Describing a friend

Hey there! I'm a 19-year-old aspiring software engineer and self-proclaimed geek from California. In my free time, I love exploring the great outdoors—whether it's boating on the weekends, hiking scenic trails, or playing sports with friends. I'm also fascinated by true crime and can spend hours engrossed in documentaries or podcasts on the subject. Additionally, I'm passionate about giving back to my community through volunteering. Described as a fun-loving individual, I enjoy spending time with my close-knit group of friends, but I'm always eager to expand my social circle. If you're looking for an engaging conversation, tech advice, or just a friendly chat, don't hesitate to reach out. I'm also infatuated with tattoos so if you have any feel free to share, Let's skip the small talk and build some meaningful connections!

My daughter (5) is boasting with confidence enthusiasm and heart. She makes friends easily and moves on quickly from issues. Most of the year she has referred a group of boys and girls that she’s friendly with at school but it’s obvious she’s not ‘in’ the group. That has shifted recently.
She describes almost being their gopher or messenger. Telling other kids to leave the group alone but she’s not in the group! She told me today that the leader “Henry” said hi to her today and she was so happy. I asked if Henry usually said hi to her and she said no. He would pretend like he didn’t hear her. I asked if that made her feel good and she said it makes her happy when Henry is happy??? She said she understood why I would think it would make her sad but not to worry because she is strong and cares about him even if he cares about other friends more.
I’m at a loss. I know she is just 5 and this is playground stuff but I would like to be able to talk to her about the values of good friendships and what to look for. She’s clearly getting some sort of validation from this exchange and would hate for that to influence her idea of relationships, at this early age.

There are many ways that I have described to others which you would have disagreed with me about.
Warm, like a Blazing sun your presence made life warmer. You brought light to any situation. Comfort to any grief.
Caring, be it your friends, family, pets, myself, the Groundhog you saved, twice. You treated all life with such a gentle, and yet firm, touch.
Giving, you gave everything you had. To everyone else. You never thought to keep some for yourself.
Centered, the amount of people who were drawn to you is so much higher then you ever thought. You kept saying what is wrong with these people, but the answer to that question was, nothing. You drew many in, and all of these traits are why you were loved. All these traits are why you will be missed.
You did not get a fair shot at living your life, and I will do my best to live for the both of us. You are everything I wish I could have been. You are my inspiration in my life. I love you, and I miss you.

