I am a Police Officer in DC (One of the smaller departments, not MPD). Firstly, I appreciate that the parade honors those who have died in the line of duty. I also liked seeing the various motor units from across the country. That is where the positives end.
Even before being in law enforcement, I though of police week as tacky and a waste of public resources. Now that I'm in law enforcement, I see just how bad it is.
I was on-shift yesterday and stopped by the parade because it was in my district. I talked to a few officers to ask about their department, bike, trip to DC. Outside of one officer from Alexandria, all of them were straight up rude. They literally chose to stand silently than casually converse with a uniform officer. They were also quite passive-agressive to the supporters, bicyclists, and DC Police Officers who were working the event.
I talked with some MPD and FBI Police officers who were assigned to parade detail and they all had felt the same. Police Officers from all over the country came to DC yet acted rudely towards police in DC. This did absolutely nothing to earn them any goodwill.
Another issue that bothered me is that so many officers were not in uniform nor did they have their badge displayed yet they had their sidearm out. This is such a huge safety issue for us on-duty officers. There is nothing to stop a mass shooter from buying the Police Unity Tour shirt and walking into the parade armed.
It's also very annoying how the parade used sirens wherever they went. This is not only a nuisance for the public but a risk to public safety.
The most shocking thing I learned is that nearly all of the officers were being paid to come to the parade. I talked to an officer from California who was paid to drive to DC, participate in the parade, and drive back. That is at least seven days of pay where the officer is not working and two motor units no longer in-service. What a huge waste of public resources!
Also it makes no sense why police get an entire week. Military, firefighters, EMS, nurses, and teachers don't get a week.
It's great to honor officers who have died in the line of duty but the parade was nothing but a huge circlejerk that DC Police Officers had to babysit.

Here's a list of things he's called me:
A bitch (so many times i can't count, despite me having had multiple conversations about how much I hate the word and is super hurtful to me)
A terrible spouse
A terrible mother (on Mother's Day 2021 while I was laying on the couch sick from the second COVID vaccine he told me i was a horrible mother and didn't deserve to be celebrated)
Lazy
Useless
Retarded
A cunt (this one only once)
I've had some stuff go on w my family, so he says, "everyone's had problems with you, even your family." (Back story too long and mostly irrelevant to this -- i had a tough upbringing and had a pretty awful relationship w my mom until recently).
That my mom was right (when she said this when i was a teen), that with my personality, no one would ever love me.
"The kids didn't even miss you, we were better off without you" (when he took the kids to his parents house for 5 days)
I'm sure there's more. Despite all this, he tells me the reason we are not close is bc i push him away. He'll tell me he hates me and wishes he could divorce me (but we have young kids) and the next sentence he says, "we gotta work on being closer but we can't if you keep on not wanting to talk to me!"
I'm not giving details of what we've been fighting about nor how this mess started-- bc my question is, could you ever justify a husband (33) say these things to his wife (me, 35)?
What would I have had to have done to deserve all this?

When I was 18 I met my ex-boyfriend (24M), we'll call him Dick. Conveniently I met him at a traphouse as he was selling wed at the time. I was pursuing my bachelors (which I completed) and also started my career in an office job, two completely different worlds. Well, I took a liking to him because he was so my type, I wasn’t necessarily seeking a relationship but I shot my shot very confidently and we fell hard for each other (I’m talking moving into his father’s home a week of knowing each other, ironically his dad was a director with a nice home and it gave me an excuse to move away from my toxic family). We were together 24/7, but things were quite toxic because I guess I was quite immature and insecure (think crazy Latina), and he was not really the best influence. However, we loved each other very much, he was my first love. It became sort of obsession for me. Well 2 years into dating (after we got kicked out of his father’s complex due to fighting and had to move to my mom’s home) we had a huge fight and he left *radio silence. I then found out that he was now dealing with ccaine after hanging around a new group of guys who do the same thing. I had zero self-respect and kept trying to contact him, until I moved out to a nice apartment on my own at 20. We somehow started seeing each other again and he wanted to move in with me, so we got back together, but things were’nt the same. With his newly found job and friends, he started to stay out late nights pretty much every day, I’d find condoms in his bags and ask who they were for, and he said his friends, I’d believe him. I’d find him talking to girls on his phone and I’d confront him, and he always said it’s not what it looks like, they’re just “clients” or “friends”. I 100% believed him, because I could not fathom my best friend is capable of doing this. He started to embarrass me in front of others in public, as if he didn’t want to be around me. My mental health was deteriorating and my anxiety through the roof to the point I can’t breath. One night he never came home and I had a suspicion he was at a hotel, I left home at 3/4am and went to that hotel and saw his car in the parking lot. When he came home the next morning he said he slept by his friends house but later admitted to solicitation for one of his friends but he had nothing to do with it. : So I had enough and got him to share his location. After this he again did not come home and I saw his location was at his father’s house, I went there and waited for them to come out, it was him, his friend who is wanted by police, and two known prostitutes. Despite this, I stayed. Fast forward I am now 24 years old and we are continuing to argue almost on a daily basis at my apartment. I was yearning for his love and felt so alone, he didn’t want to take me anywhere. One Friday night (Sept 2022) I was I wanted to do something with him (I was home alone), he said he was at some bar and I came to meet him. He acted as if I almost never existed. Well, we met two tourists who were his clients and he asked if I can stay at the bar with them and he’ll be back later. : Naturally I got so upset because NO, I don’t want to stay here with these two strangers. Well this led to a huge argument in the car, and eventually it go physical. He ended up pushing me out of the parked car and drove over my leg which ended up being skinned at the back. Then, radio silence. A few days later I found him at my apartment packing up his stuff, I cried. He didn’t care, and he said something along the lines of “that’s why I cheated on you because I don’t care”. Naturally I was heartbroken, but I was tired of chasing him. I was so angry at him for doing me the way he did. I was tired of choosing him over me. So after that day I never contacted him again. A week later I hear that he was seen at a bar with a 17-year-old girl on his lap (he was 27 at this time). In November 2022, he “accidently” messaged me at 5am, but I ignored. I later found out that he was still dating that 17-year-old, and he has been with her I believe on and off since then. In June of 2022 (while we were still together), his buddy was sentenced to 6 years in prison as they found cell phone conversations suggesting he was a cke dealer, his buddy said the police presented many exchanges between him and Dick as they worked together, this resulted in an investigation on Dick which we were unaware about. I told Dick maybe stop altogether and lay low, but no one could stop him. The investigation came to light in 2024, when police informed him of this and put a monitoring device on him while they investigate further. Shortly after, about January 2024, police respond to a tip (apparently by one of the neighbors) that Dick was harboring dugs in a hedge behind their complex. Police found about half a brick and hence a search for Dick ensued. I guess Dick got word of this and so he cut off his monitor and went on the run, he was renting a rural house and stayed there with his gf for months until the police raided the home. They found lbs of ccaine (apparently bricks which I assume a couple kgs), an unlicensed firearm, other hard drgs, and a large quantity of cash. As of February 2024, he has been charged with intent to supply ccaine and tampering with an ankle monitor and has been in remand since then. However, he seems to not be phased at all, which is slightly alarming, as it just shows how much he’s accepted his life now, and it’s almost as though he gets a thrill from this. For context, when we were together he got into a high speed chase with the police and got convicted for supplying marijana, he got 2 years suspended sentence as it was his first ever charges, luckily that night I decided to go out with my gfs instead of joining him. I thank the universe and God for keeping me safe through the 4 years I was with him, because I could have been caught up in the mix. I am grateful that he left me because I wouldn’t have been strong enough to do it on my own, I really do feel like my angels were keeping me safe because it was 4 months after the breakup that police made it known they were onto him, and about 1 year after that he was raided and went to prison. I can’t imagine what would happen had I stayed. Moral of the story, a man can fck your whole life up, so be careful and be strong when you feel something doesn’t feel right listen to your gut feeling. My regret is that I didn’t have the self-respect to leave him on my own, I wish I did and I wish I did it the very first time I knew I should of, it would have spared me a lot of embarrassment. Today, I have a great career and a successful business, I am travelling and in the best shape of my life. My mental state is probably the healthiest it’s ever been and I am now surrounded by positive, healthy people who look out for the best for me. Thank you for listening to my story, I just wanted to get this off my chest.
TL;DR - my ex caused me severe emotional pain and anguish, but now I’m in the healthiest state I have ever been. He is now in prison because of what he did.

