she never meant that she wanted police involvement as she had kicked me first. Again this had never happend. I have spoken to many police officers and staff that I know who have said that it sounds suspicious and that they had absolutely no reason to arrest me if what my girlfriend had told me was true. When I said this and said would she get the transcript of what was said as it was a recorded session she said "what if I have remembered wrong" this shook me to my core as it strikes me as she has said more than what she told me. She had also changed her story about when and what happened.
As a result of this whole thing I have lost loads of trust, money, motivation and I'd be lying if I hadnt suffered some darker thoughts such as driving my car into a wall at 100mph. I was looked at by people I didn't know as a wife bearer and it made me sick. To top it off she got everything she wanted as she wanted to move out but financially we couldn't save money for a house and we would also be leaving my mum in the shit if we left as we payed all the bills. To avoid this I let her stay at my mum's and I slept in my car so she was close to work and could continue her way of life. However she decided she knew best and got an appartment which we now both live in and I can't afford. She's also saying that she's more confident now and showed me messages of guys who are trying to get in her pants. Meanwhile I have gone from being confident and strong to being a complete shell of my former self. And she didn't want to take any responsibility for any of it. She also told me that she had my back and told the manager that reported me to the police that she was upset with her however looking at the messages to her manager she was nothing but friendly with her.
My head's fucked, I feel betrayed, small, insignificant and like everything that happend to me just didn't matter to her. I don't know what to do, I'm trying to get my head right by going back to the gym but my motivation is shot. I don't know if I can trust her anymore and I feel bitter and resentful. What do I do to start feeling better and should I confront her about what I've gone through because of her bullshit story or should I just leave. I want to make it work as this is the only bad thing in our relationship. But it's fucking written me off and I don't know how I can get past it. I appreciate any advice or guidance to help me get past this portion of my life.

TLDR: Im scared to make the jump of ending things. I love him but I don’t think I’m in love with him anymore. Im scared it’s the wrong decision. Im scared to start over. Im worried financially. Im worried about our pets.
If you can do math I’m sure you can see that my boyfriend and I started dating pretty young, if anything I’d say he is my first love. I thought he was my true love. Backstory: We moved in together after about 7mo of dating (with roommates) then a few months later just the two of us. Things were great, we were working on our careers and got two dogs. It felt like we had a little family and happy life. Fast forward three years: we go on a trip with his family. His dad flips his shit on us about finances in an airport but is primarily yelling at me because my partner was being submissive and not questioning or trying to discuss this with his dad. His dad also brought our relationship into his yelling, saying things like I don’t make my BF happy, he doesn’t support our relationship. It was really shocking and “random” for me to see this display. It honestly sent me into a depression to be broken down like that publicly, with no warning, by my boyfriend’s dad and him not even sticking up for me or our relationship. My bf telling me the entire trip home and at home that that’s how his dad is, that he’s sorry, and he doesn’t know why his dad said those things. That he’s happy with me. Three months later I catch him texting other girls talking about meeting up. I already had a girls trip planned coming up and told him I needed time to sort through all of this given that I feel like I was dealt blow after blow. I came back from the trip and we talked about it more, I asked numerous times if there’s something I’m not doing right or if I do truly make him unhappy. He denies, says that he doesn’t know why he reached out to other women and that it was a stupid mistake that will never happen again. Of course for awhile I was on edge and wary but I loved him and wanted to make this work. A few more months later I was trying to find a tattoo artist he follows and showed me on instagram. But instead I found him following a lot of explicit female pages. I told him that this made me uncomfortable especially given our recent issues and set a boundary to not continue following/looking at these women. For the past year I feel as though things have been good and my trust is back for him. Here’s the but: 1) I don’t feel like I enjoy his conversation anymore or it’s gotten less. I feel like I have to initiate every conversation, find things to talk about. 2) I feel like I almost have to mom him or be his parent. Having to help him file his taxes, figure out his car insurance, his doctors appointments, cleaning etc. 3) He’s not romantic. We’ve had numerous conversations about how I want to surprise occasionally, I want him to do something romantic for me. I’ve quite literally almost begged him to. He always says he’ll try harder and he’s sorry. I know everyone has different love languages giving and receiving but I feel as though we’ve both communicated ours and it’s feeling one sided. Some anniversaries or valentines we took it easy and just did a cute dinner together. Some I planned trips for us. One year I did a surprise beach trip. For our 5yr anniversary I did a spa resort since neither of us had gone and well it’s our big 5 year anniversary! I don’t want to degrade him and say he’s never done anything for me but I just don’t feel like we’re on the same level. We just got back from a week long trip to the PNW we’ve been wanting to do for years. He didn’t put any effort into planning so I made the entire itinerary including finding where to eat at during the trip. I feel like this trip really snapped for me. Our 6yr anniversary is next month and I almost want to just not bother and see what he does, if anything. I know I shouldn’t expect things but I thought he was going to propose during our 5yr anniversary because he occasionally would ask what kind of wedding rings I liked. When he didn’t, I thought maybe he was waiting for a romantic trip like the PNW since we always talk about where we would and wouldn’t want to be proposed at. He didn’t. I know it sound silly to expect a ring when I’m sitting here questioning staying with him. Because I’m usually a logically person and clearly a planner and mentally made a pros and cons list.. and the reasons I kept coming back to for not leaving him is 1) we have long history together 2) I love him and I don’t want to hurt him 3) the stress of having to decide moving out and furniture 4) we have two dogs together 5) financially 6) I’m scared to start over.

