Every month, we join together and do our best to view and critique each others' websites. The main purpose of this post is to learn things from each other that can benefit our own portfolios or websites. Use this space to talk about all aspects of your online representation, from social media to SEO to personal branding and portfolios, the best and worst places to host your work, collective critiques, you name it.
Having an online presence can also be a beneficial utility for those showing their work in an effort to obtain potential clients, so it's highly advised that if you find something particular that could be improved in someone's online presence, use this opportunity to kindly tell them about it and let them know how they can improve.
Guidelines:

• If you post your website, please comment on at least two other websites
  
• Please reply to any comments that have no replies!
  
• Don't be hesitant to post a link to your website or portfolio, even if there's a plethora of comments.
  
• It doesn't matter if you're a "Beginner" or "Professional Photographer", just have fun and learn from each other - that's what this post is for, so take advantage of this opportunity.
  Weekly Community Threads:
  

Watch this space, more to come!

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
-	Share your work	-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-	-	-

Monthly Community Threads:

8th	14th	20th
Social Media Follow	Portfolio Critique	Gear Share

This is a place for asking simple questions that might not deserve their own thread. For example, if you have a question about a rules interaction, want sleeve and accessory recommendations, or suggestions for your new deck, then this is the place for you.
We encourage that you post any questions that you may have concerning Magic the Gathering here rather than make a separate thread for each question, though for now we won't require that you do so.
Rules Questions
Rules questions and interactions are allowed to be posted here, but if you need an answer quickly it may be best to use a dedicated resource like the 24/7 Magic the Gathering Rules Chat.
Deckbuilding Questions
If you're trying to get help with a deck, it is recommended that you post your decklist to a deckbuilding website so that it is easier to view. Some popular sites are Aetherhub, Archidekt, Deckbox, Deckstats, Moxfield, MtgGoldfish, and TappedOut.
Additionally, please include some description of what you are trying to accomplish. Don't just give us a decklist with no explanation, and don't ask extremely vague questions such as "what cards should I add to my deck to make it better?", because it's hard to give good advice in those cases. Let us know details, the more the better. Are you building with a particular strategy or theme in mind? Are there any non-obvious combo lines or synergies that people should be aware of? Are you struggling with a particular matchup, or are you finding yourself missing consistency in an important area, and need some help specifically for it? Let us know.
Commonly Asked Questions

I opened a card from a different set in my booster pack, is this unusual?

Don't worry, this is completely normal. If you opened a set booster, you have a small chance of obtaining a bonus card from a previous set. This is an extra card that does not replace any of the other cards in your pack, and is from a curated set of past hits that Wizards of the Coast has selected, which they call "The List".
You can view the contents of The List on Wizards of the Coast's official website. For example, the contents of The List for Streets of New Capenna boosters can be found here.

My foil card has a shooting start symbol over the bottom left. I can't find anything about it online.

All old-bordered foils have the shooting star symbol. Most sites that display card images just overlay a generic foil graphic over all foil cards, which doesn't include the shooting star. Your card is normal.

I’ve always struggled to make friends, and I’ve never really felt like I fitted in anywhere, but I’ve never felt as alone as I do right now. I go to work, come home, feel lonely, go to bed, then repeat. I can’t go through life spending the rest of my days feeling like this.
I’m in a completely different situation to where I thought I’d be at 23. In some ways, things have turned out better, but in other ways, they’re a lot worse. I’m trying to get on my own two feet, but my future feels pretty bleak and lonely with the way things are.
I work a minimum wage job in retail, which I enjoy at times, but it’s not something I want to do forever. Right now I think having a job makes me one of the lucky ones. A job is better than no job. I know my job is important, as I need to earn a living, but I have a non existent social life. I know that the answer is to try and meet new people, but I don’t really know how to do this. I’ve never liked drinking or clubbing, which is what most people my age like to do. An enjoyable day out for me would be something like going to the cinema, or taking a walk along the beach, but I’m not going to meet people by doing these things. Most of my hobbies are things I can do by myself, and even with something like video games, I prefer to play alone as it’s my downtime activity to relax. I know there’s sites like meetup that have organised groups to meet people, but I work shifts for my job, and it’s very rare I’m off on a weekend. I’m not going to be able to meet people I could eventually hang out with on an individual basis, who would make plans with me around work, if I can’t show up to the groups in the first place.
I’ve tried to make friends online, but as I’m sure a lot of you have experienced, ghosting is a common problem. I’m not giving up, but I’m trying to strike a balance between trying to put myself out there, but not spending too much time searching. I’ve spent too long on the likes of Reddit looking to see if there’s anyone like me, but then feeling awful and more alone because I haven’t found it.
I do struggle with socialising a bit, but I’m determined to not let that hold me back. I’ve always been a quiet and introverted person, until I get to know someone well. I think it’s a coping mechanism I’ve developed due to past experiences that I feel like running a mile when someone new talks to me. My brain convinces me that I’m better off on my own than being vulnerable with someone and getting hurt, but deep down, I’d love to talk to someone. The idea of walking into a room full of new people and introducing myself absolutely terrifies me. My job has forced me to come out of my shell to a point, and even just small talk with customers makes me feel like I’m improving my social skills. However, even with colleagues who I’ve now known for over six months, I’m still planning my next response in a conversation or worrying whether I’ve said the right thing or not. I tend to trip over my words, but the more I try to correct it, the more my sentence just sounds like a bunch of noises. I’m also someone who goes red the more someone stares. I’m scared I come across as this awkward, pathetic kid, and I’m conscious that some colleagues sometimes seem to be more laughing at me than with me.
I’m also a trans guy and asexual. The dating pool is therefore already massively reduced, which is made worse by me being trans. Being trans has been the most isolating experience of my life, and I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone. I’ve never been in a relationship, and despite being asexual, I would like some romance and someone to make some memories with. I also feel like the older I get, the more it will look like a red flag if I haven’t ever been with anyone. There’s no local groups for ace people, but I’ve tried online in various ace specific places. Despite being in the UK, which is small compared to the likes of places like the US, most people seem to be down south near London, whereas I’m up in the north. When you’re already part of such a small minority, it feels even worse when you’re then alienated from that community.
The problem is, you start to convince yourself after a while that there’s something wrong with you. If everyone else has friends and partners, and not you, you’re clearly the problem, right? The amount of times I’ve felt unwanted, unloveable, and invisible because no one has given me the time of day is too many to count. I try my best to be nice to people I encounter both on and offline, because I often think how nice it would be if someone just sat down and was genuinely interested in me and what I had to say.
I often wonder why I’m trying to build a life for myself. I don’t want to live if I’m just going to be doing everything alone. I know some people are perfectly happy on their own, and I respect that, but that’s no life for me. I’m getting pretty fed up of people saying ‘You’re young, you’ll meet someone.’ I have no one. I’m so scared I’m go to go through this life alone and die alone. I know I’m not very optimistic, but you start wondering after a while if things are ever going to change.

I’ve always struggled to make friends, and I’ve never really felt like I fitted in anywhere, but I’ve never felt as alone as I do right now. I go to work, come home, feel lonely, go to bed, then repeat. I can’t go through life spending the rest of my days feeling like this.
I’m in a completely different situation to where I thought I’d be at 23. In some ways, things have turned out better, but in other ways, they’re a lot worse. I’m trying to get on my own two feet, but my future feels pretty bleak and lonely with the way things are.
I work a minimum wage job in retail, which I enjoy at times, but it’s not something I want to do forever. Right now I think having a job makes me one of the lucky ones. A job is better than no job. I know my job is important, as I need to earn a living, but I have a non existent social life. I know that the answer is to try and meet new people, but I don’t really know how to do this. I’ve never liked drinking or clubbing, which is what most people my age like to do. An enjoyable day out for me would be something like going to the cinema, or taking a walk along the beach, but I’m not going to meet people by doing these things. Most of my hobbies are things I can do by myself, and even with something like video games, I prefer to play alone as it’s my downtime activity to relax. I know there’s sites like meetup that have organised groups to meet people, but I work shifts for my job, and it’s very rare I’m off on a weekend. I’m not going to be able to meet people I could eventually hang out with on an individual basis, who would make plans with me around work, if I can’t show up to the groups in the first place.
I’ve tried to make friends online, but as I’m sure a lot of you have experienced, ghosting is a common problem. I’m not giving up, but I’m trying to strike a balance between trying to put myself out there, but not spending too much time searching. I’ve spent too long on the likes of Reddit looking to see if there’s anyone like me, but then feeling awful and more alone because I haven’t found it.
I do struggle with socialising a bit, but I’m determined to not let that hold me back. I’ve always been a quiet and introverted person, until I get to know someone well. I think it’s a coping mechanism I’ve developed due to past experiences that I feel like running a mile when someone new talks to me. My brain convinces me that I’m better off on my own than being vulnerable with someone and getting hurt, but deep down, I’d love to talk to someone. The idea of walking into a room full of new people and introducing myself absolutely terrifies me. My job has forced me to come out of my shell to a point, and even just small talk with customers makes me feel like I’m improving my social skills. However, even with colleagues who I’ve now known for over six months, I’m still planning my next response in a conversation or worrying whether I’ve said the right thing or not. I tend to trip over my words, but the more I try to correct it, the more my sentence just sounds like a bunch of noises. I’m also someone who goes red the more someone stares. I’m scared I come across as this awkward, pathetic kid, and I’m conscious that some colleagues sometimes seem to be more laughing at me than with me.
I’m also a trans guy and asexual. The dating pool is therefore already massively reduced, which is made worse by me being trans. Being trans has been the most isolating experience of my life, and I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone. I’ve never been in a relationship, and despite being asexual, I would like some romance and someone to make some memories with. I also feel like the older I get, the more it will look like a red flag if I haven’t ever been with anyone. There’s no local groups for ace people, but I’ve tried online in various ace specific places. Despite being in the UK, which is small compared to the likes of places like the US, most people seem to be down south near London, whereas I’m up in the north. When you’re already part of such a small minority, it feels even worse when you’re then alienated from that community.
The problem is, you start to convince yourself after a while that there’s something wrong with you. If everyone else has friends and partners, and not you, you’re clearly the problem, right? The amount of times I’ve felt unwanted, unloveable, and invisible because no one has given me the time of day is too many to count. I try my best to be nice to people I encounter both on and offline, because I often think how nice it would be if someone just sat down and was genuinely interested in me and what I had to say.
I often wonder why I’m trying to build a life for myself. I don’t want to live if I’m just going to be doing everything alone. I know some people are perfectly happy on their own, and I respect that, but that’s no life for me. I’m getting pretty fed up of people saying ‘You’re young, you’ll meet someone.’ I have no one. I’m so scared I’m go to go through this life alone and die alone. I know I’m not very optimistic, but you start wondering after a while if things are ever going to change.

