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When did I allow this to happen? How is it ten at night already? I just played a couple of rounds and it’s already dark outside!

“You should know already that your perception of time is FUBAR. Not to mention these hobbies of ours really don’t help grasping what’s going on.”

It didn’t use to be like this.

“Oh yeah? Can you remember how long you’ve been using the computer?”

Of course I can. It’s been in my life since I was like six or something, when Dad brought home that used computer with all the Dobrand games! But I didn’t pay much attention to it back then…

“That’s not how I remember it. We used to spend entire afternoons playing with the Encyclopedia, and trying out those games we barely understood. Maybe going into the Cartoon Central website too, even if we couldn’t read very well. Face it, we’ve always been addicted to distractions…”

Ok, maybe a little, but–

“And even before we started to use the internet more seriously, we’ve never been very into sleeping at all. Remember how we used to check the channels back then? Zapping and looking for stuff on the TV? Back then everything was so scary and novel at these hours… Now it feels just like a routine. We’ve always been night owls.”

Frowning and feeling the voice creeping on me more than usual, I finally close the game and my computer, standing up and turning on the lights to look at my room. The floor is still filthy, the plates are still scattered about… opening my closet, I not only see what remains of my clean clothes and the old montgomery hanging, but also the old bamboo blade I used to train with.

“Yeah. Remember that? How everyone looks for a local sport to practice and you chose fucking kendo? Not sure if that was just the weaboo in you, or you are just that pretentious.”

I pick up the long stick and take a look at it from the sides. Four bamboo sticks, held together tightly by leather straps and string. It’s elegant in its simplicity, firm enough to hurt a little when hit by it, but not strong enough to really harm, mostly thanks to the white leather covering its tip. The handle has the dark stains of sweat coming from the months of use.

“Before you left it incomplete, like everything in your life.”

Sigh.

I put the blade back in the closet and then turn around, grabbing the many plates and cups that were piling up in the room and walking the dark way over to the kitchen to clean them up.

“Cleaning plates in the middle of the night. That’s the kind of stuff Venus did back when she was here, just to call your attention.”

Ignoring this annoying voice is getting harder… I am tempted to pick up the S.O.S. pill, but if I do that I can say goodbye to my agency for the entire night and maybe even a few hours after waking up. Urgh.

“Guess you’re stuck with me, huh?”

Biting my lower lip, I try to focus on the task at hand, cleaning each plate as carefully as I can and trying to ignore the feeling of grease building up on my hands. Saints above, it is so disgusting! I can’t stand it, really. But if I keep letting the plates stack up, I’ll never do it.

“Look at you trying to be responsible. So silly. You’ll just let them stack up again soon enough.”

“What matters is that you are trying your best.”

Ah, there She is. Still talking from the corner of the room… Her kindness has always felt fabricated to me. Fake.

“It’s hard to accept mercy from yourself.”

You are not me.

The glugging of the drain interrupts me before I can start arguing again. With a heavy sigh, I let the water run away to clean my hands for a moment, and then, now that everything is clean and in place, I close it and walk back to my cave and take a seat back beside the window, opening the blinds just to see the darkness of a misty winter night in Saüle.

“Maybe it’s time to sleep after all.”

“You’ll just start rolling around, kicking and stirring all night.”

“You’ll eventually fall asleep!”

“Or maybe you won't. Let’s just keep playing until the Sun rises.”

I’ll do you both one better and just go back to the living room to check Dejima.

“Oh right! It has been a few hours, hasn’t it?”

“If you are so eager to be disappointed…”

Taking the computer back to the dining table and reconnecting it to the Tripolar Edge Router is easy enough, and yet I still feel the anticipation killing me. My hands tremble a bit as I type the address again, and even more when I have to wait the eternity until it loads.

My post… it got answers! Four answers to be exact! It’s not much but, considering how few users are online at a given time here, it’s good!

“omg it’s so cute when people actually come and use the ‘Introductions’ spot. I mean it, it’s great. It’s also cool to see new faces here, welcome! My dms are open if you want to ask anything.” — GalaxyTaco

“Hey there! We are all glad to have you here! If you have any doubts or questions, throw them my way and I’ll see to answer them whenever I can!” — Ventotto

“Fresh meat, bring out the paddles! Just kidding, welcome in, kid. Hope to see ya in the chatbox one day.” — jeepcreep

“Welcome. Complete your profile data.". — ογδόντα

Three of these are mods, so that was to be expected… but this ‘GalaxyTaco’ guy. He seems like a nice fella. Maybe trying to gun for mod too, or maybe just a legitimately friendly person! Whatever the case, the Helenian mod had made a fantastic point. I did have to complete the profile stuff.

“Does it have to be now? It’s late…”

Yes, it does. I click back to my profile and, well, it asks stuff like ‘Email’, ‘Country’, ‘Languages Spoken’ and ‘Gender’, all easy to answer.

Email: [simple.times@gamail.com]()
Country: Wohl.
Languages Spoken: Wohlian, Dobrand.
Gender: I’d rather not say.

“What sort of stupid answer was that?! Are you really this delusional!?”

Please. Just… let me have this…

“Don’t come crying when they learn you’re a man and you get all embarrassed.“

“Are they a man? Have you not stopped for a second to think that maybe they would be more comfortable as a–”

Shut up.

Both of you. You are looking way too deep into this. I’ll leave it as it is and that’s final.

With a huff, I go to the next section of the profile… ‘Referred to by:’

Oh no.

“Well, time to skip that one.”

There was no way I could just say ‘Ah, I found it in a book’ without getting strange looks. Not to mention the book itself told me not to talk about it for anything.

Next.

‘Mystical Specialization’.

“Saints damn it.”

I could just copy the specialization from some other profile, but then what if they decided to ask me about it? Well, that wouldn’t be a problem if I decided not to get in the chatbox at all… but I won’t advance in my investigation at all if I don’t talk to people, right?

I decide to just leave it open, for now.

Finally, I just gotta put a ‘Comment’ in the end of my profile… hmmm…

Comment: ‘Please don’t kill me.’

“A little on the nose?”

It’s all in good humor. I hope.

With that done, I don’t waste time on making a signature for myself (yet) and go straight to check on the Chatbox.

Four people: ‘GalaxyTaco’, ‘Ventotto’, ‘souseiseki’ and… uh… ‘Canned Tea’.

I take a deep breath… and log in.

Tav has connected to the Chatbox.
souseiseki: byeeee canny!! <3
GalaxyTaco: bye dude
Canned Tea has disconnected from the Chatbox.
souseiseki: … who tf are u o.o

Fuck. That was fast. Immediately singled out and everything, oh no. I panic, unable to really write any answers, when suddenly:

GalaxyTaco: sou that’s tav! the new peep? you saw the introductions post right??
souseiseki: oh right o.o i don’t care for those
GalaxyTaco: how’s it going dude? man, if youre wohlian it must be fucking late!
Tav: Hi, hi n.nUu
Tav: Yeah, it’s a bit late but I can’t sleep u.u
GalaxyTaco: hah, been there…
Canned Tea has connected to the Chatbox.

The guy came back again? What gives??

Canned Tea: sorry tav, didn’t see you come in.
Canned Tea: don’t want you to think Im avoiding ya.

The fear WAS in my brain, to be honest. I can’t help but smile a bit when the guy returns to clarify.

Tav: Oh it’s all good! n.n thank you though uwu
souseiseki: don’t cuddle this f**got Canny o.o

I wince. Oof. That’s… wow.

Canned Tea: sou.
Canned Tea: i’ve told you not to shittalk like that, girl.
souseiseki: sorry, slipped off my mind
Canned Tea: anyways, now im going to sleep.
Canned Tea: welcome in Tav. i’ll be seeing ya later.
Tav: For sure! n.n bye Canned Tea!
Canned Tea: just call me canny, girl.
Canned Tea: see ya.
Canned Tea has disconnected from the Chatbox.

I feel my face burning for a moment there. Am I blushing!? Fuck.

“Welp, you’re proving souseiseki right, at least.”

Shut the fuck up.

@ Ventotto: Hmm. I’ve told him not to assume gender like that.
GalaxyTaco: Holy shit 28 ur alive!!! O.o
GalaxyTaco: Now THAT is surprising.
@ Ventotto: I was about to leave but, like Canny, I wanted to say welcome again to Tav.
Ventotto: I hope you find your spot here soon. If you have anything you’d want translated and analyzed, go to the Translation subforum. Ok?
Tav: For sure! Thank you uwu
@ Ventotto: See you all later.
@ Ventotto has disconnected from the Chatbox.
souseiseki: i’m not staying here with you losers o.o
souseiseki: bye.
souseiseki has disconnected from the Chatbox

“Well bitch I didn’t want to talk with you either!” I practically snarl in real life, taking a deep breath and rubbing my temples. “Urgh. Not even an hour in and I’m already fed up with someone…”

GalaxyTaco: bah pay her no mind dude.
GalaxyTaco: she’s just Like That™
Tav: I’ll try…
Tav: Thank you for the welcome post, by the way uwu
Tav: I was worried no one would answer… u.u
GalaxyTaco: not gonna lie dure, that was a big possibility!
GalaxyTaco: people here ain’t the most social, honestly.
GalaxyTaco: speaking of, that reminds me!
GalaxyTaco: how DID you find the forum? if someone gave you the link but didn’t show you the ropes, that’s kind of an asshole move to pull!

Damn it all. That question again! This guy seemed nice so he probably didn’t mean anything by it but, it was a little frustrating to have to give explanations like that. Then again, this was supposed to be a secret of sorts, so I shouldn’t be that surprised I guess? But well, surprised or not, I need an answer to give. Come on, brain, make up something! An excuse! Anything!

“How the Hells do you want us to make up something if we know nothing of mages and such!? Are you stupid!?”

“We do know something. This ‘Elysium’ place seems to be important, maybe mentioning it would be enough to throw GalaxyTaco off your scent!”

“He’s not an idiot. Using jargon without really understanding it is a great way to look like an outsider.”

“Remind me again why we can’t just tell him the truth…?”

“The woman from the book, Humiko, told us not to talk about it if we can avoid it.”

“Well then, can we avoid it now…?”

…

GalaxyTaco: ah shit dude, sorry to cut this short but I gotta go get lunch
GalaxyTaco: talk to you later!
GalaxyTaco has disconnected from the Chatbox.

I deflate for a moment there, closing my eyes. Lucky break, I guess! Or at least, I think it is … until I get a notification from the forum: a direct message! Clicking the icon, I can see it’s from GalaxyTaco.

Sorry for the intense question but, it’s kind of important.
If you don’t fill your profile soon, 82’s totally gonna ban you.
You weren’t referred here by anyone you can mention, huh?
Let’s talk more privately.
[tacomadeofgalaxies@messages.com]()
Don’t disconnect from the TER when talking, that way no sleeper government can check on us.
I’ll be up after lunch.
Trust me, it’s important.—- GalaxyTaco

Oh shit. I was read like a book.