We have been together coming up for 6 years and engaged for 10 months, no date set we're not in a hurry and he's just started university. Generally we get on well, we both work away a fair bit so don't see each other everyday but do live together. Last week he became what I'd describe as down and distant. Quiet and sullen but defensive and said nothing was wrong when I asked what was up.
At the weekend we got together with friends for a birthday and got drunk, which isn't very common for us. He had smiles for his friends but was still off with me and didn't spend time with me. We ended up having an argument about it all. The next day when we'd cooled off and I apologised for my part in the fall out, he claimed I didn't like who he was as a person or any of the things he values about himself. I tried to say this wasn't true but he would not hear me. He said the things I like about the relationship are things just having anyone would fill and weren't specific to him. I got angry that he kept telling me how I felt and wouldn't listen to me telling him my own feelings. Anything I brought up to try and prove I like him he just said he knows I love him and that's why but I don't like him. He didn't have any suggestions for things I could start doing or stop doing to make him feel liked. He was really negative and not like himself.
He suggested going on a break to give me the time to figure out if he actually made me happy. I said I didn't want to, I wasn't the one having second thoughts. And if he felt I wasn't right for him anymore he should break up with me. He said fine let's stay together and keep bumbling along. He said is so casually like it didn't matter.
When we go home I wrote him a long list of all things I like about him. This seemed to help and he put it up on his office wall. He's been acting much more normal again but I can't help feel he has one foot out the door and isn't sure if he wants to be together now. I also don't want to just avoid talking about this outburst and kind of forget about it if it is a big issue that needs resolved. I asked him to think about if he still wants to be with me while he is away and he said he would be too busy and it wasnt long enough to decide But he gave me a hug and a kiss goodbye which seemed at odds with what he'd said.
I feel like he feels unlikeable and is putting it on me. And it's more something he maybe has to deal with himself rather than something I can do much about.
Has anyone experienced this in a partner or felt like this themselves? I don't know what to do to help things improve. He's away for a few days now we both have a bit of time to reflect. I don't even know if I should wear the engagement ring right now as he seems unsure if he even wants to marry now.

I 29F have been seeing this 29M for about 4 years. I’d definitely call it an extreme situationship. We both just graduated from the same school and are doing our next set of education in different cities 4 hours apart.
Our “relationship” started in 2020 when we started school. After hanging out with him for several months, and getting frustrated that he wasn’t asking me to be exclusive, I did a thorough social media sweep and I discovered he had a girlfriend who lived about 6 hours away. When I questioned him, he stated that it is an open relationship. It was very painful to find out he had a girlfriend all along as I had developed feelings for him and wished he had disclosed this information earlier. I should’ve walked away at that point to stop the pain, but I was in too deep and continued to hang out with him at least once a week. I loved how I felt around him, and he put in so much effort to see me and do nice things for me that I felt guilty and bad for his girlfriend, who he rarely saw.
About 3 years after we first met (so early last summer) he and his girlfriend broke up. I felt like he withdrew for a few months to process the breakup and then in this past fall, he really started to show more interest in me, more than he ever had. We took trips to together, we started saying “I love you” this winter, we’ve gone through hard things together. We’re best friends.
And now that we have graduated, we are going to different places and have to decide what we want to do. He says I’m ‘wife material’ and wants to make things work. He is committed to his new location for 2 years, but tells me he plans to work really hard so he has a chance at getting a position in my city next. We are planning to visit every 4-6 weeks on the weekends, just depending on schedules.
The problem is, I can’t decide how serious this man is about me. He puts in a lot of effort to spend time with me and make me happy, and has done so fairly consistently for 4 years, but especially this past year. However, he has dating apps and is active on them. He knows I know…I tell him I don’t like it because it makes me feel like he’s looking to replace me. His response is “well you’re on the apps too.” But I tell him I literally only have the apps to see if he’s on them (the honest truth, my profile isn’t even complete). We aren’t technically boyfriend/girlfriend, so I can see how it is within his right to be on the apps. But it hurts to hear him talk about a future with me and tell me he loves me, just to find him on the apps. He was on the apps when he was in an open relationship too. I’ve never known him to act on anything in the apps (he’s always down to see me when I ask, and when he’s with his friends he really is with his friends). I kind of think he just likes to look. But still…I want to feel like I’m enough for him. What would you do if you were me? How do you approach this conversation again before we move away? I don’t want to wait for someone who isn’t serious about me just to have him playing the field. I don’t want to be 35 and infertile and have no prospects while he’s happy with a partner that he ditched me for. I don’t know what to do. I deserve better than to be his “just in case”, but I love this man. Please be nice…I’m already processing a lot with moving away from family, starting a new phase of training, and relationship issues.
TL;DR: I’ve been seeing this guy for 4 years, call it an extreme situationship. We are moving to different cities, 4 hours apart and have plans to continue seeing each other. We love each other and are best friends. Problem is, he is active on the dating apps and knows that I know he is active and that it hurts my feelings, yet continues to do it. We aren’t exclusive so I understand it’s technically allowed. What would you do if you were me? How do you approach this conversation, especially since we’ve had the conversation before?

(Sorry for any wrong grammar, English is not my first language)
My boyfriend and I have a good relationship, we both communicate our feelings well and we try to understand each other as much as we can. But recently I found out that I have an anxious attachment style and I found myself worrying about everything that's related to him as things were changing lately. This and the fact that he's been busy lately with his upcoming exams and other commitments did not help my situation at all. Although I did ask my friends for help and comfort and they said that only he can fix things.
Now here's the thing, I asked him to at least reaffirm me about the situation so that I know that the negative thoughts in my head are wrong, and to update me every once in a while so I could feel his presence and I don't feel neglected at all. This did not work out as he felt like he was under pressure of all the other things he's doing.
This might be where things start to get complicated; I started having an anxiety earlier because he hasn't replied all day and I've been overwhelmed with emotions, so this resulted with me asking plenty of questions, regarding my self-worth and/or if I've done anything wrong. He replied 8 hours later after I sent all those texts and he told me to not worry and that nothing changed as he was just busy. This however still did not feel enough of an answer for me because I wanted to understand his situation more.
And this is where I'm in the wrong... I snapped and had a mental breakdown and I started asking questions out of frustration and desperation. I told him that the current situation felt one sided as I don't feel my love getting reciprocated in the same way, although I don't see it like that completely because I understand that we have different love languages and he expresses his love in a different way, but it's just not consistent at the moment. I told him that I felt alone and I felt like I'm the only one showing vulnerability and not vice-versa. He replied that he already told me all the bad things that happened, and the he's just not emotional at the moment to open up about anything in the present. To which I replied that I understand and I asked him to at least update me on what he's currently doing every once in a while so I don't have to sit and guess about anything and let my thoughts do its own thing. I then started having a self-sabotaging moment where I was asking him everything including what I am to him and I told him that he doesn't have anything to lose since none of them know about us and I'm that I'm just his secret. I asked him if I was worth the risks.
(A little note: I am out to my family and my friends and they're supportive about it and the fact that we're dating while he's the opposite as me because his parents are not very accepting of it, although he is planning to tell them and his friends in the future)
Understanding him hurts me, but I really am making an effort just to prevent any misunderstanding between us. I just wish that he'd communicate more and that I'd feel like I'm not begging for his time at the very least. It shouldn't be this hard...
He said that his mind cannot take and process any of it at the moment, I tried to understand his situation. He then asked me to talk about all of it later but now I feel really horrible and I felt like distancing myself after all the things that happened and I've said and I'm afraid that these will be the cause of things to fall apart but that might be just my anxiety... I really do love him and I'm sure that he feels the same way, and I'm trying my best to put my trust on him but I really can't control the unnecessary thoughts that come into my mind that only he can dispel... :(
What do I do now?

