Went to the movies the other night to see the new planet of the apes movie. While the trailers were going on the three boomers next to me were talking full volume. Now I don’t expect people to be silent during the trailers (even though it still bothers me) but I let it go.
The lights go down and the opening starts and I still hear a bit of chatter but I figure that was them finishing their conversation. The first frame of the movie is some exposition. The man boomer starts READING THE TEXT OUT LOUD AND ASKING QUESTIONS I assume to his wife. WHO ANSWERS THEM.
I was like nope I’m going to shut this down before they feel like they can do this the whole time. I lean over and say “would you please not talk during the movie.” The woman next to me gives me a confused look but then I see her lean over to the other two boomers she’s with and points at me while saying “he says to stop talking.”
Fine they stop for maybe 10-15 minutes and then the chitter chatter starts again at a very low volume. I kind of accept my fate that I’ll be annoyed through the whole movie and keep thinking if i say something again or go grab an employee to back me up. I end up doing neither until the final moments of the movie. No spoilers but during the resolution of the film, important moment in any movie, they’re back to talking full volume. I’m livid at this point because I was really invested in the story. So i lean over and loudly shush them. The woman closest to me looks disgusted for a second then shushes me back and says “oh you go shush yourself!”
At this point my hearts racing cuz I am not a confrontational person, just really passionate about not having people talk during movies lol. I know this is nothing compared to some of what yall have experienced I was just stunned at the audacity. If I ever bothered someone in public and they asked me to stop whatever it was that bothered them I would just sink into myself so self conscious and feeling bad and embarrassed. Rant over lol.

Welcome to my Plex Client TED Talk

First off, yes, I know that most people don't need the "supremely ultimate" streaming solution (perfect Dolby Vision w/ FEL + Lossless audio + third-party streaming app compatibility). The answer is ultimately hardware and user-dependent. That being said, we get a dozen posts here a month asking what the best all-in-one streaming device is for those who do want Dolby Vision/lossless audio, and most of the time they are either recommended the Shield or an Apple TV from what I can tell. For reasons I'll get into and you may or may not already be well aware of, neither of these do both of those things perfectly (or at all).
That's what makes it so hard to do your own research on this particular subject - there's too much confusion about which devices can do what and too much outdated info on Plex and elsewhere. On top of that people so often come out as blatantly rude defending their device of choice because "there's no other option", which discourages discussion. I had to spend hours upon hours combing through old Reddit threads, forum posts, technical spec breakdowns, and ultimately gamble on purchasing devices myself before I found truly definitive answers that I didn't have to triple guess.

NVIDIA Shield

First off, let's credit the Shield for its longtime reign on the throne as the ultimate all-in-one streaming device for Plex. It handles lossless audio, has a nice interface, and supported Dolby Vision for quite a while there for both remuxes and streaming apps. However, it is getting old, still costs around $200 USD, and there are an increasing number of DV movies with FEL layer (this spreadsheet isn't a complete list) with more coming out every month. Some studios now release ALL their UHDs with FEL.
The Shield doesn't handle these FEL rips properly, and even if you can live with the red tint it adds to FEL movies, we are primarily a group of tech-savvy users and enthusiasts with theater setups with equipment in the thousands of dollars range. We shouldn't be recommending a rather pricey 5-year old device and sometimes glitchy streaming device with a blatantly obvious visual issue to people who could do better with their viewing experience and their wallets (I may end up eating these words later). Dolby Vision and OLED is becoming more commonly used as people upgrade their TVs - this is not a niche enthusiast technology anymore even if the average consumer still doesn't understand exactly DV is/does. Having the red tint isn't something that everyone with a Shield streaming FEL remuxes should have to live with.

Devices without Lossless Audio

There are several other devices that are consistently recommended here that don't support lossless audio in Plex, including but not limited to:

• Apple TV (Only does DD+, even with Infuse as far as I understand)
• Roku
• TVs (yes, even with eARC)
• Chromecast (CCwGTV, Ultra)

Please stop telling people that these are capable of blu-ray quality lossless audio. They are not.

Possible Solution Device(s)

So, where does that leave us? There are some enthusiast-level options like Dune and Zidoo players. I don't know a ton about them, but I know they are compatible with lossless audio codecs. Someone else will have to comment if they are capable of playing back FEL layer natively (not sure if they have a secondary decoder or not). The Ugoos AM6B Plus with CoreELEC seems to be the only device in the world I have seen online of that can do FEL perfectly and works with Atmos and DTS:X lossless audio.
Still, I know these types of players are not as user friendly as a Shield or ATV and can be a pain to use normal streaming apps on. Plus they cost as much or more than the Shield does.
That leaves us with one or two other devices depending on how you look at it. The most cost effective in my opinion? The New 4K Fire Stick Max that released about 6 months ago. With 20 minutes of setup that anyone here could walk someone through, this device gets you 95% of the way there. There are still caveats to consider. Still, I believe that this is the single best device on the market for those who want a reasonably modern UI/UX (amazon toxic ad-fest aside), use regular streaming apps in addition to Plex, need compatibility with all DV profiles + FEL and lossless audio, AND most importantly, want the best bang for their buck (currently available for ~$35 USD with an Amazon coupon). It even supports HDR10+ for the tiny amount of UHDs that support that.
It is by no means perfect, though. Let's look at the 4K Fire Stick Max caveats:

• Ridiculous amount of ads (possibly could be mitigated with a different launcher or PiHole?)
• Have to install Kodi + PM4K (Plex) addon
  • Kodi has some additional setup to passthrough all audio codecs and convert DV P7 w/ FEL -> P8.1
    • This DV profile conversion supposedly does affect color accuracy, though I can't see much of a difference personally. More testing needs to be done by people with nicer equipment and more technical knowledge than I possess
• Native Plex app doesn't support DTS-HD MA or DTS:X. You have to use Kodi with PM4K.
• No ethernet

It remains to be seen if the Shield's red tint issue is worse than whatever color problems crop up when converting DV P7 -> P8.1 on the Fire Stick Max with Kodi's feature set. Not even considering that the Fire Stick is $150+ less, I'd rather go with occasional minute coloring issues versus a blanket red push on my entire movie.
The importance of the lack of ethernet depends on the user's wifi setup. I have a 3 year old Wifi 6 Google router and I can watch any 4K rip I've thrown at it, up to the 100mb/s range without any problem. The Fire Cube 3 is basically a beefed up Fire Stick Max, so this is an option if you absolutely must have ethernet, but you'll need a $10 USB to ethernet adapter. The USB port is only 2.0, but you can still get 250-350 MB/s with an adapter, more than enough for streaming anything.
Another potential device I have not tested is the Amazon Fire Cube 2, which supposedly can sideload CoreELEC and thereby gain full FEL/lossless capabilities. I cannot verify that, so if someone can speak to it please do. Even so, it is an older device and the setup requires at least a little more work than the Fire Stick Max/Cube 3.

Conclusion and Other Considerations

Ultimately, there isn't a perfect device that can do absolutely everything, especially for the average user, and there's literally nothing in existence that can do it all using the native Plex app. If Plex on the new Fire Stick Max worked out of the box, then it would be near-perfect, but the addition of needing Kodi adds some one-time complication.
Even if you use the Ugoos AM6B+, it seems like you may have a hard time with third-party streaming apps despite its proficiency with 4K UHD remuxes. The Amazon devices have many pitfalls and require some extra setup, but the cost of the Fire Stick Max in particular makes it (in my opinion) easier to look past some of them. $50 or less is a lot more reasonable than $200 when recommending a device.
As for what device to recommend to others, it's going to be a mixed bag. Ultimately it depends on what the user needs as I mentioned in my first paragraph. If they only care about Dolby Vision and not lossless audio, just using a Smart TV's apps may be best. If they want lossless but have a Samsung TV and therefore can't use Dolby Vision, a Shield still may be their best bet, or a PS5/Xbox. It all depends.
I personally only use the Fire Stick Max when I watch a rip of any disc I own that has DV+FEL (or HDR10+). If I watch anything else on Plex like a regular blu-ray rip, a 4K rip with just HDR10, or watch something in a different streaming app, I use my Series X, which can do HDR10 and lossless audio just fine.

I hope that this is a helpful post and sparks some interesting discussion for those who stuck with me to the end. Please offer any corrections to my claims, though I do feel as though I have researched this pretty exhaustively short of spending thousands to buy and test every possible device against one another myself. I hope it helps anyone who comes looking for an answer to the question of which device(s) to get for their Plex setup.

Hey everyone, nice to meet you all!
Just a bit about myself: My name is Bradley and I'm 28 years old living just outside of Atlanta. At the moment I work around 50 hours a week and travel out of state quite a bit because of my job, so I've been just about everywhere you can think of! I have 3 lovely cats in my home and they are spoiled endlessly haha. When I'm not working I love playing video games, bowling, watch movies, and spending time with my family!
I play lots of different video games and am always open to trying new games but my favorite video game right now probably has to be Stardew Valley, but I also love Call of Duty, Halo Infinite, GTA V, and Spyro! Oh, and I am also a bit autistic so my mind can be all over the place so I hope that doesn't bother you!
So what am I looking for on here? Well first and foremost I just wanna meet new people and get to know as many people as I can. It doesn't matter to me how old you are or what gender. If you are a living human being then chances are I'd be happy to at least get to know you a bit! Feel free to DM me on here and I'd be happy to chat! Hope to see you soon!

