I (22M) spent most of my high school years and up until recently living a pretty hedonistic lifestyle that was fun until it wasn't, not really batting an eye on furthering my education or bettering any skills. With all that stuff behind me, I am asking for advice on a career path that would benefit me most. I should also note that I am based in NC (sigh).
I would describe myself as detail-oriented, someone who takes pride in their work, and as someone who values knowledge and is eager to learn. I also don't need a ton of money to be happy, just enough to be able to cover the basic necessities in life (bills, food, things of that nature).
I am set on going to a community college (there are two pretty good ones near me) but I'm currently struggling to decide on what path to take. The three thoughts I've come up with are:

1. Plumber 2. Electrician 3. X-ray tech.

I feel plumbers/electricians have really good job security and are always needed. With Duke Energy and some big plumbing companies, I feel it may be the safest options with good opportunity for growth. From what I see, X-ray techs make pretty good money, and there are a lot of Duke/UNC hospitals & clinics around my area.
People always bring up being around sewage as a plumber and while it is gross, I think it's something I can stomach especially if the money allows for that bit of $ comfort I would like from a job as I get more experience.
Essentially what I'm looking for is something that can be completed reasonably quick so that I can catch up with my peers that have already furthered their education. I'm aware that I'd have to dedicate time, strength, and my devotion if I want that though. I know the start of these careers won't be the best paying, but as long as the money goes up along with the experience I gain, I'd be more than happy. Any information on the best course of action to take to start off is welcomed!

This mini-event will run from from 19:00 GMT Thursday, May 16 until 19:00 GMT Friday, May 17; to participate you will need version 11.3.0 or higher, at least 200 dragon power, and a high quality, stable internet connection.
Please keep all event related questions and strategy discussions in this thread while the event is live; good luck and happy merging!
 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Event Notes

• Looks like this one might be a bit delayed, but we were told it would be held today and pop-ups appeared in the game, so let’s see what happens in the next hour or so.

Elsewhere in the Game

• Shiny Days mini-events are no longer officially announced ahead of time; game management has decided they want to make this a ‘surprise’ event like the Camp and Chill.
  • Based on the existing patterns, we will most likely see weekly or semi-weekly SD events open at the normal 19:00 GMT start time on most Thursdays, with increased chances for a Monday SD whenever there’s a 3-day mid-week OoC event.
• While version 11.4.0 has been re-released, it still may cause issues with movement control for some players; programmers are working to find the source of the bugs, and hope to include a fix in the next planned update (v11.5.0). Players who have not yet updated may want to skip this version altogether; the minimum requirement to play events should remain at v11.3.0 for some weeks to come. (Link 1: original warning post)
  • UPDATE: We’ve received word the glitch causing missing camp features has been fixed; affected players need to hard-close and then relaunch the game (and a device reboot would be even better) to get things back to normal. Link 2: Wednesday’s missing features, Link 2: more on new issues)
• A new player-vs-player mini-event called “Race Event” is out for beta-testing to a very small number of users. (Link 1: Official Announcement — with a note about glitches that are affecting the current test event, Link 2: first beta edition, Link 3: second beta edition)
• Popular Links:
  • Dens List
  • Friend Tag Exchange
  • 2024 Event Schedule

 

EVENT FAQs

• Points are earned by merging eggs and dragons; in general the higher the dragon power created by a merge, the more event points it will yield. Examples (5-merges all):
  • Bronze coin breed: Tier 1 eggs = 2 points, Level 1 = 4, L2 = 8, L3 = 16, L4 = 33
  • Platinum trophy breed: Tier 1 eggs = 80 points, Level 1 = 200, L2 = 320, L3 = 480, L4 = 800
• There is an increased chance of spawning Shiny Dragons for the two two featured breeds as long as the event is live; odds for other non-coin breeds are not affected.
• Eligible coin breeds can ONLY spawn a Shiny version during an event.
• Mystery Egg merges earn points based on the type of dragon that is produced.
• Super Eggs do not produce event points or Shiny dragons.
• Merging Shiny versions gives the same number of points as regular dragons for that breed.
• Shiny Dragons can only be merged up to Level 4 at this time.

 

POINT REQUIREMENTS

1. Mystery Mosaic - 4 points
2. 2x Decision Eggs - 70
3. Mystery Mosaic - 210
4. Level 1 primary breed - 350
5. Level 1 secondary breed - 490
6. Mystery Mosaic - 600
7. Mystery Mosaic - 810
8. Shiny Level 3 primary breed - 990

Total points needed to finish the event: 3,524
 

FEATURED DRAGONS:

^{Note: A = Arcadian breed}

• Primary:
• Secondary: (A)

 

PREVIOUSLY FEATURED BREEDS:

• May 6: Diamond, Cool (A)
• April 25: Turtle, Martian (A)
• April 18: Crowned, Fairy (A)
• April 8: Magician, Deer (A)
• March 28 beta: Cosmic, Hera (A)
• March 21 beta: Croissant, Chocolate (A)
• March 14 beta: Diamond, Shiba (A)
• March 7 beta: Dreamer, Seth (A)

EVENT TROUBLESHOOTING

If the event is not showing up correctly or if glitches are affecting your play:

1. Check that you meet the version and dragon power requirements.
2. Try hard-closing and then relaunching your game.
3. Try rebooting your device (ie, turn it completely off, then back on and allow it to fully boot up before relaunching the game). If you are on wifi and have access to the router, try rebooting that, too.
4. Try switching to a completely different internet source.
5. Try clearing your game’s cache (google for instructions for your specific phone type).
6. If you’re suddenly experiencing multiple issues like lagging or error messages (or if the event vanishes completely), close the game and try again after 2-3 hours. Events are internet-based, and sometimes issues with the servers can cause temporary problems — all we can do for that is to wait it out.
7. If none of the above helps, contact Gram Games Support through the in-game link or the Support Web Portal for help figuring out what’s wrong.

