Context: This is the first segment in my Worldbuilding/Lore Document for a story I'm working on, inspired by works such as RWBY, the Middle Earth with Japanese/Anime Elements mixed into it, what do you guys think? I chose to send this segment as this is the one I've made so far as of Writing (5-16-2024)

“For Orth sought love and longing, they have sacrificed their physical form to create a world where Orth shall never feel alone.”
Cerber Wodan on the Genesis of Orthross

Before there was Orthross, there was just Orth. Wandering the endless Abyss which served as borders between worlds, but Orth continued to wander endlessly watching and learning of worlds that they could not enter. Orth grew lonely and wanted a world of their own, eventually, Orth would sacrifice their body to create the world of Orthross.
Their flesh would be the soil that would nourish life.
Their blood would be the water that would allow life to flourish.
Their bones would create mountains and finally.
Their breath would serve as the air that would allow life to breathe.
Orth had sacrificed their physical form turning them into a spectral god as their soul wandered through the world of Orthross.
But Orth wasn't satisfied, Orth wanted to create more as soon as they learned of their newfound power to create life, Orth began to turn towards their next greatest project.
The Creation of Mankind. Their First creation was the Faunus or Beastmen which was the result of combining the essence of the beasts, but they were driven by instinct and were too emotional for Orth despite their often volatile emotions they were passionate and enthusiastic at everything no matter what trials unfolded. Their Creation was then followed by the Elderkin or Elves, in contrast to the Beastmen who were driven by instinct the Elderkin were fueled by Logic and were borderline robotic in general but they were highly intelligent allowing them to solve any problem with ease albeit at the cost of their empathy. This caused a conflict with the Faunus who enslaved the Elderkin by outsmarting them. Hoping to pacify both races, Orth created a third race that could essentially serve as the bridge between both races. And so they created Humans, they lacked the unique nature that both the Faunus and the Elderkin have, they were ordinary but they were gifted with determination and willpower to overcome any hardship.
However, things aren't as simple as Orth had initially believed.
Instead of the three races bonding together and forming an Empire, the three races simply waged war against one another trying to whatever the other race didn't have. This continued for hundreds of years to the point the three races eventually had their civilization. Eventually, Orth had enough and decided to descend.
By casting aside whatever godhood Orth had left and bestowed upon the knowledge of the universe into a devout child who came from a settlement from the frontier known as Thronos who believed in a religion that worships an entity known as the Ancient one and that all races are created equally. Essentially Orth hijacked whatever religion that is and supplanted themselves as the God of that religion.

“But why me? I am but a daughter of a farmhand.”
“Your humility is what stands out the most, you do not see the races as most people, you see them as equals.”
Orth to the Fifteen-year-old Girl known as Aerial who would later become the Prophet of Orth, 238 BT (Before Thronos)

It was a grandiose spectacle truth be told, the heavens cleared up for all within the settlement to see as Aerial was enveloped with a bright light as her body changed from a sickly girl to a beautiful young woman. From the simple rags that she wore now came a beautiful dress that came with a veil. Her body changed as well, she grew horns that of demons but sported a halo as well, glyphs would manifest around her and from it were tentacles made of the same material as Orth's flesh.
“Behold,” Orth said their voice was that of a thousand souls speaking as one for all to hear. “My Prophet, she shall spread my words and orders, which is to unite the world under my banner.”
And with that, the people knelt.
At first, Aerial was confused, not knowing what to do or how to achieve the dream of Orth. Seeking Orth's advice, she fasted and prayed, she did everything if it meant gaining an audience with Orth.
Eventually, her prayers were answered, and Orth would eventually instruct her to make a pilgrimage to Mount Archaeon. The highest mountain in the world, and so accompanied by her dearest friend Marchosias, the two travelled to Archaeon and began to scale the mountain. The two spent weeks reaching the summit until she finally arrived at the summit.
Upon arriving at the summit, Aerial would receive not only a revelation on what she must do but also the power needed. In Orthross, magic was a commonplace concept, and so Aerial was familiar with it. However what she didn't expect was to be given near godlike levels of Magical Energy, or Prana as the world calls it. She was also bestowed upon a vast array of knowledge of what it means to lead and how to wield such power. This caused her hair to whiten as she descended upon the mountain much to the surprise of her companion.
As the two descended from the Archaeon, the two began the steps needed to achieve unification under the banner of the God Orth. Here the two would spend nights going about strategizing and confiding with one another on how to achieve this.

“At first I thought it was an impossible task, that what Orth had done is bestow a burden unto her, but it becomes clear that she and she alone can achieve this.”
Twenty-year-old Marchosias on Aerial, 243 BT

By 243 BT, the two had already formulated their plan, the two of them would first begin and gather a following with Aerial spreading the word of Orth while Marchosias would fight those who would oppose them. Their first objective was to gather followers and so they went through settlement after settlement as the two introduced the weak and the downtrodden to the word of Orth, wasn’t Orth’s words whatsoever but rather it was Aerial spreading her interpretation of what she believed that Orth would have wanted them to believe.
Core Teachings would focus more on equality and love, something that this world seems to lack due to constant war and strife.

I’ve seen the numerous posts warning going back to a pwbpd. Mine broke up with me a month ago (while living with me) and went and had sex with someone and made a tinder all while sleeping next to me every night. Also while leaving me in financial ruin and mental and verbally abusing me daily, going into rages telling me the most vile things about myself such as no man will ever love me, he thought of other women every time we had sex, I was disgusting pitiful cancerous pathetic the list goes on. It was probably the most traumatic month of my life, I lost 15 pounds, have insomnia and visibly am still in shambles. He told me he thought he had bpd about 6 months ago and I started reading up on it and everything made sense. He had a traumatic childhood, in short term foster homes his entire life. I love him so much and knew that he was sick and had been through unimaginable pain. I knew he had to protect himself and was always left and I wanted him to know I would protect him always and would never leave him.
After this month of horror and dealing with someone who I didn’t recognize, after one night of raging on me I guess I said something that struck a chord finally and he broke down. He took down the mask and cried to me for hours. Telling me about how he knows he’s sick and he’s been in these cycles his entire life and ruined every relationship. He said he’d do anything to stop living like this. He said he didn’t mean anything he said that he only wanted to hurt me because he was hurt. He even told me he believes he has narcissistic traits which i definitely had thought before but thought i was being too harsh. I told him he needed to start therapy and remember this night and hold on to that clarity, that he couldn’t revert after this and be in denial. I then spent a few days writing out a letter that I read to him detailing my boundaries and that I would stick by him through whatever but that I couldn’t accept abuse or cheating.
I was so nervous to bring it to him because I thought he may not take it well and as you know we walk on eggshells with these people but I had studied up on ways to communicate with your partner with bpd and put a lot of thought into it. His response was pulling me close and telling me he loved me. I decided that I was giving him a fresh clean slate to be the best him he could be, who he wanted to be, I thought. I didn’t treat him as if he just cheated on me 2 weeks prior. We had a great week. 2 days ago I had an important exam and woke up anxious and told him. He was trying to make me feel better but I guess I didn’t respond to him in the way he wanted and he changed his tone and I asked him why he was being rude to me, this upset him so he walked outside without saying anything to leave. I followed after him which I shouldn’t have, and he told me to shut up and leave him alone. My exam was in one hour, I was crying and a mess, he tried to quickly make up for it and move past it and prepare me for my exam but I definetley failed. I let it go and didn’t let it ruin the day. Things were good but in the back of my mind I wondered did he subconsciously intentionally try to mess up a day he knew was so important to me, but I was sweet and let it go. Yesterday morning things felt off. He wasn’t as cheery as he had been the rest of the week, and left to work and didn’t message me the entire morning or afternoon. When he got home i let him know that I felt like things were off and was sad that he didn’t kiss me when he came in or talk to me throughout the day. I’m an anxious attachment style anyways and my love language is definitely touch. Besides that I was just cheated on and told by the man I love how awful I am, so despite me playing it so cool I do feel insecure and distrusting of him and when he will switch.
To make a long story short, he doesn’t take it well. I try to communicate calmly and tell him that these things don’t need to be turned into this, that he could have simply hugged me and let me know nothing was wrong and that I made it clear it was his responsibility to help reassure me through this process. He flips everything on me, somehow is the victim who isn’t enough or doesn’t do enough and says he’s done and this isn’t worth it to him. Goes to sleep, wake up at 7 leaves doesn’t say a word to me all day. Gets home at 5 and acts like nothing really happened but still no kiss or I love you and of course no recognition of what’s happened. At this point I’m so tired of the weird games. I ask him is he comfortable with this weirdness. That he could have just hugged me today and apologized and moved forward. But his pride doesn’t allow him to do that. It turned into a huge ordeal and I tried to remind him of our conversation where he had a moment of clarity, everything he told me, and it got no where. He denied everything and tried to flip it all on me. Said he thinks I’m being emotionally unstable because I just got off my birth control not because I’m being gaslit cheated on and manipulated by the man I’ve given my everything to. Took no accountability and just ends it with what’s easiest, that this isn’t gonna work. I tell him I took him back after the biggest betrayal of my life because I believed him that he was aware of his issues and that he needed to work on them and couldn’t hurt me anymore. He tells me no, he took ME back. He doesn’t live in reality and it’s honestly terrifying, for him and for me being in love with him. I’m not crying right now. I don’t even know what’s real anymore. My life just feels like a bad acid trip. Words couldn’t describe how I feel. I question if it’s rubbing off on me. I feel an incredible emptiness and confusion now from going through this manipulation and trauma. I have my second therapy appt tomorrow. I can’t make sense of anything in my life. I’ve just tried to be a good person and love him and it seems he is incapable of giving me that back. I’ve accepted that this won’t work but still feel guilt and pain that he will continue to suffer through life. I don’t want him to be alone. I wanted to be that one person that never left him. But it feels like he cannot care for me or think of me in the same capacity and sometimes that he wants to actually destroy me.

