Texas public school week

I F(22) moved abroad for Graduate School around 9 months ago. I have been on short trips abroad before but all through them my parents would continuously call and monitor me, ask for my friend's numbers and in general keep tabs on me. There would be atleast one phone call a day. I am an only child so I assumed this is how they are and they'll never change and honestly I used to get annoyed when they called frequently.
When I first moved here, the frequency was still there, and they would ask me everything about my day, ask about who I'm talking to and do the regular Indian parent thing of "don't stay out too late", "don't talk to too many boys" and what not. But this has slowly dropped to the point where I'm having to call my parents now to check in on them, and they seem surprised that I'm calling. Our hour long talks are now just a few minutes long. We talk once a week at best, and that's because I have to remember to call them.
The whole where are you going, who are you with questioning has also stopped. It's to the point where my parents are asking me if I have any summer plans and if not I should make some...
When I was home, their world revolved around me and I'm glad they now have control of their own lives and time to go on couples trips and whatnot but I kinda feel left out and forgotten here... I dunno what to feel, I hated the calls but I kinda miss talking to my parents...

For grad school I worked with a nonprofit devoted to Florida panther conservation and I could see firsthand just how dire their situation is. Development keeps coming to Florida and more and more potential panther habitat is getting shredded, even after the passage of the Florida wildlife corridor bill. Basically convinced me that rewilding in other parts of Florida is basically the best option for the continuity of this subspecies. We already know it works on some level since Texas cougars were dropped in south Florida back in the 90s to interbreed with local populations. It also makes me think about the wider possibility of reintroducing cougar populations to other parts of the eastern U.S. If you had to choose a handful of locations on the East Coast to potentially restock the region with cougars, where would you choose?

I (25f) and my fiance (25m) recently got engaged at the beginning of this year. We are planning the wedding but have no date at the moment. An old friend of mine that I've known since middle school went out with my ex after him, and I dated for a few years. He broke up with me and immediately moved on to my best friend. It wasn't even a week, month, or a year after we broke up. I've moved on after a few months but was angry for a short while about how I was treated. I forgave her and only hung out with her two or three times. It also gave me time to look back at my relationship with my ex and see all the red flags that I was blinded by with stupid love. I am extremely happy with my relationship with my fiance, whom I have known since high school. We both started dating back in 2019 right before Covid started.
I have not picked the maid of honor just yet. But, if none of this drama had happened, I would have picked her. I'm stuck, feeling a little upset that if I do not invite her to the wedding or pick her as the maid of honor or bridesmaid, I feel like an ass. I've known her for so many years and are still in touch. She did congratulate me for my engagement. I know that even if I invite her and she is a bridesmaid or the maid of honor. I'm afraid she might do or say things. But that's not her. I don't know, people change, and she may have changed after the past few years. But, I don't know what to do or if I should make the right choice and invite her. She may bring my ex to the wedding and I don't know how to feel about that.

Hey guys I’m Texas and in my county, the judges heavily favor women, with or without an attorney
I make 100k she makes 50-60k
I’m the NCP even though we share child 50/50 4 nights at my house and 3 nights her house, then we switch each week
$700 child support I cover all extra circular and medical insurance I’m allowed to claim child every year bc she gets paid in all cash and doesn’t even pay taxes pretty sure.
Backstory: child is 7yo, I’ve been paying $200/month last 7 years bc we split time and recently she wanted to revise the child support bc she claims she is struggling which I don’t think she’s lying since she has another child with an absent father
We mediated this, many fathers told me don’t take it to a judge bc he wouldn’t care about 50/50 and use the quality of life statement to make me pay the full 20% which would have been $1200

