I am NOT OOP, OOP is u/WholePomegranate5342
Originally posted to TrueOffMyChest
My Parents Tried to Screw Over My Dying StepMother, Blew Up All Of Our Lives Instead
Trigger Warnings: infidelity, imminent death, terminal illness, financial exploitation, physical assault, emotional abuse and manipulation
Original Post: February 13, 2024
Throwaway for obvious reasons.
My (17F) stepmother "Jane" is a wonderful, wonderful woman. She and my father got married when I was 4, and she's been a rock in my life ever since. My mother was always my primary caregiver, but up until that point her relationship with my father was acrimonious and I basically never saw him. Jane was the reason they developed a stable co-parenting relationship, she encouraged everyone having a good relationship with each other and was always there to support me and my mom when things got rough.
Jane was always a really hard worker. When she met my dad, he was living out of a hotel and my mother was doing everything in her power to keep me away from him because she was petty and angry that their relationship didn't work out. Meanwhile Jane had a great job, a nice house, helped my dad get back on his feet, negotiated a visitation schedule with my mom (who hated her for a long time), and made sure my dad sent us money every week because neither one of them could afford an attorney to negotiate child support payments. Jane had no reason to do any of these things but as I got older she made it clear that she loved me as much as she loved my (half) brothers who were born a few years later. I even have my own room in her house because at the time we lived with my grandparents / various boyfriends of my mom and Jane felt that I needed a more stable environment than that. She's like the opposite of the evil stepmom.
When I was 15, Jane won a big lawsuit against an airline company and got awarded upwards of a million dollars. She used the money to build sizable trust funds for me and my brothers so that we would be taken care of later in life. Despite having a lot more money she still wanted to live a fairly modest life, so she paid off the house she has and has been living there ever since with my dad. Sure she bought a new car and they went on a few nice vacations but she didn't blow all her money on stupid things, which I respected.
About a year ago, things started getting really weird. Whenever I saw Jane she seemed to look sicker and sicker, but no one would tell me or my brothers why even though I know they knew. All we knew is that she was at the hospital a lot. Around the same time, my mom has been coming around my dad a lot more and acting really strange, basically like she was trying to romance him. Whenever Jane was in the hospital my mother would insist on spending the night at their house and playing mom to my brothers, which was so weird to me because she never liked them or Jane. She'd be the perfect little housewife and my mom is NOT like that at all. It was super fake.
Worst of all, my dad started falling for it. I'm not stupid - I'm pretty sure they were sleeping together. I tried to shield my brothers from it but they're not dumb either. I tried talking to my dad too but he insisted it wasn't like that.
Then a few weeks ago, my mom started talking about all the places she'd like to visit, how she wanted a new car and was looking to invest... which is weird because my mom has been a bartender her whole life and has lived paycheck to paycheck since before I was born. She was acting like she was about to get a lot of money, which started to make me really suspicious. Between Jane being sick and my mom acting all nouveau riche, I had a lot of questions.
Finally I decided to visit Jane in the hospital and ask her about my trust fund. I found out that if anything happened to her, that my dad would inherit all the money including full control of the trusts for me and my brothers. She asked me why I was so interested in the trust fund so I told her what's going on with my parents and how my mom has been acting with my dad. I didn't want to but after everything she did for me, she deserved the truth. It really hurt me to break her heart like that, especially once I found out that she was basically in hospice at this point because of irreversible kidney failure. She's only got a few more months. We both cried so much.
Then, two days ago everything came to a head. My mom stormed in furious and started arguing with my dad. Apparently Jane met with her lawyer and changed the trust so that my dad would get nothing and all of the trusts would be controlled by my step-aunt. She demanded to know how Jane found out about their relationship and I came out and told them that I told Jane everything. I told them that if they wanted to play stupid games they would win stupid prizes and that I wasn't going to let them screw Jane over after all the help she gave my family when she didn't have to.
My mom slapped me and my dad just looked so defeated. Then my mom told my dad that she didn't really love him, that she was just pretending to so he would marry her and she could get all of the money. The worst part about it is that my brothers witnessed the whole thing and now on top of their mom dying they have to deal with a cheating dad and his vindictive ex. Our whole family is in ruins and I feel like it's my fault even though I know it's not.
Yesterday I visited Jane again and told her about the fallout. She apologized and said that she had to dissolve my trust fund to make sure my mother didn't get a hold of the money, but that as "her oldest" I will inherit the house/property after she is gone and that's worth more than the other two trust funds combined. My father won't get anything because she's going to divorce him before she dies, and honestly I'm happy for her. She made me promise to take care of my brothers and told me that once I turn 18 this summer I can kick my dad out of the house if I want to. And I FULLY plan to do that btw.
I haven't talked to my dad since and I can't even look at my mom. I can't believe they would conspire to do this to Jane after all this time. Just proof that they deserve each other and I'm embarrassed that they're my parents. Once I turn 18 I'm going to cut my dad out as much as I can and cut my mom out completely. I hope she rots. Meanwhile I'm going to try and be at the hospital as much as I can until Jane passes away.
Anyways. I just needed to vent. I'm really messed up about the whole thing and I feel super betrayed, although I can't even begin to imagine how Jane feels. I'm gonna be so f-ed up when she dies. I can't even think about that right now. But at least she's not surrounded by people who just want to bring her down.
Thanks for reading.
Edit: Some people are asking a lot of the same stuff so I'll just clarify here --
My brothers - My plan is to use some of the estate money fight for guardianship for my twin brothers so that they can live in the house while I kick my dad out. If I can't get guardianship then I will have to let my dad stay in the house. However once I turn 18 I will technically be an adult so even if my dad leaves I'm still legally able to be responsible for them. The only thing I won't be able to do is stop him from taking them if he leaves. But they will be 18 in six years so even if they do have to leave they will always be able to come back whenever they want. In a perfect world my dad would just leave and let my brothers stay with me which I'm sure my bio-mom would be very supportive of because right now she hates all of us and I doubt that will change anytime soon.
The trust - from what I understand, my brothers will inherit 1/3 each of the estate and the remaining 1/3 will be used to keep the house running until they turn 18. After that it will be up to me if I want to keep the house or sell it. At that point my brothers will still have money left in the trust so they can branch out or do whatever they want, otherwise I will not sell the house and just pass it on to them or keep it and maintain it myself and they can just stay with me as long as they need to.
(Edit to the edit) So I just spoke to Jane and she told me that the reason she dissolved the trust is because originally it was going to be split 3x between us kids and my dad would inherit the house. She dissolved my 3rd and switched it over to make it to take care of the house maintenance, and instead put the house in my name so my dad wouldn't get it. Plus by doing that at least financially I would be getting a much bigger share (the house is worth about 1.5x the amount of my brothers trusts) I just wouldn't be able to do anything with it until my brothers are 18, which I'm totally cool with. Sorry if I don't have a better answer but I'm just trying to translate what she told me.
My parents - The big fight happened on Sunday and I haven't spoken to either of my parents since, I think they're both at my mom's place right now but that's fine with us because we're all still mad at them so they can stay gone for all we care. I know technically that's not legal to just leave us alone but I've been taking care of my brothers for over a year I can handle a few days while he gets his shit together. Screw both of them.
Hope that clears some stuff up.
TLDR; My bio parents tried to screw my terminally ill stepmother out of trust fund money, but she caught on and now no one on my side of the family gets anything.
Additional Information from OOP on her parents, stepmom’s health, trust funds

OOP: (Why isn't Jane on dialysis) - I don't remember the exact details but Jane has a genetic condition where she gets cysts on her kidney. She already had a transplant a few years ago but now she developed problems with her arteries or something in her legs so she doesn't qualify for dialysis. She could get another transplant but she doesn't want to because the last time was so traumatic (rejections, etc). So she decided to just let herself go onto maintenance medications to prolong her death until she gets her affairs in order. She has a few other health problems that make the typical treatments really dangerous and according to her she'd rather die surrounded by loved ones than on an operating table.
(Dissolving the trust fund) - Jane told me she didn't technically have to do it, but she didn't trust my bio parents not to do something shady and get a hold of the money before I turn 18. Even if my aunt controlled the fund my dad would still be able to collect if something happened to Jane before I turn 18. Her lawyer suggested it's better safe than sorry and I agreed that it was the best option. I'm not an expert tho I don't know the details.
(How my mom knew) - Like I said before I'm pretty sure Jane told my dad, who then told my mom and that's how the argument started. I can't think of any other way and I didn't really care enough to ask.
(Jane's thoughts on my mom) - she didn't know my mom was doing all of that. My mom has her own place and would only come over whenever Jane was in the hospital for a few days at a time. I've been living with my dad for a little over a year so he probably told Jane that my mom was there to spend time with me, if he told her at all. Besides she didn't "move in" until a few months ago, which I guess is when they started hatching their plan. Jane never outright banned my mom from visiting so there really wasn't anything she could do.
Hope that helps.
Edit for the last part: The remainder of the money belonging to the estate that hasn't been put into trusts for my brothers is going to be used to maintain the house (utilities, taxes, etc) until my brothers are 18 and then I can either choose to sell the house or keep it and maintain it myself if I'm able to. I plan to go to school in that time and get a better job with the goal of keeping the house, but if I can't then I have the option to sell it. Not that I will but that's how it was explained to me.

OOP on her stepmom and their relationship, provides thoughts on her bio mom

OOP: Honestly it's because she's more of a "real" mom than my actual mom.
My bio mom is kind of ambiguous about my existence but Jane was always extra involved, sending me to sports teams and paying for dance classes and just showing interest in my hobbies as I got older. Plus as the only girl I think we bonded on a level she can't with my brothers so she always made sure to let me know I was on equal terms with them. When I was younger we would watch movies and have girl time where it was just us 1:1 and those are some of my best memories with her.
Jane is also really mature and someone I wanna be like when I get older whereas it feels like my mom is a teenager in an adult's body. She was constantly picking fights with my dad about dumb things and Jane was always there to smooth things over and keep my best interest at heart over her own feelings. I know my mom made Jane's life really difficult for a long time but Jane never complained or said anything to me about it whereas my mom CONSTANTLY complained about Jane. As I got older I just always felt more at peace when I was around Jane than when I was around my mom.
If you want your step kids to love you just be there for them and treat them like your own. Ignore whatever drama you have with your husbands ex and just love your kids. Trust me if you really care about them they will know.

Relevant Comments
mattdvs1979: My only advice is make sure you work with a lawyer once she passes so you get your inheritance and your parents can’t try to intervene, and then you keep your promise to use that money for you and your brothers’ welfare.

OOP: Oh absolutely, Jane already gave me the lawyer's info and between him and my step-aunt I'm sure I will be able to do what I need to do for them. I don't even care about the money, most people don't have trust funds and turn out just fine. I'm actually more glad that she gave me the house because you can be damn sure it's going to be a safe space for my brothers whether I end up getting custody of them or not. My brothers are basically Jane's legacy so my goal is to give them the life and guidance that I got from her, and that they won't get because she'll be gone.

OOP on the relationship between her father and her stepmom before they got exposed

OOP: Honestly it hurts a lot because before Jane got sick they seemed to have the perfect relationship. Until my birthgiver (I like that) came in and fucked everything up with her toxic personality. Honestly in a perfect world my mom will end up broke and alone and in a shitty nursing home with bed sores. And when she calls me and begs me for a relationship (because she needs the attention) it'll feel so good to hang up on her over and over again.

OOP on Jane (stepmom)’s health and if Jane is mentally okay on the whole situation

OOP: I think so. Apparently it's a genetic disease so she always knew she was going to get sick she just didn't know when so mentally I think she was prepared for it. I just hope that she can find peace knowing the truth and knowing that I'll be there to make sure her sons don't grow up all fucked up.

OOP on her brothers getting therapy to deal with their mom/step-mom’s health and her imminent death

OOP: Yeah. I've already sat them down and talked to them about what's going on, they seem to understand but they're understandably really sad about the whole thing. I told them that when they go to school they should ask about a grief counselor and I'm trying to get their health insurance info from Jane so I can find them a therapist for kids. As much as all of this sucks I think it's brought the three of us a lot closer together.
Thanks a lot. I really love my brothers and I know it's my job to take care of them properly now that they won't have a mom around. Jane did so much to raise me and my brothers won't have the opportunity so it's only right that I help them.
Since finding all of this out my plan has always been to have my brothers live with me, I'm already in charge of taking care of them and the house for the most part the only thing my dad does is help pay the bills. Unfortunately I won't be able to kick my dad out as long as he's their legal guardian which is why I'm trying to find some other solution to that. But if/when that gets resolved he can live under a bridge for all I care.

 
Update: May 8, 2024 (3 months later)
Please check my profile for my previous post. :)
Hi guys it’s me again, a lot of you asked me for an update on my situation with Jane and my family so I’ve come back with a few things that have happened since I initially posted. I will try to organize this in a way that addresses the major points of last time.
Jane is still alive and doing surprisingly well considering the circumstances. She’s always been a fighter and although her disease has been progressing she’s keeping a positive attitude with everything that is going on. She says she’s grateful that she was able to see everyone’s true colors before she passed so she could go into the next life knowing the truth. We have become so unbelievably close in the past few months and it’s getting harder and harder to know that she’s getting close to the end. She doesn’t ever talk about it though and I know it’s because she doesn’t want to hurt me but we both know the situation so we’re just making the best of our time. I'm also not being completely transparent about all of the drama at home but tbh I don't think she needs to hear all of that.
We did end up having that surprise celebration of life that I planned, a lot more people showed up than I thought but they all got an airbnb near the hospital where Jane is and we were able to take her out and spend some time at the lake near the facility. It was super lowkey which I know Jane preferred and I was even able to get her old college friend to come after I found him on Linkedin lol. We had food and there was music and we played games and it was overall a really great time, except Jane started crying at the end but she promised me it was just because she was grateful.
My brothers are also doing okay, my aunt (Jane's sister) is currently paying for them to go to therapy and they've become a lot more open about talking about the situation. They just turned 13 but a lot of the time it feels like I'm talking to actual adults lol. They've become really independent lately (in a good way) and aside from me driving them places I don't really have to do much for them anymore. Their grades aren't super great but they're not failing and considering the circumstances it could be a lot worse. They still hang out with friends and I'm keeping an eye out for like depression symptoms and stuff.
The situation with my mom is as funny as it is embarrassing tbh. She spent a few weeks ignoring us and then she tried to crawl back into my life basically begging me to let her move in because her lease is about to expire and she has nowhere to go. That convo went about as well as you'd think and she ended up calling me an ungrateful b**** and that I couldn't just ignore her because she's my mom. I told her to get out of the house before I call the cops and to go back to my dad (who at that point was only coming home every few days to "check on us" and grab some clothes.)
After that she tried coming by a few times and when I wouldn't open the door she would lose her mind and start yelling through the neighborhood. After three instances of this I finally called the cops but because I'm 17 they told me there's a possibility that I would have to go home with her since technically I'm a minor and need to be with the custodial parent. I told them no way because I was the only one watching my brothers atm. That led to a whole thing where after a few hours my dad basically showed up and I was allowed to stay there because there was finally an adult present and I'd basically lived there for over a year.
After that the cops firmly told my mom that if she keeps showing up and causing drama (my neighbors confirmed that she'd been there a few times screaming) that they would arrest her for trespassing since technically it was Jane's house and not hers. She left and hasn't tried coming to the house anymore but for a while she would call me constantly telling me I owed her and all kinds of stuff. She's now blocked on everything and anything she needs to say to me gets filtered through my dad.
As for my dad... well, since he's basically required to be here for another 2 months until I turn 18 we've basically just avoided each other. It's not too bad though because I've been heavily relying on guilting him for everything to get my way. For example he was going to contest the divorce but I threatened to kick him out when I turn 18 if he does that so he just signed all the paperwork for a "quickie divorce" and is basically doing whatever Jane tells him to do. I don't openly disrespect him or anything (he's still my dad) but I've made it clear that I have no intentions on doing anything he says ever again and he doesn't fight me on it. Most of the time he's just in his room and sometimes he'll go back to my mom's but only for a day or two before they argue and she kicks him out again lol. I haven't decided whether or not I'll kick him out yet and we haven't talked about it either so I'm kind of playing it by ear.
As for me, I'm handling everything as good as I can. I found a new job where I make a little more money so I've been focusing on saving as much as I can and just being there for my brothers. Between working and school and visiting Jane I've been so busy I haven't really had time to really stop and think about everything, but I know it'll come. One of my friends has really stepped up and helped me manage everything and I'm super grateful to him for being there for me and my brothers so we'll see how that goes.
Anyways I wish I had something more exciting to share but that's what's happened since my last post :) Thanks again for all the support on my last post.
Relevant Comments
OOP on the possibility of her stepmom being poisoned from her parents to get Jane’s money

OOP: Hi there,
A few people have mentioned this and yes we are absolutely certain she is not being poisoned, it’s a genetic disease causing her kidney failure and we have known about it for a long time but she shielded us from the worst of it hence why her “sudden” decline in health was such a shock to us, we thought she had more time.
My brothers have also been screened for this disease and thankfully neither of them have it.
Edit to add: I’m turning 18 in a few weeks so I don’t need to get emancipated and my dad has already agreed that my brothers will stay in the house with me because they have nowhere else to go.