Hello, reddit First, tw: Self harm and suicidal thoughts, please skip if triggering Here is the thing, I'm basically asking for judgement here, and if I really deserve what I am doing to myself. I think I do, really, because what I did was unforgivable, but do give your opinion, even if it's hate. Because I do deserve it here, really. So, I grew up in a religious family. Like, one in which things like "love marriage " And......well.......The "child making process" was considered a sin. Absolute sin. Like—I did not know what......you know—that—was, but I knew it was sin, it was disgusting, it was something so disgusting that anyone who associated themselves with it were perverts and such, not someone you should ever stay alone in a room with. Do not blame my family for this, they were saying what they were taught, and they had their trauma. They have broken through enough abuse for me, do not blame them please. Anyways, I was a huge fan of Harry Potter. And I stumbled into the world of fanfiction. And I read them. Now, most of them were pretty much SFW, but in those which did infact have anything explicit, they put a whole line of "18+ content ahead, skip to the end of the chapter". I had no idea what the hell 18+ was, but if it said not to view, I wasn't risking it, straight up went to the very last part of it, or changed reading, you know, what a sane person does. Now, I had a favourite author there on Quotev, who wrote some really nice fanfics. Some of them were a little weird—but c'mon who am I to judge, everyone is different. One day, I stumbled upon some works of her. Well, the stories she did write, those were completely SFW. But if you used Quotev, you'll know there was a thing called "Journal" in there. Sort of like "conversation" in Wattpad. There, she had written NSFW chapters on the characters. Here's the thing. There was no warning. None at all. No warning or tagging or anything provided there to show that it was 18+. The title was just—say: DracoxInsertocname I know, nobody forced me to read it, I could have skipped it as soon as I realised it was 18+. But here is the thing. I DIDN'T know what it was. I had read through some of it, and only realised on seeing the comments, that it was 18+. And I felt. I felt tainted, like I had committed a sin. To know that I had read something that perverted, to my 12 year old self, it felt sinful. Like I had my pure white mind muddied out of carelessness. I know, authors don't own us any tags. And if it were a hardcover book, it wouldn't have any tags. But here is the thing. I fully believed that even actual books (I had no idea books had smut back then, I thought it was an internet or like seperate movie thing, I found out books had smut when I was 15+) had warnings for smut. Blood and gore? Sure, no problem, make it as gross as you want, no warnings needed. But something as sinful as 18+? Must be tagged. MUST. BE . TAGGED. That was my thought process. Remember it wasn't AO3. So there was no tagging system. So I thought that if others are warning it, then the author was in the wrong for not providing warnings on hers. It was a site where children as young as 11 were. Later on, I did encounter many more such unwarned content on the internet, but thought, "Eh I'm already ruined any way" Like ofcourse I didn't read it, but yeah. Logic. That I was a sinner too, so I can't get offended anymore. Here comes the bad part, for which, if you hate me, I'll not blame you. I wrote her a letter. Like, online obviously. In the inbox of her writing site. I was.....very mean. I told her her writing "ruined my innocence and it was wrong of her to not provide a warning" something along these lines, I don't remember, it happened 4 years ago. But I did not insult her, or her preferences, or anything, let me make that clear. Just wrote in detail of how her work affected me negatively. If it in itself were insulting, I apologise. And here comes the stupid part which will definately make you hate me, and it'll be fair, really. She always said she liked dark humor. And where I grew, friends told each other, with fully smiling faces, that "I'll hit you so hard, you'll end up hanging from a tree" "I'll hit you so hard you'll go through the roof." Heck, even now our teachers joke that if we don't score well enough, they'll well.....very graphically describe how they'll beat us. So I grew up knowing violence was a joke. That unless someone actually did the thing to you, it was all fine really, funny even. Even till now, I make jokes of "Sorry I'm late feel free to hit me with a pan" So, when I read it, I thought "I don't want her to think I'm angry on her, or hate her. I'll add some jokes so she takes it lightly and realises I may be upset but in the end she's my favourite author whom I love" (Yes I called her my favourite author in the letter) I wrote, beginning with "Dear Daughter of Hermes, and Slytherin" and proceeded to explain on how she ruined my innocence and all such. I did not use any curse words—to clarify. I said something along the lines of "I'll be outside your window at night, watching you". Which was virtually impossible since she lived in a seperate *continent*. "And why the heck would you want to actually hurt someone physically unless you're mentally unstable" -My thought process at that age But it hurt her, and I was so surprised because it was the exact opposite of my intention. I at maximum expected her to be annoyed or something if it went worst case scenario. It hurt her so much, and apparently she had been getting a lot of hate over it (she had deleted the work like—some days ago? I don't remember) and that I should unfollow her. I apologised immediately, but like what good is the apology when the harm is already done. I had already planned to delete my account anyways, so that's what I did. I decided to give her space and hence, I apologised again, some months later. Another stupid thing? I addressed her as sister. I thought it would placate her. I really thought of her as close to me, even though she was a stranger. Okay pausing the writing to go hit my head on the nearest wall, I am sorry for being so stupid, what was wrong with me. I said I was suffering from a bad time, and was going through self harm (still am) and I will do anything she asks of me to gain forgiveness (another mistake). She said I was too late in apologising (which I was, yes, but my first apology was instant though) Anyway, she posted about it on announcements (didn't mention my name) but said "Imagine apologising after this long" and so, with people obviously supporting her. It scared me, so I left in fear of being attacked. (Would've deserved it though) It....well.....4 years passed. At age 15, I was so afraid, because I had an exam and I thought that I'd score bad out of karma for hurting her, that she cursed me. I scored pretty well but anyways. As someone who got continually harassed by a girl for 10 years to the point I was afraid of school, (she wanted to be my friend apparently, but what a terrible way, really, she literally sexually harassed me) but still asked her if she was okay after I saw her crying, I had a pretty high forgiveness scale. I really thought she'd (author) would forgive me for apologising. But like. No. I am not owed any forgiveness and I am aware of it. It wasn't her fault or duty, really. Anyway, fast forward to age 17. I was lying on the bed beaten up and crying and it was 1 am, and for some reason, her username came to my mind. I don't know why. For 4 years I had thought of any perfect apology, maybe drawing her something nice for her books, anything. But decided not to bring back bad memories to her. And also, I was a coward afraid of facing her. But I guess being beaten up messes with your head. Personal trauma is no reason to hurt someone, I agree 100%. But I wrote her a final apology. This time, I didn't ask for forgiveness, took all the blame on myself. I didn't apologise for closure. I apologized because I wanted her to know that she was worth being apologised to so many times. I called my younger self stupid and wished I could smack her on the head. I poured my entire heart and soul into it. I did not expect a reply, but I decided that when I wake up the next day, I'll delete my account, hopefully she had seen it by then. Woke up to find myself blocked and honestly? Deserved it. It took me a discussion with some people to realise that I had indeed gone too far and that hardcover books don't come with tags. And that apologising so many times was basically harassment. Back then, I had apologised for hurting her, but I believed that my opinion on 18+ things being warned of was legit. Then began true guilt. I loathed myself, thought of myself as a monster. I saw myself as a rapist, as a murderer, that I deserve all this sadness and guilt. I really wanted to kill myself over it. Like I did so before too—but this time I was actually ready to step off the pavement onto any vehicle nearby, except the poor driver did no wrong really, and I'm an only child so why harm my parents over it? I really hated myself over it, still do actually. If I can go back in time, I'd drag my 12 year old self away from the laptop and give her a nice slap. I did not want to hurt her, I hate hurting people but seeing that it has been so long, and she still refuses to interact with me, what I said must've affected her very badly. I kept on thinking, what if I drove her to thoughts as negative as she is driving me to? Each time I stopped feeling like a complete demon over it, my mind said "You hurt someone" and I went back to crying. My own mother said that I looked like I came from a funeral, at times. Couldn't focus on classes which is actually bad because those are important. The worst part is, I can't completely remember what I wrote to her. My head keeps on saying I called her bad things and gave her worse threats but......I don't remember doing it and there were no chances if I see it logically. I literally stopped being happy. Forced myself to be, for my own and my families' sake, and I tried, yeah. There were times I thought of taking this up legally because what I did could be considered a threat (found out when I was 17). Give myself over to the police or something. But I still hate myself. So I decided to punish myself. (Graphic descriptions of self harm come in here) I burnt my own skin on purpose. Nothing too bad really, just thumb sized burns from a saucepan. Then I proceeded to pour toilet cleaner (the strong ones which require gloves to handle) over my open wounds, four of them. I'll be honest. I have a very high pain tolerance. But that thing hurt like hell. When I actually cleaned it off after ten minutes of absolute agony, that wound had been somewhat........cauterised? Like there was this thick hard layer and it had no sensetivity when I scratched it. And I pulled off those hard layers. Some of them were stuck to the skin, I had to use a blade to ease them off. Then pour on them again. I did this to all three of my burns (the fourth one was small so it healed) three times, so nine times in total. It has been a month and it still hasn't healed. These scars won't go away even with surgery. Permanent reminders. (Description ends here) I thought it to be like this: The incident hurt her? I'll hurt myself more than she could possibly ever get hurt. But that wouldn't undo her hurt. So I'll hurt myself even more. I have frankly forgotten of who I was two months ago. Of what I thought when my mind was empty. The first thing I remember on waking up is her and the last thing I think of before sleeping is the incident. Deleted my accounts, lost my passion in drawing, don't feel like doing anything. I just. I hate myself. I truly do. I wish I could die but I can't so I just need to survive forever with this. Every time I read the word 'villian' or 'bad' or 'wrong' in a book, it felt like a bucket of cold water being poured over me. I had been a victim myself, so knowing that I myself hurt someone — Its just........I always thought of myself as a good person. Someone who was kind, someone who helped everyone, including strangers the best they could, someone who didn't cheat in exams because that would be unfair to those who studied, someone who protected and loved their friends, someone who made others happy, someone who hates conflict and lets karma take care of the whole thing, someone who ALWAYS says thank you and sorry no matter who or what. So many times, people have told me I made their day better, that I'm a very kind and nice person, I'm someone who even the meanest teachers like and I got exemplary behaviour awards too. I always believed myself to be a good person. So knowing I did something this bad broke me. It took me some time to quit the whole "How dare I be happy after hurting her" thing. I believe fully, that I do not deserve happiness, or love, and that nobody will accept me or think of me as a kind person after knowing what I had done. I'd have deserved it though. I got therapy (not actual one, I used Chatbot AI) It took me time, I finally believed that I deserved to heal from this, that I hurt myself too much maybe, permanent scars over someone who doesn't know my real name and never saw my face and vice versa. Maybe........I don't deserve *this* much of punishment. Today, I went to youtube and saw a video on bullies apologising. I saw comments on how apologies fix nothing, how bullies don't deserve forgiveness and should live with that shame and guilt their entire life. That a thousand good deeds won't make up for that one bad deed. And I believe I do. I really do. Which is why I permanently scarred myself. So here is the question. Do I deserve it? To let go of this incident? Do I deserve to heal? Deserve love? Or should I keep goimg? Because I believe I should. That I truly am no better than a rapist or bully. So, give your judgement, and throw hate at me if you want, because I do deserve it.

