Tagalog joke story

I (F22) been with my boyfriend (M21) for a year now and as of lately it’s been rocky. If you look at the second previous post on my profile this is not the first time something like this has occurred so let me describe what happened this time. So i’m at my boyfriend’s house and his mother was throwing a mother’s day party. When I came I bought his mom a beautiful flower bouquet and some balloons and heartfelt card and also a min cake. She loved it and went downstairs to chill. We’re down there for a good hour and a half and he’s cuddling/ laying on me. So this new ice spice song came on and I showed it to him. When I showed him the song I said that I personally didn’t like it and that she isn’t that great of an artist. He instantly started defending her which caused us to go into a full on debate on ice spice and other female artists who are more talented and don’t get the same recognition as her. It was like he was nearly brained washed trying to defend her. (He was laying fully down on the couch with his head on my upper legs and I had my hand on his chest)
He kept trying to debate with me on my person option until it got to the point of where I checked fully out of the conversation and stopped replying. This enraged him and he threw my arm away from him and a really rude way. After he did this it hurt my feelings so i moved my legs so that his head would be laying on the couch. After I moved his head he kept trying to forcefully make me put my leg back but i refused because of how rude he was acting and then I continued to be on tiktok like we were before this big debate started. Then he snatched my phone away from me (if you read the previous post he did this before but the last time he turned off the tv while i was watching it and as a result i picked up my phone which he snatched out my hand and went away with it )
This time I tried to remain unbothered and this went on for a while too. Mind you after he snatched my phone he picked up his phone and started playing it. So after acting unbothered i snatched my phone back from him and tried to get back to what we were doing before, which was being on our phones. After I got my phone back he said “well if you’re just going to be on your phone you might as well..” and I said “go home ?” and he said yea (I honestly thought he was joking and was going to say jk or something) but when I noticed he was serious I got up and collected my belongings and went upstairs he was leading me out (side note: his mom catered food for the party and I wasn’t hungry when I first got there so they told me to pack a to go plate for later which I did) As I get up stairs I grab my purse and say goodbye to everyone and that “(my boyfriend name) is running me out of here” in like a joking manner.
Then I circle back to grab the plate that I had made then he snatched the plate out of my hand and kept me walking out the door. As I was walking out I wished everyone a happy mother’s day again and hugged his mom (she was at the front door) and kept walking down the stairs and then his mom asked him “aren’t you going to walk her out ?” and and he said “no” and slammed the door. That absolutely crushed me, I couldn’t believe how hurtful he was being to me. So I just got into my car and as I was putting my seatbelt on he appeared saying that his mom “made him” walk me out and I replied “thanks” then he asked if i was mad at him to which i replied “no” (I just couldn’t believe he would even ask me this as if he couldn’t see how upset I was)
At this point im over the disrespect, the first time this happened we talked about it and he made a promise that he was going to work on it. I don’t know if it’s worth it anymore I don’t want to be with someone like that. He’s normally a very sweet and caring person idk why he has these sudden switches sometimes but it honestly is starting to take a toll on me.
I blocked him after I got home because of how upset he made me feel and he keeps reaching on different socials blaming me for the whole situation ! With a mix of saying he was sorry and that i am the rude one and that he doesn’t understand why im “doing all of this” im honestly tore between my feelings and my moral values :/ (This was a long story so I appreciated anyone who made it this far)

Hey there! Short disclaimer: English isn't my first language, errors may occur!
For context: I am currently in my first year of art school (comic department), and I wanted to hold a presentation about my all time favourite comic (which, as you may have guessed from the title, are the Sonic idw issues). Our teachers are pretty chill, the presentation is not mandatory, so I can have a little fun with it.
What I know: I have read pretty much (almost) all the sonic idw issues (I haven't read all spin-off mini series). I also read some issues from the archie comics! I looked up most of the artists and spend a few hours (I wish I was joking) starring at my favourite panels and analysing them. I have a basic understanding of how a comic is made (still a beginner tho).
The main point: I mainly want to talk about the process of how these comics are made. I know some basics, but I was wondering if there are any good articles or interviews you would recommend to check out. I also want to include some things from the archie comics and talk about the differences between the idw and archie comics (story writing, composition, inking, lettering, etc...). Even fun facts would be super helpful! At first I was planning to yap 2 hours about my favourite pages that have awesome inking, colouring and/or compositions. But I want this presentation to be atleast a little bit informative x'D
I honestly don't really know how/where to start since it's a pretty broad theme. Any help would be super appreciated! :D I know this wasn't super detailed, but I really don't know how to start this small project of mine :')

Listening to the is audiobook right now - read by Elliott Gould. It’s incredible. Imagine every film noire trope, almost dripping off of each page. I’m on my 22nd book this year, trying to catch up on classics I never read as a kid, catch up on some of Stephen King’s books I haven’t read yet (and I’ve read over 30 of his books), and sprinkle in some non-fiction as well.
Heard so much about Philip Marlowe. Half way through- this is going to end up being one of my go to recommendations for its ease, excellent writing, and enjoyable story telling. And Elliot Gould is no joke, too.

Apologize in advance this is extremely long.
So the moral of the story is I finally found a name that actually makes me happy. It's been a few months now, and I am beyond grateful to my friends, especially my teachers.
Now, when it comes to family, it's complicated. It's always complicated when it comes to certain things. I had told my mom first in my family, and she didn't have anything apposing to say about my name. I understand that it would be a lot to transition to because the name wasn't normal by social standards. My name, by the way, is Lafontaine, which fits so well with my middle and last names.
I had tired of telling my brother, but he had laughed it off and just walked away. I tried again, and he just tiredly said okay and walked away again. So I kind of just gave up and didn't think about it much; my brother rarely called me by my dead name anyway.
I was still concerned about how he felt about the name, as much as I was concerned about him knowing I was non-binary. I came out as non-binary to everyone in my family, but was worried about my brother's response, mainly because of his past responses regarding trans people. He had both a lesbian friend and a friend who had been dating a trans woman. He would let his lesbian friend smoke with him and hang out, but the moment he found out that his other friend was dating a trans woman, he dropped them and refused to smoke and hang out with him. He thought that it was "disgusting." So I was on the fence about bringing something up like that, knowing his views.
So fast forwarding to today, we were in the car on the way home, and my mom kept dead-naming me the entire way there. Both days have passed since I first told my mom about my name. Like I said, she didn't seem to be bothered by it; she just understood that it was going to take some time to get used to it. Of all the days that went by, she would only use it once in a way that sounded more condescending when I corrected her, and then she just completely stopped calling me that and just called me a different name, which was pumpkin, something that she called me a lot. But it made me realize that she'd rather call me Pumpkin and never call me by that name, and that made me feel some type of way.
So when I corrected her in the car regarding my name, my brother quite literally gave me a lecture. My mother had hopped out of the car and gone to the store, so she left me alone with him. He practically told me that my dead name is my name, and that's it. My mother birthed me, and she named me, so that's my name. She is also not obligated to use a name that I'm comfortable with, and I shouldn't want to change my name because there's nothing wrong with it. He asked me why I changed my name, and I said just because I wanted to; he said it's deeper than that, and so I told him I didn't like it because it was girly, and I guess I shouldn't have expected him to understand that because he said, Oh, other people have that name too. And just because I like girls, I shouldn't have to change my name.
I was baffled and honestly pissed, because what does my liking for girls have to do with the fact that I changed my name? I and he kept going back and forth, and by the time my mom came back, I was just over it. He was saying how it didn't make much of a difference because we are family, and they're allowed to call me by my dead name, but if it was a stranger, he'd get it. He tried saying that I need to be more comfortable in myself even though I've been trying for 7 years hasn't gotten me anywhere but just suffering in the fact I'm being called something that I hate. He didn't see how that was a problem. He was saying a nickname would have been better, which defeats the purpose completely, because I would still be called my dead name and I wouldn't want to be!!!!
I said how disrespectful that sounded for not just respecting my choices, even when he said he loved me and that he's my brother.
After we arrived home, he was like, I'm not calling you Lafontaine, and I'm not going to call you your dead name. I just told him, Don't talk to me, because if you can't address me as anything, then what's the point of talking to me? And he was like, You know what? I'm just going to call you by your dead name. I gave up and told him just don't talk to me in general if that's the case. My mother hadn't said anything regarding this.
I'm still trying to understand if I'm really the problem if I haven't really been communicating well.. Because when it comes to my mother I wouldn't be pushing so hard if I hadn't already knew the fact that she doesn't take these things seriously, and it hurts my fucking feelings everything I try to express to her it's a joke. It seems like pushing so hard to my brother is being fussy if anything she hasn't even tried. I could give a whole list on why I doubt my mother so much. I wish my brother could have responded differently even if that's his way of saying he loves me I'd rather him not love me at all if this is how he wants to treat me.
I'm happy with my name now, I'm at peace with myself. I shouldn't have to feel like I need to change something for the comfort of others.

Hi there Did anyone ever go to a lawn/garage sale off the Hume highway around 2014 in Marulan, NSW? It was sign posted a few times “Lawn sale! 100s of records and book” along the Hume heading south from Sydney. In January 2014, 2 friends and I were driving back to Melbourne from Sydney, we saw the signs and thought, let’s have a look. It was a very hot morning from memory. We turned off the Hume (where the signs said to turn) and drove along a dirt road and up a dirt road driveway. All of us were joking around that we would be murdered etc We got to the Lawn sale (no lawn, just dirt) and geez it was a weird/amazing site. To my left I remember seeing a huge bonfire site with hundreds and hundreds of beer bottles, there were old cars and parts scattered around and then in the middle (infront of the house) were about 20 or so trestle tables with stuff for sale. Clothes, bric a brac, a table full of toy parts (babies heads, arms etc) books, records etc At one point I walked up towards the front row of tables, which was near a house. I heard a woman inside screaming and shouting, “f this and that” and some smashing of glass. One of my friends was looking at stuff nearby. Then a man walked out of the house. This is where things got weird. This man walked onto the front deck of the house and paced back and forth staring at me. He was in his 50s/60s, skin was like leather from the sun and he had these piercing beady blue eyes furrowed into his face. I said hey and I swear he responded “you’re gonna die”. He said nothing else and kept pacing around. I wasn’t sure what I’d heard and kept looking around for a minute (quietly freaking out). Then a lady arrived with her partner and I joined her looking at the records She asked me if I’d seen any Lee hazelwood/nancy Sinatra records. Which was kinda absurd considering what I thought I’d heard? Having these other “customers” there kind of kinda relaxed me. One of my friends bought a homemade bong and the other bought a super 8 camera. We got back in the car and I said to my friends “far out that was weird! Do you know what the guy said to me?” One of my friends said “yeah I heard what he said to you, I was behind you. He said “you’re gonna die”. “ After all these years, I don’t know what to make of this place/lawn sale. It was a weird alright. The death threat, the huge bonfire with beer bottles (almost like a shrine), cars and car parts scattered everywhere. Felt like a death trap but then they may of just been f’ing with us (ha ha) Anyone been here before? Any similar stories? Thanks