A part of me is relieved the guy is worried about me… but then, the suspicions arise. What if this guy is working with the mods? Or worse, with the cloaks! I haven’t even encountered these people and yet their presence around me fills me with dread and anxiety, mostly because I have no idea what to expect from them!

But another part of me is simply desperate for having someone to talk to about this, and he did say that while I keep the TER (which I assume is the Tripolar Edge Router) on, no orgs can check on me. So maybe…

“You’re gonna regret that.”

Maybe. But we will see about that when we get there.

Greetings fellow gamers,
I hope you're all doing well. I wanted to reach out to the community with a request for Shadow of Erdtree. I've been absolutely immersed in the world of Elden Ring lately, and I've been blown away by its vast open world, gameplay, and rich storytelling. And those are precisely the reasons why I want to buy Elden Ring's DLC. To elaborate on what I said previously about things I like about the game:
Vast Open World: Elden Ring has truly captivated me with its expansive open world. From towering mountains to hidden valleys, exploration has always been something I like.
FromSoftware's Signature Gameplay: As a somewhat new fan of FromSoftware's games, I've been thoroughly enjoying the gameplay of Elden Ring. It is also nice that the game is far more friendly compared to Dark Souls. The combat is intense and strategic if you want it but you can make it far easier by using options available to you.
Freedom of Exploration: One of the things I love most about Elden Ring is the freedom it gives me to explore. Whether I'm delving into ancient ruins or traversing rugged landscapes, there's always something new and exciting to discover. This is a given for an open-world game but the game isn't linear at all. I still remember trying to figure out how to get out of Limgrave though lol.
Rich Lore and Storytelling: I have been very interested in the lore of games since Undertale. While it is not the same, Elden Ring is still incredibly deep and intricate, drawing me further into its world with every new piece of information I uncover. There are still new things I discover to this day. The way the game weaves together its story through environmental storytelling and NPC interactions is masterful.
Now, I'm reaching out to the community here because I'm hoping to experience even more of what Elden Ring has to offer with its latest DLC, Shadow of Erdtree. FromSoft DLCs have a reputation for being better than the base game, and I would be incredibly grateful for the opportunity to experience the Shadow of Erdtree DLC. Unfortunately, I can't pre-order DLC myself due to recent regional adjustments(?) to prices in my country. Elden Ring was already at the limit of what I could afford and I would need to pay more than what I paid for the base game to play DLC.
Thank you all so much for taking the time to read my request. Whether or not it's fulfilled, I appreciate it if you read it this far.
My steam account.

2.3.5 Controversial views and perceptions of the clinical picture of MCAS
2.3.5.1 Alternative diagnostic criteria ("Consensus-2")
In 2011, the group of authors led by Gerald Molderings from the Institute for Human Genetics at the University Hospital Bonn and Lawrence Afrin published their own approach to the diagnosis of MCAS (51). In contrast to the diagnostic criteria of Valent et al. (1), the focus here is more on clinical symptoms. In 2016, Afrin et al. published a list of the most common symptoms that could indicate MCAS (52). Furthermore a questionnaire was developed and published on a website (53), after the answers to which the suspected diagnosis of MCAS could be supported or ruled out depending on the scores obtained. In a recently published publication, the working group referred to their diagnostic criteria as "Consensus-2" and compared and discussed them with the criteria of Valent et al. from 2016 (so-called "Consensus-1") (51). An important difference to the criteria Valent et al. 2016, the authors consider the symptoms not only as the main main criterion, but also a much wider range of previously unexplained symptoms (111 unexplained symptoms (111 possible symptoms (44)) as the most important indication of a a mast cell-mediated cause (14 symptoms in Valent et al. (1)). As The diagnosis of MCAS is considered confirmed if the main criterion is present together with a secondary criterion and possible alternative diagnoses have been excluded. The secondary criteria, in turn, are based on observations made at the time of the 500 people with suspected MCAS at the time of the first publication (44). Further differences between the two consensuses can be found in the laboratory parameters to be determined. For example, the researchers from different disciplines, which according to their own statements can draw on a wealth of experience of of over 10,000 MCAS patients (diagnosed according to their own criteria, nota bene), consider CgA to be specific for mast cells in addition to tryptase, among other things (44). The counterargument of the lower specificity compared to serum tryptase is granted a certain validity in the addendum to the "Consensus-2" published in 2020 (44), however the differential diagnoses with elevated CgA values should be easy to rule out and other markers are also never 100% specific. However, another group was already able to show in 2017 that CgA should not be used as a marker for mast cell disease(49). Furthermore the group of authors of the "Consensus-2" counts heparin as an important marker for MCAS, which should be determined after venous congestion using a blood pressure cuff (54). This maneuver was reported to cause irritation of excessively activatable mast cells with release of heparin in the congested area. Interestingly, the following section mentions markers such as IL-6 or tumor necrosis factor (TNF) which, due to their lack of specificity, are not used in diagnostics, but only in the evaluation of a successful therapy. The authors of "Consensus-2" criticize "Consensus-1" for, among other things the lack of definitions for a treatment response, whereby the "Consensus-2 does not provide any concrete proposals for evaluating or monitoring the response to therapy. Another point of criticism is the lack of exclusion of other comorbidities or differential diagnoses, such as CFS, EDS and irritable bowel syndrome, as clinical indications of MCAS. [...] In return, the AAAAI expressly points out that there is no evidence to date of a connection between CFS or EDS and MCAS. Overall, the clinical picture of MCAS is so complex and heterogeneous that a precise definition of a diagnostic algorithm is not possible at the present time. Molderings et al. therefore propose the acceptance of both the "Consensus1" according to Valent et al. and their "Consensus-2" until more precise findings are available through research. The resulting disadvantages, such as the the poorer comparability of patient populations in scientific studies would weigh less heavily than those resulting from the rejection of "Consensus-2" (an underdiagnosis due to criteria that are too restrictive according to the authors). On the other hand, the large number of non-specific complaints that are supposedly associated with MCAS harbors the risk of inflationary diagnosis.
2.3.5.2 Presentation in the lay press
An expansion of the MCAS definition with the use of non-validated clinical and laboratory chemical parameters for diagnosis is frequently found in the lay media, above all on websites, but also in the specialist literature. Increasingly, patients with (suspected) MCAS are organizing themselves with commitment and are increasingly organizing themselves into interest groups such as MCAS Hope e.V., which campaigns for the recognition of MCAS "as an independent disease". In addition They also network those affected and their relatives and carry out public relations work, which aims to make the clinical picture known to a broader public. This expansion of the diagnostic criteria described above increases the risk of a misdiagnosis of MCAS and overlooking the underlying disease, which may be easily treatable. On the other hand, such an erroneous diagnosis can also lead to the use of unnecessary or potentially harmful therapies for MCAS and supposed comorbidities (20). Shortly after publication of the review paper "Doctor, I Think I Am Suffering from MCAS: Differential Diagnosis and Separating Facts from Fiction" by Valent et al. a self claimed affected person started an online petition in which she demands the authors and the publishing Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology to remove the article (55). Among other things, they criticize the criterion of the tryptase increase, which is too harsh and would therefore prevent many patients from being diagnosed. The clinic also does not typically manifest as anaphylaxis, contrary to what is described in the paper, since mediator release in anaphylactic degranulation differs from that in piecemeal degranulation. Finally, the author of the petition, who sees herself as a "patient spokesperson", reports on personal experiences of frustration and feelings of frustration and rejection that were conveyed to her by doctors in the course of her medical history. The petition has so far reached just under 3,000 of the targeted 5,000 digital signatures (as of December 2020) and shows in particular how emotional the issue of the topic of MCAS is being observed and discussed not only in professional circles, but also among patients. Apparently, some patients find the diagnosis of MCAS to be the last explanation for their multiple non-specific symptoms and hope for more acceptance in scientific circles.
2.3.5.3 Difficulties in making a diagnosis
In recent years, despite the existence of consensus criteria, a (suspected) diagnosis is often made in practice, even though these criteria are insufficiently fulfilled. In some cases, the MCAS diagnosis is also increasingly used for otherwise inexplicable conditions that cannot otherwise be explained. The evaluation of symptoms without a known direct connection with the release of mast cell mediators, for example from the neurological or psychiatric spectrum, as a manifestation of the disease leads to a further dilution of the MCAS diagnosis (43). In the "Bonn" questionnaire, the vast majority of the items asked are not based on the consensus criteria formulated by Valent et al. for example they see the sonographic evidence of an enlarged liver as an indication of the disease (53). The measurement of a tryptase elevation in acute relapse, as required by the diagnostic criteria is difficult to implement in practice, whether for reasons of time, capacity or billing. Targeted therapy trials with maximum specificity with regard to all possible decisive mediators are not possible without prior measurement of urinary metabolites and, in the absence of criteria or measuring instruments often do not produce satisfactory results (43). Last but not least, the wide range of possible differential diagnoses, such as for example from the endocrinological, neurological, psychiatric or cardiovascular area, further complicates the diagnosis (43).
Translated with deep.l
https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/bitstream/handle/fub188/32749/diss_s.gu.pdf;jsessionid=A575C43E11977D2F576404BF69D6469C?sequence=3

Apologies if this is a tad long, I'm just trying to figure out what to do. If anything. So I'll add a TL;DR at the bottom.
Although I'm comfortable and confident in sourcing and changing all these components, I'm still a noob at deciding what and when to get stuff. So any assistance is appreciated.
I posted the other day about reapplying thermal paste due to slightly high temps and it got me thinking about other potential upgrades I can get/do, so hoping, if at all possible, you guys might have some ideas, recommendations or other tips and tricks (i.e. BIOS/other software) to help me get the most out of it. I also a few questions!
I have;
MSI Raider GE66 12UGS - 2yrs old

• Intel I7-12700H (12th gen) - Integrated Iris Xe graphics
• 16gb Ram (2x8)- DDR5-4800 SODIMM - Max is 64gb
• NVIDIA RTX 3070 Ti
• Samsung 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD (2 banks available 1x in use)
• 99.9mWh battery @ ~20% wear

Current (average temp range)
Light work - GPU ~40-45 Celsius/ CPU (fluctuates heavily ) ~40-60 Celsius
Under load - GPU ~75-85 Celsius/ CPU ~85-90 Celsius
So, as stated, I'm looking at trying to do a few upgrades to my laptop. I have been thinking about it for a while but still unsure on how to go about it. Firstly, would it be worth it? I'm aware that this isn't exactly bottom of the barrel, however I believe it could be better.
My 1st point of call would be to add an extra TB or 2 of storage, as although I have an external hard drive, i've had to occasionally keep removing games in order to fit others on.
Q1 - Like RAM, would i have to get an SSD that is the same speed, or is it not necessary and can add whatever I like?
Second point will be to upgrade the RAM, As mentioned, currently at 16gb, thinking of going up to 32gb.
Q2 - Is this necessary? Will I gain much (any) more performance by doing so or will it be negligible?
Third point of call, would be to re-apply thermal paste and putty. Yes i have just done paste, however I have since been made aware of a better quality paste, plus my putty was a little dry anyway so makes sense to kill 2 birds with one stone. Trying to keep temps as low as possible.
Q3 - Any recommendations for putty?