So this is gonna be a long one. My ex and I legally divorced many years ago, finally, after she got pregnant with another man's kid. Someone who she had been dating for 2 months. It was a rough marriage, but also one I dragged out, badly not wanting to put our children through a divorce. I had a hard time letting her go, as she was my first relationship. I had a full-time job that required extensive commitment and required much of my time. Luckily, my job was flexible, and I was able to watch my kids while my then-wife would run off for weeks at a time, going to parties, doing drugs and, unbeknownst to me, having intimate relationships with other men and women. I realize how this sounds, but she was pretty open about drugs and partying, making it seem like a life crisis. And here's the kicker: she told everyone that we were in an "open relationship", a term I was too nieve to have heard of, and which her friends took at face value. It made her friends less likely to talk to me, thinking I was some weirdo. She was literally often times gone for WEEKS at a time. And when she's come back, she'd clear out the bank account. When we separated, it was because she left me and our two kids to move in with her "new boyfriend", which lasted for a few months. Long enough to be considered abandonment. Then it was move, move, move, until she got together with her new boyfriend, who knocked her up. I tried to give her a fair custody deal, in part because I was stupid, and in part because I was led to believe that, as the mother, she had a huge advantage with custody over me. For years and years, my ex-wife moved from place to place, taking advantage of me and badmouting me and screwing with me at every possible oppertunity. A few years back, there was an incident where she was convicted of abusing our children, leaving many physical markings on our son, who was 5 at the time. In exchange for her completing anger management and parenting classes, I didn't press for full custody. Now, years later, she started telling my son that she didn't commit the abuse, and that she didn't deserve to be on the child abuse registry. She moved in with her sister in November, then got kicked out in January. It was around that time that my son confided in me that, 1.) His mom didnt deserve to be on the child abuse registry, as she "didnt do it", and that 2.) I was the one who caused our relationship to go south, by avoiding my parental responsibilities, going out and partying, yadda yadda. Basically all the shit she did to me. In fact, I was trying to make money and be a full-time dad for our two kids, while she ran off and did these things to me. We are now in a place of her trying to go after full custody, and her trying to poison and twist the minds of our children. This has gotten much worse since she was ordered to pay $200~some~odd a month for child support, because the Court has a requirement that someone pay when the kids are on state assistance. The amount was significantly less because the Court had to impute my income. Since June of 2023, when I got diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease that goes after my brain, I have had $0 in income. It's a hard disease to diagnose, but Ive gotten several second opinions, had eight MRIs, and all the experts agree: I have multiple sclerosis. My income was imputed at over $9,000 a month, while U survive off the generosity of my family. The only drama I have with them is related to how I used to defend my ex wife and let her walk all over everyone. Previously, I supported my family through hard work, bringing in, maximum, around $1500 to $2500 a month, but have struggled to get back to the point where I can work. Disability is no help, they just keep denying me. They don't want to hear about a 29-year-old with ongoing massivr fatigue problems. The Court tells me I need to be on Disability to have my income adjusted. I think my ex-wife is drugging one or both of my kids, possibly through second-hand cannabis use, but am legitimately scared to make such a claim. Every time someone has made a claim against her, it's come back to royally bite them in the ass, somehow. Meanwhile, she refuses to hold down a job, despite having a perfect-working immune system and seemingly unlikited energy, and now that she's been ordered to pay child support, the parental alienation has increased 10-fold, with my kids coming home three out of four weekends (her timr) needing to be "reset". They cuss and swear at me, as their mom has "no rules". I'm at a loss, what do you do in this sort of situation? I do have an attorney, who told me he doesn't think she'll ever be able to get 50/50, but I still worry about this, to the level of it effecting friendships and relationships with my family. I seriously have people that hate me because I put up with her. And I try, so hard, to be a good dad,, and to be always fair and not to crap-talk this woman. And with a few nasty lies, their mother seems to just uproot and wash away everything I've done, like it was nothing. It's just so defeating. They're six and ten, and I got on the most stable drug I possibly could, and have been working with physical therapy trying to get back with it. The drug I'm on doesn't make flu or covid more severe or risky, specifically because my favorite little human petri dishes are very likely to bring something home.I have no history with drugs or alcohol, or any criminal record. My name certainly isn't on the abuse registry, and I havent had an issue with CPS since I was married. I cannot tell you how many times I went out of my way, on my own dime, to provide two-way transportation to foster the relationship between these kids and their mother, believing it was best for them. I thought, maybe, eventually, she'd grow up and be a mom. For a while, I believed she was. All the while, I gave her money for food, a few times for rent, new car parts, installed by me, appliances hauled and paid for and installed, by me, trying to just help her out. All this only to find out years later that despite her not having these kids hardly at all, she was claiming that they lived with her full-time to get more assistance, and even today, she is the same crap-talking liar I had only previously seen glimpses of. After my son told me what his mother had said, I requested a copy of the previous abuse record from CPS, and come to find out, not only did she refuse the free parenting and anger management classes she was offered, even though we agreed she would take them, but she also tried to say that I left the markings on the children when CPS investigated, amongst other games. Our youngest corroborated the story perfectly to the CPS investigator at the time, according to the report, which concretely confirmed the details. After their mother refused classes, CPS ended up adding her name to the naughty list of child abusers. I strongly no longer believe that her having custody time at all is best for the children. What would you do, or have you done in a similar situation? What pitfalls do I need to avoid or not see coming? Additionally, how do you go about secretly drug testing your 10-year-old? Is there a more obvious answer? I am currently custodial, at about 80/20, with many times where she didnt take them during her time, but I fear what's in store for these kids in the coming months, when we transition to the usual 50/50 during the summer. Thanks for reading, and in advance for any advice!!

