tl;dr Want to break up with partner cause needs aren’t being met. But not sure if ill ever get back these bonds and connection if i do so.
Me (25M) and my partner (25F) have been together now for slightly longer than a year. The main issue we face is probably intimacy, and physical intimacy. When we both met, we were both in a rough place. But i think we both liked each other enough to seek help, and let go of our shitty behaviours and habits to make it work. We have grown a lot since. Theres still room to grow, as she used to completely stonewall me when she was going through something. Now its much better, but she still does take sometime to process it before talking to me. Which is fine, because im ok with giving her space when she needs it. It is annoying when shes ‘too avoidant’ and i call her out and she does her best to slowly open up.
However, heres the most difficult part of the issue; physical intimacy. I was sexually active before i met her, while shes a virgin. She grew up with very punitive staunch christian parents, and she is really sensitive. They have beat the idea of ‘Sex before marriage is a sin!’. Ironic because she often gets super defensive when people asks ‘When are you guys getting married’. She also has never had a long term relationship, because men also tell her they cant be with her cause she is frigid. Because of this, she has a negative relationship with sex. In the start, i always avoided talking about it because she said ‘not being able to have sex makes me feel dysfunctional’, and she once lashed out during a disagreement and said ‘you’re probably only her for sex’. So i didnt bring it up, till sometime last year july. To which she said she will try. Then i was going through a rough transition in life and sex wasnt the most important thing to me. Then we avoided talking bout it and poof. Recently, i said we had to talk about it, and we did talk about it. She said she was realy scared, and she said we can slowly try somethings (as if waiting for a year isnt slow). Its been a month since, and nothing seems to have changed. The most we do is kiss, not even make out lol.
I really crave this intimacy, and frankly miss it very much. She has a lot of issues to process, like her dad leaving 5 years ago (to make things worse he wants to come back now), her missing her friends back at her childhood city, her career. That being said, i have only mentioned the bad parts. We have a great connection, we have similar morals and ideals, she’s supportive, gives me space (not sure if shes just really avoidant lol), similar interests, goals in life. On top of that, i really get along well with her family; see then almost every weekend, and we talk about almost everything. This, on top of the fact that she once said ‘losing you is my biggest fear, i dont think ill be able to ever process it’, and me feeling like what if shes trying her best but its gonna take a long time so i just have to be more patient ? I dont know whats the rational process here. But i really miss having sex; masturbating just doesn’t quite does it for me anymore. So what do i choose? Family and love, or having my needs met, maybe eventually?? (She used to say she doesnt want to get married or have kids, now she’s considering it). Someoneo help me make sense of this madness. How would i know if waiting is worth, or what kind of conversations could i have with hehow could i help me explore her sexuality and build a more secure attachment? What has worked/helped those who grew in a punitive, overachieving, pious, criticising christian setting?

Sorry for the word vomit, having a tough time organizing my thoughts. For some backstory, I’ve (23f) been with my bf (24m) for a year. We live together now, and overall I am very happy dating him. He checks all of my boxes. However there is this girl friend of his, I’ll call Aly, that I feel holds a large presence in his brain. She is dating a guy who is in a band that we often go see, and we help set up/party after gigs with. So we do spend a fair amount of time with them. My bf is good friends with her boyfriend, as well as the couples roommates/ siblings who are also in the band. It is one big friend group, and some of them I knew before this relationship, through growing up in the same town. Since we started dating I noticed how my bf acts around her, compared to his behavior around other females/girlfriends that are around just as much. For reference, she was born 1 day after me, and in a lot of ways we are very similar in nature and disposition. Bubbly, goofy, caring, and a good listener. There have been moments in conversation with my bf where he’ll reference Aly without there being a need for her to even be brought up. Or more recently, he bought me a nintendo switch to start gaming, as i brought up that i would get into it. we went to aly and her bf house last week and aly was glued to her switch the entire visit (3ish hours). i saw him entranced by her a coiple times at that visit. I’ve seen the way he watches her dance at her boyfriend’s band performances, and it is nauseating. He doesn’t watch for very long, but he’s locked in for sure. I dance sexy too, but I’m not long legged like her or maybe as comfortable in the group yet. I just feel so compared to when we are all together, and i canf shake it. Or almost like I have to “keep up” with everyone else. i do have deep rooted self esteem issues due to my childhood that i started working on since i got into the relationship. I share these feelings with my boyfriend and he’s been quite helpful, but I haven’t shared regarding Aly specifically. I feel like I may just be jealous, but his behaviors over the year all cumulated have left me feeling like he may be settling for me because she is taken(and we are similar enough). Im looking for some guidance really, from a stranger whether or not I need to listen to my gut or if I’m just projecting. Thank you if you read this <3

Just a preface: not posturing… last time someone commented on that… it’s not that… I just wanted to get all of this out and see if it meant anything in regards to typology, is all. Thank you :)
Hello. I've been seeing many people being typed on this subreddit through the answering of questions - namely this one person, recently, who wrote ALOT.
I think I'm going to keep my answers brief as it is getting a little tiring just constantly expressing myself lately - not that I do not find any kind of meaning in it, it is just that it's tiring, is all, that I keep saying the same things over and over again - similar to how I feel about art... I find such relief in the fact that I struggle so greatly with accepting things, because it means I will remain eternally rotating, like a cylinder, I will roll over everything and flatten it out.
I'll first answer the basics: I am 16 and male - although I hate that I have to include the fact that I am a male, and often just choose to identify as nothing out of spite - I am aware that testosterone influences my behaviour - likely even this very aggression - but, I don't know... I don't see any use in denying that I hate having to mention that. Everyone gives in to expression, it's implanted in me to feel a certain way... and I can deny those feelings out of some kind of individual principle, in order to maintain the idea that I remain under my control... but why? To spite who exactly? I always do that: deny myself happiness out of principle. That said: I don't exactly act on this stupid, nonsensical philosophy in a physical way - I never do! I always say one thing, am true to it inside and then I completely release it in the moment and forget all about it... that's not quite true... it always lingers, I suppose.
Maybe I don't need these questions after all; I find it unbelievably easy to rant, on and on and on; truth is: I don't think I'm great a listener at all... despite being so quiet. I am always so obsessed with this one thing, and it is all mine.
It's honestly my fatal flaw: brain fog and an absolute rejection of everything... I mean, I suppose I evaluate it all... whenever a novel idea is thrown at me, my first reaction, in all honesty, is to hate it. But, that's slightly off-topic if I am honest... I was going to say that I simply cannot let go of certain ideas that permeate my mind - they're always there... and I'll be damned if I cannot find a million different, vague ways to connect them back to that one thing, the very thing that irks me because each and every piece of literature goes straight back here - I've likely left it unresolved and that is why.
Every word links back to that... it is my saving grace and yet the source of all my turmoil: I wish to express the struggle of its existence; I do not love! I hate love! But that very hatred, and the way that I struggle and fight my own existence, the way that I will not accept my nature, that ardour to fight is what I live for! The very thing that torments me... but obviously, it's really the metamorphosis of this ardour... and how after absolutely draining myself of all that pent-up energy, I can finally accept - and that, in itself, was not even my doing, but the fact that I am human! Physical! But perhaps it was my doing! And that entire battle was my accepting this metamorphosis and stirring and writhing in order to create myself anew. It is so layered - to me, maybe not you; I wouldn't doubt that no one reads up to here.
I can't even imagine myself existing if I am entirely honest... I don't know what I am, I simply cannot pinpoint anything anymore. I feel so much hatred, but I know all of that hatred will simply be channelled into a more compelling love- not love, acceptance... letting my arms go limp and nature take it's course. So that is the very reason for the hatred: love...
I feel I lose interest quickly in things... I am inquisitive in my own way, but only if I already know a lot about the content - or if it REALLY interests me. I was at the library with my Dad, and each and every book I picked up, it reminded me of something else - this kept me entertained for an hour; at a shop full of gemstones and minerals, however, this would not likely be the case.
I have loads of ideas... and I despise that I have to fight for survival - that is what life feels like to me: a constant fight for survival... and the physical part is the hardest. I have an incredibly fatalist mentality and was born with seemingly absolutely zero tenacity - I cannot endure even the slightest mark on my skin.
I have lots of ideas though - as I said... they're mostly themes and struggles in my life: I can struggle with love, stupidly, believing it is not special - Adam did not choose Eve; what if God chose to birth one Ave of his rib in Eve's stead? Had Eve not then been born, Adam would have loved Ave, would he have not? Therefore does he truly love Eve, unconditionally? Or just whatever was available to him? If I were Adam, I'd kill God for that betrayal.
What’s more: I feel I am an awful writer… I just find that all the other writers - everyone that I admire, that is - are so authentic and pure in their word-choice and themes… whereas I feel so contrived at all times. There’s a section, from Xiu Xiu’s ‘Apistat Commander’: ‘All this relief, it’s the oddest thing, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God…’ it’s is so vague… yet so real… it’s always pleas for company that get me, like a doe… here’s another:
‘his farewell… and before my death // perhaps near by once more Ill hear // my native tongue! And someone dear, // I’ll dream, some brother, or some friend, // how, gently, over me he’ll bend, // how, tenderly, he’ll wipe my brow // clean of death’s icy sweat, and how // he’ll sing to me in undertone // of that dear country, once my own… // and so I’ll sleep - no curse, no groan!’
I think I’m torn between what happiness even means: is it to stay loyal to a cause, a philosophy, to deny oneself love and life and joy simply to stay loyal to one’s values? Because - and, again, it’s complicated - but I have such an impulse to deny everything that makes me human… it’s not just that that excites my emotions though - not in a way that I am dancing with alacrity -, it’s the journey itself… the metamorphosis and I see this rejection of the human experience as an integral part of this metamorphosis. But… again: is it best to deny myself human pleasures, to deny myself this experience merely out of precedent? Or is it best to admit that I was wrong - in a roundabout way - and give in to my urges? I’m still unsure… this kind of behaviour is never mimicked in my life, by the way; it’s never been an actual, practical problem: I don’t wake up every morning and question if I should go to college as I’m forced into it by society - although that’s a boring view… I’m focused on the spirituality of it almost… the physical, I suppose; I don’t give a damn to think about how society oppresses me. I’m aware of it! Marxism: false consciousness - ironic -, alienation of labour and whatnot… I just don’t really care. It’s my mentality that I care about; my actions are a negligible part of myself. That’s something I’ve always disagreed with: actions maketh man or whatever.
I’ll end there. Thanks to anyone who’s read this far. And please - this is the most I have ever written and by far the most expressive I have ever been publicly - so please, if you know my type - or at least have any idea - I would love to know your thoughts…

