Hey all, with the leaks seeming to be drying up and with actual spoiler season beginning next week, I figured now would be a good time to do a quick rundown of some of the cards I'm really excited about in MH3 so far. Note that this list does contain leaks, so turn back now if you're trying to stay leak-free.

• [[Ugin's Labyrinth]]: Honestly I just can't get past the excitement of being able to Turn 1 Chalice of the Void in this format again. I'm a huge fan of fast mana and miss Simian Spirit Guide and Mox Opal dearly, so I look forward to a ton of degenerate brews with this.
  
• [[Ajani, Nacatl Pariah]]: This scratches a major itch for me as both a fair Magic card and an unfair Magic card. It's an insanely powerful 2 drop in a vacuum even before you consider the synergies, and I think it will really help a lot of white-based decks to shine. On the more degenerate side of things, I'm itching to do the line of Turn 2 Ajani, Turn 3 Saheeli Rai, copy Ajani, make a second cat, flip the original Ajani due to it triggering from the legend rule of the clone, then 0 Ajani to make a third cat and Bolt something, leaving you with 2 walkers and 3 cats by Turn 3. If that line doesn't get Copycat back to some realm of playability, nothing will.
  
• [[Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student]]: This card feels great to me on a lot of levels. A 1 mana 0/3 flyer is a fantastic blocker, and being able to chain card advantage over it without having to worry about ground-based combat is really interesting. Flipping it is pretty trivial in the right deck (or just wait til you accrue a few clues and crack them), but its flip side is a little weaker than I'd like overall. Its plus isn't that exciting, but it does build towards an INSANELY powerful ultimate. A 1 drop that can net you several cards and then ultimately potentially win the game on its own is no joke, and it seems destined to be a big part of the format somewhere.
  
• [[Necrogoyf]]: I can't resist the urge of an 8 Goyf brew even if it's a total pile. I love this little guy so much already.
  
• [[Ocelot Pride]]: This card just seems so good and unique in so many ways and I'm really looking forward to getting to the bottom of it. Everyone's been talking about how good it is on its own, but it's absolutely absurd in multiples. Alongside Ajani, these two cards make white creature-based decks feel appealing for the first time in what feels like years.
  
• [[Flare of Denial]]: I think this card is insane and instantly a top 5 counterspell in the format, maybe even better. I think any blue deck that runs more than a few creatures is going to spend a good deal of time planning how to make this work in the deck. And it is insanely hardcastable at only 1 mana more than Counterspell itself.
  
• [[Flare of Duplication]]: This card is harder to read and feels like it will fall on some extreme side of the spectrum like it'll either be insanely good and oppressive in the right deck or just not all that playable overall. There's a lot of implications here from countering counterspells to duplicating burn spells, to the use case of saccing a creature in response to a removal spell being used on it to copy the removal spell back at an opponent's creature, but time will tell where this really fits in the grand power level of things. I will say that any of the instant speed Flares do deserve a special look overall.
  
• [[Harbinger of the Seas]]: Absolutely awesome Magic card, and such a classicly simple case of what makes Modern Horizons sets great. Will love ruining days with it in Fish as well as trying to revive some Blue Moon shell with it. One way or another it represents a tremendous new way to punish nonbasic lands.
  
• [[Kappa Cannoneer]]: We've had one busted new Affinity card this year, but what about seconds? I think Kappa will finally be the piece to fill out the Affinity shells and make the deck consistently powerful again - Synthesizer gave the deck a great boost, but I think it always needed more than just 1 new powerful card, and Kappa seems to be the perfect fit. Frogmyr Enforcer should be a nice new upgrade as well, but I'm still a little iffy about that Red mana in the Frogmite side.
  
• [[Disruptor Flute]]: I've talked a lot about degenerate cards so far, but this is probably one of the best answers the format has known for a lot of cards. Having Flash on an effect like this is so insanely good, and I can see it being a go to answer for The One Ring, Karn the Great Creator (especially for Affinity), Yawgmoth, and a lot of others. I love the idea of them printing pushed hate cards in a MH set to keep things balanced, and I can see this going everywhere. I'll probably buy like 12 copies on Day 1 and have homes for all of them.
  
• [[Primal Prayers]]: I'm not quite sure what we're doing with this yet, but I'm pretty sure it'll involve [[Greenbelt Ravager]]. It's a powerful new combo engine and I'm sure I'll burn a ton of play points this summer trying to make it work.
  
• [[Buried Alive]] and [[Victimize]]: Putting these together as I think they represent just an insane new boost to graveyard decks. From bringing back Phoenixes to Vengevines to all types of strong interactions between the two cards (such as a cool two card combo of Buried Alive for a Narcomoeba, a Thassa's Oracle, and a Leveler, then Victimize the Narcomoeba to reanimate Oracle and Leveler and win on the spot). There's also that Black energy reanimation creature that I kinda forget what it does now, but I think it's actually pretty good too. Oh, plus the Recurring Nightmare Energy variant. Idk, one way or another we're eating really good in the Reanimator department post MH3.
  
• [[Brainsurge]]: I'm not sure if this will just end up another cool memey reference card like Brainstone, but netting 2 cards off a Brainstorm effect is crazy strong and is worth testing somewhere. Maybe a Cascade deck wants it, maybe not, but we'll see!
  
• [[Sink into Stupor]]: Just a really clever design for a modal land to have. Where this lines up compared to Otawara remains to be seen but I'm going to enjoy finding out!
  

I think that's my big hits for now! What do you guys think? What cards are you most looking forward to?

After watching last nights meltdown, it got me thinking about a potential roster makeover.
I for one was really looking forward to this season. I know the injury bug has bitten us hard, but it can’t be used as a blanket excuse for how piss-poor the offense has been.
I think heading into the summer, the Reds leadership needs to think about throwing in the towel on the season and look to selling off some of the veterans we have on the squad and look at rebuilding certain spots with proven veteran commodities.
For starters I think the bullpen needs to be gutted. They just are not getting it done, plain and simple. I’d start with shipping out Diaz and throwing Cruz into the closer role to see how he does to close out the year. I’d also see what I could get for Pagan, Martinez, Suter, Farmer, Wilson and Sims (which will not be a lot).
From there, I think Montas is for sure gone from the rotation. I would also listen on Ashcraft and Greene though I would need to be absolutely blown away to even consider moving them.
Moving on to the offense….. woof! This is where it gets interesting. I think anyone but Elly (obviously), McClain, Marte (even though I’m still pissed at his stupidity), Steer and CES is available. I love India, but I don’t think his value goes much higher than it would be at the all-star break. Same with Stephenson. I hope he gets hot closer to the deadline and we would could sell high. I would love to see him rebound, but I think he is who he is at this point. Candy….. yeah no thanks.
From my view, it’s the outfield that desperately needs upgraded. Benson has so much potential, but he has regressed badly from the promise he showed last year and is not an everyday player. I love Fairchild and Fridel as defensive first center fielders, but I don’t think there is room for both on the roster. I love Frailey too, but you basically have to platoon him unless he proves otherwise (which he has yet to do). All told I think we have room for one, maybe two of our current outfielders outside of Steer.
Finally, I think David Bell’s time is over. I would love to see us go with a former player with a lot of enthusiasm in the mold of Aaron Boone or David Ross.
Super bummed sitting here writing this out. I was so stoked for this season. As we are about a quarter through the season and are showing little to no signs of pulling out of this funk, I think the Reds need to think about remaking a decent chunk of the current roster. There are some great pieces here (see Elly, Lodolo, Steer, Abbott, McClain once healthy), but this is not a playoff caliber team IMO.

I asked chatGPT this question: My wife cried this mother's day because she was jealous that my mother takes care of me while she has to take care of her mother. My mother spoils me when I come over to her house, randomly buys me groceries when she has a generous urge, and pays my phone and gym bill while I'm in college. She would do anything for me. She is a saint and I'm very lucky to have her as a mother. My wife's mother depends on my wife to function day to day. My wife takes care of her other siblings, plans all the family get togethers, looks out for her half brother in high school, while taking care of her own 6 year old child. My wife once had to pretend to be her mother because her half brother got into some trouble at high school and her mother was too afraid to talk with the counselor. I told my wife that my mother is her mother now. And that my family loves and accepts her as one of their own. How can I ask my mother to treat my wife like she's her daughter? What are some good mothedaughter activates that they can do together? Not that my mother doesn't treat my wife with kindness, she does, I just want them to form a stronger bond and for my wife to not think of my mother as an in-law and start thinking of her as a mother.
chatGPT response: It sounds like you're in a complex situation, but it's wonderful that you want to foster a stronger bond between your wife and your mother. Here are some steps you can take:

1. Open Communication: Have an honest conversation with both your wife and your mother separately. Explain your desire for them to have a closer relationship and express how important it is to you.
2. Express Gratitude: Make sure both your wife and your mother understand how much you appreciate their roles in your life. Let them know that you value their relationship and want to see it grow.
3. Facilitate Quality Time: Encourage them to spend time together doing activities they both enjoy. This could be anything from cooking together, going for walks, attending a class or workshop, or simply having coffee and chatting.
4. Include Both Families: Plan family gatherings or outings where both your wife's and your mother's families can come together. This will help them bond in a more relaxed setting and see each other as part of the same extended family.
5. Show Support: Be there to support both your wife and your mother as they navigate their relationship. Offer reassurance and encouragement as they work towards building a stronger bond.

As for mother-daughter activities, here are some ideas:

1. Shopping: Whether it's for clothes, home decor, or groceries, shopping together can be a fun bonding experience.
2. Cooking or Baking: Spend a day in the kitchen cooking up some family recipes or trying out new ones together.
3. Crafting or DIY Projects: Get creative with some crafting projects or tackle some DIY home improvement tasks together.
4. Spa Day: Treat them to a spa day or create a DIY spa experience at home with facials, manicures, and relaxation techniques.
5. Outdoor Adventures: Go for a hike, have a picnic in the park, or explore a nearby botanical garden together.

Remember to be patient and understanding as they navigate their relationship. Building strong bonds takes time and effort from all parties involved.
I'm going to take the AI's advice but, I was hoping that someone, who has gone through something similar, could share what helped their spouse form a stronger bond with their in-laws. Some background information: my wife is in her 20s, my mother is in her 50s and married to my father, and we live in Kentucky.

Understanding Django's Email Sending Issues

Email integration in Django applications is a common feature, allowing for a range of functionalities from sending notifications to users to password resets. However, developers often encounter SMTP authentication errors when setting up their Django projects to send emails. This issue can stem from a variety of reasons such as incorrect SMTP server settings, the use of less secure apps being blocked by the email provider, or even the Django configuration itself not being properly set up to handle email sending.
Diagnosing and resolving SMTP authentication errors requires a deep dive into the Django settings.py file, understanding the SMTP protocol, and possibly adjusting security settings on the email account being used. This can involve ensuring that the correct host, port, and encryption method are used, as well as configuring Django to use the appropriate authentication credentials. Additionally, understanding the common pitfalls and how to securely manage sensitive information within a Django project is crucial to both the functionality and security of the application.

Command/Setting	Description
EMAIL_BACKEND	Specifies the backend to use for sending emails. For SMTP, Django uses 'django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend'.
EMAIL_HOST	The host to use for sending email. For example, 'smtp.gmail.com' for Gmail.
EMAIL_USE_TLS	Whether to use a TLS (secure) connection when talking to the SMTP server. This is usually set to True.
EMAIL_PORT	The port to use for the SMTP server. Typically, this is 587 when using TLS.
EMAIL_HOST_USER	Your email account you wish to send emails from.
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD	Password for your email account. It's recommended to use app-specific passwords if your email provider supports them.

Exploring SMTP Authentication Errors in Django

SMTP authentication errors in Django can be a significant hurdle in the development process, especially when integrating email functionalities into a web application. These errors typically occur when the Django application attempts to connect to an SMTP server to send an email, but the server rejects the connection due to authentication issues. The root causes of these errors are often multifaceted, involving misconfigured email settings in Django's settings.py file, incorrect SMTP server details, or even the use of an email account with insufficient security settings for external applications. Understanding these errors is crucial for developers, as email sending capabilities are essential for tasks such as user registration, password resets, and notifications.
To effectively resolve SMTP authentication errors, developers need to ensure that their Django settings are correctly configured with the right email backend, host, port, and security settings. It's also important to verify that the email account used for sending emails permits connections from external applications. Some email providers require setting up an app-specific password or enabling less secure app access for such connections. Additionally, debugging these issues may involve consulting the SMTP server's logs to identify the exact nature of the authentication error. By addressing these aspects, developers can establish a reliable email sending setup in their Django applications, enhancing the functionality and user experience of their web applications.

Configuring Django for SMTP Email Sending

Python/Django setup

Unraveling SMTP Authentication Challenges in Django

SMTP authentication errors in Django can perplex developers, particularly when their web applications fail to send emails as expected. These errors often stem from incorrect configurations within the Django settings, specifically within the EMAIL_BACKEND, EMAIL_HOST, EMAIL_PORT, EMAIL_USE_TLS, and EMAIL_HOST_USER settings. Additionally, such issues may arise due to the email service provider's security protocols, which may block login attempts from what it deems unsecure apps. This necessitates a thorough review of both Django's email configuration and the email account's security settings. Understanding the intricacies of these configurations is essential for developers to ensure their applications can reliably send emails, which are crucial for functions like user authentication, notifications, and system alerts.
Beyond configuration, developers must also be mindful of the SMTP server's requirements and the need for accurate credentials, including the correct use of app-specific passwords for services like Gmail. The complexity increases when deploying Django applications to production environments, where differences in network configurations can further complicate SMTP connections. Debugging these errors requires a methodical approach, including checking for typos in environment variables, ensuring that firewalls or network policies do not block SMTP traffic, and sometimes liaising with email service providers to understand their security measures and requirements. By tackling these challenges, developers can enhance the robustness and reliability of their Django applications' email functionalities.