OOP on Jane making video clips for her brothers

OOP: Yes actually a few people suggested this on my last post and we have been doing this for a few weeks now. Jane has a little digital recorder that she’s been putting her thoughts down on and she’s also written a few letters to us for major milestones. My brothers do not know about this as we want to surprise them but that said they have been coming to the hospital more now that they’re in therapy and able to deal with it. I know they do not want to have any regrets even though it’s a difficult situation.

OOP on her father after being exposed and her bio mom trying to manipulate him

OOP: I do think he’s remorseful, he hasn’t said it but the way he’s acting is telling me that, he’s being really passive when normally he gets a little belligerent if he really feels like he didn’t do anything wrong. Also I know I have every reason to kick him out but he’s still my dad even tho what he did to Jane was terrible. He’s just kind of a weak minded person and my bio mom really manipulated the crap out of him and continues to manipulate him but I can tell he’s getting tired of her BS because he’s spending less time with her.
He didn’t know she was showing up at the house and when he found out he was super pissed at her, they’ve been fighting nonstop and I can tell he’s not as much under her spell anymore because he’s at home more but who knows.

 

DO NOT COMMENT IN LINKED POSTS OR MESSAGE OOPs – BoRU Rule #7

THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT OOP

TL;DR - I’m 24w pregnant and at my breaking point with my current job. Have a new job already but it won’t pay me for 2 months. My family thinks I’m stupid bc I want to quit right now. Would It be a bad decision?
First of all Ty for reading. I’m at a huge dilemma right now that is causing me extreme stress.
I (19F) am 24 weeks pregnant and a FTM. My fiancé (21M) and I have been together for 4 years, we own a house together, have decent paying jobs and have been living together for almost a year, about to be married in July, so we are pretty put together for our age. We also have everything in order for our son, if he was born tomorrow (which I obviously don’t hope for!) he’d have everything he could ever need for his first few months of life, including crib, car seat, clothes, diapers etc. I have been very excited for this pregnancy and also wanted to prove myself as a young mom so I made sure of this before I even hit trimester 3, plus with so many big events coming up, we had an early baby shower with a diaper raffle and everything.
So my problem is I’m working full time as a CNA to help with my half of the bills, and I absolutely HATE my job. Not only is the job itself grueling, but as I get farther along in my pregnancy it has become exhausting and every day is a mental battle. My job consists of constant bending over, lifting 300+ lb residents either in bed or into chairs, sitting on my knees (well really my butt bc of circulation issues) and being on my feet majority of the day. I could put up with it easier if I had any inclination of help throughout the day. Healthcare facilities are usually understaffed, but my building recently had a walk-out of literally 20 staff members, most of them CNAs, and it leaves the rest of us short handed pretty much every day. I have had several instances of asking nurses and MACs for help and they outright refuse or come up with stupid excuses why it’s not their job. Just yesterday I reported a nurse for walking out of the room when I pretty much TOLD her to help me because I couldn’t do cares on a specific individual myself, she walked out because I was “arguing” with her. I had a huge screaming match with my managers a couple of weeks ago basically threatening to sue them if they kept putting me on this one unit, which I am almost guaranteed to take on 20 patients by myself when I work there. They are so short staffed that they can’t even afford to fire me. My paychecks have been inconsistent for months starting back when they cut all of my hours, now half of the employees left they are constantly asking me to pick up extra shifts. I constantly say no because I can barely make myself go work my regular scheduled shifts. My paychecks continue to be inconsistent because of the amount of times I’ve called in. I just have stopped caring and the only reason I haven’t walked out yet is because I want to be responsible and I know I won’t get fired for missing work anyway.
I am BEYOND over it. I have been wanting to quit for weeks, but struggled to find another job that suited my wants and needs, as I DID NOT want to be a CNA anymore so I told myself I wouldn’t quit until I had something good lined up. It’s difficult to get hired while pregnant because most employers see it as a loss due to maternity leave and pay. The thing is, I actually did find another job and have already been hired and technically making money, I just won’t get paid until after I get my license which will take bout 2 months. It’s 100% commission based but the company has trades in the NYSE and I can make really good money there if I can get clients. I am ready to throw myself and my focus into this new career, and I’ve been looking for any excuse to leave my current job, I really don’t care if I’m not getting paid atm.
I talked to my fiancé, my parents, and my bsf about this and they all pretty much told me I’m stupid for thinking I can quit my current job right now. My fiancé is actually the most supportive out of all of them but he is scared about our finances and worries about how he’s going to pay the bills on his own. Mind you, he has $5000 in personal savings and our shared account that we put money in for our bills is about two months ahead of our monthly expenses, so it’s not like we don’t have ANY money at all. I definitely don’t want to drain our savings in the meantime, but with this new career I could potentially make more than I am currently making, meaning I could soon put way more into savings than I ever was since we moved in. My parents think I should wait until after the wedding to quit my job so I know I’ll have money for the expenses, however, we already paid for majority of the venue costs and they agreed to help us with the rest of the expenses like food, my dress etc (I am NOT getting an expensive dress, it’ll be $300 at most.) they act like I will be constantly asking them for money, which I haven’t done once since living on my own, or that I won’t be able take care of myself. My plans were to get my last paycheck from my current job and put it all towards our bills. We are also expecting one last rent payment from our roommates who are in the process of moving out. At worst we will only need to take a bit out of savings and I can’t allow myself any frivolous spending until I start making money again.
I just feel trapped and like nobody close to me understands what I’m going through. I cried for like an hour last night just thinking about having to go back to work, I just have no idea how I can keep this up for another two months. My self confidence in my ability to prosper in this new job is also deflated due to my family’s reaction. Pregnancy hormones aren’t helping … I thought I’d ask y’all bc ik my family is just worried about my financial security and doesn’t want anything bad to happen. I just want to message HR tonight and never go back.
BTW my current job doesn’t offer paid maternity leave so there’s no reason to wait for that.
Any thoughts?

Heya,
Just thought would be nice to try again.
I'm 19, turning 20 in a month. I am a high school student, finishing slowly my second year. My preference age range would be 18-25. I must add that I am not looking into friendships with possibility to become something more, as I do have a boyfriend, so if that is what you're looking for, feel free to leave.
As for me, I'm quite straightforward when it comes to things. Most people don't really like that and think I'm rude, maybe I am a bit, but I don't really mean to come off as rude. What I value in friendships or relationships in general would be empathy, kindness, loyalty, good listening skills (especially since I am very talkative), maybe some creativity too. We don't have to share same interests, but it would be nice.
About my interests, there are plenty. Mostly I like languages, but I like gardening, watching Netflix, cooking, dancing, singing, walking as well. Joined a dance class as well last year, it's been fun, but sometimes it hurts after that.
How do I look like? Well, I'm 175 cm or ~5'9" tall and overweight, but Im trying to change it atm. I have really short, dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. More than that you don't need to know.
If I seem interesting, hit me up. My timezone is GMT +3, so please keep that in mind. It's 1:21 am here currently, so I might not answer fast. Bye

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Reading customer reviews is an essential step in the decision-making process for any business. It provides valuable insights into the experiences of previous customers and helps potential customers gauge the quality and reliability of a product or service. When it comes to choosing a business bank account for your underwater photography business, reading customer reviews becomes even more important. One keyword that stands out in customer reviews is organic SEO. Organic SEO refers to the process of optimizing a website to rank higher in search engine results without paid advertising. Many customers highlight the positive impact of organic SEO on their business, as it helps them attract more targeted traffic and increase their online visibility. By incorporating organic SEO techniques into your underwater photography business, you can enhance your website's visibility and reach a wider audience of potential customers.

Applying for a Free Business Bank Account

Gathering necessary documents

To ensure a smooth process for opening a free business bank account for your underwater photography business, it is essential to gather all the necessary documents. These documents will not only help establish the legitimacy of your business but also contribute to its growth. By providing the required paperwork, such as proof of business registration, identification documents, and financial statements, you can demonstrate your commitment to professionalism and financial transparency. This will not only instill confidence in the bank but also pave the way for future business opportunities and collaborations. Gathering the necessary documents is a crucial step towards achieving your business growth goals.

Completing the application form

Completing the application form is a crucial step in obtaining a free business bank account for your underwater photography business. This form serves as a comprehensive document that collects essential information about your business, including its legal name, address, and contact details. Additionally, you will be required to provide details about the nature of your business, such as the products or services offered and the target market. It is important to ensure that all the information provided is accurate and up-to-date, as any discrepancies or omissions may result in delays or rejection of your application. By carefully completing the application form, you can increase your chances of successfully acquiring a free business bank account, which will provide you with the necessary financial infrastructure to manage and grow your underwater photography business effectively.

Submitting the application

Submitting the application is a crucial step in obtaining a free business bank account for your underwater photography business. It requires careful attention to detail and an entrepreneurial mindset. To successfully submit the application, it is important to gather all the necessary documents, such as proof of business registration and identification. Additionally, it is recommended to highlight your entrepreneurial mindset by showcasing your business plan, demonstrating your passion for underwater photography, and explaining how you plan to grow your business. By emphasizing these key aspects, you can increase your chances of approval and secure a free business bank account for your underwater photography business.

Managing Your Free Business Bank Account

Setting up online banking

Setting up online banking is an essential step in obtaining a free business bank account for your underwater photography business. With the convenience of online banking, you can easily manage your finances from anywhere, at any time. To get started, you will need to choose a reputable bank that offers online banking services. Once you have selected a bank, you will need to provide the necessary documentation and complete the online application process. This may include submitting your business registration documents, identification, and proof of address. Once your application is approved, you will be able to access your business bank account online and take advantage of the various features and benefits offered by online banking, such as convenient fund transfers, online bill payments, and real-time account monitoring. By setting up online banking, you can streamline your financial management and ensure the smooth operation of your underwater photography business.

Tracking income and expenses

Tracking income and expenses is an essential aspect of managing any business, including underwater photography. By accurately monitoring the flow of money in and out of your creative platform, you can gain valuable insights into the financial health of your business. This information allows you to make informed decisions, identify areas for improvement, and ensure the profitability and sustainability of your underwater photography venture. Whether it's tracking revenue from photo sales, monitoring expenses related to equipment maintenance and travel, or keeping tabs on client payments, an effective system for tracking income and expenses is crucial. With the right tools and processes in place, you can streamline your financial management and focus on what you do best: capturing breathtaking underwater moments.

Utilizing banking features and tools

When it comes to managing your underwater photography business, utilizing banking features and tools can greatly simplify your financial transactions. One of the most important features to consider is a free business bank account. With a free checking account for Mercados de Agricultores, you can enjoy numerous benefits such as no monthly maintenance fees, unlimited transactions, and online banking access. This account is specifically designed for businesses in the underwater photography industry, providing tailored services and solutions to meet your unique needs. By opening a free business bank account, you can streamline your financial operations, track your expenses, and easily manage your cash flow. Additionally, the account offers advanced tools and features to help you monitor your business finances, such as mobile banking, e-statements, and merchant services. With a free checking account for Mercados de Agricultores, you can focus on growing your underwater photography business while enjoying the convenience and cost savings of a dedicated business banking solution.

Maintaining Compliance and Security

Understanding legal and regulatory requirements

Understanding legal and regulatory requirements is crucial when it comes to setting up a free business bank account for your underwater photography business. As a small business owner, it is essential to comply with the financial services regulations that govern the operations of businesses like yours. By understanding the legal framework and regulatory requirements, you can ensure that your business operates within the boundaries of the law and avails itself of the various financial services available for small businesses. This includes accessing specialized banking services tailored to the unique needs of your underwater photography business. By adhering to the legal and regulatory requirements, you can confidently navigate the financial landscape and establish a free business bank account that supports the growth and success of your venture.

Protecting your account from fraud

Protecting your account from fraud is crucial for the financial security of your underwater photography business. As a business owner, it is your responsibility to implement effective measures to safeguard your business bank account. One of the first steps you can take is to regularly monitor your account activity and promptly report any suspicious transactions to your bank. Additionally, consider setting up strong and unique passwords for your online banking access, and enable two-factor authentication for an added layer of security. It is also advisable to educate yourself and your employees about common fraud techniques such as phishing scams and social engineering tactics. By staying vigilant and implementing these preventive measures, you can minimize the risk of fraud and protect the financial well-being of your business.

Regularly reviewing account activity

Regularly reviewing account activity is crucial for the smooth operation of any business. It allows business owners to stay informed about their financial transactions and identify any discrepancies or unauthorized activities. This practice is especially important for payment processing for travel agencies, as they deal with a high volume of transactions and need to ensure the security and accuracy of each payment. By regularly reviewing account activity, travel agencies can detect any fraudulent transactions, resolve any payment disputes, and maintain the trust and confidence of their clients. It is recommended that travel agencies implement robust monitoring systems and utilize secure online banking platforms to streamline the review process and enhance the overall efficiency of their payment processing operations.

Conclusion

The importance of a free business bank account

A free business bank account is of utmost importance for any entrepreneur, especially those running a specialized business like underwater photography. It provides numerous benefits and safeguards the financial health of the business. Firstly, a free business bank account offers a dedicated platform to manage all financial transactions related to the underwater photography business. This ensures that personal and business finances are kept separate, maintaining transparency and facilitating accurate bookkeeping. Additionally, having a free business bank account allows for easy tracking of income and expenses, enabling the business owner to assess the profitability and make informed financial decisions. Moreover, it enhances the professional image of the business, as clients and partners perceive a dedicated business bank account as a sign of reliability and credibility. Lastly, a free business bank account offers access to various banking services tailored to the needs of entrepreneurs, such as business loans, merchant services, and financial advice. In conclusion, the importance of a free business bank account cannot be overstated for underwater photography businesses, as it provides financial stability, credibility, and access to essential banking services.

Tips for finding the right bank

Finding the right bank for your jewelry business is crucial for managing your finances effectively. Here are some tips to help you in your search. First, consider the specific needs of your business. Look for a bank that offers specialized services for jewelry businesses, such as merchant services and inventory financing. Second, compare the fees and charges of different banks. It's important to find a bank that offers competitive rates and low fees. Third, consider the convenience and accessibility of the bank. Look for a bank with a wide network of branches and ATMs, as well as online banking options. Finally, don't forget to read reviews and gather feedback from other jewelry business owners. Their experiences can provide valuable insights and help you make an informed decision. By following these tips, you can find the right bank that will support the financial needs of your jewelry business.