Probably lots of similar post, but Im a new whoop user and it's baffling how much I'm learning about my habits and how it affects my sleep.
I don't usually drink. On one photo I had maybe 3 glasses of wine socially 7 hours before bedtime. I usually drink way more if O do (6-9 servings). The other picture nothing notable happened, I just had a good sleep. I felt genuinely happy when I woke up.
Interesting to see that even though I both had 5 REM cycles throughout the night, the duration were significantly shorter (Almost half). Not many other variables changed other than that. I felt like shit during the day.
What other habits have you noticed increased the quality of your REM sleep?

around 2 months ago i met my BFs friend “Nick” for the first time. Since then all of us hang out really often. On the first day we met, we hit it off really well.
we share a lot of the same niche interests that i was into. he’s also really fun to talk to and be around. He also really makes me laugh. we also share a lot of the same beliefs and mostly have the same views on many given subjects.
after a whip i started to catch feelings because we were getting along so well. i know it’s wrong because i really do love my BF but i find myself missing Nick when he says he can’t come somewhere.
i want to get rid of these feelings, how do i do that ? i wanna stop feeling this way

So I have a yest infection. To make a long story short, difucan didn't work the first time. I got liquid meds, have some left over and I'm gonna try it again bc lI don't want to pay for more meds that won't work, I want to try this again first. But I looked it up and the T time pill is 150-200mg, but I can't take pills, so I have to do liquid. I was told to take 3.75ml of diflucan "by mouth once daily", but it doesn't say for how many days. How much is 3.75ml in mg? l'll attach some pictures, but I only have like half the bottle of diflucan left from last time, but I want to try to take whatever 150 mg would be in ml. I just don't know the equivalent, tried looking it up but it only confused me more 😭 please help 🙏
Edit: literally can't figure how to add pics, but the directions say "take 3.75ml by mouth once daily, can repeat if needed in 3 days. And the bottle says "fluconazole for oral suspension USP 40mg/ml when reconstituted". But does that mead there's only 40 mg in that entire bottle I was given? Or is that in ml? Did they not even give me enough to begin with? Cause I need 150mg to cure an infection 🥲

i am creating a dlt materialized view. it is made up of a select from a few joined tables and it is ~500,000,000 rows. since it is so large, i do not want to run a refresh every day, i would rather incrementally append new data. i saw this question here but did not understand what is stopping the table from just being created again every time this runs, regardless of the append_flow being there. i have tried many things and learned i cannot reference outside tables as targets and i cannot overwrite views in the same dlt environment (which makes no sense to me because then what is the point of append_flow?), so i feel like i am missing some fundamentals here. how do i just create a materialized view and append new data to it without rebuilding the table every time?
i tried:

1. creating view in one dlt pipeline then trying to select * as source and append in a different dlt script. did not work.
2. keeping it all in one script using a if exists else etc and could not find a way around it just recreating the table everytime.