Common SMTP Authentication Queries in Django

1. Question: Why am I getting SMTP authentication errors in Django?
2. Answer: This could be due to incorrect email settings in Django, such as the EMAIL_HOST, EMAIL_PORT, or EMAIL_HOST_USER, or because your email provider is blocking the connection.
3. Question: How do I configure Django to send emails?
4. Answer: Configure the EMAIL_BACKEND, EMAIL_HOST, EMAIL_PORT, EMAIL_USE_TLS/EMAIL_USE_SSL, EMAIL_HOST_USER, and EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD in your settings.py file.
5. Question: What are app-specific passwords and do I need one for Django email sending?
6. Answer: App-specific passwords are unique passwords for accessing your email account from third-party apps. Yes, you might need one if your email provider requires it for added security.
7. Question: How can I troubleshoot SMTP authentication errors in Django?
8. Answer: Check your Django email configuration settings, ensure your email account allows less secure apps (if applicable), and verify your internet connection and SMTP server details.
9. Question: Can firewall or VPN settings affect Django's ability to send emails?
10. Answer: Yes, firewall or VPN settings can block SMTP ports, preventing Django from sending emails. Ensure that your network allows traffic on the necessary ports.
11. Question: Is it necessary to use EMAIL_USE_TLS or EMAIL_USE_SSL in Django?
12. Answer: Yes, these settings enable encryption for email communications, which is essential for security, especially if you are sending sensitive information.
13. Question: How do I know if my email provider is blocking Django from sending emails?
14. Answer: Check your email account for any security alerts or messages about blocked sign-in attempts, and consult your provider's documentation on allowing access to less secure apps or setting up app-specific passwords.
15. Question: Can incorrect EMAIL_PORT settings prevent Django from sending emails?
16. Answer: Yes, using the wrong port can prevent your application from connecting to the SMTP server. Common ports are 25, 465 (for SSL), and 587 (for TLS).
17. Question: How does using a third-party email service like SendGrid or Mailgun compare to configuring Django's SMTP for email sending?
18. Answer: Third-party services often provide more robust delivery infrastructure, analytics, and easier configuration but require integrating their API into your Django project.
19. Question: What should I do if my emails are sent from Django but not received?
20. Answer: Check your spam folder, verify email addresses for typos, and confirm that your email server isn't on any blacklists. Additionally, consult SMTP server logs for clues.

Final Thoughts on SMTP Authentication in Django

Addressing SMTP authentication errors in Django is a pivotal task for developers, ensuring that their web applications maintain crucial email functionalities. These errors, often rooted in configuration mishaps or stringent email provider security measures, can hinder the application's ability to communicate with users effectively. The key to overcoming these challenges lies in meticulous configuration of Django's email settings, understanding the nuances of SMTP protocols, and adhering to email providers' security requirements. Additionally, exploring third-party email services can offer alternative solutions with added benefits such as improved deliverability and analytics. Ultimately, the ability to diagnose and resolve SMTP authentication issues will significantly enhance the robustness and reliability of email communications within Django applications, thereby enriching the user experience and supporting essential application features like notifications, password resets, and user verification processes.
https://www.tempmail.us.com/en/django/troubleshooting-smtp-authentication-errors-in-django

Recently Gates of Hell released the American faction and did a full overhaul of the German faction, leading to a pair of interesting factions with an incredible variety of historically authentic uniforms. You could zoom in on any of the squads and see the diverse uniforms depicted right down to the insignia on their caps and the regiments on their patches. Shermanator’s interview of Chase/Trudel (the lead animator & 3D human artist) gave me faith in the developer’s passion for the history and the game. This made me quite excited, because we have yet to see a British Commonwealth faction but there is some heavy implication that we can expect one in the future.
I wanted to make this thread, because I wanted to express my desire to see elements in the game that would make the Commonwealth faction a wealth of interesting units, uniforms and nationalities, particularly via the doctrines system that exists within the game. The intention is to throw in representatives across all the major nations of the British Commonwealth as well as some of the Allied armies-in-exile that came under British command. I also want to highlight some of the vehicles that are rarely mentioned in other games due to their obscure theatre or role. For the record, I'm not telling the devs what to do - I'm just making some example doctrines that I came up with as an example of the variety of units I'd love to see and making their inclusion plausible. Mostly to get the community talking.
I won’t talk about early war, partially because ‘Early war’ in Gates of Hell is largely post-Dunkirk, but also because I feel like what I am asking is still quite a lot just for one faction across two eras. I also I won’t be mentioning the more obvious or general units like Stuarts, Crusaders, Cromwells, Grants etc, as I expect them to be added nonetheless. It’s the vaguer aspects of the Commonwealth I wanted to talk about; the weird, wonderful and the diverse.
Mid War Doctrines
I think the mid-war should be largely inspired by the North African Campaigns, centred largely on the 8th Army and utilising the huge variety of cultures that fought within it. Extra bits can be added from the Italian campaign where the faction is lacking, and the Italian campaign can also be represented in the ‘Temperate’ skin for the mid-war faction. There are a lot of inspirations one can draw to create a variety of options for the Commonwealth player and each doctrine should draw from their unique aspects.
All-Round: Inspired by the Desert Rats, the 2nd Battle of El Alamein and Operation Crusader this one balances the various aspects of the other doctrines while keeping it unique. I’d like to see the Infantry include British Desert Rats Infantry, 2nd New Zealand Infantry, & 1st South African Infantry. I’d also like to see South African Marmon-Herrington Armoured Cars (multiple variants) as an early-battle option, plenty of the more common tanks and maybe the Bishop as a slow but mobile artillery piece. As a special call-in, we could probably include the Free French Legionaries as a powerful assault unit, just to really complete the variety in this division.
Defensive: Inspired by the Siege of Tobruk, this doctrine should primarily represent the Australians. Variations of the Australian 9th Division troops as infantry alongside minor British elements with a heavy emphasis on field engineers, emplacements and field guns. Defensive doctrine could also include RAF Regiment infantry, RAF 20mm Oerlikon guns, RAF Rolls Royces, India Pattern Carriers (from the Indian 18th Division), air strikes and, as a special unit, they could even have captured Italian tanks from the 6th Australian Division Cavalry Regiment! As a defensive doctrine, they should also have access to the best mid-war field guns, including the rare (but historical) ’Pheasant’ 17/25 Pounder Field Gun.
Offensive: Inspired by the Battle of Tunisia and Operation Torch, I think this one should show off the might of the UK’s heavier vehicles in the latter stages of the African campaign, particularly the Churchill III, Sherman III, the Priest 105mm and the Stuart Command Tank, alongside the more standard British tank options. As for infantry options, we can include Indian troops of the 4th Infantry Division (India), Gurkhas, and a motorised unit of 22nd Guards Infantry. I would also add the British Commandos in this division - partly because they were involved in Operation Torch, but also because they had an iconic impact on the mid-war (outside of Africa) that it would be a pity not to add them.
Irregular: This one would be quite unique in mid-war as it is effectively the light vehicle special forces doctrine. Although some standard British units would form the basis of the army, they would have access to a variety of assets representing the Long Range Desert Group; Chevrolet trucks with mounted Vickers MGs, Boys AT rifles, twin 303 Brownings or even Bofors and captured 20mm Breda guns! ‘Bamtam’ jeeps with twin Vickers Ks or 303 Brownings. The transport and logistics would be different too, using the Marmon-Herrington 6-ton Heavy Truck or the White 1064 10-ton. Other unique special call-ins would include an LRDG WACO Recon plane and the SAS (armed with the Lewes bomb). The downside to this doctrine, however, is that imagine it to be much lighter on armoured support, relying mostly on towed guns for its heavy firepower.
Other Units: I’ve tried to use inspirations from specific parts of the war to get a rounded but also diverse array of units, but there are loads of obscure units across the mid-war that I’d love to see; the Priest 105mm SPG, the AEC Deacon Gun Carrier, the Daimler Dingo, the Humber Light Reconnaissance, and so on.
That is as much as I want to say on mid-war without labouring the point. I’m sure there’s interesting things I’ve missed accidentally, and I’m afraid there’s some I have missed on purpose. For example, I considered the Australian Matilda Hedgehog, but it turned out to be late war and never used. I also considered the Greek and the Czech Division, but I think I’ve already stretched it too far as regards voice acting alone without adding units that, as distinguished their service might be, are just too obscure without adding anything extra - appearance or gameplay. That said, my hat would go off to the devs if they achieved that.
Late War Doctrines
Here we get to represent the Commonwealth units from Operation Overlord up until Operation Varsity.
All-Round: The quintessential British doctrine, combining bog-standard infantry with hardy tanks and a decent array of equipment. Partially based on Gold Beach, but also Operation Varsity/Plunder towards the end of the war, I would personally give them 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry, RAF Regiment Gunners, RAF Humber Light AC, Churchill AVRE, the Cruiser Mk. VIII Challenger and the Comet. Maybe give them some 6th Airlanding troops and 1st Canadian Parachute Infantry as a reference to the Normandy paratroopers if we feel they need more skilled infantry.
Offensive: The Canadian Doctrine - mostly inspired by the First Canadian Army in Normandy with elements of their experiences later on (including the Battle of the Schelt and Operation Veritable) with the doctrine largely focused on armoured assault infantry. They’ll look quite unique compared to the British because their uniforms were greener and they were the first to use the British-designed Mk.III helmet at D-Day. Troops of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division as standard, supported by assault infantry. Eventually, armoured infantry can spawn in Buffalos (used at the Battle of the Schelt) and, as a special call-in, Ram Kangaroo APCs (sporting an armoured MG turret). The Otter armoured car would be an early call-in, with M4A1 Sherman Grizzly tanks as well as Ram IIs available in the standard tank tab. Some unique but limited special call-ins would include the Skink AA tank (of which 2 saw historical combat in Normandy) as well as a skilled sniper wielding the Ross rifle.
Defensive: Just as the US Defensive doctrine features the 101st Airborne (no doubt inspired by the Battle of Bastogne), the British Defensive doctrine can feature the British Airborne - particularly based on the defense of Arnhem Bridge in the Netherlands as part of Market Garden. Infantry units can include the 52nd (Lowland) Infantry, 1st Airborne Paratroopers, 1st Airlanding Infantry, Parachute Squadron Royal Engineers and 1st (Polish) Independent Paratroopers (who are distinctive with their grey berets). Armoured units can include the Tetrarch and the M22 Locust. To suit their defensive doctrine, they should get some decent guns and I’m thinking the airborne jeep-towed 20mm Polsten Gun, airborne 17th Pounder as well as (in a departure from the Parachute theme) the BL 7.2-inch howitzer. The Patchett sub-machine gun could make an appearance here too.
Irregular: Based on Sword Beach, Commandos and the 79th Armoured Division, with the more unusual units in the British arsenal. Probably with 3rd Infantry Division Infantry as standard, this unit could have access to No.41 (Royal Marine) Commandos, Fusilier Marines Commandos (based on No.4 Commando’s assault on Ouestreham), the Centaur Mk.IV QF 95mm, the Sherman DD, the Churchill Crocodile and Royal Engineer Assault Teams deployed in the cute Terrapin 4-ton Amphibious. If we want to be really wacky, we could even add the M3 Grant CDL (an unarmed searchlight tank) for armoured spotting, similar to the 150cm Flakscheinwerfer searchlight.
Other Units: Further unique units that would fit in any one (or multiple) of these divisions (based on balance) include the Land Mattress Rocket Launcher, the Loyd Carrier, the Universal Carrier WASP (flamethrower), the Sexton SPG, Sherman Firefly, the Archer TD, Achilles TD, the Priest Kangaroo, the Morris C8, Staghound and so on. There are SO many strange and obscure British vehicles that don’t often see the light of day, but would be perfect for Gates of Hell.
Post-release Doctrines -
More of a final thought than anything else, but if/when the Japanese get added into the game, I’d love to see a fifth doctrine to represent the British 14th Army to match the Japanese. A doctrine that is mostly comprised of Indian infantry and Indian tanks, with representation from the East/West African Divisions, Gurkhas and the British 2nd or 36th Infantry Divisions. Special call-ins could include the Chindits (using Thompsons and the Jungle Carbine) and paratroopers of the 50th Indian Parachute Brigade. If we’re feeling generous enough to allow the doctrine to encompass the Pacific Islands as well, we could also include an Australian squad armed with the Owen SMG, South Pacific Scouts, the Matida Frog (flamethrower) and the Matilda QF 3-Inch.
Conclusion: I apologise for such a long read. But I hope we see how a bit of ambition could really help the Commonwealth stand out and be worthy of the variety seen in the other factions since their overhaul. While the Germans have Spanish soldiers in their ranks, the Commonwealth can see the UK, Canada, India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Poland, and France (and technically Nepal) all get some recognition. While the German Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe stand out on the field, the Commonwealth might get the distinctive blue battledress of the RAF Regiment, or the long white tunics of the Foreign Legion. We would see such a variety of hats including pith helmets, berets, kepis, dastars, keffiyehs and slouch hats. Some units, like the LRDG vehicles, might even stand out as unique from any of the nations already in the game. It’s a lot of colourful uniforms, a lot of voices and a lot of strange and wonderful machines.
However, it does come with its downsides. Firstly, Africa and Europe are such dramatically different theatres that their version of mid & late war are incredibly different to one another. So much so that the depth of variety might make the faction too big, making it a lot of effort for the art department (especially with uniforms changing for the map’s climate. Imagine making skins for temperate, desert AND snow). The second issue is whether France is getting its own faction in future iterations of the game (the French flag appears in the loading screen during Axis vs Allies games). The final (and probably biggest) issue is voice acting. I’m no expert on games development, but I gather that getting enough voice actors for a faction is hard enough as it is without having to accurately represent 9 countries at once. I would love to hear the developer’s thoughts on the matter - whether such a project is within the game’s scope and if they have the ambition to take it this far.
Do let me all know what you think as well.