to start lets call this guy Joshua. We are in a snowboarding club together, and met this past december. The club goes on trips ski/boarding 5 times in a semester, and people get pretty close from this. We both are 2nd year college students. The club is also very very much degens. He's a huge stoner who lives with his childhood best friends. They're all really close.
I am new to the club this year, and we had met a few times but we were not really close or spoke much. He lives in the same complex as me at college, and i started seeing Joshua on the bus line.
Josh is a pretty friendly guy, but always really surface level. He seems on the shyer side, close with his friends but he doesnt talk much to girls. He's known for being pretty closed off.
Our ski season ends around the end of February. Him and his roommates put it out in the neighborhood club group chat to come hangout and play some drinking games. My roommate went with me, she's also in club. After the night playing games, she turned to me and was like "josh def is interested in you" and I had also started to notice how cute he was that night. So the combination resulted in a little more interest than just noticing how cute he was
I'm in a sorority, so i asked him to a date party a week later. he seemed hesitant to go, but I reassured him it wasn't a big deal, and I could ask someone else, if it didnt work out. He went with me to the party, and was a really fun date. We both were drinking, and when we got home, he asked me straight up "do you like me?" I told him that prior to this week no. and that it hadn't been more than a friendly date, and i was a little interested but he could turn me down right then. He agreed that he hadn't been interested in more than friends but that night had sparked an interest. He told me he liked me, somehow that night spiraled into games at his apartment with our friends, and we were walking around the neighborhood aimlessly, chatting away til 3 am. He told me his fear of relationships, and taking things further than friends. That he'd never been ina serious relationship. maybe just friends with benefits at the furthest, with a girl he'd been friends with since childhood.
He asked what I was looking for, and I told him, the idea of friends with benefits scared me, because you have one foot in, one foot out, and someone is always going to walk away hurt. "So you're looking for a boyfriend." again he always seemed to catch me off guard. I told him eventually, but we don't know each other well enough to pursue anything serious, so let's just get to know each other.
We made plans, and the next two weeks were filled with group hangouts that had serious eye contact, and being inseperable. Our friends caught on. But it seemed pretty friendly. til our big camping event. I wanted to ask him to formals, he had DDed me while he was sick, and studied with me when he didn't have any work to do, we'd spent a lot of time together, and he seemed really interested. we were both drinking yet again, and I asked him to formals and he told me "IDK if i want a relationship yet, but I really like you. "
he voiced to me his big fear was FOMO from his close friend group.
that night we were cuddled up by the fire, wandering around together, things were really good. He came back to my tent and we kissed a while too, stayed up all night, and watched the sunrise. I told him if it was a one time/hookup situation he was looking for, to leave me alone. Instead he offered to come over and hangout with me and the cat that night, he kissed me again, and we had two more days of hanging out with friends, and him coming over after to spend time with me and watch our show.
It felt like he was really opening up to me a few days before formals, but as he would open up more, he would also start to pull away physically. No more kissing, just cuddling, and he seemed very nervous. He voiced his fear of FOMO again, saying that we'd spent a lot of time together and he still wanted to see his friends
Formals came around and the night before he noted that he didnt know the time/date until just then. he still wanted to go, but the actual formal rolled around and his roommates had friends over and when he showed up at my door he wasnt in the best of moods.
We had a really great night after that though, pregame was a lot of fun, he held my hand throughout the night and we even danced a little.
He was attentive, and when i had been in the bathroom too long he was looking for me instead of just sitting with our mutual friends.
That night though, once we got home, the plan had been to change, and then head over to our friends but we sat down and realized we were pretty drunk
I was tired, and he wanted to leave to see our friends. I started to hammer him with questions, which in retrospective might be what scared him away. I asked if he saw a future with me, if he liked me enough to date me, if he wanted more from me, if he saw anything next semester.
I saw him get nervous and shifty, and he started to blurt out answers, NO, I dont see this, I dont like you enough, and then he took his sweatshirt back, and was like
I guess i shouldnt come over anymore...
I still like you though, im sorry. Im sorry. im sorry.
and when he left left he hugged me apologized again, and then said he really enjoyed my friendship outside of whatever this was as well.
The next night we had a ski club event. ( i know it sounds like all we do is party and drink but my grades were fine).
The original plan was a pregame with my friends and a walk over, but his Josh's roommate had another pregame in the same neighborhood.
So we met up there. But we weren't really speaking. once i had enough liquid courage and he had already approached my little group I soloed him out later and told him... I feel like I was really just blurting things out last night. Im sorry, I don't really know what I want. do you?
He couldnt meet my eyes and he just said Nothing I want nothing lets just have a good summer apart.
30 minutes later, in public, about 15/20 feet away from him I got my ass grabbed by a once trusted friend, who had been way too friendly all day. Josh didn't see anything he says because it was hard to watch me talk to this person.
Another 30 minutes later after a few more drinks in an attempt to erase what had happened and I was sobbing my eyes out, unable to tell anyone what had happened. My friends were all trying to check in, but i just sat on the couch with tears streaming down my cheeks. Fireworks were going off outside, and the cops were called by the neighbors.
Josh ran in, grabbed me and pulled me outside, he gave me his jacket and he my roommate, and our friend walked to another street to find a ride home. I wanted to lay down and cry, and he propped me up instead, and tried to comfort me.
Once he got home he basically ran to another friends house, and said hed come over after to talk, (i fell asleep before he made it back but he did try).
Sunday he came over to help clean, and we cleaned in silence. The situation at the event where I got SAed, has been something Josh has a really hard time talking about, he just gets really quiet, says oh im sorry, its just such an awkward situation and never comments more on it. I really wish he'd be more angry for me. His best friends are?
For the next two weeks, he would invite me over to hangout with his friends, never just alone, but there were a few instances where we were alone. One night I was out with some girls in his friend group walking from my house back to his, and he started to text me asking where I was going, and what was I up to. the girls boyfriends came out too, but he brought me an umbrella and pulled me in and just laughed at us having our pow wow in the rain.
Finals week we both had almsot no work and were floating about, I ended up going over there a ton. Some was by invite, and some was a little bit of inviting myself, but that's how the friendgroup is usually??
He offered to let me keep boxes in his room for the summer because I don't have a renewed lease, and when I came over a few times he played two songs that briefly in passing, I had mentioned I'd loved the songs. (i wouldnt consider them easy songs)
Before he left for the summer he came over to my house helped carry a few things out to the car, and a hug goodbye *note my roommate also a good friend of his did not get the same treatment*.
He told me that he hoped we'd see each other over the summer....
His girl friends have told me, he was really really hurt last year by a girl who he'd been really into, and dated for a week before she broke things off. They said they hadn't seen him bring girls over since, and all his other friends felt like he was fumbling.
My question is it worth pursuing further? I know i'll just push him away by continuing this chase, but do we think that things will spark up ever again?
I really think Josh does care about me, and we had a great time, but he isn't texting me much anymore, if at all... I'm going to be in his hometown this weekend but I dont plan on letting him know/ seeing him.
What can i do at this point. I feel like he's said everything he needs to, he knows that I want more than what he's offering and I feel like I'm driving myself crazy. I really do think that we could be just friends, but I also feel like he has a soft spot for me and I don't want to miss out on something great just because I didnt give him time to get over his fears.

