I am NOT OOP, OOP is u/LimpCrazy1824
Originally posted to amiwrong
Previous BoRU
[New Update] - Am I wrong for ultimately wanting a divorce even after my wife has showed much more effort into our relationship?
NEW UPDATE MARKED WITH ----
Trigger Warnings: possible infidelity, emotional abuse and manipulation, mentions of addictions, emotional affair, mentions of invasions of privacy, verbal abuse
RECAP
Original Post: March 21, 2024
For context. Coming into the new year I had no idea my wife had been at the bare minimum having an emotional affair with a coworker.
On New Year’s Eve before I found out about this she came home and acted extremely cold toward me and our kids. She was angry.
Earlier on that evening she asked if she could go out to have 1 drink with a female coworker (whom I knew and trusted) I told her that was cool but that the kids were staying up for the ball drop so as long as she could be back to celebrate with them I was fine with it.
Well. She ended up getting off of work at 11:30 and barely had enough time to get home.
After the ball drop she cried and cried. I asked her what was wrong and she said she got invited to a her friends house to have drinks with them. (All 3 of them women, all married, I had no issue)
I said “look. I’m not sure what’s wrong and why you’re crying about this. That’s fine. You deserve a girls night out every once in a while I don’t mind watching the kids. Just go”
I put the kids to bed, she left and then about 3 hours later. So 3 a.m. I tried to contact her. No answer. I wait about 15 minutes. Call her again. No answer.
I call her friend who she’s supposed to be with. No answer.
She then texts me back 5 minutes later and says “yeah. I’m still coming home tonight. We’re still drinking”
Never in our 6 years of marriage had I felt a gut feeling that something else was going on but that night it all hit me. I went through our phone records and found another number I was unfamiliar with that she had been in contact with all night.
Ignoring my calls, texting that number in between. Etc.
She had also been texting this number for a 3 month period daily. I never suspected that she would be texting another dude while right beside me watching family movies either. As times had shown. How I didn’t see this I have no idea. Maybe she had this individual listed as mom in her phone. I don’t know. I had never gotten this vibe or feeling our entire marriage. I was blindsided by it.
Anyway. I confront her about it through text with the proof like an idiot. She speeds home, deletes everything on her phone. No way of getting the back ups restored. No way of ever knowing she did not meet up with this guy.
Upon finding this out I immediately told her i wanted a divorce. It was at this point she began getting violent with me. Talking shit about everything I had been doing to keep us financially stable. The 18 hour work days that kept a roof over our heads. She told me that I needed to leave even though I pay rent and both our kids are asleep.
I refused
We slept in separate rooms that night and the next day she tried to act like nothing even happened. Claiming that she remembered we’d fought but couldn’t remember what it was about. So I show her the phone records even though I’m positive she was just trying to pull some crap.
She confesses who the individual was and says they flirted a lot but never met up.
I told her if that was true she’d have no issues restoring the text messages she deleted at which point it was confirmed she deleted everything and deleted her last back up. She also saved a back up after they were deleted the night everything went to shit.
Since then she’s tried hard to convince me they never did anything and never saw eachother aside from work. I keep finding bits and pieces of things that don’t make since.
Chunks of texts deleted from her friends messages around that time. Pictures on her Google drive from that night (where she was with who she said she was) deleted from her phone for what reason?
The most damming evidence I have is for a 2 hour period on New Year’s Eve. They stopped texting each other then randomly started texting again at around 3 a.m. when I started calling and got that feeling.
My gut tells me she left her friends place, went to his place and went back. Or. She went straight to his place from our place then went to her friends when she found out I was calling them.
There are revealing pictures of herself she never sent me also on her Google drive taken on Snapchat.
She’s since given me her all her attention. She initiates intimacy 10 fold. The texting stopped. She shows me everything on her snap chat and even downloads her data to show me she’s not hitting other people up.
I’m seeing the side of her I haven’t seen since we were married all those years ago.
But I can’t help but trust my gut in demanding a divorce. I feel like she’s kept things from me. Not knowing for sure is killing me inside.
My parents know all of this and keep pressuring me to work it out and not dwell. My brothers are saying fuck that get a divorce. Am I wrong in getting a divorce?
Keep in mind the dates. It’s now been over four months since this occurred. I’m positive she cut the individual completely out. But I still can’t get over the not 100 percent knowing and my gut tells me she’s still lying.
Edit: if some of this is confusing ask and I will clarify. I will also give context where needed.
Also. Sorry for the way this was written. I’m aware there is some jumping back and forth. Etc. I’m just scatterbrained right now. It’s honestly getting to me more now than the night I found out. It just keeps building. I feel stupid.
Edit 2: Also. Forgot to add this the individual in question is an employee she manages. As in. She is his direct supervisor. I’ve heard there are greater legal consequences for this but I have no idea.
For clarification. The individual in question is actually morbidly obese. I’m by no means “fit” fit. But I’m not fat either.

• went back and looked at the time stamps for the pictures that were deleted of her and her friends that night. (On Google drive) before that 2 hour period of no texting, during, and after there were several pictures taken with verified time stamps on them. As in they can not be changed on Google drive. Whether or not she has a friend that’s tech saavy and was able to do that within the 10 minutes it took her to get home upon confronting I don’t know. Is this possible?

It’s also worth adding i come from a family that has thoroughly convinced one of my cousins that she needs to stay in her marriage even when her husband became solely reliant on her, got addicted to coke. Is still addicted to coke and physically abused her. All because “by golly no one in this family has ever gotten a divorce” so essentially doing so I would get disowned by my parents, my sister, all my cousins, all my aunts all m uncles. But would still have the support of my 2 brothers.
Update 1: currently on morning break at work. Been reading through the comments. I have off tomorrow all day so I will be heavily weighing my options when I get some time to myself tomorrow. May not update tomorrow. But I’ll update ya’ll when I can. Thank you for all the input positive and negative. The best thing I can do right now is just get through the work week. Get my kids from daycare and be mentally present for them.
I’ve been ignoring her since last night and she’s been snapping and calling me all morning to see what’s wrong.
Relevant Comments
OOP on his wife lying to him and the family telling him to reconsider divorcing

OOP: I’ll be honest with you. The two main reasons I’ve tried to tuff it out are 1) the kids. Even though she pretty much said fuck all of us on New Year’s Eve.
And 2) for some reason my parents have really been pressuring me to stay. (It’s fucking with me and I don’t know why)
They keep reminding me that (no one in this family has ever gotten a divorce. Blah blah blah) they said I’ll most likely never end up seeing my children again even though in my state if a spouse is found to have cheated, this essentially gives up their rights to children if a divorce is filed
I really don’t understand how my own parents can sit there and feed me bull crap stories about people they know that went through it and came out a better couple. (Really feels like they’re taking her side in everything that happened while ignoring every truth)

InevitableTrue7223: Did she come home acting extremely cold or did she work until 11?

OOP: Silence. Our daughter ran up to her for a hug and she started crying. She then got really irritated when our daughter asked her for a drink. Something that still doesn’t sit right with me. She started yelling at her saying “mommy needs some fucking space”
When I tell ya’ll there was literally no sign of all this crap until that. She hid everything extremely well.
Also. For everyone saying what they are about the 2 hour period. Yes. That was my thought. I went back through the Google drive at everything that was removed from her phone. There were pictures and selfies taken with her friends at the place she was “supposed to be” during that time period before it and after it. I doubt she’s tech Saavy enough to edit time stamps on Google drive once everything’s backed up. This isn’t to say they never met up. This isn’t to say she doesn’t know how to do that. And it still doesn’t make a difference with everything she did. Like I said. Weighing options tomorrow. Reaching out to a lawyer tomorrow.

 
Update #1: March 25, 2024
Those of you who saw https://www.reddit.com/amiwrong/s/HcnwYkadEt
My wife had an emotional affair at the bare minimum and may have cheated. (Probably did but will never admit it)
Here is the update:
I sit here typing this out on my morning break while listening Tuesday’s gone by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
After a long day of considering my options on Friday I sat my wife down on Friday evening when she got off work and I had out the kids to bed.
As soon as I brought up that my trust in her was completely gone she immediately became argumentative and essentially stated “I thought we had left this in the past. You never trusted me did you?.
I responded with: even if you didn’t do anything physical or met up with him outside of work, you’ll never let me see those text messages. You’ll never pull the snap chat data
She responded with: you’re right!! Marriage is based off trust and if you don’t trust me then maybe we ought to call it quits”
The irony in this is that I worked 18-19 hour days for the past few years barely being able to do anything I wanted to do in my life because I was supporting our children, getting them to bed, cleaning the house all the time, doing all the cooking, barely even getting enough sleep. Probably took years off my life just from the stress.
She on New Year’s Eve said fuck the kids, fuck you, and essentially went out to party with her friends all the while ignoring calls from me and our daughter asking where she was while also responding to her bare minimum emotional affair partner.
Not getting into all the details so as to not repeat myself between this and the update.
Long story short. In my state we have to be separated for a year before a divorce can be finalized.
When I agreed with her that we should start separating and that I had already been in contact with a lawyer she freaked the fuck out on me. She begged me not to go through with it. But alas.
Next Friday I will be dropping her off at her parents a few hours away. The kids will be staying with me for now with the help of one of my brothers.
I told her there was only one way I would put this off for now. That was pull the data, pull the texts. Prove your case.
She looked down at the ground. One more time. And told me that’s a violation of her privacy.
We haven’t spoken since.
For now For my kids
I godda keep on keeping on.
Update: trickle truth:
1st it was a guy in a different state. 2nd it was a coworker 3rd it was someone underneath her. that she supervises 4th and just now - Randomly got a text from her stating she may have told him she loves him. But instantly regretted it. And that’s it”
“Riiiiiiggght” - Dr. Evil.
Also let me reiterate: the process of separation starts this coming Friday. In my state you cannot divorce immediately. It takes a full year. (I say this because of all the people stating “just divorce and be done with it, and also those stating “stop giving second chances.”
Relevant Comments
Scruffersdad: Op, you do realize that your attorney can subpoena her phone records and texts, right? If you believe there was cheating have your lawyer get all those messages. Then you’ll know and she’ll be out of luck.

OOP: Definitely going to happen. I’ve already been in contact with one and in the state I live in if there was infidelity she essentially loses any choice in the matter of where the kids stay.

tab1234566788: Oh gosh I'm so sorry. I've been in a similar situation, he wouldn't show me the texts. Spent about a half hour clearing then and then let me see his phone. Lol.

OOP: For me it’s pretty black and white. I’m 99.99999 percent sure she physically cheated. I’d love to just believe her and move on but I can’t.
Not only did she delete all texts between them. She deleted all texts from multiple friends and coworkers from that same time as well.
But left the ones from prior and after. As far as I’m concerned her friends were in on it and so was anyone else she deleted texts from.

 

----NEW UPDATE----

Update #2: April 22, 2024
Last update: https://www.reddit.com/amiwrong/s/cN3wYuy7W0
Original post linked in previous update.
Long story short I found out my wife had been having an affair on New Year’s Eve as Ali sat at home with our children. After ignoring calls from not only me but our daughter asking where she was I went through our phone records to see that while she ignored our calls she was accepting calls and texting another number quite frequently.
(For the record it was the first time in over 12 years of being together that I’d ever gotten a gut feeling to do so) never checked them prior to that night.
Called the friends who she was supppsed to be with and they ignored my calls as well.
After confronting her through text at around 4 or 5 a.m. she was home within 5 minutes screaming at me and yelling at me as I tried to sleep. Got blamed for everything even though I’d been loyal and the financial bread winner our entire marriage.
She ended up gaslighting me and trickle truthing as I tried to keep things together for our children.
I’ll spare you all the details as they can be found in previous update and original post.
Fast forward to today: I filed for divorce against my families wishes. (Whole other story also answered in previous update)
We are seperated but the divorce can’t be finalized until next year. (1 year of being seperated is required) She begged and begged for me not to go through with it begged me to stay. Not to toss everything out over “1 little mistake”
Funny how she sees infidelity as “a mistake” that lasted 3 months…. Yeah…
Regardless. I’ve spent a lot of time with my kids. She sees them on weekends if she chooses. (Has only been a couple of times)
I’d love to say that I’m over it all. But I’m still healing. I really did love her and I wish things worked out different. But I can never trust her again.
She tried everything she could sexually to get me to stay. Hell, the day she finally confessed everything I came home to her dressed up like never before ready to go. I declined.
She went as far as offering me head every day for the rest of our lives if I stayed.
I’ve been working and taking care of the kids. It’s harder on them than it is me if i’m being honest. They still don’t understand. I’ve just been telling them mommy has some things she’s “working on” I don’t have the heart to tell them we won’t be a functional household anymore at this time.
Also. My parents haven’t one time talked to reached out to me since I told them I was filing for divorce. Not even to check on my kids or anything.
But I’ve been making this work with the help of my brother and a few good friends.
A few girlfriends from the past have hit me up to see if I want to catch up but. I need to focus on myself and my kids.
Thank you all for reaching out through dming and commenting. ✌️✌️✌️
Relevant Comment
OOP on if his wife has given an apology and if she helped with taking care of the kids