I am new to this mbti and enneagram stuff, but I did look into cognitive functions a bit but I still am not sure which fit me, it might be because I am still pretty new. This is mostly a hobby for when I am bored and want to think, because I like to play with outside systems like this.
• How old are you? What's your gender? Give us a general description of yourself.
I am 16 years old, male , just your average quiet teenager that sucks at introspecting and wants to look cool to others yet does nothing to impress others (other than looks)
that sounded oddly specific.,.....
whatever
• Is there a medical diagnosis that may impact your mental stability somehow?
not really, not that I know of..
• Describe your upbringing. Did it have any kind of religious or structured influence? How did you respond to it?
I grew up in a poor family (duh), then just like your average adult couple they divorce, usually I'd stay a lot with my mother and she would teach me about morals which I now see some as stupid but either way I kind of "took" her morals and my dad's too. Kind of had to grew up early and take care of my smaller brother by substituting being a dad , and I have a lot of influence over my brother , and we would switch places a lot but the only comfort I had was in games, interacting with others on the games ,making fun of others and overall having a good time being accepted
• What do you do as a job or as a career (if you have one)? Do you like it? Why or why not?
At the moment I have no job, I do karate and I could teach others but I don't have the stuff necessary like: a place to train others, I am not at the highest level yet, customers and this is mostly the main things.
But I would really like to continue on this path of gym and karate since I already have an edge and kind of be under someone's wing to help me
• If you had to spend an entire weekend by yourself, how would you feel? Would you feel lonely or refreshed?
Mostly depends, on my mood sometimes I despise being alone and feel miserable being alone with my thoughts(and is mostly why I spend a lot of time on my computer despite not wanting to do so) or if the people in my circle kind of make me have a bad time then I would want to withdraw and get my energy back , usually I am very loud after I get comfortable with the other person and know what they are capable of
• What kinds of activities do you prefer? Do you like, and are you good at sports? Do you enjoy any other outdoor or indoor activities?
Like I said above I do Karate , I recently reached the brown belt ( YIPPPIE me) and me and the outdoors have a bad history but as of now I prefer to have a balance of both but mostly I would like to focus on real life things, especially when it comes to careers
• How curious are you? Do you have more ideas then you can execute? What are your curiosities about? What are your ideas about - is it environmental or conceptual, and can you please elaborate?
I am not too curious of stuff that is deep , it makes me feel miserable, but usually I get random questions sometimes and it makes me search , but not too deep into it just enough to have the idea cause I see no point in diving deeper. Usually when I even get these questions is from either talking out loud or just looking around me so it's mostly environmental (I think not too sure of this)
• Would you enjoy taking on a leadership position? Do you think you would be good at it? What would your leadership style be?
The only time I like leading is when I have knowledge and know I am the best to do it, if someone else is better then I'll let them do their thing but usually I wouldn't fully obey them I would kind of give some counter-arguments if there is room for some.
Even when I lead, others do listen to me and usually I am confident in doing it, kind of like that one quote of Sun Tzu:" Go to war only if you know you will win" , which my friend told me recently.
As for the style not too sure what it would really reference, but I would say I think of people as cogs in the machine
• Are you coordinated? Why do you feel as if you are or are not? Do you enjoy working with your hands in some form? Describe your activity?
Not too sure what to say on the "coordination" part but I for sure love working with my hands, especially when I cook for myself or others, and like I already mentioned I do karate so of course I like practicing with my hands improving my technique
• Are you artistic? If yes, describe your art? If you are not particular artistic but can appreciate art please likewise describe what forums of art you enjoy. Please explain your answer.
no I am not artistic at all , I don't really look into it at all since I don't consider it worthwhile but as a kid I did like drawing cause I was good at it and I got recognition for my drawings from other classmates and that would fuel me to make me like drawing cause the teacher liked it, others too and yeah.. Untill it kind of stopped receving the feedback and such
• What's your opinion about the past, present, and future? How do you deal with them?
I don't like to think of the past too much , especially when I think of myself, it's mostly negative things but I try to see the bright side of what I've achieved and such, because I wasn't healthy (even now I feel like I am not healthy but it's clearly better), I used to be chubby kind of fat , and before getting into karate I did handball where we trained physical condition and other things , and we had to do sit ups but due to me being fat I couldn't and others looked at me and started joking even the trainer and because of that I quit..
The present could be good but I am indifferent towards it I don't really work towards anything specific I like to remain a little reactive and eventually get help from others into shaping my future life.
And like I said I try to remain reactive of the present, I don't like planning too far ahead because it could be too early to plan and there might be more to do
• How do you act when others request your help to do something (anything)? If you would decide to help them, why would you do so?
I don't get asked for help frequently but it's either I help the person because I see they are struggling or they asked me and it goes two ways: 1. I agree and do the job or 2. I tell them "no" and go back to what I was doing (eventually feeling guilty I didn't help but I don't like being used for other's advantage)
• Do you need logical consistency in your life?
Yeah , it's pretty important people shouldn't only run on feelings but kind of fit some systems into some kind of framework, not really think about it 24/7, but make sense of it that is how I like to do it.
Even with this system of cognitive functions I try to understand it but sometimes it's a bit too abstract, I prefer more practical examples to fully understand the idea behind it
• How important is efficiency and productivity to you?
Not too much but not too less, usually I prefer it to not be feeling sad that I am "closed off somewhere" and not doing something, isolated from the world , especially with no computer atleast to go on the internet and joke around and chill with others(but of on a common task or else I will mind my business).
But I strive to be efficient in what I do over time , even if it's for a game that is pointless
• Do you control others, even if indirectly? How and why do you do that?
Simply no, I never was able to do this exactly , well maybe after I get to know the person a bit and see what they could do.... but I am not.
Also just read what controlling others mean , and I could see myself taking charge and just doing everything myself....
But I still feel like I don't, but I can see how I could, but I won't because I don't have the skill and it wouldn't be good
• What are your hobbies? Why do you like them?
Well probably just ,out of boredoom, playing games but not a wide variety which gets boring quick but familiarity bias is a thing.. and doing karate which energizes me almost everytime and anytime even if I don't feel like it and force myself. I just like when it goes well with others it and being liked by others, energizes me
• What is your learning style? What kind of learning environments do you struggle with most? Why do you like/struggle with these learning styles? Do you prefer classes involving memorization, logic, creativity, or your physical senses?
To be honest I didn't really pay attention to how I learn I just learn to get good grades in school and make it, yeah not too much here but I struggle with things that don't really add up to me or I don't see the logic behind
Usually I don't need explanations from the teacher I kind of tend to see the logic behind everything mostly without asking much information since some subjects have systems that are easily to juggle with(like math but I sometimes struggle with calculating in my head)
• How good are you at strategizing? Do you easily break up projects into manageable tasks? Or do you have a tendency to wing projects and improvise as you go?
I try to simplify strategizing, yes having a plan in depth is good but people for sure won't like if you are gonna stick to one rigid plan , which is why you have to make it kind of like a team thing even if I do make a rigid plan I try to make it sound simple and to the point based of data that others and I know, even making decision off the data my group knows
• What are your aspirations in life, professionally and personally?
Probably to feel happy I achieved something and doing something in the outside world, eventually influencing others
• What are your fears? What makes you uncomfortable? What do you hate? Why?
Mostly personal stuff , and emotional situations, my emotional inteligence is bad and I am bad at emotions too, atleast handling the emotions of others, but sometimes I try to let them vent to me and help them a bit and try to be empathetic even tho I don't show it too much, mostly I show it through acting tho
• What do the "highs" in your life look like?
Positive outlook on life, relationships are well but I don't worry about them too much unless there is an obvious problem and really liking to hang around others, and especially having something going on for myself
• What do the "lows" in your life look like?
the first thing that comes to my mind is: withrdawn, melancholy and just starting to critique everyone in my head but not really telling them, yeah sometimes I may start bluntly joking about other's and stuff and even situtations, I try to poke fun and when it kind of fails I feel like withdrawing from others since it doesn't work Melancholy litteraly makes me feel miserable about everything, mostly makes me feel depressed. I do tend to feel it often but I try to supress it trough doing things, like playing on the computer , youtube and such (everyone does this to some extent)
• How attached are you to reality? Do you daydream often, or do you pay attention to what's around you? If you do daydream, are you aware of your surroundings while you do so?
I find myself daydreaming when bored and not really anything is going on but I do tend to be mindful of what others do in case they try to harm me...
But even if I daydream it's mostly about what everything could have been, kind of like what I could have done or what I could do and how it would end up/ ended up, but it does happen quite a lot
• Imagine you are alone in a blank, empty room. There is nothing for you to do and no one to talk to. What do you think about?
Not too sure if I would ever get there but thinking out loud here so , probably about some random stuff in my head unrelated to my situations untill one thought hits close to home and I go into some deeper stuff , and usually when I get deeper into things I tend to feel miserable, my friend (who is INTJ btw) said that my negative depressing thoughts that I hate match the thinking of the philosophy of "Nihilism" which is kind of true....
• How long do you take to make an important decision? And do you change your mind once you've made it?
I try and not stay too long on it but sometimes I might run back and forth if I am not too sure, but I try to stay decisive , because being indecisive a lot is bad..
• How long do you take to process your emotions? How important are emotions in your life?
I kind of look down on emotions , yes I feel them but I just tend to ignore and repress them sometimes, but I vent to closer friends from time to time, but this is mostly because my parents would misinterpret my emotions...
My mom would just over moralify everything and bring it to a stupid extreme which is unrelated..
and My dad would just make fun of them , but sometimes he would give me spot on answers which are exactly what I need
• Do you ever catch yourself agreeing with others just to appease them and keep the conversation going? How often? Why?
Not really , even if I do it's in a way to shut off the conversation, because I don't like having conversation with no point
• Do you break rules often? Do you think authority should be challenged, or that they know better? If you do break rules, why?
I don't really mind rules , but I don't pay attention to them too much(because no need to worry if you don't go out of your way to try something that could count as "breaking the rules") mostly to the general ones which could punish you very harshly but overtime they could be exploited and I do that when I am confident I won't be caught or it won't punish me
I also took the mbti test from Michael Caloz site (I saw people doing this one a lot so I figured I might give it a try for this post :D)
statistics of functions
the top result (followed by ESTP and then ESTJ, in that order)
I saw other posts also mentioning this, and I figured I would too
I took this test a bit rushed cause I needed to do something..

Over the last few years i have tried getting into Warframe multiple times. Until last 2 weeks i had like 12 hours in the game. I loved the movement, i loved the weapons and art style of the game. however, i always felt lost. i didn't know much about mods or crafting. i understand NOW that at 10-12 hours i was barely scratching the surface of the tutorial. I tried 2 frames in those first 10 hours.. I tried Excalibur and finished Vor's Prize and then got lost. 2nd time I tried playing as Volt and finished Saya's Vigil with a help of a friend. but again felt lost and overwhelmed with all the things that the game offered. So i stopped playing even tho i had a really good Loki frame (via Prime Gaming) & now i lost it since i lost that account.
However recently i watched a YT video by Legendary Drops, a video called "Warframe isn't what I expected". where he played the game for the first time and shared his experience & thoughts. in that video he shared how he never really gave the game a good shot even after hearing nothing but good things about it. which resonated with me and my experience so far. He stated that unlike other games and MMOs, the first 50-70 hours of Warframe are pretty much a tutorial phase. you are still learning about things in game. you need to be patient and slowly the game will make sense to you. it will all come together.
Which brings me to now. in the last 2 weeks i have put in 12+ hours into the game (more than what i put into it in the last 2 years) . I just want to say how amazing this game is.. after watching some guides and understanding the game. I am having more fun than any other FPS or Live Service game i have ever played.
This time i started as Mag and oh man that frame is SO GOOD! the crowd control abilities are just so much fun! this time i was able to unlock Venus and Mercury all by myself. I understood how to equip Companion, i was able to get Taxon & currently have Kubrow in incubator. Maxed out my rifle and katana, was able to craft 2 new weapons (Gorgon & Furis). I am still learning about polarization.
I believe my solo experience has been better since the changes after Duviri Paradox. I even tried that & i like the story but its not for me (at least not right now). I do think the game needs to improve experience for new players but its pretty damn amazing once you get the hang of things.
P.S Fortuna Intro and the song is one of the best thing ive ever seen. Again thanks Digital Extremes & Sorry i misunderstood your masterpiece for the last 2 years.

Hey Ladies! I have been struggling to get work done lately. Right now my work requires a lot of tedious stuff to be happening. This is not the norm and normally I can do tedious things but I have lately found it almost impossible to make progress. I realized yesterday part of the problem may be that I am in a white office with no windows and all alone. Sounds great until it starts getting to you how alone you are how boring a space it is to exist in.
I can wander around to see others but I can't do the work if I am doing that. The social high fades pretty quick as well so its sadly not sustaining me long after visiting with anyone. I have some sensory toys but the work requires typing.... a lot of typing.
Music was helping me for a while but I am thinking I need something visual. I've even debated getting that nonpermanent wall paper to add visual diversity to the office. Thought about art as well and have plenty thanks to my relaxed impulse control at Con XD but I don't know how well gaming/anime art would go over in a hospital setting. People do not come to my office often but I still do get visits from time to time.
I would love to know what any of you would do to make a space visually pleasing. I have a very small budget so whatever I do can't be huge but I am at an impasses as to how to move forward. Also any alternatives to sensory slimes? I have three I love but I want my hands clean when I mess with them so I usually only pull them out if I can mess with them for a chunk of time (10 min~). Going between them and my keyboard back and forth just seems like I would get them grimy. I have been half tempted to bring art projects to work because I need something TT^TT. I keep going into that blank space of what is time how long have I been sitting here oh shit how has three hours gone by?!? brain shut down.

Yes.. Yess.. Alright there Daddy, I mean Danny. Yeah shut the fuck up.
Verse on Danny: Dear Tank I wrote you a letter. See my daddy wasnt there so now I crave attention. See I would do anything I can to ride your wave for mentions. Even pretended you dissed me just to create dissention. I dug through all you and Pop's songs just to find some ammunition, now im all out of lotion. So my dick burns and my hand is itching. I posted that Pop said some racist shit on Facebook, but changed the title cause I couldnt get your friends to listen. I cant do numbers and I need the advice. I paid my mom for her to advertise me, I need the hype. I hope you see this dog it eases me to sleep at night. Whats it like to actually be dope and have a buzz? I paid Gnat, but I still cant break 20 friends. I wear this crown but my throne is really full of malus. I cant picture me without the drugs.
Verse on John: Dear Tank, I kept tagging you 6 months ago you wouldn't respond. You owe me dog dont leave me here for long. While your out living life and doing things I wish I could, I spend all day on the internet trying to get some looks. I know I said I was straight but yet played victim hook, cause I aint killed nobody. Im not built like that I lived in hoods. Got too much hate up on my diss so I deleted it. I tryna bait me but I miss. So much for clicks and dislikes. I really hate that im a bitch. I cant do shit but diss right? I cant create a single hit. So I take hits from this pipe. Miss shells in the nozzle, got hit with the nasal spay. The Boogeyman of this Bu cocky shit. The only shots are on my face, Im prolly sick, its prolly jizz, I prolly need some molly shit to take this pain away. I just delay it shit. Eyes red, I feel my hood in your hoodie man. Im tryna weather days but im not Boogie Man. Critiqued you for your mental health cause I dont get complexities. Im a simple man with simple bars. I kill a man, Jarrott. it makes sense right? But when you kill a man get jarred hoe. Get sentenced for life. Im just a lonely man with no friends or bodies to show. And if I end it all tomorrow? Shit nobody would know.
Oh we just having fun now.. Let me show yall how to make a diss..
Verse on Gnat: Im waiting, im patient, you baited. You made a grenade on this paper, pull the pen ive been waiting. How you gonna claim wins from your moms basement, you aint got no Ems on your plate list. The crown you been claiming? It aint raining! 5 months Gnat still no reply. John asked about me when his own squad going poltergeist. Dont throw the fight. John started his rap rhyming rap shit 4 times. But you wanna claim im the one whoes lazy? Shit im bored of you poor rhymes. Gnat's masculine hardcore? When he the one clapping back with insults about Star Wars. Outrap me. Come on Gnat roll up. Its Ironic that im Emo. The fuck you killing yourself for? Zareem already murdered you, Stan aint nobody heard of you. Only time you fucks catching bodies in the morgue, you murdered who? Shit the first 48 hours. I know whoes missing. Pop already covered you, exposed you for your googling. Your bars dont connect, dont hide that phone when you spitting no? You need more practice. Unlike LLR this is real life. You claim I run but yet I still fight, outrapped you on your own rhyme scheme, Gnat just got killed twice.
Verse on all 3: Hold up change it up, something yall dont know how to do with that same old boring ass style. Lotta Danny, Got no time for your problems. The shit you spit is nonsense. Begged Ren to do a song with you then he robbed you. How many of us you paying money to gaslight you with fake praise and fake opinions. Gnat calls himself a king? Well thank the lord for me. Got a buzz off my name? now im claiming your royalties. John upset that it took me 1 month, dog it took you 5 months to clap back, you brag about that? 24 hours im back on the track. Get your fat ass back on the track and move quicker. Or maybe not cause your movements sus. And now your mad attacking me cause your raps all suck. Acting like these are lies? Bitch grow up. How about you switch that flow up. Coming with the same cadence dog? We be bored of your shit. You an obsessed little ex whoring for clicks. I feel bad man, Dont be mad stan. Heres a trash can.. For your diss. I stay living in your head without rent. Gnat, better learn your history.. Kings they get beheaded. "The the Boogeyman cause everybody scared of me". What a dope bar, your such a rarity. Talking like you next up. You been here since 2017 where's the check huh? Your best disses got my name in them, Im a Free copy right? Let me put my claim on it. Every time you tag me ill be monetizing you while you advertise me. And fantasize about my friends. Just know I got here without you. So keep on moving, you just a lame whoes pretending. Use my name for the ascension, but my reigns are too extensive. Stay in your lane, got no engine. You start clenching and your plugged in the rear, with no luck and no career. Whoes scared of this dude. Your times up..
Honestly I wasnt even gonna go after you. But theres certain lines you just dont cross. Tryna target my legitimacy? Going after my friends? Calling out anyone you can to diss me and paying them? Danny theres ways to move in this industry properly. You put your hand out and its gonna get slapped. Get back in your fucking lane.
Free's note: Tank is known for having a pen, hes known for his pen and his bars. Like if your gonna say that he doesnt have it cause it went over your fucking head.. You need to look in the mirror. John I did do a speech with you in 2022. That was before you became a big bitch. Bitch ass fuck with nothing better to do than diss. Go back to dissing your mom, cause thats your only good diss John.

