1. Paddington’s Birthday Party by Michael Bond (Collins Colour Cubs Edition) 2. Paddington in Touch by Michael Bond (Collins Colour Cubs Edition) 3. Paddington’s New Room by Michael Bond (Collins Colour Cubs Edition) 4. Paddington Takes a Bath by Michael Bond (Collins Colour Cubs Edition) 5. Paddington Weighs In by Michael Bond (Collins Colour Cubs Edition) 6. Paddington Hits Out by Michael Bond (Collins Colour Cubs Edition) 7. Paddington in the Kitchen by Michael Bond (Collins Colour Cubs Edition) 8. Paddington Does It Himself by Michael Bond (Collins Colour Cubs Edition) 9. Paddington and Aunt Lucy by Michael Bond (Collins Colour Cubs Edition) 10. Paddington on the River by Michael Bond (Collins Colour Cubs Edition) 

• 100th Anniversary Limited Edition Teddy’s Teddy Theodore Roosevelt 26th President of The United States 

Hey,
I found a tool on Reddit that allows me to downgrade the firmware of my HP printer so it can print again with third-party cartridges. - Link: https://www.reddit.com/useDaveJhonson20/comments/wfhmr1/nonhp_chip_detected_error_message_fo
Now, my question is whether I can trust such tools since a check on VirusTotal flagged it on 4 engines. - Link: https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/d7654109f565e19abfc4d58c732893257889e9d012266281bc1d8d6f3949ab66/detection
Can someone help me interpret the results? I just want to be sure before I download unknown software onto my PC. Thank you! :)

Understanding the Importance of Competitor Analysis

Competitor analysis is essential for several reasons:

1. Identifying Market Trends: Understanding what your competitors are offering can help you identify market trends and consumer preferences.
2. Improving Your Offerings: By analyzing competitors, you can find gaps in the market and improve your products or services.
3. Pricing Strategies: Knowing how your competitors price their products can help you set competitive prices, ensuring profitability while attracting customers.
4. Staying Ahead: Continuous analysis keeps you updated on competitors' actions, allowing you to adjust your strategies and stay ahead in the market.

Steps to Analyze Competitors' Products and Pricing

1. Identify Your Competitors

The first step in competitor analysis is identifying who your competitors are. On Amazon, this means finding sellers who offer similar products. To identify competitors:

• Use Amazon's Search Bar: Enter keywords related to your product and see which sellers appear in the search results.
• Check Amazon's Best Sellers Lists: These lists are categorized by product type and can help you identify top competitors in your niche.
• Utilize Third-Party Tools: Tools like Jungle Scout, Helium 10, and AMZScout can provide detailed information on competitors.

2. Analyze Competitors' Product Listings

Once you have identified your competitors, the next step is to analyze their product listings. Pay attention to:

• Product Titles: Note how competitors use keywords in their titles.
• Product Descriptions: Analyze the detail and quality of their descriptions.
• Bullet Points: Examine the key features and benefits they highlight.
• Images: Look at the quality and variety of images used.
• A+ Content: See if they use enhanced brand content and how it adds value.

3. Examine Customer Reviews and Ratings

Customer reviews and ratings provide valuable insights into competitor products. Look for:

• Common Complaints: Identify recurring issues that customers mention.
• Positive Feedback: Note what customers appreciate about the products.
• Review Count and Ratings: Compare the number of reviews and overall ratings to gauge product popularity and customer satisfaction.

4. Study Pricing Strategies

Pricing is a critical factor in attracting customers. To effectively analyze competitors' pricing:

• Monitor Prices Regularly: Prices on Amazon can change frequently, so it's important to keep track of competitors' pricing trends.
• Check for Discounts and Promotions: See if competitors offer discounts, coupons, or special deals.
• Analyze Price Points: Compare the pricing tiers for different variations or bundles of the product.
• Consider Value for Money: Assess whether competitors' prices reflect the value offered by their products, including quality, features, and additional benefits.

5. Evaluate Sales Performance

Understanding your competitors' sales performance can help you gauge market demand and identify successful strategies. To evaluate sales performance:

• Use Sales Estimation Tools: Tools like Jungle Scout and Helium 10 can estimate monthly sales based on product rankings.
• Monitor Best Seller Rankings: Track the ranking of competitors' products in their respective categories.
• Analyze Sales Velocity: Look at how quickly products sell out or change in ranking.

6. Leverage Competitor Intelligence Tools

Several tools are available to help gather and analyze competitor data. Some of the most effective tools include:

• Jungle Scout: Provides comprehensive data on sales, revenue, and product trends.
• Helium 10: Offers a suite of tools for keyword research, listing optimization, and competitor analysis.
• AMZScout: Helps identify profitable products and track competitors' performance.
• Keepa: Tracks price history and sales ranks over time.

7. Benchmark Against Competitors

Benchmarking involves comparing your products and performance against your competitors. To effectively benchmark:

• Identify Key Metrics: Determine which metrics are most important for your business, such as sales volume, conversion rates, and customer satisfaction.
• Set Benchmarks: Establish performance standards based on top competitors.
• Track Progress: Regularly compare your performance against benchmarks and adjust strategies as needed.

8. Develop a Competitive Advantage

Using the insights gained from competitor analysis, develop strategies to create a competitive advantage:

• Improve Product Quality: Address common complaints and enhance product features.
• Optimize Listings: Use high-quality images, detailed descriptions, and relevant keywords.
• Adjust Pricing: Offer competitive prices while maintaining profitability.
• Enhance Customer Experience: Provide excellent customer service, fast shipping, and responsive support.

9. Monitor Competitors Continuously

Competitor analysis is not a one-time task but an ongoing process. To stay ahead:

• Regularly Update Data: Continuously monitor competitors' listings, prices, and performance.
• Stay Informed About Market Trends: Keep up with industry news and changes in consumer behavior.
• Adapt Strategies: Be flexible and willing to adjust your strategies based on new insights and market conditions.

Utilizing Amazon Seller Tools

Jungle Scout can significantly enhance your Amazon FBA business by providing comprehensive data and insights. This Amazon tool offers features like sales estimates, revenue analytics, and product trends, helping you identify profitable products and understand market demand. With its keyword research capabilities, you can optimize your listings to improve visibility and attract more customers.
The software's competitor analysis tools allow you to monitor your rivals' pricing strategies, sales performance, and customer feedback. By examining this data, you can adjust your pricing, improve your product quality, and enhance your listings to gain a competitive edge. Additionally, the tool's sales tracking features help you stay updated on market trends and shifts in consumer behavior, ensuring you remain responsive and proactive.
The tool's historical data on price changes and sales ranks enables you to make informed decisions about inventory management and promotional strategies. By leveraging these insights, you can optimize your supply chain, avoid stockouts, and capitalize on peak sales periods. Overall, this tool is invaluable for driving growth and success in your Amazon FBA business.

