I’ve just started a Diploma to try get into a Bachelor Of Paramedicine. I currently work as a porteorderly at a hospital in ICU and Emergency, and volunteer with St John’s Ambulance.
Paramedicine is my dream, but unfortunately due to a manic episode when I was undiagnosed and unmediated (bipolar) I received 2x going on mobile phone offences and speeding 10km over the limit within a very short time frame. I also failed to pay my fines on time so I had a license suspension. This was about 2 years ago.
Prior to this, I had driven for 5 years with a pretty much perfect record. Since this, I have stopped driving and haven’t had any issues since, plus paid off my fines.
By the time I finish my Diploma and Degree it will have been over 5 years since.
What are the odds? Should I still bother with paramedicine?
Does your driving history follow you if I applied to work for the UK ambulance service for example?
My backup plan to be honest is probably still do the degree, volunteer for St. John’s or similar with the paramedic scope and continue working at the hospital until however long it takes for them to hopefully dismiss my driving record! But I’d just love some advice or any similar experiences.

Does it strike anyone else as strange that the mainstream takes on Gaza have had a terrible track record for being misleading, whereas they were mostly/eventually correct for Covid?
This has thrown me into a little epistemological crisis that’s started me questioning why it was conspiracy theorizing to question the mainstream when it came to vaccines and ivermectin, but it’s practically required to understand what’s going on in Gaza.
Just for example, I believe the take that Israel intentionally hinders humanitarian aid has been reported far and wide. It took that independent guy who compiled the UNRA reports into his own spreadsheet to debunk this one. Likewise, the Washington post essentially reported that the IDF committed war crimes at Al shifa hospital. Ditto the great march of return. Ditto the mavi marinara floatilla.
What would make me feel a little better about being so far out on the fringe with my takes is some kind of cogent explanation for why the media seems to keep getting basic stuff so wrong in this instance, when they were credible in other ones. Otherwise, I worry maybe…it’s me??? And I’m the Israel equivalent of a Rogan fan looking Really hard for that one study that says ivermectin works?
Sincere post. Not trolling.

Rick from Walking Dead (TV series) or Tuco from Breaking Bad? Two characters who are no stranger to confrontation.
Rick is a former police officer, and while not a trained pro fighter or ex-combatant (like Merle Dixon for example), he demonstrates his ability to handle himself many times throughout the show. He tussles with Shane at the CDC, out in the wild when Shane wants to kill Randall, and of course when he’s forced to kill Shane, though that’s mostly a knife fight. He also disarms Daryl when he attacks him with a knife in the Atlanta camp, though Shane jumps in shortly afterward. He also fights with Tyreese, the Claimers and many different Saviors. Some of those fights are finished with a knife and someone jumping in to help Rick, but all in all, Rick has his fair share of fights. He does lose to the Governor (Rick was injured but the Gov had recently been shot in the arm), and also gets punched by Merle on the rooftop, and only subduing him by a sneak attack.
Tuco is no pushover, and he’s not afraid of a fight. However, his fights are mostly with those who are scared s***less of him. He puts Jesse in the hospital and beats No Doze to death, but it would do those two no good even if they did win, as they’d simply be killed (Gustavo Fring is probably not much of a hand-to-hand fighter, but you’d never dare strike him for the same reason). He did stab another prisoner and break a prison guard’s jaw, not to mention climb out of a hole and engage in a gunfight AFTER being shot, hit in the head with a rock and being kicked by Jesse. So again, he’s still a pretty tough dude physically.
​
I think Rick wins. Tuco puts up a good fight; Rick’s face won’t look so good for a little while afterwards, but would be the victor nonetheless. Based on what I’ve seen in BB/BCS & WD, Rick has more experience fighting and while Tuco is tough as a gangster and cartel member, most of his physical confrontations tend to be those who are just too afraid to fight back. If Rick encounters Tuco and doesn’t have to worry about any of his minions killing him for beating him up, I believe Rick takes him.

Hi fellow wine lovers! I'm getting ready for my home wine club tasting, and searching Sauvignon Blanc with very bright aroma of green bell pepper, some bottle which is good example of the vegetable, green-ish stype of SB. I'm in the US, so if such a wine is available in retail here like TotalWine or BevMore or any other, it would be really nice of you to recommend! And (separate from my question above), if you can also suggest some Sancerre within the budget of $30 which I can get for my tasting, i appreciate it too!

Im PIMO but supportive of my wife who has a heavy calling. She knows where I stand. We are I think in a good place until we talk about a temple recommend.
We have kids getting to that age where they potentially will be going on missions, getting their endowments, maybe getting married in the temple and she’s worried about me not being able to be in the temple (my recommend expired in 2018). She thinks even though I’m nuanced and don’t have a rock solid testimony I’m still a good man and live “most” of the covenants and that I could still “pass” with a little creative answering.
For example: I won’t pass the WOW part if I’m completely honest as I love coffee but she says they don’t really ask that in detail that they used to and it more a “strive” to live the WOW.
So maybe there’s some gray area with WOW and tithing (I could always promise to pay) but here’s where I’m flummoxed and could use some advice.

1. Law of consecration - in my mind you can’t make covenants to give all your time and talents to the church then flatly refuse to take on a calling, clean the building, or help a new family move in. If I’m renewing my covenants than I’m agreeing to all this service, right?
   
2. Support and sustain all church leaders and don’t speak ill will. Let’s face it RMN has made terrible decisions, the church has come under all kinds of scandal, the ensign peak funds, the ward budgets slashed, the over building of temples and all the open missions putting heavy workloads on retired members. Can anyone honestly sustain our leadership?
   
3. Law of Chastity - no I’m not cheating on her but I do like the occasional porn. I probably wouldn’t have too much trouble answering this one but who really is 100% with this one?
   
4. Garments night and day. Why? What is the recent double down on garments? Members hate them.
   
5. Going to the Temple regularly - I’m sorry if this offends but I hate going to the temple. Makes me feel like I’m on a cult with all the ceremonies handshakes and chanting. Honestly what are we doing?
   

Notice I haven’t even grazed the validity of JS or the BOM. My problem really is being a Mormon today just isn’t FUN anymore. It’s a chore. I do like some if the people and the social aspects. And I like some of the ethics and morals I have been taught on how to live.
Is sitting outside on the steps of the temple waiting for my kids to come out as horrible as it sounds? Feels?

So the title pretty much gives a bit of an overview. I, (15 f) have a sister who we’ll call Angie (18f), and one more sister who I’ll call Julie (30f another thing to note is that Julie is my half sister, we have different fathers) my father (51) married a woman who we’ll call Nancy (55). When I was 8 years old in 2017, my mother passed away from cancer. It hit my family hard. My father remarried in 2022 after dating Nancy for about 5 years. Now to get into what’s happening. Angie and Nancy used to be on better terms but their relationship has deteriorated. Angie constantly claims that Nancy is saying mean things ex. “You put so many miles on my car today because you decided your job had to be out here.” And according to Angie “All the stress you were causing me put me in the hospital.” And according to Julie “she did that because she felt as if her mother didn’t love her.” (That one in particular worries me)
Now, Angie has been saying that Nancy has a said these things (there are many more examples-) but my father ignores everything Angie claims Nancy has said. I know that things are only from Angie’s point of view and she’s the one telling the stories but I think it’s concerning that my sister is saying all this and my father won’t look into it especially after Julie’s attempted intervention about a year back. Julie and her boyfriend talked to my dad and Nancy about what had been going on and how Angie felt bullied by an adult and nothing came of it but my father saying that we couldn’t tell what was going on the house to Julie anymore.
Now with a recent huge fight my sister had with Nancy I’m concerned and asked my father for family therapy. He said okay and that Nancy would probably do it but I cant convince Angie to. I want to intervene so there are less problems but my father doesn’t really listen, even after the conversations I’ve had where I try to bring up what Angie says has happened, he listens but acts more so like Angie is lying about everything. I’m not going to act like Angie and I are complete angels, as we have said some things that have definitely upset Nancy.
However at this point I feel like what Angie has been saying is really concerning and I want to get help for it. My father is confused as to why I’m bringing up issues now instead of before but when they got together I was still only 8 so I feel like I wouldn’t have noticed things that were bad. At this point Angie feels like my father has chosen Nancy over us and I’m starting to feel that way too. I want to do something before our relationships are broken beyond repair. I’m sorry if this post was a mess, I'm pretty upset right now. Either way, does anyone have any advice? I know I can’t make Angie go to therapy if she doesn’t want it but I also know that it could help us to not fight as much in the future and repair what’s damaged- so random strangers on the internet, what do I do?

Looking to hire ASAP!
Budget: $10-30/hr or $30-60 per theme (prompt).
I need someone who can help with building out custom prompts for AI image generation of people using a stable diffusion face reference workflow (photomaker). Model is publicly available on Replicate.com serverless (cost is pennies when run) or can be installed locally if preferred from github, should you have adequate hardware to support it.
I will provide you with custom themes/preferred output styles (ex: Person smiling riding roller coaster; person looking at artwork in a museum; person as a royal subject in countryside, etc.). Your job will be to come up with a set of positive/negative prompts, and setting configurations (steps, style strength, and guidance) to provide me with appropriate output results that fit my given theme/descriptors that also match up with input face likeness for the majority of images. Must be 100% extra SFW (no bikinis, cleavage, shirtless, etc).
Once I approve a given direction, to finalize a theme, you'll run through a handful of iterations, testing 4-6 different male/female faces to determine if a single theme settings/prompts works across a variety of faces without adjusting the prompt settings in-between (with the exception of a male/female prompt guide word).
These output images should be saved/sorted in my shared Gdrive or Dropbox folder using the theme style name, with a subfolder for male output images and female output images, along with a notebook with the prompts and settings used to achieve each theme.
Theming must be done using either one of the below photomaker models - (may be open to custom models and custom build out at a later point for more control).
https://replicate.com/tencentarc/photomaker
https://replicate.com/tencentarc/photomaker-style
If you are interested in applying, please send DM me a portfolio of work, or an example of a SFW AI image you generated of a person, and the prompts/settings you used. Let me know if you have a set hourly rate, or prefer to work on a fixed rate per theme/prompt. Include the keyword "replicate" so I know you read this post.

