First of all: this is the first time for me posting something on reddit (I also didn't know that I couldn't change my name after creating my profile....). I'm quite introverted so I mostly just look what others are posting as I'm too scared to post something myself but I realized that I can't really solve this problem on my own so here we are.
TL;DR: Five months ago, my best friend started being transphobic towards me when I came out as trans. I tried to ignore it but eventually realized our friendship was toxic. Recently, he apologized after another friend confronted him. However, his apology feels insincere, and I'm unsure what to do. I want to avoid him but I don't want to avoid my other friends too and eventually loose them by doing this. Seeking advice on how to handle the situation.
About 5 months ago my best "friend" at the time suddenly started being really transphobic towards me and said a lot of really transphobic things to me. At the time I've been starting to come out to the closest people to me and was out to him for about a month or two.
I tried to just push past all of this for about 4 months and tried to avoid the trans topic as best as I could because he also often acted like we're still best friends. It took me a long time before I realized that our "friendship" had already ended and wasn't really something to hold on to. For some reason I just didn't really get that I should just leave this "friendship" and still wanted to be his friend because I don't have that many other friends. Eventually I figured it out though and started avoiding him as being with him made me feel quite uncomfortable. However, avoiding him also led to me being pushed away from my other friends as he'd always be around them. It was also hard to avoid him as we're in the same class at school and always sit next to each other (we can't really change where we sit).
A couple of weeks ago he suddenly started texting me again and said a lot of really dumb and transphobic things to me. Whenever he'd do that during the whole time I always tried to talk as collected as I could and tried to explain how things are for me and just "argue" about this normally because I fully understand that it is hard for people to understand this situation when they're not trans themselves. He never really listened to anything I tried to tell him and just said that whatever I was saying isn't "real" science or just works that way in my "woke Disney head".
About 3 weeks ago I came out to a very accepting friend who's also in my school and I also told him about the transphobic "friend" as he knows him too. To make this more understandable let's call the the accepting friend D and the transphobic "friend" H. D was really shocked from what I told him about H and also got really pissed that H because of what he said to me .
About one week ago H went to D in one of our brakes and told him that I'm really weird to him and avoid him just because of a "little disagreement". D got really pissed when H said it was just a "disagreement" and told him that not accepting someone for who they are and saying really hurtful things to them isn't a disagreement at all. During the next break H tried to get D on his side and told him that I always bothered him with this topic and annoyed him with it and acted like the victim saying that he isn't transphobic at all and that I just made up everything. D didn't really believe all of that but still asked me about it.
I showed D some screen shots of my conversation with H (which was really great that I took them because H deleted all his transphobic massages in our chat). After that D got really pissed at H again was now fully at my side and wanted to help me out with this situation. H realized that he couldn't get D on his side and then suddenly send me an apology after five months of being like this to me....
To be honest the whole apology didn't really sound real but I still don't know what to do with this whole situation. He suddenly did a full 180° right at the time when he realized that also other ppl. like D don't like his "opinion" and now H expects everything to just be normal again and said that I'm an important person to him and that he does not want to loose me. I actually wanna avoid H but I don't want to be pushed away from my friends because of this and be alone again.
Can I have some advise on what to do? I know that I still have to decide on my own what I'll do with this situation but could really use some advise as I currently don't really know what to do.... Also: I apologize for the long read and if some things might be hard to understand (English isn't my native language and this topic really gets to me....)

Something I’ve noticed occassionally but really hit home for this last episode of FHJY is how fantastic the team is at naming the episodes. Ragenarok is such a clever way to quickly describe an ending battle >! focused on a would-be god powered by rage.!<
What are some of the episode titles you think are most clever, fun, or just generally your favorite?

Mine got moved around a while back. We had a mess with a device that we thought needed better wifi reception. When the installers were here we rushed around and moved the pucks to try and accommodate. Turns out the issue wasn’t the coverage..it was their installation.
My issue is now…the names don’t match the locations so when I have an issue with one I don’t know which one it is.
Is there a way to make one sound at a time? Not all have speakers right? Some have the mac address on the bottom and some don’t. Also some have the MAC address in the device info and some don’t. Can I make the light blink for each one separately? We have the google nest system. I have 5. Some have the Ethernet and some do not.

I'm trying to get my business started but I want to keep my social media profiles and business cards a little more private, preferably without showing my face directly. I see a lot of artists use a portrait of themselves as their icon on social media, logo on website and business cards etc. This seems like a great way to draw attention and add a personal touch to my marketing stuff. However I specialise in black and white pendrawings of landscapes and nature and asking/commissioning another artist to draw my portrait/logo feels like false advertising. Fellow non-portrait artists, what do you use as your logo/profile pics?

Mostly curious if there's a best practice for using your internal server names, IP address, etc in your scripts?
For example if I have a script that needs to reference a specific server on our network but would rather not hardcode it in the function, would like to distribute the function to others internally, and also don't want to have to type in the same server name to a parameter every single time they run it.
I guess I'm leaning towards creating an environmental variable when the module is installed so the function will use that if available. Is there a better way? Something that keeps code generic but also user friendly?

Over the past few years I've read several books about making art such as: * Composition by Arthur Wesley Dow * Interactions of Color by Josef Albers * Form, Space and Vision by Graham Collier * The Natural Way to Draw by Komin Nicolaides
What I really liked about these books is that they present a way of thinking about art-making, as well as practical exercises that develop an artist's skills.
That said, I feel like they've got me stuck in a modernist mindset. These books are focused on the fundamentals of image-making, and feel less relevant to the conceptual modes of art that have developed since 1960.
I'm curious if anybody here knows of similar books but about post-modern/contemporary art practices. Just to be clear, I'm not looking for an introduction to post-modern theory. I'm specifically looking for books that present practical guides for making contemporary art.

After 4 years of trying my best to study what Occult books I have, they just don't seem to resinate with me. I don't know if I am not in a state of being to fully understand it all. I wish to understand, I want to understand it. Is this even the right place to post this?
I was wanting to take a Pilgrimage, to try to find what I am searching for. A spark? Maybe a person, or even an artifact? I just feel lost the more I read and the more I study. The more that it's just seems to be slipping away, but where to start or where to go? How would I acquire the funds necessary for this journey, will my family be alright with me gone? What is there to look for?
I have so many questions and no one to speak with about these things. I wish to find a teacher on the unknown, who can try to explain what I need to find. It's out there, wondering about in the world, and I don't even know what it is I need to look for or even where to start.
How would I explain this story.... It starts way long ago, before I even had a chance to attend a preschool. It's a foggy memory, but I remember being lost on my family's property. I was visited by something. I don't know what it wanted or what it had in mind for me. I remember being in awe and scared because there was something of the like presence of something, something i couldn't look directly at. I always thought it was just the imagination from my child, but the more I look back on it, the more that image is strong, not the image, the presence, like a wavelength, or a numerical Codex. I don't think it was an actual dragon or anything. But something was there for sure. I kept it secret throughout my life, I would even say it was the thing that influence my ways, but I still don't know what it was. I assume it was probably a Guardian Spirit, but I don't remember it's words or warnings. Though I can tell it wasn't angelic in nature, it didn't give me the whole "angle of Michael" eludence or anything of the like. And that is the only part that I can say I had no clue what really happened, because I had an imaginary friend named Caleb the Red Dragon after that, so it's why I never told anyone about it or given it much thought until I decided to look into it, and now it lead me to this moment, positing this on Occult
I always assume I would have an active imagination, fighting battles, solving puzzles and the like. Though recently it is the essence of my questions, my imagination only holds questions and concerns with no one to grieve them with, I want to take a Pilgrimage but where would I even start? No current church will answer my questions as it's "Inappropriate to question God's work" and the like so there is no hope for any of my question to be answered in my location.
I was never brought up into religion. My grandparents on my father's side were a Catholic and a Christian and I went with them to church from time to time but it never was serious. No religious affiliation on my mother's side of family (where most of my time was spent), and my father had the attitude of like an actual evil child by being a small town drug lord that cries when the drugs don't keep people coming back. so I don't have any faith built up on the Catholic church or into a god. I tried to get into paganism for the Maiden, mother, and Crone, and to the horned one, but it just never felt right. I want to find a faith, I want to worship. But to what? Must I scream into the void? Or has it been here the entire time and I'm just ignorant to it's presence?
Do I follow Nicolas Flamel's path to the elixir of life? I'm actually not that interested in the tincture despite it being a wonderous powder. Should I follow the path of King Solomon? The contract of demons through God's will is a bit to much for me, and I would feel sorry for the demons after a while so that's a no from me, and I wasn't brought up with faith so I would have a hard time with it. What about the path of Abrimelin (the Jew)? His work is by far the most interesting to read, but that's really just it. It's nice to read his work, but I'm not interested in the Kôran or the Qabalah for worship. And I have no faith in the Catholic and Christan churches actually being faithful to it's own words and teachings..
I want to find something, I need to find something...
How does one start a Pilgrimage into the Unknown? And how would one aquire the funds necessary to travel and to care for a family at home while on this journey? Where do I start my search in this modern time? (And I know asking a question about looking for the unknown is a bit wild being that it's "The Unknown" and all that. I'm really interested in Occult books, grimoires, and Journals. Any recommendations is a great recommendation!!)