^{updated as needed}

A lot came to light, at least in my mind, when Biden snubbed Tesla in regards to the "White House EV summit," and whatever that second meeting was.. (Mary Barra worship?). The Democrats don't care about clean energy.
Why has every Democrat funded clean energy project in the past miserably failed while laundering money straight into politician's pockets? Why is it that every solar or wind farm has become dilapidated, ineffective, and has been labeled as a huge waste of taxpayer money and subsequently destroyed the reputation of clean energy? Why does every clean energy subsidy end up with shitty EVs like the Bolt and the Prius, then result in auto companies trading meaningless credits? The answer is becoming more and more clear as Tesla becomes more and more successful.. because the Democrats don't want clean energy to become commercially viable. In fact, they want to ensure that clean energy *doesn't* become commercially viable or widespread.
The Democrats have a vested interest in stopping clean energy because, should clean energy become widespread, they would no longer have that talking point to gain votes and maintain power. No one will care about climate change when 90% of the cars on the road are EVs, and the energy sector is 70% solar and wind with an obvious disruption playing out. Plus, think of all those terrible greenwashing projects that will no longer be lining the Democrats' pockets.
Now that there's real potential towards a clean energy revolution, the Democrats must try their hardest to squash the threat. And who's the threat to their power? Tesla. So how would the Democrats go about tarnishing Tesla's brand image? Cancelling Elon, of course. That'll be easy because he's rich. A lot of highly visible Democratic politicians have quite the loyal following after all. I refer to them as the "Woke Cult," because they are a cult subservient to narratives pushed on them, especially the ones that anger them or trigger their personal insecurities. Rich people *definitely* trigger their personal insecurities.
One of the tactics that Democrats and the Woke Cult use is to place blame of public perception onto the target. In this case, "It's Elon's fault because of what he tweets." But with some basic logic and memory of past events we can easily debunk this. It started in 2021 when Elizabeth Warren paid for ads on Facebook to run a smear campaign lying about Elon not paying taxes. That's how this started: with a lie. And it escalated from there with more lies, such as the insinuation that $6B could solve world hunger (it can't) while conveiently ignoring that the Biden administration has way more than $6B at their disposal (double standards show up a lot in extremist cults), or something about a fictitious emerald mine. There's nothing in the 2021 smear campaign story that had anything to do with what Elon was tweeting.
However, now you hear "Well Elon says anti-semitic things on Twitter" or "Elon is right wing!" None of which mattered to the Woke Cult prior to 2021. Nothing Elon says, does, does not say or does not do is going to keep the Woke Cult from hating him. They hate him for the same reason they're subservient to narratives puched on them to begin with.. because they have personal insecurities. The only way Tesla's brand image is going to be cleansed in the eyes of the woke cult is if they a) acknowledge they have personal problems, b) want to get better and c) go to therapy. So long as they're emotionally unwell, they will believe lies in order to justify their hatred of Elon and avoidance of their own personal problems. And the only way Tesla's brand image can be cleansed in the eyes of the non-woke public is to be more educated on the company and its amazing products (spread the word and your excitement for your Tesla).
You even hear Tesla investors blaming Elon for the giant smear campaign against him. The more you fear the woke cult's perception of someone or something, and the less you acknowledge the cult's toxic behavior, the more power they have.
If anything, Elon's response of opposition to the woke mind virus is making the best of the shitty situation. At least by acknowledging the cult's toxic cancel culture, he gains respect in the eyes of those who also see it. 10 involuntary steps back, but at least 1 forward.
The Democrats, along with their loyal cult followers, have now joined the oil companies and Wall Street in trying to end Tesla. This is what the largest and most abrupt disruption on the planet looks like.
If you care about clean energy, or climate change, then you should vote for literally anyone besides a Democrat. If the Democrats, the woke cult, and little Greta *actually* cared about clean energy, they would be praising Elon and Tesla for all they've accomplished. At least Republicans care about maintaining a market free of over-regulation, even if they're too stupid to realize that Tesla is going to make EVs happen. It's in the truly free market that Tesla is succeeding. Tesla is a shining example of how capitalism and the free market can solve the world's biggest problems.
If you're a Tesla investor, then this post is incredibly important information to remember. You can either fall for the psyop and be afraid and angry, or you can align with Tesla's mission and hold shares.

Sorry if this is the wrong tag, I don't know what tag this goes under. I'm feeling very antsy and stuff about this question so I'm sorry if I seem trigger happy to delete this.
I'm looking for information on a deity, a god or goddess (probably goddess, as everything I've experienced was with women). I think she(?) has a spear, magenta like fire, and if it helps, I had a very big red rose come out of it in my left hand.
Why am I looking for them? I did a thing during my weird hard to describe vision work (I was awake and stuff, and had my eyes closed, but I see images in my head like seconds long weird dream like flashes), specifically requested mental and physical healing and stuff from anything available. I saw many women looking at me, then for 0.5 seconds saw a big bonfire, and I was seated at it with people getting ready to sit down around the fire. Then, I saw the shape of a very fancy spear by itself, used my hands to shape it out in front of me in real space in front of me, had a magenta fire in my hand that then turned into a big red rose (like someone cut off a rose stem from a bouquet and placed in my hand after hitting it with an enlargening ray), and next thing I know I get stabbed by said spear (it was shaped like an upwards arrow, not the typical pointy thing, very fancy too, odd that it locked my hands in between the side points and the handle/staff thing. Couldn't move my arms much by my fingers and wrists were fine to move though) in all the chakras. I feel no motivation to do much these last few days because of it. No music, no drawing, no witchcraft, no nothing. Only thing helping kind of is checking on my growingr chamomile plants.
I had other weird experiences with it but so far this is how that started. By seeing many different women after asking for healing and maybe a chance to restart my mental health, witnessing a spear lock my wrists in-between the blade and handle thing, and then getting stabbed in the chakras with the spear after vision seeing a magenta fire turn into a red rose in my left hand. I also saw other things but this is basically what happened.
Does this deity even exist? Or was this just a weird thing with weirder nightmares and strange stuff from it?
If you want me to delete please say so. I feel very silly asking such a question so again, sorry if I seem way too trigger happy to delete this. I'm in a weird spot these last 2-3 days. I hope this makes sense I tried my best to proofread it for you all. Again, if you want me to delete this let me know, I am sorry if it was a dumb question.

