About two weeks ago I thought about writing a story under 1,000 words. Would you believe ... 2,093 words? Enjoy!
At 9 PM, my roommate Martine pulled her knees closer to her chest and corrected her balance on the bay window bench seat. She never once looked at me as I finished neatening up the living room behind her. I didn’t expect her to notice me. She was waiting for her new love interest, Baylun. Nothing short of setting her clothes on fire would break her concentration before he arrived.
That’s why I didn’t bother to ask her if I looked okay. Yes, I wanted to make a good impression on Baylun because being presentable is being polite. Also, I didn’t want to give Martine any reason to leave me without her monthly half of the rent. If she left despite me being as perfect as I can be, well, nothing I can do about that. And given how intensely she was staring out the window, I wouldn’t be surprised if she expected Baylun to propose tonight. On their third date.
As if she’d read my mind, she spoke without turning her head. “Would you add him to the lease? I mean, if you like Baylun?”
“My Aunt Gloria might okay it. There’s enough room here. We can ask.” Why did I feel the need to appease her and pretend I wouldn’t be uncomfortable as the third wheel in my aunt’s rental house? My best guess is because appeasing and pretending are the cornerstones of my life, I’m very good at them.
Luckily, Martine was already not listening. “He’s here,” she whispered, sliding off the bench seat. After picking up her silk shawl, she partially opened our front door. Footsteps coming up our front steps stopped at what I presumed was the top step.
Beaming, she opened the door and invited him in. The man who entered had to duck to get in and I had to stop myself for apologizing to him. He was well dressed, looked like the proverbial “million dollars” and as he bent to give Martine a kiss on the cheek, I saw his eyes.
I froze for a moment, staring at the wrinkles around his eyes. Inhaling sharply, I blinked and shifted my gaze to Martine. She’d described Baylun as mature for his age. She’d failed to tell me he was at least middle age. That may sound ageist and I’m sorry for that but Martine and I are both 22 years old and Baylun looked twice that. He might be kind and, as Martine mentioned more than once, rich, but he might also be constantly on the lookout for a younger model than the one currently on his arm. Far be it from me to pass judgment without proof, but I would need more than Martine’s affirmation to feel comfortable with him as a roommate.
Introductions were short if not sweet. Baylun extended his hand and shook mine, which gave me some relief. If he’d kissed my hand I would undoubtedly have done nothing except internally cringe.
“Are you ready?” he asked, looking first at Martine who nodded enthusiastically. Then he looked at me and raised his eyebrows as if waiting for a reply. My jaw dropped, in real time.
Martine stared at me for half a second before jumping in to save me. “Lise was just getting her sweater, right, Lise?”
Thanks for covering for me, Martine. My plans for the night included pjs as soon as you guys left, but how could I say no? Except for flat out saying “No” which would be unthinkable.
“Right, I forgot it, and where are we going?” I squished in behind Martine, reached into the closet and took the top sweater from the neatly folded pile in the sweater drawer.
Baylun made a noise that was probably meant to sound like laughter. “Heddon’s Hill. To see the stars. Cloudless night tonight!”
Martine clapped her hands a couple of times, giving me a jolt of second-hand embarrassment. “Baylun asked me to keep it a secret. He brought a bottle of really good wine. It’s in his car, right, babe?”
Baylun didn’t say anything as he put his hand on her cheek like she was a child. She stared at him, as if in a trance. He didn’t purr audibly but that’s the best way I can describe his facial expression. Then I looked him in the eyes and the silence that followed hurt my ears.
A wave of panic immobilized me. I looked away and struggled to put on the sweater.
When he spoke, he whispered but it felt like thunder to my ears. “Perhaps a heavier outer layer?”
Martine snapped back into reality. “You look cold. Grab a hoodie, we’ll meet you in the car.”
That was the out I needed. “You know what, I feel awful. Go ahead, enjoy. I’ll take cold meds and try to be awake when you get back, to hear all about it.” To convey sadness at missing out on being a third wheel and resigned acceptance of impending illness, I grimaced and shrugged.
Martine considered me for a moment before agreeing. She leaned gently against Baylun’s arm and squeezed his hand. “Could we be back in an hour, babe?”
He turned his full attention on her and nodded. “Yes. We will. Goodbye, Lise.”
I thought about saying goodbye and decided a coughing fit would be more suitable. As I covered my mouth with my left elbow, I waved weakly with my right hand. The two lovebirds got into the car and when I heard it backing down the driveway, I poured a couple of teaspoons of night time anti-cold liquid down the sink. To make sure I smelled like I’d taken it, I licked the spoon before washing it.
When they returned, Martine walked in at a slower pace than usual and Baylun put his arm under hers as soon as they were both inside, so she could lean on him. She didn’t seem upset. She also didn’t make eye contact with me. My first thought was she had a bit too much wine, but we’ve had drinks together. She’s always been a little louder, a little more animated after a bit of alcohol. I started wondering if she’d consumed something other than wine while stargazing. Not judging, just trying to find an explanation that didn’t scare me about her health.
