I’ve been stomach sick since Sunday. Was planning to start 2.5 on Wednesday this week. I know I’m dehydrated. Feels like I should hold off until I feel a little better.
Or am I just being a baby?
Backstory: I’ve used Wegovy before and it laid me out. So I’m hesitant and scared.

The two-year anniversary of the breakup is really looming over me - it will be May 23rd. Somehow I keep feeling that it’s a kind of milestone, that I need to find closure by then, or make some dramatic gesture, or take some significant action.
Part of me just wants it to be over with and passed, with me having done nothing and said nothing to anyone but my therapist and Reddit. The goal is just to keep my head down, to act as much as possible like it’s any other day, and just keep doing the work of trying to rebuild my life one day at a time. The more I ponder what I long for when I wish for closure, the more I’m convinced that closure is something I can’t have except by time passing.
I miss the innocence of when Clive and I were just platonic friends, when I could still think he was a wonderful person I was lucky to get to hang out with. I miss hanging out with Oonagh, and him, and John at their house. I spent two Christmases with them. At least it’s true that the long battle with grief has beaten a lot of the nostalgia out of me. I don’t remember the good times well enough to miss them as much as I used to - the horror of the breakup, and of him telling me he’d never cared about me and was just using me the whole time, has been at the forefront of my consciousness for two years now.
But I just feel like my psyche is playing all these weird tricks on me where the breakup-anniversary is concerned. I know it’s all a mirage and an illusion - the two-year mark, objectively, has no significance. One of the tricks it’s playing on me is this sense that if I can just get past it without doing or saying anything crazy to anyone, I can breathe more freely, and make a new start at putting it behind me.
I did two tarot readings this week, one yesterday and one today. Yesterday I asked, “How should I regard the upcoming anniversary of the breakup?” I did a four-card “situation reading” spread. The top card, the heart of the matter, was the Two of Pentacles. This is the card of someone trying to juggle and balance things against a background of a roiling sea. It’s a symbol of having to handle a lot of things all at once and balance competing demands. Which is accurate, between work and parenting and trying to have a social life and heal from trauma and improve my fitness and eat and sleep and keep two households running in two states, and keep to a meticulous habit of budgeting and tracking my financial accounts.
The three “contributing factors” cards underneath were the Queen of Cups, the Chariot, and the Ace of Pentacles. The Queen of Cups is clearly meant to be me - sensitive and perceptive, with knowledge, experience, and authority. Her perceptiveness helps heal others, but her sensitivity cuts both ways, making her vulnerable as well as powerful. The Chariot represents strength of will and determination, the potential for movement and triumph. The Ace of Pentacles is a very lucky card - a beginning, like all the aces, with the potential for great prosperity or a windfall of wealth. So, I think the tarot was telling me that it’s going to be a rough period of time with a lot for me to handle. The energy I bring to it is that of a perceptive person who is powerful and has healing gifts, but who is also very vulnerable for the same reasons she is powerful. I have the power to get through this difficult period with strength of will, and when I do it will be the start of a period of prospering in body and soul.
Today, I kept imagining scenarios where I would try to speak up about what Clive did, in order to protect others. I asked the tarot, “If I spoke up again about what happened, could I help protect others without excessive harm to myself or putting myself in too much danger?”
This time the heart of the matter was the Nine of Cups - the card of the heart’s wishes being granted. The three contributing factor cards were the Hierophant, the Two of Wands, and Temperance. This seems like, overall, a very positive reading. The Hierophant is about learning and finding a teacher. The Two of Wands is about vision and determination, making a decision based on courage and will rather than emotions (cups), logic (swords), or practical considerations (pentacles). And Temperance is about exercising restraint and self-control. I think what’s it’s telling me is that yes, I can speak my truth and try to protect others. But, I have to keep trying to learn more, to listen and continue trying to understand - I have to have the humility to realize I have blind spots and gaps of knowledge, so I need to stay open-minded. I need to be courageous and determined to do right by people, and I need to act with restraint and patience, waiting until the time is right. I can speak up, but maybe not right now - I have to wait until the time is right and make sure I’m choosing the right people to communicate with in the most effective way. If I do all this, I can have my heart’s wish, to protect others while also not endangering myself or setting back my own healing.
I was a little confused initially about how to interpret this reading, and thought maybe it was giving me a green light to reach out to Oonagh and ask her for a conversation. But when I sat down to try to think what I could say to her, I couldn’t get out a letter I was happy with, and in writing it, it was all too clear that trying to communicate with her that way would be disastrous and pointless. I remembered all the reasons why I decided I couldn’t trust her and felt that talking more with her could do no good. So I posted the letter in UnsentLetters, because it’s very therapeutic to not send such letters, and to post them on Reddit instead.

Hi guys, I'm new here and I'd like some advice about my job the other night that has still left me shaken. So I, 20(f) work in a retail store, and we hire security guards in the evenings as I work in an area notorious for homeless and drug addicts. The security we have stands in the front while I work on till, and they're mainly to scare off weirdos as they're not allowed to physically engage.
The other night I had a likely high customer come in. I was closing and it was just me, and two other coworkers as well as the security guard. It's a big store so I'm alone at the till with security a couple feet away. This older man comes in, very dirty and probably on something but coherant, comes really close to me asking for a comb. He's immediately being verbally aggressive, just acting extremely angry despite me doing nothing. He gets mad I assume this brush is for a pet he doesn't have (we're a pet store dude..) and wants it for his velcro sandals. He shoves said sandal in my face off his foot, and demands I get it for him because he's old. I can't leave till for reasons so I quickly get my coworker to grab a brush so he can leave. The entire time he's asking me if his demands are plain English. I try to remain calm and polite but as he's buying the brush he's getting more aggressive towards me and now my coworker, rambling about how he doesn't want to pay for a brush that won't work, throwing cash at me saying it better be enough to cover the outrageous gst. This entire time, our security guard stands there watching. Only after this point does he try and calm the man down, which causes the man to snap at security and tell him this isn't his business. The security guy goes quiet and steps back, leaving my coworker to be the one to ask the man to leave if he's going to be rude. The guy gets angry at this and quickly pays for his item, rips the box open, and storms out while yelling at her that he wasn't doing anything to deserve this.
I'm just thankful he's gone because at that point I was shaking. I'm pretty small, and I wasn't sure if he was going to get physical. But now I'm unsure if I should talk to my managers about the security guard. I was unhappy with how he handled this, having barely done anything while I was getting verbally harassed. It's not my coworkers job to ask people to leave the store. I understand he didn't want to escalate things but this customer was being rude and clearly on something. It sucks because this particular guard is a sweet older man, and I do like him, but it made me feel defenceless being harassed and scared that he didn't even bother getting close when the guy was cornering me in my booth. Now I'm scared that if something like that happened again he won't help me. At the same time I don't want to get this guy fired for not wanting to escalate things.
I don't ask him to fight him off or anything, just at least try asking him to leave. So should I complain to my manager? Thanks for reading.