Hi. I am a 24 year old female who has become a shell of herself and i’m fighting like hell to be okay again. I started experiencing severe pain in my back and slowly has gone to my shoulders and neck. My leg goes numb when I drive. I am on gabapentin 300 mg 3x a day and I am scared of this drug but it’s the only thing that helps. After further research on other symptoms I am having that I do not feel comfortable sharing I am convinced it is lyme disease. My mental health is on the floor. I have been to a psychiatrist since I was 12 years old and have been able to handle my anxiety and depression symptoms up until December of last year. I went through a really traumatic breakup and my family said they thought the medication I was on was making me act like a zombie because i was so out of it so i just quit taking everything. but prior to my health decline i thought i was doing fine on it. I was on Latuda.
From January to around the end of february or beginning of March I was acting like myself again but I was getting weaker and sicker. By April, physically my body has Deteriorated to the point where it’s hard for me to walk. I have seen a rheumatologist and just completed a nerve conduction study. By this time I was and still am a nervous wreck. Panic attacks every day for absolutely no reason and my chest feels heavy. I cannot find a new psychiatrist so I have left my mental health symptoms in the hands of my PCP and I don’t think she’s understanding the severity of this.
Since I don’t have a diagnosis yet I feel like everyone is looking at me like a drug seeker. She placed me on seroquil about a month ago and I don’t know what it’s done besides make me gain over 7lbs, sleep, and cry a lot and be angry, maybe it’s just making me have a clearer mind and i’ve realized I am angry that no one is taking me seriously and my life has changed completely and I have been grieving who I once was. I don’t think an antipsychotic is what I need since I have been told before that I am not Bipolar. Either way, I just want something for anxiety and panic attacks. Has anyone experienced anything like this while taking both gab and seroquil? I want off the gab but i am afraid that once I get off of it I won’t be able to walk again, i feel weak and like my entire back is vibrating and my insides are being electrocuted. I am so scared.
I know how some people can be so let me just say this. I hate being high or under the influence of anything. I can’t even take THC or CBD because feeling like i’m not in control of my body scares me. I don’t even drink except maybe 2 glasses of wine with an alcohol volume of 5% and that is like maybe 1 time every few months. I am just genuinely scared of who I am becoming. Any advice on how to overcome this fear will be greatly appreciated.

Dear community,
I follow a different-from-normal trajectory where I get trained for a very long intensive period of time (1+ years) to eventually start the job. I just got out of university so that’s why companies offer this.
I’m loving the company and the trajectory but the position that’s eventually created for me I realized is not something I see a future in. This came because during my trajectory I got to see different departments that interest me more.
The thing is, I love my team and my team loves me and everyone is expecting me to join. I notice I feel guilty and am somewhere afraid to tell this to my boss about wanting something else because I know it will come as a shock to everyone.
I know that the solution is; just tell him. And I will. But rather my question is how to do this in the best way? He will also be the one that can open or close doors for a department I would be interested in.
I feel the desire to just be honest but don’t want to act mindlessly. He’s very happy with me so I think he would not have expected this at all.
What would be your advice?

https://www.remnant2toolkit.com/buildeclw9gqs24001ez5ybv626jgra?t=1715884957164
So this is a build I’m gonna put together when I get off work, but I’m curious now before I can test it. With this build the way I have it set up, would Fragrant Thorn or Sinister Totem be better? Or possibly a different amulet I haven’t thought of? Also in general, does anyone have any suggestions for the build overall? And what about my mods and mutators for my long gun and Secondary? I feel like they will work well, but does anyone have any other suggestions? I was considering taking off Black Spinel and putting on soul link because that ring slot will basically be for health regardless. The plan is to always place the turret, not to hold it so I would basically have endless 5% lifesteal from turret damage but I’m not sure if that’s as good, not as good or better than the black spinel healing me every time I inflict status effects, which will be very often because it’s the main point of the build. Let me know what you guys think and any suggestions to make it better. Thanks in advance!

-Very long rant (sorry)-
We(27M&F) were together since the beginning of college and had a great relationship through college. After college things started to change and she began struggling with her mental health which I tried to support her through in the only ways I knew how. After going through the same empty promises I ended things with her in January of 2023, fast forward 6 months and she finally did the work I had begged her to do and showed major improvements in her relationships with everyone else in her life. We decided to give it another chance and things went really well from July 2023-January 2024.
Around January she started to cycle back into her old ways of shutting everyone out and relying solely on me for everything. I tried to explain that this wasn’t good and that she seemed like she was getting too comfortable relying solely on me and that she should also lean on her friends and family for some things in life. The months rolled on like this and things weren’t improving. We went to my best friends wedding about 3 weeks ago and she got drunk and started claiming she was single which really pissed me off and I pulled her aside and questioned why she was saying something like that and she said because I hadn’t asked her to officially be my gf again (I had and she said we needed to figure things out more before we used those titles) and I said even though we might not use those titles we have still been in an exclusive relationship for the past 8 or so months. When she got drunk she would often take her frustrations out on me and belittle me and make me feel like shit, I told her at the beginning of us getting back together that I wouldn’t stand for her doing that again and she did it at my best friends wedding. I was mad and distant for the next week and she started saying she wasn’t sure if things would work out between us and I told her to think about what she wanted in the relationship and if that was her decision then I will respect it but she never made the decision.
Last week she was at my house getting ready to go to her “friends” apartment to make dinner and she kissed me goodbye and left, then the next day she came back to my place and kissed me then too. I went out for a family event and got back to her sleeping on the couch with her phone unlocked and checked her messages and the first one was from the guy she had actually gone to see the night before and had slept over with. I woke her up and ended things on the spot.
I’ve been in a deep deep sadness since then because even with all the problems we had I would never have expected our relationship of 8 years to end like that. She says it wasn’t cheating because we weren’t official and that she had expressed her thoughts on us ending the relationship the week before but I never took it as us being over especially considering she was still at my house being affectionate every single day.
She hasn’t apologized or expressed any feelings towards me since, she hasn’t reached out to say anything. I know she is spending everyday with this new guy already and I’m sitting here thinking about how I am the one who fucked this up. I feel like I should have seen this coming. It doesn’t feel fair that she already has someone else to make her feel better and I’m lost without knowing how to even begin dating again. Everyone always talks about how good looking of a guy I am and how I am way out of her league but over the many years she never expressed anything that built my confidence so even if I am good looking and have a lot to offer I don’t recognize it in myself.

Bill Rogers locked the garage door, slid the hose into the driver’s side window, climbed into the back seat, laid down and shut his eyes. When he woke up, he was surrounded by clouds and a blue sky. A man, neither young nor old stood next to him. He wore a coat like an Afghan goat herder, Bill thought, maybe made of sheepskin, or cowhide—tough to say, as Bill was no expert in husbandry. The man was small where Bill was large. Bill was six-three and two hundred and fifty pounds. He had played tight-end in college and lorded his physical stature over small men all his life. He felt it gave him an advantage at contract negotiations. He always made sure to be sitting when the opposing lawyers walked in because his size was hidden. Then he would stand up from behind table—a great reveal, a physical imposition—in an effortless attempt to intimidate the other team. It was mostly an effective strategy. The man, nearly a foot shorter, and a petite lady’s-weight less was standing almost eye-level with Bill. He sheepishly looked at Bill and asked if he was happy now.