The Hanging Tree By John Westrick

The ball streaked towards little Jimmy Hanson, covering the distance uncomfortably fast. The scrawny boy two sizes too small with the aviator glasses, cringed out of the way. It landed directly where he had been standing, and like that the game ended.
“Damnit Jimmy, you're supposed to catch the ball not hide from it!” a fat kid with a glove on one hand cried.
A skinny boy with glasses turned from the pitcher's mound to look at Jimmy disdain clearly visible on his face, “This is the third run you’ve allowed, and you wonder why we never let you play with us. You’re dog shit! Actually, I apologize to all loads of shit out there, you’re even more useless. I’d prefer to have Roger Morris on our team and he can’t see a damn thing with those bug eyes.”
An easy-going boy with blonde shaggy hair and a confident smile strolled up to Jimmy, extending his hand to assist, and said, “Here let me help you up. After all, you're the best player on our team. MVP hands down. Come on boys, give him a cheer!”
The boys chanted Jimmy’s name in a mocking parade of triumph.
“I don’t need your help, David,” said Jimmy.
Dirt smeared and face growing hot, the embarrassed boy attempted to climb to his feet. The hand extended to help, struck lightning-fast, catching the smaller boy squarely in the chest. With a groan of pain, the dirty boy hit the ground for the second time that afternoon.
“Well, if I knew you liked to eat dirt so much, I never would’ve offered to help,” said David, a wolfish smile forming on the landscape of his face.
A chorus of cruel laughter echoed all around.
“I hate you David Baxly,” said the wheezing boy.
David looked at Jimmy with disgust, giving him a savage kick to his left kidney. “Why don’t you do us all a favor and die. I doubt even your family would miss you.”
The rest of the boys walked away leaving the bleeding Jimmy whimpering on the ground.
No longer crying from pain but seething anger, slowly he began to crawl to his feet. “I wish I could go somewhere else. Just pick up and move and never have to see those shitheads ever again,” said Jimmy speaking to no one in particular.
It was thoughts of revenge that occupied his mind, half-baked plans, he didn't have the courage to act upon. No matter, it wasn’t revenge he truly sought, but a friend. The idea of having people look at him and truly see him. Humiliation for David Baxly was just an added bonus.
The bloody boy was still fantasizing about these things, when he found himself staring at the intersection of Jackson and main street in the sleepy town of Brookhollow, Tennessee. Brookhollow is like many rural towns, so tiny that it doesn’t even appear on the map. There are 876 residents in the tight-knit community, according to the 2008 census. Main street boasts one general store, a gas station, the town hall, and Debbie’s Diner.
It was on the outside of the later building that he saw the missing sign of Jack Dunkin, a 12-year-old boy from a neighboring town a few miles to the west. Jack was from Polk, a slightly larger town and known rival to Brookhollow. Even though Jack was in the same grade as Jimmy, they had never met.
Jimmy looked at the picture and saw that the boy had been missing for nearly 3 months. He wondered how his mom would react if he was missing that long; he reached the conclusion that she probably wouldn’t even notice. Ever since she took that job at Debbie’s to pay for the remainder of her husband’s gambling debts, she was hardly even home.
She was gone when he woke and didn't come back too well after he was asleep. The only time Jimmy had any communication with Laura Hanson was on Sundays. Even this small exposure was tainted by the bone deep exhaustion. She may have been present, even so, she wasn't there. Laura wakes, eats, drinks, uses the bathroom; yet she isn't really living. She reminded the boy of those cheesy horror movies they sometimes play late at night. The walking dead.
As little as his interaction with Laura, at least she still lived in the ramshackle motorhome right off the main highway. His dad, if he even still qualified to be called that, left some time back, draining the joint bank account and leaving the two of them penniless. Jimmy didn’t even know where he stayed, let alone had a phone number for the bastard. A few years back he received a postcard from him. He was shelled up in some two-bit motel in the thriving city of Las Vegas. On the back of the card was a charming little note, it said, “Jimmy, I wish you could see the city. Maybe you could come out and visit. I’d love for you to come and hang with my friends. Ps. Could you have your mom send me some money, I’m in a little bit of trouble here.
This led to his first real fight with his mom. He was adamant on going and meeting his father, thinking that if he got to know him he could change him. Bring him back. His mom wanted nothing to do with the man, nor did she want her son to be hurt again. The argument got heated and words were exchanged. In the end, he stayed, but some things chafe over time. Things were never quite the same.
If the boy was honest with himself, he would have to admit there is no one in his life. He has no friends in school, there is no one waiting for him at home, and he is not a part of any extracurricular activities. He goes to school, comes home, does his homework, makes dinner for his mom, and goes to bed. It has never occurred to him that he is lonely, the fact is he has never known anything else.
Jimmy doesn’t actually live in Brookhollow, his house is about two miles north up highway 29. He lives outside of the school’s jurisdiction, so he is unable to take the bus. He walks to school every day. The walk is peaceful and he actually looks forward to it. The boy possesses an overactive imagination and gets lost in his fantasies. A little less today, his ribs ache with every step. But not even this inconvenience can ruin the solitary 2-mile trek back home. He makes no turns, highway 29 is main street. All he needs to do is walk straight and he will arrive at his house.
But he is not walking in rural Tennessee anymore. He is a pioneer exploring the Great Frontier. Native Americans and wolves stalk him at night, he must be aware of the dangers that lie beyond every turn. He can see his way through any situation with the help of his trusty companion and best friend, One-eyed Pete. Pete used to be an outlaw that robbed and cheated people, but changed his ways when Jimmy saved him from being hung on the hanging tree.
A shutter runs through his body every time he remembers the hanging tree. It’s the largest oak he had ever seen. He loves to climb trees but would never dream of climbing that one. It is twisted, not a single leaf on its branches. If evil was ever a location, it would be at the heart of that gnarled tree. Jimmy doesn’t like to think about it. It always seems to ruin his mood. Poison his mind. His fantasies always turn darker when he thinks of the oak.
Suddenly he is aware of exactly how alone he is. A full mile out from the safety of the town. No one is nearby. It’s just him, the trees, and his own tormented imagination. He wishes he wouldn’t have thought of that tree. He wishes he had a dad to pick him up from school, but there is no rescue for him. In Jimmy’s experience, heroes only exist in the story books.
“The hanging tree is in your mind, Jimmy, it isn't real,” he tells himself over and over as if to ward away evil. And why not? For that tree is most definitely evil, the hideous villain in an insidious plot.
In the primal portion of his mind, he senses danger. The same skittish feeling the antelope experiences shortly before the concealed lion pounces and feasts on flesh.
“Trees don’t eat little boys,” murmurs the frightened boy.
“Maybe so, yet that oak could hardly be classified in the same league as other trees,” responds his own treasonous thoughts.
The boy's mind splinters; warring factions jockeying for supremacy. Paranoia seizes him, inky black hands clawing the air out of his lungs. A young boy unaware of the inward mutiny happening amidst his own wits, completely left to his own demented imagination. Yet, the stakes of this adventure are a great deal higher than any he has yet to experience.
His mother was fond of telling him, “What you think, you become.”
A truly awful thought slinks into his mind unbidden. What if the stories his mind conjures could gain reality too? The thought overwhelms the boy. His eyes shift back and forth searching for threats. Jimmy’s senses are keen to his surroundings. Every twig snapping, a creature stalking. Every bush rustling, a hungry beast ready to devour. Yet, the petty fears of a child's tormented mind pales to the unearthly wrongness of the hanging tree.
“What if mom is right?” says the concerned boy to the emptiness. At this unwelcome thought the boy slams his eyes closed in a futile attempt to banish the horrific idea.
“The hanging tree isn’t real,” says Jimmy, knowing in his heart this isn’t true. In the back of his mind, the boy is certain that the moment he opens his eyes, he will see it. He will see the strands of rope dangling from the gnarled branches. He will smell the smell of decaying bodies. He will hear the creak of rope swaying gently in the cool breeze.
The boy doubles his efforts in a vain attempt to keep his eyes closed. He sees red due to the strain he is putting on his muscles. He hears the steady pulse of his blood rushing in his head. The boy also understands that all this effort is for naught. He must open his eyes at some point. Jealousy creeps into the boy’s heart. Envy for the man born without sight. For the boy understands the moment he sees, there will be no coming back.
The moment has come.
Jimmy can no longer keep his eyes shut. Seconds before his eyes fling open, he feels the gentle touch of someone's hand on his shoulder. This touch startles him, and the boy throws wide his eyes.
Sure enough a few hundred yards in front of him, stands the abomination. A lone tree on the top of a bald, scarred hill. Not a living thing to be seen. No vegetation growing on the hill, no squirrels scuttling about, just a great oak, standing; an obscene gesture to the god of this world. The only fruit of this tree the decaying flesh of dead men, and likewise, the only cup the curdled blood of those hanging. A final meal set for the boy, an unholy communion.
The hand, whose was it? Was it even human? The little boy left visibly shaking at the touch of the unknown. Is this death? The icy grip of the Reaper himself here to harvest with his scythe. No marriage, no children, not knowing the pleasures of true friendship. Life cut short, a lamentable state of affairs.
It was in this line of thought, where true courage was mustered. A strength measured not by the size of his muscles or the amount one could lift, but the more impressive type, the type quantified in the amount of shit one can wade. Identified in the amount of crap hands dealt without bowing out altogether. Young Jimmy Hanson did the unthinkable, he turned and faced death looking it in the eyes.
Eyes, yes, but death perhaps not. It was no titan of horror, nor was it the poster child of demented evil. Child it was, but this boy was familiar. Not anyone from his class, yet he knew the boy. In a moment of clarity, he recognized him. It was the missing kid, Jack Dunkin.
He looked identical to the poster on the side of Debbie’s Diner. He wore the same black and white Van’s tee shirt, ripped blue jeans, and some tattered Nike tennis shoes. The thoroughly terrified Jimmy stood staring at the missing boy, mouth ajar.
Jack with an easy-going grin plastered on his face, said, “It's about time, someone comes looking for me. I've been waiting for you Jimmy, far too long.”
With an audible click the boy shut his gaping mouth and responded, “Ja- Jack, you've been missing for nearly three months. Have you been out here all along? Are you alone? Are you hurt?” Jimmy fired these questions in rapid succession, growing more suspicious with each word.
“I’ve been right here, waiting for you to come and play with me. You see, I am like you. I never had anyone to play with either. Now you are here, and you must stay with me,” said the bigger boy with a smile on his face.
Jimmy’s mind quieted, for the first time in his life he saw himself clearly. A boy with no friends, no father, hardly a mother, bullied every day, and no way of escape. Clarity revealed the harsh truth. A day had not gone by that he wasn’t lonely. There was no one in his life. There was no life for him.
The undersized boy looked at the other with longing in his eyes. He thirsted for a friend, like a man lost at sea. He hungered for companionship, like a man stuck in the wilderness. It wasn’t just a desire; he was desperate for a friend. If the bigger boy would leave, Jimmy felt as if his soul would tear in half. His heart would shatter into a thousand pieces unable to be put back together. The boys' eyes were a mirror reflecting the same sad truth, they understood each other. Both had lived, and neither had anyone to share it with.
The boys bound by shared hardships grasped onto each other refusing to let go. The combined burden of loneliness lessened by two backs, instead of one.
With few words exchanged, the two of them created soul ties. Not the ties of lovers, but of lifelong friends. The type one dies for. The rare type of friendship that most people never form in their entire life. It was rich. It was wholesome. Jimmy felt as if his life was complete. The one thing he always desired truly fulfilled.
Jack grabbed the smaller boy’s hand and guided him towards the tree.
Jimmy, not wanting to get anywhere near that monstrosity, tried to pull back.
“Don’t worry. The tree is a good place. It will take us to a new land filled with boys and girls just like you and I. No David’s or bullies like him,” said a smiling Jack.
“How did you know about David? You’ve been missing all this time,” said a concerned looking Jimmy.
“Jimmy, I hear whispers. My friends tell me things. They will tell you secrets too. If you want to be friends with me, that is.” The bigger boy looked down at his ragged shoes. He looked so pitiful and Jimmy was so starved for companionship, how could he not follow the boy.
Jack led the two of them to the scarred trunk of the tree. Here he let go of Jimmy’s hand, telling the boy, “Do exactly what I do.”
Jimmy’s fear bottled up deep in his guts. He felt as if he was going to explode. The tree was sinister and twisted. Evil through and through. Yet, the little boy had never had a friend. He was not willing to throw that away so easily.
Jack walked to the lowest hanging branch. He reached up and grabbed one of the dangling nooses. He wrapped it around his neck and looked at Jimmy. “Don’t worry, no pain is felt. The hanging tree is magic. You’ll close your eyes on this world, and wake up in a better place with me and all of my friends,” said a smiling Jack.
“Ja-Jack, I don’t think I can do this. It seems dangerous. I need to go back home soon. My mom will be waiting for me,” said a terrified Jimmy.
A heartbroken Jack looked at the smaller boy and said, “Jimmy, I can’t believe you would lie to me. Your mom isn’t home and she wouldn’t even notice that you are missing. Come with me. I am the only one who cares for you.”
Tears streaming down the smaller boy’s face, he responded, “Please don’t make me do it! This place frightens me. Can’t you just come home with me?”
“No! This world despises people like you and me. We weren’t made for it. We were made for the hanging tree. This is where you belong,” snarled the bigger boy.
Jimmy, eyes still running, reached with trembling hands for the dangling noose. He seized it. With one final glance at his friend, the little boy placed the loop around his neck. Immediately the noose drew tight. It felt as if the tree was hauling him up by it. The boy kicked and squirmed. Trying to shout for help, but his airflow was cut off. He managed to make a choking noise, then with one final twitch all was still. Still as the glassy surface of a lake on a spring day.
Little Jimmy Hanson had finally made a friend.
The two boys remained dangling together, gently swaying in the stale autumn breeze.

