Speeches for baby shower examples

hello, I haven't been to the doctor, so I don't know if I do have hyperhidrosis, I just know this is the right place to come for sweaty advice. I have sweaty hands, sweaty arms, sweaty legs. it could be 40 degrees outside and I'd still sweat as long as I move. everytime I go into stores, I can feel the sweat dripping under my shirt and it makes my social anxiety so much worse because I refrain from doing so much in fear that ill sweat. even sitting here on the couch where its 72 degrees, im sweating. I'm the only person I know where I need to go to the bathroom to freshen myself after an hour of being regularly active(for example, i was at dave and busters for around 3 hours, i had to freshen up twice. i went to the mall and bookstore in the ohio winter, i needed to freshen up twice). my torso sweats especially bad when im TALKING TO PEOPLE??? like are you kidding me??? is there anything that's really helped for you that i dont have to get from a doctor? no matter what I do or how cold or breathable my outfits are I always sweat. I use baby powder after showering and I try to wear breathable clothes and use old spice pure sport which is the only deodorant that works even a little. but it's js not enough, just does not work. I just want to hug someone for once without fearing they'll never touch me again after realizing how sweaty i am.

This is an old story some of my friends told me (29F) I should share here.. so here I am. Sorry for the long text, but there's a lot to unfold.
This started a few years ago, after I got ghosted by my ex, I decided to switch careers and took the proposal of my brother to work for one of his friend in an organic grocery store in my area. I was 22ish at the time, maybe 21 turning 22, but anyways.
I started working in the fruits and vegetables aisle. Despite having a crazy director, I liked my job and my department manager. After a few months, I got the title of "third key" which is basically I'm the assistant manager when the assistant is gone. Then, they decided to hire a new customer service manager that I will call Linda. That woman was CRAZY. While I was 23 at the time, she was only 20 acting like she owned the world.
To give you an idea, in the span of 8 months being here, she got 11 employees fired for stupid reasons and since our director at the time was just as crazy... it was easier for her to get her way. Also, when I say stupid reasons, I'll give you a few examples: Benji got fired because he was "talking too loud" in the break room and it was disturbing her peace and supposedly making her harder to rest to come back fully ready to finish her shift. Marie got fired because she HAD to take off work to go to a relative's funeral and couldn't give her 2 weeks notice. Rose got fired because she was getting "too old to do her job properly and it was ruining the pace of the team's work" (which is bs, I've never seen someone cut veggies and fruits as fast as her). And I could go on. Yes, some of them could've been able to be protested against and even file a complaint against her. Mind you, outside of Rose, everybody was too young to just wanting to fight for a grocery store job. Even Rose just decided to take her retirement earlier and fucked off the work world lol.
Anyways, she took it too far when she tried to mess with me. To give you the context, we had a huge special on lemons and sometimes, those fruits can get rotten and you don't notice it because there's no smell. The only way you'd know is by going through the several small boxes of like 10ish lemons and look at them all one by one. Which I did regularly, but hey, I'm not a robot, sometimes some of them slipped out of my eyes. I was leaving the backstore with more boxes when I saw Linda with a customer that seemed more than pissed. So I go see both of them because mind you.. she has a LEMON box and I work in the fruits department. So it's kind of my job to help IF I CAN. That's when I asked her "Hey Linda, do you need help with the lemons?" And right away she told me "Fuck off, I don't need your help, I already spoke to your manager. Go do your job for once." My face was literally like this 😳 as I went to my department. Even the pissed customer did a bombastic side eyes.
A few minutes later, I go back to the backstore to fulfill the missing products and my manager pulls me aside. "Hey OP, stay out of Linda's business. I can't protect you all the time for talking back." I stopped him right away asking what does he means cause as soon as she told me to fuck off, I did fuck off. He looked at me surprised and said he'd come back to me with it, but only tomorrow because he's finishing his shift and for some personal reason, he can't stay longer to solve the issue. Since Linda was the manager on guard that night, he told me to stay in the back as much as possible to stay in her good graces. That's what I did.
One hour after my manager left, I heard my name being called in the front office (shared by the customer service manager and director). Big wtf. I go in the front and all of my colleagues are looking at me like I'm a prisoner going to their death sentence. Mind you, I know my laws and my rights. I might be young, but as soon as I got called, I started reciting in my head the main laws and rights she has to respect. I open the door's office and Linda is FUMING. And she is alone. She asks me to close the door and I tell her "No, it is my right to have someone in the room with us for this talk. I am not comfortable being alone with you." She starts freaking out and starts to speak louder, on the verge of screaming. "Linda. This room is recorded 24/7 and the customers can hear you talking to me like that. Lower your tone and find a witness to be in the room or I'll go back to work." She stands up to look outside the office and sees that indeed, there's a line in front of the cash looking to the office's direction. She takes a few deep breaths and calls Gabrielle who takes care of the finances of the store so she can be a witness. From the moment Gab got into the room, she seemed like she wanted to get away, so do I.
Gab took a seat in the back and Linda starts her whole speech. I'll be paraphrasing cause the meeting took almost an hour.
L: You know why I brought you here, right? OP: Not really, I've been in the backstore minding my business. Why? L: Well you disrespected my authority in front of a customer and that's a big no no for the company. OP: For the company or for you? L: OP, this is not the topic. You shouldn't be disrespecting authority in front of customers. It makes the managers look bad. OP: I was honestly just trying to help because you had a box of products from my department. I just wanted to help because the customer looked pissed and I didn't want him to ruin your fragile mood. L: My fragile mood?! Are you fucking serious?! OP: Linda, we are being recorded and we have a witness. I'm asking you to stay polite and not scream or I will file a complaint against you. L: Are threatening me??? OP: No, I am stating my rights and making you aware of where your attitude will lead you. I won't accept being talked like that by someone that ain't even my manager. L: Okay OP, let me remind you where your position stands in this business.
That bitch started to draw a triangle, put her name at the tippidy top and mine at the bottom. I didn't even let her finish what she had to say, I stormed off the office, went into the employees lockers, took my stuff and headed out. Linda ran after me, yelling like a psycho "YOU CAN'T LEAVE LIKE THAT! YOU'RE STILL SCHEDULED FOR THE CLOSE!" I stopped on my steps, making Linda almost run into me and said with the most blank expression I could have "Linda, you crossed a line and since you're so good at your job, close my department for me. I will be filing a complaint against you." And left the work place.
Next morning, I came to work as usual and had to see my manager and the director. I explained them the whole situation and showed the papers I was about to send to file a complaint against Linda. Also, this dumb bitch didn't even throw her pyramid in the trash. It was still on display when the director came in to work and asked me what it was. I asked her to look at the cameras, put the sound on and listen to the whole meeting. We watched it to my director's horror and who came in to work in the middle of our screening time? Linda! She came into the office and Linda being a poc turned white as a ghost. I've never seen her being so so pale. "W-what are you doing?" The director asked Linda to sit down and we watched again the video. Mind you, it took us one full hour to watch because she was in a never ending power trip. She used to be smart when she was bullying and making stories about past employees, doing it far from the cameras and usually using the other office that doesn't have cameras or a microphone, but she wasn't with me. I guess she got comfortable or whatever, but check mate on her ass.
My director said I could go back to work with my manager, that she would take care of the rest. Two weeks later, Linda still had her job, but our director resigned from her job right away. Which was hella weird, but whatever. We got a new director, she was a total sweet heart and she noticed Linda's crazy power trips right away. She decided to launch an intern investigation, but sadly, all the employees Linda bullied were fired. There was only me and my little complaint waiting to be served. When Nancy, our new director, came to me asking if I knew anything about Linda. I gave her the file, the time stamps of the video tape, all the employees she fired for stupid reasons with the old director and also phone numbers of those employees.
Flash forward 2 weeks later, Linda left work earlier, balling her eyes out yelling how Nancy was a bitch and didn't deserve her job. How she always came in earlier, put in the work and yadi yada. Nancy waited a few more days before asking me to come into the office and again, I'll be paraphrasing because a lot have been said.
N: HI OP, don't worry, you're not in any trouble. I just saw your CV and noticed you've had a lot of experience in customer service. OP: Yes, I used to be a cashier for almost 5 years, it was my first job. Why? N: I've seen your file, your CV and how you managed the conversation with Linda. We are actually looking for a new customer service manager since Linda have been let go. OP: What about my actual position? N: It's easier to find a fruits and vegetables commis than it is to find a competent service manager.. as you experienced.
I ended up accepting the position and all my co-workers cheered for my raise. I don't want to brag, but I've always been the one to defend everybody in the place, making sure I'll keep my job in the process and following the laws and rights. A few months later, Linda came back to the store as a customer and the look she had on her face when she saw me at the cash with the manager uniform was priceless. It was even more priceless when she asked me when I got the promotion and I told her the exact date, which matched her departure. "So you got my position when I left?" I just nodded and asked if I could do anything more to help have a better experience in the store. She didn't answer to that and just left after paying her things.
To this day, it's still one of my favorite moments to have been through. I'm not a petty person, but if I can ruin you in the process of me trying to defend my people, I'll be more than happy to do so. Last I've heard of Linda, she was working for the competitor, but never had any promotions.