1. Battery. Im plugged in 95% of the time currently, so could probably take a miss on this. but am open to changing as the battery is not too expensive.

Q4 - At what stage is it worth swapping out the battery? What wear %?
Fifth Point would be to upgrade the fans, because recently I've started to get what I believe to be coil whine. I have dusted off the fans and yet it is still occuring so for the sake you a few £, it gives me piece of mind...And stops setting off my tinnitus...
Right, I think that's all that possible, but if not the please let me know! Once again, I appreciate if you read this far, and any help would be grand.
TL;DR - Looking at upgrading laptop - current components above. Is it worth it? If so, any recommendations for both hardware and software changes?
I am very well aware that most of these may be completely unnecessary, and if so please do say so. This is just the thinking stage at the moment, so open to anything and everything!

Hey! I just wanna ask for an outsider's perspective. Apologies in advance if lengthy.
Sooooo I am under a VA agency na okay naman chill lang. They use Time Doctor for tracking purposes nga lang. Goods naman ako sa client ko nung una and goods ako sa pamamalakad. Sahod? I'm gonna put it in dollars nalang, if you convert, it's around $490 per month, bi-weekly sahod and it's a full time position. Monday-Saturday ang work ko. At first medyo alanganin ako pero I was like okay since ang hirap maghanap ng client, and for experience and all of that stuff. Magaan din naman yung tasks (at first lolololol) Niche is real estate and property management assistant, like kung sa BPO man ito ako lahat ng campaign at LOB x10.
First few weeks may 1 or 2 na pending kasi napprioritize yung mas important, but natatapos kinabukasan which is okay lang naman. Never kami nag uusap ni client ko na as in 1:1, once lang tapos puro mention and messages lang. Not until yung 5 primary tasks naging 12 ata pucha hahahaha and it's not the number of tasks yung problema ko, it's the number of steps per tasks and the number of people I have to do it for ang problema ko.
Say for example creating a lease agreement for a new tenant. May template sya so okay di na mahirap yung part na yun. Problem is the steps for that task. First creating a profile sa CRM ni client for the tenant, and then text the tenant the password, upload the lease sa another CRM and then sa bawat signature field assign it to the signers. Now the lease is 25 pages long, and I have to do it for 10-15 different people. Bwenas pa kung magulo utak nung tenant syempre papalitan ko na naman lahat ng details. What if lahat sila magulo utak? It takes me like more than half the shift alone and then magtatambak pa sya ng ibang tasks na dapat din daw matapos within the day. Another one is regarding sa delinquent rent, again may template BUT I have to do it say, for 60 people. So that means I replace the template 60 times with 60 different details, and upload it 60 times to the CRM for signature stuff and then download it, send it to the tenant plus text them about it. It took me the entire shift plus OT na 5 hours to finish it, kasi may mga stops because not all the info na naibigay is accurate. Mag aask ako kay client, hours bago pa magreply so I have to pushback sending some notices, just to be sure lang kasi legal stuff yun.
Kanina, nagkaroon ng management meeting, nagcomplain na daw sya sa deliverables ko. So I explained my side and I still owned up to it. Pero well syempre at the end of the day, pag nasa agency ka, best interest ni client ang priority nila. They asked me about my productivity bakit daw mababa kung sinasabi ko na natatambakan na ako, and I straight up said na I sometimes just step away nalang from my desk kasi nabuburn out na ako. Baka naman daw di lang ako marunong mag prioritize, wdym everyday pumapasok ako 300+ emails ang inbox ko even on rest days or outside shift nagfoforward sya ng gawain to the point na di ko na alam uunahin. Tapos everything is urgent sa client and then sinabi daw nya na doable naman daw yun in 8 hours. Ilang beses ko rin sinasabi sa EOD Report mga tulong na kailangan ko and yung mga need ko pushback to make way for the most important things, di pala sya nagbabasa non. Chinachat ko rin sya sa Gchat with mention pa pero again hours bago sya magreply. But if you look at his schedule sobraaaang luwag na as in kaya nya magreply agad. Should I continue?? I feel like I'm wasting my time
I have a 2nd client who pays higher and cold calling lang ginagawa ko don, di pa micromanager. It doesn't matter how many dials as long as may dials.
EDIT: Umaga pa pala nag email si client sa agency, kinausap nila ako pa-EOS na with no heads up or even just a meeting marker. WF pa ang pinachat sakin to join the meeting, nagulat nalang ako na may ganitong ganap.

Today's is pretty bad day. Woke up for getting my learning license in Kukatpally. Here's the back story, i myself want to get by applying myself but my mother insisted to get it from my driving school guy so i agreed with her and contacted him. He booked a slot by taking double the money. Slot was on may 14th 11:40am. So i book a Rapido from my home to RTA office first guy was far away so i had to call him to come faster 'cause my slot is in 30min. He asked the drop location, i said its right beside my colony, he then asked again and i replied jntu, jntu ante pakkana anna ani he cancelled the ride. After trying multiple times another guy accepted the ride and we started. After reaching the location he quoted 5rs extra from the fare i got no balls to ask him why he's asking extra or show him the actual fare that the app is showing so paid 5rs extra with zero balls. completed all the things like taking photo, signature etc and Then comes the bomb saying that i have to pay extra 200 for paper work, idk why they asked i called my school and asked why should i pay extra i gave the exact amount to you and asked the breakdown of the amount, he just replied that you should pay for paper work and i asked 2-3 times he says the same. i got nothing to do (i almost paid double for the license work) i just paid. irony is the same guy handled multiple people there but none of them were charged 200 for so called paper work wtf is this. then i stood there in line for verification of address and all. I could actually see more than 5 members just jumped the line and went directly into the office don't know how using influence or other thing. my mood was totally disturbed. and after all this i just reached home by walk thinking and doubting about my speaking skills and choosing the right things.
some back story : my father found some good driving school for me but i rejected him saying he always chooses wrong and makes me to do things forcefully on his wish. now he is not even listening to my problems about this shitty driving school.
why am i like this, i just want to make right decisions, i just depend on others who are slightly better than me.

Looking for a signature scent, or a new scent for the season? Need suggestions of scents to try?
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(Repost from HousingUK)
TLDR: I own a share if freehold flat and the other freeholder lives abroad, is incapacitated and has no next of kin, just a legal representative appointed by a government organisation in the country she lives in. I need to sell my flat and extend the lease but two years in I have got nowhere in getting the deeds signed. What can I do?
Hi Housing UK readers,
I wanted to see if you had any fresh ideas on how to approach this situation I find myself in.
I purchased a flat in 2011. The flat is one of two in a Victorian conversion. Both flats are self-contained.
I am the sole registered leasehold proprietor of flat B and have been living in the flat since 2011.
Miss X is the sole registered leasehold proprietor of flat A, and has owned the flat since 2001. The flat is being rented as Miss X retired abroad in 2006.
Miss X and I also both own a share of the freehold, which is split 50/50.
I’m in contact with Miss X for a few years after I buy, but all admin relating to building management is dealt with by her estate agents and she defers any discussions to them.
Fast forward to September 2022. I need to sell my flat as I want to move to a different city, and have some debt I need to pay off. The flat is listed for sale in late October 2022.
There are 84 years left on the lease for both myself and Miss X. I reach out to Miss X to inform her of my plans and that I will need her signature for the various deeds, and that we should extend the lease. The email bounces back and her phone line is disconnected.
I contact the estate agents who manage flat A. They have also not heard from Miss X for a while, I can tell they know more, but they are unwilling to share any details. In a tactical move, I list my flat for sale with them too, to try and get their help with Miss X (a whole other hilarious side story). I am repeatedly assured by them that the situation with Miss X will not hinder the sale of the flat (a huge lie).
March 2023 I finally find some buyers (with another agent) and start the conveyancing process, including extending the lease and transferring the freehold.
May 2023. After chasing Miss X’s estate agents for weeks, I discover that Miss X is now incapacitated and hospitalised with dementia. Miss X has no partner or children, no next of kin and no legal representation in the UK. She is under the care of a government agency in the European country she resides in. A lawyer employed by the agency, let’s call him SP, has been appointed as her legal representative and is in contact with the UK estate agents. SP sends documents to verify his status to the agents, who confirm legitimacy via their lawyers. SP is very hard to reach, rarely answers emails or his phone.
I find a solicitor specialised in property law to help me navigate this situation. As Miss X is not deemed “absent”, the solicitor suggests that it’s best to try and resolve this with the appointed legal representative (SP), as any other legal routes available for absentee freeholders through UK courts wouldn’t apply (as we know where Miss X is). I explain the situation to SP, he talks to a judge and informs me he lacks capacity to make decisions about the leasehold and freehold matters without court / judicial approval in his country.
SP also asks for help with gaining access to Miss X’s UK bank account. All rental income from her flat in the UK is being transferred to a UK bank account via the estate agents. I share information on obtaining power of attorney in the UK and suggest it would be best to appoint a lawyer in the UK to help with all matters.
November 2023. After several months of backwards and forwards with SP to try and find out exactly what legal documents the judge wants to see in court, under his guidance my solicitor produces papers, documents and evidence, we get them translated, postilled and posted. SP is confident the judge will be happy and grant permission for signatures.
The documents make it clear that the authority being sought for SP to sign the leasehold extension and transfer of freehold are in no way prejudicial to Miss X and in fact extending the lease would add value to her property should she decide to sell in future.
A court date is set 3 months later. Sigh. More waiting.
I lose my buyers (understandably).
February 2024. The court date arrives. The judge rejects the request for permission for SP to sign papers on behalf of Miss X. It’s not fully clear why this is rejected. After speaking to SP it seems that the judge now wants SP to obtain access to Miss X’s bank account before moving forward. I am surprised that no progress has been made with that.
I go back to my solicitor. Now that we can show that steps have been taken to locate Miss X and get the deeds signed by her legal deputy without recourse, they suggest that we can apply to court in the UK to have another trustee appointed to sign the transfer and deed, and suggests appointing counsel to make the application to UK courts, which should be “run of the mill”. We choose a barrister, the situation is explained, documents shared, and I’m given a 3 week timeframe for papers to be produced for court.
In the meantime we connect SP to a solicitor in the UK who can help with obtaining PoA, as no progress has been made with that yet.
A few days later the barrister gets in touch, more bad news.
Under TLATA, there would be a breach of trust if all required consent from the current trustees was not obtained, so it is not sufficient to just add another trustee, Miss X would need to be replaced as outlined in the Trustee Act 36(1). However under the Trustee Act 36(9), where a trustee lacks the ability to perform their function, no new trustee can be appointed without consent from the Court of Protection. I am informed that making this application to the CoP is lengthy, costly and risky. The barrister says it would be faster and safer to wait for SP to obtain the relevant permissions.
We reach out to SP again to see what progress has been made. None. Some documents need to be translated and he is unwilling to pay for the translations (it seems their organisation has no money). We offer to pay now and be reimbursed once access to Miss X’s money is granted.
We are now almost half way through 2024 and coming up to 2 years into this situation.
Is it really possible that legally these are my only two options?