As If It Were Kismet: Prologue
Matt tore through the brush, blind in the dark. He didn’t care where he was going. He only knew he needed to be elsewhere. Far from here.
Behind him a creature howled that shocked his mind. It’s form was cruel and dangerous, though female. Nothing like the young woman she had once been. Nothing but a girl, a small and slight female.
It’s guttural growls and howls only grew closer as Matt tried to pick between seeing where he was going and getting away. The few times he looked he caught sight of the creature behind him. Hopping through the air with a speed that told him he was being toyed with. As if he were a mouse being played with by a cat.
But the reflex in him to run kept him going. His adrenaline going as hard as it could. The tightness and burning in his core tensing and locking up as his legs felt like there were being burned from within while taking on more of a heaviness.
His lungs were starting to betray him as he tried to gulp big breaths of air but only rapid and shallow breaths were all that he could manage. His brain was starting to burn….and then he was falling.
Falling down the side of a hill he saw the creature dart in a spring towards him, imperceivably fast almost. Catching him in mid air it seemed.
Managing to wrap its body around him and cushion his impact against the ground as they rolled. His mind barely took in what was happening during the roll. Only starting to understand what was happening once they were still.
The creature's triple D-cup breasts were unmistakably pressed hard against his back as he laid facing up at the night sky.
For a few seconds the world stilled and the needle light pain hitting the center of his brain took over for the cooking heat his brain had felt. His whole body felt heavy and reluctant to move.
Even if he could have really moved, a dull ache came over his limbs making them feel stilled and trapped as if by immeasurable amounts of sand that had engulfed him.
Slowly the arms holding him started to move. Moving so the creature's hands could start exploring him. Causing Matt to unstoppably let out a pathetic moan that made him go cold inside as hands lifted up his shirt and started to touch his exposed stomach and then his chest.
He would have whimpered so pathetically had he not still been in the depths of terror.
As its hands felt and groped his pecs he tried to situp as if to get away. For his efforts, his reward was a hand around his throat and a collection snarls and growls against his ear. A beastly, guttural voice spat words at him while somehow holding a feminine tone.
“Don’t move….I don’t know if I can calm down…”
Her words were not helped by her moans in his ear and the subsequent kissing of his ear. The flesh of his ear going between her lips as she moaned and seemed to pant. Releasing it and licking the side of his face with a moist warmth. He could feel its spittle, viscous and coating his flesh where the tongue touched. He could smell something in his saliva. Something that subtly entranced him.
Matt went stock still with fear and the confusion of mixed arousal. He barely perceived her right hand traveling lower on his body. A surprised moan and shudder echoed in the night from Matt’s lips as she took ahold of him. Her hand above his pants but still….stimulating him.
A light squeezing and almost probing of her digits kept him aroused and confused within her grasp. Resigning himself to the strange fate, Matt looked up at the stars as his mind tried not to shatter under the strange maelstrom of events and sensation that had started mere minutes ago.
His mind was only more confused as a slight figure, feminine in build, how it seemed to thunk the ground audibly as she landed on her feet out nowhere. Her knees barely bending under the pressure of the landing. Yet dirt was kicked up anyways and some of it onto Matt. Feeling it pepper his shirt and pants as it fell.
The figure, lit only faintly by moonlight, roared some dark tone Matt could only perceive as a demon as her eyes went bright with a crimson light. A light in the darkness that should not have been. “Let him go you bitch.” Was its words following the roar. Spittle escaping its mouth with faint droplets hit Matt's face.
The creature holding him by his throat and crotch seemed to tighten the grasp of both hands as it roared back. “HE IS MINE!”
The figure paused with a moment's hesitation. He was also her quarry. She had felt his fear without him knowing. His confused arousal. His fear. His terror.
And now he laid at the center of a struggle between two monsters. Unsure of who he wanted to win.
As If It Was Kismet Ch. 1
Matthew Berkshire hadn’t seen his mom in two years. Not that he had seen her much over the last six years.
A messy divorce between messy people and mom’s chaotic want for a life in Alaska had been one of the most…upsetting times in life. Setting him up for so much of what had defined his life thus far but then that had really started two years before he ever turned.
His ear buds were basic and simple. A part of cheap five pack, common for his life as he was known to lose little things. Small things. They had a mix of metal and hard rock playing in them. Some classics, some alternative. Whatever made him feel something, anything. Even if it was hate. Anger. Rage. It was better than feeling numb. Not belonging.
The escalator down to his lone bag to go with his lone carry on showed his mom waiting for him. His had a type, that’s for damn sure. Not that it helped him in the genetics department as he was stuck at 5’9” to go along with his mother’s five foot even as his dad stood six foot. Forever leaving him to feel small, to pale, under his dad’s shadow. Did he ever stand a chance?
The guy next to her with the unkempt former seventies porn stache was “Dave.” He’d met him twice when his mother came and visited him in Florida. To his credit the guy didn’t look annoyed. Kind of concerned kind of which made Matthew want to break his frozen look but he was well practiced. Having removed any note of sadness from his face through much…tribulation.
His mother’s look on her face betrayed a hint of worry as the bruises on his face lightly showed up close. Saying his name was his like a distant echo that belonged to someone else.
Dave cut in and pulled out his right headphone. “What the hell bud, they knock you hard enough to hurt hearing? Your mom’s asking how you are doing.”
Matthew pulled out the other bud and grunted an empty “sorry.”
“You still have bruises after two week? What did they do to you?” His mom’s voice was full of worry. Something he hadn’t heard in….too long. Too long to make him feel anything. To ever make him believe there was any sincerity to her words. To not think her voice and mannerisms were an act. An act by someone who…wasn’t really there.
“It’s only fair. I took a nose. Fractured a couple orbital bones. Left one with having to get his jaw wired shut. And one will never walk right again for what I did to his knee cap.” Matthew said it all with a bored and disinterested tone. Perhaps well rehearsed.
“My man, handing out ass kickings, not bothering to take names.” Dave was quick to be the typical man’s man about it. Matthew wasn’t quite done yet. Lifting up his shirt to expose the right side near his kidney. Revealing a nasty scar from a six inch blade. “Luckily they gave me this first so they could rule it all in self-defense. The fuck didn’t get it in more than inch before I ruined his knee cap and then I took the nose of one of the fucks holding me.” Now he chose to smile keeping the well practiced dead look in his eyes.
No retorts. No questions. Just horrified looks on their faces. As he liked. As he preferred. They could hate him. They could be disgusted by him. But by God they would fear him.
“Well the doc did a good job sewing you up.” Dave commented uncomfortably. “Dissolving sutures. Ain’t they grand.” He smiled again and let it abruptly fall off his face and started walking to the carousel for the baggage claim.
Waiting and making small talk with Dave as his mother stood in silence. He was not the little boy she abandoned. The little boy she left with an angry man. While never hitting him. Left him in constant fear till he turned twelve and just didn’t care anymore. Something snapped. Broke. And he didn’t care if he died. Didn’t care if he stole. Didn’t even care if he killed. He just knew not to get caught. Something left over from his grandfather’s wisdom which came to make more and more sense with each passing year of life since that thing inside him broke.
Finally his bag came around and Dave went to try first to grab it but Dave practically leapt ahead of him. “Is that your grandfather’s rucksack bag?” his mother asked in a perplexed voice.
“Figured it’s been around since Viet Nam. So it’d serve me better than any of the worthless stuff they called luggage.” Dave commented after Matthew’s words. “Well hell yeah I still got mine from Desert Storm. You know the first one.” Dave laughed and Matthew eyed him oddly. Be it in the south or whether it was Alaska, country boys are country boys he guessed.
The car ride to the two people’s house, as Matthew thought of them. Was uneventful and full of vistas he imagined metropolitan types wetting themselves over. At most they meant isolation to him. Furtherness from the world as there were no mountains in Florida. And what mountains he had last seen in another state had been when he was eight. Another life, to Matthew it felt like. A life alien to him.
As If It Was Kismet Ch 2
Dave and his mom’s place was some two story type tucked into a tree line far up an elevated point. It was by no means the highest point in the mountain but it certainly felt up there.
Rocks were where the driveway should have been Matthew thought. Grabbing his backpack and rucksack from Dave’s jeep was no hard thing for him. Matthew was in formidable shape for someone his age, maybe even five years older. He had gotten a mix of fairly big shoulders and arms along with the chest to go for it when compared to most kids his age. A side effect of working out at least twice a day. First thing in the morning, some time in the evening, and the school’s gym when had had a good semester in school before he had to leave Florida.
Dave tried to come up and help him but Matthew walked past him towards the house. His mom was not sure what to make of his demeanor. Matthew was not the sweet kind boy he had once been. But she had been gone from his life essentially for a long time.
Ushering him into the house she cracked some joke he did not hear. He was too busy looking about and seeing a mix of old outdated decorating mixed with the strange and odd flair of his mother. Color contrasting against drab and dated. Like brightly painting over an old home that was falling apart he thought.
“Your room is this way Mattie.” His mom brightly intoned.
Without expressing any interest he followed his mother. Still faced and nonplussed. Just going along with the current. Pushed and pulled with its roll like a piece of driftwood.
The room was simple. A single small bed. A set of rubber weights with a curl bar and barbells. “Your dad said you were into weight lifting so we got you a bunch of stuff. Dave says it looks like his department’s gym almost. The woman’s smile felt very alien to him.
“Thank you. I appreciate it. I’ve got most of my stuff from home.” Matthew starting unpacking his rucksack and pulled out cables of repetitive and mixed colors. A single plastic barbell handle. The ruck sack could be filled with water bottles for added weight during pushups he figured. Remembering a Michael Keaton movie he watched with his dad post-Batman movies where he played a convicted killer using plastic bags filled with water for weights.
Matthew caught movement outside his lone fairly large window that could let him step out onto the roof of the house given its layout.
He saw a number of people running together through what he guessed was the backyard of the property, not that it had any fences to mark boundaries
They wore clothes that looked similar yet different from each other at the same time.”Oh those are the Johnston’s. Really nice bunch of people. Been on the mountain for a long time Dave tells me.”
Matthew looked at the group of people running and noticed the lack of resemblance. “They are related?” Matthew quizzically asked. Seeing a black and possibly a hispanic person amongst the bland looking white people.
“Oh well they are all adopted but for one or two of them…besides the parents of course. The family has a long tradition of taking in orphans they say. Real nice of them to do that don’t you think.”
Matthew looked at his mother and the hosier accent made no sense to him as he arched his left eye brow. Her and his dad were both from Florida. Born and raised. Sure her parents were from New York city but…
Matthew shook his lightly without turning to look at his mother as his vision was grabbed by one of the runners in particular. A girl of moderate height. Soft brunette. A plain beauty he figured with a slim build….and lack of remarkable breasts and rear to make any note of but….girls in general were his type at his age.
She was pretty enough. He couldn’t deny that but he found himself transfixed by her visage.
But the way she turned and looked at him, especially at that distance felt very disconcerting to him. Even if she was smiling like…she was a taste of a bright shiny day. Somehow.
Matthew’s mom noticed the exchange and smiled to herself with closed lips. “Oh that’s Vicky. She’s your age I think. Very sweet girl, who does the charity functions. You know bake sales, blood drives, car washes and the like. I think you should get to know her. Might be good for you.”
A truck horn sounded a couple of beeps in rather succession. “Oh that must be Mack, he said he might come by later this evening but he seems early.”
Matthew’s mother turned and left his room. Leaving Matthew to exchange a few looks with the alluring Vicky as she turned her head away from him to talk to the others in her group and look back at him.
Still Matthew’s left eyebrow was arched. In a way that reminded him of Spock from Star Trek that he and his grandpa used to watch on some streaming service or another.
As he heard ambient chatter elsewhere outside the house he figured to check it out as the alluring sight of Vicky would be around he figured. It was dull to stare at artwork. He was a boy who preferred jet skis and the like. Something he could ride and enjoy immensely. Even if at times it got him stabbed.
As If It Was Kismet Ch 3
Matthew sauntered out of the house and down the rockway that stood in for a driveway.
A few new people had come over from what he could first surmise of the situation. As he got closer it was obvious they were indigenous people. A couple of grown men…and a girl?
She was mousey. Maybe five foot. Hiding behind glasses and a big camo jacket that was far too big for her. It looked made for a grown man and the backwards trucker hat on her head kept her long black a beautiful mess of sorts.
She was cute in a way. A little androgynous but she had a cute energy to her. She reminded him of the more tomboyish Puerto Rican girls he had gotten into back in Florida. Given the deer corpses in the back of the truck….probably more dangerous to play with given the men in her family.
Small chatter passed between the adults when the girl noticed but turned away, trying to hide the tiny hint of a smile.
“Oh Mattie, this is Mack. He works with Dave at the sheriff’s department and John, he’s with fish and wildlife.” Matthew nodded at his mom’s words with some blankness as he looked at the deer the in the back of the pickup truck.
“Gale tells us you hunted with your dad some in Florida and Georgia.” Mack offered with a light hearted laugh camouflaged by his big simple and cheery but husky way he spoke.
Looking in the back of the truck he spoke. “We used lever action thirty-thirties and Mosin Nagants in seven-six-two-fifty-four-rimmed.” Mack and John whistled in an exaggerated fashion. Leaving Matthew to wonder if they were mocking him.
Mack spoke. “Well we just used thirty-odd-six in a custom gussied Garand.” That caught Matthew’s attention. “You have a Garand…” Matthew finally demonstrated interest in anything. “My dad has an SVT-40 and a Hakim 8mm but he always wanted a Garand but was too cheap to buy one.”
Gale, his mother, chimed in loudly. “Oh his Dad loved his guns but was such an odd duck about how he bought or why he bought them. Never made sense to me how he wasn’t a collector but he didn’t get the latest and greatest.” Gale laughed uncomfortably. At least it seemed that way to Matthew.
Matthew pointed to the girl with an underhanded pointing hand. “And who is this? A cute little mute mouse or does she have a name?” Dave and the other men laughed.
Mack again spoke. “Well you people call her Rebecca, she’s my adopted daughter.” Matthew was taken aback by what he heard. “You people?”
Rebecca kindly spoke with a soft but almost melodic voice as she struggled to maintain eye contact. “White people or rather not members of our tribe. It’s just easier to appease the colonizer kind of thing. Borrowed from when the Jesuit missionaries chased us up here.”
Mack stepped in. “It’s just easier to have white people names than have them try to say our tribal names. And we don’t want them shortening or Anglicising our names kind of thing.” Rebecca stepped back into the conversation cutting off her adopted father. “It’s an insult to our history basically.”
Matthew cocked his head sideways raising his eyebrows shortly before letting them drop. “Well as soon as I’m eighteen I’m out of here and back to Florida so I’m a sort of involuntary colonizer of sorts. So I won’t be taking any of your land from you. The Seminoles on the other hand are still shit out of luck.”
Rebecca’s smile caused Matthew to reflexively smile. Mack made the moment more awkward. “See Becca, I told you someone off the reservation would like you some. You just have to be creative.” Mack laughed in a chiding manner…Matthew presumed. He sensed that he was the butt of some kind of cultural joke. Like marrying a white guy was some sort of insult or mark of shame. That kind of thing.
Rebecca turning away from him was not something he had been expecting. Her then getting in the truck in a huff left the group in a silence for a moment.
Dave spoke to break the awkward silence. “Well just bring the truck to work on Monday and leave it for me to grab up.” Mack acknowledged Dave and they started to get off as Rebecca looked at Matthew for another instance. Matthew couldn’t look away for some reason as the two seemed to lock eyes for an instance.
Till Vicky and family seemed to come jogging down the road. While Matthew’s eyes diverted from Rebecca’s. Hers did not till she realized he was looking elsewhere. And her vision found Vicky and what had been a hint of smile on her face turned glum and disappointed.
Matthew did not look away from the vision of Vicky but instead of a starry eyed fool looking longingly. It was a baffled look. Well baffled for him, with his eyes drawn narrow and night with a focus.
There was something about her…he couldn’t quite put a name too. The way she appeared to him. One second brunette. The next second blonde or blonde like. As if the color appeared in her air and disappeared in fractions of seconds. Much the same way her body almost seemed to…shift…very subtly…smoothly. A nicer bum. Larger breasts. And then back to a simple and plain form. Feminine no doubt. Attractive. But not so…remarkable.
As If It Was Kismet Ch 4
The next two days passed without incident. Nothing of any real substance or challenge to note.
Matthew got settled somewhat and started working out almost immediately. Exploring around the woods but Dave told him not to go far. Especially without a hunting rifle. Dave had left a simple semi-auto Winchester out for him. His bear gun as Dave referred to it with its four round magazine. But Matt figured till he got some practice with the rifle to leave it alone. He made a hiking stick like his grandpa taught him and treated it over a low fire. He would take some electrical tape for the end his hand would grip around. Plenty enough to ward off anything smaller than a bear he figured.
The ride to school was a pain in the neck but simple enough. Dave would let him use a clunker pickup truck he had laying around. It wasn’t pretty but it would get him to and from. Even if it was from the eighties and still backfired on occasion. But for now Dave and his mom took him on their way to the sheriff’s department.
It wasn’t much of a school. It wanted to be modern but its fifties original construction was very obvious. It serviced the pipeline families and familys’ of fisherman who worked the seasons in between their time at the pipeline.
Matt was to report to the principal for some reason Dave and his mom wouldn’t share. Which annoyed him but he figured it was to read him the law of land. Small towns with their big views of the outside world and like.
Dressed in jeans, a grey sweatshirt under a light jacket with steel toed boots set him more apart then he expected. His buzzed head didn’t help matters. Already he was feeling like a stranger in a strange land but he was quite strange after all. And he liked it that way. Normal people were so pathetically disappointing to him.
A secretary or assistant or some such led him to the principal’s office. Where it reeked of real wood that was old and fabric and upholstery that needed to be updated for the last twenty years, Matt figured.
“This is Matthew Berkshire, Principal Andrews.” The man was turned with his back to the door and he was quick to wave her off as he turned her around.
He was an older man. Fat and large. Tall with a body built like he had once been fit and a demeanour of annoyed and irate already as he fixed Matt with a scowl and look of disgust. Another worthless government whore. Matt thought to himself. His father and his grandfather had bestowed unto him a natural disrespect for government workers and the figures that wore unjustified authority as a shield but pretended the weight of the state was not at their back ready to crush all who resisted. Little figures of valor pretending to be mighty and alone but acting with the tyranny of the state and all the backing.
“Mr. Berkshire, please sit down.” His tone wasn’t unusually hostile, just gruff. As if he had better things to do.
Matt complied and took a seat in the chair while maintaining a friendly facade. Not everyone was an enemy. And not everyone needed to be an enemy. Even if anybody could be any enemy. There was no reason to make enemies you didn’t have to. Another of his grandfather’s bastardised wisdoms.
“Well I looked over you file and you have quite the history Mr. Berkshire.” Matt resisted qiuping back a joke. Instead he waited for Principal Andrews to continue as he remained nonplussed and looking as if he felt no need to respond. A simple head tilt with dead eyes looking back at the principle as if he was not even there would suffice.
Matt’s reaction or lack of a reaction rather made Principal Andrews only narrow his eyes with examination. He was not used to a kid not responding to him. Especially with his gruff and hard act going on.
“Well by all accounts you moved here after some problems at your last school. A fight broke out and you did some real harm to your fellow students it appears.” Of course, he would take the side of the perpetrators. School administrators always did. Especially when they weren’t white. Just a fact of the times. Cowardice and pathetic mediocrity was the way they leaned, like good government workers sucking the dick of Big Daddy government. Worthless whores.
Matt chose to reply. “Oh you mean the criminals that stabbed me. Got arrested at the hospital and then pled to felonies. Yeah Florida, with the American counties are good like that.” Principal Andrews went real still. No shame. No fear. No penitence. He didn’t like that.
“Well be it as it may Mr. Berkshire we don’t tolerate that kind of behaviour here…” Matt cut him off responding with a deadpan tone. “You mean self-defense meant to save one’s own life while the cowardly and pathetic school workers look on with zero interest but to keep their money rolling in and will allow known gang members with records of violent acts and crimes that should have them expelled many times over, where in certain Democrat counties such cowardice and idiocy empowered a couple school shooters?”
Principal Andrews looked at the Matt with a note of disgust. “Look here Mr. Berkshire, your beliefs matter not one bit here. This isn’t Florida. We don’t like our way of life being disrupted by outside agitators who have problems with authority.”
Matt did his best not to roll his eyes and let the older fat man drone own as he dead-stared him. Lifeless and without emotion.
The man came to a finish and Matt spoke up without having listened to him or paid him any attention. “Great now that’s taken care of. Can I please get to class and finish my sentence of two years at your wonderful school?”
Principal Andrews huffed and snorted before calling in Vicky. Vicky stood in the corner after entering with a quiet and seamless presence. Matt felt disturbed and tried not betray his feelings as the young Vicky was perceived and not perceived to be moving.
Principal Andrews made the introductions and Matt nodded back. She was to be his chaperone for the day. They had the same classes and she was to show him the ropes so to speak. The ins and outs of the school. The locations of their classes.
He recognized her. It was hard not to. The way her appearance seemed to shift fluidly almost. The petite and skinny brunette ever so lightly had a big bust and blonde hair with curves added when she seemed to shift before his eyes. Like watching a film but each frame had a different person.
Matt didn’t say anything about it. Even if he did he would only be acknowledging his crazed state, if he had one. If.
Unlike an obedient puppy dog he got up in a slow and awkward fashion and followed behind her as his oddly disproportionate frame allowed. Causing her a note of concern for some reason. As if she was seeing something she shouldn’t have been….Or he was just weird. And Matt could admit to himself he was just weird. Part of his charm, he would jest about it at times. Not that he had many people to jest to now.
As If It Were Kismet Ch. 5
Following Vicky into the hall off to their first class was simple. She exchanged small talk and he slightly smiled as if to obviously suggest he was just being polite.
Inside his head, Matt was trying to figure out if he was having a psychotic break. The way Vicky looked kept changing and he looked at the other people around him and they stayed the same.
He was searching his mind as they were walking. And thus he wasn’t paying attention to where he was looking and so fell to his face forward over his feet seemingly out of nowhere.
A series of laughs erupted as it sunk in that he was obviously tripped. Like in prison this was a challenge to his superiority. If he let this pass he would be mocked and sneered at by this same group of boys. He wouldn’t walk to them like he was going to do nothing like a little bitch.
In a rage he turned and punched the stomach of the first face he saw. Some typical blonde haired wannabe jock. He knew from experience not to aim for the ribs. Instead he needed to aim for where he thought the belly button was.
Yells and screams blindly echoed around him as his after the punch he followed up his elbow of the opposite arm slamming into the face of the jock. Harder than a fist, the elbow struck the jock’s jaw and seemingly dropped him against a locker. Just in time to catch an errant and soft punch to the nose that sure enough hurt but did little to slow him down as his dad had taught him to fight through the pain. Blood and scars happened. They were a natural consequence of life to a man.
Taking the punch and falling further into his red state Matt headbutted the punch thrower before another guy arm bared his throat from behind. Which he managed to get his grip on the arm over a letterman jacked and jerk the unprepared boy to the side with him still latched on.
A few feet away from the lockers Matt knew his only chance was to jump and push off the lockers and knock the boy to the ground and so he did. He heard a thunk of the boy’s skull bouncing off the ground and he turned to pull out of the grapple.
The beatings he had taken from his father, the grapples, being choked unconscious. Had prepared him for fighting little bitches who didn’t know what a fight was. It wasn’t gay porn with rabbit punch fists flying.
Blood was running down his face and the pain started to hit him as the threats had been eliminated. Only then did he remember to breathe. Taking breathes as Vicky came up to him with tissues and took a hold of his nose.
“Owww owww owww what the fuck my nose could be broken.” He said to Vicky as she pulled his head up and back.
“It’s ok Carl. It’s done.” Matt tried to look to see who Vicky was talking to. It was a boy taller than his 5’9” by more than a small margin. The boy eyed him bored and annoyed before speaking. “What happened here?” An unoriginal line but one Matt couldn’t be a smart aleck about. “Well you see there was an outbreak of tripping and we all tripped over my dick. It happens.” Matt was about to laugh when Vicky seemed to pull up while still gripping his nose causing Matt no small amount of pain which he audibly evidenced.
Vicky spoke in a tone he wasn’t expecting. As if she was accustomed to issuing orders. “Keep Iris away from the hall till we sanitize the site. We have blood from at least three people contaminating the site. And have Jake bring me a spare jacket and shirt for this moron.”
Carl seemed to acknowledge her orders and seemed to blink away. Maybe the punch hit harder than he expected. He had no time to wonder as Vick took her hand away from his and pushed him against the lockers. With ease he had not been expecting from her form and stature.
Before he could respond Vicky licked his blood covered chin and then his lips and spoke to him. “Focus on me you little blood bag.” Her tone had an annoyed yet feminine sneer.
“Look into my eyes. Look at me. You belong to me. You are just another food source in a collection of food sources.” Her eyes were a beautiful hazel Matt thought. Almost green. Pretty like jewels in some old treasure collections. The eyes he could get lost in before kissing her. Finally Vicky was just a slight and petite brunette and he thought she was beautiful.
She would make a hell of a girlfriend. Some cute thing he could see laying on the beach in Florida on their sides laughing and smiling before trading light kisses while hands wandered innocently. Before his mind could drift further he felt her lips on his. It took him a second to mentally grasp the kiss but his arms were around her back as her hands were at his sides. His eyes reflexively closed as he saw hers close.
It was ineffable to Matt. Beyond words, what was happening. The kiss, the moments beforehand. The way his brain tickled with electricity and gentle warmth. He had never had a kiss like this and he had traded more than a few kisses with at least a few girls.
The kiss was like a warm bath with his consciousness slipping beneath the surface. Their lips only parted to try new angles and approaches as Matt struggled to take in breath. It was a moment he could have stayed trapped in for….he didn’t know. But a curt throat clearing by another girl pulled them out of the moment.
The girl was taller than Vicky. Blonde. With slight curves. Vicky addressed her bewildered and gobsmacked, and perhaps a bit embarrassed. “Tina?”