Thanks in advance.
We have been together happily for three years and just recently opened the discussion of a possible threesome. We watched porn together and discussed some potential issues with a threesome in the future. I felt good about the conversation, and decided to leave it for now and maybe one day we would find a third. A couple weeks later I saw on his Snapchat that there was a girl bitmoji on his friend list that I did not recognize, so I asked who is that? He completely hid it from me and deleted all of the evidence. He tells me he is humiliated because he was texting a scam bot that he found on Reddit, supposedly looking for a threesome. I explained how bad it looked to have just deleted it without showing me, as I would’ve felt a lot better if he did. A huge boundary was crossed when I realized he thought it was a good idea for him to go looking for another girl. I looked through his phone, which he said was okay, and found some more disturbing things. He had reached out to about 5 girls via only fans and instagram, telling one of them he is single (they were all fake accounts, no real people). I have asked several times in the past if he has an only fans and he has said no which has been a lie this whole time. I explained that all I wanted was to communicate, and that all of this wouldn’t be a huge problem if he would have just talked to me first. Since watching porn together he has also subscribed to many different porn sights (chaturbate etc.) which bothers me since I do not know when he has had the time to make all of these subscriptions, and why us watching porn together made him want to watch so much more. I told him that I will never want a threesome with him as I will not be able to handle it. I just want to understand where he is coming from. He is deeply sorry and so scared of losing me, and I want to continue to be with him. I just fear something like this will happen again or that it may be worse than I think.

Good Afternoon Everyone,
I hope you are having a great and beautiful day. So today I would like to touch base on the rollercoaster of life. I know I always get super excited while heading to my local theme park Six Flags Great Adventure! It is one of my favorite places I even respect it as a birthday present or a random fun bonding trip. The thrill of the rides gets me everytime. Spinning around or going backwards to the top is exhilarating and I always ride in the front cart. That is similar to how I handle my life. I would say straight forward, to the point and head on. I'd rather deal with whatever life throws me right away. I'd like to get to the point and move forward. It is when I slow it down things can be complicated but when you involve emotions it can get that way. So I can only tell you that not all situations will be the same and that they may not all require the same solution. The levels of tactic that needs to be applied truly depends on the person, place or thing to say the least. You must always assess and try to visualize the best way to approach. So, for example, how I raise my son seems less aggressive than most of the men have been raised around me. Well, he is mild to moderate autistic so his mental understanding of certain places or situations can be different from others. So, in parenting, I use my naturally nuturing side to be more attentive, more of a guidance system, and a bit more comforting for him. Which in turn helps me to become more creative and cultivate a healthier lifestyle for he and myself. I have used breathing techniques, yoga, healthy diet and gadgets that I find helpful for him. So, I would like you to know that not everyday is going to go well or be a 100% productive. You can be sure that if you learn to pivot and adapt that you will be able to ride your roller coaster ten times better. There will be moments when you feel up and times when you feel down but you make it through if you keep pushing forward. Go with the flow, feel the bumps and inertia will keep you going! I am proud of you!!! I know not every bump in the road is easy but you will make it. Many Blessings and may every endeavor be successful for you. Thank you for stopping by!!

Alright I've played around 30 runs and about 15-16 hours of the game. And I figured I'd give my thoughts so far.
Firstly I love the game, it has a lot of charm and a lot of content which is good for a 30 dollar game.
I love the character's the combat can be fun especially with the right builds, and I believe Supergiant has done a LOT to help cutdown on RNG bullshit fucking you over like very few good boons with the new system where Gods trinkets can enhance their rarirty once a night.
However A few things have bugged me. And these are personal things and likely Skill issues but still. (note: No matter how big of an issue I seem to make these. These really are just little niggles. And I do love this game. I'm just inherently a more negative person who is better at explaining what they dislike vs what they like.) 1. The surface seems brutally difficult vs the underpath. And Like Very specifically polythemus has fucked me so many times. Then again Polythemus and Cerberus both have attacks that just mess with me. Their shockwaves are attacks I'm bad at dodging and even when I think I dodge them I still end up being clipped and taking 20+ damage. Which While not as big a deal in the 3rd major area in the underground because you can find a bunch of health then... IS a big deal in the first area of the surface. and has ended in me Losing ALL THREE death defiances before i even get to the ships.
(If anyone wants to give tips by all means.)

1. the weapon's that aren't the staff and Sickle and knife, All feel slow in a not fun way. Well the ax is forgivable, but the Skull just feels like a way worst adamant rail, and the two fire staffs just feel like both options are super slow unless your casting, which mandates regenerating mana, but You either gotta get lucky with chaos, (Which you can't even gaurentee a gate anymore sadly.) or suffer a pretty bad downside from one of the gods.

Also The dash also feel's slow and I'm not sure if there's a double dash like in hades 1 but I wish there was if not. Because most the time I die in this game is when I missjudge a dash vs my enemies. (See above.)
And quite a few of chrono's moves feel ODD and poorly explained. especially in stage 2 where he just... nukes you. And while there are apparently mechanics to avoid it. I'd have never known that without looking it up. (Note; if there's dialog where Hecate or someoen gives you a hint, I'll retract this.)