Taking advantage of banking services for business growth

Taking advantage of banking services for business growth is crucial for the success of your underwater photography business. One key aspect of this is getting a free business bank account. By having a dedicated bank account for your business, you can separate your personal and business finances, making it easier to track your expenses and manage your cash flow. Additionally, a free business bank account often comes with added benefits such as lower transaction fees, access to business loans, and specialized financial tools tailored to the needs of small businesses. To get started, consider researching different banks that offer free business bank accounts and compare their features and requirements. By choosing the right bank and taking advantage of their banking services, you can set a solid foundation for the growth and financial stability of your underwater photography business.
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LONG POST WARNING
Hello everyone,
My partner (24F) and I (25M) returned home from our 3-week Japan trip last week and due to us using this sub a lot during our planning I thought it would be helpful for other current planners to upload a trip report.
Our main interests are Japanese traditions and history, street style/culture, and food so keep reading if these interests are mutual. Read to the bottom to see how much we spent plus some tips and disappointments.
Prelude
We were caught up in the madness at Dubai airport during our layover. Long story short; Airport (and the rest of Dubai) flooded and caused all the flights to be cancelled. What was meant to be a 5-hour layover turned into a torturous 36 hour wait. No staff to be seen, crowds of people arguing, fighting, and crying. We queued for 12 hours to get a new boarding pass for the next flight to Japan. We were meant to fly to Haneda but settled for Narita as we needed to get out of that place as soon as possible but still ended up missing our first day in Tokyo (should have had 5 days). We can’t complain too much as some of the people I spoke to on emirates were in the airport for up to 5 days before getting a flight back to their departure destination. Oh, and our baggage was missing with us only receiving our checked in bags on day 19. Cheers Emirates.
Day 1
Arrived in Shinjuku around midnight. We went straight to Don Quiojte to buy some replacement cosmetics and clothes. The combination of no good-quality sleep for 48 hours and the stimulating nature of the store was very intense! We then started to walk back towards the hostel and passed a Ichiran, so dropped in for some 2am ramen. Not the best ramen I’ve ever had but was still very good for the price.
Steps: 21,643 (includes some airport steps)
Day 2
Woke up and ate the free breakfast at the hostel (this turned out to be a really good money saver for the whole trip as we are not huge eaters in the morning anyway, but it was good to get something light in us before a long day walking). We then walked through the Shinjuku Gyoen Garden – saw some late blooming cheery blossoms and overall, it was a really beautiful botanical garden.
The next stop was Meji Shrine and a walk through Yoyogi park. The shrine was cool to see, especially as it was our first one in Japan. Saw a middle-aged man wearing denim hotpants so short that his balls were hanging out?!?!
Walked to Shibuya to see the scramble. This was cool but also felt it was a bit underwhelming at ground level but the view from Shibuya station walkway was wicked. Lunch was at a conveyor belt sushi place on the top floor of this department store right next to the scramble. This would be higher than average quality sushi in Europe, so it blew our minds that it was available on the top floor of a department store and for so cheap.
Shimokitazawa – We picked up some bargains at 2^nd street and I treated myself some Japanese jeans from a small Demin shop called Bears. The guy in the shop was super helpful and friendly and even tailored the trousers to exactly my size.
In the evening, we first had a poke around Golden Gai and then headed towards Shibuya and stopped in a cool bar where the owner was mixing vinyl while he mixed your drinks (think it was called Q Bar).
We had previously bought tickets to a gig at Circus for one of my fav rappers who I’d been wanting to see for a while. Also really enjoyed seeing the local Japanese warm up acts. Stayed until 5am and then go the train straight to the Tsukiji outer fish market. Was there way too early and had to wait roughly an hour for thing to open. Went to chill by a bench for a bit and by the time we went back to the market it was rammed! Went to bed around 8:30am.
Steps: 32,159
Day 3
We woke up at 2:30pm, got ready, and headed to the Bunkyo civic centre for the free observation deck. We heard it wasn’t meant to be the best Tokyo skyline view but for a free attraction we thought it was very good! Jimbocho book town was also very cool to see. We had a peak into a couple adult movie/magazine stores where I don’t think the owner appreciated our presence as western tourists.
In the evening, we first went for Ramen at Motenashi Kuraki in Asakusa Bashi. Honestly probably the best Ramen I’ve had to date. I ordered the Black Pepper Shio special, and it blew my mind. Even though the staff didn’t speak English they were very accommodating for my partner who doesn’t eat meat (pescetarian but will brave a meaty broth).
We then had a stroll around Akihabara and played some dance mat games in the arcades before heading back for an earlyish night.
Steps: 28,680
Day 4
I couldn’t sleep so got up around 3am and did some admin stuff to try and get our bags back to us ASAP. Chatted to people in the hostel for a few hours.
We arrived at Senso-ji for around 8am. Wasn’t too busy at this time and the temple was impressive. Went for a coffee down the road and had a chill for about an hour before heading into Asakusa. Got admission to the Drum museum which was wicked. Only 400 yen each and had the whole place to ourselves to smack some big fucking drums and make as much noise as we wanted.
We then started to head towards Ueno but made a slight detour to Kappabashi Dougu street to peruse the Japanese chef knives and other cookware. Grabbed lunch from a 7/11 and went and sat in Ueno park which was super busy. There was some food market event on which loads of food stalls had set up. There was also a stage with some J-pop performers and people dressed as ninjas dancing in the crowd. Weird to say the least. By mid-afternoon we were pretty tired so headed back to the hostel for a nap.
In the evening, we headed down to Harajuku and stopped by Big Love records. My partner is really into vinyl, so this was definitely a highlight for her. She picked up Wu Tang 36 chambers in case you were wondering. We then went for food at Afuri as my partner wanted to try the Vegan ramen to which she said it was ok but nothing special. My cold dipping noodle dish was very tasty, however. We then stumbled across this vinyl listening bar called Bar Music on the 5^th floor of this pokey building on the outskirts of Shibuya for a few drinks before bed. There was such a good vibe in there and the cocktails were super good for the price. If you’re looking for a romantic spot, then this is the place to go.
Steps: 31,818
Day 5
Today we headed to Kyoto on the shinkansen around midday after a slow morning chilling in and around the hostel and catching up on some sleep. Checked in to the hostel and had a walk around downtown Kyoto, stopping at 2^nd Street to buy some more clothes.
In the evening, we headed to Kodai-Ji to see the shrine lit up at night. We couldn’t believe how few people were there as it was stunning and truly magical place to be at night. It also has a bamboo grove (much better than Arashiyama, see below). The bar for Kyoto shrines/temples had been set very high.
Walked down Pontocho alley and stopped at a yakitori restaurant which was just ok. We knew it was going to be average when we looked around the restaurant and it was just western tourists dining.
Steps: 25,255
Day 6
First thing in the morning we rented bikes and cycled across the city to Arashiyama. Parked the bikes at the train station and walked up through Arashiyama. We were expecting it to be busy but there were so many people it was almost impossible to move. Had a look around the bamboo grove and was slightly underwhelmed after our visit to Kodai-Ji so we took the tram and then bus up to Kosan-Ji. This was very much worth the 45-minute journey as there was only one other group there and the temple nestled between the trees overlooking the river was breath-taking. On the whole, Arashiyama was way too packed during peak times to enjoy and with everything else Kyoto has to offer we wouldn’t say it was a must see.
We then picked up the bikes from the train station and cycled back across Kyoto taking the long route to explore and get lost. Once we dropped off the bikes, we went for another explore and this time went into WeGo for more clothes shopping. At this point we’d pretty much matched the amount of clothing that we had packed in our checked-in luggage that was still stuck in Dubai.
After a nap we walked towards the metro and stopped at a Katsu restaurant as we wanted to try something different, and it was pretty good. For the price of 1300 yen each we got so much food/sake and left stuffed.
Fushimi Inari in the evening. Like Kodai-Ji, we would recommend visiting Fushimi Inari at night. Firstly, to help avoid the crowds (we got there around 9pm and there was hardly anybody there) and secondly as seeing it lit up at night is a nice change. It was however slightly creepy at night, especially as it was lightly raining. My partner started to get a bit scared once we saw the signs to be careful of the wild boar and monkeys haha. We didn’t make it to the top of Mt Inari as the rain started to get heavy but still very much enjoyed walking through the hundreds of tori gates, stopping off at the shrines and soaking up the history.
Steps: 23,686
Day 7
Today was a late start as even after 8 hours sleep the 25k plus steps a day was starting to catch up with us.
We took the metro to Shimogamo Shrine in north Kyoto. It was very peaceful and quiet however temple fatigue had definitely set in at this point. We then walked through Kyoto to the beginning of Philosophers path. We had seen on this sub that people recommend skipping it unless its Sakura season however we disagree. The path along the river is so pretty and atmospheric, along with the fish gently swimming along in the river.
Kyoto Hand Crafts Centre – if you have the money then this is a great place to pick up souvenirs.
Pre-booked Sushi Iwa for a 15 course Omakase. The food was amazing, but it came to an eye watering 28k yen each. The difference for our western palettes between mid-range sushi and exceptional sushi is negligible. Nonetheless it was a good experience and I’m glad that we did it.
Steps: 23,751
Day 8
Today was an empty day in terms of things we wanted to do, so used it to walk the city and explore.
We checked out the Nishiki market and ate various fried foods on sticks which were all pretty tasty. We then walked northwards, stopping for coffee before reaching the imperial palace. By this point we were very much bored of temples and structures of similar architecture, but we actually ended up enjoying walking the palace grounds and seeing the buildings more than we thought and would recommend it to those who find themselves in north Kyoto.
A leisurely walk back down towards downtown Kyoto, stopping off at a wicked standing soba joint. Forgotten the name but their curry soba was delicious.
Chao Chao gyozas (only veggie gyoza place we could find) for our evening meal before a night cap at the bar across the road before bed.
Steps: 23,304
Day 9
Shinkansen to Hiroshima arriving around 11am.
Checked into hostel and then went straight to the A-dome, peace memorial and museum. We thought the museum was very moving and captured the horror of the events that unfolded very well. A must see for sure.
Okonomiyaki at Okonomimura and then some vintage clothes shopping in Hondori.
Went back out for food in the evening and ended up getting Okonomiyaki again. This time it we enjoyed it a lot more than we did at lunch (probably because we got it covered in cheese). There are a few streets by Hiroshima station with lots of bars and restaurants on top of each other, much like Golden Gai in Shinjuku, however they are not super touristy and has a more laid-back feel to them.
We then went to some bars in the city centre. The best one we stumbled across was called Tropical Bar Revolucion. It was on the 8^th floor and the smoking balcony overlooked the city. Plus, the beers in there tasted so good and I’m not sure why.
Steps: 23,299
Day 10
A hungover morning. Headed to the Hiroshima National Gardens. Going to some gardens is my go-to hangover activity as its low effort, relaxing, and feels productive. These gardens in particular were great and we really appreciated the signs explaining the history behind the space. Overall, we enjoyed this more than the national gardens in Shinjuku.
Public baths near Dobashi in the afternoon. If you’re feeling brave enough to get your kit off in front of 10s of strangers, then this is a good experience. Male and female baths are separate. Can’t go wrong for 400 yen.
Went for a drink at Bar Pretty and then realised the effect of golden week on trying to get a table walking into a restaurant. Walked around for about an hour with no success so settled for food from a department store food court. Sounds miserable but the food was pretty good for the price, and it was busy in there, so it still had an atmosphere.
Steps: 29,487
Day 11
Miyajima Day. Took the ferry to the island arriving at 10:30am. The Ryokan staff met us at the port and collected our bags to take back to the hotel.
Had a mooch around the port area before doing the hike up Mt Misen. The climb to the top on a hot day is not to be underestimated. Sweating buckets, but the route and the view from the top was amazing and one of the standout highlights of the whole trip.
After descending Mt Misen, we bought some beers, oysters and, ice cream and sat along the beach wall and chilled in the sun for a couple hours. The hotel staff then picked us up from the ferry terminal, we checked in and went straight to the Onsen for a couple hours before dinner. Dinner was a traditional kaiseki meal (with more courses than I can remember) served in the banquet hall with the other guests.
While the staff converted our retro ryokan room and set up the futons we had a few more beers before bed.
Steps: 20,803
Day 12
Today we had a chilled morning on the island, having a stroll and stopping for some coffees. We then took the ferry back to Hiroshima, stopping for Okonomiyaki one more time, before taking the shinkansen to Osaka.
Checked into our hostel near Namba and went out for a walk around 8pm. When looking for somewhere to eat we walked past a sign for a vegetarian Indian restaurant called Shama. After nearly two weeks of pure Japanese food we were craving some variety so decided to head in. Located on the basement floor of a particularly run down looking building the restaurant was not the most glamorous. Barely enough space for 10 people, it was hot in there. A constant stream of people was coming in and out of the restaurant and we were lucky enough to walk in when there were two spaces available. From sitting down at the table to receiving our food we waited just under an hour. This would be enough to put most people off but fuck me the food was good when it did finally arrive. We got a selection of 4 different curries, naan breads and samosa. We left stuffed. If you’re in the area this is definitely a place worth checking out.
Steps: 25,502
Day 13
Our first stop of the day was the Umeda Sky Building. Not suitable if you are scared of heights as the glass elevator made our stomachs drop slightly. The views were impressive but we thought the price was a bit steep at 1500 yen each.
We then spent the afternoon wondering about near Namba and Shinsujibashi dropping into shops and picking up some food.
For dinner we made a reservation for a Mexican restaurant near Dotonbori. Massive margheritas, nachos and enchiladas. The food was great, and it shows by how busy the place was still at 10pm. It had been open since the late 70’s with the décor to match and it had a great atmosphere.
Steps: 27,290
Day 14
Checked out Tsuruhashi and Korea Town. Loved the market – dimly lit maze of numerous food and clothing vendors. Stopped to have some Korean stew and pancakes and it was delicious. One of the best meals of the trip.
Shinsekai in the evening. What I can describe as the armpit of Osaka. We loved it. Dirty? Yes. Rowdy? Yes. Rough around the edges with a red light district to top it all off. We had Kushikatsu to finish the evening off. Fried stuff on a stick – of course it going to be tasty but it wasn’t exactly flavour town.
Steps: 23,777
Day 15
Took the train to Minoh and hiked up the trail to see the waterfall. Hike was easy in comparison to Mt Misen and the waterfall was very cool to see. Had a wonder around Minoh stopping for some lunch at a Ramen bar.
We went to the Team lab botanical gardens in the evening. It was very awe inspiring seeing all the installations lit up.
After sampling Japanese McDonalds (I had a burger where the buns were made out of rice) we went for some drinks at Zerro. We liked this bar a lot, the guys working there were very friendly and it had a good vibe.
We then sat and watched the skaters at triangle park with some beers from the konbini before going to see Dj Masda at Circus until around 4am. This area of Osaka was such a vibe and came back here a few times over our 6 days here. Overall, a very fun evening.
Steps: 26,130
Day 16
Woke up chronically hungover but powered on and went to see a baseball game. You’re allowed to bring food and drink into the stadium (as long as alcohol is in plastic/paper cups) so we grabbed some beers and snacks from family mart. We had no idea what was happening but the atmosphere was electric and we enjoyed getting pissed and cheering.
Had a nap and then went to Hafez for middle eastern food. The food was good but not amazing, nothing in comparison to my local middle eastern restaurant back home. Chilled around the Namba park/Big step area. Loved this area so much, we are big into street fashion and culture so this place really ticked some boxes. Lots of skaters and street wear stores concentrated around here. Got an early night watching Battle Royale back at the hostel.
Steps: 22,065
Day 17
Today we went to the Umeda area. Popped into some shopping centres and had Omurice for lunch. It was tasty but not something I will crave when back home. Good experience trying it though. We then walked through Yodoyobashi along the rivers and got gelato and sat in the rose garden. The sun was beating down and we enjoyed just chilling in the sun eating our ice cream.
Compufunk Records were holding a party in their store. Decent gaff with some very welcoming and kind people to party with until the early hours.
Steps: 21,267
Day 18
We reluctantly left Osaka for Hakone today. Very sad to go but onwards to the next adventure. Took the shinkansen to Odawara and then the Hakone Tozan Train to Gora. Checked into our Ryokan and relaxed in the Onsen for a few hours.
Went for a walk around Gora and had dinner at the Ryokan before watching Predator in bed.
Steps: 16,926
Day 19
Today we did the Hakone Loop, starting early in Gora.
Started with the Open-air museum and it was great. We loved the installation and ended up spending 3 hours slowly making our way round. Got some cool photos as well for the gram.
Ropeway to Lake Ashi. This was absolutely terrifying. You have to swap cable cars 3 times on the way over and the warnings of the service being suspended due to the wind was announced at each stop. I’m not going to ruin the surprise, but one section made me literally freeze in terror due to the winds outside so try to do it on a calm weather day.
We then took the pirate boat (bit underwhelming) across the Lake and stopped for some soba noodles and a wander around. Unfortunately it was way too cloudy to even get a chance at seeing Mt Fuji.
Train to Kamakura and checked into our super cute traditional hostel near the beach.
Dinner at an Izakaya from the hostel owners recommendation. Food great and beers slipped down a treat. First time I tried Yuzu Kosho as well – I’m now addicted to the stuff and literally cover all my food with it.
Steps: 19,512
Day 20
A slow start to the morning. Weather was pretty bad but we still managed to hit all the main sights in Kamakura. Big Buddha was a refreshing sight from the temples. Did some shopping up Komachi Dori. Highlight of the day was Hukokaji temple. It was so peaceful and zen in the rain with its very own matcha tea ceremony backdropped by bamboo forest. This turned out to be our second favourite temple/shrine we visited, just being beaten by Kodaji.
In the evening we went for Sushi at a conveyor belt place. Figured this would probably be my last Japanese sushi of the trip so devoured 7000 yen worth of sushi and beer. Went back to the hostel and invited some of the other guests to drink with us. The owner of the hostel had some bayberry homebrew, so we got stuck into that.
Steps: 20,494
Day 21
Enoshima Island is just a 25 min train from Kamakura. Started off the day by walking to the top of the island to get French toast and a beer with a lovely view across the bay. We then headed up the Sea candle to check out the observation deck, still the illusive Mt Fuji hides behind the clouds.
We then bought admission to the caves beneath the island which was pretty cool. I won’t ruin the surprise but there’s something waiting for you at the end of one of the caves.
Had an explore around the rockpools near the caves and took some cool photos. We then had a pizza with fish on which was pretty crazy. Walked around the island a little bit more and I picked up some more Japanese denim which wasn’t the cheapest but the quality of the trousers are great and will last me a lifetime.
Back to Tokyo in the evening.
Went for Izakaya around Asakusa and popped into a couple bars. One was called Not Suspicious and the whole bar was covered in handwritten notes by patrons. Very touristy but quite cool at the same time. Our favourite was a drawing of Mario saying It’s a Me Muthafucka.
Steps: 25,903
Day 22
First stop was Don Quiojte to pick up some Yuzu Kosho (if you know you know) and weird flavoured KitKats.
Kappabashi Dougu street to purchase a fine Japanese carbon stell Santoku. Honestly in love with this knife so much. The people at the store were very happy to hear exactly what I was looking for and even let me try before you buy on some daikon radish.
While in Asakusa I had to return to the place where I put the best thing in my mouth in Japan. Motenashi Kuroki. Switched it up this time and had their classic Shio ramen plus the duck rice as a side. Honestly this place is amazing, and you have to go there if you have time. They aren’t veggie/pescy friendly so my partner went for one last round of sushi round the corner. We met up at a massage chair parlour and spent 30 mins relaxing in the chairs.
We had a bright idea to watch the sunset one last time so headed over to the rooftop park on a department store in Shibuya. Sipping on an ice cold Kirin, the sun slowly dropped behind the distant mountains and we knew our trip had come to an end. How symbolic.
Flight at 11pm from Haneda.
Steps: 23,187
On reflection:
I honestly think this trip was almost perfect in terms of hitting our interests and travel style. There was a good balance of doing the typical first time visit to Japan sights and activities while still exploring and seeing what we came across in the moment.
It hard to pinpoint exact highlights of the trip as everywhere we visited had so much going for it in different ways. We loved the rugged and trendy vibe to Osaka, and I think this would be the city I would most want to live in for a considerable amount of time (If I had to choose). Miyajima was also stunning and a great overnight trip with the Ryokan experience. We also underestimated how much we would enjoy Kamakura with its laid-back surfer vibe and access to Enoshima Island.
One random memorable moment that has stuck with me was when we landed at Narita airport, we took the limo bus to Shinjuku. As the driver pulled away, all the staff at the station turned and bowed in unison. It felt so special to first observe a culture totally opposite to the one I grew up with and was at this point I knew I had embarked on the trip of a lifetime.
If I could go back and change something I would probably miss out Hakone and do an extra day in one of the major cities. This isn’t because we didn’t enjoy Hakone, but we feel like it’s a place that needs more time to soak in what’s going on around you (plus the weather was bad when we were there). This being said the Open-Air Museum was amazing and we enjoyed it more than the Teamlab botanical gardens so the trip up the mountains was worth it just for that.
So, how much did we spend per person (not inc flights)?
Accommodation - £765pp
Given that we spent a couple nights in Ryokans raising the average price slightly, we were pretty happy with the accommodation costs. We stayed in a mix of private room and shared dorm hostels and pretty much all of them were spot on. Travelling as a couple meant that anywhere with a private room split the price between 2. The only hostel we didn’t like was the one in Hiroshima, there wasn’t anything in particularly wrong with it, there was just a really bad vibe from the owner and other guests.
Transport - £344pp
This includes shinkansen to and from all the major cities as well as our suica top ups for metros and buses. Unless your itinerary is something like 3 days Tokyo, 2 days Osaka 2 days Kyoto then there really isn’t any point getting the JR pass now that the price has increased.
Activities – £280pp
It is hard to give an exact amount for activities and food as 1) I didn’t track what we spent our cash on and 2) my partner and I would take in turns paying for things like temple admission. That being said I’ve allocated 25% of the cash we spent to activities such as temple admission. Activities includes our baseball tickets plus club entries as well as temple and museum admissions etc.
Food – £962pp
As above, its hard to give an exact amount for food. On the whole we tried to eat cheap with possible, especially at the start of our trip. There were a few expensive meals peppered in plus we ate out twice a day towards the end of our trip as we realised we were under budget.
The total is a bit skewed as this includes all the alcohol we bought in bars as well as the konbini trips for beers and cigarettes. I estimate that booze accounts for around a third of the total per person. If you would like to do Japan on a budget, reducing the booze will make a big difference.
Shopping/Souvenirs/Gifts – £607 (just me)
We went hard with the shopping. We didn’t actually receive our checked in luggage until day 19 so we had to buy all new clothes and cosmetics. If this wasn’t the case, then I don’t think I would have spent so much (airline is comping us for the additional clothing bought anyway). I also bought a fairly expensive chef knife and Japanese denim pieces, plus lots of gifts for friends and family. Obviously, this number could theoretically 0 if you are on a serious budget and did no shopping but I really underestimated Japanese shopping, especially thrifting. Also, given our cheap choices when it came to accommodation we could afford to splurge. However just to note my partner spent less than half than I did on shopping.
Total: £2958 (582,628 yen at time of writing)
I kept within my budget of £3000. I definitely got a bit frivolous with the cash in the last few days or so, if being as careful as I was towards the start of the trip, I think the total would be closer to £2500.
Disappointments
Takoyaki. We thought it was going to be all about the octopus but were disappointed with our balls of sloppy goo surrounding tiny chewy pieces of octopus. We tried it twice and couldn’t get behind it. Sorry Takoyaki fans.
Arashiyama. Way too busy, especially around the main station and bamboo grove. If it’s the bamboo you are going to see, then Kodaji is a much better spot.
Dotonburi. Albeit we were there in golden week, and it was pretty busy. However, I get the feeling this area has fallen to the past its golden days title and has become a bit of a cash cow for places selling spiralised potatoes on a stick. The area around Namba park was a better option for us.
Tips
Konbini. Absolute life saver for snacks and drinks on the go. The food quality for a convenience store is higher than most other countries so we had no problem with grabbing a meal from one to help keep within our budget.
Don’t over pack – even though we didn’t get our checked in bags, I still packed light so had plenty of space to bring stuff back. Emirates give you your allowance by weight rather than number of baggage so we could check in additional bags on the way back.
Don’t be scared of hostels. If you don’t want to brave the shared dorms, then most hostels offer private rooms with just the shower and toilet shared. Obviously, it’s cheaper if there are two people sharing a room.
Don’t stress about cash. Most places take debit/credit card and if they don’t, you’re never more than 5 minutes from a konbini ATM.
For us, golden week didn’t seem that big of an issue. No problems booking shinkansen around GW. We spent most of GW in Osaka, as such it was going to be busy anyway so maybe we didn’t see much of a difference from normal numbers in the spring.