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

I'm not sure what the purpose of this post is, but I guess I just need to vent. I shot myself in the foot by applying pretty late last cycle (september-ish), and I'm currently waitlisted at two schools. As much as I'm trying to stay hopeful, I'm being realistic and planning on reapplying early.
It just sucks. I took my DAT in Oct. of 2021 and scored pretty well, but apparently my score won't be valid this cycle for many programs I'm reapplying to due to its expiration date, so I'm planning on retaking it in a month.
I graduated in 2022 and had already planned on taking a gap year just to explore my other passions, work, travel, and take a break from school. Things went well in my first gap year, and I was on track to apply for the '23-'24 cycle. But my world fell apart in late spring of last year, when my boyfriend passed away, and honestly I just shut down. Long story short, I was unable to apply early and kept flip-flopping between submitting late or waiting for the '24-'25 cycle. I ended up just saying f it and applied late, but unfortunately that hasn't work out.
In the past, when I'd see my old peers and friends already in their D2 and D3 year, I'd beat myself up because I'd feel so behind, disheartened, and embarrassed. However, I'm really trying to adopt a healthier mentality and perspective for reapplying, reminding myself that I'm on my OWN journey. Things don't come easy in life, and that this is just a small blip. With the new cycle opening today, I plan on putting my best foot forward and continuing to persevere. Reading other stories of reapplicants has been inspiring nonetheless.
I apologize for all this word vomit. Kinda just had to get it out, but I feel like some weight has been lifted off my shoulders. If anyone wants to share their own stories as a reapplicant, I welcome them and would love to hear them. This community has been helpful, welcoming, funny, and a breath of fresh air and I know we'll all make it as successful dentists someday.

Keeping it short and simple I met this cute girl in college, after 2 years of studying and hanging out together, i asked her if she liked me, not only she said that she didn’t, on top of that said she had a boyfriend and didn’t expect this from me, (since when did politely confessing love to someone became offensive), I didn’t knew she had a boyfriend and after this encounter didn’t spoke to her for a straight month. When i did join our friend circle (you can’t survive studying alone, you will need a group for projects), this girl had told her best friend that i was trying out on her even though she had a boyfriend and is disappointed on me, no matter how many times i tell her i did not know of her boyfriend (i don’t give 2 fucks about your stupid boyfriend whoever he is) she just goes around saying that i tried to hit on her knowing well she had a boyfriend. Now i only stay in her group for group projects and because rest of the class is kinda rude to an introvert guy like me. So our group is my only option and her face just keeps reminding me of how much i used to love her and depression both at the same time. Although we are good friends she now thinks after rejecting me, it is a good idea to stop me from being friends with some other guys in college who drink and smoke (stoners are the chill guys in college never forced me to do anything rash, just wanted help in assignments and you can have great chat with them any point of time, not like fake friends who copy your assignments and then block you or insult you in class) if any other person would have said i was making friends who are bad influence, I would not have found it as irksome as she telling me this after rejecting me and spreading fake rumours about my ill intent (what are you except being my friend? A girlfriend i never had?)so you guys do the justice and give tips for me in this situation, remember, our marks depend on this friend zoned relationship. I have to stay a friend for projects. Also if i ever had a girlfriend, i would not want her to be nagging and put her nose in my matters type. One advice is that i only meet her for work related matters otherwise i avoid her. Ask in comments for more of the backstory, whether i still like her or not.

I have an overwhelming urge to tell my WH's AP's boyfriend what she does on the internet.
Backstory- DDay was 1 month ago. WH had an EA that was not really even that. Someone he found on Reddit on a NSFW subreddit. Someone inviting DMs to play. No emotional exchanges. Sexting naughty fantasies, her sending him pics of her engaging in relations with other men. Him reciprocating with dick pics and videos of him "finishing". All he knew was her first name, where she lived (out of state), that she was an alcoholic and had a serious long-term boyfriend that had no idea this is how she handles her days and "would be devastated to know" (her words in response to my WH asking her how her BF felt about them engaging this way, as per my own witness of such text)
When I found out about the sexting, after picking myself back up off the floor, I immediately went into detective mode. Paid for the background check, found out where she lives, her full name, where she works, etc... for no other reason then sheer madness and curiosity as I was seeking so many answers. But, I also figured out who that long term BF is... and I want SO BADLY to anonymously message him and share a few bits of proof of who he's really dating. It's coming from a place of "want to get back at hewant to save someone else from this heartache"
My WP and I are in early R. While I am still processing so much hurt, I know R is the right step. We are 11 years in with crushes on each other dating back to when we were 10 years old. (We're in our 40s now). 2 kids. Great, strong history. This all came about from my WH feeling lost after we had to humble and house-share with my parents post COVID/housing crisis. Our relationship became complacent due to our living situation. Towards the end of that, I got promoted at work to the tune of a million more responsibilities and good $$, as he was on the chopping block due to budget cuts at his. I stopped dealing with my post-partum healing and dove head first into that new position, working at home as often as I was working at the office. Oh, and trying to be superMom to 2 young kids. He needed serious validation and attention that he never once mentioned he was struggling with.
While we never stopped laughing or loving, we definitely started going through the motions, desperately counting the days until we had our own place again, my brain was healed, my work was more balanced and his job status was solid.
Fast forward 2 years . On our own again, in our own home. They saved his job. Mine is so much more balanced now that I've made it through that initial "OMG what did I agree to" overwhlem. Kids are happy. Sex life came back. (And we have a very adventurous one. Enjoy it all. Explore it all. Lots of play and fun. Lots of deep intimacy as well. Always has been.) The sparkle came back to his eyes.
But...I guess he just still needed to see her goddamn sex acts with other people, still kept engaging with her when she would reach out to him. Albeit a few months go by here and there in between. (I learned that this discovery of his that a woman on the internet thats not a porn star, but just like you and me, could ask to engage in that way so easily and discreetly, he became obsessed. Reached out to over 80 women. Had only 4 that actually became regular sext partners and it was daily) - so my warped mind is, like, "ok" with the fact that around the time we got better, he stopped reaching out to her. (She was the only one left) But every 2-3 months or so, she just can't fucking help herself, her "other lovers don't answer her anymore and...." Cry me a fuckin river...
I ripped into her via text the day after discovery from a ghost number. Laid her out with everything I could muster that wasn't a threat. Told her exactly who she was, exactly what she could do with herself, and exactly how disgusting and ugly and worthless she was to this world. (Not sorry).
I watched him end it. I watched her respond saying "Good because he was nothing to her anyway and how disappointing he was for doing this to her" and he promptly told her to go get hit by a bus. (And I am comforted when he says that if any of the women he made this mistake with were to be dead tomorrow, his life would go on with a skip in his step and no sympathy. They were "pieces of meat" to him. Not women. Incredibly mean words, I realize... and we are actually very non-hate-fueled, but that's how he processed this. It's how I need to, as well, to find my footing right now)
We've been doing ok. I feel and see his remorse. I have zero trust and he has been incredible about allowing me every ounce of everything I need as these weeks develop, post. We're going to make it through this, over this and beyond this.
But... do I tell? It's one of the last things I feel I need before I can start putting her out of my life and mind, and truly work on reconciling and rebuilding us/trust. And I don't even care what comes of it, except to go to bed tonight knowing... he now knows too. We're even.

