Today we are comparing two of the final boss blinds, [[Crimson Heart]] and [[Verdant Leaf]] and how Crimson Heart is always going to be more difficult to beat.
Crimson Heart disables a random joker each hand
Verdant Leaf disables all playing cards until a joker is sold
First let's analyze the play patterns available against Verdant Leaf. Obviously one option is to sell off your worst joker, which has an impact on your score equivalent to Crimson Heart picking the ideal option with each hand. Already this should be raising some eyebrows -- the worst case for Verdant is equivalent to the best case for Crimson.
But the imbalance grows, because there is another option against Verdant Leaf -- you can simply ignore the card debuffs if your jokers are sufficiently strong and not based on when-scored triggers.
So then, what are your options against Crimson? There is only one: hope for the best. Even with 3 scoring jokers and 3 utility jokers (a very generous scenario, I think), your run is determined by coin flips. With 4 hands there is a 1/16 chance that you lose each flip, which can easily end your run in a way that Verdant never can. And heaven forbid that you need two hands to win, because now you need to win 2 out of those 4 flips -- a 50% chance of failure. Meanwhile against Verdant you would have simply sold off your worst joker and cruised by.
The only edge that Verdant Leaf has is in the scenario where you MUST sell off your worst joker to rebuff your cards, AND that joker is not easily replaced while being critical to your run, AND you care more about Endless mode than beating ante 8. In this case you lose some long term potential from losing your worst joker, where Crimson would only have reduced your score against in that one blind.
When compared this way, a conclusion emerges. Crimson Heart is considerably harder to beat in the majority of cases, and the downside of Verdant Leaf only matters to players chasing Endless antes in trigger-based builds. Additionally, Crimson being as dependent on RNG as it is means that there are limited ways to play around it.
In order to bring Crimson in line it would either need a rework to be a certain degree of predictable or have an alternative way of dealing with it, similar to just playing your debuffed cards against Verdant. Otherwise, it will remain the most frustrating and least fun ante 8 boss.

I'm struggling. My flair says reconciling, but it's on a low arc and approaching failure. Or maybe it's still false. I don't know.
Married 19 years, together for 25; two teenage children with severe emotional problems coming out of the pandemic.
D-Day was 16 months ago, the night before Thanksgiving. AP was literally an alcoholic unemployed late 40-something living in his mom's basement. They had met at a funeral she hadn't bothered to ask me to go because I wasn't leaving the bed in those days and I'd have said no. The night I discovered his clingy, mooning texts lamenting their inability to spend the holiday together, my life - already a terrible, depressive, lonely black hole of a mess and following the sudden, unnecessary death of a parent on Christmas Day - just imploded.
Upon confrontation after Thanksgiving dinner, the response was the worst in all ways possible. WW was high on limerence, and was fiercely unapologetic. She didn't want to separate but demanded an open marriage. She 'deserved to be happy', and felt good about her having told this unplanned encounter that went from EA to PA in 72 hours that she'd never leave me.
She had eschewed having intimacy for years before this. We had been poor to each other over the years, but I fell off a cliff after our kids faded from the world and my parent died. She was legit shocked and belligerent when I refused, and said that if you pursue this I will have to leave.
We made some temporary agreements (ones she did not keep), and started seeing a counselor. I started IC for the first time in my middle-aged life. We were however 'not aligned', as she'd say. She didnt want to give up her boyfriend, and I refused to stay if he was in the picture. I cringe to think back to how I said, 'you can maintain a friendship if you absolutely must but you must reinvest back into working on our relationship'.
This was a no-go for her for a while. She'd meet him. He'd sleep in her place of business. SHe lent him our car. (He crashed it while drunk, btw.) There was a moment when I had the kids in Puerto Rico, and she returned early for a funeral, and she went to the funeral with him and probably had sex after. Meanwhile I was stuck in an airport, trying to get home after a cancelled flight and just threw lots of money at the problem to curtail the time she had with him. She had in the three month relationship began introducing him to family friends, people who knew me.
With someone living a state away, she somehow managed to squeeze in more sex in 3 months than we'd had together in 10 years. In my mind, she was working on replacing me with AP but didn't want to separate for the sake of our kids.
Come January, she claimed to have decided to break things off. I didn't really believe her. I made a surprise visit to her place of business on a weekend, and found him there asleep on the couch with no pants on.
We had words, and despite being beside myself with rage and grief I was able to take his measure. In many ways, I wish I had met him right after D-Day. It was clear he was a narcissistic dumpster fire with pretensions of intellectuality. There were signs of some bipolar behavior. He made clear his intentions was to stay, and to convince WW to leave me. And he still had our car, and keys to her business site. (We live in a large city and don't need multiple vehicles, or even the one car if I'm honest.)
She realized where I was going due to my phone location and ran after me, but got there after I had 15 minutes with the joker. She asked him to leave, but still let him keep our car. She had no words, which has been a theme throughout our marriage. She can't easily access her feelings or articulate them, and she's afraid to express them for fear of my response. I told her after having met him, noted his instability and his intentions, i said I can no longer accept any contact between them. She reluctantly agreed.
From mid-January through to August followed a sequence of false representation of wanting to work on reconciliation and cycles of lying about not having contact. She was in love with him, she claimed, but seemed to go cold turkey overnight. She neither engaged with me nor took steps to reconcile, but claimed how difficult it was and that she was working on our relationship.
We quit the MC we started to see. We eventually found another several months later. We're still with the 2nd MC. In the meantime began a kind of surreal hellscape life for me, as she would say the barest of minimum things, and usually nothing at all about where she was, how she felt, and what was she willing to do to rebuild our relationship. She took no steps to reassure me, or show she wants me. She would say she did, but simultaneously be cold, distant, and - as i soon discovered - was still in contact with AP.
He gave her a burner phone. I found it within 2 days and threw the brand new phone into the river. Cheaters really need to not let unknown devices onto the home wifi networks of the technically literate. We had it out again, she promised to really try. A few weeks later I found unusual call patterns in our cell account. AP had provisioned a new phone number. Following that blow up was the WhatsApp phase, which really began to take the wind out of my sails.
She expressed no remorse. She was resentful of my 'intrusions into her privacy'. She genuinely thought it would be comforting to hear that the affair had nothing to do with me. She would be visibly annoyed when I asked for confirmations there had been no new contact - and even more so when in retrospect when there had been.
There were at least five discrete cycles of deception. AP escalated by getting five phone numbers and cycling through them. Towards the end, she had hid these numbers as secondary numbers of people they knew in common but didn't regularly have contact with. AP would write texts from the perspective of different personae.
Then there were the people who knew, and of those there were people who fully supported her behavior. There were people who aided and abetted it, lending her their apartments, or hoping she finds some comfort. One particularly egregious one, early on, tried to convince Amanda to really try to convince me to find someone else to be happy in an open arrangement. She's still in regular contact with this person.
The culmination of the PA/EA with the AP happened last summer. He eventually returned the car, but only after he had reclaimed it from the police impound lot. He did not pay for the repairs. Or his tolls when coming to and fro to fuck my WW. I did.
I had been fairly successful in identifying his phone numbers and having them blocked at the carrier level with some gaps in time, and diverting his email and voicemail. During ths period where all his means of contact were being closed soon after being opened, he was starting to rage and unstable. WW upon the latest confrontation (i was pretty calm and matter of fact about it) admitted she could not control her behavior, and didn't understand why she was doing it.
AP was a controlling person, with hints of WW's clinically narcissist parent. He wrote a letter and entered her business after hours to leave it. Because he wrote an email saying he was doing this, I ill-advisedly went there to call the police on him. I didn't find him, but I did find the letter. He knew I had been there - either he had been outside or he went back after I left - and complained bitterly about my interference.
His only means of influence had dropped to emails, and he just kept pounding with the short, imperative statements that described outcomes favorable to him. He had started to convince her that I was a threat to her, and trying to convince her I was a threat to our children (for whom I'd die in fire every day).
His tactical error was trying to play up his inability to contact her as a screen for concern. He tried to get the cops to perform a wellness check. He called WW's sister to convince her I was a threat, and that WW was in danger. (She told him off.)
Finally, he threatened to show up at our door with friends and 'free' her. I knew he owned a shotgun; while I didn't actually think he would show up (he had made smaller-scale threats of this kind before and I only realized they had happened days after his 'deadlines'.) I shared this new development with WW. We had agreed to handle it together. However, while I was out one day, she went to her sister's and called him to tell him she was fine but to never call or contact anyone in our family again. It was a muted, brief exchange. I was angry she hadn't stuck to our agreement.
Since then, he's only made a handful of contact attempts soon after the break that really were more for insulting me. I believe on an intellectual level they have had no contact since last summer. I emotionally continue to not feel safe about her intentions.
Since then, it's been difficult. There have been very limited conversation coming from her outside of the MC sessions, and those have trended light on her content. Very recently, she's expressed more. But it's still seemingly grounded in some unhealthy premises. Amongst them:

1. She at one pointed expressed she regretted the pain she caused, but doesn't regret the experience because (I kid you not) 'she learned so much about herself' and 'many positive elements have come out of it'. (I lost 50 pounds in the first three months post-Dday, and lately I've been hovering around 70. I did have it to lose, having used food to soothe myself over the decade of gaslighting and lack of explanation for her disengagement, and unwillingness to work on it.)
2. She continues to resent my intrusion into her phone call history. She disagrees with the oft-raised best practice of open-phone/account policies. Her feelings around her lack of privacy unsettle her, and get in the way of engaging (she says).
3. she doesn't see the value in 'forcing closeness'
4. she keeps wanting me to 'ratchet it down a notch', but it's not clear what she thinks that means
5. she finds my sadness and pain to be an impediment to rebuilding closeness
6. She claims to have read content about rebuilding marriages after infidelity, but to my knowledge she's done hardly anything to rebuild trust. I said it'd be better if you hadn't read it, because to think that you're walking around having read it but still don't do anything feels worse.
7. She has not taken lead in the reconciliation process, or really done much except endure my periodic/every-2-weeks or so expressions of disappointment and hurt and anger

I'm sure no one has read this far. This is my dilemma. What I'm trying to do here is leave no stone unturned in my efforts to save our marriage. I want to sleep well at night, and I won't be able to do that in a healthy way without going through this.
Yesterday wa the first time she said that he was responsible for destroying my world and my brain, several times over, with the elaborate deceptions (as I'm prone to describing it). I welcomed it and thanked her. But it was only precipitated by a conflict we were having about a mistake I made, where I rubbed her face in my phone snooping by adding unflattering profile pictures to the blocked contacts for the AP. (If they're not there, he could still call her and leave a voicemail when she's on wifi.)
She has had low to middling chronic health issues since April of last year, following her second round with COVID. And if it's not her, it's her parents. Or my surviving parent. Or my brother almost dying. Or the DOL is threatening to reclassify all her contractors as employees. (They should.) Everything just magically seemed to be prioritized over her talking to me.
It's literally, literally been something every other week. She's always tired, always in pain, and I really try hard to stay empathic about it. To hold a space for her. I have taken care of her when she's ill all throughout this horrible time. And she's really appreciative of how well I've supported and cared for her with no promise or signs of reciprocation.
But she still won't have sex with me, and wont talk to me about why she flinches sometimes when I touch her. Or worse, she fakes interest and then I find out otherwise later. Clearly, we have trauma to work through from before the affair. She's not intentionally being cruel. I've expressed remorse over what little she has hinted at, and want to make amends. I love her so much. It's always been my intent to die married to her, and hold our family together.
But it's getting harder to hold onto that empathy. I'm just so tired of feeling hurt, of not having my needs met, and feeling so deeply disrespected in this low-contrition (but maybe trending up) context we're living through.
She seems to evoke a sense in me that everytime I am hurt or express anger, her willingness or energy resets to near zero. Which in and of itself is newly infuriating!
My dilemma is that part of my tenacity in this ridiculous situation that saints would have left three times over already is tied to the idea that by sticking with it and not making it 'easier' for her I'm upholding my self-respect.
But am i? Am I just punishing her by saying I can't let go of my pain until she demonstrates remorse and effort? Being married, a husband and a father of simple small family is a big part of my identity.
It all went to shit a long time ago, but I never checked out. I just didn't understand what was happening, how a wife could treat their partner this way, and I didn't have the maturity or the emotional language to navigate it alone. So I grew resentful and depressed, and just low-level angry all the time. While she would just smile, and say nothing. In public, she'd be affectionate.
In private, it'd be back turned and motionless to my hunger for connection (and release). I turned inward. She, a very social, community-building gem of a human being, checked out and switched to Potemkin mode whenever anyone was looking. I felt like I was constantly being gaslit. Even when I tried to talk about our problems, she'd act as if I had said nothing at all. It was the damnest thing, and I had no words for it.
Maybe she's starting to see the light and be empathic to my pain. But, if that's what's happening, I'm just running out of steam and hope. Hope isn't necessary for me to stay the course, but motivation is beginning to lag.
Any advice?

"I am going to be 48 years old in a few weeks. I have been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder since I was twenty years old. Much of my life, I have met all of the criteria of this disorder, and I have had a long, hard road ahead once it dawned on me that it was true. I have a fundamental dysfunction in my personality. I cannot cope with the world because at my core, I am unable to maintain stability as a functional adult for long periods of time due to my impulsive nature and my ability to forgive and love unconditionally. I don't know how to reconcile those traits with a healthy and successful life. My relationships are 'ride or die,' with me as the enabledoormat/reactionary drama queen. I tend to date men who need constant, obsessive attention and servitude, with them being the dominant to my submissive, their ego to my down-to-earth, and they are the Narcissist to my Borderline. I don't want to romanticize like so many JokeHarley memes, but this has been the way that it has gone for far too long.
My upbringing wasn't even close to being abusive. I was the only child, and my parents stayed married. I was sheltered, with no physical or sexual abuse; both of my parents were good people who loved me. It wasn't easy; we lacked money but never love. We struggled, but there were so many things that were different than for most people, in cool ways and in ways that were not cool. But never was I considered 'normal.'
One of the challenges of being Borderline is the difficulty in being our own therapist. Not because of this new 'favorite person' misinformation, but because we struggle with justifying anything. We see very little wrong with the way we are; we just need to know how we can make others understand that it's okay that we are intense, unpredictable in a predictable way, and humanly sensitive to everything that affects us. We insert ourselves into everything so we can let it all affect us. We claim that we didn't realize that we're supposed to change because we see no problem with the way we are; it's other people who are concerned, and we are not concerned with what people think (except when we are). So why do we have to change? It's our life, the one that is unmanageable and dysfunctional, and giving us unhoused vibes. This is still our life, and it's not easy to get through that we need to act accordingly because we don't care about your self-esteem; why do you care about ours?
So, we are often pushed into admitting that we can potentially be a little bit much. We are painted into the roles of the serial killer and the horrible Narcissistic Personality Disorder twin flame that nobody trusts because we follow our hearts (and we tend to hold grudges). Our dynamics are different, but we all follow astrology. Our sign is 'complete psycho' most of the time. I have been trying to figure out how to make it so we can get along with the world and it is not our enemy...but people keep messing up the whole situation.
People with borderline personality disorder may exhibit fear of abandonment through intense and unstable relationships. They might go to great lengths to avoid real or perceived abandonment, such as clinging to others, becoming quickly and intensely attached, or displaying extreme reactions (anger, panic, or depression) when they anticipate abandonment.
Abandonment fears can lead to impulsive actions to prevent separation or worse, therefore it's important to seek professional help for a comprehensive understanding and support. Additionally, individuals with BPD may engage in frantic efforts to avoid abandonment, such as making frantic, impulsive gestures to maintain a connection, even if those actions are not in their best interest. They might experience intense feelings of emptiness when alone and may go to extremes to fill that void. These behaviors can strain relationships, making it challenging for individuals with BPD to establish and maintain stable connections with others. Therapy, particularly dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), is often recommended to help manage and address these challenges.
Patterns of instability in borderline personality disorder (BPD) refer to consistent and recurring disruptions in various aspects of a person's life. This instability typically manifests in the following areas:

1. Relationships: Individuals with BPD often experience tumultuous relationships marked by extremes of idealization and devaluation. Their attitudes and feelings toward others may change rapidly, contributing to a cycle of intense, yet unstable, interpersonal connections.
   
2. Self-Image: BPD can involve an unstable sense of self. Individuals may struggle with a fluctuating self-identity, feeling uncertain about who they are, their values, and their life goals. This instability in self-perception can lead to a lack of direction and purpose.
   
3. Emotions: Emotional instability is a hallmark of BPD. Intense and rapidly shifting emotions, such as anger, anxiety, and sadness, can be challenging to regulate. Mood swings may occur in response to external events or perceived threats to relationships.
   
4. Impulsivity: Impulsive behaviors in areas like spending, substance abuse, reckless driving, or unsafe sexual practices are common in individuals with BPD. These actions often stem from a desire to alleviate emotional distress or avoid perceived abandonment.
   

These patterns of instability can significantly impact a person's daily functioning and relationships, making it crucial for individuals with BPD to seek professional help for effective management and support. In the context of borderline personality disorder (BPD), impulsivity refers to engaging in behaviors without careful consideration of the consequences. Individuals with BPD may display impulsive actions in various areas of their lives, such as:

1. Spending: Reckless and impulsive spending, often beyond one's means, is common in individuals with BPD.
   
2. Substance Abuse: Engaging in impulsive and risky behaviors related to substance use, including alcohol and drugs.
   
3. Sexual Behavior: Unplanned and impulsive sexual encounters, sometimes without regard for potential consequences, can occur.
   
4. Reckless Driving: Impulsive and risky driving behaviors, such as speeding or dangerous maneuvers.
   
5. Self-Harm: Engaging in impulsive self-harming behaviors as a way to cope with intense emotions.
   

Impulsivity in BPD can be driven by a desire to alleviate emotional pain, boredom, or to avoid perceived abandonment. Developing coping strategies and emotional regulation skills through therapy, particularly dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), can be beneficial in managing impulsive behaviors associated with BPD.
Identity disturbance in borderline personality disorder (BPD) refers to a pervasive and unstable sense of self. Individuals with BPD may struggle with a coherent and consistent understanding of who they are, which can manifest in several ways:

1. Self-Image Fluctuations: A person with BPD may experience rapid shifts in self-perception, ranging from feeling exceptionally positive to extremely negative about themselves. This can occur within short periods.
   
2. Uncertainty About Goals and Values: Individuals with identity disturbance may have difficulty establishing and maintaining long-term goals or consistent values. They might struggle with defining their life direction and purpose.
   
3. Chameleon-Like Adaptation: Some individuals with BPD may adopt different personas or behaviors in different social situations, often as a means to fit in or avoid rejection. This can lead to a lack of stable and authentic self-expression. Intense Fear of Abandonment: The fear of abandonment can exacerbate identity issues, as individuals may shape their identity based on the perceived expectations or desires of others, leading to a lack of a stable core sense of self.
   

Addressing identity disturbance in BPD often involves therapeutic interventions, such as dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) or psychodynamic therapy. These approaches aim to help individuals explore and develop a more stable and authentic sense of self.
Dissociation in borderline personality disorder (BPD) refers to a coping mechanism where individuals disconnect from their thoughts, feelings, memories, or sense of identity. This disconnection can occur as a response to stress, trauma, or overwhelming emotions. Dissociative experiences in BPD may include:

1. Depersonalization: Feeling detached from oneself, as if observing from outside the body.
   
2. Derealization: Perceiving the external environment as unreal or distorted.
   
3. Amnesia: Gaps in memory, especially related to stressful events or periods of intense emotion.
   
4. Identity Confusion: Momentary lapses in awareness of one's identity or feeling unsure about who they are.
   

Dissociation serves as a way for individuals with BPD to manage distress, particularly when emotions become too overwhelming. However, it can interfere with daily functioning and contribute to difficulties in relationships. Therapy, especially approaches like dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and trauma-focused therapy, may help individuals develop healthier coping mechanisms and address dissociative experiences.
Certainly, here are some examples of dissociative experiences that individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) may encounter:

1. Depersonalization: Feeling as though you are watching yourself from a distance, almost like being an observer rather than an active participant in your own life.
   
2. Derealization: Perceiving the external world as strange, unreal, or distorted. You may be on a heavy trip off mushrooms and wandering around the closet park in the middle of the night feels different when you are over 40. It hits different, and you can get in a lot more trouble than experimenting teenagers. You're not holding a job long under these circumstances.
   
3. Amnesia: Having periods of time where you cannot recall significant details or events, especially those associated with heightened emotional states or trauma. If you are being sedated for trying to call the same number over and over at three am because you desperately need to move to
   
4. Identity Confusion: Brief moments of not recognizing oneself or feeling uncertain about personal identity, values, or goals. Taking in the attributes of your signiotg
   

It's important to note that dissociative experiences can vary widely among individuals, and not everyone with BPD will necessarily experience these examples. If you or someone you know is experiencing dissociation or other symptoms associated with BPD, seeking professional help from a mental health practitioner is crucial for appropriate diagnosis and support.
Suicidal ideation in borderline personality disorder (BPD) involves persistent thoughts about death, dying, or the desire to end one's life. Individuals with BPD may experience varying degrees of suicidal thoughts, ranging from fleeting notions to detailed plans. Some aspects of suicidal ideation in BPD include:

1. Frequency and Intensity: Suicidal ideation can be a chronic feature, with thoughts occurring regularly or intermittently. The intensity can range from vague thoughts to detailed plans.
   
2. Impulsivity: Individuals with BPD may be prone to impulsive behaviors, and this impulsivity can extend to suicidal acts or self-harming behaviors during periods of emotional distress.
   
3. Sense of Hopelessness: Suicidal thoughts in BPD can be linked to a pervasive sense of hopelessness, often fueled by challenges in relationships, identity, and emotional regulation.
   
4. Coping Mechanism: For some, suicidal ideation may serve as a coping mechanism, providing a perceived escape from emotional pain or a means to regain control.
   

Addressing suicidal ideation in BPD requires immediate attention from mental health professionals. Therapeutic interventions, such as dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), can be effective in helping individuals manage intense emotions and develop healthier coping strategies. If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, it's crucial to seek help from a mental health professional or a crisis hotline immediately.
Mood swings in borderline personality disorder (BPD) are characterized by rapid and intense changes in emotional states. These fluctuations can occur in response to various triggers or even without apparent cause. Key aspects of mood swings in BPD include:

1. Intensity: Emotions can shift from one extreme to another rapidly, with individuals experiencing intense feelings of joy, anger, sadness, or anxiety.
   
2. Instability: The duration of mood swings can be brief, lasting only a few hours or days. This instability contributes to the challenge of predicting or managing emotional states.
   