I’ve always struggled to make friends, and I’ve never really felt like I fitted in anywhere, but I’ve never felt as alone as I do right now. I go to work, come home, feel lonely, go to bed, then repeat. I can’t go through life spending the rest of my days feeling like this.
I’m in a completely different situation to where I thought I’d be at 23. In some ways, things have turned out better, but in other ways, they’re a lot worse. I’m trying to get on my own two feet, but my future feels pretty bleak and lonely with the way things are.
I work a minimum wage job in retail, which I enjoy at times, but it’s not something I want to do forever. Right now I think having a job makes me one of the lucky ones. A job is better than no job. I know my job is important, as I need to earn a living, but I have a non existent social life. I know that the answer is to try and meet new people, but I don’t really know how to do this. I’ve never liked drinking or clubbing, which is what most people my age like to do. An enjoyable day out for me would be something like going to the cinema, or taking a walk along the beach, but I’m not going to meet people by doing these things. Most of my hobbies are things I can do by myself, and even with something like video games, I prefer to play alone as it’s my downtime activity to relax. I know there’s sites like meetup that have organised groups to meet people, but I work shifts for my job, and it’s very rare I’m off on a weekend. I’m not going to be able to meet people I could eventually hang out with on an individual basis, who would make plans with me around work, if I can’t show up to the groups in the first place.
I’ve tried to make friends online, but as I’m sure a lot of you have experienced, ghosting is a common problem. I’m not giving up, but I’m trying to strike a balance between trying to put myself out there, but not spending too much time searching. I’ve spent too long on the likes of Reddit looking to see if there’s anyone like me, but then feeling awful and more alone because I haven’t found it.
I do struggle with socialising a bit, but I’m determined to not let that hold me back. I’ve always been a quiet and introverted person, until I get to know someone well. I think it’s a coping mechanism I’ve developed due to past experiences that I feel like running a mile when someone new talks to me. My brain convinces me that I’m better off on my own than being vulnerable with someone and getting hurt, but deep down, I’d love to talk to someone. The idea of walking into a room full of new people and introducing myself absolutely terrifies me. My job has forced me to come out of my shell to a point, and even just small talk with customers makes me feel like I’m improving my social skills. However, even with colleagues who I’ve now known for over six months, I’m still planning my next response in a conversation or worrying whether I’ve said the right thing or not. I tend to trip over my words, but the more I try to correct it, the more my sentence just sounds like a bunch of noises. I’m also someone who goes red the more someone stares. I’m scared I come across as this awkward, pathetic kid, and I’m conscious that some colleagues sometimes seem to be more laughing at me than with me.
I’m also a trans guy and asexual. The dating pool is therefore already massively reduced, which is made worse by me being trans. Being trans has been the most isolating experience of my life, and I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone. I’ve never been in a relationship, and despite being asexual, I would like some romance and someone to make some memories with. I also feel like the older I get, the more it will look like a red flag if I haven’t ever been with anyone. There’s no local groups for ace people, but I’ve tried online in various ace specific places. Despite being in the UK, which is small compared to the likes of places like the US, most people seem to be down south near London, whereas I’m up in the north. When you’re already part of such a small minority, it feels even worse when you’re then alienated from that community.
The problem is, you start to convince yourself after a while that there’s something wrong with you. If everyone else has friends and partners, and not you, you’re clearly the problem, right? The amount of times I’ve felt unwanted, unloveable, and invisible because no one has given me the time of day is too many to count. I try my best to be nice to people I encounter both on and offline, because I often think how nice it would be if someone just sat down and was genuinely interested in me and what I had to say.
I often wonder why I’m trying to build a life for myself. I don’t want to live if I’m just going to be doing everything alone. I know some people are perfectly happy on their own, and I respect that, but that’s no life for me. I’m getting pretty fed up of people saying ‘You’re young, you’ll meet someone.’ I have no one. I’m so scared I’m go to go through this life alone and die alone. I know I’m not very optimistic, but you start wondering after a while if things are ever going to change.

I’ve always struggled to make friends, and I’ve never really felt like I fitted in anywhere, but I’ve never felt as alone as I do right now. I go to work, come home, feel lonely, go to bed, then repeat. I can’t go through life spending the rest of my days feeling like this.
I’m in a completely different situation to where I thought I’d be at 23. In some ways, things have turned out better, but in other ways, they’re a lot worse. I’m trying to get on my own two feet, but my future feels pretty bleak and lonely with the way things are.
I work a minimum wage job in retail, which I enjoy at times, but it’s not something I want to do forever. Right now I think having a job makes me one of the lucky ones. A job is better than no job. I know my job is important, as I need to earn a living, but I have a non existent social life. I know that the answer is to try and meet new people, but I don’t really know how to do this. I’ve never liked drinking or clubbing, which is what most people my age like to do. An enjoyable day out for me would be something like going to the cinema, or taking a walk along the beach, but I’m not going to meet people by doing these things. Most of my hobbies are things I can do by myself, and even with something like video games, I prefer to play alone as it’s my downtime activity to relax. I know there’s sites like meetup that have organised groups to meet people, but I work shifts for my job, and it’s very rare I’m off on a weekend. I’m not going to be able to meet people I could eventually hang out with on an individual basis, who would make plans with me around work, if I can’t show up to the groups in the first place.
I’ve tried to make friends online, but as I’m sure a lot of you have experienced, ghosting is a common problem. I’m not giving up, but I’m trying to strike a balance between trying to put myself out there, but not spending too much time searching. I’ve spent too long on the likes of Reddit looking to see if there’s anyone like me, but then feeling awful and more alone because I haven’t found it.
I do struggle with socialising a bit, but I’m determined to not let that hold me back. I’ve always been a quiet and introverted person, until I get to know someone well. I think it’s a coping mechanism I’ve developed due to past experiences that I feel like running a mile when someone new talks to me. My brain convinces me that I’m better off on my own than being vulnerable with someone and getting hurt, but deep down, I’d love to talk to someone. The idea of walking into a room full of new people and introducing myself absolutely terrifies me. My job has forced me to come out of my shell to a point, and even just small talk with customers makes me feel like I’m improving my social skills. However, even with colleagues who I’ve now known for over six months, I’m still planning my next response in a conversation or worrying whether I’ve said the right thing or not. I tend to trip over my words, but the more I try to correct it, the more my sentence just sounds like a bunch of noises. I’m also someone who goes red the more someone stares. I’m scared I come across as this awkward, pathetic kid, and I’m conscious that some colleagues sometimes seem to be more laughing at me than with me.
I’m also a trans guy and asexual. The dating pool is therefore already massively reduced, which is made worse by me being trans. Being trans has been the most isolating experience of my life, and I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone. I’ve never been in a relationship, and despite being asexual, I would like some romance and someone to make some memories with. I also feel like the older I get, the more it will look like a red flag if I haven’t ever been with anyone. There’s no local groups for ace people, but I’ve tried online in various ace specific places. Despite being in the UK, which is small compared to the likes of places like the US, most people seem to be down south near London, whereas I’m up in the north. When you’re already part of such a small minority, it feels even worse when you’re then alienated from that community.
The problem is, you start to convince yourself after a while that there’s something wrong with you. If everyone else has friends and partners, and not you, you’re clearly the problem, right? The amount of times I’ve felt unwanted, unloveable, and invisible because no one has given me the time of day is too many to count. I try my best to be nice to people I encounter both on and offline, because I often think how nice it would be if someone just sat down and was genuinely interested in me and what I had to say.
I often wonder why I’m trying to build a life for myself. I don’t want to live if I’m just going to be doing everything alone. I know some people are perfectly happy on their own, and I respect that, but that’s no life for me. I’m getting pretty fed up of people saying ‘You’re young, you’ll meet someone.’ I have no one. I’m so scared I’m go to go through this life alone and die alone. I know I’m not very optimistic, but you start wondering after a while if things are ever going to change.