“I suppose so,” Bill answered, rather dazed and unaware of all that was happening. “Are you God?” asked Bill. The old man smiled knowingly and set his delicate hand on Bill’s shoulder. “What can I do to make you comfortable?” Bill attempted to stand up but the man’s hand held him in place without applying any extra force. “A scotch would be nice! Do they serve scotch in heaven?” he laughed. The man laughed and gave Bill a scotch.

“Let me tell you, God, I wasn’t sure I was going to make it! When do we go through the pearly gates?”

“I’m afraid you’ve seen too many Hollywood movies. That’s not how it works. Tell me, how was life on Earth?”

“Well, I guess you can tell by how I checked out it wasn’t great. But I am feeling better now. Sometimes you just need a good night’s sleep, I guess, right?”

“I guess so. You weren’t very happy down there. But that’s what I’m here for. You can fix it all now. Tell me, what went wrong in your life?”

“Wait, is this Purgatory then?”

He chuckled, “No. Don’t be silly. What went wrong down there?”

“I knew it—those nuns were all off. Well, for one, I worked too much. I spent 80, 90, 100 hours a week every week for years—hell, probably decades when you add it all up—in the office, chasing the ring, getting the promotion.” His thought broke and he looked at the man and said, “you know I cleared 950-k last year?” Sinking back into his thoughts, “but it wasn’t enough for her. She could give Cleopatra a run for her money. Man she could spend. I worked all the time, always on the road to a different client’s office, eating airport food, never exercising. Traded my health and youth for wealth, then she got to enjoy it. I ended up all alone in my big house, all by myself and my LonelyFans Platinum subscription. Look at me, I got so fat no pretty woman could stand to look at me. If I could do it again, I’d go back and just make 60k a year, keep my health, my good looks, and go to clubs every night and dance with beautiful women. I wasted so much.”

“Wow, thanks for being so honest, Bill. I’m glad you were honest, because now I can give you the chance to fix it. I am going to give you the opportunity to craft the life you always wanted, the life you dreamed of! This is your chance Bill, to do it right this time. You had a full life, you tried out things: some worked, some didn’t—that trip to Tokyo probably didn’t help your marriage, did it; but now that’s all behind, now you get to create the perfect one based on everything you learned. Now you get to play God to yourself. You will have the power to create any life you want: money, women, food, servants, power, glory, the revenge on everybody who did you wrong—anything.”

“Oh, Good Lord, heaven is even better than Mother Superior led on! I get to do that? Now?”

“Yes, I’m granting you this power. Total freedom to do what you want. You deserve it! You’ve earned it, Bill.”

“Ok, so what do I do? Just point and make something happen?”

“Sure,” he said with a chuckle, “everybody always wants to point at things like some Vegas magician. The entire creation was spoken into existence, but ever since Adam people want to point things into existence—whatever makes them happy, I guess. Anyway, you’ve got the power of the Lord, do it however you want!”

Bill pointed to a cloud in front of him and a new truck appeared before his eyes. “Holy moly, I can’t believe it’s real.” The sun reflecting off the chrome was just a big blur to Bill Rogers water-filled eyes. He had to squint to see that it had the turbodiesel engine he had imagined. “I’m not going to get carried away on the wealth. I learned my lesson there. It doesn’t buy happiness. I had eight digits in my savings account,” he looked to see if the man was listening, “and look at where that got me. No, just a simple life for me,” he pointed to a cloud and four-bed, three-bath house with in-law suite and three car garage next to a lush green lawn appeared. It fronted a cul-de-sac. “You can’t take it with you, right?” he laughed.

“Is that it, Bill? What else do you want?”

“Well, like I said, I want to be young and healthy.” His stomach disappeared into his abdominal muscles and the brown spots and wrinkles on his hands vanished into a smooth clear skin.

“And what are you going to do with your time? Go back to your old job?”

“Ohh, you got a good sense of humor, God!” The old man laughed along with Bill. “Like I said, I just want to live a normal life and go to the bars at night, talk to beautiful women. Dance with them, smile, laugh. Have fun, that’s all.”

“Your wish, is my command,” he said, and Bill asked if that is how it really worked, and the old man laughed: “no, but people really started to ask for it after Aladdin got big, so I started doing it.”

“You’re a real people-pleaser, aren’t you, God?”

The small man’s sheepish smile resurfaced and a faint pink tint rose up to his pale cheeks.

“That is it for now, enjoy your new life, Bill. I’ll be back to check on you after a while.”

“Thanks, God, you really are great.”

“Oh, wait, one more thing—I almost forgot. In your newly made, perfect, heavenly life— do you want your children here?”

Bill let out a huge laugh, “of course! How could I forget! Yes, of course, I want to see my children! Not every day—and don’t have the Queen of Sheba bring ‘em by either, if you know what I mean,” he nudged the old man with his elbow, almost knocking his small frame over, “but yes I always regretted not having more time with the kids.”

“Great, I’ll make that happen. I’ll be ba-a-a-a-a-ck,” he said as he turned around.

A door appeared out of nowhere and the old man glided over to it, with his sheepskin coat dragging behind him. The door opened and he walked through it. It began to close, but his coat got caught in the door, and he had to reach back and yank it through. As the coat flew up, Bill thought he saw the tip of a German Sheppard’s tail and wondered if the dog had been there all along, but soon didn’t care as he saw his new neighbor, a young blonde woman in yoga pants and high heels getting into her Mercedes coupe. He tried to get her attention, but she was focused on fixing her lipstick and hair in the mirror as she drove away.

Bill settled down into his new life, got comfortable in his small house and extended cab truck, and began going out to bars and clubs, just as he had imagined. Every night there was a bar to go to filled with beautiful women, and they all were happy to let him buy drinks and chat for a while. Sometimes he would invite one or two to dance and they’d agree, and then disappear with their friends. Other times he would meet a young woman in pub and talk to her; they’d laugh and joke and maybe she would give him her number and maybe not. But he never saw the same woman twice. If he called or texted a woman, she never responded. If he asked a woman if she’d like to go somewhere for coffee she always declined and said she had to get back home.

