Breakfast food baskets

I come outta the Walmart today, bag of breakfast goodies in hand, and there's this dude who is talking to another man about how God gives us something new each day, and nobody has seen this day. I pass him, taking his words as a message from God, and damn am I grateful. I mean, fuck. Been homeless for four years outta my life, but, fuck, apparently that's over. I'm good enough. I'm finally good enough to live.
What am I saying? Oh y'know, Byoomth miracled us a fucking place. We're not in it yet, but he says it's real. Tells me about the negotiation; it went smoothly, but still working out the details, and yet we're going to have a fucking roof over our heads. Isn't that something?
Just, what is this? All those synchronicities about mothers day then a trip for the ages, and then POW! Right in the kisser! It's all getting ready for the second coming. That's me by the way. Why else would the universe be fucking with my head so bad? Must be to tinker with it; build layers and layers of programs in my neurons. They engineered this brain, God dammit! I'm a product of memetic quackery!
I see what I'm able to do now with all these skills I have. I can do something very beneficial for thebempire, and by golly am I gunna help out. Such is the way with messiahs! Everyone can be a messiah! You just gotta believe that you can perform miracles and you can! Simple as that.
But the Path to the place where you're able to see everything and how it works is no fast food! No, that shit is slow rooted over years of your life as it gets recursively improved upon as time goes on. Everything is cyclical; loops and loops and loops - the magick of reiterative imagination. The mind goes where you steer it, so drive in circles and you'll ascend into the parking garage that is heaven soon enough!

Hey there! I’m looking to make a friend who likes to casually chat! I like to have a safe space where anyone can be themselves without judgement. I’d love to say my new friend is honest, transparent and kind. Bonus if they love to play OW2 on console.
Personally, I love to play video games in my spare time, go on walks around the neighborhood and watch tv. I love breakfast food (or food in general) and most of the tv I watch is food shows. I love to cook, but have found myself in a bit of a dry spell when it comes to my own creativity in the kitchen. I’m hoping that reignites again. Please share with me your favorite dish! Cheers!

I (M34, 115kg) will start Wegovy next week. The doctor prescribed Wegovy 1 mg after I annoyed him so much because I tried to weight loss for a long time, but without sucess (maximum I could is not getting more fat).
As I am new to Germany also, it is 1 PEN per month costing 170 EUR right? No chance of insurance covering it AFAIK?
But he is not knowledge of the medicine, so I need very noob advices:
1) How to use?
2) When it is the best time, after breakfast? after lunch? night time?
3) How to reduce chance of bad symptons? I have German classes at morning and dont want to vomit near my classmates haha
4) What kind of food I need to avoid which may give more symptons like nausea or vomiting?
5) Something I need to watch out for emergency?

Hi everyone! My husband and I will be visiting Ireland from Canada May 31-June 7. I have a pretty detailed itinerary because I'm a chronic over-planner, and would appreciate any feedback, as well as any food suggestions! This has been on our bucket lists for a really long time, and I'm really, really excited, and hoping to make the most of our time! We're not renting a car. We usually do on our trips but we were both nervous about driving on the opposite side of the road lol.
Day 1 (Friday)

• Land in Dublin at 11:30am and take the bus into the city centre
• Trinity College, Grafton St
• 3pm Guinness Storehouse booking
• Check into hotel (near St Stephen's Green)
• Dinner and trad music (unsure where)

Day 2 (Saturday)

• Breakfast at Searsons on Baggot (full Irish)
• Take the train to Howth - cliff walk, Howth Market, Howth Castle
• Lunch somewhere in Howth, by the sea would be nice
• Train back to Dublin, stroll Anne's Lane, Donuts from Rolling Donuts
• St. Stephen’s Green Park
• Dinner maybe at Matt the Thresher?

Day 3 (Sunday)

• After breakfast (unsure where), take the train from Dublin to Galway
• Lunch at Galway Market, The Spanish Arch, The Long Walk
• Galway City Centre - Charlie Bryne Bookshop, Galway Cathedral
• Check into Airbnb (in Latin Quarter)
• Dinner at McDonagh's, ice cream at Murphy's (Irish Brown Bread, Dingle Sea Salt)
• Live music at Taaffes Bar

Day 4 (Monday)

• Breakfast at Dela
• 10am tour booking for Connemara & Cong day trip (Kylemore Abbey, Lough Corrib, Killary Fjord, Village and Royal Abbey of Cong)
• Back from day trip around 6pm
• Dinner at The Quay St Kitchen (Irish Stew)
• Live music at An Púcán

Day 5 (Tuesday)

• Breakfast at Lane Cafe
• 9:30am tour booking for Cliffs of Moher day trip (Dunguaire Castle, Black Head Lighthouse, Ballyryan, Cliffs of Moher, Corkscrew Hill)
• Back from day trip from 5:30pm
• Dinner at the King's Head
• Live music at Tig Choili

Day 6 (Wednesday)

• Last breakfast in Galway, then take train back to Dublin
• Lunch at Mad Egg fried chicken
• The Church Bar
• Dublin Castle
• Christ Church Cathedral, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Ha’penny Bridge, Temple Ba Love Lane
• Dinner and live music at the Brazen Head

Day 7 (Thursday)

• 8am tour booking for Kilkenny/Wicklow day trip (Kilkenny village and castle, working Irish sheepdog farm in Laragh, The Wicklow Gap and Wicklow Mountains National Park, Glendalough Monastic Settlement)
• Back in Dublin around 6pm
• Last dinnepub, unsure where

Thanks very much in advance for any and all advice! :)

hi, im 17 f who went through a tonsillectomy on may 1st due to having inflamed tonsils on and off for over a year. throughout my recovery i would go on here to read peoples experiences so i wanted to share mine.
day 1 (surgery day): after the surgery, the pain was a 2/10 hence being on anesthesia. i talked directly after the surgery; it only felt a bit uncomfortable. once i got home, i took 2 tylenol and ate tomato soup.
day 2: i had a small fever at midnight which was so horrible…. i did take 2 tylenol to be able to sleep. once i woke up, pain was really starting to kick in, 6/10. id describe the pain as a VERY awful strep throat. it honestly just really hurts to swallow. i ate left over tomato soup for breakfast. mashed potatoes for lunch and dinner. i tried hydrocodone but i had such a bad experience with it (i felt so nauseous and was shaking really badly) so i decided to not take it at all for the rest of my recovery.
day 3: the pain was so bad i deadass was begging to be killed, 8/10 (dramatic ik). i was struggling to eat my food that i ended up crying. i wasnt eating or drinking enough fluids that i felt so weak and nauseous. i am not kidding when i say this, EAT YOUR FOODDDD!!!!!! even though it hurts to swallow trusttttt meeeeee, itll all be worth it in the end.
day 4: I SNEEZED for the first time and i felt like my entire throat was about to go up on flames!!!!! for breakfast i ate left over mac n cheese. for lunch i attempted eating a sandwich (no crusts, SOFT bread, mayo, and ham) and it went pretty fine. make sure to REALLY chew down your food!! pain was about a 6/10
day 5: the pain was incredibly manageable 2/10 in the morning although during the afternoon things started getting a bit bad…... 7/10. in the morning and dinner i ate some mac n cheese yet again and downed it with some cold gatorade. i started getting some teethaches but it seemed to be normal since its part of the nerves connected to the tonsils (or where they used to be lol)
day 6: 12/10. woke up in excruciating pain. i was aware that things were about to get really horrible. seeing as peoples worst days ranged from day 5 to day 9. i took my usual intake of tylenol. i barely ate anything because the pain was just horrible. drinking wategatorade was such a pain as well. the right side of my throat seemed to have some blood coming out (it wasn’t too much but it made me worry a bit).
day 7: kept waking up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat. pain was about 8/10. checked my throat and the blood on the right side was completely gone. scabs are starting to form. started to crave hard foods (the struggle is unreal). whenever id drink water, gatorade or chew on popsicles, my throat would BURN.
day 8: i slept for an entire night straight without waking up once in the middle of the night. i say that is PROGRESS!!!! when i woke up the pain was not so bad 3/10. i was craving taco bell so i got a beefy 5 layer burrito since i know their burritos are soft!!! it was THE BEST ive eaten since this recovery im telling you omg… i drank a whole water bottle afterwards too… pain feels mild, not unbearable or unused too.
day 9-14: 4/10 throughout these days!! been able to sleep without any struggles. ive also been eating somewhat solids things like sandwiches, pizzas, hot chips (dyanmites, hot fries). yawnings, sneezing, and burping have been my hell.
i want to say that although i was SOMEWHAT just fine using tylenol, it might not be the case for everyone else. the same goes for food, i know some people don’t do well with dairy based foods such as mac n cheese. eat what you feel most comfortable eating but make sure it is soft and mild cold (do NOT eat anything hot/hard/spicy/salty/sugary)! i know its hard for people to talk during this but i talked the majority of my recovery (nurses encouraged it). id also like to note that id randomly eat ice pops and put an ice pack under my chin. id keep track of taking 2 tylenol every 4-5 hours (i recommend that you do as well because its literal hell when you dont). everyone deals with pain differently. just know you’ll be okay and all this pain you’re going through right now will all be worth it in the end.