3. Triggered by Interpersonal Events: Mood swings in BPD often correlate with interpersonal stressors, such as perceived rejection, criticism, or the fear of abandonment.
   
4. Impact on Relationships: The intensity and unpredictability of mood swings can strain relationships, as others may find it challenging to understand or respond to the rapidly changing emotional landscape.
   

Therapeutic approaches, particularly dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), focus on helping individuals with BPD recognize and regulate their emotions, providing skills to manage mood swings effectively.
The term "Cluster B" refers to one of the four personality disorder clusters outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Cluster B personality disorders share certain features, including dramatic, emotional, and erratic behaviors. This grouping includes the following personality disorders:

1. Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD): Characterized by instability in relationships, self-image, and emotions, along with impulsive and self-destructive behaviors.
   
2. Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD): Involves an exaggerated sense of self-importance, a preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, and a lack of empathy for others.
   
3. Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD): Characterized by a disregard for the rights of others, impulsivity, deceitfulness, and a lack of remorse after harming others.
   
4. Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD): Involves a need for attention, dramatic and seductive behavior, and intense emotions that may be perceived as shallow.
   

These personality disorders within Cluster B share some common traits, such as difficulties in forming and maintaining relationships, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation. However, each disorder within the cluster has distinct features and diagnostic criteria. The clustering is a way to organize and understand patterns of personality pathology for diagnostic and treatment purposes.
Diagnosing borderline personality disorder (BPD) typically involves a comprehensive assessment by a mental health professional. Several tools and methods are used to gather information, including:

1. Clinical Interviews: A mental health professional conducts thorough interviews to assess the individual's symptoms, emotional experiences, and history of relationships. These interviews may involve discussions about mood, identity, impulsivity, and interpersonal difficulties.
   
2. Diagnostic Criteria: The assessment often involves evaluating the individual against established diagnostic criteria, such as those outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Meeting specific criteria is essential for a formal diagnosis.
   
3. Structured Interviews: Mental health professionals may use structured interviews designed to elicit specific information related to BPD symptoms. These interviews help standard ize the diagnostic process.
   
4. Self-Report Questionnaires: Individuals may be asked to complete self-report questionnaires designed to assess various aspects of personality, emotional experiences, and interpersonal functioning.
   
5. Collateral Information: Information from family members, close friends, or other relevant sources may be considered to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the individual's behavior and relationships.
   

It's important to note that a diagnosis of BPD should be made by a qualified mental health professional based on a thorough assessment. Early diagnosis and intervention are crucial for individuals with BPD to receive appropriate treatment and support.
Here's the continuation of the edited text:
Cluster B Personality Disorder #clusterb #clusterbs #bpd-dbt #dbt #fearofabandonment #linean
This revised version addresses spelling, grammar, and ensures clarity in expression. Let me know if there are any further edits or adjustments you'd like to make!

1. **

Tldr for those who don't want to listen to my nonsensical rambling: I believe that MK1 will have 16 dlc characters if it follows the typical NRS lifecycle.
Non-TLDR for those who want the full breakdown: I was doing some thinking in regards to NRS's history of post launch support with all their previous titles, and noticed that although each game usually gets the same amount of time alloted to it, (typically 1.5-2 years of post launch content, aka not nearly enough) it is undeniable that that the volume of the content delivered increases with each release. Listed below is a complete breakdown of every previous nrs game and their respective post launch character releases. Note that pre-order bonus characters are still counted among these as they are still downloadable characters.
MK9: 4 characters (Freddy Krueger, Rain, Kenshi, Skarlet.)
Injustice 1: 6 characters (Scorpion, Zatanna, Zod, Martian Manhunter, Zatanna, Lobo)
MKX: 9 Characters (Goro, Jason, Tanya, Tremor, Predator, Leatherface, Triborg, Bo Rai Cho, Alien)
Injustice 2: 10 characters (Darkseid, Red Hood, Sub Zero, Starfire, Black Manta, Raiden, Hellboy, Enchantress, Atom, TMNT)
MK11: 13 characters (Shao Kahn, Shang Tsung, Nightwolf, Terminator, Sindel, Joker, Spawn, Fujin, Sheeva, Robocop, Mileena, Rain, Rambo)
Mortal Kombat 1, continuing the pattern of dlc life cycles featuring increasingly greater numbers of post launch characters, should have around 16 dlc characters if the typical NRS post launch pattern still applies.
MK1 currently has 7 announced DLC characters (those being Shang Tsung, Omni Man, Quan Chi, Peacemaker, Ermac, Homelander and Takeda) with a further 3 being datamined to be coming with the story expansion (Noob Saibot, Cyrax and Sektor.) 2 further guests (being Conan and Ghostface) have been strongly implied to be coming as well due to a myriad of intros referring to them, alongside Jade's voice actor from MK11 seemingly teasing her inclusion in the game.
For what it is worth, I am aware that Cassie and Kung Jin also have lines in the game's files, but I am of the belief that they are red herrings. It makes zero sense how Ghostface would have intros with guests like Peacemaker and Omni Man in addition to Takeda, whereas the only lines in the files that Cassie and Jin have are with Nitara. One would think that these characters who are supposedly launching alongside Ghostface would have intros with at least a handful of other characters if they were actually coming, but they do not. This tells me that they are just placeholders for a couple of currently unknown mk reps.
I am also aware of the fact that T-1000 seems to be a commonly accepted guest due to a couple of intros, but in reality this guess is a complete stretch. Peacemaker has an intro with a character in which he says they look like his dad, yet anyone who has seen the show knows that White Dragon (Peacemakers dad) wears an armor that is very similar to something Sektor would wear. And let's face it, PM is a big enough moron to mix up the two anyway. Regarding the other intro that people seem to associate with Johnny where he states that "It's a shame that movie star looks are wasted on an asshole robot", which can be debunked as referring to T-1000 because of the fact that T-1000 is not even a robot. This again is most likely an intro with Sektor, who in this timeline is not a full on robot, but a human wearing an Iron Man-esque suit of battle armor.
If T-1000 was truly in the plans for KP2, there would be intros that actually reference things about him. If there was a single line about cops, time travel, or liquid metal, it would be open and shut, but there simply isn't any material of that nature. Meanwhile there are TONS of lines that directly reference Conan and Ghostface.
At long last, here is my final prediction for MK1's full dlc lineup: Shang Tsung, Omni Man, Quan Chi, Peacemaker, Ermac, Homelander, Takeda, Noob Saibot, Cyrax, Sektor, Conan, Ghostface, Jade, Unknown MK Rep #1, Unknown MK Rep #2, and Unknown Guest.
Fate if you see this and I turn out to be wrong and KP3 is real, please feel free to viciously mock me.

He spins around right 'round, baby, right 'round. Like a record, baby, right round, 'round, 'round
Previous part: 6.
Like always, I've missed some sort of controversy happening in the FNAF community. But this time I had something to say about it as it relates to the lore side of things!
A week ago... Before Scott came and revealed that The Talbert Files were all fake and he had never seen nor written them. I was late to the party this time but next to I'll be on time!
But to boil down what I said, The Talbert Files has outdated information and is unusable to us theorists. Do not use anything in this book to make a point in the current story of the games.
Oh and of course, this controversy came from Twitter or X or whatever. If these past few games have told me anything, it's that being connected to a network for any long periods of time is very bad for your mental health and safety~
And basically, that was the gist of what would've been probably the longest intro ever.
For those new to this series or who have lost which part or place they're on, check out The Jonsie Burrows: Help Wanted 2: Tables of contents to find where you want to go! If you haven't seen any of my stuff before then...
Hello, this is something you might have missed in Help Wanted 2.
Previously Post Interesting things:

1. Our main character, HW Jeremy, Cassie's dad, is already wearing the Security Mask before we even start the game. This means Glitchtrap has access to his mind and body. As for what that entails...
2. Help Wanted 2's AMask-on version of the FNAF6 Pizzaria might be based on Micheal's canonical look for it near the end of Pizzaria Simulator.
3. After completing each minigame, a party hat, plate, and cup will appear on the table next to you. Whose party are we attending as a guest?
4. The protagonist of Help Wanted 2 is HW Jeremy, discovered through the color blue items which are prominent in the game and used for his name and shirt in Ruin. Jeremy was a former employee of Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental and may have been present during the events of Sister Location.
5. In the First Aid minigame of Help Wanted 2, the "GET WELL SOON!" drawings depict Baby's life as seen through Vanny's eyes, hinting towards the game's secret ending. These drawings also reveal that Baby's data card from Sister Location was inside Helpy in Pizzeria Simulator and survived the fire. As a result, her programming was eventually absorbed into the Pizzaplex's Network, leading to her appearance in Help Wanted 2.
6. Glitchtrap may have collected the souls and memories of the original dead kids into the Pizzaplex's Network and in this game, Jeremy is going into Glitchtrap's memories.
7. Help Wanted 2's Fizz Faz minigame's location is the same but different location in Security Breach. They both have identical objects placed in the exact place as each other, giving evidence to the fact that Jeremy is physically moving to certain locations in the Pizzaplex when clicking on the minigames.
8. Helpi in this game is indeed Glitchtrap in disguise. Unlike Ruin, Helpi is not his own entity in this game because we're not connected to the V.A.N.N.I. network due to being in the FNAF6 pizzeria. The V.A.N.N.I. network only covers the entire Pizzaplex but doesn't go past the door to the underground in Roxy Raceway. Glitchtrap has a preference for using proxies and decoys to communicate with the unsuspected to get them to do what he wants.
   Now back to our unregularly scheduled series!
   

​
"The carousel is broken. Fix it!" That was what greeted you in the void along with a pictograph of a carousel. It sounded very simple but you knew better now.
"Fix all the broken fuses, then replace any broken switches and turn on the power."
"Repair the circuit board. Don't forget to solder in new wires with the soldering gun." Were the rest of the instructions given to you for this task, hovered over the "START" button but before you pressed it, a new sound reverberated in the void.
There was always a noise, a certain ambiance in this place of darkness. Whether it be the sound of blowing air or some distant jingle, there was always something to occupy the ears. But this was different.
It was like the noise of someone pulling a wire along a corner very fast, like the sound of something struggling to play out of a static radio, a blare of a machine in motion that started malfunctioning. Whatever description one wanted to use, it didn't change the fact that it was getting increasingly louder.
But before you hear more of it or even figure out what it was. Your hand betrayed you and completed the motion of pressing the "START" button. Whisking you off to your next destination over the cover of darkness.
​
Okay, that's it! I've got to find this ambiance in the Help Wanted 2 soundtrack! It's driving me nuts! Alright, I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that I found the exact track that plays in the void! It's called Main Menu Ambiance or as its file name refers to it, ambience_main_menu. The bad news is that this sound I'm hearing is not there.
This means one of two things, this track has a different variant of it somewhere in the soundtrack, or the sound belongs to some animatronic or creature in the game.
Personally, I hoping for the former as that's much, much easier to find as the latter requires me to rip open the game for the sound. What makes this even more difficult is that it might be randomized to play while in the void and pretty much everyone doesn't stay in the void any longer than to read the instructions, claim their prizes from the claws, or press the "RESTART" button in the "GAME OVER" void.
(Although I haven't gone over the "GAME OVER" void yet in this series, I have heard it play in there too on my searching through other people's playthroughs of the game.)
Time to go back to searching for this mysterious sound.
I can't find it. I've searched YouTube but there aren't a lot of people uploading the entire soundtrack to this game and the one who has doesn't have it listed in their playlist of 769 videos. Oh, joy! It looks like we have our first Help Wanted 2 mystery! What a coincidence considering my last post.
So for now, I'm going to leave the research for this until I write out Help Wanted 2 Mysteries: The Mysterious Sound in the Void. But to leave you all hanging and confused about what exactly I'm hearing, I'll give you the timestamp of the walkthrough I heard it from right here.
Now, let's see what awaits us at the Carousel.
"Attention, This Carousel is out of service and will require repairs before we open tomorrow."
The Daycare Attendant, Sun, spoke from somewhere close by in this new environment you found yourself in. You were standing inside a Carousel in a dark room, the only light source seemed to be a light from above as you faced an open panel on the central pillar in the middle of it. Inside the panel, live currents of electricity crackled and popped as they ran across and through yellow wires into two out of six fuses that the wire ran through.
The fuses were in two vertical parallel rows, and the yellow wire ran in and out of one row and went back through in the next until the very last row where it came out of the last bulb and disappeared into the side of the panel. Judging by how the two fuses were lit as the electric current went through and the other four were unlit with no visible electric current going through them, you bet a greasy pizza that you'll need to replace those four fuses.
"That is the end of my instruction. If I had been programmed with the knowledge to fix it, it would have already been done." That would've been nice, but you think they would've just gotten another broken carousel for you to fix.
During your listening to his speech, you figure that "Sun" was only just a recording as his voice had a sort of radio-like quality to it that sounded much like it was recorded at an earlier date.
To your left was a stand with three hatches opened, showing off items within them while what looked to be colorful wires sat on a small divot in the stand.
To your right, was an interesting set of items that seemed very out of place to you. There was a small rectangular haystack that sat on the right side of the pillar, with a skinny pumpkin and an oil lantern. What are they doing here? (What indeed, but perhaps there's a clue around here.)
A brief look around showed you that the area outside the carousel was blindingly dark, but grabbing the flashlight that sat on the tool cabinet-like stand on your left and flicking it on, revealed what was hidden in the darkness.
Further from you, were the carousel seats that took after the appearances of some of the classic Freddy's animatronics. You see with the help of your flashlight, you see a classic (FNAF1) Bonnie seat, a classic (FNAF1) Chica seat, a classic (FNAF1) Mr. Cupcake, Toy Freddy, and Toy Foxy? Weird, you've usually seen Toy Foxy in their mangle variant rather than their fixed state.
(Despite the darkness and the unmangled form of this white foxy, you can actually tell which of the closely resembling Foxys it represents. While Scott did make Funtime Foxy, (From Sister Location, not FNAF World) very similar to Mangle/Toy Foxy. He did make them slightly distinct from each other in the coloring department besides their different structures.
The official model of Funtime Foxy(Sister location) actually has dark pink cheeks while Mangle/Toy Foxy has rosy-red cheeks just like the rest of their Toy companions. So this carousel is really repping FNAF 2-era, I wonder why...)
You thought you saw balloons at the edge of your flashlight, but before you could verify it, something spoke close by from where you were standing.
"The merry-go-round broke down." The slightly hoarse, raspy voice ended with a snicker as you struggled to find the source of it. Something was definitely in the dark room with you. (Hey Moon!)
You the source continued to elude you before you gave up and focused on the problem in front of you. Waisting time to find the voice was a fool's game, your best bet was to quickly fix this problem within the panel before the voice became a problem for you.
Still, you felt that you knew that voice.
Out you pulled the broken fuses and set them on the side, in went the new fuses you took from the hatch in the stand one by one as they came out of the hatch. Once you put the final new fuses, the pillar in front began to spin, and dozens of mini yellow lightbulbs lit up on its side.
Lights in the distance flickered on and music from the carousel started playing. (Carousel: Doomsday Ride Phase 1.) The pillar came to a stop on its next side but the outer ring full of rides of the carousel continued to spin clockwise around you. It's there where you spotted the one behind the voice and finally put a name to the foggy figure in your memory, Moon, the Daycare Attendant's other personality.
And the most difficult one to deal with. But you knew how to deter this side of him, you thought as you pointed your flashlight at his face as he rode a Bonnie seat in the outer ring of the carousel.
"What makes you so special?"
You heard him say as he started to shake his head from the brightness of the light, but you handled your flashlight well to keep the light on his face before he fell off the Bonnie seat with a frustrated and agony-filled growl from overexposure.
​
And there it is! The most important line in this game! This line is a hint at the hidden ongoings within Help Wanted 2, a hint towards our mysterious protagonist's identity, and a hint that things are not what they seem in this game.
Or at least that's the excitement I would've felt when we finally got to this line in the game if I hadn't already spoiled everything during the Circus Baby and Helpi discoveries in the First Aid minigames!
Now, I really don't have much to say regarding the "What makes you so special?" line or any new thoughts about it. Maybe that'll change in the future, but for now, let's focus on another unexpected return in the form of the villainous side of the Daycare Attendant.
Yep, that's right. Just like Circus Baby, this is the actual Moon from Security Breach and Ruin! Unlike Circus Baby though, we have a precedent from Ruin for the Daycare Attendant to be able to appear in the Network, which this "game" is connected to, even in the FNAF6 pizzeria.
Honestly, I probably wouldn't I gotten that far in uncovering as much as did in Help Wanted 2 if I hadn't discovered that little hidden tidbit about Sun and Moon's network switched mechanic thing they have going on.
But for those who don't remember or don't know what I'm talking about you can read where I first talked about it in the fourth section of my "Roxy's true purpose" post. But to summarize it for those who don't want to click the link and go more in-depth about it for those who do, one of the oddest and unexplained moments that occurs in Ruin, is Sun talking to Cassie in the AR world while Moon speaking in the real world.
Back then, It always puzzled me when Sun said "Not me! The other me!" when approached by Cassie with the mask on to reboot him. And afterward, when the Daycare Attendant has been rebooted into Eclipse, Cassie could hear Sun say "thank you" in the real world after Eclipse left her outside of the daycare, even though he should've been gone with the reboot.
But the missing pieces to figure out this Daycare Attendant puzzle come in three, the Security Mask, the Faz-Wrench, and the Network. It is very important to remember what the first two actually do in Ruin and to not forget how the AR world exists.
The Security Mask lets you view the Pizzaplex through Augmented Reality, a digitally altered perception of reality influenced and dictated by Fazbear Entertainment (and Glitchtrap) and by the sub-network of the main network of the Pizzaplex.
That mask also has another function it, which is hinted in the name of its sub-network, V.A.N.N.I. or Virtual Augmented Neural Network Integration Unit. The Security Mask, with your consent under normal circumstances I presume, implants your brain with an occipital transponder. This implant allows you to retain some visual perks of V.A.N.N.I. like Helpi the onboard assistant who could still show up to assist you without the mask.
But this implant is a double-edged sword in truth. This implant is permanently attached to your brain and is constantly feeding information from and to your brain to the network. The Pizzaplex's Network holds a lot of information, like guest profiles for those who enter the Pizzaplex, the security system that safeguards and watches over everything, the various data collection regarding each location within the Pizzaplex, and is connected to every single animatronic/bot within the Pizzaplex.
The Network is a valuable tool for the employees and Fazbear Entertainment, providing plentiful assistance in various tasks. However, the situation regarding the implant would not have been grave had there not been a sinister entity lurking within the network. Glitchtrap now has complete access to a person's brain without their knowledge, posing a significant unknown threat to those who have it.
If you want to know what Glitchtrap is capable of doing to someone implanted with the occipital transponder, just read my Security Mask and Cassie being controlled post.
This leaves us with the unassuming Faz-Wrench, a tool that almost goes unnoticed by practically everyone. But like any tool, it will shine best when used for its purpose. That is besides being used as a simple tool for the simple conduit puzzle, it's a powerful tool to connect, activate, and deactivate everything connected to the Network.
So applying everything I've said to the Daycare Attendant situation in Ruin, then you can figure out many secret things about him that were unsaid.

1. When one of the Daycare Attendant's personalities is dominant or in the foreground, the subservient one will still be active in the background and is still aware of what's happening around him. Yes, this means that Sun knows about Vanny, Moon, and Glitchtrap, and what happens to Moon's victims. I still wouldn't label him a villain, just complacent, because he still hasn't hurt or harmed anyone even with all the information we've gained from the books and games.
2. If Cassie had used the Faz-Wrench while wearing the mask, she would have deactivated the Sun persona and disconnected the Daycare Attendant from the Network. This might've led to him completely shutting down and deactivating as The Daycare Attendant is connected to a lot of things within the network. If not, it would just leave Moon as the dominant personality. (For those thinking this would be a good thing for the villains, remember that Moon would still be severely sensitive to light and useless in any lit environments. Eclipse was the best option for villains regarding the Daycare Attendant.)
3. The Daycare Attendant is active in the Network at all times when functional. In fact, I believe that the Sun and Moon weren't exactly removed from the Daycare Attendant's data once Eclipse was made the dominant personality from the reboot as the fact that Sun can still communicate with Cassie even after Eclipse takes over backs this up. I'll even go as far as to say that Sun and Moon are still around but can only interact with anyone through the network.