I got this device solely because of the airplane mode feature since I never want to connect the band to my phone and don't want bluetooth on.
Initially this a PITA to use.
I had to download two apps:
Samsung Health
Galaxy Wear
It crashed after installing. I had to unfreeze the Samsung Account system app.
Then I had to go make a dummy Samsung account with all fake data, which was a PITA. Initially it automatically fetched my cell phone number so I removed the SIM card and uninstalled and reinstalled.
Then after verifying using fake data do I'm not tracked, I connected the band, waited for it to set up. Without all this I could not even use my Fit3, it will not let you do anything until connecting.
After this I froze the system app, Samsung Account, Samsung Health, and Galaxy War apps.
Next I turned on airplane mode by swiping down and left and click the quick icon.
Finally I can use my device for the first time, 1 to 2 hours later.
This is all unnecessary. I bought your device, now it's mine, let me use it offline out of the box.
Not to mention, without the radios, the battery should last a lot longer.
So far I like it, I am tracking my heart rate, o2, and stress. I will track my sleep tonight.
I have some disappointments.
I don't want any notifications, but swipe left us a blank notification screen. I regret that I can't put something I'm using there, like summary or a calculator and then I put heart rate and sleep in the right. But there is no option.
I can't reorder the screens on the right without removing them all and adding in a new order
Looks like there are missing features only available in the app, like VO2 Max, which I'm not sure if this band does
I liked that I can disable all buzzing vibrating notifications, and sounds.
One thing that would be awesome is a simple pomo timer which vibrates at the end. Also a vibration for certain metrics, for example, completed your run time, heart rate went too high, stress too high, etc, with ability to customize or disable this when you don't want it.
A focus vibration would be a killer feature. Somehow use it to detect if you get distracted and buzz to remind you to focus.
Alternatively set a buzzer every few minutes to simply remind you to stay focused. A very light, non-distracting nudge just to bring you back into awareness, so you stay focused.
This is my feedback so far. Thanks for the device, I hope you improve it further and make ability to use full offline with manual sync by touching a button. I don't mind manually doing a sync now and then maybe once every day or two. But I want all radios off the rest of the time.

My friend and I are college freshmen (both f19). Last semester, my friend Ashley and I were close, but this semester, it feels like she ghosted me for another friend, Riley.
I was upset by this, but I didn't feel like I should say anything because Ashley was going to hang out with who she wanted, and if that's not me, then whatever. She also seemed distant and could get rude at times, but I justified that it was her depression and the stress she was going through with her classes.
A couple of days ago, Ashley, Riley, and I went to get stuff for another friend's birthday party. Ashley and Riley talked the entire way there, and I didn't really say much. At this point, I was used to it. I'm a quiet person, and they talk so much and so quickly that I don't get the chance to add to the conversation.
After getting what we needed, Riley headed off to study, so Ashley and I walked over to the dorms together. I tried to talk with her, but again, she was distant and didn't give me a whole lot of responses that would continue the conversation, so we were quiet. Then, all of a sudden, Ashley walks ahead of me and puts on headphones, which I think I can fairly say is quite rude. It also made me wonder if the distancing was because of something I did.
I wanted to talk it over then, but we were all gonna be hanging out at this friend's party. I didn't wanna ruin the mood and punish my other friends for shit they're not a part of, so I didn't say anything. Ashley also moved out the next morning, so I didn't have an opportunity to talk it out with her because she was leaving when I woke up. I felt shitty for texting her about how the whole ditching me shit was rude, but I didn't exactly have a choice. I also asked if there was something I did.
Anyway, she texted back, saying that something I said had upset her very early in the semester. I remember regretting the thing I said, but I didn't know it was something that would affect her to the point of being closed off and rude. I apologized after learning how much it had upset her, but I also let her know that this was something that should have been communicated to me if it was upsetting enough to push me away. This is what I'm mainly upset about.
I also let it slip that when we were debating housing next year as a group, I was hurt by things said. Long story short, she said something that I really should have talked to her about, but I felt like the group was against me and I didn't wanna be pushed away even further.
Now she's upset and "shocked" that I didn't communicate about this in person "like adults" and squarely put the blame on me, but I think both of us poorly communicated. It also feels like the text conversation is one-sided; I'm trying to own up to the things she's saying hurt her, but all I'm getting is more blame and more reasons I'm wrong.
I'm just thinking about all of this, and I'm worried I overreacted and am actually in the wrong. AITA?

Hi! I have been a lurker on this sub for a while & am constantly reading the posts both here and in PubTips . I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing and would greatly appreciate some feedback on my current work in progress (I'm currently between two). It has been workshopped and edited, but I think there is still room for improvement.
I would love to hear what readers both liked and did not like about it. Thank you in advance for your feedback :)
Chapter One
Two things needed to happen very quickly if Alexis Bradshaw wanted to stay alive:
First, her boyfriend, William, had to be willing to forgive her long enough to meet up and talk. Second, her drug dealer, Malcom, had to agree to lend her his gun so that she could put a bullet in William’s head before he could put one in hers.
Which, of course (if Alexis was doing the math correctly, which she most certainly was) was almost completely 100% impossible (99.998% if she was being specific). Because William had never once been the forgiving type, hence why Alexis had cheated on him. And Malcom, forever paranoid, never let the gun out of his sight.
Which meant she was dead. So dead, in fact, that it was almost worth walking to Easton Cemetery and reserving her plot right now. A small piece of land underneath a willow tree towards the back. Far enough away that people wouldn’t care to vandalise it, but in a pretty enough location that people would still enjoy visiting.
Not that anyone would visit. The one person who might have was the same one ready to ensure she never saw another morning.
She couldn’t date normal boys. She just had to choose the psychotic, lunatic ones.
Maybe her and her mother did have something in common.
She glanced at her phone, her heart sinking lower. William had found out about her and Christian — or had it been Christopher? — exactly twenty minuets ago. Meaning, if he had left his house the moment he’d found out, he would be at her door in exactly ten minuets. Five if he was driving fast, which Alexis would bet her life he was.
What was it about anger that made men drive so erratically? Perhaps she would be able to ask God himself soon enough. Her phone buzzed and Malcom’s name appeared on the caller ID. She answered instantly.
“Oh thank God. Hey, how quickly can you get to my house?”