Im 16 Years Old and have been playing basketball all my life, Barely started to actually take it serious in summer 8th->9th grade (In Tenth now) I have good game Id consider myself a Point forward, good shot, athletic around the rim, can handle the rock and see the floor, im 6’3 165 slim but built. In practice, open runs and when playing around, it comes easy, to put it simple im cooking everyone and performing with close to no mistakes, but for some reason when it comes to a real game either AAU Or HS Ball (Although I feel played better during the HS season) I cant perform as well. I make dumb mistakes like bad passes that lead to TO, Or losing my dribble, smoking layups im used to making. Etc. And as of recently its been getting worse, this past weekend i had two AAU Games and i have a small team (6 players) so i didnt see the bench for a single second but still only managed 6 pts and 4 pts, we barely lost both of these games and i know if i was preforming how I know I can we would win. It gets frustrating knowing how good I can be but for some reason I just cant show it when it matters. Its been making me contemplate quitting but i just love this sport way to much to up and quit. Please give me some tips or if you need to know more ask me questions (i could go on and on but i feel like im yapping).
Also i feel Its starting to affect me mentally even off the court because of how much i love the sport, the bad performances making me feel like im just not good enough and with my family coming to watch me put on a 💩 show, if i couldnt care less about the sport it probably wouldn’t bother me, i would just go on with my day, but after a bad performance my day is almost ruined just thinking about it.

I’m almost 30 (F) and life just feels like too much lately. I’ve found myself in a deep depression and grieving my old life. I feel trapped and I don’t know how to move forward.
I’ve been married to my husband for almost 3 years and together for about 6, he’s military. We met in my hometown where we spent a majority of our relationship. We just moved overseas to Japan, from the US. This is my first real time leaving home and being away from friends and family. I grew up incredibly close to my family and my sister’s kids (they’re young and I miss them so much! I miss going to their school functions and spending time with them!) and my heart really feels stuck in my hometown. Familial ties are so important to me, especially as we start to consider starting a family of our own. I want mine and my husband’s families to know our kids and vice versa. I’m also really sad that I have given up my dreams and ambitions career wise as it’s not something I can pursue as a foreigner in another country.
My husband doesn’t care for his family - he loves them, but doesn’t feel he needs to be close to them. He didn’t necessarily have a bad childhood, but he wasn’t close to them growing up. He thinks our kids will be fine as long as they have mom and dad that love them - which I don’t disagree with, but I just feel like there’s so much more fulfillment and joy that comes from family and sharing life with others. Sometimes I wish I were still in my hometown, but I could settle for a different state so I could be close enough to visit and be more involved in each others’ lives. Being involved and visiting home feels next to impossible when I’m on the other side of the world, between timezones and the time and cost invested to even get away in the first place. Not everyone in my family has the opportunity or money to come here, so I feel like the saying “if they wanted to, they would” can’t always be the case.
This has caused some strain in our marriage, as my husband and I are seeing different visions of our future. He wants to stay abroad as long as Uncle Sam will pay for us to be here (he has 7 years until retirement, 3 of which will be in Japan, and ideally he’d like to spend the rest of his career overseas…7 years away just feels like too long for me), while I on the other hand, want more stability and to settle, just a little. I wish we could be in the states but that doesn’t mean we can’t still travel, still live our lives, do our thing. At least at this stage of my life, as we talk about kids, it’s important for me to be close. Maybe not forever, but for now. He’s been all over the world and I’ve never stopped him from his work travels and living life, so I can’t understand why him compromising and having us (me) be a little closer to home is so hard for him to give in to. Him wanting to be overseas isn’t news to me, we talked about it a lot - I’m just finding that now that I’m in it, I don’t know if it’s what I want long term. I could stick out the next 3 years if I knew we could go “home” after this.
He does not care and does not understand the grief I feel about being so far from home. We are also in the midst of a rough patch and not really getting along 100% of the time anyways. Sometimes I am scared our marriage is crumbling based on some toxic patterns arising and I’m really left feeling quite confused about it all tbh (kids are on hold until we can strengthen our marriage and find ourselves better equipped which also makes me sad because we want to be parents and we both feel the clock is ticking as we get older).
I also really see the blessing and benefit of having these opportunities to be overseas, and I don’t want to just waste it either because my heart longs for home. This is such an incredible, once in a lifetime thing that many people don’t get to experience and I really am grateful, but it’s hard. It’s lonely and it’s isolating. I go to work and go home and there’s nothing much outside of this base bubble that I exist in. But I also feel I’ll really regret only going home once or twice a year, to suddenly wake up to a phone call that one of my parents or a family member has passed. Am I really ok with that? Hardly seeing them and then the next it’s for a funeral??? I’m not ok with that. We only have so much time on this earth with our parents; mine are not young and my dad is not healthy.
I also spent a lot of time going back and forth between Korea and USA last year to visit my husband while he was away for a year, and had some sobering realizations that: life doesn’t change and the people that are at home are doing exactly as they always have: just living and going to work and doing their thing and it was such a weird, bizarre, surreal place to find myself in. Nothing changes, life goes on whether or not I’m there. Do I just find it in myself to not care, when I am someone that cares so deeply? People in the military community will say that family is always there but to live your life and spend your vacation doing something else. It feels so detached imo.
I don’t know. I’m just really struggling with what I want and where I want to be while seeing both sides of the same coin. I cry every day. Sometimes I just want to sleep the days away. I just want this pain to stop. Sometimes, when we’re busy traveling and exploring Japan, I’m really happy and thankful and feel like I got this! But then day to day, working at my job M-F, existing in this base bubble, so far away from the things that bring me fulfillment outside of my husband (because he can’t be everything?) leaves me feeling so empty. I wish I could find clarity in my ambivalence.
Growing up is so hard sometimes.

Kind of a continuation of sorts from my "1996 was more dated in 2010 than 2010 is in 2024" post. I honestly think there's a huge dissonance between cartoons from 10-15 years ago today and how dated they are, compared to how dated 10-15 year old cartoons were in 2014.
Note that this only details western animation, not anime.
Let me explain why below:

Many 1990s cartoons were dated by the mid-late 2000s

Most cartoons from the 90s like Bobby's World, Rocko's Modern Life, and The Magic School Bus all felt rather dated by 2005, especially considering that cel-animation was completely replaced with digital animation.
2D-animated movies were also going extinct, at least in theaters. A traditionally hand-drawn animated film like Cats Don't Dance or even Space Jam would already have felt rather out of place in movie theaters by 2005.
By the late 2000s, however, traditionally animated movies were largely phased out in favor of CGI/3D animated movies. In fact, of Disney's animated films made from 2005-2009, only one (Princess and The Frog, in 2009) was traditionally hand drawn.
In 1995-1997:

• It was still common for brand-new cartoons at this time to be cel-animated
• The Disney Renaissance was still going strong, and many movies from other studios tried copying their formula; Dreamworks Animation had just been founded and didn't have any animated movies yet
• It was rare for theatrical animated movies to be computer animated; almost all of them were hand-drawn. Toy Story, the first ever CGI animated movie, was released in 1995 and was considered revolutionary at the time

By 2005:

• Cel-animated cartoons were extinct. The final holdout, Ed Edd N Eddy, switched over in 2004
• Disney was in quite a troubled time during this time and Dreamworks was a real competitor to Disney
• Traditionally animated movies were being phased out for the most part