This happened probably 8ish years ago. I was working at my 2nd job ever, both that and my 1st were restaurants. Worked both those jobs for 3-4 years. During my time at my 2nd job I decided to work part time at my old job for more money. I quickly regretted this as it was very draining and quit after a month. But I still left on good terms and it wasn't a big deal.
I decided to go to my old work for dinner by myself and see some friends. The manager saw me and asked if I wanted to sit in anyone's section, I said it doesn't matter who ever. She mentioned she had a new waitress and it would be good for her.
I still had stuff on the menu memorized and this place was a place that very much hired what would look like "outcasts and rebel" in Hollywood movies. Everyone is usually very friendly and chatty. The only drama that would happen was coworker relationship drama. All around good vibes when ever I worked there.
I would ask questions about the menu to see her knowledge, made sure to smile and be polite. Never corrected her or anything. I did verify with a friend who walked by on a couple of things because they were things I used to order and she said they couldn't make it them anymore. My friend did confirm she was mistaken. All around very nice bubbly waitress.
When I worked there, light hearted pranks weren't uncommon. Talked to the host stand (still knew them) and asked if she was the type who would come to the host stand to complain about someone stiffing them. They weren't sure, so I asked do you think she was the type that would take it personal? They said no and also agreed leaving the tip at the host stand would be one of those "that bastard, oh nevermind" type moments when she got the tip at the host stand. So my meal was like $20, and I left a $20 tip at the host stand.
Later the manager calls me asking what was so bad about the service. Since she knows I always tip well. I told her I left $20 at the host stand. Well the bubbly nice girl quit. The manager hinted people at the restaurant were bullying her and she didn't like the work environment.
I still think about that phone call and feel bad for this poor girl. I only ever go there now when other people want to. But man do I feel like a royal douche. Me mentioning the confirming the host stand part wasn't to pass the blame off, but just to show I did understand some people take it personal. I just didn't think she would because of how happy and bubbly she seemed so figured she would be the later. Which is 100% my fault.
TL;DR - Went to my old work, thought not leaving a tip at the table but leaving it at the host stand for her would be a funny moment. But she quit her job.
Thought about it a right before typing this and it is very much a I messed up moment.

Whether you were in actual danger or not, have you ever had an ominous experience in a parking lot? Especially if it was at night. It's always interesting how our general perception of things changes at night, and sometimes you just get bad vibes and feel less secure.
There was a time many years ago where I went to late night movie theater showing by myself (I know, not the smartest idea). When the movie ended, it was 11:30 PM. I don't think I've ever been so scared and alert in a parking lot. It was pretty empty, the dim lamp lights illuminating the huge lot, it was super quiet as well. Nothing ever came of it (and I don't think it would've anyway), but my mind started thinking that no one would hear me if I got attacked. I booked it to my car and drove off right away. I don't go to late night showings anymore unless I'm with someone.

This is a little tangent-y, so I apologize. For context, I (AFAB20) have had questions about my gender identity since I was 14.
I always felt as though I identified more with male characters in TV, movies, book, and other media, and I've always preferred hanging out with my brother's friends and being considered "one of the guys," which I know doesn't automatically make me trans, but I cut my hair off when I was 15 and the difference in how I felt was immediately noticeable.
I never told anyone back then, partly because I hadn't ever personally met anyone who openly identified as trans so the concept was still unfamiliar to me and therefore I was under the impression that maybe I was just a tom-boy as I had frequently been called as a child, and partly because I was still content to exist as a girl. As I mentioned, I was a tom-boy for most of my childhood, so the majority of my clothing lacked any traditionally feminine traits, I didn't yet wear make-up, and the majority of my friends were either equally as tom-boy-ish girls or guys that me and my brother were mutually friends with.
As I got older, however, I did more research into gender identity and was exposed to a larger variety of queer-identifying people, and the discontentment began to grow.
I would start to grow my hair out with the intention of returning to a more feminine appearance, but once my hair reached a certain length I would begin to detest the way it made me look and inevitably I would have it cut short again. The same thing happened with the clothes I wore. My older sister gifted me some of her hand-me-downs, and I tried to enjoy wearing them because they made me look like other teenage girls, but I ultimately hated the way they accentuated the female characteristics of my body. Make-up followed the same pattern.
I tried speaking to a friend about it, but he told me to consider that perhaps I was just frustrated and unsettled by the way women are treated in the world, and it was manifesting in a way that made me believe it would just be easier if I were a guy. I, whether for better or worse, accepted that as being the truth and continued to keep quiet about it.
I continued to attempt to present more femininely, consistently managing to convince myself that I was happy as a girl if it meant getting to live the life I knew was easiest, but without fail I would always revert back to presenting more masculine and without fail it always made me feel the most comfortable in my own skin.
When I was 17, I finally spoke up about it again to some other friends and they each helped me organize my thoughts and try to process what exactly it was that I was feeling. They encouraged me to be open and honest, reassured me that they wouldn't judge me because I was at an age when self-discovery was just as important as it was confusing, and helped me realize that maybe I really was trans.
I continued to present masculine for a while, gave excuses to anyone who asked about it, and just existed. Close friends started using male pronouns for me when we spoke one-on-one or online, and it made me feel so incredibly happy, that I decided to come out a few months later when I was 18.
This lasted a month.
I told my mom in person, and she said, "I believe this is what you think you are right now." She didn't say anything else, and I know I should be thankful that that's all it was, but it still felt like a slap in the face— just a roundabout way of telling me it was a phase that I'd get over.
I was too afraid to tell my dad in person after that, so I made a post online. He never saw it, or at least never acknowledged it. So I sent him the link through text. He responded with, "I didn't want to make a big deal out if it because I didn't think you'd want me to." He then proceeded to never acknowledge it again.
A month after the initial coming out (which I had been so proud of myself for), the constant anxiety that came from wondering what my family was secretly saying about me became too much and I rescinded it all and went back into the closet.
I haven't come out again since, but a few close friends still know about how I feel and continue to support and encourage me in private.
I'm used to being perceived as a woman because that's what I've been my whole life, and I think I've been in the closet for such a long time that I've resigned myself to continue living this way, so I guess my question is does that make me not trans? I can convince myself that being a woman is what makes me happy, but I know deep down that I will always want to be a man. At the same time, I've been told that if I'm not depressed or suicidal about not being able to transition either socially or surgically, that means I'm not actually trans.
Does it hurt not being able to live the way I want? Absolutely. Does it hurt knowing I've been able to educate my parents about trans folk since then, but they still refuse to ever acknowledge my own coming out from a couple years ago? Absolutely. Would I come out and begin the process of transitioning if I could financially support myself on my own and ensure I'd be able to leave if I needed to? Absolutely.
I'm just not sure if actually being able to exist as I want is in the cards for me, I guess.

I've always been the kind of person to struggle with how to rate media. For a bit i used a 3 ⭐️ system, where the stars roughly equated to
3 ⭐️ excellent (~10-9),
2 ⭐️good (~8-7),
1⭐️ mediocre (~6-5),
0 ⭐️ bad (<5)
While this worked out okay, it was a bit unintuitive; Although the 3 ⭐️ system has been around for almost a century, the 5 ⭐️ system (with 1 ⭐️ being the lowest) is by far the most popular. Thus, if i were to tell someone i thought a movie was a 1 ⭐️, they might not get what i meant without explaining, and "mediocre" wasn't what I had in mind for the middle of a scale anyways.
Thus, I have devised a new system, the 3 ❤️ system, and it goes like this
3 ❤️ Love it,
2 ❤️ Like it,
1 ❤️ Mixed,
0 ❤️ Do not like it
This solves the confusion of people assuming i'm rating lower than I am, as well as making the rating scale more subjective than objective. To me at least, "Mixed" feels better than "Mediocre", as often times I still enjoy things about middle of the pack movies, I just feel they have noticeable flaws.
Anyways, I'd love feedback on this system. It's possible it's very derivative, but I wanted to keep simplicity key, and I find giving myself 4 categories to lump things into about the right amount.