Instead of speaking to me, Baylun nodded and continued supporting Martine, helping her through the house. I reasoned he was taking her to the bathroom or her bedroom, so I squeezed in beside him and ran to open her bedroom door. Baylun led her to the far side of her bed so he was facing me, and helped her to lie down.
Except he didn’t lay her down right away. He held her halfway between standing and lying down, stared into my eyes and put his mouth on her neck.
I know how this sounds. My brain undoubtedly recognized the set-up. Yet I was unprepared for what happened.
Baylun retracted his lips, revealing two bloody fangs and touched Martine’s neck as if searching for something. Just before his fingers found them, I saw two wounds on her neck. He positioned his fingers so his fangs went into the wounds. Martine shuddered for a second, then sighed and stopped moving.
I inhaled sharply. Nothing made sense and I couldn’t remember how to move. When I realized my hand was still on the door handle, I leaned on it slightly, turned and ran to the front door.
Baylun met me there. I didn’t hear him walking or running. He wasn’t at the door and then he was, positioned to prevent me from opening it. He wasn’t frowning. He didn’t lean towards me or touch me, for which I was grateful.
But his eyes. They sparkled, they were bright and lively, and they were wrinkle-free. He looked my age, not middle aged. He looked like the guy I’d met an hour earlier, only younger.
I took a step backwards.
He took a step forward and spoke, his voice quiet and calm.
“If you say anything to her about what you saw, I will deny it and she will believe me. Then I will show you what it’s like to burn in hell.”
This was the second time in one night life handed me a “get out of trouble” card and I grabbed it with both hands. Frowning with the hopes of presenting as confused, I asked, “Okay, I thought it was very kind of you to bring her home, but I think I get it. What’s our story if she asks?”
He crossed his arms and studied me for a long moment. “I’m glad you understand. You can take credit for getting her into bed.”
I nodded and brought my left hand to my mouth, trying to look thoughtful. “And you asked her to text when she gets up tomorrow? Or is that too much?”
He chuckled and uncrossed his arms. “That’s just what I was thinking.” He stared at my mouth.
A rush of fear froze me in place. “Everything okay?”
“It will be.” He pointed at the right side of my mouth.
A sharp pain on the side of my face woke me up. It was still dark. I was in my bed. I tried sitting up and learned my pillowcase was stuck to the corner of my mouth.
Instant panic. I picked up the pillow and ran to the bathroom where a quick glance in the mirror above the sink revealed the substance wasn’t glue, it was blood. As awful as that was, my initial reaction was “Better than glue.” A little warm water on a face cloth eased the pillowcase off my skin and I set the case and face cloth on the counter.
For a brief moment I felt absolute relief. I held onto the sides of the sink and took a deep breath.
A drop of blood landed on the right side of the sink.
Blood could be from biting my lip, or inside of my cheek or even my tongue in my sleep. Or a nosebleed.
Another drop of blood landed on the sink.
It was so weird. Nothing hurt. Not my nose, not my lip, not my tongue. I struggled to figure out what I did, why I would be bleeding. Did I do something foolish before I went to bed?
I couldn’t remember going to bed.
Time to look in the mirror. There wasn’t any obvious damage, so I used my fingers to move my lips away from the right side of my mouth.
My canine tooth was missing. Another, sharper tooth was working its way out of the gums. That’s where the blood was coming from.
I leaned in and looked more closely at it. The emerging canine was definitely tearing through the gum, making it bleed.
A scream worked its way up my throat. I stood up, ramrod straight, shut my mouth and gently placed the face cloth on it.
I tiptoed down the hall to Martine’s bedroom door. It was shut. She was breathing in a regular pattern, not quite snoring.
I came back to my bedroom and checked my phone. 4:45 AM. When did I come to bed? Baylun was here, I remembered him with Martine and then at the door. Seems like he’s gone, unless he’s sitting in the dark in the living room or kitchen.
Any other day, Martine would be waking up in two hours. If she does, I don’t doubt she’ll be excited to hear Baylun wants her to text him.
I want to throw up. A few hours ago, life felt so normal. Now a giant canine tooth is pushing its way into my mouth. Maybe the other one is, too. I don’t care to find out. I also don’t want to go to the hospital where I’ll run out of answers before the staff run out of questions.
Maybe I can take a couple of days off work, see if the new dental situation affects my sleep schedule. Maybe I can find a night job.
Or maybe I’m a vampire, condemned to a life of hunting humans and being hunted by humans. I’m going to wait until Martine gets up before posting this. She might have a lot more information on this.
My mind is clearer now. My memories are back. It’s time for me to disappear from Martine’s and my Aunt Gloria’s lives. I can do it. I must do it. For their safety, and for mine. Everything is not okay. Not yet.