• going to the UK courts at great expense in a process that has been called “risky and lengthy” by the barrister.
• Waiting for SP to sort out PoA with no guarantee that the judge will even grant permission for the deeds to be signed (again risky and lengthy)

I know I can try and sell my flat without the share if freehold and with a short lease, but this will affect its value and the short lease especially will be a problem with mortgage applications.
Any different ideas on how to approach this? Seems so absurd that currently I can’t sell something that is mine, due to a situation I didn’t create!
There are many more twists and turns to this story but I have left them out as this is long enough. Also I do not have a legal background or am a housing expert so apologies if some of the language I use is incorrect.
Thanks for reading!

Wanted to find my next signature fragrance and so set off my journey with this Studiowest Cities gift box. Available on Westside and TataCliq for 1999. Can get it for as low as 1850 or something because you can get 5% off for opting out of online returns on the Westside website.
WARNING: This is gonna be a LONG post.
Tl;Dr: Ratings:
Ibiza 1/5
Bali 3.5/5
Bora Bora 3/5
Cancun 5/5
Mykonos 3.5/5
Rio 3/5
Paris 2.5/5
New York 4/5
London 1/5
Packaging is quite lovely
The box has 10 glass bottles of 9ml perfumes. Very nice to hold. There are tearable covers over each of the bottle, kind of like a Christmas advent calendar. I loved this.
It's a great gift to give someone, even if they aren't into fragrance at all, simple because it feels like a premium gift.
I am by no means a reviewer or a person who knows much about fragrance in general. So I apologize in advance for my descriptions.
The fragrance notes are from the Westside website. There's nothing mentioned on the bottle or the box so i guess we will have to take their word for it.

One Night in Ibiza

1/5
Floral - Bergamot, Cardamom, Coconut blended with Tiare Flower, Tuberose, Ylang Ylang and base notes of Musk, Benzoin, Heliotrope.
Top: bergamot
Mid: Heliotrope
Base: Vanilla
Dupe for: ?
Review: You can really smell the coconut in this. It's a nice gourmand smell, but the spiciness of the cardamom makes this smell like a sabji made with amrutanjan balm.
It settles down to just the smell of the musk and the coconut. Pleasant but smells like it could be odomos.
Didn't like this.

One Night in Bali

3.5/5
Grapefruit Lemon, Mint and Pink Pepper mixed with middle notes of Ginger, Nutmeg, Jasmine and with base notes of Incense, Vetiver, Cedar, Sandalwood, Patchouli, Labdanum and White Musk.
Top: Grapefruit
Mid: Ginger
Base: Sandalwood
Dupe for: Bleu de Chanel
Review: the first burst is definitely very heavy on the alcohol and smells a lot like men's aftershave, you definitely get the citrus and the mint. As it dries down it turns into an inoffensive, soft, mainly musky smell.
Okayish. Might consider wearing it again. Good for day wear.

One Night in Bora Bora

3/5
Floral Ambery - Citrus, Pear, Melon blended with Rose, Freesia, Lily of the Valley and base notes of Amber, Musk, Patchouli.
Top: Pear
Mid: Lily of the valley
Base: Patchouli
Review: Too patchouli heavy for me this one. I can only smell the rose and the patchouli. Couldn't smell the citrus. I'm more into fresh scents so I hoped highly for this one. Settles down to a soft floral scent. Nothing mind blowing. Might consider wearing it in evenings.
Dupe for: CK Eternity

One Night in Cancun

5/5 <3
Floral Fruity - Peach, Plum, Honey blended with Lily of the Valley, Nectarine, Petitgrain and base notes of Musk, Vetiver, Amber
Top: Peach
Mid: Petitgrain
Base: Vetiver
Dupe for: Elizabeth Arden Red Door
Review: Now this one is definitely interesting to me. I am not a fan of fruity scents but this is a wonderful one. At first you can really smell the plum and the peach scents, and the sweet nectarine but it's not sickly sweet. Settles down into what I think vetiver is supposed to smell like (I don't know what vetiver smells like, but it's not musk for sure). It smells... delicious?
I think this one is my favourite. Might even consider getting a decant of EA Red Door because of this.

One Night in Mykonos

3.5/5
Citrus Floral - Aqueous, Lemon, Green blended with Rose, Jasmine, Pear Blossom and base notes of Amber, Balsamic, Musk.
Top: Lemon
Mid: Rose
Base: Amber
Dupe for: CK One
Review: Initial burst of citrus is really fresh, and not in a ambi pur car fragrance kind of way. Settles down well. The rose and Jasmine would feel very hair oil fragrance but it's not that offensive. Left with a musk scent at the base. I don't know where the balsamic is supposed to sit.

One Night in Rio

3/5
Floral Chypre - Citrus, Fresh blended with Peony, Rose, Jasmine and base notes of Patchouli, Musk, Amber.
Top: Citrus
Mid: Peony
Base: Patchouli
Dupe for: CK Eternity Eau Fresh
Review: Opens with a floral scent that I can't seem to catch which flower it's supposed to be. Didn't get the citrus top note. Too much patchouli for me. I guess I just don't like patchouli. It settles down into a sweet smell, again, of just patchouli, and peony I guess. But I've never smelled a peony so I can't tell. The smell of this I can only describe as the floor cleaners they use in airport bathrooms at Kempegowda or a mall washroom that was just cleaned.
Not a fan of this one.

Studiowest Paris

2.5/5
At the forefront of this fragrant journey, the delightful blend of plum, raspberry, and pear dances on your senses, creating a luscious and playful olfactory experience. As the fragrance continues to unfold, the heart reveals musk, vanilla, and sugary notes, adding depth and complexity to this captivating aromatic symphony
Notes from TataCliq
Top Note
Vanilla
Middle Note
Jasmin, Orchid
Base Note
Sweet, Musky
Review: Vanilla opening, definitely fruity but I didn't get the plum I was expecting. Definitely a girly fragrance. The label is pink and it's definitely the vibe of this one. Very high school, winx club, Blossom from Powerpuff Girls. It's a nice one but I don't think it's for me.
Dupe for: ?

Studiowest New York

4/5
At the top, vanilla takes the spotlight with its sweet allure. In the heart of this fragrance, jasmine and orchid add a delicate, floral dimension. Finally, the scent finds its soothing base in the notes of sweet and musky, leaving a lasting impression of sophistication and charm.
Notes from TataCliq
Top:
Plum, Raspberry, Pear
Middle Note
Lily Of The Valley, Jasmine, Rose
Base Note
Musk, Vanilla, Sugary
Dupe for: ?
Review: Opens quite fresh, fruity but not too sweet. Settles down into a musky, jasminey, vanilla smell which isn't sweet. I'm saying this over and over because I detest sickly sweet frags, they make me gag.
I liked this one.

Studiowest London

?1/5
The scent journey begins with passion fruit, leading to peony, italian pine, and a lasting base of vanilla and orchid, ensuring a memorable olfactory experience.
Notes from TataCliq
Top notes:
Passion Fruit
Middle Note
Peony, Italian Pine
Base Note
Vanilla, Orchid
Dupe for: ?
Review: struggling to describe this one. Not sure if it was just my bottle or what but it smells like... nothing? I wanted to keep a constant or a standard for measuring the smell and the stay of these EDPs so 2 sprays per were enough.
I ended up spraying 4 to 5 sprays for this one, and yet it smelled like nothing. There's a hint of pine in there but that's it. Not sure what is supposed to deliver.
A fail.
OVERALL:
A good gift for someone who would like to get into fragrances. Not very long lasting, nor very outstanding scents tho. Maybe it's the Cities line of fragrances that aren't very good. I keep hearing Goddess as a good one, maybe I should've just got that to try instead.
I sprayed just a couple of times to keep it even but even so not good projection, sillage or staying power. It's gone within the hour but settles on the skin for maybe 2 hours.
Anyway.
I might revisit this post in the future to update how these have aged or if I've grown to love or hate any of these.
Tl;Dr: Ratings:
Ibiza 1/5
Bali 3.5/5
Bora Bora 3/5
Cancun 5/5
Mykonos 3.5/5
Rio 3/5
Paris 2.5/5
New York 4/5
London 1/5
I'd love to hear from y'all. This was my first review ever. I'd also like to know your experiences with Studiowest perfumes, and if anyone knows what the Paris, NY and London ones are dupes for.
My current signature fragrance is actually Nude by Skinn by Titan. Has been for 5 years. The journey to find a suitable love continues for now.
Love, light and health!

Wanted to find my next signature fragrance and so set off my journey with this Studiowest Cities gift box. Available on Westside and TataCliq for 1999. Can get it for as low as 1850 or something because you can get 5% off for opting out of online returns on the Westside website.
WARNING: This is gonna be a LONG post.
Tl;Dr: Ratings:
Ibiza 1/5
Bali 3.5/5
Bora Bora 3/5
Cancun 5/5
Mykonos 3.5/5
Rio 3/5
Paris 2.5/5
New York 4/5
London 1/5
Packaging is quite lovely
The box has 10 glass bottles of 9ml perfumes. Very nice to hold. There are tearable covers over each of the bottle, kind of like a Christmas advent calendar. I loved this.
It's a great gift to give someone, even if they aren't into fragrance at all, simple because it feels like a premium gift.
I am by no means a reviewer or a person who knows much about fragrance in general. So I apologize in advance for my descriptions.
The fragrance notes are from the Westside website. There's nothing mentioned on the bottle or the box so i guess we will have to take their word for it.

One Night in Ibiza

1/5
Floral - Bergamot, Cardamom, Coconut blended with Tiare Flower, Tuberose, Ylang Ylang and base notes of Musk, Benzoin, Heliotrope.
Top: bergamot
Mid: Heliotrope
Base: Vanilla
Dupe for: ?
Review: You can really smell the coconut in this. It's a nice gourmand smell, but the spiciness of the cardamom makes this smell like a sabji made with amrutanjan balm.
It settles down to just the smell of the musk and the coconut. Pleasant but smells like it could be odomos.
Didn't like this.

One Night in Bali

3.5/5
Grapefruit Lemon, Mint and Pink Pepper mixed with middle notes of Ginger, Nutmeg, Jasmine and with base notes of Incense, Vetiver, Cedar, Sandalwood, Patchouli, Labdanum and White Musk.
Top: Grapefruit
Mid: Ginger
Base: Sandalwood
Dupe for: Bleu de Chanel
Review: the first burst is definitely very heavy on the alcohol and smells a lot like men's aftershave, you definitely get the citrus and the mint. As it dries down it turns into an inoffensive, soft, mainly musky smell.
Okayish. Might consider wearing it again. Good for day wear.