I mod video games frequently, I am similar on how to import models, modify models and such for various purposes. But I am still really new to making new models form scratch. But I tried looking everywhere for several hours last night, but couldn't find anything in the end. The closest I got was a different modeling site I had to pay for (and it was rather expensive) and nothing else. ):
I am trying to take a regular 2d Image, and make it 3D. Basically just stretching it out on the side, like a cardboard cutout kinda. I managed to try and convert the image into a "Trace Image to Grease Pencil" then "Converting To" a "Bézier Curve" But this leaves it with an outline on the inside of the object. So to fix this I tried removing all detail and such inside of the image, by making the image just one plain color (like black or white) and then inverting it, so in the image all you could see was the plain outline. And THAT WORKED, YET NOW, I am dealing with just a plain simple outline of the object
What it currently looks like after my attempts at fixing my problems
What I want but in 3d
I am trying to make it look closer to a flat cutout, like a cardboard model for video games. I could manually connect each and every Vertice to make faces between them all manually. But that just takes a long time and is a LOT of work. There has to be an easier way, right?
These images were made by AI as a quick one for testing, since I didn't feel like spending 3 hours on drawing my own just to potentially get rid of it in 2 minutes if my test didn't work, or that image wasn't specifically made, etc.
Original Image before
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Image after my inversion