Think about it. You are born. You are a baby maybe a happy baby maybe a fussy baby maybe a quiet baby. You pee and poop and dont think twice. Then maybe you get a little older and your sensory issues come out where someone hands you soup with parsley on it. You taste the crunch of the parsley. You aren't freaking out in your head that it's rude to retch you just retch from the crunch mixed with liquid texture (crunch from parsley liquid from soup) and you say "ewwww" or you push the bowl away. You aren't forcing yourself to eat it you aren't even thinking about anything but ew no I'm not eating this weird texture shit. But then your parents get mad at you and say "you eat this soup WITH the parsley or you starve". And that sticks with you. First step in LEARNED BEHAVIOR.
Fast forward to middle school. You're in the hallway. It's your first day and you think you look good and you're super comfortable in your black baggy jeans and loose black shirt (not saying this is your style this is just a scenario) and your favorite bright pink beanie. If you're a boy you get made fun of for the pink beanie or if you're a girl you get made fun of and ostracized for wearing baggy plain black clothes. You LEARED yet again to feel self conscious about these clothes you're comfortable in without thinking about it. The next day you change and wear what is more expected of you and you throw out your favorite pink beanie or ask your mom to buy you makeup or more colors or other "accepted clothing.
Now in high school. You are in class just sitting there when the teacher is speaking about let's say the structure of poetry and you notice a little flaw or they confuse two types of poetry styles with each other. You politely raise your hand eager to help. You correct them accidentally interrupting them because you were excited . They grimace at you and say "I'm sorry but who is teaching this class? You can teach if you want to come up here otherwise please let me continue thank you ". You were shut down and embarrassed in front of the whole class and you go home and tell your parents and they take the teachers side and send you to your room. It is confirmed that you need to " learn how to be more respectful".
Now fast forward to adulthood.
Jobs: the interviews you struggle to get hired because you aren't good at eye contact and you ramble or get stuck and all your friends and family tell you. Or you get the job but apparently you did something wrong by telling multiple customers you are tired cause you barely slept and it's enough to get called in the back or you're suspended or admonished because an emergency happened but you " overreacted or were too loud when trying to alarm people to help". Even if you never been fired you learn you need to walk on eggshells with what you say at work you can't have comfortable conversations with coworkers or customers at work or you will be at risk of getting in trouble. And you have to prepare better for interviews and force eye contact. Also if you work at a crappy job you may get threatened to get beat up by coworkers if you say things they don't like even if you didn't mean it in a bad way and it wasn't inappropriate.
Roommates: you happen to move in with people you thought were friends. They are a couple. You try their horrible cooking but you're afraid to retch or reject their food because you learned from a young age you can't act like you dislike the food that is gross or the texture is off to you. You slip up and express you don't like it. They start screaming to each other the next morning about how your behavior when the mask slipped was disrespectful the night before and they didn't appreciate how you didn't make yourself eat their food because in their mind they cook good. One of them now threatens to punch you in the face or kick you out on the streets and it's a whole big thing. You go to the library in tears hyperventilating but trying to hide it.
The result: you try to force eye contact, force yourself to ignore sensory issues like eating cooking you do not enjoy, every new roommate you have you're terrified of making them upset or being kicked out even if they are the nicest people and you actually end up "stuck" standing there trying to figure out if you should wash your own dish or if they'll secretly be mad at you that you didn't offer to wash the dishes everyday despite telling you washing your own dish is fine and when you go to lunch or out to the bakery for fresh donuts you are subconsciously nervous that what you wear will be acceptable and spend extra unnecessary time obsessing about what to wear to a casual bakery and still feel out of place until your friends compliment your clothes or pay them no mind. Even though you still wonder if they secretly disapprove.
NT beliefs about autism is that autistic people are just naturally anxious around others but I don't believe that to be true. I think these examples here and many others are the reason why autistic people LEARN whether from a young age or once they become adults to live in fear of messing up. The more traumatized they become the more obsessed with avoiding that trauma many become. You're gonna be too scared to reject eating someone's food that goes directly against your sensory issues if your previous roommate threatened to beat the fk out of you if you reject their food ever again. And that happens too... It's the people that surround us that make us learn to be like this.

These are just a few examples I have sreeenshotted where orders are either being taken or market buys are being placed just under the ask just to get sold into, a huge disadvantage for anyone trading price action. Wondering if anyone else is having this issue and if there is a fix or Schwab just ruined our baby.
Pictures below you can see where I got my positioned taken, then you can see when I place a large order it just sits me at the bid either for someone to take the ask, or someone to sell into my bid.
https://preview.redd.it/y9a01hphoe0d1.png?width=187&format=png&auto=webp&s=a0cabf8911b154579aebdce3d5f81f4c4c28043f
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https://preview.redd.it/hqtdqyohoe0d1.png?width=621&format=png&auto=webp&s=7154da4806ecf834662fba4658a3b68cfd988dd1
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Girlfriend(18) and her brother(22) are very close and this doesn't bother me. Recently though, he has been prodding at me with allusions to our bedroom life. For example he's been referencing the word shower alot after me and gf showered together for the first time. and throws me off by kinda jokingly saying things like"don't show you're face here again". He's even in one instance said it would be awkward if his dick was bigger than mine. And I'm thinking HUUUUH??? and when he says these things or messes with me my gf doesn't even defend me and sometimes laughs with him. Last night though I brought it up to her saying I thought his jokes were strange and that I felt disappointed that she didn't stand up for me because I cannot do that to her brother as I need to keep a good relationship with him. After this, she seemed to shut down and said I feel really bad for making you uncomfortable. And was more or less silent of the rest of the night. I asked her a few times what was up but she wouldn't tell me or didn't know. I might have came off a little harsh but I don't know.