"I used to think that the worst thing in life was to end up alone. It's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel alone." - Robin Williams
In the pit of your stomach, you know that something is wrong. You once had a daydream of a loving wife with whom you shared your ambitions. But that dream has turned to dread. You feel like you stopped being the guy your wife loves and wants to spend the rest of her life with. She’s no longer your steadfast companion, acting unenthusiastic or indifferent. One day she wakes up and decides that marriage is stifling her. She wants an open relationship, or she cheated on you but insists it’s harmless and a meaningless mistake that doesn’t count. Perhaps you’ve come to the realization that she’s taking you for granted and staying in a mostly unhappy marriage to live a lifestyle she couldn’t afford on her own. One day, apparently on a whim, she decides that your services are no longer required.
You’ve been dependable, provided emotional stability and held up your end of the “until death do us part” bargain. You’re committed to this relationship, warts and all. You’ve relentlessly protected her, and provided her with more money, respect and loyalty than you ever gave to someone else. You’ve surprised her with acts of kindness and appreciation. Not only has she not reciprocated, you feel like a second-class parent, a doormat or an ATM rather than an equal partner. You feel like you’re still together only out of convenience. You’re more like a roommate she can barely stand to be around, but keeps you around for the heavy lifting and to pay the rent.
You’re frustrated the harder you try, the more distant she gets. Giving her what she wants only reinforces her poor behavior. She may even fault you that she isn’t living happily ever after. Your relationship consists of you avoiding all confrontation with her. You feel like you’re walking on egg shells around her, so you try to plan ahead to ensure she’ll be in the right mood. But it doesn’t work. She’s hostile, regularly picking fights with you claiming you don’t do anything for her. She’s gone from the love of your life to a soul-sucking vicious harpy with a permanent resting bitch face. She does not see you as a human being worthy of her respect and cooperation. Rather, she scowls at you for being incompetent or not giving her enough attention, showering you with shame and guilt instead of support and grace. Every decision you make is a failure in her eyes. You could walk on water, but then she’d complain you cannot swim.
Sexual success is one thing that makes a man happy. But you have been unhappy for so long you don’t know what feels normal anymore. There’s never any “us time”. Sex stopped being a special moment between you two a long time ago. Perhaps you thought doing more chores around the house would make you more sexually desired by her. But her love for you has turned to indifference. She never tells you she loves you without you telling her first, like a parrot. Any affection she offers you is limited to the bare minimum of what she thinks you will accept in exchange for continuing the relationship. She begrudgingly complies to starfish sex once in a blue moon like a chore, emasculating you with “Are you done yet?”. You feel emotionally blackmailed and abandoned in a dead bedroom. Deep down inside, you know you’re not happy but you don’t know what to do.
You feel like you have no agency. You feel powerless. You have no control over your life. You’re living an existential crisis. You have all the responsibility without any authority. You feel like you’re living in a minimum-security prison relationship. You’ve been banished to the dirtiest part of the home – the garage, basement, attic or shed. You are locked into a negative feedback loop. You’re in marriage purgatory.
You’ve poured so much into your relationship, that you’ve prioritized her over yourself. And along the way, your sense of self has been destroyed by this devotion. You’ve been isolated from your friends and family. You’ve given up your hobbies, interests and opinions because of her constant nagging yet she complains about you being boring. Any time you get to yourself to relax, she’s there with a honey-do list that needs doing now. She’s a gatekeeper to your enjoyment of life. And when you push back against it, you get berated. It wears you down over time, culminating in your loss of dignity from 1000 concessions.
That dread you’re feeling is the realization that you’re paying for a house that isn’t your home, full of stuff somebody else wanted, kids that are being raised to treat you with contempt, and a life that consists of “Work, Eat, Confrontation, Sleep”. You are scared to death and feel like a pathetic version of your former self, all while suffering in silence.
You've handled your marriage the way that you envisioned a marriage should be. You've tried to be a hard worker, a good role model for your children, a moral person, supportive, non-demanding. You still look at her and think about how beautiful, smart, and caring she is but snap back to the reality that she's leaving you because you are not all she expected or wanted in a spouse. You’re more confused than ever. You think you've failed her and that's hard to take because you’re not used to failure. You think to yourself, “What's wrong with me? How can I be so successful in so many things in life but can't be successful in the one thing that matters most?“
There is good news. The crowded calendar in family court is not from the sudden failure of men to be good husbands. You are being gaslighted about how you were insensitive, need to change, weren’t the man she expected in marriage, or had the power to create her cold heart. No matter what you did or didn’t do, it would have been wrong. You cannot fix this because you did not cause this. All the reasoning she has projected on you about failure and fault is manipulation. It’s fabrication of issues where none truly existed. You did your best, and her reasoning is not proof that you didn't. You are not a failure. She is a quitter.
You’ve asked yourself, “At what point does a person decide to walk away?” Only 15% of couples are totally satisfied with marriage. The average marriage lasts just 8.2 years. Half of all first marriages end in divorce, with higher rates for second and third marriages. Either party can initiate “no fault” divorce at any time for any reason.
There is nothing fair about divorce. Many men didn't do a damn thing wrong and ended up divorced. But the point of marriage isn’t to endure it. There is no prize for making a miserable marriage last a long time. Marriage is supposed to be a partnership cemented by attraction, affection, respect and love that you enter into to make it easier for both of you get through life together. It’s like you become a team of horses, and you both help pull the wagon, and it’s easier with two than with one. But being yoked in a team with a partner that isn’t pulling is worse than having no partner at all. Sometimes you have to give up on her. Not because you don’t care, but because she doesn’t.
Famous men who had divorce initiated against them:
· Celebrities: Sylvester Stallone, Liam Hemsworth, David Duchovny, Brad Pitt, Chris Pratt, Chris Rock, Johnny Depp, Ryan Felipe, Ryan Reynolds, Jason Momoa, Ben Stiller, Orlando Bloom, Ben Affleck, Sean Penn, Channing Tatum, Robin Williams.
· Athletes: Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Alex Rodriguez, Tom Brady, Lance Armstrong
· Tech Giants: Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos
· Musicians: Paul McCartney, Dr Dre
All of them attractive, wealthy and high status. So you’re in good company. The humorous parable below further reinforces that your situation is not unique.
There’s a magical place called The Husband Store, where women can go to choose a husband. At the entrance to the store is this sign: “You may visit the store ONLY ONCE!”
Inside, there are six floors; and the men’s value increases as women ascend each flight of stairs. They are permitted to choose any man they want from a particular floor, or they can choose to go up another floor. They cannot, however, go back down except to exit the building.
So a woman goes into the store to find a husband. On the first floor the signs states, “These men have jobs.” She thinks, “That’s nice but I want more.” Continuing to the second floor the sign states, “These men have jobs, and love kids.” Compelled to keep going, the third floor sign states, “These men have jobs, love kids and are extremely good looking.”
“Wow”, the woman thinks. “This is great!” Nevertheless, she goes to the fourth floor, and the sign there states, “These men have jobs, love kids, are gorgeous, and help with the housework.” “Mercy me!” the woman says, “I can hardly stand it!” Yet still she goes up to the fifth floor. And the sign there reads, “These men have jobs, love kids, are drop-dead gorgeous, help with the housework, and have a strong romantic streak.” The woman is tempted to stop there, but she doesn’t.
Instead she goes to the sixth floor, where the sign reads, “You are visitor 32,616,496 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please. Thank you for shopping at The Husband Store. Good bye.”
As an equal opportunity entrepreneur, the owner opens The Wife Store just across the street. On the first floor are wives who love sex. On the second floor are wives who love sex and who are faithful. On the third floor are wives who love sex, who are faithful, and who enjoy sports. The fourth, fifth, and sixth floors have never been visited.

Hello everyone. I feel like I am at my wits end and I’m not sure how to handle this situation. I hope it isn’t too long.
My boyfriend and I have been together for 4 years. We started dating while I was a freshman in college and throughout school we spent a lot of time together. I didn’t really have any friends and I took the freedom of being away from my family to spend a bit less time with them (we are really close though so no problems just trying to grow up a little). My boyfriend and I would go out on dates often, went on some vacations, and talked on the phone constantly. If I was studying, walking around campus, or just watching TV before bed we were pretty much always on the phone. He did have a job during this time but really only worked about 30 hours a week and I was either in class or working while he was at work.
Over the years the amount of time we spent on the phone has decreased which I thought was normal since the new relationship excitement was passing. After I graduated I started working a full time job and adopted a dog a couple of months prior. With these two additions to life it became more difficult balancing my relationship, job, pet, my family time (I moved back home after graduation) and me-time. I no longer desired to be on the phone during every available moment and I wanted to spend more time engaging in my hobbies (reading and cooking) and I naturally spent time with my dog on walks or training or just playing.
My boyfriend hasn’t reacted well to this. I still obviously love spending time with him and we see each other multiple times a week and talk on the phone at least 2 hours a day. But he feels like I’m not meeting his needs of quality time. This issue really came to a head when I told him I wanted to spend my evening after work finishing a really good book I was enjoying. I kept texting him so he knew what I was doing and we were still chatting via text but I didn’t want to try and talk to him on the phone while I read, it’s obviously really distracting and damn near impossible to do.
We have talked multiple times about me just needing some space away from him but none of the conversations change how he feels emotionally whenever I do take some space. I’m the type to want to take some time away if an argument is getting heated and he thinks that just forces you to “sit” in the angry feeling and make it worse. I like to do certain activity’s with my family and not with him and he doesn’t really spend time with anyone else so at times he is a bit bothered that I want so many other people in my life (I am close with my family and I have been wanting to get some friends). No matter how much we talk about this he gets really annoyed and sometimes upset when I take some time to do other things and he feels like he is just waiting around for me to call him or come see him.
I’ve tried to tell him that I don’t think he has a realistic idea of how much time there is in a day to do all the things you want and need and that we cannot spend every moment that we are not working on the phone. Sometimes I feel like he understands what I’m saying but the moment that the idea comes into practice we are arguing about me doing things without him.
Does anyone have any ideas on how else I could talk to him about needing some moments of time to myself? He thinks moving in together would make everything okay because even while we are doing separate things I am still near him but that’s not really financially feasible at the moment and I don’t necessarily think it would fix the root of the problem which is just that he is clingier than I am and doesn’t enjoy activities as much when I am not doing it with him.

I decided to do this review and analysis of JellyBee Turmeric and Ginger.
I looked up information online to see if it's any good for relieving joint pain and other problems that you'd expect from this kind of a supplement.
First up is a short summary; you can see a more in-depth review afterwards.

JellyBee Turmeric and Ginger Summarized

Advantages

• A light dose of 270mg of curcumin, making it safe and effective for daily use
• Comes with 30-day money-back guarantee
• Relatively affordable at $22.99/30 servings
• Gummies come in an all-natural orange flavor

Drawbacks

• The only other ingredient besides curcumin is ginger, which is underdosed
• Missing black pepper extract to improve curcumin's otherwise poor absorption
• Fairly underwhelming effects in terms of joint pain reduction

Summary:
JellyBee Turmeric and Ginger is a decent gummy supplement for those who're looking to gain some of the benefits of curcumin. Curcumin is a proven anti-inflammatory compound that helps to boost your immunity, brain function, and, yes, joint health.
The problem here is, however, that JellyBee Turmeric & Ginger uses a poorly bioavailable form of curcumin with no black pepper extract to improve its absorption. It doesn't help that the only other ingredient in the formula - ginger - is only 12mg, either. Many ingredients are missing from the formula to make it more effective for flexibility, mobility, and long-term joint health.
The manufacturer claims their gummies absorb in your blood significantly better than capsule-based supplements but provides no evidence to back it up. While it may help you reduce joint pain slightly, JellyBee Turmeric & Ginger is far from the best joint supplement I've seen.