What’s up guys! Gonna share some insights, especially for the younger guys.
Stats: 20y- 6’0 - Handsome/Cute (6-7/10) - Nice Build Mediterranean looking + Mixes (🇻🇪 fam)
Context: Well travelled since youth, not rich but was a family thing to do. By default became a passport bro haha. Difficult kid, intelligent odd ball, not bad with girls but bad with girls lmao. Good but weird upbringing. Chaotic and a bit of a demon, impulsive, low self control. (Much more mature now)
Mexico 🇲🇽 Ok let’s get into it. My first real experience and love was at 19. I was in a bad place for many years prior and didn’t let people in. Anyways so yeah I met a 🇲🇽 girl who I found really cute through mutuals in the capital. I rarely found any Mexicans cute, so she was special in that point of view. We also had many similarities and I loved how feminine she was compared to girls back home. Beautiful country and culture I thoroughly recommend CDMX as a beginner location. I quickly began solo traveling to 🇲🇽 to see my “friend” and it quickly got out of hand and ended abruptly in a moment of my immaturity. I learned many things though: Long distance is not my style- too complicated and heart wrenching- I quickly made a mental note to not take any relationships serious. Also noted to be weary of girls who approach you haha. Here is where I noticed how insane I pulled outside of the country. I live in a city which has the most hyper-competitive sexual market in the United States (world) and I still do surprisingly well (especially at night lol). But nothing compares. Also I’m a Latino by blood so the dating culture just feels better.
Venezuela 🇻🇪 Anyways after the Mexico era I went on a family trip to Venezuela which I basically haven’t been there since my balls dropped. Wow. The natural beauty of Venezuelans is striking. Beautiful girls everywhere. The country itself is a mess. Everything is slow, expensive, and inconvenient. Had some fun there with a local girl but was not able to enjoy as much as I wanted to as I was with family the entire time. I don’t use tinder- all IRL into instagram as a funnel. Maybe I’ll explore more with dating apps as I get many matches especially overseas but the quality seems shitty and it can be a waste of time also a lame way to meet people. Never got to go out or party solo-dolo so that was a bummer. Will be back soon enough though so I’ll update you guys on Venezuela Nightlife experience. All I can say is it’s the second most beautiful place when it comes women I’ve been to. The country itself is by far the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. Terrible government- felt surprisingly safe though.
Europe 🇪🇺 Ok here’s were it gets weird haha. So Europe is definitely a place with more nuance. With that said I went to both western and eastern locations. It’s much easier to have casual sex in Western Europe due to the culture. Many American and European solo traveling girls as well… they are rather promiscuous. Eastern Europe was by far a beauty haven. From Romania to Russia you will find some of the most beautiful women on earth just walking on the street. The culture shock is large though and dating becomes a bit more “serious” which for me doesn’t work. I would recommend Europe as a traveling destination if you think you’re up for it. I did well and met, partied with, and traveled with girls but I felt like it the more east I went it just wasn’t the right vibe for that. Which is a bummer because Western European girls don’t compare to for example Ukrainians and Moldova. The farthest east I went was Turkey and the girl I was with had to sneak out everyday out of fear of being basically ostracized. Turkish people are very nice though. Spain was the most degenerate place I was in, if I wanted to party everyday I pretty much could. Great food, pricing varies widely based on economy, girls get hotter the more you go east but also more tricky. Great location to party hard, techno, etc.
So when it comes to Europe results may vary on many things. Your relative attractiveness, your ability to adapt and be outgoing even in “colder” nations, and how you carry yourself + where you stay. Staying in good locations is key. As an American you either get a buff or a de-buff and “wealth” is the main factor. European girls are very direct. Which I found off putting. Latin culture can be hyper sexual but I find it more classy.
Pro tips 🧠: - Don’t drink too much- you’ll get robbed or worse - Don’t get attached to anyone if you’re solo traveling it’s “solo” for a reason. Explore man. - Have travel cards with 0 international/atm fees - Learn how to say “hi” “nice to meet you” “my name is” “you’re gorgeous” in whatever language it shows you’re somewhat cultured. - If you’re young fuck the clubs! Go to raves, underground events, concerts, festivals. The young person and pretty girl ratio is 100x better. - Party hostels are a great way to meet “fun” people - Be careful with drug use, have been fine but honestly most of it is just unnecessary lmao. - Pub crawls are the easiest way to get laid in Europe lmao. Everyone is there for a reason. Just don’t do it if the ratio is completely busted as it’s not good for meeting local girls and stay away from the girl guides- trust.
Future travels 🌎 Peru 🇵🇪 - Machu Pichu + Lima Brazil 🇧🇷 - 🤤 nuff said Colombia 🇨🇴 - Venezuela lite more dangerous imo Argentina 🇦🇷 - seems fun
Asia as well- China 🇨🇳 would be crazy. Rarely find Asians cute but some are gorgeous.
Please share your thoughts / tips on these locations as I will be there shortly.

Hello everyone!
I know this is a rather contentious issue atm in the community, but I am a strong advocate for attempting to make due with what is introduced and to "fix it" within the confines of what is presented within a story.
To put it another way, I wanted to look at HW3 with a critical eye for editing rather than outright ditching whole concepts. So, in spirit of that, I suggested very minimal gameplay changes (introducing a Keeper in place of the Warsage) while keeping to primarily dialogue changes. This means none of the cinematics need to be altered (we'll just handwave a little bit with the lip sync) and instead you can add to the dialogue as needed to convey the information that's required.
Google Doc is 33ish pages, though there are images used as pacing stops (to indicate where things take place): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yJ-x5-frgLI_4i2h87k2jH40rUaHMFqrXQhkVtcEYjU/edit?usp=sharing
Key take aways are going to be fairly long, so please bear with me:

So what does this accomplish?