I'm not sure what I'm looking for, I guess just wanted to write out what I'd been feeling and put it somewhere. I'm using a burner account, and no real names, I just needed to vent this somewhere
I dated my ex (I won't bother with names) for 4 years, and broke things off last summer. Like all relationships it was complicated, but now - nine months later - I still have no idea if I did the right thing, and am left feeling rudderless and adrift.
I'm 41, she's 32 - we met online four-ish years ago, immediately hit it off and started seeing each other 3-4 times a week. We started dating in Jan 2020 ... two months later, covid hit, and our entire state was essentially locked down. We went from dating to basically living together after two months - which, at the time, was great with me .. we were in love, and things seemed great. My parents split up when I was 19. In my 20's and early 30's, I'd made some bad choices with romantic partners - and chased after people who were emotionally unavailable, fundamentally. It took many years of therapy and introspection, but I had been actively making and effort to only date people I saw a real future with.
She (at 28) had never really dated anyone before. She explained she had some very severe trauma as a child, and coupled with abusive parents, she had never put herself out there really, and had focused on work, and fitness, and school. Her father had cheated on her mother when she was a child, and she knew about it (from a very young age). I heard all this, and tried to be as empathic and understanding and reassuring as I could -> after all, it wasn't anything she had done, and I thought she was a badass for overcoming that kind of abuse. We hit it off straight away, and seemed to have tons in common, and those first few months together were incredible. She still lived at home, with her parents - and for the duration of our relationship never moved out, or found her own space.
Things started to get strange when one day, I liked a female friend's post on Instagram ... this was someone I'd known for 5-6 years, and I was friends with long before I knew my gf. In retrospect, my friend's post was a bit thirsty .. your classic "I'm powerful, self possessed" look-at-me photos that showed a bit too much skin - and I should have just kept browsing, but I tapped 'like' (one of probably 20 posts I liked that day from all kinds of different friend) and moved on.
A few hours later, my gf called me, furious, and accused me of using her 'as a place holder' because - in her mind - I obviously REALLY wanted to be with this other friend of mine, and was using her. This came completely out of left field to me, and we had a 2-hour phone argument where I apologized, told her I'd remove the 'like', whatever she wanted. She kept circling back again and again that it was "totally normal" to go through a partners friend list / liked posts because "anyone can see them, they're public". We went back and forth, I was frantic and after we got off the phone, I went through my Instagram and basically purged any attractive female friend I had, and removed any likes I had to any post that might be weird or suspect. From them on I rarely used social media at all - but every few months my ex would find a new friend on my social media she didn't like, or suspected - even after I stopped interacting with social media at all.
This same sort of low-level suspicion persisted throughout our relationship. If I was looking at my phone, she wanted to know what I was reading, who I was talking to, etc. I have never cheated on a partner in my life, in fact I had been cheated on twice - so the sort of dull, constant suspicion really upset me - and after a while it almost felt like she was trying to manifest / discover some kind of secret infidelity. The tragic part is that we got along great otherwise, she loved my (male) friends, loved my family, and we had a relaxed and loving relationship besides occasional flare ups. But the suspicion never went away, or changed - and this sort of underlying insecurity was a constant background white noise of our relationship. She especially took a disliking to my roommates girlfriend, and made it a point to always talk about how much she disliked her, how they weren't going to last - etc (I can't say I blame her, the girl in question was not awesome .. but I never understood why his g/f should have such an outsized effect on our relationship). Despite all this, I thought she was an a kind, empathic, intelligent woman - and I saw a life with her, I saw starting a family with her - as real possiblities.
She grew very attached to my family, which also started to make me wonder what was going on. Many times, first thing in the morning, before coffee or anything else, she'd ask me "how's your mom? how's your dad?" - and would always want to know if she was 'still their favorite'. The first few times I thought it was charming - but it kept going on, to the point I had to push back and ask her "hey, please stop asking me first thing in the morning about the status of my family" ... for reference, I lived on the opposite side of the country from them, and would only get to see them for the holidays (which she was always invited to). I had a very challenging period of my life with my family, from 15-30 my family was fractured, my parents split up, it was messy ... but through years of effort, and time and patience forgiveness, I had built strong, loving relationships with both my parents individually, and my siblings besides. I sometimes got the sense that she even loved my family more than me, and that I was - weirdly - almost an obstacle between her and them. I told her as much, that sometimes I almost was jealous of how much she loved them, and wished that she could point that in my direction sometimes - knowing that they would be part of the package. She never did that same work with her own family - who were deeply dysfunctional, combative and sometimes outright hostile to one another. As crazy as it sounds, I often felt like she was almost trying to reap the rewards of the many years of hard work I had done - without an appreciation for how hard it had been to build new, adult relationships with my parents.
After a year and a half she found a new job, in a new industry, at a high profile company - and for the first six months she was there, she seemed to be able to manage the stress. I asked her if she wanted to maybe find a place together, to move in together for real ... but she kind of brushed it off. I would ask her again every few months, and would be met with the same sort of half-maybe-sorta-we'll-see ...
She suffered a major concussion two years into our relationship, which is when things really started to change. She never went to therapy, or saw a doctor to get treated ... and as the months went by, she became obsessed, almost addicted, to her job. It was all-consuming for her, and occupied all her thought and effort and time ... our relationship became an afterthought, and would mostly be relegated to her staying over (because my apt was closer to her office than her parent's house) - then me cooking her breakfast and seeing her off in the morning - and getting take out when she got back at night. She became more and more locked into her job, and our relationship became more and more platonic and less and less romantic / sexual... which is not uncommon when people are stressed out, or exhausted - but we couldn't seem to find time or space to fix what was happening. We talked, and communicated - but her reaction to stress was to go inside herself, and cut the world off -> and my stress reaction has often been the same.
We grew more and more distant over the next year, I also got a new job that ate up a ton of my time, so we would only see each other for an hour or two in the evenings, or on the weekends when we were up for it. I have a habit of pushing the people I care about away when I am not doing well emotionally .. it's the biggest recurring issue I've had in my life. I've been to therapy for it, and have ways to manage stress including meditation, exercise and a healthy diet - all of which allow me to function. But as the months went by, I got more and more stressed out as we became more distant - and I started to fall apart, and started to feel more and more alone and isolated. I'm sure I could have been better, or more attentive, or more patient ... and I in no way want to trying to pin any blame on her. After all, I'm just 1/2 of the relationship, and 1/2 of the story. After not seeing each other for a few weeks, I had to go out of town for a week for my job - to deal with a long and stressful convention ... and when I came back, we didn't see each other for another week.
I wanted her to come see me, but couldn't come out and say it ... I wanted her to intuit my needs, which she OF COURSE was not able to do. She wanted me to tell her I desperately wanted to see her, which she couldn't articulate because she wanted ME to intuit her needs ... and round and round it went. Lack of communication.
We did see each other eventually, what started as a small disagreement blew up. It started after my ex starting talking about my roommate's girlfriend, or she said something nasty about her. I was upset because we hadn't seen each other in weeks, why would this girl be the first thing on her mind? What about us? I totally overreacted and pushed her away - it was a long and stupid argument, where we both ended up dredging up things from months and years before .. we broke up, she left. In my self-righteous indignation, I felt justified in the moment ... but as the hours passed, and days passed, I was miserable and knew I had made a horrible mistake. My friends at the time told me I'd done the right thing, and that we had long standing issues that I had been mentioning throughout our relationship ... she liked her well enough, but wanted me to be happy, and told me that I had, ultimately, done what I thought was right at the time - and not to doubt myself. But I did, I got fully stuck in my head about it - and was desperate (yes, the D word) to try again.
Over the next few weeks she totally ignored me, wouldn't respond to my calls, or messages. I didn't expect her to - but I practically begged her to give it another chance with me. But she had totally shut down, and in her (later) words "she was never going to speak to me again." She did, eventually, after a few weeks, respond to me. We talked, I apologized, tried to explain that she was the world to me, and I knew I had made a massive mistake, and desperately wanted a chance to try again - to make things right.
She agreed, eventually. We met up for dinner, and slowly talked things out - I was still honestly pretty upset, but we kept seeing each other, started making it a point to go on dates, to get to know each other again. She believed I had cheated on her, that I had met another woman and that this had all been a pretext ... I caught her going through my phone after I got out of the shower. There was nothing to find, but I couldn't believe that she still, after years together, suspected I had been unfaithful to her. But that was just a bump in the road, we talked it out. Things seemed to be getting better. We shared an amazing thanksgiving together, and I genuinely felt like we had turned a corner and were as close as we had ever been ... so did she.
The next Monday, at work, she got another concussion - worse than the first. From this point on, her entire personality shifted ... Which I have learned, in the months that followed, is just something that can happen with head trauma. She didn't want to spend time together nearly as much, she fully retreated into herself, and her family. She wouldn't come visit at all anymore - even if I was willing to pick her up / drop her off ... she would only agree to meet for platonic dinners at a halfway point between our houses. She started seeing a doctor, a neurologist, doing PT work ... but she just kept seeming to get further and further away. If I invited her over, she was always want to know if my roomate's g/f "might" be there, or if we'd be alone ... and if there was even a chance this girl would be there (even though we could spend time in my room, or in the common living room without interference) - my ex would just stay home.
Six or seven months of this went by ... we kept sort of drifting apart, and it seemed like no matter how much I tried to communicate, or bridge the divide between us (which, to be honest, it felt like I was doing 3/4 of the work to keep this thing going) - we just kept drifting. After her second concussion, we stopped being intimate all together ... she was still convinced I had been with other women while we were apart, and demanded I get tested for STDs for her to trust me again. I let my pride get in the way, and should just have done it - but I had not been with or dated anyone else in the few weeks we were apart, and I couldn't get over that she still wouldn't trust me at my word.. after almost 4 years together, I still had to prove myself.
But I didn't, I was stubborn and dug my heels in - so our last potential shot at intimacy evaporated. We became basically platonic buddies ... we still loved each other, said we loved on another every day - but I always felt like I was chasing her, hoping for some kind of emotional connection or breakthrough or common ground that never manifested. By the time July rolled around, I was a total mess ... I felt completely alone, isolated, and like the person I knew and loved had drifted off, and there wasn't a way to get her back. For two months I said that I was really struggling, I was feeling really disconnected and that I missed her all the time - that I wanted to get back to baseline but didn't know how, and that I wanted her help or guidance. She said she felt like she was gradually getting back to where she started, but had no clear picture of how long that might take, and couldn't give me any kind of definitive answer if things would get better again - or how things might get better again.
It never happened. With another month-long work event looming on the horizon, and my stress levels climbing and climbing, I felt like I was on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Eventually, after one of our platonic dates, I had a full on breakdown, and tearfully told her how isolated I was feeling, how I felt like I'd lost her, and how I felt totally clueless how to fix things. She had no ideas to offer, no guidance on how to navigate any of this, and no suggestions how to get back to some kind of baseline. It all poured out from both sides ... she didn't feel like she could trust me ever since we'd got back together, I felt like she neve really let me back in. But we both agreed that that one thanksgiving had been amazing ... and we wished we could find a way back to that place - but had no idea how.
I told her I needed a month, or two, I needed to start seeing a therapist, I needed to put myself back together because I felt like I was falling apart. I told her I wished that we could take a breathe - and come back on more solid footing because I had fucked up when I broke things off before. I had come back from a place of sadness and desperation - and had not given either of us a chance to heal before trying to undo the damage I'd caused. I wanted to meet her on even footing, from a place of mutual strength and try again ...
To her, this was just me breaking up with her again.. which I tried to say "no, I don't want to lose you, but I'm fucked up and need to just right the ship a bit in my life because I am totally losing it ..." But, sometimes it doesn't matter. To her, I was leaving her again, giving up. I had no idea if she'd speak to me again, but I felt so broken I didn't know what else to do.
I took two months, without contact, and started seeing a therapist, started exercising again, got through my hell-month at work. I tried reaching out again to her, multiple times after that ... but I never heard back. A few months went by - I missed her more and more, I didn't heal or get better, I didn't feel like I'd done the right thing. My friends told me I had, my family was supportive - my friends especially have told me time and time again that ultimately, I did the right thing, that I did what was right 'for me' ... but to me, the reassurance didn't matter. There was a giant, gaping hole in my life that I had no idea what to do with. This was a woman I had wanted to marry, that I had wanted to life with, to build and share a life with -> and at one point, I know she wanted the same. I felt so terrible, and couldn't handle the memories of the place I was in, that I resigned from my job (which was ok, it was a horrible grind, that while it paid ok, didn't have any kind of upward mobility) .. and after a lot of thought, I moved back across the country because it was too painful for me to be in that place, surrounded by the memories - living with the ghosts. My friend group had been slowly dispersing, getting new jobs in new cities, having kids and getting on with life - and I didn't see a reason to stay anymore. I debated reaching out to my ex to let her know I was moving - but it had been months without a word, she had not responded to any of my attempts to talk to her, to meet her even for coffee, or to return the few things of hers I still had - and I knew that if I did reach out - it would ultimately be a selfish act, hoping that somehow she might say 'oh no, he's leaving for good' ... so I didn't. I'm still not sure if she knows I left.
I've been saying with family, slowly putting the pieces of my life back together. I'm taking classes, and plan on switching careers into a new field that I may actually am passionate about. I'll find my own place again in a month or two, but truth is I missed my family dearly, and have been helping both my aging parents with years of neglected repairs and yard work - and seeing my siblings and their families again after a decade of living on the opposite coast and getting to see them 'maybe' once a year around the holidays. Plus after paying insane rent to random landlords for over a decade, its been nice to have a few months of feeling grounded, and to put work into where I'm living. My family has been thrilled, and glad to have me around again.
But it's made no difference, really. I still think of her every day. Some days are easier than others, and I can manage to stay focused on classes and work and fitness - but in so many ways my life feels totally hollow now. I'm stuck wondering if I completely fucked up a good thing, and wasted what might have been my last shot at starting a family of my own, of having a real partner. I'm 41, realistically my chances get slimmer by the year. Or maybe I did totally the right thing, and I got out of a degenerating situation that had been nagging at me for months and months that something was deeply wrong. Or maybe it was somewhere in between those two poles. There's no way to know, and I'm limited to my own side, and my own perspective - and trapped in that middle ground of wondering how things "MIGHT" have gone had X Y or Z happened differently. I wish I had some kind of clarity, or certainty, but I don't.
I guess things are getting a bit easier, as the days and weeks and months go by - but its only by fractions of a degree. I miss her, or maybe just miss the person she used to be, if that person still exists. Head trauma is ... complicated - because the person looks the same, sounds the same ... but the person you knew, the person you fell in love with, isn't really the same person anymore. Its almost like, mourning the death of someone who is still alive, if that makes sense.
So here I am, taking it one day at a time, hoping for some brighter tomorrow, some slow healing or revelation or clarity that I did the right thing - but all I have are doubts. There's no closure to be found because all I ever got was silence. I've done everything people have recommended - focused on myself, focused on health and fitness, focus on learning new skills, on meeting new people, gone on dates, focused on family, focused on growing -> but it hasn't helped the giant, gaping hole in my life, and the never-ending uncertainty.
I expect no sympathy, or empathy ... and knowing reddit, I'll get a lot of people piling on to tell me what a piece of shit I am, lol'ing at how I fucked up my own life, and telling me she's better off without me. But then again sometimes even Reddit can surprise you with the insightful and thoughtful responses. More than anything, I just wanted to write this down somewhere, anywhere - to get it out of my head and my heart. Because the more it stews, the worse I feel. Thanks for reading, if you managed to make it this far.. its a long, messy, meandering story without any real ending. Will I hear from her again? Probably not. Will I get over her? Eventually I'm sure ... but what happens between now and then is anyone's guess. What ever it is, it'll happen on day, one moment at a time.
tldr; sometimes things just end - without someone cheating, or abusing the other person, or any real good way to sum it up. Life and relationships are long, complicated, nuanced and messy. Take care all, appreciate what you have while you have it, take it one day at a time

