I wanna talk about toys. Sex toys can be a fun addition to your sex life. Toys are there to enhance a person's pleasure and experience during sex. HOWEVER,,,, y’all may not like this but - toys should not be used during every single sexual experience. By no means are sex toys bad, but couples tend to get lost in the idea of pleasure. While toys are very useful for delivering pleasure, sex is supposed to be about your connection and intimacy with your lover. Sometimes we get lost in the mechanics and forget to share our energy with our partner. Take a little break from using toys in your sex life, focus on caressing your partner's body, and delivering pleasure the old fashion way. Lotssss of tongue and magic fingers.
Tell me what sex feels like when you aren’t focused on all the toys and glamor. See what it feels like when your focus is just on your partner and the intimate moment you are sharing.
All love.
x big T

Context: This roster mock off-season is what I want to happen within the realm of possibility. I tried to keep my moves as realistic as possible, I am no scout or GM so I’m not going to be 100%. Every move you see has had immense research done on it. This includes looking at past trades, media mocks, projected salaries, watching films on prospects etc. This has taken me over a month to make so I hope you guys enjoy it. my former mocks are on my account, nowhere as good as this one but I’ve been working on this for a while, imma nerd I know.
Draft:

1. ⁠San Jose Sharks: Macklin Celebrini, C, Boston University (NCAA
2. ⁠Chicago Blackhawks: Ivan Demidov, RW, SKA St. Petersburg Jr. (RUSSIA-JR.)
3. ⁠Anaheim Ducks: Artyom Levshunov, RHD, Michigan State
4. ⁠Columbus Blue Jackets: Anton Silayev, LHD, Torpedo (RUSSIA)
5. ⁠Montreal Canadiens: Beckett Sennecke, RW, Oshawa (OHL)
6. ⁠Utah HC: Cayden Lindstrom, C, Medicine Hat
7. Ottawa Senators: Carter Yakemchuk, RHD, Calgary (WHL) (Big RHD who uses the body well, is very aggressive, fits Ottawa perfectly. Needs to work on this defense but if we pair him with the right coaches he can become part of the core)
8. ⁠Seattle Kraken: Zeev Buium, LHD, University of Denver (NCAA)
9. ⁠ Calgary Flames: Tij Iginla, C, Kelowna Rockets (WHL)
10. New Jersey Devils: Sam Dickinson, LHD, London Knights (OHL)

Trade: Ottawa Senators trade Defenseman Jakob Chychrun to the Winnipeg Jets for Forward Nikolaj Ehlers. The trade is one-for-one. (Ottawa Senators trade Jakob Chychrun to Winnipeg for Nikolaj Ehlers, a pretty simple Hockey trade. Winnipeg needs a top 4 Offensive Defenceman and we need another top 6 forward, works well for both teams)

1. Ottawa Senators: Dean Letourneau, C, Boston College (NCAA) (6’7 Forward who has a scoring touch. Risky pick but this guy could become something special. Since we have two picks, this guy is worth the risk to me)

Free Agency:
Players
UFA notables
Alec Martinez, LHD, 1 Year x 2,000,000 (Big defender who will slot perfectly into the bottom pairing as a buffer for Tyler Kleven. Elite shot Blocker, will help the team from stopping shots from getting to the net, lessening the load off the defense. Pair him with JBD another elite shot blocker, and that bottom pairing will be up there with one of the best defensive pairings in the league. Alec will also add a vet presence to that blue line.)
Matt Roy, RHD, 4 Years x $4,000,000 (Another Big defender who’s defensively sound, can put up a bit of points but his main responsibility is being responsible defensively. Will be a huge addition to our top 4 and help our goalies perform better)
Cal Clutterbuck, RW, 1 Year x $1,000,000 (Veteran bottom 6 grinder who will play the game right and add experience to the locker room, we need a guy like this in our bottom 6)
Zach Aston Reese, RW/LW, 1 Year x $775,000 (Depth guy who can spend most of the time in the AHL, elite defensive forward, and can be called up when the bottom 6 has an injury)
RFA notables
Shane Pinto, Center, 4 Years x $3,500,000
Angus Crookshank, LW, 2 Years x $875,000
Parker Kelly, LW/C, 1 years x $825,000
Staff
John Gruden, Associate Coach, Defencemen Coach / Powerplay Coach (John Gruden was one of the main factors in Boston's historic season last year, he ran the Defence and Powerplay and helped that team break records. He has well-known connections to Steve Staios and Micheal Andlaur so have him brought in as an associate coach and let go of Jack Capuano. Have him run the Defence and Powerplay and hope he can replicate the magic he had in Boston)
Lane Lambert, Assistant Coach, Forwards Coach / Penalty Kill Coach (While this one is probably the most unlikely thing in the mock I think it could be possible. He only had a season and a half as head coach so I’m not sure it’s out of the question he could consider going back to an assistant role, he has worked with John Gruden in the past so there will be familiarity there. Lane Lambert was in control of the forwards and penalty kill on the islanders, he helped that team with their great two-way play and good penalty kill, so hopefully he can do the same here.)
Nolan Baumgartner, Assistant Coach, Defencemen Coach (Travis Green will likely want to bring in some familiar faces and I think this will be his choice, former assistant to him in Vancouver in both the NHL and AHL)
Jay Mckee, AHL Head Coach, Forward Coach (Connections to the front office staff, a good coach in the OHL, would be a nice addition to the AHL Staff)
Marc Methot, Player Development, Defense
Mark Borowiecki, Player Development, Defense
(Both of these signings will help the blue line get better with their defensive responsibilities)
Trade:
Ottawa: Erik Brannstrom (LHD), Mark Kastelic (C), Anton Forsberg (G), 2025 3rd Round pick (FLA)
Utah: Karel Vejmelka (G)
(Ottawa needs to add a new face in between the pipes, and with Korpisalo on an untradeable contract that leaves Forsberg on the chopping block, now, of course, no one is just going to take Forsberg, so he will need to be packaged with a player who can play in the top 4 if given a chance, and a bottom 6 player, as well as a 3rd round pick in 2025 which could be a 2nd by the time this trade happens)
Opening Day lineup:
Forwards: B. Tkachuk - T. Stützle - N. Ehlers
D. Batherson - J. Norris - C. Giroux
R. Greig - S. Pinto - M. Joseph
A. Crookshank - Z. Ostaphuk - C. Clutterbuck
Defence: J. Sanderson - M. Roy
T. Chabot - A. Zub
A. Martinez - J. Bernard-Docker
Goalies: J. Korpisalo
K. Vejmelka
Scratched: T. Hamonic (NMC or I’d trade him, also Steve Staios said he isn’t considering any buyouts at this time so unlikely he gets bought out)
Cap Space: $953
Opening Day Staff:
NHL
POHO / GM - Steve Staios
Vice POHO - Dave Poulin
AGM - Ryan Bowness
DOHO - Tim Pattyson
Senior Advisor - Jacques Martin
Head of Player Development - Daniel Alfredsson
Head Coach - Travis Green
Associate Coach - John Gruden (Defence Coach / Powerplay)
Assistant Coach - Lane Lambert (Forward Coach / Powerplay)
Assistant Coach - Nolan Baumgartner (Defence Coach)
Assistant Coach - David Bell (Defence/Forward Coach)
Goalie Coach - Justin Peters
Video Coach - Micheal King
Video Coach/Eyes in the Skies - Bob Jones
AHL
Head Coach - Jay McKee
Associate Coach - Ben Sexton (Forwards / Powerplay)
Assistant Coach - Nathan McIver (Defence / Penalty Kill)
Assistant Coach - Chris Dennis
Goalie Coach - Tyson Teichmann
Video Coach - Frederic Lemay
Player Development:
Daniel Alfredsson
Shean Donovan
Jesse Winchester
Wade Redden
Marc Methot
Mark Borowiecki
—————————
Well, that’s that. That’s my full off-season breakdown for the Ottawa Senators, I’m hoping most of these things happen. We need big changes for this team to become a contender.
Feel free to ask any questions about any of the moves I made, I’m open to criticism and discussion :)