About JellyBee Turmeric and Ginger

JellyBee Turmeric & Ginger is a 100% natural and naturally-flavored gummy supplement with curcumin and ginger.
It comes with 60 orange-flavored gummies per bottle and has a serving size of 2 gummies per day. Taking these gummies daily, you're promised the following benefits:

• Reduces joint aches and stiffness
• Bolsters immune function
• Enhances cognitive performance
• Quenches inflammation

This is what almost every turmeric supplement claims nowadays, so how do you tell if this is the real deal?
Our team takes a closer look at the ingredients, serving size, and other factors to help you decide if this is the right supplement for you.

What's Inside?

As the name suggests, there are only two ingredients in JellyBee Turmeric & Ginger Gummies;

• Curcumin (270mg)
• Ginger (12mg)

There are also some inactive ingredients, such as sugar, glucose syrup, sucrose syrup, liquid burn sugar, etc.
It is good that you can see the ingredient doses on JellyBee Turmeric & Ginger's label. There are no proprietary blends inside. Here's how it looks;
Overall, it looks like a decent formula. There are definitely a few improvements that the manufacturers could make to make it more effective at certain things, such as reducing joint pain and improving long-term cartilage repair.
More on this below, but first, let's check what each of the ingredients in JellyBee Turmeric & Ginger can do for you, its quality rating, and the science behind the ingredients.

Curcumin

Curcumin is an extract of the turmeric root and is used as a supplement for health benefits.
Curcumin is found in all parts of the turmeric plant, with the root being the most concentrated. It has been used as a food additive and traditional medicine.
Studies have found that curcumin can alleviate symptoms of depression, arthritis, and even Alzheimer's disease.
It also has anti-inflammatory effects and can be helpful to prevent unhealthy cells from developing and growing. Furthermore, Curcumin can help to improve heart health by lowering cholesterol levels in your blood vessels.
The recommended dose of curcumin supplements ranges anywhere from 200mg-1000mg, but it depends on the person’s age and weight. It also depends on the quality of the curcumin extract that is being used. Unfortunately, JellyBee doesn't let us in on the details about where their curcumin is sourced from.

Ginger

Ginger is a supplement that can be used to provide relief from joint discomfort and inflammation. Ginger supplements are natural, which means that they don't come with the risk of side effects.

• Ginger is a supplement that people have been using for many years to provide relief from joint discomfort and inflammation. It was just recently discovered that this herb also helps with curing nausea and vomiting, morning sickness, motion sickness, and car sickness.

The root of the ginger plant has been studied and it is known that its active ingredient is called gingerol. Gingerol rapidly crosses the blood-brain barrier, reaching the brain in about twenty minutes. There, it acts by stimulating serotonin receptors in nerve cells to help reduce nausea and vomiting.

Ginger has analgesic effects on bone and joint pain through stimulation of pain sensors. Ginger has antidepressant effects in the brain, which is helpful for those experiencing chronic stress or depression. As I mentioned, it also acts as an anti-inflammatory agent and may help to reduce joint pain and inflammation, arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and asthma symptoms.
There is just one slight issue with JellyBee's Ginger. There is only 12mg of it per serving. Even if this was a high-quality ginger extract with at least 5% gingerols (which I don't know as it isn't disclosed), 12mg is still too low of a dose to provide any substantial benefit. At this dosage, ginger is just a filler ingredient in JellyBee Turmeric & Ginger that is unlikely to do anything at all.

Our Thoughts on the Ingredients in JellyBee Turmeric and Ginger

JellyBee Turmeric & Ginger contains a solid dose of curcumin, the main active ingredient of turmeric that has potent studied anti-inflammatory effects. It is one of the best ingredients to include in a joint supplement because it helps to alleviate pain while improving flexibility and mobility of your connective tissues.
But this is as good as it gets.
There is nothing beyond curcumin in JellyBee's gummies that can do much for you.
Ginger, the only other ingredient besides curcumin, is underdosed. At the mere 12mg per serving, it won't do anything here.
This is where I come to the main issue of JellyBee's Turmeric & Ginger formula - it is incomplete.
There is a lot missing from the formula to be able to compete with the market-leading joint/anti-inflammatory supplements. There is no selenium, MSM, chondroitin, glucosamine, or bromelain to name just a few. These ingredients don't just reduce inflammation or help with joint pain, but they also promote cartilage repair & protection, shock absorption, and joint tissue recovery.
While turmeric/curcumin is definitely a good ingredient, it's not strong enough to do all the work on its own! Turmeric won't give you nearly the same effects as when combined with other proven joint health compounds.

Dosage Instructions (How to Take)

JellyBee Turmeric & Ginger dosage is 2 gummies per day with or without food.

What do Others Say?

JellyBee Turmeric & Ginger isn't available on Amazon or other websites where you'd find impartial reviews. Unfortunately, the only reviews the manufacturer gives us are those from their official website, which are moderated.

What are the Negative Effects of JellyBee Turmeric and Ginger?

The risk of side effects from JellyBee Turmeric & Ginger is low. Both curcumin and ginger are well-studied for their safety, and their doses are fairly light, too (more so in the case of ginger).
That said, curcumin/turmeric does have some interactions with certain medications. If you are on any, speak with your doctor before taking this supplement.

Cost & Value

A single bottle of JellyBee Turmeric & Ginger with 30 servings will set you back by $22.99. Is it a good value for money?
Although this is a relatively affordable price, in our opinion, it could definitely be better! The main issue is that it has underdosed ingredients. Plus, curcumin on its own without black pepper extract is virtually pointless for joint pain. At this price range, you can find a standalone curcumin supplement with better absorption, no doubt.