Conclusion

Effectively analyzing competitors' products and pricing on Amazon FBA involves a thorough and ongoing process of research, comparison, and strategy adjustment. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can gain valuable insights into your competitors, identify opportunities for improvement, and develop strategies to outperform them in the marketplace.
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An all-in-one Amazon seller tool to easily find, list, and sell 10K+/month products! Disclosure: I get a small kickback if you click through. Thanks for reading! DM if you have any questions :)

Working on a start-up team that's currently debating between using Elementor or SiteGround as our hosting service. I've done a fair amount of surface-level research, so I know (at least it seems) that both services offer relatively the same in terms of specs and such.
The biggest difference though seems to be the price - our front-end designer wants to use Elementor, and so if we go with SiteGround, we're paying $99 a year for the Elementor Advanced to go with our SiteGround site. On the other hand, if we chose to host with Elementor, that'd save us that $99 and a little more since its price is slightly cheaper.
That said, I've seen opinions across the web typically preferring SiteGround. This seems to range from speed, better customer support, more default options automatically given to you (such as a website email; with Elementor you have to do it through a 3rd-party), etc.
I would appreciate some feedback on experiences using either service for hosting and how both impact using Elementor.
Thanks!
P.S. If you have any other comparable sites you'd recommend, that is also welcome!

Hi guys, I'm almost done with my tube of Il Makiage's After Party foundation. I want to give the Make Up Forever HD Skin Waterproof Natural Matte Foundation a try, and when I try the shade finder, it gives me 2Y36. I think it's more dark and olive than the shade 50 of Il Makiage, and I love the shade 50 of Il Makiage on my skin, so I was wondering if any of you would know what my equivalent to the shade 50 would be for the Make Up Forever foundation. Thanks in advance!

Hi all. Mostly likely I’m overdoing it on minimizing exposing details on my idea, but better safe then sorry.
I’m currently working in and industry where I believe a transparent price comparison (or product comparison, or service provider comparison) is non existent. I believe developing it could be an interesting business case, to bring transparency to the market and make it easier for buyers to find sellers of a specific product or service. Let’s say it could be a platform where different cleaning companies can share the type of cleaning services they offer and their price.
Is there anyone here that has build such a platform? Questions I’m having are: - should it start free? - how to get the first parties on this platform - should it stay free or become paid - should the buyers of a product/service pay to get access to the platform? - should the sellers of a product:service pay to be presented on the platform? - should it contain ads? - should it contain paid promotions? - should we earn on a transaction? - how to guarantee a transaction doesn’t take place outside our scope after initial contact has been made between a buyer and a seller?
There must be foreseeable pitfalls i am missing that someone has already bumped into. Would love to hear some thoughts and feedback.
Thank you.

Help please! I have two questions and my wife and I are struggling to make a decision today. This is for our large basement which we are finishing.

1. Color - we have white walls, white doors, and want a modern contemporary look in the basement. There will be lots of traffic - we have kids and like parties. She likes the white - I think there will be too much white and there is a risk of stains being seen with white. I am for the sand colored one. What do you think?
   
2. Where to buy - we are in Princeton, NJ. We like the Floor and Decor options because they seem to be more clean - I.e less dark streaks in between. But part of the appeal is they have better displays. I have similar samples from Home Depot and Lowe’s, both of whom offer lower prices. Any experiences with these retailers and their brands? Any advice?
   