TL;DR: My boyfriend (26M) and I (27F) met online and started a long-distance relationship before I moved to his hometown. His large, close-knit family lives nearby, and I'm introverted and recently diagnosed with autism. I want to tell them about my diagnosis, but he's hesitant. Living here is affecting my mental health, but he's reluctant to move. I feel stuck and unsure if I should keep trying to make him understand or if it's time to give up.
My boyfriend (m26) and I (f27) met online through mutual friends and started talking on nightly on the phone for about a year before we met in person, started a long-distance exclusive relationship, and then he convinced me to move away from my family and rural town all the way to his hometown right outside of one of the largest cities in America. So my family is 7 hours away and I don't have any friends or anyone I personally know nearby.
His family is very large and tight-knit and most of them live a few minutes from the house we rent so any one of his many siblings, his parents, uncles and aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews, and his friends could show up at any given moment. We run into them almost every time we go out.
The thing is, I'm pretty introverted and recently learned that I am autistic. My boyfriend's psychologist also thinks he may be on the spectrum too.
We've been learning about masking and how it's awful for mental health and tonight I asked if maybe I could disclose to his immediate family (parents and siblings) about my diagnosis so they know when I'm being distant that it's not anything to do with them, I'm just overstimulated and autistic and sometimes cannot attend every social event or gathering.
My boyfriend says he has already told his family that he's most likely on the spectrum and he claims they were accepting but when I asked if I could possibly open up and let his family know he reacted oddly and essentially kept bringing up how his dad would not understand and would probably make fun of me....
He said his dad and a few of his brothers are immature and wouldn't understand and that just made me feel even more abnormal and broken.
I told him that living here is taking a toll on my mental health, that I'm growing depressed and suicidal, that I feel lonely and isolated and like I can't step outside without fear of running into his family or friends and having to mask constantly is ruining my sense of self. I told him that knowing they wouldn't accept me just makes that so much worse and impossible for me to relax when going to the grocery store or even grab a coffee because no matter what one of his family members will engage with me and expect me to always be perfectly social and friendly.
He doesn't really want to move away from his hometown but he gets emotional and says he doesn't want to lose me. I asked if he could break out of his comfort zone and consider moving even 30mins away and eventually he agreed but he has such a negative attitude about it.
The whole conversation resulting in my crying and locking myself in the guest room because it's impossible to talk to him without feeling like I'm not worth him giving me the same energy I've given him.
I gave up job opportunities, friendship and family, and the safe rural environment I knew. I am not asking him to cut out his family, I'm not asking him for move near mine, I'm just asking we don't live in such close proximity that they're always around everywhere I go.
He really insists that he loves me, says he wants to get engaged and married, constantly talks about our future children, and yet he cannot give me a clear plan or show actual steps towards making life comfortable for the both of us.
I don't know what to do. I haven't told anyone I know because I don't want them to view him poorly or just convince me to leave. How do I help him understand? Is it worth trying? Or should I just give up?

Not really sure how to go about deciding on what schools to app to. I feel like my research interests are super broad, basically sums up to molecular biology and neuroscience. I have definite interests but some of them are completely different from others. I could be more specific if it helps but I find it easy to get excited about a lot of things and my clinical interest is neurology which pretty much needs basic science everywhere.
My inclination is to just apply really broadly so i can have the best chances, and make more definite plans once i hear back about secondaries. Is that a reasonable plan? Given most places with an MSTP will have faculty doing molecular neuroscience.
I’d like some help in trying to decide if I just shotgun a ton of primaries or try to make a shorter list of schools I know have PI’s I’m super interested in. Just feel like that may be closing doors on stuff i dont know i’d like to do.
I also dont have a great sense for what schools i should consider reaches, midlevel and safety. I’m not too attached to location but have a mild preference for the coasts.
Would love any thoughts from yall on these questions and my app in general bc im coming up with reasons to psych myself out tbh.
Stats 521 mcat
3.76 gpa (3.7 sgpa)
1000+hrs undergrad research 1 authorship
6000+hrs postgrad research, working as a tech with the responsibilities of a grad student more or less. Totally independent work. Have 1 low authorship and have 2-3 first author pubs in the works.
2 very strong letters from the two labs ive worked in, (undergad and post grad) and a good letter from a shadowing doctor. Might throw in a dinky little letter i got shadowing a doctor back im high school but idk if its worth it?
100 hrs shadowing
Maybe 100+hrs volunteering i have to think about it
Did an emt course and a bunch of observing and ride along stuff but couldnt complete due to personal tragedy and moving meant I’d have to start from scratch im a new state it was kinda just a mess i may leave that out. Part of what got me interested in medicine though so idk how it looks

I made this throwaway bc I don’t know who else to talk to. Today I got home to my boyfriend’s apartment after a long weekend apart, and he told me this couldn’t work anymore. I’m an alcoholic, and I’ve been one for over a year now. We had been together about six months when I first ever got drunk and then over the next year he got to watch me slip further and further into it. I blacked out a lot, I drank whenever we went out, but I mostly drank at home. I had never been part of the party scene in highschool or college and I considered myself a responsible person for the most part. But one night when I had been drinking and hiding how much during our weekly D&D session we had had a fight and I left early. He didn’t know I was drunk and I blacked out as soon as I drove out of the parking lot 9pm. I don’t remember anything until a cop finally pulled me over at 2 and my BAC was over .25. I was covered in vomit. I could have killed someone. He told me then that this couldnt continue. After the DUI I pretended to change but as a real alcoholic now I kept drinking in secret. I didnt drive so what harm would it do right? A month later he left me alone at his apartment for only a few hours and I walked down to the gas station to get alcohol bc he left me his keycard. By the time he came back the liter bottle I bought was gone and I was incoherent. I don’t remember that day either, just waking up in the hospital, my bac almost at a .3. When I got home all my stuff from his apartment was there. After a week of sitting in the tub and crying he came to drop off a few more of my things, and the conversation we had was so painful. He has lived with alcoholics before and this is too much it cannot continue. I thought then that we would just be done, that there was nothing I could do bc I had already had done too much to hurt him, put him in danger, put myself in danger, been so stupid and selfish. But he gave me a second chance. I started an intensive outpatient program as part of my DUI sentence and began trying to put myself back together. I fell off once when I found cider in a room I was cleaning at work, housekeeping. I blacked out and when I came too in the single bathroom. When I had stumbled home he was there since I had drunkenly texted him. Everyone knew I was drunk right away. But even though he told me if I happened again he would be gone he stuck with me. That was October 15th. Since then I’ve been sober. I completed my program on our two year anniversary, and now two months later it’s over. And I don’t blame him at all. How could I? Who wants their kids to see their mom drunk? Who wants that constant fear of coming home to find their spouse unconscious or worse? I won’t list all the reasons he gave but they were good and I don’t disagree. And it still feels like my heart was ripped out of my chest without warning. I don’t want anyone to tell me I don’t deserve this or that he should have given me more chances bc he has already done that a hundred times over what could be expected of anyone. I just needed to dump all this somewhere so I could feel like I was doing something. I love him. I just need to say it one more time before I fall apart.
Happy six months sober everyone.

Hello! So I recently remembered I owned FM20 on Epic Games since they had given it for free at one point, and since I like strategy/managment games I thought I’d give it a shot. Only thing is I don’t know much about Football but really want to learn it.
What would be a good team/league to enable to learn the game?
I have played a few hours, the things im kinda really confused about are Scouting/Recruiting, how tired my team gets compared to other teams when playing, and what exactly training does on an individual scale…
I tried the in game tutorial thing and its a bit too broad for me to really understand
Any thoughts/youtube vids that could help me understand the game would be appreciated!
I have only played a lil of Man City with only the Premier league activated since thats kinda the extent of my knowledge of European football lol dont crucify me I literally know nothing lmao
Thanks in advanced!

If you notice, all the initial travail characters so far has a skin.
Diluc, Ningguang, Ayaka
I'm thinking Cyno and Lyney/Lynette are a given but am I just looking too much into pattern impact lol.

My girlfriend(23F) and i (23M) after almost 4 years together broke up because she wanted us to grow at our own pace and not rush or keep behind the other person. We were a long distance couple most of the time we met in college when i was a sophomore and she was a freshman. We hit it off almost immediately after meeting. We had everything in common and both bounced off eachothers energy like we were long time best friends after about 2 months i asked her to be my girlfriend. She and i lived in different states so over the summer breaks and christmas breaks we would do long distance but we made sure to text and facetime as much as we were able to and it would be pretty much everyday. We did this consistently for the first 2 and a half years. We rarely had any fights and the fight we would have we be over something we miscommunication and we always would talk about it until we solved it. Everything seemed perfect until the topic of moving in together was brought up my senior year of college. She dropped out to pursue something else but i was going in to pursue med school and that was something i told her before we started dating. Due to some poor performance on my end i wasnt able to get into any school so my second option was nursing and the same thing happened. This kinda lead me down a depression that affected me a lot just because that was something i was pursuing since i was in elementary school. I got over it after a few weeks and continued to look for alternative careers but my girlfriend was more focused on the moving in part. I always reassured her that we were going to move in as soon as we can afford it but she wanted dates and exact time frames on when i was moving in. At that time it was around April and she kept nagging me about the dates and i eventually we settled for october which would have given me enough time to work at my summer job ive been working in once i graduated and save as much as i could to move in. Once i graduated college i called up my boss and he kindly let me know that they were not any positions open for me to work and to me that brought instant stress because fast forward it took me almost 2 months to find the job i work at now but it was already end of july heading into august. Before i got the job in june my gf mom kicked her out of the house because she was moving in with her current boyfriend and selling their house. She moved into this really nice apartment but she aaked me if i would move in with her right then. I had to tell her i could not do it just because financially i couldnt afford it and she told me she could get me a job there but i told her that the job she could get me is not something i want to stay in forever and that i wanted to atleast find a job in a career that i would enjoy and make decent money in. This led to the first of many arguments that would ultimately lead to the break up. At the end of that fight she basically gave me an ultimatum that if i dont move in by October shes breaking up with and this was the mistake on my end that i regret, i agreed because i was scared of losing her. After that fast forwarding to September about two weeks before i was gonna move in i told my parents my plan whats been going on. Basically they said that she shouldnt be forcing you to do that and that you need to tell her that you just don't have enough saved up and arent ready to move out yet. I eventually had to tell her and she burst into a frenzy saying how im a lier and how i broke her heart which i can totally see her side and why it did. After apologizing as much as i could she didnt talk to me for like a week. I thought then i had lost her and was broken. After that week she texts me that she apologizes for the outrage and that she understands my side but that she doesnt wanna wait years for us to finally be together in person again and i kept reassuring again that it wasnt gonna take years i just needed to figure my finances and my career before im ready to move in. We made up and i even flew out every month or so for a few days to see her in person so that we could see eachother. Since then we went back to texting and facetime pretty much everyday and then fast forward to about a month ago out of nowhere she right a big paragraph on how this just isnt gonna work and that she wants to have a break from eachother until we figure ourselves out. I agreed and said that yes maybe it is the best we take a break for a bit. Her birthday in june and i had bought a plane ticket and called off my work to go and see her for her birthday prior the the break. I contacted her 2 weeks after and let her know that i still plan on coming to see her and she said alright. A week later about 2 days ago after havent talked she randomly texts how she thinks its best for me not to come down and break up for real this time. She explained that she just wants to be alone and wants time for us to grow at our on paces and not worry about eachother. She said that she still wants us to be friends and send eachother memes and text just not romantically. She also said that shes not doing this because she wants to see other people she just wants us to come back together when we are both self sufficient. I respect her decision but deep inside i was distraught and hopeless because the girl that i put my all into and sacrificed all my time and money just dumped me and not even in the way it happens she still wanted to be friends which makes this feeling worse. If someone was able to read all of this rant what should i do? i am still deeply in love with her and i can tell she still does too but i honestly dont know how to feel or work to get her back.