JellyBee Turmeric and Ginger Review: The Bottom Line

The key marketing claim of JellyBee is that their Turmeric & Ginger gummies have a 90% absorption efficiency, compared to regular turmeric supplements. They do not, however, provide any scientific backing for their claims. I'm not quite sure where they got this information from! The truth is, turmeric on its own indeed has poor absorption, but when paired with a black pepper extract or certain types of fat molecules, its absorption increases dramatically.
So, regardless of if you take turmeric as gummies or in capsules, it depends on the quality of turmeric itself, as well as other ingredients its paired with.
In the case of JellyBee Turmeric & Ginger, it doesn't have anything to improve curcumin's absorption. So you're probably not going to get much from even curcumin itself here. Apart from curcumin we only have an underdosed ginger ingredient. Other key compounds, such as MSM & chondroitin, are missing from JellyBee Turmeric & Ginger.
It's a decent supplement for the price, just don't expect too much from it!
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The Haunted Mansion, December 25th, 2018
Me and my friends caught Ichigo holding the next dimensional stone wedge meant to teleport in between worlds. I need that stone to get to the next world in order to help save my kidnapped friend from Death Battle. Ichigo was standing with his back turned to us as he listed to five bust statues singing at him. They sung "Grim Grinning Ghosts" as we snuck up behind him with our weapons drawn just in case if he turns around and immediately attacks.
Holding my new scissor blade "Joyeuse", I was about to pick Ichigo's pocket before the bust statues stopped singing and Ichigo turned around and grabbed my wrist.
Ichigo: Ryuko!? What are you doing here!? I thought Wiz and Boomstick disposed of you!
Ryuko: Not good enough! I am going to take your dimensional stone because I need it to track down the scumbag from Death Battle who forcibly raped me and kidnapped my friend.... Let go of me!
Ichigo still held on before Uzu came up beside him and hit Ichigo's wrist hard with his blunt kendo sword! Ichigo yelped in pain letting go of me before he pulled out his big spirit sword or "zanpakuto" and swung an energy wave into Uzu, causing him to fly into the sky away from here
Ichigo: Getsuga Tenshou!
Me and Isaac were left. I drew Joyeuse as Isaac drew his plasma saw.
Ichigo: Take the stone then! I will defeat you a second time Ryuko, and your little friend with the glowing chainsaw!
Ryuko: I'm getting stronger in new things you stupid prick! Just wait until you get sodomized and you seek revenge!
The five bust statues began singing "Grim Grinning Ghosts" again as we engaged in the duel.
Me and Ichigo clashed blades and we stood pressing them together before Isaac ran up to Ichigo and swung his plasma saw at him, Ichigo swung his blade and blocked him before I swung and Ichigo blocked my blow.
Ichigo dashed in between me and Isaac and skillfully was taking on both of each on each side with just his big sword!
Isaac: Ryuko! He's really skilled!
Ryuko: I know! But watch this!
I jumped back and rose Joyeuse to cast one of my spells!
Ryuko: Scatter!
A bunch of little spiders dropped from my skirt and started crawling over to Ichigo's feet to bite him! As the spiders bit Ichigo he got distracted with his fight with Isaac and Isaac kicked Ichigo in the stomach and he went flying!
Ichigo slammed into a big concrete vase and it shattered, little ghosts rose from the wrecked artifact as Isaac jumped at him with his plasma saw ready to attack again! Ichigo quickly pulled his big sword up to block him once more, at a standstill now they tried to push against each other's blade.
Isaac: Why... is mon plasma saw not cutting through your sword!?
Ichigo: One, it's not physical it's an immortal zanpakuto, a spirit sword of "Zangetsu", and second are you French?
Isaac: Oui!
Isaac pushed back against Ichigo suddenly as they began to swing and clash blades again! Sparks from Isaac's plasma saw showered both Ichigo and Isaac yet they cared nothing of it. It was my opportunity to strike! I decided to activate one of my dimensional links.
I remembered how to cast them so I closed my eyes, quickly cleared my mind and imagined the friends I met in the other worlds in the form of images of their faces on orbs. I saw two new orbs containing an image of Jack Skellington and Sally, I decided to see what they could do. I used Jack Skellington's dimensional link and shouted the spell!
Ryuko: Dimensional link activate.
Upon shouting the spell, I began to feel my flesh disappear painlessly, I still had my hair and clothes, but I was now a skeleton, yet I retained my abilities, vision and strength.
I rose my scissor blade up and darkness emanated from it, causing the nearby skeletons buried near this grave-filled courtyard to rise, many of them holding medieval weapons! I then pointed at Ichigo and the Skeletons charged over to all attack him at once. The skeletons charged, grabbed Isaac and threw him aside, startling Ichigo and making him slam his blade into the ground accidentally before they all jumped on him and started beating him with their crusty, degraded weapons.
Ichigo screamed as he was pinned and was being beaten, Isaac got up and looked at me and I could see the horror in his face when he saw me as a skeleton.
Ryuko: I'm using Jack's dimensional link, it will only last five minutes.
Isaac: Oui?
Isaac shuddered for a moment before I heard Ichigo stop shouting but the skeletons kept beating him.
Ichigo: Bankai!
A spiritual energy burst sent the skeletons flying and Ichigo rose again now with his zanpakuto turned into a black katana-like sword. His power and speed was increased significantly. Ichigo quickly began to jump around and cut the skeletons down into little pieces before he slashed Isaac across the chest and blood gushed! He screamed in pain and fell but was caught before he fully fell down by another ghost.
The ghost revealed itself and it was that skeleton like ghost with the bowling hat.
Ezra: Heheheheheha! Hopefully you don't bleed out or else you will join us in our abode of souls.
Isaac: Chas V'shalom!
Ichigo flew directly at me and we clashed blades and were now at a standstill. We struggled against each other's blade as Ichigo ran his mouth.
Ichigo: What have you trained in!?!?! You're a skeleton, summoning spiders! How?
Ryuko: Magic baby!
Ichigo: Well I am not going to fall to the likes of you, skeleton girl!
Suddenly the plump ghost with the top hat materialized behind Ichigo and pulled his legs out from under his feet, he fell and scream.
Phineas: Don't worry Ryuko, I won't hurt you. Try your spirit gauntlet!
Phineas disappeared before Ichigo got up and shouted at the ghost, wanting to chase after it.
Ichigo: Stay out of this you assholes!
He actually tried to pursue it but this gave me the chance to grab Ichigo and throw him towards Isaac, where Isaac quickly whipped out his plasma saw and sliced Ichigo across the back and then batted him into a nearby mausoleum. Phineas the plump ghost materialized with a key and locked Ichigo in there as the door was quickly shut somehow after Ichigo was tossed in there.
That wasn't the end of the fight however, it only got more difficult!
A few minutes later my skeleton form regained it's skin and flesh and I looked like my original self again but once I turned back, the foundation of the mausoleum cracked and rumbled before the entire mausoleum was lifted off its foundation by Vasto Lorde Ichigo!
The taller, horned, pale masked monster of an Ichigo was very powerful and it picked up the entire mausoleum to throw at me and Isaac!
We both quickly rose our blades and sliced the mausoleum into tiny pieces within a split second, the pieces fell everywhere like tiny pebbles, we stood before the monstrous Ichigo ready to attack again, where we instead saw a red orb glow from his horns before it fired at us, we dodged out of it's way but it only exploded on impact and engulfed the entire courtyard, damaging the mansion and throwing up high into the sky!
We quickly looked down to see us rising above the massive explosion and when it was gone, the wrecked mansion and nearby houses above looked like little ant-sized structures but I could barely see the Vasto Lorde Ichigo swinging at the other nearby ghosts down there as they were angry at him for destroying their home!
Ryuko: Isaac! I got an idea for this bitch!
Isaac: Are you thinking what I am thinking?
Ryuko and Isaac: Summoned swords!
As we began to fall, we used our summoned swords magic jolting each shoulder back and forward left and right, summoning light blue swords which shot down quickly into Ichigo who was too distracted fighting ghosts, as he was being hit he looked up while still swatting at the ghosts and began firing those exploding red orbs from his horns!
They flew up at near light speed at us but we quickly dodged the pure energy balls as we continued to shoot our blue magic energy swords down into monster Ichigo, we got closer and closer to the ground and more of those explosive orbs flew at us, making us dodge faster and faster until Isaac decided to detonate them!
Isaac: Now!
We both clapped twice at the same time and it caused the summoned swords to explode, that mixed with Ichigo summoning another red explosive orb from his Vasto Lorde horns mixed to make a much bigger explosion, so big in fact that the explosion was the same size as a nuclear bomb! The mansion and so many houses were destroyed and it left a massive crater! The explosion threw both of us back into the sky, we screamed going all the way back up! Once we got as high as the literal stratosphere, we were somehow able to talk again!
Isaac: Ryuko? I think we got him!
Ryuko: Are those swords that damn powerful?
Isaac: Je ne sais pas, Ichigo's exploding orbs are that powerful though. Maybe mixing the explosions to make a bigger one!
Ryuko: Those ghosts are gonna kill us, we destroyed their home!
We then saw all the newly displaced ghosts rise into the heavens for their final resting place.
Isaac: Or maybe not. They will become one after le purification.
Ryuko: I think Ichigo will join them!
Isaac: What about the dimensional stone?
Ryuko: What? Sh-t! It's gone?
Suddenly Ichigo flew right up with us, he was no longer a vasto lorde monster but he looked beat up. He had a torn up uniform, black covering the left part of his face, a horn on the left side of his head, and a much larger sword!
Ichigo: Not quite done yet! Give it up Ryuko, you don't even have Senketsu, you are gonna lose quicker! Throw your magic at me! I'll survive it, I am using my true bankai!
Ryuko: Eat this you hollow-merged freak! Fira!
I shot fireballs from my scissor blade but Ichigo blocked them like they were nothing. Isaac moved over to Ichigo to swing his plasma saw at him but Ichigo was much stronger, swinging sideways and knocking the plasma saw from Isaac's hands. Isaac then punched Ichigo in the nose and blood squirted out his nostrils, the blood turned black and faded away!
Ichigo punched Isaac and knocked him into me! I grabbed onto him and shouted another spell!
Ryuko: Sleeperaga!
I shot the spell from my scissor blade but Ichigo caught the spell with his true bankai and threw it back at us, it his Isaac and he quickly slipped into a deep sleep.
Ichigo: You think you can just cast your little spells, go anywhere, take anything, not anymore!
Ryuko: You're just an egotistical little prick aren't you! When I beat you, you will be humbled!
Ichigo: You live in a fantasy girl! Get your ass over here!
I tossed the sleeping Isaac aside as Ichigo flew at me and he swung with immense power but I blocked his attack and we stood at a standstill, both of our bodies sprawled out in midair backs up while our arms were out on our swords holding back each other, Ichigo started to overpower me but I had one more trick up my sleeve.
Ryuko: Weakaga, bitch!
Saying that spell caused Ichigo's sword to being bending and deforming like malleable metal, I soon cut through his sword and he was dumbfounded!
Ichigo: This is not possible!
Ryuko: It is now! This is what payback looks like!
I began to batter the disarm Ichigo with my candy-cane like scissor blade, blocking his punches and getting closer and closer to Joyeuses special release form.
Ryuko: You think I'm f-cking weak? I will show you who's weak now, and I'm staring right him! I will beat your ass and take your dimensional stone and get the hell out of here! Have fun in a block of ice you samurai-ghostbuster lookin' prick! Joyeuse! Activate!
The bow on Joyeuse cocked back and when I grabbed it I began to spin with it pointed out, it didn't go into decapitation mode like my original scissor blade but it instead summoned a massive snowstorm in the air, all the ice was freezing Ichigo as it was targeted for him!
Ichigo: Screw you, bastard!
Ichigo was quickly encased in a huge hunk of ice, and the ground below us was covered in thick snow so we all landed safely on it. Isaac upon finally hitting the snow finally woke up, he woke up and got up to walk over to me.
Isaac: I take it... we?
Ryuko: Won. I beat him.
Isaac: Victoire! Zis feels amazing mon ami!
Ryuko: Sure does hon. Uh, Isaac move. Get out of the way!
Isaac looked up to see his plasma saw falling down towards him, he screamed and dashed out of the way, allowing the saw to fall safely into the thick snow.
Isaac: Oh merci! I would have been in deep trouble if I lost zis. I used it to fight the covers in my hometown. Those covers of Revocs.
Ryuko: Really! You're a tough one and I like that. Let's go get our stone and find Uzu and Gamagoori so we can get out of here.
Isaac: Certainly, honhonhon!
Isaac's French laugh literally caused me to hear French accordion music and smell cheese and croissants but it was for a moment only. Isaac walked over to the frozen Ichigo and punched the ice in an area close to his pocket, punching a deep hole in the thick ice before reaching into Ichigo's pocket and taking the dimensional stone for us to leave this world before replacing it with a regeneration elixir Santa gave him earlier.
Isaac: Happy Hannuakh monsieur Ichigo. Have a health potion once you thaw.
Ryuko: We gotta find Uzu and Gamagoori so we can leave.
Ichigo: You sure they survived?
Uzu: Yes we did.
Uzu Sanageyama and Ira Gamagoori walked over to us and they congratulated us for winning against Ichigo.
Uzu: You won! Amazing job guys!
Gamagoori: Without Senketsu too, or that mint colored glove. Senketsu?
Ryuko: The ghosts gave it to me. It can turn me into a ghost.
Gamagoori: Really! Intangible?
Ryuko: Yep.
Gamagoori: Well now, anyway, we were wrong about you. You surely improved, and I think we have what it takes to save Mankanshoku. However we need to get home now.
Ryuko: Fine.
Uzu: When we get back to nudist beach. I'm going to tell Satsuki of your achievement. I will take a picture and send it to her, maybe she will change her mind and help us out.
Ryuko: Hopefully.
Isaac placed the stone down and a portal formed above it. We all jumped in and Isaac was the last one to go, grabbing the stone and taking it through the portal before it closed.

but how does that work? and, how does grad school in general work?
i'm currently a community college student transferring to the university of florida in spring of '25, and i'm seeing a lot of different stuff regarding how grad school works and what is best for it in this field. mainly, the prerequisite courses for grad school are something i don't totally understand as well as just general requirements to enter grad school.
people say i would need statistics, calculus, chemistry... and i will have those on a basic level, is that good enough? the major at UF doesn't require anything higher than regular stats, calc 1, and chem 1, which is a huge reason why i chose it (as i'm not bad with math, but that and the concept side of chemistry is a huge weakness for me imo). but i've seen people say that grad programs won't accept anything less than ochem, and will probably want more than even that (huge concern! lol).
what are other requirements for grad school, generally? i know it hugely varies from school to school, but it's quite confusing. i'm unsure if grad school is like a job application (as i already hang around on ecolog-l and the a&m job board, both are posited as places to look for grad school opportunities), like a school application (where you take classes, get good grades, apply, and get in if you're lucky), or both.
any advice is appreciated as i'm not first gen but also don't know anybody who has gone to a regular grad school :/