My apologies in advance if this is long. I was in an abusive relationship/marriage for 23 years. This incident happened when we were still friends. If I had I only known the truth when this had originally happened, I would have been saved from decades of emotional, psychological, verbal, physical, sexual, and physical abuse. (And currently post-separation abuse).
The cast: me, my ex Bub (Beelzebub), my ex-crush B, Bub's gf M, Bub's bf V (It will make sense when you read it.)
TW: Suicide, self-harm, abuse
We met through a mutual friend. We became really close really quickly. He was 17 and I was 19. We would talk for hours about anything and everything. I was raised around domestic abuse, and my family was highly dysfunctional. I suffered severe trauma as a child being raised in this environment with an abusive father and brother. (His namesake). By the time I met Bub, I had been having mental health struggles for many years. To deal with the trauma I still suffered from I would self-harm by cutting frequently. I also had been in a psychiatric hospital twice for suicide attempts. I told Bub about all of this, and he knew that I still did it. He was very supportive and would get really sad when I harmed myself.
Since we were just friends we would talk about our crushes. He had a crush on a girl from high school and I had a crush on one of my ex's B, who was also my high school crush. We only dated for 3 weeks, and we decided we were better as friends then lovers. Though we did have a FWB thing going on when we were both single. He really talked up his crush and I really talked up mine.
Two months into our friendship he got a gf. He told me she was a girl he knew from his home city named M. He claimed her mother would babysit him and his brother. He really talked this girl up. She was into all the same things as him. He said she had beautiful red hair, D breasts, liked the same books, movies and music as him. (Yes, he bragged about these things, as disgusting and corny as it sounds now). I was starting to believe he talked her up to make me jealous, which it honestly did. However, I knew it was petty jealousy and I was very happy for him and expressed that to him.
I don't know whose idea it was for her to start communicating with me, but she started emailing me to get to know his best friend (me). I was totally cool with this and was excited to get to know her. Before I know it, she starts getting really nasty with me for no apparent reason. It really upset me. My natural impulse at the time when I was upset was to cut. It was a maladaptive coping mechanism I had for years, and I did it when I was really upset. I explained this to him, and he said he would talk to her. He showed real concern I was harming myself and he also wanted her to stop.
So, he told me he had talked to her, and she had told him she would stop harassing me for no good reason. I really assumed she was jealous and let her know there was nothing to worry about. We were friends and he had a much longer history with her. She didn't stop. She continued to say the vilest and f'd up things to me, including making crass and insensitive comments about my suicidal ideation and self-harm. Naturally I was really upset and cut myself pretty badly. I still have the scar.
This basically went on until they broke up a month later. He said she was doing heroin, and he was vehemently against drugs. He said that they had a good friend that died of an OD, and he couldn't be with her if she was going to do that. It was over. She never contacted me again.
Not long after that B (my ex-bf) had come back from bootcamp. I spent a good deal of time with him while he was on home for leave for two weeks before he shipped out overseas. We decided in that time that we would no longer be FWB because I was starting to have feelings for Bub. Me and Bub started dating right after that. He ended up telling me that him and M didn't really date, and he had only told me that to make me jealous. AHA! I was correct!
So, I asked to meet her. He was a bit hesitant at first, but he finally agreed. At this point his bf V from his home city was dating her. It was the perfect opportunity to meet her as like a double date. I will say, at that time in my life I could be possessive and jealous. Not proud of it, but I was young and immature. I ended up treating her pretty snidely because of this.
One night we were out with them, and Bub got into a car accident. We ended up having to call his dad for a ride home. When we got to his home, his dad was contemplating letting them sleep there. I whispered in Bub's ear that I was not okay with his ex-gf sleeping at his house. She overheard me tell him this. She pulled me aside and told me they never dated. WHAT? I was furious. Bub made eye contact with me, and by the look on his face, I could tell he knew what she told me. The ride back, to drop them at home in his dad's car, was uncomfortable to say the least.
After he dropped them off, I confronted him. His explanation was I was so pushy to meet her, but he knew how jealous I could be, so he didn't want to actually introduce me to the real M. Ends up V was dating a girl with the same name. I felt so stupid and betrayed. I wanted to end it, but he seemed so remorseful I ended up giving him another chance.
Well, the years go rolling by, and I hear no more about this girl who he was so close with, in the past. Bub was a very charismatic person with a lot of friends. He never stopped speaking to friends permanently and they would come in and out of his life. I found it a little odd that there was no mention of her but didn't think much else of it. I also never really formally met her.
Then Facebook became a thing. He ended up being friends with every person he had ever known. Except her. I would bring it up and he would always have some excuse. We ended up moving in with his brother in 2015. I wasn't really around his brother a lot, so I never got a chance to talk to him at length. I remember at one point I brought her up. I was just so curious at the mystery girl and wanted to see if he was still in touch with her. He told me he didn't know what I was talking about. He said his mother never left them with babysitters and only worked when they were in school.
"What does that mean," I'm thinking. WTF does that mean? I brought it up to Bub and he told me she only babysat a few times so his brother probably forgot. But this didn't sit right with me. He had told me that she would babysit them frequently. He denied ever saying the frequency. What could I do but believe him? It had been almost 15 years by that point. That's a long time to keep a secret like that. Surely, he was telling me the truth. I dropped it for good.
We get married that year. We had a child the next year. We had a stillborn a year after that. All this time until 2022, I started feeling really uneasy about our relationship. I started suspecting that his behavior towards me was abusive.
Sidenote: I didn't include all the abusive behaviors in this post, as it would be a novel if I did. I'm simply recalling the events around the catalyst to my descent into hell.
By the end of 2022 I was broken. I had gotten my first of what would end up being 3 TROs against him. I dismissed the first two. (The second was a dual, as he set up a situation that created the need for me to defend myself. He claimed I wasn't defending myself. That's a story for another day). After the first two, I was still so desperate to salvage my marriage with my eternal hope that he could change. I was just so broken by then I didn't think I deserved any better, and no one else could possibly want a worthless, pitiful broken mess like me.
The summer of 2023, while laying sleepless in bed, the memory of M flashed through my mind. I started remembering details I had long forgotten. Why did I never meet her? Why was she never his friend on Facebook? Why had neither of them reached out to each other? I had met every person he talked about, or he was at least friends with them on Facebook. Why not her? Why did his brother not remember? Why did he say M's mother babysat them all the time? I KNOW he originally said that damn it! Why was her email address, at only 17-years-old, her first and last name? 17-year-olds don't use their names like professionals. They call themselves sparklybutterflies86 for christ's sakes! This was all going through my head.
The next day I confronted Bub. I will paraphrase to the best of my memory:
Me: Was M real?
Bub: I thought this had been settled already.
Me: No. No, it hasn't. You told me your brother just did not remember her and that was the last I spoke of it.
Bub: Deadpanned looking me right in the eye "No. She wasn't real. I thought you knew this by now."
I can't really remember what I said at that point, but it was a lot of "how the fuck could you do that? and other expletives. His excuse was he was an insecure teenager, and he was jealous of B and how much I talked about him. A fucking insecure teenager. Talking up his high school crush didn't make me jealous, so he made up a gf.
He pretended to be a gf, who went on to harass the shit out me. Which caused me to be so distraught that I cut myself. He knew I was harming myself and he kept on doing it. I still bare the fucking scar from that time. He involved a poor innocent girl that I was fucking terrible to. Not to mention the fake story of a friend that Od'd. And his excuse for this deranged, diabolical, INSANE fucking shit was, "I was an insecure teenager." No fucking big deal, right?
23 years. Two kids. One alive and one deceased. 23 years of complete and utter psychological annihilation with this man.
If only I had known.
If you have come this far, thank you so much for reading. I left him for good October of last year, and I have never felt more free.