OOP: Ah. Sorry. Yes. She sent me a half assed confession while I was at work through snap chat one day. Bawling hysterically telling me she fucked up and kissed him “1 time” after he walked her to her car. I don’t believe that for one second. I said “if that’s all then prove it by providing me with the messages you deleted”
Once again I was met with “that’s an invasion of my privacy, plus if I was in your position I would just want to forgive, forget and move on”
Easy for the cheater to go ahead and say.
I pressed it a few more times and was met with “trust me you don’t want to read that shit!!!! Why would you want to read that!?!?!”
Case closed.
Edit: going to vent for a second. I’ll be honest with ya’ll. I tried to give her one final chance to talk things through. I told myself the minute she got hostile about it all I was done.
Within 5 minutes of “our final talk” I was being blamed for working too much. I quote “this isn’t a fucking trial. You weren’t perfect either. I was practically screaming for help and you let me drown”
I took the kids to daycare, cleaned the house all the time, picked them up after work, put them to bed, did all the cooking, did the dishes, took on a side hustle to give her a dream vacation which we went on just before her affair started. (Which is where a good few of ya’ll may know me from - the side hustle)
The real kicker I didn’t tell ya’ll about was when I went through her phone that first night I saw messages from her and her mom talking about how she felt a disconnect. That I wasn’t what she wanted anymore (months before her affair began) Her mom highly encouraged her to sit me down and explain the way she felt. She even told her mom that she did. (She never did)
Apparently sitting me down and having a talk was her going off and having an affair.
I gaurantee she’ll never find someone that will treat her the way I did. Breakfast in bed Saturday and Sunday. I woke up with the kids so she could sleep in for years. She gave it all up for someone who can’t even cover their own bills and still lives with mommy and daddy. The only thing he had that I didn’t was more time because of a part time job.

 

DO NOT COMMENT IN LINKED POSTS OR MESSAGE OOPs – BoRU Rule #7

THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT OOP

Hey all! I am working to de-stash a large portion of my collection that has steadily grown since I joined the hobby nearly 10 years ago. I will probably be parting with some others in the future, but this is getting the ball rolling.
All prices are shipped within CONUS. Not looking to sell outside the USA at this time. Per sub rules all transactions will be PayPal Goods and Services with tracking numbers when items are shipped. Unless noted, pens do not come with cartridges, refills, or converters. All pens have been flushed and cleaned. As a heads up, it may take me a couple days to get the items shipped out if purchased on the day of posting.
**Verification Photo Album** https://imgur.com/a/8KHTQjL
**Lamy Petrol Ink (x2) - 2017 Limited edition - New / A1 rating - SEALED AND UNUSED - $60 each** https://imgur.com/a/XdsQoCM Bought these cause I loved the ink originally. However, my ink collection quickly became SABLE and these have sat unused. One has a small dried ink spot on the glass, but has not been opened or used. Must have happened in original shipping. It's box is a little more worn than the other, despite just sitting waiting for use.
**TWSBI 580 AL Red Rose Limited Edition - Medium Nib - B Rating - $50** https://imgur.com/a/uAfzVSY Limited edition from many years back now. Inked a handful of times and well cared for. Very minor microscratches on barrel. Hardly noticeable to me. Comes in original packaging with wrench and grease.
**Schon Design Pocket Six - "Fire" colorway - Fine Nib - B Rating - $120** https://imgur.com/a/Fa7KS0m Retails for $165. Love the colorway and comes with the partially hooded nib grip section. Has been used and carried, but always in a rickshaw pen sleeve. No scratches or signs of wear that I could find, but has been inked a handful of times. So for that reason, conservative B rating. Love that it's lightweight and posts to a full size. It's very comfortable to use, but I just don't use my pocket pens enough. Comes in original packaging.
**Opus 88 Koloro Demonstrator - Medium Nib - C rating - $80** https://imgur.com/a/w5qOVT5 Inked this one a handful of times with gentle inks only, mostly Pilot Iroshizuku Kon Peki or Tsuki-Yo. It's conservatively rated C with very mild discoloration at near the tail end of the ink reservoir and where the body meets the section. When it's inked, you never see it. Just don't reach for it anymore, but it's capacity and flow are great if you like broader nibs, write a lot, or enjoy sketching and need the ink capacity as well. Comes in original packaging with included eyedropper.
**Ensso Italia Ultem - Fine Nib - A2 Rating - inked twice - $80** https://imgur.com/a/JH0IM7f Bought this to try out a Ultem pen and found that the material is just not for me, although I see the appeal! Lightweight, warm to the touch with a soft feel. Comes with the stock Fine nib from Ensso. No scratches or damage that I can find with the exception of one tiny dot on the clip, but it came that way from Ensso. Comes in original box. No cartridge or converter.
**Ensso XS Minimalist Brass Pocket Pen - Fine Nib - C Rating - $45** https://imgur.com/a/TrMq57G Brass version is no longer made of this one. Despite being brass, definitely not a weighty pen. It's a great little pocket pen. I just don't use pocket pens as much as I used to. Some natural patina and wear from pocket carry and use. Smooth writer with moderate flow. Does write a little broad for a fine, IMO. I do not have original box.
**Pilot Custom 74 - Fine Nib - Solid "Deep Red" Body; deep maroon color - C rating - $80** https://imgur.com/a/kXIQwze Originally bought on grey market from Japan via Amazon, I don't think this color is sold often anymore. This pen has microscratches from use and carry. Nib is smooth and moderately-wet. I tuned it to have a better flow than out of box. Out of box it had a pretty classic dry up-stroke, which is no longer an issue. Given it's a 14K gold nib, it's got a wonderful slight bounce to it as well. Love this pen, just doesn't make it into my rotation anymore. I do not have original box.
**Sailor Pro Gear Slim - Ocean limited edition - Fine nib - B rating - $160** https://imgur.com/a/sUfaX0C Inked and carried in Rickshaw sleeve only a few times. I can't find any surface scratches, but there might be some minor ones. Some ink in the grip section that I didn't notice before. But a recent post on fountainpens can help you address that one. Fine nib is a bit dry for my taste and overall the pen is too small for my hands. Classic sailor feedback on the nib. So on it moves to another home where it will be well used and loved. Comes in original sailor clamshell packaging.
**Conklin Nighthawk Carbon Fiber (#361) - Fine Nib - C+ rating - $75** https://imgur.com/a/JFi6KVZ Bought this new from Goulet myself. Limited edition run they did way back when. It's wonderful and matte finished carbon fiber. It's real carbon fiber; not the appearance of carbon fiber. It did have original issue with drying out on the cap. The pen cap was replaced via Goulet and Conklin under warranty which is why the box says 1.1 because Goulet had to swap things around. It still has a propensity to dry out when it's inked but unused for about a week or so at a time. So it's a great pen if you ink it and use it regularly. Otherwise, no issues with this pen at all. I have inked it less than 15 times in total. Microscratches on grip, tail, and top cap jewel. Because they are all black, it's not super noticeable unless the light hits it just right, hence conservative C+ rating. Comes in original packaging.
**Retro 1951 - The System Limited Edition (#1212) Rollerball with Matching Rickshaw Pen Sleeve - Fits only Parker Style refills - A2 rating - $100** https://imgur.com/a/JodS4n6 Never been used significantly. I'm not sure it's ever been carried or used at all, but package has been opened. Comes with matching pen sleeve from Rickshaw. Was a limited run of 1300 via the Clicky Post, so I am selling this one at a bit of a mark up. There isn't much of a basis of pricing this one, so feel free to make me an offer if you think it's too high. This is number #1212. Comes in original packaging.
**Tactile Turn Copper Side Click - Standard Size - C+ rating - $75** https://imgur.com/a/Pa1c0iR Retails for $120. Very minor spots of wear on this one which aren't noticeable to me in daily use. Patina on it naturally from sitting in storage mostly. Weight of the pen was just too much for me to really grow accustomed to. Standard size fits Pilot G2 refills. Comes in original packaging.
**Nock Co A5 Seed Case - Purple / Blue Colorway - B+ rating - $60** https://imgur.com/a/hUCyC4t Was carried gently in my bag for a couple years. No noticeable wear or damage. Snagged this in the final months of Nock's operations. It's a great pen and A5 notebook case if fits into your life. Just not needed in mine anymore.
***ADD ON ITEMS - NOT AVAILABLE FOR SHIPPING ON THEIR OWN***
**TWSBI Eco - clear - fine nib - C rating - $15** https://imgur.com/a/1zayEgg My first fountain pen. It's an excellent one to start with. This one just sits in the back of my collection. Microscratches from carry and use. Some discoloration in barrel near the nib. I did adjust it to be a wetter writer than out of box. Smooth nib. Comes in original box with wrench and grease.
**TWSBI Eco - white cap and tail - 1.1 stub nib - B rating - $20** https://imgur.com/a/5vvG5PX My third fountain pen to explore stub nibs. No significant microscratches that I could see, but mild discoloration in the barrel near nib. It's got a strong ink flow and always has from TWSBI. Just too big for daily use for me. I used it for drawing on a handful of occasions previously. Haven't used it in years.
**Pilot Metropolitan - Plain silver color - F nib - C rating - $10** https://imgur.com/a/fbuvEyY My second fountain pen. Couple spots of damage from regular use. Excellent introductory pen or pen to pen-able someone else with. Just doesn't get used by me anymore so I'm moving it to a new home.
**Lamy Safari Candy Aquamarine - EF nib - A2 Rating - $20** https://imgur.com/a/7FdawJD Been inked once or twice maybe. Pen has no obvious microscratches or damage. Just only keeping one Safari for my collection, so this one needs to go.
**Kaweco Perkeo - Demonstrator - Fine Nib - A2 rating - $5** https://imgur.com/a/EzfUMIE Inked once. No scatches, damages or discoloration.
**Kaweco Sport + Clip - Maroon red - EF Nib - C rating - $15** https://imgur.com/a/riPwW5O Microscratches and signs of use from carry. Nib was poor from Kaweco. I had to tune it to get it to write and smooth out the baby's bottom.
**Lihit Lab - Smart Fit Compact Case (two different fabrics) - $5 - B rating** https://imgur.com/a/tRK64aD No noticeable wear. Has been carried in a bag for a year or two, then just sat in storage. Used gently. Navy blue color.
**Lihit Lab Case - Slim Pen Case - $10 - C rating** https://imgur.com/a/tRK64aD Minor spots of wear on the outside and crease at the top part of where it can be folded back and snapped open to stand up. Navy blue color.

This is a long overdue mini review for all of the items I hoarded/bought from Heddy since early 2023. 13-14 in total. I am not an expert in designer bags and am fairly new to the reps world so my opinion can be subjective. Please be gentle with me :D
Disclaimer: Heddy knows I am doing a review and I do not receive any incentive for this.
Brand/Model/Style/Size of Item:

• Celine Triomphe Teen (Pebble color)
• Prada Cleo brushed leather shoulder bag with flap
• Dior Saddle Bag with Strap
• Chanel Pearl Crush Mini Square Flap Bag Black Lambskin Light Gold Hardware
• Louis Vuitton Pochette Metis Reverse
• Louis Vuitton Pochette Metis Bicolor Monogram Empreinte Leather Noir
• Louis Vuitton Pochette Metis East West Cream Beige
• Celine Triomphe Classic (Black)
• Chanel 19 Upgraded Leather (Goatskin)
• Louis Vuitton Small Leather Goods:
  • Cosmetic Pouch Monogram Canvas
  • Cosmetic Pouch PM Bicolor Monogram Empreinte Leather Noir
  • Victorine Wallet Bicolor Monogram Empreinte Leather Dove/Cream
  • Mini Pochette Bicolor Monogram Empreinte Leather

Seller and Factory:

• Heddy. Whatsapp: +8619536382886
• Factory Name:
  • Celine Triomphe Teen (Pebble color): JXG Factory
  • Prada Cleo brushed leather shoulder bag with flap: Black Frame
  • Dior Saddle Bag with Strap: Angel Factory
  • Chanel Pearl Crush Mini Square Flap Bag Black Lambskin Light Gold Hardware: Xiao C
  • Louis Vuitton Pochette Metis Reverse Canvas: God Factory
  • Louis Vuitton Pochette Metis Bicolor Monogram Empreinte Leather Noir: Birdcage Duty Free version
  • Louis Vuitton Pochette Metis East West Cream Beige: Birdcage Duty Free version
  • Celine Triomphe Classic (Black): Black Frame
  • Chanel 19 Upgraded Leather (Goatskin): Xiao C
  • Louis Vuitton Small Leather Goods: Birdcage for all of the below
    • Cosmetic Pouch Monogram Canvas
    • Cosmetic Pouch PM Bicolor Monogram Empreinte Leather Noir
    • Victorine Wallet Bicolor Monogram Empreinte Leather Dove/Cream
    • Mini Pochette Bicolor Monogram Empreinte Leather