I'm looking for a studio or mini apartment to rent in Barcelona within a budget of 800-900 euros per month, but I'm struggling to find one, I saw one in 127 Carrer de l'Hospital but they neighborhood seem not very safe. As a student, I'm wondering if there are any student residences available from June to August that fit within my budget. I am in Barcelona for an internship P.S: I'd prefer to have my own space rather than sharing with others.

I need some advice to help with keeping a job. I've been a my current job at Fill In Blank Retail Clothing Store for a month or so as a kids and babies lead and it's been chaotic and rough to say the least at times. I've been cornered about my Bipolar Disorder by my general manager, made to feel dumb because I didnt know what type of cart was what, and I didn't know the exact stats for items. Now HR is intervening and Im getting more training so things are improving. I just want them to continue to improve and not go bad. For example, there was this huge safety day and there were no firefighters that could come in our area so I got some from the Marines but they didnt show up so I had to ask for the Sherrif's Department to come. (They came and it was pretty good minus the kids being afraid of the cops part). Also I'm a big cleaning freak and the bathrooms were never well cleaned so by the end of the weekend everything was trashed and I took photos and cleaned it up myself and mopped the back office and half of the employee lounge. Only thing was I shouldn't have left the closet open because fumes were escaping and I could have been sacked for that . (See I can't do anything right in their eyes. Something is always wrong)
I'm not sure what else I can do or should do honestly. I just want to do my job and any other things asked of me (Community Service Projects are a bit much for me but I'll do it if it's necessary). I just want to hold onto a job for more than a few months, have a clean store, and a good department. Then I can either drop down to associate or hopefully get a job at a hospital while I'm doing prereqs for nursing school.

I 19 female, I've been in a long distance relationship for 3 years with John (fake name) 19 male. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety when I was 16. For context, John and I met in a group and since then we started talking. (I was dating my ex, but when I realized that I had developed feelings for John I ended that relationship.) In this group he was a big womanizer, and he talked to his ex, which didn't bother me since I never thought there was anything malicious about it. 4 months later I asked John if he felt anything for me, because he was acting romantic and sweet toward me, he said yes and then we started dating. (Note: he was jealous of my friends). A few weeks after we started dating, and all of our mutual friends knew about our relationship, and he didn't feel uncomfortable with people knowing about it, I sent him Intimate photos, he went on and sent these photos to our group, where there were more than 100 people, including our friends. When I saw it I was shocked and immediately left the group. My friends came to talk to me and so did he. He apologized, said he was going to send these photos to a group that was just him because according to him it was easier for him to see. Reading this now I realize it's a strange thing... but at the time I was so in love that I excused him. That same day we made a video call until I went to sleep, he praised me a lot, dedicated some songs to me, it was very romantic.During the next few weeks we made video calls every day, watched movies, listened to music, talked a lot until the early hours of the morning. There was a day when a girl joined the group where we were, and she and I became very good friends, there ended up being a lot of confusion because she wanted to date John, but he didn't want to. However, he always asked for intimate photos for her or for another girl in the group, he said it was to make me jealous, he ended up sending some intimate photos to her too. Well, a few months passed and I was suffering with my mental health, a few months before I met him I had tried to take my life, and I was under psychiatric care. During that time I started smoking and hurting myself, but he always helped me not to do so and always asked me to stop smoking and never use drugs. Until one day I was having an anxiety attack and felt the need to hurt myself while I was on a call with him, so he asked me to write his name on my skin with the razor. I did, he laughed. Some more time passed and I experienced what I think was an attack of schizophrenia, I saw and heard a person talking to me and asking me to do certain things that would hurt me. John stayed on video call with me while he tried to calm me down and said everything was ok and asked me to pray. That day my mother had gone to work, so I was alone at home, she wouldn't come back until 1pm. A few months later he asked me to buy some sex toys, I initially refused and was a little afraid, but then I agreed and bought my first vibrator. He always asked for videos and photos, or even for me to use the vibrator on a video call, as he always sent photos and videos and even did things on a call, I accepted. It turned out that I got sick, I couldn't walk, I felt a lot of pain, very strong cramps, I went to the hospital but it didn't help. I took some medication but none of it helped. Jonh was worried about me and asked me to go back to the hospital, which I did, but once again it didn't do much good. Then in December he asked me to buy another toy, but this time it would be a dildo. I was very afraid to buy it since I didn't have much privacy at home, but I bought it. When it arrived, he asked me to use it but I said I wasn't going to use it at that moment because I wanted to wash it first and then use it but my mother was in the living room so there was no way. He was extremely upset, he said that I had promised to use it the day I arrived and that he was tired from work and just wanted it to cheer him up a little. We argued a little and went to sleep.Cut to a few months later when he got a new job (he worked with his father), met some new people and completely changed. He became cold, distant, wanted everything his way or he would get upset and give me the silent treatment. Since then we started fighting almost every day, sometimes several times during the day. He always said he would break up with me if I didn't do what he wanted or the way he wanted, as I was "blind", so to speak, I always did everything. I don't want to go into too much detail but this but one thing you need to know is that during one of those fights he told me "welcome to hell". Since then everything has gotten worse. For me to achieve the minimum I had to do everything he wanted, how he wanted and when he wanted, in his time. If he wanted videos, I had to record them and send them to him, otherwise he He said he was going to break up with me or that he wouldn't talk to me until I sent the videos. I'm not a saint either, I often freaked out because of jealousy and when I saw that he had followed his ex I got really upset, because she was the only one who made me insecure, and he knew that. One thing I forgot to mention was that he told me at the beginning that he only followed some friends and family (he told me who was who and that if I wanted I could remove someone). Another thing I forgot to mention was that he's been in a group for a few years where his friends who are in that group always hit on him, he's kind of reciprocal with them. He never let me go there because according to him I wouldn't like the type of humor they have there... a group that sends a lot of videos and photos of naked women, women dancing.. But he refuses to leave because he "is already a long-time member there, and his friends are there", in his words. Coming back, he told me that he only followed her because she followed him first and I told him that if she followed him it was because he unblocked her, he was upset that I said that and blocked her again. Some time later I returned to the hospital with some urgency as I was unable to cope with the pain, I needed to stay there overnight whilst receiving medication. He wasn't happy about it at all since that meant there would be no videos or photos. The doctors asked me to do some tests as quickly as possible to try to find out the cause of this pain, which they thought was the kidneys (but it wasn't).This meant I had to leave the house and go to the clinics to schedule exams and take them. He was never happy when I needed to leave the house or when I went out with my family. Cut to a time later when we broke up (my initiative) and I put all the toys in the trash. He was super upset and we kind of talked back and forth (I know what many off you will think But I couldn't really break up with him. So he made me buy all the toys again. That is what happened. Well, I bought not only the toys but also some lingerie. He really liked that and it seemed like we were finally okay. But it didn't last long. Soon we fought again and broke up, once again I put everything in the trash, he came back, he forced me again Buying but he was the one who bought the things. He continued to force me to record the videos and send them to him. During this time of ending the relationship and coming back, ending the relationship and coming back, I called his friends to ask for help. John was super upset with this attitude of mine. He told me that I made a mistake and broke his trust. Then time passed and he went on a trip with his family when he returned home, it was on a day when there was a party in his city and his friends were going. When he got home he told me and said he was going to sleep. I was suspicious so I went to look at his friend's profile and guess what? His friend had just post a story where John appeared. Same t-shirt, same cap. The same face. Obviously I confronted him about it and he told me it wasn't him because he was sleeping at home. I didn't believe it but leave it behind. At this point, my best friend couldn't take it anymore, almost every day of me crying to her about John and his actions. A few weeks went by and I asked his friend if it was really John or not, he said no (I believe he was covering it up.So he went to get a tattoo, on his neck. When it was over he went to sleep. I don't remember that day well but I remember that I called him many times that night and when he answered I heard moaning.. so I hung up and told my best friend. I called again and again and when he answered I heard the sound of a car. I was devastated, I couldn't believe it. The next morning he freaked out at me, and said he was sleeping. First he said that his mother had answered the phone, then he said that he had answered the phone and that the moans were his because of the tattoo. I pretended this situation hadn't happened and we moved on. (note: I was emotionally dependent on him) Cut to January of this year, when he asked me to open up the relationship as this wasn't working. I said no, and that in my view it was like cheating but without the burden of conscience. So he continued to treat me badly. He admitted that when he first started treating me badly it was only because he wanted me to break up with him. (he thought traumatizing me and triggering me was a good idea) He told me he didn't want me to see his Facebook so I wouldn't see his relatives' profiles. When I asked about some people he followed that he had already said were cousins, he said that they were friends or that he didn't know that his friends had asked him to follow them and sending messages to them. When I followed someone he always freaked out and asked who he was over and over again, for example: I followed someone, John saw it and sent me a message asking who it was, I replied "he's a friend of mine" Then John would go on "who is he?" and again "who is he?" and again and again... Two months ago he said he wanted some time, I said very badly, he said it could be but that we wouldn't be with other people nor would there be flirting with other people. He agreed. But then we got into a big fight where he threatened me with a lawsuit, he didn't give me reasons or anything, he just said he was going to sue me. I insisted on knowing why he only said he was going to have to pay him a high price and I would probably go to prison. So for the next 3 days this was our topic of conversation, him threatening me, me crying, and asking why. Then I reached my limit On the day of the last lawsuit threat, I told my mother about him, the way he treated me and that I wanted a new cell phone number.(She didn't know, I never told her about him. Although he tried to contact her a few times. But I blocked him) So we went to buy a new contact for me, as he couldn't call me or get in touch with me anywhere. He asked some people to call my mother and my friends. My friends were talking to me and sending me screenshots of everything, so someone sent him the link to our group and he went in there and found out my new number. I was weakened when my friend told me that he was crying and that he told him that he loved me and that he was afraid of losing me. So I said okay I could talk to him. He told me some things like that he was sorry for making me suffer. I tried to understand his side. We came back. But I told him that the first thing he did I would leave. I did not go. And I regret it. He was never affectionate, or cute with me again. He continued to force me to send him photos and videos. And doing what he wanted. He was upset when I left. He didn't like me posting full body photos or showing more. Whereas he could go around shirtless, send shirtless photos to his group, post shirtless photos online. Once he published a photo of a photo with his cousin and hid it from me so I wouldn't see it (I knew he was going to this party, he had told me, it was a family party) Since then, I went to lawyers to ask for advice. One of the people I managed to talk to, as it was online and free, told me to contact the police and that what he was doing was wrong. Every time I ask him something he gets upset and says they are useless questions, that I'm stupid, I don't understand anything. Whenever he forces me to record something, he never sends anything. He always says he's tired, But if his friends ask him to go out or go to dinner or do anything, he'll go, even if he's tired. This is it. I don't know what to do anymore, I'm really afraid that he'll do something, after so many threats, and all the lies. I have the support of my family and friends. I'm sorry if there are some mistakes, I used the translator and tried to explain more or less all the information you should know. Please be friendly.