I just graduated university with a Bachelor’s degree! This was about 2 weeks ago but it’s still kind of sinking in slowly. This is a huge accomplishment for me because I have POTS, Dysautonomia & I also have multiple disabilities that make schooling hard but I did it! It was a struggle but I did it!

Hello everyone, I don't peruse Reddit often but I am in need of some help related to a gecko.
For context, I'm a fairly experienced reptile keeper and have been for years, be it captive breds or rescuing wildlife that wouldn't survive without assistance. Earlier this year, I went on vacation with some relatives down in Texas, and while there I found an invasive species. To be more specific, a Mediterranean House Gecko. Normally I would have let him be but my relative's neighbors immediately wanted to kill it and even tried to take him in the cup I caught him with. According to the laws in Texas regarding invasive species, as far as I read, you have two options. Either you kill them or you keep them, and as the specimen I caught was a juvenile, I felt like keeping him and taking him home.
Fast forward and the gecko is living with me back at home in Idaho, he has a name and had an enclosure and everything. I was regularly feeding him, checking on him, everything I could to make sure he had a happy life. Then about two and a half weeks ago, I go to check his enclosure and see the gecko is gone. Vanished without a trace. I checked every single surface in my room, and nothing. I originally assumed he must have somehow squeezed through one of the corners in the mesh lid and left through my window, but then a week later when I come home from work, the little guy was sitting on top of his old enclosure, looking at me like "hey, miss me?" I was trying to be patient and get him inside his enclosure slowly and carefully, but suddenly the guy jumped off and landed on the enclosure of another one of my geckos, ran behind it and disappeared.
I've been doing everything I can to try and lure him out. I found a really old post on this subreddit talking about clothing piles and them being attracted to them. No dice. I found a Wikipedia article saying that people catch them in their native range in Europe by cutting small holes in boxes and putting warm, moist sphagnum moss inside in dark corners. Again, no dice. I know he's still alive and inside because I'll see a glimpse of him before he runs behind something and disappears, or like last night, when I opened my door, I heard him running across the back my dresser and caught a feint glimpse of his tail before he somehow disappeared again. I even recently deep cleaned my entire room and made it open enough to where there should be nowhere for him to hide that I cannot get to. Yet somehow, he still manages to hide somewhere, a place where he must have some heat, moisture, and some form of food source keeping him alive after this long.
Does anyone have any experience with geckos similar to these and how to lure them out or find them? I don't want him to get crushed or killed one day because I can't see wherever he hides, and then stumble across his dead body. I spent a lot of time, money and effort trying to give him a safe and spacious home with everything he could want, and I recently got a new enclosure with a locking lid that has no gaps that he can fit through.
How can I find my little gecko and give him a safe home again? Last time I saw him he also apparently lost his tail and I'm worried for his health. Any advice or help is appreciated. Thanks.