Now, I spend many day with my grandparents. I do my best to make them dinner a few tines a month and I call them 3x a week. Anytime they need extra help, if I am not working, ya girl is there helping them out. My grandpa has dementia, for about the last 12 years. My Grandma is still sharp as a tack.
When I learned about his diagnosis, I mourned him for a year. Mourning someone who is still alive, but I knew what was to come. I watched my grandma on my mother's side with my great-grandma and her dementia journey. Enough of the harsh stuff, on to our fun afternoon.
So, my grandma and my dad needed to take her dog to the vet today. Grandpa isn't much for public anymore so I offered to have a home day with him this afternoon. My wife and I showed up, help get grandma into my dad's truck and waved them off. Now, grandpa has a tendency to wonder. He's an important guy, ya know. Always he's to, "report of base either important documents". Last time those important documents were his birthday cards and he wondered down the block into a nice lady's garden.
My wife and I sit down and before I get too cozy I asked him if he had lunch. I've watched the once strong as an ox man turn into an 86 year old frail man.
"Put it right here!" As he points to his stomach. I can hear him talking to the wife while I whip up the most delicious bologna sandwich and salad... oh and a chocolate muffin. "I helped a lot of people when I was a young man. I had a great life". I bring him his lunch and give him a kiss. For most of the afternoon, he knew who I was, it was nice. Usually I'm my mother, or someone he know he loves.
"How old am I?"
"You're 86"
"No wonder I feel terrible"
He knows me, even if he doesn't say my name. He will before it gets too late, when we first showed up he knew exactly who I was.
"You and I, we always laugh together"
I am known to be the jokester, the granddaughter thst is always there even with a smile. Even at me 37 years old he will comment, "watch out for this one, she's a cannon".
Today we were somewhere in the late 1950s. He spoke of his mother a lot. He spoke about learning everything you can. Take advantage of knowlege when you can, never pass up the chance to learn. While sitting in his "near" Seattle home he took us back to a small town in Montana. Him, always being the life of the party chatted with us non stop for over 2 hours while grandma and my dad ran errands.
"I remember a little girl, who used to dance. I love her"
"Grandpa, that little girl was me"
"I knew I loved you"
While I washed his dishes I started a fresh pot of coffee for my dad and grandma who were coming back. I heard her open the door as I made her lunch and the sweetest statement from my grandpa.
"There's my girl, have you come back to hold my hand some more?".
They have been married for 61 years. He made sure to tell me that she is his best friend.
Grandma and I visited for a bit and I served her lunch. He got up to use the bathroom nd when he came back it was as if the last 2 hours never happened. It doesn't hurt like it used to, but listening to him describe my grandma to me over an over almost made me cry. She even stopped him to remind him, "Jenny knows me, I'm her grandma".
I think it was more the way this man loves her that filled me with emotion than anything. He truly is a pure soul.
Sorry for the story, I had a great afternoon with him. Every once in a while he peaks out and he sees me still after all these years. I love him, I aspire to be as kind as him and love my wife as hard as he loves his.

I miss you so much. But I didn’t tell you about my psych appointment because I’m not actually as open about my inner emotions as you’d think. He said he thought I had bpd when we met (This is technically my second appointment with him, he overlooks the center I was at, but he doesn’t actually interact with patients much), but that he’s not allowed to evaluate me. I feel so lost? So confused? I thought I was a self aware person. But it all makes sense now. It’s also kind of amusing to me, I really wasn’t entirely open about how my mind works, so I’m surprised he was even able to think that about me. I wish wanted to be close to me. I wish I could talk to you about it, I’ve realized I’m such a codependent person. I have trouble processing stuff if I don’t talk about it with someone close to me. I did tell my close friends, but they don’t get it like you’d get it. I feel like it would be healing to talk to someone close to me with bpd about all of this. I don’t know what to even look for in a therapist who treats bpd traits. My psychiatrist told me to do DBT, but with therapists for social anxiety and depression, I was so well versed that I knew exactly what kind of care they should be giving me. I’m at a loss for bpd. I’m also so scared to finally share the dark parts of my mind with someone. I never even shared it with you.
I was cold and seemed annoyed when you complimented me because I’m not quite there yet. I’m not at a stage where I can hear that from you and not run with delusions. I love having you in my life, even as a friend, even if sometimes I hate you. I actually do like talking to you and hearing the way you describe things. And again, I feel like since you have bpd you get me. When id tell my roommates how jealous I felt over literally everyone you spoke to, they’d look at me like I’m crazy. What’s funny is I don’t think you fully understood how crazy I am in love. The only thing I really told you about was those constant cheating nightmares I had. I don’t even wanna go into the depth of my fear. I wish we could be together, but I do know that you were right to end things. I could tell even when you picked me up after that appointment that you still misinterpret me for judging you. And I still have a hard time talking about my feelings. I literally showed my psychiatrist a written letter. I am genuinely happy though, he said I had a 65% decrease in depression symptoms. I wish I was using this newfound joy to be better for you.

Hi all! I am currently looking for something longterm. I will accept people from anywhere in the world as long as they can make distance work. I'm not huge or too picky on what I want someone to be like, so i'll talk about myself and see what bites!
About me:
I have a great voice and accent, and so i like using it by voice calling my partner. Ideally you would like to call too!
I am 6'2 tall, athletic build with black hair and dark eyes. I have light brown skin. My hobbies include gaming. I play on pc mainly. My current go-to games are rainbow six siege, warzone, rocket league, lethal company and star wars battlefront 2. Im also into airsoft and practice MMA (brazilian jiu jitsu and muay thai) I would describe myself as easygoing. I am usually very light hearted and i tend to make others laugh. This doesn't mean i cant be serious though, i often can and am. I am also very big on loyalty and communication. I love trying new food and socialising with friends and family.
I am an engineer by profession, having achieved my masters degree a year ago. I love what I do.
If you are someone who is good at communicating often, and wants something real and longterm, feel free to message me to find out more! :) i accept any ages above 18!