Tier List: https://imgur.com/a/8uZCpGy
Oh boy, is this one gonna be a can of worms. Let's dive in headfirst!
"I'll school you in this battle of the baddest Bruce, with your He-Man haircut and your Daisy Dukes." It's an unremarkable line, but the rhythm here is pretty kickass, and I love the choregraphy of Jenner doing stretches in time with the beat, it's a really satisfying visual. "I hear you're good at running, you're just like the Flash. Especially in the 100-meter ditch-your-wife dash." Decent attack. They never fail to use someone getting divorced as material for a diss, do they? Banner looming over his beakers and microscope is a nice visual, and "You turned one gold medal to a lifetime of green; the most overrated athlete anyone's ever seen" is a competent enough attack. "You need to carry fatherhood across that finish line; kept up with the Kardashians but left some kids behind" is, again, a decent enough diss. A lot of material about Jenner's family here; I guess that's to be expected. There's still one or two much more obvious lines of attack to make, but I suppose Banner is just saving his best stuff for the end, right? He certainly wasn't saving it for the end of this verse, in which he just references the fact that he transforms when he gets pissed off without fashioning it into much of an attack or boast. The use of strings in the music here is a really nice touch, although I'd say the green screen effect with Bruce standing in front of those neurons or whatever ain't looking so hot.
Actually, the green screen effects for this battle broadly aren't the best. That stadium Jenner's standing in is looking pretty low-res. "I think you're in your element when you're behaving badly; honestly you're kind of boron when you're happy." It's a corny pun, but the sentiment is true enough. "I'll lap and pass your ass ten different ways. Decathlon athlete blast through you like some gamma rays." This is filler; it's fine, rhythm sounds pretty good, but it's just taking up space. "The truth is there's no truce between the Bruces, you're a drifter being useless, I'm a winner, no excuses!" That's a lot of playing on the same rhyme in a short period of time, and I dig that: truth/truce/Bruces/useless/excuses, hell yeah. I guess some of those aren't proper rhymes so much as, what's the word... assonance, maybe? It's good writing, is the point. The visuals panning in and out of this home gym is a nice touch too, and a nice parallel to Banner's sequence with his lab. "Beatiful women all up on my jock, I got a home gym, check me on the cereal box, Doc!" The rhythm Jenner's spitting here rules, this beat is low-key one of the better ones they've done. It's also a nice boast, and that Wheaties visual is pretty great. "You big green freak, don't try to flex; if it wasn't for your cousin, you'd never have sex!" Okay, this line goes super hard and I think it's one of the most underrated ones in ERB history. AND it's got one of the funniest visuals in the way Jenner pops in on that roller shouting "OHH!" while Banner suffers. That bit lives rent-free in my head. "You're so strong when you get mad, too bad you can't go back to protect your mom from your dad!" Holy fucking SHIT, this goes hard! The flow here kicks all kinds of ass, and we've got a 3x rhyme combo going on with mad/bad/dad; I LOVE odd numbers of rhymes! It's also just an extremely savage low blow. Another line that doesn't get enough credit. Jenner is kicking Banner's ass so far.
One questionable and inadvisable transformation sequence later, The Hulk comes in to spit a few bars. But only a few. "That painted face don't give you class; just one more thing Bruce do for cash!" Interesting argument. "Best thing you make? Kylie ass! She eighteen? Hulk SMASH!!" I do think this is a pretty funny way to reduce Jenner's legacy to Kardashian bullshit, and the Hulk SMASH joke always gets a strong reaction out of people.
Fully transitioned Caitlin Jenner comes in with "That's my teenage daughter, man, I have to forbid this; I'll put a javelin through your jolly green discus." Decent lines. Good way for Caitlin Jenner to brag about her athletic achievements while also throwing a Jolly Green Giant jab in. "Kylie not the kinda girl I'm gonna let you smash on; you'll get the medal without the decathlon!" I like the medeal/metal wordplay here, although Caitlin Jenner dual-wielding pistols and firing them at the Hulk feels extremely out of left field.
"Hulk is Hulk! No identify as man! Me thinks Cait might understand!" Pretty funny line, and Caitlin's reaction is also amusing. "No gender issue; this Jenner issue! Just you being you is enough to diss you!" So that's it, then? They're really not going to bring that one thing up, eh? I feel like that closing line would land a lot better if they did.
"Look I understand that you hate yourself; but you don't need to blame yourself." Oh, huh. That's different. Let's see where this therapy session goes. "You're a tiger, stop trying to tame yourself; you gotta be big enough to contain yourself." Well... I like that she's mixing things up by rhyming with the penultimate word instead of the last word, that's always something. Beyond that, I don't think these lines are accomplishing much. "And get hit with a little forgiveness! Be green, it ain't none of my business!" That line's pretty funny, as is the tea-sipping visual. "But if you think you're looking good in those torn-ass clothes; you're lying, which means you need a new wardrobe!" That's a reference to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, which has absolutely nothing to do with this matchup. Feels out of place because of it. And it's not a very strong diss besides, feels like padding. Doubly strange to end her verse on it. "The visions of those shorts kinda scarred me; what'd you just rage at a Barney themed party?" Oh, there's more? Alright. This burn is really lame. Barney jokes? Come aaaaaaaahhhhhn, what are we doing here? That line should have definitely been left on the cutting room floor. "That's probably not something you seen as a child; not one day did you see your daddy smile!" Okay. She already established that Hulk's father was abusive in her first verse, and while it was a powerful blow there, here it feels much more toothless. "Hulk not strong enough to deal with denial! Laying you down easy; that's kitchen tile!" The first line is pretty amusing with how Caitlin imitates The Hulk's speech, but that second line... why? Pretty weaksauce way to finish her performance off, but whatever. Also not a fan of these visuals with the diamonds, feels like they wanted to add some visual flair but couldn't think of a good way to do it so they settled on Caitlin popping out of diamonds which is just odd. "Examine this under your microscope; you've got no neck, but you still fucking choked!" Oh. This verse is still going? Okay. Well, it's a good line. "After battling me, you're gonna always be pissed! So the Hulk will stay forever, neither Bruce will exist!" You know, that's actually a pretty strong closer, but I can't help but feel like it's undercut by just how long that verse was dragging on.
Okay, so. I feel it should be pointed out that there's a lot of people who were always going to hate this battle for making the decision not to attack Caitlin for being trans. Furthermore, the overwhelming sentiment has been that Banner won this; it bears keeping in mind that there's a lot of transphobes out there who were going to say the Hulk won no matter what happened simply because Caitlin is trans. So to that end, I think that a fair amount of the hate this battle gets, and the hate that Caitlin's performance gets, is bullshit. But there are still some big criticisms that need to be made.
So let's be honest: they threw the match for Caitlin. Or at least attempted to. You might still think the Hulk managed to win, but with that insanely long final verse it's pretty clear they tried to make Caitlin the 'canon' winner, as with Thomas Jefferson vs. Frederick Douglass. They did this presumably because it was pride month, and they wanted to say Trans Rights with a trans rapper that gets a positive portrayal. I can get behind that sentiment, but the execution is questionable to say the least.
Like... I'm not trans, but there's some shitty stuff going on here that's easy to see. For one, the cardinal rule that everybody knows is that you're not supposed to misgendedeadname a trans person, and the title of this battle is Bruce Banner vs. Bruce Jenner. So from the get-go, before the video even starts playing, we're getting some mixed signals here. Are we to take from this that they made the tactical decision to go ahead and deadname Caitlin for the sake of the matchup making intuitive sense(what with it obviously being a play on their similar names), and then try and do a hard pivot and make Caitlin win the battle to avoid criticism for that decision? Feels like maybe they could have just not gone with this matchup instead. The whole transformation element also seems dubious, but I could see someone reasonably landing either way on whether that's actually an issue or just silly fun, so I won't go into that.
Another issue to consider: Caitlin Jenner kind of sucks. Most people do not like her. Most TRANS people don't even like her. For one, despite the fact that she's trans, she is a Republican who has made anti-gay marriage comments in the past. The bizarre shittiness of a trans person being like that is a pretty ripe source of material for disses, yet this battle does not bring it up at all. And more notably than that, Caitlin Jenner was famously involved with a manslaughter case, where she was accused of getting someone killed due to negligent driving. It was ultimately determined that there wasn't enough evidence for manslaughter and so she wasn't found guilty(though it's widely believed that this decision was bullshit and she did commit manslaughter), but it's an extremely well-known and controversial factoid and it's insane they didn't have Banner bring up as a diss. If you're going to have a rapper make the case of "Just you being you is enough to diss you", seems like being a trans Republican and quite possibly committing vehicular manslaughter are the two strongest and most obvious points to go with. And yet... nothing. If your goal to make a battle that gives trans people positive representation, I feel like Caitlin Jenner seems like a pretty poor choice. I get that there aren't a lot of choices for a trans rep with name recognition or ample material to work with, but... the Wachowski sisters are right there.
Another thing is... why is it a moral imperative that Caitlin win this battle? Sure she's trans, and it's cool want to give trans people positive representation, but you didn't need to give her an absurdly long verse at the end to do that. You could just give her good writing, refrain from shitting on her just for being trans, and sure, let her have the final word. Then, yes, show the pride flag at the end to say Trans Rights. That's all you had to do. With something like Jefferson v. Douglass the scale-tipping made sense, because it was a slave-owner vs. a slave. Yeah, it's kind of hard for the slave-owner to win that match, and it makes sense to use it as a vehicle to take a firm stand against slavery. But it's not like this battle is Trans Person vs. Transphobe; Bruce Banner isn't some horrible person that must be morally condemned(there's a much stronger case for Caitlin herself), so... why have it play out like this? I think that ironically, by trying to hand the match to Caitlin they wound up getting more hate thrown towards the performance and more people voting against her in polls than there otherwise would have been if they'd just cut out all that excessive padding and given her a solid closing verse. As-is the verse isn't good, the overall quality is dragged down by just how much fluff there is.
In the end, my read on the situation is this: for whatever reason, they really liked the idea of this matchup and wanted to go through with it. They knew that going through with it would necessitate making it Bruce Banner vs. Bruce Jenner at the start, so they bit the bullet on the deadnaming and the conceit for the matchup and did everything they could to mitigate the potential backlash for that, going as soft on Caitlin as possible and giving her a verse that was ridiculously lengthy. People always say "but it's the Hulk, it makes sense he wouldn't say much!" and sure, I can buy that as an excuse as to why Caitlin's verse would be longER than his, but that still doesn't account for why it's as insanely long as it is. In any case... this paragraph is just speculation, I can't know their actual motivations, but I think this is likely what happened.
Anyway... despite all, this battle gets way too much hate. I think Jenner's first verse is really good, and the Hulk is also quite solid for as few lines as he gets. Bruce Banner is a little mediocre and Caitlin's last verse ends up just being a pain in the ass to sit through(could've been good if they cut all the fat and left in the handful of good lines) that's best skipped past on repeat listens. But still... there's some stuff here that is thoroughly enjoyable. I don't think this battle quite manages to be good, but it's got enough going for it that I think it manages to avoid being outright bad. I'm putting this in the top of C tier, because I genuinely think it's more enjoyable than all of the battles that are below it.
It's understandable to say that The Hulk beat Jenner's second verse, but I think her first verse was pretty fire and the highlight of the battle. I think she edges out a win, but a case could be made either way.
Let me end things off by saying this: I once watched this battle with an extremely transphobic relative, and he was pissed off by that "no gender issue, this Jenner issue" line. So even if this battle was a regrettable mistake, at least they did something right.