TL;DR -> We brought in a doctor of physical therapy to do a seminar on injury resistance, working out, staying healthy, assessing weaknesses and injury potential, and understanding the world of diagnosis, triage, treatment, and recovery. It was great, and I think more BJJ schools should do stuff like this.
This isn't medical advice; I'm telling you what we did and learned, but if you want the medical detail get your own PT to do your own seminar :-)
I have been meaning to post this, and was recently reminded by discussion with u/Historical-Pen-7484 and u/viszlat, so here it is.
Our school recently did something I don't think I've heard anyone else do. Instead of hosting a coral belt or famous competitor for a seminar, we invited a local physical therapist that some of us had worked with. We called it a "PT Seminar", and it was a pretty neat time.
The premise was: the PT will watch us roll for an hour to observe BJJ in action, and then take an hour (and a bit more...) to speak to a host of relevant topics.
I preloaded him with a bunch of questions that BJJ people often ask -- stuff like, "How can I become injury resistant?" or, "How long should I stay off the mat when I'm injured?" etc.
The results were pretty awesome. We got some input from him on how we should adjust or adapt our warmups and mobility / flexibility work in class, and what we should be doing outside of class to maximize our longevity in BJJ. He took us through some diagnostic tests to evaluate for major mobility issues or weaknesses (which was fascinating), and gave some recommendations for working on some of the gaps he observed. Finally, he took a number of questions, which turned into some real back and forth. We learned a lot about our fellow students' aches and pains, and gained some insight on a lot of topics.

Detailed review:
Becoming Injury Resistant
His main recommendation was (of course?) to add two days a week of resistance and mobility training. The advice was to do moderate intensity on all the major muscle groups, emphasizing free weight compound movements to develop and maintain stability in the joints. He wasn't saying we should become body builders or power lifters, but that we needed something that isn't functionality equivalent to BJJ to round everything out. He said more than two hours a week would be another hobby, and not to get sucked more deeply than necessary into the workout crowd (unless we want to).
Warmups and Stretches
I talked with him ahead of time about different ideas in BJJ about warmups and stretches. He talked through what the medical / sports-science benefit of the warmup and stretches actually are, and used that as a basis for some recommendations for our class structure.
He advocated a minimal warmup -- that its purpose is to raise body temperature and heart rate, lubricate the joints, and psychologically prepare for physical activity. So he said it should never take more than a few minutes to warm up. He said 5 minutes is too long, and crossing over the boundary with strength and conditioning.
On the S&C point, he asked if our classes are supposed to include S&C, or if people are expected to do that on their own. Our class was more or less unanimous that we look to do BJJ during paid class time, and he suggested we should think of S&C as something we do on our own time outside of class.
Regarding stretching, he suggested avoiding static stretches during class, and he cited some research results that show static stretching actually sets you up for injury (though stretching for mobility and flexibility should include static stretches, and should just be thier own thing, he said). He took us through some examples of the kind of dynamic and active stretching he thought would be a better fit, given our functional performance goals in BJJ.
Injury Identification and Response
We had a lot of discussion about how to know when you're injured, when to decide it's a bad one, and when to invoke medical expertise. He remained pretty open minded, speaking to when a doctor should be involved, and where he thought PT fits in to maximize recovery. His main suggestion was that injuries that are healing get steadily better, and things should get attention when they flat-line or get worse over time.
Some of our students had a lot of questions about what makes a good PT, so he went into that. Just like BJJ schools have red flags, he said there are better and worse PTs out there. He said that if you go to a place that gives you a list of exercises based on your doctor's diagnosis, and has you do the same thing for awhile, it's not as good. He prefers a PT approach that applies more analysis, and makes frequent changes to the workload to accommodate changes during recovery and adapt to what is experienced by the patient.
He seemed to advocate a pretty nuanced approach to time off and return to activity. His basic logic was that the longer you spend not doing your activity, the more you atrophy, compensate with changed behavior, and settle into a worse condition. Of course, that is balanced by returning too quickly and too much, re-injuring, or aggravating your body and extending recovery.
So he kind of recommended careful re-introduction of activity, perhaps under supervision of a PT (of course), and finding as many ways to do things as you can without aggravating the injury so you don't fall behind.
I don't want to risk this seeming like a medical advice post, so I won't go into more detail. Go find your own PT and get advice from him so it's legit :-). I will just say that this was extremely valuable, and helped a lot of us frame our thinking about the next time we are hurt and how we will approach return to the mats.
Assessing Weaknesses and Problem Spots
Our PT took the group through a bunch of his basic triage / diagnostic exercises. It was very interesting -- for example, he said we were all surprisingly good on upper core strength, but most of us failed the lower core strength tests. This led to some fascinating conjecture as to why, and he spoke to how that manifests as increased risk of injury in some ways.
He did a few different tests, for mobility, strength, etc., and gave a lot of recommendations on specific details of exercises and what expectations we should have of our bodies. Some people remarked that they didn't know this or that were below normal, and it gave a bunch of us some side-goals about where we want to take our bodies in the future. Again, this is very close to medical advice, so I won't repeat a lot of it here.
Diagnosis and Q&A
Finally, he took a lot of questions, and people came out of the woodwork! Back issues, historical injuries, morphological oddities... we learned a lot about our fellow students. But we also got to see how he would inspect, and reason through what might be wrong. In some cases, he spoke to appropriate pros and cons of surgical solutions vs living with something -- all very helpful stuff!
Conclusion
It was really all I had hoped it to be. I had worked with this PT through a major injury (torn hamstring and glute), and been so impressed, I wanted to share him with the school. The end result was really excellent.
If you want to do the same thing (and I think I would recommend it for any BJJ school), it may not be that hard. I tried really hard to pay him, and when he refused money, I tried to suggest a gift in kind like an iPad or something. He said some things about professional requirements to do community outreach, etc., etc., so it turned out to be a pretty good deal. We asked attendees to throw in a couple bucks, and we took him out to eat, and that was it.
I do believe that he actually picked up four patients out of it (at least, three told me they have been to see him a time or two, and one said he was going to). We worked hard not to make it a sales pitch, and our guy was very professional about the whole thing; but nevertheless, if you want to get something similar worked out, the potential for bringing in some business might help tip the scales as you talk to your local PTs.
Someone asked if we'll do it again, and I think we will. Or might mix it up and bring in an orthopedist. Could even think about a nutritionist, sports scientist, etc.
There are so many topics that BJJ instructors or students pretend to know a lot about, but it sure makes a difference when you bring in a real expert in some domain and pepper them with questions!