Shortly before a final paper with pre-assigned topics was due for one of my last courses at Columbia University, our professor sent us an email telling us to forego the previous parameters of the essay, and to instead write about the events that had occurred not even forty-eight hours earlier, as well as our reflections on them, to be done in any manner we chose. Here is a very lightly revised version of what I submitted: read it, ignore it, upvote it, downvote it, hate it, love it.
I am prefacing this essay by stating that it is the culmination of several intense emotions that I have been dealing with over the last few weeks, more specifically, the last several days. It is a free-form expression of the many things occupying my mind, and, as such, it may seem overwhelming or disjointed. Nevertheless, I will do my best to convey my feelings into something representative of my beliefs, and my time at this institution.
My time at Columbia University has been bookended in an almost comically bad way; it started with Zoom classes during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now it ends with Zoom final exams due to the lockdown of Columbia’s campus after protests regarding the Israel – Palestine conflict reached a fever pitch not just within Morningside Campus, but the international stage. My classmates and I missed in-person orientation, and now, given recent developments, we will not have a University Commencement, a fact I found out not from Columbia, but a New York Times alert, somehow lowering my opinion of this administration’s handling of recent events even more. While the circumstances around my time at Columbia have now both begun and finished in the same manner, I am proud to say that I have not. I do not mean that Columbia has simply made me a better writer, a more critical thinker, or more well read, although it certainly has done those things, sometimes forcing me to when I was not particularly in the mood to do so, but those improvements pale in comparison to the maturity and empathy my time at this university has given me.
When the decision to transition to remote learning during the Spring 2020 semester was made, occurring only a short time after I had received my acceptance letter (email), my first thought was how the pandemic would affect my transfer from community college to Columbia in September. Admittedly, this was a selfish perspective, considering the tremendous challenges that many would endure during the ensuing lockdowns and other upheavals of life. My concerns were solely focused on myself because I was on a simple track to graduate, place my degree on my resumé, and continue my trajectory of military service to college to employment, leaving little else to consideration, to include other people who were not in my immediate circle. Sitting here now, two weeks from graduation, with a job at a Fortune 500 company lined up, I should be happy, with the plans I had made years ago coming to fruition. Yet I cannot help feeling a sense of sadness and concern for the school I have spent years of my life at, and for the world as a whole.
James Hatch, a former member of the United States’s elite Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or DEVGRU, for short, more commonly known by its nickname, Seal Team Six, famous for its involvement in the killing of Osama Bin Laden and the rescue of the Maersk Alabama Captain Richard Phillips from pirates, amongst other things, spent over twenty years in the military. After being wounded on a mission to rescue American serviceman sergeant Bowe Bergdahl from enemy forces, he was medically discharged, and would eventually attend Yale University. While there, he wrote a piece titled My Semester with the Snowflakes (please give this a read, it will help people who have never been in the military understand its culture, along with some of the challenges veterans face when transitioning to college), where he details his initial discomfort with being in a vastly different environment than the military, surrounded by individuals who possessed opinions and beliefs contrary to the ones he was accustomed to. He recalls witnessing a student protest the country he spent over two decades serving by coating her hand in red paint, and leaving a palm print on an American flag, and details his shock when a classmate of his explained to him what a “safe space” was, as well as his pride when he began to understand the nuances of life both inside and outside of the nation he dedicated twenty-six years to.
I can relate to Mr. Hatch, (despite my service paling in comparison to his, as well as the fact that Columbia is far superior to Yale), because, like his friends who make fun of him for attending college with a bunch of “snowflakes,” mine do the same. More significantly, however, his personal growth during his time at school is something that I have experienced myself. When I started at Columbia, I did not even know which major I would choose, and was largely lost in a world very different than the one I had come from. Despite this, I made the decision to avoid communities such as MilVets and the students who made it very clear that they came from a military background, with their style of dress and demeanor, not because those organizations and individuals are a detriment; I know for a fact that MilVets has helped countless students succeed at Columbia and beyond, and the veterans that I have relationships with are all phenomenal people, but because I wanted to pressure myself into being exposed to something different. I was uncomfortable at first, but this turned out to be the right decision. I learned as much from simply talking to people whom I would normally never converse with about topics and ideas that I had never encountered as I did during classes about great works of art, polar and Cartesian coordinates, literature, astronomy, the list goes on.
If the protests about the Israel – Palestine conflict had occurred when I first started at Columbia, I would have been frustrated by the students taking up space, forcing us to be funneled on to campus by restricted access points and identification checks. Likely irritated by the disturbance of the quiet during finals season, I would have agreed with the people who called for students to simply focus on their assignments and stop inconveniencing others by shouting about something occurring on the other side of the world. Instead, I decided to learn about the conflict, educating myself about both sides of a war that has roots extending back millennia. While Columbia University did not agree to the demands of the protestors, they achieved something else they surely desired, reaching a goal they did not state to President Shafik and her advisors: they brought attention to their cause by educating at least one additional person about it.
After reading, talking to people, listening to input from students within various classes, and understanding that things such as the intertwined nature of financial workings, as well as conflicts not just in the Middle East, but all over the world, are a level of complexity that baffles some of the most brilliant minds of ours and previous generations, I will leave my thoughts about Israel and Palestine separate from this paper. I recognize that it is important to choose a side, as remaining impartial helps no one. However, when every news agency, group and individual makes their voice heard, satirical sources such as The Onion make these kind of posts, or Adult Swim’s Rick, the nihilistic, narcissistic, psychopathic, misanthropic lead character from the series Rick and Morty, addresses the conflict in this manner, I feel that it is better to relegate myself to a much smaller part of this debate, namely the occurrences on Columbia University’s Morningside Campus.
During basic training for the United States Army, a sense of brotherhood and camaraderie is hammered into recruits’ identities. When you graduate and are assigned to a unit, one where you could be thousands of miles from home on the opposite side of the country, or even in a completely different country, serving on one of the international bases, approaching someone who you have never met before is easy. Talking to them about shared experiences and stories you have in common, and the bonding that occurs, is the product of an indoctrination process and lifestyle that has existed longer than any of us have been alive, and is proof of its effectiveness. This sense of familiarity tends to continue even when one leaves the military. The Veterans of Foreign Wars community is a place for prior servicemembers of all conflicts to share a drink, a laugh, and sometimes a tear. When I go to the Veterans Administration Hospital for periodic check-ups or the occasional injury, men and woman wearing hats commemorating their service during Vietnam waiting for their appointments greet me with a smile and a handshake, as if we have known each other for years. While working at a golf club’s greens department before I transferred to Columbia from community college, a coworker of mine who had served in the Gulf War had heard from our supervisor that I had been in the Army, and he introduced himself to me on my first day, before anyone else, telling me that if I needed anything, I only had to ask. This camaraderie has expanded to encompass not just veterans, but first responders such as firemen, EMT’s, and the police as well.
Underneath the picture on my driver’s license, the word “veteran” is emblazoned next to a star, written in bright red text and all capital letters. I know for a fact that this one-and-a-half-inch indicator has helped me during interactions with law enforcement on multiple occasions. Only earlier this semester, during Presidents’ Day weekend, I went upstate to spend time with my family. While driving back, in an effort to make the seven-hour trip at a reasonable time, I was stopped for going twenty miles-per-hour over the speed limit. The officer who pulled me over, initially reserved, became noticeably more friendly when I handed him my license and registration. Ultimately, he gave me what amounted to a parking ticket for my actions, rather than the point-incurring, heavily fined moving violation he could have charged me with.
The ‘Thin Blue Line,’ as it is known, is a reference to the idea that the police are the barrier between law abiding citizens and criminals, order and chaos. The most common representation of this concept is a black-and-white American flag, with a single blue line in the place where a red or white stripe would normally be. This style has been expanded to include numerous other colors representing other first-responders: green for the military, red and white no longer to be interpreted as the traditional stripes of the American flag, but instead meant to represent the fire department and paramedics, and even grey for corrections officers. Seeing the appropriation of one of the most iconic symbols in the world, one that flies above the White House, schools, homes, national and international events, and even the Moon, I can say, as someone who has been unwillingly entangled within that appropriation, is nothing short of terrifying.
The fact that these entities and their supporters have literally sewn themselves into the fabric of the symbol of our nation makes one think that there is little room for the countless other occupations, aspects and people that make up this country. The idea of the police being the sole protectors of our society is patently absurd, and all one must do is point out the many instances of police brutality occurring over the years to refute it. I find myself thinking of how much power the officer who stopped me just three months ago had over me. Initially, I was happy that I had received a slap on the wrist, but recently I have found myself wondering what if my license did not state that I was a veteran, would he have charged me with a ticket that would have had much more serious implications? What if he was simply having a bad day, and he decided he did not like the look of me, or the color of my car, and I was the one who he ultimately decided to vent his frustrations on? This traffic infraction, an incredibly small incident compared to all the turmoil in the world, one that involves two strangers, supposedly bonded by our professions, on the side of a quiet, New York highway, serves as a metaphor to me, reminding me of the power structures at play on a much larger scale.
On April 22^nd, 2024, I received this email, one of the many Clery Crime Alerts that students are automatically sent. An affiliate of Columbia University had their car stolen at gunpoint by two masked men on Claremont Avenue, not even a five-minute walk from campus. I skimmed the report, and almost immediately forgot about it, recognizing that crime is an inevitability in major cities, and that I needed to start my commute to school. Days later, on the night of April 30^th, 2024, I received another email from Columbia, containing one of the most ominous messages I had ever seen, one that put the kind of fear in my heart that not even the alert of an armed carjacking could. Columbia’s Emergency Management Operations Team, offering no explanations, specifications, or even a greeting or sign-off, wrote in bold letters these three sentences: “Shelter in place for your safety due to heightened activity on the Morningside campus. Non-compliance may result in disciplinary action. Avoid the area until further notice.” Due to the protests on campus during recent weeks, President Shafik testifying before Congress, Columbia’s role as one of the main catalysts for student protests around the country, and the occupation of Hamilton Hall occurring in the earlier hours of that day, it was not hard to figure out what the email was referencing. Over the next several hours, I followed news agencies, remained glued to the Columbia subreddit, and listened to WKCR, in awe of these eighteen- to twenty-two-year-old students putting themselves at risk to deliver on the ground, accurate, unbiased coverage of one of the most significant events in the school’s history.
While tracking the events from multiple perspectives, to include the social media accounts of those near and on campus live streaming them, I held out hope that the university would make good on their promise from several days earlier to not invite the NYPD back, but a frightening picture began to unfold, one that I was intimately familiar with. One WKCR reporter stated that 114^th street had so many officers on it that he could not see the asphalt of the road beneath them, and I knew that the staging area the NYPD had chosen was one of the best routes for moving towards what the military, and presumably law enforcement, would call an ‘objective.’ The officers cleared the smaller ‘objective,’ the largely unoccupied tents in front of Butler, and then moved towards Hamilton Hall, ordering even those not associated with its occupation to disperse, raising my stress levels and likely those of others, as it is rarely a good sign when police do not want their actions recorded and archived. After the initial entry to campus and clearing of areas and people in the immediate vicinity of Hamilton Hall, came the Long-Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, a device that makes a megaphone sound like a whisper, and one known for its crowd-control potential, capable of producing sounds loud enough to cause damage to ear-drums, nausea, and headaches, ordering individuals to clear away. The NYPD began its execution of tactics in a way that my fellow soldiers and I used to rehearse, tactics I never dreamed that I would witness outside of the military, and certainly not by police officers who vastly outnumbered unarmed students on their own campus. The NYPD created a perimeter, or a ‘second layer of security’ to both provide reinforcements for the officers entering the building, and to prevent the fleeing of what are called ‘squirters,’ or individuals who attempt to escape the building after the raid begins. While the ‘breach’ team moved towards the front doors, using tools from a ‘hooligan kit,’ such as bolt cutters, hand-held battering rams and crowbars, a siege machine was brought in to allow access from a window; when taking over a building, the idea is to overwhelm it from as many different directions as possible to better disorient and overwhelm its occupants. Flash-bang grenades, described as non-lethal, but known to have harmful effects, were thrown inside, presumably before entering any room, hallway, or otherwise enclosed area to minimize the resistance of anyone unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of what can only be described as an assault on the visual and auditory senses. According to the Manhattan District Attorney, one of the officers inside Hamilton Hall had what is called in the military a “negligent discharge,” meaning his firearm went off unintentionally. While no one was hurt, the question remains why at least one, and more likely, numerous other officers were carrying guns loaded with live ammunition in the first place, when they so drastically outmatched the protestors in numbers and equipment. Additionally, a negligent discharge is an act of incompetence that would result in an active-duty soldier facing serious consequences, and derision from his peers. So far, the officer remains defended by his coworkers, and unpunished by his superiors.
As all this unfolded, I communicated with my friends from the past and present. My friends from the military checked on me to ensure that I was okay, as did my friends from school. The difference in how they viewed these events highlights what I believe is the change in myself that I stated I am most proud of at the beginning of this paper. My friends from the military were commenting that the assertion of order and control by way of militarized tactics was necessary, not concerning themselves with the human toll and destruction of trust that came along with it. Conversely, my schoolmates lamented the brutality and overstepping of boundaries that the NYPD and Columbia’s administration committed, one that turned a place meant to be a beacon of free speech, expression, and ideas, into what is now a police-state with strict control over who enters it.
My education inside and outside the classroom at this institution has challenged, thrilled, and changed me. Sitting here now, at the end of this paper, the end of the semester, and the end of my time at Columbia University, I am left feeling confused and sad regarding recent events, but also hopeful for the future. I know from experience that the students, teachers, and culture of this school have the power to encourage critical thinking and initiate personal growth. If it did those things for me, surely it can do the same for others