This brings us back to Help Wanted 2's carousel minigame and Moon's presence within it. If you had no doubt guess with all the information above about how Moon here, is actually Moon, then let me spell it out for those struggle to make sense of what I'm saying.
The Moon that's appearing here is the same Moon we first met in Security Breach. As for how? The Daycare Attendant is much more connected to the Network than all other animatronics as he is the only one who can actually talk to someone through it rather than playing past voice lines as we see from the other Glamrocks in the AR world.
And it's here in Help Wanted 2 that it's revealed that he's fully conscious enough to travel through the networks and sub-networks and interact with anyone and anything integrated into it, i.e. Vanny, Cassie, Jeremy, and Glitchtrap.
Oh, and as for why he has a physical body here, this is just a digital form created by whatever program that "Help Wanted 2" is in-universe as Ruin showed us through the M.X.E.S. Entity and M.X.E.S. program that digital entities can appear to have a physical form through their programs and can be viewed the Security Mask.
If Moon didn't the "Help Wanted 2" program to help create a digital body, he would most likely appear as a motionless digital creation like that Giant endo in Fazbear Theator or probably wouldn't even have a form and be like an invisible ghost that you can only hear. (That sounds like a great idea for an enemy in a future game. Steel Wool if you're reading this, I have no ownership over this idea, so it's free to use!)
However, I don't think before the reboot into Eclipse, that both Sun and Moon could be in the Network at the same time. One of them has to occupy their physical body while the other waits for their turn in the network.
In Ruin, Moon was occupying the body most of the time while Sun was stuck and talking to Cassie through the network, and at no point did we hear Moon talking through it.
So since Help Wanted 2 is a prequel to Ruin and in turn pre-Eclipse. The opposite must be happening here with the Daycare Attendant in regards to who occupies the body and whose in the Network, because from what I remember from the entire game, Sun gives not a single hint that he's the real one rather than a simple digital recreation.
This means that during the entirety of Help Wanted 2, Sun is presently occupying the Daycare Attendant's body while Moon is present in the Network and interacting with/observing Jeremy while following Glitchtrap's, and secretly Vanny's, orders.
Which then begs the question, is this Moon in the carousel minigame the same one in the Arts and Crafts and Foxy Log Ride minigames? Or to rephrase it, are the other minigames' Moons just digital recreations?
I'm not sure, but it's something to look out for in the future when we get to those minigames. But for now, I'm going to hold off on making any Moon "Prove it!" post until we cover those minigames. Now, let's finish this minigame.
​
The Pillar had stopped to show a new panel for you to solve that had three dial knobs and a missing one from top to bottom, alternating from side to side with three wires running through all of them.
Already having an idea of what to do, you quickly turn the first two dial knobs and watch electricity flow through them. But when you got to the third one it came off as soon as you touched it, falling to the ground and out of sight.
Oh no! What could you do now?! Panic started to creep in as Moon's laughter reached your ears. This time sounding a lot closer than before. Quickly looking around for both Moon and another way to fix the panel, you spotted a spare dial knob in one of three hatches on the stand beside you. Grabbing it and another for the knob-less fourth one, you speedily attached them and turned them for the electric current to go through all of them.
Snatching up your flashlight, you desperately searched for Moon as more of the carousel ride became alive with more moving seats, more lights, and more energetic music to accompany it. FF(Carousel: Doomsday Ride Phase 2.)
You even saw more of the seats that were obscure in the darkness before. There was a Toy Bonnie seat, a Toy Chica seat, a Classic (FNAF1) Freddy seat, and finally balloons in a barrel seat which is where you found Moon ridding before you flashed your light at him, causing him to scream and fall off it.
(Hmm... No FNAF1 Foxy. Oh! And just to clarify, I'm referring to these seats as 'classic' because they are likely modeled after the original withered animatronics, rather than the restored ones we met in FNAF1.")
Returning to face the new problem panel on a different side of the pillar, you were met with a circuit board with frayed wires, with a small display screen on top of it and a big red button underneath it. There was also some kind of blue gun beneath all of that, in a holster built into this side of the central pillar.
Luckily, it seems that someone thought to help you out on what you were supposed to do here as there was a clipboard board hanging on the side of the pillar with a paper attached to it. The paper titled "SOLDERING INSTRUCTIONS" was exactly as the title said, showing what you want to do with the circuit board.
It didn't look like you could use the one on the pillar, so you took it off and grabbed a new one that you spotted in the third hatch and put that on the pillar swiftly. You grabbed a couple of wires that were sitting on the stand and pulled out what you previously thought was a blue gun that was actually the smoldering gun and quickly went to work as Moon ominously snickered from somewhere very close around you.
"Naughty Naughty."
One, two. Only two wires you managed to solder onto the circuit board before you pushed your luck to your breaking point and grabbed the flashlight in one smooth motion as turned around and looked for Moon. The goodness you found him immediately, the bad news is he's just one seat away from where you're standing.
Acting quickly before he could move close and bring death along with him, you flashed your light at him, sending him over the seat in agony. Not even bothering to see him completely go over the seat, you finished soldering the last wire and smacked the big red button underneath it.
And loud alarm sounded throughout the area as the pillar stayed put this time, but the closest seats around you started to spin with the rest of the carousel and the music became jumbled. (Carousel: Doomsday Ride Phase 3.) A timer lit up and started counting down from 1 minute on the screen above the circuit board along with the following words: Time Until Reset.
Let like you need to survive until the reset happens as there is nothing else for you to fix. So grabbing your flashlight again, you prepared yourself as could be to last 1 minute of Moon's onslaught. During this terrifying minute, sparks shot out from beneath the ceiling of the carousel as all the lights inside it turned all. But if Moon wasn't enough to deal with, a fire appeared at the farthest end of the area you were in as the lights flickered off and on while the carousel continued to dangerously spark from different places on the machine.
(Hmm... Could this be the event that gave the Daycare Attendant his Ruined appearance?! This actually might be it!)
As machinery grind and screeched, the fire multiplied, the sparks became numerous, and Moon was relentless, but eventually... The carousel came to a stop after you repelled Moon with your light once again as another alarm sound rang out. Turning around you saw the timer was at zero, meaning your work here was finally done. The last thing you heard was another Sun recording shouting "Ho, ho!" before darkness whisked you away and dropped you into the "GAME WON!" void.
Immediately, under the usual children's congratulations scream, your ears picked up that mysterious sound you heard earlier. The unknown sound, similar to that of an old radio distortion, lingered in the void until it faded away, leaving the usual ambiance of the void.
(What. Is. IT?!)
With no answer for the mysterious sound and no way to discover it, you pushed its existence to the back of your mind and pressed the claw machine button to claim your hard-earned prize. But before you grabbed your capsules out of the machine you heard a new sound... (What?)
It sounded like middle c on a Xylophone, maybe a bit deeper than that. It repeated itself in a quick 1, 2, beat in the same pitch then repeated itself an octave higher in the same pattern before disappearing.
(Am I being prank? Maybe there's something wrong with the video I'm watching, I don't remember hearing this anywhere else. Then again, the other YouTubers I'm watching talk a lot or just quickly move on when in the void. This requires further investigation. Okay, I've just checked a completely different Youtuber and found that, yes, this is a real sound in the game and not an edit. If you would like to hear this, I timestamped it here. It goes by very quick, so listen closely.
But on the sound itself. I don't why but I'm getting Daycare vibes from this. I might need to take another look at that place in Ruin and maybe even Security Breach for some kind of clue. After all, we do find Jeremy's shirt in the Daycare for some reason...)
The prize this time was a Carousel Toy which was fitting to you as you pressed the "RETURN TO HUB" button and were blinded by darkness and found yourself back at the restaurant. A quick survey of around you, showed that nothing has changed, except for something new sitting on the red-clothed table next to Mystic Hippo. It was your carousel toy that you've won.
You picked it up and gave it a once over, noticing Classic Freddy, Bonnie, and Freddy as the only seats to it and that it had a Sun & Moon theme appearance. (Not the Daycare Attendant but the actual Sun & Moon.)
You sat the toy back down, glanced at Mystic Hippo, and then returned to the computer in the middle of the room. (I'm still not sure about Mystic Hippo but I go over that at a later date.) You clicked the Ticket Booth folder and found that the last two files were unlocked for it. Captn. Foxy's Log Ride and another glitched and broken file.
What? I thought that there was another Carousel minigame! Well, I guess I'll talk about some of the other stuff I was going to research for now, instead of later. First, let's talk about the carousel itself, I can only remember one game that had a carousel in it and that's FNAF 2. And that's before I saw that the seats were making references to it too.
However, looking through all the locations in that game reveals that while there is a carousel in it, it's hilariously skinny compared to the one here. That's not even going into how it looks completely different. In fact, I think it might be a non-functional prop. So that's a dead-end.
And finally the haystack and the pumpkin, not much to say about it besides being another hint to this FALL FEST thing going on in the new era games. Now, the lantern on the other hand was something that stood out to me as there were a couple of lanterns that stood out to me in Ruin. The one in Vanny's room and the one in Roxy Raceway pt 2. Unfortunately, neither of them was a match for the lantern in the carousel minigame.
This leaves us with one last place to look for a match, Help Wanted: Dreadbear DLC. Oh? I think we might've found something! In the hub world for the DLC, the lamppost lanterns have a remarkably similar design to the lantern in Help Wanted 2. Of course, the Dreadbear lamppost lanterns are too far away to truly know if they're truly one and the same, but maybe we can find something else in this DLC.
I know exactly the one more place we can check to find a lantern, the secret basement containing the Vanny you unlock in the Corn Maze minigame. And "Ding, ding, ding ding!" We have a match! Now what it means for the carousel minigame is unknown to me at this date in time.
Possibly, there's a connection here to the Dreadbear DLC. Maybe this "game" was also a DLC to the original Help Wanted in-universe. Or maybe this scenario happened around the sametime as Dreadbear DLC depicts its FALL FEST in, 1983.
But like I said, I need to sit on this and see if I can find some other connections. Other than that, scoping through the Dreadbear DLC has given me some thoughts about certain things. I'll discuss it in the next part, so let's wrap this up.
So it's the only one available to do, you clicked on Capt. Foxy's Log Ride and saw what its pop-up window had to show you. "Set sail for adventure with Capt. Foxy! Pillage and plunder a town of Wild West landlubbers!"
What a mashup of settings were your thoughts before you clicked on TUTORIAL and were whisked away again by darkness and found yourself in the void.
Well, that unexpectedly took a while. But heads up, I'm going to be a bit busy with work so the next part is going to be slower to complete. Yet there are lots of interesting things going on here in this one to tie you all over, including a brand-new mystery for all of us to solve! Just goes to show that Help Wanted 2 just seems to have even more things for us to discover!

Warning this will be a long post, it has everything I've learnt in the past couple of years from hair growth, to styling, to weightloss, to nervous system regulation and more.
I'm in my early 30s, I have 3B hair, tall, two years ago I was obese, prediabetic, I had anxiety problems, now I'm just a tall [seemingly ;) ] effortlessly pretty black girl and I want all my beauties on here to have my beauty secrets.
Topics discussed:

• Haircare
• Style
• Makeup
• Teeth
• Skincare
• Weight loss vs Fat loss
• Healthy Fat loss
• Body Recomposition
• Inflammation
• Gut Health
• How to lower androgen/testosterone levels
• Nervous System Regulation/Stress Management
• Tea Cycling
• Seed Cycling

Hair

I have PCOS so it affects my hair growth and causes hirsutism, basically male patterened facial hair and male patterned baldness.
Hair Growth: Here is the true secret sauce to hair growth, stimulating your scalp. I do daily scalp massages with a bamboo brush (even the bristles are made of rounded bamboo) very gentle. This is the one I use: Golab Beauty I do short strokes which prevents any tangles. Morning and Night. I then go in with a scalp serum, I use The Oui scalp serum but it costs a pretty penny. In the first yearish I used (The 'Ordinary' Haircare Growth Set Multi-Peptide Serum For Hair Density) which worked wonders and was cost effective. At nights I seal with any scalp oil that has rosemary oil. Sadly Mielle's formula no longer works for me, but As I Am rosemary oil has been working, I also like the Camille Rose Rosemary Oil Strengthening Hair and Scalp Drops. For Washing my hair I suffer from sebaceous dermatitis which causes scaliness. Paradoxically my scalp is so oily which is what triggers the ezcema and develops the dry patches. Reversing my PCOS symptoms fixed this but what also helped was the Nizoral shampoo with 1% Ketoconazole. It's harsh so I do it once to twice a month at most and I always follow up with a moisturizing shampoo, and of course finish with a wash out conditioner & leave in conditioner.
Hair Retention: This is the info we all know about preventing breakage but I'll include just in case. Hair growth happens in the scalp like said before but to retain that growth it's important to wear protective hairstyles (especially while asleep), a silk/satin bonnet or wrap, silk/satin pillowcase, do not let your hair air dry at night. There is debate about this but I've seen hair specialists and scientists say our hair is especially fragile when wet (especially curly/kinky hair). Therefore, we are much more prone to snags and breakage while our hair is wet. So going to bed make sure your hair is dried. If you're air drying your hair during the day try not to touch it too much - as little manipulation as possible. Personally choose to diffuse/blow dry my hair and this has prevented most of the breakage I was previously experiencing. Lastly, moisturize and oil your ends. I won't pretend like I know which order is best or even if it's important but I've found that using hair moisturizediluted leave in conditioner then hair oil works best for me.
Hirsutism/Facial Hair: Spearmint essential oil. I add 1-2 drops of the oil to my moisturizer each time I put on my moisturizer and it helped A LOT with reducing my facial hair. I also drink a lot of spearmint tea. Spearmint specifically has been proven to lower androgen/testosterone levels which is why it helps. I also took supplements which I'll include at the end because they served multiple purposes. Be sure not to add the oil to the entire bottle because that will ruin your moisturizer's formula. Just add the drops in your palm/finger tips and mix in your face cream each time you moisturize your jawline, chin, underneck. Also, do this after moisturizing the upper part of your face without the oil because it's harsh and the scent can be irritating to your eye area.
Body hair: Personally I sugar wax my arms and legs, the hair has grown back so thin now. I make it myself and follow tutorials from abetweene on youtube.
Hair colouHairstyle: This will depend on your face shape and color season. I'm a dark winter colour season and I have a heart face shape. I used the Dressika app to discover my color season before I could afford to get myself professionally assessed and I got the same results. Just be sure to use natural lighting, like by a window. Once you have your colour season you can choose hair colours that work best for you (although natural almost always works best). For my hairstyle I try to choose styles that compliment my heart shaped face. I used the youtube channel Dear Peachie to help me with figuring this out.

Style

I think most of us know about Kibbe and colour seasons. This was how I upgraded my wardrobe. I'm a soft dramatic so I wear things that work for my tall height and accentuate my waist.
This was the game changer with colour seasons. Most of us know about our true seasons, but it can get restrictive. Sister seasons and colour dissonance is also helpful to know.
My colour season is dark winter, so my sister seasons would be dark autumn and true winter. Thid gives me more wiggle room to style myself.
Dissonance are colours that are outside your true season and your sister seasons, you sprinke this in to add interest. Think of an outfit that is extremely matchy and cohesive but has that one accessory or item that stands out and adds interest. It's really fun in art and in fashion.
For my shoes I've started wearing dancing heels which help my flat feet lol and look stylish. Heel insoles help too, as well as the product Shoe Gummi. I still can't last more than 2, 3 hours at most but it's definitely bearable compared to before.
Matching pajamas and loungewear. You just feel so luxurious dressing up at home and they can (should) be comfy :)
Accessories:

• I wear glasses that work with my heart shaped face.
• I have a neutral leaning warm undertone so I wear gold jewelry, if I wear pearls or other gem stones I mix in gold to provide more harmony with my skin.
• Perfume, wear what works with your body chemistry. Some smell delictable on people I know and icky on me, and vice versa. Wear what works for you.
• Nails, press ons. So convenient, so cheap.
• Hair accessories, bows, barretes, clips, scrunchies, a ribbon, you could be wearing jeans and a t shirt but a simple hair accessory upgrades the look automatically.

Makeup

I used the youtube channel Dear Peachie to help me with finding eye looks, brows, blush placement for my face shape
I have a low visual weight face and I am a romantic ingenue, because of this I go for more subtle looks that emphasis two facial features maximum at a time (eyes, lips, cheeks).
Don't get me wrong I love glam bold makeup but soft and subtle makes me glow, I turn heads when my makeup is done like this.

Teeth

• Wax free floss (Cocofloss $10 expensive but I love it 😅, Burst black floss, Moon graphite floss, Twice floss, Dr. Jen’s silk floss)
• Oil pulling (coconut oil with clove & tea tree oil, or Guru Nanda oil pulling product)
• Brush teeth
• Tongue scraper (not everyday, couple of times a week and not too hard)
• Alcohol free mouthwash (TheraBreath)
• More so related to my lip area but I try to use wrinkle preventing straws or when I do use regular straws, I place it on the side of my mouth. The reason this works is because puckering the lips excessively causes smokers lines/wrinkles around the mouth.

Skin

Skincare. This was something that took me a while to work on because of my PCOS, age, weight and etc.
Facial Care: The basics includes chemical exfoliation, retinol, moisturizerecover. I cycle my nightly skincare routine with this in mind and always keep the same morning routine. Mornings look like this (Jojoba oil to help while I use my gua sha, Water based cleanser, eye cream, vitamin c/peptide serum, moisturizer with a drop or two of glycerin, spearmint oil mixed with face cream on the jawline & neck area, finish with sunscreen).
My nights I alternate these routines in this order
Night 1 - Chemical Exfoliation (Oil cleanser to help while I use my gua sha, Water based cleanser, eye cream, glycolic/lactic acid, moisturizer with a drop or two of glycerin, spearmint oil mixed with face cream on the jawline & neck area, castor oil on lashes and brows)
Night 2 - Retinol (Oil cleanser to help while I use my gua sha, Water based cleanser, eye cream, retinol, moisturizer, spearmint oil mixed with face cream on the jawline & neck area, castor oil on lashes and brows)
Night 3 - MoisturizeRecovery (Oil cleanser to help while I use my gua sha, Water based cleanser, eye cream, retinol, moisturizer with a drop or two of glycerin, rosehip oil as sealant on entire face, spearmint oil mixed with face cream on the jawline & neck area, castor oil on lashes and brows)
Repeat Night 1 - 3 (sometimes I need more days to recover if my skin is sensitive or acting up, do what works for you personally)
Other things that I've done/used to help: red light therapy (helps with both hair growth, so I use it on my scalp, and with stretch marks so I use it on my face and body), Microcurrent device (helps with collagen production and stretchmarks) - I use the brand NuFace & NuBody, Volufiline (a skin serum I mix with eye cream that helps with hollowness under the eyes, Kigelia Africana Skin Cream (I use the brand Maelys B-Perky which contains this ingredient and helped to tighten my chest area and my loose skin on the area), face yoga and myo fascia face massage, these help with the tautness of my face (basically everything else helps with wrinkles, these exercises and the microcurrent helps and prevents, sagging especially jowls). I follow tutorials I search for from youtube.
Body Care: Similar to facial care body care includes exfoliation, retinol, moisturizerecover
Night 1 - Physical Exfoliation (Dry brush/Body Scrub, Hydrating lotion with a few drops of glycerin, rosehip oil as sealant on entire body)
Night 2 - Retinol (Jojoba oil to help while I use my gua sha, retinol body wash, retinol body lotion)
Night 3 - MoisturizeRecovery (Jojoba oil to help while I use my gua sha, Hydrating lotion with a few drops of glycerin, rosehip oil as sealant on entire body)
Again, repeat Night 1 - 3 use more days for recovery if needed
Stretch marks/loose skin: Whether due to weight gain, pregnancy, etc. we can't ever truly get rid of loose skin or stretch marks but moisturizing the skin and derma rolling can help with the appearance. Especially derma rolling. Do NOT derma roll while pregnant but you can do so after when you’ve recovered and talk to your doctor (if you've had a c section you have to wait before derma rolling). I used this video as motivation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChG8aSvEU6A
For the body I never went beyond 1.5mm it worked for my deepest stretch marks. If this is too aggressive 1.0mm still works just as well. Make sure you use 70% alcohol as this is what experts say is better at disinfecting. It has more water, which helps it to dissolve more slowly, penetrate cells, and kill bacteria. The disinfecting power of rubbing alcohol drops at concentrations higher than 80%-85%. Make sure you disinfect the derma roller before and after use, and make sure you disinfect your area of contact before rolling as well. Do not do heavy workouts workout or sweat inducing activities for at least 3 days after and avoid harsh products.
I started derma rolling while working on losing weight (at the beginning of my journey while still obese) and continued a year after losing 130lbs. Derma rolling works by causing micro tears, the skin heals the area and in the process of doing so develops more collagen - leading to thicker skin, lighter stretch marks and tighter skin. Since I did this before losing the weight it helped my skin adapt a lot. I won't pretend like I have 0 loose skin or stretch marks but it's barely visible. Someone has to be intimately close to notice. Obviously genetics, how slowly you lose the weight, diet, and moisturizing the skin helps but my PCOS contributed to low collagen (thin skin) and so the derma rolling really helped.

Weight loss vs Fat loss

Tons of info here but I promise if you read through it helps to know this stuff.
Weightloss comes down to calories in versus calories out. I know that's rudely simpliflied and not that easy, but it truly is the answer to weightloss (which may be fat, water, or muscle). This is why people can eat barely nothing, lose weight but their shape stays the same (basically skinny fat). It's also why fasting or going low carb works so fast (water weight is the first to go).
Fatloss on the other hand is more complicated. This involves our TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure).
TDEE includes: Resting/Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), Metabolic Equivalent of Task or Exercise activity thermogenesis (EAT), Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), Thermic Effect of Food (TEF), and Adaptive Thermogenesis (AT).
BMR (~70% daily energy) the energy taken to exist, so tasks like breathing. Your sex, body composition (muscle to fat ratio), age, and genetics play a role in this EAT (~5% daily energy) the energy taken for exercise weight lifting, swimming, high intensity walks, etc. NEAT (~15% daily energy) the energy taken for non exercise movements like walking, fidgeting, showering, standing, etc TEF (~10% daily energy depending on the macronutrients of your meal) the energy taken to digest, protein has the highest TEF of all the macronutrients, Carbs have a TEF of around 5-10%, while Fats have the lowest TEF, around 0-3%.
Adaptive Thermogenesis (AT) is the changes in energy expenditure (energy used) that occur in response to changes in energy balance. For example when you eat more food than you need, your body may increase energy expenditure to prevent weight gain eg. move more, eat less the next day, etc.. On the other hand, when you eat less food than you need, your body may decrease energy expenditure to conserve energy and prevent weight loss eg. less movement, eat more the next day.
Other things that affect AT include diet composition (eg high/low protein, high/low carb, calorie dense foods, etc), physical activity (eg. weights vs. cardio), and environmental factors such as temperature and altitude.
Things that influence AT can make weight management challenging, as it can lead to plateaus or rebounds in weight loss efforts. This is why lack of sleep, hormonal issues, aging, etc. makes weightloss harder.
Here is a clearer example of this
Things that affect calories in:

• 8-9 Hours of sleep (Maintains metabolic homeostasis, insulin sensitivity, hormonal processes). Compromised sleep lead to:
  • Increased Gherlin (hunger hormone - feeling hungrier & therefor eating more)
  • Decreased Leptin (sensation of satiety - needing to eat more to feel full)
• Insulin resistance: This is when the cells in your muscles, fat, and liver don't respond well to insulin and can't easily take up glucose from your blood. This results in excessive sugar in the blood & as a result the body produces more insulin in order to try to help the cells obtain the energy from glucose. This leads to weight gain as the insulin increases hunger. Also, since the body is insulin resistant, the excess glucose is converted to fat for long-term storage.
  • Things that can cause insulin resistance: PCOS, Inactivity/sedentary lifestyle, family history of diabetes, gestational diabetes, hypertension, alcohol abuse, poor sleep habits, high cholesterol levels, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, high bodyweight, acromegaly

Things that affect calories out:

• Body Composition (Fat to muscle ratio)
• Gut health
• Compromised sleep affects our energy levels which leads to
  • Decreased NEAT (Non exercise activity thermogenesis)
• Hypothyroidism (lowered levels of T3 and T4)
  • Thyroid hormones T3 and T4 affects every cell and all the organs in your body by regulating the rate at which your body uses calories/energy which is known as our bmr, meaning this affects your metabolic rate.
• Too few calories lowers daily NEAT
  • By eating below your BMI (calories needed to perform basic biological processes), your body makes up for this through energy conservation by lowering your NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis). Basically you lack the energy to perform your normal daily activities. This also affects your body composition and cardio health as you become sedentary (stop moving as much).