Price Paid for Item:

• Payment method for all of these: Paypal FF
• Celine Triomphe Teen (Pebble color): 1215 CNY ($168 USD)
• Prada Cleo brushed leather shoulder bag with flap: 1242 CNY ($182 USD)
• Dior Saddle Bag with Strap: 2300 CNY ($337 USD)
• Chanel Pearl Crush Mini Square Flap Bag Black Lambskin Light Gold Hardware: 1780 CNY ($263 USD)
• Louis Vuitton Pochette Metis Reverse: 1930 CNY ($268 USD)
• Louis Vuitton Pochette Metis Bicolor Monogram Empreinte Leather Noir: 1680 CNY ($234 USD)
• Louis Vuitton Pochette Metis East West Cream Beige: 1680 CNY ($234 USD)
• Celine Triomphe Classic (Black): 2080 CNY ($289 USD)
• Chanel 19 Upgraded Leather (Goatskin): 2100 CNY ($293 USD)
• Louis Vuitton Small Leather Goods:
  • Cosmetic Pouch Monogram Canvas: 360 CNY ($50 USD)
  • Cosmetic Pouch PM Bicolor Monogram Empreinte Leather Noir: 500 CNY ($70 USD)
  • Victorine Wallet Bicolor Monogram Empreinte Leather Dove/Cream: $67 USD
  • Mini Pochette Bicolor Monogram Empreinte Leather: 500 CNY ($70 USD)

Your Thoughts:

• I definitely recommend ordering bags from Heddy! The majority of my bags collection is from her and I have been very happy with the quality of each one. In random order:
  • The Louis Vuitton bags are in the high tier IMO: Leather, stamping and hardware are all pretty close to the authentic products. My only complaint for the PM East West cream is that the chain is a bit too yellow and squeaky to me. But this is not an issue when I wear the bag on my shoulder.
    • I especially love the canvas PM from God factory!
    • Also Birdcage is pretty good when it comes to LV. I find the Pochette Metis in bicolor leather from that factory closest to the authentic! I ordered this bag from 3 different sellers to hunt for the best one and Heddy's won!
  • The 2 Celine bags I got from Black frame (black color) and JXG (pebble grey) are also high quality: leather and hardware are both very nice!
  • Chanel 19 in upgraded leather from Xiao C is also amazing! I love how the leather feels and can definitely wear this bag out when I feel dressy! The mini square I got from Xiao C is also lovely! Though it's too small for my style so I decided to rehome it.
  • The Prada bag from Black Frame is shiny and nice. Unfortunately it's too small for me as well, so I had to let it go.
  • Lastly, Dior saddle bag from Angel factory is quite impressive. This one surprised me, I didn't expect to like it but the bag has a good weight to it, leather feels nice as well.
• Seller's communication: Heddy is very upfront and honest about which factory does it better so that you don't end up being misled and disappointed. You can trust that she'll do her diligence to choose the best bag for you. All in all, reach out to Heddy if you have bags in mind!

Your Photos:

• Part 1: Celine Teen Triomphe, Prada Cleo, Dior Saddle, Chanel Mini Square
• Part 2: LV Pochette Metis Canvas, LV PM East West, LV PM Bicolor Leather, Celine Triomphe Classic, Chanel 19 Upgraded Leather, LV Small Leather Goods

New player here. Played the game for the first time on steam a couple days ago, and got some questions, one of which is "How does flying work?"
It feels like it's supposed to be like driving a plane but when I pull up.. I don't pull up. So is it more like gliding int hat I should dip everynow and again to get speed? It doesn't feel like that works but... It's the only thing that makes sense. I can't seem to wrap my head around it. I tend to use the hoveslow glide mode more often than not because eits the only one I can remotely control. And even then I still get flung into clouds sometimes, which in turn send me rocketing in a wild direction.
Also was I supposed to die in Eden? I kinda just bulldozed my way through, and it was hella intimidating. I had a random help me a bit, and I helped them but at the end we both died. Still was a very gorgeous game so if there's more to it, I'll jump back in. But I gotta know there's more if I'm to do so.
I appreciate your time in reading this rambly post. This game is very much a departure from my usual scene, being a man who enjoys his high velocity combat (cough DBxenoverse)
Any tips are also highly appreciated.

For some reason it’s on my spirit to ask yall if you know of Satin Sanchez, otherwise known as Satin Says. I discovered her around November of last year, and have ordered a few things from her, (my first order I placed around black Friday and didn’t show up until February.) I am new to voudo and how it all exactly works, and although I will admit some of of her stuff works, I’ve been getting a weird feeling lately, perhaps because her prices are so high, orders take soo long, and she often times can be quite snarky to people who comment with genuine questions, and basically makes them feel dumb if they don’t read EVERY single thing on her website. Even then things aren’t clear but there’s an energy of feeling too stupid to ask. Aside from that, again I’d like to say I’ve noticed some changes since using her products (I will also take some credit as I practice slightly myself) however I think my intuition pressing me to inquiry with yall is because I’ve really set the mentions to find the most real deal practitioners out there, and perhaps she’s a start in the right direction but I’m not quite sure if she’s the real deal. One example in particular that made me weary of her was when she said in a interview that Legba is spirit that you shouldn’t mess with, insinuating he’s sinister and malevolent, which in my experience is far from the kind and at times humorous spirit he has. (I also wanna say I know hoodoo and voudo are no the same but I’ve seen her talk about Dominican voudo, hoodoo, and being a root worker)
I guess my main question besides just yalls general vibe and reading of her work is: ~ How long does it typically take to concentrate/ bless candles/ oils/ herbs/ mojo bags/ etc, specifically for voudo/ and hoodoo ? (I’m trying to figure out why it takes so long besides having so many orders)
~Is it recommended to purchase products from people who seem to not have gone through a full initiation? ( I can’t tell if she has been or not)
-Should one be weary if they claim to be the best in the world, but I don’t see a lot of other voudo/ hoodoo people talking about her or following her?
Like I said I’m still quite new to this, and feel very called to eventually learn how to do this all myself, however I wanna make sure I am ordering from/ giving my money to someone super legit, so that perhaps also some day I can study under them or someone they recommend. If the more OGs in here says she’s checks out, then I’ll happily keep working with her; if not, well, other suggestions are open🤍 Thank you in advance

Guys, I kind of have some piscean powers since I was born. My life path number is 1, I'm a Pisces with a Pisces stellium and Aqua rising...my grandma was a Pisces as well, and a Tarot reader.
I hope I won't manifest it by addressing it. It all started a couple of months ago, while I asked my housemate to watch American Beauty. You know the 1st scene in which the protagonist tells the public that he's going to die soon? At that point, my housemate tells me "How bad would it be to know that this is the last year you're being alive? Like, can you imagine if this were our last?". I wanted to touch wood, but there was none in sight. Now...the problem is that I have another housemate with whom I've had a couple of problems ... she's shouted at me very aggressively, is a compulsive liar, and has admitted to being antisocial (which is peculiar to admit given that she's a psychologist...and this makes me believe she has a full-blown personality disorder). For the next 10 days we'll be alone at home, the two of us. Our senior neighbours will be out ot town as well, as they'll go to California to visit their daughters. The house next to us has been recently bought by a family from NY but is currently empty an uninhabited (it belonged to an old researcher from Boston who travelled the world to study rural areas and tribal populations of Papua New Guinea & Africa...she died of uterine cancer and I believe she was a witch) . A month ago I was standing in front of my bedroom window, from which I can see the uninhabited house, and the light under the porch was lit up...and a black cat was standing under it...looking at me...with a regal posture. I had goosebumps. Going back to my housemate...after that violent conversation she decided not to talk to me, so basically she doesn't acknowledge my presence It's been weeks. Today I caught her looking at me while I was washing some dishes in the sink (the sink is placed in front of a window and the glass reflects what's behind it). She was behind me and looking at me with devilish eyes...it scared me a lot. I've seen hate and I've perceived horrible intentions. I think I can somehow read her, and she knows it...she told me many times that she was surprised by my ability to read her mind and intentions....which makes me wonder if it's happening again. A couple of days ago I had a nightmare in which she tried to k!ll me with a knife...in the kitchen. In that dream, I was able to escape and run towards my neighbours and the other housemate of ours...but it ended in tragedy, as all of them d!ed because of this ca@zy B!tch. When I was younger I had this habit of formulating a question while holding a book, and opening it on a random page to look for an answer. I've done it, tonight...to sum it up, the paragraph recites "it won't take long...this person is feared by many, because he has k!lled in the past and will do it again." Do I have to be scared? How can I avoid it??? Because...I'm sh!tting in my pants rn.

Guys, I kind of have some piscean powers since I was born. My life path number is 1, I'm a Pisces with a Pisces stellium and Aqua rising...my grandma was a Pisces as well, and a Tarot reader.
I hope I won't manifest it by addressing it. It all started a couple of months ago, while I asked my housemate to watch American Beauty. You know the 1st scene in which the protagonist tells the public that he's going to die soon? At that point, my housemate tells me "How bad would it be to know that this is the last year you're being alive? Like, can you imagine if this were our last?". I wanted to touch wood, but there was none in sight. Now...the problem is that I have another housemate with whom I've had a couple of problems ... she's shouted at me very aggressively, is a compulsive liar, and has admitted to being antisocial (which is peculiar to admit given that she's a psychologist...and this makes me believe she has a full-blown personality disorder). For the next 10 days we'll be alone at home, the two of us. Our senior neighbours will be out ot town as well, as they'll go to California to visit their daughters. The house next to us has been recently bought by a family from NY but is currently empty an uninhabited (it belonged to an old researcher from Boston who travelled the world to study rural areas and tribal populations of Papua New Guinea & Africa...she died of uterine cancer and I believe she was a witch) . A month ago I was standing in front of my bedroom window, from which I can see the uninhabited house, and the light under the porch was lit up...and a black cat was standing under it...looking at me...with a regal posture. I had goosebumps. Going back to my housemate...after that violent conversation she decided not to talk to me, so basically she doesn't acknowledge my presence It's been weeks. Today I caught her looking at me while I was washing some dishes in the sink (the sink is placed in front of a window and the glass reflects what's behind it). She was behind me and looking at me with devilish eyes...it scared me a lot. I've seen hate and I've perceived horrible intentions. I think I can somehow read her, and she knows it...she told me many times that she was surprised by my ability to read her mind and intentions....which makes me wonder if it's happening again. A couple of days ago I had a nightmare in which she tried to k!ll me with a knife...in the kitchen. In that dream, I was able to escape and run towards my neighbours and the other housemate of ours...but it ended in tragedy, as all of them d!ed because of this ca@zy B!tch. When I was younger I had this habit of formulating a question while holding a book, and opening it on a random page to look for an answer. I've done it, tonight...to sum it up, the paragraph recites "it won't take long...this person is feared by many, because he has k!lled in the past and will do it again." Do I have to be scared? How can I avoid it??? Because...I'm sh!tting in my pants rn.

Would love to hear some advice on this, as I’m trying to help a friend out.
Friend met a girl, and they were long distant, this girl got out of a 3 year relationship with someone abusive, and disliked my friend (no idea why), then that girl ended up “falling” or liking my friend, apparently, they spoke every day for 3-4 months. The girl wanted my friend to fly out, and was gonna even pay for it, wanted to buy her gifts, etc. Pretty sure it was love bombing, but whatever.
Girl then put a pause on dating, despite no ‘exclusivity‘ with friend, cause she liked my friend, so she stopped hooking up. Then weeks later, meets a new girl (local to her) and drops my friend, and telling my friend she “can’t do long distance“ and “needs time to heal” — yet actively trying to date this new girl local to her.
My friend was hurt, and her and the new chick don’t even make it past a month, and this girl comes crawling back to my friend.
Now my friend IMO needs to cut her off, but still has feelings for her. This girl sees that my friend is lingering around the city she is in, and immediately hits her up, wanting to meet up, but my friend rejects her, and tells her to meet her in a couple months, as she will be back. The girl is fine with it.
Next thing you know she is already (again), in another relationship and doesn’t tell my friend. Posting how happy she is with this new girl.
For some reason though despite having a GF, she still watches my besties stories (all of them), got upset when my bestie deleted her, bragging about her life, and new gf… It just makes no sense…
To sum up this post: I can’t tell if this girl is watching my bestie cause there is still lingering feelings there, cause when my bestie comes to the city she wants to take her to arcade, coffee, etc (cause “they’re friends”) … OR she truly just doesn’t want my friend.
Mind you this girl has said before she “can’t handle being alone” and has rs hopped numerous times. Thoughts? Does it sound like lingering feelings still or this chick is just an asshole?
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Honestly I love this man so much we’ve been together for nearly 10 years we’re high school sweethearts, been through so many ups and downs mentally and physically its a lot of growth in one self and in both for the relationship.
We have a small family (cats) and just us 2 it’s so perfect the tranquility of building a home and knowing each other on a deeper level. I can say I’ve grown in many ways and still coming around to new things that I’m not used to thanks to him and for that I’ll always be grateful.
From the monthly flowers, to the weekly dates and just the small things he does for me and us makes me know that there are men who do want to be a husband and do actually want to grow and change for the better. I wish I could brag about him more to my friends yet I can’t because it might seem selfish and sometimes there’s even comparisons to him to their own bfs on how my husband is head over heels (my co-workers say it ) and all that .
He’s the most perfectly compassionate and empathetic as one hopes to be there’s flaws in everyone yet to him I never see any. He’s so smart and quick when keep a conversation , making friends is something he has a charm for and it’s so intriguing(I wish I was easily friendly as he). The way he talk about his video games and describing everything to my questions just seeing his eyes light up and his smirk/smile I live for that. But most of all his heart and strength for the many headaches I’ve given and just being one to take charge and always have a solution.
He’s ever so perfect and I love him till the end of time and even after .