I really apologize for the length of this post. But writing down all the details took way longer than I thought. And this situation was downright crazy. I never thought my sister would do something like this. Not too long ago I (23m) posted in AITAH for advice because my parents and sister were angry at me for regularly eating in a hospital cafeteria because it's close to my work. I enjoy the peace and quiet there on the days I do show up to eat. But this situation escalated so radically, that I can't believe something so dumb actually happened. My sister did the pettiest thing she's ever done to me. And for completely undeserved reasons too.
When my sister found out I was eating at the hospital cafeteria, she went off on me over how that food is just for people who are at the hospital because they need to be. We ended up in a big argument about it in which I told her it wasn't like I was taking food from the mouths of patients. Then she went to our parents to get them on her side like always. And they immediately sided with her just like I thought they would. They backed her up on how the hospital cafeteria was not a place to go eating casually. And we had a big argument. They spent days hounding me and telling me I was wrong, and demanding I stop. So I went to Reddit. And here I learned that not only was I not doing anything wrong. But it's a very common thing for people to go eat at hospital cafeterias just because they like it.
I hoped the situation would just fade away. But a few days later, my sister called me asking if I had stopped eating at the hospital. I said no. And then it started all over again. My parents then called me fuming and acting like I was supposed to stop going because they said so. I reminded them that I don't live under their roof anymore. And this is exactly the kind of reason why I moved out. They take my sister's side in almost everything. They huffed and puffed about it.
This time the fight didn't stay at home though. Other relatives found out because my sister tried to broaden her support. She was so dead set on enforcing her will upon me, that she went looking for help from other relatives. But our parents were the only ones on her side. And my uncle personally admonished my parents and her over the phone for it once I told him what actually happened. He told them they were only siding with my sister because she's their favorite. And they're terrible parents for ever playing favorites to begin with. Then cousin went to eat with me at that hospital cafeteria, and said he'd like to go there once as week too, as he also works nearby and bicycles everywhere. We've run into each other at lunch there once already since then. He was actually rather pleased to find out the food was made healthier than most other places. He's a bit of a picky eater. So this place is kinda like his new lunch hangout. And my sister got even angrier after finding out there were other people in the family eating at the hospital now too.
Once outed, my parents backed down due to embarrassment. They apologized to me, and gave me some malarkey that they honestly thought eating at a hospital was weird, and that they felt like they just needed to defend my sister. I told them they'd been placating my sister for so long, that it's all they do whenever she starts something with anyone. She's been treating me like a condescending control freak and a bully since we were teenagers, even though I'm older. And they just kept enabling that. But I won't put up with it anymore. My parents ended up conceding, and apologized. Then they made my sister apologize to me too. And I could tell she hated every second of it, because she tried to speak through her teeth at first.
Later on my parents invited me to dinner as another form of apology. But it felt more like a show to look good to the rest of the family, because they told everyone about it before it even happened. The dinner was great, I can't deny. My parents had cooked a turkey. Arguable one of my favorite things to eat. I love the drumsticks slathered with gravy. Yeah, I'm kinda a pig when I eat them. But I can't help it. My sister always thought it hilarious. And was one of the few things I didn't mind her laughing about. So I thought nothing of why she was so giggly at dinner.
Later after the family dinner, I noticed that my bike was missing. I'd parked it in the back yard out of sight. But it was just gone. I freaked out because it's my only mode of transportation. My parents did panic a bit with me. But my sister seemed just the opposite. She actually looked happy and was still giggling. I immediately suspected her, and she played innocent. She even gave the "I can't believe you'd think I'd do something like that!" line. I already knew she's extremely petty. But this was a whole new level of it for her. So I said that I was gonna go over to the neighbor because I know they have cameras, and they'd have seen what happened. And then I'd call the cops. My sister suddenly looked panicked, and I got mad and said I knew it was her. And demanded my bike back. She started crying and saying she didn't do anything. And our parents were immediately taking her side while scolding me for daring to accuse her.
So I had enough and said I was going to the neighbor's to ask to check their cameras. And then I'd be calling police. My sister finally fessed up and called me to come back. The looks on our parents' faces after they'd just defended her were priceless. My sister said she was just so angry at me for having made her apologize for something she still believed she was right about. So she planned to have a couple of her friends to come and grab my bike during dinner. She said her friends were in a minivan with it just down the street. She then started saying that I couldn't call police on her anyway, because I'm her big brother. Our parents backed that up too. But I pulled out my phone and started marching outside again. They ran after me with my sister begging and crying for me to stop. I called her a brat. And then I told my parents I couldn't believe they were still defending her when she was acting this way.
Our parents finally hit their enabling limit with her and told her to make her friends bring my bike back immediately. She got on her phone while sniffling and called her friends up. But then she suddenly ran into her room to talk to them. I couldn't hear a thing she said through the door because it was all in whispers. And our parents looked very worried too.
My sister would never have willingly admitted she had my bike stolen. She just kept sobbing that it was only a prank over and over again. And she also kept using the excuse that it's just a cheap bike anyway. I bought it used some months ago for $50. But it's in great shape. And it's my main mode of transportation. My sister kept looking at our parents to back her up. And that time they just couldn't. So she just slumped down in a chair hugging her knees and waiting with the rest of us. My sister looked increasingly freaked out the longer her friends took to bring my bike back, and was repeatedly texting them.
Even though my sister said her friends were just down the street, it took them roughly an hour to bring my bike back. They finally pulled up in the minivan with my bike shoved in the back. And it was completely soaked and all muddy. Like it'd just been pulled out of a wet muddy ditch. The bike is a 700c, so it's too tall for either of them to ride. So they just drove right up and stole the bike by dragging it into the van as fast as they could before taking off. I say they stole it because I was almost certain in the moment my sister had told them to dispose of my bike. Had I not pointed out the neighbors have cameras, I may not have gotten it back.
When her friends did finally arrive, their legs were all muddy and wet nearly up to their knees. They both begged me not report them to police for taking the bike. I asked while recording them to tell me the truth, and pointed out the neighbors have cameras. Did my sister want them to get rid of my bike? They broke down and said yes, my sister wanted them to take the bike and dump it in a pond a few miles away. And they had to go back and get it when they realized they were caught. My bike had been near completely submerged in muddy water. Thankfully I didn't have many added accessories on it other than a detachable headlight and my water bottle. But the water bottle was missing.
I wasn't surprised by what my sister's friends told me. And I had them tell our parents too. They laid into my sister till she was bawling on the floor kicking and pounding like a toddler. I had never seen my sister act that way since she actually was a toddler. And I found it mortifying she was still like this on the inside. Then she shut herself in her room. Her friends were banned from ever coming to my parents' house again. Then my sister was forced to come out of her room by our mother, and make another big apology to me.
Our father then forced her to wash and oil my bike from stem to stern under his supervision while I took apart the headlight and cleaned it out to dry it. By the time my sister was done, it was dark outside. She glared at me like I was the devil when she came back in the house. But our parents shut her attitude right down, and said they've never been more embarrassed by her in their lives. She went back to crying in her room. I had a very frank discussion with my parents about my sister's child-like behavior. And how it stemmed from their spoiling and enabling. I said I couldn't believe I had to be the voice of reason. But the fact that she was on the floor crying like a toddler, kicking and pounding, showed that she's still mentally a child because of them. And they kept making me the scapegoat when she screwed up, so she barely knows any sense of accountability. For once they didn't argue with me about it. And then my father silently drove me and my bike back to my apartment with his SUV. He also gave me some money to replace my bike's missing water bottle before we parted.
My sister and her clique used to harass me a fair bit whenever we ran into each other. They made fun of me as a group whenever possible. And I usually just ignored them because they bored me. And that really seemed to tick them off. But after the bike incident, I got sent numerous messages from numbers I didn't know cussing me out for making my sister cry over a silly prank. Knowing her, my sister probably fed everyone she knew a very different story on what happened. I texted lengthy replies of what actually happened, and even stated I have recordings of her friends admitting the truth.
Some people at my sister's college found out what actually went down. Maybe from my texts, maybe her friends spilled the beans. But it embarrassed my sister so much she came home having a crying tantrum about how people there were calling her and her friends B's and a bike thieves. I may not have gone to college. But I know students who need them are VERY protective of their bikes. A lot of them live on shoestring budgets after all. My sister said someone even joked that they shouldn't leave a bike around her, because it might just disappear if she had to apologize to anyone. My sister ended up so upset that she refused to leave her room for three days to have her pity party.
My parents called me up to try and turn everything on me again. I reminded them about the discussion we had days before, and that they needed to stop babying her, and let her deal with the repercussions of her own actions. If she fails her classes again, it's because she's not trying like she should be. Then I went off on them how were just looking for someone to blame to make her feel better. She made the problem. Not me. And I wasn't gonna be the one they make the scapegoat anymore. My sister is an adult. And she needs to act like it. They sounded defeated, and then apologized before ending the call. Looks like they were genuinely hoping I'd just sit back and take the blame so my sister would get better. But I never will again.
Now my parents are trying to pretend this all never happened, and my sister as well as her clique are avoiding me at all costs. Which I suppose is fine with me. Because I don't want anymore drama. But the next time something like this happens, I won't take it from them.
TLDR: My sister make a big deal of me eating at a hospital cafeteria, and then had her friends steal and dump my bike just because I made her apologize to me. Now she's being ridiculed by everyone.