One Night in Bora Bora

3/5
Floral Ambery - Citrus, Pear, Melon blended with Rose, Freesia, Lily of the Valley and base notes of Amber, Musk, Patchouli.
Top: Pear
Mid: Lily of the valley
Base: Patchouli
Review: Too patchouli heavy for me this one. I can only smell the rose and the patchouli. Couldn't smell the citrus. I'm more into fresh scents so I hoped highly for this one. Settles down to a soft floral scent. Nothing mind blowing. Might consider wearing it in evenings.
Dupe for: CK Eternity

One Night in Cancun

5/5 <3
Floral Fruity - Peach, Plum, Honey blended with Lily of the Valley, Nectarine, Petitgrain and base notes of Musk, Vetiver, Amber
Top: Peach
Mid: Petitgrain
Base: Vetiver
Dupe for: Elizabeth Arden Red Door
Review: Now this one is definitely interesting to me. I am not a fan of fruity scents but this is a wonderful one. At first you can really smell the plum and the peach scents, and the sweet nectarine but it's not sickly sweet. Settles down into what I think vetiver is supposed to smell like (I don't know what vetiver smells like, but it's not musk for sure). It smells... delicious?
I think this one is my favourite. Might even consider getting a decant of EA Red Door because of this.

One Night in Mykonos

3.5/5
Citrus Floral - Aqueous, Lemon, Green blended with Rose, Jasmine, Pear Blossom and base notes of Amber, Balsamic, Musk.
Top: Lemon
Mid: Rose
Base: Amber
Dupe for: CK One
Review: Initial burst of citrus is really fresh, and not in a ambi pur car fragrance kind of way. Settles down well. The rose and Jasmine would feel very hair oil fragrance but it's not that offensive. Left with a musk scent at the base. I don't know where the balsamic is supposed to sit.

One Night in Rio

3/5
Floral Chypre - Citrus, Fresh blended with Peony, Rose, Jasmine and base notes of Patchouli, Musk, Amber.
Top: Citrus
Mid: Peony
Base: Patchouli
Dupe for: CK Eternity Eau Fresh
Review: Opens with a floral scent that I can't seem to catch which flower it's supposed to be. Didn't get the citrus top note. Too much patchouli for me. I guess I just don't like patchouli. It settles down into a sweet smell, again, of just patchouli, and peony I guess. But I've never smelled a peony so I can't tell. The smell of this I can only describe as the floor cleaners they use in airport bathrooms at Kempegowda or a mall washroom that was just cleaned.
Not a fan of this one.

Studiowest Paris

2.5/5
At the forefront of this fragrant journey, the delightful blend of plum, raspberry, and pear dances on your senses, creating a luscious and playful olfactory experience. As the fragrance continues to unfold, the heart reveals musk, vanilla, and sugary notes, adding depth and complexity to this captivating aromatic symphony
Notes from TataCliq
Top Note
Vanilla
Middle Note
Jasmin, Orchid
Base Note
Sweet, Musky
Review: Vanilla opening, definitely fruity but I didn't get the plum I was expecting. Definitely a girly fragrance. The label is pink and it's definitely the vibe of this one. Very high school, winx club, Blossom from Powerpuff Girls. It's a nice one but I don't think it's for me.
Dupe for: ?

Studiowest New York

4/5
At the top, vanilla takes the spotlight with its sweet allure. In the heart of this fragrance, jasmine and orchid add a delicate, floral dimension. Finally, the scent finds its soothing base in the notes of sweet and musky, leaving a lasting impression of sophistication and charm.
Notes from TataCliq
Top:
Plum, Raspberry, Pear
Middle Note
Lily Of The Valley, Jasmine, Rose
Base Note
Musk, Vanilla, Sugary
Dupe for: ?
Review: Opens quite fresh, fruity but not too sweet. Settles down into a musky, jasminey, vanilla smell which isn't sweet. I'm saying this over and over because I detest sickly sweet frags, they make me gag.
I liked this one.

Studiowest London

?1/5
The scent journey begins with passion fruit, leading to peony, italian pine, and a lasting base of vanilla and orchid, ensuring a memorable olfactory experience.
Notes from TataCliq
Top notes:
Passion Fruit
Middle Note
Peony, Italian Pine
Base Note
Vanilla, Orchid
Dupe for: ?
Review: struggling to describe this one. Not sure if it was just my bottle or what but it smells like... nothing? I wanted to keep a constant or a standard for measuring the smell and the stay of these EDPs so 2 sprays per were enough.
I ended up spraying 4 to 5 sprays for this one, and yet it smelled like nothing. There's a hint of pine in there but that's it. Not sure what is supposed to deliver.
A fail.
OVERALL:
A good gift for someone who would like to get into fragrances. Not very long lasting, nor very outstanding scents tho. Maybe it's the Cities line of fragrances that aren't very good. I keep hearing Goddess as a good one, maybe I should've just got that to try instead.
I sprayed just a couple of times to keep it even but even so not good projection, sillage or staying power. It's gone within the hour but settles on the skin for maybe 2 hours.
Anyway.
I might revisit this post in the future to update how these have aged or if I've grown to love or hate any of these.
Tl;Dr: Ratings:
Ibiza 1/5
Bali 3.5/5
Bora Bora 3/5
Cancun 5/5
Mykonos 3.5/5
Rio 3/5
Paris 2.5/5
New York 4/5
London 1/5
I'd love to hear from y'all. This was my first review ever. I'd also like to know your experiences with Studiowest perfumes, and if anyone knows what the Paris, NY and London ones are dupes for.
My current signature fragrance is actually Nude by Skinn by Titan. Has been for 5 years. The journey to find a suitable love continues for now.
Love, light and health!

TLDR: I own a share if freehold flat and the other freeholder lives abroad, is incapacitated and has no next of kin, just a legal representative appointed by a government organisation in the country she lives in. I need to sell my flat and extend the lease but two years in I have got nowhere in getting the deeds signed. What can I do?
Hi Housing UK readers,
I wanted to see if you had any fresh ideas on how to approach this situation I find myself in.
I purchased a flat in 2011. The flat is one of two in a Victorian conversion. Both flats are self-contained.
I am the sole registered leasehold proprietor of flat B and have been living in the flat since 2011.
Miss X is the sole registered leasehold proprietor of flat A, and has owned the flat since 2001. The flat is being rented as Miss X retired abroad in 2006.
Miss X and I also both own a share of the freehold, which is split 50/50.
I’m in contact with Miss X for a few years after I buy, but all admin relating to building management is dealt with by her estate agents and she defers any discussions to them.
Fast forward to September 2022. I need to sell my flat as I want to move to a different city, and have some debt I need to pay off. The flat is listed for sale in late October 2022.
There are 84 years left on the lease for both myself and Miss X. I reach out to Miss X to inform her of my plans and that I will need her signature for the various deeds, and that we should extend the lease. The email bounces back and her phone line is disconnected.
I contact the estate agents who manage flat A. They have also not heard from Miss X for a while, I can tell they know more, but they are unwilling to share any details. In a tactical move, I list my flat for sale with them too, to try and get their help with Miss X (a whole other hilarious side story). I am repeatedly assured by them that the situation with Miss X will not hinder the sale of the flat (a huge lie).
March 2023 I finally find some buyers (with another agent) and start the conveyancing process, including extending the lease and transferring the freehold.
May 2023. After chasing Miss X’s estate agents for weeks, I discover that Miss X is now incapacitated and hospitalised with dementia. Miss X has no partner or children, no next of kin and no legal representation in the UK. She is under the care of a government agency in the European country she resides in. A lawyer employed by the agency, let’s call him SP, has been appointed as her legal representative and is in contact with the UK estate agents. SP sends documents to verify his status to the agents, who confirm legitimacy via their lawyers. SP is very hard to reach, rarely answers emails or his phone.
I find a solicitor specialised in property law to help me navigate this situation. As Miss X is not deemed “absent”, the solicitor suggests that it’s best to try and resolve this with the appointed legal representative (SP), as any other legal routes available for absentee freeholders through UK courts wouldn’t apply (as we know where Miss X is). I explain the situation to SP, he talks to a judge and informs me he lacks capacity to make decisions about the leasehold and freehold matters without court / judicial approval in his country.
SP also asks for help with gaining access to Miss X’s UK bank account. All rental income from her flat in the UK is being transferred to a UK bank account via the estate agents. I share information on obtaining power of attorney in the UK and suggest it would be best to appoint a lawyer in the UK to help with all matters.
November 2023. After several months of backwards and forwards with SP to try and find out exactly what legal documents the judge wants to see in court, under his guidance my solicitor produces papers, documents and evidence, we get them translated, postilled and posted. SP is confident the judge will be happy and grant permission for signatures.
The documents make it clear that the authority being sought for SP to sign the leasehold extension and transfer of freehold are in no way prejudicial to Miss X and in fact extending the lease would add value to her property should she decide to sell in future.
A court date is set 3 months later. Sigh. More waiting.
I lose my buyers (understandably).
February 2024. The court date arrives. The judge rejects the request for permission for SP to sign papers on behalf of Miss X. It’s not fully clear why this is rejected. After speaking to SP it seems that the judge now wants SP to obtain access to Miss X’s bank account before moving forward. I am surprised that no progress has been made with that.
I go back to my solicitor. Now that we can show that steps have been taken to locate Miss X and get the deeds signed by her legal deputy without recourse, they suggest that we can apply to court in the UK to have another trustee appointed to sign the transfer and deed, and suggests appointing counsel to make the application to UK courts, which should be “run of the mill”. We choose a barrister, the situation is explained, documents shared, and I’m given a 3 week timeframe for papers to be produced for court.
In the meantime we connect SP to a solicitor in the UK who can help with obtaining PoA, as no progress has been made with that yet.
A few days later the barrister gets in touch, more bad news.
Under TLATA, there would be a breach of trust if all required consent from the current trustees was not obtained, so it is not sufficient to just add another trustee, Miss X would need to be replaced as outlined in the Trustee Act 36(1). However under the Trustee Act 36(9), where a trustee lacks the ability to perform their function, no new trustee can be appointed without consent from the Court of Protection. I am informed that making this application to the CoP is lengthy, costly and risky. The barrister says it would be faster and safer to wait for SP to obtain the relevant permissions.
We reach out to SP again to see what progress has been made. None. Some documents need to be translated and he is unwilling to pay for the translations (it seems their organisation has no money). We offer to pay now and be reimbursed once access to Miss X’s money is granted.
We are now almost half way through 2024 and coming up to 2 years into this situation.
Is it really possible that legally these are my only two options?