On the rare chance that a woman did sit down and talk with him, the conversation was always the same: polite introductions, niceties, some flirtatious exchanges. He tried to talk to the beautiful women about life, what they wanted, what mattered to them, but they all just said they liked to have fun to some degree or another.

After three weeks of going to the bars and trying to talk to women, Bill got tired of going out. He stayed at home for a week, then he tried to find his neighbor again. He saw her car in the drive and rang the doorbell, but nobody answered. He only ever saw her driving away.

After a couple slow weeks, he tried going out again, but it was the same routine: a few drinks, a few laughs, nothing to talk about and goodbye, never to be seen again. Bill sat in his truck in the garage and contemplated his after-life. He wiped a tear from his cheek and heard someone knocking on his front door. He let the old man in, and Bill sat down at the barstool.

“Can I take your coat?”

“No, I like to keep it on. I came by to see how you are doing?”

“This isn’t what I thought heaven would be like,” said Bill, hunched forward, hands between his legs, staring at the floor.”

“Heaven?” said the old man, looking up at Bill. “Where did you get that idea?”

“Who are you?”

The old man took off the sheepskin coat and Bill saw the gray and white fur all over his body. The gray tail dragged on the floor, and the old man’s face looked like the snout of a grey wolf.

“This is your own doing, Bill. You made the life you wanted. You’ve had two chances now. This one you are stuck with, forever. No escaping. No crying, no laying down in the back of your truck for eternal sleep. This is the eternal sleep.”

“This is hell.”

“Call it what you will.”

The wolf got down on all fours and walked to the door. “Can you let me out?”

Bill opened the door and the wolf ran outside, almost knocking over the two people walking up Bill’s sidewalk.

“What are you doing here,” he shouted at them.

“We came to see you!”

“No! Get away! Get out of here, go! Go!”

The woman was getting in her Mercedes and looked over to see what the ruckus was about, but then looked away before making eye contact.

“Dad, we missed you! So, we followed you here. The old man told us how to find you! He asked us what our perfect life would be, and we told him ‘we just want to be with our Dad.’”

***
Follow u/quillandtrowel for more at Medium & Twitter (links in bio!).

Continuing with the failed love stories, as I mentioned in my first story, I used to attend church. I was 19 years old and about to turn 20. One weekend, I attended the youth meetings, and the worship leader was a 25-year-old guy, quite attractive. During the meeting, he couldn't stop looking at me, and his gaze made me quite nervous, feeling like he saw me as if there was no one else around. After the meeting, he greeted me, and over several weekends, we got to know each other better.
The church started a self-learning system school and required English teachers. I applied for a part-time job, and to my surprise, he would be the one to interview me. The interview didn't last long, and I didn't make a great effort, but he praised me to the director as if I were the best fit for the position, which, of course, I got. I imagine he did it with the intention of being able to talk more. One day he invited me out, and he made me feel like the most beautiful princess in the world. To cut it short, we became a couple, and for me, it was the most incredible thing in the world. I don't know how, but he had the ability to make me feel that even though there were attractive women around him, he never stopped looking at me.
However, it wasn't the same for my sister and my mom, who saw things from a different perspective. We lasted as a couple for about 4 years with a rollercoaster of emotions due to the bad relationship with my family. I turned 20, and he serenaded me, sang and composed songs for me, picked me up wherever I was, and never left me alone. But the red flags started, which I ignored for a long time. I couldn't talk to anyone, I couldn't go out with anyone, he dropped me off at my school and picked me up, if we went out and someone looked at me, he would stand in between and hold my hand, he changed the passwords to my emails and checked them constantly.
When everything started to get out of control was when I received emails from a schoolmate who asked me out. He replied that I had a boyfriend and that I shouldn't write again. He replied that he understood and wished me luck in my relationship, and I found it easy to reply, "Thank you for the wishes," and this made him very angry. He stopped writing for a whole day, it wasn't because of me, and he didn't want to talk to me. The next day, he picked me up to go to the church meeting, and on the way, I noticed hair of a different color stuck to the window and very strange handprints. When I asked him, I was able to describe that he had been unfaithful to me, so I broke up with him and asked him to drop me off at my house, which he didn't allow. He took me to church and forbade me to say anything. I was very upset, sad, and wanted to leave, but every time I tried to leave, he followed me, and I didn't want to cause a scene.
The pastor of the church noticed something strange and asked to talk to me, and when I told her, he arrived angry and asked me to leave with him. My acquaintances, unaware of what was happening, asked me not to leave with him because they saw me in bad shape, but I agreed to go with him to talk. On the way, he started shouting, hitting me, I tried to get out of the car, and he pulled me to keep hitting me on the arms and legs. In the middle of traffic, I saw the opportunity and escaped, nervous and feeling safe, I ran to take a taxi. When he caught up with me, he began to pull, push, and strangle me; I managed to escape and get into a taxi. I told all my closest friends and family about it, and we ended the relationship. I should have seen several signs, but I ignored them, like when he threw a coffee at me for receiving messages on my phone from a friend, but it finally ended.

Hi all! I’m just getting started studying for the MCAT (my test date is 8/17) and I’ve put together a brief plan of attack for how I plan to tackle this thing. I’d really appreciate any advice you all have to offer; I’m the first in my family to pursue a career in medicine, so sometimes it feels like I have nowhere to go for advice.
I took a half length BP diagnostic exam the other day and got a 504. Ideally, I’m shooting for a 515+ on Test Day; I plan to treat studying as my full time job over the next three months. I haven’t taken a psych or sociology course since AP psych in high school, so I definitely have room to grow in the P/S department. From what I’ve heard, improving in the P/S section isn’t too hard, so that’s giving me a little confidence boost. I also did pretty well in the CARS section and am relieved that it’s not my worst subject because I’ve heard that it can be difficult to improve.
I started content review a few days ago, after taking my diagnostic. I’ve been reading three chapters a day, taking the pre-chapter quizzes after completing each chapter to make sure I’m getting everything. My goal is to read each of the Kaplan books, cover to cover, in ~4 weeks. That way, I’ll have the remaining 2/3 of my study time to be doing practice problems and FLs, and if there are any glaring discrepancies in my understanding of content, I’ll have time to address them by going back through the books.
After finishing reading each day, I’ve been unsuspending the corresponding Anki cards from the newest Anking deck. I try to do Anki twice a day, once in the morning and once before bed. I have the Jack Sparrow deck downloaded but haven’t started studying it because the formatting of the cards doesn’t really seem like it would be very conducive to my learning style.
My mom purchased the TPR 515+ course for me on Cyber Monday, so I’m planning to do that for exposure to test-like problems and maybe learn test-taking strategy. I’m planning on primarily sticking with Kaplan when it comes to reading just since the Anking deck doesn’t correspond with TPR. Once I get done with content review, I’m planning on breaking into the UEarth question bank, taking BluePrint FLs, and then beginning to use AAMC FLs once I’m closer to my test date. I think I also might have access to the AAMC question bank.
Okay, well that was a lot. Overall, I think I’m just nervous that I’m not approaching studying the right way. I’d really like to knock the MCAT out in one go, but testing in August would give me time to take it again and still apply in the same cycle if I’m not happy with my score. At the end of the day, I think that part of me is just looking to be told that everything will be okay.
If you’ve read this far and have recommendations about things that worked well for you — or things that didn’t help at all — I’d really appreciate hearing them. Thanks so much :)