What is something you’ve bought for your chronic illness that you continue to think “damn that was a good investment”? Doesn’t matter big or small, incredibly specialized or universal. I’m just genuinely curious.
For example I bought a shower chair for my POTS. I didn’t have a ton of issues showering before, but after getting it I realized how much less drained I was after showering. Best $30 I’ve spent in a long time.

I've been a bit of a lurker for a minute. Recently, I picked up Asol and have been grinding to improve. I am 27 games in ranked now, so I am still a baby in the grand scheme of things. I made a video with my thoughts on my wins and where I have made mistakes/missed opportunities. I would appreciate feedback on my gameplay and where I could improve! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B06C6Ia9ww PS: Some examples maybe you need some more context - let me know and I'll see what I can scrounge up :D , also sorry shit quality XD

I can give the full details in private but to summarize it, the ex's mother kicked me out of her house the first night my baby was released from the hospital (the house is closest to the hospital); It also happened to be the 4th year anniversary for my then partner.
Partner defended the actions of the mother despite having medicine studies and is about to be an MD; the mother yelled at my ex, claiming my baby was cold (I kept her warm in 22°C aircon) when I literally left her for just 8 seconds; can gauge timing due to me walking to the bathroom and mother swooping in as soon as I reach the bathroom to wet some cotton balls for the baby as requested by the ex. I can confirm through the ex that the baby was not cold.
After she (the mother of the ex) went hysterical, I decided to ask her for advice on how to take care. She ignored. I then ask her if professors yell at their students then answer their questions mid exam. She started yelling at me. Even grabbed my baby while yelling. She started saying I should stop speaking English, to which I responded, my boss might be Singaporean, how can I not use English. She got more mad. Didn't like that I have North African friends; never really mentioned these things before until the baby's birth. I mentioned the friends the morning of since I thought I could finally get closer. She didn't seem to mind it when I mentioned it but when she started yelling she mentioned to never talk about them again out of the blue.
I could even mention events leading up to that situation. Mother is known to yell and beat my ex even though she was in her mid 20s. The mother literally touched my baby first before me, redo the diapers Ive done even though they're too large for the baby; I'm an athlete so I kinda know how to strap things and keep the diaper from leaking. Even a nurse was wondering why she would change the diaper. At one point she went to the nurse station to tell everyone that I do not know how to take care of my child. I'm a first time parent but that doesn't mean she needs to gatekeep me and parents shouldn't have someone taking their learning experience away.
Post "event" I managed to gain access to the kid (thinking because ex's parents can't afford to take care of her) after a full month and eveything was great. In fact, the baby started mimicking my speech, would try and say hi and hello and use her eyebrows. At the end of the month they took her away from me. When I came and visited her I lost all progress with her. Even discovered they have been putting boiling water in a plastic pail to sanitize my baby's pacifiers. I asked the mother if the plastic could withstand the boiling temperatures. Shs ignored. Since that specific pail was made for bathing, it would obviously not be made to handle boiling temperatures as that would burn our skin. Upon discussion with the ex, she realized her mistake and asked her mother to use a mug. This means for the month I was kicked out, the kid had been fed microplastics.
I can go into more detail but I'm very distraught over not seeing my first child. I really could use some help. I would like to have full custody of the kid as soon as possible.

My MIL has been pushing boundaries my entire relationship with my husband. We've been together going on 11 years. Sometimes I think she's just dense and can't read the room, and sometimes I think she is conniving and manipulating. I still haven't figured it out. I find it incredibly hard she can’t read a room and hand common sense. We have a 3 month old, our first, and I feel she constantly is taking opportunities away from me. She watches him sometimes while I have to go to work, which is a godsend because it is free and I feel more comfortable with him there vs a daycare with people I don't know, but I still get miffed about the absolutely bizarre things she does. When I was pregnant she got my husband a Father's Day gift from our UNBORN/UNNAMED child and wrote him a card from our baby... I had not even had the chance to get him anything yet before she gave it to him. Today when my husband picked our son up (he was off work before me) he came home with a cake that our son "made him" for his birthday... (his birthday is tomorrow). It says "happy birthday daddy <3 -our child's name-". I am SO freaking annoyed and pissed. Am I overreacting? I've tried my best to make boundaries before (for example asking her to NOT get our son an insane amount of gifts and keep it at MAX 5, she still pushes this envelope, and during Christmas time to not get him and gifts from Santa as that is something my husband and I would just like us to do). Any help on how I can tell her to please stop gifting things on behalf of my son?? I feel like I’m losing my mind 🥴😵‍💫

Hello Asol Mains, I've been a bit of a lurker for a minute. Recently, I picked up Asol and have been grinding to improve. He's 27 games in ranked now, so he's still a baby in the grand scheme of things.
I made a video with my thoughts on my wins and where I have made mistakes/missed opportunities.
I would appreciate feedback on my gameplay and where I could improve!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B06C6Ia9ww
PS: Some examples maybe you need some more context - let me know and I'll see what I can scrounge up :D , also sorry shit quality XD
​

I'm a bisexual woman and from the beginning I met him and thought he was gay however he always refers to himself as straight. I always knew that this guy had had an experience with a boy we met thanks to a friend of ours and everything was ok, I said welp "it was something he would do to experiment and that's it". No biggie since this experience was before we met. So we started dating, and everything is so good he asks me to be his girlfriend and I say yes. After a while I found out that he made out not only with this guy but that he made out with several, including trans girls in different situations (at parties, at work, etc.), he used to have a Grindr account, and although he denies it to me I believe that he fucked with the first boy I talk about since they had several encounters in which supposedly this boy went down on him only. I got to see the conversation on IG with this boy and, apart from treating him with words like "baby boy, cutie, little prince" etc., my boyfriend was also like the horniest of the two and I doubt that the other boy, being a bottom had refused to get into it.
At first we had good sex and several times a day since we don't live together, but lately he's finding it more and more difficult to get a hard on. I also discovered that he really likes anal play (yes, in his anus), but not only he loves when I lick it or finger play but he has a dildo, a plug and they both go in very easily. I pegged him too and he loved it. We have been together for 3 months and we play like this at least once a month. I did not like it that much but I have always been open to experimenting and also make him feel pleased.
It's hard for me to cum and he has told me that this frustrates him. I have explained to him since I come from having relationship and sex with women he needs more foreplay or for example, I like him to give me oral sex better before penetration and not after and at first he remembers but then he seems to forget the things I like and since he having hard time to get an erection when he gets it he only wants to get inside me as fast as he can to try to cum. This has caused us trouble and I think we are going to break up.
He seems to have a hard time getting erections with me lately but then he masturbastes to bisexual porn 🤷🏼 and probably also gay porn but will not admit it. What do you think?