PURPOSE IN LIFE
The concept of purpose in life is deeply personal and can vary from person to person. For some, it is about finding meaning in their actions, relationships, or contributions to society. For others, it might be about pursuing passions, achieving goals, or fulfilling responsibilities.
Some find purpose in spirituality or religion, while others find it in personal growth or helping others. Ultimately, purpose can be about feeling fulfilled, content, and aligned with one's values and aspirations. It is a journey of self-discovery and often evolves over time as we gain new experiences and insights.
Find Your Purpose In Life Finding your purpose in life is a journey that often involves self-reflection, exploration, and experimentation. Here are some steps that might help you in discovering your purpose:
Reflect On Your Interests And Passions: Think about the activities or subjects that truly engage you and bring you joy. Consider what you loved to do as a child or what you find yourself naturally drawn to as an adult.
Identify Your Strengths: Reflect on your unique talents, skills, and strengths. What are you good at? What do others often praise you for? Your purpose may lie at the intersection of your passions and strengths.
Consider What Deeply Matters To You: Think about the values and principles that are important to you. What causes or issues do you feel strongly about? Your purpose might align with making a positive impact in areas that resonate with you.
Explore Different Paths: Don't be afraid to try new things and explore different interests or career paths. Volunteer, take classes, travel, or engage in hobbies that pique your curiosity. Sometimes, purpose is found through experimentation and experience.
Pay Attention To What Energizes You: Notice the activities or experiences that make you feel alive, inspired, and fulfilled. These moments can provide clues about what resonates with your purpose.
Reflect On Your Past Experiences: Think about moments in your life when you felt a sense of meaning or fulfillment. What were you doing? What made those experiences meaningful? Reflecting on your past can help you identify patterns and themes that point towards your purpose.
Seek Inspiration From Others: Learn from the experiences and journeys of others who have found their purpose. Their stories can provide insights and ideas that may resonate with you.
Be Patient And Open-Minded: Finding your purpose is a process that takes time and self-discovery. Be patient with yourself and remain open to new possibilities and insights along the way.
How Purpose In Life Can Aid In Life Success
Discovering and aligning with your purpose in life can significantly contribute to your overall success and fulfillment in several ways:
Clarity and Focus: When you have a clear sense of purpose, you have a guiding light to direct your efforts and decisions. This clarity helps you focus your time, energy, and resources on activities and pursuits that are meaningful to you, increasing your effectiveness and productivity.
Motivation and Resilience: Knowing your purpose provides you with a deep source of motivation and resilience. When faced with challenges or setbacks, your sense of purpose can give you the strength and determination to persevere, even when the going gets tough.
Sense of Meaning and Fulfillment: Living a purpose-driven life gives you a profound sense of meaning and fulfillment. You derive satisfaction from knowing that your actions are aligned with something greater than yourself, whether it's making a positive impact on others, pursuing your passions, or contributing to a cause you believe in.
Increased Creativity and Innovation: Pursuing your purpose often involves thinking outside the box, taking risks, and exploring new possibilities. This mindset fosters creativity and innovation, enabling you to approach challenges with fresh perspectives and find novel solutions.
Stronger Relationships: When you live authentically and in alignment with your purpose, you naturally attract people who share your values and passions. This can lead to deeper, more meaningful relationships built on mutual understanding and support.
Personal Growth and Development: Embracing your purpose encourages continuous growth and development as you strive to fulfill your potential and make a positive impact. You may find yourself pushing beyond your comfort zone, acquiring new skills, and learning valuable lessons along the way.
Health and Well-being: Research suggests that people who have a sense of purpose tend to experience better physical and mental health outcomes. Living with purpose can reduce stress, boost resilience, and enhance overall well-being, leading to a healthier, more fulfilling life.
The Benefits Of Finding Your Purpose In Life
Discovering your purpose in life can bring a multitude of benefits, enriching various aspects of your personal and professional well-being:
Increased Motivation: Having a clear sense of purpose provides you with intrinsic motivation to pursue your goals and aspirations. It gives your actions meaning and direction, making it easier to stay focused and driven.
Enhanced Resilience: Knowing your purpose can help you weather life's challenges with greater resilience. When faced with setbacks or obstacles, your sense of purpose acts as a source of inner strength and determination, helping you bounce back and persevere.
Greater Satisfaction and Fulfillment: Living in alignment with your purpose brings a profound sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. You feel a deep sense of meaning and contentment knowing that your life is guided by something meaningful and fulfilling.
Improved Decision-Making: Your purpose serves as a compass for decision-making, helping you prioritize what truly matters to you. It enables you to make choices that align with your values and long-term goals, leading to greater clarity and confidence in your decisions.
Enhanced Well-being: Research suggests that people who have a strong sense of purpose tend to experience better physical and mental well-being. They report lower levels of stress, anxiety, and depression, as well as higher levels of overall life satisfaction and happiness.
Deeper Connections: Living with purpose often leads to deeper, more meaningful connections with others. You attract like-minded individuals who share your values and passions, fostering a sense of belonging and camaraderie.
Increased Creativity and Innovation: Pursuing your purpose encourages creative thinking and innovation. It inspires you to explore new ideas, take risks, and think outside the box, leading to breakthroughs and novel solutions in various areas of your life.
Personal Growth and Development: Embracing your purpose fosters continuous personal growth and development. You find yourself stretching beyond your comfort zone, acquiring new skills, and evolving as a person as you strive to fulfill your potential and make a positive impact.
Sense of Legacy: Living with purpose allows you to leave a meaningful legacy that extends beyond your lifetime. Whether through your contributions to society, your impact on others, or the values you instill in future generations, your purpose leaves a lasting imprint on the world.
Overall Life Satisfaction: Ultimately, living in alignment with your purpose leads to greater overall life satisfaction. You feel a sense of harmony and balance as you navigate life's ups and downs, knowing that you are living authentically and making a meaningful difference in the world.
It Is Never Too Late To Lean Into Your Purpose In Life
It's never too late to lean into your purpose in life. While some people may discover their purpose early in life and embark on their journey with clarity and conviction, others may find it later in life, or even multiple times throughout their lifetime. Here are a few reasons why it's never too late:
Life Experience: As you accumulate life experience, you gain wisdom and insight that can help clarify your values, passions, and priorities. These experiences can often lead to a deeper understanding of your purpose and what truly matters to you.
Self-Discovery is Ongoing: Self-discovery is a lifelong process. Just because you haven't found your purpose yet doesn't mean it's not out there waiting for you. Keep exploring, learning, and growing, and remain open to new possibilities.
Life Transitions: Major life transitions, such as career changes, retirement, or personal milestones, can prompt reflection and introspection, leading to a reevaluation of your purpose and priorities. Embrace these transitions as opportunities for growth and renewal.
Legacy Building: Regardless of your age or stage in life, you have the power to leave a meaningful legacy by living in alignment with your purpose. Your purpose-driven actions can have a positive impact on others and contribute to a better world, regardless of when you discover or embrace your purpose.
Resilience and Adaptability: Humans are remarkably resilient and adaptable beings. Even if you feel like you've strayed from your purpose or missed opportunities in the past, you have the capacity to course-correct and realign with what truly matters to you.
Inspiration from Others: Many people have found their purpose later in life and gone on to achieve great things. Drawing inspiration from their stories can give you hope and motivation to pursue your own purpose, no matter your age or circumstances.
Personal Growth: Embracing your purpose is not just about achieving external success; it's also about personal growth and fulfillment. No matter where you are on your journey, there are always opportunities to learn, evolve, and live more authentically.
The Wrap
Remember, your purpose in life may evolve over time as you grow, learn, and experience new things. Stay open to the journey and trust that you will find clarity and meaning in your own unique way.
Ultimately, when you live in alignment with your purpose, you create a life that is meaningful, rewarding, and successful on your own terms.
Success is not just measured by external achievements but by the sense of fulfillment and contentment that comes from living authentically and making a positive difference in the world.
Finding your purpose is a deeply personal and individual journey. Trust in your own path and timing, and know that it's never too late to lean into what truly matters to you and live a life of meaning and fulfillment.
I hope that these tips aid you in your journey toward life success, whatever that looks like for you.