this is my final for honors sophomore English, it's a speech I have to read infront of my class. is the last paragraph too ballsy or sound rude?
Walking into sophomore year I was expecting to breeze through it just like I did Freshman year. Obviously, that didn't happen. I went to STEM in freshman year, and it was easier than middle school. We had no expectations to have our work done on time or to do quality work. English and History classes were alternating days, but we almost never actually had English class. We did not do any assignments for that class, and this only set me up for failure. But, non the less, I tried, and I went into this year with a positive mindset. My mindset was immediately diminished when I got my grade for the Federalist Papers assignment. Take a wild guess at what I got. Then, I realized how hard I would need to work to succeed in this class. Afterall, I didn't even want to take this class to be honest. All my life, I have been a follower, and I just do what other people do to avoid any sort of conflict. So, when a then-friend told me to take Honors English 10 instead of regular, along with APUSH and doubling my math classes to do Algebra 2, I did so with no thought. Of course, I did not succeed. I have made a lot of decisions in my life based on what others tell me to do, and I don't take my own opinion into account. There was a post on Instagram that I saw one day, where the author stated that they were "a mosaic of everyone they have ever loved, even for a heartbeat. For me, I am a mosaic of everyone I have ever met I have always tried my best to please everyone without a second thought to myself. This year, while working on projects together and doing peer editing. I have gotten better at voicing my opinions and building off others. In other words, I have started to stop following others, and have started to lean on them for support instead, like we all do in our web. To stand here and say that I have mastered communicating with my peers would be a lie. I still have work to do, just like the rest of us.
Along with this, I have also learned academic skills that will help me in the future in college. I learned how to better manage my time and how to plan things out, although this still needs work.
For my Final Words, I would like to NOT-thank Mrs. Repko. You said not to be afraid to express our thoughts and opinions, or to offend you or anyone in the room, so here I go. There is a difference between purposely making class difficult and frustrating to help us bond, and making it so difficult and frustrating that we don't want to be here. Don't get me wrong, we definitely bonded from our struggles in the class, and I am so grateful for these bonds and the friends I have become close with. But, and I think I'm speaking for more than just myself here, We are so frustrated with this class that we often don't even want to go. Most of us were confused, and so frustrated about what was expected of us that we pushed off assignments as long as we could, just out of not knowing where to start. And my 8 hours straight all nighter on my literary analysis can attest to that. There is a line where creative freedom becomes too much, and eventually we are just trying to finish the work to have it done instead of showing our full potential, which we could have possibly done with more instruction and control. A lot of assignments crossed said line. The built up confusion and frustration overpowered potential learning and growth we were supposed to have done. Of course, I greatly appreciate Mrs Repko for all that she does for us, but I felt that this should be addressed
Thank you.
thank you so much for reading if you made it to the end, any and all advice is apreciated!!

asc 24 (f) and looking to meet people with the intent of marriage. where i live theres not much somali males.
about me: finished school and im currently working as a licensed dental assistant. born and raised in canada. i visited galkacyo in 2018. my somali could use some work but i am willing to learn. i wear hijab and im fairly modest. very low profile on social media. im pretty much a lurker. i value anonymity and do not have any public photos. i went to islamic school and dugsi, so i have fair islamic knowledge. im on the taller side, 5'9 and i weigh 170lbs. 3b hair past my shoulders and brown/medium dark skin tone. for physical activity i like to swim, play badminton, gym 3x a week. no previous relationship history. i did use muzz and salams but felt uncomfortable so i removed my profile within 24 hours. as for personality im a relaxed intp. i like to chill and learn and laugh. i want kids.
what im looking for: male between ages 25-30. would prefer male to be older. financially secure, happy to provide and take care of me . relaxed but still self disciplined, protective and cares about my wellbeing, humor is an asset. i can appreciate when someone is passionate, so dont be shy to share your interests or hobbies. no intense past relationship history. if i saved myself i expect you to have done the same. low profile social media. nothing too particular about looks, just no obesity. curly hair is nice and brown/dark skin. but basically, as long as you are a healthy somali male over 5'10 we can work things out
if you feel like we could get along DM me

I'm 23 and recently graduated college. Now undertaking Master's (full research, no classes), but things have been slow. A lot of my research is dependent on data from our industrial clients, and there's a lot of delay due to management and bureaucracy. So, I've got a shit ton of free time now. When some update comes in from my clients, the quantity is so small that I'd wrap everything up in about 3 days, and have to wait for another month before hearing more from them.
To a lot of people, this might sound great, but I'm an objective-driven person. I need to work towards something to feel fulfilled, and doing nothing at all has actually been eating away at my sanity. It's come to a point where all of the things I used to do to entertain myself has gotten stale (i.e., ran out of comic issues, watched all the shows I've been queuing, games got boring), and I find myself just staring at my walls in my room all day long (WFH research cause I'm doing simulation work). It's starting to contribute to my anxiety too since I feel like I'm wasting my time and potential doing nothing, but I can't find anything to contribute towards (explained further below).
I felt like I needed to change my mindset from a "must work to feel fulfilled" perspective to a "enjoy the process, do whatever" kind of thinking, so for the past few months I've been on a journey of self-discovery. I tried going out hiking, cafe hopping (something I could not understand why people liked. Still don't understand it and it's draining my pockets), and attending events but all of these are things I could do once every 2 weeks with my Master's stipend, and for the rest of the 13 days, I'm just kind of in limbo (I live far away from the nearest city, so transport ain't cheap). I tried attending clubs and organizations in my campus, but there's a distinct language barrier with the locals here and even after attempting to learn the language for 2 years, I'm still not at a level of fluency where I can interact with them well enough, and end up getting isolated from groups. I also got into meditation and yoga to calm my anxiety, but they'll only help for about 2 hours before the anxiety starts creeping back up. Some days, I begin to feel tired out of nowhere and just feel sleepy all the time. Not sure why this is the case, since I haven't really done anything to warrant being tired.
I've started applying for internships to fill my time now, but it's difficult as most companies don't want to invest in me (a foreign student) due to stringent visa requirements in the country. I couldn't really find any part-time jobs that could help build my career either, so I'm kinda lost on that front too.
Recently, I've also applied for professional training but that will probably only last 3 months at most, and it'll be back to limbo. I have another year and a half before graduating, and at the rate things are going now, I'll go insane with absolutely nothing to do.
So, for all of you achievement-oriented folks, what do you do to keep yourselves busy? And for the more laid-back readers here, how do you "enjoy" the process of life? Why do you take on certain hobbies, and what about them makes it fulfilling for you? I want to know everyone's perspective, and hopefully learn something from y'all.

Hello
I'm Japanese and I'm writing this using Google Translate (I'm sorry if my English is clumsy)
I believe that CFS and fibromyalgia are closely related.
I'm having a lot of trouble with cfs, and I can't move all day because of brain fog, and my days are like hell.
Meanwhile, TCA (especially Nortriptyline) was effective and my body felt really good. (Also, maprotiline was also very effective, so I felt that increasing noradrenalin was necessary for me.)
However, I am very sensitive to drug side effects, and just 10mg of Nortriptyline caused significant QT prolongation, and I had exactly the same result with maprotiline.)
I have a particularly sensitive reaction to cyp2d6 drugs.
In this case, what medicine do you think is effective for CFS and fibromyalgia and that even I, who is not sensitive to medicine, can take?
(I also took mirogabalin and pregabalin, but my vision deteriorated so much that I couldn't take them. I'm really sad.)
What I'm going to try now is a low dose of Duloxetine and a low dose of Desvenlafaxine. (I feel like this probably won't work either...)
I also have the ridiculous idea of ​​implanting a defibrillator and using TCAs, since they work best (but risk QT prolongation and heart attack). Is this really too much?