On August 18, 2015 the Boston Red Sox hired the late General Manager of the Detroit Tigers, Dave Dombrowski, to run the team, replacing Ben Cherrington. The development focused Cherrington had failed to follow up the Red Sox miracle 2013 season with even winning records in the two years since, though the farm system ranked among the very best in baseball and a wave of prospects had just hit the majors (among them, Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Mookie Betts, and Blake Swihart). Thus, the swapping of Cherington for Dombrowski was rightly interpreted as the Red Sox moving to a more assertive phase, to win now even at the expense of the player development system.
Ironically Dombrowski had been fired by the Tigers because of his belief that the organization’s competitive window had closed and that the team needed to rebuild; the Tigers gave the job to his former assistant who got one more winning season out of their aging core before the inevitabilities became insurmountable. By that time the Red Sox were in the midst of their second straight division crown of three, which climaxed with the single greatest season in franchise history. This is how Dombrowski built that team, as well as the fiscal panic that cost the Red Sox the greatest all around player in franchise history following it:
~2015~
November 13, 2015: Traded Logan Allen, Carlos Asuaje, Javy Guerra and Manuel Margot to the San Diego Padres. Received Craig Kimbrel.
The first major transaction of the Dave Dombrowski era set the pace for the next four years; trading four prospects for a relief pitcher constitutes the classic win-now move. In this case the Red Sox won the deal in both the long and short terms, as only Manuel Margot developed in regular at the major league level, and that at a position where the Red Sox were not in need (center field). Meanwhile Craig Kimbrel made the all-star team in each of his three seasons in Boston, the second of which was one of the greatest relief performances in the game’s history.
December 4, 2015: Signed David Price as a free agent, 217 million dollars over seven years.
At once the most maligned and most underrated move of the Dombrowski era as well as being the biggest, the David Price signing saw the Red Sox for the first time handout a nine figure contract to a free agent pitcher. This was all the more dramatic as they had alienated and traded away their own homegrown southpaw ace (Jon Lester) less than eighteen months before. This was also the first time with the Red Sox that Dave Dombrowski acquired a player he was he previously familiar with, perhaps slightly overpaying for that familiarity. Did we mention that this was largest contract ever given to a pitcher at time, too?
Price had a solid first season in Boston, leading the league in innings pitched with 230 and striking out nearly a man per inning. Nonetheless the first three years of his tenure were marked with mutual hostility towards the ever-ravenous Boston sports media, only alleviated after his fantastic 2018 postseason run. Aging and injuries limited both the quantity and quality of his performance in 2017 and 2019; this trend as well as his 31 million annum salary contributed to owner John Henry’s decision to offload Price even at the cost of Mookie Betts. If only for that last reason alone the David Price signing is one the Red Sox would likely not repeat in hindsight.
December 7, 2015: Traded Jonathan Aro and Wade Miley to the Seattle Mariners. Received Roenis Elías and Carson Smith.
The first of many times Dombrowski would be burned in pursuit of bullpen arms, this deal with Seattle comes down to Wade Miley for Carson Smith. Miley had been signed as a reclamation project by Cherrington before 2015 in the hopes that Miley could serve as a solid mid-rotation option, which he more or less fulfilled with just short of 200 league average innings. Smith on the other hand was coming off his first full season in the majors where he gave the Mariners seventy brilliant innings of high leverage relief pitching (2.31 ERA, 11.8 K/9, and only two home runs allowed).
In a twist of fate, this trade hurt both teams as Smith immediately got injured and only pitched 24 innings in the rest of his career while Miley bombed in Seattle en route to a midseason jettisoning. Yet he rebounded with Baltimore in 2017 and remains an effective if oft-injured starting pitcher to this day, currently with the Milwaukee Brewers.
~2016~
June 10, 2016: Drafted Bobby Dalbec in the 4th round of the 2016 amateur draft.
The once and future Red Sox, Quad A superstar Bobby Dalbec!
July 7, 2016: Traded Wendell Rijo and Aaron Wilkerson to the Milwaukee Brewers. Received Aaron Hill and cash.
With Pablo Sandoval well into his career of eating his way out of Boston, the Red Sox carried a gaping hole at third base from August 2012 to July 2017. One of the short term attempts at a fix featured the acquisition of infielder Aaron Hill, hoping that he and Travis Shaw could platoon for the rest of the 2016 season. The thirty four year old Hill had been decent in Milwaukee in the first half after two bad seasons, but he reverted to that form as soon as he put on a Red Sox uniform, posting a 54 OPS+ in 137 plate appearances. After another terrible eighty plate appearances for the Giants in 2017 Hill was done. On the bright side, the two players Dombrowski gave up for him never amounted to anything.
July 9, 2016: Traded Jose Almonte and Luis Alejandro Basabe to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Received Brad Ziegler.
Ziegler was an accomplished submarine righty who the Red Sox acquired for basically free to get same-sided batters out, a role which he fulfilled to perfection (1.52 ERA in 30 innings). Another clearly won trade for DD.
July 14, 2016: Traded Anderson Espinoza to the San Diego Padres. Received Drew Pomeranz.
At the time, Anderson Espinoza was a teenager in Single A while Drew Pomeranz had appeared to finally unlock his long-salivated over potential with an all-star appearance. Ideally the Padres were hoping Espinoza could eventually develop to that same quality while the Red Sox expected Pomeranz to fill the fourth spot in the rotation. Neither team got what they wanted, at least in 2016 or for most of thereafter; Espinoza immediately went down with a major arm injury which kept him from pitching professionally for five years. Pomeranz himself reverted to his pre-breakout level for the rest of the season, bounced back with a big 2017 (17-6, 3.32 ERA, a strikeout per inning across 174 frames) and then finally was the forgotten man on the 2018 pitching staff due to injuries and ineffectiveness (6.08 ERA in 74 innings, 66 strikeouts to 44 walks). At this point the thirty year old southpaw looked like the quintessential example of TNSTAAPP (There’s No Such Thing As A Pitching Prospect), another electric arm who would never match his potential due to injuries and command woes. Anyways, Pomeranz then seemed to resuscitate his career out of the bullpen for the 2019 Brewers and 2020-21 Padres with a sub-2 ERA across 70 innings in those three seasons…before injuries again struck. Though he has not pitched in the majors in three years he remains in the Dodgers minor league system, currently (where else) on the injured list.
December 6, 2016: Traded Victor Diaz, Luis Alexander Basabe, Michael Kopech and Yoán Moncada to the Chicago White Sox. Received Chris Sale.
It’s easy to forget now, but Moncada was not only a can’t miss prospect but one of the three best in all of baseball at the time, and Kopech was another Top 100 type. I’ve covered Kopech in my previous article on Red Sox pitching prospect busts but Moncada’s own failure to reach his ceiling was due more to injuries and a passive approach at the plate. Thus far into his career, Moncada has had two good seasons out of seven and played in at least 130 games in only three. With a strikeout rate of thirty percent, a declining walk rate, little power and less defense, he’s become a fourteen million dollar albatross even when on the field for the White Sox.
Sale, of course, had two Cy Young Award worthy campaigns before injuries and an ill-advised extension soured his final five seasons as a Red Sox. That extension will be discussed further when we come to it, but the trade on its own was inarguably a major victory.
Traded a player to be named later, Josh Pennington, Mauricio Dubón and Travis Shaw to the Milwaukee Brewers. Received Tyler Thornburg. The Boston Red Sox sent Yeison Coca (June 5, 2017) to the Milwaukee Brewers to complete the trade.
Yet another ill-fated trade for a relief pitcher, this time costing the Red Sox heavily in terms of value lost; Shaw went to become an all-star power bat at second and third base for the next two seasons in Milwaukee before his career petered out. Thornburg on the other hand contracted thoracic outlet syndrome from which he never recovered. Even if he had pitched well, the Red Sox could have used Shaw more than any setup man due to Dustin Pedroia’s career ending knee injury.
December 8, 2016: Signed Mitch Moreland as a free agent.
Mitch Moreland was a decent first baseman, but could Dave really not find someone better to play first over the next three years? Even if they cost more than $18.5 million?
December 20, 2016: Traded Clay Buchholz to the Philadelphia Phillies. Received Josh Tobias.
This was more of a psychic relief to Red Sox Nation than anything else, finally alleviating them of the constant confusion over which Bucholz would show up on the mound—the oft-injured and easy to hit version, or the dominating ace? Fittingly Clay’s last three seasons in the majors featured two horrid starts for Philly, sixteen dominating starts in Arizona, and then finally split the difference with a final dozen poor performances as a Blue Jay.
~2017~
June 12, 2017: Drafted Tanner Houck in the 1st round (24th pick) of the 2017 amateur draft.
Houck’s selection constitutes one-third of the total number of draft picks by Dombrowski that made which helped the Red Sox at the major league level (the other two being fourteenth round pick Kutter Crawford in 2016 and fellow first rounder Triston Casas in 2018); inability to find even depth pieces in the draft left the Red Sox farm system utterly void of impact talent by 2018.
June 23, 2017: Selected Doug Fister off waivers from the Los Angeles Angels.
As alluded to in my previous article, veteran GMs tend to reacquire players they were familiar with from previous stops. Fister had been an excellent fourth starter for the Tigers early in the 2010s but by 2017 the end was clearly staring him in the face; a 4.88 ERA in eighteen appearances (fifteen starts) just underlined this inevitable and unenviable conclusion.
July 26, 2017: Traded Shaun Anderson and Gregory Santos to the San Francisco Giants. Received Eduardo Núñez.
Nunez was the short-term solution to Pedroia’s knee injury. He turned out to be the medium-term solution too, as the degenerate condition of the incumbent’s affliction led DD to resign Nunez that winter. While fantastic down the stretch in 2017 this was a stretch of the infielder’s capabilities; Nunez suffered his own knee injuries and posted a remarkable -2.3 WAR as Boston’s primary keystone occupant over the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
July 31, 2017: Traded Gerson Bautista, Jamie Callahan and Stephen Nogosek to the New York Mets. Received Addison Reed.
Another deadline, another deal to reinforce the bullpen. Reed was inconsistent for the Red Sox during his two month stay, which turned out to be the penultimate chapter for his career—a poor 2018 in Minnesota marked the end of his major league career, an astonishingly quick demise even for a reliever.
~2018~
February 26, 2018: Signed J.D. Martinez as a free agent, five years and 110 million dollars.
The best free agent signing of the Dombrowski era, JD provided the power bat the Red Sox sorely lacked after Big Papi’s retirement. In his first and best season in Boston Martinez led the majors in both runs batted in and total bases, placed third in MVP voting, and earned Silver Sluggers at two different positions! He declined linearly from there, but remains a productive member of any team’s lineup to this day; he has spent the last two seasons as the Dodgers and now Mets’ DH, attempting to compensate for declining bat speed by sacrificing contact for power.
March 4, 2018: Signed Ryan Brasier as a free agent.
The quality of Brasier’s pitching is inversely proportional to the quality of the expectations laid upon him. Thus he alternates excellent if limited seasons with ostensibly healthier but more erratic contributions.
March 24, 2018: Traded Deven Marrero to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Received a player to be named later. The Arizona Diamondbacks sent Josh Taylor (May 15, 2018) to the Boston Red Sox to complete the trade.
Deven Marrero was the prototypical good-field/no-hit infielder. Taylor is yet another oft-injured reliever, though he at least gave the Red Sox two solid seasons as the primary southpaw in 2019 and 2021. After missing all of 2022, he was traded to the Royals for Adalberto Mondesi and a teenage infielder named Angel Pierre; while Mondesi knee injuries seem to have ended his career Pierre posted a .415 OBP in rookie ball last year. Keep an eye and ear out for him as he climbs through the minor league ranks.
June 4, 2018: Drafted Triston Casas in the 1st round (26th pick) of the 2018 amateur draft.
Get well soon. There’s only so much Bobby Dalbec a fan can take.
June 28, 2018: Traded Santiago Espinal to the Toronto Blue Jays. Received Steve Pearce and cash.
Moreland had never and would never hit southpaws, but it took until the middle of his second season in Boston for the Red Sox to provide him with a platoon partner. When they finally did so at least they chose one of the very best platoon players in the major leagues in Steve Pearce; Pearce of course would win the World Series MVP that should have gone to Price later that year.
July 25, 2018: Traded Jalen Beeks to the Tampa Bay Rays. Received Nathan Eovaldi.
Even had he not resigned with the team during the offseason, Eovaldi would have earned his place in Red Sox lore for his heroic six inning relief appearance in the World Series. We’ll discuss the extension later, but also note that Beeks is perhaps the only pitcher who the Rays failed to turn into a Cy Young contender. What’s the opposite of adding insult to injury?
July 30, 2018: Traded Ty Buttrey and Williams Jerez to the Los Angeles Angels. Received Ian Kinsler and cash.
With Nunez playing well below replacement level, the Red Sox needed a replacement for the replacement. Kinsler in his penultimate season at least provided a solid glove; just in case the Red Sox also picked up Brandon Phillips.
November 16, 2018: Signed Steve Pearce as a free agent. AND, December 6, 2018: Signed Nathan Eovaldi as a free agent.
These were covertly two of the worst transactions of the Dave Dombrowski era. Refusing to say goodbye to midseason rentals is risky enough, but the amount of money given to Pearce and Eovaldi also baffled reasonable explanations; a thirty-six-year-old platoon hitter at first base is replaceable enough, even when he’s not the weak side of the arrangement. Had Pearce played well and been healthy in 2019, perhaps the six and quarter million would have seemed mostly worth it; instead, he “hit” .180 in twenty nine games before retiring.
Meanwhile, Eovaldi’s lengthy injury history made it a minor miracle that he was healthy enough for the Red Sox during his three months in Boston—bringing him back for four years and sixty-eight million dollars can only be explained as a sentimental move, an excessive reward for that World Series performance. As could have been reasonably expected in December 2018, Nitro Nate only proved worthy of that contract in one out of four seasons; in the other three he was either injured for most of the season, ineffective, or both.
~2019~
March 23, 2019: Extended Chris Sale for five years, 145 million dollars.
It wasn’t the David Price contract that caused the fiscal panic that cost the Red Sox their best player since at least Carl Yastrzemski, not really. The Red Sox could have eaten that sunken cost, had it been the sole albatross on their pitching staff. But, of course, it was only one of three unnecessary contracts that Dave Dombrowski issued to injury-prone starting pitchers on the wrong side of thirty. Sale had already shown long term red flags in 2018, which argued for letting him play out his walk year in 2019 before possibly ponying up the cash to keep him. After all, the Red Sox also had to extend Xander Bogaerts as well as the inestimable Betts; those two would cost at least sixty million a year to retain. Since they were coming off the most dominant single season in franchise history, perhaps now was the best time to let go some of the chief contributors, before the Red Sox tricked themselves into trying to recapture lightning in a bottle…Well, you know what happened in reality.
Between them, Eovaldi, Sale, and Price cost the Red Sox $52 million in 2019 alone, then $67 million in 2020; accounting for other contracts (JBJ’s arbitration rang up $11 million, Bogey was extended for $20 million, and JD was on the books for about $24 million) that was at least $122 million dollars already assigned to six players entering 2020. Assuming a payroll of effectively $200 million, this would have left about thirty million to spend on the other twenty-odd players required to field a team after giving Mookie his presumed megadeal. Turning back to 2019, just like with the Tigers in 2015, Dave couldn’t even make his customary July trade for pitching; the acquisition of Andrew Cashner from the Orioles felt like a low-budget parody of his previous deadline splashes, which of course it was.
There’s the real reason Dave Dombrowski was fired—just as in Detroit his full throttle commitment to a win-now mandate from ownership eventually led to a top-heavy roster and barren farm system. Have fun while you can, Phillies Phans.
Final Note/Small Self Promotion I forget to add: You could have read this post ten days earlier if you follow my blog