Need to make some decisions today so any advice is welcome!
Thanks

I was a damaged person. But I was on the mend.
I had a pretty traumatic break up with my childhood best friend, turned girlfriend. I had known her since we were 8 years old. We had been boyfriend and girlfriend since we were 13 and had been so for 9 years until my junior year of college when she cheated on me in a very cruel way. It came to light that she had cheated on me many times before as well.
I loved her so god damn much! I thought we were one of those stories where two souls were knitted together from eternity to eternity, or some hallmark card bullshit like that.
I was emotionally shattered and it took me a while until one day about 2 years later, I woke up and thought about her, but then realized that I hadn't thought about her at all the previous day. It was glorious and I knew then that I was on the mend. After that, my healing process sort of exponentially snowballed and I was back in the saddle as far as relationships went. I started going on dates and meeting up with women.
I was a software engineer working for a large corporation. Because I was good at my job, and because I didn't have a family, I was given the opportunity to move to Singapore and lead a project there for what would be a couple of years but turned out to be 7 years.
The great thing about Singapore is that they speak the "King's English" when they're not speaking "Singlish" (a patois of mostly English with funky grammar, but with Malay, Chinese, and Hindi thrown in). So I didn't have to learn a whole new language to fit in. I just had to learn how to translate Singlish to English, which wasn't too hard after a couple of months of trying. I even learned the lingo and it would amuse my coworkers a whole lot when I spoke Singlish. They thought it was hilarious.
I was a good looking guy (still am!!) but I really let myself go in my depression. I was a tall, muscular 210 pounds when I broke up with my ex, but I had ballooned up to over 300 pounds. I started a workout regimen and lost it all but the workout regimen became sort of an obsession. It was the one thing that grounded me. After I went to Singapore, one of my business perks was a gym membership at "Fitness First", a local gym franchise. I was down to my previous weight, but I had to practically camp out at the gym because the best thing about Singapore is the FOOD. The food is incredible! However, you WILL pack on the weight if you don't get your ass to the gym.
The meet cute
I was working out one day much later than normal due to some overtime on my project and I saw a girl on a treadmill. The treadmill was the one I usually use because it was in the back and kind of out of the way. The girl was stunning! The thing that stuck out to me was that she was had her hair in a pony tail through a ball cap, which is a look I find very attractive. I was a little nervous because, even though I was fairly confident about the way I look, I was definitely batting out of my league with this girl.
I went to her and chatted her up after she got off of the treadmill. She didn't look me in the eye and didn't really engage. I figured that I had acted like what is now known as a "gym creep" and I figured it was a "swing and a miss!" I apologized and said I wouldn't bother her anymore. I stuck out my hand and said "I'm OP, by the way. What's your name?"
She hesitated and looked at me for a bit and said "Lilly" (not her real name).
I remember this exactly because she later said that it was what intrigued her about me. At the time, she was an actress/model who had done some print/public billboard type ads, product demo booths at expos, and even a bit part in a local tv (Mediacorp) series. She had started to attract public attention because of these (mainly the TV show and the ads that were hanging all around town at that time) not just from men but from women too and it was super uncomfortable for her.
The fact that I had no idea who she was relaxed her and made her think that I was attracted to her for her and not because her face was everywhere at the time. After she told me about it, I did notice her face everywhere. But photoshop was a thing even back then, so I didn't recognize her from her ads and I really don't look at ads, tuning them out. I also didn't watch her TV show because it was in Mandarin Chinese and I don't speak or understand any Chinese, and I wasn't in a position where I was required to attend or arrange trade shows.
In the years prior to meeting me, Lilly had undergone a lot of plastic surgery (breast, eyelid, facial contouring, nose job, lipo, etc). She said it got to where she didn't recognize herself in the mirror and it disturbed and depressed her. She hadn't particularly wanted the surgery but she got the procedures done at the behest of her family who wanted her to bring in more money and the people in charge of her career development (don't know the term). It was all very expensive and she felt like she owed her family and the talent people who managed her.
Later, I found out that she hated the public recognition. Not just from men, but mostly from women who were really catty about her plastic surgery. The people in charge of her were pushing her to start singing but she didn't have a good voice and would need a bunch of training for that. She was depressed due to not recognizing herself in the mirror any more and didn't want to follow the career track that she had been on. They were pushing her to do more figure/body modeling which was why she was in the gym. She was SUPER uncomfortable with that and constantly hungry and pissed off.
She was afraid that she would do some more modeling and then get married off by her parents to some rich mainland Chinese man that she would be ambivalent about (she preferred Caucasian men) and she'd be forced to be a traditional pampered Chinese wife living in Beijing.(Doesn't sound that bad to me. Some of those Chinese businessmen live crazy luxurious lifestyles.
Since I was working a lot of overtime, I kept going to the gym later at night and we saw each other and I would wave and smile and she would smile and wave back. OK I was kinda hoping to meet her regularly. I spotted her on a couple of exercises and we began to chat with each other a bit. A couple of times I had to steady her because she was fainting from being hungry and working out at the same time. I used that as an excuse to take her out to a hawker center, which like a mall food court but with delicious local food (not chain restaurants). We chatted and got along really well. It became a regular thing until I confessed I had a crush on her. We started dating after that until it got to a point where she practically moved into my place.
She, of course, had her share of guys interested in her. She was on livejournal at the time (remember livejournal??) and she was doing that and posting pictures of herself for her career mostly, but I'm sure she did enjoy the attention. She had one guy from Belgium who was really after her. He actually bought her 800 thread count sheets, which is an oddly practical but vaguely inappropriate gift. He actually visited Singapore on business (he was a tech sales guy) and wanted to meet up with her in a public place, a hawker center. I still had trust issues from my previous "love of my life" betraying me. To this day, I cringe at my behavior at the time, but I laid down a clear boundary. She could absolutely go see and hang out with this guy if she wanted to, but if she did, she'd be doing it as a single available girl and we would be through. She said she saw my face "turn to stone" and it was clear that she would lose me if she went to meet up with that guy. That honestly gave her pause about our relationship and she really considered ending it at the time. I didn't know that until much later, though. Certainly, I'm glad that she didn't. She didn't go meet up with the guy. To this day, we call the incident "The Belgian Waffle". OK so I call it that, she thinks it's stupid.
Meeting her family
Eventually, Lilly asked if I could have dinner with her parents, saying that they wanted to meet me. I bought some gifts, basically Japanese cookies in really nice packaging, and then we met. I did the traditional thing and formally introduced myself and asked them about their family and history.
At the time, Lilly got some criticism from her extended family because I am a white guy. There was a certain stigma attached to local girls who liked white guys. They called those girls "SPGs" which stands for "Sarong Party Girls", a derogatory name for the prostitutes who would entertain British expats at after hours parties "back in the day".
Over the next few months, I won over her family mainly by eating their food and being accepting of their culture. I grew up in Texas, so pickled jalapenos were common in my house...like salt and pepper, we put them on everything. Later on, I was the kind of guy who put tabasco or sriracha on everything. So eating their spicy food was no problem for me. I remember us both going shopping at an open air market and seeing an older woman cutting up cili padi. I asked if I could try some. She looked at my pale face and then at Lilly and she said I could. I bit into one and chewed it up as the woman looked at me with an amused look on her face. She was waiting for me to jump up and down with fire shooting out of my mouth, I guess. I disappointed her, but she and Lilly were impressed. She later told her mother and she was impressed too. She wanted me to eat one for her as well. Oh well, trained monkey time I guess.
The real test came when I tried Durian for the first time. This is the same food that "defeated" Andrew Zimmern, the "Bizarre Foods" guy. I actually liked it. I had a D24 durian, which admittedly is like the "beginner version" of durians. There are like 16 different types. When you get past the smell and actually taste it, it doesn't smell that bad any more. It's very sweet and creamy. It's like the taste overwrites your disgust of the smell. I think that's what really impressed them to an extreme degree. They started calling me an "egg", because I was "white on the outside but yellow on the inside."
I would visit her grandmother with her. In true Chinese fashion, Lilly and her brother Johnny were raised by their paternal grandparents while their parents worked full time jobs, so her grandmother was like her mom. She was in an elder care facility at this point, though. She didn't like living there, but it was all they could afford. We would visit her every week and she'd be very happy. She didn't speak any English at all so she and Lilly would just chat speaking Hokkien Chinese while her grandmother would pet my hairy forearms like I was a dog. She was absolutely smitten with my hairy forearms.
Meeting my family
After a little over a year, I took her back to Texas to meet my family. It was quite the culture shock. Lilly was amazed by red barns and hay bales, black and white Holstein cows, things she saw in movies about the USA. She particularly was impressed by the cluster mailboxes lined up on country roads ("So cute, leh!") We actually had to stop the car and take pictures of her standing next to them, smiling goofily for the photo. I made sure to take her to the Texas hill country during spring, when the hills are covered with soft green grass and festooned with bluebonnets, sunflowers, indian paintbrushes, black eyed susans, daisies, etc. I had to practically hold her down to keep her from picking them. It's not illegal or anything, it's just frowned upon and tradition to leave them alone. OK, I let her pick some. Give me a break, I was in love with the girl.
Driving was also something that kind of boggled her mind. Texas is huge, and traveling from my parents' place to visit my brothers and their families was a seemingly endless trek. Driving from Houston to Austin, to Corpus Christi was crazy long, even with the stops to visit my relatives.
Lilly was practically agoraphobic at the big sky in Texas. She was used to being in a forest of tall concrete and steel buildings, with only strips of blue sky available at the top. In Texas that sky went from horizon to horizon. She was also amazed at the uncountable numbers of stars at night away from the city lights. She later told me it was like visiting Narnia or something.
In Texas, she got her share of looks from guys, especially in the bigger cities. I wasn't jealous. I've never been a jealous guy, although my experience with my ex "love of my life" really put my radar up, I still was proud that other guys were attracted to her. My attitude was "go ahead and eat your hearts out, she's with me!"
When she met my oldest brother, it was like a cultural thing with her, so she was very deferential and respectful. I knew that my oldest brother was attracted to her because he was stumbling and stuttering when he was speaking to her, looking at her but kind of avoiding looking at her. I wasn't too concerned because he was a married guy with 2 sons and not a scumbag, but it was still pretty amusing to see "Mr. Smooth-don't-let-em-know-you-want-em-kid" at a loss for words.
My parents met Lilly finally (she was super nervous but she did really well) and later my mom brought me aside and asked me if she should re-set her mother's diamond engagement ring. I thought about it a bit, and then told her "yes". My mom's eyes started sparkling with images of unborn grandchildren and she smiled bigger than I had ever seen her smile (kind of unsettling actually). My dad later brought me aside and basically told me I couldn't do any better and I would be a "god damn fool" if I let her get away from me. I agreed. My dad then told me something that remains with me to this day: "She will make your life sparkle, son." (she has).
Before our time in the US was up my mom gave me the ring and I asked Lilly to be my wife in a field of wildflowers, which had become her favorite place to be in Texas. She said yes. Looking back, that was one of the happiest days of my life. It was up there with losing my virginity to "the love of my life" (who turned out to be a duplicitous crazy person but at the time it was really special), my wedding day to Lilly, and the births of our children.
The Engagement
When we got back to Singapore we had to pretend we weren't engaged because I had to ask her parents for their daughter's hand in marriage. I spoke with them and explained how my prospects in my career were good. I told them that I loved their daughter and that my family also loved their daughter. We had to schedule a phone call between my parents and her parents.
I had clued my parents in as far as the traditions go. In Chinese culture, the groom pays for the wedding rather than the bride. The groom also has to give the bride's parents certain auspicious gifts. My parents luckily had done a tour of China a few years before and knew all of this beforehand, having befriended their local tour guide who was saving up money for his own wedding at the time. On the call, they agreed upon a pinjin, which is basically "betrothal money". We started to plan the Guo Da Li ceremony which would take place in 3 months time, and 3 months before the wedding.
Unfortunately life threw us a curve ball and Lilly's grandmother died. It was bittersweet because, while Lilly missed her, her grandmother had become very old and infirm to the point where her quality of life was pretty low. All wedding stuff was put on hiatus until the funeral was over plus 100 days for mourning.
After that, we were able to do the Guo Da Li ceremony. I gave my future in laws a red packet of money plus special cakes and 12 mandarin oranges and gold jewelry. It all went very well.
Wedding planning started in earnest. I got some money from my dad (who insisted) but the lion's share was out of my pocket. During this process I was able to meet some incredible people. The stand outs were Richard and Jimmy. Rich and Jimmy were tailors and dressmakers. They were a couple and they gave my fiancée a really good deal on a wedding dress and cocktail dress if she agreed to do some print modeling for their business. They also made me a tuxedo and a suit. I offered to model for them as well and we all had a good laugh at that prospect (OK they were doing most of the laughing - ego still hurts from that one, guys).
The venue we were using was Chijmes. It's the same one used in the move "Crazy Rich Asians". It was back when they had first started offering it up as a venue so it wasn't crazy expensive at the time. Plus, it was a smaller venue for weddings. Usually weddings are held in large hotel ballrooms and are huge affairs (this is what I was told). The families both invite everyone they've ever met to come: Neighbors, business contacts, everyone. They all bring red packets filled with cash. We opted for the "small" wedding.
The Bachelor Party
We had planned bachelobachelorette parties on the same night (separate venues). Lilly's MOH threw hers while Rich and Jimmy threw mine. My best man was my dad (because he's the best man that I know) and so cigars and brandy would have been disappointing to my work friends and my future brother in law and cousins. I don't think anyone was prepared for what happened.
We had the party at the sushi restaurant of a friend of Rich and Jimmy's. It was after hours. We had some incredible sashimi and rolls. I even tried fish sperm. Didn't like it. I asked Jimmy are you sure it's FISH, sperm?? He said of course he'd never do that to me. To be fair, it did taste and smell very fishy. I don't know how human sperm tastes like (or maybe I do now, I don't know).
After the sushi was done, it was time for the entertainment, and oh boy. Rich and Jimmy hired a trans entertainer who sang show tunes. The thing is, she had an incredible voice. She was obviously biologically male, but she really carried herself with a lot more femininity than I've seen from biological women. She sang and told jokes and roasted me pretty thoroughly. My dad was there and he thought it was funny as hell. My friends from work, especially the Aussies and Brits, thought it was great, my future BIL and most of my future cousins did too. Other cousins politely excused themselves and left. I think the free flowing booze and beer kept most people there, though.
After her thoroughly entertaining performance, it was time for the dancers. This is kind of where it went off the rails. Rich and Jimmy hired exotic dancers...but they were all male or trans. Now, to be fair, it wasn't like they didn't tell me about it beforehand. They did. Personally, I thought it would be hilarious to announce that the strippers were here and then have male dancers come out. I have a twisted sense of humor, I suppose. I certainly wasn't going to cheat on the most beautiful woman in the world mere weeks before our wedding, so prostitutes and female dancers were completely out of the question for me. They jokingly suggested male dancers it and we laughed. I thought about it a bit and I guess I'm "take-the-joke-too-far" guy so I encouraged it. Lilly knew about it and thought it was funny as well and wanted me to video tape it while it happened. ("Yeah right you just want to ogle the dancers" "Of course, lah!")
What I wasn't prepared for was the PLATOON of banana hammocks that marched out into the restaurant. Smooth greased up Asian chests everywhere! My dad was of course shocked at first and then looked at me and we started laughing and the ridiculousness of it. My dad stood up and clapped his hand on my shoulder and put a mock serious look on his face. The people immediately around me witnessed my dad telling me that he loved me and accepted my life style choice and that nothing I could say or do would ever change the fact that he and mom loved me and accepted me. Thanks, dad. I was laughing during the whole thing and my future BIL and work buddies who were around me were laughing as well. My dad excused himself and said he had to go find my mom and tell her the "bad news about her future grandchildren" and left ("Can adopt, lah! Can surrogate, meh!" Thanks for the support, guys). My future BIL laughed and said that since all of the available male dancers were at my party, there were none available to attend his sister's party, so she was "safe".
Among the highlights of the evening is that I discovered that a few of my co-workers and future cousins were in fact gay. I was told to stay out of the ladies' room no matter what. I wasn't planning on going in but thanks for the warning. I was proud that we all only vomited in the trash cans and not on the floor (what a waste of some damn good sushi....and fish sperm). Rich and Jimmy stayed next to each other all night. I even saw them holding hands and looking at each other lovingly. To my shame, I was under the common misconception that all gay men were very promiscuous and I kind of expected them to pair off with the dancers. What I saw that night was a very loving monogamous relationship.
The Wedding Day
The day of the wedding came a few days later and I had the good fortune of being the first one in my family to experience the fun and interesting experience of a groom going through a Chinese-style wedding. I say "Chinese-style" because while we did do a lot of the traditions from a Chinese wedding, we did say vows to God before a Christian minister. This was something she insisted on as her family had converted from Taoism to Christianity (but still kept the Taoist traditions and festivals).
First up was the gatecrash. I went over to the her family's apartment and the MOH and bridesmaids stood at the door refusing to let me in unless I gave them $9999.00. Nine is a significant symbol to them. It means "longevity" I think. So the whole idea is for me to haggle the price down by doing challenges and games. I had to do a handstand and walk with my hands. I had to answer trivia questions ("What is her nickname for you?" "Cranky old man" "What is your nickname for her?" "Baby"). BIL and I had to do "the worm". I haggled them down to $99 which I paid to them in a red packet. My BIL and wife chided me for not going lower but my dad was there and was in his 70s and couldn't do any feats of strength.
After I "secured" my bride, we did the traditional tea ceremony with her parents and my parents. Lilly was dressed in a traditional red silk qipao, tailor made by Rich and Jimmy. I gotta tell you people, the qipao really does it for me! Not gonna lie, it was like cupid gut punched me when I saw her dressed in it . My parents were pretty stoic throughout but my mom sympathy cried with Lilly's parents when she tearfully did the tea ceremony with her mother and father. We received red packets from each set of parents. I was told the red packet her parents gave us had most of the bride price we paid in it. Her mom gave her her grandmother's jeweled antique watch and my mom gave her a sapphire ring (sapphire is my birth stone). As we left her home to go to Chijmes, I told her "we're keeping that dress, understand me??" She laughed.
We got to Chijmes, did the photos and she walked down the aisle in a beautiful white dress with a small train behind it with sequins on it. My dad gave me the ring. He was my best man. He was my best man because he's the best man I know. After the wedding, she changed into a champagne colored strapless cocktail dress another Rich and Jimmy original. THREE wardrobe changes, people! THREE! All with different hair and make up and she did it super quick. I don't know what wizardry was invoked but we may be indebted to the hoary netherworld.
We honeymooned at the Fullerton Hotel. The old British colonial Post Office was converted to a luxury hotel in 2001. We stayed there for 3 days ordering overpriced room service ("Go to hawker center, lah! Much cheaper better food, meh!).
Emigration and Immigration
So a little bit before this time, a little event happened in New York. You might have heard about it. Anyway because some sexually repressed incels decided to murder thousands of people, USA's immigration was all jacked up. The INS went bye-bye. Then we had the BCIS for a brief moment, followed by the USCIS. I saw that my project was ending and my company helped me with her immigration. It was a pain, though. It seems like we had new forms to fill out every week while the old ones became obsolete. That's how I remember it, anyway. It was a pretty frustrating time and I almost had to leave her behind (it wouldn't have been permanent but it would be a long time). Luckily we were able to make it time.
For explanation purposes, we didn't get LEGALLY married in Singapore. We had the religious ceremony but no "government contracts" were involved. This is because, at that time at least, it was easier to bring over a fiancée than a wife, for some reason. So Lilly was a "90 Day Fiancée"!! We got married at the county courthouse when we finally were able to go to my new project. We didn't wait 90 days. We did in three (jet lag).
Unfortunately for her, we moved from Singapore, a 24 hour international class city, to a sleepy seaside town in the USA near a military base. Lots of fun was had with that. A total fish out of water story for another time (What is this "coin laundry"? Do you Americans have a place to wash your coins?).
My BIL got married to a beautiful girl and moved to Australia and opened a Bait and Tackle store in Surfer's Paradise on the east coast of Australia. He has 2 daughters. In 2012 he was caught cheating on his wife and lost everything. She moved back to Singapore with his kids, and he kind of struggled for a while. He got another bait and tackle store eventually and tries to see his daughters whenever he can. They don't have a good relationship.
Rich and Jimmy celebrated the decriminalization of homosexuality in Singapore in 2022, but they still can't get married. We still talk from time to time. Writing this, I find myself missing them. I had some really fun times because of them. I've never had better conversations in Singapore than with them while at Lilly's dress fittings (and my suit fittings).
We have been married for 21 years. She has never given up being a Singaporean citizen. She keeps her passport current. She's a "permanent resident" here in the USA. We have three kids, two boys and a girl. We are still married. She still wears her hair in a pony tail with a ball cap when she works out. She still wears that qipao on special occasions, which I try to achieve as often as possible. She's still my Baby and I'm still her Cranky Old Man.
Thanks for reading.