Okay, so I'm a huge fan of Rick Riordan. I love the Percy Jackson books and the expanded universe they take place in. So I decided to give his other novel Daughter of the Deep a shot.
So I read it on my own a few months ago and I'm currently revisiting it in Audiobook form.
Honestly... I kinda have mixed feelings if I'm being honest.
I can't in good conscience call it a bad book because I do think it's a good book. It's well written, has a really cool premise, really fascinating ideas and it does a good job making you emphasize with the main character Ana Dakkar.
But there's one big hang up I had that just puts a shadow over the entire book that makes it difficult for me to get past. And I really really just need to talk about it.
Okay, so spoilers past this point,
So for those who haven't read it, the premise of the novel involves the main character Ana Dakkar who's attending this school for Marine Biology called Harding-Pencroft, which has a rivalry with another school Land Institute.
To make a long story short, it turns out both schools were founded by the protagonists of the novels "The Mysterious Island" and "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" respectively which as it turns out were secretly works of nonfiction. Captain Nemo is real and Ana is his descendant. The two schools' rivalry is all about what the legacy of Captain Nemo should be. Either sharing his technological advancements with the world (Land Institute.) or keeping them hidden to make sure no one misuses them (Harding Pencroft).
That's all well and good but what bothers me and what kinda wrecks the novel for me is the inciting incident that kicks off the story.
Namely, Land Institute using a high-tech submarine destroyed Harding Pencroft potentially killing hundreds of innocent high schoolers and faculty.
I mean...what!? You're gonna open with that Rick? You're gonna open with potentially over a hundred people getting their lives snuffed out!?
It was just such a dark moment that it invoked "Too Bleak Stopped Caring" for me.
And it just continues. The novel just keeps going on about this. It keeps coming back to that point. How the characters mourn the family and friends they lost.
It also made me really hard to just...buy Land Institute doing this. Like... no one had reservations over killing one hundred people? NO ONE!? I understand LI is supposed to be like this "Hardcore military academy" but I still... I just don't buy that no one had reservations about killing a bunch of people like that.
Honestly, I was tempted to stop reading/listening in disgust when it got to a point where the characters look at a news broadcast and it showed some parents weeping.
Rick. Buddy. If you're reading this (I doubt you are) I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to make me hate LI as villains so I want to see them get taken down, but this doesn't make me hate LI, it makes me hate the story for forcing me to experience this!
They only hint that maybe some people survived towards the end but Rick really really should have implied that earlier (Or better yet just revealed most everyone got out at the end), because otherwise it just made an already pretty depressing book even more depressing than it had to be.
And there's another twist in the book that frankly makes it worse and adds to the "No one had reservations about this?" issue I stated earlier but I'm not gonna spoil it. If you've read the book you know what I'm talking about.
No joke this is probably the most depressing book I've read from Rick. Yes even more than the Burning Maze. Especially because aside from some references to Finding Nemo here and there, his trademark humor isn't really present in it. The whole thing is just soul-draining at points.
No one wonder one of his next books was Chalice of the Gods. He probably needed something easy and lighthearted after writing this.
You know though? Maybe it's just a me thing. Maybe I'm just too much of a softie for this book. Every other review I've read is just people gushing over how good it is; so there's a decent chance, that this is just a me problem.
Look if you like this book, more power to you. I totally see why. Like I said, I don't think it's bad. I think it is really good.
It's just that one part I really have a hard time getting past...

So I am not sure if I have abilities others don't or if I am more sensitive than the average person,
Background, I grew up in a haunted house but never experienced anything really outside of feeling like someone may be watching me, I had heard from other family what they had experienced when I was too young to remember.
As I got older I have always been different from most, however I have some mental issues, bipolar,ptsd,anxiety,addiction
I've always had vary vivid dreams from a young age, as I've gotten older I was very depressed and stuck to myself being homeschooled after the fith grade, I got into drugs at 17 and became addicted to various substances plus my mental illness went wild, however I no longer take substances outside of cannabis and mushrooms. I'm also as stable as I can been on medications.
As I moved out of the house at 13 to another I would get nightmares being in the old house and I would be getting tormented by spirits, It started as just a haunted house trying to scare me, then I got mad because of the occurrence and would be in a vivid dream taunting it, never really winning it would laugh or only show itself when it wanted to not me.
In my dreams I will see my loved ones like normal but be able to tell that isn't them and will notice and then my dreams get weird and I either wake up or try to get away, I'm aware now and don't get them as often but it was terrifying at a point.
I got into reading the satanic bible, lucifieran bible and necronomicon, at one point, during this I had a vivid dream I wasn't on this planet and went to a place that was dark with odd terain and glowing green water, however I had a dream I was going into a church and instead of a normal pastor it was a demonic one and had a cloak over his face , I had a rosary with a bone and gave it to him, accepting that I don't have power in my dreams and am sorry for taunting the spirits in my reoccurring nightmares, it went down to know I only have them rarely and know what's going on everytime it happens again.
During my addictions I have experienced sleep paralysis and it was terrifying, like a demonic smoke figure in a cloak looking at me feeding of the fear,
I have had my aunt pass and visit me in my dreams, I have had my grandpa pass and visit me in my dreams, I didn't get to say goodbye, and got closure in my dream, I woke up feeling like the hug was real.
I knew the night before my grandpa passed he was going to had a gut feeling but I decided not to follow that instinct, next morning I woke up to uncle banging the door however my dream was a old guy in a room that didn't have anything, just sitting infront of me no conversation, woke up and my grandpa was gone, feel it was him but didn't wanna show me it was him yet.
Anymore my nightmares if I have them are usually still in the old house and has to do with a spirit trying to take the shape of my loved ones, I have never seen the spirit responsible, only felt it in my dreams and heard laughs when I try to be more powerful than it.
Not super long ago I had a dream a tornado was coming for me at my current house, we had stroms not super long after and while it wasn't my house it hit 30 minutes away from me and my girlfriends step dads house got hit.
I feel like I am sensitive to energy, I can sense the feelings of being watched at times, getting goosebumps and hair standing up not due to the cold but somthing around, especially when I talk to people or give them tarot card readings, I can end up with my hairs standing or goosebumps if the conversation felt like it resonates with me.
I have an amazing relationship with my girlfriend, we I belive are twin flames, so similar, almost like we can read eachothers minds at times and say the same things at the same time often or can guess what she's about to say at times, but I also feel whenever her energy shifts and so does she if mine shifts.
I can sense if a person is good or bad, I can also at times sense somthing bad a long time in advance before it actually happens. Unfortunately.
One of the best new experiences I have had was taking mushrooms with my girlfriend for healing, I do it somewhat often, helped with grief , addictions, mental health, spirituality,
It brings us closer together and helps us both to heal, I didn't know it was possible but we managed to be able to use our energy on eachother while tripping and have what feels like full on sex without any touching involved, it can last for a long time too, this has happened the last 3-4 times we have tripped once we discovered how to tap into each other's minds. It's almost better than having actual sex, I feel like we leave our bodies and full on merge together as one during this time.
Now this is were it gets weird , a few days back we went to a place in amish country and once inside I noticed it felt off, however to not waste money and with everyone posting such good reviews figured we would stay and take mushrooms for healing as we do about once every month - 2 months,
I had the feeling in this house that the loft and basement were bad places to be, like being watched and feeling like there was somthing in this house, not sure what but something the first floor felt the best but still uneasy,
We had grabbed a clock from downstairs, plugged things into this one outlet next to the stairs and clock prior to taking mushrooms, they were charging, clock worked. Outlet worked, downstairs had a weird sad vibe to it ,weird musty smell also Sulphur smells randomly and even the water smelled like Sulphur there was a hornet in the toilet when we got there and had to flush it, also was 2 stains on the cieling in basement, not sure if it was water leak or if someone may have passed in the house and it soaked thru the ceiling of basement.
We wanted to paint eachother as we took the mushrooms, we did this until they started to kick in and once they kicked in we went and started fear and loathing in lost vegas, once I started getting closed eye visuals and working on my innerwork, my girlfriend felt like she wanted to go downstairs to lay in bed,
We stayed in bed holding eachother , bonding, eventually tuning into eachothers energy having sex without actually having it, then we couldn't hold back anymore and actually had sex, however we stayed down there until the trip wore off, it was about 3 am and everything switched on us.
She was feeling really sad and like she wanted to leave this place, I felt like I was being watched down there and somthing bad had happened in the past, I went to go upstairs was kinda afraid to alone but eventually went upstairs because she wouldn't at the time, tried to charge my phone and the outlet and clock didn't work anymore, I had been talking about leaving the house because she was feeling targeted and I felt like it didn't like either of us but like it wanted to feed off her if she went to sleep.
We went upstairs at a point and when I was asking if there were spirit's in the house and that if so I meant no disrespect and will only be staying until we could leave in the morning safely, as I would talk about the spirits seemed like my girlfriend would feel sick, same as being in the bed, very sad while downstairs.
I opened a bible and it was weird it didn't even feel like real paper , it also was moving by itself somewhat like working against me or moving for me to point out things, the clock on the wall was moving way faster than normal after this,
I tried getting her to leave , I didn't want to stay anylonger but knew we had to wait until sunlight atleast, she fell asleep and I was sitting next to her in this erie basement, had to turn the fan on because felt like if it was quiet I would loose it, what's not normal is the fact that she went to sleep and didn't really move, make sounds or anything like usual. I felt like I could hear people upstairs as she was asleep, almost like music was playing or a man signing and it was on repeat it would come and go, such low volume but also loud , the fan in the mix didn't help but I didn't wanna hear it anylouder.
I ended up trying to sleep and kinda did for a few hours but no dream I was hoping I would have a vivid dream of what happened in this house.
In the morning got our stuff packed up and left, before leaving I had used a ghost box. Told the spirit we were about to leave and as my girlfriend was going to the car it talked, then when she came back inside I left the ghostbox going and it talked while we were both there. I told it that we are leaving and this is your house but you are not welcome to come with us. Right as I opened the door I got a whiff of sulphur and as we left the house sulphur smell followed for a while.
Went to a shop got sage, used it before we got home, then yesterday unpacked from our trip and I made the joke about hopefully nothing came back with us from there. I went fishing and used the scissors from the house, i forgot to put them back so I have them. I saged our room, bags, clothes and once I found it left it outside in our burn barrel, didn't wanna risk it being in the house.
Last night we should have gotten good rest tho and we did not so I wonder if it had to do with those scissors coming from that house. 🤔
Anyways, long story but honest opinion would be helpful and on top of that if theres a way to strengthen my senses and all that would love to know!