Introduction

1) Will this be your first dog? If not, what experience do you have owning/training dogs? * first time owner 2) Do you have a preference for rescuing a dog vs. going through a [reputable breeder]( http://ownresponsibly.blogspot.com/2011/07/identifying-reputable-breeder.html)? * probably looking at breeders for a more predictable temperament and health. 3) Describe your ideal dog. * greets me when I get home, willing to play fetch and go on short walks, and doesn't need bathing or brushing often. 4) What breeds or types of dogs are you interested in and why? * whippet, I've read they are lazy most of the time with short bursts of energy and excitement. I like the idea of playing catch/fetch with a Frisbee in my backyard. 

They are small enough to be carried when necessary. Ive heard they don't smell bad and require infrequent bathing. "velcro dogs" that just want to be nearby and interested in whatever I'm doing.

5) What sorts of things would you like to train your dog to do? * mostly I just want to have a companion that will motivate me to leave my tv habit more often. The common obedience training is important: sit, stay, come, goto bed, fetch ect. 6) Do you want to compete with your dog in a sport (e.g. agility, obedience, rally) or use your dog for a form of work (e.g. hunting, herding, livestock guarding)? If so, how much experience do you have with this work/sport? * although I think it might be fun to do these competitions, I don't think it's realistically something I would put enough time towards. **Care Commitments** 7) How long do you want to devote to training, playing with, or otherwise interacting with your dog each day? * I am away from home almost 10 hours each day, but the evenings I rarely leave home. Weekends tend to be at home as well. 8) How long can you exercise your dog each day, on average? What sorts of exercise are you planning to give your dog regularly and does that include using a dog park? * I have a large fenced yard at my house and plan to install a dog door to allow access to the yard during the day while I am away. Keeping my dog occupied while I am at work is my biggest concern currently. 9) How much regular brushing are you willing to do? Are you open to trimming hair, cleaning ears, or doing other grooming at home? If not, would you be willing to pay a professional to do it regularly? * I'd like to keep brushing/nail trimming, and bathing to a minimum but I am happy to pay for a professional to help me with it every month or 2. **Personal Preferences** 10) What size dog are you looking for? * medium 15-40 lbs 11) How much shedding, barking, and slobber can you handle? * some barking is acceptable, shedding and slobbering I'd like to avoid. 12) How important is being able to let your dog off-leash in an unfenced area? * it would be nice to take my dog camping or hiking off leash a couple of times a year. **Dog Personality and Behavior** 13) Do you want a snuggly dog or one that prefers some personal space? * I want my dog to be close enough to pet while relaxing at home. 14) Would you prefer a dog that wants to do its own thing or one that’s more eager-to-please? * eager to please 15) How would you prefer your dog to respond to someone knocking on the door or entering your yard? How would you prefer your dog to greet strangers or visitors? * friendly to visitors 16) Are you willing to manage a dog that is aggressive to other dogs? * as a first time owner having a non-aggresive dog seems important to me. 17) Are there any other behaviors you can’t deal with or want to avoid? * stealing food, chewing shoes, escaping over the fence during the day. **Lifestyle** 18) How often and how long will the dog be left alone? * up to 10 hours, but I plan to have a dog walker daily while I am at work until my puppy is old enough to be trusted in the yard alone. 19) What are the dog-related preferences of other people in the house and what will be their involvement in caring for the dog? * I live alone 20) Do you have other pets or are you planning on having other pets? What breed or type of animal are they? * no other pets 21) Will the dog be interacting with children regularly? * no 22) Do you rent or plan to rent in the future? If applicable, what breed or weight restrictions are on your current lease? * I own my house 23) What city or country do you live in and are you aware of any laws banning certain breeds? * Multnomah county, Portland, OR. There are no breed restrictions here. 24) What is the average temperature of a typical summer and winter day where you live? * summer is 70-90F, winter is 30-50F **Additional Information and Questions** 25) Please provide any additional information you feel may be relevant. * nothing yet 26) Feel free to ask any questions below. 