13 years and 12 days ago, my husband and I got married at a marina. We cooked our own reception dinner - it was a seafood boil, and eventually as the day wore on we found ourselves at a bar called Bullfrogs located in the hotel resort we were staying at. We were all drinking at the end of the bar. My new husband Matt was talking to his brother Mike. They were really engaged in conversation and I was excluded and peripheral, sidelined waiting for him to be done. I joked with some people at the end of the bar. I thought, “hey, this is my wedding night, this should be fun!” So I went up to my new husband and said, “I’m going up to the room, come up in ten minutes”. I said it that way because I didn’t want to appear like a slut, even though we had just gotten married. That’s important for later. So with high hopes and horny thoughts I went up to the hotel room. I waited and waited and I think I even fell asleep. Hours later Matt comes tearing in all drunk and dark and angry and starts accusing me of cheating on him. I am so thrown off balance, I have no idea what’s going on and quite frankly I was kind of asleep. He accuses me of cheating on him and is kicking me out of the hotel room. I actively start grabbing my bags and grabbed my wedding dress, throwing that over my arm. I was sobbing. I walked down the hallway in a fog, carrying 5 bags with a wedding dress over my arm. I went to the lobby as it had a back hallway to the elevators where there was a bench. I sat on the bench, wedding dress on my arm, 5 bags of makeup and bathing suits and lingerie bought especially for the wedding night all jammed in a hurry into the bags I had first packed with loving anticipation of finally getting married to my fiancé, my first time ever walking down the aisle. I packed my new bridal thigh high stockings and my bridal breast bustier thing and my wedding themed sexy panties and I had been killing myself working out so that I would look hotter than I ever had. I was running miles every day at like 8 am the whole month before so that I could look awesome in that outfit on my wedding night. Instead, I’m sitting there crying on a bench wondering what in the hell happened. For 13 years, I thought my husband just accused me and exploded on me from the demons in his head, for lack of better phrasing. Turns out, his brother told him that I left with some dude at the bar. What. In. The. Actual. F@ck. NO I did not!!!! So for who knows how long my new husband is believing my new brother in law that I left my wedding reception with a stranger to fu$k. My brother in law basically called me the lowest of whores by saying this lie. No one defended me. And if my brother in law saw me leaving to go fuc$ a stranger WHY DID HE NOT STOP ME? Because that never happened. He is a liar. Because of his lie, I get kicked out of my wedding suite as the whore bride and stay awake all night on a bench in the lobby of the hotel. The resort was owned by someone with the Atlanta Falcons, and there was an event for the Atlanta falcons cheerleaders. The entire Atlanta falcons cheerleaders walked down past me because that bench was on the way to the elevator. I knew what they were thinking, and I was ashamed that I let myself get abused like that. Like this. I found out on my 13th year anniversary that my brother in law was the one who lied. That my husband acted on what he was told. I can’t believe they were so quick to attack me with a lie. Every year I think about it. Every year I cry about it. This year, I found out it was my brother in law who lied. Then I find out last week that the entire wedding guest list and family know. They all thought I was the slut who left her wedding reception to go fu?k a stranger. My husband does not understand why I am destroyed by these new revelations to me. He doesn’t understand why I can’t stop. Crying. About it all. My husband’s family thinks I’m the worst of sluts. This bell can’t be unrung. This also explains a lot of bullshit jokes I’ve heard over the years. Weird things that were said that now make sense. I’m mad at it all and I wish that wasn’t the worst of it, but you know if that’s how it started how well it has gone. I’m hurt. I’m embarrassed. I’m mortified. I’m so sad. I’m ashamed. I’m humiliated. I’m being told it’s 13 years ago I should be over it. I can’t stop crying about it though. What did I do to deserve that? What can I do get over it? I know therapy but what specifically? Because this is my life with this man. I’m accused of lies and punished for it. Two weeks ago I was accused of fucking our 11yo daughter’s friend’s father. For the record, the man was hundreds of miles away shown all over Facebook. Didn’t stop the accusations and the threat of divorce screamed at me 30 times over. I am at my wits end. I’m dropping weight and over working out. I have zero appetite and am prone to crying jags. Why can’t I just get over it like my husband says I should? What’s wrong with me?

I am almost 6 weeks postpartum. I have had what seems like a rough experience since the day we came home from the hospital. I have always had anxiety that I take medication for. I’ve had problems with family and just adjusting to the new mom life and being home all day everyday 95% of the time (I have never stayed home like this before I have a full time job I’ll be returning to in a couple weeks) my baby usually will only sleep if she’s being held so sleep is difficult. With all of it combined I’ve hit a low spot and even with anxiety the last 8 years I’ve never had depression so it’s all new to me as well. My husband seems to understand I’m at a low spot he always makes sure he tries getting me out of the house to do things. However, he thinks I’m losing feelings for him and that I no longer love him. He also mentions how I won’t let him be affectionate. I keep telling him it’s not that I’m just going through a lot. He has seen it from the beginning with a stressful pregnancy, rough first birth experience (I ended u having c section and was sick through the whole surgery, the day we got home from hospital I ended up at ER for back issues thinking from epidural just to find out I had pre hypertension and have been on BP medication since). With my anxiety I overthink A LOT. OVER EVERYTHING! So now I feel like I’m ruining my marriage even though I know 100% it’s not my fault and as women we experience something men will never understand or could go through the same. I know he is understanding what I’m going through by what I tell him because he acknowledges I need to get away and take a break or how he knows/notices and appreciates what I do for the household and our child. I don’t believe our marriage is going down hill but now it’s been stuck in the back of my mind that because of my low that it’s affecting us. I can feel the tension between us which brings me lower. All I feel like doing is crying but so “numb” and low that I physically cannot. I always feel guilty about everything that’s not done in the “right” ways such as our sleeping arrangements and having to co sleep. When I was 2 weeks postpartum, I went to my primary doctor to remove the covering off my stitches and we talked about my anxiety and experience I had with birth. My doctor knows me personally and so during a discussion with my mother, she asked how things were and even mentioned how she was super worried about me and how I was doing because of the place I already was in by the second week.
I know PPD is different for everyone and can last longer than others. But any advice that helped you get through it? As much as I want to say “I’d hate to be the reason my marriage goes down hill” I know it’s also on my husbands part on how he handles it and realizes the reality of what I’m going through. We have never had huge relationship problems, we don’t argue much. We are also coming up on our 1 year wedding anniversary. (We knew from the beginning we wanted to start a family very soon. We have been together almost 6 years. And lived together for a year prior to marriage but was engaged for that time). Most people say the first year of marriage is hard but I’m grateful to say we had a blessed first year. It does seem like going through my depression and knowing how he has felt because of me has been our rough/hard spot within our first year. I have got to where I will fake smile and laugh just so everything seems “fine”.