Hey everyone,
I joined this subreddit because I haven't been successful finding many resources online that could help me. A little background on me:
I'm 34, turning 35 very soon, and I was diagnosed with ADHD this year. I've been on medication for nearly 2 months which has improved a lot of my symptoms, especially at work. I only was assessed for ADHD because I didn't bring up that I also suspect comorbid Autism. I am still unsure because many of the "common" symptoms are very mild with me. I thought posting here could help me figure out if other diagnosed people have experienced it, or if it has no relation to autism at all. But it's been on my mind for months, there's just a lot that I can't explain with ADHD. I need to mention that I was diagnosed with BPD in the past due to extremely poor emotional regulation, but always felt like it was a misdiagnosis (even my therapist at the time said I barely scored over the required points).
Here's the things I have experienced my whole life (I know some of them are related to ADHD, but this is where the symptoms overlap):
Stimming: I've done it since I can think. As a kid I constantly ran my hands against certain textures I found interesting. I still do it, like when I work on my PC I have to run my fingers across the keys, especially where the keys have bumps, or scroll the wheel on my mouse or run my fingers across the plastic. I also pick the skin of my heel all the time, the rough bits, and sometimes so much that it hurts to walk on it. When I'm out I always have to touch rough surfaces. There's more I'm embarrassed to talk about, but in the past it caused my classmates to make fun out of me because I didn't notice it was out of the norm to do.
Eye contact: Talking to someone and looking them in the eye makes me incredibly uncomfortable and I really have to force myself to do it. When I'm in conversation I usually never directly look at someone's face, it makes me so anxious to do.
Special interests: I had these since I was extremely young and while I know this can also be attributed by ADHD, it is both a hyperfocus for me as well as an extreme hyperfixation. When I'm interested in something it completely absorbs me. I can't stop thinking about it, I have to learn everything I can about it (usually that's where my ADHD kicks in tho, because I get bored very fast and then I move onto the next interest) and, especially in the past, it used to be all I talk about, even to people who are not in the matter. For me it's gone from Disney movies as a child (Disney's Hercules especially, I was nonstop about it), to books, to video games, to anime, you name it. When I'm into it, I am so fixated that everything else is uninteresting. That has gotten better as I got older - I guess I learned to hide it better, or maybe it helps that my partner shares my interests so I don't have to hold back. But also because I have become so non stop exhausted that talking in general is hard these days lol
Things that make me uncomfortable: when I was in my teens, I hated being touched by people and it made me angry when my friends tried to hug me. This has been remarked upon by my friends at the time, after which I tried to mask it better. I am still uncomfortable with hugs at times. I love cuddling my partner and I give my friends or family brief hugs if I know them very very well. If I don't, I still fucking hate hugs. I am, for some reason, especially awkward around my mother. Showing any affection with her is so hard for me and makes me feel extremely bad. I suppose it is because we did have a very difficult past and I had lost trust in her for a long time, so somehow I still cannot associate her as a safe space. But it's so damn hard. Also other people being upset makes me super uncomfortable. I used to not really know how to react, I've taught myself to be better about in the last years, but it is still a very awkward position for me to be in. That said, I definitely feel empathy and sympathy to an extreme degree sometimes. I know when people are mad or upset, sometimes long before they say anything. But that, in my opinion, is a survival mechanism. I had to teach myself to be vigilant to people's emotions due to past trauma.
I also really hate certain textures. Cream or anything oily makes me feel really uncomfortable and I used to not be able to moisturize myself during my younger years because I hated the feeling sooo much. It's better now but I still have to wash my hands immediately if I touch something oily lol
Food wise I'm okay. Textures don't bother me and I can eat almost everything (apart from peppers and spicy food). But I did cause some big scenes in the past when my mum and brother tried to get me to eat something spicy lol
Speaking of outbursts, here we come to why I was diagnosed with BPD before.
It is a LOT better now (unless something really triggers me) but I had the worst emotional regulation for the longest time. Stuff that threw me off was often:
Being made to do something I didn't want to do. Having a plan in my head that I wanted to do and then being told no or something getting in the way/plans falling apart, even if the plan was only in my head. Being slighted. People acting different towards me than they did before. Injustice, personal or at work. Drastic changes with my work routine and not being told early enough. Very loud noises or music. Rejection
I had an incredibly difficult relationship with my mother for the longest time due to my outbursts. My impulsivity definitely has played a major factor here, but also it always was so hard to feel understood. I was told all my life to act and behave a certain way, if I didn't I was in trouble. I was always the odd one out, especially at school, but also within my family, which is why I cut off contact with everyone but my mum and my brother.
It is hard to make friendships because masking is hard and I usually spend so much energy doing it at work that my social life is barely existent. My boyfriend always jokes about me taking things very literally because I can't figure out he's being sarcastic and this has become an inside joke between us.
But there are things that I do that argue against autism. Here is where I'd like some insight from others. I can be pretty spontaneous - however, if I think about it, even my "spontaneous" trips have at least a little mental preparation behind it. I don't have difficulties figuring out how a person feels by their body language, tone or expression. I am quite quick to spot how a person is feeling. I can do small talk (although it literally has no meaning to me, I just do it to have some social contact from time to time). I like routine but due to ADHD I am used to not having one. But I like to do things a certain way I guess and I have a hard, hard time breaking out of that way, or thinking out of the box. I just am unsure if that ticks the list or not because I don't get too upset if I have to do something differently.
Sorry, this got longer than expected. But any insight or your personal stories are extremely appreciated!

So this was in November 2023 and due to my wack ass immune system, I (15M) had gotten myself extremely sick to the point where I was vomiting almost every time I'd eat. And my body has a way of cascading things like this, so I it was no surprise when I started sickling.
I'm laying in bed, nauseous and in pain, just praying for the oxy to kick in so I can fall asleep and not deal with this hell anymore when this sharp pain starts stabbing me in my chest and I feel like I'm literally DYING. This pain I was feeling in that moment was worse than any sickle cell crisis I've ever had and I just assumed the jig was up and organ failure was imminent.
I couldn't get up from where I was laying (my mom's bed) because of the severe pain so I'm just crying so loudly and my mom wakes up annoyed and tells me to lay on my back and go back to bed but as i shift over a wave of nausea crashes over me and i begin vomiting all over my mom and her bed (woops).
Fully awake and freaking out by this point my mom picks up her phone and dials 911 for an ambulance to get me and I'm just crying like a little baby now in a pile of my own bile (too scared to eat anything because I didn't wanna barf) praying for the ambulance to get here. And after what only felt like 5 minutes, my mom runs to the front door to open it for the paramedics who lay me onto the stretcher and give me this drug I'm in too much pain to notice.
And then it calms me down. A lot. So much so that it feels like whenever I breathe, I'm breathing out all the air in my lungs and taking my first breath again like I've just been born. I vaguely feel the pain in my chest but my mind is so empty I cant even bother to think about it. I take a few deep blinks and then wake up in the ER with my mom sleeping in the chair beside my bed.
After this, it becomes a cycle of them giving me medicine, the pain subsides somewhat, and then the medicine wears off and my chest feels like it's getting knifed by a million UK roadmen. They start me off with morphine, and that doesn't do the job like it usually does, so then they give me Dilaudid AND morphine, and still yet I feel like the end is near. So they decide to pull out the big guns that worked on me when I was in the ambulance. Fentanyl.
Initially I was very skeptic and lowkey refusing treatment because of the stigma around it and the doctors reassured me over and over that it was safe and I had been given it before and blah blah blah even though these were the same doctors that would ask me how long I've had sickle cell for. But I was in so much pain that I just gave up and gave in and gave them the a-ok because their nagging was just too much.
They set me up with this little green button thing attached to my IV, that would allow me to press it whenever I felt severe and constant pain but would not allow me to exceed the "maximum dosage" they had put in place for my body. And to be completely honest this little button scared me at first. The entirety of my night nurses shift I didn't press the button once and just writhed there in the cold hospital bed because I'd rather die than willingly administer my own fentanyl.
But I wouldn't even be typing this story if I simply just hadn't pressed the button for the entire duration of my stay. It was now day 3 in the hospital and I hadn't got a single wink of sleep in the past 32 hours so I decided to press the button. It didn't hit me like it had in the ambulance, but when i tell you i relaxed, i RELAXED. I was finally able to shut my eyes and go to bed and stop myself from shaking my leg (self soothing thing I do when in pain). I woke back up to my nurse doing my 8 hour check up and for some reason, she was still bringing me morphine and Dilaudid despite me having the fentanyl push button thingy, but I was so out of it I just took the medicine so I could go back to sleep. It became I cycle of me pushing the button, falling asleep, being woken up to take additional opiates i did NOT need, then going back to bed, until early on day 5 in the hospital, my friends from school came to visit me. So obviously I try to be a good host and not to fall asleep despite me having pushed my button already for more fent (clearly addicted but oblivious because of this phantom pain my body is forcing me to experience) and coincidentally as my friends are still here, my nurse comes in for the 8 hour check up and gives me the Dilaudid and morphine again. I take the medicine and I look down at my green button because I'm not sure i've been awake this long in days and I see its glowing again so I press it.
bad idea.
I'm talking to my friends but something seems off, their voices seem so far away and there is black dots clouding my vision, I of course am so out of it that I somehow don't see any issue with these two things until I realized I hadn't said a word in like 2 minutes. Matter of fact, I hadn't even spoken for 2 minutes. My eyes go wide because I can feel my vision fading, but for some odd reason it was all black except a tiny pinhole in the center of my vision. I hear this faraway annoying beeping that I realize is the pulse-ox thing going kookoo bananas because I haven't breathed in so long and I see shapes moving around and my friends running to the hallway to get me help and all I can focus on is "If I'm not breathing, why doesn't it hurt?"
The nurses rush in and can clearly tell I'm overdosing so they put an oxygen mask over my head and say "Can somebody give him some Narcan?" and I'm laying here spectating what's going on to my own body from inside of my head wondering "I wonder what narcan is"
WELL I SURE KNOW NOW
The nurses push the Narcan in through my oxygen mask and I can suddenly hear everything perfectly. I say "woah" and then my entire body gets a flash of heat all over so I jolt up and say "WOAH" again and I look to the left to see like 6 nurses with 3 of them doing something with my arm that I obviously just messed up. But then the heat is gone, replaced by this freezing cold feeling all over and INSIDE my body. I can feel every one of my organs touching each other and they all feel cold and I just feel nauseous. By this point i was just in agony. It wasn't like any pain I've ever felt before I felt like not only was I gonna die, but it was gonna be painful and I'd feel each individual organ dying from inside my body because of how hypersensitive I was to everything around me. I could feel the scratchy hospital blanket and the way the grip of the hospital sock felt against the bed and it was all just too much for me and my head cocked straight up and i began vomiting so much liquid it was scary to watch. Feeling each chunk of food run down my throat was a sensory nightmare and it caused me to KEEP VOMITING and every time I'd move one of my limbs, it would completely jerk itself all the way to a full extended position which would shake my body and all my senses would be on fire and I'd cock my head back and continue vomiting. This was a pediatric hospital so the nurses had never dealt with anything this severe before so they were all just freaking out because I was actually tweaking so hard and I had knocked over everything they had put on my bed to help me. In addition to all this mess, I'd torn out my IV and started bleeding all over the sheets and the smell of barf mixed with blood was just such a strong smell I had continued barfing onto myself. My entire being felt cold inside and out so I was trying profusely to wrap myself in a cocoon but the nurses were so fixated on my blanket being covered in vomit and me like "contaminating myself" but I did not give a single fuck bro I was in so much pain and was so cold the only thought on my mind was the fetal position, and a cocoon. two nurses jammed those tubes that they have at the dentists office to suck your saliva down my throat so I didn't continue choking on my vomit, while the other 4 removed the fitted sheet from the bed trying their best not to interfere with my tweakage.
After they removed the sheet I had laid down and then I felt my organs shift in my body so I began vomiting again because anytime I sensed a new sensation, the big kahuna of nausea would hit me. I threw up onto the plasticky cover that goes over the mattress of the hospital bed but at this point there was only like so much left to throw up so a nurse wiped it away with an alcohol wipe. And the SMELL of that wipe gave me such sensory overload that I began crying to the point of basically screaming. As I shut my eyes really hard praying I'd fall asleep and escape the pain and coldness of my insides.
And the weird thing about all this is, I was there the whole time, y'know? Like I felt perfectly conscious throughout the entire process of being Narc'ed. I had no control over my body and anything I did, it just felt instinctual and had no thought behind it, but I was still actively thinking throughout all of it. I felt shame, embarresement, surprise, all like I was watching a movie. Except it was one of those 4D movie theaters where you can feel whatever is happening on screen, but not control it.
Eventually sleep overcame me and I woke up in the ICU with like 40 million wires attached to me a heating pack over my belly, and these bags around my legs that would inflate and deflate over and over. And all I could think in my head, was thank GOD it was over.
I had ended up getting myself a bone eating staph infection because some of my vomit got into the IV hole I'd torn out (I see why there were trying to take the blanket off) and ended up having to stay in the hospital for 10 more days so they could give me heavy antibiotics,, and had to do an additional 5 days at home self administering the medicine through a PIC line that went all the way from my wrist into my heart (it was so gross because they kept me awake while they removed it and it felt so weird).
A few weeks later the hospital called us back and apologized but they were using so much avoidant language and deflecting blame off of themselves so hard that it was pathetic to watch. Like you gave a 15 year old kid fentanyl through a SELF REGULATED SYSTEM and didn't expect the worst? Especially since I was being given Dilaudid and morphine on top of the fent? Get out my face with that smh.