Healthy Fat loss

So to lose fat in a healthy way you need to:

1. Get enough sleep (8-9 hours per night)
2. Manage your stress levels/nervous system regulation
3. Look after your gut health
4. Manage inflammation
5. Increase your daily steps (8-10k per day)
6. Weight lift
7. Eat high protein (protein takes the most amount of energy to digest).
8. Manage your insulin resistence
9. Eat in a caloric deficit (make sure your calories in do not exceed calories out).

Futher information about the bold items in the list is included below. Also, I know this all seems overwhelming but keep in mind you are creating a lifestyle change. This is not a quick fix.
To manage your insulin resistance (info from the book Glucose Goddess by Jessie Inchauspé):

• Eat within an hour of waking up
• Protein with breakfast
• Tablespoon of apple cider vinegar before each meal (diluted in a glass of water)
• Eat foods in this order, veggies -> protein -> fat -> starches -> carbs -> sugar
• Never eat sweets/dessert/carbs on an empty stomach (dessert after dinner)
• Keep refined carbs and added sugar at a minimum.
• Minimize alcohol intake
• Try to minimize sodas, fruit juice and sweet drinks (this is because there is no fiber to help with the glucose spike or at least try to have these drinks after eating something fiberous)
• Only eat fruit whole, not transformed eg. eat the orange instead of having the orange juice, again fiber makes a world of a difference
• Put clothing on your carbs. Eg. have protein/fats/fiber with your carbs
• A short walk after carb heavy meals
• Fasting - this is controversial and I should add a disclaimer, if you in any way shape or form have or had an eating disorder, especially restrictive eating, I highly recommend against fasting. Intermittent fasting has a lot of studies out there that were done on men. The book Fast Like a Girl by Dr. Mindy Pelz includes a nuanced view of fasting that takes into account our hormones and our monthly cycle. She also has a free app 'Fast like a girl', you log your period and it tells you how long to fast. However, bioindividuality is key here, genetics, etc. Please if you are considering fasting make sure you get bloodwork done first. Manage your electrolyte levels, do not neglect iron and protein levels. Personally, I prefer using the other methods since fasting can also inadvertently worsens insulin resistence due to increased stress/cortisol which cause higher hunger cues. Some with insulin resistence found fasting to be helpful. So make sure you do what works for you and always consult your doctor.
• Supplements:
  • Vitamin D paired with Vitamin K1 & K2
  • Magnesium Biglycinate (I take this before bed)
  • Omega-3 Fatty Acids
  • Turmeric
  • Coenzyme 10 (Take with Clomid & Vitamin E)
  • N-Acetylcysteine (NAC)
  • Inositol
  • Zinc (Important to Note: It works inversely with testosterone - raises testosterone if your levels are low and lowers it if your levels are high)

To eat in a caloric deficit, calculate your TDEE and subtract 200-500 calories from that number. I like using this calculator. https://tdeecalculator.net
Eg. If it's calculated to be 2000 calories, you subtract 200, so 1800 should be your daily calorie intake. For the activity levels make sure you do not oversell yourself. Here is a general guide:

• Sedentary: Office job sat all day or less than 3000 steps per day
• Lightly Active: Exercise 1-3 times per week or 3-10k steps daily (up to 3-4 miles daily)
• Moderately Active: Exercise 3-5 times per week or 10-15k steps daily (up to 4-7 miles daily)
• Highly Active: Hard exercise 6-7 training days per week or 15-20k steps daily (up to 7-10 miles daily)
• Extremely Active: Intense daily exercise/hard physical labour 7 days a week or 25k+ steps daily (up to 10 miles daily)

As you lose weight your body adapts so after a while you may need to recalculate your TDEE and deficit. Once you are at your ideal weight, you no longer subtract the 200-500, you simply eat the TDEE amount to maintain but you do this gradually. After I lost the weight I came out of the deficit by adding 50 calories to my daily intake per week, till I was at maintenance/my TDEE. This prevented me from gaining fat or water weight.
Lastly, muscle mass (increase in muscle raises your metabolic level, meaning you burn more calories at rest). This is ideal and is also how you'll see someone who is short, seemingly small but weigh more than you imagined. Muscle density weighs more than fat. Think of a 50 pound dumbbell versus 50 pounds of feathers, you would need a whole lot of feathers to match the weight. Same difference, you need a larger volume of fat to equal to the same amount of muscle. Therefore, lifting weights is ideal because you will become more toned, burn more calories at rest, be able to eat more even when you've lost the weight to maintain your phisique, you'll be more insulin sensitive, and you will have stronger and higher bone density (really important for women, we lose up to 5% of muscle mass per decade after the age of 30).

Body Recompositon: Weightlifting for health (and aesthetics), lose fat & gain muscle

It is possible to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. I followed Huskular Goddess and and LexiiGettingFit for inspiration and they were really the ones that opened my eyes to the concept of body recomposition (gain musle while losing fat).
The benefits of this is as you're getting smaller your TDEE is increasing. This means by the time you lose the weight you'll still be eating an adequate amount. The other benefits include insulin sensitivity versus insulin resistence, higher metabolism, and a improved body composition like I mentioned before in the dummbell versus feather example. The downside is the number on the scale won't have a dramatic shift while your clothes will be fitting looser. Again, weight density plays tricks on us and it's easy to get caught up in body dismorphia but I promise it works.
In order to sustain and build muscle while losing fat, you need to be consuming enough protein while remaining in a caloric deficit. So 60-80g of protein per day minimum to lose 1-2lbs per week. Ideally it should be 0.8-1g of per pound of lean body mass. Eg, someone is 300lbs and they want to get down to 150lbs. They would eat 120-150g of protein per day. If this is too much, try to get at least 60-80g like I mentioned before. Remember even though 1-2lbs per week sounds small, the changes are significant because of the muscle gained. You will look and feel smaller.
Weightlifting for a rounder booty (I reshaped my glutes by weightlifting. Hormones can actually affect the shape and my PCOS did a number on me. I developed a V shape over the years. Round, square, heart, A shapes are all based on your bone structure and fat placement. Some of us just have those stubborn fat deposits in certain areas that are genetic, even when we lose the weight, it's a smaller version but the same shape. V shape on the other hand is largely seen in older women post menopause and in younger women with hormonal disorders. This is becuase the hormonal imbalances also causes muscle imbalances. Regulating your hormones helps but it won't grow the muscles for you, so I used Fit With Emely's glute guide based on your glute shape (completely free, I watched all her videos to get this info and it took me two years to go from a V shape to a round shape.
Here is the guideline for each shape:
Glute Maximus - Everyone should be working on glute maximus. It builds the shelf and overall size. Step ups (all variations), hip thrusts (all variations), lunges, rdl, leg press, all squat variations Glute Minimus - (V and Square shapes), this muscle fills in the middle between the top and lower glute. Hip abduction, single leg bridge, Standing hip abduction/cable raises Gute Medius - (Heart, Round, and A-shaped) this muscles builds a longer hip for top portion of the glutes. Eg. Single leg squat, Single leg deadlift, Cable clamshells, Reverse lung, step ups Underbutt - Everyone should be working on underbutt but this is especially useful for V shaped folks. It works the hamstrings and lower portion of glutes. Good mornings, single leg rdl (also works minimus), single leg hip thrust (also works maximus), hip abductors (also works minimus)
How to structure workout:

• Warm up/Dynamic Stretches (specific to the muscle group you're working eg. lower body warm up or upper body warm up, etc.)
• Compound exercises (2-3 exercises eg. single leg rdl, good mornings, leg press - for each exercise you do 3-4 sets, 8-12 reps, with 3-4 minute rest between sets). That probably sounds like a foreign language to some, so for instance:
  • Start excercise 1
  • Set 1 (repeat exercise 1 - rdl 8 times)
  • 3 minute rest
  • Set 2 (repeat exercise 1 - rdl 8 times)
  • 3 minute rest
  • Set 3 (repeat exercise 1 - rdl 8 times)
  • Move on to exercise 2
  • Set 1 (repeat exercise 2 - leg press 8 times)
  • 3 minute rest
  • Set 2 (repeat exercise 2 - leg press 8 times)
  • 3 minute rest
  • Set 3 (repeat exercise 2 - leg press 8 times)
  • Move on to exercise 3
  • Set 1 (repeat exercise 3 - good mornings 8 times)
  • 3 minute rest
  • Set 2 (repeat exercise 3 - good mornings 8 times)
  • 3 minute rest
  • Set 3 (repeat exercise 3 - good mornings 8 times)
• Secondary Workouts (2-3 exercises eg. step ups, bulgarian split squats, lunges - for each exercise you do 3-4 sets, 8-12 reps, with 3-4 minute rest between sets)
• Isolated/Accessory Movements: these exercises work one part of the muscle more than others, for example an overbias on the underbutt/hamstring like I mentioned before to help with the V shape ( eg. hip abductors, kickbacks, glute bridge, lying leg raises, etc. (1-2 exercises high repetitions, low weight 2-3 sets, 15-20 reps, 1-2 minute rest between sets)
• Static stretch/cool down (specific to the muscle group you're working eg. lower body cool down or upper body cool down, etc.)

Keep in mind that you only need to work on a muscle group 2-3 times a week. So I only do glutes Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Also keep in mind while I work the lower body I am also working my upper body (eg. while doing rdls I am lifting the weight with my upper body), which is why I don't have tailered upper body days, this is for aesthetic reasons, and because weightlifting more than 3 days per week is not feasible with my PCOS.
My full routine is:

• Monday- lower body
• Tuesday - Pilates/core
• Wednesday - Rest (I still go for walks on these days)
• Thursday - lower body
• Friday - Pilates/core
• Saturday - lower body
• Sunday - Rest (I still go for walks on these days)

I also used primarily resistance bands in the beginning because gym equipment intimidated me (not anymore :) ). I started with 25lb resistance and went up to 125lbs. I use the product BandBar which allowed me to use the resistance bands like a barbell at home. This isn’t the only option and you can definitely buy resistance bands and do it without the bar. BandBar
For the ab separation from being obese, I did this workout 3 times a week (also helpful post pregnancy): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smiGsW-mQX0
For my chest to help with getting perkier boobs (the derma rolling was what made the biggest difference, but this exercise helped as well though it took 6+ months for the changes to be significant. Women tend to take longer to grow chest muscles): https://youtu.be/hg7_R29jGIE?feature=shared
I also did workouts to help with my posture and mobility 3 times a week (any I could find online)
The last thing I will say is be mindful that you may gain weight initially when you start lifting weights. This is due to slight inflammation/water gain from foreign tension, which will last about a month or two before you adapt BUT your body will adapt, I promise. Keep in mind if it's days before your period or if you are on your period. It's not if, but when, our weight fluctuates. As long as you are in a deficit and doing everything right, the number will go down. Do not get discouraged!!!
Here is the edit to this post which includes my supplements, how I managed my inflammation, and how I improved my gut health. I also edited the information I shared prior to include a few more tips and lifestyle changes I made, and included a few more details. I also rearranged things so there is a separation between style/haiskin and health information. The post is getting really long so I may create a separate post for personal development/mindset tips.

Inflammation

In my case my inflammation was caused by my PCOS, insulin resistence and my obesity, but it can be caused by chronic stress, other autoimmune disorders like IBS, Crohn's disease, etc, smoking/alcohol, age related diseases, environmental toxins, diets high in processed foods, sugars, trans fats & high omega-6 fatty acids.
In my case the inflammation from the PCOS led to gut inflammation due to the high levels of coritsal (stress hormones) in reaction to the high testosterone and insulin resistence. I also experienced metabolic inflammation (non alcoholic fatty liver disease), skin inflammation (as I mentioned earlier the ezcema on my scalp, alopecia, and hirsutism), adipose tissue inflammation, chronic low grade inflammation (this led to edema or fuid retention -> insulin resistance and my high testosteron/androgen levels also exacerbated this).
To fix this these were the thin I added to my life:

• Dry brushing 2-3 times a week
• Body Gua sha
• Face Gua Sha or Face Yoga or Myofascial Massage
• Jump Rope
• Trampoline/Rebounder
• Vibration Plate (very useful for after a workout or while sitting down)
• Acupressure mat
• Arvigo (Mayan Abdominal massage) & Lymphatic drainage massage
• Leg elevation, I sleep with a pillow under my knees. In the evenings I keep my legs up.
• Massages
• Sweat more (exercise/sauna/steam room)
• Portable Infrared Sauna (reduce cortisol by 25%)
• Microcurrent
• Compression socks
• Castor oil pack 3-4x per week
• Eliminate inflammatory triggers (mine were gluten & dairy)
  • Switch to sourdough
  • Eliminate seed oils
  • Avoid alcohol & smoking
• Supplements
  • Vitamin D paired with Vitamin K1 & K2
  • Magnesium Biglycinate (I take this before bed)
  • Omega-3 Fatty Acids
  • Turmeric
  • Coenzyme 10 (Take with Clomid & Vitamin E)
  • N-Acetylcysteine (NAC)
• Teas that helped
  • Turmeric
  • Red Rasberru Leaf Tea
  • Fennel
  • Chamomile

Gut Health

Your microbiota needs the right bacteria in the right amount to perform its hormone regulating functions properly. When the type or number of bacteria gets disturbed by events such as stress, or poor diet, or your gut can no longer accomplish its job meaning you'll have inflammation, increased risk of chronic disease, skin conditions, mental health issues, weakened immune system, nutrient absorprion problems, and weight management challenges.
For weight loss issues, gut microbiomes influence hormones in producing and signaling leptin and ghrelin (these hormones regulate hunger and fullness signals). Inflammation and insulin resistence is also associated with gut health problems as mentioned before. Energy extraction from foods, certain gut bacteria are more efficient at extracting energy from food, particularly carbohydrates. When there is an imbalance, more calories can be absorbed from food leading to difficulties gaining or losing weight.
Things I did to improve gut health/intestinal permeability:

• Ate foods rich in digestive enzymes (mangoes, pineapple, etc.)
• Pre and probiotics (incorporate bifidobacterium and lactobacillus)
  • Favorite brand: Seed Heath Probiotics
• Pickles (without vinegar): Great source of prebiotics
• Apple Cider VinegaKimchi/Kombucha/Sauerkraut
  • Beware of certain types of vinegar contain chemicals which kill bacteria, “the good bacteria”, and leave the yeast Candida albicans alone.
  • Raw apple cider vinegar contains: Natural probiotics (friendly bacteria), which may help with your immune system and gut health.
    • Tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (diluted in a glass of water) before each meal
  • Balsamic vinegar: Acetic acid is the active compound in balsamic vinegar. This acid contains strains of probiotics that aid digestion. The probiotics found in acetic acid can help promote good gut health and digestion while supporting overall immune function.
• Raw Carrots (has the type of fiber that binds and flushes out toxins in gut, good to have as daily hormone & digestion support)
• Limit Processed foods and Sugar
• No drinking or smoking
• Stress managment (which I'll expand on just below)
• Increase fiber intake
• Regularly exercise
• Supplements
  • Ginger
  • L-Glutamine
  • Olive leaf extract (especially helpful if you have candida overgrowth)
  • Turmereric
• Teas
  • Ginger
  • Lemon Balm

Lower androgens/testosterone

• Teas
  • Nettle Tea
  • Spearmint tea
• Spearmint oil topically for hirsutism
• Supplements
  • Schisandra (adaptogen - stress management & hormone balance)
  • Saffron (Also helps reduce testosterone, lower blood pressure and prevents bad cholesterol)
  • Inositol
  • Holy Basil
  • Magnesium Biglycinate (I take this before bed)
  • Omega-3 Fatty Acids
  • Coenzyme 10 (Take with Clomid & Vitamin E)
  • Zinc (Important to Note: It works inversely with testosterone - raises testosterone if your levels are low and lowers it if your levels are high)

Nervous System Regulation/ Stress Management

Stress is one of the things that age us the most, and people with PCOS already have higher levels of cortisol so these are the things I do to manage my stress levels:

• Regulate circadian rhythm, direct sunlight upon waking up. I use a sunrise alarm clock lamp for this
• Same bedtime everynight (pre midnight)
• Invert screen colors at bedtime (red filter on screens)
• Pillow under knees
• No loud alarms
• Magnesium biglycinate supplement before bed
• Regulate circadian rhythm, view the sunset before bed. I use a sunrise alarm clock lamp for this
• Spend a few minutes breathing through left nostril only
• Epsom salt foot soak
• Journal
• Get back to using my coloring books (I even invested in alcohol based markers it's so fun). Regulates me and gets me in touch with my inner child
• Time with friends, my puppy, and my family
• Supplements
  • Holy Basil (adaptogen - stress management & hormonal balance)
  • L-Theanine
  • Magnesium biglycinate
• Teas
  • Red raspberry leaf (adaptogen - stress management, also good for menstrual cramps)
  • Reishi Mushroom
  • Lemon Balm
• Night time mocktail (have after dinner and not on an empty stomach due to the sugar levels in the tart cherry)
  • Teaspoon of tart cherry (high levels of melatonin)
  • Magnesium biglycinate powder
  • Probiotic soda (good for gut health)

Tea cycling

• On your period
  • Nettle leaf: Increase iron levels
  • Moringa: Increase iron levels
  • Red Raspberry leaf: Helps with period cramps (best to drink throughout the month, especially at the end of the luteal phase
  • Chamomile: Helps with wellness wind down routine when you're feeling extra tired
• Follicular phase
  • Focus teas: Peppermint, Spearmint
  • Adaptogens: Lion's mane, Adaptogen latte, and Chaga mushroom
  • Detox: Dandelion Root
• Ovulation phase
  • Detox: Dandelion root tea
  • Bloating: turmeric tea latte/golden latte
  • Estrogen dominance - symptoms (bad hormonal migraines, hot flashes, nausea): Schisandra berry, Lemon balm
• Luteal phase
  • PMS symptoms: Raspberry leaf, Schisandra berry, Ginger root (powder or tea)

The best teas for PCOS

• Spearmint
  • For reducing androgens & lowering hirsutism (facial hair)
• Cinnamon tea (improves insulin sensitivity)
• Chamomile tea (Adaptogen)
• Nettle Tea (reduce androgens)
• Red raspberry leaf (adaptogen/stress relief, also good for menstrual cramps)
• Schisandra (adaptogen/stress relief & hormone balance)
• Saffron (Also helps reduce testosterone, lower blood pressure and prevents bad cholesterol)
• Ginger (ginger offers anti-inflammatory, fertility and hormone-balancing benefits, aides digestion )

Seed Cycling

What is seed cycling? Seed cycling refers to the consumption of specific seeds at different times of the month in order to improve the production and levels of sex hormones, specifically estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.
Seed cycling divides the female menstrual cycle into two parts:

1. During the first half of the menstrual cycle, or days 1 through 14, seed cycling encourages daily consumption of flax and pumpkin seeds.
2. During the second half of the menstrual cycle, or days 15 through 28, seed cycling encourages daily consumption of sunflower and sesame seeds

Results from seed cycling will not happen overnight. Normally women observe improvements after approximately three months of seed cycling adherence. It took me about 4ish months.
The Benefits of Seed Cycling: Support hormonal balance, alleviate PMS symptoms, decrease hormonal acne, alter irregularity of menstrual cycles, and fight stomach bloating and fatigue.

Man, a sort-of-hobby-history post. From me. Who’da thunk it? I’ve tried to source this up better so it won’t get removed by the mods this time, but we’ll see how it goes. And do bear in mind, since a fair bit of this is about capturing player sentiment, a lot of the sources will be ancient, dead forum threads where players ‘theorycrafted’ reasons for their outrage. Let’s get started.

What is Warhammer?

Warhammer is… a lot of things. On its most basic level, it’s a set of two tabletop war games, but on another much more real level, it’s about so much more that saying it’s about two games is unforgivably reductionist. Spanning multiple universes with common and distinct elements, Warhammer comprises four universes, five settings, a hundred series of novels and comic books and video games, several expansive repositories of lore, and a thousand micro-communities that, together, comprise one overall community that spans the globe.
But let’s not get masturbatory (leave that to Slaanesh); all of these things exist to prop up the one, central point of Warhammer: Minis for a game you play on the table. But as you fall inexorably down the pipeline towards the hobby’s tootsie center, you will hear one warning, again, again, and again: Don’t waste your hobby money on Finecast models.

Why is Warhammer so expensive?

Look, I won’t lie to you: Collecting Warhammer, whatever the setting or side game, is never cheap. But the prices aren’t arbitrary, despite popular player sentiment. It’s easy to say offhand that these little bundles of plastic are more expensive than you’d think, but let’s consider all the production that goes into a single Warhammer model for a minute. (Mostly taken from here!)
The initial phase of modern model creation is that someone has an idea. Generally, that idea gets described to an artist, who creates a 2D rendering of what they’d have the model look like. Maybe this appearance prescribes the lore, maybe the lore prescribes the appearance.
Either way, a bundle of those renderings get passed to a 3D artist who turns renderings into something they can print. Maybe they do only a handful of these for a single character model. Either way, that highly-detailed 3D sculpture gets 3D printed as a large master mini, and sent to the crew in R&D.
Because half the enjoyment of the hobby comes from assembling the models yourself, this team has to figure out the best way to break down the components into multiple parts that fit together when cut from a single-piece plastic grid, called a ‘sprue’. If there’s no way to make it work, even if you split the model bilaterally down the side, the model is rejected and sent back to the 2D guy to make some new renders.
If the model passes the ‘breakdown’, however, another 3D artist reverse-engineers the model, breaking it down into component parts as agreed, and arranges them onto a sprue file.
At this stage in production, Games Workshop, being the only industry giant able to practically afford this part, rents supercomputers to run an advanced fluid dynamics simulation on the sprue file. Since melted plastic is injected into molds during production, they need some assurance that there won’t be constant production errors where a certain pocket doesn’t fill, and that the pressure won’t build too high and cause the machines to burst scalding plastic onto factory workers. If they find out that the injection won’t work, it’s time for the breakdown crew to get cracking again, and if they’re out of ways to skin that cat, this entire process starts over from the very beginning.
However, if the sprue simulation gets the green light, the file is 3D printed to create the master sprue, which is used to create a master mold, which is used to make the molding plates for the company factories and then lovingly placed in careful storage. Wouldn’t want to waste all that work, now.
This is the kind of rigor that modern GW products need to pass to finally be sold, and in the face of covering the costs of all of that, plus the actual production of the model you bought, plus the extreme cost of shipping low-density, low-weight products possibly overseas, is $40 USD for a single dude on foot and $55 for a squad of ten dudes really so bad? I say no. Although since I started updating this project to fit the subreddit rules, another price increase has been announced.
That is, unless something is wrong with the dude being sold on a more fundamental level.