Hey recruitinghell, first time posting here but I feel like it's necessary to share my experience with what seems to be a really awesome trend. For context, I starting programming in March/April of last year and have been on a serious job search for ~9 months since finishing my full stack web developer bootcamp. I currently work pro-bono for an unfunded start up, which to be frank has been a great opportunity but I've been really bad at putting in effort since they do not pay me for my work. It's turning into a toxic relationship on my part which I feel is necessary to acknowledge. I also work a retail job in order to feed myself and my cat. My roommate has pretty much been sponsoring me since finishing my bootcamp while I search for a job and I'm very grateful but it's taking so long and I just want to be able to tell my family that I finally have a job. I'm almost 30 and every day feels like a drag.
There have been two separate incidents I've experienced that involves me having a great first round interview only to wind up being ghosted. These weren't with third party or internal recruiters - they were with the CE-mutherf**king-O of the company. Both companies are start ups that recently achieved funding, hence why they're growing their teams.
Startup #1:
I was sent this after lamenting of job prospects in a slack channel for bootcamp grads in my network. It was sent my way by someone who even gave me some tips on my Linkedin which I greatly appreciated. It was a very interesting job - Junior Front End Engineer - using Next.js. It was posted on a job board that uses AI to screen both your resume and assess technical skills during a coding interview. Very whacky way of being technically assessed. Involved me explaining my implementation to an AI bot that listens the whole time, and then I needed to provide an optimized solution. I passed and was invited to schedule an interview with their CEO. It took a day or two for me to realize the job I applied for wasn't just posted by a company on this job board - it was to work for the company that created the job board itself. Very cool!
So, I have my interview with the CEO and what was supposed to be 30 minutes turned into an hour. It was a great conversation and I got to share my story moreso than I believe most interviews allow. I was told the next steps, and to anticipate my take home assessment by the end of the week. It's been roughly 2 months now. I sent a thank you and after about 10 days a follow up to see if I was still being considered. Nothing. Just crickets.
Startup #2:
I have a profile on wellfound and got an email alert informing me someone had sent me a message. Sick! I completely forgot my profile existed there. It was a message from the CEO of a recently funded startup who found my profile and liked that I have both farming and front end experience. He invited me to schedule an interview. THIS was like a dream come true for me. I was a full time farmer when I started my programming journey. I downloaded their app (basic MVP), and could feel my soul singing when thinking about being able to work for a company that serves a sector both important for humanity and to my heart. We had a lovely interview (though I was a couple minutes late, but I was expecting a phone call since they asked for my number to schedule the interview), we talked about a lot. And I was told my next step would be an interview with their CTO. It'll be a month next week since this interview. I've followed up (after my original thank you) about a week and a half later asking about how the timeline for my next interview was looking, that I understand the startup life can involve wearing many hats and losing track of things.. nothing. I'm genuinely concerned that there's something wrong with me that nobody is telling me. I have them on Linkedin, too, and just about every day I consider sending them a DM along the lines of, "Hey [CEO], YOU invited ME to interview with your company and you've been silent since telling me my next steps. I'd seriously appreciate some transparency and to know if I'm even being considered." But given how pathetic that feels I feel like it's best to just act like the opportunity never even existed. I don't like having to gaslight myself in order to carry on.
So my real question here is:
1) Is this acceptable? Like, how normal is it to have a great interview with someone only to ghost them completely? Not with a recruiter (I've had plenty of those, too!), but with the founder of the company itself.
2) Should I send the CEO from startup #2 a DM? How would you even word it to preserve the possibility of even getting a response?
Thank you in advance if you made it this far, I know this is coming off as a rant but I have to go that retail job I mentioned today and act happy. Writing this out felt good. Thanks for listening.