My friend from high school missed by undergraduate graduation and graduation because she dropped out.
I (23 F) have been friends with this woman (23 F lets call her BEBE) since my freshmen year of high school. After high school, we still remained good friends and really we became closer after graduating hs. We ended up going to different universities, BEBE decided to go to a private university out of state and I decided to stay in state for college. BEBE dropped out of school during the second semester of freshman after struggling academically, and financially to keep up with tuition, and as a result, she began to struggle mentally. During BEBE's time out of school, she went to a community college on and off due to not being able to keep her grades up and she lost scholarships because her grades were too low so she had to work to pay for community college (she still stays at home and her mom was not helping her pay for school anymore since she was still paying off the loan from the university). Our friend group suggested that she take a break from school to get right mentally and financially. We have had multiple conversations about comparing her journey to others and how we are all on our own timeline. Right before my undergraduate graduation BEBE car was repoed and our other friend (lets call her Mia) had a birthday so I know it would have been difficult for her to attend my undergraduate graduation, she also said that it would have been difficult for her mentally to attend because she wasn't graduating. I respected that at the time. I was accepted into a one-year accelerated graduate program. During that one extra year of school, BEBE came down to my school to party multiple times, we took roads trips, and attended family events with each other (every time I would drive back home I tried my best to see her, like EVERYTIME even seeing her over my own best friend sometimes because she stayed closer to my mom's house). As my graduate graduation is approaching I told my friend group that I wouldn't be able to attend Mia's birthday plans this year because I had work, finals, and my graduation was the weekend following her birthday(which was on a Friday) ( honestly I was completely overwhelmed with a lot of things at the time and I was completely transparent about how overwhelmed I was feeling). I had told them multiple times that my graduation was coming up but BEBE and Mia never even acknowledged I said anything about my graduation ( I never gave them details because they never asked and honestly I wasn't expecting them to come because they didn't attend last year). On top of that my car was stolen right before I had to go and take a final exam, THREE days before my graduation, and the day before Mia's birthday this year, I was literally devastated and really just needed my family and friends support. We have a group chat ( Me, BEBE, Mia, and our other friend Sarah). In the group chat, the day of my graduate graduation, Mia was upset with Sarah because she fell asleep on Mia's birthday plans (activity was scheduled for 8 PM but it didn't happen until 11:30 PM), Mind you Sarah stays about 45-60 mins away from the activity and was waiting for them to tell her to leave out. BEBE follows up with a message saying that it felt like nobody cared about Mia's birthday. So I responded by saying I apologize for not being as enthusiastic about Mia's birthday this year but it was literally because I was overwhelmed which I expressed to them before that day and that I was dealing with my car being stolen (I haven't told them up until this point because I had no time to process this on top of making sure I finish my classes strong and I was still quite upset about it and didn't want to keep thinking about it). They never acknowledged my message... so I sent another text saying how I was upset that they didn't put in any effort to come to either of my graduations. after that BEBE and Mia were saying they felt the friendship was unequal, they were never formally invited, and that they weren't talking to me originally but yet they kept using "yall" and using other plural words instead of messaging Sarah separately or being direct. Mind you this is a couple hours before my graduation and they still didn't even acknowledge that it's my graduation day, didn't get a congratulation or even checked to see if I was okay after having my car stolen and expressing to them I was overwhelmed. Then BEBE and Mia started saying why should they tell me congratulations soo early when they didn't know what time my graduation was and the fact I didn't tell Mia happy birthday until the evening time on her actual birthday ( less not forget my car was stolen the day before and I was also at work trying to make calls to my insurance agent ). I never formally gave them details because they never asked or even acknowledged I said anything about my graduation. Then they went on to say they didn't even have a ride to my graduation but im like yall could've rode with Sarah but then BEBE goes she had to look after her 16 year old twin brothers......... and she wasn't attending no ones graduation because she isn't graduating. Personally I feel that is so selfish!!!!!! like I understand she's not graduating but like I just needed my friends' support during a difficult time. her saying she couldn't celebrate my accomplishments and perseverance because she's not where she wants to be in life is so not fair and it feels like she's in secret competition with me. BEBE states like she still mentally is struggling to deal with graduation season and personally I just feel like I am struggling mentally too and I have been a good friend to her through all her mental break downs so her not showing up for me is her simply being a fake friend, only wanting to party, drink, and smoke but when I needed her just to show up as a friend (and not for her to compare her life to mine) she couldn't and I am so disappointed. She ended up leaving the group chat and I am willing to lose this friendship because I feel I have really show up her on so many different occasions whether it be mentally and even financially. After all of that I just wanted to get a different perspective to see if I should've gave her more grace or no? Thank you for coming to my TED talk and appreciate yall POV!

Heyo, just wanted to write up a little post for this hellish course since I managed to pass in 6 days without touching that GodForsakenTextBook.
First things first, I was dreading this class so much and that probably made it worse. As soon as I saw someone mention they passed without reading the book, that was my path and I was sticking to it (unless I failed.) I planned to spend maybe 3 weeks on this class but after I passed the PA I said fuck it. Was not planning on retaining anything from here.
 
Main thing I did was follow this post, so I:

• Watched the Linkedin video
  
• Started drilling the quizlets he made. I liked using the Learn and Test modes and reading the reasons answers were right or wrong. (when available).
  
• I watched this video, about 30min long. I guess it prob helped a bit.
  
• Then I ended up doing them again for the most part (Had a quizlet plus trial with one email, ended up getting annual on my 'main' account and just redoing them so I could see my completion and for repition I guess.)
  
• Then I took the PA to get a baseline. As said in the other post, some of the flashcards are ripped straight from the PA. I got exemplary so I decided to give the OA a shot, scheduled it for 4:30pm the next day.
  
• At this point I was pretty solid on the quizlets. I reviewed the exam essentials questions from the end of the chapters. (Also someone put em here). I stuck those in GPT and just tried to make sure they all made sense and I had a decent understanding of it.
  
• Took the PA again, exactly the same questions, got all of them correct.
  
• Feeling pretty confident I just did more passive review but tried not to worry too much.
   