I don’t have a lot of information, and it’s not a major one that hit national news or anything, but basically I know this person that was put into this cult that was located somewhere in rural sc that was raided by the fbi and shut down around 7-10 years ago maybe? The only things I know are based off the bits and pieces of stuff he’s told me, but I don’t want to pry because I know it upsets him, even though he won’t admit it. But I really want to know what happened in that cult because there are certain things he does/ways he acts that I didn’t get at first, but eventually realized it was from something that happened to him in the cult, and it’s really random stuff so I don’t want to say/do anything that could upset him. All I know is that they were on a farm and they didn’t have a lot of technology. It was a doomsday cult where everyone believed that when the leader died, that the world would end. They got raided and shut down by the fbi I estimate around 7-10 years ago. That’s all I really know, but if there are any locals or even former members that could tell me about this, I really would appreciate it.

Hi, my partner is not diagnosed but we both believe he has DID. I have dissociative issues as well but have managed to not flip flop as much in the last few months. However, my partner has been out of a job since December for his mental health and started working a labor job in the heat just a few days ago. The job drug tests regularly and he had become highly dependent on thc edibles to self medicate and keep his symptoms at bay, but now he is struggling coming off of them and his mental health is totally unregulated. We desperately need the second source of income to support us and our kids, but the alter that comes out that is responsible for things like work is highly problematic. We think he’s modeled after my partners abusive alcoholic father. This one alter over the years has caused so much harm and is very narcissistic and seems sociopathic. Idk what to do but I cannot keep going through this with this alter. I am terrified of him. I turn into a traumatized little kid whenever he snaps at me. I feel like I am punished for no reason when he’s out. Like a simple difference in opinion can mean the next few hours are spent being emotionally abused and me dissociating into nothing just to get through it. If it doesn’t stop soon, some of my nastier parts are going to come out too and that scares me also because they can be just as destructive and provoke him to act worse. Also I am 19 weeks pregnant so this issue is messing with me even more because I don’t want this baby to be traumatized too. What am I supposed to do in this situation?? We need the money or we can’t survive. But me and the kids cannot just sit here and take this.

Hi! So I recently discovered that I have an allergy to gel polish. As much as I would like to, I have never gone to a salon to get my nails done, just too expensive atm! So a couple of months ago I ordered some products from Beetles off of Amazon, and the first round went well, though I read up on the possibility of developing a gel allergy (the irony lol) so I then decided to buy some (apparently) HEMA-free polish (the brand is Nicedeco) from Amazon. A couple days after using this polish, I noticed that my cuticles had become inflamed with little blisters, even with the supposed HEMA-free polish. Tried again with the Beetles polish, same thing happened. I’m at a loss now for what to do; I enjoy the gel polish because my natural nails are so brittle and weak and tear all the time to the point where it’s painful, I’ve tried probably every brand of nail strengthener, but gel polish was the only thing that really helped them to grow out. I read somewhere that brands that claim to be HEMA-free on Amazon are not necessarily HEMA-free due to lack of regulations. I should also mention that I phoned a local beauty supply store and the lady said that the problem may be that the UV light is not properly curing the gel. I did a test and tried to cure some of the gel on a piece of plastic wrap, and the gel was definitely still wet underneath, so this also may be the problem. But she told me that some professional brands bought directly from the supplier are actually HEMA-free, but you need to be a licensed nail tech to purchase them (which I understand after my experience). But as going to a salon isn’t possible for me right now, I’m wondering if there is a way around this, or if I just have to throw in the towel on all gel, as I don’t want to risk my health over it. I was looking at the brands HONA (though you have to be a licensed nail tech to purchase, and I’m in Canada so it’s hard to get) and Light Elegance (also have to be a licensed nail tech). Does anybody have any experience with these brands, and are they truly allergy-free? Or is the problem most likely the UV light? Sorry for the rant, just looking for as much input as possible!

I applied to a job posting as a revenue agent that someone commented on a previous post of mine a month ago. I just got a call scheduling an interview for Monday, I qualify for GS-7 through GS-11.
Since they took a month to reach out to me and I needed money after leaving public tax I took a job in healthcare in my city as a staff accountant. Hybrid, doing month close procedures and reconciling accounts. Very laid back with hands off managers and great benefits.
It’s been a great working there and everyone I work with has high hopes for me. But I would be dumb not to take the IRS job if I was offered?
Obviously long term the Revenue Agent would be a better position but there are a couple things I’m unsure about:
1) What should I expect working for the IRS at these levels?
2) Is there anything you wish you know before you accepted the offer?
3) If I were to get an offer from the IRS, how would I break it to my current employer that I’m leaving after only being there for a couple of months?
Honestly anything that you have experienced or could be helpful to me would be appreciated.