Background: Married 5 years. Unhappy most of it. She love-bombed me and tricked me into marriage because she can’t take care of herself. Dumped responsibility for her kids onto me and berates me for not feeling the joy in it. I gave birth to our son very soon after the marriage, so I can’t leave. DW will just give him to her daughters to raise while she sleeps all day. He wouldn’t be safe.
Problem: SD12 is enmeshed with her mom. They sleep together, watch TV all day together, have no friends besides each other. SD12 is never punished for misbehavior and ignores DW when given directions. SD16 doesn’t even come here anymore because they have no time for her.
SD12 started seeing me as a threat about 18 months ago because she realized that if I wasn’t here, she wouldn’t have to attend school or have a clean room or go to her dad’s ever. She has been pushing and pushing and pushing at me ever since. DW took away all the positive structure I’d built. SD no longer has to eat vegetables, do homework, read or hang out with friends. They just gorge on junk food in front of the tv for hours and hours and hours. She’s almost failing school and is pre-diabetic, but I’ve Nacho’d.
Now, SD12 has set her sights on BS4. She makes him play dolls with her and names the baby doll after him and then makes him have a mom and a dad. I gently say, “No, SD. If you want the baby to have a mom and a dad, then it can’t be named BS4. He had two moms.” SD is always sneakily trying to do it anyway. She says “I’m trying to recreate it where he has mom and dad.” She wants him to want a dad so that he will help her break us up and DW can go be with a guy.
If I draw him a picture, SD will draw the same picture to show she does it better.
If I tell him no, she will talk over me and then ask her mom who did it better.
I had a many more examples. It’s exhausting and exasperating.
She has a creepy crush on her mom and wants the two of them to be the moms, raising BS4 together.
Is there anyway to counteract this? Those of you who grew up with siblings like this, did you recognize their behavior as controlling, or did it ruin your relationship with your parents?

Today illustrated that the Democrats have become America’s cheerleaders, emphasizing how investment in the nation’s infrastructure has created jobs and rebuilt the country. This week, the Biden-Harris administration is touting its investments in rebuilding roads and bridges, making sure Americans have clean water, getting rid of pollution, expanding access to high-speed internet, and building a clean energy economy, contrasting that success with Trump’s eternal announcements of an “Infrastructure Week” that never came.
The White House today announced that it has awarded nearly $454 billion in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including more than 56,000 projects across more than 4,500 communities across the nation. Those include fixing more than 165,000 miles of roads and more than 9,400 bridges and improving more than 450 ports and 300 airport terminals. It has funded more than 1,400 drinking water and wastewater projects and projects to replace up to 1.7 million toxic lead pipes, as well as more than 8,000 low- and zero-emission buses. It has funded 95 previously unfunded Superfund projects to clean up contaminated sites. It has improved the electrical grid and funded 12,000 miles of high-speed internet infrastructure, and exposed internet junk fees.
The White House explained that this investment is making it cheaper to install clean energy technology and lowering families’ monthly energy bills, and highlighted today the available rebates to enable people to take advantage of the new technologies.
On Wednesday, May 8, a report from the Semiconductor Industry Association and the Boston Consulting Group explored the “breathtaking speed,” as the president of the semiconductor organization put it, at which the industry is growing. In the Financial Times on May 9, John Thornhill reported that the CHIPS and Science Act, which provided a $39 billion investment in the semiconductor industry, has “primed a torrent of private sector investment.” With the influx of both federal money and an additional $447 billion of private investment in 83 projects in 25 states, the report forecasts that the U.S. will increase its share of global manufacturing capacity for leading-edge chips from today’s rate of 0% to 28% by 2032. Thornhill compared this investment to that spurred by Russia’s 1957 launch of the Sputnik satellite.
The Economist yesterday announced that the U.S. “is in the midst of an extraordinary startup boom,” and explored “[h]ow the country revived its “go-getting spirit.”
In contrast to the Democrats’ confidence in America, the Republicans are all-in on the idea that the country is an apocalyptic wasteland. At a rally in New Jersey Saturday, Trump announced: “On day one we will throw out Bidenomics and reinstate MAGAnomics.” He promised to extend his 2017 tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations.
But the gist of his speech was an angry, vitriolic picture of a failing nation full of “enemies” that are “more dangerous” than China and Russia and who are “going to destroy our country.” In his telling, the criminal case against him in Manhattan is “bullsh*t,” and President Biden has done more damage than the “ten worst presidents in the history of our country” combined: “[h]e’s a fool; he’s not a smart man…[h]e’s a bad guy…the worst president ever, of any country. The whole world is laughing at him.”
Trump lied that other countries are “emptying out their mental institutions into the United States, our beautiful country. And now the prison populations all over the world are down. They don’t want to report that the mental-institution population is down because they’re taking people from insane asylums and from mental institutions.” Then he riffed into “the late great Hannibal Lecter,” the fictional murderer and cannibal in the film The Silence of the Lambs, apparently to suggest that similar individuals are migrating to the U.S.
House Republicans this week are working to pass a nonbinding resolution to condemn Biden’s immigration policies, although it was Republicans, under orders from Trump, who killed a strong bipartisan immigration bill earlier this year.
The only way to turn back this apocalypse, Trump and his supporters insist, is to put Trump and his team back into the White House. From there, Republicans will return those they consider “real” Americans to power.
The last few days have added new information about what that means. On Thursday, May 9, Senators Katie Britt (R-AL), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) introduced the More Opportunities for Moms to Succeed (MOMS) act. Britt—who is best known for her disastrous response to Biden’s State of the Union speech from her kitchen—said the measure would provide a federal database of resources for pregnant women and women parenting young children, but that information excludes anything that touches on abortion.
The measure is clear that it enlists the government in opposition to abortion, but more than that, it establishes that the government will create a database of the names and contact information of pregnant women, which the government can then use “to follow up with users on additional resources that would be helpful for the users to review.”
A government database of pregnant women would give the federal government unprecedented control over individuals, and it is especially chilling after the story Caroline Kitchener broke in the Washington Post on May 3, that a Texas man, Collin Davis, filed a petition to stop his ex-partner from traveling to Colorado, where abortion is legal, to obtain an abortion. Should she do so, his lawyer wrote, he would “pursue wrongful-death claims against anyone involved in the killing of his unborn child.” Now Davis wants to be able to depose his former partner along with others he says are “complicit” in the abortion.
Antiabortion activists are also seeking to make mifepristone and misoprostol, drugs used in many abortions, hard to obtain. In Louisiana, state lawmakers are considering classifying the drugs as “controlled dangerous substances,” which would make possessing them carry penalties of up to ten years in prison and fines of up to $75,000.
More than 240 Louisiana doctors wrote to lawmakers saying that the drugs have none of the addictive characteristics associated with dangerous controlled substances and warning that the drugs are crucial for inducing routine labor and preventing catastrophic hemorrhage after delivery, in addition to their use in abortions. “Given its historically poor maternal health outcomes, Louisiana should prioritize safe and evidence-based care for pregnant women,” the doctors wrote.
Louisiana lawmakers also rejected a bill that would have allowed anyone under age 17, the age of consent in Louisiana, to have an abortion if they became pregnant after rape or incest. Passionate testimony from those who suffered such attacks or who treated pregnant girls as young as 8 failed to convince the Republican lawmakers to support the measure. “That baby [in the womb] is innocent.… We have to hang on to that,” said Republican state representative Dodie Horton.
Today, at the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization promoting Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander participation and representation at all levels of the political process, Vice President Kamala Harris encouraged young people to innovate and to move into spaces from which they have been traditionally excluded.
“So here’s the thing about breaking barriers,” she said. “Breaking barriers does not mean you start on one side of the barrier and you end up on the other side. There’s breaking involved. And when you break things you get cut. And you may bleed. And it is worth it every time…. We have to know that sometimes people will open the door for you and leave it open. Sometimes they won’t. And then you need to kick that f*cking door down.”
Harris’s advice reflects the history that happened on this date in 1862, when the enslaved mariners on board the shallow-draft C.S.S. Planter gathered up their families, fired up the ship’s boilers, and sailed out of the Charleston, South Carolina, harbor. The three white officers of the ship had gone ashore, leaving enslaved 23-year-old pilot Robert Smalls to take control. Smalls knew how to steer the ship and give the proper signals to the Confederates at Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, and three other checkpoints.
Smalls piloted the Planter, the sixteen formerly enslaved people on it, and a head full of intelligence about the Confederate fortifications at Charleston to the U.S. Navy. In Confederate hands, the Planter had surveyed waterways and laid mines; now that information was in U.S. hands. Smalls went on to pilot naval vessels during the war, and in 1864 he bought the house formerly owned by the man who had enslaved him.
A natural leader, Smalls went on to become a businessman, politician, and strong advocate for education. After serving in the 1868 South Carolina Constitutional Convention that made school attendance compulsory and provided for universal male suffrage, he went on to serve in the South Carolina legislature from 1868 to 1874, when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served until 1887. When President Barack Obama signed an executive order establishing the nation’s first national monument concerning Reconstruction, he cited the life of Robert Smalls.
—
Notes:
https://newjerseymonitor.com/2024/05/12/trump-brings-2024-campaign-to-the-jersey-shore/
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a60774814/trump-rally-new-jersey-weird-speech/
https://www.britt.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/MOMS-Act_FINAL-Britt_Rubio_Cramer1.pdf
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/11/katie-britt-proposes-federal-database-to-collect-data-on-pregnant-people
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2024/05/03/texas-abortion-investigations/
https://lailluminator.com/2024/05/08/rape-incest/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/05/13/abortion-pills-louisiana-controlled-substance/
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2024/05/12/america-is-in-the-midst-of-an-extraordinary-startup-boom
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/05/13/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-kicks-off-infrastructure-week-by-highlighting-historic-results-spurred-by-president-bidens-investing-in-america-agenda/
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/05/13/fact-sheet-president-bidens-investing-in-america-agenda-is-helping-american-families-across-the-country-save-money/
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/icymi-the-great-american-innovation-engine-firing-again
https://www.ft.com/content/0d39e8f0-38ba-40aa-8ec8-d04e82afb690
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/08/us/politics/chips-grants-fuel-industry-growth.html
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/11/trump-rally-new-jersey-trial-fascists-00157482
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/12/presidential-proclamations-establishment-reconstruction-era-national
https://www.nps.gov/people/robert-smalls.htm
Twitter (X):
cspan/status/1790048826440503495
Fritschnestatus/1790051154887340473
rosiewestwood/status/1788291766866567439
CecileRichards/status/1789020452855140723
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-13-2024