  

The OA:
Sucked. It was similar to the PA, but also not. It was like I was familiar with a lot of the stuff in the questions, but since I didn't read the book I was either a little lost or tottally clueless. Long story short, the PA and the quizlet cards definitely gave me enough info to pass, but a lot of it seemed like stuff that was probably in the book, but I didn't read it! I reviewed the Exam Essentials and notes from webmastersmith (link below). I was certain I failed by the time I was done, so if you feel the same when testing, you might be OK, go with your gut. In my case, I did okay on everything but the Backup and Restore section (UNSATISFACTORY), so you should also probably review that (Yalaholm has a linkedin video on that too, or maybe skim those chapters of the book, idk.)
 
I also used notes from webmastersmith too.
 
TLDR:
 
This method worked for me and at least a couple other people I saw post on reddit. Basically watch the LinkedIn videos and drill quizlets (I did learn mode and test mode mostly) till you pretty much know them all or most by heart. It got to a point where I didn't know if I was solidifying the knowledge, or remembering the placement of answers on Quizlet. Take PA, if it's a strong score you should be in a good spot. My OA, while similar in some ways content-wise, felt different/more challenging, due to many questions based on things I probably missed not reading the book, so maybe skimming through the chapters can't hurt. GOOD LUCK!

• If I were you I would review Backup and Restore stuff, cause I got Unsatisfactory on that.
• I also had some questions on SQL Loader that I was pretty clueless on. Maybe review the Exam Essentials and fill in gaps.

(Sorry for any wrong grammar, English is not my first language)
My boyfriend and I have a good relationship, we both communicate our feelings well and we try to understand each other as much as we can. But recently I found out that I have an anxious attachment style and I found myself worrying about everything that's related to him as things were changing lately. This and the fact that he's been busy lately with his upcoming exams and other commitments did not help my situation at all. Although I did ask my friends for help and comfort and they said that only he can fix things.
Now here's the thing, I asked him to at least reaffirm me about the situation so that I know that the negative thoughts in my head are wrong, and to update me every once in a while so I could feel his presence and I don't feel neglected at all. This did not work out as he felt like he was under pressure of all the other things he's doing.
This might be where things start to get complicated; I started having an anxiety earlier because he hasn't replied all day and I've been overwhelmed with emotions, so this resulted with me asking plenty of questions, regarding my self-worth and/or if I've done anything wrong. He replied 8 hours later after I sent all those texts and he told me to not worry and that nothing changed as he was just busy. This however still did not feel enough of an answer for me because I wanted to understand his situation more.
And this is where I'm in the wrong... I snapped and had a mental breakdown and I started asking questions out of frustration and desperation. I told him that the current situation felt one sided as I don't feel my love getting reciprocated in the same way, although I don't see it like that completely because I understand that we have different love languages and he expresses his love in a different way, but it's just not consistent at the moment. I told him that I felt alone and I felt like I'm the only one showing vulnerability and not vice-versa. He replied that he already told me all the bad things that happened, and the he's just not emotional at the moment to open up about anything in the present. To which I replied that I understand and I asked him to at least update me on what he's currently doing every once in a while so I don't have to sit and guess about anything and let my thoughts do its own thing. I then started having a self-sabotaging moment where I was asking him everything including what I am to him and I told him that he doesn't have anything to lose since none of them know about us and I'm that I'm just his secret. I asked him if I was worth the risks.
(A little note: I am out to my family and my friends and they're supportive about it and the fact that we're dating while he's the opposite as me because his parents are not very accepting of it, although he is planning to tell them and his friends in the future)
Understanding him hurts me, but I really am making an effort just to prevent any misunderstanding between us. I just wish that he'd communicate more and that I'd feel like I'm not begging for his time at the very least. It shouldn't be this hard...
He said that his mind cannot take and process any of it at the moment, I tried to understand his situation. He then asked me to talk about all of it later but now I feel really horrible and I felt like distancing myself after all the things that happened and I've said and I'm afraid that these will be the cause of things to fall apart but that might be just my anxiety... I really do love him and I'm sure that he feels the same way, and I'm trying my best to put my trust on him but I really can't control the unnecessary thoughts that come into my mind that only he can dispel... :(
What do I do now?

So she says she loves Paige & she's her bestie etc etc.. Paige's 16th birthday.. Gone for milkshakes & food right..
Why on earth is Beckitron filming everything.. I'd be so pissed if I saw this I mean why isn't anyone saying anything..?? Why does each occasion have to be filmed..?? Can't she for one day (for what is it a few hours) to put down the phone & enjoy her nieces birthday..
Cares more about her socials & £££..
I'd just love to punch that thing right in the face but she probably eat me..
I've never hated someone so much that I've never met..
I hope she reads this & realises she's one selfish bint..!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi!
My [28F] best friend [30F] Katie and I met back in college and we became quite close and lived together at about 19/21
She doesn’t drive but when we got closer I started bringing her to work with me to cocktail waitress. I had to change the one I was working at because they denied her and we had to go to one an hour away but it was fine I loved being able to hang with her so often.
After that year she graduated, moved a state away ~ 2/3 hours drive.
When Katie first moved she was pretty lonely so i would visit her frequently, sometimes every single week. I would go there for entire weekends, birthdays, holidays, sometimes to take her to work with me up there, etc.
For example things like she had a brief fling with someone who hurt her so I sent a gift and then visited the next few weekends. When her cat died I did the same with a gift and visited, i rented an Airbnb when her grandfather died so she could grieve with me away from roommates, etc.
She has come to visit me twice and sent a gift once. We of course still talked ~5 days a week if not daily and still do to this day.
2 summers ago she got engaged and for the proposal I was there among one other friend and the rest was 50+ people entirely family that’s how close we are.
Since that summer I had a huge breakup of ~8 year relationship it was pretty rough and ended up in psych ward. I then had surgery, separately spent almost a month in hospital and almost died . I also had a bad car accident, and she forgot my birthday.
She didn’t send a card, visit or anything. She rejected my sisters wedding invite as well, even though I asked her to come since I was still sad about breakup. I finally confronted her at the end of the year saying how hurt I was and asking her to visit because I needed her after the awful year I had and she said she loves me but she’s busy, thatI expect too much and she sent some flowers.
For her wedding, I was gonna be MOH until they decided family only due to how large their families are. (65+ people) I was hurt but alright not my wedding.
Saturday I visited for a bachelorette, me and her siblings split the bill it was great.
Sunday Katie texted me saying thanks for coming and among other stuff I said I was happy to be invited despite no friends being able to be at the wedding.
Then, Katie tells me over text how people dropped out of the wedding so she invited another friend + her husband and then two of the grooms friends. Not me. I have yet to answer her text about that and she’s texted me twice since about random filler nonsense.
I feel like I have put in so much effort and gotten minimal in return. So AITA if I keep ignoring her? AIO? Is this normal and I’m expecting too much?