Edited: The title was supposed to say that: I may be a Petty jerk, but at least I got away from a toxic "friend. Auto correct changed it to Jersey, and I couldn't edit the actual title.
Fair Warning, this is going to be a LONG post, but I will try to dilute it as much as possible.
About 12 years ago I left the world of retail (of which I have MANY stories) to begin a career in childcare. Some people prefer different titles, Nanny, Babysitter, Parents' Helper, Childcare Provider, etc. To be honest each of those titles are suitable in different situations.
The first family that I Nannied for went on for about 4 years, and then on again off again for another year. Through this family, I met "Wendy" and her family. Wendy went out of her way to be friendly with me, and would often ask me to babysit her kids (B5 and G1).
At one point, I had moved on to working with another family for a few months. Sadly, that ended due to the parents getting a divorce, and they moved further away.
Wendy found out that I was unemployed and asked that I Nanny for her kids. She was also pregnant with her 3rd at the time. I agreed at a slightly discounted rate because we were "friends". I realized too late that that was a HUGE mistake on my part.
Wendy's live in boyfriend "Cole" also had 3 kids from a previous relationship. B15, G8, and G6 lived with their mother. Yes, am aware of the closeness in age of Wendy and Cole' B5 and his G6. I chose to keep my mouth shut.
Now prepare yourselves for the Rollercoaster of emotions I dealt with with this family.
Initially, both Wendy and Cole were employed. I would come over 5 days a week for 8 to 10 hour days, depending upon whether Wendy got home on time. Here is where my discounted rate bit me in the butt.... $300 a week was still complained about. Wendy asked that I not leave Cole alone with their kids because he basically ignored them and refused to change diapers. I felt pretty icky about that, but agreed. Now I lived 45 minutes away without traffic. I would often leave my house early in anticipation of possible traffic. If I arrived early, I wasn't allowed in until she our alloted time of 7am. I didn't have a key, and would often be left waiting on the porch an extra 15 minutes past our time. If I knew I was too early, I parked around the corner and ate breakfast. Wendy and Cole both got very irritated if I wasn't their door precisely at 7 am. It was a headache that I chose to avoid.
Over the first month, I realized that G2 was emotionally abused by Wendy. She constantly said to or in front of the child how much she hated dealing with the wild child. How she wished G2 was more well behaved like B5. She even wrote unkind things on Facebook, asking someone to take her on the weekend while I was off.
This took a toll on poor G2, obviously. She would get violent with me first thing in the mornings : Hitting, kicking, biting, pulling my hair, throwing things at me, or what ever popped into her mind. Eventually, once Wendy left for work G2 would calm down and become an absolute delight.
When B5 started school, Wendy took a new job that allowed her to work from home at times. Those were not fun days! I asked if I could bring G2 to my house where I have an outdoor play area, a playroom, plenty of kid movies, crafts, books, music, and local playgrounds. At first the car rides were torture with G2 screaming bloody murder for at least half of the 45 minute drive. When she got used to the new routine, those drives became pleasant. Her violent tendencies disappeared when we were spending the days at my home. The drawback was that I also had to drive her home in time to get B5 off the bus.
During school breaks, I also had B5, and if they were visiting G8 and G6. B15 stayed at Wendy's house and just did his own thing. If you thought G2 was torture in toddler form, these two girls would have made Nanny McPhee grow a few more moles, a hunch back, and closed feet.
B5 would get a little bored, being that he was the only boy that was understandable. I purchased an array of boy friendlier toys to entertain him. I already had a lot of girl friendly toys either purchased or gifted from the first family that I had worked with. Of course I had plenty of gender neutral items too.
Wendy and Cole didn't give 2 sh*ts and a shave if the kids watched TV all day, went out to a playground or museum, or were driven 2 hours away, as long as I got them home on time. I easily spent an entire paycheck on activities, gas, food (which they didn't pack), and toys over 2 weeks watching all 4 kids. By the by, when asked for additional money when I did have all 4, Wendy not so politely informed me that the kids are entertain each other, so my job should be easier with all 4.
My husband and I discussed a few times whether I should look for something else. Inevitably the people pleaser in me actually felt guilty even considering it. Yup, I was apparently a glutton for punishment. Gratefully, my income was just extra, for an nice meal out occasionally, gifts for birthdays and holiday, extra hobbies, and basic groceries.
Just before Wendy gave birth to their new baby, she became unemployed. Logically, one would think this was my easy out. NOPE!! I became more of a Mother's Helper / Nanny. At this point Wendy and Cole were beginning to look for a larger house to rent. I did more walk through than I can count. She even asked me to tour a couple without her, and to bring G2 and B5 so she could get her nails done and take a nap. (Seriously, I toured houses on her list without her!)
As we spent more and more time together, I began to learn FAR FAR more about her bedroom life than I could ever desire. G2 and I spent much less time in the peace of my home, and way too much in Wendy's company. G2's behavior began to deteriorate slowly, causing Wendy to lose her temper with her far too easily. This completely broke my heart. I TRIED to redirect them both, and expressed my concern to Wendy. Of course, she then turned her anger towards me.
Wendy would openly discuss her theories about Cole in front of her kids. She claimed that he was cheating on her with his ex because he would shower immediately after seeing her to pick up or drop off the kids. He often made those drives directly after work though. Maybe he was cheating, maybe not. I honestly don't know.
Wendy also enjoyed gossiping about absolutely anybody. The parents of the first family that worked with were having marital issues. This was a favorite topic of hers. Wendy told me about every unkind word her mother uttered in her direction. The apple obviously didn't fall far from the tree here. I was told lots of personal information about people I didn't know. The gossip made me very uncomfortable. I told her that I would prefer we not discuss the lives of people who weren't around to speak on their own behalf. This fell on deaf ears.
I became quite used to her disapproval of my loose fitting jeans and T-shirts. Working with kids, I found my favorite cartoon prints were just as possible with my tiny charges. I NEVER wear makeup or heels because I simply don't want to. My dresses always have leggings under them because it make me feel less vulnerable. I never wear shorts or above the knee skirts/dresses. That's a ME thing, not religious or cultural. I find my "uniform" of choice is ideal for working with kids. Wendy informed me more than once that it embarrassed her to be seen in public with me. She often insisted that I wear something of hers if we had to go anywhere.
My husband enjoys photography, particularly long exposure which is done at night. He has a lot of photography friends of both genders, but his best friend is a female. He also enjoys concerts and kayaking, often with an ex from high school. (He graduated in 1997). I trust my husband and have no problem with him spending time with his friends. Enter Wendy's whispers of accusations. She often "jokingly" accused him of cheating on me with these female friends. I don't enjoy concerts, crowds, or being out late; so I support his doing with people who do. At least I know he with someone if something happens. I have bad knees, which make getting in and out of a kayak difficult. Why should that stop him? Again, I told her that I trust him and that I don't appreciate her accusations joke or not. This annoyed her because she doesn't trust Cole.
I know these are major red flag issues. I know how toxic being subjected to these comments is. I also know how difficult it would be on their kids if I left too soon. I knew they needed someone who wasn't emotionally cruel. I stayed for them.
My husband and I spent 2 of our weekends helping them pack and move to house that ended up 15 minutes from us. We were thanked by words, but that was the extent of the gratitude. Wendy's mother looked after the kids while we helped them move. This was complained about because I was already paid to watch the kids during the week. Insert eye roll here!! Her mom felt my husband should be willing to help them move while I watched the kids on the weekend for no extra pay. Either way, we were doing them a HUGE favor to begin with.
A family that I had briefly Nannied for prior to working for Wendy asked if I could help out every other Saturday. The dad (Nice Guy) traveled a lot for work leaving the Mom (Angelface) home alone with the kids. She just needed a day to run errands, work out, and just have time to herself. Angelface is one of the kindest women on this planet. When I did Nanny for them (2 days a week), she was in tears when she had to let me go. They couldn't justify the outgoing money at the time. She referred me to several friends. I am legitimately friend with this family, and still babysit sporadically.
Through a random discussion, I told Wendy about working with Angelface on every other Saturday. She began to tell me what to charge, how many hours to work, and what days to leave open for her just in case. Insert headache inducing eyerolls!
One Friday, Wendy's cousin arrived for a weekend visit with her baby. Wendy told me that because it was a holiday weekend I would not be needed until Tuesday. I double checked via text, and she confirmed that she and Cole were taking the kids to the beach with her cousin. Monday morning I got a call from a passed off Wendy asking where I am. I reminded her that she had told me that they would not need me. I even took a screen shot of our text. She said that Cole had decided to work Monday anyway so she was alone with HER kids. This pissed me off, so I lied. I told her that I was out of town with my mom and wouldn't be home until 5 or 6 pm. She went on about how much of an inconvenience it was to her, and I should have checked before going out of town. For the second time, I sent her a screenshot of my text verifying that I wasn't needed Monday. She abruptly ended the call saying to just be sure to be on time Tuesday. I had NEVER been late, but opted to mention that as we hung up.
Over time we worked out a new arrangement where I brought now G3 to my house 2 days a week, and we stayed there 3 days a week. I helped with cleaning, errands, helped with the new baby (NB), etc. Mostly, I was Wendy's sounding board. She continued to accuse Cole of cheating, wasting money, and even beating her.
My husband and I offered to let her and the kids stay with us, but she declined. Wendy even told me that since she was so sure Cole was cheating, she was going to find herself a side boyfriend to cheat with. I tried to talk her out of it, to no avail. Sadly, she spoke openly about her new boyfriend in fron of G3. During one of her rants I learned that my pay came from him selling drugs. GULP!!
While cleaning out the couch one day, I came across a loaded gun kept in the couch console thing, along with baggies of pills, "dried plants", and white powder. This completely freaked me out. 2 small children and a soon to be crawling baby sat and played on and around that couch. I STRONGLY considered calling Child Pretective Services and the police. I quickly realized that if I did, they would know it was me. I regret it, but I feared their possible retaliation towards us.
Shortly after finding these thing Cole quit his job. For several months while I worked for them, they were both unemployed. Again, I thought it was an easy out. NOPE AGAIN! For another 3 months, they insisted that they couldn't take care of the house and kids without my help. Very often, I arrived to find now B6 fending for himself for breakfast and getting ready for school. He was told to wake up and unlock the door for me, but they went back to sleep. I was expected to keep the baby from crying, and to keep G3 quiet and entertained until they came downstairs. I often chose to simply take both to my house so we could play naturally. We had a crib, so this wasn't a problem for NB. G3 would just nap on the couch or my bed. When out of school B6 preferred this too. This really should have told Wendy and Cole something about their kids, but of course not.
FINALLY, I was informed after about a year of working for them, they could no longer justify paying me. At this point, I had often considered quitting anyway. I mainly stayed because my heart broke for the kids. However, based on her gossipy and judgmental nature ... not to mention my little 3 day weekend fail; I was concerned about what kind of reference Wendy would provide if I chose to quit.
So in 2019, I found myself happily unemployed. The timing here worked out beautifully because Angelface knew neighbors due to have their first baby in 2020. I ended up working for this lovely family until August of 2023. The mom (Joy) and the Dad (Mr. Cool) were such a relief to my entire mental and physical health. We became friends as well, and over time I told them about Wendy. Between Joy, Angelface, Mr. Cool, Nice Guy, my husband, and family I began to realize just hoe toxic Wendy really was to my mental health. My husband never liked her but understood my feelings towards the kids.
For almost a year Wendy would randomly call or FaceTime me .... more often than not while drunk. She would rave about how much she and the kids missed me. We would get together for a meal, and she had me over for a couple birthday parties for the kids. I found myself almost always being the only sober adult watching the kids as the adults partied. Wendy often went back to her gossiping, trash talking, and "jokes" about my husband spending time with women. She would offer underhanded compliments. "It's so nice to see you wearing a dress instead of those tacky T-shirts." You get the drift. She even INFORMED me that since her neighbor was pregnant I could quit my job with Joy and Mr. Cool. She had told her neighbor that I would work for her now, and since they were next door, I would watch her own kids too. I shut that down saying that I was quite happy working with Joy and Mr. Cool. I even lied about what they paid thinking it would detur her further. NOPE yet again. She said that I should quit anyway so her life would be easier with me around. Once more, I told her that wasn't going to happen.
AT LONG LAST, I am coming to the end of my tortuous endurment with Wendy.
A week later, she called and asked if I had quit yet. I said that I had no intention of leaving an "$800" a week job. (Not even close to that with my 3 day a week job, but she didn't need to know the truth.) She told me to let her know when I quit, then changed the subject towards gossiping about that first family and their problems. I told her that I don't feel comfortable gossiping about people who can't speak for themselves. That pissed her off, so she turned it on me again. She said of course I don't want to talk about them since my husband was cheating on me with 2 different women. I angrily corrected her. She has no reason to think my husband is cheating, and I trust him and our friends. Just because she thinks her boyfriend cheats, and she cheats, that doesn't mean everybody does. She then said we could talk when I calmed down and after I quit my job.
After hanging up, I proceeded to block Wendy on everything! Facebook, phone calls, texting, face timing, Instagram, and even Snapchat (which I hadn't used in over a year). I also blocked her mom, and any body that had been friendly simply because Wendy knew them and wanted me to have their information too. I gave her no warning at all. I was beyond passed off, and refused to be talked out of my very gratifying decision.
I told my husband, family, and friends that was now free of Wendy. Not a single person tried to tell me to make ammends. The only guilt that I feel is towards those poor kids. For once though, I put myself first. Joy and Angelface were both extremely supportive when I told them that I had Ghosted Wendy. Both even mentioned how proud they were of me for FINALLY truly stand-up for myself. They were NOT fans of Wendy!!!
I never ended up quitting my job with Joy and Mr. Cool inorder to babysit Wendy's neighbor. I also continued to babysit for Angelface and Nice Guy.
About 7 or 8 months ago, I ran into Wendy at a playground between our two homes. She was with now G5 and B2. I had Joy and Mr. Cool's daughter with me. I was polite, almost obscenely so. I was friendly towards the kids, who were stand off-ish. I offered to let Little Miss play with them, but they weren't interested. Little Miss wanted to do her own thing, so off we went to play. We left after only 15 minutes because Little Miss said "that lady" is scaring her.
That night, my husband got a Facebook message from Wendy. She described my cruelty towards her kids by ignoring them. She said that it was so hateful that I blocked her on everything after all she had done for us. This message went on and on. My husband left it unread for months before my morbid curiosity caused me to open the silly thing. We never responded, but instead he finally bl9cked her too.
Ok, if you read that bloody novel of a post, you are a ROCK STAR!! I don't have any regrets towards my eventual choice, except towards the kids. It breaks my heart knowing what kind of parents they are enduring. I often regret not calling CPS, but there isn't a shadow of doubt that would have retaliated .... most likely violently.
I did eventually get back in contact with that very first Nanny family. They had indeed broken up, but both are happier and healthier now. I warned them that Wendy enjoyed gossiping and spreading rumors about them. Neither were surprised, and both had broken contact with Wendy long ago. They supported my choice to break ties with her as well. Shocking, right!?!
I no longer work full time for Joy and Mr. Cool, as they wanted Little Miss to get used to being around more kids before starting school. I do still sporadically babysit for them and Angelface and Nice Guy though. The two couples have referred me to several other families in the neighborhood, so I stay pretty busy with much more sane individuals.
Maybe I was a jerk, and petty. I'm cool with being thought of that way towards Wendy. At least now, I have much kinder people in my life.