Finally, let’s talk about Fineca- wait, shit, material history.

Like I said, that’s the modern production process. Several of those steps were impossible in, say, the 90s.
For one thing, Warhammer in the modern day is not sold primarily through a company-produced Sears catalog called White Dwarf, (although that magazine is still kicking around, amazingly) but via the internet. For another, model molds don’t have to be carved by hand by artists into green blocks, so a lot of finer detail and less awkward proportions are possible. And because less awkward proportions are possible, they’re able to use less crude materials than what they started out with.
You see, early Warhammer models were sold in White Dwarf, if not in your local hobby store, and the molds did have to be hand-carved, and so awkward proportions were the best their artists could do, so they did have to use a more basic material: Metal.
That’s right, early minis were made through a much more traditional kind of molding, not a stone’s throw away from how medieval blacksmiths made swords, where melted metal was more poured than injected into the molds and then refined in the factory, with byproducts that were punched out or shaved off the sprues getting recycled.
Upsides:

• Metal just feels higher-quality compared to plastic.
  
• Metal is generally more durable than plastic.
  
• Metal is good at holding its shape, even if a heavier bit is dangling off of a comparatively thin portion of the model.
  

Downsides:

• Part of that high-quality feel comes from the fact that metal is heavier, which means that it’s harder to transport, and, if you like magnetizing your miniatures’ bases, means you need larger, more expensive magnets for every model. But not too large; too strong a magnetic pull, and you could rip the mini off of its own legs.
  
• That durability is a bit of a joker’s trick; if you drop a metal mini, it could snap the same as plastic, same pain in the ass either way, but it’s less prone to punctures than it is to dents, which sounds better, but painting over a small hole is actually much easier than filling in a dent in a hollow object.
  
• Most company competitors are using some kind of plastic for their figures, and it’s harder to ‘kitbash’ different model kits together when their materials aren’t very comparable. (This was during a time when GW encouraged kitbashing, mind you)
  
• There aren’t really any modeling materials that are great at adhering to paint, but metal in particular isn’t very amenable to paint coating its surface, and this is a hobby about painting things. This, as you may expect, causes problems.
  

In other words, metal did the job just fine, but the medium was evolving by the late aughts, and Old Man GW was falling behind. With them resting on their laurels, other companies had started to leverage new tech, and profits were hitting a gulley. Then, around 2010, some overpaid fellow in R&D came across an alternative: Resin.

Enter stage left

It is very difficult to say how it happened, of course; model companies are understandably cagey about their preferred material formulas. What we do know is that GW saw resin as the upgrade it needed, and the benefits seemed pretty clear.
Upsides:

• Resin is much, much lighter than any metal. Say bye-bye to those transport problems.
  
• In part because it’s so light, and in part because it isn’t dug out of the ground, resin is cheaper than metal as well.
  
• Resin is flexile; where other materials break, it is more likely to bend, and what can be bent can be unbent.
  
• Resin is much nicer to paint than any metal; its surface is much smoother, and paint binds more uniformly to the surface.
  
• Resin is capable of a lot more theoretical accuracy in modeling. More accuracy, more detail. Who doesn’t love more detail?
  

So in May 2011, GW announces the switch, and it’s out with all metal production, in with the newly-dubbed Finecast Resin (So named after all that fine detail it can pull off). It should be a slam dunk, right?

Well……

What you may have noticed in that last paragraph was that I didn’t say, “Games Workshop conducted a long series of tests to ensure that Finecast was up to the task of replacing metal across the entire model line,” and that’s because they didn’t. GW already had perfectly good mold plates; why bother checking every single one for production issues? Just swap the metal with the resin pellets and start printing the money.
And the answer for that “why bother?” is that when you change from melted metal to resin, you reveal the limits of those made-for-metal molds in a way that the old material was crutching for. Resin, you see, is prone to a lot of problems.
For example, the edges of those fine details tend to fray, and all of the thousands of micro-bumps in the old molds were revealed by our wonderful Finecast™ seeping into cracks the metal simply wouldn’t, coating all the mini parts in little bumps that paint dutifully rests on top of without obscuring anything, due to how closely it hugs the new material. This has the infuriating effect of replicating the appearance of spray-on paint ‘primer’ that wasn’t sufficiently shaken (Seen here on a modern model); in other words, it makes your mini look like it was done by an amateur.
For another, resin is more flexible, but it’s too flexible. Loads of old metal minis had relatively large, heavy parts attached to thin, weaker points on their model. This didn’t matter because they were made of metal, but now those metal models simply aren’t, and our wonderful, bendy resin droops the wings something fierce on every dragon and bloodthirster in the Warhammer Fantasy Battle range.
Yet despite that flexibility, extremely small or thin bits like pointing fingers and the shafts of weapons are still too brittle to bend, so between that and the constant fraying, bits broke off more often, not less.
And of course, simply making the switch led to a swathe of production errors. Especially early on, Finecast was prone to bubbling or being warped fresh out of the box. You could correct that second problem with heat, or you could melt the whole kit into unusable plastic sludge. You know my favorite part of this hobby where I already have to do all the assembly and painting myself? Having to fix production errors for the factory as well.
But hey, at least it’s cheaper, right? One of the big motives for switching to resin was economical; resin is not just lighter, but cheaper to harvest and make. So the minis are less expensive now, right?
WRONG!
GW has spent the leadup to releasing Finecast advertising it exclusively as a sleek, lightweight luxury product, so these new Finecast versions of old models have come with a healthy 30% price bump.

The worst game in town

Now, in the age of shrinkflation and trickflation and greedflation, you might not see how this translated to disaster for GW. “What do you mean,” you ask me incredulously, “that making a product that is unambiguously worse, replacing the entire line with it, and jacking up the price would cause business to crash?” But you must understand, this was before covid and the gig economy. If customers didn’t want to buy something, it was tough noogies for the company, not the customers.
All of the ‘luxury product’ marketing in the world couldn’t distract from the fact that Finecast resin sucked ass to work with, and made models decay like they’d been blasted by a hairdryer. (Which, ironically, is the best method for correcting it) It’s simply not worth buying, and all of the hard work in developing this new material earned it the ignominious nickname, 'Failcast'.
This caused a terrible buying pressure on the few remaining metal minis, which meant direct orders through GW’s Web 1.5-looking site and White Dwarf were drying up, and hobby stores quickly experienced a rush that depleted all their metal minis. If you ran a store that sold miniatures, the overwhelming pattern in 2011 was for someone to walk into your shop, ask "Do you have any metal minis?", get told no, and then walk out. Or worse for GW, they buy from a competitor.
Games Workshop tried to stem these problems by asking local distributors to check their finecast orders before putting them on shelves, but that worsened their relationship with vendors significantly. I mean, imagine you run a shop, and you order a case of GW models, and you get a pile of complaints from your best customers about the quality issues. You call your sales representative, and instead of giving a real apology or even sending a memo up the corporate chain, he says the onus is on you and your customers to do quality assurance for the company.
And because nobody wants to buy resin minis, and stocking resin minis mostly serves to prompt refunds, hobby shops start refusing to order more kits from GW, and running sales just to get the stock out of the damned store already. Many stores are only buying from GW’s competitors. Maybe they buy just enough to keep in touch with their sales rep, so they don’t burn a bridge before GW gets their shit together.
Shockingly, GW does that.

Res dead! Redemption?

The company's response was, of course, nothing like the speed of the modern day, but as soon as it became clear that 'Failcast' wasn’t the ten point stock rise they’d been hoping for, they must have started R&D on its replacement. By late 2013, GW was producing brand new models using only computer-designed CNC-machined sprues, made with plastic injection molding.
But wait, if GW recognized their mistake and made a heel-face turn as fast as corporate bureaucracy will allow, why is Finecast resin still being sold?
The answer lies in a number of boring economic realities and incentive structures:

• Whatever metal did to get the boot was apparently bad enough that GW wouldn’t switch back, even from Finecast. I suspect the simple material price is the culprit.
  
• For worse, Finecast was born and here already, after an exhausting labor, and while it’s not strictly ethical, you can just tell customers it’s a skill issue if they can’t handle warped product.
  
• GW did learn its lesson somewhat; you can’t just switch the material from one to another and expect it to play nice with kits designed for the older stuff. Even if they felt like wasting time converting pour molds into injection plates, that’s no reason to expect that the plastic injections would work. This marked a bit of a break in their product lineage. There was resin, and there was the new stuff.
  
• Hey, wait a minute! You can charge more for the ‘new stuff’! I mean, if the options are the old, uglier, hand-carved resin sprues and the newer, fancier, more-detailed plastic sprues, what’s a few extra bucks per kit? The answer is a much-needed bump in the ol’ profit margin.
  

Conclusion

It’s been more than a decade since Finecast’s replacement came in, so those resin models are a lot more rare on the webstore than they were in the past. It has gotten easier to just luck your way through a series of transactions that never see you waste a dollar on GW’s worst material.
Players have, of course, (mal)adapted, and they know the signs of Finecast resin in a way that was harder to spot way back when. (e.g. If a model looks old and shitty it probably is, some of the Finecast product pages mention the material) Heck, although the new website got a lot of criticism, it added the ability to sort by material, so you can remove finecast from the shop view entirely.
But make no mistake, plenty of people still lose an arm and a leg spending on Finecast, as they do in real minefields. And yes, I am ending on that corny pun.

EDIT: HI! After reading through these comments I'm liking some of the other ideas some of you are suggesting! Keep em coming I'm gonna make an update in a few days :)
hi!
4 year old Chinese crested mix of a lot of small dogs. Female, spayed. She has: allergies, but is on Zyrtec and they are controlled as per vet, and a sensitive stomach if she eats something too fatty or has table scraps. She currently eats royal canin (regular) after we spent years figuring out her GI issues were NOT a chicken allergy. (Hurray!!!)
She does not pee in the house (she used to for a short time, but I found out one of the anxiety meds she used to be on caused it because it was being used too much. she hasn't peed in the house since at all, and she'll willingly hold it all day if need be.) Poop though? She'll do it ANYWHERE and she couldn't care less - but the most common spot she goes in is the bedroom. We had the carpet cleaned as well as replaced in the house completely. Issue still stands. it's either there, or by the back door if she were to roam while no one is home - as though she knows well that where she should go is the backyard, but holding it just doesn't click in her mind after 4 entire years.
She does NOT SIGNAL unless she's sick. if she whines, it's all hands on deck and she's probably going to throw up that day (rare.) she MAY scratch at the back door IF someone is standing beside her and it's in the middle of say, a play session. Only then. Any other time, she only has subtle signs - the main one being sniffing at her own butt then looking at me. (She doesn't sniff the floor, but for her she just stops eating if we're hand-feeding for training or similar, she'll stop playing, and wander around aimlessly, 0 engagement)
checklist: Yes, she has been to the vet. Yes, she has had bloodwork. Yes, we've tried anxiety meds, but discovered very quickly it wasn't directly related to anxiety. Yes, we've tried potty bells, buttons, noise makers, all of the above. i'm not sure what i'm doing wrong and I haven't gotten any proper sleep since the day she came home almost lol! It's all been training, meds, and management.
Meds: probiotics, zyrtec, pancreatic enzyme (emergency only), anxiety meds (varied)
Things ive tried every day since the day she came home: *Taking her out every 5-15 minutes, 24-7, rewarding with the juiciest meat i could throw at her, except for at night now, as I was throwing up and sick more often as a result of the lack of sleep and waking her up repeatedly. it wasn't good for either of us, so i resolved to quit one job and soley work from home for a year. I can do this long term no longer. Result: she might pee a few times a day, and poop up to 2-4. (2 in the morning, 2 at night). at one point i was rewarding for every single toilet, highest rate of reinforcement possible, clapping and making a butt of myself in public, but she couldn't give a crap about praise and mostly ignores me outside of the treat. Yes, we work on engagement daily. she just isn't too praise driven (marker word is ok. she hates any hype things outside of the house or is indifferent.)
*kennel at night/anytime she can't be constantly supervised
Result: mixed. if she does pee/poop, she won't signal or cry. she'll literally just sit in it or lay in it like it doesn't even make a difference - or, if i'm going out to work (necessary) or.need groceries (can't keep affording delivery), if she didn't have to poop before, she'll magically have to poop right then as soon as i leave. once she goes, if she goes at all, she's fine after that. the window of time i can be gone varies DRASTICALLY so there's no obvious pattern. yes, we work on the seperation issues daily. she doesn't seem to care if she wets herself or poops in her sleeping area when it comes to the kennel. she happily goes inside when asked, naps and even sleeps within it overnight without any issue UNLESS she needs to poop/pee right then, and once that's done, sometimes she's allowed to sleep with me at night (as she doesn't poop/pee when im in the room unless she's sick, and in that case, she never cries or makes any signal period)
*1+ hr walks w/ training and play and anything i can think of, even in the worst of storms or weather until she goes, + extra time after she toilets so she doesn't associate poop/pee with running back inside.
Result: I'm disabled, so it's getting harder to walk for 1.5 hrs+ for the sake of trying to get her to go. and she hates rain. we aren't even talking about storms, we're talking the slightest drizzle. i very quickly made it a habit that she isn't to come inside period, outside of being in the kennel if the weather is too unsafe/drastic until she has at least done SOMETHING. same rules apply - praise, play, treat, whatever. she MIGHT take a treat, MAYBE. but after a while, even meat like boiled chicken or salmon she couldn't care less about and she'll just spit it out in favour of sniffing (which is ok ig) or even just going back inside anyway.
*ignoring dog outside/no big deal until she's gone to the bathroom (pooping specifically)
Result: she mostly just won't do anything at all. she'll lay in the grass for 2-3 hours straight and it isn't realistic for anyone to be awake at 4am in hopes that maybe she'll change her mind and go by 7am if we stand there long enough. she'll stand in the grass, maybe nervous with her paw raised - sometimes she won't even move and just stand frozen, staring at anything and everything, but will literally do nothing. sometimes she'll look up to me for a command, but that's it.
*Vet(s.) 5 to be exact.
Result: nothing. nothing was found and it was marked as behavioural and may have been the fault of my training. I can't afford a vet behaviourist anytime soon all over again. Every time I went to a reputable trainer I was told that with structure, she'd improve. She never really did. Sure. She doesn't pee in the house, but who wants a house that smells like animal poop?!!! I now have probiotics on hand as well as digestive enzymes just in case things go wrong, and canned pumpkin in case she ever had loose stool.
*Ignoring accidents and having even tighter security next time if possible. (I don't let her so much as enter another room alone unless it's an emergency, but this applied in the past otherwise.)
Result: Mixed. I don't yell or punish. She's sensitive over pretty much everything that moves and breathes since puppyhood sadly and I do believe that's just her personality. Confidence building helped with her reactivity (and now she very much wants to play with other friendly dogs on her own time,) but she's pretty much afraid of her own shadow, and sometimes even jumps/startles when there's nothing around to scare her. we could be playing, she's totally happy, and then poof, she stops playing, tucks her tail and seems almost afraid of ME. it's very random. When things like that happen, i happily end the session on a positive note, maybe toss a treat and otherwise give her space. she'll lay beside me and only want cuddles after that, so it is what it is unless I'm told otherwise. She does better as far away from home as possible for some reason. If she goes in the house, the most I've done is sigh, shrug, clean up, walk away for a bit until im happy perky jumpy mommy again if possible - if not, kennel if i can't supervise further, or acting mostly normal if that doesn't apply
*Umbilical method.
Result: impractical + she absolutely HATES it. I don't want to continue breaking her trust by forcing her to be attached to me ~5 ft, but so far it's been the best way to manage it... but it's at the cost of tripping over her, her planting herself on the floor and not wanting to move, her acting afraid/showing displeasure. she doesn't poop this way, though - and it stops me from having to clean a mess if I so much as had to go to the bathroom myself for 30 seconds ... but it's still very unrealistic to work from home this way, I never have space and neither can she unless shes in her kennel.
*Limiting access.
Result: Mixed. I stopped letting her on the bed even for pets for 4 months until I found out the peeing wasn't even her fault. She's reliable with holding it when I'm not around, but I haven't trusted her in a year now with any level of roaming. She isn't allowed anywhere else in the house except either of her two kennels, and tied to me on a tether if I go.
*Back to basics. Result: No change. already been stuck at basics and <45 minutes of trust for 4 straight years if she both pees/poops outside (usually i expect poop twice bc she always seems to have an "extra" that comes 30 minutes after the first one). Going outside every 5-15 minutes otherwise, kennel or tether only, never apart from her for longer than an hour or two (even while she's kenneled) to prevent pooping.
*Smaller kennel space Result: Can't limit kennel space anymore or she won't be able to turn around. We added another divider to limit her kennel room further. She cried for a few days on and off, then got used to it, and after 3 weeks of 0 accidents, I added just an inch at a time every 3 weeks to extend that space to make SURE. The moment she could stretch out 1/4th further, she just poops and sits in it (not away from it.) Pens are not an option - she'll poop there regardless of where it is and my house doesn't have the space for a larger run.
*New kennel Result: Same as above.
I feel exhausted and at a loss. I've pretty much accepted that there may be no other way but management for her but the exhaustion from the constant going in and out of the house, the watching like a hawk for signs of changes, barely being able to work with a clear mind without having to watch her or check to make sure she hasn't soiled herself and is sitting in it if she isn't tethered to me, cleaning messes if I forget to lock a door while tired (my fault). I deep clean the carpets monthly now which costs a lot of money, use enzyme and steam cleaners to clean any spot (even just where solid poop was.) I do my best to keep her happy and tbh all behavioural issues show improvement save for storms... and POOPING IN THE HOUSE! Someone please help!! Advice? Stories?
Also wanted to drop a mention .. are diapers ok when nothing else works? I don't want it to impede training if possible if she can even be trained at all, bit so I can sleep at night, she can have some level of freedom like a normal dog and I can have just a little leeway of something, are they OK to use at all?? Lots of people say no but I know opinions can be mixed. I want to meet here where she is atp and a part of me would rather scoop a poop from a diaper than have to pay for a monthly carpet redo. Is this permanent??? Is this really the right amount of management??
Any help & discussion is appreciated. Thank you!!!!!

I’ve decided to try my hand at regrowing my hair again and I’ve jumped in with both feet and just ordered a bunch of products to use.
I’m taking a “natural” approach, meaning, no lab engineerer system changing pills or minoxidil. However. if results are not satisfactory I will reevaluate my stance.
I have Male pattern baldness and am 26 years old.
I’d appreciate any comments or feedback on my plan to regain my lions mane.
I will be updating this post with progress pics monthly once I’ve received my products.
Cheers.
General Habitual Guidelines: * Dry hair with cold setting - Morning/Bed * Wear shower cap and only use filtered water for washing. * Avoid Direct sun 2-3 days after micro needling. * Use sun screen on scalp. * Four weekly dedicated massaging session by way of dr. Gauntiz around the 1-2 minutes mark. * Be gentle when massaging in shampoo, conditioner and other hair products to avoid unnecessary hair damage.
Micro-needling: I’ve ordered a Korabeauticals Dermapen and will be trying out my “own” routine based on literature and antedotal experience.
Week; 1-6: 1.5mm Weekly Week; 6-12: 1.5mm 10-20-30th days - 0.5mm 5-15-25th days Week; 12-18: 1.5mm Monthly - 0.5mm every 5th day- 0.25mm between .5mm sessions.