My wife and I have finished up our 2 week honeymoon and man was it a blast. We were lucky enough to follow up 10 days in Croatia with 3 days in Dublin before coming home (stayed near Dartry.. beautiful, quiet area). Here are my takeaways:
The people are wonderful
From our first Uber driver to the friendly pubs and the considerate strangers on the Dart.. most everyone was so welcoming and willing to help if we had any questions. It reminded me of the Midwest nice that we experience here in the states. The main highlight here was having a great conversation with the gentlemen that played at Trinity Bar on Sunday night - I believe they are called Shamrock(?). We told them about out little girl coming in September and they were nice enough to give us a CD.. so cool!
Temple Bar area is cool in moderation
This area provided the energy, for sure. But it was a weekend, very nice out, so you had a lot of numbskulls out and about. But really really fun nonetheless. Trinity Bar was the perfect stop for us because it was very close, but not nearly as busy or outrageously priced in comparison.
Doheny Nesbits & Devitts ... A+
Two really enjoyable experiences we had were at these pubs. Loved the general vibe, as well as the food and drink quality. I will definitely be back.
Public transport is fairly easy (TFI Live app.. meh)
We bought two Ubers our entire time in Dublin. The public transportation is great. But I have one gripe. The TFI Live app is only 1 or 2 really smart tech people from becoming an amazing app. Why hasn't anyone figured that out? The user experience is quite poor. While learning the system, it's a headache trying to figure out exactly where each stop is, having to bounce around between 2 sections of the app, as well as looking at Google Maps at the same time.
On the topic of transportation.....
GET THE VISITOR LEAP CARD
Just do it.
Wonderful breakfasts
Beanhive Coffee (right near Stephen's Green), and Lark Cafe. DELICIOUS.
EPIC Museum
The emigration history of Ireland was very fascinating to both of us. Ireland has such a complicated history, and I'm not sure there's any other history like it in the world (granted, I'm no expert). I would love to do more research sometime into this stuff because my wife has lots of Irish in her family tree, and I believe I would find a little bit of it in mine.
Final thoughts...
I just really wish we had more time there, but I think this solidified one thing for me, and that's that I will definitely be coming back to Ireland. From south of Dublin, to the Guinness tour, to our Howth adventure.. everything was different, but a lot of fun. Makes me excited to see what else Ireland has to offer. I'm also a huge lover of golf and golf history, so this is another reason I want to come back.
UNTIL NEXT TIME!

Hi guys,
So recently I have been questioning whether the celiac diagnoses I received as a child was accurate or not. (Blood and biopsy tested)
My doubts are largely due to the fact that I have never had any type of reaction that I could definitively trace back to gluten consumption. 2 years prior to my diagnosis I developed community acquired MRSA and 1 year prior to my diagnosis I had a Streptococcal skin infection, both of which I was prescribed vancomycin. After doing some reading I found out that some antibiotics (possibly vancomycin?) can cause damage to villi. Is it possible that the vancomycin I was prescribed had an effect on my villi that lasted long enough to have been detected by the biopsy 1 year later? According to my mother, my ttg iga and DGP IgA lab results were elevated, but not near as elevated as some other newly diagnosed celiacs. Never in the triple digits and likely around 30 or so for the ttg iga. Fast forward to more recent years——because I didn’t have a reaction after eating gluten, I became extremely lax about the whole thing. I’d go out to eat, never inquire about cross examination mitigation practices, and sometimes eat straight up gluten…I know probably not the smartest thing. I felt completely fine doing so though. At one point my diet consisted of mostly gluten containing foods. I had a celiac panel done and my result for ttg iga was 28 U/mL. At the time I had and still have symptoms that I’m highly suspicious of being SIBO related. Could SIBO be the cause of those levels?
Around 2021 I started to tighten up my diet. I was still pretty lax about cross contamination though. I eventually decided that i should start getting yearly work ups done just to see how I was doing. My values were 11.1 U/mL ttg iga and 0.6 U/mL DGP IgA in fall of 2021. Then in September of 2022 I stayed with relatives for about 2 weeks and ate out the whole time except for about 4 days where they made food at home. I found out that the homemade food was made with einkorn flour which is definitely not safe for celiacs. So for 4 days I was 100% getting glutened. About a month after the visit I got my yearly blood work done. The tests results read 9.5 U/mL TTG IgA and 0.5 U/mL DGP IgA- Unbelievably low for the amount of gluten I had consumed just one month prior. Now I know that these values are considered a slight positive, but I also know that dairy can impact your TTG. I am a huge dairy eater. Yogurt for breakfast everyday, milk in coffee, dairy in everything. Is it possible that those elevated levels are solely due to the amount of dairy I consume and have nothing to do due with gluten? Or could it be a combination of possible SIBO and dairy? I am now extremely careful about eating gluten free and have been for past year or so. I don’t go out to eat ever. I don’t eat prepackaged foods and am 100% sure I am not getting cross contaminated at home but my levels are still in the low positive range. 7 U/mL ttg and 0.2 DGP.
What do you guys think? Should I do a gluten challenge and get retested?

heres a list of everything ive watched already
ik its a long list, but please skim through it before reccomending a show :))
cause i always end up getting alot of comments reccomending shows to me that ive already seen
and please keep it to just shows so no movies :)) preferably 24 ep or shorter, but i dont mind longer shows as long as theyre good
also would prefer shows that are dubbed (ik, lame. but my TV is broken n its hard to read subtitles on my phone)
i enjoy both wholesome shows as well as gut wrenchingly depressing shows that will leave me feeling empty afterwards
most the shows on this list are ones i enjoyed watching, but there are sum that i didnt really like. i didnt rate them tho so 🤷‍♂️
n ofc if anyone here is interested in a show on my list that they havent seen before n wants to know my opinion on it n if id reccomend it to you, feel free to ask :))