Most of us original investors had never left (its great to see over 3000 APES at the time of this post on line). We just lurked around but now lets hear some positive stories from the APES as NEW APES are reading this sub for the first time. I will start....
I originally got into this because of the HYPE I read on line. I knew very little about the company but what got me interested the most was the HYPE I was reading in this sub. I am very grateful to be here since 2021. The amazing creative talent that you APES were posting with the MEMES, Jokes and so on made me feel at home. It solidified my decision to be an investor.
I understand most of you like myself are down a lot however, I have nothing but time on my hands to continue this crazy ride with my Brothers and Sisters. As I have posted before there are two things about this investment that are important to me:

1. I have never had so much fun investing in a stock in my life. This is a wild ride and I am grateful to be sharing the adventure with my fellow APES!
2. Always be PATIENT!

Much love and respect to my fellow warriors! OOOGA BOOOGA!!!

I may be the A-H and a bit Petty, but at least I got away from a toxic "friend".
Fair Warning, this is going to be a LONG post, but I will try to dilute it as much as possible.
About 12 years ago I left the world of retail (of which I have MANY stories) to begin a career in childcare. Some people prefer different titles, Nanny, Babysitter, Parents' Helper, Childcare Provider, etc. To be honest each of those titles are suitable in different situations.
The first family that I Nannied for went on for about 4 years, and then on again off again for another year. Through this family, I met "Wendy" and her family. Wendy went out of her way to be friendly with me, and would often ask me to babysit her kids (B5 and G1).
At one point, I had moved on to working with another family for a few months. Sadly, that ended due to the parents getting a divorce, and they moved further away.
Wendy found out that I was unemployed and asked that I Nanny for her kids. She was also pregnant with her 3rd at the time. I agreed at a slightly discounted rate because we were "friends". I realized too late that that was a HUGE mistake on my part.
Wendy's live in boyfriend "Cole" also had 3 kids from a previous relationship. B15, G8, and G6 lived with their mother. Yes, am aware of the closeness in age of Wendy and Cole' B5 and his G6. I chose to keep my mouth shut.
Now prepare yourselves for the Rollercoaster of emotions I dealt with with this family.
Initially, both Wendy and Cole were employed. I would come over 5 days a week for 8 to 10 hour days, depending upon whether Wendy got home on time. Here is where my discounted rate bit me in the butt.... $300 a week was still complained about. Wendy asked that I not leave Cole alone with their kids because he basically ignored them and refused to change diapers. I felt pretty icky about that, but agreed. Now I lived 45 minutes away without traffic. I would often leave my house early in anticipation of possible traffic. If I arrived early, I wasn't allowed in until she our alloted time of 7am. I didn't have a key, and would often be left waiting on the porch an extra 15 minutes past our time. If I knew I was too early, I parked around the corner and ate breakfast. Wendy and Cole both got very irritated if I wasn't their door precisely at 7 am. It was a headache that I chose to avoid.
Over the first month, I realized that G2 was emotionally abused by Wendy. She constantly said to or in front of the child how much she hated dealing with the wild child. How she wished G2 was more well behaved like B5. She even wrote unkind things on Facebook, asking someone to take her on the weekend while I was off.
This took a toll on poor G2, obviously. She would get violent with me first thing in the mornings : Hitting, kicking, biting, pulling my hair, throwing things at me, or what ever popped into her mind. Eventually, once Wendy left for work G2 would calm down and become an absolute delight.
When B5 started school, Wendy took a new job that allowed her to work from home at times. Those were not fun days! I asked if I could bring G2 to my house where I have an outdoor play area, a playroom, plenty of kid movies, crafts, books, music, and local playgrounds. At first the car rides were torture with G2 screaming bloody murder for at least half of the 45 minute drive. When she got used to the new routine, those drives became pleasant. Her violent tendencies disappeared when we were spending the days at my home. The drawback was that I also had to drive her home in time to get B5 off the bus.
During school breaks, I also had B5, and if they were visiting G8 and G6. B15 stayed at Wendy's house and just did his own thing. If you thought G2 was torture in toddler form, these two girls would have made Nanny McPhee grow a few more moles, a hunch back, and closed feet.
B5 would get a little bored, being that he was the only boy that was understandable. I purchased an array of boy friendlier toys to entertain him. I already had a lot of girl friendly toys either purchased or gifted from the first family that I had worked with. Of course I had plenty of gender neutral items too.
Wendy and Cole didn't give 2 sh*ts and a shave if the kids watched TV all day, went out to a playground or museum, or were driven 2 hours away, as long as I got them home on time. I easily spent an entire paycheck on activities, gas, food (which they didn't pack), and toys over 2 weeks watching all 4 kids. By the by, when asked for additional money when I did have all 4, Wendy not so politely informed me that the kids are entertain each other, so my job should be easier with all 4.
My husband and I discussed a few times whether I should look for something else. Inevitably the people pleaser in me actually felt guilty even considering it. Yup, I was apparently a glutton for punishment. Gratefully, my income was just extra, for an nice meal out occasionally, gifts for birthdays and holiday, extra hobbies, and basic groceries.
Just before Wendy gave birth to their new baby, she became unemployed. Logically, one would think this was my easy out. NOPE!! I became more of a Mother's Helper / Nanny. At this point Wendy and Cole were beginning to look for a larger house to rent. I did more walk through than I can count. She even asked me to tour a couple without her, and to bring G2 and B5 so she could get her nails done and take a nap. (Seriously, I toured houses on her list without her!)
As we spent more and more time together, I began to learn FAR FAR more about her bedroom life than I could ever desire. G2 and I spent much less time in the peace of my home, and way too much in Wendy's company. G2's behavior began to deteriorate slowly, causing Wendy to lose her temper with her far too easily. This completely broke my heart. I TRIED to redirect them both, and expressed my concern to Wendy. Of course, she then turned her anger towards me.
Wendy would openly discuss her theories about Cole in front of her kids. She claimed that he was cheating on her with his ex because he would shower immediately after seeing her to pick up or drop off the kids. He often made those drives directly after work though. Maybe he was cheating, maybe not. I honestly don't know.
Wendy also enjoyed gossiping about absolutely anybody. The parents of the first family that worked with were having marital issues. This was a favorite topic of hers. Wendy told me about every unkind word her mother uttered in her direction. The apple obviously didn't fall far from the tree here. I was told lots of personal information about people I didn't know. The gossip made me very uncomfortable. I told her that I would prefer we not discuss the lives of people who weren't around to speak on their own behalf. This fell on deaf ears.
I became quite used to her disapproval of my loose fitting jeans and T-shirts. Working with kids, I found my favorite cartoon prints were just as possible with my tiny charges. I NEVER wear makeup or heels because I simply don't want to. My dresses always have leggings under them because it make me feel less vulnerable. I never wear shorts or above the knee skirts/dresses. That's a ME thing, not religious or cultural. I find my "uniform" of choice is ideal for working with kids. Wendy informed me more than once that it embarrassed her to be seen in public with me. She often insisted that I wear something of hers if we had to go anywhere.
My husband enjoys photography, particularly long exposure which is done at night. He has a lot of photography friends of both genders, but his best friend is a female. He also enjoys concerts and kayaking, often with an ex from high school. (He graduated in 1997). I trust my husband and have no problem with him spending time with his friends. Enter Wendy's whispers of accusations. She often "jokingly" accused him of cheating on me with these female friends. I don't enjoy concerts, crowds, or being out late; so I support his doing with people who do. At least I know he with someone if something happens. I have bad knees, which make getting in and out of a kayak difficult. Why should that stop him? Again, I told her that I trust him and that I don't appreciate her accusations joke or not. This annoyed her because she doesn't trust Cole.
I know these are major red flag issues. I know how toxic being subjected to these comments is. I also know how difficult it would be on their kids if I left too soon. I knew they needed someone who wasn't emotionally cruel. I stayed for them.
My husband and I spent 2 of our weekends helping them pack and move to house that ended up 15 minutes from us. We were thanked by words, but that was the extent of the gratitude. Wendy's mother looked after the kids while we helped them move. This was complained about because I was already paid to watch the kids during the week. Insert eye roll here!! Her mom felt my husband should be willing to help them move while I watched the kids on the weekend for no extra pay. Either way, we were doing them a HUGE favor to begin with.
A family that I had briefly Nannied for prior to working for Wendy asked if I could help out every other Saturday. The dad (Nice Guy) traveled a lot for work leaving the Mom (Angelface) home alone with the kids. She just needed a day to run errands, work out, and just have time to herself. Angelface is one of the kindest women on this planet. When I did Nanny for them (2 days a week), she was in tears when she had to let me go. They couldn't justify the outgoing money at the time. She referred me to several friends. I am legitimately friend with this family, and still babysit sporadically.
Through a random discussion, I told Wendy about working with Angelface on every other Saturday. She began to tell me what to charge, how many hours to work, and what days to leave open for her just in case. Insert headache inducing eyerolls!
One Friday, Wendy's cousin arrived for a weekend visit with her baby. Wendy told me that because it was a holiday weekend I would not be needed until Tuesday. I double checked via text, and she confirmed that she and Cole were taking the kids to the beach with her cousin. Monday morning I got a call from a passed off Wendy asking where I am. I reminded her that she had told me that they would not need me. I even took a screen shot of our text. She said that Cole had decided to work Monday anyway so she was alone with HER kids. This pissed me off, so I lied. I told her that I was out of town with my mom and wouldn't be home until 5 or 6 pm. She went on about how much of an inconvenience it was to her, and I should have checked before going out of town. For the second time, I sent her a screenshot of my text verifying that I wasn't needed Monday. She abruptly ended the call saying to just be sure to be on time Tuesday. I had NEVER been late, but opted to mention that as we hung up.
Over time we worked out a new arrangement where I brought now G3 to my house 2 days a week, and we stayed there 3 days a week. I helped with cleaning, errands, helped with the new baby (NB), etc. Mostly, I was Wendy's sounding board. She continued to accuse Cole of cheating, wasting money, and even beating her.
My husband and I offered to let her and the kids stay with us, but she declined. Wendy even told me that since she was so sure Cole was cheating, she was going to find herself a side boyfriend to cheat with. I tried to talk her out of it, to no avail. Sadly, she spoke openly about her new boyfriend in fron of G3. During one of her rants I learned that my pay came from him selling drugs. GULP!!
While cleaning out the couch one day, I came across a loaded gun kept in the couch console thing, along with baggies of pills, "dried plants", and white powder. This completely freaked me out. 2 small children and a soon to be crawling baby sat and played on and around that couch. I STRONGLY considered calling Child Pretective Services and the police. I quickly realized that if I did, they would know it was me. I regret it, but I feared their possible retaliation towards us.
Shortly after finding these thing Cole quit his job. For several months while I worked for them, they were both unemployed. Again, I thought it was an easy out. NOPE AGAIN! For another 3 months, they insisted that they couldn't take care of the house and kids without my help. Very often, I arrived to find now B6 fending for himself for breakfast and getting ready for school. He was told to wake up and unlock the door for me, but they went back to sleep. I was expected to keep the baby from crying, and to keep G3 quiet and entertained until they came downstairs. I often chose to simply take both to my house so we could play naturally. We had a crib, so this wasn't a problem for NB. G3 would just nap on the couch or my bed. When out of school B6 preferred this too. This really should have told Wendy and Cole something about their kids, but of course not.
FINALLY, I was informed after about a year of working for them, they could no longer justify paying me. At this point, I had often considered quitting anyway. I mainly stayed because my heart broke for the kids. However, based on her gossipy and judgmental nature ... not to mention my little 3 day weekend fail; I was concerned about what kind of reference Wendy would provide if I chose to quit.
So in 2019, I found myself happily unemployed. The timing here worked out beautifully because Angelface knew neighbors due to have their first baby in 2020. I ended up working for this lovely family until August of 2023. The mom (Joy) and the Dad (Mr. Cool) were such a relief to my entire mental and physical health. We became friends as well, and over time I told them about Wendy. Between Joy, Angelface, Mr. Cool, Nice Guy, my husband, and family I began to realize just hoe toxic Wendy really was to my mental health. My husband never liked her but understood my feelings towards the kids.
For almost a year Wendy would randomly call or FaceTime me .... more often than not while drunk. She would rave about how much she and the kids missed me. We would get together for a meal, and she had me over for a couple birthday parties for the kids. I found myself almost always being the only sober adult watching the kids as the adults partied. Wendy often went back to her gossiping, trash talking, and "jokes" about my husband spending time with women. She would offer underhanded compliments. "It's so nice to see you wearing a dress instead of those tacky T-shirts." You get the drift. She even INFORMED me that since her neighbor was pregnant I could quit my job with Joy and Mr. Cool. She had told her neighbor that I would work for her now, and since they were next door, I would watch her own kids too. I shut that down saying that I was quite happy working with Joy and Mr. Cool. I even lied about what they paid thinking it would detur her further. NOPE yet again. She said that I should quit anyway so her life would be easier with me around. Once more, I told her that wasn't going to happen.
AT LONG LAST, I am coming to the end of my tortuous endurment with Wendy.
A week later, she called and asked if I had quit yet. I said that I had no intention of leaving an "$800" a week job. (Not even close to that with my 3 day a week job, but she didn't need to know the truth.) She told me to let her know when I quit, then changed the subject towards gossiping about that first family and their problems. I told her that I don't feel comfortable gossiping about people who can't speak for themselves. That pissed her off, so she turned it on me again. She said of course I don't want to talk about them since my husband was cheating on me with 2 different women. I angrily corrected her. She has no reason to think my husband is cheating, and I trust him and our friends. Just because she thinks her boyfriend cheats, and she cheats, that doesn't mean everybody does. She then said we could talk when I calmed down and after I quit my job.
After hanging up, I proceeded to block Wendy on everything! Facebook, phone calls, texting, face timing, Instagram, and even Snapchat (which I hadn't used in over a year). I also blocked her mom, and any body that had been friendly simply because Wendy knew them and wanted me to have their information too. I gave her no warning at all. I was beyond passed off, and refused to be talked out of my very gratifying decision.
I told my husband, family, and friends that was now free of Wendy. Not a single person tried to tell me to make ammends. The only guilt that I feel is towards those poor kids. For once though, I put myself first. Joy and Angelface were both extremely supportive when I told them that I had Ghosted Wendy. Both even mentioned how proud they were of me for FINALLY truly stand-up for myself. They were NOT fans of Wendy!!!
I never ended up quitting my job with Joy and Mr. Cool inorder to babysit Wendy's neighbor. I also continued to babysit for Angelface and Nice Guy.
About 7 or 8 months ago, I ran into Wendy at a playground between our two homes. She was with now G5 and B2. I had Joy and Mr. Cool's daughter with me. I was polite, almost obscenely so. I was friendly towards the kids, who were stand off-ish. I offered to let Little Miss play with them, but they weren't interested. Little Miss wanted to do her own thing, so off we went to play. We left after only 15 minutes because Little Miss said "that lady" is scaring her.
That night, my husband got a Facebook message from Wendy. She described my cruelty towards her kids by ignoring them. She said that it was so hateful that I blocked her on everything after all she had done for us. This message went on and on. My husband left it unread for months before my morbid curiosity caused me to open the silly thing. We never responded, but instead he finally bl9cked her too.
Ok, if you read that bloody novel of a post, you are a ROCK STAR!! I don't have any regrets towards my eventual choice, except towards the kids. It breaks my heart knowing what kind of parents they are enduring. I often regret not calling CPS, but there isn't a shadow of doubt that would have retaliated .... most likely violently.
I did eventually get back in contact with that very first Nanny family. They had indeed broken up, but both are happier and healthier now. I warned them that Wendy enjoyed gossiping and spreading rumors about them. Neither were surprised, and both had broken contact with Wendy long ago. They supported my choice to break ties with her as well. Shocking, right!?!
I no longer work full time for Joy and Mr. Cool, as they wanted Little Miss to get used to being around more kids before starting school. I do still sporadically babysit for them and Angelface and Nice Guy though. The two couples have referred me to several other families in the neighborhood, so I stay pretty busy with much more sane individuals.
Maybe I was an A-Hole, and petty. I'm cool with being thought of that way towards Wendy. At least now, I have much kinder people in my life.