Before I start, this isn't my story, it's my cousin's, but I'll be explaining it in first person and all the names are changed for privacy. Also, English is not my first language so there might be some grammatical errors. After these clarifications, let's start with what interests us.
I (30F) was engaged with Luke (34M), we were the perfect couple, he proposed years ago in a trip to London and since then I was very excited planning the wedding. My best friend, Ariana (30F) helped me with all of this and was always very supportive.
At the bachelorette party, I went two nights in a very pretty hotel with Ariana and other friends. The second night, she got drunk af, and confessed to my sister that she was having an affair with my fiancé. Obviously my sister immediately told me. The day we arrived home, I know it's bad, but I looked through Luke's phone. What I discovered, was worst than what I expected, they have been having a relationship for two and a half years.
I was in shock, but I decided to move in the shadows, and created a petty plan to expose those a-holes in front of all the family at the wedding.
The day arrived and, truly, I was stunning. I walked down the ~isle~ (I think it's not written that way but I think you understood me) and before anyone could say nothing, I grabbed a microphone and I said: "Beforehand, I would want to thank my fiancé, who has been cheating on me for two and a half years, and my best friend who 'always has been loyal to me' and fcked my fiancé thinking I wouldn't find out". Everyone was shocked. I took my engagement ring off and threw it to the floor (now that I think I could've just kept it and sell it later but it wasn't that dramatic).
Now, I'm happily married to a fantastic man and we're waiting for our first baby. Love you Charlotte and everyone who has read until here. Kisses from Barcelona ❤️
PD: I hate the impression that the majority of tourists aren't having of this incredible city (Barcelona) and I hope all pickpockets leave so you can have a good experience here.