Creepy Neighbor
I’m scared and I’m not sure what to do. I, female 28, live in a pretty small apartment complex. For context I had a roommate who just moved out as she started school so I am currently living alone. This situation isn’t a new one but has become more noticeable to me probably because I have no one to distract me and I now feel less safe and more alone.
More context The layout of the apartment is the living room is in the middle with a kitchenette and space for a dining room. Then on opposite sides of the living room doors for each bedroom. There is also, in the living room, a sliding glass door that leads to a small balcony. We live on the second floor of a three story building in a very small complex, so in general in the day it feels very safe. Also to give you an idea with the blinds open I can see into his apartment so I know he can see into ours. Our lighting situation is awful though so we try to get as much sunlight as possible through the day.
At night however is where I’m starting to feel very uncomfortable. I had noticed the man directly across from our apartment building watching my roommate and I on occasion while we watched tv at night or we were in our living room. My roommate didn’t think much of it until a couple months ago when she really caught him starring, I typically have the seat that faces more towards the window so I notice more often and see this when it’s happening. Well since she’s moved out the situation has escalated…it’s happening a lot more.
Tonight I stayed home sick from work I usually work until 10:30 pm and he usually isn’t awake or at least the lights aren’t on. I was turning off the lights after taking out my dog and I glanced over and he was starring directly into our place and directly at me. I know I’m not crazy and this isn’t a coincidence. When he knew I saw him he dropped his head down so fast but didn’t walk away….he just stood at his door. He does this. I’m so uncomfortable and I don’t know what to do, it happens during the day time sometimes but not nearly as often as at night and we need the natural lighting because we have no overhead lighting in our rooms and minimal lighting in the apartment in general.
Im scared this could escalate into something more or maybe I just watch too much true crime. Should I be concerned and should I do something about this, besides the obvious closing my blinds at night??

Hi po! I'm planning to buy Ipad 9th gen and naghahanap po ako ng wireless keyboard and mouse since I'll be using it for school purposes (college freshman). I'm thinking logitech na lang although medyo pricey good quality naman siguro however, may nababasa po akong reviews about it na after one year hindi na gumagana. Do u have any suggestions po na brands? (affordable but nagtatagal po sana). Will really appreciate all the recos. Salamat pooo!!🥰🥰

I’m very sensitive to chunky sauces. I love the taste of the sauce but whenever I bite into a chunk of vegetable I immediately gag and my appetite is ruined. I made baked ziti for the first time and it was delicious but the sauce I used had chunks of onion or something and I spent a lot of time picking the chunks out and still ended up with some in my mouth and it made me feel nauseous and scared to eat the rest.
Are there any pasta sauces without chunks in it ? Any recommendations?

I’ve recently adopted a new cat who is 4 years old to get my resident cat a friend. I set up a bedroom with her old bed, litter box, and bowls for water and food. The first two days went like expected, she was scared but ate her food and drank her water and used the litter box and everything seemed to be fine as I thought she was getting used to the house and scents. But since today(third day) when I tried to get in her room she was waiting by the door and started screaming and attacking my legs and doesn’t let me even come into her room as she’s guarding the door. I don’t know what to do as I really want her to be feel safe and adjust to the new home. Any advice and questions are welcome!

(probably should use "twisted" or "corrupted" instead of "perverted", but I like rhymes. And it sounds funnier).
So! Heraldic madness. They all have assigned divine traits, and they all seems to be busy doing the exact opposite. Or they're still doing their thing, but in a twisted way that does more harm than good. Or-- and this is the theory I saw many moons ago-- since they have two traits, one trait is inverted and one trait is perverted. I do really like this theory because it works very well for some of them, but I'm not sure if it holds up for everything. So that's what I'd like to discuss tonight-- which Heralds it fits, where it might fall through, and whether you, dear Redditor, personally find it convincing or not.

Good fits

• Shallash [creative (inverted) /honest (perverted)]: She knows that the Heralds lied and abandoned their duty, and her Honesty has been twisted into a mania where she can't let people worship her. This leads into her Destructiveness, ruining artwork of herself.
  
• Ishar [pious (inverted)/guiding (perverted)]: Tyranny is an extremely direct method of Guiding. And it's hard to get more Blasphemous than declaring yourself God.
  
• Kalak [resolute (inverted)/builder (perverted): We all saw just how Indecisive he was in Rhythm of War; man can barely pick out his socks in the morning. As for Builder, my theory is that when he starts something, it goes out of his control in an entirely unintended direction. Like if, say, he were to start a secret society with purpose of of finding a way for a Herald to escape the planet; their mission statement might devolve into something like "start the Apocalypse in order the bring the Heralds back". Just for example.
  
• Nale [just (perverted)/confident (inverted)]: Nale's Justice has become blind adherence to the letter of the law, because he is Unsure of his own powers of reason. (I'm not entirely happy about this one because it breaks the pattern of the primary trait being the inverted one, but it seems to fit best that way).
  