I cannot express to you how glad I am that this series is over. Like I said when I first read TNAIM, there was a lot of potential initially, but unfortunately, Piper continued to disappoint with every plot twist. Book 3 ends off with Nox & her pals killing Millicent, aka the Hand and the Hammer, who I totally almost just called Pollux. And Amaris and her pals are over killing Queen Moiroi. Who we still have no answers about, btw. I think it's kind of ridiculous that if you want to know what is up with that whole business, you have to buy a special edition of this book just to read a 100-page novella explaining it when it could've been explained in the actual book, but whatever.
The first 100 pages involve Nox dream walking back and forth between everyone and explaining to them all what happened in the last book. Then she has dream sex with Malik. I hated it. Ash and Tanith also bone, it's also awful. I will say that Piper’s writing has improved a bit. Unfortunately, this was still a slog, especially towards the end, but it was far easier to get through than the last three books. After all the dream conversations and sex, they make the decision to travel to Sulgrave to try and forge peace with them or something despite the fact that Tanith was sent to their continent from Sulgrave to genocide anyone with human/faerie blood. I think it was kind of incredibly stupid to have that knowledge and then decide to make a journey across the Frozen Straits where many people are known to die with next to no supplies but more on that later.
Before they cross the Straits, they decide someone needs to be left behind to rule over Aubade(but not Ceres' kingdom?). So, who do they choose? Fucking Malik. Despite the fact that Malik is a reever and is meant to be like a witcher and play no part in the king's wars, etc. But it's fine because his girlfriend asked him to do it. So, if you're a Malik fan, I'm sorry to tell you that he gets shelved for 85% of this book. He's left behind while everyone else goes to Sulgrave and only shows up for a few dream convos with Nox. I skimmed the last three chapters, so I don't know if he even shows up then. But he definitely wasn't even there for the final battle...speaking of, there WAS NO FINAL BATTLE. Personally, I think it was dumb as hell to have Nox herself go to Sulgrave especially when she only just conquered these kingdoms and hasn't even had an official coronation or established her power in either place. Like she basically pulled a khaleesi and was like okay you're free from your evil leader now...but I'm going to peace out before I can do anything to help improve your lives. Good luck! This is my friend Malik, he has no idea how to run a kingdom either but don't worry guys, I'm sure you'll be fine. I'm gonna go cross a treacherous frozen landscape even though I'm the only heir to these thrones and hope that I survive!! stupid as fuck lmao.
There's a point where Tanith uses her demon-controlling ability to summon a bunch of harpies to spread the word of...something. And that's all they do. They never show up again. Also, the northern lights show up, which made me LOL because she keeps just cherry-picking things from other mythologies and tossing them into her fictional world. The northern lights, or aurora borealis, are named that because they were named after the Greek god of the north wind, Borealis and the Roman goddess of the dawn, Aurora. Like, plz, Piper. This would be fine, but this is set in a world where there is literally only one religion, and that’s the All-Mother, so where are we getting these names from? There are mentions of old gods, but they’re never expounded upon. I would love it if she somehow told us a backstory where this used to be our world, but something happened to make it so there's only the religion of the All-Mother or something, idk. If Sulgrave managed to cut itself off from the rest of the continent why do they all have the same religion?? It doesn’t make sense.
I do like that some things from the older books are making a comeback, like the teleporting carriage the Madame had. (I still want to punch Amaris for being like, ‘Oh, this belonged to the lady who wanted to buy me,’ and then thinks nothing of Nox, as usual. Oh, it’s not like she had to go in your place and be forced into sex slavery or anything, aha) I was initially pumped that they were going to go back to the university(also big LOL there's only one university in the entire continent. apparently very few people get educated in this universe....which makes sense considering they're all so dumb) to get the greenstrike blood to help Tanith(another thing that is hardly explained or utilized) but that was the world's biggest disappointment just like the university plot was in book 2. Amaris went there, overreacted when Gad said they were just fight pals, broke into the room of prophecies from HP, and then magically healed Gadriel’s broken wings, and ran away. It was all just convenience for the plot. It seemed entirely useless. If they’d actually done something of note there, this plot would be so much more exciting, too. I was initially excited to see the potential drama of Amaris and Gadriel returning there, but we didn’t even get that. Instead, Yazlyn goes to negotiate with the university while Amaris and Gadriel make out in the forest. It felt like a complete letdown for some actual interesting tension. Then after this, the three of them have to travel across the frozen straits to meet up with the others in some mysteriously hidden boat. Amaris has to be carried by Gadriel and because he has a magic body-warming ability, they’re relatively comfortable while poor Yazlyn is just SUFFERING. I do understand why she’s so miserable and won’t stop complaining but Piper really has a talent for writing dialogue in the whiniest, most annoying way possible. All I wanted was for Yazlyn to stfu even though I completely get why she’s so angry.
Eventually, they make it to the boat. Gadriel tells Amaris that Nox getting sold into sex slavery is not her fault. I mean…I’m gonna be real, I disagree. While Amaris may not have used her compulsion on Nox to force her to wait, she did tell Nox to wait for her and gave her the expectation that she would come back for her only to abandon her at the first chance and not even think once about going back for her. Nox could’ve been waiting out there for just a few minutes longer before she was caught and sold to the brothel. So, it’s still Amaris’ fault. And it’s Amaris’ fault for being so self-centered that she never once thought about what might’ve happened to Nox or about getting back to her. If she did think that Nox had escaped, why wouldn’t she ever once think about where Nox was? What she was doing? If she was looking for Amaris? You can’t convince me Amaris doesn’t suck, Piper, I’m sorry.
So they travel for like two weeks on this frozen lake on a skiff on skates. It’s boring and it sucks, for them and for me. There’s a monster hunting them that only Amaris can see. The part when they dance under the northern lights was hilarious because it says they dance like the man who first discovered fire, so I imagine them all dancing like cavemen. Then their ship gets broken, and they use all their convenient powers to fix the boat(just realized that Malik was likely left behind because he has no powers), and the monster attacks. It’s called an aboriou but I literally kept reading ‘an abortion’. Amaris tells everyone to fly away so she can face the abortion and she’s all like ‘oh no I have no weapons’ apparently forgetting she has a shock wave scream. Gadriel almost drops Ash so he has to set him down and readjust his grip which draws the abortion’s attention and Amaris just keeps flailing her arms like an insignificant ant trying to get the abortion’s attention, apparently forgetting she has a shock wave scream Don’t worry though, she remembers it as soon as Yazlyn gets swatted out of the sky like a fly and Tamlin almost gets eaten. She can apparently punch shock waves into the ground now? I don’t remember her learning that ability but okay. She beats up the monster, Tamlin tames it with her demon controlling ability?(they literally said the abortion isn’t a demon it’s an animal, but okay) and then nox befriends it by giving it all of their food supply. So. Great ruling there nox.
They get to sulgrave and everyone is shocked when Tamlin turns out to actually be a criminal. They get taken to some Diplomatic hall and talk to these people who are in charge of different territories and they all have special color-coded outfits. Nox and Amaris finally bone, and they have magic communicating flowers in their room that have no on or off button so the poor guy at the front desk probably has to sit there and listen to them boning.
I need to take a second to mention how uncomfortable the polycule in this story makes me. There’s Amaris who’s apparently in love with Nox, who is also getting head from Malik on the side who is also kind of Amaris’ brother. And then Amaris is in a weird uncomfy BDSM relationship with Gadriel who is also Nox’s cousin. Amaris is the immaculately conceived child of the goddess who was made based on a prayer from Daphne, Nox’s mom—and Nox’s dad, Ceres even says that Amaris is kind of like his daughter. So it’s like…one big weird incest square almost, and I don’t like it. I want poly rep but…not like this lmfao. This makes me uncomfy. Not to mention how Gad literally tells Amaris that he owns her and she belongs to Nox so Amaris is in this really toxic throuple where she’s being shared by two cousins who own her??? Not to mention the super bizarre obsession with Amaris losing her virginity.
The relationship between Yazlyn and Ryu came out of nowhere. They shared a sort of look that’s supposed to suggest they’re interested in one another and then suddenly like idk a hundred or so pages later we get a POV from Yazlyn where she’s talking about how into Ryu she is and how great their first date was but we missed all of that which I find a huge bummer. For a story that was advertised as a bisexual fantasy I was really expecting to get to read about some actual romantic relationship building between two women. There is honestly none in this series whatsoever. Yes, I know the two lead women are meant to be in love and the main couple of the books but they spent 3/4 books apart and in this one they barely talk. We got more from the relationship between Gadriel and Amaris than any other couple. I can’t relate or empathize to any of these relationships because I didn’t get to experience them blossom at all. It’s just suddenly slapped on the page like oh btw, they’re together and deeply in love now! Am I supposed to be happy for Yazlyn that she's staying behind with Ryu? How can I be when I don't understand why? I never saw any of the things that convinced her to stay.
Ash risks it all to save Tanith which is the dumbest subplot to me. You cannot make me believe that Ash and Tanith really love each other I’m sorry but you can’t. Ash goes to Tanith’s church to try to like cajole them into releasing Tanith and he’s like ‘she should be proud of me I went to her church for her!’ Like...her church that wants to genocide you but yeah! I will never buy that these two are genuinely in love. Trauma bonded? Okay, maybe. But Tanith literally has changed zero of her opinions about half-faeries, which her boyfriend Ash happens to be. Sorry, but no.
I don't know how it went from Ash asking the church if he could see Tanith to everyone getting arrested but somehow that happens, and everyone blames Ash. I really wish there would've been more time delving into the church and how it was a cult and shit but...it's not that at all. In fact, it's written in a way that basically makes no one culpable of their shitty racist thoughts. More on that soon...
Meanwhile while everyone is imprisoned by the genocidal church, Gad and Amaris go on a hike up to the winged part of Sulgrave to visit Gad’s parents. The winged fae are called seraphim and are described as dove-winged which confused the shit out of me because don’t Gad and Yazlyn have black feathered wings? Are seraphim specifically white winged? If Gad’s parents are seraphim then why does he have black wings? Also seraphim--another thing cherry picked from yet another religion. really using that folklore degree for good, piper. Anyway, they get to his parents house and they’re not home so Gad immediately is like oh we have a house to ourselves and I can smell that you’re no longer a virgin so let’s fuck(ew)! Amaris is like….I don’t really want to but since I know Gad doesn’t take no for an answer I’ll have to use my safe word but…I’m not gonna do that...instead I’m going to literally fight for my life and make this man best me in battle before we’re allowed to fuck. Then precedes some incredibly rapey quotes.
her gasps of protest and pressing hands were mere signs of encouragement to the predatory male.
For months, he’d stopped her advances. For months, she’d tried and failed to lure him into exactly this moment. The message was clear. This was not her choice; it was his.
Meanwhile, this man is literally beating her up and tying her up not accepting any protests unless they’re accompanied by the word snowbird. I know she was trying to do like some kind of mr and MRS SMITH sexy fight scene but the reason that scene worked is because they’re two people who were in love that were genuinely trying to murder one another. This reads as one person very convincingly trying to get away while the other refuses to let them. Oh and then also when they finally do bone THERE’S NO FOREPLAY. HE JUST GOES STRAIGHT FOR PENETRATION. But the orgasm was so good that her sonic scream shattered all the windows.
I won’t lie I kind of blacked out most of what happened after this because it was so boring. Somehow Amaris & Gadriel team up with Ryu and some other people from Sulgrave to go rescue everyone. I don’t remember how they got Tanith out but she somehow helps Amaris and Gadriel. Nox does exactly what Amaris did in book one when she called out Moiroi for casting an illusion and calls Daifa out in front of everyone for implanting memories which is why everyone was a racist. Daifa’s response is oh well you’re just a liar and a false queen. Now everyone is fighting. Somehow the abortion showed up to help out too. Nox literally kills Daifa in a fucking dream and that's it.
Oh, there's a part where they fight the church, one of them telekinetically throws a lot of swords and shit at Tanith and Ash dives in front of the swords to save her but somehow not a single one pierced Tanith(that's not how that would work at all but okay piper, whatever you say). So I'm just imagining the tips of all these swords just embedded in him hahaha. Anyway, Ash dies sacrificing himself for the nazi girlfriend who wanted to genocide him and then gets turned into a fucking GOLD COIN and is never mentioned again. my god.
The main bad guy is never killed because apparently this is mean to lead into the Villains prequel but...This book feels like it’s the start of a new series, but it’s supposed to be the finale of this series yet it’s got an open-ending to lead into the prequel series of the villains. Which again, if it’s a prequel series it takes place before this series so why did this series need an open-ending unless of course, there’s going to be sequel series to this which if there is I am going to shoot myself. I’m begging you Piper, let Amaris die. She sucks.
So this book is weird to me because we defeated the big bad in the last book and now there’s a new big bad in this book who never gets defeated so…I’m confused. Like how would this series be finished then. I feel like she’s going to magically be like HAHA SIKE ITS NOT OVER THERES FOUR MORE BOOKS COMING OUT.
Oh, I do want to mention to any of you who’ve been purchasing the character art of Malik that that shit is traced. Look up the Entertainment Weekly cover of Charlie Hunnam when he was promoting King Arthur. The wrinkles on his shirt, the sword hilt, the placement of his fingers, the wounds on his arms. All of that is traced with a disproportionate head of like Liam Hemsworth slapped on top. Do with that information what you will. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
And that's all I have to say. Goodbye.