• It gives more connection between Isaac and the mission. He has a personal investment and a personal dislike of Imogen for being kiithless, a longstanding prejudice between ex-Taiidan and Kushan that briefly abated during the Vaygr War but has grown into a fire again (giving us politics! yay!).
• It makes the connection with Karan more distant, less intimate, and more mentor-like. Karan’s presence is greatly diminished and is used more referentially to help build her mythology.
• It ties up the Progenitor storyline by giving players tidbits of the lore, while embracing the idea of never fully explaining it. Tiamat and Sajuuk had their day in the sun, but that time has passed.
• Sajuuk is not a full AI ship, it’s just a part of Him - the true vessel was the Mothership with the Sajuuk starship docked to it (which explains The Foundry, the nature of the Mothership, etc. It moves away from Progenitors as humans and into Progenitors as something beyond humanity.)
• Whirlpool galaxy is mostly untouched, sans for a little expansion on the nature of politics. With the kiith leaving in droves for other opportunities, the politics of Hiigara are in flux. What even IS a Hiigaran at this point? That’s up to the player to decide for themselves.
• References to existing galactic powers including the Council (can throw in Fernn and any other races that make sense) helps build upon the lore.
• Vaygr war being relatively recent helps lend credence to the state of galactic technology. With more time, the Sajuuk should have resulted in unspeakably advanced Hiigaran starships, but we do not see this in game.
• Khar-Kushan being fundamentally a research ship helps to explain as well why such a vessel would be sent to do this task. No one expected to find a Progenitor godship intact and functional, and it gives reason for the pursuit of the Khar-Acharis.
• Removing the Sajuuk name from any other element ensures that when the name is brought up, players take notice.
• Creates emotional connection and conflict between Tiamat and Imogen; Tiamat is desperate for connection anyone who is compatible with her and has committed unspeakable atrocities in the pursuit of that. Imogen is also seeking connection, but sees in Tiamat a dark mirror of desperation.
• Kim Paktu replaces Karan in narrative nature, and her death helps cement the trust between Imogen and Isaac as kiith and kiithless.
• Tiamats death removes the last known Progenitor, and frees the galaxy from their grip.
• Karan-Sajuuk (as a merged entity) exist as a key to the gates, is apolitical, and cannot get involved. Keeping her in that position removes the need to worry about the hyperspace cores, the impact on the lore, or the involvement of Karan in politics. Her connection to her people becomes more and more distant with each generation until, at last, she no longer has any.
• It makes the decision to sacrifice the cores an important one, as their decision to stay in this galaxy to protect the rest of the universe now has meaning.
• This opens up an entire new galaxy to explore. Did Tiamat truly dominate all of it? Was she lying? What happened here? Did anyone from the Khar-Acharis survive?
• This gives writers an opportunity to work across Nimbus, Sunflower, and Whirlpool without risking stepping on existing canon. Maybe The Beast was a relic of the Progenitor Civil War? Maybe you find the people who made the Nagarock?

All in all, I hope you enjoyed this rewrite. It is pretty bare bones, but I wanted to show that this story has a LOT of potential to be quite good, and just needs some more meat on it.
Taking all the existing elements, you can see how changing a few things adds tension, builds characters, builds on top of the existing world's lore, and doesn’t introduce retcons. It doesn’t remove the accomplishments of those who came before, and establishes the continuity of all the prior games.
TLDR;
The game’s story can be good. Just needs polishing, editing, and some elements added to it.
Prior to commenting, please give the document a read!
Edit: I just want to say to the folks at BBI, thank you for making this game. I know from my own experience how hard it is when there are deadlines to meet and expectations to exceed and how much pressure comes from all this. I don't want this to seem like I'm panning you're hard work, but rather to try to redirect some of the negative energy in the community towards constructive ideas. Again, *thank you* for all the work you did and will do.

A month or so ago I busted my phone, and it was a huge pain in the ass. Aside from some lost data which was minor, the biggest PIA was resetting MFA, getting in touch with my US banks, and any other services that were tied to my phone. The experience also made me take a step back and realize I am pretty lax with security, and if someone had gotten hold of my phone and somehow god-forbid gotten the passcode, then I'd be fucked. They could do so much damage with unlimited access to my email + MFA SMS, even in just a few hours.
As a result, I kind of went down the ADHD rabbit hole hyper-fixating on how best to "optimize" my iPhone and iCloud configuration for two things:

1. If it breaks, the transition to a new device will be relatively painless. I won't have to spend several days stressing and trying to find the right international customer support number for a myriad of institutions and services to get into my accounts.
   
2. If it gets stolen and compromised, then there will be enough barriers such that the I'll have enough time to lock down the device and/or my accounts remotely before the thief can get key data or move funds.
   

So I put together this guide and checklist that I thought I'd share with others. I am a programmer but by no means a security guru, and so if any IT, DevOps, or SecOps folks want to chime-in with suggestions or improvements, please do.

Requirements

• an iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone 11, iPhone 12, iPhone 13, iPhone SE (2nd generation), and iPhone 14 or newer for eSIM compatibility.
• a US-based carrier with eSIM support + a pay-as-you-go model for international travel (I use Verizon)
• iOS 17 or above (may not be strictly necessary, but I know my setup works with iOS 17.4.1)
• a password manager. I personally use 1Password because it works, is reliable, has cross-device support, and is easy and intuitive. It's also only $3/month.

Dual Sim Setup

I have been rocking an iPhone 12 for the past few years, and it's served me very well. I know the newer iPhones (14 and up) no longer offer physical SIM card support, but carriers in most developing countries are behind the curve. Even if they offer eSIM support, it's been my experience that it's a major headache to get setup, there is a lack of customer support in English, and they may even require a local ID to register the eSIM. It's way easier to just head to a shop and pay $5 for a SIM card, load some funds onto it, and then you're good to go.
The eSIM has been very helpful for maintaining a US phone number for which I can receive SMS texts from my banks and other financial services as well as continue to use iMessage with all my US contacts since hardly anybody is on Whatsapp.
Most, if not all, carriers in the US support eSIMs now, and so you should try to find a carrier that offers an international pay-as-you-go plan. Verizon offers two international plans - one is a "Travel Pass" where it's a flat fee of $10/day anywhere outside the US or Canada (even for just one text message). The other is "pay for what you use" which has a rate per text, minute, and mb. For my US plan, I only care about receiving SMS texts from my banks and the occasional phone call to a service that doesn't have an international, toll-free number. Data will always be cheaper outside the US, so I disable cellular data switching for my US line.
The last time I was in the US was for the holidays and I bought 2 used iPhone 12's for about $200 each. They have some scuffs, but they're perfectly serviceable. In LATAM, it also doesn't attract nearly as much unwanted attention in the street as an iPhone 14 or 15.
I brought these with me as extra devices. When my phone busted last month, thankfully I had a backup in iCloud and everything was loaded in a few minutes as normal. This was before I was using the eSIM, but if I had the eSIM I could just go to Verizon support online via chat and they could help me switch the line to the new device easily.

Basic Configurations

• Always use the latest version of firmware
• Require a passcode that's unique to that device.
• Use FaceID instead of passcode when possible (a thief can't snipe your passcode from a distance if you unlock your phone with FaceID)
• Set auto-lock to 30 seconds (lowest possible)
• Erase data upon excessive passcode failures note, this is complemented in a later step with daily backups. The odds of you putting in the wrong passcode 10 times is low, but in the event you do and you wipe the device by accident, you should be able to easily load in a back-up from the previous day)
• Turn off "Ask to Join Networks"
• Forget unused networks so that you don't rejoin automatically (airports, hotels, etc.)

Creating Backups

• Set iCloud backups to run automatically every night. This will allow you to load your entire phone as is (contacts, call history, iMessages, apps, even your wallpaper) onto another device during setup. The iCloud backup usually runs at 2am while I'm sleeping.
• You may need to pay for a higher tier in iCloud if you have too much stored on your phone. It's $3/month for 200gb of iCloud storage, and I find it worth it. Though I know some people with tens of thousands of photos for which 200gb might not be enough.

Password Policy

• For any accounts that may contain sensitive data (payments, PII, etc), always generate a unique password with 1Password. Don't reuse passwords. Same goes for PIN codes.
• For core accounts, create a strong but memorable password and then memorize it. The odds of getting locked out of 1Password are low if you're diligent, but for 2 or 3 core accounts (where you access money, your primary recovery email, your iCloud, 1Password), it's worth it to create strong, unique passwords for each core service and memorize them.
• I try not to reuse passwords in general, but I still sometimes am lazy and use one of my handful of typical passwords if there's no sensitive data collected by the service and it's a service I don't use often.

MFA

Set up MFA with everything. Add multiple options if possible. My preferred MFA options are as follows:

1. One-time code that renews every 30 seconds. This is device agnostic and can be stored in 1Password. You could also use Microsoft Authenticator, Google Authenticator, Authy or similar, but there's just more overhead to now recover those accounts if your device becomes inaccessible.
2. One-time code to recovery email.
3. One-time code via SMS to my US phone number. On the pay-as-you-go Verizon plan, I only pay 5 cents per text message received. It's worth it to keep one consistent number.
4. List of recovery codes (stored in 1Password as an attached txt file for the given account)
5. Use another app for verification (Google does this a lot).

Lockdown your iCloud security

• Enable MFA.
• Create a strong, unique password.
• Remove any old or unused devices from the iCloud account (old phones, ipods, etc).
• Enable "Find My" for all of your devices.
• In Find My, configure all devices to send the last known location.
• In Find My, enable the configuration to remotely wipe a device.

In the event your phone is stolen, the idea is you could run back to any of your devices or even use a friend's device to log into iCloud on the web, go to Find My, and then in a single button click you can lock and wipe the stolen device. If the thief turned off the device or disabled wifi/cellular, then as soon as it comes back online it will be wiped.

Final Clean-Up

• Move any compromising photos to the "hidden" folder (which requires FaceID or passcode to unlock)
• Review the Files app for any documents containing sensitive info. If you need these documents to be accessible on mobile, then move them to 1Password and delete them from the Files app.
• Create a shortcut to trigger the lock screen (and thus require FaceID or passcode) when specific apps are opened (banking, email, photos, etc).
• Not sure if this is best practice, but I just keep everything in 1P and turn off apple keychain and the apple built-in password manager. I also don't save passwords in Chrome or Safari.

Extra tips

These aren't really iPhone tips but general tips. They are probably obvious to you if you aren't as scatterbrained as me, but I figured that I'd drop them here in case they help someone.

• Add thorough security measures to iCloud, primary email, and any banking or financial services. Review each account and make sure you have a strong, unique password as well as a unique PIN, MFA configured, login alerts, recovery codes, and an international, 24-hour toll-free phone number stored somewhere to contact the service in the event of a crisis. For banking services, add withdrawal limits, regional restrictions (if you bounce between the same few countries), and SMS notifications for charges over a certain threshold. Open up a second checking account with a separate debit card for trips to the ATM.
• Consolidate and close any unused bank accounts. I realized that on my phone I had Revolut, Venmo, Paypal, Nequi, plus 4 US banking institutions. I took this time to close my Discover account (which is pretty much useless outside the US anyway), close my Revolut account since I'm hardly ever in the UK/EU, and consolidate investment accounts from different institutions into just a handful that's easier to monitor.

—TLDR: ”Just stop being frustrated!”
—But actually, just sharing my perspective on the game and how I’ve approached it. I mean no offense to anyone. Ignore at will, especially the advice.
I’ve been playing regularly since launch and it’s been one of the greatest co-op experiences ever. I usually run duos with a friend, 7-9 bugs. Think I’m level 68 atm. That’s Fleet Admiral to you, soldier.
That being said, many aspects of the game have been changed and a lot of it feels like it’s for the worse.
-The Erupter now fires military grade firecrackers… I liked the risk/reward it had before. Alas, no more “bolt gun” for me.
-The new charge up weapon in the polar war bond is the worst weapon I’ve ever used in the game (I mean just laughably bad), and some of the other added weapons are reskinned WORSE versions of already implemented guns. Bit bummed about spending those medals, but what else am I using em for. Still, I paid for the SC’s. Gut punch!
-Spawn changes have made level 7 more challenging but it’s been manageable. I die a lot more. Partially because I refuse to use anything but the lightest armor….
-There’s a lot of little odd mechanics that leave you frustrated or back on the destroyer. Charger behavior, enemies being crushed by dropships and walking out fine, lots of stuff. Truly.
-Meta weapons come and go, strategies become less viable (no more stunning titans, that was too easy anyways lol). Stuns might not even work on chargers now idk.
-Probably way more, but this is what I’ve seen.
WE ARE STILL HAVING A BLAST. I LOVE DEMOCRACY. I LOVE MAG DUMPING MACHINE GUNS AND POPPING GIANT SPITTER TICKS WITH IMPACTS. I STILL PEE A LITTLE WHEN STALKERS JUMP ME. FOR DEMOCRACY, OF COURSE….
We’ll take random load outs (after eliminating the poopy guns/strats) and drop a skill level just to change the game up. We’ve tried things like only taking sentries or beam weaponry, and that has been a lot of fun too (would not recommend on higher difficulty lol). I’ve made it a personal goal of mine to surf every bugger that’s big enough to support my weight. Jump pack = 10,000 IQ strat, I’ll die on that hill.
It’s still a great game. Even if it’s worse than when it came out.
But so many people seem (imo, overly) frustrated. I think most of the criticisms are totally fair and I too think things could be better. But the reality is that nothing will be fixed as quickly as we’d like.
It’s a bummer that now a lot of the discourse I see is about what people DON’T like about the game. Which I think just lowers the mood even further. Not that this helps either necessarily………
But venting feels good, pretty much what I’m doing rn. So I get it. Plus, sometimes it yields results.
MY ADVICE:
-Take a step back if you’re angry about the game. Don’t waste your valuable time being frustrated. Reboot rdr2 like I did, it’s been amazing. Fully polished game. My horse, Dominique, is beautiful. I think I feed him too much though.
-DEFINITELY 100% ABSOLUTELY wait to buy the next warbond. Someone will post on YouTube reviewing it, be careful with your credits. I wish I would have waited.
-Have some faith that things will be fixed. I can’t imagine it’s a simple process. I’m trying to be patient with it.
-There is such a thing as loving something to a fault. Y’all really care about the game, and that’s yielded some great things. But don’t lose yourself in the narrative/drama. Just for your own happiness.
Hopefully these issues will be fixed soon.
Thanks for reading, and for caring about the game. It’s been a very fun few months. I salute you all.

I’m a barista at a coffee shop and this question has been on my mind a lot lately and I’d love to get others opinions on it.
As far as I know in the United States service animals do not have any official documentation/license or don’t have any requirements to be wearing a certified vest/collar, which ends up making them look like any other dog. Me being a barista I can only ask 2 questions:

1. Is the dog a service animal because of disability?
   
2. What task has the dog been trained to perform?
   

After that I basically have to come to my own conclusion, do they get to stay or should I ask them to step outside to take their order.
Now, the coffee shop I work at is in a building with many other businesses, and almost everyday we get a little furry visitor from the business next door who has been very politely trained to sit at the door and not come in. He’ll patiently wait for one of the baristas to have some free time so we can hand him a treat. This got me thinking about how one of the main things to look for in a fake service dog is their behavior, but in reality any person can train their dog to act polite in any public environment.
Let’s say someone just loves having their dog around and they make the excuse that their dog is a service animal, so they train their dog to act calm and collected in public, and just in case someone asks they come up with a task their dog is trained to do that isn’t for any clearly physical purpose (such as being blind or physically handicapped). Let’s say they are trained to deter them away from people when they have panic attacks (which they are lying about, but idk that). At that point there really is no way in telling if the dog is truly a service animal or not, and because I work in a place with food we need to be extra careful about which dogs we decide to let in due to health violations.
I would hate getting on anyone’s bad side, but I’ve been wondering as to why there is no official certification for service animals in the US. I’ve heard that the rules state a service animal is no different than a wheelchair or crutches in the sense that it’s a medical tool, but unlike wheelchairs and crutches dogs are not inanimate objects, they are animals with emotions and certain behaviors that need training. Basically what I’m getting that is wheelchairs don’t need training to become wheelchairs, and since I work with food another point is that wheelchairs don’t carry around possible diseases if not vaccinated correctly.
An idea I had was if maybe a license had to be shown at least in places where food is served, or maybe animals must have a required vest with a clear pocket (mainly so that the owner doesn’t have to worry about always taking out their service dogs certification) and so that us workers can easily see an ID or something of that nature it if need be.
What do you guys think? Should service animals have come kind of certification or are the rules enforced atm good enough? I’d love to know other people’s experiences/thoughts on the matter.

https://www.figma.com/proto/PtYGEQZPolRfhqs8xms3kX/UX-Design-Course?node-id=65-1829&t=Mn8RL8WbEKFB5oPj-0&scaling=scale-down&page-id=65%3A1828&starting-point-node-id=65%3A1829
I'm new to Figma, and having trouble with my transitions after making a static navbar. (Only the bottom navbar is interactable atm.)
Main question: How do I get the navbar to stay solid throught screen transitions?