• Before: Gentle Cleanser Micellar Water Jojoba oil HA Serum Coconut oil
  
• After HA Serum Aloe Vera
  
• A few hours later Homemade Oil: Purpose; Nourish, Hydrate, Bloodflow & blocking of DHT Coconut Oil: 1 Table Spoon: 2/3 day size Almond Oil/1 - Jojoba/1 - VitE/1 - TeaTree/1
  
• GreenTea/1 - Rosemary/1 - Pumpkin/1 - Thyme/1 - Saw Palmetto/1 drop - Niacinamide/1
  

Wash out om the evening before applying a soothing mixture and moisturising cream.
Will be regulating products applied around micro-needling based on experience and the depth being micro-needled at.
Red Light Cap: The LEDs run at 660nm & 850nm with 96pcs, a cheap one bought of of AliExpress. My research into the topic is leading me to believe that the nm are pretty accurate but power output is rarely as high as written and nowhere as high as the expensive caps, meaning longer treatment time. I’ll be running it twice daily, for 15 minutes a pop. Before using I’ll make sure to clean my scalp with Micellar water or gentle cleanser to make sure the red light can fully penetrate. partly for that reason I will also be having my hair nice and short.
Mornings: 15min Red Light Cap 15min Mielle rosemary and mint Shampoo - Rotation + Essential Oils Conditioner - Rotation + Essential Oils Hair Loss Serum - Australian Bodycare
Night: 30-60Min Homemade Oil: Quadruple Strength; Jojoba as carrier Wash 15Min Red Light Cap Hair Loss Serum - Australian Bodycare
Acid Wednesday: Exfoliating with either Salacyclic acid or glycolic acid - HA Serum - Niacinamide

Part 1
Part 2
I was startled awake by loud pounding against my door.
“Breakfast!” a deep voice grunted.
A plastic lunch tray was shoved through a slot at the bottom of my door that I had failed to notice the day prior. It contained a styrofoam cup filled with a dark, yellow liquid that I prayed was apple juice, the runniest egg I had ever laid eyes on, two thin slices of bread, a pair of shriveled sausages, and a hard, moldy orange.
“Scrumptious,” I muttered, rolling my eyes. After everything I’d seen to that point, I was not at all surprised one bit.
I decided to stomach what I could, though I wasn’t hungry in the slightest. I knew that I seldom would be in that place, but if I was going to stay relatively healthy, I knew that I would need energy. So, I scarfed down most of the contents of my tray, gagging on several occasions as I did. I left the orange, for obvious reasons.
Around five minutes later, my door swung open, seemingly of its own volition. I cocked my head to the side. Was I beginning to hallucinate already? Had they slipped something into my apple juice?
I wandered up to the door to investigate. I peered out into the hall and noticed Erik shuffling away. He turned around, flashing me a grin. “Good morning, Elizabeth. It is okay if I called you that, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Erik, that is perfectly fine. Good morning,” I giggled. I could feel my cheeks flush with color. I’m not sure what it was. Perhaps Erik radiated a sense of security. Perhaps he had struck a chord with me during our chat the previous night. Perhaps I just enjoyed seeing his face. Whatever it was, I couldn’t help but return a warm smile.
“You’ll want to get to your station real quick this morning, Elizabeth. I like to give our higher functioning patients a head start before I let the loonies loose,” he said, continuing to his destination.
“Erik, wait! How am I to know where I’m stationed?”
“Oh. Right. There should be a piece of paper under your tray with your assignment. I’ve got it right here too, though,” he said, holding up a clipboard. “It looks like you’ll be doing crafts today. Go to the end of the hall and take a left. You can’t miss it. Let me know if you’d like me to, um, escort you,” Erik said, staring at his feet and wringing his hands.
I grinned. Erik was beginning to grow on me. “I think I’ll be able to manage just fine on my own. Thank you for offering. That was very thoughtful.”
“Don’t mention it,” he said, sending me one last smile before returning to his duties.
I padded down the filthy corridor in the flimsy shoes that I had been given upon arrival. If we were to perform tasks during the day, would it kill them to assign a few of us to wash the place every once in a while? Could they, at the very least, change the lightbulbs every decade or so? The lighting was abysmal in there.
I reached the end of the hallway and turned left, as instructed, to find a door with a placard labeled “therapy.” Lovely. Just what I needed. As I would come to learn, the plaque should have read “trauma department.”
I proceeded into the room, expecting to find a therapist’s office. What I actually saw still gives me nightmares.
When I pushed the door open, I found a woman sitting at a desk. Her hair was frazzled, and her hands were folded neatly across her lap. Her left eye twitched intermittently, but aside from that, she sat completely still, just… staring.
“Eh. Hello? I’m here for arts and crafts.”
The woman’s head violently jerked toward me. I took an instinctive step back. Her eyes. They were almost completely red with burst blood vessels. My heart began to hammer in my chest. Was this a patient or the instructor?
“Crafts? Oh, yes. Please take a seat and wait for your classmates to arrive,” she said, her lips curling into a devilish grin.
“Yes ma’am.” She did not have to tell me twice. I pulled out a green plastic chair from the children’s table I was directed to. That was strange. Once I had a chance to look around, I realized that everything inside the room was geared towards children.
A large, colorful rug covered the floor. A Mickey Mouse clock ticked endlessly over the doorway. A wide assortment of toys was piled in the corner. Why did that room exist? A devastating thought suddenly crossed my mind.
Did they keep children there?
I was pulled from my reverie by the sound of the door creaking open. Patients began to shuffle in, some taking seats at the table around me, while others opted to examine the classroom’s toy selection. I scanned the group for anyone I might recognize. Anyone who could help me through whatever the instructor had in store. Thankfully, I spotted someone.
Robert was one of the final patients to arrive. I shot him a warm smile. He kept his head low, shuffled over to me, and pulled out a chair.
“Robert, I am so grateful that you are here,” I whispered. It felt as if I was a schoolgirl again. As if speaking out of turn would earn me a slap to the back of the hand with a ruler.
“Likewise. We have to be careful. We can’t let the Joker over there notice that we know each other. The staff members don’t like it when we mingle with other patients. Aside from the caretakers, that is. They aren’t paid enough to give it any thought… Power in numbers, I suppose.”
I nodded, pursing my lips. “Understood.”
We sat there and watched as the remainder of the participants filed through the door. Once the Mickey Mouse clock struck 7 A.M., the wild-eyed instructor rose from her chair.
“Attention, class.”
Most of us perked up, however, a handful of detached individuals in the corner didn’t respond, mesmerized by their toys.
“Ahem. I said, ATTENTION CLASS,” the woman screeched. She fervently smacked the chalkboard behind her, rattling my eardrums and generating a small white cloud of dust. That seemed to do the trick. All eyes were on her.
“Please take your seats. My name is Mrs. Calloway, and I will-”
The door suddenly opened and a man stepped inside. My stomach twisted into knots when I realized who it was.
“Oh, Doctor Cotton. How lovely of you to join us.”
All of the unruly patients immediately beelined for their seats. I turned to Robert. His face had drained of color, and he appeared as if he might pass out.
“Thank you, Jennifer. I am pleased to join you.”
“The pleasure is all mine, Doctor. Take a seat, if you will. We were just about to begin.”
He nodded and began to make his way over to the table. My heart felt as if it would leap from my chest at a moment’s notice.
Not the chair across from me. Please, anything but that.
Each step Doctor Cotton took sounded thunderous as his shoes clacked against the tile. I tried to keep my head down, focusing on the patterns in the wooden table before me. Once I heard the footsteps stop, I paused. The entire room had gone eerily silent aside from the blood pounding in my ears. I hesitantly glanced up and nearly leapt out of my skin.
Doctor Cotton was towering over me, smiling so wide that I thought the corners of his lips might tear. He loomed menacingly above me for a moment more, before pulling out the chair opposite me and taking his seat.
“Hello again, Miss Mueller. I hope that I did not frighten you too terribly with my demonstration last night.”
“I- I’m fine,” I murmured, averting my gaze.
“And Mister Schultz,” he sneered, turning to Robert. You have been taking care of yourself, I hope? Your operation seems to have been a massive success,” he smirked, indicating Robert’s severed digit.
“Yes. I believe that I have been cured,” Robert muttered, never daring to make eye contact.
“I am glad to hear it. Jennifer,” Doctor Cotton said, turning to our manic instructor. “Please do not delay your lesson on my account. I am merely here to observe.”
“Very well. As I was saying, my name is Mrs. Calloway. I will begin our lesson momentarily, but before I do, I will need to administer a bit of… physical therapy. Doctor’s orders,” she grinned, her eyes darting and frantic.
My heart sank. Why had Doctor Cotton joined us? Did the instructor have a few screws loose? What did she mean by “physical therapy?” The whole thing felt wrong.
The depraved woman approached the table and lifted her sundress. I was instantly revolted at what I saw.
Fat, black sacks of flesh writhed on her torso, pulsating like beating hearts. They appeared slimy to the touch. I wasn’t particularly familiar with the animal kingdom, but I knew exactly what those grotesque parasites were - leeches.
“Each of you will be handed one of- ugh ah!” the woman shouted, tearing one of the plump masses from her skin. “One of these. And you will allow it to cleanse your blood during our activities.”
A thin, wiry man suddenly shot up from his seat. “I- I can’t do this, man. Not again.” He bolted to the door before Mrs. Calloway or Doctor Cotton had a chance to stop him. Not that they tried…
The man reached the door without incident and flung it open. He was greeted by a hulking monstrosity blocking his exit. Samson.
“And where do you think you’re going?” Samson growled. The man began backing away, holding his hands up.
“Look. You don’t understand-”
“Oh, I understand perfectly. I understand that you’re unwilling to follow instructions,” Samson snarled, lurching forward and grabbing the man aggressively by his collar. Samson dragged him back to the table as the man kicked and punched the giant’s leg to no avail.
He slammed the terrified man’s head onto the table, temporarily immobilizing him. “The patient is ready for treatment, Doctor,” Samson said, a smile inching across his dry, cracked lips. Doctor Cotton returned his own sinister grin, before facing Mrs. Calloway.
“You may proceed.”
She marched up to the man, tightly clutching the wriggling leech. Mrs. Calloway held the blood sucker to the man’s cheek as he futilely squirmed and flailed. The man released a guttural shriek as the parasite sunk its tiny teeth into his flesh. The remainder of us could only stare in shock. No one dared move a muscle. Doctor Cotton and his lackeys had made it painfully obvious what would happen if we did not comply.
“Take your seat. And if I see you try to tear that thing off, a puny leech will be the least of your worries,” Samson barked, pointing a commanding finger toward an empty chair. The man cowered and scampered off to reclaim his seat.
For the remainder of the class, Samson stood against the wall, watching over us. His presence alone was enough to keep all of the patients in line.
Mrs. Calloway continued around the room, plucking leeches from her body and handing them to each of us. By the time she was through, small chunks of flesh had been intermittently torn from her abdomen, and she was drenched in blood. The sight of our instructor walking around the classroom giving out lumpy, overfed leeches from her bleeding torso is one that I will never be able to erase from my memory.
When it became my turn to stick the leech to my skin, I glanced at Robert. His was attached to his forearm, so I decided to follow suit. I winced as the nasty thing burrowed its jaws into my flesh. I felt nothing, aside from a slight pain and a tingling sensation. I realized that the man from earlier had greatly exaggerated how painful the experience was.
Somehow, the remainder of the class was relatively mundane. Aside from my blood slowly being drained from my body and Doctor Cotton’s menacing gaze boring into me the entire time, that is.
After several hours of coloring and molding figures from clay, we were finally released from the confines of the classroom. By that point, the leeches had sucked up their fill of blood and had naturally detached themselves. Disgusting little creatures, if you ask me.
“Class dismissed! Please proceed to the mess hall,” Mrs. Calloway said, that sickeningly wide grin still plastered to her lips.
I rose from my chair, itching to escape the predatory gaze of the good doctor. I kept my head down, following closely behind Robert.
“Miss Mueller.”
I stopped in my tracks, my temporary relief shattered. I could see Robert pause for a moment out of my periphery before he continued.
“Yes, Doctor?” I replied, attempting to mask the unease in my tone.
“Stay a moment, if you will. There is an important matter that I would like to discuss with you.”
My heart dropped into my stomach. That was the last thing I wanted to hear.
“Very well,” I said, reclaiming my seat as the remainder of the patients filed out of the room. Once the door clicked shut, I found myself trapped in a room with Mrs. Calloway, Samson, and Doctor Cotton. I felt like a meerkat surrounded by a pack of wild hyenas.
“Now then, let’s get down to business, shall we?”
“Yes, Doctor. I’m all ears.”
He positioned his elbows on the table between us and leaned closer. My head started to spin and I began to feel faint. After our previous encounter, I wanted nothing to do with that man. But, unfortunately for me, I had no choice.
“In case you haven’t noticed, I have been observing your behavior. Upon closer inspection, I have reached a conclusion. Would you like to know what that conclusion is, Miss Mueller?” A disturbing smile inched across Doctor Cotton’s lips. Samson snickered from his position against the wall.
I gulped, a dry lump trundling down my throat. “I suppose so, yes.”
“Miss Mueller, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it appears that your psychosis is far more severe than we originally thought. Your behavior has been… unruly, to say the least. So, it has come to my attention that you will require oral surgery in order to correct the issue.”
Psychosis? Unruly behavior? What was he going on about? He was kidding. He had to be. I’d followed every command to the letter, and I hadn’t exhibited any signs of mental deterioration. It must have been a joke.
“Surely, there has been some kind of mistake, Doctor. I feel completely fine. Furthermore, I am unaware of the behavioral issues you mentioned. To my knowledge, I have not stepped out of line.”
Doctor Cotton sighed dramatically, standing from his seat.
“Do not play coy, Miss Mueller. Samson has recanted everything to me. This is your official notice to prepare yourself,” he said, that shark-like grin returning to his lips. “I have scheduled your operation for tomorrow morning.”
I was numb. Walking through the hallway, receiving my bowl of gruel from the lunch lady, right up until Mary waved me over to sit beside her and the rest of the group.
I couldn’t even begin to process the doctor’s words. Oral surgery? In the morning? For what? I hadn’t even been there for a full day, and the staff were already preparing to pluck my teeth from my skull. I was in utter shock.
“Hello? Earth to Elizabeth,” Mary said, snapping her fingers in my face.
I blinked rapidly, then shifted my focus to my new-found friends. “Right. My apologies. My head was in the clouds,” I said, taking my seat.
“So? Fill us in on all the details. What’d the doctor say to you back there?” Robert inquired, eyebrows raised expectantly.
“Now, now. Give the poor girl a chance to eat. She must be starving,” George said, twisting the ends of his mustache.
“Um, yes, I-” I instantly lost my appetite when I laid eyes on the gray, watery mush coagulating before me. “Nevermind.”
“See? Nobody can stomach this slop. Not even me. And I’ll eat basically anything,” Robert retorted, a smug grin creeping across his face.
“We can tell,” Mary smirked. Robert crossed his arms and scowled at her.
“Elizabeth, dear, do not feel inclined to tell us anything. Though I will admit, we are all itching to know why the doctor seems to be so obsessed with you as of late,” George confessed, searching my eyes for clues.
I sighed. They were going to find out anyway. May as well rip the band-aid off.
“Doctor Cotton held me back to t-tell me. I apologize. I need a moment.” I choked back the tears threatening to spill down my cheeks, before continuing. “Doctor Cotton has scheduled me for surgery. Tomorrow morning, he plans to remove my teeth.”
The group's eyes collectively widened, the color draining from their faces.
“That man is pure evil,” Robert whimpered.
“George,” Mary said, maintaining fierce eye contact with him. He quickly averted his gaze. “George, she has to come with us. We can’t just leave her here. Not now.”
George took a long breath, before slowly exhaling. “I know. I will need to make some slight alterations, but I believe that everything will still go according to plan.”
My brows furrowed as I glanced between the pair. “Come with you where, may I ask? And what is this ‘plan’ you are referring to?”
George locked eyes with me, a stern severity overtaking his countenance. He leaned across the table and cupped his hand to my ear. “Tonight, we are going to escape.”
Final
OD Post

Part 1
Part 2
I was startled awake by loud pounding against my door.
“Breakfast!” a deep voice grunted.
A plastic lunch tray was shoved through a slot at the bottom of my door that I had failed to notice the day prior. It contained a styrofoam cup filled with a dark, yellow liquid that I prayed was apple juice, the runniest egg I had ever laid eyes on, two thin slices of bread, a pair of shriveled sausages, and a hard, moldy orange.
“Scrumptious,” I muttered, rolling my eyes. After everything I’d seen to that point, I was not at all surprised one bit.
I decided to stomach what I could, though I wasn’t hungry in the slightest. I knew that I seldom would be in that place, but if I was going to stay relatively healthy, I knew that I would need energy. So, I scarfed down most of the contents of my tray, gagging on several occasions as I did. I left the orange, for obvious reasons.
Around five minutes later, my door swung open, seemingly of its own volition. I cocked my head to the side. Was I beginning to hallucinate already? Had they slipped something into my apple juice?
I wandered up to the door to investigate. I peered out into the hall and noticed Erik shuffling away. He turned around, flashing me a grin. “Good morning, Elizabeth. It is okay if I called you that, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Erik, that is perfectly fine. Good morning,” I giggled. I could feel my cheeks flush with color. I’m not sure what it was. Perhaps Erik radiated a sense of security. Perhaps he had struck a chord with me during our chat the previous night. Perhaps I just enjoyed seeing his face. Whatever it was, I couldn’t help but return a warm smile.
“You’ll want to get to your station real quick this morning, Elizabeth. I like to give our higher functioning patients a head start before I let the loonies loose,” he said, continuing to his destination.
“Erik, wait! How am I to know where I’m stationed?”
“Oh. Right. There should be a piece of paper under your tray with your assignment. I’ve got it right here too, though,” he said, holding up a clipboard. “It looks like you’ll be doing crafts today. Go to the end of the hall and take a left. You can’t miss it. Let me know if you’d like me to, um, escort you,” Erik said, staring at his feet and wringing his hands.
I grinned. Erik was beginning to grow on me. “I think I’ll be able to manage just fine on my own. Thank you for offering. That was very thoughtful.”
“Don’t mention it,” he said, sending me one last smile before returning to his duties.
I padded down the filthy corridor in the flimsy shoes that I had been given upon arrival. If we were to perform tasks during the day, would it kill them to assign a few of us to wash the place every once in a while? Could they, at the very least, change the lightbulbs every decade or so? The lighting was abysmal in there.
I reached the end of the hallway and turned left, as instructed, to find a door with a placard labeled “therapy.” Lovely. Just what I needed. As I would come to learn, the plaque should have read “trauma department.”
I proceeded into the room, expecting to find a therapist’s office. What I actually saw still gives me nightmares.
When I pushed the door open, I found a woman sitting at a desk. Her hair was frazzled, and her hands were folded neatly across her lap. Her left eye twitched intermittently, but aside from that, she sat completely still, just… staring.
“Eh. Hello? I’m here for arts and crafts.”
The woman’s head violently jerked toward me. I took an instinctive step back. Her eyes. They were almost completely red with burst blood vessels. My heart began to hammer in my chest. Was this a patient or the instructor?
“Crafts? Oh, yes. Please take a seat and wait for your classmates to arrive,” she said, her lips curling into a devilish grin.
“Yes ma’am.” She did not have to tell me twice. I pulled out a green plastic chair from the children’s table I was directed to. That was strange. Once I had a chance to look around, I realized that everything inside the room was geared towards children.
A large, colorful rug covered the floor. A Mickey Mouse clock ticked endlessly over the doorway. A wide assortment of toys was piled in the corner. Why did that room exist? A devastating thought suddenly crossed my mind.
Did they keep children there?
I was pulled from my reverie by the sound of the door creaking open. Patients began to shuffle in, some taking seats at the table around me, while others opted to examine the classroom’s toy selection. I scanned the group for anyone I might recognize. Anyone who could help me through whatever the instructor had in store. Thankfully, I spotted someone.
Robert was one of the final patients to arrive. I shot him a warm smile. He kept his head low, shuffled over to me, and pulled out a chair.
“Robert, I am so grateful that you are here,” I whispered. It felt as if I was a schoolgirl again. As if speaking out of turn would earn me a slap to the back of the hand with a ruler.
“Likewise. We have to be careful. We can’t let the Joker over there notice that we know each other. The staff members don’t like it when we mingle with other patients. Aside from the caretakers, that is. They aren’t paid enough to give it any thought… Power in numbers, I suppose.”
I nodded, pursing my lips. “Understood.”
We sat there and watched as the remainder of the participants filed through the door. Once the Mickey Mouse clock struck 7 A.M., the wild-eyed instructor rose from her chair.
“Attention, class.”
Most of us perked up, however, a handful of detached individuals in the corner didn’t respond, mesmerized by their toys.
“Ahem. I said, ATTENTION CLASS,” the woman screeched. She fervently smacked the chalkboard behind her, rattling my eardrums and generating a small white cloud of dust. That seemed to do the trick. All eyes were on her.
“Please take your seats. My name is Mrs. Calloway, and I will-”
The door suddenly opened and a man stepped inside. My stomach twisted into knots when I realized who it was.
“Oh, Doctor Cotton. How lovely of you to join us.”
All of the unruly patients immediately beelined for their seats. I turned to Robert. His face had drained of color, and he appeared as if he might pass out.
“Thank you, Jennifer. I am pleased to join you.”
“The pleasure is all mine, Doctor. Take a seat, if you will. We were just about to begin.”
He nodded and began to make his way over to the table. My heart felt as if it would leap from my chest at a moment’s notice.
Not the chair across from me. Please, anything but that.
Each step Doctor Cotton took sounded thunderous as his shoes clacked against the tile. I tried to keep my head down, focusing on the patterns in the wooden table before me. Once I heard the footsteps stop, I paused. The entire room had gone eerily silent aside from the blood pounding in my ears. I hesitantly glanced up and nearly leapt out of my skin.
Doctor Cotton was towering over me, smiling so wide that I thought the corners of his lips might tear. He loomed menacingly above me for a moment more, before pulling out the chair opposite me and taking his seat.
“Hello again, Miss Mueller. I hope that I did not frighten you too terribly with my demonstration last night.”
“I- I’m fine,” I murmured, averting my gaze.
“And Mister Schultz,” he sneered, turning to Robert. You have been taking care of yourself, I hope? Your operation seems to have been a massive success,” he smirked, indicating Robert’s severed digit.
“Yes. I believe that I have been cured,” Robert muttered, never daring to make eye contact.
“I am glad to hear it. Jennifer,” Doctor Cotton said, turning to our manic instructor. “Please do not delay your lesson on my account. I am merely here to observe.”
“Very well. As I was saying, my name is Mrs. Calloway. I will begin our lesson momentarily, but before I do, I will need to administer a bit of… physical therapy. Doctor’s orders,” she grinned, her eyes darting and frantic.
My heart sank. Why had Doctor Cotton joined us? Did the instructor have a few screws loose? What did she mean by “physical therapy?” The whole thing felt wrong.
The depraved woman approached the table and lifted her sundress. I was instantly revolted at what I saw.
Fat, black sacks of flesh writhed on her torso, pulsating like beating hearts. They appeared slimy to the touch. I wasn’t particularly familiar with the animal kingdom, but I knew exactly what those grotesque parasites were - leeches.
“Each of you will be handed one of- ugh ah!” the woman shouted, tearing one of the plump masses from her skin. “One of these. And you will allow it to cleanse your blood during our activities.”
A thin, wiry man suddenly shot up from his seat. “I- I can’t do this, man. Not again.” He bolted to the door before Mrs. Calloway or Doctor Cotton had a chance to stop him. Not that they tried…
The man reached the door without incident and flung it open. He was greeted by a hulking monstrosity blocking his exit. Samson.
“And where do you think you’re going?” Samson growled. The man began backing away, holding his hands up.
“Look. You don’t understand-”
“Oh, I understand perfectly. I understand that you’re unwilling to follow instructions,” Samson snarled, lurching forward and grabbing the man aggressively by his collar. Samson dragged him back to the table as the man kicked and punched the giant’s leg to no avail.
He slammed the terrified man’s head onto the table, temporarily immobilizing him. “The patient is ready for treatment, Doctor,” Samson said, a smile inching across his dry, cracked lips. Doctor Cotton returned his own sinister grin, before facing Mrs. Calloway.
“You may proceed.”
She marched up to the man, tightly clutching the wriggling leech. Mrs. Calloway held the blood sucker to the man’s cheek as he futilely squirmed and flailed. The man released a guttural shriek as the parasite sunk its tiny teeth into his flesh. The remainder of us could only stare in shock. No one dared move a muscle. Doctor Cotton and his lackeys had made it painfully obvious what would happen if we did not comply.
“Take your seat. And if I see you try to tear that thing off, a puny leech will be the least of your worries,” Samson barked, pointing a commanding finger toward an empty chair. The man cowered and scampered off to reclaim his seat.
For the remainder of the class, Samson stood against the wall, watching over us. His presence alone was enough to keep all of the patients in line.
Mrs. Calloway continued around the room, plucking leeches from her body and handing them to each of us. By the time she was through, small chunks of flesh had been intermittently torn from her abdomen, and she was drenched in blood. The sight of our instructor walking around the classroom giving out lumpy, overfed leeches from her bleeding torso is one that I will never be able to erase from my memory.
When it became my turn to stick the leech to my skin, I glanced at Robert. His was attached to his forearm, so I decided to follow suit. I winced as the nasty thing burrowed its jaws into my flesh. I felt nothing, aside from a slight pain and a tingling sensation. I realized that the man from earlier had greatly exaggerated how painful the experience was.
Somehow, the remainder of the class was relatively mundane. Aside from my blood slowly being drained from my body and Doctor Cotton’s menacing gaze boring into me the entire time, that is.
After several hours of coloring and molding figures from clay, we were finally released from the confines of the classroom. By that point, the leeches had sucked up their fill of blood and had naturally detached themselves. Disgusting little creatures, if you ask me.
“Class dismissed! Please proceed to the mess hall,” Mrs. Calloway said, that sickeningly wide grin still plastered to her lips.
I rose from my chair, itching to escape the predatory gaze of the good doctor. I kept my head down, following closely behind Robert.
“Miss Mueller.”
I stopped in my tracks, my temporary relief shattered. I could see Robert pause for a moment out of my periphery before he continued.
“Yes, Doctor?” I replied, attempting to mask the unease in my tone.
“Stay a moment, if you will. There is an important matter that I would like to discuss with you.”
My heart dropped into my stomach. That was the last thing I wanted to hear.
“Very well,” I said, reclaiming my seat as the remainder of the patients filed out of the room. Once the door clicked shut, I found myself trapped in a room with Mrs. Calloway, Samson, and Doctor Cotton. I felt like a meerkat surrounded by a pack of wild hyenas.
“Now then, let’s get down to business, shall we?”
“Yes, Doctor. I’m all ears.”
He positioned his elbows on the table between us and leaned closer. My head started to spin and I began to feel faint. After our previous encounter, I wanted nothing to do with that man. But, unfortunately for me, I had no choice.
“In case you haven’t noticed, I have been observing your behavior. Upon closer inspection, I have reached a conclusion. Would you like to know what that conclusion is, Miss Mueller?” A disturbing smile inched across Doctor Cotton’s lips. Samson snickered from his position against the wall.
I gulped, a dry lump trundling down my throat. “I suppose so, yes.”
“Miss Mueller, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it appears that your psychosis is far more severe than we originally thought. Your behavior has been… unruly, to say the least. So, it has come to my attention that you will require oral surgery in order to correct the issue.”
Psychosis? Unruly behavior? What was he going on about? He was kidding. He had to be. I’d followed every command to the letter, and I hadn’t exhibited any signs of mental deterioration. It must have been a joke.
“Surely, there has been some kind of mistake, Doctor. I feel completely fine. Furthermore, I am unaware of the behavioral issues you mentioned. To my knowledge, I have not stepped out of line.”
Doctor Cotton sighed dramatically, standing from his seat.
“Do not play coy, Miss Mueller. Samson has recanted everything to me. This is your official notice to prepare yourself,” he said, that shark-like grin returning to his lips. “I have scheduled your operation for tomorrow morning.”
I was numb. Walking through the hallway, receiving my bowl of gruel from the lunch lady, right up until Mary waved me over to sit beside her and the rest of the group.
I couldn’t even begin to process the doctor’s words. Oral surgery? In the morning? For what? I hadn’t even been there for a full day, and the staff were already preparing to pluck my teeth from my skull. I was in utter shock.
“Hello? Earth to Elizabeth,” Mary said, snapping her fingers in my face.
I blinked rapidly, then shifted my focus to my new-found friends. “Right. My apologies. My head was in the clouds,” I said, taking my seat.
“So? Fill us in on all the details. What’d the doctor say to you back there?” Robert inquired, eyebrows raised expectantly.
“Now, now. Give the poor girl a chance to eat. She must be starving,” George said, twisting the ends of his mustache.
“Um, yes, I-” I instantly lost my appetite when I laid eyes on the gray, watery mush coagulating before me. “Nevermind.”
“See? Nobody can stomach this slop. Not even me. And I’ll eat basically anything,” Robert retorted, a smug grin creeping across his face.
“We can tell,” Mary smirked. Robert crossed his arms and scowled at her.
“Elizabeth, dear, do not feel inclined to tell us anything. Though I will admit, we are all itching to know why the doctor seems to be so obsessed with you as of late,” George confessed, searching my eyes for clues.
I sighed. They were going to find out anyway. May as well rip the band-aid off.
“Doctor Cotton held me back to t-tell me. I apologize. I need a moment.” I choked back the tears threatening to spill down my cheeks, before continuing. “Doctor Cotton has scheduled me for surgery. Tomorrow morning, he plans to remove my teeth.”
The group's eyes collectively widened, the color draining from their faces.
“That man is pure evil,” Robert whimpered.
“George,” Mary said, maintaining fierce eye contact with him. He quickly averted his gaze. “George, she has to come with us. We can’t just leave her here. Not now.”
George took a long breath, before slowly exhaling. “I know. I will need to make some slight alterations, but I believe that everything will still go according to plan.”
My brows furrowed as I glanced between the pair. “Come with you where, may I ask? And what is this ‘plan’ you are referring to?”
George locked eyes with me, a stern severity overtaking his countenance. He leaned across the table and cupped his hand to my ear. “Tonight, we are going to escape."
Final