I’ve always struggled to make friends, and I’ve never really felt like I fitted in anywhere, but I’ve never felt as alone as I do right now. I go to work, come home, feel lonely, go to bed, then repeat. I can’t go through life spending the rest of my days feeling like this.
I’m in a completely different situation to where I thought I’d be at 23. In some ways, things have turned out better, but in other ways, they’re a lot worse. I’m trying to get on my own two feet, but my future feels pretty bleak and lonely with the way things are.
I work a minimum wage job in retail, which I enjoy at times, but it’s not something I want to do forever. Right now I think having a job makes me one of the lucky ones. A job is better than no job. I know my job is important, as I need to earn a living, but I have a non existent social life. I know that the answer is to try and meet new people, but I don’t really know how to do this. I’ve never liked drinking or clubbing, which is what most people my age like to do. An enjoyable day out for me would be something like going to the cinema, or taking a walk along the beach, but I’m not going to meet people by doing these things. Most of my hobbies are things I can do by myself, and even with something like video games, I prefer to play alone as it’s my downtime activity to relax. I know there’s sites like meetup that have organised groups to meet people, but I work shifts for my job, and it’s very rare I’m off on a weekend. I’m not going to be able to meet people I could eventually hang out with on an individual basis, who would make plans with me around work, if I can’t show up to the groups in the first place.
I’ve tried to make friends online, but as I’m sure a lot of you have experienced, ghosting is a common problem. I’m not giving up, but I’m trying to strike a balance between trying to put myself out there, but not spending too much time searching. I’ve spent too long on the likes of Reddit looking to see if there’s anyone like me, but then feeling awful and more alone because I haven’t found it.
I do struggle with socialising a bit, but I’m determined to not let that hold me back. I’ve always been a quiet and introverted person, until I get to know someone well. I think it’s a coping mechanism I’ve developed due to past experiences that I feel like running a mile when someone new talks to me. My brain convinces me that I’m better off on my own than being vulnerable with someone and getting hurt, but deep down, I’d love to talk to someone. The idea of walking into a room full of new people and introducing myself absolutely terrifies me. My job has forced me to come out of my shell to a point, and even just small talk with customers makes me feel like I’m improving my social skills. However, even with colleagues who I’ve now known for over six months, I’m still planning my next response in a conversation or worrying whether I’ve said the right thing or not. I tend to trip over my words, but the more I try to correct it, the more my sentence just sounds like a bunch of noises. I’m also someone who goes red the more someone stares. I’m scared I come across as this awkward, pathetic kid, and I’m conscious that some colleagues sometimes seem to be more laughing at me than with me.
I’m also a trans guy and asexual. The dating pool is therefore already massively reduced, which is made worse by me being trans. Being trans has been the most isolating experience of my life, and I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone. I’ve never been in a relationship, and despite being asexual, I would like some romance and someone to make some memories with. I also feel like the older I get, the more it will look like a red flag if I haven’t ever been with anyone. There’s no local groups for ace people, but I’ve tried online in various ace specific places. Despite being in the UK, which is small compared to the likes of places like the US, most people seem to be down south near London, whereas I’m up in the north. When you’re already part of such a small minority, it feels even worse when you’re then alienated from that community.
The problem is, you start to convince yourself after a while that there’s something wrong with you. If everyone else has friends and partners, and not you, you’re clearly the problem, right? The amount of times I’ve felt unwanted, unloveable, and invisible because no one has given me the time of day is too many to count. I try my best to be nice to people I encounter both on and offline, because I often think how nice it would be if someone just sat down and was genuinely interested in me and what I had to say.
I often wonder why I’m trying to build a life for myself. I don’t want to live if I’m just going to be doing everything alone. I know some people are perfectly happy on their own, and I respect that, but that’s no life for me. I’m getting pretty fed up of people saying ‘You’re young, you’ll meet someone.’ I have no one. I’m so scared I’m go to go through this life alone and die alone. I know I’m not very optimistic, but you start wondering after a while if things are ever going to change.

I’ve always struggled to make friends, and I’ve never really felt like I fitted in anywhere, but I’ve never felt as alone as I do right now. I go to work, come home, feel lonely, go to bed, then repeat. I can’t go through life spending the rest of my days feeling like this.
I’m in a completely different situation to where I thought I’d be at 23. In some ways, things have turned out better, but in other ways, they’re a lot worse. I’m trying to get on my own two feet, but my future feels pretty bleak and lonely with the way things are.
I work a minimum wage job in retail, which I enjoy at times, but it’s not something I want to do forever. Right now I think having a job makes me one of the lucky ones. A job is better than no job. I know my job is important, as I need to earn a living, but I have a non existent social life. I know that the answer is to try and meet new people, but I don’t really know how to do this. I’ve never liked drinking or clubbing, which is what most people my age like to do. An enjoyable day out for me would be something like going to the cinema, or taking a walk along the beach, but I’m not going to meet people by doing these things. Most of my hobbies are things I can do by myself, and even with something like video games, I prefer to play alone as it’s my downtime activity to relax. I know there’s sites like meetup that have organised groups to meet people, but I work shifts for my job, and it’s very rare I’m off on a weekend. I’m not going to be able to meet people I could eventually hang out with on an individual basis, who would make plans with me around work, if I can’t show up to the groups in the first place.
I’ve tried to make friends online, but as I’m sure a lot of you have experienced, ghosting is a common problem. I’m not giving up, but I’m trying to strike a balance between trying to put myself out there, but not spending too much time searching. I’ve spent too long on the likes of Reddit looking to see if there’s anyone like me, but then feeling awful and more alone because I haven’t found it.
I do struggle with socialising a bit, but I’m determined to not let that hold me back. I’ve always been a quiet and introverted person, until I get to know someone well. I think it’s a coping mechanism I’ve developed due to past experiences that I feel like running a mile when someone new talks to me. My brain convinces me that I’m better off on my own than being vulnerable with someone and getting hurt, but deep down, I’d love to talk to someone. The idea of walking into a room full of new people and introducing myself absolutely terrifies me. My job has forced me to come out of my shell to a point, and even just small talk with customers makes me feel like I’m improving my social skills. However, even with colleagues who I’ve now known for over six months, I’m still planning my next response in a conversation or worrying whether I’ve said the right thing or not. I tend to trip over my words, but the more I try to correct it, the more my sentence just sounds like a bunch of noises. I’m also someone who goes red the more someone stares. I’m scared I come across as this awkward, pathetic kid, and I’m conscious that some colleagues sometimes seem to be more laughing at me than with me.
I’m also a trans guy and asexual. The dating pool is therefore already massively reduced, which is made worse by me being trans. Being trans has been the most isolating experience of my life, and I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone. I’ve never been in a relationship, and despite being asexual, I would like some romance and someone to make some memories with. I also feel like the older I get, the more it will look like a red flag if I haven’t ever been with anyone. There’s no local groups for ace people, but I’ve tried online in various ace specific places. Despite being in the UK, which is small compared to the likes of places like the US, most people seem to be down south near London, whereas I’m up in the north. When you’re already part of such a small minority, it feels even worse when you’re then alienated from that community.
The problem is, you start to convince yourself after a while that there’s something wrong with you. If everyone else has friends and partners, and not you, you’re clearly the problem, right? The amount of times I’ve felt unwanted, unloveable, and invisible because no one has given me the time of day is too many to count. I try my best to be nice to people I encounter both on and offline, because I often think how nice it would be if someone just sat down and was genuinely interested in me and what I had to say.
I often wonder why I’m trying to build a life for myself. I don’t want to live if I’m just going to be doing everything alone. I know some people are perfectly happy on their own, and I respect that, but that’s no life for me. I’m getting pretty fed up of people saying ‘You’re young, you’ll meet someone.’ I have no one. I’m so scared I’m go to go through this life alone and die alone. I know I’m not very optimistic, but you start wondering after a while if things are ever going to change.

Owning a bike comes with a sense of freedom and convenience, but it also comes with responsibilities, one of which is ensuring its protection through bike insurance. Bike insurance plans offer various levels of coverage, providing financial security in the event of accidents, theft, or other unforeseen circumstances. In this blog, we’ll delve into the coverage offered under bike insurance plans, along with keywords like “bike insurance near me,” “motorbike quote,” “compare bike insurance policy,” “insurance bike compare,” “which bike insurance is best,” and “bike insurance comparison.”

Understanding Bike Insurance Coverage

1. Third-Party Liability Coverage: Every bike insurance plan includes mandatory third-party liability coverage as per the Motor Vehicles Act. This covers any damages or injuries caused to third parties or their property by your bike.
2. Own Damage Coverage: Own damage coverage is optional but highly recommended. It provides protection against damages to your bike due to accidents, natural calamities like floods or earthquakes, or man-made disasters like vandalism.
3. Personal Accident Cover: Many bike insurance plans offer personal accident cover for the owner-driver, providing financial compensation in case of accidental death or disability while riding the insured bike.
4. Comprehensive Coverage: Comprehensive bike insurance plans offer the most extensive coverage, combining third-party liability, own damage, and personal accident cover. This provides all-round protection for your bike and your financial interests.