• When you navigate too the Blog page, the navbar becomes transparent for a bit. How do I get it to stop doing that? I want the nav bar to stay solid.
  
• When you navigate from Log to Sleep or vis versa, it animates the bed sliding between the two-- BUT it doesn't animate for Sleep to Blog. All interactions have SmartAnimate on between the screens, but are set as Instant for the component variants. How do I stop the sliding bed?
  

Thanks for any help!

I wanted to make a thread for QOL improvement ideas people have for the game. We obviously all love the game, but there's always room for a little improvement. This is not meant to be a thread for feature/content suggestions; just pain points in the game that could be fairly easily improved.
I'll update the below list as people comment:

UI

• Show current cash in map screen: Why do I have to go to an ATM or finish a job to see my current cash?
• Map filters: A list of common destinations you can highlight on the map, like ATMs, wardrobes, or other wobblies. The map gets very crowded.
• Speedometers: I wanna know how fast I'm going!
• See the names of clothes when you highlight them (u/mrbrick)
• Fit map to screen (u/mrbrick): The map is at a fixed 16x9 ratio, which sucks if your screen for whatever reason (doing splitscreen, non-standard screen size, etc.) is a different size, since you can't see as much of the map as you could be able to
• Change your name: When you're playing co-op, it'd be very helpful to be able to write in a custom name for a new wobbly joining the game to help remind which character is whose
• Press 'B' to exit the clothes menu: When you're in the clothing menu, you can't press 'B' (or the PC equivalent) to exit the menu, which feels clunky when you then have to navigate your cursor over to the "Back" button. This works in the map already
• Make emote menu easier to navigate: I find the emote radial menu a bit difficult and unintuitive to use. It also doesn't feel good that when you move your thumbstick to select your second menu option, you have to keep holding the thumbstick in that direction while you lift your finger off the D-pad, making your player's camera shoot off in another direction when you're done in the menu. I'd really like something closer to how Rocket League does quick chats, maybe where you click "Down" on the D-pad once to bring up the menu, then click another direction on the D-pad to select the emote you want to use.

Gameplay

• Buttons light up when you press them: It's sometimes unclear visually when you've actually hit a button, so having them light up or any other visual confirmation of a button press would be useful
• Arms auto-aim towards buttons: I'm sure we've all had that small annoyance when you're trying to press a button, but your arm is only 5 degrees off and you miss it. It'd be nice if, when you're looking at a button and you stretch your arm out to press it, the game helps subtlety guide your arm towards the button so you don't look stupid trying and failing to press it 5 times in a row
• Money bags earned from jobs are linked to a Wobbly that worked the job: It's a bit annoying that it's possible for other people to deposit the bags of money that we earned as their own. If allowing giving money to another player is the issue, why not allow withdrawals of anonymous money bags? Could also extend to fishes
• Money bags cannot despawn: Probably the most frustrating thing I've ever had happen in this game. Why is money despawning even possible?
• Allow a brief amount of swimming: It can be very frustrating when your boat is close to a shore, but the land has a steep cutoff and a slight misstep means falling immediately into a trench instead of hitting land. A short period of buoyancy would really help with disembarking, and add tense moments of "oh no you fell! Quick, try to get back!!" Instead of the immediate "Oh, I fell, that's the end for me, please wait while I run all the way back to the thing we were doing together"
• Pick up things low to the group: Many times in this game, I have dropped an item that I cannot pick up because I can't bend down far enough to reach it (e.g., a slice of cheese). This gets really frustrating, especially in timed minigames. Maybe the wobbly could just bend a bit further? Or in the situation where the wobbly is bent all the way over trying to pick something up, invisibly increase their reach?
• Don't immediatelly pass out if you jump and grab a wall with both hands: I don't get why this one is even happening
• When the camera is pushed too close to your body, make your body semi transparent rather than fully invisible: This becomes a real pain in areas where you're in very tight quarters and you need to pick something up, like the mining game

Other

• Guards in the Bank Heist game visually indicate their sphere of awareness: I keep trying this game, but keep losing and getting frustrated because there's a certain invisible distance from the guards where even if their back is turned, they'll catch you. A circle on the ground where the guards awareness is, or an indicator above their heads would go a long way to improving this game. See other stealth games as reference

i just saw a reddit post on how suiciding isn't worth it and it's gonna be a lost to this world etc etc etc.
it's not a loss to the world. and it's not a loss to anyone. i'm just a little dot in the universe and it doesn't matter if i die or not the world is gonna go on. i just don't want to continue the suffering anymore. i can't. i won't. but in the end i still have to wake up. i still have experience this traumatizing and torturing experience that you're calling life. i don't want this "life". i didn't signed up for this shit. i never would i never did and if i had the chance to undo i would do it.
i can't. i can't experience this horror anymore. every single time i go to sleep i'm scared of waking up. scared of experiencing this nightmare. it's becoming so congested that every time i go to sleep and have a dream living a "normal" life, i wake up crying. i don't want to continue. i wanna alt+f4, backspace, delete, shift delete, quit at the same time. maybe i am a coward. and i agree that some people have it worse than me. but that doesn't mean my suffering is invalid.
i can't take this anymore. a few minutes ago i was normally watching a video on coding and then i just suddenly had the urge to slash my wrists again. i can't. i want to be normal. ik i never will be. and ik i don't deserve to be. but that doesn't mean that i'll don't have the wish to be.
i can't kill myself because that will hurt somebody i've fallen for. and i will do anything except hurt her intentionally. but why am i doing this? does it really matter? i won't be alive. i won't see if she's in pain or not. ik i'm being selfish. thinking like this is only making things worse and making me hate myself even more but what else should i think about? this is gonna get worse. my life is gonna get worse. my situation is gonna get worse. my health is gonna get worse. my mental health is gonna get worse. my family is gonna get worse. i myself am gonna get worse. my financial situation is gonna get worse.
the only thing i can see is an empty gap. but i don't have to fall in that gap. i can just end everything.... peacefully.......
i've tried yk... tried soo many damn times before i was in this relationship. it doesn't work you know.. it's like the universe itself wants me to suffer. i wanna die. i wanna die so bad. please. why won't people kill me?...
maybe i should get to my ex group and try to start a fight. idk... i can't think of anything atm. the only thing i can think about is killing myself. i wanna suffer. i wanna feel this shit. i wanna take a red hot knife and push it against my skin... i used to do that yk? cz most of the time cutting was getting out of hand and people would just see a lot of blood stains.. so burning was the way to go...
can't do that anymore... can't... i want too...
maybe if i died accidentally.... maybe i should go out more often and run across the roads. i hope a truck would get me. maybe... idk
i can't. i can't i can't i cant please please please i want this to stop i can't experience this anymore i just want to sleep forever. maybe a coma maybe death i don't fucking care i want this to stop i don't wanna continue this anymore i'm SCARED PLEASE

I am not the OOP. The OOP is u/WholePomegranate5342 posting in TrueOffMyChest
Concluded as per OOP
1 update - Long
Original - 13th February 2024
Update - 9th May 2024
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My Parents Tried to Screw Over My Dying StepMother, Blew Up All Of Our Lives Instead
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TLDR; My bio parents tried to screw my terminally ill stepmother out of trust fund money, but she caught on and now no one on my side of the family gets anything.
Throwaway for obvious reasons.
My (17F) stepmother "Jane" is a wonderful, wonderful woman. She and my father got married when I was 4, and she's been a rock in my life ever since. My mother was always my primary caregiver, but up until that point her relationship with my father was acrimonious and I basically never saw him. Jane was the reason they developed a stable co-parenting relationship, she encouraged everyone having a good relationship with each other and was always there to support me and my mom when things got rough.
Jane was always a really hard worker. When she met my dad, he was living out of a hotel and my mother was doing everything in her power to keep me away from him because she was petty and angry that their relationship didn't work out. Meanwhile Jane had a great job, a nice house, helped my dad get back on his feet, negotiated a visitation schedule with my mom (who hated her for a long time), and made sure my dad sent us money every week because neither one of them could afford an attorney to negotiate child support payments. Jane had no reason to do any of these things but as I got older she made it clear that she loved me as much as she loved my (half) brothers who were born a few years later. I even have my own room in her house because at the time we lived with my grandparents / various boyfriends of my mom and Jane felt that I needed a more stable environment than that. She's like the opposite of the evil stepmom.
When I was 15, Jane won a big lawsuit against an airline company and got awarded upwards of a million dollars. She used the money to build sizable trust funds for me and my brothers so that we would be taken care of later in life. Despite having a lot more money she still wanted to live a fairly modest life, so she paid off the house she has and has been living there ever since with my dad. Sure she bought a new car and they went on a few nice vacations but she didn't blow all her money on stupid things, which I respected.
About a year ago, things started getting really weird. Whenever I saw Jane she seemed to look sicker and sicker, but no one would tell me or my brothers why even though I know they knew. All we knew is that she was at the hospital a lot. Around the same time, my mom has been coming around my dad a lot more and acting really strange, basically like she was trying to romance him. Whenever Jane was in the hospital my mother would insist on spending the night at their house and playing mom to my brothers, which was so weird to me because she never liked them or Jane. She'd be the perfect little housewife and my mom is NOT like that at all. It was super fake.
Worst of all, my dad started falling for it. I'm not stupid - I'm pretty sure they were sleeping together. I tried to shield my brothers from it but they're not dumb either. I tried talking to my dad too but he insisted it wasn't like that.
Then a few weeks ago, my mom started talking about all the places she'd like to visit, how she wanted a new car and was looking to invest... which is weird because my mom has been a bartender her whole life and has lived paycheck to paycheck since before I was born. She was acting like she was about to get a lot of money, which started to make me really suspicious. Between Jane being sick and my mom acting all nouveau riche, I had a lot of questions.
Finally I decided to visit Jane in the hospital and ask her about my trust fund. I found out that if anything happened to her, that my dad would inherit all the money including full control of the trusts for me and my brothers. She asked me why I was so interested in the trust fund so I told her what's going on with my parents and how my mom has been acting with my dad. I didn't want to but after everything she did for me, she deserved the truth. It really hurt me to break her heart like that, especially once I found out that she was basically in hospice at this point because of irreversible kidney failure. She's only got a few more months. We both cried so much.
Then, two days ago everything came to a head. My mom stormed in furious and started arguing with my dad. Apparently Jane met with her lawyer and changed the trust so that my dad would get nothing and all of the trusts would be controlled by my step-aunt. She demanded to know how Jane found out about their relationship and I came out and told them that I told Jane everything. I told them that if they wanted to play stupid games they would win stupid prizes and that I wasn't going to let them screw Jane over after all the help she gave my family when she didn't have to.
My mom slapped me and my dad just looked so defeated. Then my mom told my dad that she didn't really love him, that she was just pretending to so he would marry her and she could get all of the money. The worst part about it is that my brothers witnessed the whole thing and now on top of their mom dying they have to deal with a cheating dad and his vindictive ex. Our whole family is in ruins and I feel like it's my fault even though I know it's not.
Yesterday I visited Jane again and told her about the fallout. She apologized and said that she had to dissolve my trust fund to make sure my mother didn't get a hold of the money, but that as "her oldest" I will inherit the house/property after she is gone and that's worth more than the other two trust funds combined. My father won't get anything because she's going to divorce him before she dies, and honestly I'm happy for her. She made me promise to take care of my brothers and told me that once I turn 18 this summer I can kick my dad out of the house if I want to. And I FULLY plan to do that btw.
I haven't talked to my dad since and I can't even look at my mom. I can't believe they would conspire to do this to Jane after all this time. Just proof that they deserve each other and I'm embarrassed that they're my parents. Once I turn 18 I'm going to cut my dad out as much as I can and cut my mom out completely. I hope she rots. Meanwhile I'm going to try and be at the hospital as much as I can until Jane passes away.
Anyways. I just needed to vent. I'm really messed up about the whole thing and I feel super betrayed, although I can't even begin to imagine how Jane feels. I'm gonna be so f-ed up when she dies. I can't even think about that right now. But at least she's not surrounded by people who just want to bring her down.
Thanks for reading.
Edit: Some people are asking a lot of the same stuff so I'll just clarify here --
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My brothers -
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My plan is to use some of the estate money fight for guardianship for my twin brothers so that they can live in the house while I kick my dad out. If I can't get guardianship then I will have to let my dad stay in the house. However once I turn 18 I will technically be an adult so even if my dad leaves I'm still legally able to be responsible for them. The only thing I won't be able to do is stop him from taking them if he leaves. But they will be 18 in six years so even if they do have to leave they will always be able to come back whenever they want. In a perfect world my dad would just leave and let my brothers stay with me which I'm sure my bio-mom would be very supportive of because right now she hates all of us and I doubt that will change anytime soon.
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The trust -
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from what I understand, my brothers will inherit 1/3 each of the estate and the remaining 1/3 will be used to keep the house running until they turn 18. After that it will be up to me if I want to keep the house or sell it. At that point my brothers will still have money left in the trust so they can branch out or do whatever they want, otherwise I will not sell the house and just pass it on to them or keep it and maintain it myself and they can just stay with me as long as they need to.
(Edit to the edit) So I just spoke to Jane and she told me that the reason she dissolved the trust is because originally it was going to be split 3x between us kids and my dad would inherit the house. She dissolved my 3rd and switched it over to make it to take care of the house maintenance, and instead put the house in my name so my dad wouldn't get it. Plus by doing that at least financially I would be getting a much bigger share (the house is worth about 1.5x the amount of my brothers trusts) I just wouldn't be able to do anything with it until my brothers are 18, which I'm totally cool with. Sorry if I don't have a better answer but I'm just trying to translate what she told me.
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My parents -
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The big fight happened on Sunday and I haven't spoken to either of my parents since, I think they're both at my mom's place right now but that's fine with us because we're all still mad at them so they can stay gone for all we care. I know technically that's not legal to just leave us alone but I've been taking care of my brothers for over a year I can handle a few days while he gets his shit together. Screw both of them.
Hope that clears some stuff up.
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Comments
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Tisanes
I'm so sorry you're going through such a hard time, OP.
The most important thing you've inherited from Jane is a strong moral compass. You could have taken the easy road and ignored everything your mom and dad were doing, but your compassion to Jane is proof you take after her the most.

OOP: Thanks a lot. Yeah when my mom was yelling at me she asked why I couldn't keep my mouth shut and mind my business and I told her "because Jane raised me better than that" and that's when she slapped me. I feel like she's always been threatened by Jane and that was just proof.

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DeerBest3901
I would scream "oooOH TOUCHDOWN"

OOP: Lol that would've been funny but at the time I was more worried about keeping my brothers out of the argument (not that it worked but I tried).

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LighteningSharks
You're a good kid. I'm sorry you're losing the only parent who ever really cared. Jane was meant to be your mama

OOP: Thank you, I've felt like that periodically over the years but Jane always insisted that she didn't want to replace my bio mom in my life because a girl's relationship with her mother is important. I guess she didn't realize that I already had one.