Cartoons made in the 2000s compared to the 2010s

The 2000s were arguably even more changeful for cartoons than the 90s were. While 2000s cartoons weren't quite as dated in the 2010s as cartoons from the 90s were in the 2000s, mid-2000s cartoons such as Camp Lazlo and Codename Kids Next Door felt pretty dated once the mid-2010s rolled around.
In 2005-2007:

• CGI animation was of much lower quality in the 2000s, especially for television animation
• Cartoon Network, Disney, and Nickelodeon all had different logos (slightly more arbitrary). Toon Disney was also still around
• Illumination was basically non-existent, and when it was founded in 2007 it was an unknown name to most people
• While traditionally-animated movies were on their way out, not all theatrical movies were CGI-animated
• Cartoons were basically entirely broadcast/shown in standard definition and in 4:3 aspect ratio (although some cartoons made during this time were produced in HD, you couldn't watch them in their intended format as HDTV was still rather uncommon)

By 2012:

• CGI animation was significantly higher quality overall
• Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon both had new logos (Disney Channel changed theirs in 2014 and Boomerang followed in 2015)
• Illumination was a big competitor to Disney
• Theatrical hand-drawn animated movies were almost entirely extinct
• Cartoons were almost entirely produced in 1080p 16:9 format

The late 2000s are bit of a mixed bag in terms of being "dated" overall, in both tone and production/animation-wise.
You've got shows like Phineas and Ferb and Martha Speaks that don't feel dated at all, and then there's shows like Flapjack and Making Fiends that definitely feel pretty dated these days. It was probably the last period where cartoons being produced in 4:3 aspect ratio and at 480p was somewhat common, and the last period where HDTV was not the standard for viewing animated cartoons.

Cartoons made in the 2010s compared to the 2020s

Shows that first aired over a decade ago like My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic or Phineas and Ferb don't feel dated in the slightest. They are both 16:9, both are high quality and in 1080p, and even tonally they aren't that far off from many 2020s cartoons.
Like in 2024, Friendship Is Magic still feels modern for the most part, and if it was a new cartoon in 2024 it would not feel out of place. Meanwhile Dragon Tales (a cartoon from 1999) was already very, very dated in style, tone and production by 2010; it actually stopped airing reruns in August of that year. If Dragon Tales came out in 2010, it definitely would've felt out of place.

• Cartoon Network's logo is completely the same as it was in 2010, completely unchanged. Nick and Disney Channel's logos are mostly the same as they were in 2014, with some minor differences (Nick's logo has the iconic splat in the background, but it's still very minimalist)
• Cartoons are produced in 1080p 16:9 format
• CGI animation is not much higher quality
• Theatrical hand-drawn animated movies are still basically non-existent

The one big difference to me is Boomerang, and that's really only compared for the first half of the 2010s. From 2000 to 2015, Boomerang's style and logo was completely different, but after the logo and bumpers changed it became an empty, soulless shell of it's former self.
And look, that's not to say nothing changed between 2012-2014 and 2024 for animation, not at all. Cable television has largely been pushed aside for streaming services, and there's been some big web animated successes like Hazbin Hotel and The Amazing Digital Circus, but for the most part the differences between 2014 and 2024 aren't nearly as noticeable as the differences between 1994 and 2004, or even 2004 and 2014 for cartoons.
I think this stagnation can be noticed in other aspects of culture, but for western animation it is especially noticeable.
https://preview.redd.it/bqid0hi06a0d1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=616007ecd393e35d95fe1d6313332726c02f60af

Im gonna start with a little background context. I had dealt w other friends confessing their feelings for me. The first one, was such a case. We had to deal w each other for like 2 years, and we ended up basically hating each other. It was not only time consuming, but it left me emotionally drained. It was really one of my most messed up years in life. But this post aint about him.
While i was going through that, i got to meet Kay. He became a huge part of my life. He became the friend i desperately needed at that point. He helped me out with all the emotional whiplash i was going through, and he was there til the end. In 2022, i had discovered that another friend(from the same friend group) had also caught feelings for me, but i didn't want to go through something similar, so i immediately distanced myself from the group. Kay remained as my friend, with a couple others from the group i really got along with. Nothing was out of the ordinary ever since i left, which was around february 2022.
For the next 4 months my friendship with the rest of the group and Kay was awesome. I was about to graduate highscool, and i couldn't be any happier. But, i was going to move from states, so i wanted to see all my friends before i left.
Almost literally the last day i was in the state, i had dinner with Kay and another friend. I had driven Kay to his house, and while we were in front of it he started going off on how much he was gonna miss me n stuff. Im not really a person fit for emotional stuff, Kay was the complete opposite, and is he goes on he gets to the point to tell me he's had feelings for me for a while. What a shocker right. He then hugged me and said i really didn't have to say anything since he knew all about what i went through, and that he was gonna take advantage of the distance there was gonna be since i was leaving. I couldn't really say anything, i think i basically didn't say anything and left. I only remember crying on my way home.
We had agreed on still being friends but since we almost talked every single day, well that wasn't gonna be it anymore. I was completely fine w it, i don't tend to attach myself so much to people, so creating distance was an easy task for me. So from around june and all the way to october, guess what, it was a mess. Kay had putten me in such a special spot in his heart, that the change of dynamic wasn't something he wanted, but he also didn't want me to be so close due to his feelings. I tried my BEST to put up w his demands. During those months our friendship was basically like him playing with a yo-yo. He pushed me away, and then begged for my attention, over and over and over again.
Up until November i was exhausted with not understanding Kay. We had talked a lot of times to see what was gonna be of our friendship, but everytime he said he wasn't sure, he didn't know what he wanted, and stuff like that. He never took a real decision. I was so tired of figuring out what he wanted of me so we wouldn't have such an uncomfortable friendship, but at that point it just seemed better to cut it off there. I talked to him mid novemeber, pushing towards the end, and told him that this dynamic we had wasn't working at all. I reassured him that i still wanted to be his friend, and that i still cared for him a lot. But that things just weren't working at that point. He agreed to the fact that he never made a decision, and he was sad that it came to that point. I had told him that whenever he considered he felt better, that i would gladly be his friend again. And that was it.
December and january passed, and until February i start hearing of him again, not from him though. Basically i found out that he started telling such an alternate story to every single one of my friends in my past friendgroup. To some he told that i completely ignored him ever since he confessed, and to others he told them i would never leave him alone. I didn't care about whatever he told to people, if thats what made him feel better, fine by me. But things started to get worse.
I got along pretty well with Kay's bestfriend, and we would chat from time to time after Kay and I "weren't friends anymore". Kay found out abt this and started treating his bsf like a cheating boyfriend. Demanding him not to talk to me n stuff. I didn't play much in that, and Kay's bsf is gay so i don't think it was out of jealousy or something. He then started asking to his personal friend group to never ever reach out to me, or even dare to follow me on social medias n stuff. I knew about this friendgroup of his because at some point in our friendship he kinda begged me to be a part of it, but i wasn't really interested to become part of a group where i only knew 2 people out of like 12. So i also didn't care about him telling them that, but his bsf and i REALLY got along so it was bothering to see my friend (lets call Kay's best friend Bart lol) struggling so much to keep up with Kay's tantrums.
At some point Kay accepted the fact that Bart and i would still be friends no matter what. Kay would never really explained why he didnt want Bart to talk to me, so it was just dropped off.
Also this was through messages, groupchats and discord calls. Funny right?
On summer 2023 i went back to my state to visit my friends and family. I got to hangout a lot with Bart too since we lived like 5 minutes from each other. One night that we hung out, we decided to make some pastries. We really f*cked up so bad, like horrendous, it was actual nightmare fuel. Bart was driving me crazy cuz he only repeated like 2 tiktok audios for an hour straight, until he suddenly told me if i wanted to hang out with his friend group (that one friendgroup Kay belonged to w like 12 people in total). I knew that they weren't supposed to even follow me on social media, so i told him if they were ok w me being there. He told me that sure yeah it was fine that they didn't care that much. At first i was hesitant, but i just wanted to get out of the place we were at so i agreed.
That hangout was nothing special to be honest, it was awkward as hell hahaha. But, the day after they asked me to hangout again. And then it happened again, and again. I basically hung out w them, or at least a part of them, like twice a week throughout summer break. And to all of this, Kay was never aware of this.
Not until the LAST day of summer, straight up the last day i was there, literal hours before i left he found out. All due thx to the fact that one of his friends and I added each other on discord or twitter (idk from which platform he found out)
That basically caused a huge mess within his friendgroup, and it came down to Bart and Kay never speaking again, and also the friend who added me on discord.
I was never really blamed by anyone at that point, but i felt guilty since i knew that his friends weren't supposed to talk to me.
So, AITA?