1. Attack on Titan
2. Yugioh
3. Tokyo Ghoul
4. Elfen Lied
5. Eureka 7
6. Wolfs Rain
7. Soul Eater
8. Soul Eater NOT
9. Gurren Lagann
10. Mob Psycho 100
11. Squid Girl
12. Death Note
13. Black Butler
14. One Piece
15. Naruto
16. Pokemon
17. Demon Slayer
18. Scryed
19. Blue Exorcist
20. Parasyte: The Maxim
21. Hetalia
22. Junjou Romantica
23. Maiden Rose
24. (forbidden anime)
25. Devilman Crybaby
26. The Great Pretender
27. Fooly Cooly
28. Beastars
29. Brand New Animal
30. Toradora
31. Durarara
32. Cowboy Bebop
33. Sword Art Online
34. Immortal Grand Prix
35. Ghost Stories
36. Another
37. Space Dandy
38. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
39. A Lull In The Sea
40. Food Wars
41. AJIN: Demi Human
42. Neon Genesis Evangelion
43. Anohana
44. Corpse Party
45. When They Cry
46. Violet Evergarden
47. Your Lie In April
48. Yuri On Ice
49. Free!
50. Megalobox
51. Pop Team Epic
52. March Comes In Like A Lion
53. The Way Of The House-Husband
54. Japan Sinks: 2020
55. Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru Sou Desu yo?
56. Terror In Resonance
57. Scissor Seven
58. One Punch Man
59. Persona 5
60. Wonder Egg Priority
61. Paranoia Agent
62. Sailor Moon
63. Stars Align
64. Mononoke
65. Erased
66. SK8 The Infinity
67. Mushi Shi
68. Death Parade
69. Tokyo Revengers
70. Given
71. Angels Of Death
72. Serial Experiments Lain
73. Ghost Hunt
74. Banana Fish
75. B: The Beginning
76. 91 Days
77. Made In Abyss
78. Orange
79. Plastic Memories
80. Psycho Pass
81. Bungo Stray Dogs
82. Jujutsu Kaisen
83. Hikari: Be My Light
84. To Your Eternity
85. The Promised Neverland
86. Sarazanmai
87. Deadman Wonderland
88. Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun
89. Arcane
90. Hyouka
91. Pillow Boys
92. Akudama Drive
93. Gleipnir
94. Link Click
95. True Tears
96. Hamatora
97. Darling In The Franxx
98. Boogiepob Phantom
99. Boogiepop And Friends
100. Rascal Does Not Dream Of Bunny Girl Senpai
101. Fruits Basket
102. No. 6
103. Shelter
104. Kids On The Slope
105. Ranking Of Kings
106. Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song
107. Blood Blockade Battlefront
108. Sonny Boy
109. Blue Period
110. The Orbital Children
111. Kiznaiver
112. Noragami
113. Darwin's Game
114. Odd Taxi
115. Steins;gate
116. Dororo
117. My Love Story!!
118. Kotaro Lives Alone
119. Darker Than Black
120. re:ZERO
121. Btooom!
122. Komi Can't Communicate
123. Princess Tutu
124. HoriMiya
125. NANA
126. My Hero Academia
127. A Place Further Than The Universe
128. Blue Spring Ride
129. Carole & Tuesday
130. Dorohedoro
131. Ikebukuro West Gate Park
132. Dance Dance Danseur
133. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
134. Code Geass
135. High-Rise Invasion
136. Kakegurui
137. Monster
138. WataMote
139. Angel Beats
140. Welcome To The NHK
141. Kiss Him, Not Me
142. Bakuman
143. Inuyashiki
144. Domestic Girlfriend
145. Michiko And Hatchin
146. K-On
147. Gangsta
148. Charlotte
149. Clannad
150. Clannad After story
151. Beck
152. Summer Time Rendering
153. Assassination Classroom
154. Tomodachi Game
155. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
156. Spy × Family
157. My Dress-Up Darling
158. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
159. Chainsaw Man
160. Baccano
161. K-Project
162. Eden Of The East
163. Samurai Champloo
164. Akame Ga Kill
165. His And Her Circumstances
166. My Little Monster
167. Dr. Stone
168. Vinland Saga
169. 86
170. Buddy Daddies
171. Haikyuu!!
172. Hunter × Hunter
173. Deca-Dence
174. Shiki
175. School-Live
176. Ghost Hound
177. Kemono Jihen
178. Mieruko-chan
179. Takt Op. Destiny
180. Haibane Renmei
181. Rumbling Hearts
182. Barakamon
183. Now And Then, Here And There
184. Shadow's House
185. Heavenly Delusion
186. Oshi No Ko
187. Insomniacs After School
188. Aggretsuko
189. Sanrio Boys
190. Gloomy
191. Ouran Highschool Host Club
192. Say "I Love You"
193. Princess Jellyfish
194. Hell's Paradise
195. Migi & Dali
196. The Dangers In My Heart
197. Somali And The Forest Spirit
198. Hybrid Child
199. Zom 100
200. Pluto
201. My Home Hero
202. Mushoku Tensei
203. Lycoris Recoil
204. A Galaxy Next-Door
205. Solo Leveling
206. The Apothecary Diaries

Hi, Guys! I’m new here and wanted to share my experience with week 1 for some positive feedback and constructive criticism. I’ll go over my background a little first. I’m 26, Female. I’ve struggled with my weight my whole life, have a very difficult relationship with food. I was diagnosed with PCOS and I’m sure this and hormonal inbalance was the culprit of my mental health. A few years ago I had a very bad mental health episode, and it resulted in me going on sertraline. That and some lifestyle changes helped, but I saw much improvement when I had a weight loss surgery in 2022, I lost quite a bit of weight, had met my partner and moved across the world, and life was on the up and up, so much that I stopped taking sertraline. Unfortunately I grew a little lazy and started putting weight back on, smoking weed, which allowed me to snack so much even when I was full. Food has always been a coping mechanism for me so smoking weed made me forget that fullness feeling and keep going. Then, I started feeling very anxious again, and it was and is being quite rough. I don’t want to get into many details but its a lot to do with obsessions, fear and so on. Depression definitely has a part and I feel it the most and most hopeful right before my period. Now as I mentioned I had pcos but the symptoms had improved tremendously, well, my period is now messed up again, I have horrible luteal phase symptoms mainly mental, and Im not regular any more either. I know for sure my pcos has to do with how I’m feeling mentally. I want to also point out that I had good breakfasts and good dinners. But, I am definitely addicted to sugar. I ate so much chocolate and sweets before bed, snacked constantly, you get it. I knew I needed a change and so I stopped smoking (this has also probably impacted my mental health), it took me a while to take the carnivore diet seriously, but my husband and I want to be at our best, especially as we are trying. Well, this first week had been rough. Emotionally it has been really difficult to navigate, and very anxiety inducing.
Below, I’ll share my feelings each day as I took some notes, but here’s what I’ve been eating this week: Fish (Mackerel), Bacon, Butter, Short Ribs, Pork Belly deep fried in ghee, Milk, Double Cream, Lots of different cheeses, Steak (flank and rib eye), chicken, Eggs, Sausages, Ground Beef, Bone Broth. I would love constructive criticism and feed back and I’m looking only for POSITIVE replies. ❤️ Thanks!
Day 1 - Excited to started. Mild cravings. Missed having bread with my breakfast and did not feel sated as I usually do, even when I was full.
Day 2 - Noticed a little more anxiety. Cravings have definitely gotten stronger. Still don’t feel sated even when I’m full.
Day 3 - Heightened anxiety, but felt better after dinner. Cravings are still strong. Didn’t have my mid afternoon usual snack as I wasn’t hungry.
Day 4 - Morning anxiety again, stomach making crazy sloshing and moving sounds all day, cravings are okay but Im not too excited to eat.
Day 5 - Went to the gym days ago and so much sore than I usually am. Sleep was ok but still anxious when I wake up, earlier in the day. Leg cramps almost took me out when I stretched in the morning!
Day 6 - Extreme anxiety in the morning, cried after breakfast and felt a surge of emotions. Didn’t have much breakfast to begin with. Interestingly enough even though my anxiety has gotten bad for months I hadn’t really cried that way in a while. Feel like I’m gonna get my period but who knows, this would be early.. Felt better throughout the day, tried magnesium for the first time to help.