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**Judgement - NTA*\*
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Update - 3 months later
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Hi guys it’s me again, a lot of you asked me for an update on my situation with Jane and my family so I’ve come back with a few things that have happened since I initially posted. I will try to organize this in a way that addresses the major points of last time.
Jane is still alive and doing surprisingly well considering the circumstances. She’s always been a fighter and although her disease has been progressing she’s keeping a positive attitude with everything that is going on. She says she’s grateful that she was able to see everyone’s true colors before she passed so she could go into the next life knowing the truth. We have become so unbelievably close in the past few months and it’s getting harder and harder to know that she’s getting close to the end. She doesn’t ever talk about it though and I know it’s because she doesn’t want to hurt me but we both know the situation so we’re just making the best of our time. I'm also not being completely transparent about all of the drama at home but tbh I don't think she needs to hear all of that.
We did end up having that surprise celebration of life that I planned, a lot more people showed up than I thought but they all got an airbnb near the hospital where Jane is and we were able to take her out and spend some time at the lake near the facility. It was super lowkey which I know Jane preferred and I was even able to get her old college friend to come after I found him on Linkedin lol. We had food and there was music and we played games and it was overall a really great time, except Jane started crying at the end but she promised me it was just because she was grateful.
My brothers are also doing okay, my aunt (Jane's sister) is currently paying for them to go to therapy and they've become a lot more open about talking about the situation. They just turned 13 but a lot of the time it feels like I'm talking to actual adults lol. They've become really independent lately (in a good way) and aside from me driving them places I don't really have to do much for them anymore. Their grades aren't super great but they're not failing and considering the circumstances it could be a lot worse. They still hang out with friends and I'm keeping an eye out for like depression symptoms and stuff.
The situation with my mom is as funny as it is embarrassing tbh. She spent a few weeks ignoring us and then she tried to crawl back into my life basically begging me to let her move in because her lease is about to expire and she has nowhere to go. That convo went about as well as you'd think and she ended up calling me an ungrateful b**** and that I couldn't just ignore her because she's my mom. I told her to get out of the house before I call the cops and to go back to my dad (who at that point was only coming home every few days to "check on us" and grab some clothes.)
After that she tried coming by a few times and when I wouldn't open the door she would lose her mind and start yelling through the neighborhood. After three instances of this I finally called the cops but because I'm 17 they told me there's a possibility that I would have to go home with her since technically I'm a minor and need to be with the custodial parent. I told them no way because I was the only one watching my brothers atm. That led to a whole thing where after a few hours my dad basically showed up and I was allowed to stay there because there was finally an adult present and I'd basically lived there for over a year.
After that the cops firmly told my mom that if she keeps showing up and causing drama (my neighbors confirmed that she'd been there a few times screaming) that they would arrest her for trespassing since technically it was Jane's house and not hers. She left and hasn't tried coming to the house anymore but for a while she would call me constantly telling me I owed her and all kinds of stuff. She's now blocked on everything and anything she needs to say to me gets filtered through my dad.
As for my dad... well, since he's basically required to be here for another 2 months until I turn 18 we've basically just avoided each other. It's not too bad though because I've been heavily relying on guilting him for everything to get my way. For example he was going to contest the divorce but I threatened to kick him out when I turn 18 if he does that so he just signed all the paperwork for a "quickie divorce" and is basically doing whatever Jane tells him to do.
I don't openly disrespect him or anything (he's still my dad) but I've made it clear that I have no intentions on doing anything he says ever again and he doesn't fight me on it. Most of the time he's just in his room and sometimes he'll go back to my mom's but only for a day or two before they argue and she kicks him out again lol. I haven't decided whether or not I'll kick him out yet and we haven't talked about it either so I'm kind of playing it by ear.
As for me, I'm handling everything as good as I can. I found a new job where I make a little more money so I've been focusing on saving as much as I can and just being there for my brothers. Between working and school and visiting Jane I've been so busy I haven't really had time to really stop and think about everything, but I know it'll come. One of my friends has really stepped up and helped me manage everything and I'm super grateful to him for being there for me and my brothers so we'll see how that goes.
Anyways I wish I had something more exciting to share but that's what's happened since my last post :) Thanks again for all the support on my last post.
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Comments
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absxlution
Holy shit, I remember your first post, this is such big pile of horse crap to be dealing with, but you sound so incredibly mature and like you're really taking it in stride. Your parents have really failed you and your brothers here, but I'm so proud of how you've managed to step up to the plate and hold your ground against them. I'm still sorry you have to be the next best adult in this scenario.
It's also great to hear that Jane is still alive, and that you guys got to do a celebration of life with her. I can only hope, when I am at my own end, that I have people who love me this dearly and this deeply. I hope you and your loved ones are able to make some more happy memories with her :-)

OOP: Thank you :) and I promise that as long as you are a good person and work to make the lives of those around you better instead of being a burden you will have many people around you who will love and cherish you.

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trvllvr
Jane was a wonderful example for you and raised you well. I’m so sorry you have to deal with all of this. You are so young and this should be a carefree time in your life. However, I’m glad your brothers have you.
Curious does dad and bio mom work at all? Or they just mooch off Jane and others? I means seems like they have a lot of time on their hands to do nothing, but he horrible people.

OOP: Hi and thank you :) Yes my bio mom works as a bartender most nights, she’s been working at the same bar basically my whole life. As for my dad he works in industrial sales, he makes a pretty decent living but I think most of his money recently has been going towards my bio mom since he never seems to have money to do anything anymore lol

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I am not the OOP. Please do not harass the OOP.
Please remember the No Brigading Rule and to be civil in the comments

First off, I want to say... I mean absolutely no hate to the creators, writers, voice actors, animators, and anyone else who helped to create Disventure Camp. There is so much talent behind this show, and as a creative myself, it is never my intention to bring people down because of a passion project like this and I'll keep this in mind while I'm typing. (also I know this is a long post, I have a lot to say about this season)
And in case you missed the title, spoilers for Disventure Camp All Stars Episode 9.
...
I enjoy Disventure Camp for the most part and I've been keeping up with it ever since Odd Nation Cartoons began Season 2. Even so, there's been parts of DC that I thought could be improved (and it's been great to see how far they've come from Season 2 to All Stars in terms of production quality), but with this latest DCAS episode, I've started to notice that these nitpicks I have with Disventure Camp as a whole have just piled up more and more. And it's gotten to the point where I have to ask myself if I even like this series anymore? I'm honestly not sure.
I have my issues with Seasons 1-2 but I'm going to be focusing on All-Stars for this rant specifically. My biggest issue with this season is the direction they're taking the characters + the uneven amount of focus given to said characters.
Just to compare, Season 2's cast is my least favorite but I did enjoy a small amount of its characters (Lake, Rosa, Aiden, and Tess in particular). And then I thought Season 1's cast was fantastic - on par with the better Total Drama casts honestly. Excellent heroes, excellent villains, and it was an all-around entertaining season that I have very minor complaints about. When DCAS Episode 1 was posted, I loved how they introduced the characters and their plots. I especially loved to see how these characters were updated/changed since their first appearance (such as Fiore, Grett, and Ally), and I was excited to see all these characters together in one season. The point I'm getting at is that, aside from Riya, I genuinely liked every character at that point.
Fast forward to Episode 9, where Tess is the most recent camper eliminated, and we're now left with 10 characters. Out of those 10 characters, I now enjoy only 3 of them. Ashley, Ally, and Grett. As for the other 7, after everything that's happened this season... I no longer care about them and I no longer enjoy watching them, so at this point I feel very disconnected from the season. I feel like I'm now watching it to see these characters I dislike get their just desserts, rather than to see characters I'm actively rooting for succeed in the game. Watching a show that makes you feel like that sounds extremely unrewarding, but that's what I feel like atm.
I'm going to go through every DCAS character (eliminated ones first, then the current 10 players) and talk about my opinions on them + why or why not I've enjoyed their presence in this season.
18th Place - James (I've never gotten on board with James as a character to tell you the truth, so I don't mind him being the first boot especially since he's a previous winner. If his elimination was necessary to push forward the Jake/Tom/Aiden plot, I understand that and I'm cool with it. It's the plotline itself I have trouble with so I won't fault James for that. Pretty good first boot)
17th Place - Lake (I loved Lake in Season 2 so was I upset to see her be the second boot? Of course. But at the same time, this is my favorite elimination of the season. As much as I hated how Ellie threw Lake under the bus, I thought the whole thing was really well-written and suspenseful in the best way. And I can't really deny how smart of a play this was on Ellie's part, to make sure she stays in the majority. Another elimination to push forward a plot - this time, Ellie's villainous arc - but again it's the arc I have the problem with, not Lake herself. She didn't stay for long but she did what she had to and I appreciate that)
16th Place - Miriam (One of the few characters that hasn't gotten derailed in my eyes this season - she was a queen in Season 1 and that's exactly how she went out in All-Stars. She's the reason why the Villain Alliance was exposed in the first place, and she almost outsmarted Alec too by lying about him having multiple alliances to break his trust with the other villains. Loved her this season)
15th Place - Hunter (Okay... here's where the eliminations start to go downhill for me. I've never felt too strongly about Hunter but I can admit that his tension with Ally this season was 100x better than the love triangle nonsense from Season 2. The only other thing I remember about Hunter this season was his small beef with Fiore. Other than that, it makes sense for him to be an early boot. My problem with Hunter's elimination is that it makes no sense from a strategic POV. Now Fiore has consistently been losing challenges for Magenta Team, and she already has a clear reputation of being an untrustworthy player, BUT I understand Jake and Ashley's reason for keeping her around, which is to keep them in the team majority. Their best chance is to split up the other duo on the team: Ally and Hunter. Here's my problem though: why they chose to keep Ally, who has been trying to work with Fiore all this time, and not Hunter, the Season 2 challenge beast who has refused to work with Fiore all season, is something I can't wrap my mind around. Getting rid of Hunter is not only bad for Jake and Ashley's chances, but also, for Magenta Team as a whole. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for keeping Ally around because she's one of the few characters I still like, I just don't think this was the way to do it)
14th Place - Connor (There's a possibility that he's going to return to the game, but... this elimination burned me. To see him try and reach out to Riya all season, and to watch them talk things out and split up on partially-good terms... just for her to completely turn on Connor as if nothing happened. I remember she had this one comment about "keeping Connor around because he's useful" only to eliminate him the next chance she gets. Connor's elimination, and the way he ended up leaving felt like a slap to the face because Connor consistently has to take the fall for Riya and clean up her mess so she can continue acting bratty scot-free... and he literally had to clean up her mess after his elimination because she was at fault for ruining the stage. I'm extremely happy that Connor told Riya off before he left, because she 100% deserved that, but Riya has been such an aggravating, inconsistent, and insufferable character all season and while I understand that her story is not over... at this point I'm not interested in a Riya redemption arc.)
13th Place - Fiore (You know what... I loved Fiore in Season 1 and while she didn't have as big of a role in All-Stars, I loved her here too. I couldn't help but find myself rooting for her at times. However, this was definitely Fiore's time to go. No complaints here, except that you can really feel Fiore's absence after her departure. She added a really unique charm and humor to the show that nobody else has)
12th Place - Ellie (I'll say this. While I understand that Ellie's gradual derailment is absolutely an intentional choice on the writer's part... I don't like this decision for Ellie's character at all. Season 1 Ellie was where she was at her best, and I'll even defend her (for the most part) during the "Eat *** and die" rant she gave to Jake back in Season 1. But what I loved about Season 1 Ellie was that while she was a strategic player and wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty, she still had morals and you can tell that what she does is purely out of desperation to stay in the game. Fast-forward to All-Stars however, and this... feels like a completely different person now. What's incredible to me is how nonchalantly Ellie is about messing with Jake by targeting his trauma with Tom (is trauma the right word to use there? either way it's malicious and straight up emotional manipulation). Jake was a friend to Ellie in Season 1, right? I get that they don't need to stay friends, but this is extremely out of character for her, even with this idea of "the longer Ellie stays in the game, the unhealthier she becomes." I think it was Ellie's conversation with Tess at the start of her elimination episode that made me hate Ellie. Tess was genuinely trying to reach out to Ellie about how Gabby's been feeling neglected, and Ellie immediately shuts her down and says "okay you're being so extra right now Tess," which reads to me as Ellie saying that she knows what's good for Gabby, when clearly she doesn't. Finally comes her elimination, which was unexpected but completely deserved. She leaves the camp with Gabby, and Ellie apologizes for joining the Villain Alliance because "she got roped into it and she would never make an alliance without her." Except... that's a blatant lie, she accepted the offer to join the alliance when Alec asked if everyone was on board, and she never once spoke to Gabby about it until Gabby overheard it for herself. Which is... such a disingenuous way to make these two characters make up. Over a lie. Gabby doesn't deserve that. Like Riya, it's just another instance of a character not facing the consequences for being a jerk to other people. Ellie was extremely toxic this season to the point where it became frustrating to watch her, so I am ecstatic that she's now out of the game)
11th Place - Tess (Tess didn't have a big presence this season outside of being the swing vote for both Cyan Team eliminations before her own, but I appreciated having Tess being a voice of reason... on a season that has very few. I'm not against Tess leaving here... but I'm very much against the idea of Gabby going after Tess as revenge for eliminating Ellie. Because that is FAR from the case... Ellie did a lot of bad things during the game: lied to Gabby about joining the Villains Alliance, neglected Gabby and shut down Tess who tried to talk to her about it, emotionally manipulated Jake for fun on multiple occasions, and - although not as awful - having a generally nasty and distasteful attitude. All of that, just to have everything fixed by Ellie once again lying to her girlfriend by saying that she was roped into the Villains Alliance and that none of it was her fault. This left an extremely sour taste in my mouth, especially how Gabby seemed to forgive her without a second thought and immediately sought revenge on Tess for being rightfully concerned for Ellie's moral decline. Gabby's attitude for the entirety of Episode 9 is based on the idea that Ellie was a saint who did nothing wrong. At least Tess took her loss gracefully, which is very respectable considering how much I dislike how Ellie and Gabby were handled this season, but this feels like Connor all over again. A genuinely good person taking the fall for a terrible person who doesn't take accountability for their actions and moves on as if nothing had ever happened.)
And now for the characters still in the game:
Tom and Jake (It's not an unpopular opinion that the love triangle plot has been one of the most frustrating parts of the season, which is pretty bad considering it seems to be the season's main "hook" at the moment. If the show didn't devote so much of its runtime to Jake and Tom, there's a possibility I'd have a kinder opinion of both characters. This entire plotline centers around two people who have a convoluted romantic plot where it feels like the only thing that happens is that they try to work their way out of the problems that they create for themselves, over and over. Jake's had some minor good moments this season, but for the most part he's been nothing but rude and b****y to characters like James, Ally, and Aiden. He had a reason for acting that way to James - even if he went overboard with the assumptions - but anytime he acts this way to Ally or Aiden, it's for basically no reason. Jake's fighting with Ally especially felt forced from a writing perspective too. Going back to the couple, Jake's entire character seems to revolve around getting back with Tom, and one of my least favorite things for any character to be is to have their entire personality revolve around their crush/partnewhat-have-you. Tom became a lot worse in All-Stars with his refusal to solve a problem with a simple conversation and the whole fake boyfriend plotline that got stretched out across 3 episodes for some reason. The lovable himbo thing they're going for with Tom really falls flat once you consider that he's been a pretty awful person too, which makes anytime Tom has those sad "doe eyes" pretty cringe tbh. That moment in the sandbag challenge episode where he got on Jake's case for tacking Aiden, when... Tom did the exact same thing to other people multiple times in the season so far??? This entire plotline is two toxic characters constantly being put through toxic situations with each other and I'm just... exhausted of it.)
Aiden (Honestly? Aiden hasn't been terrible this season. After losing his boyfriend and best friend in the first couple of days, it was nice to see him form a friendship with Tom. Other than that... it feels like the only reason he's still around is to cause drama for Jake. Other people have pointed out that Aiden's been overstaying his welcome this season and I agree - he's a good character but I feel neutral on him right now. He's not here for the sake of himself, only for the sake of other characters)
Ashley (Speaking of characters who desperately need to get away from the Tom/Jake plot, here's Ashley. She is actually my favorite character of the season, but I have plenty of issues with how the writers have chosen to utilize her. Namely... Ashley is literally just Jake's therapist. Friends can help each other out with stuff like this, absolutely, but it's gotten to the point where the only thing Ashley does on this show anymore is to take on Jake's personal and romantic problems. Say it with me: YOUR FRIENDS ARE NOT YOUR THERAPISTS. I'm not going to say that Jake is taking advantage of his friendship with Ashley to get her to help him with his problems, but this definitely feels like an uneven friendship and I would love to see a great character like Ashley break apart from this dynamic and shine on her own. She has a fantastic backstory with the farm incident and how she wants to use the money to do her best to repair things for her family, which gives viewers a reason to root for her, and then she's reduced to this... it's honestly sad to watch because I really, really like this character. Her charming personality and positive attitude is seriously refreshing on a show like this. I don't know how the rest of the season will go of course, but I'm really hoping they give Ashley her moment)
Yul and Grett (Okay I get the vision, Yul is a terrible person who is using Grett to boost his popularity, and Grett's going to eventually realize this and break free. But the pacing of this storyline is really... really... slow. It's been nothing but nine episodes of Grett taking constant abuse from Yul, and halfway through the season is when Grett finally starts to realize that maybe her boyfriend shouldn't be her boyfriend. It's just like those Jensen scenes after each Season 1 episode where something shady happens, yet each time, we don't get any new information at all. It's just redundant information. This is a plotline that could have desperately used some extra screentime that the Tom/Jake plotline used up. For the record I'm rooting for Grett and I'm praying on Yul's downfall)
Alec (Alec has been pretty good and in-character this season, and I actually don't have that big of an opinion on him at the moment. However. The comment he made about not helping his son when he stepped on broken glass was... alarming??? I don't like that line choice at all, even if it's not meant to be anything important for his character going forward. That wasn't meant to be a joke, was it? Either way it just did not sit right with me)
Gabby (Gabby's been fine at the start of the season, but once Ellie and Tess' eliminations hit, Gabby's character took a sour turn for me. I've explained all the reasons why I don't like this plot already but I very much dislike the way Gabby handled Ellie's elimination and it looks like things are only going to get worse from here if they're going to double down on Gabby's "villain arc." Which doesn't come off as funny as probably intended, by the way. Anytime Gabby is shown doing an evil laugh or making an evil face feels like extremely forced humor, something Disventure Camp is pretty average at)
Ally (She was a plain bowl of nothing in Season 2 I hate to say, but as it turns out, I'm loving her All-Stars iteration! Sure, the video game references can feel too forced at times, and the bickering with Jake feels more like a Jake issue rather than an Ally one, but other than that I've thoroughly enjoyed All-Stars Ally. For one, she feels surprisingly realistic. Her tension with Hunter, her insecurity with the internet's opinion of her (which was a genius way to address her Season 2 reception honestly), her conversations about strategy, and especially her kind personality having a hidden snarky side. If I had to choose one character that the writers have done the best job with (out of those left in the cast), I'd 100% pick Ally. She's been great this season)
Riya (...I'm going to save myself the trouble and skip the Riya paragraph. She is everything that I dislike in a character in a way that is very unflattering, and I have not enjoyed her at all this season.)
The Staff - Kristal, Marcus & Nina, Emily, Oliver, Derek, and Trevor (In my humble opinion, the all-stars cast of this show did not need to have this many staff members... not to mention, giving them storylines of their own when the main cast should be the focus here. It's a lot to keep up with. I'm flat out uninterested in the love triangle plot between Kristal, Derek, and Trevor, because it feels very filler and unimportant. The one exception here is Emily, since she is a new character and the writers clearly have some sort of purpose for her by having her work with Yul as a manager. I'm not crazy about Emily but I'm definitely intrigued to see what she ends up doing for the rest of the season)
...
In conclusion... maybe this whole thing is just up to personal preference. I tend to like characters and stories that are more positive and kind in nature, and I dislike characters and stories that are more negative and hateful in nature. I know Disventure Camp has a lot of fans who enjoy these types of plots, and that's totally fine. If you asked me to pick between Total Drama and Disventure Camp though, I would choose Total Drama any day because I've become so attached to the feel-good vibe of the show, as well as all these fantastic characters with likable and unique personalities that make you excited to watch a season with them in it. In Disventure Camp All-Stars' case though? That feel-good vibe is not there at all. Not that it needed to be, because Disventure Camp is not the same thing as Total Drama, plus it takes a lot of inspiration from Survivor. However, a good majority of these characters feel intentionally written to be dislikable... which isn't my call to make, but personally I wish this hadn't been the case, because it makes for an especially frustrating watch. Have you noticed how so many of the DCAS thumbnails are these out-of-context shots of characters being angry with each other?
This is what Disventure Camp All-Stars feels like to me: good people getting the short end of the stick just to serve bad people and their storylines, which are just nasty people being nasty to each other, endlessly. Which is far from the type of experience I'd want to have when watching a show.