Only have partial knowledge

• Battar (wise/careful): Taking Tarvy at face value (a thing which has always gone well) when he says she's Dova, she instigated and has been advising the Diagram. I would say that lines up best with a perversion of Wise, in which she is giving good advice for a... less than good end. I guess her inversion would be Carelessness, and you know what? Getting in bed with any old secret society might just indicate a lack of critical thinking.
  
• Jezrien (protecting/leading): He gets drunk and... well, that's most of what we know about him. He's a drunk. Either one of those could be the inversion, and the other one something he does off page. You know what, I'm going to say he's practicing, uh, Dereliction. And he's perverting Protection by enabling alcoholics like Dalinar to avoid facing their pain.
  

Does he even belong on this list?

• Taln (dependable/resourceful): Is Heraldic Opposite-Day Syndrome from breaking the Oathpact, or just a consequence of Honor dying/time passing/something else that applies to them equally? Not that I'm denying Taln is also insane, I'm just not 100% sure it's an insanity related to being Dependable or Resourceful. Though if it is... hmm... this is another one where it could sink the theory by both of them being inversions, or he could be Incapable, and also unhelpfully Dependable with his constant repetition of his "I am Talenel'Elin, Herald of War" speech.

Just have theories

• Chana (brave/obedient): The popular theory is, of course, that she's Shallan's mother. If this turns out to be the case, perhaps her perversion is Obedience, unquestioningly listening to Nale when he says all Radiants need to be killed, even her own daughter. (Though that doesn't differ much from Nale listening to Ishar in the first place). And she might have been hiding away in Jah Kaved due to Cowardice. (I'm having a lot of self-doubt here, largely because I'd been misremembering her primary trait as "Guarding" and had to rethink her on the fly).
  
• Vedel (loving/healing): Another popular theory is that Vedel is Liss the assassin. Which, yeah, Killing would be a pretty straightforward inversion. As for perverting Loving, maybe there's some sort of "putting them out of their misery" self-rationalization involved?
  
• Pailiah (learned/giving): There's an old WoB that she was an ardent Shallan saw in the Palaneum, but then I heard that that it had been retracted, but then I searched Arcanum and I couldn't find the retraction, so... I dunno. If you have any better information, please share. It's too late at night for me to come up with theories based on Schrodinger's WoB.
  

Anyway, what do you guys think? Does this approach have merit, or am I stretching too much?

Tarot Card of the Week

• How do you interpret this card for yourself? And for others?
  
• How do you use the message or energy of this card in your practice?
  
• Any insights?
  
• What are the lessons or messages from this card that help guide us?
  
• Discuss the symbolism within our Tarot Card of Week?
  
• Have any personal experiences and stories?
  

Also, do you have any questions that you would like to ask about this card? Ask away?
Love to hear all your thoughts on our Tarot Card of the Week,
-ConsulttheTarot
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
PS: Every tarot card reading system is welcome, even if you think that it is just unique to you. All experience-levels are welcome to join in too.

Just to preface, I'm not very close with my parents at all for various reasons and I especially don't usually get along with my dad. With that being said, I was going to decline like I always do when they ask if I want to go anywhere with them, but this time it was a whole Mother's Day thing and they were going out for dinner so I figured I'd be an asshole if I declined. Rather than driving myself separately I joined my parents in their car.
For context, I was part of my family's discounted cellular plan. I had to pay my dad on time, but I failed to do so which was admittedly my fault. He told me he would take me off their plan which I thought was completely fair. I decided to try a different carrier and my dad gave me a code to transfer my number. He made it seem like transferring the number wasn't related to cancelling the line, but turns out it actually was. I was doing a free trial with the new carrier so I didn't transfer my number right away in order to avoid complications, which was probably not a good idea in hindsight.
On the ride home my dad got to discussing how their carrier was still charging them for my line. I then him I still had service from the carrier they dropped me from, which I thought was just technology being weird since I watched my dad cancel the line and there was no mention of him getting charged after that until now. I didn't think to mention it to him at all which I guess was my mistake. He then told me I had to pay the $50 for the line which I objected to because he never said transferring the number is what cancels the line. Had I known that transferring the number is what cancels the line I would've transferred the number. He has a bit of a tendency to say one thing and then change it later to get his way which I suppose he does because he knows I'm not very good at remembering what people say verbatim, so this is what I thought was going on. At first my voice was raised a little, then he raised his over mine to where he was nearly yelling, but then my mom diffused it a little and both of us stopped talking. He went back to arguing about it and accused me of doing this "just to get back at his old man" which not only sounded absurd but absolutely wasn't true so I told him to drop it, which seemed to have really pissed him off.
Holding the wheel with his left hand, he raised his right hand threatening to hit me across the face. Initially I wasn't afraid at all since I thought there was no way he'd do this while he was driving on a highway with himself, his wife in the back and son in the passenger seat along with other traffic around, but he actually did it. He didn't sock me square in the nose or anything but there's a bit of bruising on my left eye from it. I raised my arms to block whatever he was going to do after that (he did nothing else) and eventually he pulled over to the side of the road and told me to get out, so I did and he drove away. There were no rideshare services around at the time so I was going to just get my steps in and walk home, but eventually my mom came back to pick me up. On the ride back and after we got home she essentially told me he hit me because of the "way I was talking to him" and that I needed to go talk to him about it, or in other words, apologize. The way I saw it, he had no reason to go from zero to a hundred in the first place nor did he have to get physical with me over it. In addition to this, when he apologized for flying off the handle at me for accidentally using a little too much soy sauce he said "we might do stupid shit but we're still you're parents" so I decided to just not apologize or say anything to him about it, which my mom told me I was "immature" for and that I was "making a big mistake" and just generally trying to make me feel guilty about it so that I'd apologize.
Me and my dad didn't speak to each other for a few days, but today he told me to come talk to him. Basically, he told me as a father he didn't regret striking me in the face because I'd been "disrespectful towards both of them for awhile" and that I was " talking to him like some punk off the street". He also claimed I was swearing at him saying "I'm not fucking paying it", which he insists I was doing but I'm almost certain I wasn't. He then said me saying "do it then" in response to him threatening to hit me is what made him do it and that next time he'd "close fist" me and kick me out if I disrespected him like that again since "it's the only way you're going to learn", even though I'm 99% sure I was saying "drop it". Then he admitted that if I told anyone else what happened, they probably wouldn't agree with what he did, but that as a father he felt he made the right decision. Finally, he said that if we butt heads again (which he also admitted would most likely be soon), he expects me to "open up the dialogue" between me and him. But considering the fact he just threatened to punch me, someone who's comparatively weaker than him, in the face if he detects what he considers "disrespect", I'm not really interested in opening any type of dialogue with him.
TL;DR dispute over cellular plan with my dad gets physical