Key Features of Bike Insurance Plans

1. Add-On Covers: Bike insurance plans often come with add-on covers that can be customized to suit your specific needs. These may include zero depreciation cover, roadside assistance, engine protection, and more.
2. No Claim Bonus (NCB): Insurers offer a no claim bonus for every claim-free year, reducing your premium amount at the time of policy renewal. This encourages safe riding and responsible behavior.
3. Cashless Claim Settlement: Many bike insurance providers offer cashless claim settlement at network garages, making the claim process hassle-free and convenient for policyholders.
4. Online Policy Renewal: With the advent of digitalization, renewing your bike insurance policy has become quick and easy. Most insurers offer online renewal facilities, allowing you to renew your policy with just a few clicks.

How to Choose the Best Bike Insurance Plan

1. Evaluate Coverage Needs: Assess your coverage requirements based on factors like the type of bike you own, your riding habits, and the level of protection you desire.
2. Compare Policies: Use online comparison tools to compare bike insurance policies from different insurers. Compare premiums, coverage features, add-on options, and claim settlement ratios before making a decision.
3. Read Policy Terms: Carefully read the policy terms and conditions, including exclusions and limitations, to ensure you understand what is covered and what is not.
4. Check Insurer Reputation: Choose a reputable insurance provider with a good track record of claim settlement and customer service. Read reviews and testimonials to gauge customer satisfaction levels.

Conclusion

Bike insurance plans offer essential financial protection for bike owners, covering them against various risks and uncertainties on the road. From mandatory third-party liability coverage to comprehensive policies with extensive benefits, there are options to suit every rider’s needs. By understanding the coverage options, comparing policies, and choosing a reliable insurer, you can ensure your bike and your financial interests are well-protected, providing you with peace of mind every time you hit the road. Remember to conduct thorough research and select the bike insurance plan that best meets your requirements and budget.

Hello all
I have read the rules. I am not asking for a site recommendation for astrologers or tools, nor my intent is to promote myself. Please let me know if my question still defy the rules and I will delete my post.
I am studying Vedic astrology since 5 years and last year, I quit my job to practice astrology full time. I am asking a recommendation from my fellow Vedic Astrologers. Do you use any (not so expensive) tool to manage your business or create a website? Since, I am still starting, I do not want to invest a huge sum in building my own website to automate my business. I hope this question also helps other Vedic astrologers like me who do not wish to work with marketplaces (there are so many now) but still want to have a strong online presence. Also curious to learn more from the past experience of my fellow professional astrologers. Thanks!

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i like Warhammer 40k, but 40k doesnt afford you the abilty to let you play your own custom character or faction if it isnt up to certain specs in tournaments(lore strict rules). and running an army battle in dungeons and dragons is overly complicated unless you ignore a bunch of rolls and rules.
i propose a blend of both. who's cannon takes place in the cosmos of perspective.
(you make your own faction cannon. )
each unit type has user generated has one data sheet, each named character you have would have their own data sheet.
the models can be 3-D printed or kitbashed, but they must be at 1/36 scale. essentially one infantry= one of those cheap plastic army men standing at 5 cm tall.
from here, this was typed up before today, by a few months. there is no campaign.
but i would imagine a new fandom in table top roleplay would be born regardless
___________________________________________________________________________________________
WELCOME TO BATTLEPOSTINGS T.T.R.P.G.
A tabletop rpg for diy, model painting, kit bashing, 3-DPrinting, and plastic army battling enthusiasts.
all parts of this game are user generated, with the exception of the rules. Though u/Khorde__the__Husk sent this to a bunch of redditors for help in balancing the game and setting up basic play structure.
Things to note:
· You must have one “advisor” per two warlords in the session. Advisors, act as the game master to make sure no one is cheating. If there is confusion on what kind of weapon a unit has in their hands or equipped to their armor, the Advisor has final say. The advisor is supposed to keep the game fair.
· In theory you could have as many players as you want, but no more than four is recommended because turns consist of multiple phases that are meant to organize the battle strategy for each player.
· Players are encouraged to kit bash, 3-D print, or purchase traditional plastic army men. For the sake of scaling, follow the scaling of the image below. But you must have your own general. It is recommended that your general be unique, make it yours. Have fun.
· Players can make their own campaigns and lore. Such attempts are encouraged. For the purposes of release, you can follow the campaign I have written.
· For any session, you will need a handwritten or typed general’s reference stats Dossier, 1D20, tape measure, and an army of which you will fight with. (painted)
· When rolling on a check, higher is always better. 20 is always a success
· Your armies stats are fixed and defined in this document. Your general’s stats are dictated by the roll of a 1d20. These stats are:
o morale
o Movement speed
o Accuracy
o Health points
o Punch
· Turns are split into phases.
o bombardment
o Movement
o Attack/counter attack
· The different types of units are:
o Infantry
o Armor
o Airborne
o B.A.M.(BIG ASS MACHINES)

· We play at a 1/36 scale. All models are at that scale.

• TERRAIN AND COVER

make your own terrain and cover. kitbashing, 3-D printing encouraged. terrain is the battleground, the floor the pieces and obstacles stand on. obsticles can be anything. debris, nature, etc. obstacles are cover. if an attacking piece can see the defending piece in its entirety, the defending piece is in the open. if the defending piece is partially seen by the attacking
· Ability checks logic below:
20=crit hit/sucsess
1=jam(gun)/woopsie(melee)/crit fail
To succeed , a unit must roll their combined ability score. This is their base ability +general ability. Debuffs such as kickback only are applied to whatever you rolled when you roll for an ability check.
Regardless, the fundamental rules of this game will apply to your creations. these are an assortment of rules designed to keep the game fair and guard against unfair players(referred to as God-Emperors or God-empresses) and hopefully combat power creep.
Now lets expand upon these ideas so you can have fun kit-bashing and army smashing quicker.
GENERAL’S (named character) STAT DOSSIER
Your army’s stats are based on your general’s stat Dossier. The leader of a nation is oft a good indication of how high of a quality their army’s going to be.
The first thing you should write is your general’s name, then write their bio. Their bio includes their background, their homeland, what politics are involved (if any). It is not recommended that you write a novel, you have a game to play. What are the weapons that your general will have on their person? What are their character traits? How will those traits affect how the game is played?
The next thing to do is to make a picture of your General that resembles the piece you kit-bashed for your general to be. It can be menacing, wholesome, serious or whacky. As long as the design choices resemble what your army has for their design and your general’s character traits. It doesn’t have to be hand drawn. A photo of your piece will suffice. no general may have a skill number higher than 16.
ARMY STAT DOSSIER:
what good is a king without a kingdom?
terrible.
each type of unit gets one ARMY STAT DOSSIER. you can have as many scout infantry you want, but you need a dossier on how they are deployed, what weapons they use, and most importantly, THEIR STATS. make sure your unit type description is comprehensive including what styles of combat they are trained for. this could influence your decisions on how you play. give them lore for shits and giggles. no unit may have a skill number higher than 15.
WEAPON STAT DOSSIER
this is the list of weapon types and their ability modifiers.
when attacking bare handed, you go by your unmodified stats.
STATS EXPLAINED AND BORING SHIT
Now comes the part with the dice. You only need 1d20. This is to reduce the confusion.
· Morale
Rolled by 1d20, checked by 1d20 per unit.
Morale is basically moral law. How far will your troops go to follow your orders? If your morale over a given unit is 1, the unit in question is shell shocked for one whole turn, to be marked with a yellow slip. If your unit is shell shocked, it is traumatized to where it cant follow any orders on the next turn. If for some reason the morale hits 0, that unit defects and must be marked with a red token. Units that defect are now under control of your enemy. If defected units hit 0 authority again, it simply dies. Suicide. Cowards way out.
The Morale that your general has over friendly units is base unit morale +the general’s modifier. Your general’s base Morale is the number you rolled the 1d20 for. If for any reason your general’s morale score goes below 0, the general must rally all nearby troops (within 30cm) to protect the general for one turn on the next turn. If your general’s morale hits zero, you get shell shocked, and your general cannot take action for one turn and if your general was within line of sight of any other allied unit, the observing unit cannot take action either.
· Movement Speed
Rolled by 1d20, measured by cm on a measuring tape or meter stick because inches suck.
Movement speed is how much ground a given unit can cover. Unless your object has a punch score higher than the hp of an obstacle, or can fly, you will have to go around the obstacle. There are exceptions. If the obstacle is below the knee of an infantry unit, the infantry or whatever can climb over at the cost of the individual unit climbing modifier.
The base movement speed of your general influences the movement speed of your troops. To find a troops total movement speed:
Your unit’s base movement speed + your general’s base movement speed = total troop movement speed. See army stat dossier or named character stat dossier.