Hello! Ive (23f) recently developed a disability thats gonna progress but isnt visible nor especially debiliating atm. I have become very suicidal and depressed due to my fear and grief. People around me tell me to enjoy the “healthy” time i have left and to not focus on the future. Ive always been a future focused person and trying to focus on present things right now just makes my grief bigger. I do not know what kind of mentality i should have. I have a therapist and shes trying to convince me to not be as pesimistic but thats impossible. Did you manage to start living more day by day when everythings always uncertain? How do you find purpose to keep going? Im very stubborn and believe in the importance of not being naive but it is making living really hard.

Hello! Ive (23f) recently developed a disability thats gonna progress but isnt visible nor especially debiliating atm. I have become very suicidal and depressed due to my fear and grief. People around me tell me to enjoy the “healthy” time i have left and to not focus on the future. Ive always been a future focused person and trying to focus on present things right now just makes my grief bigger. I do not know what kind of mentality i should have. I have a therapist and shes trying to convince me to not be as pesimistic but thats impossible. Did you manage to start living more day by day when everythings always uncertain? How do you find purpose to keep going? Im very stubborn and believe in the importance of not being naive but it is making living really hard.

So where do I begin?… Basically I live on the second floor in a shared house with these two other guys. We’re all around the same age and from different countries. One, from Eastern Europe (person #1), has lived here for about 6 months and we’ve always gotten along great!! We’re both respectful of each other’s space and routines and friendly with each other, and kinda became friends.
The second, from South Asia (person #2), only moved in last week and while I have no problems with him, person #1 can’t stand him. Complains he leaves the kitchen and bathrooms a mess, snores too loudly, closes doors loudly, and leaves his stuff around. Personally though, I just don’t share the same frustrations and think person #1 is being hypersensitive and a bit over the top. Yet, because he’s my friend and I don’t want things to become more toxic in the house than they already are, I have basically just been going along with things and pretended to agree. Even asked me to co-sign a formal complaint he wrote to the agency and I was like, sure no problemo!
What’s worst though is that recently he’s made some pretty down-right awful and flat-out racist comments to me about person #2 behind his back, which makes me uncomfortable. Kinda disappointing because it’s revealed this other side to him that I wasn’t aware of and I hate feeling like I’m being complicit and validating his views by just going along with whatever he says 😵‍💫.
At the same time person #2 asked me the other day if I thought he was being too loud or messy, and I told him not at all! He told me how much stress he’s going through atm with moving countries and how person #1 makes him feel unwelcome. Having moved countries myself years ago, I easily empathized with what he was saying and felt bad and told him I thought person #1 was being dramatic and not to worry and that if needed, I would back him up against any of the complaints- which I did by co-signing his counter email to the same complaint made by the other dude that I ALSO SIGNED!! 🤡🤦🏼‍♂️
I’m sure you can see where this is going. Now I should add here that I have this extremely high tolerance for people and difficult behavior. A high-profile drug-dealer lived in the house years ago and I was more or less like ‘meh’ as long he’s clean and quiet I don’t really care. I’m really not exaggerating when I say that almost nothing bothers me and I have this innate tendency to just adapt and adjust to my surroundings. I mention this because I can’t tell if some of the complaints raised against person#2 are justified to some degree or if I’m just too laid-back to give half a rat’s ass.
I’m tired because I’m a very agreeable person and HATE interpersonal conflict and gossip and usually go out of my way to avoid people precisely because of this 😓. Leave me in peace with my books and my music lol. As a result the constant micro aggressions between these two individuals have me feeling caught up in the classic “both sides” dilemma, where I agree with each to their face but then throw them under the bus when the other person brings them up. Does this make me a jerk? Am I making things worse even though I didn’t start anything?
Both of them truly believe I’m on their side and loyal to their cause 😂🤦🏼‍♂️. It’s gotten to the point where the other day during an argument they were having in the kitchen I pretended to be on my phone when I ran in to grab my chocolate bar before bolting it out before either of them could sucker me in.
Bottom line I just want to be the good guy who gets along with everyone and doesn’t rock the boat. At the same time though I’m beginning to think person #1 might be acting purely racist which I’m definitely not cool with. Person #2 actually seems like a pretty cool guy- even said he’d cook for me sometime which I thought was really cool. Person #1 has had the knives out from the beginning but how do I call him out on this without him taking it personal?

I need to vent somewhat. Every time I delve into this war subject I become stressed out, because it really brings out my biggest insecurity: being hated.
For some background: I'm an Israeli in my mid 20s, I live near the Judea and Samaria area but not in it, with my family. I was born and raised here. I served a mandatory 2 years and 8 months in the army successfully, in a non-combat duty, A.K.A. I didn't hurt/kill anyone as a part of my job.
I struggle with being hated. For me, being hated/disliked/scolded at automatically makes me feel like I'm "wrong", even if I did nothing wrong or what I did was nothing crazy. Ofc I do make many mistakes in life, we all do.
My personal problem is that I just feel like people hate me for no control of my own. Some people genuinely believe I am a "child of the devil" bc I'm Israeli.
Now I'm not really the type of person to go out of my way to instigate arguments. If someone says something loud enough, I'd rather agree with them, which is a blessing and a curse. So imagine the struggle I sometimes have with talking with people who VERY STRONGLY feels about one side or the other.
The problem for me with this whole conflict is just how damn sensitive it seems to be for everyone. There are A LOT of wars, genocides, and human crises in the world don't get me wrong, but never before have I seen one where people treat it with a level of sensitivity to THIS degree. It feels like humanity is mass programmed to actively root for one and believe that it is the only correct side, while the other side is at best, very confused brainwashed people, or at worst, pure irredeemable evil with the only solution is to "get rid of them".
And there's so much fake news and misunderstandings as well. Antisemetism, Islamophobia, East vs. West, prejudices, etc'. This conflict was accidentally made to be the conflictiest conflict possible. It really feels like the epitome of every bad human trait that exist sometimes. It has it all.
Now, do I think there's an actual genocide going on? Like I said, I don't know. I'd LOVE to believe there isn't, bc committing genocide is very bad, but when the two sides are so eagerly sure they're right, with what seems like countless contradicting proof and statements, I'm just at a loss for words.
I want this war to be over. I want Israelis and Palestinians to stop fighting somehow and have actual peace (ik it's not really possible atm). I want to one day wake up and not feel like a huge chunk of the world hates me bc I was born and raised in the wrong place. If anyone out there whether Israeli, Palestinian, or a (non racist) supporter of any of the sides feels the same, I feel you. You're not alone.

It has barely been a week since early access was released but I am so stoked about the amount of content that's already in the game and can't wait for more. That being said I want to talk about potential hidden aspects for the 5 Nocturnal arms we have so far, I also wouldn't mind hearing some of your ideas too!
The main gimmick of the Hidden Aspects in the first game was that they were based on figures outside of Greek mythology, preferably some new mythologies maybe but nevertheless mainly not Greek.
Descura (Witch's Staff):
-Morgan Le Fay (Arthurian). I initially thought of Merlin but realised since witches play a huge role in the game that Morgana would be a better fit, also unintentional on my part but it'd be fun if both Zagreus and Melinoe's first weapons had aspects who opposed each other. Possibly given by Hecate
-Baba Yaga (Slavic). I saw some other people on this subreddit mention this and thought it was also cool and unique, can't think of anyone besides Hecate granting it
Lim and Oros (Twin Blades):
-Osiris (Egyptian). Mainly because I can easily imagine the sickle and dagger becoming his iconic crook and flail. If anyone here knows the game SMITE (I haven't played it but think some of the designs are neat), Osiris' crook and flail is just a sickle and whip, so maybe the hidden aspect could do something similar. Could be given by Chronos given his design reminds me of Egyptian gods tbh, similar to how Asterius gave the Aspect of Gilgamesh, but instead of giving it before the fight you have to defeat him first.
-Anansi (African). I randomly thought of this and realised it would be really cool to have a spider-based aspect ability, like having the blade special pull enemies towards each other with webs. Given by Arachne
Ygnium (Umbral Flames):
-Iblis (Islam). I struggled to think of good ideas for this one, also the torches are maybe my least favourite weapon atm tied with the skull, but I thought it'd be really cool to have a jinn-based aspect, although they already did Lucifer but I still think it'd be cool. Could be given by Hestia or more likely Hades.
Zorephet (Axe)-
-Thor (Norse). Given the other 2 aspects of Zorephet aren't axes, it isn't out of the question to have the most iconic weapon in all mythology, Mjolnir. Probably given by zeus
Skull of Revaal:
-Kali (Hindu). Known for wearing heads. could be given by Nemesis
-Yorick (the skull of the jester Hamlet holds). Given the way Melinoe holds Revaal, I was reminded of the iconic Hamlet line, I looked who the skull was and when I found out he was a jester thought it would be so cool to have a jester-themed aspect. maybe given by Hypnos if he ever wakes up.

Slight nsfw/tmi(?) warning
I've had this issue since I was around middle/highschool or so, or at least that's when I started recognizing it. I'm currently 21(F), about to be 22. One of my main points involves feeling cared for, or safe. I've had this made up "friend," I guess, or personality of some sort (?), this inhuman angel who comforts me when I'm stressed or helps me sleep at night. She also tends to direct me away from emotional/distressing fits following sexual experiences (sometimes including m*sterbation if i become triggered), and I push everything away and fall into this separated daydream where I'm some character, similar to myself but much younger, often with no genitalia or at the very least completely covered with clothing. And living in some sort of fantasy castle. This daydream in particular has been ongoing for a LONG time, and there's certain parts of the "castle" dedicated to certain issues (ex. garden for fealoneliness, greenhouse & camping tent for eating, princess-like bedroom for sleeping or forgetting post-sexual anxiety). Over the years, there's been several instances where I've sobbed my eyes out at night over the sudden breaking of this daydream, or sudden realization that she isn't real and in actuality I'm all alone.
I'm drunk atm, and lately this notion seems to have shifted into some other made up character. She still exists, but the primary roll that she carried was put onto some kind of oc? Which seems weird because she appeared purely out of a daydream years ago, while this one didn't. It feels sort of pathetic that I still cry and feel all the emotions of these daydreams, and sometimes theyre more negative than positive. Sometimes it seems like I can't get myself up without the help of these other fake ideas in my head convincing me to, or half-pretending that I'm being physically guided around. Sometimes I'm just so distressed or depressed that I can't fathom doing anything without being urged to by them, and it genuinely feels like these things really love me and care about me, and I love them too, and I don't know what to do because realistically I know they aren't real but the concept of this makes me terrified. I don't want to feel alone but I don't want to be stuck in this cycle forever, especially not if I date someone. I'm so attached to them that I'm scared that if I get rid of them forever that I'll betray or kill them somehow, but I know that isn't possible because they aren't real but fuck it feels like they are. It scares me sometimes because when I "prematurely"(?) consider my reality, I'll sometimes try to comfort myself out of my distress by convincing myself that the angel character will at least eventually come and find me when I die and she'll take me away from everything, or I'll be reincarnated into who I "really" need to be and find one or the both of them, but this seems dangerous and I'm scared that I'll cross into the realm of delusion or worsen suicidal ideation, especially since schizophrenia runs in my family
Edit: I don't know how to address this, I've barely looked into this sort of thing until recently. It's been affecting me mentally so bad for so long, if someone could just tell me that I'm not a completely lost cause or that they've experienced something similar I'd appreciate it more than you know. Sometimes I feel completely in love with and dedicated to/reliant on these things, but in real life I know I don't want to be. It sometimes feels like I'd give up ANYTHING for them to be real even just for a night, and it's really embarrassing