My son's birthday party is this weekend. Does anyone have a recommendation for a CSID friendly and dairy free birthday treat to replace a birthday cake for an elementary kid??
We're new to this and my son is pretty devastated by it, while admitting that he is feeling better on his restricted diet. His birthday party is this weekend and I'd love to have something special for him knowing that typical birthday cake is a no go.
Thank you!

Hi guys,
Thinking back, this is not my first Reddit post of a similar nature. I think all my life I’ve been addicted to things (weed, porn, “self help”, exercise). This is just one that’s been the most detrimental. I am a problem gambler and need help. I think I also need a place to just let it all out. Hopefully people will read and comment/resonate but I’m literally unable to concentrate at work because things are bad again. I apologize for it being long and you will all likely skip but if anyone reads, thank you.
I have a lot of trauma and am very lonely a lot of times. I had a bad experience being social and I think people pick up on my extreme awkwardness but they do not make me feel welcome, they come across judgy and I feel like I’m performing a dance begging for acceptance. So I spend even more time online (and have been like that since childhood) and don’t get much social interaction. This is relevant to how I got so sucked in so far.
Growing up, my parents were not only strict, but very strict about money. We were poor and they always told me to avoid debt but made it more about school debt (which I did avoid). They definitely talked about predatory credit card practices etc, but the one thing they did not ever instill in us was mitigating problem spending and gambling. Not just me but my mom and sister have really bad spending habits on food and unnecessary purchases…but I’m getting a bit ahead…
I didn’t get a credit card until a bit later, and didn’t have a job until about 2018-19 at 21. Even then, I barely used the CC and also barely drank. I hated gambling at a young age because I only know it as the casino in big cities with the excessive alcohol and lights and cigar smells I hated. Of course I was on my high horse at a younger age saying people were just “paying money to lose money and that made no sense”…My parents went to Vegas a lot, not weekly but every maybe 3-6 months because of comps. And us living close. I was mostly there just to watch my siblings and never went down to actually be in the casino. The vibes just always made me uncomfortable.
The one thing I did do was buy stocks. I remember briefly trying to understand the day trading stuff and I was so overwhelmed I just stuck to my traditional buying stocks and leaving them like a savings. Did good all the way until COVID, everything was down and I had to quit my job to move for school and was so burnt out from working (as “essential” while everyone else was not working) that I just took time off from work for like a year and a half. Spent all my stock market savings that was basically just all my money minus the interest made because of the COVID dip. I sold at the worst time possible but chose to do that instead of just getting work or even trying to learn about getting unemployment for my “mental health” LOL.
Right in my senior year of college I had a roommate who used a draft fantasy sports book. Never knew about money lines or anything about sports period,because I was too lazy to figure out sports rules, let alone betting line math…but I wanted to be accepted as a man and thought sports would be a good way to learn and build friendships…and “investing” money into it seemed like a worthwhile trade.
He explained oveunder props. Easy as cake. You think they’ll go over a certain line and you pick that. Even easier to upload your card and make an account. I thought it would be harmless…
I made one, did okay, but no crazy bets just $30-50 MAX like every couple of weeks. Trying to get into sports and fit in with the boys…. Didn’t care too much about losing $20 here and there and that’s my problem…
I then bring this up to a classmate in our data science class in 2022 wondering if there’s ways people can track player data…who tells me about “tailing” people who post their player picks online. Never knew about that/that there was already a market (bc I was new to sports).
He tells me about a guy he follows. Guy has a site with “the best prop data”. Clearly know this other guy is just selling his services but the service seems so beneficial. “Best hit rates in the game!” “No one has data like this”. Straight snake oil salesman tactics and I’m so aware of it, but it’s like I just didn’t care. Of course it’s just like ESPN data all on a histogram and not that revolutionary, and it’s like I already know I’m signing up for getting played but I just accept it(likely because I have settled for a lot in my life). I get a membership. I think oh I’ll make a ROI worth the cost of the membership and more! Right….
That was in about March-ish I think of last year. (Yea it was, because I specifically remember the old classmate asking me about March madness…). From March to June I had losses, but nothing super horrible, I didn’t really track it but I had never spent more than $100 max and probably only spent around $175 a month which was about the rate of all my subscriptions combined. but around this time I had also just had a very traumatic experience getting robbed and abandoned drunkenly during a party on campus. Somehow I made it back from the party to my house and allegedly my roommate helped me vomit/clean up but I woke up to my wallet and phone gone.
I felt violated, confused because I couldn’t remember certain events, sad that my “friends” didn’t even have my back at certain points. I was angry and really embarrassed and depressed and felt like I couldn’t trust ANYONE around me. Of course, them feeling second hand embarrassment from me, stopped inviting me out and our interactions got so awkward after that. I felt like now my reputation was just that drunk idiot who did god knows what while blacked out. And didn’t really have a lot of support.
My gambling got worse, but I didn’t make that much money so I also didn’t really bet that much either? It’s kind of a blur around that time now and I don’t really remember but I don’t think I was on the group chats/apps nearly as much as I am now. I also deleted them around graduation time because I needed to focus and I needed to save $$$ for my move out.
Fast forward I was in okay-ish shape: was able to get an apartment and higher paying job…but my relationship was strained with my now ex girlfriend. It was bad. I redownloaded the apps during this time. I was trying to plan out our future and she was not helping me. I was basically doing everything myself in the relationship and felt like my “investment” in our relationship wasn’t going anywhere…as she was not communicating and not helping me plan, so i began using that money for bets.
Initially it was “it’s just for fun now that I have more income! I can afford it now” then it was “oh it will be like a side hustle”.
But I got worse. I felt so disconnected and burnt out from my new job in finance, also very numb to large amounts of $$ on screens all day that I started betting hundreds daily. Then tie in disconnected from my ex and now had no friends. I was numb and needed to feel something, and alcohol was not enough. I’d drink here and there but never enough to get completely trashed like before because I was scared of that.
Now remember the subscription? This sub comes with a “chat room” FULL of a bunch of enabling children and their ring leader who makes the datasets. I used to respect what the guy does but I have so many problems with his business model: advertising slightly over 50/50 guesses as a worthwhile investment, getting his data out 5 minutes before games start (obviously so he can make his picks on his own first and then tell the followers after), calling his own patrons idiots and trying to make it sound like he’s the best gambler in the world and that if we’re losing we are just “not doing it right” when he’s really using $100,000s of dollars from subscribers to make his for fun bets while people desperately cling to some sort of “mathematical explanation” for why Alpha McThree is a better pick than Johnny Appleseeds.
I digress again. Basically there’s people around my age (20s) older (40s) and possibly younger all in these chats enabling each other to bet. You feel rushed because you have to “beat the prop bumps” when they move the lines. You feel constantly on edge and that anxiety feels good because of the potential payout, and then horrible when you’re off by one or two players and lose everything.
I became obsessed. It is probably the combination of the rush, the colors, the screen lighting in a more comfortable way to social media…the people encouraging you or congratulating you or worse bonding over shared loss, you start to feel in community.
Mind you, the community itself was toxic. I am part of the LGBT community but never disclosed, and there is so much homophobia and transphobia, sometimes even racism (I mean I get that I’m positing this to Reddit LOL) but it’s just weird to me as a POC who is part of this community to see all that stuff everyday and then say those are my people….and to pay a subscription to be apart of it…it felt like a weird digital fraternity. It felt “cool” to have a badge for my sports book, for people to recognize my nickname, to see the same names everyday, it felt like routine.
Everyday I’d wake up and bet. When I got COVID in December the amounts doubled and I was spending $500 in minutes instead of spread across days. I didn’t even care anymore. I’d keep playing and eventually lose it. Every single time like “I’m just gonna play enough to make my money back and pay off some of the debt and then delete everything!”
It never happens. I’m still $6k in debt, am -$230 overdraft and am now doing the one thing I really said would never do: ask my dad for help. I can’t concentrate on work because I’m so overwhelmed. I just got paid, still two weeks left and I have absolutely no money anywhere. And since I haven’t even paid my mom back the first time I am worried about asking again.
My dad doesn’t really reach out, but he texted me the other day. So instead of responding I just sent him a screenshot of my overdraft and told him I had to pay my apartment security deposit (which is true, technically) but it is really the stupid $600 bet that put me overdraft. I basically paid X amount on my credit card, didn’t see it post, told myself “maybe I forgot to do it” and said I had enough for the bets, lost three idiotic bets and then both the misses and the CC payment posted.
I feel like the “bending” of the truth will l start piling up and that things will stop checking out. He’s probably wondering how I’m overdraft and can connect two and two together (he’s seen my screenshots of bets when I was up, and asked me when I get paid and I’m too scared to say I got paid TWO DAYS AGO and am out -$2000) so I’m even more embarrassed and feel like I’m disappointing everyone.
I already owe my mom, and they aren’t even that rich at all so I feel horrible taking their money trying to pay myself back and then ending up back here again. But I am equally worried of them going nuclear and me being trapped back home/having to give up control of my bank account bc of it.
I feel stuck at my job because I need it to pay off my debt and save money/pay bills. I hate it so much, but need to stay here because of how bad the market is and I think dealing with the stress enables my behavior. I feel worse because I should have $20k saved up by now but instead I’m now total down -$26k. (The 20 I would’ve had saved plus my credit card).
So it’s just my lack of control and unnecessary purchase staring me in the face. Every day. While it takes me weeks to make even a dent in my debt. I literally have nothing in my fridge right now. I don’t know what I’m going to eat next week. And throughout all this my ex and I still talk, she still buys me lunch, she is a saint but our dynamic would not work
I’m meeting with my therapist today, and I contemplate either getting a new one specializing in addiction or stopping constantly one because of the cost but two because I’ll talk about it but I feel like I’m not even changing or doing the work…
I feel alone trying to get out of this hole and like this debt will follow me forever. I also wonder if I feel like I’m addicted to the wallowing too? Like now I have a reason to stay depressed.
How do I get better? Is there even any hope for me? I feel like I’m messing my life up and constantly at the mercy of something else and not myself… people around me have cars and solo apartments and I’m living check to check in debt with no purpose. How do I deal with stress?