Ciao🍋 I'm Elle - 25+, F, 10+ years experience, staunch purple prose hater.
WHAT I WANT TO WRITE:

1. Storyscape’s Titanic

matteo x adele (i’m open to writing either character)
If you don’t know what this is PLEASE GIVE ME A MINUTE OF YOUR TIME
Character A is a valet for a wealthy man. The wealthy man basically saved him from certain poverty by employing him (You have potential, he had said) so Character A feels a twisted sense of loyalty towards him.
Character B is someone who is being blackmailed by the wealthy man. Character B met the wealthy man when they were put in adjacent cells in jail: he promised to bail her out if she did him a small favour. Character B never expected him to follow through, but Character A shows up to bail her out and with instructions from the wealthy man.
The wealthy man wants her to break off the engagement of his wealthy actress aunt/mother. He doesn’t explain why but it’s because her future husband will probably cut him off significantly.
Character B agrees, under the condition that her younger sister can travel with her.
The wealthy man happily agrees - “I’ll pay for everything”, he says.
It doesn’t take long for Character B to realise she made a deal with the devil, and worse: that having her sister with her gave the wealthy man even more leverage to manipulate her.
Character A and Character B and end up spending a lot of time for logistical reasons… and things get intense and complex very fast.
In the original plot, this all happened in the Titanic lol, and I do like the idea of that for many many many reasons. HOWEVER, it’s our story and we can do whatever we want, so we could say it was a whole cruise and they made several stops? Maybe the aunt was on a tour or something and was supposed to get married at the end of the tour?
—------------------
If you know the game, I’d also be curious to explore a CHARLIE x ADELE dynamic, but post-Titanic. Charlie is a steward who befriends Adele, helps her navigate her situation and the two become very close. Adele saved Charlie from certain death against his wishes. Post-Titanic, I’m interested in exploring how he's trying not to hold things against her but is struggling tremendously with guilt, ptsd, and his idealism. I'm more inclined to play Charlie in this one, but I can easily play Adele too.

1. Stories based on stories from the CHOICES APP

Stories I’m interested in exploring:
The Royal Romance - open to writing MC, the prince/king, or “drake”
Perfect Match - open to writing MC, “hayden”, or “damien”
WHAT I EXPECT FROM YOU

• You're 18+. absolutely no minors, please.
• You're willing to jump straight into things - it's the best way to know if we'll be compatible and want the same plots.
• You'll always share your ideas (even if you're hesitant or self-conscious - I'm too, and I always make sure to put in the effort so I fully expect the same from my writing partners).
• You don't hate writing male characters - I greatly enjoy writing both men and women and I can very clearly tell when someone wants to double up. I WILL soft-block immediately.
• You know when to rapid-fire and when to write long descriptive threads and don't care about word counts.
• You'll let me know if you want to drop things. I don't require constant communication, but I value my time - please don't waste it.
• If you reach out to me, please just dive right in and introduce yourself and let me know which ships you're interested in.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM ME:

1. I'm a long-term writer. I've been writing some ships for 10 years. So yea, I'm not going anywhere.
2. I care. I truly do care about your characters and our ships. I’m not a nonchalant person.
3. Replies at best every two days, at worst once a week. If I'm busy, might take longer.
4. I don't have triggers so I'm willing to write a lot of things. Respect and communication are key though - also, absolutely no bigotry.
5. Idc about following canon too closely.
6. I love exploring characters in a very realistic way but I WILL conjugate that realism with more gringy elements.

That's it! Thank you for reading and don't forget to say hi if you're interested.

Hello everyone As most of these start I am freaking out I have had an interlock in my car since march of 2024, last week (on the day of my calibration) I got in my car to go to my appointment and as I was blowing I got a taste of perfume- I had a perfume bottle that had leaked on to my device and now perfume had gotten into my mouth so obviously I had a high fail - I waited the 5 minutes for a retest and rinsed my mouth but still had a strong perfume taste in my mouth - I still had to take the retest because I didn’t wanna miss it and received a second high fail of .06 (not .006) - I got locked out and had to call my interlock company to reschedule my appointment to later in the day to let my car air out and get the perfume off of my breath
With such a high fail I’m worried what should I do - I called the interlock company and explained everything to them when I got there and everything I have read said it’s just a waiting game of weather or not the DMV will take action

I apologize for the long post, but all the background seems necessary. Or maybe a big chunk of this is simply rant. I'm in a total quandary:
I'm a manager at a hospitality/entertainment-based company that is dysfunctional from the top down. The family-owned upper management is very unpleasant and very unresponsive. The company's success at this point seemingly is due to the residual strength of the now-retired father who founded the company, who by all accounts was highly respected in the industry.
As for my immediate management team, the GM is entirely burned out (and cowed by upper management), and has let any number of serious bad acts go by with (at best) minimal response in the 11 months that I've been there. These acts include the use of a racial slur in front of guests, sexist comments to fellow employees, theft, and extreme absenteeism/tardiness/insubordination issues. Of these issues, I know that upper management let theft go unchecked by an employee they thought was irreplaceable (he's since left), and that upper management is aware that the employee who used the racial slur was reported to have done the same when he worked for a competitor. The GM is currently in the middle of a month's leave -- her first in decades -- and it will surprise no one if she retires as soon as she returns.
Then there's a fellow manager who has a few months' seniority over me but had zero prior experience in management or hospitality, and appears unteachable. He's been to a management seminar and has done some online training, but he is so far out of his depth that it would be funny if it weren't so tragic. Any member of the staff could give daily examples, but the GM has consistently shielded/glossed oveignored his transgressions, as she's literally just trying to get through each day.
I have had at least three long, blunt discussions with the GM regarding multiple instances of this manager's shocking behavior, his impact on the staff, and the resulting impact on the bottom line. She's heard from many other team members, as well. But throughout it all, she's refused to see him as anything but "such a nice guy." The two of us had a final conversation the week before she left when yet another egregious act came to light via another team member. By the end of that chat, she looked stunned, and she surprised me by asking if I could last the month. A (perhaps ill-advised) wave of honesty washed away my filter, and I said I don't know.
Then came this:
A few days ago, a team member's negative behavior required follow-up action. The fellow manager and I and that shift's supervisor discussed what level of corrective action was needed, and we decided the manager and the shift supervisor would meet with her at the beginning of her next shift. The next day, I asked the shift supervisor how it went, and all seemed well. Then the following day, another team member approached me privately to say that the manager had left the write-up out in the open, and at least three people saw it. She scooped up the papers, went to the office, and tried to hand them to the manager. His reported response was, "I meant to do that. I want people to see the consequences of their actions." I believe her account, as she is not known to lie or exaggerate. Everyone who now knows the story is horrified that personnel info was made public. And of course I'm horrified. I still can't process it.
So what the hell do I do? I was giving myself a year with this place, so now that I'm near that point, I'm actively on the hunt. But in the meantime, do I go to upper management who I have no reason to believe will respond in any sort of constructive way? Do I wait for the burned out GM to return? If my finances were better and obligations fewer, I would have walked that day. I would have called the owner, relayed the story, and handed him my keys. But I can't.
One final bit of background, as I figure the question might pop up: I was hired by an Operations Manager who himself had been brought in a few months prior to turn things around, as all of their properties were/are struggling to varying degrees. I have a great deal of respect for that guy, and I fancy that the feeling was mutual. Of course, they didn't really want to change, and he left about three months after I came on. I've been gritting my teeth since.