What I’m about to say isn’t a huge deal but I gotta rant because I’m so tired of it. I (18M) have celiac disease (gluten allergy) and at my high school I get a gluten free school lunch every day. I’ve had the allergy for about 10 years so I’m used to a weird system of getting my food during lunch time. The school I’ve gone to for the past 2 1/2 years has some wonderful lunch ladies and I’ve barely ever had a problem with the food they give me, but getting it is the problem. At my school the lunch line goes inside the kitchen through a door, goes along a stand with the main meal on trays, goes back out to the lunchroom through another door and to the salad bar. They put the meals for people with food allergies on a counter inside of the kitchen on the other side of that stand and in order to get to that counter I have to basically cut through a large portion of the line. The thing is the lunch ladies have TOLD ME and others with food allergies to just cut through because apparently us just going through the line like normal and then branching off “disrupts the line and is unnecessary”. The thing is that I swear every other day I have an interaction with someone getting mad at me for it. Other students constantly yell at me to stop cutting. I’ve literally had people block the doorway to stop me. On more than one occasion they’ve gone and told the lunch ladies that I’m cutting. I have had to explain that I have an allergy lunch multiple times to staff that are assigned to watch the line to stop cutting. And a month ago one of the lunch ladies actually told me to go to the back of the line for cutting before another lunch lady had to tell her that I was okay. I know it’s not a big deal but it ticks me off that half the time I can’t just get my food without someone getting on my case. Is this normal? Because I’ve never had to deal with that at a different school. I’m just glad I’m graduating in a week and I’ll never have to deal with that dumb lunch line again.