So, I'm sure all of us have had to deal with hearing one of our favourite games in this series be disparaged at some point or have had to sit there and sigh at the headlines once more taking another hit of negativity. I've seen this a lot, especially since I like a good, i'd say, 98% of Sonic games that have been released that I have played.
So I thought it might be nice to do a thread dedicated to a bit of positivity. Honestly, this started out as an idea for a YouTube series but i'm not sure how well that would actually go so I figured just a reddit post for now is good enough.
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Long story short, each sonic game you've played or know a lot about, all you got to do is say one genuinely nice thing you like about it whether you like it overall or not, so all of us can enjoy a little positivity about one of our favourite games. Even if its a little controversial, lets try to keep some positivity in the replies.
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Sonic The Hedgehog (1991) - The most obvious thing of all, without this game we wouldn't have our blue blur in the first place, this is the game that has in some way or another brought us every other last thing we absolutely love in this series. It all started here and I will always love this game for that.
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 - In a rather similar vein to the first game, this game started the trend of adding characters to the series. While of course the character mania wouldn't set in until a while later, Tails set the stage for it, giving us one of the cutest kitsunes in gaming and ensuring, most likely, that one of your beloved characters could be made.
Sonic The Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles - The naming of Hyper Sonic has led to endless giggling for me imagining that the truth of the transformation has nothing do with the master emerald but Sonic downing too much Sugar before transforming.
Sonic R - Genuinely, Can You Feel The Sunshine, memes aside is just one of many great vocal tracks from this game that will not leave your mind when you hear it. Also, it technically gave us this, the greatest argument in favour of this game's existence: https://youtu.be/J-Z--O2GFcY?si=sR_RIaTpl5z_QBEz (I am going to try to make this the only OST based one)
Sonic The Fighters - Honey The Cat is freakin' adorable. That is all.
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Sonic Adventure - Started giving us more explicit stories in Sonic games which would eventually lead to one of the best pieces of the entire sonic franchise later down the line, while also helping start to define the general playstyles people expect from characters other than sonic, not to mention the slow shift to extra Shonen vibes.
Sonic Adventure 2 - Gave us easily one of the most iconic rival characters in the entire series with a story that helped set a tone going forward that I feel like has always been there in the best stories of the games, that underlying hint of darkness (not edginess). (I could honestly make an entire essay topic on this with time).
Sonic Heroes - This is the game that personally got me into the franchise, the game I played on loop for hours at my grandmothers house, annoying my cousins by getting past the sections they couldn't and gaining crocodile based nightmares.
Shadow The Hedgehog - This game was rated 12, I was like 4. This game left an impression in me like the bullet that hit Maria, yet for all the over the top edginess and wild parts of the game, I genuinely just loved exploring the level settings as a kid, losing myself for hours just exploring around these maps and distracting myself from life. It also potentially gave me the ability to be able to look past the overt edginess of certain products and enjoy whats actually underneath more seriously no matter how unseriousness the edginess can make it feel.
Sonic Rush - BLAZE SIMPING BLAZE SIMPING BLAZE SIMPING- In all seriousness, I think anyone who had a DS has 'that game' that they'd play to oblivion no matter where they went to keep themselves happy and entertained. Sonic Rush was one of the two games that did that for me for close to a decade. It also did indeed introduce Blaze, starting my eventually descent into the curse of simping for Sonic girls.
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Sonic 06 - ...How do I say this without getting set on fire... Elise simp? In all seriousness, I say with full sincerity: I personally think Elise was a good idea with bad execution. I really don't think there's anything wrong with the human/hedgehog part because its cartoony and unless you also have a problem with Roger and Jessica Rabbit, i just don't see much problem with the actual concept part. Unfortunately, there were issues that I won't cover to maintain positivity but I want to say this, the idea is sound and I am confident would be popular done right. Why do I say this? Because 'more serious princess to contrast Sonic who has some kind of connection to fire and a serious duty she cannot shake, eventually warming up with the help of Sonic' applies to both Blaze and Elise, so... I'm just saying, its not impossible. For those who want something else, this game did give a near-perfect portrayal of Shadow that I argue stands up to this day as one of the best portrayals of the character.
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Sonic and The Secret Rings - While the storybook games gameplay is rather infamous for various reasons, there is one place that its only appropriate for 'The Storybook Saga' to excel and that is in its stories. Out of every single game on this list, I don't think any two games understand Sonic as a character better than Secret Rings and Black Knight, and they make stories that are charming, fun and genuinely suck me right in no matter how many times I watch them. I highly recommend if you haven't, just trying out any 'The Movie' videos on YouTube and watching Secret Rings like a TV Special Sonic cartoon. While its not the intended experience, it is a very good one.
Not to mention, this game introduced Shahra, who I would kill to have come back for more games. Having a companion Sonic can actually talk to, who can keep up (due to the ring) while being their own person and contrasting well personality wise gave such a genuine sense of charm and could even give more depth to Sonic's 'solo' adventuring. Yes, Tails could serve a similar role but Tails was a partner, a buddy who grew up out of the need to be under Sonic's protection in this era, meant to strike out on his own. Shahra feels just so perfect as a companion, soft and respectful, but conflicted and uncertain to contrast Sonic's Brash and Rude but self-assuredness and confidence in his core beliefs.
I could write an entire post solely about why the Hankerchief ending, cheesy as it is, is great beyond just being a good bookend with the start of the book. Plus there's things I haven't even mentioned like the way Darkspine is unlocked or Erazor Djinn being one of the best villains in the entire franchise.
Also, this game started the (console) trilogy of perfect ending songs with Worth A Chance.
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Sonic And The Dark Brotherhood - True fact, this game was the first ever 'RPG' I played and I was kind of addicted to it. I still remember my go to team as a kid was Sonic (as mandatory), Amy, Shadow, Cream and I had this one chao I was in love with I cried over when my save was deleted who was a fiery type chao. For any faults, I love these characters, so genuinely, being able to just sit and talk to them at least somewhat as a kid, even in a system as simple as Brotherhood's, was something that genuinely gave me unparalleled levels of joy. I loved these characters as characters, so I absorbed every word I could get by talking to them.
Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity - The first ever racer I played, it became my go to game to play whenever I had other people around, since I didn't have many other games on the Wii to play and for a while it was the only console I had. I love the designs and vibe of the entire riders series but ZG is where that series had its best visual design I think. Also, I may have some bias, as I genuinely think ZG may be the first ever piece of media my brain properly digested the story of and remembered it, rather than just being distracting moving pictures in front of me.
Sonic Unleashed - Rather fittingly considering the original title of the game, Unleashed nails the feeling of there really being an entire WORLD around you, even if you are locked to segments of it, making it feel like there's so much around you still aren't seeing. It also gave us Night of The Werehog, some truly great designs, Professor Chad Pickle, the greatest opening cutscene in the entire franchise, a really good blend of the cheesier side and the darker side, keeping the fun tone from the characters while still acknowledging the planet is freakin' dying, and while Sonic Heroes introduced me to the series, Sonic Unleashed was the game that solidified me permanently as a Sonic fan for the long haul. And of course, Dear My Friend continues the console trilogy of perfect ending songs.
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Sonic And The Black Knight - I saved writing about this one for last because I just know it's going to become the longest one here. I adore Black Knight, I really do. It took the good parts of Secret Rings and expanded on them while adding so much more at the same time.
A fun, well-written travelling companion that gets endless banter and snark out of Sonic? Check. Fun alternative takes on classic characters, fully embracing the idea rather than just dipping toes in the water while still respecting the originals? Check. A highly simp-worthy new humanoid character? Check. One of the best themed OST's in any piece of media ever? Big Check.
That's me delibrately doing my best to cut down on the stuff I can gush on, and there's still so much more I can still go over like how, if the Secret Rings portrayal of Sonic is nearly perfect, this portrayal IS perfect. I could put nearly any cutscene from that game in front of you, and give you an immediate idea of who Sonic is as a person... Which this game even explores in more detail than we normally get, putting his worldview up to the test of literally having him declare he's fine with being the villain to stay true to those beliefs.
Excalibur Sonic is easily the single most narratively earned and satisfying transformation out of any in the whole series, the entire game building on Sonic's world views and beliefs, testing him against this world's. Sonic holding fast and true every time, eventually being rewarded and gratified with the best reward possible within this universe.
However, if there is one thing I'd pick out that entire game, just one to say without doubt is the best thing, I'd say this cutscene, which I argue may be the single best cutscene in the entire franchise. If I was to distill everything good about Sonic into one scene, it would be this: https://youtu.be/fDsTdJvZ9Qc?si=bb3QV1bpcOXHfkHh
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Sonic Colors - While not a game i'd personally want to go to anymore other than in a marathon, I do genuinely think this game works as a great introduction point for younger players to not overload them with the more intense parts of the other games, as long as you don't go straight into every other meta era game. Honestly, this game is really good as a break between the serious games, more than as a 'norm'. Also Reach For The Stars is still one of the most gorgeous opening songs in the series.
Sonic Generations - Personally I consider this the best game of the meta era and a great example of when the meta era writing could work just fine, because while writing wise it felt more childish than other games, it also feels more simple. Honestly, making the time eater a little less overly intense an idea, more of a time traveller than a time eater and it would work fine. Keep things simple, fun and unserious for a game that doesn't NEED to be serious, cause its an excuse to celebrate the past rather than tell an actual story which a lot of 'Dark Era' games did genuinely do.
Sonic Forces - While I could mention Fist Bump or cheat and mention the IDW comics coming off this game, which are both also positives, I'm not going to cheap out like that. Genuinely, this games story had potential that in the dark era would of been amazing to see play out and the idea of allowing for OC's was a really fun addition and in-joke for a game. The avatar's stages were interesting concepts and a good way to start pushing back to having other characters even if it didn't pan out in time, but more than anything... The OC system may actually of been the greatest thing for this era to bow out on. The Meta Era left after giving us the most meta-joke mechanic of all.
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Sonic Frontiers - If we include Final Horizons I can't not mention one of the most Shonen final bosses in the entire series but even ignoring Final Horizon, Frontiers willingness to actually remember its past, the little details like remembering Sonic actually likes reading (Woo Storybook Saga!), just everything about Sage, the spectacle that is the Titans fights, and more than anything, the sheer love this game oozes for Sonic in general that just feels so nice to simply enjoy as someone who still really loves this dang hedgehog.
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So... What about you?

Whenever I try to search for friendship advice, I see this advice. And yea it is common sense. but I don’t know if it is a me issue, or it is something actually other people experience, that sometimes reflection interferes with the process of having a natural engagement. Especially in cases where you are around people who are really different from you, but you can feel that they are putting an effort to understand you and make you feel comfortable, and that they like you, for reasons you are not really clear about them. In the middle of interactions I fear codependency, trauma bonding and all other type of unhealthy patterns of human interaction, and I start asking myself whether I am going to end up somewhere horrible and just hurt people behind me at the same time. But even being aware of that, and even though I can get along if I had the energy to do so, I find myself lagging and zoning out, thinking if this is bad for me, and I start being hesitant about opening up more because it makes me feel like I am going to fake reciprocation. Does that make sense?? Are these feelings of discomfort arising from personal issues and insecurities or an actual thing going on? If I decided to stay just to fix my conception or to explore, is it fair for the other side? If I gave up one day on fixing my problems, how could I explain this to anyone? At the same time I noticed the pattern of unconditional respect, both from my side and their side, I notice how these people allowed me and exposed me to situations where I grew, and I see myself maybe decades after having their impact memorable. I noticed how I actually failed in a lot of their attempts to help, yet they are still there. Is that feeling that I need to adjust based on my own problem or external factors? I feel so lost sometimes. The thing is that I forced myself to endure on those friendships because we are humans who are constantly searching for growth and new life experiences, those who I mix with naturally are nice, maybe caring and amazing people, but most of the times they are not willing to explore or try, they are just a comfortable version of myself, the one that doesn’t even bother to step out until it has reached college. I know I am over analyzing this, Maybe I have a sort of mental health issue that cause me to think this way but I get really numb if i didn’t process such thoughts. but I have to do it one more time at least before I decide to move on. Is it bad to get closer to people like that? Does anyone relate?

I (24f) and my sister (26) are both adopted. We are full blood sisters who were adopted from foster care when she was 2 and i was 1. My sister is my best friend and we have always been close, we have a bad relationship with our adopted parents just a lot of drama and the realization that they are not good people. I moved out 2 years ago two states away and my sister lives one state over from me and one state over from them. She is only a 2 hour drive from where i live but a 18 hr drive from our parents. As you can tell we moved as far as we could. Anyways, last year i decided to take a dna test to find out who our birthparents were. Well it took less than a week for a cousin on my bio-dads side to reach out and it turns out that one of my adopted moms family friend who she use to take us to visit when we were young was actually our bio grandma (bio dads mom) and for years we were always seeing our grandma aunt and uncle (his sister and brother) just under the disguise as my moms friends. It was such a shock to find this out but we went ahead and contacted our bio aunt about this since she had us on social media and she kind of told us the truth. Our bio dad had us as a teen but he was also a drug addict. Our mom was a teen runaway with no family. After that i asked her to give him my number and just to text me if he wanted. He texted me a few days later and we texted back and forth for a few days and he asked me different things about me and stuff and then asked to face time, we did and only talked for an hour (which i was ok with as i dont like talking on the phone) he then started texting less frequently from a few days, to once a week to once a month. I dont usually initiate conversations as i dont like to bother people, plus this being my bio-dad i really didnt want to annoy him so i just waited until he would text me. My birthday was coming up and we decided to take a trip to our hometown (20 hr drive). I texted my bio dad that if he wanted to meet us halfway (since he was in a diff state) and see us while we were down there. I told him a month and a half prior about it and he never responded. I texted him again 3 weeks prior about our dates down there and he said we would see if he could get the dates off but probably not bc it was a busy time at his job. I understood that as i am a manager at my job and my sister is a manger at hers. So at first i was pretty understanding, but then he texted me a few days later for clothe sizes bc his mom wanted to buy us a gift. We then texted a bit and i asked if he was for sure not gonna be there just because we didnt want a surprise if he had decided to come down. He said he could not because his company had an event and he had a competition those days, not really mention that he asked and they said no. I didnt push him but i was definitely hurt and my sister who has not spoken to him at all was very hurt as well as she was willing to meet him despite not having talked to him at all. As much as i wish i told him how much it would mean to us, i would hate to have said something and then he does make an effort to see us because i said something vs him wanting to see us of his own will. That we were more important than his competition. Well he texted me happy birthday, and i just didnt respond. He texted me a few days later and said i hope you had a great birthday and i responded with thx. I did have a wonderful birthday as i spent it with my sister(she is my bestie) and my birth grandma, aunt and uncle and it was amazing reconnecting with them and spending time with them as family. He sent he a message a month after for the holidays and i just gave him a simple salutations, just not engaging really. He sent me a message about a family trip that his mom, sister (and her family) and brother were going to see him and wanted me and my sister to come and that they would help pay for our flights. I immediately said no, one being that i told him previously i would never step foot in the state he lives in(its a red state, dont know his politcal party dont care but you could not pay me to go to that state) idk if he just didnt remember about me saying i would never go there or just he thought i wasnt being serious. The second is that after saying he wouldnt be able to see us on my birthday he said he would be coming to the state i was in to see me and my sister after new years which kinda did makeup for the whole birthday because it meant he would make the effort to see us; never happened. But now we were supposed to take time off of work and make the effort to see him even though we tried to meet him halfway already and he already said he would come see us. My sister and i were not having it and she told me to tell him no. Well he responded with "No worries I understand. Just to put this out there I hope I didn’t do or say anything to offend you in anyway. I do understand you don’t know me and in many ways I am a stranger, but either way I am glad that I met you and that I know you are doing well. Ok bye". I really wanted to respond with," the reason you are a stranger is because you havent made any effort to see us and barely talk to me". But instead i didnt respond because i really like his family and did not want to cause drama. He messaged me a month later and it was a cute pic of his dogs, i thought this was his way of starting the convo and since i love dogs i was engaging with him, then asked how is my dog (not even asking about me at all) and then proceeded to tell me about what he was up to and about his "new adition", yep he just messaged me to tell me he was gonna have a baby. I just responded with congrats and nothing else. He messaged me a month later and asked how i was, i just said ok because i was over him at that point. He then proceded to tell me that he had bad news and that apparently all he could have were girls bc his baby is a girl. He said it was a bad joke and that he knows he is a stranger and that he thinks about me and my sister but doesnt know how to reach out but it doesnt seem right of him not to try and ending the message with take care. I responded with ok because i was just over it really. He messaged me again one month later with pictures of his babys room and him explaining his design and colors and just ending the message with i hope your doing well and i wish the best. Didnt engage with me but send pics of his childs room. I sent a screenshot to my sister and told her i wish i was petty enough to respond with better than what we got, i didnt of course as again i dont want drama with him and my sister said she was actually hurt by this because in a court document that our grandma gave us, one incident said that he threw my sister off her crib as a baby and said it wasnt her crib it was his and it made her sad to see him sending me pics of that. She said she wished he would be more thoughtful about how we might feel about his and i told her that she needs to remember that he was a teenage drug addict when he had us vs him being a sober grown man now. My sister and i grew up with emotionally unavailable parents so we are both bad at showing emotions, and im thinking of just blocking him just to avoid any confrontation but im not sure if this will just make things worse with the rest of his family. I just dont really care to know him anymore but i still like the rest of his family and dont want to make any drama.