As a community, we rely on shared experiences to navigate the vast sea of online platforms. Today, I stumbled upon some alarming comments on Trustpilot regarding Ultima Markets (http://ultimamarkets.com/). Two users, Renzo Guo and Joker Joker, have shared troubling encounters, shedding light on potential issues with this brokerage. Let's delve into their experiences:
Review 1: Renzo Guo
Renzo Guo's encounter with Ultima Markets raises serious concerns. According to Renzo, the brokerage operates under questionable practices. Renzo claims that Ultima Markets swiftly bans accounts that show profit, preventing users from withdrawing their earnings. This abrupt action, as Renzo describes, leaves traders feeling cheated and disillusioned. Renzo's experience begs the question: Is Ultima Markets prioritizing their own gains over the success of their clients?
Review 2: Joker Joker
Joker Joker's account further corroborates the suspicions raised by Renzo Guo. Joker Joker's experience outlines a similar pattern of behavior from Ultima Markets. Despite using their own trading strategy and achieving significant profits, Joker Joker faced obstacles when attempting to withdraw funds. Ultima Markets' alleged refusal to honor withdrawals, citing ambiguous "internal rules," paints a troubling picture. Joker Joker's assertion that positive reviews may be misleading adds another layer of caution for potential users.
Conclusion:
These testimonials from Renzo Guo and Joker Joker serve as cautionary tales for anyone considering Ultima Markets as their brokerage of choice. The recurring theme of accounts being banned or withdrawals being denied upon achieving profits raises red flags about the company's integrity and transparency. As a community, it's crucial to share and scrutinize such experiences to protect ourselves and others from potential scams or unethical practices. Have you had any experiences with Ultima Markets? Share your thoughts and insights below.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this post are based on the shared experiences of users on Trustpilot. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own research and due diligence before engaging with any brokerage or financial service.
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"I am going to be 48 years old in a few weeks. I have been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder since I was twenty years old. Much of my life, I have met all of the criteria of this disorder, and I have had a long, hard road ahead once it dawned on me that it was true. I have a fundamental dysfunction in my personality. I cannot cope with the world because at my core, I am unable to maintain stability as a functional adult for long periods of time due to my impulsive nature and my ability to forgive and love unconditionally. I don't know how to reconcile those traits with a healthy and successful life. My relationships are 'ride or die,' with me as the enabledoormat/reactionary drama queen. I tend to date men who need constant, obsessive attention and servitude, with them being the dominant to my submissive, their ego to my down-to-earth, and they are the Narcissist to my Borderline. I don't want to romanticize like so many JokeHarley memes, but this has been the way that it has gone for far too long.
My upbringing wasn't even close to being abusive. I was the only child, and my parents stayed married. I was sheltered, with no physical or sexual abuse; both of my parents were good people who loved me. It wasn't easy; we lacked money but never love. We struggled, but there were so many things that were different than for most people, in cool ways and in ways that were not cool. But never was I considered 'normal.'
One of the challenges of being Borderline is the difficulty in being our own therapist. Not because of this new 'favorite person' misinformation, but because we struggle with justifying anything. We see very little wrong with the way we are; we just need to know how we can make others understand that it's okay that we are intense, unpredictable in a predictable way, and humanly sensitive to everything that affects us. We insert ourselves into everything so we can let it all affect us. We claim that we didn't realize that we're supposed to change because we see no problem with the way we are; it's other people who are concerned, and we are not concerned with what people think (except when we are). So why do we have to change? It's our life, the one that is unmanageable and dysfunctional, and giving us unhoused vibes. This is still our life, and it's not easy to get through that we need to act accordingly because we don't care about your self-esteem; why do you care about ours?
So, we are often pushed into admitting that we can potentially be a little bit much. We are painted into the roles of the serial killer and the horrible Narcissistic Personality Disorder twin flame that nobody trusts because we follow our hearts (and we tend to hold grudges). Our dynamics are different, but we all follow astrology. Our sign is 'complete psycho' most of the time. I have been trying to figure out how to make it so we can get along with the world and it is not our enemy...but people keep messing up the whole situation.
People with borderline personality disorder may exhibit fear of abandonment through intense and unstable relationships. They might go to great lengths to avoid real or perceived abandonment, such as clinging to others, becoming quickly and intensely attached, or displaying extreme reactions (anger, panic, or depression) when they anticipate abandonment.
Abandonment fears can lead to impulsive actions to prevent separation or worse, therefore it's important to seek professional help for a comprehensive understanding and support. Additionally, individuals with BPD may engage in frantic efforts to avoid abandonment, such as making frantic, impulsive gestures to maintain a connection, even if those actions are not in their best interest. They might experience intense feelings of emptiness when alone and may go to extremes to fill that void. These behaviors can strain relationships, making it challenging for individuals with BPD to establish and maintain stable connections with others. Therapy, particularly dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), is often recommended to help manage and address these challenges.
Patterns of instability in borderline personality disorder (BPD) refer to consistent and recurring disruptions in various aspects of a person's life. This instability typically manifests in the following areas:

1. Relationships: Individuals with BPD often experience tumultuous relationships marked by extremes of idealization and devaluation. Their attitudes and feelings toward others may change rapidly, contributing to a cycle of intense, yet unstable, interpersonal connections.
   
2. Self-Image: BPD can involve an unstable sense of self. Individuals may struggle with a fluctuating self-identity, feeling uncertain about who they are, their values, and their life goals. This instability in self-perception can lead to a lack of direction and purpose.
   
3. Emotions: Emotional instability is a hallmark of BPD. Intense and rapidly shifting emotions, such as anger, anxiety, and sadness, can be challenging to regulate. Mood swings may occur in response to external events or perceived threats to relationships.
   
4. Impulsivity: Impulsive behaviors in areas like spending, substance abuse, reckless driving, or unsafe sexual practices are common in individuals with BPD. These actions often stem from a desire to alleviate emotional distress or avoid perceived abandonment.
   

These patterns of instability can significantly impact a person's daily functioning and relationships, making it crucial for individuals with BPD to seek professional help for effective management and support. In the context of borderline personality disorder (BPD), impulsivity refers to engaging in behaviors without careful consideration of the consequences. Individuals with BPD may display impulsive actions in various areas of their lives, such as:

1. Spending: Reckless and impulsive spending, often beyond one's means, is common in individuals with BPD.
   
2. Substance Abuse: Engaging in impulsive and risky behaviors related to substance use, including alcohol and drugs.
   
3. Sexual Behavior: Unplanned and impulsive sexual encounters, sometimes without regard for potential consequences, can occur.
   
4. Reckless Driving: Impulsive and risky driving behaviors, such as speeding or dangerous maneuvers.
   
5. Self-Harm: Engaging in impulsive self-harming behaviors as a way to cope with intense emotions.
   

Impulsivity in BPD can be driven by a desire to alleviate emotional pain, boredom, or to avoid perceived abandonment. Developing coping strategies and emotional regulation skills through therapy, particularly dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), can be beneficial in managing impulsive behaviors associated with BPD.
Identity disturbance in borderline personality disorder (BPD) refers to a pervasive and unstable sense of self. Individuals with BPD may struggle with a coherent and consistent understanding of who they are, which can manifest in several ways:

1. Self-Image Fluctuations: A person with BPD may experience rapid shifts in self-perception, ranging from feeling exceptionally positive to extremely negative about themselves. This can occur within short periods.
   
2. Uncertainty About Goals and Values: Individuals with identity disturbance may have difficulty establishing and maintaining long-term goals or consistent values. They might struggle with defining their life direction and purpose.
   
3. Chameleon-Like Adaptation: Some individuals with BPD may adopt different personas or behaviors in different social situations, often as a means to fit in or avoid rejection. This can lead to a lack of stable and authentic self-expression. Intense Fear of Abandonment: The fear of abandonment can exacerbate identity issues, as individuals may shape their identity based on the perceived expectations or desires of others, leading to a lack of a stable core sense of self.
   

Addressing identity disturbance in BPD often involves therapeutic interventions, such as dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) or psychodynamic therapy. These approaches aim to help individuals explore and develop a more stable and authentic sense of self.
Dissociation in borderline personality disorder (BPD) refers to a coping mechanism where individuals disconnect from their thoughts, feelings, memories, or sense of identity. This disconnection can occur as a response to stress, trauma, or overwhelming emotions. Dissociative experiences in BPD may include:

1. Depersonalization: Feeling detached from oneself, as if observing from outside the body.
   
2. Derealization: Perceiving the external environment as unreal or distorted.
   
3. Amnesia: Gaps in memory, especially related to stressful events or periods of intense emotion.
   
4. Identity Confusion: Momentary lapses in awareness of one's identity or feeling unsure about who they are.
   

Dissociation serves as a way for individuals with BPD to manage distress, particularly when emotions become too overwhelming. However, it can interfere with daily functioning and contribute to difficulties in relationships. Therapy, especially approaches like dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and trauma-focused therapy, may help individuals develop healthier coping mechanisms and address dissociative experiences.
Certainly, here are some examples of dissociative experiences that individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) may encounter:

1. Depersonalization: Feeling as though you are watching yourself from a distance, almost like being an observer rather than an active participant in your own life.
   
2. Derealization: Perceiving the external world as strange, unreal, or distorted. You may be on a heavy trip off mushrooms and wandering around the closet park in the middle of the night feels different when you are over 40. It hits different, and you can get in a lot more trouble than experimenting teenagers. You're not holding a job long under these circumstances.
   
3. Amnesia: Having periods of time where you cannot recall significant details or events, especially those associated with heightened emotional states or trauma. If you are being sedated for trying to call the same number over and over at three am because you desperately need to move to
   
4. Identity Confusion: Brief moments of not recognizing oneself or feeling uncertain about personal identity, values, or goals. Taking in the attributes of your signiotg
   

It's important to note that dissociative experiences can vary widely among individuals, and not everyone with BPD will necessarily experience these examples. If you or someone you know is experiencing dissociation or other symptoms associated with BPD, seeking professional help from a mental health practitioner is crucial for appropriate diagnosis and support.
Suicidal ideation in borderline personality disorder (BPD) involves persistent thoughts about death, dying, or the desire to end one's life. Individuals with BPD may experience varying degrees of suicidal thoughts, ranging from fleeting notions to detailed plans. Some aspects of suicidal ideation in BPD include:

1. Frequency and Intensity: Suicidal ideation can be a chronic feature, with thoughts occurring regularly or intermittently. The intensity can range from vague thoughts to detailed plans.
   
2. Impulsivity: Individuals with BPD may be prone to impulsive behaviors, and this impulsivity can extend to suicidal acts or self-harming behaviors during periods of emotional distress.
   
3. Sense of Hopelessness: Suicidal thoughts in BPD can be linked to a pervasive sense of hopelessness, often fueled by challenges in relationships, identity, and emotional regulation.
   
4. Coping Mechanism: For some, suicidal ideation may serve as a coping mechanism, providing a perceived escape from emotional pain or a means to regain control.
   

Addressing suicidal ideation in BPD requires immediate attention from mental health professionals. Therapeutic interventions, such as dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), can be effective in helping individuals manage intense emotions and develop healthier coping strategies. If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, it's crucial to seek help from a mental health professional or a crisis hotline immediately.
Mood swings in borderline personality disorder (BPD) are characterized by rapid and intense changes in emotional states. These fluctuations can occur in response to various triggers or even without apparent cause. Key aspects of mood swings in BPD include:

1. Intensity: Emotions can shift from one extreme to another rapidly, with individuals experiencing intense feelings of joy, anger, sadness, or anxiety.
   
2. Instability: The duration of mood swings can be brief, lasting only a few hours or days. This instability contributes to the challenge of predicting or managing emotional states.
   
3. Triggered by Interpersonal Events: Mood swings in BPD often correlate with interpersonal stressors, such as perceived rejection, criticism, or the fear of abandonment.
   
4. Impact on Relationships: The intensity and unpredictability of mood swings can strain relationships, as others may find it challenging to understand or respond to the rapidly changing emotional landscape.
   

Therapeutic approaches, particularly dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), focus on helping individuals with BPD recognize and regulate their emotions, providing skills to manage mood swings effectively.
The term "Cluster B" refers to one of the four personality disorder clusters outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Cluster B personality disorders share certain features, including dramatic, emotional, and erratic behaviors. This grouping includes the following personality disorders:

1. Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD): Characterized by instability in relationships, self-image, and emotions, along with impulsive and self-destructive behaviors.
   
2. Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD): Involves an exaggerated sense of self-importance, a preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, and a lack of empathy for others.
   
3. Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD): Characterized by a disregard for the rights of others, impulsivity, deceitfulness, and a lack of remorse after harming others.
   
4. Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD): Involves a need for attention, dramatic and seductive behavior, and intense emotions that may be perceived as shallow.
   

These personality disorders within Cluster B share some common traits, such as difficulties in forming and maintaining relationships, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation. However, each disorder within the cluster has distinct features and diagnostic criteria. The clustering is a way to organize and understand patterns of personality pathology for diagnostic and treatment purposes.
Diagnosing borderline personality disorder (BPD) typically involves a comprehensive assessment by a mental health professional. Several tools and methods are used to gather information, including:

1. Clinical Interviews: A mental health professional conducts thorough interviews to assess the individual's symptoms, emotional experiences, and history of relationships. These interviews may involve discussions about mood, identity, impulsivity, and interpersonal difficulties.
   
2. Diagnostic Criteria: The assessment often involves evaluating the individual against established diagnostic criteria, such as those outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Meeting specific criteria is essential for a formal diagnosis.
   
3. Structured Interviews: Mental health professionals may use structured interviews designed to elicit specific information related to BPD symptoms. These interviews help standard ize the diagnostic process.
   
4. Self-Report Questionnaires: Individuals may be asked to complete self-report questionnaires designed to assess various aspects of personality, emotional experiences, and interpersonal functioning.
   
5. Collateral Information: Information from family members, close friends, or other relevant sources may be considered to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the individual's behavior and relationships.
   

It's important to note that a diagnosis of BPD should be made by a qualified mental health professional based on a thorough assessment. Early diagnosis and intervention are crucial for individuals with BPD to receive appropriate treatment and support.
Here's the continuation of the edited text:
Cluster B Personality Disorder #clusterb #clusterbs #bpd-dbt #dbt #fearofabandonment #linean
This revised version addresses spelling, grammar, and ensures clarity in expression. Let me know if there are any further edits or adjustments you'd like to make!

1. **

Why do all Minior forms get to be in Pokedoku, but not all Furfrou forms? I'd think the different Furfrou forms are more visually unique than minior which just changes color...
And while we're at it, lets just also add

• Sunshine form Cherrim
• East Sea Shellos/Gastrodon
• All 4 Deerling/Sawsbuck Seasons
• Zenith Marshadow (this one maybe a bit much...)