I barely started teaching middle school this year and I’m quite young (24) so I’m only like 10-13 years older than my students that I deal with. I was in middle school like 10 years ago and I can’t even imagine doing half of the shit my students do. Right now, I am just noticing how comfortable kids are at asking me for food. Not even for snacks (they ask) but how they are so willing to take my lunch or ask me to go out of my way and buy them food. They go as far as asking for my leftovers, going through the trash in my room to see what I ate for lunch and complain I didn’t give them any, some even ask for the ice in my drink such as a fountain drink or even try to drink from my personal water bottle. I am sick of them acting like they’re starving. I’ve had kids try to take food from my hands when I am clearly eating it. They get free lunch and breakfast

I (19M) stayed with my best friend (23M) for 2 days at his place where on the first night I paid for food (cost $50) for us both and told him it's fine since he can get pizza for us tomorrow and he agreed. When we got up the following day I said I was a bit hungry and would happily pay for breakfast but we couldn't agree on anything and then he said he wasn't hungry before storming off - this was mostly because he wanted me to order from an expensive place which after spending $50 last night I simply said no to. A few hours later he came back into the lounge as we were gonna watch a movie and order pizza but he expected me to pay for the pizza now because I offered breakfast but we never ordered due to neither of us agreeing on a place. I ended up ordering the pizza anyway because otherwise it would just turn into an argument and ruin the weekend... This seems like the most trivial thing ever but we've had like 3 arguments about it in a week since it happened and I'm apparently "guilt tripping him" by asking him to cover the pizza because it was never something I should have paid for. He's firmly stuck in the position that he shouldn't have to pay anything and I'm basically TA.

Hello, my close friend and I are getting 2 ragdoll kittens together. They will be in the range of 3-5 months old. My close friend won't be moving in until September (lease renewal time), so I will be caring for both kittens alone in the meantime. I work an 8 hour full-time job that is flexible in start/end times (I'll try to start going in early like 7-3 to bond with them more) and I'm just worried about their diet while no one is home during my job.
They are siblings and I'm not worried about the socialization, but I often see kitten feeding videos and I know I can't commute back home for lunch to feed them. Would it be okay for me to feed their breakfast and dinners in wetfood + dryfood combo, then have a dryfood auto-feeder for them that can basically let them snack on dry food + water fountain until I arrive home from work? I chose a dry food auto-feeder because I'd like one that has two bowls so the kittens can't fight over the given food. If anyone knows a wet food auto-feeder where the kittens can have their own wet food for lunch, I'd love suggestions.
If anyone is living this lifestyle with 2 kittens and a full-time job, let me know!

Hi Everyone,
I was hopping that someone would have some insights on eating at some breakfast buffets in Disney world with some food allergies. I am allergic to dairy, eggs, peanuts an treenuts and was wondering if anyone has had the same allergies or recommends any places! Even if it isn't breakfast!

I (38 F) have been married to my husband (41 M) for 7 years, this coming June and together for 9 years. We have two kids, twin boys, that are 5 months old. I'm going to give a long backstory so stay with me or scroll to the bottom for the TL;DR.
2 weeks before Mother's Day, I found out my husband had been cheating on me for at least 7 months. I used his phone to use the Lowe's app to order lawn chairs since it's tied to our Lowe's card and I wanted to use our rewards. While I was looking for the particular set I want, he received a Snapchat notification from a woman. I didn't even know he had Snapchat so it peaked my interest. During this time, my husband was mowing the grass.
I open the snap and it's a nude of a woman looking to be in her mid-20s with the caption "I miss you being inside of me". My jaw hit the floor. I started going through his text messages and there were no conversations there with other women except employees from his practice (he is a dermatologist) that were harmless.
I started looking through his Snapchat and I guess he deletes everything because there were no chats between him and this woman. I am not familiar with Snapchat so I Google how to use it while I'm trying to figure out if I can retrieve deleted messages. I don't want to spend all the time I have left of him mowing reading through articles so I give up. I do go through his friend's list and end up coming back to it to take a picture of with my phone.
I look through the rest of the apps on his phone and they all seem benign except this secure folder. I open it and there's a passcode. I try three or four until I figure it out (the date of our first date, ironically) and it opens. There are dozens of nude photos of at least 3 women, including the woman from Snapchat. I know it's the woman from Snapchat because she has a very distinct tattoo on her stomach. Not only are there nudes but there are 2 videos of this same woman giving him oral.
My heart felt like it was trying to come out of my chest. I started shaking and tears started flowing. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down and then grabbed my phone and started taking pictures of the evidence. I even recorded clips of the videos, I just couldn't watch them in their entirety.
I look through all the apps again and realize that maybe he has some hidden. So, I google hidden apps on android and follow the instructions. Three apps were hidden. Two messaging apps and a hook-up app called Adult friend finder. I debated even opening them because I was so scared of what I would find. But I ended up viewing them because knowing is better than not knowing for me.
He had been messaging at least 4 different women, including the video girl. He had sex with at least two of them that I found proof of. All messages made me sick but the video girl's messages were the worst and completely shattered my heart. I had to stop to go throw up because of the stress and anxiety.
Some messages that hurt me the most were: Her: "Tell me how much better my p***y is than your wife's." Him: "Wetter, tighter and infinitely better."
Her: *sends nude* "How does my body compare to your wife's?" Him: "There is no comparison baby, you are a goddess."
There were so many others but those two come to mind as the ones that made me feel the absolute worst. Remember, I just had twins 5 months ago. I am very insecure due to all of the changes that happened to my body and my c-section scar. I am also 25 pounds heavier than I was pre-pregnancy. My husband and I stopped having sex because it was so uncomfortable for me about 2 months before I gave birth, around the same time he started messaging these women coincidentally. We've only had sex about three times since they were born due to my insecurity issues and just being so exhausted caring for and breastfeeding twins every day. I also have a business and work from home around the twins' schedules so I can stay at home with them.
I take photos of everything, using my phone again like before. The earliest messages were sent 7 months ago so I know it had been going on for at least 7 months, while I was freaking pregnant with our twins. Oh, I also found out that the night after I had a c-section and while our newborn preemie twins were in the NICU, he met with video girl for a hook-up at her apartment. He told me he was going to get food and check on his office. With our twins being preemies, anything could have happened and he wouldn't have been there because he was with her. But, that wasn't a thought for him I guess.
I close out all the apps, make sure the hidden ones are hidden from his home screen and put his phone back exactly where I found it. I also make sure the snap notification was gone. I was nervous that he would find out about the snap that was opened but he didn't.
I call my best friend of over 33 years who is also my business partner. I tell him everything and have a good cry to let it all out. He helps me to collect myself and gives me some sound advice. He tells me to not tell my husband I found anything yet and to speak with a divorce lawyer as soon as possible. He said to meet with the best ones in my area so that they couldn't represent my husband. He offers me and the twins a place to stay at his home if I need time away from my husband, assuring me that his husband would love to have me there.
Over the next week, my BFF helps me take care of the twins while meet with 5 different divorce lawyers and end up hiring, in my opinion, the best. She tells me not to leave the family home so I end up not going to stay with my BFF. She starts the divorce paperwork immediately. During this time, I am doing my best to continue on like nothing is wrong. I want to make sure all of my ducks are in a row before he realizes what I know.
Fast-forward to Mother's Day. My husband makes me breakfast in bed, gives me very expensive jewelry, flowers, the works. I can't enjoy it, of course, because it feels so fake now that I know what he's been up to. I pretend to love it though.
My husband's father planned a cook out that afternoon for my husband's mother, sister (let's call her Julie), sister-in-law (let's call her Fran) and me. We all have infants under a year old so it's everyone's first Mother's day, except my MIL's of course. I told my husband that I didn't feel like going and he guilt-tripped me by saying that my FIL had a big surprise for me and he's been really looking forward giving it to me. So, I reluctantly agree. I ask if my BFF can come since his mother sadly passed away just under a year ago. He calls his dad and my FIL replies that of course he can come. My BFF agreed to come to offer me support since he knew it would be very difficult for me to be there.
I plan to act like nothing's wrong and try to enjoy the day since it's my first Mother's Day after all. I tell myself that I will focus on the twins and get cuddles from my two nieces. Julie has an 8 month old daughter and Fran (husband's brother's wife) has a 10 month old daughter. I'm also the closest to Julie out of all his family since we became friends 10 years ago and she's the one who introduced me to my husband.
We get there and everything is fine. My husband is helping his dad, brother (let's call him Chris), BIL (let's call him Roger) cook on the grill. My MIL and the women are taking turns holding the babies. My BFF took over the kitchen, finishing up all of the sides so the moms could relax. It started out to be a really good day. I kept myself from thinking of my husband's betrayal for the most part and focused on the family.
After we eat my MIL starts taking pictures of the family. I'm sitting on the couch and she tells my husband to sit beside me for the photo. He does and then she tells him to put his arm around me and jokingly says "pretend like you love her" and I lose it. I start to uncontrollably sob.
My MIL pulls me up and hugs me and my FIL comes over and joins in the hug. My BFF comes to stand right next to me. My FIL asks me what was wrong. I look at my BFF and he gives me a "tell if you want" look.
I tell them that I found out my husband has been cheating on me for at least 7 months. Julie gasps and everyone stares at my husband. He stands up and says "that's not true at all, why would you think that? You know you and the boys are my whole world." Everyone is silent, looking at me. I tell them all that I found messages, pictures, the hook-up app and even videos on his phone. My husband looks faint and sits back down. Nobody says anything for at least 2 minutes.
Finally, Julie asks my husband, while crying herself, why? My husband tells her that "I made a mistake, I only talked to the women, I never physically cheated." My BFF quickly replies, "Liar!" Julie then asks me what all I found. I tell them everything, the nudes, the videos of my husband receiving oral, the messages and even tell them what those horrible messages said about me. He continues to deny it! I pull up a few message photos and show them to Julie, my MIL and FIL. My husband tries to gaslight me by saying that he admitted to talking to other women but he never slept with any of them. I really don't want to show them the video but I do find a few messages where my husband and a woman talked about their previous sexual encounters. My husband again says that he admitted to talking to them but never really cheated. He literally says "if the message talks about sex it was just role playing."
Roger (Julie's husband) goes over to my husband and jerks his phone out of his hand. My husband tries to get it back but Roger is 6'7 and my husband is 6'1 so he just holds it up where my husband can't reach. He asks me what his passcode is and I tell him. He then asks me where to find things and as I start to tell him my husband grabs his phone back.
At this point my MIL, Julie and Fran are all crying. Chris starts getting upset with me. He tells me this was not the time nor place to bring this all up and that I ruined Julie and Fran's first Mother's Day. Julie speaks up and says no, my husband is the one who ruined it. Chris starts yelling and saying that our personal business needs to stay private and that I had no right to bring it up to his family and ruin the only first mother's day the women will get. Fran agrees with him and tells me I'm definitely in the wrong for bringing it up, if it even is true.
At this point both of my twins start crying. I am not going to breastfeed them there and I want to get out of that house as quick as possible. I ask my BFF to take me home and we transfer the car seats from my husband's vehicle into his. My MIL follows me outside and says that Chris was right, I should have kept it all to myself and that now future Mother's Days will be a reminder of this fiasco for everyone. I just ignore her and put the twins in the car. My husband comes outside and asks if we can please talk. I tell him no, get in the car and my BFF, the twins and I leave. I end up feeling horrible and guilty that I let it all out to everyone.
My husband didn't come home and ended up staying at his parents house and has been there the past two nights. He got my FIL to come over Sunday evening and pick up clothes, toiletries, work stuff and various other items. While he was here I asked him, did I ruin Mother's Day? He tells me no that my husband did. He said that he asked me what was wrong and I was honest. He said he understood now why the "pretend like you love her" comment caused me to breakdown. I asked him about my MIL, Chris and Fran since I know Julie and Roger aren't mad at me. He said that they are still angry with me but they will eventually get over it.
TL;DR - I found out my husband had been cheating on me for at least 7 months with multiple women, starting while I was pregnant with our twins and continuing after I gave birth. I didn't tell him I knew for 2 weeks. At a Mother's Day cookout that his family hosted for his mother, me, his sister and sister-in-law, his mother made a comment that made me break down. I ended up telling everyone about the infidelity. His brother, SIL, and mother told me I ruined his sister and SIL's first Mother's Day. and that I shouldn't have said anything about the affairs.
Am I the AH?