Life is life. One minute it's great and next it's not. The character Forest Gump was somewhat acute when he referred to life being like a box of chocolates. Not a bad metaphor but one has to remember there's a lot of crappy chocolates out there. For those who are interested in the back story I suggest you look into my previous posts. A lot more of this will mank sense. As one may guess they don't show a shining example of life. At least not my life in its current state.
Four and a half months ago my wife of ten years left. She told me she "needed some space". This happened on December 31st. It made a new year's eve to remember. If only I could forget. The next day I drove her to her son's house an hour away and we parted company. On February 12th she left for an area 900 km away. She intended to be there for a month but as far as I know she's still there now. Throughout the entire time (since January 1st) we continued to talk via text and phone calls until late April. For a while it looked like things were slowly getting better and reconciliation was going to happen. I suppose they were perceptions of a hopeful heart.
Towards the end of April she started to talk about friendship and how it's important in a relationship. I agree it is important. I both strongly feel one needs to have a close friendship with their spouse to have a loving relationship and marriage. She then mentioned I need to be open to love again. Even if it wasn't with her. I wasn't sure what she was meaning when she said it but I believe I do now.
She also talked about personal growth (hers and mine) and how we're talking now but she didn't want to give me "false hope" of a rekindle. She didn't want to dangle a carrot. She said she just needed more time. I told her if we were to reconcile it would be a slow process of beginning again from the start and it would be hard to know what would happen as we're both different people now. She agreed with me on it all. Keep in mind I still love her deeply. I know she still loves me even though it's buried just under the surface of her current feelings.
Generally these are all great signs but this is what caught my attention. When talking about friendship and being open to loving again and not wanting to give false hope she eluded to (didn't say anything outright) her moving back into the house where we could live as roommates. And if I or her were to meet someone... She didn't say any of this directly but made a few references to this sort of living arrangement. Hearing it all bothered me and I told her this wasn't a six week fling in high school and I have to be in math class with you/her. We had a marriage and I wasn't interested at all in being downgraded to "friends".
Love can't just be turned off. Maybe for some but not me.
Once I figured out what she was trying to get me to agree to I told her I think it's unhealthy for us to continue talking. She said she was confused and thought I was doing great emotionally but respected my decision to end contact. We parted company with her saying to "take care of myself". I said the same. There was no more for the rest of the day. I reflected on our conversation for the rest of the day and evening. I was still thinking about it when I woke up the next morning. I felt things weren't fully clear for either of us.
Early the next morning I sent her a message to call me when she was ready. She did a few hours later. When we spoke she was sheepish and soft in her communication. She'd often been cold and hard before. I told her I believed our continued talking was hindering her personal growth and mine. She didn't say anything about it but said she wasn't ready to have me gone from her life yet. "Yet"... What does that mean? I didn't ask and I'm not sure I want to know. Was she using me (and my sons) to ween her off of us? I don't know but I its possible.
We talked about my sons and life's happenings for a while. She talked about not having any idea of what she wanted now or later. Not even knowing what she was going to make for lunch. Normally she knew and planned for things several days or weeks or even months in advance. This indecisiveness was something somewhat new. I first noticed this behavior about and a half year ago.
After a while I redirected the conversation back to our communication. I said we could do one of three things. We could continue on talking the way we have been but I didn't believe it was at all helpful for either of us. She said nothing. Or we could pick up talking a lot more to where she responded with not being ready for that yet. ("Yet". What does that mean?) Or we could stop talking altogether and maybe sometime again in the future after a few weeks. She was noticeable bothered by this suggestion but agreed it was probably best. She said the love for one another is there but it's the in love part that is in question. I didn't agree or disagree. I noticed that after the decision was made she kept reaching for topics to keep our conversation going. We ended our phone call with us both saying "bye for now". Two days later she sent a picture showing it was snowing where she was. I didn't respond.
It's now been almost three weeks since we talked. It's been difficult. It feels like the break up has happened all over again. I'm 50 years old. I'll be 51 in July. I've had more than my fill of this emotional pain and I just want it to end. I want peace.
I know she'll be back at some point but I don't know when. My fear is that I'll have to go through all this again for a third time and it may just be a lot harder
Tdlr: I have no idea what to do or think or even say anymore.

sup yall. been a student for a while.
i've known this woman, S, for about 2 years as a friend but there was initially some romantic chemistry. i got in a relationship, however, and although we maintained our friendship, it was platonic. when i broke up with my gf in february, i took a risk and made a romantic move on S, who was very excited and receptive. S is a single mom who has had a rocky relationship past for added context.
knowing S so well for so long before we started dating was a huge help since we had so much rapport. and the first month of the relationship was phenomenal: her attraction was 8-9/10: she was dropping gifts off at my door, sending me extremely sexual messages, and the sex was phenomenal. because the incoming signals were so high, i was reciprocating these things (small gifts, texts, etc) as something she had said in the past was that consistency of effort was extremely important to her and i was making a concerted effort to make her feel safe even though it goes against the principles in the book of being mysterious. around mid-april, she was saying things like "are we ready to come out to our friends?" "put a baby in me jk but not really" and let me sleep over her house, which she said she hadn't let a man do in several years. basically, from my point of view her attraction was extremely high.
about the last week of april, however, her attraction seemed to drop a bit and she came over my house to tell me that she felt extremely guilty because she went on a date with another guy. she had also previously said that she had some pretty significant attachment issues so part of me wonders if she got spooked when things started to get close, but i could be projecting. i told her that she had done nothing wrong since we hadnt discussed being exclusive, but that i was frankly somewhat surprised and hurt because of all the signals that were coming back my way and that it would make me reconsider the amount of effort that i was willing to put into the "relationship." since then, the vibes have basically been in shambles and although things havent officially ended, we have seen each other much less and between-date communication has basically been nonexistant.
she still is the first one to look at my instagram and other social media; i do believe that she still has some emotional attachment to me since our friendship and connection was so deep before we started dating but do you think that this situation is salvagable? i have basically completely backed off as of right now.