This happened a while ago, but it and quite a few other events have been on my mind.
This is needed context. My actual sibling came to visit last year, and could see that I was unhappy (living with step parent) and they ended up helping me better socialize with our step siblings and parent. During the process of that, I started talking about liking people and ones I had taken interest in at school. I will admit that some of my behaviors were unsettling.. looking at their SNS and taking screenshots of stories. After maybe a month or so, one of those siblings called me boy crazy.
Whatever, might have been true or something, but it’s not like I had ever been in an actual relationship.. or anything near it to be honest.
That really irked me.
But now, the story.
So one day after school, my step siblings and I went to get ice cream. We were behind this guy and he made a joke about that my step sibling should pay for his ice cream and they just laughed it off, if I’m remembering correctly.
When we were in the car, I asked what he said and they told me again. Then something along the lines of me being interested in that guy came up, and that sibling implied that I would be. Practically implying that I’m desperate. Then I retorted with the fact that the guy is fucking older than me. He’s probably in his 20’s or something. That honestly insulted me so much.
The only reason I even told them about those things in the first place was because I thought I could trust them. Obviously not with how blatantly that was thrown into my face.
Over time the “progress” I made regressed. I stopped talking and secluded myself again. Should mention that I no longer live there and don’t care to have a relationship with them.

I feel like the return of supermega has just been underwhelming. They dropped skits and songs they were working on since before the cancellation and now we’re just back to the regular things, with an equal amount of effort from before. The new sets are cool, the new channel branding is cool, the merch designs are still ugly and derivative and I’m left wondering why they even came back. I didn’t want more supermega, i wanted better supermega, which was their thesis statement when they came back. Not to mention, the analytics paint a similar story of an underwhelming return. The people still watching are those who never left, and just continue to contribute to the lavish LA lifestyle that the entire company leads. They don’t try very hard…
They ran with the funnybrothers moniker, which was a throwaway joke that was based in the irony of them self proclaiming themselves as funny. And here we are. I’ve had no reason to sub back to the channel, let alone the patreon. This will be unpopular, but I’d like to be convinced otherwise that the “new” supermega is actually a good thing.

I always hear stories about people getting the Steam Deck and realizing they had fallen out of love with their gaming rig and enjoyed the simplified “console” type of experience that the Steam Deck provides.
But I’m curious how many of us there are on the other side of that story?
I’ve been a console gamer my whole life. I was so fed up with the state of AAA and console gaming about a year ago, so I bought a Steam Deck because there were so many games I had always wanted to play and never had a chance. A year later, my library absolutely exploded and I have never had more fun gaming than I have at 34-years old.
But… I wanted more. A few months ago, I built the gaming rig of my dreams and I can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner. But I know it never would have happened without the Deck introducing me to the dark side. I always thought the jokes about consoles putzing about at 60fps were overstated. Nope. The difference is insane.
Anybody else go all in on PC gaming and abandon their console after spending some quality time with the Steam Deck?

So first of I'm just gotten into later season where by now 2 main characters are gone . (Won't say which but if you know then you know)
I say that although I love this show and how it progresses monk and his story and how he slowly finds new evidence and continues some running jokes with few characters. I have only few things to say about it that are nitpicks
Like I see how some people may think some villains have weak ability to be so cunning or how some things of evidence or looking for some wouldnt actually work but to be honest I say I don't mind it in a show.
The show has a formula at a point as in end for most monk will have his "here's how it happen" moment. Which I think makes some of middle parts of seasons weaker for a while . As well as having some super wild clues that feel like are stretching on detail .
But besides that this show is better than most new or still running ones. A few that I know on top head are "death in paradise" or the zombie one where girl eats brains and changes personality . Which I will say least the zombie one dose it different but has flaws in ways that not worth saying here .
But monk as a character has got me cringing and laughing with a chuckle and a tear and a smile.. as well as make a flawed scared character feel very limited yet unlimited. Which is why I say the show is 10/10 even with flaws. I would made it 8/10 but we all know 10 is nice round number for the show.