My wife (technically fiancé, but in my eyes we are already married), has lived an absolute life of the utmost hell at the hands of all those she should have been able to trust most and suffered unimaginable abuse and cruelty so all she ever wanted was a child which she was always told would very likely never happen, so as you as well as I can imagine she was likely very excited to find out she was pregnant (I say it that way because I know about as much as you guys aside from the stuff she's told me about her story), this being said she lost the child due to a medical emergency unrelated to the pregnancy and because the hospital made a mistake regarding that medical emergency she was rehospitalized and lost the baby early and she couldn't have been through an even greater hell because she nearly lost her life as well and the father of the child (not me) was not present for the situation. We have been together for what will be 2 years this October, she has a dog (now our dog) and is a wonderful fur momma because she rescued the dog as a puppy and raised it and all when she was just starting to find herself and the dog later returned the favor for her and saved her life as well, which to me was something that dog learned from the way she raised it. What better an example of a good mother than to teach a child even if it was a furry one that. Anyway none of that is why I'm here. And I'm being rather vague but want to give you guys as much information as I can without disrespecting her privacy even though she tells me all the time she wants to get her full story out there she just isn't sure how. What I'm trying to do however is give her the best mother's day present I can which I've already been working on already, and money or material gifts have never meant much to either of us so I'm making her something special and want include this post in some way in the video project I'm creating for her. So if you guys could just help me show her she's not alone in her loss and offer words of support and encouragement that she "Is" a mother even though her baby is a true "angel baby" and left this world as soon as he arrived in it. I tell her all the time to ignore those who have told her she is not a true mother because she "is" and not just because of the child she lost but also because of the maternal love and lessons she taught her dog. I love her very much but she needs to feel the support and love of others because of all she's been through and unfortunately she doesn't feel like she has a lot of friends and while my friends would happily be there for her I understand why she feels like that's not the same as making some of her own. I am thinking of making an interactive link to this post in the video that will force her into making a reddit account of her own because she's told me she wants one but is always too busy to create it and wants my help making one so this is my way of helping her make an account and what a surprise it will be after I finish the video and she goes back clicks the link to this post and it leads her into the creation of her account only to find this post and see all these wonderful words of support and love from those who have been through similar situations as soon as she logs in. I hope this post is properly placed here and fulfills the purpose of this forum or as it's called here in Reddit and doesn't go against any rules here on this reddit I may have overlooked while reading them on the main page. Thank you all so much and Bless each and everyone on here and I hope you all had the best possible mother's day you could've this year. Much love and appreciation for all of you on this page and I hope you guys can help me make this the best possible mother's day for the love of my life and a wonderful mother who just hasn't been able to see how much so she is.