· Accuracy
Rolled by a 1d20, checked by 1d20 per unit
Accuracy must be rolled every time a unit attacks an enemy unit.
Accuracy is basically the chance of your selected troop hitting their targets. Different weapons and vehicles have different accuracy modifiers(aka kickback or x-range), and different types of troops have different base accuracies. Accuracy can affect enemy/friendly Health points or morale. If a shot hits near enough to a troop, or makes a kill close enough to another troop, the troops affected must undergo a morale check with the exception to nearby friendlies of any troop who gets an enemy kill.
Explosives and artillery have an area of effect. any troop within the inner blast radius (with the exception of troops behind sufficient cover) is dead. Any in sufficient cover, or within the outer blast radius must make a morale check. Sufficient cover is a piece of the environment which has an assigned hp that is higher than the punch of an explosion.

Small arms fire requires line of sight for targeting. The path of bullets is a straight line, keep this in mind when deciding collateral damage. Friendly fire is a thing and it is a war-crime. If you want to play nightmare mode, your general gets summoned to a military court tribunal and executed if three friendly troops or more die as a result of friendly fire that occurred by your command.

Melee combat can only be conducted during movement phases. If its melee vs gun there is the variable of line of sight. If the melee unit is within line of sight, the gun unit has advantage. If the melee unit is outside of line of sight of the gun unit, the melee unit has advantage.
To find your troop’s accuracy:
general’s base accuracy+ troop base accuracy- kickback. The higher the accuracy the better.

· Punch
Punch is how much damage a unit causes to another unit or object should they pass their accuracy check. Different weapons pack a different punch. Remember to add their bonus to the punch check roll.
When attacking an obstacle or object, units must roll against the hp of the object. If the roll lands on a number that meets or beats the hp, the object or obstacle is destroyed.(marked with red sticky note and can be traversed as if the object was destroyed. Bullets pass thru within reasonable trajectories, no ricochet)
When attacking units, whatever is rolled is subtracted from the victim’s hp. The victim can only move at half of their normal movement speed afterward.(treaded, wheeled, and airborne vehicles excluded from the debuff even if they are hit. They are treated as obstacles with the addition of the passed accuracy check requirement.)
· Health points(hp)
Health points are what determines how close your units or general is to kicking the bucket. In any game mode, If your general kicks the bucket, you lose. If you have no units other than your general, you lose and your general must go into hiding. each unit and general may have no more than 10hp. powercreep is bad
UNIT CLASSES
Unit Classes are determined by how big the individual unit is, and how it traverses the battlefield. The smallest and most common all the way to the biggest and most intimidating of units are all fit into several categories by what they look like. To solve disagreements on what class your unit is, the advisor has final say. Disagreements should be easy to avoid if you design your units properly. It would be useful to stick to a theme. Candy punk, steampunk, horror, medieval, sci-fi, and historical designs are all fine, you could even come up with your own. A theme will be better for discerning friendlies from you enemies. At the same time, make your units discernable enough that players and especially advisors can easily determine what classes your units are.
· Your general/warlord, whatchacallit
Your general is the most valuable unit because it is what you have to control your forces. Without a wise and strategic leader, your forces will fall into disarray and you will lose the war. You can only have one general, and you made it yours. Kitbashing and 3D printing would likely be your most common means of gaining a general. They must take resemblance of the general on your general stat dossier they can swim in water terrain for two turns before they drown.
· Infantry
The easiest to acquire and kit bash. This allows for vast hordes of infantry, or small fireteams, or something in between. Find your play style. Your infantry should be as tall as the plastic green army men in the image below. These men and women are the bravest of them all.
they can swim in water terrain for two turns before they drown.
· Armor
Mainly made up of vehicles and smaller mechanical suits, must be land based. Expect tanks, jeeps ,Humvees, calvary mounted animals etc. here is an image I ripped for scale as to the largest example of armor you can have. Not my drawing. Its basically the largest tank ever built replace the man in the image with one infantry and you have your scale. Or 0.283333333 m* 0.283333333 m *0.5m
these machines will break down in water terrain.
· Airborne
Airborne units can only fly. They can drop bombs, airdrop armotroops, and attack up to one target per gun that the aircraft is equipped with(within range) as they move. Their biggest weakness is anti-aircraft weaponry and enemy aircraft weapons. How big can an aircraft be?
2.44 meters. X 2.44 meters by 0.60 meters is your maximum for all airborne units.
any airborne that fly like a plane have a +4 to their movement stat but can only bomb ground units 15 cm in front and attack any unit that is in front of it
anything that flies like a helicopter does not have this buff or debuff, they can shoot at any target, but can only use missiles for up to 15 cm on ground units.
NAVAL VEHICLES
Naval vehicles can be big or small, but they can only operate in the designated water terrain area. they can carry troops, they can fire artillery, depth charges, missiles, torpedoes, and submarines can hide below water for three turns before air runs out. but they can be spotted by sonar. if a submerged vessel is within 10 cm of an enemy surface or submarine vessel, the enemy vessel can act as if they know where the submerged vessel is even if the submerged vessel is still submerged.
· B.A.M. ‘s
Big Ass Machines are basically giant robots and massive land ships. These can be Game breaking depending on how you build them and how big you build them. They can fire upon one target per weapon. how big Can these be? They cannot be more than 1.5 meters tall or take up a ground area larger than 4 meters. Players are not allowed to use functioning motor vehicles including, but not limited to cars, trucks, busses, etc. rule of thumb, if you can ride it, you can’t play it. It might as well be just fan art. The maximum distance these can move at any time is 2000cm. to move these, they must make a special movement check. War machines of that size can get stuck easily, so subtract your general’s movement speed from your final roll on each check. If they are larger than the specified limits, you’ve built a giant immobilized obstacle for one turn.
Mobile terrain essentially is a whole battlefield or obstacle of its own. The biggest difference is that anything other than B.A.M. compatible units that are attached to the B.A.M'S can’t be removed from the B.A.M.'S. Artillery such as main guns can’t move, only rotate. same with S.A.M.S. , C.R.A.M.S., and anti aircraft weaponry.

EQUIPMENT AND ARMAMENT
Guns and RE’S(ranged explosives)Require a reload period(one full turn) every so often. Dual wield is an ability that is only applicable to infantry equipment . dual wield only applies when two identical weapons are in both hands of a single unit. Range is how far a weapon can fire before a debuff is added to your accuracy roll. For every 10 cm beyond the stated range, an x-range debuff of -1 is added.
Overheat can only occur on weapons that are labeled with overheat. Every time a gun with overheat is about to fire , a coin must be tossed. If the coin lands on heads, the gun overheats. Overheating will cause the unit to explode. The explosion will deal 1d20 damage to anyone/anything within a 6 cm radius. You only need to roll once.
Cone is a special debuff. Weapons with cone Can only fire at sequential targets within 25 degrees of original target.
im having trouble with deciding the individual weapon stats. so ive decided that i am going to leave those up to you. (the moment i hear people are getting into fights IRL, i will be putting in an elaboration which will settle all disputes regarding equipment and artillery... and i wont be happy about it.)
players are encouraged to record their battles in battle reports and post it online in their relevant subreddits. if they win/lose, then the player is encouraged to come up with a lore reason for any change in tactics, named characters(generals), or stats.
an army is considered overpowered if they can take out all opponents in as little as 10 turns. they must be nerfed if this happens. dont forget to add a lore reason for this occurrence in the battle report.
unlike overpowered, underpowered armies can be taken out in 10 turns. they must be buffed if this happens. dont forget to add a lore reason for this occurrence in the battle report.
this is sci-fantasy/high fantasy, battles are supposed to be epic and economically exaggerated.
write the name of the weapon, the type of weapon.(melee or gun) and its accuracy and punch modifiers.(bare hands is melee and equal to. magic is gun)
spells must be vetted in good faith by advisors prior to the game to prevent game breakage. spells may not kill units or generals in one blow. spells effects can only last one turn unless its a healing spell. healing spells cannot heal more than 5 health points at a time per unit. write out the spells you have for your units and have them vetted by an advisor, advisor will determine gamebreakability of the spell. if spell is determined to be game breaking, mid game, the advisor will have the offending spell removed and the turn undone. at wich point the offending player effectively must alter their strategy in the spirit of good sportsmanship.) There are three approved arcane focuses, wands, staves, and hand casting, (one must not make them look like the caster is going to punch something, have them hold an orb or something.)
(the moment i hear that people get into IRL fights over spells, i will make a list of approved spells and a LONG LIST of forbidden spells. and no one will be happy. )
THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE
Dont be a dick, be a good sport, and have fun.breaking thegame intentionally is a dick move. advisors are encouraged to post their reports of game breaking spells so it may help me in the event Khorde__the__Husk has to revise the rules.