One day I was in my study hall class, I was on my phone, minding my business and waiting for the the bell to ring. The class was very quiet, and everybody was minding their business or either eating or talking. Up until one moment there came an announcement made on the big speaker.
The lady speaks urgently.
“ Teachers lock the doors and don’t let any of the students leave the classroom, I repeat..teachers close the door and don’t let any of the students leave the classroom.”
The woman sounded scared, she was stuttering over her words and sounded nervous and confused.
The teacher in the classroom quickly, ran over to the door and closed it. He looked at all of us confused, and we all looked at each other dumbfounded. “ what’s going on?” he says. We all shrug and probably thought it’s a practice lockdown drill. But we came to realize that it wasn’t a lockdown drill, because they would announce it. Five minutes later, and everything was still silent.
Thankfully, we didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary coming from outside of the classroom or anywhere else . The bell rang, but we had to remain inside the classroom until they announced that it would be safe to leave. 20 to 30 minutes later and the announcements come on.“ teachers may let the students out now.”
Everyone comes flooding out of their classrooms and running in the hallways. I didn’t think much of it because we all thought it might’ve been a drill so I didn’t look into it. I was walking to my next period class and I was looking out the windows in the hallway. I see about five cop cars with police officers by the gate, and me being nosy I watched, but they didn’t seem to be doing anything special so I just walked away.
I told my friends about this, and apparently the reason why they made all the students stay inside of their classrooms was because someone had gotten stabbed in the hallway and they were bleeding out, and the cops were probably there to arrest the guy with the weapon. I’m guessing that the school didn’t want anyone seeing this and recording it and going out to the public. This was only a theory, or what was claimed to happen, but I wasn’t really surprised because of all the things that happen in my school.
Things like this wouldn’t surprise any of the students that go to my school.

Undergrad

• Degree: BS Engineering
• Graduation year: 2024
• School
  • Top-20 engineering PhD feeder
  • Top 140-240 US News National University
• GPA: 2.66

Didn't take GRE
1 publication
2 paid internships
Letters of recommendation: I sent 2 letters of recommendation to a REU last semester but got rejected so my guess is they weren't good. I have other potential professors who might write me a recommendation however.
I managed to transfer to my current school with a 1.91 GPA at the time. Now my GPA is 0.75 points higher, so is it fair for my standards for master's programs to be even higher? What tier schools should I apply to? Do I have a good chance at a Top 15-70 US News National University master's program?

Hi. I'm currently deciding whether to attend Princeton or Yale for undergrad. Both are amazing schools so I'm having a tough time deciding.
I'm thinking right now I'lI study public policy but not sure; I think Princeton had a better program. I also prefer Princeton's location to Yale's.
I do think Yale's buildings are nicer.
But, the eating clubs scare me a little bit and are my biggest concern. I'm worried they'll dictate social life, be exclusive, etc.
Can someone talk about their experiences related to the eating clubs: Do most juniors and seniors not eat in dining halls? Are the sign-up clubs seen as loserejects clubs? Will my friends only be in my eating club?
Thank you for any insight you might provide!!

(English is my second language and I’m too tired to even check the grammars. It’s 4AM I can’t sleep)
A little background story I was a person who have no idea how or what to do with video games. I first got my PC back in 2020 because of online class and the first thing I put on my hard drive is Valorant because of my friends, soon right after I discovered that this kind of game just not for me but I kept played because all of my friends played and I just wanted to had something to talked to them.
For almost a year I got yelled at, raged at, made fun of my life, my gender by all kinds of people including my friends, to the point that I feel… very insecure “I’m a honor student with a part time job, but I could not play a game A GAME?” But I couldn’t stop because….my whole school was obsessed with this game.(To the point we got a “tournament” for this game and it was in the WORST management I’d ever seen)
The worst part? I got SH and stalked IRL for 6 months by a “friend” of friend of mine who I met through this game because I trusted him that he would help me. None of my friends who play this game with me seem to care about it. I got gaslighted and victim blaming so hard that I got a long list of mental illnesses (Panic attacks, depression you name it)
*There actually a lot of details and a lot more stories of something like this but I’m not comfortable sharing it.
I stopped play this game all together. All those time I played it because of my friends but I had to made a choice.
I changed my life, figured out my future and stuff, changed school, and started to made some new friends…
“Hi new friend! Do you play Val?” -An actual first message from my new friend (My luck must be so damn good.)
Apparently tons of my new friends also play Valorant but they were super nice to me and understand me for not being able to play, so when I felt better I started to play again with them, but this time I really enjoyed it, REALLY enjoyed it.
Last week I realized I spent all of my free time dedicate to anything related this game. I got hooked.
I always feel like I want to play again and again. I found myself watching people streaming while doing absolutely anything the whole day. I started to catching up the whole timeline of this game and some of the professional team like crazy. Almost bought a bundle in a game without thinking anything at all. Start to obsessed with headshots and game score so badly. Watching all the Valorant related stuff until my whole FYP just a Valorant page.
I have this idea of wanting to play like my friends or some of the professionals. I keep playing until I win so I could go to sleep.
All the of my school life and work life still the same nothing changed. Just my freetime are now all Valorant related. I’m so scared that I would end up addicted to this game and have my life ruined.
Should I get help or change this whole thing while I can?
I don’t understand I got hurt so badly from this game before? Why suddenly I have this idea of playing Iike a pro player?