I feel like I need to just vent and let everything out, so here goes. This is gonna be long and a lot of yapping, I’m a mess while writing this. This doesn’t even contain everything that has happened.
I matched on Tinder with a cute guy in 2014 and we both made clear that we didn’t want anything else than friendship. But in a month, we were falling for each other. Early 2015, he told me he loves me, but he acknowledged my fear of love so I wouldn’t have to say it back. I kinda freaked out and dipped out, but we kept texting every month, especially when drunk, we told each other how much we like each other.
2016 we became official after playing around. It was heaven on earth for me then and I loved the man with my whole heart. I went out of my way for him. He was my first everything.
Few months into our relationship, we were at a festival with another couple who were our friends, and we 4 slept in a campervan. He wanted to have sex, I didn’t and I told him no few times. He ended up rubbing himself between my thighs while I laid there frozen and hurt. I pushed the whole thing away from my mind. Another 6 months in, we were drinking in his hometown with his friends. He got too drunk and ended up grabbing me from my collar and pushing me aggressively against a wall and yelled at me. He ran away and I was alone in his hometown while he didn’t answer. Well I found him and we went to his mother’s house to sleep, where he cried to me that I shouldn’t be with him that he’s a bad man. Another year in, one of his best friends hated me and trash talked me to their friend group and it was literally hell on earth, and he just let it happen, without setting things straight or defending me. And at the same time, we listened to one podcast where a couple had downloaded their tinders back and watched their old matches and convos to laugh at them lightheartedly. Well, we did just that but what I found out was that he had had tinder while we were officially together and talked to other women. He ended up deleting everything before he could show me them and saying it wasn’t him, that his single friends used his phone and pictures for tinder, but I could tell that it was him from the messages I had time to see.
The last 4 years have been sexless, and I have suffered with that a lot. There’s no kisses, no holding hands, no I love you’s, nothing. We have basically been friends for the last 4 years except when he’s drunk and wants to rub his D against me and cum.
Well now, we broke up a month ago, after being 8 years officially together and a decade of us being engaged with one another. Everything we own shared, our car, cats, furniture, EVERYTHING.
I’m just so broken, sad, finished and tired. I love him, but I don’t, I hate him, but I don’t. I have fought for this relationship for years alone, and it ended up breaking me. I have been unmotivated to finish my bachelor degree, I just stay home and don’t want to see anyone and I escape reality with music and stories. I read and use AI to live my hopeless romantic dreams, I dream about a life, but I’m scared I won’t ever get it because I lost myself in this relationship. I lost my mental health and my body. I have gained 30kg since we started dating, he loves ordering in and eating chips and all that shit, I had never even taken food home before I met him.
I’m looooost and I don’t know what to do, how to pull myself together and go live my life while going through this breakup, he and his family were my life and now I’m going to move out to live alone for the first time ever with two cats we got together.

There were Jewish Freedom fighters in WWII. WHAT IF Magneto escaped the camps and joined them, or was liberated by them? His powers would develop earlier and he would be seen as a young hero, rather than appearing later as an embittered antihero or villain. He might not meet Xavier in the same way, but he wouldn’t oppose him for the same reasons either. If his abilities needed time to develop further before he fully became Magneto he could use guns and knives as a freedom fighter. He could even meet Captain America and get a chance to “Sock Hitler in the JAW!” (Or straight up murder him, or Baron Zemo, someone like that). Magneto being a public figure fighting for good during the War, putting a face to both the plight of the Jewish people and the role of Mutants in modern society, it would go a long way towards actually helping Xavier’s goals, by taking an active protective and defensive role, and possibly prevent Magneto from becoming the thing he hated and feared most, a radicalized Supremacist. He could wear the white and black and gray Krakoan era suit and be a good guy, or maybe he’d go bad during the Civil Rights era of the 60’s and 70’s going “too far” in his efforts (but the reckoning of the American Government) to defend othered groups, not just mutants, leading to a class / race based Civil War or Avengers vs X-MEN where the US Government is like “Cap, go put this guy away,” and Captain America is like “I do what’s right Mr. President (Nixon) and this isn’t right” and so an alternate version of the Thunderbolts is formed, and the fighting results in Xavier being paralyzed, Magneto forming Asteroid M or Genosha, and Mutants facing the Registration Act, but in the 70’s. X-Factor is formed as a Government Liaison team, like a mutant oversight task force. The team consists of several members including Forge, Sabertooth and Mystique, who play both sides by inventing tech and taking out hits on the leaders of anti-mutant hate groups and monitoring the progress of the SENTINEL program. From his base of operations, Magneto recruits mutants into his Brotherhood, including Wolverine, who leads a 70’s version of X-FORCE. In this Timeline, Magneto is more of a good guy, and Logan is less of a good guy, so they balance out. The X-Men still operate out of West Chester NY led by Cyclops, Angel and Jean Grey. When she becomes the Phoenix, she gives birth to Nate Grey and Rachel Summers, who inherit the gift of the Phoenix from her, sharing it between them. At some point Apocalypse rises as the big bad, and Jean joins him, turning Rachel into a Hound, and infecting Nate with the Techno Organic Virus. Cyclops becomes a Horseman and Wolverine blinds him, but is unable to kill Jean. Angel, now Archangel and the Horseman of Death, impales Wolverine with 1,000s of his little wing blades. Jean floats down to Logan and weeps fiery tears, holding him. There are BAMFs everywhere just BAMFin around bein’ silly little gremlins. Nightcrawler comes outta nowhere and stabs Jean (and Logan) through the heart w the Muramasa blade. Magneto goes toe to toe with Apocalypse and wins, the Big A takes the L, accepts defeat. Magneto, Emma Frost, Banshee, Nightcrawler, various other surviving mutants re-establish a base on Muir Island, founding eXCALIBUR and training the young mutants of an alternate Gen X team. 100 issue run, or several seasons of a show. That’s my pitch.