With Eduardo's Escapades getting the axe from this treatment (if you're wondering how, 90% of the hex tiles changed from the Hex-a-Gone/Hex-a-Ring variant to the stable and falls after a certain amount of time variant) how many àre left? I mainly do this in Knockout.
Know that Airtime and Speed Attack can do it, any of the other maps as well?
And before anyone tells me to do Explore, no. I ground for 3 hours last night and got 2 rounds that filled the 45 second quota so I'd rather take my chances on Knockout RNG rather than die over and over to Instakill Survival rounds that are in Explore.

"I got all the time in the world, so for now I'm just chillin'" - Mac Miller, "Self Care"

Basic Info

Name: Malcolm Chris Jones
Nickname: Mac
Current Age: 14
Birthday: July 7th
Hometown: (just outside of) Denver, CO
Demigod Conundrum(s): ADHD

Appearance

Height: 5' 8"
Weight: 133 lb.
Skin Tone: Decently tan
Hair Color and Style: Black, curly hair

Notable Relations

Father: Dionysus, age unknown
Adoptive Mother: Anne Jones, age 42
Adoptive Father: Jake Jones, age 43

Personality

"Well, I love the kid. He's my son, of course I love him. He's generally been a kind, optimistic kid who loves the outdoors, although if you ever get him upset, good luck getting back onto his good side. Few more... quirks, if you really want me to talk about them, but let's focus on the positives. He's humble, there's that. I've never seen him take too much credit for his own achievements. He's entranced by music, which I guess is a good thing, but it's almost the only thing he pays attention to. He's really always had a hard time paying attention to things, now that I think about it. But yeah, he's kind, positive, friendly and social, but man does he hold a grudge." - Jake Jones, when asked about Mac, one year ago

Favorite Things

"Well I really enjoyed spending time with my friends. They're basically my heart and soul, we did everything together, until we didn't when I moved away. But finding new ones hasn't been a problem yet." - Mac, discussing what he misses most from his old hometown, six months ago
"Music is the best, for sure. I love my favorite artists, they've brought me to where I am today. Go ask me about some music, I can tell you ANYTHING. Length of an album? I got you. Release year? Already know it. Do I have the vinyl? Obviously." - Mac, when asked what he wanted for dinner, two years ago

Powers, Skills, and Weaknesses

Power Category	Power Name	Description
Domain Power	Escape Artist Proficiency	A trait where one is adept at escaping traps, kidnappings, dire situations, and awkward conversations.
Domain Power	Plant Communication	A trait where one is able to understand plantlife.
Domain Power	Soil Manipulation (Edafoskinesis)	The ability to control soil.
Godrent Minor Power	Acting Proficiency	A trait where one is naturally adept in performing, especially in front of crowds.
Godrent Minor Power	Alcohol Manipulation (Alcokinesis)	The ability to control alcohol both edible and non-edible. This includes the technique of turning alcohols into non-alcoholic beverages.
Godrent Minor Power	Big Cat Affinity	A trait where big cats are naturally friendly.
Godrent Major Power	Plant Manipulation (Chlorokinesis)	The ability to control plant life, specifically vines.

Climbing trees: Mac often spent time climbing trees in his day-to-day life, and has naturally become very skilled at it.
Indecisiveness: Mac has been known to be indecisive in many situations, and it has hindered him in both daily life and encounters with monsters.
Impatience: Mac is prone to becoming annoyed whenever inconvenienced by waiting on someone else, despite the hypocrisy of his own indecisiveness.

History

[to be revealed]

Now

Mac had been walking for the last few days, but looking at him you wouldn't realize it. His top, a white shirt paired with a leather jacket, was a bit dirty, but nothing major. His jeans had holes that could have been mistaken for an outdated fashion trend. A backpack was slung over his shoulder, unzipped. It looked like the contents were about to spill out, but Mac either didn't notice, or didn't care. He had a decently full duffle bag that he was struggling to carry, but he tried his best to hide it.
Starting the final stretch of his journey, he looked at the hill, with the gigantic pine tree at the top. This was the spot. As he made it to the top, he turned, and to anyone watching, it would appear he was waving at the trees. He continued his hike up the hill, unaware of the grapevines glowing above his head.

Serious question (US based)
How do I become upper class?
CONTEXT: My family grew up middle class in an upper middle class neighborhood. I remember feeling ashamed because my friends would vacation to Europe every summer or other exotic destinations while I spent my summers working, and my only "vacation" was to go to the local public pool.
I've been out of college for a year now and have been able to take some short vacations within the US, which has been nice. However I still work in retail making a very low salary and my parents have given me a deadline to move out soon. I'm well aware that what I make is NOT a liveable salary, at least in the part of the country where I live.
I've been applying to jobs for almost two years and have gotten the occasional interview or phone screen but have not landed a single offer. I majored in a liberal arts degree but changed my mind on my ideal career path at a point where I was already stuck in my degree. I'd love to work in business but have already been rejected from all the firms in my area, not just the top ones (all without even getting an interview). I've been applying to jobs daily but I know I need a way to earn more money if I need to start supporting myself soon. I've even signed up for a side gig just to supplement my current job but am still waiting to get approved.
I've thought about becoming a gold digger (I am female) or starting an OnlyFans, although I can't quite overcome my conscience to do the latter, and I am too fat to be the former (I have PCOS and have struggled with my weight my whole life). I am currently learning to watch my diet and calories and working on losing weight, but I am currently well over my ideal weight and am only losing weight at a very slow rate which means it will be several years before I am down to a healthy weight.
Now for the good news.
For one, because I grew up surrounded by the upper middle class, I am familiar to some extent of the aesthetic of that class (although it is very different from my own personal style). I don't know some of the really boujee etiquette things like the different types of forks and what not (tbh being so concerned that someone's using a salad fork to eat steak or whatever is stupid. A fork is a fork.)
Because I went to an affordable public college, I graduated debt free, which is huge. I also graduated with a very good GPA and scored fairly highly on both undergraduate and graduate school standardized exams.
I also have a few different credit cards that I use responsibly and don't spend beyond my means (for the most part). I always pay my cards off in full every month and have a FICO credit score of about 770.
I try to diversify my portfolio, and of my savings I've accumulated so far, just under 10% is in a mutual fund, about 25% is in my 401k with company match, and the rest is in a high yield traditional savings account. With every paycheck, I contribute 10% to my 401k and an additional 10-25% into my savings account (I aim for 25% since I still live at home and have fewer expenses right now, but some months it's less).
It's hard because I've tried looking online for advice as far as how to become wealthy and I feel like I'm doing everything right - I went to college, I got good grades, I save a lot, I have no debt, I don't spend beyond my means, I've even tried going above and beyond to show my dedication in my job search by cold emailing recruiters at companies I'd be interested in (especially those who were alumni of my school), writing personalized cover letters, etc. and yet here I am stuck in my barely-above-minimum-wage soul-sucking retail job with a clock ticking over my head that I don't have much time to somehow find something that provides a liveable wage / move up in class so I can move out of my parents house. In addition, I don't really have the money to immerse myself into affluent circles by joining expensive country clubs, etc. (and even if I did, I feel like I would be judged and dismissed because I'm a fat woman), so that severely limits any opportunities to network or rub shoulders with the rich.
I know this is a very long post so thank you if you made it all the way to the end. I would really appreciate any sincere advice on how to move up in socioeconomic status, find a better paying job, etc. thank you ♥️