My car's transmission is on the fritz, so it's in the shop and I'm working from home for at least today. Thank goodness I can even work from home, or things would be a lot more complicated. Anyways, that's just a bit of a vent. I've also decided that I might do little lore-esque prechapter bits for some extra flavor. Hope you guys enjoy them! I find them to be fun little thought experiments on how people might perceive the world I've created from within vs from my own perspective. Enjoy some crafting and some romance!
First Previous Next
We know that the spots that are caused by looking at a source of light are, in fact, damage of some sort to the eye. This is confirmed by the spots rapidly disappearing should someone be healed whilst experiencing them. But why? Is there a divinity within light, beyond what our mortal eyes can withstand? Is there some sort of invisible emanation that comes alongside the light that damages us in some way? The discovery of light damaging the eye has opened more questions for me than it has closed.
-Musings on the Relations of Light and Fire, by Jarwic Leftun
\***
Xander carefully opened the door, finding Gabrelle already asleep, and sat down on a chair. Maybe he could get that adaptive camouflage to work right on bright colors. Surely he had some colorful things in his inventory.
He did in fact have a few colorful things in his inventory, and he whiled the rest of the night away making small adjustments to the runic array that was embroidered into the cloth. He was satisfied before dawn, the cloth now performing as well with light colors as it had with darker colors. Now he just needed to make a cloak out of it. He briefly considered coating his armor with the array, but discarded it. There might be times where he’d want to be seen. Besides, a hooded cloak would better break up the outline of his figure, the ripples of fabric, especially if he were to crouch or lay prone, obscuring his outline even more. In little time at all, he had a long, deep hooded cloak of the color shifting, runed cloth in his hands. He stashed it in his inventory for now, as he had no particular need to sneak up on something right now. The rest of the time before dawn he spent silently sitting in the chair he’d chosen, trying to keep his thoughts to a minimum, just daydreaming. Night dreaming? He couldn’t sleep anymore, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t try to let his mind wander.
As the dawn came and the sun began to shine through the window of the room, Gabrelle slowly awoke, once more finding Xander sitting in a chair rather than in bed.
“Mmf,” She grunted as she stretched. “Morning, Xander. You got back late.”
“Morning, yourself,” Xander said, turning his head to look at Gabrelle. “Yeah... Yeah, I guess I did.”
“What were you doing, anyway?” She asked, curious. “You didn’t mention that you’d be out late, just that you were going to go to see Valteria at her shop.”
“I uh... went on a date.”
“I knew it! ‘Comparing notes’ was a date!” Gabrelle exclaimed triumphantly.
“It was not!” Xander complained. “But we went to a tavern in the evening and it sort of... turned into a date on the way there.”
“Awhh, that’s so cute,” Gabrelle said. “Did it go well? Is she nice? Did you kiss?”
“I think it went well. We talked a lot about different projects and ideas we had. I also got to meet another [Godsmarked] - he owns the tavern we went to. I think she’s nice. Maybe a little shy. I think she’s gotten used to being treated differently by people. I don’t think she really believed that I wanted to go on a date with her, at first. ...And yes. We kissed.”
“Ooooh, look at you! You’re growing up so fast!” Gabrelle teased.
“Oh hush. I’m older than you!” Xander huffed, then returned to seriousness. “But ah, if I’m going to be dating someone... we need to have a conversation, Gabrelle.”
“We need to stop sleeping together?” Gabrelle quickly deduced before Xander could say it himself.
“Yeah... It doesn’t feel right, even though it’s just platonic between us. I don’t think I would appreciate being in Valteria’s situation and knowing that the person I was seeing was sleeping with someone else at night.”
“Well, I figured this would happen eventually,” Gabrelle said. “Either you or I were bound to find someone eventually. Don’t worry, I’m not upset. Don’t get me wrong, the snuggles were nice, but like I told you a while ago, I don’t have nearly as much trouble sleeping when I’m with the team.”
“Thanks for not being upset, Gabrelle.”
“You know this means you have to start paying for your own room, though, right?”
“Ah, shit, you’re right. I forgot.”
Xander left the room to allow Gabrelle some privacy to get dressed and meandered back down the stairs to see if any other members of the team were already up. Looking around, he spied Graffus eating breakfast at at table and moved to sit with the dwarf.
“Mornin’” Graffus greeted Xander through a mouthful of bread.
“Morning,” Xander greeted back.
“Glad to see you made it back, we were wondering if you’d be out all night,” Graffus told him, after swallowing his bread.
“I was out a bit late, I suppose. I let the time get away from me.” Xander said, not really wanted to be teased again about going out on a date. “So what are you planning to do today?”
“Bah, Frazay has roped me into helping her do research for the drakeling. So reading is what’s in store for me.” Graffus tore himself off another piece of bread from his plate and slathered it with jam. “You going to be going back to that [Tinker] you’ve been spending time with lately?”
“Yeah, that’s the plan. I’m supposed to learn more about converting mana types today, and also help her fix the suit of armor that I wrecked.”
“Welp,” Graffus said, now on his last piece of bread, “I hope ya learn something new. Never had much to do with [Tinker]s – not saying I dislike them, just that I haven’t had much experience with them – so it don’t make much sense to me. Using a hammer is about the only overlap in our professions.”
“I think your hammer is significantly larger than the one most [Tinker]s would use,” Xander chuckled. Thinking about what he should be doing before he headed to Valteria’s, he asked Graffus, “Hey, I might need to buy some monster parts or elemental cores, something like that, for practice. You know where I would go to find stuff like that?”
Graffus shrugged. “Dunno. My guess would be an alchemy and reagents shop. That’s generally what we’ve sold monster parts to that didn’t go to a smith or leatherworker.”
“Thanks, Graffus.”
The two of them chatted for a while longer, catching up on what each other had been doing. Graffus excused himself to finish getting ready for the day, saying he needed to tend to his beard, leaving Xander downstairs. Deciding to be productive and proactive, Xander stood as well and headed out of the inn to find an alchemy shop.
It wasn’t long before he found one, a familiar scene of an eclectic collection of powders, liquids, crystals, and strange organic things floating in jars inside the building. The proprietor was a dwarf, seated at a workbench. They were grinding something into a powder as Xander entered. He received a distracted greeting before the dwarf returned to his work.
Xander wandered about the shop for a few minutes, looking at the various materials throughout the shop. He identified what he thought might be an elemental core, a jagged piece of crystal looking material that seemed to have an inner flame. As for the monster parts in jars, Xander had no idea what was what. He finally felt he’d waited long enough and moved closer to the worktable that the dwarf was still sitting at, working away at the mortar and pestle.
“Excuse me,” Xander said, grabbing the shopkeep’s attention.
“Mm?” The dwarf said questioningly. “Can I help you find something?”
“I was wondering if you had any elemental cores. Something small, I just need one to practice with.”
“Aye, I’ve a few of them around the shop. You want something to practice with? So a relatively weak core, then – not all the small ones are weak. Do you need any particular type?” The dwarf stood up and stretched, moving to one of the shelves.
“Uhm no, just whatever is cost effective, I suppose.”
The alchemist rifled through the various bits and bobs on one of the shelves nearby before producing a small chip of what looked to be a semi-translucent stone. It was tinged slightly yellow with streaks of white. “This here is a chip off a lightning attuned core. Pretty weak, but it does still produce mana.”
Xander could see the dwarf’s arm hair standing up as if from static electicity as he held up the stone. “How much?” He asked.
“Twenty gold.”
Xander shrugged. Twenty gold wasn’t an issue for him anymore, and he didn’t feel like haggling. He always hated haggling. “Sure.” He fished out the coin and handed it over to the dwarf.
The dwarf handed over the stone to Xander and the pop of a static electric shock could be heard as a tiny arc passed between the two of them. The dwarf grunted and shook his hand. “Thanks for the business,” he told Xander. “Anything else you find yourself in need of?”
“Not at the moment, but thanks for asking.” Xander waved goodbye to the dwarf and pocketed the tiny elemental core. He continued down the street in the direction of Valteria’s shop, thinking about how he was going to undo the welding job he’d done on Valteria’s armor. He’d need her to guide his repair efforts.
Xander returned to the inn momentarily to grab one of his golems. He settled on Atlas for now, as it was the most basic of the humanoid forms he’d created. No extra arms or weird feet on him, no sir.
Arriving at the building that contained Valteria’s home and shop, Xander knocked before opening the door. “Morning,” he called out.
“Xander! Hello!” Valteria called out. She was at the same work bench she’d been at yesterday. Jarrett didn’t seem to be in the shop at the moment, as Xander wasn’t able to spot the man.
Commanding Atlas to follow him in and closing the door behind him, Xander started walking towards Valteria. “How’s it going?” He asked.