For those of you with no patience to read
After releasing two more dlc in the style they did thrones of decay with patches afterwards.

1. Add cinematics and opening speeches.
2. Change end times
3. Create lore filled victory conditions that combine with the unique item battles to give purpose and story to the campaigns.
4. Unique turotorials for factions.
5. Add read alongs to the lore page in the faction selection menu

So I am on reddit alot reading a lot like most of us here, Outside of some of your "extra curriculur activities" that some of you may have that is. I think it's clear for us here that play wh3, it's easy to say that we all have a ton of opinions that would make wh3 better.
Let me also say. We will never all agree and there is always room to improve just about anything in life let alone games.
With that being said. I a long time gamer at this point do not expect anything to be released perfectly. Most games that drop now a days that aren't small time indie games. Have bugs and fixes that need to be done. So I think this last dlc CA dropped was wonderful. It is obvious that to get the right touch they need us, the players to let them know what's going on after a release. So I think they are headed in the right direction currently.
Anyways. I think if they drop two more dlc similar to the last one. Then there updates for the bug fixes and slight balance changes. I think a lot of us would be happy.
With that being said. I think that before dropping the rest of the dlc's after (like nagash and such) that maybe it would be best to focus on some other things in the process. But not needing to be in this particular order btw.

1. Hit us with cinematics and opening speeches for all the factions. Bring that back. Not just the factions being touched in the dlc's.
   
2. Change the end game scenario situation. I understand the point of the end game scenarios is to make it less "steam rolly" and throw in a nice curve ball allt you. For me it does just that. But most the time I don't play with it on. From reading most of your post. It seems others have thoughts of them being meaningful. So like most things in life, the best things have real purpose. Most players enjoy games that immerse them and give them depth. So I think adding true purpose in the end game scenarios would be great for most of us. Maybe instead of just boom spam doom stack, it be boom give a few stacks to order or to chaos, make them allies and bring on a tide.
   

This may however not make sense for some factions who usually stay independent like green skins, even tho in the lore technically Grimgor was working for the good guys. But it was for his own purpose. Now this particular category I feel like I really don't have too many ideas for. But if it were to be a focus and some polls were to be released on the matter. I think it would settle down the community a little, for those that are getting "bored" of the current situation.

1. Since wh3 is the largest total war I believe to date with the most playable factions, that also have the most unique variety compared to any other total war game. I think a very ambitious thing to do. Would be to then go back to every factions, and completely change the Victory conditions. Not only change them. But give them a very great lore specific goals. If they take victory conditions, and there current unique battles (the ones that you normally obtain your lord items with) and bring them together. I think we can give every faction it's own little immersive lore filled story.