I began assisting with my daughter's teams several years ago and last year I made the jump to head coach. I had a truly wonderful experience and couldn't wait to get back out there this year. My team this year has struggled MIGHTILY however they have continued to play hard and try their best.
The reason why I'm quitting after this year is because of the parents. I have had multiple parents this season contact me and ask why their child isn't playing more in a certain position.
Now, it's important to mention these are 9-11 year old girls and this is a rec league, meaning everyone gets an opportunity. I am much more willing than other coaches to give kids an opportunity to play in different spots because, again, these are 9-11 year olds. These girls are too young to not be given a chance to grow.
Today was the final straw. Today, a woman who I considered a friend called me up and asked why I wasn't pitching her daughter more. It's important to note that she has pitched in every game this season. Our last three games have been away games and we've played so poorly that we've only had four defensive innings per game. She has pitched 4 out of the 12 and given up 11 runs. Now I don't care that she isn't mowing kids down. I have been giving other kids the opportunity to pitch, because this is rec softball. Her mom feels that I'm not giving her enough experience and we're not doing well with these other kids pitching. I feel it's important to note that when this girl isn't pitching she's playing first base, arguably the second most important role on the team, so I'm not exactly diminishing her role on the team.
I'm just fucking done. I spend countless hours trying to make these girls better people and better athletes. I do all of this as a volunteer and because I'm passionate about it. I also spend my own money buying equipment, prizes and momentos for the girls. I never yell at kids, I always encourage them and recognize them when they do well and use our struggles as teachable moments.
But the parents, the parents can be real assholes. However they're not the ones stepping to to coach a team. And now the town will have one fewer coach next year. Maybe I'll be an assistant or heck maybe I'll just become a spectator. But what I won't do is harass the head coach saying my kid is special and should be playing more!
Rant over, gotta start prepping for our next game.

I feel that this is a common problem that many people face. Working with fellow humans in a professional setting doesn’t guarantee that those humans will only see each other professionally.
Well, as the title says, I have a huge crush on someone I can’t have. He started at my organization about a year and a half ago and he’s just so great. He has a lovely wife and children that he loves very much. The thing is, even if he did feel a connection with me and tried to pursue anything, I’d immediately be disappointed that he’d actually betray his family. Ultimately, I believe I’d lose respect for him. My point is that, although I have a huge crush on him, I don’t want anything to actually happen given his situation. I just need to get these feelings off of my chest and “out there.” My best friend knows. Another friend, when super drunk one time, mentioned that he and I will end up together eventually and I was just so thrown off because I never mentioned liking him to her. I have a close friend at work who tells me a lot of personal things and I’ve come close to getting this off of my chest to her, but I’ve been super hesitant to. She’s married and I don’t want her to get the wrong idea. I have a gut feeling that she kinda knows, though, given how I talk about him. I find myself cringing when I bring him up because it feels obvious. However, we work at a relatively small place and my immediate branch, in which I work with my crush, consists of three of us and our couple of bosses. I’ve never had a crush on any of my other colleagues like this in the 10 years I’ve worked there. I’ve found some coworkers cute but that’s about it.
As mentioned, he started a year and a half ago (ish). When he was introduced via email, I didn’t think of him much and was busy with my own stuff. I actually went on multiple vacations around the time he started so I didn’t meet him in person until actually a couple of months in. I did attend a virtual meeting he was in before meeting in person and had that “oh, fuck” thought. Like “I am fucked” lol. He is exactly my preference looks-wise and felt that it might be a problem even then. Moving on to meeting in person and showing him around, I was immediately taken aback by how attracted I actually was to him. It was so much more intense in person. I should mention he’s about a decade older than me (I’m 33F) and was a professor. Also completely my type as I’ve always been the college student crushing on some teachers a bit. So, not only is this man my preference looks-wise (brunette, hairy, kinda short, curly hair), but also my preference personality-wise . I’m just glad he had Invisalign because I saw pics of him prior to getting it and he had the cutest slight snaggletooth and fangs that would’ve additionally melted me.
Not only does he have the looks I’m attracted to, which only means so much to me as the impact dissipates pretty quickly when that’s all that’s there, but we get along swimmingly. For context, we do end up traveling together on long car rides. Not constantly but also not infrequently. We end up talking a lot and about personal things. He’s confided in me about going through crying spells and feeling overwhelmed with life, about having adhd (as do i), and family stuff (his parents). Those are just some topics. I’ve divulged… a lot. He wants to protect me when going places. I believe he’s just genuinely an amazing person and would do this for anyone. I have zero idea if he has any attraction to me and I don’t need to know. I do have a gut feeling that he feels a connection to me, though. There are plenty of other people he can ask for help from, but constantly comes to me first. We work really, really well together. We presented at the same conference recently and a colleague in a different department specifically commented on he and I being great presenters. I do not feel this way about myself but wanted to share the kind words said about him. He was very appreciative and also was a bit flabbergasted that I didn’t feel I’m good at presenting and complimented me and provided reassurance I wasn’t expecting.
We also mutually got in trouble (but not really) for pulling a small prank on other coworkers. That’s a long story that would provide too much identifiable information, but it ended with my boss giggling about it. It was my crush’s idea to pull the prank which spoke to my heart as a bit of a jester myself.
I think i struggle the most with keeping it a secret. I might be obvious in my attraction but not sure. I really hope to feel this strong attraction and connection with someone available sometime. I sometimes want to cry when he does or says something endearing or awkward because the cute aggression can feel overwhelming. It’s also partly because of the pent-up feelings/energy have nowhere to really go, hence why I am here. I have no idea what to expect, if anything, in the replies.
TLDR; I have a huge secret crush on coworker that is happily married. I don’t want anything to happen given his commitments but find myself with pent-up feelings. I am so happy to love people i work with, but it feels as if there’s more there that can’t be expressed. I would lose respect for him if he were to ever make a move while married yet I feel the way I do. I am posting here to release some of these thoughts and energy.

I am NOT OOP, OOP is u/ThrowRa-Lunch
Originally posted to relationship_advice
My (38F) Husband (39M) hid having lunch with a coworker (25F) and said my food was ‘tasteless’. What do I do?
Trigger Warnings: emotional affair, verbal abuse, emotional abuse and manipulation
Original Post: May 5, 2024
I want this to be quick. I feel really weird about this and I’m on the verge of asking for a separation.
So, I’ve been with my husband for 15 years, married for 11. Amazing relationship, small bumps of course but nothing like this.
I’ve always made lunch for my husband to take to work, and up until a little over a month ago that was fine. Middle of March he said that a new Turkish food stand opened up outside of his office and that he had been eating lunches there instead because they were good. Alright, no problem.
So he just completely stopped asking for lunches. I had maybe packed 5 during this time frame for him, but I’m not even sure he was eating them now.
So on Thursday I was at home working and I had a phone call from him, thought he was calling during his lunch but he had butt dialled me instead.
At first, I didn’t hear much, just him talking to someone, and I was about to hang up until I heard a woman’s voice as well. I wouldn’t say I’m a jealous person, but I was a little bit curious so I muted my call at work and listened.
It was just standard conversation at first, he was praising this woman’s cooking A LOT. Which of course made me realise that he was eating lunch this coworker made. I was a bit peeved but there’s an explanation sure.
Although that went out the fucking window when she said “is it better than your wife’s?” To which he replied “Oh yeah, without a doubt. I mean, it’s not tasteless for a start” followed by laughing.
First of all, what the fuck is that supposed to mean? 15 years of cooking and NOW he has a complaint? And not even to me but some coworker!!
Also, that absolutely isn’t innocent on her end right? I’m not crazy in thinking that’s so weird, why even bring me up?
Anyway, I raised hell, ended the call, sent him a message not to ‘worry about my tasteless cooking anymore’ and that he ‘can eat from the bin’ from now on.
Hes apologised, said that he loves my food and was just trying to seem cool in front of his coworker. I asked why he lied about where he was getting lunch from, and he said that initially he did get it from that stand, but the coworker started offering and he didn’t want to tell me because he thought that I would get jealous (yeah, can you blame me?)
So, I’ve been airing him since. I’m still pissed to be honest, I haven’t made him lunch or dinner, only for myself since he said that he dislikes it so much. He said today that he’s apologised and that I shouldn’t keep punishing him but I’m literally an inch from going to my mums. I have a suitcase with my clothes packed under our bed ready.
Dad thinks it was a stupid comment, but that I should work it out, mum is on my side regardless of my decision. I’m thinking about leaving for a few days at least, maybe a separation but I honestly just want some reassurance if that’s what’s best here?
Relevant Comments
OOP on if this was a one-off situation

OOP: It’s a one off and so insanely weird coming from him. He’s never been that type of person at all. I can’t remember a single time hes said something negative about me to myself, never mind to someone else!
He hasn’t been suspicious with his phone of behaviour at all. He comes home on time and if he’s out with friends I can pretty much confirm it, so I’m not sure. Maybe at most an emotional affair or a crush? But at the moment I don’t think he’s cheating. I honestly just feel really hurt

OOP on if her husband can cook or not

OOP: He can barely cook, so it’d be more of a punishment for me to be honest. I’ve been making him cook for himself since this happened and he’s been miserable. Definitely agree with the asshole coworker though, no clue why she had the audacity to try and bring me up like that

I didn’t know. Yeah he’s apologised, but I’m still pretty hurt over it. Cooking for 15 years just to have him badmouth me sucks. Ideally I want him to cut ties with that coworker of his too for bringing me up. He won’t mention much of her but I feel like she’s just as bad too.
I’m also pretty annoyed he lied to me for a month about the fact that he was eating lunch with this coworker, her lunch too. I don’t see why he would

Blue-eagle-23: Has he agreed to stop having lunch with her? Even if she is not hoping to get with him she is certainly not a supporter of your relationship.

OOP: He said that he’ll stop having lunch with her and apparently has done since that happened. (Although I have no way of proving this)

the_taco_life: If he's not cheating on you with his much younger coworker, he wants to/is trying to. Man my vagina would dry up and blow away in a puff of dust over such classic creepy older dude behavior.
You're not overreacting. You're under reacting.

OOP: I absolutely feel it drying up already. It’s like everything I’ve found attractive in him has gone. He’s just so plain to me now.

issa_username29: Yeahhhh honestly I’d probably leave for at least a couple of days too, overhearing something like that would piss me off! Has he been weird with his phone or any other communication devices?

OOP: Absolutely nothing! No change in behaviour either. He hasn’t been cagey or weird, he’s let me use his phone whenever before all of this happened. He’s been completely normal

 
Update May 7, 2024
I’m back. It’s not a great update but you all deserve one for all of the advice you gave me on my last post.
He confirmed that he developed a crush on her, it’s an emotional affair at least and that’s all I really need to hear. I sat him down and had a heart to heart with him.
Bottom line are these points.