“Good, it’s going good,” Valteria responded as Xander brought a stool over to her workbench. “How about yourself?”
“Not bad. The upside of not sleeping is that I never struggle in the mornings now. I used to hate waking up.” Xander laughed. “I even ran an errand before I came here! Picked up this.” Xander fished around in his pocket until he found the small chip of elemental core and held it up for Valteria to see.
“Core?” She asked distractedly, staring at Atlas. She tore her eyes away and looked closely at the small crystalline stone. “Lightning attuned?”
“That’s what the [Alchemist] at the shop said,” Xander affirmed. “Said it was a very weak one, but that it did still produce mana.”
“Mmm, a good practice piece, then.”
“I thought it would be, too. Not that I know what to do with it, yet.”
“Well, how about this: I teach you to set the stone and make some conduit, and then you can help me fix my armor. All the glue has turned to dust by now, thank the gods.”
“Sounds fair enough. So, how do mana conduits work?”
“Well, the concept is simple enough. It’s a tube which conducts mana,” Valteria began to explain.
“Mmhm.” Xander nodded along.
“What you need is a setting – usually of silver, as it has good mana conductivity – which will be the first step of conduction, taking the mana from the stone. Simply wrapping the core in silver wire can work well enough, drawing in the mana that the core puts out through its surface, but for a more effecient setting, small holes are usually drilled into the core to set the wire into as well, giving more surface area to draw from.”
“So we care about the mana conductivity of the material, then? That makes sense, I just hadn’t thought about it. I actually did a little experiment with my rune work to test which fillings were the most conductive.”
“Oh really?” Valteria said, interested. “What were your results?”
“Well, gold and silver were high up there in conductivity, and probably make the most sense for someone who has to physically manipulate material without use of a skill – both for a core setting and for inlaying a rune – but I did find that sapphires and rubies were even more efficient at transferring mana than gold and silver.”
“Mmm... interesting. I’ve heard of gemstones being used in very high-grade settings, as well as various other exotic materials. I read an account of one [Mechanist] who used tubes of mercury to conduct mana, though the relative effectiveness compared to silver wasn’t mentioned.” Valteria cleared her throat. “Uhm, now, where was I? Right, basic settings. Once you have your core – or monster organ, if you’re going that route – you connect it to the conduit. Usually, this is also silver wiring. I like to braid several smaller wires together, personally. I find it to be sturdier and hold up to flexing better. From there, it needs to be tied into a device. Which is a topic for tomorrow.” Looking around the shop, Valteria seemed to identify something on one of the shelves nearby. “I have a core that you could watch me set, and then you could try setting your own, if you’d like.”
“That sounds good to me,” Xander said. “I always love to see a master as work,” he added, opting for a little flattery.
“Follow me, then.” Valteria said, standing up from her stool and waving for Xander to follow.
Xander followed Valteria as she walked over to the shelf she’d been looking at earlier and took a palm sized, bright green stone from it. “Nature attuned core,” She explained, holding it for Xander to see. “I’m told it was taken from some kind of moving tree.” Valteria then moved to another worktable, on which were several of what looked to be drill bits to Xander. There was also an apparatus that look like it was designed to hold the bits, which was confirmed for him when Valteria slotted one of the small drill heads into the device. “This thing,” Valteria said, waving the drill a little bit, “is a life saver. I used to have to drill holes with a hand cranked one. Worth every single coin I paid for it to get an enchanted one.” She turned a dial on one side of the handheld device, which Xander was coming to think of as a magic dremel tool, and it began to come to life, the drill bit beginning to spin with a quiet whirring sound.
“Neat.” Xander commented. He watched patiently as Valteria drilled a series of shallow holes in the stone, the distinct screeching of metal on stone echoing through the shop floor. “So where’s Jarrett today?” He asked.
“Oh, he has the day off today. He asked for it about a week ago, not sure what for, though,” Valteria said distractedly. Soon she was finished with the holes she was drilling into the core, and moved to another workbench. “Now we create a setting for the core. This is a fairly simple way of doing it, mind you, but it is effective.”
Xander watched as she took sections of pre-braided silver wire and fitted the ends into the holes she had drilled. Once each hole was filled with a section of wire, Valteria began to pull wire from a spool, wrapping the stone until it was completely covered with silver wire and binding the braided sections to the stone in the process. “There,” she said, setting the stone down on the workbench. “A perfectly serviceable setting."
“So, if I understand correctly, you coat the core in a mana conductive material – the more surface area, the better, hence the holes – to create a setting?”
“Mmhmm,” Valteria said, nodding.
“Seems fairly straighforward. And then you connect the silver wiring that’s wrapped around it to more wiring, and attach that to your device? Why the distance? Why not just connect the setting directly to the device?”
“You absolutely can, if space isn’t an issue. Technically, the connection between the mana battery and the device, even if it’s just a single point with no distance, is still referred to as a conduit, though, so it’s considered a three part creation.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Do you want to try making your own, now? I don’t mind lending you a little wire.”
“Sure, but I should be good on material, I can produce it with my skills. Doesn’t last without a source of mana, but I guess the core itself might provide enough. Think this little chip is a bit small to put holes in, though.”
Xander looked at the small piece of crystal in his hand. If he just need as much contact as possible with a mana conductive material, his best bet would be to embed it into a sapphire or ruby. He decided on ruby, for no particular reason. Still holding the chip of core in his hand, he concentrated on his [Creation] ability. Valteria watched, amazed, as a ruby began to take form and grow around the piece of core until it was completely coated in a thin layer of gemstone.
“So, you can just... make things?” Valteria asked, sounding jealous.
“Well, it costs mana, and anything I make that isn’t provided a source of mana that leaves my person disintegrates in a day, but, yes. I can just make things with my skills. But,” he added, cutting off Valteria’s complaint of unfairness, “I have never received a skill that actually lets me improve a material. Sure, I have runes, which generally makes up the difference, but I don’t have any skills that improve the things I make. So, if you made a mana battery, and I made a mana battery the same way with identical materials, yours is going to be better, I assume, because you have skills that passively improve the things that you make, am I right?”
“Okayyy,” Valteria huffed. “I guess that does make it a little less unfair. But ugh! It would be so nice not having to source materials.” She looked at the ruby with a piece of core set inside it that Xander had made. “Well, I guess that about does it for making a setting... I thought it might have taken you longer to make one. I guess we can move on to fixing my armor even sooner! It’ll be nice to have it up and moving again.”
“Sure, sure, we can do that. Where is it, anyway?” Xander asked, looking around the shop again like he somehow would have missed the eight foot tall suit of armor.
“It’s in a shed behind the house,” Valteria explained. “I have it on a hoist so I can work on it.”
“Ah, that would explain why I haven’t seen it around.”
Exiting the shop, stopping for Valteria to put a small ‘closed’ sign on the door, the two of them made their way around the building, where Xander saw the small shed that presumably held Valteria’s armor. It looked like it could just barely hold the armor and one person – two, if they were comfortable with each other – inside it.
“So this is where the magic happens?” Xander asked.
“If by ‘magic’ you mean maintenance and upgrades, then yes,” Valteria agreed. She opened the door of the shed, which comprised most of the front of the tiny little building, revealing her suit of armor, which was currently hanging from several chains attached to pulleys on the ceiling. Plates of armor were laying strewn about the suite, leaving the joints and inner workings more exposed.
Xander whistled, looking at the inner workings of the suit. He could see gears, cogs, and joints, and throughout the entirety of the armor were running filaments of silver wire, which he assumed were mana conduits running to and from elemental cores and the various mana powered aspects of the suit. “This thing really is impressive. Almost as impressive as the woman who made it,” he said.
Valteria giggled, “Stop it! You’re supposed to be fixing this mess, not flirting with me!”
“Awh, can’t I do both?” Xander asked, trying to sound as saccharine as possible.
“Mmm, I suppose that if you are sufficiently skilled at multitasking, I might allow it,” Valteria said in a mockingly thoughtful tone.
“Well, I just so happen to be an expert, so flirt away I shall,” Xander replied. “Now, how about the beauty in front of me shows me exactly where the other beauty in front of me needs some repairs?”