On phone and English isn't my first language.
In spring -22 I got tired of my life, I felt stuck and that I didn't get anywhere. Had lived on disability for years and was ready to work, but no one wants to hire someone that hasn't work or studied in 7 years. So I did the logical thing and applied for school.
I didn't feel like doing university, but here in Sweden we have this thing that's almost university, but at the same time a trade school. So I applied to this one within business development, it was two years and felt doable. If I were to do a third year to build on this I would get a bachelor's, but I feel pretty done with school by now.
My ADHD has been unmedicated for ages (not my choice), and was so when I went to school. I didn't realise how bad my ADHD is until this winter, when I had an internship that mostly was WFH. I struggled so hard, and then it was time for my final report and it was still WFH. I felt like I was about to break down. I was dancing too close to the edge a couple of times.
I took up drinking, because I realised that white wine is study fuel. Never craved it, but used it to study. Very bad habit, but it helped. Some friends did take a round, to see if they could give my some of their elvanse. They scraped together so I had a few ones, which also helped even better than white wine. Luckily the healthcare finally listened to me and I'll get my own prescription within a near future.
I sent in my paper last week. Monday did I present it. Today did I receive feedback. I did it! I finished school. Against all odds did I do it.
I feel so much more hopeful about the future now. Would I do it again? Not without elvanse. Am I glad that I did it? Well, just need to let it sink in first.
In a couple of weeks will I get my diploma. Now will I just relax (and try to find a job)

So i just finished up six years active as an infantryman, and shortly after got my va disability rating of 100% p&t (via VA BDD). Just before i went on terminal leave i signed a “try one” contract in the guard. I did not realize exactly how jacked up my body was after six years, otherwise i wouldnt have signed. My reasoning from trying the guard is besides the point, but i heard theres a way for me to be discharged early due to my disability status. Does anyone have any insight on this? I’m not trying to be a shitbag, i’m just trying to lookout for my health, and future. Hip, knee, or back surgery in my late 20’s does not sound very cash money..
The guard would also be a massive hindrance to my school schedule. My school isn’t structured like a regular college because its a trade school, so missing a few weeks of school for a ctc rotation would put me back significantly to be able to drop into the next class from where i left off.
Edit: i haven’t even in-processed yet, so realistically i wouldn’t even be a real loss to my gaining unit.

Hello l'm a queer teenage Irannian which harassed by the Islamic Republic in lran , during 2022 lranian uprising #womenlifefreedom movement Iran I expelled from school and I banned to go to school for 3 weeks and after that I basically get banned from going to university and my senior year which is this year (* 2024_2025) will be my last year of studying in lran; I can't even get a job without my diploma which islamic regime banned me from getting it. And there is thing for boys in Iran which military service is mandatory for boys after 18 I can't get a passport,I can't get a ID card and so joining to a foreign college in another country is kind of out of mind for me. The thing is l'm being harassed by islamic regime authorities everyday in Iran(* streets , online death threats)because I'm gay

Tw early loss , living children
We were TTC #3. 7 months in and 2 early losses I decided to take a break. I couldn't have imagined not trying every month if you'd asked me 3 weeks ago, but now I have to say I feel mentally so much better not trying and now am wondering if I actually want a 3rd child. Its making me question the reason I wanted a 3rd and I suspect it is because I felt abit lost. My other 2 are in full time school I work 2.5 days a week, I struggle with being at home and am not great with time by myself. Me and my partners relationship was always the best around the time our children were born. I feel this break has given me a clarity I didn't expect. I'd been so caught up in wanting a baby, lost in the whirl wind of fertile windows and pregnancy tests and now I feel I am out the other side I can't imagine that desire coming back.
Has anyone experienced this? I hope my flippant attitude does not offend.