My friend from high school missed by undergraduate graduation and graduation because she dropped out.
I (23 F) have been friends with this woman (23 F lets call her BEBE) since my freshmen year of high school. After high school, we still remained good friends and really we became closer after graduating hs. We ended up going to different universities, BEBE decided to go to a private university out of state and I decided to stay in state for college. BEBE dropped out of school during the second semester of freshman after struggling academically, and financially to keep up with tuition, and as a result, she began to struggle mentally. During BEBE's time out of school, she went to a community college on and off due to not being able to keep her grades up and she lost scholarships because her grades were too low so she had to work to pay for community college (she still stays at home and her mom was not helping her pay for school anymore since she was still paying off the loan from the university). Our friend group suggested that she take a break from school to get right mentally and financially. We have had multiple conversations about comparing her journey to others and how we are all on our own timeline. Right before my undergraduate graduation BEBE car was repoed and our other friend (lets call her Mia) had a birthday so I know it would have been difficult for her to attend my undergraduate graduation, she also said that it would have been difficult for her mentally to attend because she wasn't graduating. I respected that at the time. I was accepted into a one-year accelerated graduate program. During that one extra year of school, BEBE came down to my school to party multiple times, we took roads trips, and attended family events with each other (every time I would drive back home I tried my best to see her, like EVERYTIME even seeing her over my own best friend sometimes because she stayed closer to my mom's house). As my graduate graduation is approaching I told my friend group that I wouldn't be able to attend Mia's birthday plans this year because I had work, finals, and my graduation was the weekend following her birthday(which was on a Friday) ( honestly I was completely overwhelmed with a lot of things at the time and I was completely transparent about how overwhelmed I was feeling). I had told them multiple times that my graduation was coming up but BEBE and Mia never even acknowledged I said anything about my graduation ( I never gave them details because they never asked and honestly I wasn't expecting them to come because they didn't attend last year). On top of that my car was stolen right before I had to go and take a final exam, THREE days before my graduation, and the day before Mia's birthday this year, I was literally devastated and really just needed my family and friends support. We have a group chat ( Me, BEBE, Mia, and our other friend Sarah). In the group chat, the day of my graduate graduation, Mia was upset with Sarah because she fell asleep on Mia's birthday plans (activity was scheduled for 8 PM but it didn't happen until 11:30 PM), Mind you Sarah stays about 45-60 mins away from the activity and was waiting for them to tell her to leave out. BEBE follows up with a message saying that it felt like nobody cared about Mia's birthday. So I responded by saying I apologize for not being as enthusiastic about Mia's birthday this year but it was literally because I was overwhelmed which I expressed to them before that day and that I was dealing with my car being stolen (I haven't told them up until this point because I had no time to process this on top of making sure I finish my classes strong and I was still quite upset about it and didn't want to keep thinking about it). They never acknowledged my message... so I sent another text saying how I was upset that they didn't put in any effort to come to either of my graduations. after that BEBE and Mia were saying they felt the friendship was unequal, they were never formally invited, and that they weren't talking to me originally but yet they kept using "yall" and using other plural words instead of messaging Sarah separately or being direct. Mind you this is a couple hours before my graduation and they still didn't even acknowledge that it's my graduation day, didn't get a congratulation or even checked to see if I was okay after having my car stolen and expressing to them I was overwhelmed. Then BEBE and Mia started saying why should they tell me congratulations soo early when they didn't know what time my graduation was and the fact I didn't tell Mia happy birthday until the evening time on her actual birthday ( less not forget my car was stolen the day before and I was also at work trying to make calls to my insurance agent ). I never formally gave them details because they never asked or even acknowledged I said anything about my graduation. Then they went on to say they didn't even have a ride to my graduation but im like yall could've rode with Sarah but then BEBE goes she had to look after her 16 year old twin brothers......... and she wasn't attending no ones graduation because she isn't graduating. Personally I feel that is so selfish!!!!!! like I understand she's not graduating but like I just needed my friends' support during a difficult time. her saying she couldn't celebrate my accomplishments and perseverance because she's not where she wants to be in life is so not fair and it feels like she's in secret competition with me. BEBE states like she still mentally is struggling to deal with graduation season and personally I just feel like I am struggling mentally too and I have been a good friend to her through all her mental break downs so her not showing up for me is her simply being a fake friend, only wanting to party, drink, and smoke but when I needed her just to show up as a friend (and not for her to compare her life to mine) she couldn't and I am so disappointed. She ended up leaving the group chat and I am willing to lose this friendship because I feel I have really show up her on so many different occasions whether it be mentally and even financially. After all of that I just wanted to get a different perspective to see if I should've gave her more grace or no? Thank you for coming to my TED talk and appreciate yall POV!

So, I am studying for a exam to enter in the foreign service of my country. It's probably one of the Top 5 hardest exams on the country. There are 3 phases: the first is a 73 questions where you have to mark 4 items on each for false or wrong, and the other 2 phases are essays. It requires a very ample knowledge on the following subjects:

1. Economics
2. Constitutional, Administrative and International Law
3. World's History
4. History from my country
5. Geography
6. International Politics (both theory and history)
7. English, French and Spanish

I have read pretty much all the stuff I need to. Now I am only passing by the books and taking notes of the highlights I made. I was then planning to use Anki to memorize all the information that I need, doing cards on my notes. Many people who has been approved used it, but since I find it very tedious, I really wanted to try Memory Palaces to do that. But I am worried about 2 things:

1. The sheer amount of knowledge: Let's make a very unrealistic assumption that I will have to make only 100 notes per book. I read 60 books plus other materials like articles, etc. Considering that I can condense my notes and put at least sometimes more than one note in a loci, and reduce it to perhaps 4500 notes, it would still be a lot. I don't know how many palaces I can make, specially considering that it will be probably, in a more realistic scenario, perhaps the double of this quantity of notes.
2. I am insecure on using this method to do the exam since I don't know people whom have used it for such purpose. It happens annually, and I really want/must be approved ASAP. Can't afford to wait 3 years or something to be approved.

So, has anyone used this method to pass on a exam of similar difficult/structure? Do you think by your experience with Memory Palaces that it can be done, considering the amount of loci necessary, etc.?