my girlfriend is currently dealing with significant family stress while in Lebenon, particularly with her sister and cousin, whom she describes as toxic. They constantly get on her nerves, and yes, they are indeed very toxic. Recently, her sister was extremely stressed to the point of vomiting, and my girlfriend expressed her frustration about this, questioning the legitimacy of her sister's stress by asking, "Why is she stressed? Like... about what?" in a tone that seemed condescending and dismissive of her sister's feelings.
I tried to be supportive by stating, "Her feelings of stress are valid, and your feelings are also valid." This led to my girlfriend dismissing my comment as pointless and arguing that some feelings are not valid and are wrong. She felt that my suggestion to validate her sister's feelings was dismissive of her own feelings. I explained that understanding her sister's feelings might help her not to be overwhelmed by them, which she took as condescending. She kept pointing out why some feelings are wrong and the idea that "all feelings are valid" is a nonsensical one.
I apologized if my approach made things worse, but she claimed I was being condescending. I said i was only trying to help, and that we should move on, but she seemed visibally upset. She was upset from the onset, really. I said that my approach clearly didn't land well, and that I can see why. I let her know that her feelings of being angry with her family were valid, that I would be too, to which she said I don't need permession to feel angry, I know this".
The conversation escalated, and she became increasingly upset. Eventually, there was a pause because someone walked in, so there was a break for about a minute. She then, gently asked me, Why are you mad? while smiling. I told her that i felt like she was being argumentative and trying to debate me and argue with me while i was just trying to help.
This made her really mad, then, holding back tears, and abruptly, she said she couldn't continue the conversation, ending it by saying she couldn't argue with another person and hanging up. I messaged her afterward, saying she could reach out when ready and to take her time. Now, I’m starting to forget the details and am confused about whether I was in the wrong for trying to persuade her that validating feelings is important. I also feel she owes me an apology, but I doubt she sees it that way, plus, I believe no never expect thing from anyone so.... How should I handle this situation moving forward? Any tips on improving communication to prevent such misunderstandings? What actions should I take if she doesn’t recognize her part in the argument or doesn’t apologize? Thank you for your help.

this is my final for honors sophomore English, it's a speech I have to read infront of my class. is the last paragraph too ballsy or sound rude?
Walking into sophomore year I was expecting to breeze through it just like I did Freshman year. Obviously, that didn't happen. I went to STEM in freshman year, and it was easier than middle school. We had no expectations to have our work done on time or to do quality work. English and History classes were alternating days, but we almost never actually had English class. We did not do any assignments for that class, and this only set me up for failure. But, non the less, I tried, and I went into this year with a positive mindset. My mindset was immediately diminished when I got my grade for the Federalist Papers assignment. Take a wild guess at what I got. Then, I realized how hard I would need to work to succeed in this class. Afterall, I didn't even want to take this class to be honest. All my life, I have been a follower, and I just do what other people do to avoid any sort of conflict. So, when a then-friend told me to take Honors English 10 instead of regular, along with APUSH and doubling my math classes to do Algebra 2, I did so with no thought. Of course, I did not succeed. I have made a lot of decisions in my life based on what others tell me to do, and I don't take my own opinion into account. There was a post on Instagram that I saw one day, where the author stated that they were "a mosaic of everyone they have ever loved, even for a heartbeat. For me, I am a mosaic of everyone I have ever met I have always tried my best to please everyone without a second thought to myself. This year, while working on projects together and doing peer editing. I have gotten better at voicing my opinions and building off others. In other words, I have started to stop following others, and have started to lean on them for support instead, like we all do in our web. To stand here and say that I have mastered communicating with my peers would be a lie. I still have work to do, just like the rest of us.
Along with this, I have also learned academic skills that will help me in the future in college. I learned how to better manage my time and how to plan things out, although this still needs work.
For my Final Words, I would like to NOT-thank Mrs. Repko. You said not to be afraid to express our thoughts and opinions, or to offend you or anyone in the room, so here I go. There is a difference between purposely making class difficult and frustrating to help us bond, and making it so difficult and frustrating that we don't want to be here. Don't get me wrong, we definitely bonded from our struggles in the class, and I am so grateful for these bonds and the friends I have become close with. But, and I think I'm speaking for more than just myself here, We are so frustrated with this class that we often don't even want to go. Most of us were confused, and so frustrated about what was expected of us that we pushed off assignments as long as we could, just out of not knowing where to start. And my 8 hours straight all nighter on my literary analysis can attest to that. There is a line where creative freedom becomes too much, and eventually we are just trying to finish the work to have it done instead of showing our full potential, which we could have possibly done with more instruction and control. A lot of assignments crossed said line. The built up confusion and frustration overpowered potential learning and growth we were supposed to have done. Of course, I greatly appreciate Mrs Repko for all that she does for us, but I felt that this should be addressed
Thank you.
thank you so much for reading if you made it to the end, any and all advice to make it better is apreciated!!

im 20 years old, and yes i know that is old enough to do whatever i want, but my dad pays for my tuition, my car is under his name, and he pays for gas plus i live with him and i can't really risk losing all of that. i just don't know what to do. i got offered a job at dunkin donuts and ir eally want to take it as i'd like to save up money for myself to spend on stuff i like and he just won't let me. he keeps telling me to get a job that "actually uses my brain" which i don't really understand what that means. i don't know how to convince him. its driving me crazy i can't understand why he won't just let me work. even if i try to have a conversation about it he just says "i already said no and thats the end of it" and tells me he wont listen when i try to explain things. what can i even do lol

I'm thinking about developing an ongoing Polytopia tournament where the top rise through the ranks, the bottom fall, and the middle get to maintain their position
ELO is great but I want to be able to see my positioning against other players more tangibly. I want to play Polytopia in a competitive way that gives me a chance to "rank up"
We would need at least 22 interested players to maintain 3 levels
It would be much more fun if there were ~668 active members as we could sustain 7 levels. The first level would be 16 player games, and games would decrease in size as you rank up. Top levels would be 3 or 4 player games (the arena would have to be dynamic to prevent long wait times between games)
I'm well aware that this isn't very descriptive but it will probably be several months before I put effort into developing this so for now I just want to collect phone numbers of seriously interested people. People who have been playing for years and KNOW they are going to keep playing.
If you are interested, if this sounds like something you'd enjoy, DM me your phone number. I'll text you once to confirm your number and I won't message you again until it's game time. This isn't some sleazy effort to capture your info so I can sell you shit, I just want another level of fun added to my favorite game.
---------- If you want more details, read on ---------- This will outline how King-of-the-Hill with over 600 active players would work. Don't argue with my math, these numbers aren't concrete as this would HAVE to be flexible.
As you move up levels, progression gets more difficult.
Level 1: 16 player games. The top 8 progress to level two. The bottom 8 stay in level 1
Level 2: ~13 player games. The top 3 progress to level 3. 4-6th place hold rank. 7-13th place fall back to level 1
Level 3: ~6 player games. The top 2 players advance to Level 4. 3-4th place hold rank. 5-6th place fall to level 2.
Level 4: ~4 player games. Top player advances to L5. 2nd place remains in L4. 3rd drops to L3. 4th falls back to L2
Levels 5 & 6 would look very similar to Level 4
Level 7: The winner is crowned King 👑. Everyone else falls your place -1 levels (3rd falls 2 levels. 4th falls 3 levels back if it's a 4 player game)