Sorry for how long this is about to be. Me(20m) and my girlfriend(20f) have been dating for 6 months now and we are both very much in love. She is one of the best parts of my life and there are few things that make me as happy as she does. She’s very physically affectionate, always kissing, hugging, clinging onto me, it’s great, but we also know how to create space when needed. We met in college where we have next to all of our classes together. Since getting closer we’ve been able to build a strong relationship with lots of honesty, trust, and openness; even when it’s ugly. We spend lots of time together, go on plenty of dates and do sweet things for each other. Our relationship is almost ideal. One thing I have struggled to be honest with her about however is my dissatisfaction with our sex life. For context her and I are both coming from two very different places in terms of experience. I have a pretty extensive sexual history whereas she was a virgin when we got together, having only dated and messed around with women. We didn’t actually start having sex until pretty late into our relationship. Knowing she was very inexperienced and likely intimidated by the prospect of sex, I established that I wanted us to go at her pace so she’d be more comfortable. This resulted in several months of me doing foreplay for her only without anything in return. To be fair I was fine with this and never put up a fuss as I don’t really need it as long as she was satisfied. I was also operating under the assumption that we’d be having sex at some point down the line and therefore was willing to wait. We discussed having a conversation about sex early on but she either forgot about this or neglected to bring it up as months passed before we had the conversation. We only ever had it after my asking if she remembered us talking about it. The conversation itself only really amounted to her asking if I had condoms, which I assumed meant she wanted to try having sex. For more context I put a lot of pressure on myself in the bedroom. Not trying to sound like a douche, or talk myself up, but I like to ensure that my partner has a very satisfying experience. I’m always sure to ask and communicate about what does and doesn’t work for them both during and after the act. Given how much I was doing for her at the start of the relationship I became very familiar with her body and how to satisfy her in those ways so I assumed sex would be a cake walk. When we did finally have sex it seemed fine, she finished, but I didn’t really feel any spark or passion as I didn’t feel I was getting much from her until the end. I wrote that off as first time awkwardness and looked forward to the next time. This however, was the start of another issue. We would often go a week or two without having sex. In the course of our six month relationship we’ve had sex a total of 7 times which to me isn’t entirely satisfactory, as I’m used to a higher frequency but I figured she just needed time to get used to sex with a male. The second time we had sex was pretty bad and I beat myself up for it quite a lot, feeling like I was at fault for her not being satisfied and the overall lack of passion. I desperately wanted a redo and would only get the chance a couple weeks later when we were on vacation together. The sex then was great, almost night and day compared to what we’d been doing. I figured we’d finally gotten in a good rhythm and she’d gotten used to the feeling of sex, having had it three nights in a row. However we soon returned to going weeks without having sex with one another. I was totally baffled and eventually decided to talk to her about my confusion with our situation. We’ve always been very honest about what we do and don’t like in the bedroom, so I told her I was unahppy with how infrequent sex had become and the overall lack of spontaneity in our sex life. She assured me she enjoys it and has been wanting to be more active as well which confused me, but I brushed that aside excited at the prospect of this issue being resolved. That brings us to the most recent time we’ve been together. It was, again, terrible, there were moments she said where she was feeling good but overall the experience seemed more painful for her than anything. This has really thrown me for a loop as I thought we’d gotten over this hump. And yes I know everyone has their off days but adding all this up I just feel a general dissatisfaction and with a core aspect of our relationship. Sex has always been a very important part of my life, relationship building and even self expression, silly as that sounds, and I worry I may have to give that part of myself up if I continue in this relationship. The prospect of losing her over something as trivial as sex in the context of our wonderful relationship really tears me up inside. I love this girl so much but we just can’t seem to make it work in the bedroom half the time. I’d keep talking to her about it but everyone I do I worry that she’ll feel pressured to put on a show for me, and then who’s enjoying that? I also feel as if it makes sex seem like a bigger deal than it actually is everytime we have to have sit down talk about it. I’m just not sure what to do, any help would be appreciated.
TLDR: me and my girlfriend’s sex life has been very touch and go and I’m worried it’s because we are sexually incompatible. I’m not sure how to deal with this.

Hi…. Not sure where to start but I (48M) and my wife (43F) have been on a rocky road these last few years and man is it tough. She has been battling/in denial about “minor” depression coupled with anxiety for years and has finally agreed to go to therapy. She has yet to actually make an appointment, but promises she will. We have 2 kids and what I consider a good life… decent jobs, good home, and honestly a pretty comfortable lifestyle.
We like many married couples have experienced a decline in intimacy since kids, and out libido gap has grown significantly in the last few years. We have had many talks, with me mostly initiating them as I am the high drive one. She always agrees that we can do better and makes promises that she will be more aware.
Not sure what this post is about, maybe it is just my way of venting or gaining perspective. But man I am starting to struggle more and more with being g the driving force to make things better. We have fallen into what I call the trap of routine and what is comfortable.
COVID I believe impacted my wife more than me in terms of become more of a “homebody”. We both have become what I feel a lazy, but I am trying to turn that around.
We recently got back from vacation where in my head I was hoping it would be an opportunity to increase our connection, and start to rekindle our relationship. It was a cruise (not my favorite but wife and kids like them), and kids had a separate room so in my head I had this feeling like some real privacy would make her more comfortable, and be able to just should some level of desire towards me. I guess I set my level of expectation too high. During the time leading up to the cruise I dropped several hint on how we would finally have to alone time and she seems to agree with me which only fed into my expectations.
If it is not obvious by now, things did not really change. Going into vacation we average sex 1-2 times a week, but to get to two I feel I have to be on the verges of badgering her. I feel bad about this but I find I cannot help myself. I just want to be close to her. Of the 7 nights we had sex 2 times, both I had to initiate, and the second felt like she was just doing it because I asked, I.e. she barely put in any effort.
We talked briefly about it on the ride home best we could and she apologized, and said she had hoped for more herself at least indicated she was trying. She indicated that that night we would have sex.
Fast wire are to that evening and we somehow convinced teenagers to go to bed early and we now have some quiet time. We go to bed, and her routine is to “wait until the kids are asleep” before we can be intimate. Well as I figured would she falls asleep. Well after about 20 minutes of her sleeping she wakes up and was like I am sorry let’s have sex. At this point I am like no just go to sleep your obviously tired. So she insists a little. Probably a little TMI but she takes her bottoms off and leaves her top on and tells me to get undressed. Well we have been together for 15 years and I know this means she will lazily work to get me just hard enough with some oral and then lay down and then we have sex, this is what happened the second time we had sex in vacation.
This is where my current frustration kicks in and I am not really in the mood for this. Honestly I get little satisfaction from this and i feel she when she does this it is just to check the box so when i ask to have sex again she can say we just had it X days ago. So I turned her down, and she seemed mildly angry at first but fell asleep almost immediately after getting dressed again.
The next morning she said nothing about it, I was going to leave it be, but I casually mentioned how she fell asleep rather quickly, and she said yea I know but then you turned me down, I was totally ready. I just left it as we have talked about this before and I am not getting into it.
Long post, and not even sure what I am expecting her, just frustrated I guess and hoping for the best. I will likely force a conversation about this but I just think it will be more empty promises. I honestly love my wife and I can’t imagine not being with her. But damn this getting harder and harder.

Well it's done. I (31M) broke up with her (28F). We were together for 6.5 years. She's seen me through working at customer service, to office jobs, getting fired at those jobs, to finally at my current company for 5 years. I have been with her before she started pharmacy school and her residency. Seen each other at our highest and at our lowest. Have had multiple pets. She is keeping the cat and the bunny. I am keeping my tortoise. I will question it almost everyday. If I did the right thing, is there a way to get back together, etc etc. Somedays will be harder than others, but I will move on. But I ended it. I love her, but I don't see a future with her. I want to get married, have kids, own a home. But I don't want that with her. And it's not fair to string her along if I don't have the fucking backbone to do it.
But if I am going to get past this. I have to think what will no longer happen and what I will look forward too.
What will no longer happen:
Having to always be the second one to shower, despite being extremely tired and can barely keep my eyes open. Having to tell her where I am going in our place (even when going to the bathroom). Having to change my plans that I set up way ahead in time, just to accommodate her's. Feeling ashamed to watch ANY anime because she would judge (it's a "kid's show"). Getting attitude when I text one of my long time female friends and talking about them and their husband trying for a baby (attitude because it's a female). Being told that since I don't work 11 hour shifts, I should be the one to clean up (I work in construction, I am both mentally and physically tired everyday). When I finally do get something my way, she brings it up when my family comes over and paints me in a negative light. When talking about a movie I saw and being told "I don't care", I was looking forward to telling her for hours about it.
Looking forward to:
Someone who has common interests with me. Who asks me about my day and listens (even if it's an act). Who helps around the house. Actually communicates with me about their feelings, needs, love language. Someone who wants to go to geek conventions with me. Who's sexual interests matchup with mine. Someone that looks up from their phone when I am talking to them. Not having to check in like I am lost kid. Takes the time to wrap gifts despite knowing what they are (it's more sentimental to me). Who finds jokes funny "road work ahead? Ah yeah I sure hope it does".
There is a post I read that truly speaks to me:
"Consider this. Surgery is frightening. Someone will literally be cutting open your body with a knife. There will be pain after. There will be a time that you have to heal and recover, after. Given all of that, would you refuse surgery to remove a tumor that was slowly killing you? It's time to make the choice that will be difficult, will be painful, will be hard, will require healing from...and will free you from the cancer that is currently sucking away all the joy in your life. You can do this. But you have to go through it to get past it."