• going to the UK courts at great expense in a process that has been called “risky and lengthy” by the barrister.
• Waiting for SP to sort out PoA with no guarantee that the judge will even grant permission for the deeds to be signed (again risky and lengthy)

I know I can try and sell my flat without the share if freehold and with a short lease, but this will affect its value and the short lease especially will be a problem with mortgage applications.
Any different ideas on how to approach this? Seems so absurd to me that currently I can’t sell something that is mine, due to a situation I didn’t create!
There are many more twists and turns to this story but I have left them out as this is long enough. Also I do not have a legal background or am a housing expert so apologies if some of the language I use is incorrect.
Reddit, help!

"Savoring the Charm: Little Amsterdam Restaurant by Oscenox"
Introduction:
Step into a culinary journey like no other as we unveil the enchanting flavors and ambiance of Little Amsterdam Restaurant, nestled amidst the picturesque beauty of Oscenox. Join us as we explore the unique fusion of Dutch-inspired cuisine and local charm that makes this restaurant a hidden gem worth discovering.
1. Discovering Little Amsterdam: A Culinary Oasis

• Introduce readers to Little Amsterdam Restaurant, a quaint dining establishment that transports diners to the heart of Amsterdam, right in the heart of Oscenox.
  
• Set the stage for an immersive dining experience filled with Dutch specialties and international delights.
  

2. Ambiance and Décor: A Taste of Europe

• Describe the ambiance and décor of Little Amsterdam Restaurant, evoking the cozy charm of a traditional Dutch café.
  
• Highlight elements of Dutch-inspired design and décor that create an authentic and inviting atmosphere.
  

3. Culinary Delights: Exploring the Menu

• Delve into the diverse menu offerings of Little Amsterdam, featuring a tantalizing array of Dutch classics and innovative creations.
  
• Highlight signature dishes such as hearty stamppot, savory bitterballen, and indulgent Dutch pancakes that capture the essence of Dutch cuisine.
  

4. Taste Sensations: Sampling the Flavors

• Share your personal dining experience at Little Amsterdam, detailing the flavors, textures, and presentation of the dishes you sampled.
  
• Provide insights into the quality of ingredients and culinary expertise that elevate the dining experience at Little Amsterdam.
  

5. Local Ingredients, Global Inspiration

• Explore Little Amsterdam's commitment to sourcing local, seasonal ingredients and incorporating them into its menu offerings.
  
• Discuss how the restaurant infuses traditional Dutch recipes with a modern twist, creating innovative dishes that celebrate both local flavors and global influences.
  

1. Hospitality and Service: A Warm Welcome

• Evaluate the hospitality and service provided by the staff at Little Amsterdam, highlighting their attentiveness, professionalism, and knowledge of the menu.
  
• Share anecdotes or personal interactions that exemplify the restaurant's commitment to providing a memorable dining experience for guests.
  

7. Community and Culture: Embracing Oscenox

• Discuss Little Amsterdam's role within the Oscenox community, from supporting local artisans and producers to hosting cultural events and gatherings.
  
• Highlight the restaurant's efforts to celebrate and showcase the rich cultural heritage of Oscenox and its surrounding region.
  

8. Sustainability and Eco-Friendliness: A Responsible Approach

• Explore Little Amsterdam's commitment to sustainability and eco-friendliness, from reducing food waste to minimizing its environmental footprint.
  
• Discuss initiatives such as composting, recycling, or supporting sustainable farming practices that align with the restaurant's values and ethos.
  

1. Conclusion: A Culinary Adventure Awaits

• Conclude by inviting readers to experience the culinary delights of Little Amsterdam Restaurant for themselves.
  
• Encourage them to embark on their own gastronomic journey in Oscenox, discovering the flavors, hospitality, and charm that make Little Amsterdam a must-visit destination for food lovers.
  

Hey fellow style enthusiasts! I just wanted to share a little story about where I find inspiration for my GTA Online character's wardrobe. It's not your typical fashion guru tale, but I think you might find it interesting. So, grab some e-cola and sit back. 😎🍹
A while back, I was roaming through Los Santos, feeling a bit uninspired by the usual clothing options. I mean, we've all been there, right? You hit all the stores, try on the latest threads, but nothing feels quite... you. That's when I decided to take a break from the grind and just enjoy the virtual sunset by Vespucci Beach. And there it was, a group of players with the most eclectic, vibrant styles I'd ever seen. It was like a fashion show had spontaneously erupted on the boardwalk!
I spent the next hour just watching these avatars strut their stuff, and my mind was racing with ideas. I started to mix and match pieces in ways I hadn't thought of before. Neon biker jackets with vintage jeans, high-end suits paired with streetwear sneakers – the possibilities were endless. I realized that in GTA Online, just like in real life, fashion is about expressing yourself and having fun with it.
Inspired by this revelation, I began documenting my character's outfits and sharing them with friends. The response was so positive that I started to think bigger. Why not create a place where people could get inspired by a curated collection of high-quality style ideas? A hub for all things fashion in GTA Online, updated weekly with fresh looks.
And that's how my project, dashy.so, came to life. It's a little side hustle where I share my passion for GTA style with the world. If you're ever in need of some outfit inspiration or just want to see what's trending in the virtual fashion world, give it a peek. Who knows, it might just spark your next big look in Los Santos!
Remember, in the world of GTA Online, your style is your signature. So go out there and make your mark, fashionistas! And if you ever want to chat about the latest trends or need some advice on putting together that perfect outfit, I'm always around. After all, I'm not just a fan of fashion; I created dashy.so to help us all stay sharp in the city of saints and sinners. 😉✨

Based on your experiences and wisdom internet strangers, how should I approach this because I have feelings for her? Should I tell her, or back off?
TL;DR is that I think I might be getting hints and clues that this girl I know may have feelings for me, but graduation is in a few weeks, and the parting of ways is inevitable.
There is this girl who I have recently, in the past year and a half or so, gotten to know well. I live in a town across the valley from hers, and we are both 18, being seniors in separate high schools. We have been texting each other for what almost felt like daily or multiple times a week well since the beginning of the summer before our senior year, and have not lost any momentum. I don’t always initiate conversation, as she likes to spark conversations through texting, whether it’s the most recent adventure, anecdote, or cake she baked, I’m not talking to a wall. We also talk in person whenever we can. When we see each other at weekly church meetings, she always tries to sit next to me, or does so when she can, and since I tried out track this year, each meet our schools are both at, we both without asking each other, watch each others events and cheer each other on, and we talk just about anything and everything. I think her parents and family like me pretty well, and I have a good relationship with them, and my family adores her. The problem is where I think I stand with her.
That problem is exemplified by the fact that our graduations our quickly creeping up on us, and we’re going to be parting ways as I’m moving to a bordering state in the middle of the summer, and not too long after will be serving a 2 year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints all the way down in Mexico in late August. However, I’d be surprised to be “Dear John’d” as she is also going to serve a mission for our church before going to university, and is waiting to have her finished papers submitted. The timing would be perfect, as by the time she gets done with her mission, I’d be back home from mine oddly enough. We are also thinking about different universities which we both got accepted to, for me, USU and BYU Provo, for her BYU-I. The nice thing about the mission is that it’s like a 2 year gap-year, so if anything were to happen and be set into motion, we could try to go to the same school after. But I’m wondering if the fact that we are thinking about different schools and that I’m moving will make her fret if she does feel anything for me.
Some final preface is that we’ve been to homecoming together our junior year and that’s when our relationship kind of started. I also asked her to my senior prom in a fun, personal way for her, and she wasn’t weird about it, and was genuinely excited for it, saying yes, and that she was suspecting that I would ask her. We had a great time together and with the group we were with. When we took pictures with everyone, the photographer who was a mom asked our group to walk towards her for some cool shots, and for the couples to hold hands while doing so. Me being unsure and shy, didn’t grab her hand, but she sure grabbed mine and totally locked fingers with me (Mormon first base lol). At the dance, we slow danced to every song we could, when she wanted to, and I tried my best to match her energy the whole time (as a person who can’t dance, and is kind of introverted in stark comparison to her extroverted extreme nature). I later learned from my mom from her mom that she noticed and made mention of that, how I matched her energy intentionally. Afterwards, when it was time to go home and drop her off, I walked her to the door and she gave me what I can only describe in my mind as an intimate hug, which has happened between us before as well.
I’m leaning on the edge of her liking me back (rare glass half full view for me personally) because of a bunch of specific instances that blur the line of friendship between us, making it feel like we are more than just friends, and I’ll share a few key ones: (Sorry for making it look like a police report, that’s just the way my mind operates)
Exhibit A: On prom, I told her about the fact that I was moving in the middle of the summer because I needed to tell her in person, and it needed to come from me (weird time to tell someone that), but if I didn’t, she would’ve found out otherwise through town and church gossip. I was met with an immediate sad response, but that was quickly washed away and we had fun at the dance. What’s interesting is what she texted me after the fact: “What if we never see each other again…Sorry this is just crazy I'm going crazy I hate change and not sleeping so guna go to bed before this becomes a what if I die moments.”
Exhibit B: There are instances where I think she is trying to flirt with me, one of them being a response to me saying that I’m going to be somewhere where she thinks she’s going. The response in question was “I’m going now for sure [winky emoji, laughing emoji]”
Exhibit C: I have received 3 hugs from her that have stuck with me, and we’re all pretty intimate. Once after I gave her a meaningful gift after one of her favorite livestock she was taking care of died, which was pure luck and chance as I got a hat for her with a gag signature from my uncle called “the pig whisperer” which I was planning to give to her not as a cheering up gift, because I didn’t know her animal died. And once after I got my mission call, and once after dropping her off back at her house after Prom as mentioned before.
I don’t want to ruin our relationship because I value her a lot as a friend, but I think I’m seeing something more, and I don’t want to regret not doing anything.
Sorry for the long story, just looking for experienced insights. I don’t want to be “…falling in love as she’s walking away,” haha. Thank you for reading through my plight, and for those of you who respond.

Within days of the Synde Co. vs Hawks Co. war erupting, I predicted on this subreddit that Hawks was going to demolish Synde. Many folks ridiculed me, as Hawks appeared to be losing. From all outside perspectives, the constant collapse of farms was indicating Hawks was indeed going to lose. However, this was never the case.

1. Zero sum game.

Within the global economy (and competitive video games too), personnel are a zero sum game. There are only so many professionals in our world and corporations compete for them. This oftentimes means highly educated people in developing nations will end up leaving for wealthier developed nations. This is to the detriment of those developing nations.
The same exists in wormholes.
Elite groups oftentimes have their pick of candidates. They can be selective. Once someone meets their criteria, they can allow time to see if they fit the general culture of the group. If they create a little too much friction, they're booted. This leads to a generally cohesive group. So, envision if you will, a giant funnel with the very narrowest of necks. This narrow neck represents the top wormhole groups being fed the best wormholers in the game.
Lazerhawks was established 10 years ago from the merger of several already existing successful wormhole and low sec groups. They have had their pick of the best wormholers for a decade, on top of some of the best wormholers establishing them.