Im looking for suggestions help and tips regarding the following situation. I live in a large city in which I dont feel comfortable investing in and using an expensive bike (for me thats something i spent more than 500euro on) due to my last bike being stolen. Lately Ive had the urge to go out and bike alot and i only have a shitty gifted replacement bike which I couldnt use for long.
Ive been playing with the idea of building my own budget Gravel type bike out of an old racing bike or something so that i can commute in the city but also take it out into the countryside.
​
The components i place value on are the following:

• drop bars (many hand positions)
• relatively light (last bike was a heavy mountain bike so anything ligther than that suffices)
• somewhat wider grippy tires
• the capability to climb hills (lots of hills in my country)
• disc brakes(there are more like a bonus, i love them but theyre not a necessity because its not realistic that i get them for cheap

​
i have pretty limited bike knowledge but im pretty handy and love these kinds of projects, so id use youtube and bike forums for anything i could do myself and bike shops for bigger things, but im mainly looking for something thats already rideable so i can tweak it to my preferences.
Does anybody have suggestins on which kinds of bikes to look for, what might be good for this kind of build. Or if theres any bikes out there that might already fit the description out of the box.
So far ive been looking at old austrian Puch bikes but their age and the gears might pose a problem regarding hills and changing the tires
Thanks in advance for any help or opinions you might be able to offer me!!
​

TRIGGER WARNING: MENTION OF ABUSE, CHILD S*XUAL ABUSE, S*ICIDE
tl;dr: I'm trying to figure out if my husband could be a narcissist, or emotionally immature, or some mashup of both. Could someone explain this to me like I'm five?
(If this isn’t the right group, please point me in the right direction)
I tried my best to condense, but it’s a really long one. I’m sorry.
A breakdown of the pertinent info:

Me: F, mid-fifties, just returned to PT work outside of home Husband: M, mid-fifties, always worked a regular job, main wage earner Married: 30+ years w/adult kids (no longer at home)

For a while, I've thought my husband has definitely shown signs of narcissistic behavior. I won't list everything, but a few things are that he is definitely argumentative (over seemingly insignificant issues), jealous, needy for my attention and flies off the handle if he feels ignored, his only "love language" seems to be sex (and any lack of it means I don't love him), he loves the silent treatment which is always followed by a huge blowup and then love-bombing, he always one-ups me (he works harder, he feels worse, he is more tired, etc). There's more, but I'm trying to keep this short. I will say that he has never physically hurt me, but he has spent a lot of energy being emotionally abusive.
I would say that is his main thing; constantly saying how much I don't love him and how much I don't care about him if he feels the least little bit ignored or has to spend any time alone. My going back to work at a PT job has just turned that fire into an inferno because I've gone from a SAHM/SAHW to working PT, and sometimes just by necessity he is by himself (I want to say that, in the thirty years he has worked his job, I have been by myself more times than I can count because he has worked scheduled/unscheduled/spur-of-the-moment overtime, and I just rolled with it because, really, what other choice was there? Unemployment for the main breadwinner?). He absolutely cannot handle being alone, while I find being alone refreshing and rejuvenating. In fact, I'm the opposite; I'm like, "Do you love me? Then go away and leave me alone for a while!"
But here's where I have been doing some thinking. I know that many of you are going to say that there is no way, but I do believe he loves me. I've seen the man behind all that. And I do love him, despite all of the problems and issues, and I believe as much as he understands it, he loves me too. I am determined to work on this marriage. It occurred to me the other day, when he was mad and throwing a fit about something; I thought; "He's acting like a toddler who needs a snack and a nap." And so my mind started wandering along those lines for a bit.
You see, my husband has had a hard life. Both of us grew up in dysfunctional families with abusive parents. His father was definitely a narcissist, and physically abusive to his wife and at least to my husband (the GC sibling seems to have escaped most of it) and I've heard was sexually abusive to family members as well. He put his wife in the hospital more than once because of severe beatings. He threatened to drive off a bridge with the whole family in the car. He threatened all of them with a gun and a family friend had to come over and save them. He regularly beat my husband for the crime of not eating his vegetables at dinner. When my husband was 22, and I was pregnant, his father tried to hit him over the head with a huge wrench. (My husband is a strong man; that was a dumb idea.) There’s apparently a lot more my husband won’t talk about and/or doesn't remember.
But his mother wasn't an angel, either (let's be clear, SHE DID NOT DESERVE SPOUSAL ABUSE OF ANY KIND. NO PERSON DESERVES ABUSE. However, you can not deserve abuse and, at the same time, not be a nice person). She believed the world revolved around her, she was never wrong and the smartest person in the room, and my husband was expected to be at her beck and call whenever she wanted him for whatever reason. She abused him in her own way. Hurting people hurt people. When I came along, he was nineteen, and I treated him like an adult; that went over like a lead balloon because she treated him like a child.
Shortly after we got married and had our first child, she purposefully ceased to live, which threw my husband into a deep, deep depression for a few years. It was rough. I tried to get him to go to therapy, but he flat refused. We worked through it and eventually had another child, and he can finally talk about it now, thirty-some years later. But he rarely visits her grave, and I’ve never forced him to go if he doesn’t want to.
At very significant points in his emotional development, my husband had some major life crises happen:

He had to retake first grade because his mother was put in the hospital by his father's abuse; he shut down to the point he wouldn't do his homework and had to be held back (which is hard enough); he would have been around 7 years old He spent his childhood dealing with an abusive father and wondering if he was going to literally not be alive His parents finally divorced when he was around 14 years old After that, he and his mother and sibling were constantly financially insecure His mother purposefully ceased to live when he was twenty-three, after we had just had our first child He has told me that he doesn’t remember large chunks of his childhood (which I understand is a trauma response)

As he was being 'constructed', there was built a severely flawed frame structure around these emotionally damaged areas; the ability in his ‘frame’ to withstand a structural state of stress is severely defective. He never really learned how to regulate his emotions, how to work through them or deal with them in a healthy way. His mother never got him therapy for the abuse he had endured since birth; if anything, she compounded it (that’s a whole post in itself because, wait for it, she was a counselor). The only relationship he had modeled on a consistent basis was a dysfunctional, abusive, unhealthy one. (He did have maternal grandparents who were loving and kind, but they couldn't be there 24/7.) His aunts and uncles were all also in dysfunctional marriages/divorces, so no help or escape there. As a result, he has nothing to draw from when he feels stress, irritation, anger, sadness, irritation, loneliness; he struggles to even identify the differences between all of those emotions. He is extremely simplistic in his thought processes when it comes to emotions: He feels good/bad, energetic/tired, loved/unloved, happy/sad, full/starving; sometimes he’s capable of mildly annoyed if he's in a really good mood, but mostly his emotions are one extreme or the other (they do not change wildly; he picks one and usually sticks with it for a while).
If he feels stressed in one area of his life, then EVERY area of his life, in his mind, sucks. Very black/white. No grey at all. I’m not sure he knows grey exists. He thinks life should ALWAYS be a happy feeling, and if there is any bad/sad/stress/negative emotion, then that ruins it all and he can only concentrate on that, like a pebble in his shoe.
It’s like if someone gave each of us an oatmeal raisin cookie (mine has my allergens/intolerances removed):
Neither of us are big fans of raisins, but we both like oatmeal cookies. I will just eat around the raisins, or I will pick them out. If that is impossible, I’ll just eat the raisins, even though they aren’t my favorites, because I like oatmeal cookies and I try to look at the positive. “A minute ago I didn’t have a cookie, but now I do have a cookie, even though it has raisins that I don’t like, so life is pretty okay at this moment.” (I try to find something positive, even if it’s just a little thing, and focus on that.)
He will spend his time bitching that his cookie has raisins. He doesn’t like raisins. Don’t they know he doesn’t like raisins? How is he supposed to eat this cookie with raisins? And if I point out that he can make the best of it and just try to pick out the raisins, then he gets all upset. “But I should have got a cookie with no raisins. I shouldn’t have to pick out the raisins. Even if I pick them out, I can still taste them. Life sucks all the time.” (He finds something negative in everything, even if it’s a little thing, and builds it up to overshadow all the good things.)
So, I’m thinking that he has probably inherited some narcissistic tendencies from his father (and some not-so-pleasant stuff from his mother as well), and then he’s added emotional trauma to this, which makes me think emotional immaturity has been stirred into this particular pie (or cookie, if you will). Could this be so?
Here’s a very recent case in point. He works nights. I mostly work days, but my job is such that I sometimes need to be ‘on-call’, and so occasionally I need to go in at weird hours/times. It’s a great job and I love it, and it’s a perfect fit for me and my skill-set, but he’s having a hard time adjusting to me not always being around like I have been for most of our marriage. (Remember, to him not being around=not loving him.) He feels like he’s not the center of attention any more, even though I’ve tried to make up for it.
Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are temporarily sharing a car. We're making the best of it, but it’s a hassle and we are both tired of it (using public transportation is not an option in our rural area and neither of us have coworkers who live close to us). His shifts can be 8-12 hours, depending. Well, on certain days of the month, he works mandatory 12-hour shifts. They are always on specific days. I made work plans based on that schedule, which never changes. But yep, you guessed it…this past Saturday, it changed. He told me that I didn’t need to take him to work that night since he was only working 8 hours, and I was all, “What? No, I really need the car because I already told my boss I would work tonight because I know you always work 12 hours on this day.”
Just how I was supposed to know the schedule changed, I’m not sure, but he completely lost the plot. He started yelling at me while we were still home and it didn’t stop until I dropped him off at work an hour later. I just shut down. He covered every subject; I didn’t love him, I didn’t care about his feelings, nobody EVER cares about his feelings, I always leave him alone, I never have sex with him so that PROVES I don’t love him (I have sat him down and told him, repeatedly, about some physical issues I am having at the moment that really don’t make sex much fun for me which I am under a doctor’s care for, and I have reassured him that I love him very much and I want to have sex with him but I need to get these physical things under control; to his credit, he has never forced me to have sex), I work too much, I shouldn’t have taken the stupid job anyway (he is the one who told me I should probably get a PT job), I don’t get paid enough (I make the going rate for what I do), I don’t clean the house enough, the dishes need washed, I don’t feed him properly, I’ll probably spend all day Sunday running errands for my mother (who is eighty, a manipulative narcissist herself, has health issues, I’m an only child, I have had to step up and help her) and not be home with him, and why am I so upset, what am I starting to cry about now???
Then Sunday, Mother’s Day, he must have felt guilty because he helped me carry in groceries and was nice to me all day. Not in a love-bombing way, not over-the-top or weird, just nice. He’s been nice to me today as well. He did mention in passing that on these scheduled 12-hour shifts that the crew on the other shift always leaves extra work for him to do, and then denies it, and he knows he’s going in to a mess and a ton of extra work (he has a hard, physically demanding job), so that puts him in a bad mood. I don’t know if that was his round-about way of apologizing or what. Yes, he probably was stressed out about going in to a mess at work, and my taking the car didn’t help, and he didn’t handle the stress/anger in a healthy way (to put it mildly). We both could have communicated better about work schedules, but I was just basing my decision to work on his never-changing schedule. It was frustrating, but it wasn’t the end of the world, and it all worked out. His reaction was totally out of proportion to the event.
So is that narcissistic behavior or immature behavior? It’s like he gets mad, he blows up, he comes to himself, he apologizes/acts sorry, loves on me, treats me good, sloooowly builds up anger again, gets silent silenter silentest…blows up again and the whole thing starts over. Why is this still happening? Shouldn’t we be past this by now? It’s hard to explain, and I know some of you won’t understand (and nor should you, based on what you have been through, which is truly horrific, and I am so sorry), but it’s like he comes to himself and realizes how he is acting, but later the hurt and anger take over again. And the cyclic pattern in his life continues.
Anyway, I have been thinking a lot about whether he might be more emotionally immature than narcissistic, or more narcissistic than emotionally immature, or some combo of both, and what I could do to help him and strategies to deal with it myself. NGL, it is really taking a toll on me emotionally. I feel like I have been run through the wringer every day. Some days I cry and cry (when I’m alone, never when he is here, he gets mad when I cry because he can’t handle negative emotions and he would never acknowledge he caused the negative emotion), some days I just shut down and sleep for 12 hours. I have a couple of mental health apps on my phone that I use.
We are at a time in our marriage when I feel like we should be enjoying ourselves (our adult children have moved out and we are a little more financially stable than we were the last time we had no kids at home), but it feels like everything is just falling apart. I feel like we shouldn’t be arguing about this same stuff after thirty-plus years, but here we are, still arguing about whether I love him or not.
Thank you for reading my long and boring post. Just typing it all out helped.