Sorry if the grammar or structure of the text is strange, English is not my first language.
{EDIT} Just clarifying a few things: The cousin in question is a step-cousin, just to make it clear, I saw that while reading the text this was not very clear from the get go.
I wanted to start this story by giving a bit of context. Ever since my step-cousin (18F) joined the family when my uncle married her mother, she and I (20M) have become close, even though we only met a few times. We developed a nice connection, watching some movies together, playing RPG with friends, and having interesting and deep conversations about various topics.
Over time, I started noticing that she was acting more "intimate". Back then, I brushed it off, telling myself that this was just her way. However, when I realized that she probably liked me not just as a cousin, it affected me psychologically because I didn't have romantic feelings for her. I've never dated anyone or even had my first kiss, so I felt a bit confused but also received some attention, which helped with my low self-esteem. Now, I can recognize that in myself.
As time went on, we kept dealing with things this way. When situations got a bit strange, I would leave, make an excuse, or find something to do. I subtly let her know that I liked her as a cousin, but I never said it directly.
With that said, let me give more context about the current situation and how it all happened.
Recently, my house was affected by flooding, which made me lose everything and left me emotionally shaken. I'm currently staying at a family friend's house who offered me a room. This friend had to go out with my step-cousin's mother to remove his surgery stitches. I went to my room to do my things and prepare for a meeting that would define my current work situation, as I work at the airport and, due to the flooding, activities were halted. She entered the room, sat on the bed, and was shyly quiet. So, I suggested we watch a movie and chat until my meeting. I honestly didn't know what to watch, so we flipped through various movies and series until I suggested one. When we started watching, I noticed she wasn't very excited because she had seen it before. Then, she suggested a romance movie she liked. It's not my type of movie, but since she was visiting, I let it play, and we watched it while hugging.
As we talked and laughed together, the atmosphere started to get warmer. In my mind, I rationally didn't want to continue that way to avoid making things weird between us. But as she got closer and I didn't reject her small advances, when she was face-to-face with me, it felt like I had two voices in my head: one wanting to kiss her casually and another saying the right thing was to refuse and leave the situation.
On impulse, I asked if I could kiss her. My step-cousin looked a bit surprised but didn't refuse or kiss me either. I got the impression that I was rejected, and despite the adrenaline rush, I felt relieved that I only had to deal with the awkwardness of asking without actually kissing her. I hugged her and apologized, saying, "Sorry, I don't know what I was thinking, it's going to be a bit weird now, huh?" Then she lifted her head, and we kissed for a few seconds. It was a strange and not at all good kiss, but I'm not a good reference since it was my first real kiss. I felt weird afterward, a sense of guilt and shame. I realized she felt the same way. I apologized and explained that it was totally impulsive because I didn't feel anything beyond the physical part of the kiss, just guilt and shame. That's when I realized I had messed up because I didn't feel anything romantic for her, and it seemed to mean something different to her. I apologized again until she said it was okay, that it was no problem, and we could forget about it.
We stayed silent in the room for about five minutes, each in our own corner, awkwardly quiet. The guilt of having done something that could hurt her feelings, knowing she had dealt with depression before, put me in a position I didn't want to be in. So, I gathered courage and asked, "Look, like I said before, we shouldn't have done that. But I need to know, why did you kiss me? I'm not blaming you, but I just need to know." I asked to understand why she continued the kiss. I hoped she would tell me it was also an impulse and that it didn't mean anything. But unfortunately, she replied, "Maybe because I like you, I don't know."
That left my heart and mind heavy. I kissed someone I didn't like, and on top of that, it was my cousin. I know it was irresponsible and immature on my part, something that others will probably see as "childish". But I really don't feel anything romantic for her and just want to make sure she won't be hurt psychologically and physically after this.
Should I have said something I didn't? Should I accept that I messed up and live with it? Should I distance myself from her and never see her again, hoping this will fade from my memory? Was I a jerk for doing this to her, even having a slight intuition that she liked me?
Honestly, I don't even know how to deal with this now. I don't know if I should say something or pretend nothing happened and live my life, if I should ignore her, or if I should talk to her. I don't want to blow this situation up more than it already is. It was something that happened that shouldn't have, and it's totally my fault.
I'm not sure, I just wish I could go back in time and undo or even erase it from our memories.
PS: Sorry if this all sounds too childish, but it's really difficult for me to deal with, being the first time something like this has happened to me. Even though my parents are open-minded people, they would disapprove of me kissing my step-cousin, but they would still help and guide me through this situation. However, I can't even imagine how to talk to them about it, I feel so much shame and guilt.

I currently use an LG Wing, it's been my daily for over a year now. However, it gets really bogged down at times, the battery life doesn't always get me through the day (I often find myself charging around 5 or 6), the swivel screen is cool but it also got misaligned when I dropped it a while back. It's getting loose and also has dirt in the hinge somewhere that grinds when I rotate it. I'm also just tired of having such a heavy phone that hasn't been updated in 4 years. I love showing off the swivel screen to people, but nothing really supports it anymore except YouTube, and all that does is let you pause the video with the bottom screen. You used to be able to split screen games and have a map on the bottom or other cool stuff, but I can't make that work anymore. Overall I feel like I'm sacrificing a lot just for a fun gimmick I never really use. So I'm looking to buy a new phone but not sure which way to go. Through my carrier, I could get a discounted brand new Pixel 8 for $449 USD. I think it would fit my needs pretty well, and I used to use a Pixel 4a so it would be like going back home in a way. On the other hand, I like the big size of the Wing and the s22 ultra would be more similar in size. They seem to go for around $450-500 USD for great to excellent refurbished condition. I'm worried on the 8's smaller screen I'd miss having that extra .5" of real estate, but the S22 Ultra has the same screen size as my Wing. I tried holding a display model s22 at a store a few months ago and I liked the feel in my hand, so I know I'd like its size. The Pixel I know is smaller so I'd have to adjust to it. The s22 also has more camera lenses, and I love to take photos on my phone so that would be a bonus for me. My Wing has a manual camera mode, which I think the s22 Ultra does as well, whereas the Pixel 8 doesn't. Since I like to mess around with camera stuff I would miss manual mode for a while. I'm not really a power user, I mainly just use social media, look stuff up, play a couple light mobile games, watch videos/movies, and listen to music. I doubt I'd notice much of a performance difference between the two. That said it just seems like the s22 Ultra is a more premium device with more features, so for (roughly) the same price why would I not choose it?
My main hesitation is that the Ultra wouldn't be new. I'd have no or less warranty, way fewer years of software support, an already used battery, and potentially end up with a phone that has scuffs or scratches. (I'm a very detail focused person and I like things I buy to be perfect lol). It's also already two generations old, while the Pixel is brand new. The Pixel has some cool AI stuff but I don't think it would make too much of a difference in my day to day. I think the idea of the stylus with the s22 is really cool. I'm an artist and it would be cool to be able to just sketch on my phone whenever I want. And being able to use it as a remote shutter is also awesome.
Sorry for the huge wall of text, but if you read through, thanks, and what would you recommend?
TL:DR: is the Pixel 8 or S22 Ultra a batter pick for the $450 range? I like the greater range of features of the s22 but I also like the longer software support and familiarity of the Pixel.