Hey all - we manage our account more manually vs. allowing Google Ad's automations to run the show (no Pmax for example). After a bunch of human adjustments, in April, we had our best month in our history. With overall budget being the same, we gained 2X the clicks and conversions compared to any month in the last 18, and cut our cost per conversion in half. We've changed ZERO in May, yet as of today (about halfway through the month), things have gone entirely the opposite direction. Comparatively, we've had more than half as many clicks as April - which is thus worse than most months in the last 18. And of course, the CPL is now through the roof. How on Earth could the entire month of April be a huge success, then without any changes, May dropped off to where it's now looking like the worst? Conspiracy theories abound - Google seems hellbent on getting advertisers to wholly rely on PMax and automations - just does not work for us...we tried. Then we found our own success. Might Google have done something to thwart us because we're not playing the game (Pmax, etc.) they want us to play? Not sure how else to explain this.

Talking about Lidl, Aldi, Morrisons, etc. So far experiencing significant cost savings, especially from Lidl, but not sure if I’m sacrificing any quality in terms of fresh produce, meat, etc.
My local Morrisons at least had a butchefishmonger that seems very fresh and where salmon as an example is cheaper than the defrosted salmon you’d get at Waitrose.
However, some of the cheese and deli products from these budget places just don’t look as appealing. I’d love to just shop at Waitrose and M&S which have excellent cheese/deli/ready meal products all the time but alas I can’t afford that. So now I reserve trips to Waitrose for only a select few items that I know will be really good, like their own brand yogurt, burrata, granola, etc.
So would like to gather some opinions on whether savings are worth a potential downgrade in quality from: - Budget supermarkets relative to “mainstream” shops like Tesco and Sainsbury’s - Budget supermarkets relative to “higher end” places like Waitrose, M&S

I hope this is the right subreddit, flair, and has a reasonable length. If it doesn’t, please tell me and I’ll change it to fit the requirements.
My younger brother (16m), let’s call him Nathan (false name), is currently having a ton of issues and my family and I (17m) feel like we have played all of our cards and don’t know what else we can do for him. Nathan has Bipolar I, ADHD, dyslexia, and even though he isn’t professionally diagnosed, we suspect he also has Autism. He is currently on medication for his Bipolar but he isn’t on any for his ADHD. He also gets seizures when he becomes too stressed. He is on a DUI at school and has a lot of support there regarding teachers and faculty. He used to have a psychologist but they terminated him for stupid reasons that he had no control over. He has been in the mental hospital before back in elementary, as he used to be much worse back then. He also has a background of violence (his violence would only be directed to me and our Mother(40f), but he hasn’t been violent for 3-4 years). He also has done self-harm in the past, but they were pretty minor. Nathan and I also have no insurance but we are about to get on our Mother’s plan. Nathan also has ways of coping and knows what to do if he becomes too angry, but I feel like there could be more that could be done. We live in a household with 7 people. We live with our Papa (Mother’s Dad) and his twin brother, who sleep in the living room, Grandma and Grandpa (Papa’s parents) who sleep in the master bedroom as they own the house, our Mother, who sleeps in her own room, and Nathan and I, who share a room. We also have one dog. Okay, now to the issue.
Nathan has lately been on the computer 24/7 and we feel it has negatively affecting him and he simply is unable to see it like that. We feel that the computer has begun to consume his life. He spends all day and night talking to his online friends playing Minecraft with them. He communicates with them on discord and has constantly communicating with them. He has been spending all night talking to them even though he should be going to sleep for school and has been struggling getting up to get ready for school and been falling asleep at school. He has been saying that he has been struggling going to sleep at night and believes he has insomnia (our family has a history of insomnia). I believe his sleeping issues is a result of his computer use. Before, he never really struggled going to sleep but now he has been having a ton of issues doing so. I won’t be surprised if he has/started to have insomnia because of this. As a result of the obsessive computer use, he has begun having back-lashes on not just our Mother, but our Grandma (we currently live with our Grandma and Grandpa), which isn’t good for her health.
He doesn’t know how to be quiet on the computer, especially at night. He is loud and often yells while on it. Our Papa and Mother can hear him at night. It has started to become a really serious issue. I’ve been professionally diagnosed with Insomnia and struggle falling asleep. Nathan’s inability to be quiet at night has started to affect my ability to sleep. I’ve used to being able to ignore it pretty well, but it has become a very serious issue lately and I have been having a very hard time falling asleep for school. I also won’t be surprised if it has also started to affect Papa’s ability to sleep as well, as he is right next to our door as we are right outside the living room.
His online friends aren’t much better. Him having online friends isn’t abnormal at all, but his current online friends I feel aren’t good for him. They actively encourage him to stay up all night with them (they are all around the same age as Nathan, or at least that is what they say). Nathan often falls asleep while on call with them, and they regularly wake him up, as they don’t want him falling asleep on them. He has an online girlfriend, in which to my knowledge she is the only one who is trying to get him to sleep at night (in which he refused to do so). He has been hanging out with them too much, as he isn’t just neglecting his real life friends but his older online friends too (in which I prefer a whole lot more than his current ones, which he became friends with 1-3 weeks ago). He used to be more active and hang out with his real life friends often, but he wants to stay inside 24/7 now and doesn’t hang out with his real life friends outside of school anymore. He is way too naive and too trusting of his online friends. As a result, he is easy to take advantage of. One example of this was that several of his friends apparently had a house in our city and Nathan wanted to get a job so he can help pay for the house (I don’t think they even showed evidence that this house was actually real). Our Mother luckily cut down that idea immediately. He is also surrounded by people who are suicidal online, which isn’t good for his mental health at all.
On top of neglecting his real life friends, he is also neglecting his family. He is really close to our Mother and I. He used to watch anime with our Mother, but he no longer does so. Nathan and I also used to watch anime together, play games together, and chat but we barely do any of that stuff anymore. He also would be eager to go out of the house with family but he no longer wants to. He either wants to hang out with his friends or is too tired to do so. Recently, he didn’t go to our cousin’s graduation and even my induction ceremony for National Honor Art Society because he was too tired. It also has been months since he went to our other cousins house as he is either too tired or wants to stay home (she isn’t our actual blood cousin, but we see each other as such. Nathan is really close to her as well). I admit I’m obsessed with my phone, but I know when I need to put it down and it hasn’t consume my life like it has Nathan. I’m an introvert and I don’t prefer going outside of the house, but I have been going outside the house with our Mother quite often. Nathan used to do the same but he no longer wants to.
With all this information, you may be wondering why we haven’t taken away the computer yet. There is a reason on why we haven’t. This is because if we did, he will become violent. If he does continue going on the computer at night, our Mother will take away the computer at night. Nathan knows this. She also is wanting to turn off the internet at night and before he goes to school, but we don’t know if we could do that just yet. One manipulative and toxic thing he does, which is extremely unhealthy, is that if our Mother threatens him with punishment, Nathan threatens his own life to try to get out of the punishment. This never works on our Mother as she knows these are hollow threats and she used to do the same (actually she used to be much worse and actually attempted suicide before. I don’t think Nathan even has the will for suicide) so she knows the signs and how to deal with the situation. I think he does this since he is constantly surrounded by people threatening their lives online, he now sees this as normal. Since he sees this as normal, he has begun doing the same to not just our Mother but other people (I’m guessing he learned to do this as he probably seen this work before with his friends doing the same).
All of this cumulated into Monday morning. The day before, Nathan was asleep all day and was up all night on the computer. He was being so loud that I had a very hard time falling asleep and it began to annoy me incredibly. I don’t know when he fell asleep but it’s obvious he stayed up all night, even though he knew we were going to school in the morning. We usually get up around one hours before school starts to get ready. This is also when he gets his medicine. When it was time to go, Nathan was still asleep in his pajamas. I couldn’t get him to wake up, and our Grandma had to be the one to wake him up (our Mother was at work). Our Grandpa had to drop me off at school without him, go back home, and then drop him off to school (we go to the same school). He was hard on our Grandma, in which I assume it took a little while to finally convince him to get up and get ready for school. This is incredibly stressful for our Grandma and is definitely not good for her health. As a result of this, it simply became too much for all of us and we need to find a way to get him help.
The Mental Hospital is our very last option, and we don’t want this at all. We simply don’t know what else we can do for him, as he needs help. Is their other methods/ways we can use to help him or is the mental hospital our only option? Btw, no methods/ways/punishments that include any sort of violence, as this won’t help him at all and he will retaliate back with more violence (our Mother is a lot more stronger than Nathan and she has incredibly hard punches. She has never punched Nathan before, but she has slapped him. Even though our Mother doesn’t like this, she will defend herself against Nathan if she ever needs to do so. She’ll never throw the first punch but she won’t hesitate to throw hands back. On the other hand, I’m incredibly weak and will fold like a lawn chair.)
tl;dr, My younger brother’s computer use has started to consume his life negatively in all aspects and we don’t know what else to do, as he simply refuses to see it like that.