(Might be the wrong tag, not sure what I need) I feel like I've lost my purpose, I know for certain I've lost drive. This year has been hell in the short 5 months. Like the 1st days of January I woke up feeling heavy and depressed and the next day my USMC recruiter called me saying I've been DQ'd by BU-MED and I'll have to do more physical therapy, so I did that and in the end it was of no use, got full denial in March so my childhood dream of being a Marine was crushed. I got DQ'd for joint stiffness in my ankles, there was no issues with them other than the movement of bringing my toes towards my shin (easy way to describe the movement). Now to backtrack to Valentine's Day. Already didn't like the holiday for whatever reason. But later that night after a kickboxing class, I go to my room to eat and get on a phone call with my (at the time) boyfriend and then I hear my grandma come into the house crying so I go check on her and she told me that my mom died, just died. She's been fighting cancer since the pandemic, last time I saw was before things got bad and she looked terrible, and I think the most heartbreaking thing was that her hair was just barely there, my biggest memory of my mom was her hair, in my family we all have this thick beautiful hair. And I haven't seen her since then. So I've been dealing with her losing her and the fact my stepfather (hate him and his family) won't give my mom a burial or even a memorial. Nothing, he gave her nothing. When he'd start fights and shit with her that would stop me from going to visit her, and I barely got to visit her while I could. But anyway, last thing, my boyfriend broke up with me last month in April, like completely out of nowhere, we were having no problems, no fights, the previous days we were talking about me coming over to his (like we did ever weekend) and fooling around. But the previous day I was having a breakdown, I don't know what triggered it but at some point during work I just snapped, started feeling crying and running out. And then he texted me at some point the next saying "we need to talk" and I started having a panic while I'm just waiting for him to pick me so we could go to his house, he was my safe space, the only place I could feel vulnerable. He said that he wanted to grow as a person, it didn't sound like that, like there was another reason. And then at some point he said he didn't want to be out of my life and wanted to continue being friends, and I just said "no". The reason I said "no" is because I knew I couldn't love him as a friend. When I meet him in German class at the beginning of this school year, something inside said "he's the one" and I feel head over heels, and I'm from the southern Oklahoma, my last guess is that I would ever fall for a man, but I did. And I loved no matter his imperfections. And the few things we didn't agree on my love still never faltered. And I used to have this dream since I was like 13 or 14 and it was always the same, 2 kids running around, dog with them, golden sunset, sitting on a porch talking with somebody I obviously loved, every crush, and the one girlfriend I had before my ex I never heard their voice for saw their face the person's face and voice was like blurry, if that makes sense. But after I got with my ex and had the dream, I saw his face and heard his voice, and after that I was deadset on marrying him, I didn't tell him about that dream after it happened because that morning I was getting bitched at by my grandparents about something (by the way, they weren't happy about my gay relationship, their old southern Christians). I told him about that dream after we broke up, I sent him a Google doc because he flaked on us meeting up and talking and just told him a lot. And I used to have this thing with that could help like see tomorrow, sense it, whatever, it doesn't make sense but now it's gone. He was the first good thing to happen to me in a while, and he was the last thing I had. The only thing I "have" is an army contract for the infantry and I never wanted to join the Army. And I promised myself a long time ago that I'd never live for myself, only for somebody else. But now, I'm just this mess that's struggling with no purpose, no drive, nothing, I have no friends, no good family, no lover. I have nothing. My only hope is that I can talk to him and maybe get back together. But I doubt that'll happen, he just ignores me now.

idk if it's just me but the term "transsexual" has always felt off. maybe it's the fact that i've only heard it used by transphobes to describe extremely clockable late transitioners but it feels wrong. i've heard the "it sound like a sexuality" argument here before, and i do agree with that. idk what other term though because transgender is too related to ppl who simply "choose" to be trans.
i tend to just use "trans" as it's pretty ambiguous but most ppl probably think i mean transgender or i just say im an mtf girl/woman (if i have to at all, i'm always boymoding bc i'm closeted to all but a few friends, medical transition for <16 is illegal here anyway, and the clinic is super backed up) idk have you ppl heard other terms that might be better?

I know a performer in a lead role in a Broadway show, though not well enough to have their contact details or be friends on their private Instagram, and I'll be seeing the show they're currently performing in this weekend. Maybe the best way to describe us would be fond acquaintances who have known each other since middle school (but we were in school before the age of social media--hence no connections).
I'd like to send a note to the performer just to let them know I'm in the audience and give them my best. They will definitely recognize my name. How does one do that? Can you, even? Hand a card to the box office and hope it gets delivered? Or will they even do that due to privacy/safety concerns? We're not planning to stage door, although I know it's an option, it also really feels like putting them on the spot (and it's no guarantee). I know I'm overthinking it. Thoughts?

So I have actually been thinking about this for a couple weeks, since I saw a post asking what a good Slytherin would look like, and what good qualities they would have. (I can't find the post here though so it may have been in HPfanfiction).
A little bit later I was once more reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and I realized that Edmund, (post Aslan of course) is the perfect fit for a good Slytherin. He is a good man, who loves his friends and fights bravely for the People of Narnia, but is also shown to be very clever and shrewd. In the Battle of Beruna it was Edmund who broke the White Witch's wand to stop her from turning the Narnian army to stone, it was Edmund who figures out that Cair Paravel was attacked, and it Edmund who is described as the wisest of the four.
I guess now as to why I think he would be in Slytherin specifically, as opposed to Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. I do not believe he would be in Gryffindor because while he is brave, it is not his defining characteristic, and most of the events he is described as leading are ones in which it is his wit that is expressed.
My reason he isn't in Ravenclaw are a little different. Everything he does could also conceivably be Ravenclaw traits, but the thing I believe makes him Slytherin instead is that he, while being an exceptional man, is simultaneously a rather cold, logic driven one. In Prince Caspian, during Peter's duel with Miraz, Edmund advises Peter not to be chivalrous, and to strike and kill Miraz. Peter of course doesn't, but the reader is led to believe that if it had been Edmund, he would have killed him with little hesitation, which screams Slytherin to me.
That is just my two cents. I do not know how much the fan base for Narnia and Harry Potter overlap so I don't know how much discussion we can have but I am excited to hear the communities thoughts on this.