• Very good players would dominate levels 4-7.
• Solid players would spend a lot of time in Levels 2&3
• Newbs would have a tough time escaping Levels 1-2

This structure would give players more reason to keep fighting and learning even after it's clear they will not win. It gives larger games more stakes because currently, if you ain't first you're last but I find multiple more fun than 1V1.
------------- RULES ------------ 1. You cannot resign if you have 2 or more cities. 2. Players who take over 24hrs are to be immediately skipped (not kicked)
Known rule breakers will be ejected back to Level 1 irregardless of what level they currently hold.
I think this would be really badass. Give it an up vote so more people can see it because it really doesn't start to get fun until there are at least 100 active participants. 22 would technically work, but it wouldn't be remotely near its potential.
Thoughts, questions, & critical feedback are all encouraged. Thank you for your time. I hope to one day meet you at the top of the hill so I can whoop your ass 😉

I have been opening businesses here in the UAE with local partners for a decade. I have had with each instance have been put in a situation where I have done all the work, and won some of the top international accolades (some that are household names and common knowledge major awards) in my market and have had my businesses stripped away from me for outrageous reasons and events. I have also gone to jail twice- both without warning because of a corrupt lawyer who pretended be my legal council to only find out post jail through new legal council that I had lost my cases for not having representation and making a mockery of the court system when I only knew that I had paid and hired legal council with power of attorney- all the while my lawyer feeding me fake progress and fake proceedings. I was also dragged to jail after reporting a local to a very obvious crime to the AD police only to find my case was somehow deleted and the local I filed a case against literally filed the identical case against me as an act of revenge. WIth the same laywer I also lost a case with a collaborator who sued me for an insane amount for not doing something that wasn't even in our contract - nor even in the same field or category of my company. This was also a revenge case for my firm discontinuing this contract for extended non payment and non response. I was told by my attorney that this case should simply be thrown out but again lost this case with a greatly lowered fine. Reason for the judgement was again for not having legal representation and like before the judge noted that I made a mockery of the judicial system.
In my most recent projects, I had opened a string of critically acclaimed outlets in my business category that I again, lost and this time with my name dragged in the gutter due to these cases and a total loss of my businesses and contracts. It has been a nightmarish few years in what should have been the highlight of my company and my lifes work with our projects being considered the top of its class at the same time with incredible accomplishments which has made me wish I could trade it in for simply a moment of normalcy where myself and my family are not constantly living in fear that I may somehow lose something or end up again in jail and this time perhaps for a very long time. I am now in place where I have mounting warrants and unable to find legal representation to clear my name of any wrong doing. Poorly equipped with what has now become almost little to zero resources to do so. Are there any entities or social agencies that exist to assist in these cases of incredible corruption and violations of legal ethics? I find it so very agonizing that in a country with such strict laws about defamation and social emphasis on equality that I am knee deep in not one but many cases of constantly on the receiving end of what this culture decries in its public identity.
This all started when the lawyer of subject enquired if one of my business partners, a very large developer, would be interested in taking over a land lease owned by one of his other clients, a member of the royal family. A very big and unlikely transaction but it quickly came to look like the deal would go through. This is when he approached me to create a plan to take a percentage of the transaction - to which I immediately expressed that I wanted no part of. This was the moment where he intentionally created the illusion that he was still representing me as my attorney to only purposely organize the lose verdicts of my cases. As an expat who has depleted all of my resources, I have fought hard to continue my company and life here while attempting to find some tiny morsel of justice, but I find myself now having lost both my company and seemingly any chance to stop the avalanche of legal debts, travel bans and warrants that I can do nothing about.
My second legal council made a very simple but dubious error in understand the language of a simple legal procedure that has again landed me in deep trouble, this time not for neglect but simply my luck of choosing a very unskilled lawyer, who after it was apparent they had made a massive error, simply blocked me from reaching them and basically resigned in an instance after taking all of their fees.
Feeling quite imprisoned while having accomplished so much for this city. If there is anyone with real advice it would be greatly appreciated.

Hi. This is a throwaway.
I'm not sure what information to include but basically I have a toddler with a man I am not married to but have been living with (even broken up) for a couple years and dated for roughly 4-5 years. I am 25f and he is 34m. We have not been together romantically or sexually for about a year or more but have been living together for both convenience and for our toddler.
However, I am coming to this realization that he is incredibly abusive, physically, emotionally, even financially. I desperatelyneed to leave this man. He is not a danger to our toddler and he is a great dad but a horrible partner. He has other kids that he doesnt have custody of and does not see often at all and it upsets him greatly. Because of this, anytime we fight or i mention leaving him he goes off about how he wont let me take his kid like the other women did and thatll be the biggest mistake i ever make. I dont believe hed actually hurt me but i do see it as a threat and i know hed say anything to make me look bad.
I'm okay with him seeing our child obviously because this is his child, as well, but I'm scared of leaving him and trying to keep full custody of our child. He's not incompetent or anything but I'm not fond of him making decisions for our child or our child staying wih him overnight if he's living with his family.
This is a point where I'm concerned. If we live separately he will move in with his family and he has a family member that is severely mentally disabled. I worry that this borders on seeming ableist but please hear me out. This person is a man in his 20s but is at a point mentally where he cannot possibly care for himself. He cannot speak in sentences, only uses 2 word sentences if that, cannot use rhe toilet, etc. I say this not to shame any persom involved but to stress that he literally can never live on his own. He also has some issues with anger where he has attacked his mother physically and bruised her up, all she could do was hold her arms up until he calmed down. He also does not understand personal boundaries and... really likes women. He has actually pulled my pants and grabbed my v*gina before and constantly sneaks into bed with you if you stay over. He is not good at playing with kids because hes still a grown man amd not a child so hes rough and can get tempermental. He also runs away very often, leading them to makeshift their own special way of locking their doors which makes it impossible to exit the home quickly in case of danger as the only key is in one specific spot. This wouldn't be the worst thing except he also has a lengthy history of setting things on fire. He has burned down one of their homes and has set several fires in their current home and other homes as well.
Ik this is long but what I'm trying to stress or say is that I know if we live separately my child's father will fight me and try to take him, he has threatened to call cps on me for painting our childs nails, my family's house being dirty, me being mentally unwell (I miraculously feel great when he's not around), etc. I also know that he will want our child living with him but I do not, under absolutely any circumstances, want my toddler staying the night in that house and I also know that house is where my child's father will be staying when we live separately. Idk if this is making sense or is easy to follow but I hope you all get my point. He will want him, he will be in that house, that house is so unsafe to sleep in, visiting is something entirely different but my toddler will not stay in that house overnight with every adult asleep except for the one person who likes fire a little too much.
I need advice on what I can even do when all of this inevitably happens. I can't say to my child's father he can't stay the night bc of his family member or he and his family will freak out as they are (understandably) very hypersensitive about this family member.
Is there any possible way I can have some kind of legal understanding that my child can't stay there overnight ever but he can obviously stay with his dad when he gets his own place somewhere.
I also was wanting any general advice or knowledge on my rights as a mom in Texas and if him saying I'm "unstable" will make anything much more difficult.