Maybe a bit much but all Vivillon patterns and Flabebe/Floette/Florges colors would be cool. A "joker" of sorts for mono-type cells would be all types of Arceus and Silvally. And to truly go insane, lets add ALL ALCREMIE FORMS All of these would at least be more unique than Pumpkaboo/Gourgeist sizes... This was my rant, thank you
EDIT: I'm gonna add the suggestions made in the comments down here:

• All Unown letters
• All Burmy cloaks
• All Genesect drives
• All Spinda forms (lmao genius)
• Gorging Cramorant
• Radiant Sun Solgaleo & Full Moon Lunala
• Unremarkable & Masterpiece Sinistea/Sinistcha/Polteageist/Poltchageist

If I’ve made any mistakes, let me know! Here’s a mod list before the long, typo-infested, rambly bits!
u/lonelytwatwaffle (x3)
u/Jane_Q
u/JaimeKJ
u/kittycatcon
u/babyraspberry (x6)
u/bluedecemberart (x5)
u/comingtogetyoubabs (x5)
u/constructionlower549 (x7)
u/cswl (x6)
u/DoraDoodle (x4)
u/ez330 (x4)
u/isar-love
u/Jdoodle7 (x4)
u/jvanct88 (x2)
u/korewrites (x2)
u/libertyprogrammer
u/LeeElla
u/mikepenpal6 (x5)
u/mlks00 (x2)
u/monetmonkey
u/mydinosaurdidit (x8)
u/onelittlericeball (x4)
u/pinkpengin (x7)
u/TigerLady13 (x4)
u/travel4me22
u/umeshufan (x14!)
I’ll start this with a huge apology. It was never my intention to take so long on my break or to post a thank you for all the amazing mail you’ve been sending. A few months were super… not stellar, and I just kind of wanted to hide under a rock so I wouldn’t bother anyone until I could feel a bit more like myself, and with all of that, you guys have just been the sweetest. I got so many sweet messages checking in and felt so loved despite the fact that it’s taken me half a year to get back on here. Thanks for all your patience with me. You guys are the absolute greatest! <3
An additional thanks to u/pinkpengin for sending a card basically inviting me to come back to the cool kid’s table to play this week! :D
Allsssooo also, I wrote half of these in January if any of them are odd, and I’ve also not detailed the cards that have been sent to family members as I didn’t read them myself, just added them on my count here, and sorry if the formatting is a bit wonky. I'm copying this from a document, so I might edit if it's terrible.
To start, I received a fun Meet-Up card from some now irl friends on here! Thank you guys! I really wish I could have made it to this one:
u/lonelytwatwaffle (x3)
u/Jane_Q
u/JaimeKJ
u/kittycatcon
u/babyraspberry (x6), You sent such happy mail with your world postcard day envelope! I love the picture of a beach in Portugal. It makes me want to take a vacay ASAP! I also loved the fun little fact you put about the Peach Springs, AZ USPS! So cool! You also included cute star cut-outs, a little packet of stickers, and washi on what looks like a fun space cat playing card! I’m seriously giddy to get to the pic!
Thank you so much for the sweet hot cocoa and New Year’s card you sent! You also included a pretty saguaro cactus card and lovely pastry scrapbook paper, because you’re so thoughtful like that! I love how pretty every single envelope and card is that you send! I’m also excited to hear that you’re getting settled into the new(er) place a bit more! I hope you had a great time with the family visits!
Oh, my goodness, the wintery cards you sent my way were just stunning! I really liked hearing about your walk on the frozen lake and what an adorable “Cake of Friendship” recipe! The stamp stickers are always just the perfect colotheme, too! It always gives me heart eyes!
u/bluedecemberart (x5), Your Halloween card was adorable! You made it even cuter with the stickers. You mentioned “catching up on mail someday”........... Lol! You sent me about 50 cards to my…. ahem… completely non-existent ones. You’re a treasure, friend!
Thank you so much for my massive care packet of cards in an envelope that was just the cutest, with cats and Totoro stickers! It was beautiful! Every single bit in the envelope was so thoughtful!
You sent a “You’ve Got Mail” postcard, which reminds me… I should rewatch that movie someday so u/comingtogetyoubabs can stop laughing at the fact that I mix up all the Meg Ryan/Billy Crystal movies. I can’t be the only one… or maybe I am?!
You also sent the cutest envelope and added little address cardstock labels to add some zest to my envelopes along with so many cute stickers of cats, dogs, and squirrels! So sweet! I really loved the “Support Your Local Librarians” sticker! We are so lucky to live close to a very nice library with super active librarians who really care about the community, and it breaks my heart that they’re being given extra nonsense to add to their worries right now. :(
I especially love the card that has “You can do anything! Just not Everything” on the front. What a perfect reminder. You are so caring and thoughtful, and I’m so thankful for you!
u/comingtogetyoubabs (x5) How do you always find the perfect cards and things to say?! I love the whole envelope filled with citrus-themed cards, stickers, washi, all of it! Your puns were cracking me up! You even made the address label with little lemons! Super cute!
Then you also sent cards that were bee-related and stickers galore! I’m pretty sure that’s the first cat bee return label I saw in-person! They are adorable!
You sent a fun fall card with such pretty watercolor animals on it! The little hedgie sticker matches perfectly! It’s giving me heart eyes! Thank you, m’dear!
u/constructionlower549 (x7) Ugh, your holiday postcards are always so cute! I love the pic with you and the pupper (both smiling) on the front! It’s seriously so sweet and happy! I also loved the sweet card you sent with the New Year’s plans/updates. It’s seriously been entirely too long since I’ve sent an update! I definitely agree… Christmas is a bit overwhelming for me every year, tbh. I always look forward to the New Year knowing that we’ve made it through another hectic season of cooking/visits/everything! XD I always feel like I drop so many balls and last year was one of the biggest times I’ve done that. I didn’t even send holiday cards last year. :/
What a cool Starbucks postcard! I had no idea they even had postcards, but I love the gold and white on this one! The sparkly purple pen you used on it is just chef’s kiss perfection! Thank you!
I loved hearing about your bday trip! It sounds like such a fun adventure! I know you mentioned you did a lot of HUGE things, but I saw, “hung out by the pool,” and for some reason that part was the bit that I was like, “WHOA! WHAT?! IN FEB?! …living her best life by going somewhere beautiful!” XD
Then I got the most cards (I really, really love the hydrangea ones) with backstories from some of the postcards you sent! <3 I loved hearing about your dog-sitting adventure! Ugh, I need to send you a recipe for ice cream when you’re there next time! It’s blueberry pie-flavored, and it’s basically the only one I make in the summers, though I haven’t made it for a few summers now. I was laughing at the “behind-the-scenes” stories from your trips! It’s so funny catching up with people from school, especially when they’ve become parents! It almost feels like a secret club sometimes, knowing things about them but only discussing it in front of kids basically in code language! XD Oh! You asked at the end… I think the postcard lady would definitely be the highest contender for my demise! Lol! I’d totally take an entire litter of rabid cats over her! :D
u/cswl (x6), Thank you for the lovely Halloween card with the glittery witch skirt and the little cat on a walk! So cute! Our cat actually loves taking walks on his harness, but it’s been too cold to go out with him recently, and our old sweet old man of a dog thinks it’s a bit of a pain to go out on big walks now too. Can’t wait for spring! (I wrote this part of your thank-you in January! Spring has been nice indeed!)
The school supply postcard is so cute! I love LouPaper designs and the little rounded edges! The bright rainbow colors on it is just so happy! <3
Such a great “M” card made out of mustaches, too! Very cool design!
What a cool Veteran’s Day card you sent my way! I haven’t seen very many for the holiday, so it was super fun to get one! Thank you!
I also liked your secret “Walt Whitman” card. I have been wondering how work has been going for you. I have done some “extra” work tidying myself at old jobs when I’ve been feeling less than good about them myself.
It was also fun hearing about the 2 festivals in one weekend… was super happy you didn’t have to cook that weekend! That’s kind of a mini-vacation in itself!
u/DoraDoodle (x4), You sent such a pretty Halloween card as well as such adorable cats in costume stickers! They were so sweet! You even finished off the card with a tiny skull and crossbones stamp on the back. Your attention to detail makes everything so perfect! I always love seeing how you perfectly coordinate the papers to make such nice designs!
We all loved your gorgeous handmade Christmas card! It was displayed with the ones we received from family! I definitely missed out on the fun and didn’t send a single holiday card last year. :(
Oh, my goodness, I loved getting your beautiful watercolor card from your trip. That is actually one of our family’s bucket list places! Were you able to catch the Northern Lights while there? I hope you were treated with a lovely view!
u/ez330 (x4), I loved the colorful tulip card you sent and hearing about what had been happening with you. Thank you for checking in with me! You also included such sweet stickers, one of a corgi cupcake that I absolutely adore! Our dog is red with the cute Dorito ears like a corgi, so I’m a little partial to those types of breeds because of him! <3
Oh, my goodness, how was your trip to the National Postal Museum?! My grandma was a retired postmaster, and I think she would’ve loved traveling there! I hope you had the best time!
I loved getting your sweet flower heart postcard too! Thank you so much for caring and sending notes my way. You’re so thoughtful!
What a gorgeous handmade Valentine’s Day card! The light aqua blue with red were actually my wedding colors, so every time I see them together, it just makes me smile! Thank you for thinking of me! It made my day!
u/isar-love, I loved your dragonfly postcard! I love learning differences in language and I really think “dragonfly” is much prettier in yours! My son has a book about bugs from close-up views, and the dragonfly picture is on the cover! I always thought that photograph was especially pretty! He’s terrified of bugs now, unfortunately, but every time I see a dragonfly now, I think of when he first asked if they were actual dragons as a preschooler, and I thought it was just so cute!
u/Jdoodle7 (x4) Thank you so much for sending such sweet cards my way to check on me! My birthday card was just so pretty, and I really like how you did the washi on a diagonal. It really set off the envelope! You even have birthday return address labels, and I just absolutely adore them!
I have out another card you sent recently, the one mentioning Monty Python! Oh, my word! I am so excited to meet someone who gets my references now! :D Poor E, I had to introduce him to it years ago when he mentioned he’d never seen it (can you believe it?!), but now he grudgingly chuckles or rolls his eyes when I quote it in passing!
u/jvanct88, Thank you so much for the super pretty I’m thinking of you card with a holo cat silhouette! I loved getting the life updates! Just so you know, I can’t use the tea you sent because the little packets are so cute! Oh, they’re in with my tea, yes, but only for showing off the cute designs on display! :) Thank you! <3
u/korewrites (x2), thank you for the postcards you’ve been sending my way! I liked hearing about your travels to visit friends. The place you went in January sounds particularly exciting! I hope you had the best time catching up with them!
u/libertyprogrammer, thank you for the lovely card with the super fun stamps on them! What a good idea to send it before the price increased (again), too! The stickers match the pretty dusty rose color of the envelope and I love how you made the card inside with such cute Snoopy washi! It is so good hearing from you! Oh, I might have mentioned in the last post, but I have finished all of your book recs, and I was absolutely blown away by one series in particular! Kind of bouncing up and down over the fact that a certain author has new author pics!!! Did you see?! I know everyone online is saying not to get our hopes up, so OF COURSE MY HOPES ARE SKY HIGH that we get a new book ASAP! :D I can’t believe there are some people who have been waiting for decades when I’ve only been excited for a few months!
u/LeeElla, thank you for the sweet card with the cherry blossoms and cute washi and stickers! I loved getting to hear about your travels. I feel like my family and I will start doing a small bit more of that this year finally, and I love hearing where others have been!
Also, your writing is lovely!
u/lonelytwatwaffle, I loved hearing about your beach trip! What a nice getaway! My family took trips there when I was little. I think it was maybe the first time I saw the ocean! It sounded like such a nice, relaxing time! I hope you had a blast!
u/mikepenpal6 (x5) I loved your purple Halloween card with the pumpkin and owl! What pretty scrapbook paper in the background, too! You always find the most festive and adorable carding supplies!
What a gorgeous handmade Christmas card! I love how glitzy it is with the little rhinestones and all the cute stickers and washi you used! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!
Ooh, I loved hearing about the concert you saw! That would’ve been so incredible! I’m super jealous and also really excited that you could go! I saw that one of my faves is going to be about 2 hours away from me very soon, so I went on the ticket site to buy them. E said that I definitely should, but I told him, “Meh, it’d be way past my bedtime.” lol I’m such an old lady now.
Your handmade Valentine’s Day card was absolutely stunning! I always love seeing the cute little gemstone stickers ppl use! I actually didn’t do a ton for this Valentine’s Day. I usually bake for our littles, make them a heart-shaped pizza for dinner, and cook something for E that he likes, but this year, our tiniest got covid (on my birthday! boo!), so we were all sick by Valentine’s Day, and we basically stayed at the house for the rest of the month to make sure we didn’t spread the joy to anyone else. Yuck! I really am glad you were able to do fun things and enjoy the weather with the family!
u/mlks00 (x2), Thank you so much for the sweet Christmas card you sent to the fam and me, especially with the handmade snowflake! How cool! I feel like I haven’t done those in too long. Have you seen the ones you can print online with Star Wars characters snuck into the designs?! They look so cute!
I always love getting your check-ins and updates! I really like this “hello” card stationery too! How classy! I hope you’re doing well, friend!
u/monetmonkey- Oh, what an adorable avocado holiday card! Thank you! Not only that, but you included such cute stickers with a sweet fox and snowy day scene! I loved all of it as well as how you decorated the inside of the card with the diagonal washi. Such a cool effect!
Of course I loved the fun stamps, especially the Maine Coon one! Our kitkat isn’t quite as massive as that, but he’s close, at over 7.5 kg/17ish lbs!
Loved the way you addressed the envelope vertically, too! It really made it stand out!
u/mydinosaurdidit (x8) You sent such happy mail to me last FALL (it’s been way too long since I’ve been here), and it was just so touching that you thought of me for it. It’s beautiful, thoughtful, and I was so taken aback at your generosity! Know that I have it set out for my next project now! I’ve been waiting to make something with it for the summer, and I’m so excited! I’ll send pics when I get it finished! I’ve had a pattern I’ve been wanting to make, but I’ve not had the right materials…until now, and the fact that it’s sentimental is just the cherry on top!
Oh, you gave me ideas for my bullet journal by sending me a sample-type page, and I really like how you have it set up! I’ve been book journaling a bit more lately and still use a bullet journal for my busier months, but I’ve been converting most of the dates to a wall calendar and still using a bullet-style on there for the tasks. It’s so helpful!
What a pretty holiday card you sent with tea and everything! I loved the adorable little paper stars to match the color of the font, and the message made me laugh!
I got the sweetest check-in card from you, typed and everything. It made me a bit teary-eyed. You even included journaling pages and stickers. You are so thoughtful, friend. A few months there were super not super, and I just kind of wanted to hide, and there you were telling me it was okay to just exist. You’re an absolute treasure. <3
Then you sent a kitty postcard with “You’re alive!” on it, and I burst out into laughter! It made me think of Schrödinger's cat, and it just made me ridiculously happy on top of it just being so freakin’ adorable! Thank you, friend!
Such a cool state card you sent! I like the ones with the different flowers/flags/birds on them to see how many I remember from my fourth grade class! :D We visited our state capitol building (where I lived growing up) during school, and the only part I remember was being so nervous that I’d be too loud walking around the halls with the echo-y marble floors… and then I suddenly stopped fretting over that when I realized how slippery the stone made the stairs and imagined falling down them making way more noise than walking funny ever would. XD I was a nervous child… glad I’m not anymore….ummm :D
Thank you for the sweet birthday wishes as well! You handmade a gorgeous pop-up card with a rainbow quilt, and it just blew me away!
The second (!) kitty postcard you made with all the rainbow writing/washi/stickers was just so happy! It made me smile!
u/onelittlericeball (x4), thank you so much for the gorgeous cards you send! I always love seeing your handwriting and the pretty washi/sticker combos you use!
I really liked getting updates on things that have been going on with you lately. It's so nice hearing from you, and I have your latest in my "reply ASAP" stack now!
u/pinkpengin (x7) The fam loved our cute black cat purpley Halloween card! The Halloween donut washi you have is top notch!
Your Jane Goodall Institute card is so cool! She’s one of my heroes (as are you, of course)! I actually bought this little amigurumi book where you could make little feminist icons, mostly because one of the characters is her! I digress… Okay, so as of that card, you had 22 kitters… have there been any more foster fails since then (bc I can absolutely say I’d be such an enabler about that! I nearly got another one myself last month)?
Oh, what a cute little fox riding a bike! I think these notecards are just adorable! You absolutely did not need to write a thank-you, but of course you’re just super sweet and thoughtful like that, and it made me smile! :)
Your sweet holiday card was displayed with the family cards we received this year, and it was so cute! Thank you! We all really enjoyed it. Maybe I’ll get my act together by winter and send some myself this year?! Here’s to hoping!
You also sent such a sweet Valentine with two additional mini cards inside! You are so thoughtful. The envelope was so pretty with how you decorated it! I think Valentine’s Day might be my favorite holiday… I don’t really do anything to celebrate other than baking, but I think that’s maybe why I like it! It’s low stakes! :D
You also sent an extra special holiday card VERY recently… but I’ll be commenting on that one elsewhere. ;)
u/TigerLady13 (x4), I really loved the Christmas card you sent! The stamps were so cute on the envelope, and the Santa in the woods feeding apples to the horses were so just so pretty! Thank you so much!
You have been sending such sweet cards my way! Thank you! My birthday cards were so super sweet. Both were decked out with the cutest washi and stickers galore! You are so very thoughtful! I really like the envelopes! They both had ribbon streamers on the insides of them! How festive!
u/travel4me22, thank you for the fun Blue Ridge Parkway postcard saying hello and checking in! That was so thoughtful! I hope your year has been great so far!
u/umeshufan (x14!) Your pop-up llama card (so cute!) along with an additional note was so cute to get! I really liked the signatures that you and a family member added to it! It was from 15 Nov, so I had the biggest smile reading about a recent event that happened there! <3
The Christmas card you sent made me laugh! I’ve seen shirts with that sentiment on motorcycle drivers, and to see it on the back of a reindeer was just the absolute best! XD You find the most hilarious cards! I definitely need to up my card game!
Thank you so much for the beautiful cards from all your travels over the past 6 months as well as sending notes to other family members! You have been to so many places already this year, and it’s always fun getting to live vicariously through your descriptions of each place!
The NZ sheep postcard is adorable with the little sheep, and I loved hearing about each stop along the way. The “Where’s Wally/Waldo?” one is extra cool! Thank you for sharing it with us! You’re always so thoughtful!
Oh! One of the cards you sent from NZ had another person added to the card, and I don’t know if I’m mentioned, but I think their handwriting is just beautiful! I especially like their A’s! That was so sweet hearing from them as well!
During one of your trips, you were in the same time zone as I was, and I was so excited to get FOUR cards from there! It was so fun getting cards that arrived so very quickly! I always love seeing The Snooty Bookshop cards! They’re hilarious!
You also sent 6 cards just last month, completely putting me to shame! I have them out for a reply just as soon as I pick up some different cards from the store. I think part of my extra long hiatus has made me not want to dig out the perfectly fine old cards I had but start fresh… capitalism at its finest, I suppose… :/
Thank you for sending so many cards to the family over the past half year as well. Your cards always brighten our day! You’ll be getting some replies from E soon, too. He’s not been on RAoC recently either, so I’m adding some of his on my post for him.

Hello everyone!

General Info

I'm a 24M, Italian, having sudden IBS and mild IBS-related and social anxiety since 3-4 years. Also feel fatigued and lacking energies, like ''I could do better''. Never had any of these issues before this period of time.
Major changes at the start of this period – 3-4 years ago – were:
· quitting smoking cannabis (not gradually) · being on an hypo-caloric diet for some months and losing some weight · mild stress related to post pandemic/university/breakup (not ongoing).
Always done super good in social and relationships, never missed social gatherings, staying away from home even for several days – partying, staying at friends etc – this all seems an old version of me.
My relationships are good, I'm not totally ''anxiety-impaired'' (can travel, go out and have a drink etc), but I tend to avoid certain situations and I'm quite ruminating and over-analyzing future events. I have a girlfriend and have regular sex, I seem to work good under stress – even if it depletes my energies – and alternate between periods of good sleep pattern and light intermittent sleep (e.g. waking up after 3-4 hours of sleep). I don't usually exercise, aside from some cardio 1-2 times a week (running or soccer match), as intense exercise can make me feel really good or really depressed-like. I'm actually trying to do full body dumbbells routines and it feels good.

Diet

At the moment I'm on a dairy-free and gluten-free diet, I will give further info about it later.
I eat lots of bananas, tangerines, walnuts, sheep and goat greek yogurt, honey, chicken, beef and pig meat, eggs, fish, rice, potatoes, bio-chocolate spreads, olive oil and gluten-free cereals/bread, pasta or baked products, with ''dairy free'' natural cheeses (like 36 month Parmigiano Reggiano) or dairy free cheese spreads. As greens, I mainly eat ''light'' salads as lamb's lettuce, rocket, etc. I can't digest vegetables well due to my GI symptoms, so less often i eat broccoli, cauliflower, string beans, pumpkin, chickpeas. I drink vegetal milks and matcha from time to time. Protein makes me really bloated.
Masterjohn's Genetic Choline Calculator recommends 8 eggs yolks.

Supplements Stack

I'm currently taking:
· DS-01 Daily Synbiotic by Seed (probiotic) or other Life Extensions probiotics + enzymes. · L-Glutamine powder (10 g daily on an empty stomach) · Magnesium (only one form at a time): · Magnesium L-Threonate (144 mg elemental mag from 2000 mg of magtein) · Magnesium Acetyl-Taurinate (45 mg elemental mag from 750 mg of atamg) · Magnesium Bisglycinate Fully Chelated (315 mg elemental mag) · Omega-3 + EPA + DHA (700 mg of EPA, 500 mg of DHA, 2000 mg of pure+ wild fish oil) · Bioactive B-Complex *only 3-4 times a week
The B-Complex includes: · 100 mg of B1 as thiamine HCl · 75 mg of B2 as riboflavin and R5P · 100 mg of B3 as niacinamide and niacin · 100 mg of B6 as pyridoxine HCl and P5P · 400 mcg of B9 as L-methyltetrahydrofolate calcium salt · 300 mcg of B12 as methylcobalamin · 1000 mcg of B8 · 500 mg of B5 as D-calcium-pantothenate · 100 mg of inositol · 50 mg of PABA
Never seem to have had any issues with taking this 3-4 times a week – no increased anxiety or anything. As a matter of fact, I've started supplementing 2 months ago and I'm not noticing shifts in anxiety levels.
The only thing which seems to improve my anxiety and gut symptoms is definitely L-Glutamine. It makes night and day difference for me. Supports regular bowel movements and makes me feel calm and more ''ready to go'' (e.g. I don't ruminate much before leaving the house). I'm also adding 5 g of creatine for workouts and general energy.

Lab Results

(technique) [reference values]
Ironemia (Ferrozine) 137 ng/dL [61 - 157]
Testosterone (CLIA) 5.20 ng/ml [2.00 - 9.80]
17-Beta-Estradiol (ECLIA) 11.1 pg/ml [7.63 - 42.6]
Vitamin D 25-OH (ECLIA) 30 ng/ml [Deficiency <10 *Insufficiency 10 - 30* *Sufficiency 30 - 100*]
Vitamin B12 (ECLIA) 410 pg/ml [191 - 663]
Folic Acid / Vitamin B9 (ECLIA) 14.2 ng/ml [2.00 - 16.8]
Homocysteine (HPLC) 11.3 mmol/l [5 - 14]
Histamine (E.I.A) 0.9 ng/ml [0.2 - 1.0]
Vitamin B2 / FAD (HPLC) 301 microgl [137 - 370]
Vitamin B1 (HPLC) 72.4 microgl [28 - 85]
Vitamin B6 (HPLC) 16.9 microgl [8.7 - 27.2]
Copper (GFAAS) 85 mcg/dl [70 - 140]
Zinc (GFAAS) 88 microgdl [68 - 107]

Genetic Reports

https://preview.redd.it/an3ae7sws7yc1.jpg?width=8263&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=60f503cb41f38f2b554a13e7ca9e286eb4c12423
https://preview.redd.it/04e3m7sws7yc1.jpg?width=11692&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=524069d1126a6e531f8241414cc388be1d824638
https://preview.redd.it/2gpdmcsws7yc1.jpg?width=11692&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ba50d68dc0bc8acf0d7e297484f0abc9c72f30e2
https://preview.redd.it/x2qnc9sws7yc1.jpg?width=11692&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f3e2939f0d4498a6631ecd350a65f3e9347fe4ca
https://preview.redd.it/3zxdyzbys7yc1.jpg?width=8263&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e9146099d2bbee6f16ea8f5e7365393e0670fc4e
https://preview.redd.it/s188oojzs7yc1.jpg?width=5088&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ffe4ed7ed7aa69c17b403c6e4144acd73ef07fb3
Thank you all for your time, patience and support!
This is all new to me and I'm excited to start dive into this, so please, be kind!
Saw a lot of incredible answers on this sub by many users, would *love* to hear u/Tawinn's opinion on this!

Dit is mijn 2e lied genaamd Joker < dit is een link
V De noten zijn voor het slagpatroon op de gitaar, het bovenste is ook voor de Gitaar en de Piano moet je gewoon 1 maat per akkoord.
Translated: This is my second song named Joker and I’d like to hear your opinion.
V The notes are for a guitar strumming pattern the scheme’s above are for guitar the first is for the verses and the second for the chorus . Then piano 4/4th note (4 seconds) hold down and ‘Joker’ in blue is a link. But the song is in Dutch.
https://preview.redd.it/d83ms6w94fyc1.jpg?width=1418&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1d9aa23660b5b102588d8d120981ecabef806f39