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and i hope you'll enjoy it as much as i did writing it
again a huge thanks to for helping me with my grammar and spelling
[First]-[Previous]
Memory Transcription Subject: Vaill, Venlil Rescue
Date [standardized human time]: November 28, 2136

The paws that went by on that ship were better than the one in the pens. No one was eaten, and no Grays were stalking around. It was like they were avoiding us. No one but me knew where they were taking us, others guessed we were being moved to another cattle farm, which I guess wasn’t far from the truth, but most were quietly stewing in what was likely our last paws. The cut from that thing had healed up mostly, and was now scarring without the proper medical attention.
I didn’t tell the others that we were going to the ‘extinct’ predators home, that would only create more panic, so I kept my mouth shut so that the people here might have some hope. Even if it was a false hope.
The cargo bay that they had loaded us into was a similar dark metal to the cattle facility, but this one was missing the old rusty metal meaning this was likely a new ship. I doubted that these monsters could clean anyway.
They didn’t communicate with us at all. They stopped feeding us and just left us in the cargo bay with a bucket of water and a crate of food. There was no sense of rationing it so it was gone within the first 2 paws of this cattle exchange.
I don’t want to be a human’s play thing, they are just as bad if not worse than the Arxur. I have seen what they did to one another… they are so brutal.. I couldn’t finish the video about them..
A few of the other Venlil around me also had scars. We were lucky to escape that place alive… or were we?
The ship began to slow and the tell tale sign of entering a atmosphere was felt. This was a feeling that I had felt before when I would stay with my father. I used to go with him on some of his colony work. I would stay on the ship so I was never in harm's way.
The ship landed and we saw the Grays for the first time in several paws. I assumed that we were on the predators’ planet, but as we disembarked we were greeted by nothing but us cattle and… an old neighborhood of Venlil design? The Grays herded the last of the cattle off, throwing or shoving them, and once we were all off the cargo bay doors closed and the engines powered back on… they took off and just left???

This didn’t make sense in the slightest… Why would they just leave us their cattle here? There weren't even any predators here to take us just, the empty space of a lost colony.
Then it clicked with me that other predators must already be here and they wanted to hunt us, they were just as bad as i had thought. I had failed these people before, but I wouldn't fail them again.. I just needed to find something I could use, anything.
I won’t let these people or myself be taken by monsters… not again.. I can’t.. I will not fail my job again.. I-
I was pulled from my thoughts as more ships landed around us. I was ready to try to protect these people but they were… of Venlil make…? This had to be a sick joke played by the predators. they had to have stolen our ships. There was no way my people had anything to do with these monsters, they couldn’t be reasoned with.

It has to be predatory tricky.
I watched with bated breath as the landing ramps touched down, ready to be proven right, but to my shock and horror, Venlil medical staff began to come out of the ships and started to load the cattle onto stretchers, and then take them to the ship board.
My head was spinning and I felt sick about what this could mean. Had the Tarva betrayed the Federation and made a deal with these things? No, that wasn’t possible. They made it very clear they would never talk with us prey, let alone make a deal. For the first time I was at a loss.
How had we been sent back to our people? We were food for the Grays yet they had just let us go. This didn’t make sense…
My breathing had become irregular and I started to feel dizzy. Nothing about this made any sense.
HOW WERE WE RELEASED.. What had Tarva don-
I fell back from the shock from all this and was loaded onto a stretcher, my breathing quickened and everything went black.

***********


I woke in a stretcher being wheeled into a hospital room. I pawed at my eyes trying to see clearly and when my vision unblurred I saw a large figure with a black reflective mask over their face and Venlil by their side, I didn’t recognize the tall one. Had we made first contact in the time I’d been gone..? Why didn’t they have a tail?

A growl suddenly came from the tall one that my translator told me meant “You’re safe now, you’re on Venlil Prime. I’m Andrew, and this is my friend Annek. She and I are here to help as much as we can.”
I didn’t say anything. For all I knew this was a dream.. misplaced hope the Arxur wouldn’t just give us back to our people. Annek couldn't actually have made it out alive. There was something that had to be happening. Had my home been taken by the humans that Arxur had spoken about, was this tall one in front of me one of them? Was any of this even real..? Was I still in a pen..?
The Venlil made slow steps to me and started to untangle my fur.
“What’s your name?” the Venlil asked me softly. If this truly was Annek, then how could she not see it was me? Had the Arxur really mangled me so much that my best friend couldn’t see that it was me.
Again I didn’t answer.
How could I just go back to normal after what I had seen? Why was it so hard to just be happy to believe the lie even if only for a while, this was my friend?
I had an uneasy feeling of being watched like in the cattle pens. The comment that the Arxur made stuck in my head, but I didn't see any ‘extinct’ predators.

As the tall thing started to walk over to me with slow uncertain steps, I tensed up and my paw grabbed the fur around my legs. It seemed to slow as I did which showed that it had at least a minor amount of empathy and wasn’t a human, and I began to relax, still perplexed as to why we had been given back. Had the Federation hit the Arxur hard somehow and got us back? Was that even possible?