I have always had an issue with my mother. She really exhibits a lot of narcissistic traits growing up and is able to distort peoples reality to what she wants. For example, I'm adopted, and my parents have never told me this. I found out through stumbling across court documents, and my entire life my mother was the one who would constantly say we looked identical, lied to my doctors by giving them HER health history (it took 10+ years for me to be diagnosed with a genetic chronic illness, and my entire life she ignored my pain and told me that I couldn't understand what real pain was because she had real pain compared to me), and I'm convinced that my entire family knew and she got them to be silent. She's always been incredibly controlling, to the point that she was tracking my location in college, would randomly show up at school for no reason, and constantly guilting me for going to school and not being around her enough. I moved pretty far for grad school and thought she had changed in some capacity, but after this past month it appears that she has not. I'm finding out from family members that behind my back she's telling people that incompetent and need her to do things for me- I didn't ask her to help my partner and I move yet she's going around to people saying I don't know how to rent a UHaul and that she has to help us with everything when she literally doesn't.
Anyway, I believe now that she has little control over me she's moved onto my father. I got a hysterical phone call last month from her saying my dad is going to turn me against her because he's acting crazy and she's so scared-- come to find out that their screaming match was because my father believes she has been cheating on him with their mutual friend of 20+ years. She decided to tell me that she hasn't had sex with him for over a year, and my father told me that he found her at this guy's apartment at 2 in the morning, he refuses to look at him, and a year ago stopped speaking to him. Out of nowhere my mother told me that she would never cheat because it's so wrong and kept going on and on about it. With all of this together, I'm convinced she's cheating at this point!!
I know my father is not perfect, and he has contributed to their horrific dynamic together. However, he's the only one who can say that he's done wrong. He has always been the parent that apologized for his actions and would even apologize for HER faults. He has been her doormat for 30 years at this point, and while I wish he wouldve stood up to her growing up, she is incredibly manipulative and verbally abusive to anyone she has close contact with. She genuinely believes she's a victim to everything in life. In fact, my mother is now all of a sudden claiming to be a victim of DOMESTIC ABUSE. She says he gets in her face and yells at her and has shoved her away. I know exactly why this happens- it's because she will push people's buttons and scream at them. Even when you tell her to get the fuck away from you, she comes back 10xs angrier and escalates the problem. The only way she stops is when ypu scream back or shove her away from you. She's done it to me before where I ended up on the floor because of her, and she literally stood above me and screamed. I'm so disgusted with her and her lack of awareness. It's like she doesn't care that I'm not cutting my father out of my life for her and that if she really loved me and wanted to be in my life, she will have to live with the fact that he will be around for any major life event and Im not going to tolerate her behavior. If she is going to pretend to be a victim of a crime, then I don't want her around me any longer.
I've been so devastated this past month over all of this. Genuinely thought that she was better and we could have a relationship, but it's clear we never will. I'm sick of her abuse quite frankly. The last thing she can hold over my head is my vehicle- she lied and claimed it was paid off but I just found out it wasn't and she's claiming she can't put it in my name because of that. Thankfully I make enough to do something about it, but I'm so emotionally exhausted that I haven't even started. It's just bringing up a lot of feelings about her that I have forgotten, and I'm so incredibly disappointed that I'll never have a real mother- she will always be an abuser and she will always put me down to boost her own status.

I am currently making a Calorie Tracking app using Swift, but am having some issues with how different views are presented using sheets when trying to pass a variable
I have 2 views - my CaloriesView:

import SwiftUI import Firebase import FirebaseAuth import FirebaseFirestoreSwift struct CaloriesView: View { @EnvironmentObject var viewModel: AuthViewModel @EnvironmentObject var calsViewModel: CaloriesViewModel @State private var shouldPresentSheet: Bool = false @State private var selectedCategory: String? = nil var body: some View { NavigationView { ScrollView { VStack(spacing: 20) { CurrentCaloriesView(viewModel: calsViewModel) mealSection("Breakfast", foods: calsViewModel.breakfasts) mealSection("Lunch", foods: calsViewModel.lunches) mealSection("Dinner", foods: calsViewModel.dinners) mealSection("Other Food", foods: calsViewModel.otherFoods) } .navigationBarTitle("Calories", displayMode: .inline) } } .onAppear { Task { await calsViewModel.fetchTodayMacros() await calsViewModel.fetchTodayFoodIntake() } } .sheet(isPresented: $shouldPresentSheet) { FoodListView(calsViewModel: calsViewModel) } } @ViewBuilder private func mealSection(_ category: String, foods: [(String, Double)]) -> some View { VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: 10) { Text(category) .font(.headline) .padding(.top) ForEach(foods.indices, id: \.self) { index in let food = foods[index] VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: 8) { Text(food.0) .font(.headline) .bold() Text("Weight: \(food.1, specifier: "%.2f") g") } .padding(.vertical, 8) } Button(action: { Task { let currentDate = Date() // Use the current date let currentUserId = Auth.auth().currentUser!.uid // Directly using the user ID as we're sure user is logged in do { let macrosDocumentExists = await calsViewModel.doesMacrosDocumentExist(userId: currentUserId, date: currentDate) if !macrosDocumentExists { try await calsViewModel.createMacrosDocument(userId: currentUserId, date: currentDate) } let foodIntakeDocumentExists = await calsViewModel.doesFoodIntakeDocumentExist(userId: currentUserId, date: currentDate) if !foodIntakeDocumentExists { try await calsViewModel.createIntakeDocument(userId: currentUserId, date: currentDate) } selectedCategory = category shouldPresentSheet = true } catch { print("Error creating documents: \(error.localizedDescription)") // Handle errors, perhaps by showing an alert to the user } } }) { Label("Add Food For \(category)", systemImage: "plus.circle.fill") .font(.headline) .foregroundColor(.white) .padding() .frame(maxWidth: .infinity) .background(Color.green) .cornerRadius(10) } .padding(.bottom) } } } 