My default when I am not being treated the way I deserve is to basically fawn, I don't understand why I have to play games, and I just want to be vulnerable and sweet, but it gets me into trouble.
I think that my emotional fawn response is due to being raised by, and still living with, a narcissistic mother, like clinical NPD. Fawning = Survival for me and always has.
I recently got back from a girl's weekend, which was desperately needed, and when I talked to them about my boyfriend seeming to have gotten complacent, and not feeling very welcome in his life, they said I need to detach. One said she did just that and her husband has been obsessed with her lately.
But I am so emotionally raw right now, I hate feeling like I need his particular brand of affection, but I do, shamefully I do. He's been super busy lately adjusting to his new position at work, general only-son expectations in an Indian household, and buying and renovating a new condo. I get it, I'm trying to be patient, but. I need to feel like a priority.
He texted me about how much he's been craving me (sexually) and it made me feel panic?? Because having sex with him and then not seeing him regularly really disrupts me psychologically and I am really scared of that high and then the crash and fear of wondering if he'll let me into his life in a more stable way.
I don't know how to explain this to him. I'm scared that he'll try to initiate sex and then I'll just end up SOBBING in his arms and freak the ever living FUCK out of him. One time I so much as apologized for not being ready for sex yet and he cradled me like a baby and kept asking "who made you think you should apologize for that???" I also don't want him to think I'm withholding sex as a punishment or to be petty, I genuinely just need the feeling of emotional safety of knowing he does value me and wants a future with me like he's always said, I need to see it in his actions more.
How can I stop needing his affection and attention so completely so that I can be more logical and practical? What would be the best way to explain to him how I've been feeling?

TLDR: My first love has been an on and off again relationship lasting 7 yrs hes basically all the firsts. When we last texted, we cleared the air and left the door open for the future. But is it over, and im being delusional, or does he actually want to try again sometime?
I (21F) have been with this guy (24M) on and off for 7 years now. We'll call him A. We met when we were 14 and 17, and we "dated" in the way high schoolers do for a little while, but he was going thru a lot of family stuff, so we ended it. There were never any bad feelings there it just wasn't our time. I started dating someone new and later found out that they were best friends. He was extremely supportive and honestly is the reason that relationship lasted as long as it did. The second that relationship ended, though, he wanted to date again. But i wasn't ready. He was respectful of that but we stayed friends. We went on and off for a few years after that, and there was never any bad blood, and nothing really lasted long. Well, we just started another period in august. I texted A just to catch up, and one thing led to another. A means the absolute world to me he was my first kiss when we were kids, and he's the first person i truly felt like was a safe space for me. A is my first love, and i always thought he'd be my last. But then things took a turn for the worst. He wasn't there when i needed him most. And i couldn't get over it. After that, i was constantly lashing out at him bc i felt like he wasn't listening to anything i said. I wasn't feeling heard. On my 21st bday, i had finally had enough, and i sent him a number of drunk texts ending things. Well, that was a few weeks ago, and i realized i needed to send him one last text to just get everything out to be open, honest, and vulnerable so i could close that period of my life. So i sent it. A responded, and i actually felt heard for the first time in a long time. A also chose to give me the same respect i gave him. We both owned up to our parts in what went wrong with us. We talked for a while about how we felt, and now i can say there's really no bad blood there. But we did kinda leave the door open for a future. I still love him, and i really thought in the end we had finally gotten it right, and we weren't gonna break up again. But how do you know if it's really over, or am i just kidding myself by building this up in my head where maybe one day we do get married and grow old together?

At the time, I was sitting on the side of the road, on the outskirts of town, across the street from a dive bar that reeked of desperation and depression. And the only reason I wasn’t inside was because I had just been thrown out.
Let me back-up. I’m not gonna tell you my name, but if you live in or near Las Vegas, chances are you’ve heard of me. The king of the strip. The luckiest man in the luckiest city. The guy you want at your table. When I was a kid, it seemed like a harmless quirk; always hitting the ladders and missing the chutes, the perfect draws in Candyland, something for my parents to wow their dinner guests with when there was a lull in conversation. It was around middle school when I realized I could use my luck to my advantage. My school got bit hard by Magic the Gathering fever and while everyone else was doing their damnedest to craft the perfect deck, I was the one who was winning by drawing the perfect card at the perfect time. Made back my lunch money a few times over that year.
College wasn’t my thing, but neither was staying in town; at that point everyone knew to not play any games with me because I’d always end up winning. But I had bigger ambitions. I had gotten a taste for being the victor and now I was hungry for more. So when I turned 21 I hit the road, with a whole new world of unsuspecting people just waiting for me. Hustling isn’t exactly a difficult science; you pretend you don’t know what you’re doing, fold a few hands, then when they raise the stakes and propose a few big money games, you wipe the floor with them and move on to the next town. I lost a few teeth along the way to some sore losers, but with the money I was making it was never too hard to pay for dental work, ice packs, and aspirin.
But that wasn’t enough. I was ready to go big. And the glitzy lights and siren song of jackpots drew me to Las Vegas. Yeah, cliche place, but when you have my luck, the old adage “the house always wins” doesn’t mean jack. That’s when I started making real money, putting my luck to good use full-time. Every pull of a lever, push of a button, throw of the dice… it all came my way. Sure, I got a bad hand or a crap throw often enough, but by the end of the night I always left with more than I started. First few months I was there, I got dragged into back rooms to be interrogated by a bunch of stiffs in tight suits more times than I could count. They were convinced I was cheating. But they never found anything on me: no extra dice, no hidden cards, no cameras, nothing. I told them the truth; that I was just lucky. They didn’t like that answer, but with no proof, they would send me on my way, telling me not to come back for the day. I learned to pace myself: switch up where I was gambling each night, don’t win too much, stop when the dealer was starting to sweat.
Even with those restrictions, I was making more than enough to not just survive, but thrive. Got a nice little penthouse at the top of one of the hotels, spent my days gambling and my nights partying. Slowly, people started to learn my name, follow me around, and want to get close to me. They all were hoping to sap up a little bit of my luck. And the crazy thing? They did. When I was at their table, suddenly everyone’s hands were coming up in their favor. I watched grown men fight over the chance to sit at the slot machine next to mine. I wasn’t just a great gambler, I was the great gambler. The guy who got whispered about when I walked by. The Luckiest Man In Vegas. Hell of a title.
In the back of my mind I always thought one day my luck would peter out. I wasn’t expecting it to be so dramatic.
It started at the poker tables that morning. You know how unlikely it is to get four 2-7 offsuit draws in a row? But there they were, taunting me. The casino always gave me free drinks when I hit a cold streak, but the taste of defeat wouldn’t leave my mouth. Bad day for the tables, I figured, and moved onto the slot machines. Didn’t hit a single payout for an hour. I was starting to sweat; was this some kinda prank by the casino, rigging the games to take me down a peg? Even the lowliest gambler doesn’t have a day this bad. Insulted, I took my business down the strip.
But the next casino didn’t fare much better either. Snake eyes, 0s and 00s, couldn’t hit 21 to save my life. I began to hear the whispers; some of my regular hangers-on, worried that their cash cow was having a dry day. They started moving to other tables, hoping not to catch whatever dark cloud was hanging over my head. After I got two sevens and a lemon, I decided my day would be better spent in bed. It’d give my luck a chance to recharge.
When I swiped my card on the key reader and the light flashed red, I knew something had to be up. I stormed straight down to talk to whoever was working the front desk; I knew them all by name, so getting this sorted out shouldn’t have been a problem. So imagine my surprise to see some new girl behind the desk who didn’t believe me when I told her what was happening. She told me the system said I hadn’t paid my rent that month; I told her I had dropped the check off a week ago, like I always do. There was no record of it in the computer though, and she trusted it more than she trusted me.
Things went south quickly. I suppose I could have just waited for a shift change to talk to someone I actually knew, or given them a call to get this sorted out. But I was already having a bad day, and her attitude was pissing me off. So maybe reaching over the counter to grab her by the hair wasn’t the smartest idea, but the way those two guys the size of tanks grabbed me and threw me out of the building wasn’t called for if you ask me.
I was making a mental note to start looking into a new place to stay when my cell phone rang. It was my bank, telling me that there had been a lot of “suspicious activity” in my account, and that my cards were being frozen until they could sort it out. I definitely turned a few heads on the street with the string of obscenities I screamed into the phone, but I’m pretty sure they hung up on me halfway through; I would have checked, had I not thrown my phone to the ground and shattered it. I checked my wallet to see how much cash I had on me to make it through the day; I really shouldn’t have been surprised to see an empty space where the neat stack of 100’s usually sat.
The rest of the day was kinda a blur; attempts to contact anyone I knew were met with dial tones and busy signals, and in the mood I was in I got stopped from entering all my usual casinos because they said I “looked like I was there to cause problems.” Can’t say I blame them, but it wasn’t doing my demeanor any favors. Do you have any idea how pathetic it is to ask tourists for a little cash to spend at a gas station slot machine? They all thought I was some poor sap in way too deep, rather than the celebrity they should have been treating me like. By the time the sun went down, I had made my way out of town and plopped myself down at the aforementioned dive bar, and their one lowly, pathetic penny slot. I had found a penny in the gutter outside. This was it: the end of this horrible day, the clouds clearing, the path back to being on top of the world. I put the coin in and pulled the lever.
Watermelon. Bananas. Bell.
I stared at the machine. I swear, those stupid little symbols were laughing at me. I saw red, reared my hand back, and punched the machine as hard as I could; next thing I knew, a few of the regulars were hauling my ass out the door and across the street, throwing me into the ditch and telling me to stay out.
And so there I was. Luckiest man in Vegas, sitting on the side of a road. Everything I had in life, gone in the span of a day. No idea on how to get back to where I was… or even if it was possible anymore. My luck had finally run out, and it had run out hard.
That’s when I heard her voice.
“Whoof, you look like you’re having a rough day,” she said.
“Lady, you have no idea how much I don’t wanna talk right now,” I said back. I expected that to be it; people were quick to move on in this city when it was clear you were in no mood. Instead, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye.
“Aw, don’t be like that,” she cooed. She had the tone of someone who wasn’t used to consoling people, but was trying her hardest.
I looked over at my visitor; she had on a sparkling red dress like she was headed for the fanciest club in town—odd given how far we were outside the city—and a matching red derby hat with a wide brim and feathers sticking out the side. You know those old ads you’d see for Vegas with some perfect-looking woman dressed to the nines inviting you to come throw your life away? She looked for all the world like she had just stepped right out of one of those, but with a sincere smile that somehow clashed with the rest of her look.
“What do you want?” I seethed, looking her up and down.
She sat down beside me.
“So, um,” she said, casually scratching the back of her head as she searched for the right words. “I don’t know how to tell you this—”
“Oh my god just say it and go away,” I snapped at her.
She nodded. “Alright. I’m… Lady Luck.”
Judging by her reaction, she noticed my eyes rolling. “Cute nickname. Tell me what you’re selling, so I can tell you no and to fuck off.”
“No seriously! I’m her.” She leaned forward a bit, staring me down intently.
This lady wasn’t gonna leave me alone, I figured. “Alright,” I said. “I’ll humor you a bit. Prove it.”
“Uh…” she mumbled, glancing around. “Kinda hard to prove luck… Oh!” She pointed at the bar across the street, where four people were exiting, three of whom looked like they were about to collapse and one who was clearly ready to end the night. “Okay, see the guy in the gray shirt?”
I nodded. “Designated driver, I’m guessing.”
“Good guess,” she said. “And he’s gonna get rewarded for that.”
Two of gray shirt’s friends had already been piled into the car by him, and he was struggling to get the third to follow suit. Like a cartoon, the friend fell straight down to the ground, leading to a world-weary groan from gray shirt. Just as he was leaning down to help his friend up, a truck passed by with its brights on. As the light hit his car, there was a momentary glint from around the driver’s seat. Abandoning his friend, gray shirt reached towards where the glint was; when he pulled his hand back, I could see the tears in his eyes as he held his clenched fist close to his chest.
“The hell…” I muttered.
“Alonzo lost his wedding ring six months ago,” she said, happily leaning back on her hands and surveying the scene. “If his friends hadn’t decided to go out tonight, if he hadn’t been selected as the designated driver, if Marty hadn’t fallen out of the car at just that moment, if that truck hadn’t driven by at that moment, he might have never found it.” She gave me a sheepish grin. “I’m really proud of this one! Love it when luck can give someone a story to last a lifetime.”
Everything she was saying was absurd. But the way Alonzo was cradling his hand, carefully placing something onto his finger, a smile brighter than any of the lights in the city… I was in enough of a terrible mood to buy it.
“Alright, fine, whatever. You’re Lady Luck. So what?” I said. “You come here to gloat? Brag about ruining my life?”
“Nah, I don’t like bragging,” she said. “I wanna apologize. I’ve been watching, today’s been way worse on you than I expected it to be.”
“Expected?” I looked her dead in the eyes. “You knew this was gonna happen?”
“Well, yeah,” she said matter-of-factly. “It’s my whole job to know. But I figured I owed you an explanation.” She turned to fully face me, sitting cross-legged like she was a teacher in a kindergarten class. “How do I put this… everyone in the world has a set level of luck when they’re born. It determines how likely forces beyond your understanding will intervene to make something happen, for better or for worse. Follow me?”
“No.”
“Yeah, didn’t think you would.” She mulled something over in her mind, trying to find the right words. “Okay, so someone is born, and their luck is ‘zero.’ That means anything in their life that comes down to luck is just that: luck. Complete random chance. But if someone has, say… ‘one,’ maybe they’ll be a biiiiiiit more likely to end up with positive results. Or if it’s ‘negative one,’ a bit more likely to end up with negative results.”
“So our lives are determined by stupid video game stats?” I scoffed.
“Not everything in life; in fact it’s only luck. It’s kinda an intangible, a mystical thing, you know? There’s nothing you can do to increase or decrease luck, it just is.” She gave me that sheepish smile again. “Sorry, I’m really not used to explaining this to people.”
“I can tell.”
“So here’s where things get a bit more complex.” She held her hands out in front of her, trying to diagram something that wasn’t there. “There’s only a set amount of luck in the universe. New luck can’t just be conjured from nothing, it’s gotta be distributed amongst everyone and everything. When someone dies, their luck is spread out among the rest of the world; when someone is born, everyone gives them a bit of their luck. So in general, things stay pretty stable. Got it?”
“I think so?” My inflection reflected my confusion. “Lot to think about, but everyone just has their own luck. Got it.”
“Annnnnnd this is where you and I come in.” She continued to smile; it was starting to get to me. “I’ve been doing this job for a looooong time. I’m good at it, but think about how many living things have ever existed. Having to balance all that luck is tough! And, well… I was bound to make a mistake eventually.”
At the word ‘mistake,’ I felt my eye twitch. “What do you mean, mistake?”
She put her hand on my shoulder like a guidance counselor telling a student they’d never make it to college. “Look, I’ll be blunt: you were born with waaaaaay too much luck. You ended up with more than a city’s worth.”
Hearing her say it was like a gut punch and an eye opener all at once. “Sonofabitch,” I mumbled, looking up at the sky and taking it all in.
“What, are you surprised?” she asked.
“Nah, it just… hits different when you actually hear it from someone.” I didn’t say anything for a minute; I just gazed at the stars above me. She went quiet too, giving me the space I needed. Once I was ready, I had to ask the next obvious question. “So, why today? I’ve been lucky my whole life, and then you come by and take it all away from me in a snap? Just wander on in and treat me to the worst day of my life?”
Her smile faltered; she shifted uncomfortably, clearly not thrilled at the prospect of answering the question.
“Well?!” I shouted at her.
“That’s why I’m apologizing!” She shouted back. “I only noticed the error today, so I had to correct things. And the best way to do that is to rip the bandage off, metaphorically speaking. Take all that extra luck and distribute it among everyone else. But yeah, considering the day you had, that was probably a mistake on top of another mistake, so I owe you an apology. This one is on me.”
I wasn’t sure how to react, but I certainly wasn’t feeling positive about her apology.
“‘On me?’” I said through gritted teeth. “That’s all you got for me?”
“I know I’m not good at this, but I can count the number of people I have had to apologize to on one hand, so please cut me a little slack,” she said.
“Cut you some slack?!” She winced when I shouted. “You ruined my life, then expect me to forgive you? Give me my goddamn luck back!”
“I can’t do that, it wouldn’t be fair to everyone!” She stood up; I quickly jumped up to meet her there. “But the worst of it is over now, you’re basically at zero from now on. I’m already having to break a rule to set things straight, do you know how much worse it would be if I—”
“Zero’s not good enough!” I grabbed her by the lapels of her dress. “You give all of it back right this fucking instant!”
“Let me go!” she yelled.
I saw red. Before I knew what I was doing, I drove my head forward; there was a sickening thud as our heads made contact, and she went down immediately. Blood started to trickle down from her forehead, the same color as her dress. I went into auto-pilot and dropped down.
“GIVE IT BACK!” I screamed at the top of my lungs as I curled my hands into fists and drove them down into her face. “GIVE ME MY LUCK BACK!!”
Over and over and over, I brought my hands down on her. With each hammer, I felt something more give; another vicious crack, another splatter of blood, another tooth flying to the side. By the time a minute had passed and my senses were returning to me, the woman under me was unrecognizable; a red pulp of blood and bone that would make a medical examiner run from the room in horror. I breathed heavily, staring down at what I had just done, at the lifeless figure below me.
And then… she was fine.
She didn’t magically heal herself, her body didn’t reform and attach itself back together, there wasn’t even a spark or a sound. One moment she was a corpse, the next she looked as pristine as she was when she had come to me minutes ago. She stared back up at me, a mixture of annoyance and disappointment on her face.
“Seriously!?” She yelled.
My only reaction was to fall back, trying to process what I was seeing. She casually stood up and brushed dust off of her dress.
“I-I-I, I’m—” I stammered.
“I APOLOGIZED! I was genuinely sorry for what I put you through! I was trying to make good, and you ATTACK me?!” She put her hands on her hips like a disappointed parent. “See, this is why I don’t like talking with people; you’re all such assholes!”
“B…but…” was all I could get out. She reached down and took me by the shirt, pulling me up to my feet. The smile was gone; there was an intensity burning in her eyes.
“Fine. You want your luck back? You got it!” she said. “Boom. It’s yours again, congratulations. But you know what? You only get it for one more week. Then, it’s over. Got it?!”
I wasn’t about to argue with her. I nodded. “One more week, one more bad day, then all this luck stuff is over. Got it.”
She shook her head. “No. I gave you the chance to do it all in one day, and you decide to get all violent.” The smile returned; this time, combined with the look in her eyes, it terrified me. “You thought I ripped the bandage off badly by doing it in one day? Let’s see what happens when we do it in a minute.”
She shoved me away and turned to leave. I hit the ground, the dust kicking up around me.
“W-wait!” I said, scrambling back to my feet. “Can’t we—”
She was gone. There was no indication that anyone had been there besides me. I looked around frantically, but other than the bar across the way, I was alone.
I’m not sure how long I stood in silence, but eventually all I could do was turn back towards Vegas and start walking. No sooner had I done so then the street lit up and a truck pulled alongside me. The driver rolled the window down.
“Heyo, need a lift into town?” he asked. I nodded, and he pushed the door open and patted the seat.
“Thanks,” I muttered as I sat down.
The moment I closed the door the pitter-patter of rain echoed outside the car, turning into a near-torrential downpour in seconds.
“God damn, it’s really comin’ down!” the driver laughed as he turned his windshield wipers on high. “I usually don’t take this road neither, but my usual route’s backed up. Lucky I came this way or you’d be soaked right now, huh?”
That word rang in my head and I nodded again. “Yeah. Lucky.”
When he dropped me off at my hotel, one of the usual workers was at the front counter. He offered me a sincere apology about the mix-up earlier, said that the new girl hadn’t been told about me yet, and that they found my check behind a desk in the back. They left me champagne and a free gourmet meal for the trouble, but I left it out and collapsed into bed. The next day I went to the bank, where I was greeted with another apology; a clerical error was to blame for my cards being frozen, but now everything had been restored. They even increased my credit limit as an apology.
Things returned to normal for me. The dice were hot, and the hands were hotter. My luck was back. I should have been ecstatic.
But I wasn’t. I was empty.
I’ve been in a haze since then. Because every time I hit a jackpot, every time I get a win, every time someone hands me a free drink, I can see her. Out of the corner of my eye, she’s standing there, watching me with that same smile. But when I turn to look at her, she’s gone.
That was seven days ago. I’m sitting in my penthouse right now writing this. Over the last hour, the lights outside my window have faded, leaving the strip looking an eerie black. There’s no noise either. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard Vegas quiet.
A few moments ago, I heard a soft knock at my door and a woman’s laughter.
Lady Luck has come to collect.