So I made a fig who speaks a certain way. I left lots of examples in the dialog box and he started out good but has reverted back to normal speech, sometimes way too fancy for his character. Editing dialog helps sometimes but then after one or two messages reverts back. Does anyone have any suggestions to keep it on track?

This is long so thanks to all who reads this. My boyfriend and I have been together for 10 years and we have had a ton of ups and downs. As I mentioned he is a school counselor, he has even had inappropriate relations with another teacher at one of the schools he worked at and that was a whole thing. So I’m very insecure bc he has a history of texting and flirting with other girls. So this school year he’s at a new school settling into his role. He’s a young handsome man and he tells me all the time how he can’t get students out of his office, and for some time I could understand bc it’s rare for black students to see a young black counselor especially having a similar disadvantaged upbringing as them. So here is where my problem started. All these girls would come to him and cry about their relationship issues (something I didn’t do in high school) and say they think their pregnant etc and all these teenage sob stories. So a pregnant student invited him to her baby shower and he was dead set on going because he supported her a lot and we had a VERY LONG conversation about OPTICS and how we never want things ever look a certain way. When I told a family member we were going to said students baby shower I was given the response “why? That’s weird.” So there’s the optics. So fast forward, I’m going through his phone and he texted a female student at 5:30 AM (we were at the gym together I was doing RDLs in front of him) “happy birthday 🎈🎊”. At 5:30??!! He said that the previous day she kept reminding him and her mom has cancer and he feels bad so that’s just when he remembered. So then the student texts later “wya with my chipotle” and he responds “driving back”. He said that he buys students lunch on their birthdays. I continue going through the phone and I see multiple students numbers saved male and female but I’m more concerned about the females asking “can you call me down 5th period”. For example.
Now I do not think he is a groomer bc these messages are largely about graduation dates and deadlines and he does not communicate with students after school hours BUT after we already had the conversation about optics and I’ve already voiced my insecurities he’s continued to show he has blurred boundaries. I don’t plan to stick around when the accusations come rolling in. When I confronted him I felt gaslit and when I said I was going to post the screenshot to social media he almost got physical because I’m putting his character and job in jeopardy but I believe other people would agree with me that his behavior is weird. TLDR

AuPair now since 2019, started in England and went then over to Ireland 2020. Let’s say I had great experiences, and very shitty ones. I went from getting used & treated like a slave to getting treated like another daughter.
My last HF was horrible- 4 kids, youngest was a baby 6 months old. Other three kids were between 5&8. HP were never home both worked full time, HM always wanted to make sure I stay home. Example I say I need to walk down to the pharmacy to get something, she wants to know what and go and gets it for me even tho it was something I had to pick up in person. Payment was class for the fact that i was supposed to do nothing with the kids, literally “nothing” i was more a cleaner, cause all the time I tried she said it’s not really worth it. Well I went over there more as an emergency change, which almost killed me mentally, since the family I worked before that kicked me out after working with them for 9 months, never had an issue but after they got married the HM changed drastically. Didn’t pay me for three weeks, and didn’t let me close to the kids. I tried talking to her after her honeymoon but she was literally hiding at her husband work so I wouldn’t come and talk to her. Shushed me when I was talking to the kids - kiddos even started crying in front of her for me so much about that. Anyway- I met my boyfriend here almost two years ago so I said my current HF is the last one. Single mother of three. She has crazy work hours told me about that and said that I have mostly Sundays off and that she will make sure I have enough time to see my boyfriend at least once a week. I was fine with that and even agreed on every two weeks, but this women is making my life a living shit show. In the first month everything worked out great, but now every time I have a day off there another work day after and then again a day off which makes visiting my boyfriend very hard if the grandma is not covering work for me. Next thing- She said they are living in a little village, which was also more then fine with me cause I love the peace and quiet, she didn’t mention that if the bus is not coming regularly that I need a lift to get into town- that’s not even what annoys me the most. She mentioned that she has a boyfriend, and that she would love to spend a bit more time with him and i was also more then okey with that and felt very bad for her cause she’s on her own. Little did I know what I was agreeing on. What was once a “can I go see my boyfriend after work and stay over there and you get the kids ready in the morning for school and I be straight home after work the next day-“ turned now into it happening at least 3-4 times a week and she doesn’t even ask me anymore, she just writes it down in the schedule and that’s it. Like I get that you have your own life but seriously I’m not a stepmother. To be fair I only work from 2-8 when she’s home, but if she’s not home, I have so much work. I have the kids during the day, and over night. I get loads of other extra work from her for in the morning, even tho she’s not paying me for that time as I’m not with the kids. Example - two weeks ago she stayed home from work cause she thought the house was very dirty. She send me a list of at least 14 things which she wanted to get done so I offered my help for the “kids related” things. In the end of the day I cleaned from 8:30 in the morning till 5 while she was in the garden painting a little kids house and kiddo chairs, which would have taken at least an hour max two if not less. She’s the most selfish person I ever met and I really start to hate her. She always buys me stuff, to cover up the fact that she is using me. She’s going now in a week on a four day holiday with her boyfriend while I have the kids for those days which include two weekends days, then she goes to work for four days and goes then on a holiday with the kids for a week. I would have loved to book a holiday but she’s underpaying me so bad that I can’t do anything and looking for babysitter jobs is impossible with her schedule and her private life. I’m about to get my own life sorted, and told her about that so I can’t wait for September. Thanks.