• if I hadn’t of heard what he said, he most likely would have continued flirting with her, he admitted this himself.
  
• he liked the attention, she had bad mouthed me previously (I didn’t ask for examples) and he didn’t shut it down because he liked it.
  
• She has actively been persuing him for over 3 months now, he hadn’t put a stop to it until I caught him.
  
• The Saturday before last she offered to give him a blowjob during lunch together, he declined, but he told me that he let her feel his muscles over his clothes.
  

The only reason he said all of this fucking shit was because I was all sweet and I said “I promise, tell me the full truth and we can move on, I’ll forgive you, I just want to know”
Right, fuck that. He is packing his bags. This is MY house, and it will be treated as such. I really don’t care anymore. If he’s seriously deluded himself into thinking this is going to last, he can crack on.
I’m genuinely so angry more than anything. I did everything for him. I make double what he does so I paid all the bills, while we used his money for fun stuff. When we met he had crippling CPTSD and body dysmorphia. I did fucking everything to help him get over it. I dealt with his night terrors every bloody night, despite it ruining my sleep. I reassured him constantly despite not getting it back. All of it without a bloody complaint. You love someone so much just for them to throw you away so easily.
He cried, had a panic attack that I had to calm him down from and is now taking his time packing. He keeps stopping to come into the living room to ask for a hug. I can’t even express how disgusted I feel, like I physically can’t even look at him anymore.
There was no need, if he was unhappy he should have told me, I don’t know why the hell he even felt the need to get some validation from this girl but sure, whatever.
He keeps saying he doesn’t know why he did it, but of course he knows, he’s just too much of a coward to tell me.
Well whatever, it’s done now. He’s leaving, his family is back in Germany so fuck knows who he’s staying with, probably her but I’m washing my hands of him.
Thank you for all of the advice you gave me on the last post, so many great ideas that I didn’t even end up needing to use because he just down right admitted it all to me.
Relevant Comments
Katatonic92: Doesn't know why he did it? Here's my guess based on the info you shared;

1. You saw him at his weakest & most vulnerable, you are clearly still his backbone judging from his current behaviour. He doesn't get to play the toxic image of manly man to you, in his mind, you are stronger than him. I guarantee he hasn't opened up to her about any vulnerabilities he has, it sounds like she has appealed to the toxic manly man ideal of making food & offering blowjobs to the big, strong muscular man. He gets to inflate his ego in a way he can't with you.
2. Not only have you emotionally supported him, you are also the main breadwinner, the provider. You cover the bills, the roof over your head, his contribution is the unnecessary fun stuff. This is yet another blow to the toxic manly man's fragile ego. He probably considers himself financially superior to her, his money could hold more "value" to her instead of it just being fun money you won't really miss.
3. He is older than her, gets to seem like the wiser, more worldly adult of the relationship. He will feel superior to her in every way he feels inferior to you.
4. He enjoyed the negative comments made about your food, not because they were necessarily true but because it meant you weren't perfect & someone else was validating it. Again, when you are insecure it is easier to find faults be derogatory towards a perceived threat to drag them down, instead of building themselves up.

Conclusion. Major insecurity, inflation of ego from someone he feels he holds superiority over. And as fucking usual, instead of recognising this bullshit, speaking to his wife who has done nothing but love & support him, go to see a therapist to work on his feelings, he goes down the easy road. Instead of doing the work to overcome his feelings of inadequacy, it was so much easier to gravitate to someone who not only let him ignore those feelings for a while, they also found a way to tear you down.
I'm sorry you are experiencing this, it is truly pathetic when someone would sooner risk causing this terminal heartbreak, than suffer short term discomfort by communicating. It's pathetic.

OOP: Jesus fucking Christ. How do I pin a comment? That’s so unbelievably true I can’t even say anything.
Physically he’s pretty intimidating. He’s 6’6 and about 270 pounds, and he can be pretty scary to people who don’t know him. But he’s always been extremely sweet and kind, and that’s one of his biggest insecurities, looking like a man but not ‘feeling’ like one. Which has always been bullshit to me. But yeah, everything you said is literally him.
I can’t even thank you enough for writing this. Having it down fully on here is so incredibly validating.

OOP on her husband’s co-worker being a problem

OOP: She is A problem. Singular. I’m not running to her house to curb stomp her because I don’t know a damn thing about this woman. But regardless. Yeah, she wanted to fuck a married man, is that fucked up? Absolutely, and if the chance comes around I’m being petty and getting revenge. But seriously, who’s the hell is she? Did I spend 15 years of my life with this woman? Did I make vows to her? NO.
Read this, then reread it sir. My HUSBAND, is at fault here, because he knew damn well what was going on. He knew this woman wanted him, he knew what was going to happen and he let it. What can I do to her? Nothing, what can I do to my husband? Divorce him. That’s the bottom line.
For the love of god, stop dick riding my husband and move on, it’s actually insane that I have to say this but no one is defending that woman, no one, we’re coming rightfully for my husband because of HIS part in all of this.

 
Soon to be ex saw my update, came to my house. I’m safe. - May 9, 2024
I can’t post another update to the relationship sub, and I didn’t know if people would see it if I just made an edit myself on my other post. Some shit went down, but I’m okay. Yesterday night STBX contacted me. A lot of people told me to delete my recent update made of the post, it honestly slipped my mind that he could be reading it too,
He said that he was a bit hurt that I’d think he would go for Alimony. But that he understands given everything. He told me that he wasn’t going to but if he needed to sign something to prove it he would.
I said given everything that’s happened he can’t blame me for being on alert. He said that he’s quit his job and that he’s thinking about returning to Germany to be with his family there, additionally he says he’s cut contact with that coworker. He apologised again and wished me the best
Right, and that would have been just fine by itself. But I woke up at about 2.15am last night needing a wee and I saw my ring door bell going off. I have footage of him just sitting outside my house talking to himself. Literally he got there at 1 ish, knocked, sat down on my front steps and just started talking. I slept through it and only woke up because I needed the bathroom. I literally sat in my closet for ages just watching the camera not knowing what to do until he left at 3am.
He’s probably going to read this too but I’m somewhere safe, I just can’t tell you all for obvious reasons. He sent me a message saying he can’t lose me, that I’m the love of his life. I told him to fuck off and blocked him.
I really can’t say much, but I’m taking action. Absolutely don’t worry about that little prick.
Just a possible last update, it’s a bit risky to tell you what’s happening now that it’s gotten a bit shittier, just in case it gets back to him.
Relevant Comments
OOP on her husband blowing up his life for his emotional affair and doing anything to get her back

OOP: I did end up asking him why he declined her offer for a blow job. I feel like at this point it’s pretty done and dusted, there isn’t really a need to keep lying.
He said the main thing was that he was a little bit afraid to cross that line, and that he had rationalised to himself that since it hadn’t turned physical, it wasn’t bad. (He didn’t really elaborate on why he was afraid, but we were each other’s firsts, so that’s maybe why?)
I cringed a bit writing about her feeling up his muscles. It feels a bit gross to type out for some reason. My STBX is a physically big bloke. He’s 6’6 and roughly 270. He was in the military for a while and he never got out of that routine. I really don’t know what he means when he says his muscles. I mean it could be any of them.
My heart does really hurt for him in a strange way. I was a bit panicked this morning after I woke up from the nights drama worried if he had a night terror or something. I know that he betrayed me, but I still can’t stop hoping that he’s okay. I’ve messaged some of his friends to check up on him just in case.

OOP on if she and her husband have kids

OOP Nope! No kids thank god! We’re childfree

 

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

THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT OOP

So. Firstly, hey old friend, I know you're here. You commented on my last inquiry which I since removed...it was your store, indeed. I didn't feel like I should go too far outing the dirty laundry then, but now we're good. Hah. Thanks for being a good one. You're missed, and good Lord it has been pandemonium since.
So, let me reiterate my last post with some wild new details and a different point of focus in hopes to figure out what the hell is going on and what others would do...Because I haven't even heard of situations like this, let alone been in one.
So. I was injured in a car accident back in May, I have vestibular damage causing me a lost sense of equilibrium and constant nausea. I first went to an injury chiropractor, he set me up for 3x weekly appointments, and referred me out to neurology, whom referred me out to 3x weekly physical therapy, and requires I go back to them for neurological testing at least monthly. I was out of work for 6 days following the injury because I didn't want to lose my pay, and have been in since, popping my zofran, nurtec, and nsaids like they're candy to get by. Suddenly I had a ton of weekly appointments, but I opened an intermittent leave case with Sedgwick. (I don't qualify for FMLA, I've only been there just under nine months.) Sedgwick has taken until this week to approve anything, and initially had denied my case citing insufficient information even though they were given paperwork on three occasions regarding my needs. They claimed they never received anything when I spoke to them on Friday of last week, but suddenly every claim was approved after I talked to HR and told them about their "missing" paperwork on Monday. My RXOM was wonderful and would work with me on my appointments, I'd leave a little early, or take a slightly extended lunch break. No one seemed to care except for the store manager, who repeatedly yelled at her. We had no pharmacy manager when it began, but once she started, she let me leave twice for my appointments when the RXOM wasn't in...then went on leave for like three weeks, returning two days ago. Suddenly I looked at my schedule and saw I was off every day I had an appointment scheduled. This is what she kept telling my RXOM to do, and she wouldn't. So...store manager took her scheduling privileges citing "someone complained about how she makes the schedule" I figured this every other day schedule was forever - but it seems it was only a week. I can't verify whether the following weeks changed after I made a report...but as soon as I noticed that arrangement, I filed a retaliation and hostile work environment report with HR over email. Not even including my situation, it is an absolutely intolerable environment where retaliation, micromanagement, intimidation, working distracted and multitasking while conducting HIPAA related tasks, and shame are all encouraged. On Monday I couldn't use the time clock, it was acting like my employee ID didn't exist. Weird. But my RXOM (who quit the day after, good for her) was able to clock me in so I didn't sweat it. The store manager rejected every appointment and has been scheduling me over them. On Monday I left for physical therapy without approval, but with two weeks notice in which it could have been approved. HR called Monday as I was pulling back in to work from my appointment asking for clarification on my case (which is comical because the SM was walking out of the building while we were on the phone. Felt poetic somehow) ...and things are just even more weird now. Suddenly I was pulled aside yesterday by the pharmacy manager and let know that my RXOM was wrong and I need to hand my appointments to her as soon as possible so she can work with the store manager to get coverage. Okay, sure. They were already all in the system as denied requests, but whatever, here's your list of what I know now. Today, I was pulled aside again and let know that actually, they checked with Sedgwick and HR and they said they need three weeks notice for any appointments to be approved and for me to not face repercussions, so after my appointment on Friday, I need to tell them I need to be scheduled three weeks out. For a sudden injury, revolving care case....right. how does that work? “Hey I broke my arm, but I can't go to the doctor because my work needs three weeks notice...you got anything a month from now?” The world doesn't work that way. I'm not going to a party ffs, I'm going to the doctor's for an hour tops. I don't have three weeks notice for things starting immediately several times a week, it's legitimately not possible. So I haven't been able to clock in for days, but I'm handing in my time and was even asked to work overtime tonight due to resignations. Another employee came to me today and said they can't put me on the schedule for some reason but I can consider my hours as another employee who is started leave today. He's on the schedule...as me. I went in to see the schedule, and apparently according to the scheduler I was terminated on Sunday. I literally joked about it on Monday, "oh, maybe I was fired and everyone forgot to tell me" - but, I mean…that's what this looks like. If I try to view any weeks following this one, it says I'm not an eligible employee. So, I can't even see the hours for the person I'm pretending to be next week. What the hell. So I've worked days with no true documentation of those hours. Now my hours are being logged under another employee...and, I'm here wondering how payroll is going to work if I'm fired in the system. 🤔 There is no way my pay isn't messed up next check. No way. What do I do? Do I refuse to go in because if my account has been deactivated and I can't clock in and have documentation of my time, I won't work until I can do so? Make them fix it? Do I go in on the next day the SM is in and wring her out like a towel figuring out how it happened? I'm genuinely fine if they do fire me after that. My blood pressure skyrockets so far I can't see straight when I'm there, I've got something lined up but was simply trying to avoid a lapse in pay between the two…the sooner the better. I can do gig work in between. Do I work and just keep handing my hours in and hope for the best? Do I hire another attorney since mine doesn't do employment stuff? Something feels entirely wrong about it all and I'm totally lost. Am I the asshole, like? So far everyone agrees that I'm not, but...I'm made to feel otherwise. The store manager won't truly speak to me about the matter. She tells other managers to tell me what she has to say. It's absurd. But, I have no desire to speak to her either, so I guess I get it. And to top it all off, all anyone says is get as much as you can on paper. I...i have nothing. Nothing at all. I don't even know what to get or how I'd get it. I had taken schedule screen prints but since threw them out since they didn't actually verify my initial claim (of being cut hours for the duration of my treatment...I jumped the gun.) and so...I'm completely baffled. Should I just walk the fuck out and let it go? I feel bad for the others, we're already drowning...but it's going to compound anyway.
Y'all got thoughts?