And my FoodView:

import SwiftUI import Firebase import FirebaseAuth import FirebaseFirestoreSwift struct FoodListView: View { @ObservedObject var calsViewModel: CaloriesViewModel @ObservedObject var foodViewModel = FoodViewModel() @Environment(\.dismiss) private var dismiss @Environment(\.presentationMode) var presentationMode var body: some View { NavigationView { List(foodViewModel.foods) { food in NavigationLink(destination: FoodDetailView(calsViewModel: calsViewModel, food: food)) { Text(food.name) } } .navigationTitle("Select Food") .toolbar { ToolbarItem(placement: .navigationBarLeading) { Button("Cancel") { dismiss() } } } .onAppear { foodViewModel.fetchFoods() } } } } struct FoodDetailView: View { @ObservedObject var calsViewModel: CaloriesViewModel var food: Food @State private var weight: String = "100" @State private var showConfirmation: Bool = false @State private var errorMessage: String? @ObservedObject var authViewModel = AuthViewModel() var body: some View { VStack { TextField("Enter weight in grams", text: $weight) .keyboardType(.numberPad) .textFieldStyle(RoundedBorderTextFieldStyle()) .padding() if let weightAsDouble = Double(weight) { Text("Calories: \(Double(food.calories) * weightAsDouble / 100, specifier: "%.2f") kcal") Group { Text("Protein: \(food.protein * weightAsDouble / 100, specifier: "%.2f") g") Text("Carbs: \(food.carbs * weightAsDouble / 100, specifier: "%.2f") g") Text("Fat: \(food.fat * weightAsDouble / 100, specifier: "%.2f") g") } .font(.headline) } Spacer() Button("Add Food") { Task { let today = Date() guard let userId = Auth.auth().currentUser?.uid else { errorMessage = "Unexpected error: User ID is not available." return } do { let weightDouble = Double(weight) ?? 100 let mealType: MealType = .other // This should be determined or selected by the user print("Adding food with weight: \(weightDouble)") // Debug log try await calsViewModel.addFoodIntakeAndUpdateMacros(userId: userId, date: today, food: food, weight: weightDouble, mealType: mealType) showConfirmation = true } catch { errorMessage = "An unexpected error occurred: \(error.localizedDescription)" } } } .alert("Food Added", isPresented: $showConfirmation) { Button("OK", role: .cancel) { } } message: { Text("Your daily intake has been updated.") } if let errorMessage = errorMessage { Text(errorMessage) .foregroundColor(.red) .padding() } Spacer() } .padding() .navigationTitle("\(food.name) Details") } } 

Currently, in FoodDetailsView, the mealType variable that is being saved to the firestore document is hardcoded to be ‘Other Food’, so all of the food, no matter which of the 4 "Add Food For \(category)" buttons I click is being shown in the ‘Other Food’ category
I instead want the food to be saved into the Firestore document with the relevant mealType, depending on which section the button is clicked in
I have tried doing this by passing a mealType variable through when the “Add Food For \(category)" button is clicked, as you can see in the new versions of CaloriesView and FoodView below:
CaloriesView:

import SwiftUI import Firebase import FirebaseAuth import FirebaseFirestoreSwift struct CaloriesView: View { @EnvironmentObject var viewModel: AuthViewModel @EnvironmentObject var calsViewModel: CaloriesViewModel @State private var shouldPresentSheet: Bool = false @State private var selectedCategory: String? = nil @State private var selectedMealType: MealType? = nil var body: some View { NavigationView { ScrollView { VStack(spacing: 20) { CurrentCaloriesView(viewModel: calsViewModel) mealSection("Breakfast", foods: calsViewModel.breakfasts, mealType: .breakfast) mealSection("Lunch", foods: calsViewModel.lunches, mealType: .lunch) mealSection("Dinner", foods: calsViewModel.dinners, mealType: .dinner) mealSection("Other Food", foods: calsViewModel.otherFoods, mealType: .other) } .navigationBarTitle("Calories", displayMode: .inline) } } .onAppear { Task { await calsViewModel.fetchTodayMacros() await calsViewModel.fetchTodayFoodIntake() } } .sheet(isPresented: $shouldPresentSheet) { if let selectedMealType = selectedMealType { FoodListView(calsViewModel: calsViewModel, mealType: selectedMealType) } } } @ViewBuilder private func mealSection(_ category: String, foods: [(String, Double)], mealType: MealType) -> some View { VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: 10) { Text(category) .font(.headline) .padding(.top) ForEach(foods.indices, id: \.self) { index in let food = foods[index] VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: 8) { Text(food.0) .font(.headline) .bold() Text("Weight: \(food.1, specifier: "%.2f") g") } .padding(.vertical, 8) } Button(action: { Task { let currentDate = Date() let currentUserId = Auth.auth().currentUser!.uid do { let macrosDocumentExists = await calsViewModel.doesMacrosDocumentExist(userId: currentUserId, date: currentDate) if !macrosDocumentExists { try await calsViewModel.createMacrosDocument(userId: currentUserId, date: currentDate) } let foodIntakeDocumentExists = await calsViewModel.doesFoodIntakeDocumentExist(userId: currentUserId, date: currentDate) if !foodIntakeDocumentExists { try await calsViewModel.createIntakeDocument(userId: currentUserId, date: currentDate) } selectedCategory = category selectedMealType = mealType shouldPresentSheet = true } catch { print("Error creating documents: \(error.localizedDescription)") } } }) { Label("Add Food For \(category)", systemImage: "plus.circle.fill") .font(.headline) .foregroundColor(.white) .padding() .frame(maxWidth: .infinity) .background(Color.green) .cornerRadius(10) } .padding(.bottom) } } } 

FoodView:

import SwiftUI import Firebase import FirebaseAuth import FirebaseFirestoreSwift struct FoodListView: View { @ObservedObject var calsViewModel: CaloriesViewModel @ObservedObject var foodViewModel = FoodViewModel() @Environment(\.dismiss) private var dismiss @Environment(\.presentationMode) var presentationMode var mealType: MealType var body: some View { NavigationView { List(foodViewModel.foods) { food in NavigationLink(destination: FoodDetailView(calsViewModel: calsViewModel, food: food, mealType: mealType)) { Text(food.name) } } .navigationTitle("Select Food") .toolbar { ToolbarItem(placement: .navigationBarLeading) { Button("Cancel") { dismiss() } } } .onAppear { foodViewModel.fetchFoods() } } } } struct FoodDetailView: View { @ObservedObject var calsViewModel: CaloriesViewModel var food: Food var mealType: MealType @State private var weight: String = "100" @State private var showConfirmation: Bool = false @State private var errorMessage: String? @ObservedObject var authViewModel = AuthViewModel() var body: some View { VStack { TextField("Enter weight in grams", text: $weight) .keyboardType(.numberPad) .textFieldStyle(RoundedBorderTextFieldStyle()) .padding() if let weightAsDouble = Double(weight) { Text("Calories: \(Double(food.calories) * weightAsDouble / 100, specifier: "%.2f") kcal") Group { Text("Protein: \(food.protein * weightAsDouble / 100, specifier: "%.2f") g") Text("Carbs: \(food.carbs * weightAsDouble / 100, specifier: "%.2f") g") Text("Fat: \(food.fat * weightAsDouble / 100, specifier: "%.2f") g") } .font(.headline) } Spacer() Button("Add Food") { Task { let today = Date() guard let userId = Auth.auth().currentUser?.uid else { errorMessage = "Unexpected error: User ID is not available." return } do { let weightDouble = Double(weight) ?? 100 print("Adding food with weight: \(weightDouble)") // Debug log try await calsViewModel.addFoodIntakeAndUpdateMacros(userId: userId, date: today, food: food, weight: weightDouble, mealType: mealType) showConfirmation = true } catch { errorMessage = "An unexpected error occurred: \(error.localizedDescription)" } } } .alert("Food Added", isPresented: $showConfirmation) { Button("OK", role: .cancel) { } } message: { Text("Your daily intake has been updated.") } if let errorMessage = errorMessage { Text(errorMessage) .foregroundColor(.red) .padding() } Spacer() } .padding() .navigationTitle("\(food.name) Details") } } 