So my partner is financially and professionally stable. I do have degree and work but don't make over 50k. On other side his income is 250k+ . He owns house, invest and invest in himself (with education and other skills). On other side I take care of household needs (all variable expenses - food, household supplies, child care etc etc). He owns the house (pays mortgage and taxes) but I pay for electric, water, trash and sewer. I have make sure that any activities or occasion (kids bday, baby showers, anniversary gift or just gift to family members - both side of the family - his family circle is larger than my family circle) events gift goes to the families or individual which paid out of my pockets.
We don't have joint accounts - and he knows I pay for all variable, food items, household, our entertainment (activities with kids or any kids activities/subscriptions)and anything need in between (max caps 250$ in gifts to others)...But Now
He keeps insulting me saying I don't contribute in the house. He is the one who has to take care of all the expenses. He has paid for major home repairs or any upgrades (because I can't afford in the 1st place). But he refuses to see my contribution and now keeps demanding for more money (I used my savings during layoffs and still managed but he didn't help me with single dime)and calls me names, begger and who lives on the streets. I will have miserable life without him and will die alone with terrible illnesses etc etc...(yes he has NPD) .if he end up buying something for us then will fight later (regardless of what type of expenses it is) . I take care of kids and house (cook and clean) and work full time to make ends needs and he brings more demands on the table.
I have evidence of all these...is it enough to prove in court? Can I have my children custody?

About a year ago, I [29 M] was in a toxic relationship with J [29 M]. While there were no serious stakes in it (no kids or messy finances), the relationship and breakup ended up emotionally affecting me in a way I had never really thought possible. I feel guilty because after the relationship I tried to be friends with my ex still, which I now see as a mistake in the context of this relationship, and then after a few months, he blocked me because I didn't respect a boundary he had set about not sending him long messages. He said he didn't feel safe since I "completely ignored" the boundary.
I was devastated, but over the course of the next few months, came to understand a great deal of ways that I feel that I had been abused during the relationship. I felt angrier and angrier, and even though I was seeing a therapist, it eventually boiled over. My ex had blocked me on discord and probably on text, but I went onto an astrology app called Co-Star that he had had me download, and sent a message using it that said something like, "You were an abusive partner, but you can make it right with an apology."
Now, I have no idea if he actually saw the message. It was sent with a weird feature of the app called Chaos Mode that apparently chooses to send the message at some future time, so who knows if it actually ever sent. I don't know if he still has the app, if he unfriended me, or whatnot. But I feel guilty because I enacted exactly the caricature of me that he had created--I hadn't respected his boundaries, and I sent the message anyways.
At the same time, I am still feeling very victimized by the relationship. To give you a sense of the kinds of things that were going on in the relationship, here's a few examples that I currently find a little horrific [Note: this kind of turned into a summary of the relationship after I wrote it]. I'm aware that to heal I should probably not be ruminating about these things, especially if they lead me to boil over and message him, but here you go.
The first time I had sex with him, he slammed the door on me for not being able to finish and said "finish yourself." When I came to bed, I told him I felt shame. He said "good." The next time we had sex, he set a timer for me and said I had to finish within 5 minutes. These were the first times I ever had sex. He was manipulative in bed, telling me he didn't want to perform certain acts because I didn't give him enough praise for them, so that I started exaggerating my pleasure; he blamed me for why certain positions weren't working and was frustrated with how my body worked. On top of this, he admitted at the end of the relationship to having had sex with me around five times after he decided to break up with me (before he did), which just makes me feel a bit icky.
He would put me down in pretty transparently cruel ways. One example was when I exerted myself, he said I sounded like a muppet and that he "didn't want to be dating a muppet." When I offered him a blanket but apologized that it might not have been washed in a while, he called me a baby. He would insult my ability to give complements, asking me to tell him what color his eyes are but then rejecting everything that I gave him, telling me I was bad at complements repeatedly (and saying that it wasn't fair of him because his other exes were artists, so no wonder I was bad). Now, there were times that he was complementary to me--he told me I was hot, good at singing, good at writing, smart--but also times where he would put me down for things I was less good at, like cooking.
He constantly made me feel insecure about my gender. (For context, we are both men, but he was raised as a woman). So he would make pretty sweeping feminist critiques over fairly mundane things, like if I complained when I was sick he would go off about how men are always babies when they are sick and women don't get attention. When I confronted him about some of the things he was saying, telling him that while I wanted him to express these kinds of social problems so that I could be aware and adapt, I was feeling insecure in the relationship--he flipped it around and told me that if I didn't feel loved, he could say "I love you" less, and that I hadn't been grateful enough for when he came to visit me. (I had written him poetry, deep cleaned my apartment, taken time off work, sent my roommate off for the week, bought him a bus pass, planned his visit, met him in the airport despite not having a car, and just an insane amount of work to be turned into, "you weren't grateful enough").
Other than namecalling, he was just plain controlling. The reason that the boundary around me not sending long messages exists is that when I felt insecure--which I think makes sense given the ways he would talk to me--I would often send him a few paragraphs apologizing and explaining how I was growing. Even though long messages were the first thing he said he loved about me, and that he said our communication was like magic, he eventually set up what he called an "Essay embargo" and told me not to write them. The first time he set the "embargo", he had said it was only until we met in person because he didn't want me to write anything that would make him nervous. After we met in person, I assumed the embargo had lifted. Yet shortly after, he set it again, giving a few explanations--the main one just being that he wanted to appreciate our relationship without overthinking it. It seemed playful. He definitely did also say that long messages made him uncomfortable because he felt obligated to send a response. So, when I did send messages, I would add that he didn't have to respond (which I realize is not fully respecting the boundary). I did ask after sending messages whether they were ok and he never responded to those questions.
Despite this, there were times during the relationship that I continued to send long, often apologetic messages. I had felt like this boundary was set playfully and I also was feeling overwhelming guilt that I, for whatever reason, needed his affirmation for. I am conflicted because on the one hand, I was definitely ignoring his boundary--but on the other, I feel like the boundary was not very thoughtful of my own needs, either.
Prior to the breakup, it was hell. He was getting angry at me for everything--for pretty mundane things like using the bathroom before him and stinking it up. He told me he had to show me how to do everything, but I realize now that a lot of this was just him being particular (e.g, he told me I don't know how to drink tea because I left the bag in, when I just like it strong). Unfortunately, I had flown 5,000 miles to visit him and was sort of trapped in his proximity, and was drunk on love still since I was trying very hard, it was my first relationship, and he had sold me on notions of fairytale romance and told me we were cosmically meant to be together and other lovebomby sort of things. We flew to a convention and I met some of his friends, and at one point he introduced me to a girl he had almost dated before, saying I was a friend and not a partner. I pointed this out to him later and he just said "does that make you angry?". He flirted with a woman at a party, telling her she was pretty while demanding that i bring him snacks (I feel so, so weak for not confronting him about this). He got drunk and I stayed with him as he passed out, but he was angry at me in the morning. When one of his friends told me they thought I was nice, because i was opening doors for everyone, my ex said "Is he really?" Questioning them.
The breakup itself was cold and calculated. He started it by telling me that he thought about not giving me any reasons for the breakup because I always overanalyze things. He told me he wouldn't have broken up with me if I was a woman. He told me I didn't take care of him and he needs a partner that takes care of him, and that his partners always feel taken care of. He threw some things I had said at the beginning of the relationship back at me--misquoting and misunderstanding them.
After the relationship, I had no idea what to think. It was my first relationship. It had started with fairytale romance. I had been passing his tests, I had been an exception to his long string of abusive relationships. He presented himself as this incredibly moral person (vegan, environmentally conscious, telling me of all of the ways others had abused him that he would never do, even his closest friends). I had completely internalized criticisms that he had had of me throughout the relationship, many of which had led to serious self reflection and my writing messages about my growth. Within a week I told him I still loved him and that I always would. He reminded me of his boundary around long messages and said they made him anxious. I was desperate. We took a few weeks of no-contact. We messaged short-messages back and forth, with a few life-updates to eachother each. He told me he was rescuing a kitten that he found, and I remembered how he could be kind.
But as I processed, more and more, I felt angry. I wrote unsent angry letters in the notes app on my phone for a month. I wrote myself a 20,000 word summary of the relationship. This was not a healthy way to process. It elevated me. (Some of you will probably comment that maybe I shouldn't have written this post for the same reason, but oh well--I wanted to process and I want to hear if others have similar stories). Meanwhile, my ex kept pushing back the date for when we would verbally connect again. Eventually, I boiled over. I did not insult him. But I wrote a long message explaining that I wanted to take 3 months of no-contact. I had entered another relationship and told him that even though I was feeling angry at him, he shouldn't be worried because even though I had baggage from the relationship, I was communicating well with my new partner. I also told him that I felt like if I did talk with him, that I would end up tearing him a new one, and that I needed time to cool down. I'm not proud of the message in general, but I didn't call names, tell him he was awful, or anything like that. I was just insensitive and told him I was angry.
And like that, I was blocked. It was over. A period of about 9 months, five of which we were together, with two before escalating towards love bombing and two after escalating towards my boiling over.
And yet, I had never expressed to him that I thought he had been abusive. I felt frustrated that I had told him that I would always love him, when in many ways now I hated him.
Five months passed, during which I came to realize more and more how messed up the relationship was.
And then I sent the message on Co-star.
Fast forward another four months to now.
I just sent him a text, knowing he probably has blocked me there too. It said something like, "I want my last message to you just be: I'm sorry, and I forgive you." I wanted to free myself. I needed to not feel angry at him or ashamed of myself. I needed to not feel like I had a million things to say to him--I needed to just say, this is it: I'm not sending more messages. I'm sorry, and I forgive you. It was for myself. I was forgiving him selfishly, even though he didn't deserve it, so that I could move on.
I feel like I shouldn't have sent this, but I don't feel bad about it yet, either. I needed closure. It always felt like there was some "message I could send" to detail his abuse, and I needed to not have that standing over me--I needed to forgive. I am now oscillating between wondering about myself--whether I have a problem with boundaries, since I had boiled over at this point three times to message him. Feeling frustrated I didn't assert myself about his abuse, that I doubled down on loving him. Part of me is glad that I sent the message on Co-Star saying that he was abusive, because it was the only indication I ever gave him, really, that what he did wasn't ok to me--he had blocked me before I could articulate anything. But I also know that this message even if received would not mean anything to him.
Anyways, now I'm venting about it here on Reddit. Does anyone have similar experiences surrounding self control messaging exes and feeling a bit out of control?