For starters I’m a 20 year old female. My husband and I will be married for 3 years in June, and we have been trying for 2 years now. I have always had irregular, heavy flow, very painful periods and had tried every birth control option minus implant and IUD up until 2021, I had an IUD specifically Mirena placed in January 2021 as at the time my now husband and I were in the process of moving and I was planning on college. I have diagnosed chronic stomach pain and chronic malnutrition, neither of which have been diagnosed to an actual issue causing either problem and I have been to doctors across the US. I got my IUD removed in beginning of March 2022 and we started trying at the end of March, after my IUD was removed my periods were much lighter and only lasted 3 days up until August 2022 when I as well started experiencing symptoms of hyperprolactinemia(no test were done until November of 2023.) We ended up conceiving mid December of 2022, although it ended in March of 2023 due to a miscarriage and D&C after 2 weeks of no life and no signs of body naturally starting process. I ended up making the decision to change OB’s after the miscarriage and months of missed periods but my at the time OB not wanting to do any test or really caring honestly. In November 2023 I first had testing for ovulation and prolactin, ovulation had been sometimes happening but not always and prolactin levels were at a 92.3 ng/mL, OB sent me in for a MRI and referred me to Endocrinology, MRI showed a benign prolactoma not exceeding 3cm, and as of April 2024 thyroid and prolactin were evaluated; everything besides prolactin were of normal levels but prolactin did drop at a 64 ng/mL and endo is releasing me and not suggesting medication or surgery at this current time. Has anyone had any success at conceiving with untreated hyperprolactinemia, or is there anything I can do to assist? (Husband has been checked out with a clean bill of health no concerns on his end, as well as no family issues on my side with fertility or elevated prolactin) Any advice or anyone to just talk to it seems like everyone else is able to conceive no issues and some days it gets really hard when no one understands how much it makes me hurt and feel so bad..

After many years I finally got caught by the covid bug. I’m 42f mom to 4 kids and everyone has had it but me, including my husband. Not sure how I caught it but I was sick a week prior to COVID so it probably got me when my immune system was down. Not sure where, possibly from an orchestra performance for my son.
Symptoms: loss of taste (which was what caused me to test), feeling crummy, itchy eye and throat and sneezing (first symptoms which I thought were due to allergies), bad nasal congestion, headache and pressure, mentally slow, but no fever.
Also, anyone know whether getting paxlovid is important for a healthy individual? Im on day 2/3 now, will it help me avoid worsening symptoms or long covid? I’m training for a marathon and have always been a long distance runner. Of course I’m resting now. I did try to go on a slow 3 mi run, but came back with a headache and after reading these posts, I’m resting cause I don’t want to get long Covid.

Hello everybody! I believe this topic can be quite stupid, but sometimes it really bothers me and I'm not sure where I can seek help. I've (23) been married to a man (27) for half a year. We had a number of problems at the beginning: together we were overcoming our previous relationships with our ex-partners, solving some problems concerning his manner of communication and my hypersensitivity, our insecurities, some pivotal moments like my graduation from the university and moving from my parents for the first time. He came to my country to be with me and later I left everything I had to move to another country with him. We're learning how to navigate through our conflicts, though at first it wasn't easy at all. Every time I wanted to share my feelings I felt numb and couldn't say anything and when I finally were saying something he felt it as an attack. We solved almost ALL of that and now it's much better, but... Sometimes I have a feeling that something is wrong. Sometimes I think that we're too different: he likes to spend time at home playing videogames, I'm a sociable person and I can't spend a week without going out at least twice. He lives in the moment, I prefer to plan everything to feel safe. He doesn't need some cute gestures and romance, and I feel frustrated every time I remember how many flowers and compliments he was giving me at the beginning of our relationship and now. We find compromises. We have one day-off for me and one day-off for him. I explain to him that it is important for me to get flowers as a sign of his love and care sometimes. Once we went to a couples' counseling, but the psychologist just told us that we have good communication and didn't say anything interesting or useful. In short, sometimes I just get tired of this necessity to explain how to treat me, how not to hurt me, with these attempts to find compromises and stuff. He hears me, I also hear him, I feel good dynamics, but I've been in a long-term relationship before (6 years), and it felt much easier, to be honest.
Now he gives me flowers and we spend whole day out once a week, sometimes we go for a walk during weekdays, I also give him whole day to play and relax the way he wants. I feel free to speak my mind and he always tries to understand me. Every time we have an argument we try to support each other. We have interesting discussions about everything and share some of our interests.
But every time I check my Instagram and see these perfect couples I start to think something like "Maybe they just found someone perfectly compatible with them? Maybe it's not always that difficult?" Maybe I'm just too naive, I won't argue with that, I really want to understand, I want to learn something real. Sometimes I see different girls' comments like "The main thing is to find the right man", "The main thing is to find a man you won't need to ask" etc. Maybe they're right and I'm not? Or maybe everything is great and I'm just overthinking? Or maybe I'm also perfectly fine but that's just the first year of our relationship and we're going through difficult times with immigration and getting used to each other?
I'm open to any option, I want to understand. Thank you <3