I can’t quite remember how long, or is it you have to chant “goblin man, goblin man, adhd-goblin man” x3? I don’t like this, I never have, I never will. I’m officially self undiagnosing my adhd. My brain will now undo the special pizazz. If any of the “omg I’m soooo adhd, I just have so much energy and I hate school work!” Type people would like this “quirky little personality trait” then it’s my present to you, free of charge. I don’t want it. Please take it. All of it. It’s free.
Also I literally spend 2.5 hours doodling a little adhd coupon for this, only to realise no pics allowed :(

I 22m have been conflicted about this for awhile so maybe some insight from random strangers on the internet might give me some insight or clarity.
Around a year ago my lease ended and I was living in Washington. Around that time I was talking to my grandma over the phone and realized she wasn’t doing too well. She’s definitely a shut in and kind of a hoarder. I had gotten Covid and I would talk to her a lot during that time because I knew she didn’t have many people in her life besides my aunt and uncle. During this time she suggested I’d come and live with her in my home town in colorado. which I thought was a good idea because that would give me an opportunity to save money and connect with some family I hadn’t seen in years
I move in for about 9 months. During this time I offered to help her with bills but she wouldn’t let me. I felt bad for not contributing so I would help her with random tasks around the house and buy her dinner a couple times a week to show my appreciation for letting me stay.
During the first month would go to my aunt and uncles and visit and they would pay me to do odd jobs around the house until I got a job.
After that first month I got a job but I would go and help them for free when I had time doing things like setting up their shop or moving things out of their garage. I was under the understanding that family helps family and I tried my best to be a good nephew.
This is where things took a turn for the worst. Around month 6 of me living at my grandmas, my grandma had a a series of strokes which made her lose function in the left side of her body. When she got out of the hospital my aunt who is a nurse decided that my grandma should live with them so she could be under watch cause there was a high chance it could happen again, and my grandma needed a more handicap accessible area to live. I thought it was a really good idea!
I was 21 at the time and didn’t feel like I’d be capable of working a full time job and taking care of her the way she needed. Then it got time to selling the house my grandma had owned
My aunt found a family member that would buy the house. The house needed a new roof and a couple other things fixed before they could sell it so the agreement was I could live in the house until they sold it.
so my daily routine would be going to work coming straight home showering and going to bed,besides my room nothing in the house belonged to me so I didn’t touch anything. I would eat at work so I didn’t even need to use the fridge or anything.
Then summer hit and the house had no AC so I instead of staying at home I’d pack a bag and crash at my moms who had AC. All my stuff was still in the room however. My understanding was my aunt and uncle would be packing up the house and cleaning it while the work was being done to the roof. I was getting all my information on when I should be out of the house from the Buyers who are family.
I never received any form of communication from my aunt and uncle Asking me to do anything around the house. Which I would’ve done if they had asked They didn’t reach out to me until about a month from the sell date to tell me that they needed the dresser out of the room I was in that night. They were going to send my cousin to come grab it. I was not available during that time because I had plans a month in advance for a concert. That was my first issue with the ask they were making.
My second issue was that my cousin who was picking it up is a drug addict and I had 500$ in tips from my job and my expensive pc set up on the dresser and I didn’t trust him with taking the dresser and not stealing anything.
My third issue with that request was the lack of notice I got and there refusal to compromise with me when I said I could either do it later in night when I’m back from the concert. Or the next morning. A 2 hour notice wasn’t gonna cut it for me.
I was sending texts to my aunt explaining how that time didn’t work for me and that we should do it later than that. She started getting mad at me because I wouldn’t cancel my plans and go help move the dresser. When I told her lack of respect for my time was crossing a boundary she accused me of being on drugs. (Which is ironic because her son is actually on drugs) she called me and started screaming at me. So I raised my voice back at her. She was bringing up old family drama that she had with my mom before I was even born and completely disrespecting me.
I decided fuck the concert I’m going to go back to the house to get all my shit and move out. I went to my mom’s and explained the situation and she told me she’d help me move into her place. I get to the house before my mom does and my uncle pulls up blocking my car. He gets out shoves me and says if I ever talk to his wife like that again he’s going to put me in the ground. I didn’t even say anything warranting that response. I didn’t even swear when I was talking to my aunt earlier. At this point I realize that family might not be what I thought it was. I finished moving all my shit. Blocked my aunt uncle and cousin on all socials media. Haven’t talked to them since.
Then I was talking to my grandpa and he sided with them because they accused me not cleaning when they asked and unplugging the freezer. Which I didn’t do. I do wonder if I was harsh about blocking them all after everything went down. Like still feel like I was disrespected but it’s still my family I guess. I know this was a long read. But if you got this far, am I the asshole?

Being sensitive, smart, charming and super into you in the beginning. Having amazing chemistry. I saw a special person in them, and they were. Then after 3-4 months, when I said 'I like you' on a spontaneous date night, something flipped. When we got home he used his frustration to have sex in a bit of a controlling way. Then his behaviour changed, like I had unleashed a dark side towards commitment that he knew he could not meet. Almost seemed mad that I said I like you.
Then he would start to show flaky behaviour, sometimes I would still see his warm side, sometimes cold. I could not get my finger on it but he would be more busy with work. Making me a priority sometimes and sometimes not. Talking about 'i am not good with this' about relationships. Could not state his feeling for me while we had amazing chemistry and I could really feel something special was there. He seemed one foot in, one foot out the door. I could see he was a good person and I could see the internal struggle in him. So I did not push him, because I saw something vulnerable in him. Yet he was terrified of being vulnerable.
I felt like he was testing me, sometimes being relieved when I would do or say something that was 'proof' to him that I was a good person. Yet he would always play it safe on his side, downplaying feelings, like if he would say he cared about me it would mean he would give up control so it would be a dumb move. Basically he backed me into a corner where he would be the one that pretended to not care, not wanted commitment, kept in the gray area, but would give me high highs and wanted to be sure he kept me right where he wanted. Close enough to be there for him, not leave him, be there for him when he wanted, enjoy dates, sex and have fun together, being faithful to him, waiting for him, hoping to get attention from him. With him not having to be vulnerable.
This all was very bad for my nervous system and would doubt myself more and more because he was so into me in the beginning and made it seem like the reason for his behaviour was me not being good enough. I now researched this behaviour and I think it was his own insecurities towards commitment and vulnerability that made him devalue me. Because I was being vulnerable with him and wanted commitment. Towards the end I naturally wanted commitment more and more (dated for 9 months), and the tension became higher and higher. He felt this as my needs he could not meet and pulled back more and more. He would also be busy with work, text back later and later. He would mostly come to my place for a date, we always had the best time, amazing sex and then in the morning he would pull back, being busy with his own life. I felt he give his all when we where together but not wanted to discuss future plans or meet family. Then he would call to pick me up for a romantic date that he planned and ask me where I wanted to get married and if I would want to live abroad and what kind of house etc. Then we would have this amazing day together being closer, and then I knew he would pull back for a few days. Like his internal clock just did not want to get too close.
Towards the end I did not hear from him for 3 days, and we had texted every day for the 9 months we dated. Then I got a text from he saying sorry for the late reply but I bought a house. He told me he was looking into it but more in a exploring, bidding for fun kind of way. I felt hurt he did not include me and ignored me for 3 days, but I responded happy for him, but ofcourse a bit guarded. He felt confuesed about this beviour too I think and when we met for a date he was all into me again, but made a weird comment about us being exclusive (we said not to date other people) 'when you tell people the can't date other people they are going to do it without telling', some sort of comment when he talked about his friend being in an open relationship. I felt it was his way of bringing it up, by discussing his friend in an indirect way. When I said 'are you dating other people then?', because I was confused about his comment. He said 'no, I don't know what i want'. I think he felt confused but also did not want to hurt or lose me. He then was extra sweet to me saying he wanted to go home so we could talk better than in the bar we were.
The he asked me if I wanted to help him with interior design ideas for his house on Pinterest (he knew I like this because I have a style advise website and this is my thing). Also it was his way of involving me. I think he did want to open up in this way to me, it was his way of trying. Me being me I went all out on Pinterest and made a board for this (looking back it is funny because this must have scared the hell out of him, but this is just the way I am). Ofcourse I wanted to make these steps with him because I was (still am) crazy about him, and I like interior design so I would have done the same for any friend or anyone that would ask me to do this haha. He said thank you with a lot of emojis when i sent him the board but I think it triggered him, this and a comment I made about one of the pins for his 'wine basement' (he drank too much and tried to drink less - it was a joke but I should not have said it, I was totally triggered and burnt out of walking on egg shelves trying not to trigger him).
Then in the following days he would pull back, saying he was going through a hard time and needed space. I gave him space but I was also very triggered because I felt him pulling back. I was also going to a burnout at the time, and all the stress triggered my eating disorder to the worst ever. I had it a bit before i met him but the worse his avoidant behavior became the worse my eating disorder got. I think we triggered each other in this way but actually loved each other as well. It was clear we both at this point where 1000% triggered into our core wounds, probably both afraid we would be abandoned and therefore neither of us could think straight or be vulnerable.
Then my birthday came up, he did not knew this because he never asked me those kind of things. Yet he was always helping me with things is my life and I knew he cared about me. I asked him if he wanted to go on a birthday date with me. He said he was busy and he did not know it was my birthday. This made me mad and hurt. I said in a joking way well than I will ask my other date to go on a birthday date with me. Wrong comment ofcourse but I was so hurt by the 'you are not important enough for me' once again. Then he just responded that he things he should not date (at all) right now. And that he always had a good time with me but that this is not what he needs and that he can't give me what I need. Over text. I asked can you call? Then I called him and he picked up saying he couldn't talk because he was at a party. I responded with okay, he heard i was totally done with him and said sorry. Then offered to talk. He talked with me on the phone while his friends where there? To avoid being vulnerable i think. Saying we did not have good communication. I was totally devastated and confused because he blindsided me. It did not make sense because i knew he had feelings for me. My heart was so broken and confuesed.
2/3 weeks later he texted me if i wanted to meet up. We did and we had the best time again, he was all open again and said he was sorry. We did not bring up issues too much, actually we where just too happy to see each other again and just enjoyed that we could be together for the night (as if we knew he could shut down any time again). He said he was going to a very hard time with the stress of buying a house and his dark thoughts got very bad when he broke up with me. He said sorry for the way it happened and he said i have not seen you for 3 weeks now, that is way too long. My eating disorder got very bad after the break up so I was very skinny. I could see he was worried and when I was almost asleep he kissed my forehead a few times. I felt maybe we could take things slow again bit did not initiate. He texted me he had a really good time and to keep in contact.
At this time I got my burnout - short after the break up. And got sent home from work. He did came to see me few times. Like he was checking up on me, he would actually act like we where still dating, then disappear again. Text me to ask about random things but not really follow through. Since then we have been looking at each others Instagram stories and liking each other pics. I really miss him.
Later we met up at his new house to talk about things. His friends were there too, we just hang out until they left and then we talked. He seemed scared to talk and shut down. I sais I am not going to ask you any hard questions but i kind of need to talk about this. He seemed relieved and noticed I was having more stress about this than him because I felt taken advantaged of. I think he recognised my distress. He said he had a great time with me but was not in love and did not see a future. He said we obviously have great chemistry so it always gets out of hand (why we have sex when he did not see a future). I think he was totally deactivated. When I was there I could see he was happy to see me, our chemistry was still there and we looked like those in love excited people that see each other again. His friends laughed a bit about us and i could notice he told them things about me/us. It still felt the same between us and i missed him. What he said and did did not align at all. He said he was not in love but acted in love. We had sex and in the morning I could see he was texting another girl. Then he would turn around and have sex with me. I knew she was a distraction for him so i did not even care. I know this sounds weird but I just wanted to be with him and the feelings between us where still there.
He reached out a few times on Instagram and whatsapp, last time asking how I am doing after 6 months (my burnout etc). We talked about that i am working again and doing better. He said he was happy to hear and we talked about his work short. I asked him if he wanted to meet, he said he is going to France tomorrow but to have a coffee when he for back. I saw on his stories he was with a girl on that trip. I did not ask him to meet for that coffee. He did like my pics on Instagram after that. Now I saw him going on a big trip with the same girl, taking selfie together. She is 23, he is 31 (I'm 31 as well). I was very hurt thinking how can he do this with her and not me.. Ofcourse i know nothing about this but it is super hurtful. Maybe its just a honeymoon period, he is big on taking trips escaping from his issues. Maybe it is more i don't know.
This really hurt me so bad. Because i truly loved him and know he is a good person. But it really devastated me, and doubt myself. Thinking maybe it was my burnout/eating disorder? How do I make sense of this? I still love him and just hoped if I would get better with my burnout and recover and he would take his time we would get back to eachother. We did sent each other hearts on social media but I think we are both scared to be actually vulnerable again. Mostly him because I have asked to meet up. He sometimes started a conversation but then did not follow through. Asking if my parents already bough a house in France (plans when we were together). And then when I answer he does not respond, but likes my insta.