So when I was about 10 years hold, I began hanging out with this kid (I'm gonna use his real name cause fuck him) his name was Sawyer, we met through me friend Luis, and I don't really remember how we first met or talked too each other cause apparently after the first time we met he blocked me, but ended up unblocking me, me him, Luis and Josh (The kid from the other story) used too hang out a lot and play fortnite or minecraft, I remember he used too complaint about the dumbest shit and had the dumbest opinions on things, like he said new minecraft sucked cause you could emote, but after about 3 months of playing with him, he became a dick, but not too me, but too Luis and Luis only, he would always start shit with him for no reason and brag about random things, and for some reason he just praised me, we confronted him like 5 times about this but he never changed, that's when I was 10, when I was 11 me and Luis got r6 on playstaion and we began playing that a lot soon after we got it, it was on sale and Luis was gonna give Sawyer a gift card for him too buy it, but were still not sure about this, but Luis said his dad's card got charged for $300 and someone was trying too buy a vr headset, he blamed Sawyer and when Luis confronted him, he didn't deny it, when me and Luis started playing on xbox, Sawyer also had an xbox and would be on a lot, soon after we me Jack, after a while it was clear Jack and Sawyer didn't get along which we were ok with cause we started too hate Sawyer
So like back in August Sawyer heard me say the n-word he had known I was biracial, he saw a picture of me soon after (He had always know what I looked like, my skin is more white than brown) so when I got off the next day, Luis told me that he called me racist after that we just made fun of him cause he said some real stupid shit, now the funniest thing is.......HE WAS A FUCKING RACIST Luis is Pacific islander and knowing this he made a lot of racist jokes about Asian people, and had also scream the n-word, (I wasn't around when that happened) and said a lot of racist things about Mexicans
The most recent thing that happened with him, is from the pov of Jack and Luis, so they were playing with this guy who was friends with Sawyer, and Sawyer joined, they were ignoring him cause they were playing warzone, but soon Luis just said "Y'know gggamer9000 got a girlfriend earlier this month" and Sawyer said "Is that a good thing or a bad thing" and also said "I'm fresh out of a relationship bro" This man get's no bitches, he looks like Ethan gamer, but after that we've never spoke too him again

I had this male friend for 2 years now and I enjoy the fun we have but the lying is concerning me. At first I thought it was just because I was new and he wanted to impress me but I’m no one to impress or at least I try my best to make ppl feel that way. I want all my friendships to be authentic and genuine, it’s towards the point I feel like we can’t have a regular conversation without him lying unprovoked. He lies about little things & some bizarre shit like one time we were just talking and he goes “my body hurts” so I asked why & he proceeded to say “I got jumped by Italians bc I didn’t pay them”… 😐. Every time he lies I don’t engage or indulge much to show him that I know he’s lying but that doesn’t seem to stop him. In fact he goes on and it’s kind of embarrassing bc why are you just lying? When I first met him he lied about having multiple cars and crashing them(idk if crashing was a lie) but his recent lie was that he crashed otw to an event and ignored my calls only to answer hours later in his bed saying “My body hurts, I was at the hospital but I left… anyways what you doing tomorrow?”. ??? He’s told me more that I suspect are lies bc the stories just don’t add up but they are more severe (death) so I won’t go into them. I really like him as a friend bc he’s helpful and we have fun but the lying is crazy and idk what to do. He tells me how his own girlfriend and family think he’s a liar and I told him I thought so too jokingly but I didn’t go into detail bc when you confront liars all they’re going to do is try to cover their ass with more lies. What would you do in this situation?

This is party 2 of a discussion regarding how poly could have been handled a little better in BG3. I recommend you read through the first part here: https://new.reddit.com/BaldursGate3/comments/1crb2s7/how_the_polyamory_could_have_been_handled/ so you can get context and I sound like less of a rambling weirdo.
​
Astarion:
Out of all the discussions, people were the most confused by this choice. Not only does making him poly at the last minute feel contrary to a lot of statements he himself makes throughout his romance arc, but it also runs counter to what other characters say about him and his backstory as a whole. He is one of the most insecure characters in the game, he was trained for two hundred years to lie in order to avoid punishment, and he has far more trauma and healing to do than the other characters. Astarion is the most likely to lie about the Halsin relationship in order to avoid appearing weak or demanding. Out of the poly players who expressed disappointment, Astarion was the one that bothered them the most, since many felt he wasn’t fully consenting.
Most of my reasons for why he’s not a good poly option (from a development standpoint) have already been stated in earlier sections, so most of this will be spent diving into the “Is he fine with poly or not?” debate, which had me intrigued. (This will be the longest section and won’t be as connected to the overall topic, so if you want to skip to the Halsin part, feel free.)
I’ll start with the main arguments I see defending him being poly.
Argument 1: He says he’s fine with Halsin and the twins, so we should take him at his word.
While this can definitely be argued, and it’s not good to treat an adult man like a baby, his constant lying as a defense mechanism and current issues with sex/relationships do need to be taken into account (if not by the players then at least by the developers). There were plenty of people (some of them victims of SA) who talked about their own experience of tolerating poly because they were scared of their partner leaving or finding them too demanding/narrow minded. This led to their self-esteem and views on relationships growing worse rather than better. For someone like Astarion, who outright admits he has never had a healthy relationship and doesn’t want to lose this one, it’s understandable that people view his response as a coping mechanism rather than his own genuine feelings. There were also two different mental health professionals who reminded players that although a few victims of abuse do enter poly relationships, statistically most do not and it is far more common for them to agree to poly relationships out of pressure (which often make the person’s mental issues even worse in the long run).
Argument 2: He claims to be fine with open relationships during Act 1.
This is countered by the fact that everything he says about himself in Act 1 is a lie (unless he’s specifically talking about Cazador). He lies about wanting to sleep with you, he lies about his identity until he bites you, he claims to only care about sex (then later admits it makes him feel disgust and loathing), and he brags about his former conquests (which you later find out he regrets and feels guilt over). His statements that he’s fine with open relationships are made when choosing between him and another Origin character in Act 1 or 2, but this is also said at a time when his act is still up and he isn’t in love with the player. If you choose between him and another Origin character AFTER he confesses and let’s his guard down, he insists that he is NOT fine with sharing. “You’ve decided to replace me?” If the player says they care about both him and the other person, he’ll say, “Don’t give me that. I can see what this is.” Then he promptly breaks up with them. This second reaction is not only said using his genuine voice (whereas before he was still using his fake one), but a few poly people mentioned that this isn’t a normal reaction from someone who is fine with poly.
This isn’t to shame people who want to think Astarion is fine with it, or to judge players who went through with the poly relationship. Instead, this is once again asking the developers why they chose this option, rather than someone who wouldn’t spark so much debate or remind abuse victims of their past without giving them a dialogue option to address it. (This is a similar issue with Astarion’s brothel scene. They should have either removed it by having him say he’s not comfortable again, or at the very least, let players talk to him about it after.)
I think it’s pretty clear that after reading the discussions and evidence both sides provided, I myself lean heavily to one side. However, the main defense I personally have for the opposite side is that the writers were sometimes vague about Astarion’s true preferences and wishes. I especially felt this during the origin playthrough, where his narrator would constantly flip between him liking hedonism and despising it. It gave the impression that two opposing authors were wrestling while writing him, unable to decide where he truly stood on things. It felt similar to how the devs tried to write a respectful story of overcoming abuse and the fear of being sexualized, only to turn around and repeatedly sexualize the character in both the game and promotional material. I really wish the writers and developers had picked a lane and stuck with it.
Now I’ll get into the evidence for the counter theory: That he’s not actually open to sharing, but says he’s fine with it to avoid appearing weak or losing his partner. I personally prefer this theory because it makes the writing seem more intentional, adds more nuance to an already complex character, and feels more realistic. However, even if this is what the writer or actor were trying to convey, it’s still a far worse alternative to simply keeping him out of the poly options in the first place.

1. His hedonistic playboy persona is stated to be a façade. Anything he says in act one about being poly and wanting open relationships is stated when he is both wearing his mask and before he trusts the player. Every statement about relationships here has to be taken with a grain of salt because his mask is centered around attracting victims for Cazador. Since he hated bringing “sweet innocents” to his master, it makes sense that he would initially try to attract the opposite (“criminals and brothel goers”) by sleeping around and making a show of wanting casual relationships.
   
2. Once he gets comfortable in the relationship, he makes it clear he is looking for someone who will make him feel safe and value him for his personality over his body (“I don’t want you to think of me in terms of sex. I don’t think I want anyone to.” “How do you want me to see you?” “As a person. Is that so much to ask?”). If the player chooses to sexualize him, he will go through with it, then regret it later and break up. He makes it very clear in Act two that he’s not actually looking for casual hookups because they make him feel “ashamed and alone”. So it is odd that he’s fine with Halsin (who seems to care more about the sex and the body than the emotional bonding) and the brothel (which is solely about sex). One can argue that he’s fine with the poly relationship because he’s not taking part, but Halsin DOES wish for him to take part ‘eventually’.
   
3. Jumping off of that, Astarion’s dialogue makes it clear he wants a partner who cares about more than just sex, but if you tell him you want to date Halsin solely for the sex (and because Astarion’s not doing it with you), he will say that’s fine and he doesn’t mind the player seeking sex from others. This seems to counter his previous statements and arc. It’s especially strange that even if you reinforce his greatest insecurity (that his refusal to have sex has made his partner immediately seek out other people), he will still claim to be fine with it.
   
4. In terms of dialogue, the actor for Astarion seems to be very intentional when using the fake theatrical masking voice vs. the more genuine softspoken voice he uses when he’s comfortable and being honest. The fake voice is blatantly obvious throughout the Act 1 romance, in Act 2 if you force him to obey the blood merchant (his voice goes from genuinely scared to flirtatious and over the top within seconds), and in Cazador’s mansion where he’ll speak genuinely to you, then be over the top when addressing Cazador’s servants. He’ll often use jokes and loud laughter to conceal his true feelings and insecurities. Meanwhile his laughter in the confession scene, graveyard scene, and Spawn epilogue is quiet and subdued because he’s being genuine. It feels like a strange coincidence that when addressing both the Halsin situation and the brothel situation, his voice becomes very loud and high pitched again, he immediately starts making jokes, and his laughter is over the top. This hints at him not wanting to go along with either situation, but he’s putting himself through it because this is what his partner wants and since he’s tolerated sexual stuff he hated before, he can do it again. Plus, after killing Cazador, he wants to ensure no one views him as weak. He has to prove to himself and his lover (at least in his mind) that refusing to take the Ascendant powers was good and he’s strong enough to not need it. I can understand players not picking up on the voice changes (because not everyone is going to replay the game or even care) but those who did notice it believe it’s done intentionally (either by the actor or the writer or both). If it’s not intentional, then it’s a strange decision to make from a developer’s standpoint.
   
5. Throughout the threads I read, most poly people made it clear that poly relationships require complete trust, clear communication, and general confidence. Astarion himself admits to lacking all of those traits to some degree. If you don’t romance him, he will literally not trust any of the characters right up to the epilogue (he’ll hold a knife behind his back while talking to the Dark Urge). Even though he does seem to genuinely trust his lover by Act 2, he will still lie to them several times. He lies about being fine with the drow twins (he states he’ll leave if he hates if but never does despite disassociating), feigns confidence when the player says they’ll become a mind flayer (he says he only cares about them becoming ugly but expresses his true fears only after the fight, that he’s worried they are no longer the person he fell in love with by losing their soul), he manipulates his lover when confronting Cazador despite being conflicted about it himself and wanting reassurance, and (on a more minor note) he continuously claims he’s doesn’t care about Yenna or the Gur children despite getting upset when they’re in danger. This is a character who, even after he kills his tormentor, struggles to be honest with his partner. That isn’t a good combination when addressing poly. (Again, it could be worked through in real life, but is better avoided in video games where there isn’t time to address it).
   