Valteria sighed at Xander’s antics, but he could see the slight flush in her face. “Well, you welded the wrist joints, elbows, and knees. They aren’t welded all the way round, it’s more like you smoothed over a portion of it like it was wet clay. So if you could just... put it back? Shape it back to how it was, that’s should be all that’s needed.”
“Pretty straightforward,” Xander said, standing behind Valteria as she pointed out each joint. He could see the misshapen parts where he’d slapped a weld onto the metal. He leaned over her and put his hands on the elbow joint that they were closest to and began to shape the metal back to its original form.
“You’re... very close,” Valteria murmured to him as he formed the metal.
“Would you like me not to be?” He asked, carefully.
Valteria was silent for a moment before answering, “No...” quietly.
Xander carefully shifted to be a little closer, but still not quite touching, as he moved on to the wrist joint of the same arm. The process itself was simple, but he was enjoying taking his time. As he finished the wrist, he turned to look at Valteria. He found himself looking right into her eyes, as she was staring back at him. Unable to resist the temptation he leaned in a little closer, gauging Valteria’s reaction. When she, too, leaned towards him, he closed the small gap between them, drawing her into another kiss. Valteria pressed herself against him, the shed hiding them from any prying eyes on the street, and let out a small noise as Xander squeezed her tight. She was breathing a little bit harder than before the kiss as they separated again.
Valteria let out a breath. “You’re… a really good kisser.”
“Yeah?” Xander said, pleased with himself. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
“And you’re a tease, looming over me like that in this tiny little shed,” Valteria continued. “Now you’ve got me all flustered, how am I supposed to work now?” She mock complained.
Xander was glad to see that Valteria was comfortable enough with him to joke like that. “Forgive me,” he said formally, making a deep bow, “How ever can I make it up to the lady?”
“Oh stop it, I will tolerate no bowing and scraping, even in jest,” Valteria said, slapping him lightly on the shoulder, as he was still holding the bow. “You can make it up to me by fixing the rest of these joints! And by taking me out to dinner?” She added, hopefully.
“I think that can be arranged,” Xander said. “Is there anywhere you have in mind? I will admit, I haven’t become very familiar with the local restaurant scene, what with my… dietary restrictions.”
“It doesn’t… make you feel bad to go out to a restaurant, does it?” Valteria asked softly, watching his face for a reaction.
“Nah, don’t worry,” Xander said, waving off the question with one hand. “It doesn’t bother me too much. Sure, I miss the taste of a good cut of steak, but I was never that into food. Eating was more of a thing I did because I had to, so I’m not completely devastated by the loss. And I can still get some vicarious enjoyment out of watching someone else enjoy their food. Really the worst part is awkwardly having to refuse ordering anything,” he said with a laugh.
“Alright, if you say so,” Valteria said, letting out a slight breath of relief. “I was just worried that it might be upsetting to you, is all. I know I would miss eating.” She paused for a moment, something clearly on her mind. “What do you miss? If you don’t mind my asking. I just… well, I’m curious what it’s like for you.”
“Mmm, in a lot of ways, life is still the same, and in other ways, I’m technically doing better than I was before. I’m incredibly resistant to damage now, even without my armor. I do miss sleeping, though. I try to give my mind a rest and just sort of daydream and let my thoughts wander or do some meditation during the nights, but it’s just not the same. Also means I’m the one that pulls guard duty through the night,” he grumbled. “Let’s see, what else, what else. Ah, right. I can’t smell anything. Or taste. I haven’t worked out how to recreate those senses, yet. Though no sense of smell can be handy sometimes, I suppose. I don’t know if you’ve done much merc work – you mentioned being surprised that I’m not just moonlighting – but uh… the smells that you encounter on a battlefield are… unpleasant. To say the least. It was weird not having a sense of touch either, but I’ve resolved that. It’s a little bit different than my previous, natural sense of touch, but I’ve become accustomed to it to the point that I don’t much think about the difference anymore. I think I’ve even got the density of receptors down in certain areas compared to others, so I'm more sensitive in some areas than others now, just like I used to be. I’m still immune to being tickled though, so don’t even think about it – that’s a fight you’ll lose.” Growing a bit more somber, Xander continued on. “I think… the biggest thing I miss is just the feeling that I fit in more. Now I always worry about being different, there’s that nagging fear that anyone I get to know well is going to reject me once they find out what I am. Like I’m secretly lying to everyone around me with this façade I have going on.”
Valteria nodded sadly. “I get that. I’ve been… rejected before, too. At least it happens or not right from the beginning for me. I get to know if they look down on me for being different immediately instead of fearing they might later down the road.”
“Yeah,” Xander said. “People can really suck sometimes. But at least I can just, like, not tell people what I am if I so chose. You, my teammates, and the guild, since it’s on my status sheet, are really the only people who know. I keep it pretty private. You can’t do that, so I think you probably have to deal with a lot worse than I do. Not that I’d want you to hide what or who you are,” he added. “I happen to be quite enamored with who you are,” he said, teasing a smile from Valteria’s sad face.
“Sorry to bring up such a dour topic,” Valteria apologized. “I didn’t think much on it before I asked.”
“No worries,” Xander told her. “Honestly, I think it’s good to be able to talk about it with someone. It’s healthy to be able to get you feelings out there. And it helps that I feel like you understand where I’m coming from with it, though from a slightly different perspective.”
“You’re surprisingly thoughtful sometimes,” Valteria said, only half teasing.
“Only sometimes?” Xander asked with a faux expression of hurt on his face. “By the way, you didn’t react much to my comment about moonlighting as a merc. Do you ever go on contracts?”
Valteria shrugged. “I certainly wouldn’t describe myself as a professional mercenary. Moonlighter is an apt descriptor, for me, I think. I have gone on a couple, here and there, mostly on kill contracts that would net me a core or organ that would be useful for my work.”
“Mm, that makes sense. I suppose it could be handy having access to the ability to take contracts that would give you access to specialty materials,” Xander said.
“It’s also good for business,” Valteria explained. “Mercs tend to like to buy from someone who has at least been out on a contract or two before.”
“Ah, that makes sense. What kind of things do you sell to mercenaries, anyways? I saw Jarrett with a crossbow yesterday, but I imagine you make other things, too.”
“Oh all kinds of little things. Portable, flameless heaters for cooking. Water purification sieves. Mm, let’s see… I’ve made a few custom order devices, too. One customer wanted to be able to shoot a jet of flame from their gauntlet, that was a fun one.”
“Ooh, that does sound fun… reminds me of my flamethrower.”
“Your flamethrower?”
“Yeah, it’s basically a big tank with a hose attached to it. At the end of the hose is a pump that causes the flammable liquid – I use dragon’s tar – to shoot out. Add a flame that the tar passes over and bam! You’ve got a giant stream of flame that will coat anything it hits with sticky, flammable tar,” Xander said, excitedly describing the device.
“That’s… impressive. And kind of horrifying,” Valteria responded.
“Mm… I guess you’re right. I mostly use it on giant spiders. Blugh,” Xander shuddered. “But yeah, I suppose it’s not the nicest of ways to go. Very effective for area denial, though. Ah, actually I have an idea for crossbow bolt head that would ignite when it shatters! We should make that sometime and see if it sells.”
“Hmm, I think that would draw some buyers. A flaming bolt head you didn’t have to light first could be desirable to certain buyers.”
“Put that on the list and we’ll get around to it sometime.”
“We have a list?” Valteria said confusedly.
“We should!” Xander said with a laugh. “Now let’s get the rest of these joints done.”
The repair of the other arm and the leg joints that Xander had locked into position during the tournament was a short affair. Looking over the bare metal frame of the armor still hanging from the ceiling, Xander clapped his hands together, mimicking dusting them off. “Good as new!” He exclaimed. Looking over to Valteria he asked concernedly, “It is good as new, right?”
Valteria had been staring at the armor as well, lost in thought about how she was going to improve it next. “Hmm? Oh, yes. It’s right as rain again, ready for use. Thank you, by the way. For fixing it,” She said awkwardly.
“Well I’m the one who broke it, so it’s only fair that I fix it. So what do you want to work on next?” Xander asked. “I could do some rune work for you. Orrr… we could kiss some more?”
Valteria flushed at the question, but didn’t immediately say no.
A few minutes later, she found herself on her tip toes and lightly pressed against the interior wall of the shed, her lips pressed against Xanders.
Once the two of them were done acting like teenagers parked in a secluded parking lot, they made their way back into the shop. Stepping inside and closing the door behind them, Valteria let out a breath. “I think… you are going to have to do a lot of rune work to make up for how much you just kissed me, Xander.”
“What, you didn’t like it?” He said with a raised eyebrow.
“I didn’t say that,” Valteria said with a smirk.