I currently use an LG Wing, it's been my daily for over a year now. However, it gets really bogged down at times, the battery life doesn't always get me through the day (I often find myself charging around 5 or 6), the swivel screen is cool but it also got misaligned when I dropped it a while back. It's getting loose and also has dirt in the hinge somewhere that grinds when I rotate it. I'm also just tired of having such a heavy phone that hasn't been updated in 4 years. I love showing off the swivel screen to people, but nothing really supports it anymore except YouTube, and all that does is let you pause the video with the bottom screen. You used to be able to split screen games and have a map on the bottom or other cool stuff, but I can't make that work anymore. Overall I feel like I'm sacrificing a lot just for a fun gimmick I never really use. So I'm looking to buy a new phone but not sure which way to go. Through my carrier, I could get a discounted brand new Pixel 8 for $449 USD. I think it would fit my needs pretty well, and I used to use a Pixel 4a so it would be like going back home in a way. On the other hand, I like the big size of the Wing and the s22 ultra would be more similar in size. They seem to go for around $450-500 USD for great to excellent refurbished condition. I'm worried on the 8's smaller screen I'd miss having that extra .5" of real estate, but the S22 Ultra has the same screen size as my Wing. I tried holding a display model s22 at a store a few months ago and I liked the feel in my hand, so I know I'd like its size. The Pixel I know is smaller so I'd have to adjust to it. The s22 also has more camera lenses, and I love to take photos on my phone so that would be a bonus for me. My Wing has a manual camera mode, which I think the s22 Ultra does as well, whereas the Pixel 8 doesn't. Since I like to mess around with camera stuff I would miss manual mode for a while. I'm not really a power user, I mainly just use social media, look stuff up, play a couple light mobile games, watch videos/movies, and listen to music. I doubt I'd notice much of a performance difference between the two. That said it just seems like the s22 Ultra is a more premium device with more features, so for (roughly) the same price why would I not choose it?
My main hesitation is that the Ultra wouldn't be new. I'd have no or less warranty, way fewer years of software support, an already used battery, and potentially end up with a phone that has scuffs or scratches. (I'm a very detail focused person and I like things I buy to be perfect lol). It's also already two generations old, while the Pixel is brand new. The Pixel has some cool AI stuff but I don't think it would make too much of a difference in my day to day. I think the idea of the stylus with the s22 is really cool. I'm an artist and it would be cool to be able to just sketch on my phone whenever I want. And being able to use it as a remote shutter is also awesome.
Sorry for the huge wall of text, but if you read through, thanks, and what would you recommend?
TL:DR: is the Pixel 8 or S22 Ultra a batter pick for the $450 range? I like the greater range of features of the s22 but I also like the longer software support and familiarity of the Pixel.

I currently use an LG Wing, it's been my daily for over a year now. However, it gets really bogged down at times, the battery life doesn't always get me through the day (I often find myself charging around 5 or 6), the swivel screen is cool but it also got misaligned when I dropped it a while back. It's getting loose and also has dirt in the hinge somewhere that grinds when I rotate it. I'm also just tired of having such a heavy phone that hasn't been updated in 4 years. I love showing off the swivel screen to people, but nothing really supports it anymore except YouTube, and all that does is let you pause the video with the bottom screen. You used to be able to split screen games and have a map on the bottom or other cool stuff, but I can't make that work anymore. Overall I feel like I'm sacrificing a lot just for a fun gimmick I never really use. So I'm looking to buy a new phone but not sure which way to go. Through my carrier, I could get a discounted brand new Pixel 8 for $449 USD. I think it would fit my needs pretty well, and I used to use a Pixel 4a so it would be like going back home in a way. On the other hand, I like the big size of the Wing and the s22 ultra would be more similar in size. They seem to go for around $450-500 USD for great to excellent refurbished condition. I'm worried on the 8's smaller screen I'd miss having that extra .5" of real estate, but the S22 Ultra has the same screen size as my Wing. I tried holding a display model s22 at a store a few months ago and I liked the feel in my hand, so I know I'd like its size. The Pixel I know is smaller so I'd have to adjust to it. The s22 also has more camera lenses, and I love to take photos on my phone so that would be a bonus for me. My Wing has a manual camera mode, which I think the s22 Ultra does as well, whereas the Pixel 8 doesn't. Since I like to mess around with camera stuff I would miss manual mode for a while. I'm not really a power user, I mainly just use social media, look stuff up, play a couple light mobile games, watch videos/movies, and listen to music. I doubt I'd notice much of a performance difference between the two. That said it just seems like the s22 Ultra is a more premium device with more features, so for (roughly) the same price why would I not choose it?
My main hesitation is that the Ultra wouldn't be new. I'd have no or less warranty, way fewer years of software support, an already used battery, and potentially end up with a phone that has scuffs or scratches. (I'm a very detail focused person and I like things I buy to be perfect lol). It's also already two generations old, while the Pixel is brand new. The Pixel has some cool AI stuff but I don't think it would make too much of a difference in my day to day. I think the idea of the stylus with the s22 is really cool. I'm an artist and it would be cool to be able to just sketch on my phone whenever I want. And being able to use it as a remote shutter is also awesome.
Sorry for the huge wall of text, but if you read through, thanks, and what would you recommend?
TL:DR: is the Pixel 8 or S22 Ultra a batter pick for the $450 range? I like the greater range of features of the s22 but I also like the longer software support and familiarity of the Pixel.

I’ve always been a fan of innovation and forward-thinking design, but the unveiling of the Tesla Cybertruck left me feeling a bit perplexed. The angular, futuristic design seems more at home in a science fiction movie than on the road. The stainless steel body, while undoubtedly durable, gives the vehicle an austere, cold appearance that lacks the sleek elegance typically associated with Tesla.
Moreover, the practicality of the Cybertruck is questionable. With its massive size and unconventional shape, I can’t help but wonder about its suitability for everyday use. Will it fit in standard parking spaces? How will it handle in tight city streets? These are questions that remain unanswered.
Interestingly, I found myself mulling over these thoughts last Thursday while enjoying the stunning skyline of Dubai. The city is known for its embrace of modern architecture and cutting-edge technology, much like Tesla. Yet, I couldn’t picture the Cybertruck amidst the sea of luxury vehicles that populate the city’s roads. Perhaps time will prove me wrong, and the Cybertruck will become the new norm, but for now, I remain skeptical.
In other words, this place changed my opinion of the Cybertruck as a whole.

I was diagnosed as having OCD by a neuropsychological testing center yesterday but I don't think this condition really describes my experience. I am trying to keep an objective, open mind but the more I read about ocd and especially the more I read about the experiences of people with ocd on forums like reddit the more I am convinced that I do not have OCD. It just doesn't seem to match with my experiences.
There were some red flags with my testing psychologist that I ignored. I went in to be screened for autism but she told me it was extremely unlikely I had autism because I have a boyfriend. I think the fact that I drove myself to the testing center also contributed to her not thinking I could have that diagnosis. She also told me she did not agree with the DSM-5 definition of autism and that many people were being misdiagnosed as autistic. She told me that there was no good way to test for autism but she did say that she would test me for it. My report actually mentions nothing about autism at all—not even reasons for ruling it out or suspecting that it is not a correct diagnosis for me.
A major thread of the report is that she believes I have a large amount of medical anxiety. This part I am 100% certain is not true about me. I think I have below average medical anxiety actually, and the people who know me well have agreed with me on this. I'm positive it's not a real issue for me.
I just don't really recognize the person she painted a picture of in the report. I expected to disagree about some things or hear some hard truths but I thought I would be able to read the results and gain some insights into myself but I don't think that's the case.
She did detect an attention defecit, but she attributed that to my obsessive thoughts (which I don't believe I really have, or at least certainty not enough to merit an ocd diagnosis). I think my attention defecit is just in the classic adhd inattentive way. To be clear, I think I have autism with maybe not a full adhd comorbidity but with some common inattentive features of adhd.
I could go on with a lot more details and can answer clarifying questions to anyone who will listen but I think you probably get the general idea
Tldr; I believe I was misdiagnosed has anyone had this experience and later determined that they actually did have ocd? Or later gotten a different diagnosis such as autism? I know doubt is a big part of ocd and it's not like it's portrayed in movies, I just don't feel like it describes me well, but when I read about autism it feels very relatable