Hi All,
I’m an experienced web developer and designer, launching a new and unique way of getting a website built - my USP is “name your price” and I’ll build a website based on that budget.
The website - www.yourpricewebsites.com
As I’m keen on building up a strong relationship and showcase of high quality work, this isn’t just a rinse-repeat of the same template. All websites I build will be made by myself, based on your needs.
A few things I offer as part of this

• A variety of site “types” (business sites, e-commerce, blogs for example)
• Logo design and graphics needed.
• SEO optimization.
• Website wording.
• Hosting, domain and setup.

The way it works:
Enter the request on the website and I’ll be in touch.
I’ll take a down payment to cover the domain, setup and homepage. Then the rest once the homepage is to your liking.
I offer three months hosting and maintenance for free, then it’s $30 monthly after that (or I can provide you the site files).
This is something that I’m very interested in seeing the sort of enquiries I receive and hope to educate others on the progress of this project (seeing as I’ve never seen a web design/development company work this way before).
All the best,
Josh.

I've been looking for something to replace my lost Galaxy Buds for several days already and I can't seem to find a good enough pair to buy that's locally available.
International shipping isn't exactly an option. In Amazon for example, getting a pair of Technics AZ80's would require at least $100 in import fees alone.
My current priorities in picking are, in order: - sound quality - battery life - fit - ANC/transparency
Budget is around PHP 17,500 (US$ 300).
Currently considering: - Sony WM-1000XM5 (Concerns: battery issues) - Jabra Elite 10 (Concerns: fit & isolation)

Every year I’m confronted with the decision of whether to talk about the Met Gala. And it can be a tough decision if I’m being totally honest - on one hand, it’s always easy to point and laugh at rich Leftists wearing weird costumes and making fools out of themselves; on the other hand, it’s gotten way too easy to do that, and as far as celebrity freak shows go, the Met Gala is sort of like the Oscars at this point: its supposed “unpredictability” is now cliche, its zaniness is now boring. Unless mayhem breaks out—say, like an actor slaps the presenter live on-stage or something like that—then the truth is that no one really cares about any of these events anymore - in fact, I’m still not even sure what the Met Gala is. All I know is that the celebrities dress strangely and then go into I guess a big museum. What do they do inside the museum? Is there some kind of award ceremony? Is it a dance? Is it like celebrity prom or something? Do they sacrifice a live goat and drink its blood while chanting satanic curses? Is it some combination of these things? Nobody knows for sure. And most of all, nobody cares.
But fortunately, something interesting did happen at the Met Gala last week, or at least outside of it. Mobs of pro-Palestine demonstrators, apparently bored of their tent cities on college campuses, slowly marched through Manhattan towards the Met, and when they arrived, they tore down the police barricades and flooded the street.
Just for fun, here’s Lizzo dressed like something that you might find inside an unflushed toilet at Panda Express, and that’s what she wore to the Met Gala while riots raged outside in a clash of poor commies versus rich commies, as Peachy Keenan put it. These riots should also bring to mind I think some immediate logistical considerations that the Democratic Party now has to think about - for one thing, it’s safe to say that planning for the Democratic National Convention is going through some last-minute revisions right about now. Just imagine being in charge of security for the DNC; you’re gonna need bigger barricades than they had at the Met, and probably a lot more cops.
But more barricades and cops aren’t gonna fix the underlying problem that the Democratic Party has created here. There’s now a full-on uprising on the Left against the elitism that Democrats have long embraced - and the media is getting involved, too. Yahoo, for example, has already turned on the Met Gala; they just published a piece declaring, “The Met Gala’s Opulence Is Always Gross. This Year, It’s Obscene.”
Now, the whole article is a rant that hits a crescendo with this paragraph, which is probably the single-longest run-on sentence I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Here it is, this whole thing is one sentence, just so you know:

Even in an era filled with the horrors of late-stage capitalism run amok—bipartisan support for genocide; rolling back of reproductive, civil, and voting rights; a threadbare social safety net; decades of wage stagnation; tax cuts for the the rich; the crushing of unions and labor rights; expansion of the militarized police surveillance state; creeping techno-authoritarianism; untested, unregulated, and unchecked A.I.; entrenched racial inequality and injustice; right-wing and white supremacist extremist violence; and Boeing jet parts falling from the sky like so many dead whistleblowers—that kind of frivolous urgency promises that this year’s event nonetheless will stand out as a vainglorious display of self-congratulatory decadence and tone-deaf extravagance.

Now, first of all, just as a stylistic matter, if you’re going to make a sentence that long, it needs to be coherent. And “Boeing jet parts are falling from the sky like so many dead whistleblowers?” That doesn’t even make sense; the dead whistleblowers didn’t fall from the sky. I mean, they’re not being pushed out planes. One of them shot himself allegedly and the other died of an illness. Now, even if you subscribe to the theory that Boeing’s hitmen killed these whistleblowers—which, who knows, maybe they did—the fact remains that they didn’t fall from the sky. They died on the ground, so the metaphor just doesn’t work. And this is the problem you get into with 100-word sentences: eventually, you just lose track of what you’re saying.
In any event, that whole massive paragraph could be summed up as saying, “We’re living through late-stage capitalism right now.” That’s what the Left-wing media is saying. That’s the way that they are framing this, and of course, “late-stage capitalism” is one of their favorite phrases to use these days. And they used to celebrate the Met Gala, but not anymore. Now they’re saying the same thing the demonstrators are, which is that the frivolous elite are partying while Rome burns—which they are, of course—and they’re furious about it, or pretending to be.
Now, what the media and these demonstrators don’t want to admit is that the elitists at this gala—all the celebrities who are dressed like slutty Star Wars villains and so on—are on their team. The celebrities are part of the ruling class, the protesters and media critics are its products and in some cases quite literally its offspring. Now, to be sure, the celebrities and college administrators and the politicians are reluctant to acknowledge that their own Frankenstein monster is turning against them, but that’s exactly what’s happening.
Remember that it was two years ago that AOC showed up to the Met Gala with a “Tax the Rich” gown. There were a bunch of sympathetic news stories highlighting her bravery at the time, and here’s how AOC justified showing up to an event that costs $300,000 per table while equipped with a custom dress, handbag, shoes and jewelry costing more than $2,000.

REPORTER: “You know this dress has a message for this Met Gala, tell me about what that is.”
AOC: “You know, I made a message, it says ’Tax the Rich’ right there, uh, it’s really about having a real conversation about fairness and equity in our system, and I think that this conversation is particularly relevant as we debate over budget and reconciliation down. What we’re talking about, providing working families with child care, healthcare, and meeting the climate crisis [unintelligible]* it deserves. … I think that ultimately, you know, we’re at a very critical point. I think there are some folks who are starting to really understand that this is a very critical conversation for us to be having right now. Other folks have invested interest in not having that conversation, but our point is to keep organizing and keep it going.”*

It’s a really important conversation, AOC says, some people aren’t ready to hear it, but we need to punish rich people, we need to make them as uncomfortable as possible, we need to take their money, and that was the message from AOC, who not incidentally, grew up in a very well-off suburb.
Her whole schtick was always hypocritical and disingenuous, of course, but it turns out that Leftist activists were listening to this rhetoric, I guess, they were taking it seriously, we’ve seen this a lot lately. When Chuck Schumer threatened Supreme Court justices, Leftists showed up at the justices’ homes; when the White House claimed that “trans kids” were being abused, a Leftist shot and killed Christians; when Democrats accused Israel of “genocide,” college students occupied university buildings; now two years after AOC attacked the Met, leftist gathered outside of the building.
This is the escalation that Democrats have primed this country for; it’s now in progress, whether Democrats intended it to happen to THEM or not—which, of course, they didn’t—but that’s not to say that ruling elites are going to roll over and let this happen. I mean, as you saw in that footage, the cops showed up in force and started making arrests the very second that protestors trespassed through the barricades in front of the Met. They were on the scene immediately.
Now, that’s kind of a noticeable contrast when compare it to other things like when these people set up encampments on college campuses, they were given in most cases a few days, maybe a week, before the cops moved in; when they looted and burned poor neighborhoods, they were given about three months to inflict carnage before anyone did anything about it; but when they showed up at the Met Gala, they were given three SECONDS before the arrests started. So it really shows you kind of how the hierarchy works.
The Democrats can’t protect the rest of the country from these mobs, nor do they intend to. So last night, in addition to creating a scene at the Met Gala, Leftists also vandalized a World War I memorial in New York and torched an American flag in front of it.
So please note, again, the contrast, the hierarchy, and the fact that this was happening at the exact same time as the Met Gala thing - REALLY shows you where the priorities are when you notice what kinds of illegal demonstrations the police will stop and which demonstrations they’ll allow to continue. The mob can deface World War I memorials all they want because in doing so, they’re communicating their hatred for this country and everything it stands for. So the Democrats who run New York aren’t going to stop them. But the mob isn’t allowed to inconvenience celebrities at the Met under any circumstances.
The point is that this is the hierarchy that Democrats clearly want to enforce. The trouble is getting the mob to RESPECT the hierarchy, and the Democrats are having trouble with that at the moment.
Yet they still seem oblivious, the Democrats are—or acting oblivious, at least—to the fact that they created this monster themselves, and that’s why inside the Met, as chaos unfolded outside, the party continued uninterrupted, and so did all of this associated weirdness, which was as off-putting as it’s ever been - take for example this decoy costume worn by someone using the name “Karol G.” Now, apparently she wanted to keep her real costume a secret, so earlier in the evening, she sported this beige umbrella-looking lampshade thing instead.
Now, imagine being a hardcore, AOC-loving Leftist who sees this - Democrats have spent the last several years telling you to despise rich people and commit crimes in the name of political activism, and then down the street from your hippy commune at the local university, some celebrity is walking around in a lampshade costume which probably costs $50,000 or something, and the entire Democratic Party establishment is pretending that it’s all normal. What do you do? How would you view the Democratic Party establishment after seeing this?
Now, as for the costume itself, of course, it’s clearly a bid for attention, and I guess it worked—I’m talking about it—but it’s not even an original idea - as a lot of people have pointed out, the outfit bears a striking resemblance to a certain shower curtain costume from the film “Karate Kid,” only with different colors, so there’s really no redeeming qualities whatsoever here, it’s a total debacle all around.
But to be fair, there was at least some originality on display last night - for example, this celebrity apparently walked through a wind tunnel full of roses somewhere before arriving at the Met, and for her trouble, Vogue named her as one of the best-dressed women of the evening.
We can assume again that this… woman?… paid many thousands of dollars for that outfit, which is just a trench coat with flower peddles and glitter glued onto it. It really looks like something a four-year-old girl might make. As everybody knows, in the mind of a four-year-old girl, anything and everything can be made prettier with copious amounts of glitter and flowers, which is a fine mentality for a small child; doesn’t translate very well in this case. And as self-congratulatory as it is, again, there’s no self-awareness whatsoever - it’s almost as if the entire purpose of the event is to celebrate the elites’ total inability to detect how preposterous, self-absorbed, and laughable they are.
An this is nothing new, it’s been the case since the Met Gala was established, it’s always been a mini-theater of the absurd. What’s changed is that the voting base of the Democratic Party isn’t laughing along with these clowns as much anymore. They turned against the universities; now they’ve turned against Hollywood. What the protesters of course don’t understand is that they have inherited their own worldview and everything they believe from these very institutions and these very people.
Hollywood and Academia don’t realize that they’re being attacked by their own Frankenstein, but the Frankenstein monster also doesn’t realize that it IS the Frankenstein monster. And if Frankenstein ever wakes up to that fact, well then the ruling class will really be in trouble.