But doing it this way causes the sheet containing FoodListView to be presented as completely blank, containing not even the ‘Cancel’ button
The original code did not do this - any ideas why? Thanks

So, I'm a first time Dungeon Master and I'm playing with all new players. The setting is Victorian London overrun by vampires and there's a plot line to follow that leads the players to the cause of the sudden surge of vampires. I let them start at level five because even when I modified the vampires to be really squishy they still would've suffered. Now there's three level five PCs against squishy vampires. Most of the players can kill a vampire with one to two hits because the point of the game is that they are vampire hunters. The problem starts when they progress in the main plot and leave the safe zone to enter their first dungeon. I planned for them to start the dungeon in a country house that is overrun by vampires hiding inside and they have to clear the house to find the entrance into the dungeon. It takes them three hours to clear the house and kill seven vampires. This is where they start complaining - they are tired of being in the same spot for three hours, not getting to explore or do much roleplay outside of antagonizing the woman who's asking for their help to save her in the house. They make decisions like running into the room, seeing the vampire, running out and then ending his turn or making only unarmed attacks for roleplay goofs I want to throw him down and then step on his head all of these things are hilarious, I love that my players do this, but they get mad at me for putting so many vampires in the house and then taking so long to kill them. I took the criticism and tried to let the bad vibes roll off of me (no problem, more roleplay fun, less drawn out fight scenes) we end that session in the beginning of the dungeon because they were done and we start the next session in the dungeon, there is only one way out and it's a path that may or may not be dangerous. They start clearing the dungeon and they have three different roleplaying encounters that are a lot of fun. There's two kobolds behind a door demanding a password (cliche but we're all new) and they spend around forty minutes trying to to break in through the door with varying levels of success (one gets in and falls through a trap door) they make some bad rolls and eventually they get in to get a magic weapon. Later they find a vampire spawn before she's a fully fledged vampire and she's struggling to remember her name, they help her remember and two characters decide to kill her while one makes good roles to protect her. Alice joins the party while bound to the player that saved her and gives them directions to the exit or the boss battle. Third encounter they come across a mimic and no one wants to be cautious, instead the rogue runs to lockpick it and then gets his arm stuck, the fighter goes to help and gets his arm stuck, then barbarian tries to hit the chest and makes some really bad rolls. They're stuck for three turns, and I look back and still feel like it was a lot of fun on their end and mine. Rogue was freaking out like his arm was stuck and fighter was trying to squeeze the chest to death. They decide that they want to long rest because they now have two magic weapons that need to be attuned and they also want to restore HP before the boss fight. They head towards the exit hoping for a safe place to rest, I chip an encounter at them and they walk past it (which would have led them to a safe zone) and they want to leave the dungeon outright, daylight, safe zone. So they climb out and end up in a prison (I made it so all the entrances or exits of dungeons are connected to police stations and prisons) they groan and mope and whine about the (obvious) boss encounter just ahead and one player rolls to kill himself. He fails. They continue on and they take a break to kill one of the tortured prisoners by stabbing him in the balls. And they end up in the wardens office... Being that I weaved in a supernatural theme being the cause of the vampire surge I figured maybe I could include a devil as the warden of a prison full of monsters outside of the safe zone. I wrote a paragraph or two of dialogue for him, and he gives them a quest and provides safe passage for them, only he doesn't get to do any of that, because after one sentence, the barbarian rolls a nat 20 to hit the warden and is adamantly arguing that I couldn't possibly expect him to not attack a guy who tortures people. "He tortures people, I have to attack him!" He hits the boss and the boss looks at him and goes "really?" And then one shots the barb to one HP, then the barb tries to run away. Hold person keeps him still and everyone else attacks the devil. They are not ever supposed to fight this friendly warden and they are attacking him... I role the attack dice because I was too tired and I can't deny that a part of me actually wanted to kill the barbarian for just a moment and I made a bad decision to escalate instead of descalating. In the end, the fighter made amazing strength checks to restrain the warden while everyone else got away and then once his luck ended, he was killed. After the session ended, the barbarian ranted and everyone agrees that they weren't having fun... So barbarian dips and decides not to play with us anymore and the other two are very optimistic about continuing, the fighter is even satisfied with his death and wants to make a new player. I am so grateful for their optimism but I'm struggling with feeling like it's even worth it because I'm a failure of a DM (if it matters to anyone, they were all neutral alignment)
TLDR: My players complained so much about tedious gameplay that I'm worried I'm just inviting my friends to suffer for three hours or so.