Welcome back to my running series of WWF PPV Reviews from a ‘blind’ perspective (I have no idea what’s going to happen; the results, the feuds or how good any of the matches will be). I have always heard stories of the attitude era and golden age but never watched it myself so I set myself to watching every single PPV event chronologically. I am also watching Wrestling Bios ‘reliving the war’ series to keep me updated inbetween the events with the feuds, and to get excited about upcoming matches.
Before I review the matches, based on the past few episodes of raw and last PPVs I’ll let you know, going into the event, which match I’m most excited for and which feud I’m most excited to see.
The feud and match I’m most excited to see is stone cold vs undertaker. To be honest looking at the lineup this is pretty much the only feud I’m interested in for the entire event, and they don’t really even have one going on. But mankind vs Rocky and the gauntlet match should be interesting in terms of matches
WWF In Your House - Cold Day In Hell 1997 Match Ratings
Flash Funk vs HHH 1/5
Mankind vs Rocky Maivia 1.5/5
Nation of Domination vs Ahmed Johnson 1.75/5
Vader vs Ken Shamrock 2.25/5
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Undertaker 3.75/5
Triple H has yet to really get going in the wwf, he hasn’t really had any great feuds but his matches are made at least a little more interesting with the accompaniment of Chyna. THE BEAST that is Chyna picks funk up and dumps him on his little funks just for the hell of it after the match which was pretty funny.
Feud wise it really shows in this match, with no buildup at all, the crowd was dead from pretty much the whole time. It was an obvious win for Hunter as he was the bigger name but yeah, nothing too special here apart from a pretty rough bump to funk on the outside on the steel ring ramp.
People just are not behind the rock at this point at all, his entrance music plays after mankind has made his way to the ring and there’s absolutely no pop from the crowd. During the match he’s actually getting booed when he emotes to the crowd. I’m wondering when he has his character change to become as big as he was and still is.
The match itself was pretty boring, not too much happened apart from a nice little assault on the outside on the steel entrance ramp by Rocky. The finish seemed really quick as well, Rocky showed no fight getting KOd in about 10 seconds after mankind applied that mandible claw. Knowing what these men can do I was surprised to see such a lackluster match as well. The last couple of minutes saved the match from being a complete disaster and foley as usual is taking his insane bumps. Foley was by far the best part of the match and the better wrestler, the rock still has a ways to go. The match gets a small bump in rating because of the rock bottom on the ramp which looked really good.
The next match I was pretty hyped to see, we hadn’t seen a gauntlet match up until this point so it was fresh and something unique to look forward to, and the character Ahmed portrays is perfectly suited to this type of match.
Ahmed got a great pop from the crowd for his entrance and to be fair he does make a pretty good baby face to get behind, I’m finding myself getting into this feud as it takes place.
Crush actually puts up more of a fight than I thought he would, it was a pretty slow start to the match though with nothing too noteworthy, but Johnson delivers a spinning kick that looked good to crush to knock him out of the match. Sadio vega comes in next and surprisingly proceeds to dominate Johnson for a while; Ahmed looks out on his feet for most of this bout. Side note my god Vega loves his nerve holds it’s the only hold I see him use pretty much. Whenever Ahmed begins to get back into the match he gets a great pop from the crowd which is nice to see and he’s actually performing pretty well here; definitely more exciting than the NOD members, which isn’t saying much but still. Sadio ends up getting DQd after he hits Ahmed with a chair and proceeds to beat the hell out of him with the same chair, setting up for the final member farooq to get into the ring and finish the job. The crowd is really behind Ahmed to win this match and so am I he’s showing great heart at this point in the match. Ahmed hits a massive power bomb finisher on farooq and he manages to somehow kick out, this is pretty exciting, but then farooq comes back with his own finisher to end Ahmed’s hopes and dreams.
This match got pretty good right at the end in all fairness, I felt myself getting pretty hyped and really routing for Ahmed. I understand why he had to lose but it was still a unique match to watch. Overall though this was pretty boring aside from the last like 2 minutes. Sadio and crush were super slow in the ring and very boring to watch. It was a cool idea with a kinda poor execution, had a couple moments that were interesting but it wasn’t more than that. It could’ve been good because the feud was kinda interesting with the stipulation of potentially having to disband the group if they lost, but it just wasn’t great.
And then the submission match between shamrock and Vader… this show just isn’t hitting right now is it 😂😂. I don’t really know what to say about this match I just didn’t enjoy it at all. Shamrock put in an okay show but it was so obvious where Vader was talking him through absolutely everything. Fair play to shamrock though he took a few decent bumps from Vader but the whole match didn’t work for me at all, it just wasn’t for me. (I’ve rewatched it after learning that Vader was pretty out on his feet because of shamrocks stiff shots and to be fair maybe I was just in a sour mood after the horrendous start, so I bumped up the rating a bit).
Stone cold finally gets some hype going with a nice intro promo, which is much needed in this event. It’s been abysmal so far not one match I’d even consider watching again. But stone cold has been blowing it out the park recently so I’ll wait and see what the main event delivers. Undertaker and stone cold can’t miss right?
Before I say this just know that I am a massive undertaker and Austin fan, but this match was nowhere near their best. The last 10 minutes were really good and 5* worthy action but the 10 or so minutes before that was pretty slow for an Austin match, he held a headlock for a very long time and the initially pumped crowd weren’t feeling it at all. Then another hold and another and for what the stakes were; one of austins first shots at the title, it didn’t feel like he was wrestling with that kind of tenacity he should have had.
Enough negativity though, there were some really high points during this match that the crowd popped for especially that triple counter tombstone pile driver ending. They had some really good brawling exchanges as well, undertaker especially really showing off and with his long hair it looks so good when he’s just teeing off on people. The hart foundation added a little more depth although I feel like it didn’t really do much for the match itself other than having Austin give them the finger and a couple of minor interruptions. All in all though this match felt like a building block for upcoming feuds and matches rather than a quality world title fight, but the ending really did seal it as something worth watching and saved the show, just a bit, from being a complete disaster.
Overall this event was very lackluster for me I really didn’t enjoy most of it. It had a few good physical moments in a few matches and the end of the main event was the highlight but you can definitely go without watching this ppv. I am excited to see what comes up as, like I said, this ppv felt like a building block for upcoming matches. It’s a bit like watching phantom menace, you watch it to get the build up to the main event, not for the actual movie… actually this really felt pretty much exactly like watching the phantom menace. A terrible sit through with something really worth seeing right at the end.
Overall rating 2.25/5

Just a little vent post I suppose since I'm sure my friends are sick of hearing about this lol. But I (24F) met someone (27M) on Hinge. We texted for a couple days then he asked me on a picnic. It went super well, and I immediately was really into him and I knew he liked me too. I felt so drawn to him, he's very interesting and unlike anyone I've ever met.
Two days later he asked if I wanted to go up to the mountains where his friends have a house, I went and it was mostly really nice. I was so happy going to the grocery store with him to get snacks. We were watching Jurassic Park and apparently I commented something endearing because he laughed and said that made him want to kiss me. We kissed a bit then cuddled very nicely the rest of the movie. Then after we started having sex and it was slightly awkward. His...dick... was really big lol and it kind of hurt and I cried a little bit. Because idk sex already puts me in an emotionally fragile state, and then the added pain just made me need to lay there for a minute and cry. He immediately stopped and we ended up just cuddling til we fell asleep but he seemed uncomfortable which is understandable. Then the next morning we had slightly better sex, it felt good for both of us and emotionally it was good, but neither of us came.
Anyways the rest of the morning he seemed more distant, and he didn't sit close to me or kiss me goodbye or anything. As we parted ways he asked if I wanted to go to the river in the next few days though and I (maybe too eagerly ugh) said yes. Over the next few days he stopped initiating texts and kept leaving me on delivered. I did text him say sorry for crying during sex, and that I have been feeling stressed from exams lately. He said "You scared me so bad" lolll... After that I wasn't texting him much because I knew something was off, but I did ask if he still wanted to go to the river soon and he said he was busy but he would keep me posted. Finally after a few days of him not saying anything I sent him a message. I basically just told him that maybe he's busy or needs space, but it seemed like he didn't want to go to the river anymore and that it was fine if he didn't feel a connection. I said I liked being around him a lot but that I would get over my feelings of course and that I hoped he would have a good summer... And he read it but didn't respond which I expected.
So I guess it's pretty clear that things are over between us, probably due to the awkward sex. I know that with the right person it wouldn't matter but my heart is crying a little because I just was so interested in him... When we hung out I would just find myself watching him do mundane things like make coffee or cut bread and I felt enraptured. I am tearing up as I type this :( I think there were some incompatibilities between us anyway. I was always asking him about himself and to be honest he didn't seem very interested in me, and also he didn't really try to make me feel good during sex. He doesn't seem very good with emotions and I am kind of an emotional person. But I just wish we could have gotten to know each other a little better. He's autistic and there's a high chance I am too. Personally I need a bit of time around a new person to figure out how to act around them and to feel comfortable. I wish we would have had a more casual second date without sex.
I just feel so sad which is funny because a year ago I had just been cheated on by my boyfriend of 5.5 years. I seriously never thought I could be hurt again romantically or even really be this interested in someone. I guess a positive aspect to this experience is that I feel way more over my ex than before. I was getting really excited about this new guy that I stopped caring if I would ever see my ex again. And I know theoretically that I don't want to be with someone who doesn't want me, and that what's meant for me will not miss me or whatever... but I feel sad. I am prone to limerence so it makes sense. I know this is probably too intense of feelings for two dates. It's only been like 2 weeks and I know I will feel better in a couple weeks but also part of me feels like I will always have a crush on this guy. Ah oh well! Sorry this is a crazy long post but it did help to write it all out. :)