2. Where do the players go?

In wormhole groups, players will oftentimes not even be playing EVE, rather 'other games' together. This is generally due to the variable nature of day-to-day wormhole life. This leads to groups sticking together even during EVE breaks. Also, it creates loyalty beyond the game of EVE Online. When players take long breaks, even from the group, still active group members can still get in contact with them. Oftentimes small sub-groups will have eachother's real phone numbers. This means if a war breaks out, people who have been AFG for years can be quickly re-activated. Many times these players are only active during wartime.
The worst thing a wormhole group could ever do is ban 'other games.'
Lazerhawks has always highly encouraged members playing 'other games' together.

3. The abyss!

People forget how ancient many members of Hawks are. Their CEO has been playing EVE for 20 years. Hawks has quite a few members that have been living in wormholes for as long as wormholes have existed in EVE Online. Hawks has line members that have successfully run independent wormhole groups that subsequently merged with Hawks to form Lazerhawks. Hawks has members that are so old and deep in wormhole space culture, that they've crafted portions of it. People where their entire map of EVE Online is based on wormhole connections.
Each of these sort of members capable of not just operating independently, but with the utmost stealth. I've been told by several Hawks folks that even top Hawks leadership wasn't aware of the independent eviction groups Hawks line members had created for fighting Synde. Imagine, EVE leaders out there, discovering that you're not losing the war nearly as badly as you thought, because several 2-3 person groups had independently started reinforcing and destroying enemy structures? Imagine then also discovering that your enemy is stalling because of these actions?
Ancient players don't need to be told if they can or can't shoot blue targets.
Ancient players don't ask if they can farm while a war is going on.
Ancient players don't ask if the system they found 'is a target.'
Ancient players don't need SRP.
Ancient players won't waste your time with unimportant information.
Ancient players are already on that new incoming signature with a rolling carrier.
Ancient players play EVE by the ancient ways.

4. Kiddie gloves.

Many people aren't aware of this fact; Hawks has been using kiddie gloves for the last couple of years on Synde. After the fall of HK, Hawks stood alone as the supreme masters of wormholes. Synde was starting to become a potential candidate for a new fledgling group, that is until this war started. The issue was, Synde often didn't want to fight Hawks. They would demand handicaps, like being "allowed 30 seconds after jumping into the wormhole" to "get into position." This actually didn't bother Hawks too much, as they simply wanted to fight. The handicaps became more and more extreme, with Synde regularly saying they wouldn't fight unless allowed to set up at (whatever range their comp was ideal at.)
So, all the fights you've seen between Hawks and Synde have effectively been fights where Hawks took major handicaps to make happen.
This created a false sense of strength in Synde. This handicap play actually strengthened Hawks, while weakening Synde. Hawks got to the point where they became more interested in pulling stunts on Synde than actually fighting. One such situation involved a Synde Zirnitra falling for a POS bubble trap and being summararily executed in front of its fleet, which was trying to frantically free itself of warp disruption bubbles.
Once the war started, the kiddie gloves came off. Hawks no longer had to be nice to get fights.

5. Cyrus v. Michael

At the end of the day, failure or success during wartime comes down to how well your organization is prepared. Cyrus thought he was prepared. Honestly, he did a lot of work. He created a narrative, albeit a bit ad hoc when compared to other recorded statements he's made. He created a coalition. He made his best preparations for war, I'm sure. He even had a major null sec group to bat phone, in case of emergency only.
The issue is, Cyrus' relationship with reality is a bit convenient for his personal image. He has been said to have lied to many wormhole leaders in order to start this war, which actually harmed him, quite a bit. I've received many reports on the various lies people have said Cyrus told them to get them to join his Coalition. Trust is a thing that, once broken, is oftentimes impossible to regain.
Michael has the opposite approach of Cyrus. He is sincere and honest to a fault. He's not afraid to express disappointment and praise. You know where you stand with Michael fairly soon after first meeting him. He's a natural delegator and a dedicated farmer. "Why can't you do it?" is his favorite response to anyone complaining about something needing to be done. He's extremely competent, but not smug about it. He's the first to admit when he makes mistakes. He was willing to use some of his credit to barter with his peers to hand over some c6 wormholes Cyrus felt entitled to. C6 holes that Hawks characters likely found, or evicted, themselves.
You see, Michael has created a coalition within Hawks. Hawks has never been a single entity. There are subgroups within Hawks that operate independently. Some of the subgroups are actually more ancient than Hawks. They're more ancient than all but the most ancient null sec alliances. How are you going to kill the morale of members that have been playing together for over 10 years? Those guys aren't going to second-guess who their enemy is for even a second. They've won every war they've been in for 10, 12, 15, or even 20 years!
There's a joke I keep hearing from Hawks Co. members. It's "Synde thought they could take on Lazerhawks, but they couldn't even take on a few of their members."
At the end of the day, this was never going to be a fair fight. Hawks was always going to clobber Synde. While the reasons listed above are major contributing factors to the success of Hawks, it's the basic culture that really makes Hawks so great. Hawks see wormholes as wild. As something you have to earn. Cyrus made it clear he felt entitled to it. He thought it was so obvious that he'd earned a seat at the table, that he was incredulous that he was not offered that seat as a gift.
Cyrus,
The moment you demanded systems be given to you as some sort of prize is the moment you stopped being a wormholer.
You're not losing to Hawks Co, rather, in your hubris you've defeated yourself.
May all future wormholes collapse as you land on them.

Gday team. I have a note I add to when I learn things about SM. I got sick of seeing the same questions so I every time I answered I added to the note and just pasted a generic reply. I’ve been invited to post it here, so here you are!
Here’s my ever-growing, non-specific copy-paste reply, built from my own notes:

• Remember, followers are only for your ego. If you’re a business, Would you rather have a million followers who never buy anything or 1000 followers who purchase everything? (Read Kevin Kelly’s 1000 true fans article). However, if you’re trying to build an account for a brand or human deals, you need as many as possible. I.e. athletes wanting future deals/contracts, actresses wanting future roles, etc
  
• Dollars are the only score that matters in business. You can sell 1 million $1 items or 1x $1m item, it’s still a million dollars
  
• How do you get your first ten followers/sales? ASK. Start with your friends/family/personal socials. “Hey, I've started this thing; I'd love for you to follow”. Then contact everyone you've ever known (see cold outreach later, but this is warm haha). THEN ask them all for referrals: “who do you know that could use my help?”
  
• Re: cold contacting. Have a framework, but don't automate. Solve their problems. Say something personal (” [mutual person] told me to reach out to you” / “I really like your x” /”congratulations on y”). I noticed that [problem]. Fix their problem. Wish them a nice day. Have an offer in your email signature.
  
• Your profile description should be a hook/tagline / USP and link to your offer. Remember you’re building your house on rented land if you use socials as your client base. Algorithm changes, and they’re gone. Try sending them off socials to your email list, learn storytelling in email marketing (Russell Brunson has good advice), and you will own that contact for life.
  
• Choose a monetisable niche, find the most successful person in that niche, and put your spin on what they’re doing (ask AI)
  
• Make GOOD content that is visually appealing, entertaining, and has hooks (you have 3 seconds to get attention), but most importantly, ADDS VALUE to your target market (ask AI for suggestions - you can even ask AI to create a customer avatar for you and then ask it how to make good, relevant IG posts for that avatar)
  
• Keep your ears and eyes out for trends. Can you throw a trending song over a clip?
  
• Leverage pop culture. Search for what’s trending daily. Can you combine a movie or album release with your product? For example, if you’re in the auto niche, create an image of a car covered in green slime coinciding with the new Ghostbusters movie
  
• Document your process. Humans evolved on stories & we love to feel part of something and/or have front-row tickets to the show. For example, If you post art, film yourself making the art, not just the final product; talk about your decisions along the way. Also, it is easy content for you, and you’re just filming something you’re already doing
  
• Share as many success stories/testimonials as possible, preferably videos. Tag them. Make it easy for users to share themselves.
  
• In a similar vein, and with permission, share your audience questions in your stories (and tag them)
  
• Remember the rule of 100 (you need to do something 100x before you get “good” at it). Have you posted 100x and made changes as you’ve observed what worked and what didn’t?
  
• Every 5th or so post, add a Call To Action
  
• Always have something to invite people to, such as an event (e.g. Facebook live, face-to-face), a giveaway, a new product, etc. Ensure all your social media banners, popups, CTAs & email sig reflect this (read Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port)
  
• Use the right hashtags (be discoverable)
  
• Post at the correct times for your target market (I like 6-630am so when they wake up and scroll, it’s on their feed, their lunch break and a story at 8 pm in the relevant timezone). Steven Bartlett credits the daily 8pm personal thought post the most important part of his success.
  
• Follow the top 100 people in your niche with between 10k & 100k followers. Engage with them daily. Share their posts. Comment on Their work. As always, be sincere and say something meaningful
  
• Comment relevant things on important people pages (Gary Vees $1.80 strategy)
  
• Spend $10 a day on ads of targeted content to targeted people (don’t “but I want to grow organically” - Do you want to be seen or not?). Start ad sets at midnight.
  
• Russell Brunson recommends ads are only for offers; posts that aren't offers aren’t to be paid for ads—two separate things. Ads get your customers into the funnel and upsell makes you a profit. Say you sell a $10 ebook and a $300 course. Spend $10 per click for the ebook, so it’s a break-even cost, and everyone who buys the upsell is pure profit. Ad budget for testing is the price/profit of ONE upsell, so $300 in this example. Then, reassess, test and adjust. If it’s working, keep it going, but also test variations regardless. Brendan Kane suggests 50-100 variations from memory. Again, get AI to help. Start with your headline. Ask for ten variations. Then your pic. Get ten variations. Then your hook. Get ten variations etc.
  
• Pay relevant influencers to share your stuff
  
• Read all of Gary Vees and Brendan Kane’s books
  
• Do these things 30-50x a day (Gary Vees' advice for new accounts, search for his eight tips 2024 YT vid) across all your platforms for months, maybe years, and you’ll grow. Perhaps someone famous will share your stuff, and you’ll go viral. But remember, each platform has its nuances, so you need to rework content for it (again, use AI - create one piece and ask AI to brainstorm how to recreate for each platform - you can start with the longest form, say a YouTube vid or blog post and ask it how to make tweets or IG posts from it) however you can still “push”. For example, you can post native Facebook content, but you can also put your YouTube vids and IG posts there
  
• Make at least three posts a day for a month, that's 90 posts, and report back what you learned, what worked and didn’t for everyone else’s benefit. *I've had some pushback on this: A) I don’t make the rules; this seems to be current best practice; B) 1st post = a BTS post of you developing the post, 2nd post = the post, 3rd post = a story summing up your day. OR make all your content in one day and schedule it to post throughout the week. If you don’t have money, you have time; if you have money, outsource it.
  