I apologize for the length, I want to give context of my whole journey. I tagged this as a question because I am legitimately lost, but it is also a bit of a rant.
I have had sleep problems since I can remember and I have always had a hard time sleeping at night. When I was about 20 I was diagnosed as having bipolar 2. None of the meds seemed to work very well so I continued research into my symptoms and found narcolepsy. I was surprised that it wasn't what I believed it to be (people who spontaneously fall asleep no matter what they are doing) but it checked way more of my symptoms than bipolar did. (insomnia at night, fragmented sleep, constant fatigue, constant naps, constant vivid dreams, sleep paralysis, etc)
After speaking to a doctor I scheduled a sleep study, and during the initial consultation the doctor was super unprofessional. He was openly flirting with my mom while basically bragging that he was "THE sleep specialist". My mom asked if narcolepsy could co-exist with bipolar disorder or if it better explained my struggles. At this point the doctor said that they are completely different things and that if I already got a bipolar diagnosis then a sleep study would basically be pointless but we could give it a shot anyway.
Before the study, he told me that absolutely under no circumstances was I allowed to fall asleep between MSLT naps because it would invalidate the results. During the MSLT I did everything I could to not sleep. I ended up spending a lot of the day pacing up and down the long hallway in the office so that I didn't fall asleep. When I went over the results with the doctor he told me that my average latency was about 4.5 minutes and that I had multiple SOREMPs (I don't remember how many. He clearly stated that while my symptoms looked like narcolepsy, I didn't have cataplexy and I didn't fall asleep during the time between naps on my MSLT which is something a "real" narcoleptic would do.
Ultimately he told me that even though my symptoms "looked like" narcolepsy, he "wouldn't touch my treatment with a ten foot pole" (his exact words) because if I DID have bipolar disorder, then the treatment for narcolepsy might send me into a manic episode that he "didn't want to be liable for".
Not knowing enough at the time to advocate for myself, I decided to keep getting treatment for bipolar. I quit taking the meds after trying a bunch of stuff.
Years later, after having a family, working a desk job, and gaining weight that I don't have the energy to lose, I decided that I was miserable and sought treatment for bipolar again, and once again the meds didn't help all that much. They had the added benefit of making me gain even more weight. At some point I ended up back on the narcolepsy research train and decided, again, that my symptoms were more completely explained by a sleep disorder. I worked with my doctor to get off of the anti-depressants and mood stabilizers to try a treatment plan that more closely resembled treatment for a hypersomnia disorder.
Once I had some small semblance of regulated wake/sleep cycles, my depression and mood issues evaporated almost instantly. Unless my sleep is messed with, I don't have any kind of depression or irritability.
I got a referral to a sleep specialist who told me during the consultation that my symptoms were "textbook narcolepsy" and scheduled me for a study. I failed to qualify for the MSLT because I didn't sleep enough during my PSG, and because I was ever so slightly over the limit on my arousal events for apnea. Part of this is because I am overweight, and part of it is because it was spring and I have allergies.
The doctor I had a consult with had left the practice in the six months between my initial consult. Another doctor read my results and said that I have apnea from being fat and that I need a cpap and to lose weight. At my follow up appointment I didn't get to speak to a doctor, but a PA. She said that my API was so barely over the threshold that my apnea was likely due to my weight. She asked about my symptoms and why I thought I had narcolepsy. When I described everything she told me that I clearly just have insomnia and need to try cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia. She also told me that my medications were basically how they treat narcolepsy anyway and that she didn't understand why I wanted a diagnosis despite the fact that I cannot take sunosi, xyrem, xywav, or several other medications without some kind of hypersomnia diagnosis. She basically said that those meds wouldn't help me anyway, or at least not more than what I am currently taking (lunesta and vyvanse).
This was last June.
Frustrated, I decided to seek a second opinion with another sleep clinic. I FINALLY had the appointment this past week. This office did not have the results from my last test, and they didn't have me fill out basically any paperwork. Once again I got a PA, not a doctor. She told me that if I wanted to try the PSG again that I needed to get my circadian rhythm normalized so I should try light therapy. I have tried light therapy and it didn't. I have tried just about everything short of xyrem or other narcolepsy specific meds.
I don't even know what to do at this point. Even with lunesta and vyvanse I am so tired that I can barely function at work some days. I certainly don't have enough energy to exercise. I still have fragmented sleep, and I still have constant and intense vivid dreams. Light therapy did nothing for me, and when I looked it up almost everything I read said that it is not a suitable treatment for narcolepsy.
How am I supposed to reign in a circadian rhythm that basically doesn't exist?
What help is it to regulate a rhythm that will change the second I stop taking medications, which is a requirement of the sleep study.
Am I crazy for thinking that this is a pointless recommendation?
Am I wrong to be so frustrated with all of these medial professionals?
What can I even do at this point?
I feel so helpless and so angry. But most of all, I feel so, so tired.
I appreciate anyone who took the time to read this whole thing, and I welcome any advice or support you kind folks have to offer.