I find it difficult to manage daily expenditure, i feel like i’m careful with money but sometimes the coffees, the lunches, travel, all of it compounds and adds up particularly over the weekend when i might eat out, spend time with friends, and go for activites. I typically set a daily limit in my head but tend to go over it from time to time.
This isnt really about big purchases, i am aiming primarily at the smaller items which add up over time, day after day.
I feel like I cant be alone here, and i’d like to know what people do to combat this and help themselves.
For example do you log into your online banking each day and see what you’ve spent, or do a weekly/monthly review, perhaps when you’re paid?
I know some people budget aside money for things specifically each month i.e. ‘the non-essentials category’ but a lot of people who live paycheque to paycheque dont necessarily have this luxury.
I feel like a lot of people could benefit from more transparency around their daily spending habits and patterns, but don’t necessarily have the time or desire to put a system in place.
Let me know your thoughts.

*** THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS, ***

Retroid 4 Pro

***CPU:*** Dimensity 1100, [4xA78@2.6GHz](mailto:4xA78@2.6GHz) cores & 4xA55@2.0 GHz cores
The CPU that we will find inside the RP4P, is the Dimensity 1100, with 4 Performance, xA78 cores, clocked out to run up to 2.6GHz & 4 ECO, xA55 cores, clocked out to run at a maximum of 2.0 GHz. This is an upgrade over the RP4 as that 4 of the 8 cores have a much higher clock rate of 2.6 Ghz, not just 2.0 Ghz. Having this combo of "Eco" and "performace" cores in this device allows you to do things like maximize your game play with INSANE battery life when the proper settings are used during low power tasks, such as NES or SNES emulation for example, to get 8-10 hours (reports vary but this seems to be the average battery life on minimal useage because 'what is minimal useage' varys when put next to 'standby' ). Both models come with 3 "performance" modes baked in to the OS. These are Standard, Performance, and Max performance, and these limit the Cpu cores in different ways to different degrees, which is very usefull when doing tasks that do not need all the power the device has to offer. This keeps temps as low as possible to not warm hands during extended gameplay, ( really even under max load and the slowest fan settings this is not an issue, but in theory it is), and max that battery life, until you need that extra power for tasks that push the limits of the device.
*** GPU: Mali G77 MC9 clocked at 836MHz ***
The Arm Mali-G77 GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is the first-generation premium device GPU based on the Mali Valhall architecture.The Mali-G77 provides 30% performance density uplift and 30% improvement on energy efficiency compared to the previous generation Mali-G76 on ISO process and frequency, so even thou this GPU is a few years old, it was a beast in its day, making it still a great budget GPU for most high powered applicationos STILL. This coupled with a 60% improvement in machine learning applications is driving innovative experiences and applications on mobile devices. Mali-G77 has support for all latest APIs, including the latest releases of Vulkan and OpenCL.
*** DISPLAY: 4.7 inch, touchscreen, 750×1334@60Hz, 500nits ***
The screen is a GREAT resolution for the games you would play on it, the power of the device, and the size of the device. Wile AAA, Flagship phones sport up to 4k screens, at these smaller sizes, a lower res screen goes a LOT further then if its on a bigger display.Most of the games you will play on this emulator, have native resolutions UNDER the resolution of the screen, so your all good there. This again, pairs well with teh CPU/GPU combo, because rendering at this resolution for the DC/PS2/Switch emulation is great, and is the perfect balance of performance/Visual quality.
*** RAM: 8GB LPDDR4x ***
With 8 gigs of Fast, LPDDR4s ram, maxing at 4266 MT/s, you should never be in a situation with this device and its other limitations, where your out of RAM. The LPDDR4x Was Samsungs take on the LPDDR4,consuming aprox 17% less power, and boasting a 15% boost from the previous gen ram. This was a perfect adition to the other componets you will find inside this beast.
*** STORAGE128GB UFS 3.1, Micro SD card slot ***
The recorded metrics reveal a sequential reading speed of 946.2MB/s, a sequential writing speed of 363.83MB/s, a random reading speed of 129.43MB/s, and a random writing speed of 156.17MB/s. These benchmarks provide valuable insights into the efficiency and capabilities of the ROM in terms of data access and transfer speeds.
COMMUNICATIONSWi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2
Whats one of the worst things when playing a video game? Latency issues are so frustrating, and when you try to get that "Frame Perfect" button press and your bluetooth controllers latency is making this impossible( I know this is on a device that has a controller built in, but when you plug this in to your TV, throw a USB-C hub on there, plug in a ccharger, maybe a harddrive, you need to have a controller at that point) with Bluetooth5.2, you can be assured Low latency and long range, adn the ability to pair multiple devices at once. The next biggest issue for gamers is therir ping (network latency)
BATTERY5000mAh
This large capacity battery (same size as whats in the samsung s23 ultra BTW) paired with the 4 Eco cores on the CPU, the ability to turn off the fan and control its speeds. Its min speed setting is ALWAYS MORE than enough, never go higher then this to keep battery life up, the fan is a HUGE draw on the battery. I seem to be able to bug it out very often, so even on max performance mode using dreamcast/ps2 emulators, i never see my temps above 55 deg, and STRAIGHT FROM RETROID, they claim " D100 is POP technics, our system show the cpu temperature is junction temperature, not cpu top temperature. when junction temperature arrived 90 degrees, D100 datasheet is allowed high to 125 degrees, so no feel anxious if it arrived 90 degrees. "*source Email with retroid*so dont worry about temnps keep that fan off/lowest setting if your being forced to run it, and always leave your Power Mode on the lowest setting unless what you are play can not run
I/O Micro HDMI video output, 3.5mm headphone port, USB Type-C (data and charging)
While the Micro HDMI on this device has a max resolution of 720, so opt for a USB-C hub tht allows HDMI,USB-C PD port for charging and a 2nd for Data transfer, and then Ethernet is a good option to get on this, I got one with all that plus 4 USB3.1 ports for like 12 bucks. The wired 3.5mm jack is refreshing seeing as phones have been lacking these for a long time now.

Retroid 4

CPU

Xavier is just a huge box of green flags as a boyfriend. He dotes on us constantly and is nursing us back to health when we are injured. I love how the game explores the idea of Xavier being worried if we love him for who he really is vs. the fantasy we have of him (Lumiere) in our head. Lumiere is a persona he assumes when he has to fight large hordes of wanderers, and killing is something he feels very conflicted about doing. He also seems to prefer an uncomplicated, simple, peaceful life to one of being idolized. It’s ironic how Xavier is a fantasy 2D boyfriend but also in the game he wants to be loved for the “real” him. Real him wants to tend to flowers, cuddle, play video games, and do normal things. So often in dating we realize that sometimes we love or are loved for the idea of who we are instead of who we want to be. We don’t want people to admire us for just our accomplishments or what we can do for them, we want people who love us no matter what and truly adore our company.
Gameplay: Lumiere as a battle companion is excellent for crowd control. I love the incorporation of moon phases into his animation. Ardent oath and resonance skills will drop you somewhere far from your attackers so you can attack from a safe distance. I love how it fits with Xavier’s habit of creating both personal distance in our relationship and trying to get us out of harm’s way to keep us safe. Lumiere might not be an ideal companion for fights where you’re facing one big boss because basically you’ll be spending precious seconds trying to run closer to whatever you’re attacking, and he keeps pushing you out of the way.
Other notes: I always wonder how Zayne and Xavier’s interactions are since they’re the two who seem to be most likely to run into each other while one is with the MC. For example, Xavier is talking about taking her to her doctor’s appointment, and while the storylines are separated, it’s implied they all exist in the same universe. And it also seems that in the separate love storylines the boys consider themselves to be in an exclusive relationship with MC. Xavier often says he can hear us in our apartment - does that mean he heard “Cozy Afternoon” and “Business Trip” too? 🫣 And more than once MC has to go to the hospital for wanderer related injuries, often accompanied by Xavier, where Dr. Zayne is her primary care physician and he mentions worrying about seeing her among the injured. It makes me think about how someone could be the love of your life in one universe and just your doctor or coworker in another.