Hello beautiful people of this sub! I don't think I'm particularly good at introductions and the like, so l' do us all a favour and get straight to the point.
I'm a 19 year old guy, from North America (Mexico, if it matters), somewhat chubby and very tall (according to all accounts), who has always struggled with sociability and everything requiring interaction with others, however, l've decided to start breaking out of this shell, and I decided to give posting in here a try! Who knows? I might just find exactly what I'm looking for.
About me, in case the flair wasn't clear enough, 1 am somewhat of a heavy gamer! My favourite types of games include open world exploration ones (think like Minecraft), and JRPG's (such as Persona and Shin Megami Tensei). I use all three main gaming platforms (PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch), so if we can arrange a session and play together that could be lovely!
I'm also a big fan of music, I spend most of my free time listening to it and I even own a vinyl collection, which I have posted on my instagram for a while now! We can talk about that for literal hours and I can't possibly get bored, recommend me your favourite songs or artists! I can even give you some recommendations myself.
Other smaller hobbies l've got also include movies (I've got a letterboxd), and reading, which in turn has made me somewhat of a writer, l've given writing a try a few times before and like to think I'm well spoken and educated, though that is something I can't award myself on purely ethical grounds. Seems a bit self-aggrandising in my opinion.
I've also got my fair share of baggage in the form of stories of various experiences and tragedies in my life (most revolving around men, funnily enough) so we can also wallow in each other's pain if that's something you're looking to do! I can talk about anything, anytime, just as long as we're both in the same wavelength, it'll be all smooth sailing.
If I sounded like something you'd like to bother with, don't hesitate to hit me up! And we don't even have to chat extensively through here, l've got Discord, Snapchat, Instagram, or of the enough trust is there, we can even text! I leave it up to you, one thing about me is that I am insanely adaptable, and will always try to make sure you are comfortable and feeling good when we talk.
Well, with this long ass post over, see ya soon! :)

I was diagnosed as having OCD by a neuropsychological testing center yesterday but I don't think this condition really describes my experience. I am trying to keep an objective, open mind but the more I read about ocd and especially the more I read about the experiences of people with ocd on a forum like this the more I am convinced that I do not have OCD. It just doesn't seem to match with my experiences.
There were some red flags with my testing psychologist that I ignored. I went in to be screened for autism but she told me it was extremely unlikely I had autism because I have a boyfriend. I think the fact that I drove myself to the testing center also contributed to her not thinking I could have that diagnosis. She also told me she did not agree with the DSM-5 definition of autism and that many people were being misdiagnosed as autistic. She told me that there was no good way to test for autism but she did say that she would test me for it. My report actually mentions nothing about autism at all—not even reasons for ruling it out or suspecting that it is not a correct diagnosis for me.
A major thread of the report is that she believes I have a large amount of medical anxiety. This part I am 100% certain is not true about me. I think I have below average medical anxiety actually, and the people who know me well have agreed with me on this. I'm positive it's not a real issue for me.
I just don't really recognize the person she painted a picture of in the report. I expected to disagree about some things or hear some hard truths but I thought I would be able to read the results and gain some insights into myself but I don't think that's the case.
She did detect an attention defecit, but she attributed that to my obsessive thoughts (which I don't believe I really have, or at least certainty not enough to merit an ocd diagnosis). I think my attention defecit is just in the classic adhd inattentive way. To be clear, I think I have autism with maybe not a full adhd comorbidity but with some common inattentive features of adhd.
I could go on with a lot more details and can answer clarifying questions to anyone who will listen but I think you probably get the general idea
Tldr; I believe I was misdiagnosed has anyone had this experience and later determined that they actually did have ocd? Or later gotten a different diagnosis? I know doubt is a big part of ocd and it's not like it's portrayed in movies, I just don't feel like it describes me well

this is basically me gushing about the love of my life and how I can't wait to see him so take it or leave it lol Hey y'all. As the title says I'm physically shaking with how excited I am. My partner (m25) and I (f20) have only just recently gotten together back in January. We've known each other for 9 years and finally decided it was a good time to reconnect. We went on a hiatus for about 3 years due to some personal shit. Since reconnecting in December of 23', I've been quite literally the happiest I've ever been in my life. Our gap is not as drastic as some of you, and my heart really goes out to y'all who are in totally different countries. We met in San Diego where we both grew up, and I moved to Arizona for my education when I started high school. It was super shitty to say goodbye to him because even though we were just friends at the time, I knew I loved him with everything I was. Back to the story now. I'm a college student working towards multiple degrees in music education and percussion performance, but I decided I needed to take a break for a year. (I've been doing college classes since my sophomore year of high school so I could get my degrees faster.) For the purpose of privacy we'll call my partner Tim. Tim is the most supportive person I've ever met. We share an intense passion for music, and he loves anything and everything I do that has to do with music. It's truly so lovely to share something so personal with each other. He actually bought me a signed vinyl by probably my all time favorite artist Lewis Capaldi. (I cried and he said there was no way he could let the opportunity pass for me to have something like that. Like how amazing are you, you beautiful soul.) We share a similar music taste, but he's much more heavy metal than me, yet he always wants to know what I'm listening to even if it's not his cup o' tea. When it comes to support in my schooling he's like my #1 fan. He constantly wants to help in any way he can, and he loves when I start ranting about music theory or anything I learn that I find interesting when it comes to music. My goal is to get my Doctorate in Percussion and he's always telling me how he thinks I'm a badass for deciding this is the path I want for myself. Throughout our relationship I've driven out to San Diego twice to see him. Once for our first date, (the same day he asked me to be his girlfriend 🥰) and once where we spent almost a week together consistently. To say it was heartbreaking to drive back to Arizona is an understatement. That was back in March, and here we are two months later and I'm finally going to get to see him again, but for a whole ass year. I absolutely adore one of his friends, we'll call her Jen. She's such a sweetheart and we got along so well after talking for about 30 minutes. We both adore cats, and actually had the same breed of cat with the same name! Such a funny way the universe works. I haven't laughed and felt so comfortable with someone like that since my two best friends back in San Diego, so it was really refreshing to get that again. We do what most couples do in a long distance relationship. Call every night, talk everyday throughout the day, have movie nights, make each other laugh with dumb Snapchat filters, etc. We even celebrated our first 4/20 together. That was hilarious. I'm excited to be able to do all of that and so much more physically with him. We plan on "coparenting" a fish haha. God I just really love him and I can't fuckin wait. My heart hurts thinking the year will end and I'll have to come back to Arizona without him, but I know we are going to make the most of being able to see each other. I know some of you might be thinking holy shit a year together, you should be greatful, and I am. I won't be seeing him every single day, as I have my entire family out there except for my mom (she's with me in Arizona) so I'll be dividing my time between him, my family, and my two best friends, we'll call them Jack and Ella. Ella loves him. When I took her to meet him she was practically screaming because I've told her about this man since the day I met him. She told me, "I'm so happy you ended up with Tim." Me too girl, me too. Jack likes him. Them meeting was a little awkward, but he's happy I'm happy, and I'm sure they will get along as the years go on. Everyone has been supportive of me going to San Diego and supportive of me and Tim. It was a bit of a shock to them that we are long distance, but other than that they are all super excited to meet him, and I'm beyond excited to meet his family. Anyways. I'm practically counting down the minutes until I get to drive out there and start this new chapter with my wonderful Tim. He is my everything, and I can't wait for the memories we are going to make. I hope y'all get to reconnect with your partners soon. It's the best feeling in the world. Take care y'all.

I'm so riddled by anxiety that I have next to no real relationships in my life. Meeting people, forming connections, it just isn't something I'm able to do. I'm constantly on guard for people who are out to use me, and they absolutely are out there, for sure. It's far from an irrational fear, as far as I'm concerned.
I get anxiety from most things, from waking up in the morning to sleeping at night. My hands shake hard like Micheal J Fox on speed, and thats not even me at my worst. What I don't feel anxious about is things like movies and TV shows and stories. Mediums that are seen as increasingly trigger warning worthy. Personally, I detest TW's. They sicken me, actually. I don't like being catered to in that way, and honestly I can't help but think lesser of people who claim that they're in any way helpful. Anxiety isn't like that for me. I don't encounter a piece of media that troubles me and find myself in an anxious fit. Regular life does that, not fictional events in media. Which leads me to this post.
I frequently see people here post about basic things which bother them which I would never personally conceive as troublesome. I'm curious as to what anxiety actually means for the people here on a daily basis, and how it may differ from my own experiences. Again, I'm not here to diminish anybody's reality, I understand that people react to the world in differing ways. But I just can't understand things like TW's in a practical way that relates to my own experiences of anxiety.