How doable would the combination of CSE100/L; ECE103/L with Zhang; PHYS 5D with Shastry be? I understand that it would be a difficult quarter, but would it be doable difficult or just too much?
I technically have the option of shuffling my plan a bit to delay PHYS 5D until my senior year fall quarter (it’s looking light-ish), but I am a bit hesitant about doing so in terms of if I get unlucky with PHYS 5D enrollment I won’t have a chance to complete PHYS 5D in time for graduation given that it’s only taught once a year. Would it be worth the risk to delay PHYS 5D till my 4th year? How is the enrollment in PHYS 5D for seniors anyway, does it get filled up quickly?

I feel so bad for Sarah Newlin and I’m sick of people defending how the writers treated her and the fate they gave her as Pam and Eric’s slave. So here's an essay deconstructing some common talking points against her.
The Sarah Newlin-Hitler argument doesn’t hold up:

• I’ve seen people compare Sarah to Hitler due to her ambitions of genocide towards vampires and placing of them in a prison-camp. Here’s the thing; You can not compare the Vampires of True Blood to a real-life oppressed class because Vampires are inherently and legitimately harmful to humans; They literally have to feed on people to survive. Couple this aspect of their nature with the fact that we consistently see that many of them can’t or won’t control their urges and blatantly disregard the value of human life, or in fact, enjoy harming human life, and it is completely reasonable for people like Sarah to fear or dehumanize Vampires. If pigs could imprison us in a camp for slaughtering and eating them, would it be fair for us to villainize the pigs? No, because we as a species make them into fuckin' bacon, pork, and sausage everyday. The show tries to push a vague allegory about how anti-Vampire discrimination is supposedly akin to racism, homophobia, etc. but this simply does not work. No real life minority inherently harms empowered classes like Vampires do Humans.

Other characters are anti-vampire and don’t suffer like Sarah does:

• Hitler argument aside, it’s also important to note that Sarah didn’t even start the campaign to exterminate vampires, Governor Burrell did. Yet, Burrell dies fairly quickly by Bill’s hands. Contrastingly, Sarah is tortured for the rest of her natural life.
• Steve Newlin, who led the Church of the Sun until he got turned into a vampire, also gets a painful but quick death, even rubbing his gayness for Jason in Sarah's face as a last laugh. Despite Eric killing him, Steve still has some sort of agency over his ending and it’s even portrayed as a triumphant moment because he uses his final words to insult and get back at his “evil” ex-wife, even though he was literally just as, if not more, “evil” and actively anti-Vampire as her before being turned.
• Shit, let’s even look at Jason. In Season 2, he indoctrinates himself into the Church of the Sun and wants to exterminate vampires just like Sarah does. He also consistently swings back and forth between empathizing with vampires and wanting to destroy their species throughout the overall course of the series, like when he goes full vampire-hunter in Season 5 and 6. The only difference between Sarah and Jason is that she actually had the means to enact her anti-vampire plans through being the wife of Steve Newlin and side-ho of Governor Burrell.
  • Both Jason and Sarah are impressionable people with underdeveloped moral compasses. But, because Jason’s the main character’s brother, and apparently just too lovably dumb to think for himself, the show gives him a pass and allows him opportunities to learn from his mistakes without serious consequences.

Sarah's fate is cruel in the greater context of her arc:

• The writers allow Sarah to escape retribution when the Vampires overthrow Burrell’s camp in season 6, just to extend her torture into the next season.
  • Sarah goes into hiding and finds peace and growth after assuming her false-identity of Noomi, only for her new life to be brutally uprooted when the Yakonomo Corporation, along with Eric and Pam, come after her. Sarah has her new boyfriend and later her entire fucking family killed at a point in her life where she is shown to be a genuinely changed person who regrets her past.
  • Sarah visits Amber, her estranged vampire sister who’s infected with Hep V, apologizes for disowning her, and heals her with her cure-infused blood. When Eric tracks Amber down, she even insists that Sarah is a good person at heart and begs him to not hurt her only to be staked and killed by him.
• Sarah is humanized for so much of Season 6 and is given multiple hope spots, only for her to be subjected to a cruel and torturous fate.
  • Eric and Pam secretly keep Sarah prisoner at Fangtasia, where vampires pay to feed on her, while also managing a wildly successful, lucrative, and legitimate corporation that distributes synthetic versions of Sarah’s blood as a cure to the Hep V pandemic. They replace the Yakonomo Corporation and the True Blood product itself, and live happily ever after as Sarah is doomed to rot in their club’s basement for the rest of her natural life, long forgotten by the world. Slowly going insane, Sarah is haunted by visions of Steve (as if to imply that she wronged him when the reality was that he was an abusive and cruel husband to her before he became a vampire that she imprisoned at her camp), and when her hallucination of him tauntingly asks her what she’s thankful for on Thanksgiving, she replies “nothing,” before bursting into tears. Sarah is truly broken and miserable, meanwhile we see shots of all the other characters living happy lives and communing for Thanksgiving dinner as peaceful music plays in the background.
  • Pam’s actress said in an interview, “[Eric and Pam] are gazillionaires, Sarah Newlin is being tortured. It was like the Old West: the bad guy gets it, and the good guy gets away with the girl and everything.” We’re not meant to feel bad for Sarah, but to revel in her pain and feel fuckin' righteous about her torment. We’re supposed to feel like Eric and Pam are part of the “good guy” group while Sarah, the “baddie” gets punished. But that simply isn’t accurate.
    • Pam and Eric, despite being part of the protagonists in the show, are evil, sadistic vampires. They enjoy causing pain to humans and satiating their blood lust by slaughtering innocent people. They’re disgusting rapist-murderers, and have been for over a century. The least malicious relationship they have with a human is with their Fangtasia bartender, Ginger, who they have emotionally manipulated and abused for decades. They are not “good” people, or “heroes” despite the narrative expecting us to disregard their vile nature that's been explicitly shown and alluded to time and time again. So, where’s their comeuppance? Where’s their torture? Why is Karma only reserved for Sarah Newlin, a religiously indoctrinated woman who has been around bad influences her entire life?

while the stuff Eren did was objectively worse, he at least did it for a (sort of) noble cause and wasn't thinking straight (or at all). Basically, he's just an impulsive, hot-headed moron who was given way too much power.
Zeke is an ungrateful little shit who ratted out his parents to the police because they wanted to fight against the oppression and mistreatment of their people. And to spite his father even further he planned to use the power of Yimir to euthanize the entire Endian race, a slow heartbreaking extinction. Not to mention he was incredibly insensitive to Reiner and Bertholdt's trauma, basically telling Reiner to just suck it up or he would Marley execute him and replace him with another armored titan.

I know there isn’t much out (on reddit) for the BEAR implant and so adding my experience to the mix in case someone finds this helpful. I’m currently ~10 weeks post op, 26F and tore my ACL skiing (ACL only).
I was talked into getting a BEAR vs ACLR by a family member ortho surgeon (who does not do knees) - they thought the technology was awesome and a slow 6 weeks was worth it to keep your own ACL.
The first 4-6 weeks are very very slow. I was PWB mandatory for 4 weeks and did not get off crutches until 5. Then was still wearing the brace 24/7 until I felt comfortable without it around week 8. My extension was always 0° so no issues there, however, BEARs have been shown to be extremely stiff (and this was my experience too). Anything past 45° was a painful painful struggle. Getting to my end range of 120° now sends shooting 10/10 through the back of my knee and down my calf. Additionally, my knee is stiff to bend from 0° to 120°, so it’s not like it’s gotten used to doing all those other degrees everyday. And for additional context, pre-surgery I had full flexion, going to the gym everyday, running - so my body was as prepared as possible for the surgery.
The stiffness and struggles with flexion with BEAR is certainly not the case for all, but for many this has been shown to be an issue (from talking to my PT and anecdotally). I was not at all prepared for the severe level of pain I would need to be in everyday now going on 10 weeks. I wish somebody had given me the full story before I made this decision so hoping this is helpful context to someone out there!
There are pros and cons to each graft method of course, just be prepared if you choose BEAR you may have more trouble than ACLR getting flexion back.