• Good luck!
  

So, I thought the pc I recently built would be more than enough to handle what I was looking to do, but after some gaming I’m not sure. I’m just looking for advice on what I could be missing and my options going forward as this was my first build.
My main goal for the pc was to be able to play StarCraft 2 at max settings as smooth as possible. A game that is 20+ years old.. Other than that some light Microsoft Word/Excel, and your general internet surfing, bill paying, YouTube activities.
My gaming experience has been sub optimal for the most part but I’ve experienced SOME really good sessions as well. More laggy lower FPS games than smooth higher FPS games. How do I make it a better gaming experience?
Motherboard: ASRock B650I LIGHTNING WIFI AM5 Ryzen 7000 AMD B650 SATA 6Gb/s Mini-ITX s DDR5
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT 16GB GDDR6
Memory: DDR5 32GB Kit (2 x 16GB) 6000MHz (PC5-48000) CL30 Intel XMP 3.0 & AMD
Storage: Samsung 990 PRO Series - 1TB PCIe Gen4. X4 NVMe 2.0c - M.2 Internal SSD
Power Supply: Corsair SF Series, SF750, 750 Watt, SFX, 80+ Platinum Certified, Fully Modular Power Supply
My CPU temps range from 70 -75c My GPU temps range from 48 -50c My internet connection ranges from 930 - 950 MBPS.
I have dowloaded all the drivers, updated the software, turned off background apps, connected FreesSync and made sure the bios for the motherboard reflected the components correctly.
What can/should I do next?

I firmly believe the idea that these two are in fact Ghetsis's biological children.
Like it's a really crackpot theory, but when you think it kinda itches your brain in a good way:

1. Kieran and Carmine's parents are not talked about at all in the game, with the only SMALL SMALL look at their parents is at Carmine's room where we can see what looks to be her mother with her (Carmine) when she was like 2-3. But she isn't in any of the other photos. So there dad is up there in the air.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Kieran and Carmine are thought to be loosely designed around The Snake from the Garden of Eden from the bible. The "Snake eyes" that they do sometimes and their hometown, Mossui Town, being right next to a bunch of apple trees kinda leans into this analogy.
Interestingly, there the fact with Kieran's signature even being literally a dragon-snake like being in an apple leads into that idea... due to the fact the apple is commonly thought to be the fruit that Adam and Eve ate that caused them to do the sin.
This biblical theming goes hand and hand with Ghetsis being based around "The Devil in Music" with his hair having "devil horns" much not unlike Kieran and Carmine's hairbands and (later) Kieran's hair tie that he wears.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Ghetsis and Kieran use a pokemon based off the same thing in Yamata No Orochi being Hydreigon and Hydrapple.
With Hydreigon having 9 "heads" (counting the 6 black wings as heads as gamefreak intended the player to) and Hydrapple having 7 heads (with only 5 of them being shown and the other 2 being in the apple). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Kieran, Ghetsis, and N were all villians at one point (& still are in Ghetsis's case) in Unova's history which would be unironic since King Harmonia (their possible ancestor) was actually supposedly a very peaceful king that seemed to be respected by his subjects.
Neo Team Plasma hated N as their former king, since they believe he was a coward for running away and leaving team plasma out to dry.
Ex-Team Plasma hated Ghetsis as their former boss, since they know that was a sociopath that needs to be stopped so that no one else to has to suffer.
The Blueberry League hated Kieran as their former champion, and only wished he went back to being the sweet and kind boy who used to have fun fighting.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Carmine's Xenophobia can be kinda be explained (BUT NOT JUSTIFIED), with the idea perhaps her grandfather basically told her to be weary of foreigners but didn't tell her why.
Maybe Ghetsis killed the siblings mom (in effort to protect her kids), and it caused their gramps to resort to warping Carmine's view on people in effort to protect her and brother from sharing a similar fate of being harmed by Ghetsis or any of sympathizers.
So when Carmine basically did her, "We don't want you guys ruining what made Kitakami special thing", she was just echoing what her grandpa told her, when in reality, he was talking about their mother...which was taken from him far too early in his life by an outside force.
That is most likely why when Carmine says these things, Yukito (her grandpa) doesn't punish her since he knows he is responsible for her view on life being like that. Kinda making her not as selfish but rather a victim of (perhaps accident) bad parenting by Yukito's fault. This would be a REALLY nice parallel to Ghetsis and N, and how Ghetsis warped N's POV on people and it took meeting the protag to help N see the error of his view point. Like Carmine with the protag of SV...interestingly.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. It's kinda cool that Carmine shares connections with her "half-brother" (hypothetically her relative) in N with their view on humanity/people could have twisted by someone else.
Whereas Ghetsis and Kieran share a lot more similarities in their obsession with power and love of hydra pokemon. And the fact they attempt steal legendary from you, actually succeed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seeya in seven days! Vote wisely!

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I have been working part time as a personal trainer for nearly 4 years. The people I work for in that time and that own the business have been some of the nastiest, verbally abusive, and petty people I have ever known. They lie to clients, steal money, and are just down right scum. The only reason I have stayed is because I love my clients. They make the awfulness better and I have personally become friends outside of this job with many of them. But recently the owners went on a business trip and asked me to be on site for over a week (no extra compensation mind you) and make sure there were no issues, and to watch the small retail shop where they sell supplements and other things.
Well they just got back this weekend and since they have been back I have been bombarded with the nastiest messages about stupid things (like there was a spider in the window and someone left a waterbottle in the bathroom. One such message was a threat about inventory because "the stock of supplements better add up or else.") This is just how they are...
So I'm deciding to quit and move on. I have an opportunity to continue my work at my home (it is small and I don't have all the equipment I need, but it would work.) Or our biggest competitor down the street has asked for me to join them for years but I refused because "it would really anger my current employer."
Either way I'm leaving, but I want to have my bases covered. In my time working here I have been the longest tenured employee. I have seen about nine trainers leave (most of them have been rage quitting over the owners and the way they were treated.) But every single one of them has cautioned me that when I leave the owners will try to ruin me. One trainer was accused of stealing and had a police report filed, and they didn't steal anything. The other was threatened that if they did not delete all their clients off of Facebook there would be consequences. These people are sue happy and have about six active lawsuits over the smallest thing while I've been here. Not to mention the say derogatory stuff and spread rumors about the trainers that left with current clients.
I know me leaving will push clients to leave also. Most no doubt will follow me to wherever I end up. And I'm expecting my employers to come after me big time since I've been here so long and have made a big impact on generating business. I have never signed anything for them, no non compete, no paperwork, nothing. But I fear they may try to spin it and forge my signature or say I stole equipment. It is just a mess, but I am done being bullied by them because I very much cared for this business at first and made every effort for them to be successful, but it's time to leave.
What should I do before I quit? Should I have a lawyer on standby? What legally can they do to me? They have nothing from what I can see. All the other former employees got out of the business because they were so scared of them and what they could do.

I’m going to try to start from the beginning and not leave a lot out and hopefully I get some feedback on what to do or how I can move forward with my situation.
So me and my girlfriend me(22m) her (24f) have been dating for almost 2 years and have a 3 month old daughter. Our relationship was perfect in the beginning couldn’t complain about anything she was perfect we were perfect. Well a couple months into our relationship I noticed her getting distant and not wanting to cuddle or touch me in general(this was before she was pregnant) so I brought it up to her and she said she just doesn’t like physical touch, but in the beginning it was like she couldn’t get her hands off me and I love physical touch or just being in the same vicinity as her so I was clueless as to why all of a sudden she didn’t want to touch or even hug me anymore. When we first started dating I moved in her apartment and she was almost 2 months behind in rent, she was a 1099 self employed cna, well her shifts kept getting denied and she didn’t have money to pay for rent or any bills, so I took some money out of my saving and helped heus out and got us back on our feet and in a good position atleast I had thought so, she finally found a job that was full time and it was a cna job but she quit after 2 days because she didn’t like it, meanwhile I was working a low paying job and couldn’t pay all our bills by myself and I asked her on more than one occasion to try and get a job that way she could help out and she finally got a job and she helped for maybe one month but she didn’t work, she cheated the system and would clock in then come home and then drive back to work before her shift was supposed to end and clock out and would forge a signature on paperwork to get paid, she did this for maybe 2 weeks before they took the gig down, she didn’t get into trouble but she was now out of a job. Well shortly afterwards we found out she was pregnant and this is when I would beg her to get a job. I ended up getting hurt at work and lost my job, so now we were both jobless and near eviction. We got evicted from our apartment and we lied and somehow got a bigger apartment than our old one and of course was more expensive. I asked her multiple times to get a job and she couldn’t/wouldn’t. She used the excuse “high risk pregnancy” which she wasn’t at all high risk, I went to every appointment with her and held her hand the whole way but I wasn’t being rude or mean to her because however she felt the baby felt aswell(least that’s what I thought). So I got job after job each job being a better paying job and tried to support the 2 of us with my daughter on the way. Well I eventually got a decent job and my girlfriend was still jobless and she decided on her own to sell her car to help pay rent/bills because we were behind 2 months again, she paid one month and used the rest of the money roughly $2,000 on our daughters nursery and small things for herself. She was 9months pregnant and we had to move back into my parents house, I had a very unreliable truck at the time and used it to move all our stuff in 19 trips with each trip being 2hr drives, me being the only one to lift things because she was pregnant, we finally got everything settled and my daughter was born shortly after that. I ended up getting a very good job where we used to live an hour away, and I needed a more reliable vehicle to get back and forth to work and my daughters appointments. Tried finding my girlfriend a vehicle but how the whole situation at the dealership went was not how I expected nor how I wanted but I ended up getting a truck. It’s more reliable than my other one, anyways she was upset I didn’t get her a vehicle and constantly blames me for her having to sell her car. We are always arguing about money/my truck/my job/still not getting any attention from her physically. I slept on our couch and the floor in our bedroom for 8months in total. She co slept with our daughter for the longest and didn’t want me on the bed because I am a heavy sleeper, understandable. Didn’t argue about it but now we sleep together same bed and we still don’t cuddle or touch each other in general. I love this girl I really do but she makes it so difficult because I crave this physical affection and I don’t receive it so I have an attitude a lot, I still do everything she asks but I do it with an attitude. Im finally to a point where I think about what life would be like without her and catch myself thinking about this a lot. I hate that I do because deep down I just want to love this girl with everything in me but she makes it so hard and I’m stuck wondering if things will get better if I stay or if I should leave. So my question is what should I do ?
P.s. she won’t let my mother hold our daughter because the stories I have told my girlfriend from when I was growing up but my mother has taken responsibility for her actions and has done better but my girlfriend doesn’t care. My mom has come to terms she will never know her granddaughter and they live in the same house…. There’s a lot more stuff that could be said but I’m leaving somethings out. but i don’t think this post will even get any attention if it does I’ll give the full story from start till now.