The trick how ever is to make it so the AI controlled factions don't become predictable from this situation. Which for that idk how it would go. But you don't want players to be able to predict, oh I know Vlad is going to try and aim for this because that's part of his victory condition, Because maybe that makes the game easier? Or maybe you do add it because then you have a strategy to focus on with the people who start around you. I feel like automatically giving the AI there unique weapons even at a specific level point is meh by the way.
But imagine if you will that along your usual conquest, you have goals. That not just unlock items like we currently have, but also faction based rewards like how they do with skarsnik, queek, and belegar. I think making it so the battles can't be teleported too (this I am unsure of), and make them go along with your victory conditions. Could be great. Imagine your playing belegar you take eight peaks and a nice speech happens and you claim that condition properly. Basically instead of it feeling like an instant royal rumble we bring it all together to give an amazing lore filled mini objective based campaign. Not that your stuck doing it btw. If you still want to conquer in another direction by all means. Hell maybe make rumble mode its own mode. So basically it turns off all that stuff, victory conditions and all, at the menu you check off a box and you just load up and go straight to conquering. But for the rest of us, and I'll boldly say most of us. It feels Grindy and too simple for what Warhammer has to offer.
This can be applied to faction based mechanics as well. Grudge books, elector count system, even triggering waaaaghs. Anyways for those who have played Warhammer battle march, you'll see that a game like total war could greatly benefit from some good lore filled objectives. I however do not think it would be wise to do it in the same way and make it more linear like battlemarch.

1. I thought why not have little intro for the factions, kind of like the tutorial. Which btw I love that they did give us a nice tutorial in this game. Without giving the player a running start and expand your territory in the beginning of a campaign, instead make it it's own thing. Example, you load up Karl Franz (stupid umie), his amazing cinematic plays then he says some really great speech when you get on the map (referencing 1.) and instead of just that first initial battle with the initial enemy. It's more like "zoomed in" on the map, so like the tutorial is not going to shape the map at all. It's just a quick this is who Franz is and how this faction plays sort of deal. A little lore, a little lord how to guide, a little faction how to guide. Maybe make it skipable? Or make it a box you check before loading up if you want to play it, have it start before the cinematic and speech. But the current tutorial is more battle specific. This would give each faction a more interactive guide not just a here read this, and give you a nice little story. Not to mention it can feel like it unlocks the faction and it's mechanic.
   
2. When your looking at a faction you have three tabs. The Lord details and such, the starting position and the little lore page. I would love that you could click a button and the character or maybe the old man thats been in the three titles reads the lore for us. A simple nice gesture for ca. This is not just for the lazy people who don't want to read, because I how ever did read them all. I even read them to friends when I am talking to people about Warhammer fantasy. But I am sure a lot of us would love to just be able to sit back and listen.
   

I think that adding 1 through 4 will change how dlc is released because obviously they have to add these things as well like the cinematics and stuff. But it will make that dlc feel less like oh here is just another faction obstacle for my campaign. Just more map clutter.
If they ever released a total war: Warhammer 4. One thing they could for sure do is fill out the map more. Like does anyone imagine how beautiful the forest was in wh1 wood elves dlc campaign? Imagine if the whole map was zoomed in, with its entire map. Then obviously they can add the small factions in that might not have enough lore or units to make them playable. But they can ty into other people's victory conditions. And be apart of faction stories during the tutorials and unique battles and such.

I am doing demos since last 3 months for my new product- Feedspace and the conversion rate( the users who purchased my SAAS after taking demo) is more than 60 percent.
Yesterday there was a client who was using our product at 299$ from 1 month. She has 3M subscribers on Youtube. I called her on demo to showcase and explain more about the product and guess what She upgraded her plan to 799$ on spot.
It is mainly because I try to offer personalized solutions to the customers on demo by understanding more about their business.
About My SAAS Product Feedspace : Collect, Manage and Share Audio, Video & Text Data Feeds. Be it testimonials, feedback, reviews, bug reports, interviews, daily updates, user-generated data and more! Feedspace provides solutions for HR, Startups, Educational institutes, Course Creators, Influencers, Hotels & Restaurants, Hospitals, Product Managers, Freelancers etc. You can secure and import your reviews from all over the internet and collect them on one platform- Feedspace. Create your own Wall of Love and build social proof to increase your revenue and business.
You want a use case and solution for your business : Book a free demo call: https://www.feedspace.io/demo/