Listening to today’s podcast, Holly, Bridget, and Marston all seemed to cast doubt on how Crystal earned enough money to purchase 8 Los Angeles properties while living at the mansion.
They criticized her presenting herself as a “girl boss” and “building an empire” and seemed to imply that the money came straight from Hef.
I don’t like Crystal at all, but I had an issue with this. I don’t think it’s all that mysterious how Crystal built her property portfolio or earned money.
To me, it seemed like all 3 of them- Holly, Bridget, and Marston, were just jealous of Crystal possibly making wise financial investments that grew her portfolio, and maybe bitter about their own perceived lack of financial success.
When Crystal was on the Bethenny Frankel podcast, Bethenny was astounded that Crystal managed to become a millionaire while living with Hef. Bethenny said something like “I need you to explain exactly how you did that, step by step!”
So Crystal explained. She seemed very uncomfortable but she explained, and gave numbers.
She said that she got a job DJ’ing once per week in Vegas and that she was paid $7,500 per gig. She said that she promoted detox teas on Instagram, once or twice a week. She said she was paid thousands per post, and quoted the $7,500 figure again. She said Hef had no idea she was making money from Instagram and she hid it from him.
She said before on a couple different podcasts that the allowance was originally $1k per week but that it was raised to $2k per week and then raised again. I don’t remember her giving a number for what it was raised to at its highest, she seemed evasive about that.
I believe that unlike Holly and Bridget, but similar to Kendra, Crystal was in fact allowed to do club appearances for money. I don’t know how much she made from those so I’m not even going to include that in the calculations.
But even just with those 3 income streams- $2k per week allowance, $7.5k per week DJ’ing, $7.5k per week Instagram sponsorships- that is $17k per week!!! This is $884,000 per year, and presumably she would have been earning this for at least several years. She was at the mansion for a long time. She wouldn’t have been earning this much every year, but she could have for a few years.
This is absolutely enough money to purchase multiple LA homes, one at a time, over several years! Furthermore, I believe Crystal’s mother was a real estate agent long before the mansion. I remember seeing on a website Crystal said that she also got her real estate license. I don’t know if this is true but this is what she claims. I don’t think Crystal was selling homes to clients or anything but I can believe she had some knowledge of real estate.
Holly said in the episode “I took a class in real estate investment at UCLA, and I know she wouldn’t have been able to buy those properties herself, blah blah blah.” I know Holly brings up this online class constantly and fancies herself a real estate expert, but she is not the only person who knows about real estate! If both Crystal and her mom had real estate licenses, presumably they also knew a thing or two.
Holly purchased her first investment property after a few years of living at the mansion. She bought a property in her hometown in small town Oregon. Crystal’s first property was in Los Angeles. Obviously a Los Angeles property is going to appreciate much faster than a property in a small town in Oregon. Presumably the house could have increased in value by several hundred thousand dollars in just a few years.
I’m just saying- it’s not that far fetched that Crystal could have built a property empire through her own good decisions. I agree with a LOT of the criticisms of Crystal, but not this one.
By the way, Bridget bought a Los Angeles house after moving out of the mansion, lived there for many years, and eventually sold it at a loss. This was surprising to me. You’d think after that 10+ years it would have gone up in value, especially in a city like Los Angeles, but apparently she bought high and sold low. I don’t think Bridget has real estate savvy, so it’s obviously easy for her to criticize Crystal and downplay her achievement.