6. There are also plenty of situations where he agrees to do things he outright hates. In Act 1, we know he is (at least somewhat) disgusted by having sex with the player or Laezel, but he’ll do it. In Act 2, he tries to be genuine about not wanting to touch the player until he no longer feels disgust, but if the player pressures him, he will cave and obey. He does break up with the player afterwards, but it is only after he has gone through with the act. In Act 3, he will state three times that he doesn’t want to take the tadpole, but if the player pressures him by bringing up his darkest fear, he will give in. Worse, he will give in and STILL stay with the player romantically despite them clearly manipulating him to do something they know he fears. He does thankfully break up if you fail the checks, but if you succeed, he goes through with it. If he’s willing to cave to something as huge as altering his entire body, it makes sense that he would cave to something he views as more minor (like tolerating unwanted sexual acts in a brothel or sharing his partner).
   
7. I didn’t know this until I saw others mention it but there are points where he will flirt with NPCs if he is single (the girl in the sewers), but he uses neutral dialogue if he is dating the player. This reinforces the theory that he doesn’t actually plan to sleep around or be with others as he claims (though there are some dialogues that I think slipped through the cracks where he still flirts with others despite being in a committed relationship).
   
8. If Halsin propositions you after Cazador has been killed, Astarion no longer asks if you’re doing this because he hasn’t been fulfilling your sexual needs. However, he does give another response that feels out of place: “I’ve realized it doesn’t matter if anything (in our relationship) changes.” Parallel this with what he said at the graveyard, that “no matter what happens, I don’t want to lose this (relationship).” It’s very odd to have him say he doesn’t want to lose the relationship, but then the next day he is totally okay with losing it. Granted, it is nice to know that even if the characters break up, he’ll be fine, but it does feel contradictory for his character, especially with how devastated he acts if they DO end the relationship. If the Halsin statement is just an act and he’s overcompensating, however, then it feels more intentional on the writer’s part.
   
9. I’ve seen lots of people say that Ascended Astarion also shouldn’t be fine with poly, and I agree, though it’s for different reasons than Spawn Astarion. Unlike SA, I think Ascended would absolutely do the brothel scene because 1. He’s actively suppressing his trauma and playing a new character and 2. He feels in control in the brothel and is the focus. However, with Halsin, he doesn’t have any control. For someone obsessed with possessing his lover and ensuring they can never leave him, letting them sleep with Halsin doesn’t fit his writing. He isn’t participating. He doesn’t know what they’re doing behind his back. For all he knows, Halsin and the player might be discussing how to kill Astarion or escape him. In some deleted party banter, Halsin literally tells Ascended Astarion he doesn’t approve of the abusive spawn/master relationship they’ve formed. With that knowledge, not only should Halsin not be willing to join a poly relationship that he thinks is unhealthy, but he has a motivation to help the player get away from AA (and AA would know this). I could see Spawn Astarion hesitantly agreeing to the Halsin thing despite not wanting to share, but AA just wouldn’t. It feels contrary to both his and Halsin’s writing.
   
10. This is the second most convincing piece of evidence for me: The Drow twins. If you ask Astarion to join a ‘group activity’, he’ll use his fake voice and flighty laugh and agree to go through it, saying he’ll run away if he doesn’t like it and comparing the act to burning in the sun (a little concerning that he’s already comparing the two). Then during the act, he will immediately ask the player what they want “us” to do. Not only is he lumping himself in with the prostitutes, but he is also doing something that an Origin playthrough reveals is a trigger for him (he tells the drow twins that being ‘told what to do’ reminds him of his time as a slave). If the player tries to check up on him, he ignores them and says he wishes he was drunk. Then he disassociates and never brings it up again. This has been viewed two ways: either he doesn’t want to have casual sex anymore and wants to be in a one-on-one relationship, or he does want to do stuff like this but just needs to heal more before he can. I lean toward the first assumption because he is acting flighty and fake BEFORE the sexual act even begins. If he really wanted to do it but changed his mind after, it makes more sense for him to sound genuine at first, then fake halfway through.
    

But the main thing that sticks out to me is his reaction to you asking for only ONE drow twin. If you do, he will accuse you of having a thing for prostitutes and call it embarrassing, then glare at you for the rest of the conversation. This is especially sad because not only have the player’s actions made him feel like a prostitute again, but now he seems to be wondering if you started dating him BECAUSE he was a prostitute, not for who he really is.
Compare this to the Halsin situation and the drow ‘group activity’. For Halsin, he says he was expecting this for months. He’s had several months to plan his reaction and decide what he’s willing to tolerate. Hence, he has a very rehearsed reaction. With the twins, he had less time to anticipate this but probably also worried about it (especially if the player asked about them earlier and he said no. Now he expects the player to try again and has planned accordingly). Again, this response feels rehearsed and fake. The only response where he uses his real voice is when you ask for one of the twins alone. This is something he likely wouldn’t plan for, so we get to see his gut reaction for the first time: he doesn’t want you to do it.
Now some people argue that he’s fine with Halsin and not the other Origin characters because Halsin is just a fling and won’t try to take his spot. If that’s the case, he should be fine with the twins too. If anything, they are even less of a threat. Yet he doesn’t want you to do it and responds accordingly. If he truly was poly, he would respond like Karlach did and tell you to have fun, or like Shadowheart telling you to give him a heads up first. But we don’t see that.
One other thing about the twins that I felt I could point out: if you or the twins ask to do a group activity before Cazador is killed, Astarion says he’s not comfortable with this yet. The “yet” part has been pointed out to show that he’s fine with it after Cazador has been killed (even though he still disassociates later). However, another explanation of the “yet” part is that he’s trying to soften the blow because he’s scared of using a blunt NO. We see this with Araj, the blood merchant. Even though he is absolutely disgusted with her treatment of him and how she’s “defiling” him with her fantasies, his rejections of her are very soft and nervous. Even when reinforced by his friend/lover, he says “It’s still a no, I’m afraid” with a smile. Turning down sexual encounters is tough for him, even when he has people backing him up, so I can see him using words like “yet” or “I’m afraid” to soften the blow. I know several people in real life who do this, despite later admitting there was no “yet”.
There’s another part of this dialogue with the early twins that I want to point out (really overanalyzing here but if we want to believe the writers do things intentionally/with a lot of forethought, I think it’s okay to read into the words they use). When Astarion says he’s not comfortable with the twins, the player’s response is “I wouldn’t ask such a thing of you”. This will raise his approval and make him respond positively. The promise you give him is not “I’ll ask them later, after we’ve killed Cazador” or “I would have liked to but okay” (that one doesn’t trigger his positive response). He only approves of you saying you won’t ask him to do things like this (stated in a tense that implies you will NEVER ask him to do such a thing, regardless of Cazador’s stabbed or unstabbed state). This could have been the writer hinting that if you bring him back after, you’re going back on your promise and thus have to see the disassociating scene. That…or the writer wasn’t thinking too hard and we are simply thinking too much.

1. With all that out of the way, we’ll get to the final point that solidifies this theory for me personally. It’s the statements of Shadowheart and Minthara if you ask to do a three-way relationship with one of them and Astarion. Shadowheart’s response is: “I think you’re overestimating his willingness to share. He may seem like a carefree hedonist, but there’s something fragile beneath the façade.” Minthara says something nearly identical, that sharing would wound his pride and he is far too fragile to handle it. You could even add Astarion’s line from the other end, where if you ask Astarion to share with you and Karlach, he will say they shouldn’t because Karlach loves the player and relationships are fragile (implying that he either thinks open relationships don’t work if there’s love involved, or perhaps he himself can only do open relationships if he doesn’t love the other person).

The main argument I’ve seen disproving these statements by Shadowheart and Minthara is that they’re just plain wrong about him. If so, it’s a strange writing choice to not only have both of them be wrong about the exact same thing, but they’re both high wisdom characters who are proven to understand Astarion in a lot of ways other characters don’t. (All three of them have been enslaved and manipulated, Minthara comprehends the depths of his relationship with Cazador within minutes of being in the camp, and Shadowheart is one of the closest to Astarion in terms of friendship and liking him.)
If Astarion actually is fine with poly, then it means both Shadowheart and Minthara are wrong. That means the writers either made a mistake or made a very weird writing choice.
However, if Astarion is actually pretending to be fine with sharing as they say, not only is the writing consistent but these dialogues become very clever foreshadowing. I want to give the writers the benefit of the doubt and believe they did a good job with Astarion, so I prefer to lean into the theory that he’s pretending because it makes more sense for him overall.
That was quite a long tangent and somewhat unnecessary, but he’s a character whose mannerisms and statements are meant to be heavily analyzed, so it’s fun to go more in depth. Let’s move on.

1. ISSUES WITH HOW HALSIN WAS PRESENTED

We’re finally at the last point, and in a way the direct cause of this entire thread: Halsin. Now, I have no issue with Halsin being poly (again, he’s listed as one of my four ideal options for it) but I do have several issues with how he was written and presented. The Shadowheart part I will skip over because I already got into it, but there are many other problems to address and most of them could have been fixed very easily.

1. He is not presented as poly until Act 3. I was reading through a thread full of people who loved him and several of them were early access players who had requested he become a romance option. However, the reason they requested him was very important. In EA, all three of the male options seemed immature (Wyll), condescending (Gale), or straight up evil (Astarion). Meanwhile Halsin was, in their words, a mature man who seems like the type to settle down with them in a cottage and help raise their kids. This is the impression he gives and what drew many people to him. As a result, many of these players were extremely disappointed to reach Act 3 once the game was out and discover that not only was he the complete opposite of their initial impression, but he won’t even stay with the player after the game ends (in most cases). Honestly, if I was a developer and saw that they liked him for those earlier reasons, I wouldn’t make him strictly poly because that wasn’t what the players wanted. They wanted him because he was muscular and a good, stable man. It was a very odd choice to turn around and give the players the opposite of what they asked for. But if the devs were truly determined to go the poly route, they should have at least gone back to Act 1 and 2 and slipped in some hints that he was poly. I saw some newer players who recently played the game for the first time and wanted to romance him for the aforementioned reasons (stable, mature, kind, huge). They ignored all other romances until Act 3, then got hit with the “I’m only poly” discussion. Had they known he wasn’t monogamous, they wouldn’t have blown off all the other options.
   
2. But let’s ignore that. We’re focusing on the world where he IS completely poly (though some were arguing that it should at least be an option to ask if he’ll try being monogamous with the player.) The way he is presented still has a lot of issues according to poly players. For one, the way he tries to butt in on the relationship is done in a really sketchy manner (especially considering what some of the Origin characters have gone through/are currently going through). It would have been far better to do what they did with Minsc and give the PLAYER the option to hit on Halsin, rather than the other way around. Have them offer poly to him, and then he can discuss it from there. Having the proposition come from Halsin himself puts him in a negative light, and it’s pretty clear the writers didn’t actually want to portray him as a bad person so they messed up here.
   
3. The flagging for Halsin’s dialogues is awful and despite seeing people report it for eight months, that hasn’t changed. Even if you pick the most neutral option, he will still hit on you by saying “I think you feel the same way”. Not a good idea. “I HOPE you feel the same way” would have been infinitely better. Women often have to deal with people assuming their friendly, professional conversation is something more when it isn’t. It’s not a great idea to bring that into fantasy games too. It hit too close to home for some.
   
4. Even if you use the most neutral option at the Act 1 party (“Go have fun and mingle”), your main dialogue option the next day is “Sorry for coming on so strong last night”. It’s a strange thing to say. Again, I’m not sure how developers missed this and why it was never patched out. I saw people reporting it since the release.
   
5. He will also ask for a relationship at neutral approval. In most of my playthroughs, I stopped talking to him beyond the Thaniel quest and avoided asking about his personal life. He still led his proposition with “I think you feel the same way”. How does he know when we only spoke to him three times? They should have at least required you to go through all his extra dialogues before triggering this.
   