Chapter 3: Dynamic Exist
Memory transcript : Farusl Archivist Tyka Date: 2277 August 21st [human standard time]
Tyka yawned, he had been monitoring several of the predator cages for a while trying to gauge their reactions, these were new catches from another region which was vastly different to the other side of the continent which by comparison was stable, these more eastern humans were almost all completely feral, ascribing totemic tribal practices with lethal weaponry, it was saddening.
“Terrifying creatures these humams….even the Arxur wouldn't be able to survive a total atomic annihilation yet these humans, who by all accounts are physically weaker than the Arxur, seem to have survived remarkibly well”
The calculating tone of the elder Officer Netly said peering over into the security monitor watching the newest catches, most of whome seemed to be violent marauders of some kind,and if the toxicology reports were to be believed extremely intoxicated prior to capture
“Well HC-1380 was clean….it why we've placed HC-2251 with them, they both passed with a clean bloodstream and 1380 seemed….mildly more docile than the other recent arrivals”
Tyka said as Netly raised her muzzle in contempt
“A predator is a predator, docile is not in there nature no matter how docile it may seem”
She said as Tyka openly scoffed
“I will admit many new acquisitions may be more feral than expected but the fact that we HAVE found humans who are not as violent should be seen as a boon, infact the nuclear devastation could be a benefit, they may be more willing to partake in the cure if it means that they can live out of the Wasteland”
“And how exactly would we do that, most of there genomes Are irreparable damaged by atomic Fallout and residual radiation, it would take decades to repair there existing genome let alone provide an appropriate Cure for eating flesh. Let alone there awful gaze” Netly spat indignantly, clearly insulted at the notion of a feral species could ever be uplifted to a proper sentient species is laughable
“Ahh But that's where you are misinformed Netly, you see her?” Tyka said tapping a paw to the monitor, it was the two new arrivals he had discusted eariler
“The scavenger and the pale one? What significant are they?” She asked confused as Tyka let out a slight smirk
“There genetic code suggests limited to no genetic damage, HC-2251 for example has no significant radiological degradation, she's as close as clean as you can get, And according to the lab, her UV intake, the thiny that gives humans bare skin there pigments? Its limbited suggesting a sheltered lifestyle, possibly one with a stable, equally pure gene stock of other untouched humans!”
Netly was shocked to say the least, from virtually every other predator they had captured they had all shown signs of genetic damage or severe mutation due to radiological exposure, of Tyka was correct…there was a possibility that the Original cure that was designed for humanity could be distributed
“If that is true, where could they possibly be located? We have satellites pointing All over the continent and wed be able to see a large, functional human tribe, like those desert tribes to the east” Netly said as Tyka nodded
“If they were on the surface, i postulate that they may be subterranean and i believe the answer likes in 2251s arm mounted computer. We plan on removing it after another checkup but the lab has had troubles devising a method of removing it without killing her since the device Is somehow attached to her by some biometric seals were having difficulties cracking but by her next interview”
Tyka said, and before Netly could respond a security alarm blamed, forcing the two to shift their focus away from there Conversation to the monitors, it was HC-2251 and HC-1380, the two were fighting, Tyka could only imagine it was for dominance, predators were such a precious bunch but at least they lacked claws, that was the thought until a trial of blood was seen spilling from 2251's nose!
“Ancestors! Netly send a security team to break that up and isolate 2251 as soon as possible, if she dies then we loose any lead on finding more undamaged human stock!”
Memory transcript: Abigail Nelson, vault dweller and current show fighter
The hits were all staged but every so often to get across the idea they Were real every other hit randomly connected with enough force to show it, that was Somah’s plan, make them think They were fighting for some reason, Somah had said that fights like these were was drew in security to stun them and break up the fight, which was also Why they didn't want to actually hurt one another, because if one or both of them got hurt they'd not only be separated and isolated like Somah was after her first attempt, and after getting socked In the face and giving her a light bloody nose. It worked as the door opened and in poured…..cocker spaniels? Chest-tall, wall eyed, cocker spaniels in rubber suits welding cattle prods.
In a flash Somah kicked up the metal tray that the measly alien veggies were delivered on, using it to bash in the muzzle of one, drawing the other three's attention away letting Abigail slam her bawled fisted into the temple of one of the aliens, causing it to slam into another causing them both to frankly…..easily drop to the floor, the lot of them whining and whimpering, clutching their heads as Somah grabbed one of their weapons, tossing one to Abigail as Somah made for the exit, having to brush off the shock of alien dog men she followed her new companion close behind.
“Were those…..dogs?” Abigail asked in surprise running along side Somah as the two raced down the hall as alarms blared overhead
“Yeah, I kinda forgot to mention that, didn't I? They look like Pre-War dogs with weird Brahman eyes,” she shrugged nonchalantly to Abbies confusion. The two suddenly stopped in a side room with an air vent, somah watched the corners and seemingly satisfied pulled Abigail in, and motioned her to be quiet. Before she could question why she heard the squeaking of booted paws run past them and somah only spook once the sound seemed sufficiently distant.
“Alright …..we're in the clear, are you ok-” Before Somah could continue she was meet with a smack across her face from Abigail
“That was for hitting me in my nose!” She spat rubbing her once prestigious white jumpsuit with her red viscous fluid leaking from her nose.
“Okay…I deserve that,” Somah admitted, rubbing her cheek “Honestly, I expected something worse, but I deserved it,” She says as Abigial noticed exactly where they were exactly. “Wait….are we in a alien supply closet”
Somah looked around, noticing the abundant sealed boxes written in alien script, one slightly open revealing some kind of rag or cloth That Abigail readily swiped to help stem her nose’s red trickle.
“Okay so, back on track, we need to find a way off this ship, last time I checked were still over Earth” Somah said as Abigail looked back at her
“How would we know?” She asked pinching her nose*
“Because you can feel when the ship moves, and they have announcements in English” She says which just made Abigail’s eyes go wide.
“They speak english?!” Abby said shocked as Somah nodded, “Then why the FUCK would they lock us up without saying anything?!”
She spat as Somah tried to get her to calm down “Honesty, I don't know, the only thing I do know is what I've heard from some of the guards, something about us being Acquisitions and a cure…I think there trying to collect us a labor force for whatever reason”
That reason resonated with Abigail in a disturbing way, the way the cells were arranged reminded her uncomfortably of Paradise Falls
“But why us?” She asked as Somah began looking around the small storeroom
“It makes sense to me, humans survived a nuclear apocalypse and they want a slave force for there homeworld, it's not like humans can fight back in any way, swoop down, suck up a town into your hold and zip away. They're probably checking to see what diseases we have to make sure we don't bring back any plagues and to inoculate us to theirs.”
The logic tracked, Paradise Falls had a rigorous system for assessing new….cattle to ensure they weren't feeble or lame, Just thinking that alone made her sick to her stomach.
“Alright, but we should stop them, force them to capitulate, somehow, and free everyone onboard!” Abby declared as Somah scoffed.
“And how exactly do we do that, Vaulty? “Ask nicely and hold out a flag of peace and tranquility?” She asked sarcastically as Abigail tried to rack her brain. What would Dad do in a situation like this…. This wasn't like the vault….but that's when it hit her. This alien ship…. Maybe it was like a vault, if it's so big and would need alot of…. Well, everything, to move from planet to planet. Maybe, like a vault, if they crippled certain systems, maybe, they could stop them.
“As a matter a fact, I do have a plan”

Abigail said with smirk, removing the now stained towel as Somah raised a brow to her as Abigail regained her plan to her scribe accomplice.

Chapter 3 is done and I feel pretty good about it but escape scenes Aren't my forte im afraid, as usual I adore everyone who reads and enjoys it, I'll have proper links set up to go back to previous chapters sometime later I hope yall enjoy!

Hi all, so I'm gonna make this quick. I sort of/partially have feelings for this person. Partially because 1. We've never actually had a decent conversation 2. Im not sure about my feelings either The reason I show interest in this person is because how she treated me. At first I viewed her as in just like everybody normal, in my college there's a lot of pretty girls here and there but I'd say she's cute. So my first interaction with her was because my friend wanted data for a physics experiment, I was in the same class with her and basically I was hesitant and I didn't wanna do it but due to his constant begging, I'm like ok it won't hurt I guess. I didn't wanna do it because I don't wanna talk to girls, last time I talk to one it didn't end well. I never dated, she was just an acquaintance I'd say (past), somehow I'd say something dumb and got pissed off, called me a piece of shit and blocked on wa. This happened twice (this girl and another girl) but I won't go too much in details, in short I was young and basically the way I talk was not respectful. Now I'm more mature but I'm still careful with my words, this all happens in text btw. So yeah I digressed, pretty much intimidated by this girl, grew the guts, went up n talk to her. I asked her for the data and she said yes, kinda thought she was gonna be rude abt it but she was surprisingly really nice, she sent it via phone number n yea I to this day still have her phone number.
My next encounter with her was basically me and my friend (the guy who ask me for the data) were at a university, for like course briefing cuz I wanna take computer science. Somehow she was also in this lecture but with friends?? I didn't think too much nor do I bother much. But surprisingly, she said hi and ask for my name. It took me by surprise to be honest, I've never been great with being social, I've always been alone and invisible towards ppl, by the time I reached to college I completely abandoned my past, so I have no contacts with past highschool mates. The thought of this kinda just took me by surprise that's all. We didn't talk, I should have tried to initiate too, because I could have had the chance to meet new ppl and her friends, but I was very anti social and like I said I only cared about myself, I came from a dark past, so basically I have 0 social skills.
After the briefing, I encountered her again, it was during an English test. Time's up, paper done, I packed my bag and started to leave but she surprisingly approached me again. She was just asking about the paper, like how is this done, this and that. On my way back, I started to see her differently.
Last encounter, not physical, through chat, I was sicked and admitted to the hospital. She was the only person who I knew had the same classes for phys and eng, also I have her hp. I texted her, saying what did I miss, she was very kind about it to provide info. At the moment, I kinda show interest, well is not love at first sight bullshit but just interested, I wanted to know her better.
Present day, it's been few months since we chat, the thought of her kinda graze my mind every now and then. Biggest mistake I made was I should have initiated the conversation more like what do you plan on studying or where course you taking in uni, I thought I could get her to talk to me but I was really shy to converse with her knowing how much I suck at talking to ppl. I only realised this mistake when the new sem started, I should have just ask her out actually, I think she also lived near me according to a conversation I hear with the lecturer and her. Basically, I fucked up. I'm in the same class with her in English only this year, which in itself is lucky considering there's 31 classes and I got to be in that one class with her. But she had a fair share of friends and I couldn't approach her.
Ok, I'm just gonna talk about her abit. The reason I find her hard to approach is because she had a lot of friends, I don't assume I know, I've seen her alot with her friends and basically there was no room for me to interact. I feel like it be too creepy to suddenly text her now, plus I always see with her best friend? So I feel like she's the type of person who doesn't wanna be in a relationship, I don't even know if she has bf or not. I know nothing about her, and trying to know her now would seem to odd and bad timing. Idk about you guys but I feel like she would be creeped out, cuz l'm like a loner in class and also think is just impossible to text her. I won't be seeing her as the semester ends, but is finals so that's the time I see her but again I'd probably won't talk to her cuz again she has a lot of friends so she probably entertain them instead of a loner like me, plus I don't wanna stand out in front multiple people. I was thinking of maybe ask to study together? But two of us is just really weird.. I find it weird too
So what would you guys do in my position? I think is kinda pointless to ask since yk I had the chance I blew it, it took me months to realise I should have initiated the conversation, it doesn't matter if we're dating or not, I just wanna know her and be friends with her, I found myself in a serious of friendship desperation 💀 compared to last year. Feel free to inquire more questions about my situation. Like to see how you guys would go about it, I know I'd said I keep it short but hey wth, might as well go full story mode