AITA for talking with my girlfriend about me being angry with her going on a trip with her friends?
My girlfriend and I are keeping our relationship a secret from everyone because of homophobia reasons. Last year before we got in a relationship, we were both figuring out our feelings for each other which led to her ditching her friends to spend time with me. Fast forward to this year, I had planned out a trip since early March for us to go somewhere and spend our anniversary together (we were long distance for college). By mid-late April her friends said that they wanted to do a beach trip which is a week long and covered the day of our trip. At first she chose that she would do half of their beach trip and then come back for our trip but towards the end of the school year (late April) she broke up with me because she couldn’t handle lying about our relationship. When we got back from college we talked about it (got back together) and she said that she wants to spend the whole week at the beach with her friends and that it’s not fair to her friends to leave early. She said she needs to be there for her friends because she didn’t spend a lot of time with them last year. So she is missing our anniversary trip and I can’t reschedule it because now the hotel is either too pricy or booked for the days that would be free for us. I got angry when I found out that our trip couldn’t happen this year and communicated this with her but now we are both upset with each other.

I was an excellent employee who had a lackadaisical partner who inevitably got me let go because my quality of standard was poor on the last 10 job sites due to my partner's portion. My partner who was present ALSO admitted blatantly that they were his blunders and that I was even the top positive survey holder in the entire state and got recognition from the CEO himself. But this was their reason, or -opportunity' to get rid of me. When I tried to stand up for myself and my quality of work they said, "well we were going to let you claim 8 hours for today and take the company truck back home and get transportation arranged but now, you can get out of the office, paid for the time you're here, and can fork over your keys to the company truck and can wait outside in the parkinglot for a ride." So they escorted me outside where I piled my stuff up in the middle of the parkinglot, tools, jacket, shirts, equipment, ect. Mind you I live 30+ minutes away and my wife works as a teacher at a high school near where I live and had to wait until she could come get me and had to leave in the middle of work. So fast forward 3 weeks later, I was driving through the town where I used to work and pulled up to a gas station, I opened my wallet and noticed I had my company gas card that I thought I left in my company truck, (side note, this was my supervisor's personal gas card with his pin because I never got my own like everyone else did.) and thought, "no way this will work still.." I swipped it and sure enough I got $34 (rounded up.) of gas. Later, I hated myself for it and for stooping to their level to do something like that. Later on, fear set in that maybe I would get in trouble what I had done, so I incinerated the card with a torch. Not that torching it will exempt me from persecution, it still made me feel a little better.

Week two of trying to move on...
I am writing this hoping to get it out of my chest and maybe feel a little less lonely. I (27F) just had a really really heartbreaking and depressing breakup and this is the first time I've ever been this hurt. This is the worst feeling I've ever felt in my entire life, emotionally, mentally. Sobbing at the moment as of typing this and my tears just doesn't seem to stop. It just keeps on flowing and flowing since i woke up this morning it suprised me how much tears I have. My chest feels SO heavy I cannot breathe properly anymore and my head aches. I cannot pull myself to get up my bed, I absented to work and even to my postgrad school. I don't eat. I don't even feel hunger anymore. For someone who eats a lot, it surprised me that it is possible to not feel hunger and I don't desire food. All I feel is this heartache. This tightening and heaviness of my chest. This is unbearable. I loved this person so much too much. Even more than myself, I believe. I would do anything for him. I endured a lot for him. Because I love him so much. I would forgive him so fast because I love him so much. I am at my happiest state whenever I am with him. He is the first man I've ever loved. And when I love, I give my all, it's 110%! I keep on looking back and thinking that maybe if I loved him so much more, maybe if I did this, maybe if i did not say these things, maybe we will still be happy together. Maybe if i did not raise the issues, it would not lead to this. I am feeling alot of regret. Maybe I should have just kept my mouth shut. But I was hurting too much I had to say those things. I am extremely sad, heartbroken, and down. I need help. I need someone to talk to. I need someone to cry with. I dont know. It hurts so bad. And I feel so alone. I am a big introvert and I only have a very very few friends and they are far far away from me. I don't think I'll ever be okay. I am in constant pain. Some might say keep yourself busy, get a hobby, but I cannot even focus on my work and school anymore how much more than that. I am messing up a lot of my work and I have my exam in 2 weeks and I haven't studied sht. :(
I love reddit and this has helped me so much in a lot of things. So, if I may, I would like to humbly ask the community of reddit, those who have been through the same experience, or just anyone who has anything to say, if you would be so kind as to lend me a tiny bit of your time and maybe drop in the comments something, anything really, that maybe would help make me feel better and a little less lonely. Thank you very much.
Reason: I raised the issues (that I feel) regarding our relationship. The talk did not go well. He let go of me.
How long:
Years of admiring him: 2yrs
Together: 2yrs
TL;DR : Constant heartache after breakup, what do i do.