I feel that this is a common problem that many people face. Working with fellow humans in a professional setting doesn’t guarantee that those humans will only see each other professionally.
Well, as the title says, I have a huge crush on someone I can’t have. He started at my organization about a year and a half ago and he’s just so great. He has a lovely wife and children that he loves very much. The thing is, even if he did feel a connection with me and tried to pursue anything, I’d immediately be disappointed that he’d actually betray his family. Ultimately, I believe I’d lose respect for him. My point is that, although I have a huge crush on him, I don’t want anything to actually happen given his situation. I just need to get these feelings off of my chest and “out there.” My best friend knows. Another friend, when super drunk one time, mentioned that he and I will end up together eventually and I was just so thrown off because I never mentioned liking him to her. I have a close friend at work who tells me a lot of personal things and I’ve come close to getting this off of my chest to her, but I’ve been super hesitant to. She’s married and I don’t want her to get the wrong idea. I have a gut feeling that she kinda knows, though, given how I talk about him. I find myself cringing when I bring him up because it feels obvious. However, we work at a relatively small place and my immediate branch, in which I work with my crush, consists of three of us and our couple of bosses. I’ve never had a crush on any of my other colleagues like this in the 10 years I’ve worked there. I’ve found some coworkers cute but that’s about it.
As mentioned, he started a year and a half ago (ish). When he was introduced via email, I didn’t think of him much and was busy with my own stuff. I actually went on multiple vacations around the time he started so I didn’t meet him in person until actually a couple of months in. I did attend a virtual meeting he was in before meeting in person and had that “oh, fuck” thought. Like “I am fucked” lol. He is exactly my preference looks-wise and felt that it might be a problem even then. Moving on to meeting in person and showing him around, I was immediately taken aback by how attracted I actually was to him. It was so much more intense in person. I should mention he’s about a decade older than me (I’m 33F) and was a professor. Also completely my type as I’ve always been the college student crushing on some teachers a bit. So, not only is this man my preference looks-wise (brunette, hairy, kinda short, curly hair), but also my preference personality-wise . I’m just glad he had Invisalign because I saw pics of him prior to getting it and he had the cutest slight snaggletooth and fangs that would’ve additionally melted me.
Not only does he have the looks I’m attracted to, which only means so much to me as the impact dissipates pretty quickly when that’s all that’s there, but we get along swimmingly. For context, we do end up traveling together on long car rides. Not constantly but also not infrequently. We end up talking a lot and about personal things. He’s confided in me about going through crying spells and feeling overwhelmed with life, about having adhd (as do i), and family stuff (his parents). Those are just some topics. I’ve divulged… a lot. He wants to protect me when going places. I believe he’s just genuinely an amazing person and would do this for anyone. I have zero idea if he has any attraction to me and I don’t need to know. I do have a gut feeling that he feels a connection to me, though. There are plenty of other people he can ask for help from, but constantly comes to me first. We work really, really well together. We presented at the same conference recently and a colleague in a different department specifically commented on he and I being great presenters. I do not feel this way about myself but wanted to share the kind words said about him. He was very appreciative and also was a bit flabbergasted that I didn’t feel I’m good at presenting and complimented me and provided reassurance I wasn’t expecting.
We also mutually got in trouble (but not really) for pulling a small prank on other coworkers. That’s a long story that would provide too much identifiable information, but it ended with my boss giggling about it. It was my crush’s idea to pull the prank which spoke to my heart as a bit of a jester myself.
I think i struggle the most with keeping it a secret. I might be obvious in my attraction but not sure. I really hope to feel this strong attraction and connection with someone available sometime. I sometimes want to cry when he does or says something endearing or awkward because the cute aggression can feel overwhelming. It’s also partly because of the pent-up feelings/energy have nowhere to really go, hence why I am here. I have no idea what to expect, if anything, in the replies.
TLDR; I have a huge secret crush on coworker that is happily married. I don’t want anything to happen given his commitments but find myself with pent-up feelings. I am so happy to love people i work with, but it feels as if there’s more there that can’t be expressed. I would lose respect for him if he were to ever make a move while married yet I feel the way I do. I am posting here to release some of these thoughts and energy.

I currently work multiple part time, on call positions. I expect to make roughly 36k this year. A new employer withheld 20% tax on my first paycheck, which seems like far too much and is much higher than withholdings from my other positions. I'm confused because I filled out the same W-4 as everywhere else with the same info. I think they withheld based on if I was full time. How can I go about determining the proper withholding amount given my complex situation, and how do I then submit that tax information to my employer?