Every single time someone has (purposefully) thrown a game/left early because they're mad they've had streamer mode on. I know that correlation /= causation because it isn't everyone with streamer mode on obviously. But I can't name a time off the top of my head when an extremely toxic player didn't have streamer mode.
Streamer mode should be a way to not have to deal with weirdos/stream snipers. Not a way to avoid people knowing you're the deadlock throwing peoples games.

https://preview.redd.it/3mk8opd2pu0d1.jpg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=005e7e74a8ca90537b9a5b4331b8214c3bfdfd04
Before you read my way-too-long write up. Note that if you find any glaring/obvious mistakes I've made that this is my first custom PC build since I built a dual-Celeron 300A system using socket to slot adapters and overclocking to 454Mhz in 1999 to play Quake 2 in Windows NT! So I'm a little rusty ;)

Parts:

• MB: MSI B760M Project Zero
• CPU: i7-14700K
• RAM: 64GB G.Skill DDR5 5600 CL28
• GPU: MSI RTX 4080 Super Gaming X Slim (IMPORTANT: See "Important Notes" and "Why I'm returning" sections)
• Cooler: TT TH360 V2 RGB AIO (See "Important Notes" section for details on when I tried a TH420 v2)
• Power Supply: MSI A1000G PCIe5
• Fans: SWAFAN EX14 ARGB (1 bottom, 2 top), I relocated one of the included fans to the rear. SWAFAN EX12 ARGB x3 on AIO Radiator
• SSD: 4TB Samsung 990 Pro
• Accessories: TT LCD (returned, see "The Bad" section)

The Good:

• Easy to work on: The tool-less design and ease access to everything in this case is great.
• Cable Management: The side channels and clips on the back are great and it was easy to access them multiple times when I had to make changes. Between this and the Project Zero stuff being on the back, cable management was a breeze!
• Ease of access: The tool-less design is fantastic and it's really easy to get any of the panels out. This case really is super easy to work on.
• Ventilation: Bottom, Top, Both Sides, all have large amounts of ventilation with dust filters. Even the areas below the glass are vented. More than enough to get good airflow.
• Dust Filters: All are easily accessible and great.
• Looks awesome
• Great use of space, especially when it comes to a longer GPU and the 420mm Radiator support.

The Bad:

• Project Zero: Accessing the headers on the right side (when looking at the back) is VERY tricky. See "Tips and Tricks" for how I got around this. Not really "bad" I guess, but just a little tricky. Personally, I think it was worth it.
• Top of Case/MB I/O Access: I do worry about the clips for the top of the case breaking after years of use. I kind of wince every time I had to open it although it works great. Also, having to to remove the top fans to get access to the motherboard rear I/O get's old very quick. Granted, my use case meant that this would be rare so it didn't matter too much for me specifically. Note that I mostly left the top fan assembly in place, removed the front glass, and fed the cable through the gap at the top to my other hand that was reached through the front to plug stuff in.
• PoweStorage LEDs: This may be a little nitpicky but I found the case LEDs to be way too bright. In addition to being bright in a dark room, they also reflect off the white interior of the top and back into the case a bit. I was able to get around that mostly by 3D printing little "tubes" to go around the LEDs so that they were just shining forward only. Electrical tape would have probably worked fine too.
• TT LCD: Not the fault of the Tower 300 case since it's an additional accessory and it's AWESOME that the case comes with a spare front panel to fit this LCD. However, the TT LCD itself absolutely sucks. The bezel is large and only comes in black (I had planned on designing and 3D printing a replacement white enclosure). But the real reason it sucks is the terrible software. While I didn't run into connection issues like others did, the software is painfully limited and the designs for showing data are ugly. Also, you can't show more than one piece of data at a time unless you cycle them on a timer. I just wanted to display CPU Temp and GPU Temp at the same time! It works great if you just want to display GIFs though.

Important Notes:

• My GPU: Not really the fault of the case but the biggest issue I ran into was my specific GPU running 20C+ hotter when mounted in this position despite me specifically looking for a GPU that didn't use a vapor chamber.
• TH420 AIO: While I was able to get the 420mm radiator installed fine, I was only able to get it mounted with the tubes on the top which caused an annoying sound. Weirdly, Amazon had sent me the Ultra version by accident and the LCD was crap and kept disconnecting so instead of returning it for the correct version I returned it for the TH360 version instead which I was able to mount with the tubes on the bottom (see "Tips and Tricks" section).
• EDIT: Now that I think about it, I'm wondering if I could have got it to fit by leaving the top screws out and shifting it up by 2-3mm... It only interfered with the bottom tabs by that much and since it fit the other way around. Sadly I don't still have the TH420 to test it before returning the case.

Tips and Tricks:

Project Zero motherboard right side (when looking at the back) header access: I don't know if this was a good or bad idea but I basically put only the 3 motherboard screws in place on the right side (when looking from the front) then positioned the case vertically. I then loosened those 3 screws just enough that I could swing the left side of the motherboard (when looking from the front) about 1 inch or so away from the case like opening a door slightly. That gave me enough room to access the headers using two hands by positioning myself on that side of the case and reaching from the rear with my left hand and reaching through the side with my right hand. This actually made it pretty easy to hook up those headers although it might not be the safest setup for the motherboard. I did this before hooking up anything else to the motherboard.
TT TH360 V2 AIO: I was able to mount this with the tubes at the bottom but it was tricky. I backed my power supply out a few inches, put the bottom of the radiator assembly in place, with the top leaning back out of the case while I routed the tubes carefully towards the front of the case (see pics). I then screwed the radiator bracket into place and slid my power supply back in and secured it.

Why I'm returning my Tower 300:

Unfortunately, I could not get my GPU to run lower than 76C at 100% fans when the case was vertical (slower fans made it thermal throttle at 84C). I put a digital thermometer in the case and it was 26C while the room was 22C. Even having every panel on the case off helped very little. When I tipped the case on it's side so that the GPU was oriented like it would be in a normal case (I propped it up at each end on 2 boxes to not block the air intake) the temps dropped down to 55C at 50% fans and that was without adjusting the airflow in the case to make it better horizontally so the case was actually hotter at 32C. Working with MSI support we determined that heat from other components on the card was likely migrating to the chip while in this position :(. I could have got the horizontal stand but the case just doesn't fit my desk setup in that orientation. So, my choices were to either return my GPU and try to find one that works in this case or replace the case. I didn't want to risk having to try and return a bunch of cards so sadly I'm returning the case and getting a Corsair 6500x. However, if you have a way to test or confirm that a GPU works in this vertical orientation, I do recommend the Tower 300 case. I will miss it.