“hello? Is anyone in that head of yours?” I was pulled back to reality by Andrew shaking my shoulder softly.

“…. Y-yes j-just lost i-in m-my head.” I was stuttering much more than I would’ve liked to, but it was impossible to not stutter. My voice was a far cry from what it once was deep and hoarse from disuse.

“So there is someone in there. What’s your name?”

“U-uh, I think i-it was V-Vaill…”
How was my name that far away in my own head…?
The Arxur had deprived us of anything that let us feel sapient and my mind was reeling from what seemed to be a safe place… why would they let us go? Especially me as I was on the taller side of Venlil..
Annek's ears shot up upon hearing my name. “V-Vaill? You're alive?!”
“Y-yeah, I guess I am…”
“You two know each other? Never mind, do you know when you were taken by them?” the tall thing growled.

“I-i’m n-not sure…”

“Well Vaill, I’m going to check the database for when you were last seen so we can get an idea of how long you were gone, ok?”

I flicked my ears in agreement nervously when he walked out of the room, and I was left with the Annek, who seemed overjoyed to see me after all this time.
“Vaill! You’re alive!” She hugged me tightly, wrapping her tail around me as well.
“I-I didn’t think you m-made it out a-alive, A-Annek… it's g-good to see you again.”
Lacking the energy or the will to say or do anything else, I let myself fall back into her embrace, which lasted for a few moments before she went back to brushing my fur.
After around {20 minutes} passed she had finished straightening my fur. It felt good to feel like a person again, to remember who I was, but I would never be my full self again, not after what those things had done to me…

After some time Andrew made his way back with a holopad. He tilted the screen so that I could see, fortunately it was in Venlil script so I could read it.

“I-it's been f-five months…” It had felt like an eternity in that nightmare, time slipped away from me. I’d been stuck in my own head, wondering if there was a way I could’ve done more to protect the people of my town, knowing I failed.

There is nothing left for me here anymore, the people who cared for me, gone…
I was a failure for not doing better and protecting them, I should’ve done better.. I failed Annek, she is the last thing I have.. But she deserves someone who can protect her.. She doesn't need me…
“So you two know each other?” the tall thing growled, which snapped me back to reality.
I remained silent, unsure on what this thing was but Annek didn’t seem to mind it, so it was clearly prey like us, which meant I should start calling it by gendered pronouns. They seem male, at least by Venlil standards. I was not sure if this is real but Annek was all I had left. Even if this was a dream, I would trust her.
“Yeah, we met a long time ago. Vaill and I were best friends up until he was taken by them.”
“I-I.. yeah, we met d-during s-school..”
My head was spinning, still caught up on what that Arxur had said… humans… but there were no ‘humans’ where I had been offloaded, there were only Venlil.. That meant that the humans must be here… but no one was panicking and if there were predators here, people would panic, wouldn't they?
I trust Annek, I need to ask her about what the Arxur said…
“A-Annek… d-do you k-know.. If there a-are h-humans h-here..? The A-A-Arxur s-said we w-were b-being sent as ‘p-pets’ for them…”
The happiness from Annek drained as her ears drooped. The tall one, Andrew I believed they called themselves, froze and took a step back. Why would he do that? Unless… unless h- it was…
“A-Annek?.. W-what… what…”
It looked at my best friend.. like it had forward facing eyes, which confirmed my suspicions and my fur puffed out with fear and my ears pinned back against my head. I pushed my paws on the bed and tried to get as much distance as I could. It was standing in the doorway so I had no way out. My worst fears had been proven true, the Arxur wasn’t lying, we had simply been moved to another cattle farm… one that was once my home… Venlil Prime had fallen to the monsters I wanted to protect it from.
“Vaill there's no need to overreact, the humans are our friends, Andrew is my exchange program partner, he hasn’t hurt anyone. I can’t even imagine him hurting anyone,” Annek said that… with confidence? Why would she lie for a predator? Why was her tail wagging!?! It was like she trusted this thing, no, it was like she LIKED it?!
“H-has the taint r-really gotten to y-you, Annek?”
“Vaill, the humans are the ones that saved you!”
How could she say that after what predators had done to me! I knew this was too good to be true.
Annek was blind to their trickery and yet she was so sure of herself.. I trusted her.. But not that thing behind her..
“H-how can you trust it?”
“He has done nothing to hurt me. Please, just give him one chance.” Her eyes and body took on a pleading look.. Damn it, why was she so good at that?
“F-fine, one ch-chance, but that's it.”
That same happiness returned back to her and almost fell over by the door where it caught her.
She may not see it, but I do, I will atone for my mistakes by proving that these humans are up to something. It shouldn’t be hard, I just need to make it to an exterminators office. ‘Till then, I'll play along with it’s game.

I passed! I almost can't believe it!
For reference, I have been working in HR for 20 years, but all of it has been in public schools in California, so a lot of the items don't apply to the work I do and/or is altered by California laws and local ordinances.
I mostly used the Pocket Prep app to prepare. I bought the PHR and SPHR Complete Study Guide but really only read it when I didn't know the answers to questions in the Pocket Prep app. I didn't feel like I studied enough, but when I took the test, I felt a little more confident.
I took the test at home and was thankful that my internet didn't go out. The online proctor process was easy and worked well. I felt very concious of being watched and felt like I had a million twitches and made a lot of weird faces. Once I accidentally started reading the question out loud to myself and they stopped me immediately.
I got through all of the questions in about an hour, and flagged many of them to go back and focus on. I went back through those and then went over all of the questions one more time and still had over 30 minutes left over.
No more than 10 minutes passed before I received my passing score and breakdown through email. I was surprised how well I did in one of the areas, which I felt was my weakest, and that I didn't do as well in the area I felt strongest in. I know I second-guessed myself on about 10 questions and flip flopped, which probably ended up with some of them wrong.
I'm so relieved it's done and so proud of myself for passing it.
#sphr #phr #humanresources #hr #certifiedhr #hrexam