I have been dating my partner for about 2.5 years, living together for about 9 months. We've had some ups and downs- nothing breakup worthy- but we've both had some significantly tough times. Given some recent events in our life, I would like some advice as to whether or not I'm being realistic in terms of my expectations of him and our relationship.
My partner's Dad was hospitalized in January for a cardiac episode. He was released after 5 days and during the follow up appointments, it was discovered that he had colon cancer. He had surgery that removed the tumor in late April. During the surgery, they removed 26 lymph nodes and sent them out for testing. 1 of nodes came back positive for stage 3 cancer cells. The oncologist said his best course of action would be chemo to rule out any additional cancer cells that may exist before they become a bigger issue. He'll be starting chemo in early June. My partner is understandably negatively affected by this diagnosis. For context, his Mom survived breast cancer about 12 years ago, during which time my partner was her primary caregiver, but his best friend's father just died from cancer 3 weeks ago. The best friend's father went from totally fine, to diagnosis, to dead in less than a month. It was brutal. Partner's father is not in the best shape health wise, and quite frankly, my partner is anticipating a poor outcome from the chemo/cancer. I'm trying to be positive and supportive for the family, but it's taking its toll on all of them, as is to be anticipated.
As this whole thing has been happening, my partner has been going through it in terms of his mental health. He's struggled with depression and panic attacks for most of his adult life. He's been on an antidepressant for years. After his father was hospitalized in January, he was temporarily laid off from his job because of his poor work performance. The company basically told him they wouldn't let him return to work until he started therapy and got his shit together. He started seeing a therapist in February and started Adderall for his ADHD in March. It's been better in the sense that's he's more communicative with me, seems to be on a bit of a better schedule, etc. He started back to work on May 1st. Going back to work has been pretty good- he likes his new position and his schedule is much more consistent now, so that's good.
This entire time, I've been supporting our household financially as he completely drained his small emergency fund in less than 5 weeks. Financially, we are total opposites, and it stresses me out! I have 150K in savings/retirement, and he has only a couple grand saved and nothing in retirement. We've been talking about getting married, but in December (before this whole ordeal even started) we had a conversation where I ultimately told him marriage was off the table until he's financially in a better position, and he'd agreed to open retirement accounts and asked me to help him budget etc., but this was before the whole cancer- laid off- therapy thing even started. We haven't really discussed it much since.
Some of the other issues that we continue to have is that he's generally unable to remember to do any tasks unless I remind him incessantly (as in, tell him multiple times, text him, call him, etc.) Tasks would include: taking out the trash, putting away his vapes so the dog can't get to them, brushing his teeth, putting laundry in the basket, picking up his wet bath towels, etc.
The biggest one that bothers me is his lack of consistency after I go to bed. He's a night owl and stays up late, which is fine, but he'll (more often than not), pass out on the couch with the lights on, the TV on, the computer playing a video, food and drinks all over the living room, didn't brush his teeth, etc. I wake up naturally a lot throughout the night so then I either go get him from the living room, basically force him to brush his teeth and get in bed, and then have to deal with the mess/electronics myself at whatever ungodly hour it is OR just leave everything as is and go back to sleep. If I do that, I still have to deal with all of those things when I wake up at 5 am with the dog and get ready to go to work- she's a puppy who's excitable and it's so much easier on me if he's in the bedroom in the morning so she'll stay focused on me and I don't have to worry about her getting to his vapes, food, drinks, etc.
As a side note, the fact that his oral health is so poor is disgusting to me. I've already set a strong boundary that I will refuse to kiss or be intimate with him unless he's brushed his teeth at least once per day. He's a very touchy person that likes physical affection, so it's tough for him that I refuse to kiss him unless his teeth are brushed, but it's generally pretty effective in helping him to remember to brush them. At least, it was until January.
I want to be clear that our communication is pretty good, and all of the boundaries I have/expectations I've set are things we've talked about and agreed upon together. These are all areas in which he agreed and often he was the one to suggest that he needs to work on. I also didn't mention the areas I've agreed to work on within myself, but there are a few.
Given the things happening with his Dad, I feel like an asshole pushing him to be better with his finances, health, and chores, but I also don't think I can deal with these things NOT getting worked on for the next 8-12 months (the projected length of his Dad's treatment). So- what's the balance? How can I support him through this which pushing us to work on our relationship? Or, is it totally unrealistic to expect that right now? I know I want to have a conversation with him about our foreseeable future but I want to be realistic as to what I can/should ask of him. So- what do you think?
Edit: For context, my partner would like to be engaged by the end of the year. He'd been saving for a ring/wedding prior to getting laid off. I pushed pause on that plan because I was uncomfortable with his lack of financial stability and generally felt that he did not pull his weight of the household responsibilities. He agreed to work on these things before taking the next step. He still wants to propose this year, despite what's happened.

I'm calling it over on my season. My goals were Slayer, level 70, min renown level 3 in all regions, and all seasonal material. This was my first D4 season so I played through the campaign too. That as painfully slow ar parts. I've done about 10-12 seasons of D3 (and have many hours in other ARPGs, mostly PoE).
As of now, I have a level 75 twisting blades rogue, renown level 3 or 4 in all regions, completed all seasonal material, but am two Arc Support stones away from completing slayer (or 21 senechal caches away, but that is really far away). I've been 2 arc stones away for a while and been grinding vaults non-stop for the last 24 hours, but I can't get the last two to drop.
It makes the game end on a sour note. Hey Bliz, when you don't feel like you are making progress, you start to hate the game. For most things in the game there is exactly one way to get them, and with poor luck, you stop making forward progress. There needs to be multiple ways to achieve goals, or you turn the game into a dead-end time suck.
With all those failed vault runs, even if I wasn't getting the exact stone I should have been making small steps towards that goal in some way, insteat of a failed run just being a waste of time.

1. Trading accomplishes this by allowing two people with different goals to make their failed runs into someone else's success. It let's me to differnt types of content and keep the game enjoyable instead of running the same dungeons.
   
2. Having a way to craft (Diablo's crafting is really more just purchasing) from the other discards is another way. My arc support is sitting at level 9, 40/60 exp, and hasn't improved in the last 10 runs at least (I've tried speed running level 15-20s (with a smaller drop pool) and also slower 30+s. In that time I've had more of some legendaries than arcs. Being able to combine some items or create another: eg 100 exp from another stone for 10 exp in the target.
   
3. Have a way to target or restrict the drop pool. If each vault targeted a specific portion of the drop pool more that other or there wasy a way remove some drops from the list, that would help players feel like they are doing something - allow us to be intelligent instead of just bad RNG grinding. If I could sacrifice 10-50 exp from one stone to reduce its odds or remove it from the drop pool before running a vault that would help players have more agency and not feel like they are just beign jerked around by poor RNG (you can even doing in a straitifed way so it only increases the odds of the others stones in the same rarity).
   

There are numerous other ways this can be achieved. Players shuold never feel like they are wasting their time. When they have a string of bad luck, there needs to be some way to make that play time still have meaning to their goals. Wihtout that it just turns into a boring grindfest.
So now I'm not excited about season 4 at all. I burned myself out trying to grind for that last 20 exp in one of the most common tuning stones, and feel like what a waste of time and effort.
Trading isn't something -- for most people -- done as an end in itself. It is a means for two people to turn wasted effort into something useful for their goals. It also isn't the only way do to that. There are other ways, but D4 lacks any of them. n D4, wasted time is just wasted time, and I will burn out from if it isn't changed.