Last night, when I was home alone, a hand reached out from under the couch and grabbed me.
Nobody was there to see it, and nobody that I’ve told believes me, but it definitely happened. It’s not the kind of thing you can just imagine, and I’m sure now that it wasn’t a dream.
I was watching TV when it happened. The remote fell under the couch and I started fishing around for it without really looking, not wanting to get up from my seat. I brushed it with the tips of my fingers and it slid further underneath.
I was super annoyed— I had to get down on my knees to reach it. I finally found the remote, and that’s when it grabbed me.
As I pulled the remote out into the light, a hand shot up from under the couch and wrapped its fingers around my wrist.
I was able to yank myself away quickly. It didn’t hold on tight— just enough that I felt a little resistance. I jumped to my feet, obviously terrified.
I didn’t scream or anything. I was honestly too scared to even make a sound. My heart was beating so fast that my ears started to ring. The TV was still going, commercials droning on while I tried to process what had just happened.
The hand had only come out about a foot from under the couch. It had an arm attached to it, though I wasn’t able to see past its elbow, and it slinked back below the couch as soon as I pulled myself free from its grasp.
It didn’t hurt, and it didn’t leave any sort of bruise or mark or anything on my wrist, but I definitely felt it, and I definitely saw it.
All I could do was stare at the spot where the hand had appeared. I stood there for what felt like an eternity, until I heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps right outside my front door.
I live in a second-story apartment. It’s a pretty cramped place and a pretty old building, so whenever someone comes over I can usually hear footsteps from the moment they enter the building downstairs.
I guess I was so freaked out by the hand that I didn’t even notice someone was outside until they were already opening the door.
My roommate walked in on quite a scene. She immediately registered how off the vibe was. I could see it on her face.
She found me standing upright in the middle of our living room, TV remote in hand, facing away from the screen while Full House’s laugh track filled the air. I’m sure I’d think it was odd too.
“Hey…” she said, shifting a paper bag full of groceries in her arm while she pocketed her keys, “You good?”
I felt like I was caught with my pants down, but just seeing a familiar face brought some of the blood back to my fingers.
“N—yeah,” I stuttered. I came back online, and flicked the TV off.
I felt her eyes on me as she walked over to the kitchen. There’s no wall or anything dividing the two rooms. Like I said, the place is pretty cramped.
She started putting her groceries away as if everything was normal, but I could tell she wanted to ask what was up.
I kept looking back and forth between her and the couch. I can’t explain it, but I already knew that if I looked under there, I wouldn’t find any trace of whoever (or whatever) grabbed me.
As she started loading up the fridge, I dropped to my hands and knees once again. Without taking even a second to ready myself, I brought my head down to the ground and looked under the couch.
Nothing.
Pretty much what I expected. There was barely enough room for me to squeeze my arm under there for the remote. No way a whole person could fit beneath that thing, and even if they could, there’s no way I wouldn’t have seen them or heard them or something before they grabbed me.
“Seriously, what’s up?”
I looked up to see my roommate standing right behind me, arms crossed, clearly concerned.
I knew I was acting strange, and I knew that nothing I would come up with in the next five seconds could possibly excuse my behavior. I made a judgement call, honestly not really caring about how it would be received.
“I uh… something grabbed me earlier.”
“What?”
“Under the couch. I dropped the remote, and when I picked it up, a hand reached out from under the couch and grabbed me.”
Took her a second to respond.
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“That’s it. A hand reached out and grabbed me by the wrist. It happened like a minute before you got here.”
That part might have been a lie. I actually have no idea how long I had been standing in the middle of the room before she showed up.
“Wait so like someone broke in?”
“No. It’s just like I said. A hand reached out, grabbed me, and then it was gone.”
She just kinda looked at me for a while. I don’t blame her, but it’s not like there was any way for me to sugarcoat it.
“Are you sure?”
“What do you mean ‘am I sure?’ Yes, yes I’m fucking sure!”
My voice broke a little when I said that. I was still down on my knees, like I was praying for her to believe me.
“Okay well obviously that didn’t happen Sam.”I let out a desperate laugh and threw my hands up in the air. I slapped them down on my thighs dramatically and shook my head in exasperation.
“Yeah obviously it sounds fucking crazy but you asked what happened and that’s what happened. I don’t know how else to describe it. I’m just being honest.”
I pulled myself up to my feet and walked around to the armrest of the couch. She kept studying me, probably thinking this was all a prank or something.
“What are you doing?” She asked, arms still glued across her chest.
“I’m checking under the couch.”
I pushed one end of the couch away from the wall. It was pretty heavy, and the coffee table stopped me from moving it too far. I dragged the coffee table towards the TV to free up some space.
My roommate started staring at the spot I was clearing as if she expected to see something there too.
I went back over to the armrest.
“Can you help me?”
She snapped out of her trance and silently went to grab the other side. We pulled the couch away from the wall, revealing a thick rectangle of dust that had not seen the light of day since we moved in a year ago.
I dropped to my knees once more and began wiping away the grime with my bare hands. There was nothing but the floorboards beneath it. No surprise.
I sat there for a second, eyes darting around the floor. No fingerprints in the dust, no scratches or marks or anything. I felt the tension in the room dissipate as my roommate found her voice again.
“I think you must have imagined it.”
I didn’t. There’s no way.
“Dude, no. I felt it and I saw it. Clear as day. It was a hand, and it grabbed me. That’s not the sort of thing you can just imagine.”
She scoffed, any fear left in her giving way to frustration.
“Whatever. This is fucking stupid. I’m going to bed.”
She stomped off towards her room.
“Wait.”
She spun on her heels as I stood up, probably expecting me to tell her I was joking about the whole thing.
“Can you help me flip the couch over?”
She rolled her eyes.
“Sure. But I’m not helping you put it back.”
She helped me lift the couch off of its legs and tilt it onto its front cushions, exposing the fabric underneath. She disappeared into her room and I went to work studying the underside of the sofa.
There was a zipper lining the bottom, but I found nothing inside when I opened it up. Just a hollow wooden frame and a bunch of crumbs.
I sat back against the wall, more tired than scared at that point.
I can’t believe she thinks I’m making this up. Why would I even do that? What purpose would it serve?
As I solemnly went about rebuilding our living room, I decided that the next day (today) I was gonna take off work, wait for her to leave, and really get to the bottom of this.
I didn’t sleep at all last night. Every nook and cranny of my room felt like a door left wide open, with something sinister waiting on the other side.
What if the hand comes back? What if it wants to hurt me next time? How can I even protect myself?
After like ten restless minutes in bed, I decided to move to the floor. I couldn’t help it. I kept imagining the hand reaching up from under the bed and grabbing me again.
I made a makeshift sleeping bag out of my comforter and some pillows, and I laid on my side so I could keep an eye on the underside of my bedframe while I slept. Maybe “slept” isn’t the right word. Even down there, I couldn’t bring myself to close my eyes for longer than a minute.
Eventually sunlight began to peek through the blinds, and I heard some movement within the apartment. My roommate was finally up. I heard the front door close, and it was time to get to work.
I nearly threw my back out yanking the couch away from the wall to reveal the floorboards underneath. They aren’t real floorboards, just the kind of cheap-o fake shit they put in crappy houses to make them look more modern. Our whole apartment is like that— a thin coat of paint slapped over an old building from the 40s or whatever.
My dad actually owns this building. He lets me and my roommate stay here as long as we pay him $500 a month, which is way cheaper than most places in my area.
It’s not really an apartment building to be honest. You can tell it used to be a family home before some realtor swooped in and broke it up into apartments. There are a lot of those around here.
Anyway, the fake wood came up easy. It was only about a quarter inch thick. I was able to pull up the first plank by hammering a kitchen knife into a slit between the boards, and then I peeled a few more away by hand.
After prying away about a dozen of these fake floorboards, I started to realize that I wasn’t going to find anything without making a significantly larger dent. Right beneath the thin layer of fake wood was a layer of very real, very thick wooden beams that seemed to span well beyond the hole I had managed to claw open.
My back crackled and popped as I sat back on my heels to admire my handiwork and contemplate where to go from there. I knew I would need a power saw or some kind of heavy duty tool to get any deeper, but I was afraid of two things:

1. That these beams were supporting the entire second floor of the building, and cutting through them would make the whole thing collapse
2. That going any deeper would lead me into the ceiling of the apartment below us, and whoever lives there would call my dad before I could see what I needed to see.

Regardless of the risks, I knew I had to keep going. I was certain that something was down there. Whatever grabbed me had to have left some sort of evidence.
I can’t stop thinking about that fucking hand.
I’m not supposed to have it, but my dad gave me a master key for the whole building in case of emergencies. He could really get in trouble if anyone found out, but if this isn’t an emergency then idk what is.
There’s a service shed around the back of the building, which has seen none of the love that the main building saw when it was renovated. Decades worth of rusty antiques and rotting furniture line the walls. A shiny, modern tool bench sits unnaturally in the middle of the chaos.
I rifled through all of that shit as fast as I could. I’m not really close with my dad all things considered, and I’m sure he’d be super pissed if he found me out there. He’s so secretive about random shit all the time, and he’s constantly dropping by the building unannounced.
I found the jigsaw under a pile of old newspapers and ran back upstairs.
I probably should have checked the driveway to see if anyone was home first, because the saw made so much noise. The cord barely reached from the outlet to the spot where the couch used to be, but as awkward as the angle was, I was still able to get it in there.
I went as small as possible with my first few cuts. I started with a single beam, cutting out a section about 6x6 inches wide. I slid the chunk of wood out, and, to my relief, didn’t immediately see the plaster that would be my downstairs neighbor’s ceiling.
A tuft of insulation stuck out where I made the hole. I didn’t know that stuff is made from fiberglass or whatever, and I got a really bad splinter when I went to yank it out.
I fished some leather gloves out of my roommate’s closet and got to work on the insulation. I pulled and pulled but couldn’t get a good enough grip to remove anything more than a few bits about the size of a tennis ball.
I went back in with the jigsaw, cutting bigger and bigger chunks until I had cleared a hole about two feet in diameter.
No sign that I was gonna bring the building down, that’s good.
I hacked away for hours. More wood came up, more insulation came up, and when I finally hit a fragile-looking layer of drywall, I knew the jig was up. That’s definitely my neighbor’s ceiling. Fuck.
My roommate and I got in a screaming match when she got home. I made a pretty big mess but I don’t really give a fuck honestly.
I don’t give a fuck if she believes me. I fucking hate that bitch. I told her if she tells my dad what I’m doing, I’ll bash her brains in with the hammer. That shut her up. She left with a bag full of her clothes like an hour later.
Tomorrow I’m going to wait for our downstairs neighbor to leave and start investigating from the bottom-up. If there wasn’t any evidence on the floor up here, there HAS to be something on the ceiling down there.
If I do find something, I’ll post again. I doubt anyone will even believe me, but at this point I just want everything written down somewhere accessible in case something bad happens.
There has to be something down there. Something grabbed me. And I’m going to find out what it is.

Hello,
I’m making a survey that people will fill out for their own equipment choices. (Bikes with specific accessories and needs)
What I want to do from that is make a schedule where I can type in their name (using data validation) and then I want the columns filled in automatically from survey data
I have 3 columns from the survey (summed up using =TEXTJOIN) Name Equipment Specific Notes
Hope that question makes sense? I’m using excel online/teams.
Thank you

Edit: 'real time strategy' in the title maybe misleading. iIRC there was no multiplayer element. But it did take real time to do stuff in the game such as building buildings.
platform: web (online browser game), its own site
genre: management
year of release: 2000-2015
art style: like goodgame empire but more grittier and more realistic building proportions. top down / isometric view. muddy brown and dark green used a lot. (by top down what I mean: buildings can be interacted with from a satellite view, there is no player character on the map)
gameplay: as a player you manage a kingdom. you build barracks, train soldiers, build buildings to generate resources and send troops to war.
other: the name had 2 or 3 parts. I think it had a '____ of ______' structure, but I could be wrong