I held the package close, its precious contents pressed against my spine. The steady beeps that communicated life drove my exhausted legs forward. Even with the combat stimulants running rampant through my blood, my nervous system bringing fibrous polymer muscles to their brink, and a set of assisting servos practically tripling my stride speed, I was exhausted. The sun and its rays bared down on me like a predatory dragon, each ray a fang made of flame, ready to tear open my suit and scorch my skin…but not today.
“Not today!”
I picked my stride up and sent every muscle in my body past overdrive, I tore stone and sand as I sprinted farther forward and collapsed. I had finally made it to one of the only rations of shade on the desolate moon surface. As I hit the ground and retreated into the shade, I removed the pack from my shoulders and gently laid the box down. I opened the zipper that held the sunshade on and looked at the pale figure inside.
“Hello my love, I hope you’re resting well, we finally made it, now just time to wait…and you'll be better again”
I took my helmet off and took a deep breath before beginning to set up camp. I thought back to the mission room, where I was nearly denied entry to Io
“You understand the journey you’re undertaking has never been completed before? This is a mission that as of this moment has a 100% rate of failure. Do you not think it would be wiser to simply say your goodbyes and prepare for a life without her?”
I shook my head as the council stared at me with tired expressions and pained eyes
“I am three times decorated am I not?”
The head minister nodded and shuffled her papers, reading slowly from the top page
“Argon Lethius, 12 tours, 7 rotations, 153 confirmed neutralizations, 3000 pending, strength record unmatched, augmentations class S granted. You’re also the sole surviving candidate of the sky petal program”
The sky petal program, an experimental research project I had taken part in to pay for my wedding. The core concept was simple: graft photovoltaic cells onto our skin and use nanotechnology to create a bio-mechanical ecosystem within the dermis.
The result was going to be humans capable of photosynthesis, making us less susceptible to nutrition based disaster. Rejection however was high in the program and when your body is trying to fight its skin, things get ugly quickly. A dormant gene I had passed on from my mother allowed my body to accept the prosthesis but at great cost, I was now essentially allergic to solar radiation. When I'm planetside I'm just fine, but if I was in an area devoid of atmosphere, the nanotech would go overkill, usually producing energy akin to solar flares from my skin.
“Mr. Lethius, your feats and skills are unmatched, your circumstances are impossible to reproduce and the dedication you’ve shown to this coalition has been unwavering. Which is why we sympathize with your loss, and grieve with you. Crystal was-”
I snapped at her
“Is…she’s still alive”
The minister nodded and corrected herself
“I'm sorry, Crystal is an incredible addition to this council, and we are deeply sorry both internally and externally. But the dragons of Io have no official record, and the sunlight alone could overcharge you in a day, leaving not only our best military asset but also his sick wife stranded without hope of rescue”
I nodded and spoke solemnly
“3 days supply, and a ship to drop me off, if I don't respond in 4 days, come get my body and bury her where we fall. She loves it there. Even if I can't save her, I want her to rest somewhere she would be happy”
I snapped back to the present and finished setting up camp. Unpacking our supplies and connecting a set of solar panels to her cryo-chamber. I watched her take deep breaths through the ventilator as I threw a tarp overhead and began digging into the rockface.
“You’ll be ok my love, by this time tomorrow you’ll be your old self again”
I dug for hours, tearing holes in my suit and flaying the skin from my fingers. As my blood hit the white dirt and stained the cracked surface, I felt a degree of nausea rise up from my stomach. Saliva filled my dry mouth and I bit down on my tongue to prevent the vomit. Bile reached the back of my throat and I dug my fingers into the dirt, searching for the Will to resist my body’s urges. The sun couldn’t take me, my mind couldn’t shake me, I would not buckle before saving her. Before long I couldn't go on, and I needed to rest.
I swallowed hard and sat back, laying down and looking up at the harsh sky.
“Hindsight is 20/20, we can keep trying new things but sometimes this is just how things work out, I’m sorry”
I nodded as the doctor left the room and she sat motionless in her gown.
“That guy didn’t know what he was talking about, there’s so many treatments, we’ll just go to another doctor”
She brushed a strand of hair out of her face and looked up at me
“I’m tired of my love, can we go home?”
I nodded without speaking and embraced her, feeling her slow and weakened heartbeat against my chest, its rhythm in sync with my own.
“Sure, We’ll go home”
That was the last time I saw her awake, she fell asleep on the car ride home…and never woke up. I was able to bring her to the hospital where they revived her, but she was comatose, most likely asleep till the cancer kills her.
“I’m sorry my love”
I looked over at her chamber before bringing my hand up to my face and staring at the mangled flesh of my palms.
“A drop of blood for a question, a thousand heartbeats for an answer”
I heard the voice in my head as if it was a thought I had formulated all on my own, but the voice was different, it didn’t belong to me nor anyone I had ever heard before.
“A single tear for a favor, an entire ocean for its completion”
I crawled to the spot where my blood had dripped into the ground, the sand was stained red but almost completely dry. I leaned over it and thought about my honeymoon, I thought about vacations and work, time together and apart, moments where she was everything. I thought about the idea of my life without her, and then it came like a flood. Tears flowed freely from my eyes and drenched the ground, the first falling square on the red stain in the sand. The liquid pooled on top and a small ribbon of crimson fluid flowed upward into the tear drop. The ribbon danced and waved in a thin line through the microscopic ocean.
“What is your question?”
The voice came from above me now, and as I slowly looked upward, a loomed overhead, blocking the sun from view, and causing my heart to skip a beat.
“What…is your question”
Before me now stood a massive beast, speaking in the voice I had heard in my mind and digging his gargantuan claws into the sand. The tip of each toe ended in a blade that was crystalline and almost translucent. Each blade too had a glowing orange stripe that when shifted, turned the sand underneath him to panes of glass. His arms were broad and powerful, covered in green scales and his maw hung open with a light blue mist emanating from his teeth. He was the dragon, the one from Io who space gods told legends about.
“I…I want to know something about my wife”
He knelt down on his two front arms and brought his eyes to my level, a kindness flowing between his seemingly infinite pupils.
“Your wife. She is a story I myself cannot seem to get over. What do you wish to know?”
I looked up at him and let out a deep breath before gesturing to her
“Can- can she be saved”
His gaze snapped to her case and he slowly moved over to where she slept
“You brought her with you, of course you did, you could never leave her behind.
I crawled over and knelt next to him, tears still flowing from my eyes.
“Please tell me, can she make it?”
He turned around and knelt next to me, putting a massive hand gently on my shoulder and speaking softly.
“My boy, She’s already made it, just not in the direction…you were hoping”
He tapped the monitor screen and it stopped showing vitals, instead displaying a digital sign in dark red letters. I read them aloud to myself.
“Subject deceased, time since last recorded activity. 37 hours 22 minutes 48-49 seconds”
He nodded and spoke calmly
“You wanted to badly for her to live, you saw her living, even when she wasn’t”
I slammed my hand on the crate and opened the lid, picking her up in my arms and putting my ear to her chest.
“Come on, come on. You’re ok, you’re ok”
I clutched her in my arms as silence arrived to my ears. I rocked her and cried into her soft silken hair. Her pale skin had lost its glimmer and I pressed my forehead against her own. I spoke through tears and a tightened throat
‘No, she cant die, I found you! I finally found you! Come on sweetheart you’re ok right? Just wake up. He's here baby we made it, please just wake up, please”
The dragon loomed over head and let out a deep breath, speaking gently, so as not to disturb the silence
“She is gone, and even I cannot save her”
I felt my skin begin flaming as I turned my head back up toward him
“Then what can you do? What can you do if you can’t bring her back to me? Why are you a legend if you cant make her breath again?!?”
He whispered softly into her ears and I felt the wind of the world around me change
“Because I can send you to her”
The planet fell silent and she disappeared along with the dragon. The camp was gone, my hand had been healed, my suit was gone and instead I wore a thin white shirt and loose cotton shorts. I was comfortable, and as I stood to my feet I felt as if my thirst had been quenched, my hunger satiated, I was…ok.
“Hello?”
I called to the emptiness, and before long a soft sullen voice spoke back.
“Hello darling”
She took my face in her hands and turned me around, holding my cheek as my whole body shook
“Hi beautiful”
I brought my hand up to her own and felt her soft warm skin against mine, I pressed my head into her hand and leapt forward, bringing her close and up into the air as I spun her around. She laughed as I gently set her down and wrapped my arms around her.
“I’m sorry you can’t stay”
I looked at her and spoke quickly
“What do you mean I can’t stay? The dragon sent me to you, he sent me to see you, so we can be together again”
She shook her head and kissed my softly, as she pulled away she put her hand on my chest
“It’s not your time hero, I’ll see you eventually, but this is goodbye for now”
I woke up on the sand, the dragon standing over me, holding her body as she began to slowly turn to dust. His tears fell on her degrading body as he handed her to me, and lowered his head.
“I'm sorry, it’s never permanent, did she tell you goodbye?”
I took a deep breath and held her in my arms before walking a few paces forward, and laying her down on the sand. I spoke calmly as tears streamed down my face.
“Yea…she did”
He nodded
“That is more than most get, was she smiling?’
I wiped my eyes and laughed
“Yea…she was”
He fluffed his wings and let the world around us grow heavy with winds
“Then your mission is complete”
I continued to cry as I looked back at him and spoke in a wavering tone
“Did you know I was a general?”
He strolled over and sat next to me, watching her particles flow away with the storm
“You were the most powerful general of all time, incapacitating but never killing, for a man with your rank one must usually commit vast atrocities but you…you never took one life”
I nodded and watched the wind whip and carry sand alongside her body
“I didn’t want to take life, I was reprimanded over and over but I always knew there was a better way, she wanted me to try, to make it so at every opportunity we could fight without ending lives…she hated senseless death…and I think I see why now”
He spoke calmly, wiping his eyes as the last of her bones turned to crystalline dust in the wind
“Her death was not senseless, in fact you'll find that when something as beautiful as her dies, it becomes impossible to make sense of it. That does not mean it happened without sense, and it does not mean her death must be for nothing. When men first meet me, they offer a drop of blood, and that is all I require for the question, but to gain my favor, they must give up a piece of themselves”
I sighed and looked up at him
“What do you need from me then?”
He gestured to where her body had sat moments ago
“You just let the biggest piece of yourself go without a fight. You have paid for more than enough trips to see her”
I nodded and spoke without waiver
“I'm not supposed to keep visiting her though, am I? She won’t be happy till we see eachother again permanently, and if I show up prematurely…she would probably be pissed. So ,I guess now I just live?”
He laid down in the sand and let out a deep groan
“I don’t think I’ve lived in quite some time, I’ve been stranded here for so long, evading capture to exist within my freedom, too afraid to face the cosmos again”
I patted his side and gripped what was essentially his ankle
“You shouldn’t be afraid, fear doesn’t do anything for men like us. Maybe we should sit a while, and see if your fear doesn’t go away”
He let out a deep breath and closed his eyes, laying down as I watched the sun rise over the horizon. My heartbeat continued, but as I watched the last of her ashes swirl through the air, I found a modicum of peace, and I thought about her.