I see many people here, in different posts, using arguments like:
"Not having answers doesn't mean having to believe in a silly fairy tale."
"I won't believe in God, not until it's proven."
I even see warmer responses like;
"There is nothing good in religion, and it only causes harm."
Firstly, I would like to highlight that it seems to me that many of these comments are specifically directed at the Christian notion of God. I don't know if these people would adopt the same position in the face of other views on metaphysical issues, although I have often seen this being expanded in the following way:
"You don't believe in thousands of other gods, right? I just don't believe in one more (the Christian)."
The truth is that believing in a metaphysical view is fundamentally different than not believing in any.
Firstly, I will leave here some "concrete" benefits of having a faith, for people who categorically say that religions are useless and only cause delays/harm:
Religiously active older adults tend to have lower blood pressures than those who are less active. This applies to attendance at religious services and private religious activities, but not to religious media. Physiological mechanisms are discussed.
“Religious and spiritual traditions give you access to different methods of coping that have distinctive benefits,” says Doug Oman, a professor in public health at the University of California Berkeley. “From the psychological perspective, religions offer a package of different ingredients,” agrees Prof Patty Van Cappellen at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
Chronic stress response can result in physiological changes such as heightened inflammation, which, over the years, can damage tissue and increase your risk of illness. As a result, the size of someone’s social network and their subjective sense of connection with others can both predict their health and longevity, with one influential study by Prof Julianna Holt-Lunstad at Brigham Young University suggesting that the influence of loneliness is comparable to that of obesity or low physical exercise.
Religions, of course, tend to be built around a community of like-minded worshippers who meet regularly and have a shared set of beliefs. And many of the specific rituals will also contribute to a sense of communion with others. Christians, for example, are encouraged to pray on behalf of other people and this seems to bring its own health benefits, according to a brand new study by Prof Gail Ironson at the University of Miami."
From the guardian.
Anyway, by doing a quick Google research we find out that having faith is something that can bring benefits to the individual. Obviously, religions also caused harm and delays in certain contexts, but it depends on the religion and the historical context, it is not possible to compare the inquisition with individuals contemplating nature from a metaphysical point of view in the Americas. The effects of religion depend on the context, and it can be good or bad, it's up to us to know how to use it in the best way.
Now, going beyond this issue, I like to bring up Einstein himself and his views on the topic, about atheism, God and religion, since he is one of the most emblematic people on science matters and a lot of his fans label themselves as Atheists, It seems that many treat religion as an absolute opposition to science, and treat religious people as being mentally inferior, but Einstein seems to disagree, recognizing that religion would be a very broad term, he believed that religiosity was very important and special when shaped in the right way:
"According to biographer Walter Isaacson, Einstein was more inclined to denigrate atheists than religious people. Einstein said in correspondence, "[T]he fanatical atheists...are like slaves who are still feeling the weight of their chains which they have thrown off after hard struggle. They are creatures who—in their grudge against the traditional 'opium of the people'—cannot bear the music of the spheres." Although he did not believe in a personal God, he indicated that he would never seek to combat such belief because "such a belief seems to me preferable to the lack of any transcendental outlook."
"Einstein said people could call him an agnostic rather than an atheist, stating: "I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal god is a childlike one. You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being." In an interview published by the German poet George Sylvester Viereck, Einstein stated, "I am not an Atheist." According to Prince Hubertus, Einstein said, "In view of such harmony in the cosmos which I, with my limited human mind, am able to recognize, there are yet people who say there is no God. But what really makes me angry is that they quote me for the support of such views."
"In 1930 Einstein published a widely discussed essay in The New York Times Magazine about his beliefs. With the title "Religion and Science," Einstein distinguished three human impulses which develop religious belief: fear, social or moral concerns, and a cosmic religious feeling. A primitive understanding of causality causes fear, and the fearful invent supernatural beings analogous to themselves. The desire for love and support create a social and moral need for a supreme being; both these styles have an anthropomorphic concept of God. The third style, which Einstein deemed most mature, originates in a deep sense of awe and mystery. He said, the individual feels "the sublimity and marvelous order which reveal themselves in nature ... and he wants to experience the universe as a single significant whole." Einstein saw science as an antagonist of the first two styles of religious belief, but as a partner in the third. He maintained, "even though the realms of religion and science in themselves are clearly marked off from each other" there are "strong reciprocal relationships and dependencies" as aspirations for truth derive from the religious sphere."

Alright, long story short…
I am a college-aged female. I did technically try “therapy” about 3 years ago, but I don’t consider it therapy. It was basically a lecture from a “therapist” trying to tell me that my severe chronic pain was not real and that I probably just have anxiety and OCD (which I don’t), and should take medication for those and it will all be better. Big waste of time, made me really angry and resentful towards therapists in general, especially since that occurred around the same time I was experiencing a lot of medical trauma from attempted treatments for that chronic pain.
Fast forward to now…
I’ve realized over the past few years that my experience is not what therapy is supposed to be, and after talking to a trusted older friend about it, that that person probably shouldn’t even be licensed, at least as a pain specialist. I have decided to try therapy again at a different place with a different person. I have some medical things that I need to deal with, but my extreme fear of going to the doctor is preventing me from seeking any sort of treatment for anything.
It’s easy to say it all on here anonymously, but saying it out loud to someone’s face is really hard :(
But seriously, it’s gotten to the point that I would rather die of cancer than go to the doctor to get any necessary screenings, or stuff like that.
I had my first therapy eval yesterday, and it went better than I expected it would based on my experience last time. I’m trying to keep an open mind about it all and not let my past experience get in the way of me making progress.
Anyways, I’m not seeking a PTSD diagnosis or anything like that, but I do get flashbacks and nightmares about the things I experienced at the doctor a few years ago (I was in a pain clinic for a long time), and there was a procedure I had when I was 3 that was not supposed to be a big deal, but it still haunts my memories (sexual in nature), as it was done while I was fully awake and un-anesthetized.
These have caused me a lot of distress, but I am also very embarrassed about it all, so I have kept all of this to myself (save for like 2 people who I am very close to). There are very specific moments/memories from these instances that pop into my head several times a day. I mentioned in my eval yesterday that I have had bad experiences with doctors that still bother me, but I didn’t go into specifics (therapist didn’t push for specifics either). Am I supposed to tell her about these memories/moments in depth, or just give her the gist of what happened, or do I not have to tell her the specifics of them at all? Will her knowing exactly what happened be beneficial?
I’m asking because I don’t know HOW to tell her. These are things I have never told anybody, and I don’t even know how to talk about it. Only a very few of my trusted friends even know the real reason why I don’t go to the doctor anymore, but even when telling them, I have kept the reasoning to a simple “I had bad experiences and it still scares me today”. If my therapist must know the details to better help me, would it be weird to write it down and let her read it? I think if I tried to say it I’d either burst into tears and not be able to talk or I’d be completely numb to it since I’ve held it in and thought about it for so long that she’d think I was lying.
Any suggestions would be great. Thanks!