I [16F] was talking to one of my best friends [16F] and she was asking me what the “girl codes” are for when girls who has their girl best friend get a boyfriend to make sure the gf doesn’t get jealous of what they are doing. It ended up where she sent me a video of a girl saying that there are 5 things that only a true girls girl would understand, they were; 1-if you’re best friend has a crush on them do not follow them on social media without her permission/she asks you to, 2- always hate who they chose because they deserve so much better 3- never message them privately unless it’s birthday or proposal even if she said it’s okay to 4- never borrowing her bf’s hoodie 5- never let her bf drive you home if she isn’t there.
The part I’m confused by is that we all were friends starting 9th grade (year 10 for UK’ers I think?) and we have been a close knit group, she said that she thought it was a tad exaggerating but she agreed with some points, I not supposed to talk to him now with this information? We have been the type of friends who send random instagram messages back and forth and my entire group before went through a swapping hoodies obsession so this feels late to mention in my eyes. Also both her and her bf were friends with me before they got together. I would like a yes or no if I’m being to nieve to see this video and it’s messages as a bad thought proces or not as I am still young and need to look at my own priories of boundaries. I sent her a message that went as follows; I think I get it? But I’m a bit concerned on what parts you do or don’t agree with because all of them are exaggerating in my eyes but if those are what you stand by morally as long as you understand this isn’t an “everyone can understand immediately and has the same perspective” then I support your opinion, you should also talk to -bf’s name- about this if this is actually your thoughts because I don’t think he sees the way you see it. Good morning.
I’m not sure if I did the right thing and if I should address this further, please let me know if I should or not, I am happy to answer questions in the comments if people want more details, I don’t know what I should be putting in here.
TLDR: Video my best friend sent me is, in my opinion illogical for our group, and I would like people’s decision who are older on if I should ask her more about it or just let her be.

Before I start this, I just want to answer some question I know I’ll probably have to answer later, or share some information that might be important.

1. I have gone no contact with him. (He tries to bait me into talking to him.) Only my friend group knows about the alcohol.
   
2. I know for a fact he drinks, I was with him once when he did it.
   
3. It’s not his parent’s fault, he sneaks it from open vodka bottles in their refrigerator.
   
4. I know he is drinking while underage, I plan to report him to the school counselor if he doesn’t seek help.
   
5. We’re both gay, though I do not like him like that in any way shape or form. He swears up and down he doesn’t like me like that either, but take that how you will.
   
6. He has allegedly been drinking since he was 7. I can neither confirm nor deny this.
   
7. He blames all of his problems on the alcohol.
   

I, 16m, was friends with another boy, 15m, for roughly 4 years. We used to call each other every day to play games. Every single day for 4 years. Everything was fine until I started hanging out with our other (mutual) friends.
After I started hanging out with other people, he began to get very jealous and bitter towards me and the friend I was talking to. He would act annoyed and upset whenever I would do things with my other friends, even though it’s the same things I would do with him. This is when the arguing began. He would make snarky comments toward me indirectly through his bio on either a game we play together or the app we use to text and call. He would always deny that it is about me, even if it was blatantly obvious. (For example, I used to give myself nicknames on the game we play together. He combined the starting letter of the 3 I've used and said something along the lines of “ABC gave me everything but real love.”)
We would argue like this and he would come to school like nothing happened and act friendly towards me, even if it was obvious that I didn’t want to act friendly with him. He would also frequently block me for absolutely no reason, and unblock me after a few hours. If I asked for a reason, he would get mad and change the subject. Of course, I got tired of this and blocked him back one day. To nobody’s surprise, the next day at school he was talking to me and making jokes like absolutely nothing happened.
One day, he even decided it would be a great idea to ignore me while I was sitting right next to him. I would talk to him, wave my hand in front of him to get his attention, and even tap his shoulder. No response. I obviously got fed up with him and let my friends know in a group chat that he isn’t in what was going on incase they were curious why either of us were annoyed. (This wasn't the best idea, I know, however he gets mad when I hang out or talk to them differently than I do with him so the most logical thing to do was to not let him know when I hang out or text with them.)
Before this next part, I have to go back a little bit. Because we would play games together, we would log into each other’s account to farm or grind for something the other wants. This lead to him knowing my password and email. Since he saw me typing on my phone, he saw the group chat that doesn’t have him in it. He took that as a sign that I was talking shit about him to our friends (I truly was not.) and decided to try and hack my account. Luckily, I’ve always used a secondary email on the games we play, so he only got my old account.
Not knowing that this happened, I forgave him for everything that he did prior. A few days later, at the end of school before I left, we were talking when he said the name of my secondary account. Of course, I asked how he knew about it, and he said he logged in. I obviously got very angry at him for this, as I had not given him permission whatsoever. I told him I would have showed him my messages had he just simply asked. This caused him to get angry at me for being angry at him. (He also got angry at me when he got the notifications that he had been removed from my email. I also changed my passwords, have no fear.)
After discussing this with our mutual friends, they confirmed that what he did was not okay. Because I was getting more distant from him, he thought that he should buddy up to someone else in our friend group. (He barely speaks to anyone else if he doesn’t have to.) Of course, he chose the one person that he supposedly hates based on past events. (Not my story to share, I apologize.)
(I don’t remember this part all too well so take it with a grain of salt.) After a while, I decided to give him another chance. We had a conversation where I brought up all of the issues I had with him in a few paragraphs. (Mainly stuff about boundaries and respecting me. Also for pulling my hair whenever he got the chance even though I told him multiple times on multiple occasions to stop.) His response was changing the subject to something different, and about me. I promptly him shut down, however, as he was bringing up stuff that I didn’t do, insisting that he at least acknowledges his problems instead of pretending everything is fine. This ultimately lead to him getting angry and ending the conversation with his signature “Okay. Bye.”
He then went back to pretending everything was normal with me, though he was talking shit about me in a group chat with our mutual online friends and one of our real life friends (The one he hated that I mentioned previously.) She would tell me everything he said about me, but she didn’t want to get involved so I couldn’t call him out for any of it. At this point, I was just tired of fighting, so I went with it. Many more minor arguments happened after this. I won’t include details for the sake of this post not being too unbearably long, since what happened was basically the previous fight over and over.
A while later, one of our friends called him out for his shit, as I had been letting them know what was going on for every argument we had. He got really heated over this, and told her to kill herself and that he never valued her as a friend. She gave no shits at all. He was promptly removed, or left on his own, from all of the group chats with her in them except our main server. They had each other blocked, though to nobody’s surprise that didn’t stop him from talking about her or to her in the server.
Though 2 out of 5 people in our friend group wanted nothing to do with him, that didn’t stop him from sitting with us and trying to joke around with us like nothing happened. For a while, everything was fine. I wasn’t talking to him, he wasn’t talking to me. Another fight happened between him and the friend he hated before, but that isn’t my story to tell either, sorry. The only thing I can say about the fight is that he mentioned his alcohol addiction.
One thing lead to another and I decided to give him one last chance. Again. So, I had another conversation with him, letting him know that im serious about unfriending him if he doesn’t talk to his therapist about the alcohol, jealousy, and obsession with me.
I gave him until the end of the week to talk to his therapist, or I’m gone. Everything was fine until the weekend. I went on a trip to Dollywood on the weekend, 4 of my friends being there. He of course did not come on the trip, as he isn’t in the school club that took us. I asked him on Sunday if he had talked to his therapist about anything yet, and he had said no. I rightfully blocked him, just as I said I would. He proceeded to play the victim and started asking our friends what he did wrong, pretending that I hadn’t told him anything about blocking him.
I unblocked him momentarily to send a message on why I did it. I told him blatantly that if he didn’t talk to his therapist I would block him, and he did not. I may have been a little harsh with my words, but keep in mind that I have given him many chances to grow and learn from his mistakes that he has not taken. He needs help, and I can’t help him. I wished him the best, but told him that the best is not something I am capable of giving him.
After I blocked him again, he edited one of his messages to “call me out” for not doing what he wanted. He claims that I should’ve just listened to his issues and tell him everything was fine instead of letting him know that what he’s doing is wrong. He doesn’t want help, he wants someone to ignore his problems. I told him that im not that person and im tired of pretending I am. He proceeded to make his bio things along the lines of “You never actually loved me” once more.
After his numerous attempts at getting me to talk to him by making his bio about me, I got fed up. I confronted him, letting him know that I don’t want to be friends with him, I don’t want anything to do with him, and that he needs to stop talking about me in his bio. He of course pretended his issues didn’t exist, instead telling me that he would get help for real this time. I let him know that he just admitted to not trying to get help the first time, and that in lying to me, he broke my trust in him.
Because I knew he wouldn’t try to get help, I blocked him after saying goodbye once more. This is when he started openly shit talking me and the friend that called him out one single time. He changed his bio to things about my body he knew I was insecure about, such as my forehead. While I admit that this wasn’t the best thing to do, I gave him a taste of his own medicine. He’s a bigger individual, and he’s told me that he’s insecure about his weight.
Again, I apologize for what I said to him, I was angry when I said it. He said I have a sixhead, so I retaliated with seventeen stomach and that he can’t be talking about me when he looks 5 years pregnant. I mean no hate to pregnant people, I was angry at him when I said it. I do not condone rudeness towards plus sized or pregnant individuals. Back to the story.
He made a post on a platform we all use about how he hates Taylor Swift fans, especially the blonde ones. (Ironic when he was talking about how he liked her a while ago. Also, the friend that called him out is blonde and a big Taylor Swift fan.) So, in retaliation, our other, OTHER friend commented the username to his twitter account where he actively reposts nsfw images of gay furries, often depicted as children. I was the only person that knew about it, since he reposted such images and showed them to me in class, to my discomfort. I am usually not one to air out dirty laundry like that, however he had done something similar to me a while back, and I honestly didn’t care how it would make him feel.
I took another page out of his book and edited my message since we had each other blocked, telling him to stop shit talking me in his bio, and that I wanted nothing to do with him. Since that happened, he hasn’t made his bio anything about me, instead changing it to some joke about being 5 years pregnant.
Nobody has told me that what I’ve done was wrong, I just would like to make sure that I’m not in the wrong here. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

So I know this question's kinda dumb, since no one can say for certain; but I'd like to get some thoughts.
Certain games just really take over the cultural zeitgeist at a given moment. And some games peak pretty early.
Like, just anecdotally, I saw a lot more discussion and hype around V Rising during early access, compared to recently, when it just fully-launched what feels pretty quietly.
Hades 1's full release is what made Supergiant explode in many peoples' awareness; so it had a comparatively quiet Early Access compared to Hades 2.
What I'm wondering is, do you think Hades 2 will be like V Rising, in that the peak of its popularity is now, and the 1.0 launch will be quieter compared to all the social media chatter we see around Hades 2 Early Access right now?
There are a LOT more eyes on Hades 2 early access compared to Hades 1 early access.
I ask this because I have two conflicting desires. On one hand, I usually prefer to wait until a game's 1.0 launch to play it. But on the other hand, I also enjoy playing games and engaging with the community when the game is at its most popular in terms of online discussion.
Previously, these two desires usually went together; but now they conflict. So that's why I wanted to hear peoples' opinions. <.<

weve been together over a year. i would say our relationship is mostly positive, but when it gets bad, it gets really bad. i grew up with an angry, narcissistic, alcoholic father so i cant stand when my bf starts to show some of the same characteristics. he acts immature in arguments, usually arguments start because he says something hurtful, or if hes angry about something unrelated he puts it all on me. he gives me attitude like an angsty teenage boy shows his mother, he uses sarcasm, he plays the blame game with me, and just acts super disrespectful like a child. im a very sensitive, anxious and reactive person, so i have a tendency to overexplain and pour my heart out during the argument, BUT i never ever get disrespectful. im very good at choosing my words carefully and avoiding the mind games when i argue. from there it just escalates and escalates and gets worse and worse until finally he admits hes wrong, he feels super guilty for a few days, comes back apologizing and asking for forgiveness.
heres the catch, he NEVER says that he’ll change. he recognizes and acknowledges that he hurts me sometimes, but when he apologizes he basically just says “ive ruined it all” “i know im such a terrible boyfriend” “i dont deserve you” “this isnt fair to you”
i end up being the proactive partner in the relationship all the time. sometimes i feel like i wear the pants and im the man in the relationship. i start searching up things online, i started going to therapy, i send him articles and i ask him “how can we fix this? what can i do for you? what can we figure out together? what can we fix in our communication?” hes never the one to initiate that, he apologizes and moves on.
this is too hard for me, cause most of the time our relationship is good !! we have so many plans for the future, so many memories. our families are pretty close, and our future seems pretty set. but this is the one thing that i dont believe will ever change. im having a really hard time figuring out if this is worth it for me, if i should make this drastic change in my life by breaking up over this?? is it worth to keep trying with him?? do i believe that he will ever change ??

Does anybody else think that Tyson fury is looking a bit too thin to fight usyk? If you get me. It looks like he's lost ALOT of weight. His weight is his biggest advantage. If he looses more than he usually does, I think he'll struggle against usyk there's no way he'll outbox him. as he won't have much weight for him to lean on usyk and also unpopular opinion, I do think it's fishy. He wasn't in good shape for the feb 17th usyk fight and now he got "cut" it's given him lots more time to train doesn't it seem strange?
I pirate everything: games, movies, software, and even made my own plex server. But lately I have gotten really into Usyk & Fury Boxing and haven't found a great way to watch Boxing for free live.
The Fury v Usyk live stream sees the undisputed heavyweight championship defend his strap against the popular Californian pugilist. Here's everything you need to know to watch online with and without a PPV. Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will take the ring on Saturday May 18) at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Here are all the ways to stream live free online.
I don't care if there is a small delay or anything, but it needs to be at a good bitrate at 1080p or it isn't worth watch for me. Also preferably I would want a way to watch it on a smart TV in some way but im expecting to sacrifice that luxury honestly.
ESPN, ABC or Boxing Network. I'm sure you can stream as well as way to watch it but I want to see what you guys recommend.