Hey all. I've been playing Helldivers 2 for about a month now and must say it's fantastic. I'm brand new to the sub and felt like sharing some thoughts so here goes! Feel free to agree or disagree with anything as I'd love to hear what anyone has to say.
Let's get the obvious hot topic out of the way first. The new Warbond! A little lack-luster to be sure but not worthless. I think the new booster is almost a must-have for high diffi bug missions and incendiary impacts are nice! Although I don't understand how they really leave room for the traditional incendiary grenades to have a place in any loadout.
As for the guns the Pummeler is the clear W here. The stunlocking feels fantastic especially when you have friendly divers playing around you. The other new primaries and secondary seem to lack an identity amongst already established choices so hopefully they get some work done to them. (This has actually made me wonder if Palestedt's earlier ask for delaying the warbond may have been a sneaky hope that we would give them some more time to work it out, but I don't know why he wouldn't just ask directly then given the circumstances.)
Lastly on the warbond, armors. And I wanted to talk about them last in order to segue into armor in general as a topic. Not much going on in the warbond. All armors have perk and value combos we already have access to. New looks are nice but what we really want are new traits or trait combos we aren't used to, which brings me to armor in general.
I can respect the idea that armor is less used as an impactful choice and more along the lines of a playstyle selection. I wouldn't say this is a problem and in fact might be exactly what Arrowhead is going for, however it seems like it would be cool to shake some of these perks up a bit. Servo-assist + Arc resist? Explosive resist + Extra stims? Recoil reduce + Reduced Detection? Ok that last one might be too good but you get the idea. The fact that we are already starting to pile armors that have the exact same function makes me wonder if we should just have 1 shown in our list with a pullout menu to select what style we want it in. Maybe something for the future to decrease clutter. Also on the topic of NEW perks why don't we have a fire resist armor yet? I'd almost consider it solely on the issue of I still get insta-melted by flame hulks fairly often. But aside from that it would be a pick that allows more aggression when running flamethrower and might even be worthwhile to run on planets with fire tornadoes.
So let's get to talking weapons a little. Obviously in a PVE setting, fun is paramount. Even if a gun is powerful, if it's a painful slog to use it, it isn't fun. A gun can also feel good, but be functionally useless, and this also isn't fun. Creating a diverse armory of weapons with different functions and making all of them useful and interesting in their own way is hard. You never want content that is so bad that nobody uses it. But creating weapons so powerful that you're sandbagging merely by picking anything else is a problem as well. One of the boons that Helldivers 2 has to it's name is how the factions differ from eachother and how they demand different loadouts. For example, I love where the new Blitzer is. It's a powerful choice for bug squashing, but will leave you wondering how you can possibly close distance against bots. I think this kind of balance is great and not every weapon need be effective in every scenario. But I also love the Sickle, and have no issue taking it to either bugs or bots. It's shortcomings become clear against large targets. With all of this in mind, it makes me more excited for the introduction of a new faction, and how many more options the devs will gain for weapon balances within differing scenarios. What loadouts will Illuminate demand? Will under-used loadouts finally see some use planetside? I'm not going to really talk about the eruptoquasar changes or how I feel about them since I'm sure everyone is exhausted with that. I was never an eruptor fan anyway being a gigachad autocannon enjoyer. My primary is usually a small target clearing tool. I will say on the topic of the Slugger, I really only think they slightly over-nerfed it. I took it out just the other day and was surprised at how useful it still really is which goes to show just how immensely powerful it was pre-nerf. Maybe pulling it up just a little will make it a good choice on the bot front again. Aside from the newer weapons I have to say I actually think Arrowhead has done fairly well here. I see lots of varying weapons on the battlefield as I see divers using all sorts of primaries and supports that they find fun and useful. Also a little side note on the Spear: I think if they manage to make the locking mechanism a bit less wonky, I think it has the potential to be one of the most powerful tertiary picks in the game.
I also wanted to spend a moment with the change to how patrols work. Even as someone who will solo dive from time to time, I actually don't mind it too much because what it means for full 4 person games. With this change, effectively the only things a Helldiver can do wrong, is die or team kill. You are making the mission easier simply by virtue of being on the battlefield. This means that as long as you aren't murdering your fellow divers, (traitors excluded) just staying alive is helpful. Seeing as every diver (not factoring in IRB booster) brings 5 reinforcements to the table, you really aren't dragging down your team at all until you've cost the team MORE than 5 reinforcements. I think this allows for maximum freedom of playstyle around your team and I feel outweighs the downsides of diving without a full squad.
Since I brought up a booster there, let's talk about them a little. They are, well, weird to me. I simply don't see a world where increased reinforcement budget and flexible reinforcement budget are anything but planning for failure, and if you are failing, maybe it's because you brought them. Full ammo (and notably stims) on drop, injury resist, less patrols and bonus stamina are all such good choices it's hard to part with them for anything. The new booster I think is an example of the kind of stuff we need to shake up what's brought on missions more and I hope to see more like it in the future.
Another thing I can think of I'd like to bring up for now is orders. While I think we should always be able to work on whatever front we choose to play on, maybe we should have something available to sweeten the deal a little when doing missions that fall under the major order? Not sure if an exp bonus or anything would do it or be on the table at all but it's a thought. Being someone who enjoys being a part of completing the major orders whenever they are active, this brings me to a minor complaint. If the major order is on the Automaton front, but my PERSONAL order is to get flamethrower kills... I'm not bringing that to fight bots sorry. Maybe this is something that won't or doesn't even need to be changed, but it does bother me a little to be pulled away from the team objective to hold a terminid barbecue on the other side of the galaxy. I suppose there's always just choosing not to do the personal order in a day too. As I said before, this is a very minor gripe.
Stratagems almost all seem good and useable in a variety of situations except I can't for the life of me understand why Eagle Cluster Bomb has more uses than Eagle Strafing Run. Seems like just a straight buff to Strafing Run to have 5 or even 6 uses (adjusted with ship module) per rearm would land it safely in the category of probably still never used unless I could find a way to consistantly kill more than 4-6 light enemies with it.
Anyway that's about everything I can think of for now. If you read all the way here thank you so much for listening to me shamelessly lay out my thoughts in one post and I hope you enjoyed reading! Keep on fighting for freedom divers. And if you see Ogre on the battlefield I assure you he loves hugs. Cheers!

I don't think anyone can argue with how they feel when they are reported and temporarily banned, be it for 30 minutes 48 hours or whatever.
It is frustrating, especially if you are someone that plays beyond the free levels and have over many years put actual money in the game.
Everyone can report now, in every game and people can group report just because someone says 'report this player'... sheep follow and report. The majority of players have faced that - but that doesn't make it right, or a fair system.
There are of course clear differences as to why people should be reported - player constantly feeding with no regard for safety and fights vs 4 in jungle solo against someone who has died alot through targeting due to being support with support items are two different matters- your allies wont see your gameplay normally just snippets when they themselves have died and report from there.
Receiving a non play ban in this circumstance for example is confusing and counter productive. It alienates peoples, stops them playing the game, and disincentives them from actually putting real money into the game.
Lets be honest, real player numbers have dwindled its taken 8 months for the game to receive a gameplay update, and the community is feeling let down.
It is clear we need some change, and we can start with the bug bear so here are my suggestions:
1- Introduce a comments section to the overwatch reporting section - those overseeing must input feedback as to why you have received a ban
2 - Provide a representation as to how close you are to a ban to encourage 'better' behaviour e.g a scale 1-10 reports in x amount of time that is only visible to the player
3- Provide a pop up warning saying you have received x amount of reports in x amount of time, if you incur further reports in the next x amount of time you will be banned for x amount of time.
4- Openly categorise the infringements showing the players privately where they stand. There are differences between being banned for cheating against playing a bad game or having a momentary lack of communication dexterity. Just mute those who cannot communicate for a couple of games, rather than stop them playing.
5- Push more people into LP and increase the number of LP games from reports as opposed to stop them from playing for hours/days/weeks on end as doing so is counter productive.
Ultimately... I know the devs don't care about 99% of the gamers, they just want to make money from them. They are only bothered about esports.
But there seriously wont be much of a community left if they cannot realise gamers are human, and we all share the same characteristics and continue to punish players for those attributes.
I am speaking as someone who has over 14 thousand hours in this game, with a guild which was active but is now only largely active when there is something going on like an event.
Were not fooled by the current event - the prospect of have to buy MULTIPLE 'battle passes' to complete the extra lanes of the acts is pretty despicable and shows there is little understanding of how the current reporting system is affecting the player based. Trying to gauge money from loyal players to fill the gaps from those you've pushed away is like car dealerships raising prices in a recession.
Hopefully some of what i've said will resonate with someone, and perhaps there will be some other intelligent suggestions below.... then again...
This is reddit....

This would be excluding hotels / flights. How many euros would be a comfortable trip for 10 days.
Will be probably going to Florence and Cinque Terre.