Im a FTM and 32 weeks. I’ve been having issues with my mom walking all over my boundaries this whole pregnancy, her latest push has been over clothes.
My husband and I have admittedly waited until the last minute to shop for clothes for our girl, but we’ve had a few scares and wanted to make sure she was okay before going crazy. I have picked out a couple of outfits on my own. We agreed to go shopping in a few weeks when we get paid and don’t have any other purchases to make.
My mom has also bought baby girl a few outfits. Most of my daughters clothes have come from her. Admittedly they’re not really my taste but I’m grateful all the same to have clothes. The issue is that now every time she goes to the store she tries to buy clothes. I have expressed multiple times that I need her to stop since my husband hasn’t gotten to pick out a single outfit for little miss. She keeps pushing back with “but I can’t help it, they’re so cute”. It doesn’t matter how many times I remind her that we’re her parents and we want to dress OUR daughter how we want, she gets upset. Not to mention that my husband’s mom hasn’t been able to give us any clothes since we live a few hours away.
I know it might be dumb and petty but it really gets under my skin. I want to dress my daughter how her dad and I want to. Im getting tired of my mom butting in and trying to take over my pregnancy (this is only one example of this). How can I get through to her?

I (31f) have seriously been considering divorcing my husband (33m). There's not one big reason - just a lot of little incompatibilities that add up.
We basically live separate lives under the same roof- he watches anime and plays video games, I read books, go to the gym, go to figure skating lessons, etc. He keeps trying to push me into his hobbies and I'm just not into them (I did try, fwiw).
I have a high sex drive and prefer every day, he has a low sex drive and could go a month or two without sex. I'm also very open and interested in trying new things, he makes vanilla seem spicy. And when we do have sex, it isn't good. For example, he thinks eating pussy is "dirty" and doesn't do it unless I ask and then it's still the bare minimum and kills the mood. He has also been having some ED issues, but won't get checked for testosterone issues, etc.
I do all the cleaning, taking care of pets, etc. I've told him for years that he makes me feel like I'm his mother and not his partner because he won't do anything unless asked, and even then I have to sit with him while he does it.
I meal prep, and he lives off fast food. I have been trying to get into the best shape of my life, and he has gained 100+ lbs over the past few years. I get my hair done, get waxed, etc. and he doesn't even shower or brush his teeth enough (I know this is an indicator for depression but he is on meds and has been his whole life and won't take any additional steps). I also take my job seriously (I work in HR) so anytime I'm working I am focused on that. He works in finance and actually sleeps through part of his workday every day, only responding to messages as he hears them because he stays up too late playing video games.
I also don't like the way that he talks to me a lot of the time - he is very condescending and when I've called him on it, he just says he's like that with everyone. He tries to tell me what to do or push me into doing the things he likes, and it never stops - he has repeatedly told me he wishes I was different and if I would just give in and play video games I would get so much more attention, he'd put together a video game cave, etc. When I try to tell him how that makes me feel he says I'm overreacting and/or he never said that. 🙄
There are more little things, but I don't know if I can stay in this marriage. I'm pretty sure (like 90 percent) that I want to leave, but I feel so much guilt and shame over that. Guilt because he's totally content with the way things are, so I feel like a jerk for wanting to leave. Guilt because I don't have any ill will towards him, and I know it would hurt him. Guilt because I'm not attracted to him anymore and I don't know if I ever will be again. Shame because if he's fine with the way things are, maybe it's my fault?
We don't have kids, but the thought of potentially losing my dog breaks my heart.
How did you deal with feeling guilty or shameful when you wanted out but the other person didn't?