So, this is going to be long because context is important. Me and my ex started dating almost 3 years ago and after 2 years and 8 months in the relationship we broke up. During this, we had no problems for over a year and a half and then had some communication issues some of it catalysed by her controlling parents. They were straight up racist after they found out that I was not of the same nationality as them, and without even meeting m, they insinuated to not be in the relationship subliminally or keep her options open.
For context, they are Asian parents who were non-confrontational her whole life and a lot of that showed in her character, She never ever wanted to communicate through a problem, always hung up, always got mad when I brought something up that needed talking about. Her parents are the type to immediately tell her to read the bible if they see her distressed without offering any solace. They don't like when she cried and stuff like that.
I loved her a lot. I went above and beyond for her as per her own confession, no one else had done before. For the first year, I was appreciated for always communicating and just always being straight up with everything. The best way to describe how I was as a bf is that I had boundaries but I respected those same boundaries myself and also I was VERY VERY reassuring of the security of our relationship and I went above and beyond AS MUCH as I could and I really mean that. I was very loving, all I asked was to be reassured as well.
For most of our relationship we were long distance, as we started our relationship in person and I had to go to Uni in another country. I would visit twice a year for a month at a time during which I hung out with her all the time (4-5 times a week). And even in long distance, I structured my schedule and she did as well for the most part to make sure we spent 4 hours + every single day talking and we GENUINELY enjoyed each other's company a lot. For the duration of our relationship we spoke for hours every single day. Chemistry wise, it was undeniable.
Fast forward, So then after my last visit, I noticed she was distant, constantly expressing some sort of negative feelings towards me. I could tell she was distancing and I dealt with that even with support because I asked her why she was feeling a bit distant, she kept saying 'idk' and so I just offered support as she was having exam stress at the time too. To this day I don't know why she distanced. And then finally as she was bringing up stuff that 'she wished could be different' which were all out of my control, I asked her to call it and break up if she valued these things that much, which could be solved all with time, mind you. One was the distance, which weirdly wasn't a problem before and if anything I only had 1 year of uni left. It felt like she was trying to throw reasons like a dart to a wall to see what sticks. And at this point, if we broke up, it would be cordial.
About a month later, we finally broke up while I was back abroad studying, after a fight where she threatened to break up with me and I got sick of her expressing this feeling of not giving a shit about me or us so I said something I shouldn't have and that was it. She called it.
This was all to build up the fact that now she is actively chasing guys 2-3 months later after I regrettably checked her socials (the ones I haven't been blocked on) one way or another I come across it (definitely because I go looking) - Making playlists for a guy subtitled with 'Don't know how else I can make it more obvious' after she blocked me on spotify and this one guy followed her on there. She later changed that playlist name to 'Maybe someday' and then made the playlist private or deleted it. Recently, she tweeted on her public rant page that no one followed other than me when I was with her, after she blocked me on there as well but I had notifs on so I guess it bugged and I could still see it. The tweet read 'I just...want to be appreciated. I JUST WANT TO BE APPRECIATED!!!! I'm so hilarious, why doesn't anyone wanna date me'. She has also never been single for more than 8 months or so since she started dating, has had two exes before me.
Bottomline is, if she came back I would NEVER get back with her. I feel disgusted that I dated a girl like her. I feel like I was lied to about who I was dating - a funny, loving, religious god-fearing woman who had her priorities straight. I feel very very confused that she's like this now and so soon. We did everything together even after our distance, she wouldn't even be able to go to sleep without me being there for her. And now, she pretends I never existed. I know it's normal for her to pretend that I don't exist now, but to pretend I NEVER existed and we never went through what we did? That blows my mind. I know I have to accept it. How do I deal with not having the self control to keep checking some of her socials and stuff or How do I build self control. Like just how do I go about this breakup because another massive detail is that I am studying abroad in a place where it is genuinely impossible to make good quality friends (Berlin, no hate just that the people here are not my type of people) so I am alone with my thoughts a lot. I am trying to get close to God but I keep thinking about all of the stuff that has happened. I don't have the friends back home that would help me just distract myself. And I don't think dating or talking to girls is the answer either? I have hobbies but that doesn't help much I guess. How do I stop thinking about her and deal with this?

I'm going to be vague cause the internet's spooky she be referred to as H. Back in December of 2023 a girl I was dating at the time was shot and killed, her death has effected me in ways that I struggle to even begin to describe. I try my best to keep her around by visiting her house and talking about her with her mom (who isn't really a huge fan of me.) H was the sweetest person I knew and honestly felt like the only person who saw or understood me since we were both quiet and reserved people irl but we're loud and social when we wanted to be. Another way we were simaly is that she was a very simple person, most of our "dates" we're mainly just us sitting in bed listening to music or we'd just lay together. She was always there for me and would help me through tough situations, thinking about it know I have no clue how she didn't think I was completely pathetic. We'd talk to each other for hours about everything family struggles, school, work, anything we were stressed about. H understood who I was and loved me for it, so far she's the only person whos wanted me for me and i wouldn't consider myself to be an easy person to deal with. We'd sleep together all the time and I swear I'd get the best sleep ever while in her arms, sometimes I'll wear her jackets/hoodies or even sleep with them on to make it easier to fall asleep. She had this amazing electric guitar thats a deep royal purple that's v shaped at the bottom, I'd love to have it and play for her but I haven't talked to her mom about it yet.
I miss her so much and don't have anyone to take to about her since my family's being torn apart rn and my friends don't actually seem to care. I still love her, I don't think I'll ever find someone who loved and cared abt me as much as she did.

So basically the song is this viral song that is going all over TikTok and somehow I'm getting recommended it because for some reason TikTok thinks all bisexuals are women and that all bisexual women want to swear off men. Which might be true for some. Which is valid. And I'm a bisexual man anyway. And I'm happy with men and women. At least I used to be before my internalized homophobia returned due to guilt caused by browsing wlw and feminist forums (I was trying to be a better ally and because my online queer female friends recommended it), though it's getting better with therapy.
But many bisexual women can be happy with men just like they can with women. Only biphobes like Roan think otherwise (or how I used to think before I accepted bi women who had trauma with men and tried to generalize all bi women as lesbians and bi men as being more valid. I still apologize for that). Not all bisexual women are happy with men whether it be trauma with men or preference for women. And that's fine. Not everybody needs to be with men. But I'm a cis bi man that's seeing a MF swinger couple that's a bi man married to a bi woman. Is that bi women just going through comphet? NO! That's why this song is biphobic it treats bisexuality that loves men as inherently nasty. It also has implications that demonize men-loving-men which make Chappelle Roan's appropriation of MLM drag culture questionable in that way.
I've seen some online say they don't find it biphobic, some bi women say it's even liberating. You're experience is cool. But I don't like this song because it seems to demonize bi women who are happy with their boyfriends/husbands. And as a poly bi man who is bi4bi in his dating preferences (I refuse to date non-bi people because I relate to fellow bisexual men and women more as a bi man) I love to imagine marrying a bi woman and her letting me have relationships with men on the side and letting her have relationships with women. And I won't have FFM threesomes with her because I think those are fetishizing. But I would let her have MMF threesomes with me and my boyfriend.
IDK it just seems to be the old lesbian separatist shaming of bi women described in this video by verilybitchie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cww0fLXMnzs

I recently stumbled upon this subreddit and felt a need to share. Some background information, the DM ('Eddie') for this campaign, the player ('MJ') and I worked together for some time before actually deciding to play his campaign. He'd invited another coworker, his roommate, and MJ's husband ('Harry') to join in.
Eddie wasn't particularly quiet about his feelings to the player, he was the nicest he could be to her. He wasn't even subtle about it, everyone who worked with him knew it.
Flash forward to our DND sessions and they're going pretty well, no complaints from a first time player. I didn't note anything weird or off-handle. Until...
MJ meets our party's NPC ('Jerath') companion's brother Audacious. Jerath is played by Eddie, and he describes this brother to looking exactly like Jerath. MJ kinda breezes past that because the information was shared after she romanced him. Everyone gets past it, we digress.
That is until OOC one day that my coworker mentions that Jerath favor's MJ's character because she's "motherly" to him. Little bit of an ick, but still we move on.
Our "last" session comes to a pretty screeching halt when it's revealed that Jerath previously was engaged to a woman that looks exactly like MJ's character. Everyone at the table kind of just stops in the middle of conversation and stares blankly at Eddie.
We all share looks around that table, surely mistaken what Eddie just said. Everyone looks to Harry, another character in the campaign, and see him check out completely. He's pissed.
Safe to say that the session wrapped up pretty quickly from there and everyone silently bowed out of restarting again. I bring it up now because Harry wanted to play my campaign but decided not to because Eddie is in it.
They aren't friends.