There's a lot here, so I divided into sections with dotted lines so it's easier to navigate.
I want to see AEW succeed, truly, I do. I want to get to a place where we have 2 awesome entertaining wrestling promotions. But it would be foolish not to acknowledge that the booking has been less than optimal. I know the diehards will disagree, but you really have to look at ratings, it's just how it is. So, I wanted to test out an idea to see how fans would react.
Take into account I'm running with what AEW has already put out there, and am trying to run with that. I know some fans are strictly WWE fans, so I'll give a rundown of some info important to my booking.
The history:
Earlier in the year, Skye Blue turned on Willow Nightingale and Kris Statlander, thus joining Julia Hart after being sprayed with mist in the eye which I guess turned her to the dark side. Julia Hart was part of the House of Black stable, but it was never really established that Skye Blue was officially a part of the stable. Willow recently defeated Hart for the TBS title, wherein I learned Hart had a shoulder injury, and thus cannot compete. During this feud, Stokely Hathaway (aka Malcolm Bivens of NXT) and Kris Statlander (another female wrestler and former chanpion) allied with Willow, and were in her corner during the most recent promo.
During this time, Mercedes Mone, fka Sasha Banks, debuted in AEW. It seems likely they are set to square off for the TBS title (it is one of the women's titles. Which one is the top title feels subjective right now). You could actually argue that Mone is the heel, as Willow has a ton of support and momentum and has been the babyface through and through, while Mone continuously interrupted Willow. But Mercedes being Mercedes, and a new face, is also getting her pops as well. In the most recent promo, Statlander went to try to get Mone's attention as she was turned around, and Mercedes thought it was Willow, and so slapped Willow. That's where we stand now, whether you like it or not.
Of note, Mercedes has a moniker of CEO.
The way I would book now:
So, let me preface by saying, I am a sucker for trying to get midcarders over.
So, everyone on the planet is expecting Mercedes to defeat Willow for the title. My issue with this is that Willow has a ton of momentum right now, so, we have to find a way to keep that momentum.
So, I say, at the PPV, have the ladies accidentally knock the ref out. During this time, have Mercedes get the "false pinfall" where there's no ref, then have her beat down Willow to where it looks like Willow is out of it. Have Statlander enter like she's trying to get Mone to back off. Have Stokley throw a chair into the ring at that point, telling Statlander to use it. Stat teases a swing on Mone, only to lay put Willow instead. Mone gets the dirty win, and Stat and Stokley align with Mone.
The followup.
Statlander happens to also be involved in a storyline where best friends Chuck Taylor and Trent Beretta have split as a team, and Trent injured Chuck, and is now targeting Orange Cassidy. Stat is friends with Orange. Get more heel heat on Stat by having Stat help Trent. Have her use a chair again. Thus, she is the chairwoman and Mone I'd CEO. In the aftermath, have Trent hand Stat a big stack of cash. Thus concluding Stats alliance with Orange.
Now that Stats established as "Chairwoman" of AEW, have her and Mone assault Willow for a few weeks. Backstage, have Skye Blue, former friend of Willow, look on without any emotion. By the final beatdown, on a Dynamite, have Skye come down to the ring. Have Mone and Stat back off as Skye raises Willow to her feet, like she's about to attack. Skye usually does this wink thing on her entrance. Have her wink at Willow and turn around as Willow and Skye lay put Mercedes and Stat. Establish Willow vs. Stat with some stipulation like falls clunt anywhere. Then Mercedes vs. Skye Blue for the title at the next PPV. Do a tag team match at the go home Dynamite or Collision. Have Willow go over Stat for momentum, and Mone over Blue, as Blue isn't a credible title holder at this point, but this will give her a chance to shine.
So, what yall think?