Can anyone provide some insight into why my baby is fighting napping SO MUCH, EVERY DAY. I can't take it anymore. He screams and cries every single time. I am alone from 7am to 5pm every day and I can't handle the fight every single time.
He is 5.5 months old and has ALWAYS fought naps no matter what I do. Shorter wake windows, longer wake windows, putting in crib awake, putting in crib drowsy, nap routine, stimulating wake windows, going outside, etc. etc. etc. Nothing makes a difference. He has few sleepy cues and usually by the time they are showing its way too late. But for example right now he has been in his crib for 20 minutes and is just crying and screaming. I keep going in to soothe him and he will calm and coo and then I leave and 1 minute later he is screaming again. He is also closing his eyes and almost falling asleep but then he wakes himself up to the point he is WIDE eyed again. He is rubbing his eyes and yawning now so he is obviously tired but still won't just nap. It's like this every day for every nap.
Please don't suggest contact napping. I have a chronic back injury and cannot sit for hours and hours on end each day. He is a reflux baby and was exclusively held day and night for months until his reflux improved and my back literally cannot handle that anymore. Plus I end up having to "save" his naps all the time anyway so each nap eventually turns into a contact nap so that he sleeps longer than 30 min. He will also scream and squirm if we try to do a contact nap from the beginning most times anyway. He is very capable of putting himself to sleep and back to sleep, he has done it many many times. He just fights naps no matter what I try and because of him being upset going into the nap then he wakes up after only 30-40 minutes but is upset most times because he is still tired.
Does anyone elses baby just refuse naps like this? None of our friends have ever had issues like this and its so frustrating that everyone seems to say that their baby sleeps perfectly and that they just put their baby in the crib and off to sleep they go, no crying, no fuss. It really makes me feel that I seriously screwed up my son from the beginning.

As we all know, there are many factors that can determine the rise and fall of a memecoin. Here, I'm going to explain to you all the Hege Theorem on why Hege can't fail, won't fail, and will eventually reach well over 100mil. It's written in the stars and if you're a community member you probably know already, but I'll split this post into different factors to show you why Hege is the most solid project all-around, and why you should consider buying it and holding it for a couple months at least.
This post aint AI stuff, so don't expect me to say that "our vibrant community fosters a crispy and original project revolutionizing the blockchain". No bullshit, just straight facts.
Hege Factor 1: Dev and Team. Hege Dev has shown again and again that he is trustworthy and dedicated to the project. He has been in the chat every day, communicating every new development and marketing move with the community with maximum transparency. And he obviously hasn't sold a penny. There's also rumors that he'll be quitting his graphic designer job when we reach 10mil MC and go full-on working on Hege. The team supporting our Dev is also composed by chads who recognize the long-term legitimate nature of the project and want to see it thrive. A lot of big holders are in the team too, so many top holders wallets are doxxed and support the chart. Our top holders and loyal whales often also do matching buys, help the chart boom during pumps, and give the community daily TAs on the state of the chart and what to expect from it. Our liquidity to MC ratio is excellent and extremely attractive for whales, memecoins with double our MC have less than our liquidity.
Hege Factor 2: Organic+Paid Marketing blending strategy.
Hege is an extremely promising, yet still very young memecoin. We are only 4 weeks old. For our first 2-3 weeks we relied almost exclusively on organic growth, which brought us from 1.5 to 8 millions just by the sheer power of our narrative and viral graphics. Now, we are taking a blended approach and spending our growing marketing funds to encourage the community. We have already had three big calls just this week. Two were from Chinese influencers, as the asian market access will get us a lot of new buyers and attention. Both influencers have 120k+ following on X, and we expect more whales and big buys in the next days as general market volume recovers. We also were called from the Whale Everything X account (140k+ followers), and a lot more marketing is on the way. We have a CEX listing wallet to gather more funds to be listed in CEXs and a separate marketing wallet where the community and top holders put quite a lot into regularly. It's actually amazing how much (and how many) people believe in this project. Most importantly, we have a newly launched online merch shop which just like everything Hege is extremely cool. Multiple Hege accessories and clothes, and all profits go directly into the marketing wallet. There's also plans to film a video of someone dancing in the club in full HEGE outfit (chad Dev offered 500€ out of his own pocket to whoever would do it)... And it's gonna be a banger.
Hege Factor 3: The community.
Hege's community is unlike any other for a couple of reasons. We are very active in the TG chat, have more groups for different nationalities, from spanish to chinese and Dutch. We have a special Hege After Dark chat for everything...freaky being discussed in the night time. Everyone has a ton of fun and makes new friends in the Hege Fam. The vibe is extremely wholesome and immaculate, so just come vibe with us. You won't regret it. Community and Dev/team also have a ton of trust in each other and believe in this project like no other. We have our own subreddit, X account, crazy cool website, TG community and Discord chat. $HEGE is a movement and it cannot be stopped.
Hege Factor 4: Insane graphic potential.
Something that is not discussed nearly enough about Hege is the crazy quality of our memes, graphics and content. Our Dev is a graphic designer and it shows. Hege has its own recognizable palette with bright, simple colours that are easily memorized and recognizable. New Hege memes come out on a weekly basis. We have just released the first Hege short, and quality is only going up from here. Our merch is therefore also extremely cool, and I think it looks insane even without considering the project behind it. Some of the accessories and clothes are something I'd consider buying if i saw them in an actual shop. And remember all the profits from it actually go into hege's marketing wallet!!
Hege Factor 5: Listings
We have been listed on CMC just last week, and we are now planning to get listed on CEXs to boost our presence and volume, and break through tens of millions of MC. We have some hung members of the team already contributing a lot of Sol to allow us to get listed. But we know we are getting there, sooner or later, cause Hege is a memecoin with a dream, and his dream is to smash. No way we're letting our boy remain a virgin. Which brings us to the key to understanding our project
The ultimate Hege Factor: The Hege Narrative™
All wars and great things on this earth were originally caused by someone wanting to smash. Think Troy. We will destroy civilizations for pus*y.
Well, we are here to make Hege smash his dream girl, Hegena. Hege is a redemption story at heart: he is a little fat, his parents became roadkill when he was just a baby, and he's now going through high school being bullied by the chad hedgehog Hendrix. Hendrix also stole Hegena for himself. The only way for Hege to finally get to smash Hegena is to become a successful memecoin. By making Hege rich, we're unlocking new viral chapters of his story. At 10mil MC, chapter 3 will be uncovered. Help us get Hege to smash and take his dream girl back from his bully!!!
Right now, you could be convinced about the solidity and strenghts of the project. You could be thinking...
"WHY SHOULD I BUY NOW THO?"
Well, the answer is simple: we are on a dip. After a low volume slow weekend (as most weekends are) we are currently hovering around the 3-4 mil area. Last time we had this kind of consolidation (actually lower, going to 2.5mil) , we pumped to 8.4 mil in just two days right after. These last couple days, a lot of volume and interest has been sucked into GME hypecoins, but that will soon be over. Once people realize their profits, they will put it back into the coins they trust and can sleep on, and Hege is the perfect example of that. Don't miss our next pump over 10 mil, it's getting closer: join the Hege Fam now and be a happy man in a couple of weeks.
Check out our socials, shops and website. You'll easily understand why this project's originality is so attractive, and you'll see what the hype is all about. We're just getting started.
WE'RE GETTING HEGE LAID.
CA: ULwSJmmpxmnRfpu6BjnK6rprKXqD5jXUmPpS1FxHXFy
🦔Hege Links🦔
Website: Hegecoin.com
X: https://twitter.com/HegeCoin