Cigarettes and rebellion have always gone hand-in-hand, and in an age of cigarette packet-sized health warnings, now more than ever, smoking a fag says: 'I do not give a fuck.' But if Brandon Flowers is hoping to strike a seditious pose by sparking up at the start of the interview, it's not going according to plan. The Killers' frontman is on all fours rooting through the junk that carpets the anteroom at the band's rehearsal space. "Has anyone seen my lighter?" he asks, rocking back on his heels. The question hangs in the air while Brandon cocks his head, waiting for an answer like a meerkat listening for a predator. Twenty-five years old and with a delicate bone structure, there's something almost dainty about him. Receiving no response, he returns to his search. "Oh, Jeez," he sighs. "I had it just a minute ago."
It's a scene that emphatically does not suggest a rebel without a cause. The mess isn't helping. The Killers' HQ - an industrial unit sandwiched between a construction supplier and the offices of a housing development just off Dean Martin Drive in West Las Vegas - is ankle-deep in designer clothing. A Dior Homme suit lies crumpled by the door; there's a pile of shoes topped like a sundae by a pair of Marc Jacobs trainers; and anyone wishing to enter the shoebox room the band use as an office must negotiate a mountain of discarded jeans. Many items are identifiable as coming from the wardrobe of Hot Fuss, The Killers' hugely successful 2004 debut album - triple platinum in the UK with two weeks at Number One and five million sold worldwide. Look! There are the shirts, ties and suit jackets they wore when they thrilled Glastonbury 2005 with indie rock anthems Mr Brightside and Somebody Told Me. That was the crowning moment of a two-and-a-half year tour that finally concluded in October of last year. It seems that after playing that final date in Miami, they returned to Vegas and shrugged off their image onto the floor of this bland white box.
Now a fine layer of dust covers the dead clothes. The Killers have no further use for white tuxedos on their second album, Sam's Town. Today, Brandon wears a black polo shirt, black pin-stripe waistcoat, black jeans and black boots. Where there used to be a layer of foundation, there is now a beard - an untrimmed beard at that. Dave Keuning (30, guitar), Mark Stoermer (29, bass) and Ronnie Vannucci (29, drums) all echo Brandon's black ensemble. Ronnie has added Aviator shades and a handlebar moustache for a dash of motorcycle cop, Dave's frizzy bubble of hair gives him a Marc Bolan-ish air, and there's something very teenage about Mark's scuffed Vans.
Short of walking around wearing sandwich boards saying, "Our new record is a bit heavier than the last one," The Killers couldn't hope to communicate that message more effectively. And they have gained some musical girth on Sam's Town. The pop hooks that made Hot Fuss so irresistible survive intact - see the ringing guitar riffs on first single When You Were Young - but there's a newfound punchiness, coupled with an epic sweep. The minor-to-major uplifts on Bones are fabulously dramatic, the coda to Why Do I Keep Counting? thrillingly intense. Comparisons to Bruce Springsteen have been made. If they overstate the case a little, they are at leaset qualitatively accurate. The Killers are back and this time it's serious - they've got the bootlace ties to prove it.
"Hey, it says here that Springsteen's headlining Glastonbury next year," shouts Ronnie, who's flicking through the NME. He nods sagely at the page without looking up.
"Really?" asks Dave, nicknamed Crazy Dave on account of his alledgedly volatile nature.
"The Boss is headlining one night, we're playing second on the bill the next night and Kylie's headlining the Sunday," says Brandon, charging like a bull through Michael Eavis' as-yet-unannounced line-up with what subsequently proves to be a characteristic gaucheness.
But that lighter is proving elusive. This being America, none of the people hurrying to-and-fro prepping the world for the release of Sam's Town smokes. Manager Robert Reynolds - Bobby Rey to the band - barks into his mobile, booking his band onto eye-wateringly demanding tours. "We're going to make a lot of money," he cackles to himself before switching calls to make a series of stern pronouncements on legal matters. Dave, Mark and Ronnie disappear for a jam session. Artwork is approved, B-sides are decided on and schedules are hammered out.
"I can't find it," Brandon says, finally. But he's not going to be denied the opportunity to underline The Killers reinvention with a puff of smoke. "Let's go to the gas station. I'll have to buy one. It's too busy to talk here anyway."
+
Brandon's black (of course) Volkswagen Touraeg four-wheel drive is barrelling down West Flamingo Road into town. "I was a bell boy there," he says, pointing out of the driver's window at the stucco facade of the Gold Coast casino. "I was working there when we were signed."
Coming from Las Vegas, it is perhaps inevitable that casinos play a big part in The Killers' story; not only is Sam's Town named after one, it was recorded in one, too.
The band began writing songs while on the road with Hot Fuss, turning up early for soundchecks to run through new ideas. On a trip home to Vegas, George Maloof, a hotelier known for cultivating famous friends, invited them to record the album in the new studio he'd built at The Palms, his flagship hotel-cum-gambling den. When the tour finished in October 2005, they returned to Vegas and spent five month finessing the songs they'd sketched out on the road. Then, in February, they decampled to the third floor studio at The Palms and recorded Sam's Town over 11 weeks.
Producer Flood (U2, Depeche Mode) encouraged them to experiment. They overdubbed, fiddled with synthesizers and played with new equipment. It took them five weeks to get the backing vocals right. The band sang the harmonies, then double-tracked them four times. The end result recalls Queen wondering, "Is this is the real life? Is this just fantasy?" When Ronnie, a trained classical percussionist, brought some kettledrums down, eyebrows were raised; but the fabulously bombastic coda on Why Do I Keep Counting? vindicates his indulgence.
"That's kind of the Ben Hur of the album," he says. He's not wrong. Sam's Town is a record on an epic scale. "Yeah, it has drama," he continues. "But, at the same time, I think it's a little more exposed than Hot Fuss. It's a little more naked. Last time it was about a lot of fictional things." By "fictional", Ronnie means that Hot Fuss wore its predominantly British influences for all to see. Brandon's taste in music is rabidly Anglophile - he constantly references The Smiths, The Cure and Joy Division - and it showed. By contrast, Sam's Town is an unequivocally American record. The lyrical imagery is pure American dream - cars, girls, wide-open spaces and escaping to a better life. "We're burning down the highway skyline/On the back of a hurricane that started turning/When you were young," sings Brandon on When You Were Young. That's the basis of the Springsteen comparisons then, though the lack of pathos more closely recalls another blue-collar rocker from New Jersey - Jon Bon Jovi.
The phrase "this town" recurs throughout the album, and it's always receding into the distance as The Killers escape to a new life. "This town was made for passing through/I never did get along with everybody else," sings Brandon on This River Is Wild. On Read My Mind he "never really gave up on breaking out of this two-star town", while on the title track he offers something of an explanation: "Nobody ever had a dream round here."
"With the first record, there was this feeling that there was this world out there that we didn't know," says Mark later in the day. Before The Killers, he studied philosophy: now he's their quiet one. "We wanted to get out and away from this and be somewhere else. We hadn't had a lot of experience - hadn't travelled much - then we were gone for three years. We didn't sit down and say that we wanted to make a record about how we're glad to be home, but that's what happened naturally."
It's not an angsty record. The Killers have already escaped with Hot Fuss, and, having done so, they view the experience fondly now they're back. There's a mistiness to Brandon's eyes as he explains how the album got it's name.
"Sam's Town is a casino on the edge of Vegas," he says. "I grew up in Henderson, which is out on the way to the Hoover Dam. My mom and dad lived in a trailer park, and my dad used to hitchhike up and down Boulder Highway, which is the only way you could get to Vegas. Sam's Town was the first thing you saw on your way in to town. So, when you're driving down Boulder Highway from Henderson, I always thought you finally knew you were getting somewhere when you saw Sam's Town. It was kind of like a beacon."
"It's not a completely American album," contines Brandon. "We still have our English influence, but we're also from the Wild West. Somehow we've managed to unify all that on this album. it's just such a perfect resemblence of what we are."
At the petrol station, Brandon rummages through the glove box looking for change to buy a lighter. "This is a great album," he says, pointing at Highway Companion, the latest from iconic American rocker Tom Petty. "I've always been a big fan of his. He's such a great American artist."
Yes, Brandon: we get the point.
+
When Brandon finally lights his cigarette, he smokes it awkwardly, like a child mimicking something he's seen the grown-ups doing. However, when he cheerfully admits that, "I feel the same mentally as I did when I was 12," it's not a knowing nod to the fact that he sometimes behaves like a loveably precocious child, but a reference to an unusually comprehensive grounding in pop music at an early age.
When Brandon sings about "this town", he doesn't mean Las Vegas. He means Nephi, Utah or Henderson, Nevada, where he spent his childhood. His parents are Mormon and he is the youngest of six children. "I was a surprise," he says. "I've got a 42-year-old sister." If he was issues about his "surprise" status, he chooses to gloss over them. "It turned out perfect because my brother was a teenager when I was a kid," he says. "He would bring home things like Rattle And Hum by U2 and I would watch it. I remember he bought Live In Dallas by Morrissey. It was always him watching these things, or his door was shut and you'd hear The Head On The Door by The Cure blasting through the house and rattling the walls."
The Killers were formed when Brandon answered an advert Dave had placed in a local paper in late 2002. Dave cited Oasis as a big influence; Brandon had seen them play recently and responded; and, as Dave has said in previous interviews: "He was the only person to reply to my ad who wasn't a complete freak." However, the band was born in Brandon's brothers bedroom.
"His room was like a shrine," enthuses Brandon. "It was a holy place. I wish I could show you a picture of it. It was covered in posters. There'd be a big picture of Elvis wearing a bow tie that just said 'The Smiths' [the artwork for The Smiths 1987 single Shoplifters Of The World Unite]. You had The Cure wearing face paint [the artwork to The Cure's 1985 single In Between Days] - all that kind of stuff. I remember Morrissey being on the cover of the NME, with the halo [from 1985] - stuff like that. You just wanted to know about these people 'cause they were so cool. My brother seemed like such a cool person. But he was a teenager, so he wasn't going to be that nice to me, a kid."
Brandon was fascinated by his brother's collection of music, magazines and posters, but he was denied access to them - officially, at least. "I would sneak in," he says. "I knew he'd be angry if he found out, but I would go in as soon as he left the house." For a long time Brandon was too scared to actually play anything. "That didn't come 'til later. I just used to go in there because I liked it. Then I got to the point where I'd actually take a tape out and put it in. It took more guts to do that."
It was a life-changing moment. "I was ten and the first song I played was Sing Your Life by Morrissey. I remember dancing about to it."
The lyrics to Sing Your Life include the lines, "Sing your life/Just walk right up to the microphone/And name all the things that you love/All the things that you loathe." It's intriguing to wonder what Morrissey makes of the neophyte he inspired with these lines.
Eventually, Brandon inherited his brother's tape collection. "It was around the same time CDs started coming out in a big way. He started buying CDs and gave me his tapes. And that was it: it took off from there. I got a hundred of the best albums - all the New Order, all the Morrissey, all The Smiths, The Beatles. I started buying posters. I went to see The Cure in concert. It was just kind of a continuation of my brother. And it was nice because, though my parents were strict, they were already used to it from him. There was no, 'My dad doesn't understand me,' or any of that kind of stuff. My mum likes The Smiths."
Brandon was 13 and his favourite band was late-'70s/early-'80s American new wavers The Cars, and particularly their jaw-droppingly catchy 1979 single Just What I Needed.
"I wouldn't exist without that song," he says. "That was the one. I remember driving around with my mum when I was 13, and we're living in Nephi - a really small town - and I felt so cool when I put that song on. Like: 'I have something that none of these kids I'm going to middle school with tomorrow have.' That excitement is what music's about, isn't it? That's why I understand the mentality of people that don't like us because we've sold so many records. I used to like it when no one else knew about a band. So I get that - I do."
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Brandon's first band was called Blush Response. It was never going to work out. Not because he refused to move to Los Angeles with them, but because he is utterly - comically - shameless. He's given to making outrageously boastful statements like: "It's not like the '60s, '70s and '80s now. There are only a few bands around that are really good, that just do it. I mean, there's what, five or six of us?"
For the record, in Brandon's estimation, those bands are Franz Ferdinand, Razorlight, The Strokes, The White Stripes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and, of course, The Killers.
"I don't want people to think I'm lumping myself with other people just to make us sound cool," he says. Really? It sort of sounds like you are. But he just steamrolls through it. "Yeah, but you know what I mean," he says, grinning at his own cheekiness. He's so disgracefully forward you can't help but laugh along with him - Oh you are awful, Brandon! But joking aside, The Killers are the most commercially successful of all the bands he mentions.
Later, back at the rehearsal space, the band run through Sam's Town at deafening volume in preparation for the forthcoming tour - first the US, then the world. The infectious, almost contagious, chorus of When You Were Young sounds fabulous, as do the U2-like guitars and Twin Peaks synths of Read My Mind. Meanwhile, Smile Like You Mean It and Somebody Told Me benefit from the newfound harder edge.
They somewhat heavy-handedly underline the new direction by playing Paranoid by Black Sabbath and Get It On by T Rex. That's the thing: The Killers are not a subtle band. Their songs are like a wet kiss from a girl who's a bit too drunk. They are big and brash, and not everyone loves them for it. Mr Brightside and Somebody Told Me might go down as well at hip nightclubs as they do on the festival circuit, but the DJs play them with the same guilty look they wear when playing a pop record.
"I hate that," says Brandon. "Like writing a song you can hum somehow cheapens it? It makes me think of this quote by Morrissey. Everybody knows how he read Oscar Wilde, Keats and Yates when he was growing up and that he wanted to be a writer. He was talking to this journalist who asked why he hadn't become a writer, and Morrissey said: 'What I do is more powerful than what you do because I can write down these words and you get it to a melody. How can you beat that?' I'm of the same opinion. I don't understand why a good melody that's memorable is a bad thing."
Being dismissed as pop particular aggrieves Ronnie. "When we first came out we got compared to Duran Duran all the time. Jesus Christ! We got a keyboard player now all of a sudden he's Nick Rhodes! Come on!"
"The people who criticise us for being too poppy don't get it," agrees Mark. "I think that's the problem with a lot of rock music. People are afraid to write a song any more. Either that or they can't. And that attitude hurts music in general. The best bands ever have all written great songs. You can still do it and do it intelligently and it can be original. This isn't a studio creation with a producer writing these songs for us. We're not Avril Lavigne, or something like that. We're a real band writing real songs, just like a punk band would do, except that we write pop songs."
You get the impression that The Killers knack for showboating pop hooks that border on vulgar is inextricably tied up with the brazen side of Brandon's personality. But while his ebullient charisma, not to mention the songs themselves, mitigates his outrageousness, there is a less attractive side to his ego. He has a combative streak. He can't resist taking pot shots at emo bands, notably Fall Out Boy, whith whom The Killers share an A&R man.
Has he heard how many emo kids it takes to change a light bulb? "No." None. They just sit in the dark and cry. It's a full 30 seconds before he stops laughing. When he does he admits: "Yeah, we've had problems with other bands. You know, when you walk in the room it's like..." He whistles the theme to The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. "We're like gangs."
And while the other members of the band are diplomatic on the subject of Brandon, you don't have to read too deeply between the lines to conclude that there have been internal issues, too.
"Some people will think Brandon's the big genius," says Dave, visibly bridling. "There are songs, such as Why Do I Keep Counting?, where he's written every note. But there are others, like When You Were Young, that were more of a collaboration - like Mr Brightside, where I had some of the music and Brandon came up with the lyrics. We always have arguments about who wrote what. The truth is that we all help in that process."
When asked how success affected them, Ronnie says: "There were certain things that needed adjusting. When you're on tour for two years, people can get a little needy. It doesn't help that you're surrounded by yes men and everybody's working for you. At times we've had to say, 'Who do you think you are?' to people. No one wears the trousers, but some people would like to. I think if it wasn't for the people in the band kicking each other in the ass... Let's just say there was some ass-kickin'."
It doesn't take a genius to work out whose ass needed kicking most often.
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It's the following day and The Killers are back at their rehearsal space. The topic of discussion is what to wear in the video for Bones, the second single. It's a big deal: the director is Tim Burton. "I feel like Frank Sinatra when I sing it," announces Brandon. "With maybe a little bit of Morrissey and a little bit of Elvis, too."
Of course he does. But if securing the services of Tim Burton tells you one thing, it's that The Killers are about to get even bigger, perhaps even make the leap to the same level as Coldplay et al. Already stars, they are about to become superstars. Brandon can hardly wait.
"Do you know that Rolling Stone didn't want to put us on the cover last time," he says indignantly. "They didn't think we were stars. We sold five million albums! What more do they want from a band?"
Whatever was required, Brandon would be happy to do most things. "I'll do stuff that some people don't want to do, 'cause I want people to hear the music," he says. However, even he has limits. "The Rolling Stone thing made the record label think: 'What can we do to make them stars?' If I go on vacation with my wife, do they have to send somebody to be there to take pictures of me? Is that how you become a star? I don't want that. I walked down the red carpet one time and I realised I don't like it. But you don't have to walk down the red carpet for people to hear your music. We do still have some of that indie blood running through our veins."
He heads off at a tangent: "When you walk around Liverpool, you think of The Beatles, or you go to Manchester and you think of The Smiths or Oasis. I want you to come to Las Vegas and think of Sam's Town. And I think we've started to capture that, which is a truer version of The Killers, 'cause that's where we're from."
He pauses.
"I used to live across the street from Sam's Town. Maybe it'll be like our Abbey Road where people go to take pictures."
Is that what he'd like?
"I wouldn't mind it," he says, desperately hoping it will come true.
He puts a cigarette between his lips, looks down at his trouser pockets and pats them in search of the lighter he bought yesterday.
"Hey, I don't suppose you've got one?"

I looking for real love. Someone who we can vibe with each other. I value openess in terms of feelings and emotions. Tell me what's going on. I also value honesty and kindness.
I am 5'4, black, petite and I am from Kenya. I love gardening, watching YouTube, walks and road trips and night drives with a calm safety first driver haha
I am hoping to find unconditional love. I am not the best when it comes to figuring things out. I do feel like I've missed out on a lot and I hope to catch up. I feel like all my agemates are getting married amd having kids. Yet, all I want is a boyfriend for now lol. Is it too much to ask?
Send me a chat if this has given you any mood.