Hello cat preparation family, I've been in this group for quite some time now and I tend to follow all the discussions, especially during this time of the year where you make arguably one of the most important decisions of your life, choosing a correct B school. I'm a senior from GLIM from back in the day, and I've been in touch with many recent alums that seek guidance from me concerning the further recourse of their journey. I saw the interim placement reports of GLIM, and I want to articulate a much more palatable version of the same ; let's decode it further shall we ?

• I personally know the person who got the highest package from this year's batch, he's from my hometown. Even he is awestruck with the numbers that have been flaunted on the website and the offer letter that he has signed.
• The point about new recruiters is true.
• They are claiming that they have placed over 90% of people, but in reality these include people who were on a sabbatical and they had to join their parent organisations after their course had end. So what they are doing is including these bunch of people in the placed category, but not including their post MBA salary in the calculation. This is because sabbatical peeps generally get much lower CTC's as compared what one can expect from campus. This year however, people who went back to their parent organisations have got a much higher salary as compared to a larger fraction of the cohort.
• GLIM advertises this as a list of participating companies, as many of them either ran away from campus after not knowing that a 1 year MBA could exist other than ISB, or they simply revoked their offers and fled. The list includes many companies that simply floated a JD and never bothered to show up, like Zopper, Neo Roots Design, Chola MS, Laxai Life sciences etc.
• They have simply cut pasted the placement statistics of the previous year by changing the headings. The top 75% didn't have a 18.3 LPA, it would at most be the top 10-15%.
• Most of the batch got anywhere between 8-15 LPA, with a significant portion of them oscillating around the lower end of the spectrum. This is true only when you don't consider the folks who are currently unplaced and unlooked after, then in that case the range would be between 0-15 LPA.
• The industry wide classification of placements is a blatant lie. NO ONE GOT PLACED IN STRATEGY CONSULTING UNLESS YOU CONSIDER ACCENTURE STRATEGY, which is barely a strategy consulting firm. Whatever consulting there is on campus is tech consulting. Strategy consulting roles didn't come to us 4-5 years before, it doesn't come now. That is because there is a serious positioning problem for great lakes where they inherently only get companies famous for analytics, and the Placement cell doesn't put in that extra effort to help change the positioning of the B school.
• Accenture, Delloite, Infosys and TCS did make the highest no. Of offers. This has been a main stay for many years now.
• No way in hell the average is 17.3 , it's gonna be somewhere between 14-15 based on the inputs of the outgoing batch students. The numbers never made sense back in the day, and it simply doesn't make sense today as well. Don't just use a pinch, take a bag of salt before you trust the placement reports of any B school in general, not just GLIM.
• I don't recall anyone getting a General Managerial role from campus, I might be wrong though someone from the current batch please correct me if you're seeing this.
• The worst part that I'm hearing that never happened during my time is that the placement cell are continuously calling the unplaced students and harassing them to opt out of the placement process. Many of them have genuinely not been given enough opportunities, and this was never the case with GLIM back in the day. The GLIM I knew was compassionate, and helpful. But with the recent change in management, things have sadly changed for the worse. I'm hearing things like management is calling up these unplaced students one by one, and playing divisive politics. People who don't want to comply, are being soft threatened by saying that either further opportunities won't be given to that student, or worse, their marksheet and other documents wouldn't be released from campus. The placement cell is digging their own grave, as such threats can be legally binding, and the person who is responsible for harassing these students and playing with their career can actually face jail time if the student chooses to go down the legal route. If the GLIM administration is seeing this, please don't destroy the career of so many kids who have come to y'all with hopes of kickstarting their career. I was actually proud of being a GLIM Alumnus for quite some time now, but recent incidents have compelled me to take a tougher stance w.r.t the matter. Don't do this, GLIM. Just Don't.

Feel free to add any more pointers. Many people won't say this, but I believe it's your duty to analyse both sides of the coin before you invest your hard earned money into an MBA program. Misinformation is a serious issue, and the only way we can combat this is by actually engaging with the alumnus, not by taking everything the placement cell has to say at face value. All the best for your upcoming B school journey guys.

Hi! I used to play this game that had dark, pixel graphics about a wizard that fights a bunch of minions up a tower. It’s 2D and used a vertical orientation, the minions were little guys with skeleton faces, and you drag and dropped spells to where you want them to take effect on the field (I remember there was a spell that took effect in a rectangular area that stretched from one side of my phone to the other). Your run up a tower ended when the minions killed your character. I think I played this around 2017-2018ish. The creators had at least one other game with a similar pixel art aesthetic. I think the naming convention was something like 100F, but I’m not sure on this one.
Does anyone know any games that might ring a bell?

can anyone give me more insights about how the classes are and if the exam is only multiple choice or if it’s both multiple choice and a use case. I am pretty scared to start this class next week since if I fail I will lose about 2k since the course is so damn expensive.