Hi everyone!
I have a question regarding how I broke my Oath of Vengeance while in the Goblin Camp. I have 3 ideas to how/when I did it (with the help of the wiki) but can someone provide insights as to what probably caused the breaking of the said oath?
In order of when they happened:

1. I was keeping the Zhent merchants alive and toggled Non-Lethal. However, after that fight I left it on when I killed a group of goblins which left them knocked out. I proceeded to kill them as I had no intention of keeping them alive.
   
2. I agreed to attack the Grove with Minthara but made it clear through dialogue with Karlach and Halsin that I was going to betray her.
   
3. I attacked Ragzlin after their resurrection party when he sat down on his throne.
   

I’m no longer reversing the decision and just chalking it up to RP but I’d really like to know what really/most likely actually broke my oath.
Thank you in advance for any insights on this!

Hello Reddit Family,
From the jump, we've experienced nothing but delays and minimal communication with our entire house building process. We would continually reach out to our realtor, only to take a backseat to the builder and their schedule laid out for them. At first, we felt sympathetic to our realtor and gave them the benefit of the doubt. We started establishing point-of-contacts internally with the builder to get things done. In the meantime, the realtor was no where to be found; taking vacations, extended weekends, and deciding they wouldn't be available 2 days out of the work week as their days off. Once again, we all need a balance of family/work: but I truly believe this realtor was abusing the system - which could of been the reason they were let go from the builder's real estate team. This happened sometime ago and we've been managing without them for about a month. Well, they just sent us a message saying they're still representing us and giving us an update of the build (which is two weeks too old communication). We feel slighted and our kindness taken advantage of. I think there's better deserving agents out there and want our monies to go to them. What choices do we have here in Alabama when it comes to Dual Agency where one party has released the realtor from their obligation? Thank you for reading...