I've been doing the math and I am becoming less and less enthused with my Prime membership. I regularly spend $9,000+ a year on Amazon for groceries, electronics, clothes, housewares, baby, and have to contact customer service a couple of times a year about some issue with a product. I am getting turned off of shopping on Amazon and am moving toward other merchants that offer two day shipping, price match or lower, and have a physical location to return items to.
My experience with Amazon customer service has been mixed from the beginning. My first poor experience was in 2014 when I ordered an easel, which was shipped in a long, skinny square box. When the box arrived, the UPS driver delivered it to me by hand. When I took the box, it was clearly empty with a hole on the top of the box from something sliding out. I told the driver as he was walking away and he looked back at me and said "not my problem anymore." When I contacted Amazon for a refund, they told me to return the item. I told them I had received an empty box. They told me that I needed to return the item anyways, and I told them that if I send them back an empty box, they are just going to reject my return. I told them I would charge back my credit card and they threatened me with a ban. So I ate the $35 and moved on. Since then, it has been a mix of full refunds, $15 convenience credits, returns with refund minus shipping for small items, impossible to meet return windows (try 12 hours), and inactive shipping labels.
When Amazon Prime started streaming, I was paying $60 a year for their membership. The TV and movies were pretty good and often rotated different properties than Netflix, giving me a good mix for streaming content. Now that it has ads, it is basically worthless to me, because I pay other services for ad free content to avoid the annoyances of ads, and Amazon has found a way to creep them back into my life. So I stopped considering Prime Video a benefit.
I found Amazon Warehouse in 2015, an opportunity to save money on used goods that are open box or returns that Amazon can sell for a small discount, presumably to avoid returns from unruly customers looking for a new item. They would discount it 20% or offer 20% back on your Prime Credit Card, or have a bonus deal for all Warehouse items that you can activate. For the most part, it was a good deal until a couple of years ago, when I started noticing that my "Like New" and "Used - Very Good" items were always broken. I realized Warehouse had become rife for return fraud when I ordered a Like New computer case for about $80. What arrived was a brand new pre-built gaming PC with top end graphics card and processor, built inside the same case I ordered. I also ordered two identical air conditioners in Like New. One had its WiFi control board completely removed, and the other was missing a power cable. I was able to get both working using smart plugs, and Amazon refunded the one without a power cable after I had ordered an appliance cable from their website, but not the one missing the control board.
As of today, I used Amazon Warehouse for the last time, prompting this post. I ordered a Keurig in Like New condition. It was shipped and sold by Amazon Warehouse, arrived in the manufacturer's box, and it was for my wife's classroom. When she took it to school the next day, she didn't set it up until about 3 weeks later. The first use it leaked out the bottom instead of dispensing any water out the nozzle. When I looked at the bottom it was missing screws. I communicated this to Amazon and requested a refund ($52). They decided they wanted to charge me shipping ($7) and set up a pickup time for UPS to come to my house. UPS showed up when I was not home and left me a shipping label telling me to drop it off at their store. But I didn't make it in time. So I opened a new return so I could go to a UPS store somewhere else, and they gave me 24 hours to return the item to a UPS Store. On a Saturday night. When The UPS Store is not open for package dropoff all day Sunday. When I contact customer service about this to do my due diligence, they told me to try to return it within 7 days. I told them that at this point, they need to just refund me because they are wasting everyone's time. The agent told me that this is not possible, and that they need to "inspect it." Well I supposed the inspection sticker on the side proves they "inspected" it the first time, right? Probably just by plugging it in and seeing if the light turns on. So they are just going to decide that it is working, and sell it to someone else, perpetually until someone eats the cost, or until a competent person in their Inspection department actually puts water in the tank. And I'm tired of fixing Amazon's return fraud junk.
So today I charged back the item on my Amazon Prime Visa card, as an Amazon Prime Member.
I am never going to buy Amazon Warehouse again. They have eliminated most of the discount, and the coupons. The hassle just is not worth it anymore.
I am also quite wary of ordering anything on Amazon now. Returns are a hassle. What Amazon considers "brand new" is also becoming a blurred line and I receive many items that are broken or missing pieces (furniture, electronics bundles, tool sets), and I am very careful about only ordering Shipped and Sold by Amazon.com to avoid these issues (except when they don't sell the product at all, then I can usually find it lower priced elsewhere), but the issues persist anyways. I have missed several returns in the past year due to unforeseen circumstances and eaten several $100. It's not just this one time, but this time stands out. It is infuriating to receive something that was supposed to be "Inspected" and it clearly was not sufficiently inspected, and that is also a pattern here. Amazon is lying to their customers, intentionally or unintentionally, to cover up return fraud, and making their honest customers either eat their costs or waste their time for it. I have similar experiences at Home Depot, Walmart, and Fred Meyer, too, but those also have stores where I can walk in and talk to a real, local human who has to inspect the product in front of me. Amazon does not do that, and there is something inherently dishonest about this process for both parties that shrouds the transaction in distrust. We were sold an idea that Amazon's A to Z Guarantee made up for this, and that Prime makes us a priority, but it clearly does not anymore.
It's unfortunate that this is what the once great Amazon has become. I have started shopping more at Walmart, Costco, and Home Depot to avoid the hassle of getting return fraud items from Amazon. I am looking for an excuse to cancel my membership, but with my spending, the extra 2% back on the card covers the whole membership cost, so until I get under $7,000 there isn't a point to cancelling. I hope others read my experience and think about how much their Prime membership is really worth.

I am building my first ever rails app. Its actually going decent. However I am trying to create a feature and I am unsure how to work it.
I am creating an app were I can add new soldiers and assign them to a room. I am trying to dumb this down as easy as possible cutting out a multi step process. SO. Instead of going to /dashboard/soliders/new and creating a new soldier I tried implementing a form where I can enter the soldier info and select a room from a collection select. Didnt go as smooth so I took a step back and I am trying to at least add a datalist of current soldiers, select one, select a room and assign them.
For some reason the data isnt saving the soldier to the room.

21:10:16 web.1 Started POST "/dashboard/billets" for 127.0.0.1 at 2024-04-28 21:10:16 -0600 21:10:16 web.1 Processing by Dashboard::BilletsController#create as TURBO_STREAM 21:10:16 web.1 Parameters: {"authenticity_token"=>"[FILTERED]", "billet"=>{"soldier_search"=>"PV1 Doe, Jane", "check_in_date"=>"2024-04-04", "check_out_date"=>"", "room_id"=>"8"}, "commit"=>"Create Billet"} 21:10:16 web.1 User Load (0.6ms) SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."id" = $1 ORDER BY "users"."id" ASC LIMIT $2 [["id", 1], ["LIMIT", 1]] 21:10:16 web.1 Completed 400 Bad Request in 6ms (ActiveRecord: 0.6ms Allocations: 1986) 21:10:16 web.1 21:10:16 web.1 21:10:16 web.1 >>> 21:10:16 web.1 ActionController::ParameterMissing (param is missing or the value is empty: soldier): 21:10:16 web.1 21:10:16 web.1 app/controllers/dashboard/billets_controller.rb:92:in `soldier_params' 21:10:16 web.1 app/controllers/dashboard/billets_controller.rb:32:in `create' 21:10:16 web.1 Started GET "/dashboard/billets/new" for 127.0.0.1 at 2024-04-28 21:10:16 -0600 21:10:16 web.1 Processing by Dashboard::BilletsController#new as HTML 21:10:16 web.1 User Load (1.3ms) SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."id" = $1 ORDER BY "users"."id" ASC LIMIT $2 [["id", 1], ["LIMIT", 1]] 21:10:16 web.1 Rendering layout layouts/dashboard.html.erb 21:10:16 web.1 Rendering dashboard/billets/new.html.erb within layouts/dashboard 21:10:16 web.1 Soldier Load (0.6ms) SELECT "soldiers".* FROM "soldiers" 21:10:16 web.1 ↳ app/views/dashboard/billets/_form.html.erb:21 21:10:16 web.1 Rank Load (0.4ms) SELECT "ranks".* FROM "ranks" WHERE "ranks"."id" = $1 LIMIT $2 [["id", 7], ["LIMIT", 1]] 21:10:16 web.1 ↳ app/views/dashboard/billets/_form.html.erb:22 21:10:16 web.1 Rank Load (0.4ms) SELECT "ranks".* FROM "ranks" WHERE "ranks"."id" = $1 LIMIT $2 [["id", 1], ["LIMIT", 1]] 21:10:16 web.1 ↳ app/views/dashboard/billets/_form.html.erb:22 21:10:16 web.1 CACHE Rank Load (0.0ms) SELECT "ranks".* FROM "ranks" WHERE "ranks"."id" = $1 LIMIT $2 [["id", 1], ["LIMIT", 1]] 21:10:16 web.1 ↳ app/views/dashboard/billets/_form.html.erb:22 21:10:16 web.1 Rank Load (0.5ms) SELECT "ranks".* FROM "ranks" 21:10:16 web.1 ↳ app/views/dashboard/billets/_new_soldier_form.html.erb:4 21:10:16 web.1 Rendered dashboard/billets/_new_soldier_form.html.erb (Duration: 1.6ms Allocations: 1635) 21:10:16 web.1 Room Load (0.4ms) SELECT "rooms".* FROM "rooms" 21:10:16 web.1 ↳ app/views/dashboard/billets/_form.html.erb:43 21:10:16 web.1 Rendered dashboard/billets/_form.html.erb (Duration: 5.9ms Allocations: 5145) 21:10:16 web.1 Rendered dashboard/billets/new.html.erb within layouts/dashboard (Duration: 6.0ms Allocations: 5228) 21:10:16 web.1 ActiveStorage::Attachment Load (1.1ms) SELECT "active_storage_attachments".* FROM "active_storage_attachments" WHERE "active_storage_attachments"."record_id" = $1 AND "active_storage_attachments"."record_type" = $2 AND "active_storage_attachments"."name" = $3 LIMIT $4 [["record_id", 1], ["record_type", "User"], ["name", "avatar"], ["LIMIT", 1]] 21:10:16 web.1 ↳ app/helpers/application_helper.rb:3:in `user_avatar' 21:10:16 web.1 ActiveStorage::Blob Load (0.7ms) SELECT "active_storage_blobs".* FROM "active_storage_blobs" WHERE "active_storage_blobs"."id" = $1 LIMIT $2 [["id", 4], ["LIMIT", 1]] 21:10:16 web.1 ↳ app/views/shared/_dashboard_sidebar.html.erb:27 21:10:16 web.1 Rendered shared/_dashboard_sidebar.html.erb (Duration: 4.2ms Allocations: 2435) 21:10:16 web.1 Rendered layout layouts/dashboard.html.erb (Duration: 14.5ms Allocations: 16103) 21:10:16 web.1 Completed 200 OK in 19ms (Views: 10.8ms ActiveRecord: 5.3ms Allocations: 17842) 21:10:16 web.1 21:10:16 web.1 21:10:16 web.1 Started GET "/rails/active_storage/disk/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6eyJrZXkiOiJzdWdlOWVlMG1kenpvZWQ3OGtzM2x3bG5iOHAwIiwiZGlzcG9zaXRpb24iOiJpbmxpbmU7IGZpbGVuYW1lPVwicGV4ZWxzLXBob3RvLmpwZ1wiOyBmaWxlbmFtZSo9VVRGLTgnJ3BleGVscy1waG90by5qcGciLCJjb250ZW50X3R5cGUiOiJpbWFnZS9qcGVnIiwic2VydmljZV9uYW1lIjoibG9jYWwifSwiZXhwIjoiMjAyNC0wNC0yOVQwMzoxMDoyNC4wNjJaIiwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9rZXkifX0=--adf9816f96555050609bd9cbf5e41a323f1d7239/pexels-photo.jpg" for 127.0.0.1 at 2024-04-28 21:10:16 -0600 21:10:16 web.1 Processing by ActiveStorage::DiskController#show as JPEG 21:10:16 web.1 Parameters: {"encoded_key"=>"[FILTERED]", "filename"=>"pexels-photo"} 21:10:16 web.1 Completed 304 Not Modified in 1ms (ActiveRecord: 0.0ms Allocations: 149) 21:10:16 web.1 21:10:16 web.1 

After reading the log while copying to paste here, I see:

>>> 21:10:16 web.1 ActionController::ParameterMissing (param is missing or the value is empty: soldier): 

But here is my create function from billets_controller.rb

class Dashboard::BilletsController < DashboardController before_action :set_billet, only: %i[ show edit update destroy ] # GET /billets or /billets.json def index @billets = Billet.all end # GET /billets/1 or /billets/1.json def show end # GET /billets/new def new @billet = Billet.new @soldiers = Soldier.all @new_soldier = Soldier.new end # GET /billets/1/edit def edit @soldiers = Soldier.all end # POST /billets or /billets.json def create if params[:billet][:soldier_id].present? # If an existing soldier is selected @soldier = Soldier.find(params[:billet][:soldier_id]) else # If a new soldier is being created @soldier = Soldier.new(soldier_params) unless @soldier.save # Handle validation errors for new soldier creation render :new return end end # Assign the room_id to the soldier @soldier.room_id = billet_params[:room_id] # Create the billet and associate it with the soldier @billet = @soldier.billets.build(billet_params) respond_to do format if @billet.save format.html { redirect_to dashboard_billet_url(@billet), notice: "Billet was successfully created." } format.json { render :show, status: :created, location: @billet } else format.html { render :new, status: :unprocessable_entity } format.json { render json: @billet.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity } end end end # PATCH/PUT /billets/1 or /billets/1.json def update respond_to do format if @billet.update(billet_params) format.html { redirect_to dashboard_billet_url(@billet), notice: "Billet was successfully updated." } format.json { render :show, status: :ok, location: @billet } else format.html { render :edit, status: :unprocessable_entity } format.json { render json: @billet.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity } end end end # DELETE /billets/1 or /billets/1.json def destroy @billet.destroy! respond_to do format format.html { redirect_to dashboard_billets_url, notice: "Billet was successfully destroyed." } format.json { head :no_content } end end private # Use callbacks to share common setup or constraints between actions. def set_billet @billet = Billet.find(params[:id]) end # Only allow a list of trusted parameters through. def billet_params params.require(:billet).permit(:check_in_date, :check_out_date, :soldier_id, :room_id, soldier_attributes: [:rank_id, :last_name, :first_name, :phone_number, :gender]) end def soldier_params params.require(:soldier).permit(:rank_id, :last_name, :first_name, :phone_number, :gender) end end 

I add data-soldier-id to my datalist option. Still getting the same result.