I've been on 15mg dextroamphetamine for about a month and while it has been wonderful for my focus, drive, and depression, it has also made it impossible to eat. I've lost a noticeable amount of weight and my clothes are all kind of baggy now. I was at a healthy weight beforehand so this is not a good thing. I can usually get a small breakfast down in the morning but after that I just feel vaguely nauseous and the thought of food is just disgusting until like 10pm.
Two years ago I would have loved this (the disordered eating phase was NOT it) but I seriously don’t give a shit about my attractiveness right now and I always feel lightheaded. I have a job at an observatory on a mountain and I can’t be dealing with this and altitude sickness all summer.

Has anyone experienced this?
I am on week 2 and I don't have any food cravings at all. Zip, zero, none whatsoever. I actually have to remind myself and force myself to eat lunch and dinner because I don't feel like eating (I do not eat breakfast).
Kind of a good side effect, maybe.

My cat - 8y Maine Coon Mix - has been free fed kibble with wet food breakfast for years.
He does a really good job of limiting himself on the dry food. He is a fantastic drinker (I know I clean the litterbox). Because he is getting a little older, and he has always had bad teeth (yes I brush his teeth), I've been looking for a new kibble. I've asked his vet, online vet services, watched youtube videos, read reddit posts, watched tiktoks etc and everyone just talks about how cats need wet food.
The only advice I've been seeing is to take away the dry food completely and give him a second helping of wet food. This would be incredibly hard on my schedule. I work 80+ hours a week. I feel like I'm being a bad pet owner. I just want to make sure he stays healthy for as long as possible. It is common to feed dry and wet food? If so, what brands can you recommend?