My husband and I have been having financial challenges for a year or so due to private circumstances and that doesn't bother me but he's also not fluent romantically and his love language is very physical and not verbal so it's difficult to approach him to talk about certain things because overall it confuses him and makes him feel like he disappoints me vs establishing understandings which is my personal objective every time... so I have a question for the married masses to clear something up that's been heavy on our hearts and minds.
I get really depressed often that he only eats out with his coworkers because they offer a lot of free restaurants and parties to him and he gets to do a lot of new exciting things with them and bond but we don't actually have the money to spend so when it comes to us having those experiences together after work for US to bond too ..it is a LOT more difficult to have that happen because I pretty much have to be the one to establish doing it and I like the romantic factor of being asked or surprised which circles back to the issue of no money or him not being the type to spontaneously do that stuff vs the repetitive "what do you want tonight" which doesn't exactly inspire me to throw a sexy dress on and makeup.
So essentially we've gotten into a lot of heated conversations where this is the loop of confusion and frustration where he feels put down because I don't like that he doesn't surprise me or something and he wants me to "show him" but I don't have money right now and I'm disabled to make things even more challenging although I am working on my own business which should one day help supplement that kind of income to help us.... So in the meantime it's very awkward feeling to ask for money to show him what I also can't afford and then again I don't feel pursued and inspired so it also feels sad vs exciting and really makes me feel self conscious and undesired vs empowered... So in the end it's just depressing and I feel like I'm not worth it like his coworkers are (which is absolutely admittedly irrational but my emotional disposition as a result)...
Has anyone ever struggled like this too or gotten envious of work mates with their spouse getting to enjoy them that way when I just can't pretty much at least for this chapter of our lives it's chalked up to that... Any advice would be a huge wonderful help. I love my husband very much as well and I would also really appreciate polite feedback.
Thanks 🙏🏼
Edit: he loves me and I know that this is just a hard issue for the time being obviously and I don't want to bring us down pretty much because it depresses me and I feel guilty about it because that makes him feel bad pretty much and there's not a lot we can do unless we miraculously could start affording the food to make something cute with candles at home or something outside the house..... And I don't want to ask him to try being spontaneous anymore either or creative because obviously he can't right now for whatever reason (he's probably depressed too about it) and all that.
Has anyone had another creative option in this situation? Is really what I'm getting on about. Thanks again 🙏🏼

Hi everyone, first time posting here.
I have a rather philosophical question. First of all, I am not from the US, I am from MX. In my job, I can opt-in to a pension plan in which I allocate a % of my monthly salary (from 1% to 8% in 1% increments), as an additional benefit, for each % I allocate, my employer matches my contribuition.
E.g. If I choose to commit 1%, my employer contributes the same amount of money, if I choose 3% they match that 3%, if I go to 8%, my employer stays at 3%.
I'm choosing to opt-in and stay at 3% of my salary, the way I see it, that way I am investing at a 100% rate of return, and just do something else with the money I don't commit (keep the cash, invest elsewhere, etc.). If I were to choose to go up all the way to 8%, that way I would be investing at a 37% rate of return, which is not despicable by any means, but much lower than 100%.
What do you think? Am I analyzing this correctly?
Note 1: I'd have to be with this company for at least 10 years in order to be entitled to the employer contribution if I choose to quit before my retirement age (I am already 3 years into this job).
Note 2: The money is invested into BlackRock-managed funds through a third-party institutional asset manager (they are contracted by my employer).
Thanks for your input!

I’m a 28 year old mother of two young ones. Spent most of my 20’s partying and not giving a crap about education. I’m currently a stay at home mom but my girls go to school in September. I have my high school diploma but nothing else. I want to go to collage or university online for social work and eventually get into addictions and mental health. Going through all the websites I’m so confused as to where to start! I don’t know what I have to start with to get where I want to go. I’m seeing a lot of social work programs aren’t offered online but unfortunately I’m remote northern Ontario and have no other way of going to school other than online. If ANYONE has any advice or knowledge about this I would be SO appreciative. Thank you! ❤️

Hey everyone!
My friends and I are considering bringing our kids to the city for Game 5. Was just wondering what people's opinions of the atmosphere of them are? Some of us are flying, some of us are driving, just wondering what people's thoughts of the watch parties are and if you think it's worth the trek!
Thanks everyone!

Bitcoin continues to be used and developed by freedom fighters and activists in their work across the globe.
The mining industry is integrating with the energy sector in ever more inventive ways, mitigating methane emissions, monetizing stranded energy and acting as a buyer of first and last resort for renewable energy projects.
And yet the UK’s political hopefuls are silent on it.
HELP US GET THIS ISSUE ON THEIR RADAR.
With Parliament dissolved, we have no MPs representing us. But we do have candidates who want our votes. If you want to let them know of your views on this subject, please do give a few minutes of your time as suggested below.
Step1: Go to “Who Can I Vote For ” and enter your postcode. You’ll find a list of all your possible candidates, together with their email addresses and other contact details.
Step 2: Copy our template letter below (or adapt it as you see fit) and send it to each of your candidates.
The UK is being left behind in the global race for Bitcoin adoption, and we need YOUR help to change this.
Never underestimate the power of a small number of determined people to change the world.
TEMPLATE
Dear
As a voter in your constituency, I am writing to you to highlight the importance of Bitcoin and to urge you to adopt a positive and sensible policy towards this technology during your campaign and beyond.
There is a growing community of single-issue voters who are keenly watching for a party to take a positive stance on Bitcoin. By adopting a forward-thinking approach, you can demonstrate a commitment to innovation, economic growth, and financial inclusion. This will not only benefit our constituency but also strengthen the UK's position in the global economy.
Bitcoin represents a significant advancement with the potential to revolutionise more than just the financial system. As the United Kingdom faces economic uncertainties and seeks to solidify its position as a global financial hub, embracing Bitcoin can offer substantial benefits:

1. Economic Growth and Innovation: Bitcoin is driving a new wave of innovation in the financial sector. Supporting this industry can attract start-ups, create jobs, and foster a thriving ecosystem that positions the UK at the forefront of financial technology.
2. Financial Inclusion: Bitcoin offers financial services to the unbanked and underbanked populations. By promoting policies that encourage the use and understanding of Bitcoin, we can empower individuals who are currently excluded from traditional banking systems.
3. Positive Impact on Green Energy: Bitcoin mining has the potential to drive investment in renewable energy sources. As miners seek cost-effective energy solutions, they increasingly turn to renewable energy, contributing to the green energy sector's growth. This aligns with the UK's commitment to sustainability and reducing carbon emissions.
4. Regulatory Leadership: The UK has the opportunity to set a global standard for Bitcoin regulation. Sensible, well-balanced policies can protect consumers, prevent illicit activities, and foster innovation. This balanced approach can ensure the UK remains a competitive and attractive environment for Bitcoin businesses.

Bitcoin policies are gaining traction globally. In the United States, several presidential candidates are actively campaigning with positive Bitcoin policies, recognizing its potential for economic growth and innovation. In the EU, MiCA looks set to become the flagship piece of global regulation in the space. This international trend underscores the crucial importance of the UK adopting a forward-thinking stance to remain competitive on the global stage, and not to be left behind.
I hope you will consider these points and take a proactive approach to Bitcoin policy. Your leadership in this area can make a significant difference for the future of our nation.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter. I look forward to seeing your stance on this issue and am happy to engage further to discuss any of the points above.
Yours sincerely,