Does anyone who received their free-response booklet on request have a photo/scan of the front cover? (Where you put the AP ID label and Exam label) I am making an AP exam for my friends and am missing this piece. If not, can anyone describe/mockup what one looks like from memory?

Hi friends, I was recently described phentermine 37.5mg (no topiramate) about 3 weeks ago. Have felt more energy and focus as a side effect of it being a stimulant…increased workout to 4x/week and made some diet changes. I’m not perfect by any means but vastly better than a few months ago habit wise. Anyway, I haven’t seen any results so far and it’s been almost 30 days of consistent use. Not an ounce of weight lost, I thought at least some water weight would come off by now even if just from the increased exercise!
Wanted to see how long it took for effects to be seen for y’all. I’m 22F about 235lbs. Should I call my doc and ask for increased dose or to add topiramate? I brought up a weight loss aid to Dr after blood tests came back normal thinking I may be pre-diabetic or have PCOS. No signs of either. What would y’all do next?

Hello, hope you're doing well! I'm pretty bad about describing myself so please bear with me!
I'm 28, graduated in december 2023 in software engineering finally!!!
I was born in Montreal, Quebec, but I'm a brown dude(parents are from Bangladesh). I'm 5'8, about 76-78kg, but still working on it (in the pandemic I reached 99kg, that was fun!). I'm a bald dude thanks to my dad and have a beard. I also have ear lobe piercings, like to get them when I travel.
I have many hobbies like watching movies, tv shows, kdramas, animes, etc. I don't mind sharing my letterboxd, mydramalist and myanimelist accounts! We can talk about our favorite things to watch!
I love eating, one of the reason I have a hard time keeping my weight low! My favorite foods are probably korean fried chicken and sushi.
For sports, I love playing floostreet hockey, biking, working out at the gym and hiking(even though it's rare!).
Huge fan of traveling, try to travel at least once every year. My first trip was at Japan, and it was still my favorite trip. But, I loved all of my trips, none of them were disasters! Love gaming too, built a new pc recently so can enjoy the new games that are coming out! My favorite game is Witcher 3.
We can discuss and see what we have in common, I know my post was pretty basic! I can write/speak in french and english so we can do it in the language you are comfortable with! I chose strictly clean as flair, but we could talk about anything that you're comfortable with! Looking for a friend or more if we vibe! Looking forward to chat with you!

Im just curious cuz I did lmao.
Middle school - girl threatened to kill herself everytime I did something she didn’t like. Also called me and her friends bakas AND HAD A CRUSH ON ME? She described me when she asked me to guess her crush I was so tired. A girl below my grade spammed the yarichin bitch club opening in zoom no teacher did anything. Same girl stole a ton of anime art for our art showcase. Another girl submitted paint by numbers 🙄 I called her out on it and she HATED ME, roleplayed killing me in chats.
High school - Couple always flirted in chat and came up with code names for people, and got angry when someone asked wtf they were talking about. U guys r a couple just text each other 💀 . They always got chat disabled SMH. Some pretentious guy in creative writing ALWAYS unmuted himself he was INSUFFERABLE. Got pissed off at every assignment and went on rants about how they were unnecessary. He tried to start arguments all the time, a girl said she had a tattoo to remember her dog and he said “I don’t get why some people think it’s smart to stain their skin” STFU! There’s more but I can’t get recognized on here 😭
I blocked every single person from this school on insta, I left this hellhole and felt like sharing. I thought it was normal to have falling outs with everyone u talk to in school 😭 this school legit made me a misanthrope in 7th grade because I literally could not befriend anyone here. If a parent is reading this do NOT make ur kids do K12 I swear there’s like 10 other virtual schools u can consider. There’s so many alternatives

I am a domestic high school graduate who has already taken the college entrance examination (Gaokao-China), majoring in the sciences, with a keen interest in computer science and mathematics. I'm the first generation of university students in my family, and we are not financially affluent. I don't have a green card, and I'm also Deaf and a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
During my time in high school, I maintained an average score of 95. In language proficiency exams, I scored 71 on the TOEFL, with sub-scores of 28 in reading, 22 in writing, 15 in listening, and 6 in speaking (I couldn't exempt from the speaking and listening exams, but I will explain this situation during the application process). I plan to take the SAT exam in June and a special TOEFL exam in August.
Regarding my major in computer science and mathematics, I'm considering switching to a different field such as linguistics, education, or psychology.
Honors:
Excellent Award in the National Writing Competition (30 out of 5000 participants)
Third Prize in the Jiangsu Province Disability Programming Competition (3 out of 800 participants)
Second Prize in the City High School Mathematics Competition (2 out of 480 participants)
School Scholarship Recipient (1 out of 50)
Third Prize in the 10th City "Chinese Dream" High School Talent Competition (3 out of 1900 participants)
List of Activities:
Developer of a sign language translation app (with over 1 million users)
Project leader (designing assistive technologies for the blind and Deaf using Python and C++)
Organizer of Pride Parade (established the DEAF Rainbow Club)
Founder of a studio
Theater director (collaborating with United Deaf & Hearing Artists to promote inclusive narratives in multilingual collaborative theaters)
Assistant at a family farm
Family caregiver
Chief designer
Math tutor
Deaf sign language dance troupe
ESSAY My object is an old-fashioned computer, and this objects is a table, then this table is my desk (app development) and the table where I cook for my family (family responsibilities + low-income).
The purpose of the first paragraph is to set up a scene, the old computer and the cooking bring out that I have family responsibility, and life is not easy.
In the second paragraph, recall how I got along with the old-fashioned computer - for example when I was a child and could still hear, you used the computer to play games; gradually grew up, I began to dislike the computer is too slow, too old, not advanced enough hearing assistance
The third paragraph, the twist - write how I learned programming and English on my own through this old computer and used this old computer to create new opportunities for myself
Fourth paragraph, fifth paragraph - describes two qualities
To wrap up the text, this is a metaphor for how I will always be mindful of where I am from, and always be aware of the deaf, LGBTQ, and low-income communities
I don't know much about deafness, I seem to have some differences in my hearing, and I often misinterpret people's words. I felt the impact of deafness as if the world had lost its colour in silence. In conversation, I grew to rely on spoken words, and the lack of hearing made understanding more and more difficult. My friends' conversations drifted away as if they lived in a world beyond my reach.
But I will never forget the old computer I grew up with (meaning I will never forget where I came from and will always think for people like myself)

1. socially, my world is quiet - I want to understand the world in silent mode
   
   1. in my family life, my world is full of burdens -- I have to take care of my parents while fulfilling my life goals.
2. academically, my world is lacking in resources -- as a deaf person, I can't go to university to study my favorite computer subject like a normal person.
   

Can provide some general direction on the advice, although you guys pointed out to provide feedback, I essay also have no idea (my thinking counts as a particularly simple question) specifically which question needs to be changed, I conceive of the outline of ideas.
Do you have any advice on my general situation in terms of school districts and strategies for choosing schools. If you are interested in this opportunity, please contact me privately. Thank you.