Where to start. It's going to get long so the people who do read it all fully, I truly appreciate you and thank you for reading my hurt.
I met this girl at work back in December and things were not good from the start. She said she didn't want to be in a relationship cause she had just got out of one 3 months prior to me talking to her. The very 1st day I meet her at work I ended up coming to her house. We didn't do nothing but smoked, drinked. talked and watched Rick and morty, it was awesome and I knew then that I really wanted to pursue this women since I only desired to know her as a person. Things went good after that we talked more and hung out more times. It was building into something.
Move forward a month she starts to get cold feet tells me that she wqsmt ready for a relationship and ended things. Well to my surprise a week later she wanted to work it out and told me that she's never been with a real caring man before and she was scared it was too good too be true and ran away from me and our relationship. We talked about it and I told her to not give up on me cause I would never give up on her. Things went good after that. Until I started to see some changes in her behavior.
A couple months passed and during those months she would hangout with a friend who was a bad influence on her. Her friend always wanted to go out to the club and would put her in some fucked up situations where then she would call me to come fix or just come pick her up. This happened more times then I could remember. One time I was getting shit faced with some buddies and she called me at 2 am to come pick her up since she was too drunk with her friend. It was a 3 hour drive and I went to help her knowing it was a horrible choice due to me being drunk but I loved her and cared about her way too much so the answer was quite easy to go and help her. Another time she was with her same friend and I caught her going live on tiktoc with her friend and she was in bathtub in her bikini with hwr friend and in the mirror I could see another man standing there mid 40s close to 50 without a shirt on asking them if they needed more drink and towels. I commented on the live and she immediately took it down and blocked me. Th3 next day she said she didn't know who that guy was and proceeded to make excuse after excuse. She told me she was sorry and that it won't ever happen again that she wanted to be with me and only me. we dont talk for about a week after this cause i couldnt believe she would do such a thing to me. That was betrayal to me, trying to be sneaky behind my back getting caught then lying to me about it. She came to my house unexpectedly and gave me a letter professing her love and commitment to me something she's never done before. It showed me change and effort, so I took her back (stupid I know but I really wanted her and gave her every chance to change into a better person) a couple weeks if not a month after that incident, she goes to a casino with that same friend. At this point I told her that it wasn't a good idea to keep contact with this friend cause she doesn't care about our relationship and puts her in some fucked up situations all the time. But it was hard for her since this friend was someone she knew since they were 10 it was hard for her to hear my words. So she calls me at 5 am the night she went with the casino with her friend and tells me that she absolutely needs me that she was kidnapped and needed me to come save her. Sp that's what I did. Drove over an hour and 30 min to get to her. She was walking with her friend when I found her and she couldn't remember where she parked her car she said it had to be in the casino parking lot but we couldn't find it. Where was her car? Just a block away from the people who "kidnapped her" at this point I was done. She done lied to me so many times and took advantage of my heart. I told her that after I help her that we are done. She goes to an extreme and says she's going to kill herself and to just drop her off wherever. I lost a friend due to suicide so this one hit at home and I couldn't let her go thru with it, also cause I loved her and still cared for her, of course. We end up taking a trip the day after for 3 days to get away and help her balance her life again. It seemed to work fine. She was so into me and said she wanted to marry me and have kids and start a family. I was excited yet felt it was too much of a rush. So we waited.
Just last month in April she really wanted a kid and by this time things have gotten much better she wasn't hanging out with that bad friend anymore and she would always come over to stay the night or I would go to her place. It was perfect and everything I ever dreamed off to be honest. So we try to have a kid. To complete us and our relationship. She missed her period in the beginning of May and she was pregnant. Something she thought she couldn't become cause she said she tried many times before with her past partners and it never worked. We were both excited. Just last week she told me she wasn't ready for a kid and wanted an abortion. I asked her why since this was the very thing we had hoped for for some time and she simply said it was due to money and not having insurance the bills would be crazy expensive and that she wasnt ready. I supported her decision since we could always have another baby down the line if she wasn't ready then she wasn't ready. I can respect that. A couple days after that she tells me that she doesnt see herself with me and that she doesnt love me anymore. Just out the blue. After everything we have been through. All the times I forgave her and took her back just to be left out in the cold without her giving me a chance to fix whatever the problem may have been. When she told me she didn't love me anymore and that she lost feelings it made me very confused and lost. Why try to have a baby then just a week ago? Why come back to me asking for forgiveness all those times if you were just gonna play me in the end? I asked her these things and she could only say sorry. That's it. That's all I got. I kept asking why how could you do that out of nowhere was it the baby? She just said she lost feelings a long time ago and doesn't love me anymore. Okay then why try to have a baby with me if that was true? why did she make me believe that she was really down for me and committed to me. These answers I'll never know. Since she just tells me sorry and to move on. But real love doesn't work that way. I'm finding it hard to cope with. Last thing she asked me was if I was going to help with the abortion cost. I told her yes cause it was also my responsibility and not just hers. The abortion is the 21st of this month and I dread each day closer to that date.
Thanks for reading.

In this edition of “Odd Titanica”, we are going to dive into the sleazy, opportunistic world of show business. A world that comedian Fred Allen said of, “you can take all the sincerity in Hollywood, place it in the navel of a fruit fly, and still have room for three caraway seeds and a producer’s heart”. Hyperbolic? Let’s take a look at Hollywood’s response to the Titanic disaster to see that there really is no business like show business.
Dorothy Gibson and the lost, first, film are well worn trivia by now. The traumatized actress rushed into production, her inability to process her trauma causing her mental breakdown, collapse, and retirement from acting immediately after the film was finished - it’s a perfect story to demonstrate the callousness of the film industry. But there is more to the story, and digging deeper shows us that “Saved” may have been the least sleazy project undertaken by the studios.
Dorothy’s account of the sinking and the suffering she endured filming “Saved from the Titanic” are predominantly found in two sources - The New York Dramatic Mirror and Moving Picture World. These were trade magazines, published weekly, and consisting solely of material related to the stage and screen business. These would be announcements of upcoming features, casting news, celebrity gossip, technical news - anything the movie star to the man sweeping the floor at the cinema needed to know. And they included ads … lots and lots of ads.
Immediately realizing that Titanic was not only a horrible tragedy but an incredible business opportunity, Moving Picture World got to work. As people stormed White Star Line offices, and raided newspaper carts for any drop of news regarding the sinking, Moving Picture World provided the latest in Titanic news; or perhaps we should say “Titanic” news.
The headlines of the April 27th issue may have screamed TITANIC, but as the public grabbed their copy and hurriedly flipped through the pages, they found that what they were actually given was ads. Those eye grabbing headlines were followed by much smaller print-
TITANIC EFFORTS... are being exerted by Champion to put before the exhibitors that will make them regular Champ Patrons! Get the following latest [releases] and you’ll be convinced!.
UNSINKABLE … is the reputation of Rep productions, but these two releases will sink into the minds of everyone who sees them and will remain there as worthy object lessons.
THE CRY OF THE CHILDREN …suggested by the poem of Elizabeth Barret Browning in 2 reels this Tuesday!
THE GREATEST MOTION PICTURE OF NATIONAL INTEREST - THE SINKING OF…. the big battleship. Remember the Maine!
THE DEATH SHIP...a sensational two reel drama of the sea containing one of the most thrilling dynamite explosions imaginable!
For all the slimy marketing tricks, flipping through the pages still has plenty of legitimate ads for real Titanic newsreels, movies, and a specific type of presentation known a Myriorama involving painting, music, and recitation. But, show business would strike again - the ads were legitimate, but what they were advertising was not. History has sort of forgotten the huge demand for Titanic media in the wake of the sinking, something that didn’t really exist. When cinema owners would order these “only surviving genuine negatives of the disaster” complete with lobby display package, they instead received-

our astonishment to find the Lusitania and Olympic, and one or two scratch films of ancient days posing as pictures of Titanic.

But they didn’t stop. Animated Weekly advertised that they were “the first to reach the wreck… chartered a tug from Cape Breton and rushed to the scene while the survivors were still in the water”. Cinemas began to promote footage of the sinking. Audiences wrote their disgust to Moving Picture World-

These representations are to the point of criminality … Take, for instance, the picture showing the Titanic with about a sixth of her forward length stuck into the iceberg. Everybody knows the collision did not occur in that manner!

They pointed to the following ad as an example - FIRST PICTURES OF THE TITANIC OCEAN DISASTER. The cinema owners responded by noting that they had misread, crammed in tiny letters were the words “sunk in” so that ad actually read FIRST PICTURES OF THE TITANIC sunk in OCEAN DISASTER. It was the customer's fault, they said, to be stupid enough to think anyone could have actually filmed the sinking.
Once this ruse was discovered, the studios shifted gears. The next step was to advertise film along with presentations by “A Lecturer who was on board”. When the audience realized the lecturer was not on Titanic and demanded a refund - the response from the managers was

Those signs didn’t say he was a survivor.

… and any attempt to charge him with the crime of fraud was absurd because, in his own words-

Of course I didn’t give him his money back. The sign didn’t misrepresent anything. West was on the Titanic, the sign didn’t say when he was.

…which was true. The lecturer, Eugene West, had visited Titanic while she was under construction at Belfast.
As for the movies themselves?

We said we had pictures. If people were foolish enough to think we meant moving pictures, that was their fault.

This particular cheated audience member was told if he wanted his money back, to go on the street and sing for it. Whether it was this, or something else, eventually the public snapped and began hauling out cinema managers and beating them in the streets. By May, the mayors of Boston and Memphis had banned the showing of any Titanic pictures - moving or still- within the city.
But, where was Dorothy in all this? Tucked in the very back of the magazine, after another newsreel ad,, we get to the celebrity sighting and gossip section. Ed Lux of the Rex Film Exchange was in town, Dan Markowitz of Fox Pictures was as well, Arthur Schmidt of the Victor Film Company was seen having a lovely spa at a Turkish Bath, Sam Gobel of the St Louis Motion Picture Company has been walking up and down 42nd street, we don’t know if Southern film maker Henry Wasserman is still here but he might be, Dorothy Gibson survived the sinking of the Titanic, and the Director of Selig Pictures took some actresses to Santa Catalina for a swim and a photoshoot and they had a great time.
By the following edition, on May 2nd, Moving Picture World was also able to provide its readers with the first stills from “Saved from the Titanic” and a feature on Dorothy. Along with this, tucked in the editorials, the magazine finally published a piece of truthful news about the Titanic disaster-

Senator William Alden Smith … declined to grant permission to have the cinematopgraph make a record of the sessions of the committee. “The sessions” he is quoted as saying…”are solemn affairs and must not be hippodromed or commercialized”. He is, however, falling into a serious error in judgement-

…they sniffed.

As a matter of right, the camera man ought to have been permitted. The day of the enfranchisement of the motion picture will surely come .. which will give equal rights to the cinematographer and the newspaper man.

Then, among the illegal false advertising and reports of public brawls at the cinema, they ended with-

The lesson of the Titanic disaster and all its incidents can be made far more impressive by pictures that move than by mere words in cold letters.

My last post (that account is my computer account, this one is my phone) lacked information because of the assumed subreddit rules but if you want the explanation:
But essentially, a player in their server was flirted with by a minor, and after being justifiably uncomfortable with that they thought of suggesting an 18+ server or if not that then at least to have roles to determine age to keep stuff like that from happening again. (because said minor assumed that they were also a minor, hence why they flirted, but after finding out they respectfully apologized and moved on).
The admin team immediately responded with hostility, being accusatory almost. In their staff chat they claimed that the player wanted an 18+ server to use it as dino tinder or to be nasty )which was not the case lot the intention). Then the server owner took the reins on the situation, and made a public announcement saying that if he caught anyone being anything but PG13 that they will be severely punished, and that being disgusting wasn’t allowed on their server.
The player who made the 18+ suggestion made a ticket in which the server owner themself took. They said that they were being misunderstood, that they didn’t want the 18+ server to be inappropriate in, they just wanted a separation so that if inappropriate jokes /did/ happen that minors would not be able to see or participate.
The server owner continuously pushed and forced the player to give them the minor’s username, and at the time of the ticket the player did NOT remember the username anymore, just the fact that it had happened. It got to the point where no matter how many times he told the server owner that he could not remember that it was obvious the owner was just not listening to anything he had to say. So he got understandably frustrated and told the owner to just drop it and that it was no big deal anymore and everyone should just continue with their life because he didn’t want to be stuck in the ticket anymore.
That player also had a spouse who was added into the ticket to give his feedback and feelings on things but he was ultimately ignored by the owner, so he got frustrated and closed/left the ticket before any resolution could be had. The second player has an issue with injustice, so he went into the server in-game and in global chat said that the admins blow things out of proportion and that they’re all faking DID (dissociative identity disorder, in which you have alters, and it forms as a result of horrific childhood abuse… the player actually is diagnosed with the disorder, whereas all of the admins have “fictives” of anime characters from animes that came out recently or games that came out recently which makes no sense when you get down into the nitty-gritty of researching this disorder. According to the player having fictives isn’t unheard of, but having a system consisting only of fictives of hot anime men is unlikely).
They banned him after that, him and his spouse. They labeled him a “fakeclaimer” (a supposed slur against people who widely self diagnose disorders online… hm). But what followed next was what shocked many people. In-game, the server owner themself began trash-talking the players he had just banned upon the players asking what happened. The owner went on the /heavily/ imply that the player and his spouse were p3d0s, or wanted to endanger minors in some way, stating things like “they basically begged me not to look into the incident with minor” “why are they so afraid of me looking into it” “something about that is so suspicious” and the other players online at the time also started slandering the banned players for no reason other than to kiss up to the admins, i’m assuming.
Multiple people ended up making tickets at this point, myself included, inquiring about what happened and informing the admin team that the gossip and spreading of hate and implying untruthful things about people, untruthful things that can /ruin/ lives, even, was uncalled for and very unbecoming as an admin team and that it was frightening that they would react in such an uncouth way to something like this occurring. I basically got the run-around, I was told that I was being disrespectful or aggressive when I was just trying to make my point, I was also told that the player basically deserved it and that the admin team doesn’t have to be silent about things like this (which is just bad practice). It also felt as though the owner was weaponizing incompetence, because it felt like they were purposely misunderstanding and misinterpreting my words to fit what he already thought of me (which was likely negatively because I was standing up for someone who he actively didn’t like).
I didn’t know at the time but my friend also made a ticket to tell them how disappointed she was with their behavior as someone who is an admin for an upcoming game, and gave them a pointer before she told them that she didn’t have anything else to say. The owner asked if she should be added to my ticket which I didn’t mind, so she was added. She ended up replying to the owner saying she didn’t have anything else to say, and that she was sure all the admins were working so hard (a direct quote from an admin). The owner asked her what she meant or for her to use tone tags and her being her she told them to take it however they wanted to and that she was going to be leaving (she was busy). The owner immediately took it as her being disrespectful and sarcastic and immediately banned her. They then turned on me (when I never said anything or did anything disrespectful personally) and told me that they didn’t appreciate the fact that my friend was disrespectful and would undermine the admin team’s hard work like that. I ended up telling them that I don’t control her at all and reminded them that it was their choice to take it negatively when she was just being nonchalant and nonaggressive. The owner snapped at me and told me that I was gaslighting him suddenly, and that he didn’t like that I was defending her. Defending… my literal friend. I told them I was going to defend my friend and they /immediately/ banned me.
So. TLDR: Astral Arcade is ran by a bunch of emotionally unstable people and apparently i’m not the only person to have had such a horrible experience here.