I am trying to figure out if I have been ghosted for being the asshole. I was invited over to eat at someone's house and bring the kids (all old Millenials). We missed two exits and were 40 minutes late, which (I think) ticked my host off. I profusely apologised for it. The person also has a kid of my eldest age, hence mine & theirs immediately hit it off. So, I thought we were ok.
We spoke for hours and seemed to have an awesome time. We both also brought our partners, who also hit it off.
The next day I sent a thank you message, where I again apologised for time issues (we left after midnight and may have overstayed our welcome). I didn't get a reply.
The day after I sent pictures of our kids together (they were very cute). Also, no reply.
I think I've been ghosted for talking too much, being late, staying too long and maybe also taking the pictures of our kids. I think the host does nog like me anymore as we were still in the process of becoming friends. I really like them and truly believed it was mutual, so am triggered by this and ruminating on other situations where I wasn't liked back.
Am I the asshole for being and staying late, talking too much & the pictures?
Or could something else be happening and should I not be so negative?
How do I move forward?
Or maybe I need to calm down somewhere...

I have really bad anxiety, manic depression, focus and memory issues, and ptsd keeping me from working (I’m getting professional help and actively working on it, but it takes time, I hope to make friends who can understand that) so I’ve got lots of time on my hands on weekdays. I spend most weekends at my bf’s so I’m less available then but would still message. Anyone near my age wanna talk about random stuff, exchange pictures of nature and our pets throughout the days, maybe call while on walks or playing games or watching movies after we get to know each other through text? I’m a better texter than a talker but after I’m comfortable with someone I get better at talking.
I prefer Reddit’s chats instead of messages because I can refer to your message while I type mine (memory issues). I have Discord and Snapchat but want to talk here a while first. I’m only looking for wholesome, platonic friends and will not reply to anything flirty or inappropriate. I don’t reply to one-word or low-effort messages, I’m sorry! I’ve found that generally those convos aren’t worth trying to carry. Sometimes it takes me a while to get back to really long messages because of focus issues but I do my best and love people who are more thorough in their responses or aren’t afraid to ramble so don’t be afraid to message as much as you’d like!
Hope to hear from you! If not, I hope you have a great rest of your week! …Not that I don’t hope you have a great rest of your week if I do hear from you, but I’ll probably be able to know how your week is going and hope it’s great as it happens so ya know. Anyway, yeah, what are you waiting for? Chat me up!

Starting off with the most important shell type, APHE. APHE can be divided into 4 types, base APHE, APHEC, APHEBC AND APHECBC.
Base APHE, if it penetrates, it explodes. The explosion will range from outright killing crew or modules or slightly damaging them. Damage will depend on the amount of tnt equivalent in the shell, which u can check on the shell state card. 50 grams will be a reliable one shot if u aim for centre mass. Will not explode on thin armor BTW, so don't use it on AA vehicles and lightly armored tanks.
APHEC, APHE but more effective on angled armor. Long story short the shell is now more adapted to facing angled armor because of a soft metal cap which deforms and normalises the shell to meet the angle of the armor plate.
APHEBC, APHE but more effective at penetration over distance. Shell modified to be more aerodynamic, so it now loses less pen over distance. Exceptions included though, Russian APHEBC is not only a effective over longer ranges, it's also really good at angled armor penetration for some reason. If ur Russian tank has APHEBC and APHECBC, could be a tough choice to make, but bring some of both I guess.
APHECBC, APHEC AND APHEBC had a baby. The perfect shell. If ur tank has it, USE IT. It is the most common round every tank has.
Now onto solid AP, These are basically APHE without the ability to explode. Instead, they cause a cone of damage which can either kill or lightly damage something. It doesn't explode in a circle like APHE, instead it relies on spalling, relying on the mass of the shell, the kinetic energy of the shell after penetration, and the armor thickness penetrated to calculate damage. In short, if you have a choice, don't use it, but if ur a French or British tanker, RIP. Same story for AP with APHE, it gets regular AP, APC, APBC and APCBC. The modifications do the same thing, now with no more explosion after the armor is penetrated.
HE, or high explosive. If it hits anything it goes boom. Isn't very effective on guns of a caliber below 120mm, but still viable when using them on paper targets. They're very useful for taking them out quickly instead of spamming ur machine gun and AP at them. In short, bring a few rounds, maybe 5 just to use them against paper tanks.
Now of ur caliber is bigger than 120mm and ur HE has at least 3.5 kg of tnt equivalent, you can do something called overpressure. You know how HE explodes in a sphere to cause damage? What if you get a really powerful HE and explode it on a thin roof? That's overpressure. You aim at the turrets of enemies, shoot the HE, the HE explodes and cracks the thin roof right under the turret. As long as these processes happen, it's a guaranteed one shot. "What if that tank doesn't have a turret?", then shoot anything that could trigger a HE on the roof of the tank destroyer. Eg, the commanders cupola or vision slits. Works the same.
Now, HEAT. Honestly if you have a choice, Don't. Low tier HEAT is ass. If you want armor piercing properties, use APHE as it probably has more pen than heat anyway. If you want something that explodes, HE. If you're still insistent on using it, it works like this. Detonates on impact like a HE, but it produces a line of damage which upon armor penetration, will kill anything that is in that straight line m. But remember, IT'S A STRAIGHT LINE. Unless you have god tier aim, you are not killing that guy in one shot.
Lastly, APCR. APCR kind of works like heat and solid AP, that being it has the properties of AP but it damages enemies only in a line like HEAT. Yes, penetration compared to standard APHE is much higher, at 5he cost of piss poor damage and extremely poor angled armor performance. This shell SUCKS at penetrating angled armor, if the armor is at more than 10 degrees, no chance. Your only hope of using this shell is against very flat armor plates to penetrate a heavily armored tank frontally. Seems bad, but honestly not too bad of a shell to have. If ur a newbie, you could bring a couple rounds to fight a tank u cant pen. Just remember to aim for flat plates. As for me though, I bring APHE and HE instead because I'm confident in my knowledge of weakspots.
Honorable mention, Russian shrapnel shells. What are these for??????? Their penetration is piss poor, their damage is OK at best, and they aren't even a good choice to bring..... I have no clue why u would want to use these shells, but be my guest.
Conclusion, if ur gun has high enough penetration at the tier or ur confident if ur Weakspot knowledge, bring APHE(CBC) and a couple rounds of HE. Otherwise, APHE and APCR work fine.
BTW, if ur gonna use Russian tanks, use the APHEBC (MD 8 Fuse) on the 76mm t-34s and APHEBC and on the 85mm t-34s 👍 if ur Russian tank has APHEBC and APHECBC, choose between better angled armor performance or higher Base shell penetration.

So I’ve seen a bit of discussion on here regarding the extent to which the quiet is meant to represent the God of the Abrahamic tradition. For me, this it it was evident in how he presented Ushara in the first third of DQ. They were a literally biblically accurate angel straight out of Ezekiel, with the wheels and eyes and all. This seems to be further confirmed when Hadrian meet Ragama. Just to go through some points on how CR is explicitly referencing the Abrahamic God as opposed to some abstract deity:

• Biblical Hierarchy and conflict (Fallen angels / servants of quiet being the primary antagonists)
  
• A singular entity with a will / personality ( Always referred to with “He”)
  
• Declaration that everyone who has died will return at the end of days from whatever is after the Howling Abyss
  
• Straight up bible quotes. Hadrian is openly unfamiliar with Christianity, meaning these references are lost on him, so it is a clear signal from the author to the reader which diety we are dealing with here.
  

There is more to talk about here, especially regarding Hadrians talks with Álbe, but this post is already long enough.
So what do you think of the character of the quiet, and more broadly the nature of His conflict with the Watchers, being so explicitly familiar?
Does this take away the possibility of a more interesting conflict / character, does it feel out of place in the story, or is it adding a compelling theological angle to an already compelling series?
P.S. I am only 70% of the way through DQ but I couldn’t help myself with this question, avoiding talk of the ending would be greatly appreciated.

This is my experience with TAPP AIRSOFT.
I bought an AAP01 adapter for ARP9. Payment, all ok, except that it took much longer than expected. And after the LONG wait ... the adapter DID NOT WORK. It did not fit in the AAP01.
I contact them, and they decide to send me another one, because they had sent an old version.
When the new ADAPTOR arrives, it fits well in the AAP01, but the ARP9 magazines do NOT fit ...
I send them videos showing the error, and they answer me, “we have sent you another old version, we send you another one ... ( very professional to send 2 times old versions that do not work )
They send me a third adapter, and to my surprise ... it fits well in the AAP01, but again the ARP9 magazines do not fit and the HPA connector has air leakage ...
The solution they give me is the next. “You have to take the parts that work, and put them all together so you can have a functional adapter, if it doesn't work, we will refund your money”.
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I listen to them, and assemble everything, and to my surprise .... IT DOESN'T WORK !!! I only get it to shoot 1 bb. They tell me to print new adapters and new lips, as they were not correctly printed ... and I keep listening to them, I try to find a 3D printer and print the files.
But it still does not work, and the measure taken by TAPP AIRSOFT is to block me and not give me my money back, after the hours I have spent and all the printed material on my part, in something that NEVER WORKED.
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Conclusion. It is not worth paying a high price for adapters that are not final, are demo's and do not work. Very bad experience. Not recommended.