Hi there! I'm kind of new to this and looking for support. I've only been off of testosterone and publicly detransitioning for a month now. I'll write some of the backstory out and then my questions/concerns about my former transition and what to do next. I might ramble, my apologies. I have a lot to say, and I am definitely feeling emotional about it all. It's a big deal.
I'm (27F) woman and I was transitioning as an FTM for over 5 years. I have a bit of a complicated transition history that stretches back into my earlier teen years, but I medically transitioned in my 20s for that 5 years. I only went on testosterone and never got any procedures done. However, I passed fairly well when binding and with my facial/body hair growth. I was diagnosed with gender dysphoria but I'm not sure if that was correct or not. Honestly, I think I struggled more with body dysmorphia than anything gender-specific. I've had a very traumatic life (just saying that for context, I don't try to live my life in a victim mentality, my trauma has just influenced my decisions) and I went through puberty early so I was more aware of sticking out than someone in general would have. I genuinely did feel like I was transgender at parts of my life, but I don't think I would have identified that way if I had received better mental healthcare and guidance for how to accept and love and care for myself as the capable woman I am.
Overall, I think my transition was successful in a way because I accomplished a lot of life goals during the process and connected with myself. I finished undergrad, got into graduate school, worked hard in academia and in jobs, became a professional artist and writer and much more- all things that I never thought I was smart enough to do before transitioning. (I know, that sounds terrible :c ) Ultimately though, transitioning was leading me to an unhealthy place. I started to uncover a lot of traumas in therapy linked to bad male figures in my life and I started to piece together that perhaps I was trying to become the positive male figure that I never had before. Honestly, becoming that "man" did help, but the whole time it was just me. I'll never have a father, and I'll never get the peace and innocence I had before former abusive relationships, but I should have understood that my inner strength was inside of me as a woman the whole time. I didn't have to be a trans man to access that. I never experienced life as a single adult woman since I was always under negative male control, so this new phase of life is an entirely new world to me in a way. It's exciting, fresh, scary, and I am feeling so many things. I don't feel bitter about transitioning but I'm silently highly critical of my past situation and the way I regard other transitions I see IRL and online.
Towards the last two years of medically transitioning I started to experience really weird symptoms. There is a possibility that some of this is tied with long covid because I got seriously ill a couple of years ago, but I noticed symptoms become worse when dosage went higher and better when dosage was lower. Eventually, my doctor put me on what he called a "nonbinary level" which got my levels to somewhere around 99 when he said they should have been at 300. This was the point that I took medicine into MY own hands and told HIM that I wanted to be on that low dose because I felt better on it even though he wanted to increase it for some reason.
The symptoms I was having were heart palpitations, chest pains, muscle aches, loud joint cracking and pains, weakness and prone to injuries, vaginal dryness and pain, dizzy spells, and more probably that I can't think of. I have brought up these things to various doctors especially the last one and none of my "transgender healthcare professionals" seemed worried/interested enough to investigate what was going wrong other than give me blood tests or prescribe me a medicine that I wouldn't take. I felt like I had to handle my own treatment plan by becoming uncomfortably self-aware of my body situation and adjust my weight, supplements, and testosterone based on what would make me feel the least crappy. I felt abandoned by the medical field and I'm having to search for competent clinicians now who can see what's actually happening with my health. Thankfully most of the negative side effects have either subsided or lessened considerably but I don't know how much damage was actually done. I'm very grateful I still have my breasts and that my reproductive system is working a bit better, though I haven't gotten my period back yet.
Another frustration that helped me choose to detransition was understanding that the trans space is actually more dangerous than people want others to see it as. I hate saying that it's dangerous because I don't want to fearmonger ever, it's more of a logical observation. The amount of people that were predatory towards me when I was a trans man is shocking. I have trust issues already and I thought that presenting as male would protect me, but there were several who knew how to manipulate my insecurities and benefit from my vulnerability. A couple of months before I made the choice to detransition, I was a victim of a very violent SA from a "friend." I was hospitalized and injured for weeks if not months and it made me reconsider everything during the intensive therapy. My eyes opened to the reality of "chasers" who just wanted to feminize me, enact their kinks on me, and objectify/brutalize/humiliate me for my inherent womanhood. The people that claimed to love me as a trans man in theory, hated me as a woman in practice. It was horrific.
I'm so so so thankful that other detransitioners are being vocal about their experiences and reaching out even though it's a hard thing to do. I feel like I've been saved from a lifetime of extra pain and challenges that I was tricked into. My experience could have been much worse, and it was already not good.
While now I'm learning how to love myself more and navigate the world and processes of detransitioning, I'm also facing my mindset changing towards transitioning. At this point in time, I do personally believe that some transgender people do exist with gender dysphoria, but I think it is much rarer than the dominating narrative seems to suggest. I've started to hear more about AGPs and one of my friend groups almost all transitioned to become "trans women" but they don't seem to put in any effort to socialize or appear like women. They only tend to have sexual discussions and have started to seem very predatory and creepy towards me and others. One of them is convinced she has a period too. I have distanced myself from them because they have crossed my boundaries and I feel very threatened. But I feel like I can't confront them about the offensive gender issue because they'll think I'm transphobic when in reality, I feel like they're being misogynistic and hurtful.
Has anyone else experienced difficulties in healthcare/bad hormone side effects? Or what are your thoughts on dangers in the trans community? Do you have any tips on how to navigate the early stages of detransitioning? I just filed for my name change and am hoping to get laser removal soon! :)
Thank you so much for reading and any comments/advice. I appreciate it. I'm a little lost and nervous.

My baby is 9 months old. I don’t follow BLW. Please don’t come at me. I feed her with my hands mostly or at times with spoon. She eats smoothly puréed food well. I give her Ragi porridge, white rice with veggies and fruits like banana, avocado etc., Today I gave her waffle like pancake, which wasn’t smooth but crunchy with bits and pieces of oats still there. She takes the food in her mouth, chews it well and then spits it out. She doesn’t even attempt to swallow it or doesn’t gag. Gets it, chews it and spits it out. I really want to switch to textured food. How can I make this switch? Also after she spits, I gave her the usual smooth Ragi porridge and she ate it ok. Please let me know what to do.

Ok i'm having so many mixed feelings about this, theres this guy (19M) who is one of my brothers friends who i just met and i think he might like me but i have mixed feelings. I (18F) am going clubbing for the first time in Singapore as i am now legal and he keeps telling me to wait until he comes back to go with him, and if i do go before i should facetime him so he can be part of my first experience; i also mentioned I'm taking a biology AP class for my senior year of HS and he said he was going to take bio 101 in college and that i should tutor him; plus he was laughing at my not so funny sarcastic jokes and really hyping me up when we were singing karaoke BUT He also didn't really talk to me too much overall and when i stopped to tie my shoe he didn't wait for me and just kept walking with the group, he also doesn't really display the regular "i like you" traits like talking to you a lot, sitting close by, looking at me etc, he is also just an extremely nice guy and treats everyone really kindly.
I have never had a guy even remotely like me before so i really have no ides what they even feels like, so does he like me or is he just being friendly; He is heading back to yale as a sophomore and I am going to fordham as a freshman, WHAT SHOULD I DO?