6. When Halsin says he loves you, you have two options: reject him straight away, or ask about his opinions a little more. Oddly enough, if you ask a bit more and THEN reject him, he’ll have a proper response. “That’s fine. I understand. I won’t ask again.” However, if you reject him as soon as he starts talking to you, his response is very off putting. He’ll protest and say, “but you asked me about my former lovers” or, if you didn’t even do that, he’ll claim “you looked after me with the care of a lover, not a host.” These pushy assumptions turned a lot of people off. This is entirely on the writer, in my opinion. He should have realized how weird these sounded.
   
7. Halsin is the only person you can’t dismiss from your camp at any point through dialogue. All of the origins have to be pursued and recruited intentionally. Halsin is the only exception. This makes some sense because you need him to cure the Shadowlands, but for Act 3, he literally has nothing to do. They should have given players an option after the Ketheric fight to dismiss him and tell him to take care of the Shadowlands. It makes a lot more sense narratively and would help avoid a lot of the more awkward parts later.
   
8. Halsin’s initial dialogue about monogamy vs. polyamory is mostly fine, with him comparing it to gardens and wolves vs. bears. But (and don’t quote me on this because I can’t recall the specifics), if you ask your partner to do poly and they say no, Halsin will be a little more judgmental about your partner, saying he was hoping they would be more “open minded”. Statistically, the majority of BG3’s players are going to be monogamous, so it’s strange to see nearly every character (monogamous or poly) criticize monogamy in some way. It is called selfish, narrow minded, and old fashioned by at least 3 characters to my knowledge (Halsin, Act 1 Astarion, and even Gale (who is monogamous himself)). If the developers truly wanted to be inclusive, criticizing one’s lifestyle and having no characters openly defend it in the game (even those who practice it) is a disappointing choice. In this case, it might be an unintentional mistake (maybe they feared that by defending monogamy, they were somehow demonizing polygamy or polyamory), but it would have been better to just leave the criticisms out of it entirely if that was the case.
   

And that’s it. I think that’s all the points from myself and others that I wanted to compile. I don’t think any of this will be changed in BG3 but I hope all of these points and opinions will at least improve any future games. It’s great that BG3 was able to make nuanced characters with their own opinions and preferences—I much prefer it to “everyone is poly and no one gets mad if you cheat” games where characters feel more like statues than living beings—but I do wish they thought the poly options through more carefully (trying to make poly people comfortable while leaving room for monogamous players to enjoy the romances too).
The only feasible fix the developers could make at this point to avoid all the issues mentioned is keeping Halsin poly but removing his connections to other Origin romances (or at least Karlach and Astarion). At this point, that’s the only thing that could realistically be done. I also wish they made characters break up with you if you cheat on them in the brothel, since that’s what many people including myself would do.
Again, these opinions are my own (and those that aren’t come from a variety of comments across Youtube, Reddit, and Larian’s forums). I enjoyed getting to see so many different viewpoints and appreciated how civil (most of) the people on both sides were. It’s an interesting topic and here’s hoping game studios handle it better in the future.
If anyone reads this far and wants links to the threads, forums, and youtube comment sections, let me know.

... I enjoyed reading it... And I think I know why.
(this includes spoilers for ultimatum and invincible)
Im completly new to marvel comics, so I decided to start reading Ultimate spiderman. After 20 issues I decided to step it a little up and now I read the whole universe in its entirety since half a year.
Today I reached ultimatum. It was definetly a experience with its ups and downs.
Since I'm a huge info nerd when it comes to characters I like or ideas I have, I instantly run to the marvel wiki or reddit to research and this spoilered alot for me. I knew many would die. I knew wasps and stranges deaths and I think that was probably a big influence.
I approached this comic as a huge event that would end a phase of the ultimate universe like endgame did, but not in a positive way, but rather already expecting this to be a huge killing of many hero's I love. It reminded me of getting introduced to the guardians of the globe in invincibe, just for invincible to kill them (the writing on invincible is so much better pls dont kill me for this xD). And it kinda felt like that. I was shocked to see them die but I felt like it's needed for a new story to onfold.
Personally stuff like the watcher appearing before it made me super hyped for this event. The buildup for this event was so well made. In general anything around the comic from other writers but lobe was very good story telling that got me super hooked.
I also want to appreciate the wonderful art of ultimatum (not the gore). I'm always amazed and just stare at some moments just because the art is so good.
I guess I really enjoyed ultimatum and the stuff around it because of these things: - wonderful buildup (except for Ultimates 3) - a different approach to a huge event - freedom in the writing - beautiful art - the watcher got me hyped af - permanent deaths and the aftermath
Stuff I didn't like make sence tho - gore, like wtf why - cannibalism?!?! What where they thinking - strange dying (he felt like a joke the whole universe) - ultimates 3 (the worst comic I ever read) - incest
I think the event is definetly overhated and the hate keeps people away from the ultimate universe I don't like that The ultimate universe may be the introduction of marvel comics to me and maybe that makes me like it more than experienced comic readers But it's a wonderful entry point for someone that doesn't have any clue about comics in general in its entirety (excluding Ultimates 3 and ultimate adventure xD)
I recommend reading it if u read the whole universe I don't recommend it if u didn't read much of the ultimate universe And I don't recommend it if u have a weak stomach because that was disgusting at parts
Im hyped to read further and finish my journey Thanks marvel for making these comics

It seems like regular munchkin is fairly NSFW, which magic kneepads n’at. I thought about picking up the Harry Potter version because my family really likes those stories, but I honestly don’t really feel like playing a game full of dick jokes with my mom and sisters.

So i have this workmate of mine, let's call her L. L and I have gone closer with each other in the past year ot two maybe and inaasar kami ng mga workmates namin sa isa't isa na kesyo bagay kami ganto ganyan. And even itong si L inaasar din ako na kesyo baka crush ko naman daw pala sya and something like that. Nung una ayokong makisali at tahimik lang ako being the avoidant person that I am pero there has been a time na nainis ako dahil parang feeling ko nabubully nako(haha).
So ayon nakikisakay at asar narin ako para goodvibes at laptrip lang sa office ganern, kahit na ayaw na ayaw ko ng ganun dahil its a personal issue of mine na madali ako maattach kesyo ganto ganyan
However, parang goods lang din naman kasi si L parang tumitiklop din minsan pag nakikisakay ako sa asaran so ayon diko na feel na nabubully ako kasi equal grounds na kami or baka lamang ako kasi parang kinikilig sya na ewan.
Days and months went by na ayun asaran parin pero tanong ng mga workmates ko ay bakit di ko daw nililigawan si L kasi kung liligawan ko daw sya eh may pagasa ako. And sinabi ko narin naman sakanila na self love lang muna ako. Natatanong nila yun sakin kasi nakikita nila na etong si L ung gumagawa ng way para magkaron kami ng alone time kahit avoidant ako. There was even a time na ung dati nyang manliligaw eh tinanong ako kung nanliligaw ba ako kay L or baka kami na eh clear naman na asaran lang at tropa lang tlga kami.
Dumating narin sa point na sinasabing torpe daw ako dahil dpako umamin at manligaw para magkatuluyan na. Pero ayun dahil nga ayoko munang mainvolve sa isang relationship, ako itong todo iwas na magpakita ng signs na I'm getting fond of her na. Pero lately, ang hirap narin magpigil. I'm getting out of my avoidant character sometimes kasi kahit hindi time ng asaran, i say cheesy shit and i get touchy(which is very rare for me to do sa opposite sex). So idk if i have developed feelings already or just in denial or i just feel like i like her just because i think she likes me(based sa reactions nya pag asaran) na tipong I only like the idea that someone likes me, idk.
So here arose the problem. I feel like napapansin nya na baka im catching feelings na so i think last resort na like, mag joke sya na may jowa sya para dko ituloy ung recent na pinapakitang kong actions sakanya. Ako naman, feeling ko asaran parin na may jowa pala sya so dko pinaniniwalaan kasi sinabi nya lang to ngayon kasi medyo nagiging showy na nga ako. Pero minsan napapadalas ang sabi nya so 1 time pinilit ko sya na show pics or it aint true. And ayun, totoo pala tlga and hindi lang joke. 7 yrs na raw pala sila.
The story here has some more details and is complicated na pero di na sasabihin yun further. Pero the fact is that from my point of view, nakipag asaran sya sakin at pinakitaan nya ko ng actions na baka gusto nya ko or what or baka interested sya, while being in a relationship. Di naman ako nanligaw sakanya so its not like I deserve na maclarify if may jowa ba tlga sya pero feeling ko ang tanga tanga ko dahil naatach ako sa taong taken. I really hate the thought of it and i dont like na nagawa nyang makipag asaran ng ganun sakin kahit may jowa sya.
After nyang masabi na may jowa sya, medyo inasar nya pako na baka raw malungkot ako na nalaman kong taken sya. And ang pinagtataka ko tlga eh pilit na pilit nyang gusto malaman if may gusto ba ako sakanya. Idk maybe im overthinking this pero i felt betrayed and i feel really stupid. Though i dont really blame her pero i keep asking this question to myself:
May karapatan ba ako magalit?
Sorry if mahaba or incoherent ang pagkakakwento ko, im not really good at this. Pero i really like to know what do you guys feel about this and the question I keep asking myself. Thank you

First off before I start this post, it is imperative to say, I DO NOT SUPPORT YE'S VIEWS OR STANCE AT ALL AND I'M NOT TRYING TO DEFEND HIM AT ALL, THIS IS JUST MY EXPERIENCE AND THAT'S NOT A REFLECTION OF ANY OF MY POLITICAL STANCES. Now that that's out of the way,
Back in December of 2022, when Ye was supposed to go on that horrible Alex Jones interview, I was talking to this one girl on Instagram but we weren't talking THAT much, just once in every 3 days a casual how you doing, a random joke or something, nothing serious.
Then that stupid interview came out, and I put that on my Instagram story vocally disagreeing with Ye as many people knew I was into a lot of Ye music and I didn't want them to think that I supported this guy's views here. After 10 mins or smn of that story being up I get a notification from that girl basically saying that she saw that interview too and she was trying to piece it up too.
I didn't know she was into Ye stuff so out of curiosity I asked her if she was following just news in general or Ye for a specific reason. She replied back saying that she was into Ye's stuff cos he was her favorite artist, and I never knew that, so I was caught by surprise and asked her about her favorite album, favorite song, etc etc.
We talked for a decent while, I'd say about 2 hours? Anyway, later I asked her if she wanted to come over that weekend to listen to Ye, discuss some stuff going on, watch a movie or smn cos my parents were out, and she was down for the idea. So that Sunday we sat and listened to the entirety of MBTDF, Graduation and Yeezus from start to end and watched a movie.
Soon, we started having more of these "sessions" and every session it started escalating bit by bit, first holding hands, or a random hug, and eventually we got together and it was so fun those small sessions were the best, listening to music and enjoying stuff istg. Eventually we did break up though cos we had to go our separate ways, but it was mutual and there were no hard feelings there at all. I still talk to her here and there too.
But now I'm with this other girl and she is the best, she makes me feel so happy, makes playlists and Pinterest boards for me, it's honestly the cutest thing ever and we carried on those small "sessions" I used to have and it's gotten even better now with her and its crazy cos none of this would have happened if Ye just kept his mouth shut.
Ik this shit is too cheesy for GAS and stuff but I thought I'd post it cos 1- I remembered this whole thing cos of the recent Fuentes incident and thought about this whole butterfly effect and 2- I thought it would be a small ray of sunshine among the whole doomer posts and the "it's over" posts going around.
I'm curious though, how bout y'all? You guys have had any similar incidents/butterfly effects?