Hi, mag 3 months na kaming mag kakilala ng gf ko 2 months ko syang niligawan at kami na pero diko nararamdaman na mahal nya ako, she's 1st yr college . Mag 1 month palang kami. Eto na nga, nag pa check up ako tapos sakto nayung pina check up pan ko ay super lapit lang sa school nya, exam week nila nun. Edi tapos na exam nya, then ininvite sya ng cm nya na kumain sa labas madami din sila, nag picture alam moyung parang photo booth? May sakit ako and super tagal na talaga neto. So, sa sm yung pa check upan ko then mag isa lang ako, Di man lang sya dumaan sa clinic kahit i ask kung kamusta ka? Samahan kita jan kase tapos na exam mo. Nag ask sya if want ko samahan nya ako, the answer is obvious ma diba? Pero sinabi konalang na wag na kase nga super konti lang ng tulog nya. Pero naka hang-out pa kasama cm nya, btw, up until ngayon di man lang sya nag a-ask kung kamusta naba kalagayan ko. Pati like pag lumalabas ako, di man lang sya nag aalala kung late nako umuwi, sino ba kasama ko, pero ako alalang alala and also nawawalan nadin ako ng tiwala sakanya kase nag lie sya sakin, ininvite sya nung friend nya na lumabas, around 5pm then nakauwi sya 9pm ayoko naman na di sya payagan kase nga pinapayagan sya ng parent nya yung mama nya yung papa nya kase strict pero nasa abroad so di alam pero one time nag lie sya sakin na ang kasama nya lang yung girlbestfriend nya pero yun pala may dalawang guy na sumunod she didn't even inform me up until kinabukasan ng hapon nakita ko my day ng friend nya na babae, the reason tiningnan ko is bc di sya nag a-update so yun pala kasama barkada nung shs. Super disappointed ako sakanya kase she lied to me and assure me na yung girl lang nayun kasama nya. Gabi na pero nasa layasan padin sya. Also na tuturn off nadin ako sakanya kase super immatured nya pa, like binibigyan pa sya ng mama nya ng tips like, dapat samahan mo sya kapag nag papa check up sya, "wag kang makikiinom kasama mga kaibigan mo kase baka di gusto ng bf mo" like tinolerate konalang na di nya pa alam mga ganyan, kase nga naintindihan ko naman kase nga 1st bf nya ako; pero napansin kolang din na nag lie ulit sya sakin, di daw sya nag iinom kapag ka di kasama mama nya, so 2 lies nayon diba? Also, she always ask something obvious like, okay lang ba na mag main character ako sa theater namin it's abt rom-com. Syempre for me "hindi" kahit paba acting lang yon nakakaselos padin. Ang hilig nya din nag mura hays haha. Mahilig din ako mag mura pero when she's around di talaga ako nagumura as a form of respect.
Tbh, ayokong iopen up to sakanya kase baka mag away lang kami at takot din akong maiwan. Feeling ko kase ako lang yung nag mamahal dito eh. Sorry for the long rants wala kaseng maoag sabihant

This might sound like a silly question, but I have trouble removing dust or debris from under my keycaps.
I had to replace my entire MacBook through Amazon because two keycaps broke off. Apparently, a piece of dust interfered with the closing mechanism and caused a tiny plastic pin to break. I'm worried this might happen again, so I avoid trying to get under the keycaps with pliers or similar tools.
Right now, I can see a piece of plastic under one of my keys. It appears to have broken off as well. The keycap is still usable but sometimes gets stuck, which happened about a month before it fell off on my old MacBook.
Do you use silicone mats or something similar to protect your keyboard? I'm shocked at how fragile the keys are.
By the way, I don't smash my keyboard or anything. I use it mostly for regular coding and avoid eating near it. The debris is usually just dust or stuff from my laptop case.

To clarify, I now know that there are different definitions of the word “ship”, but for the purposes of this article and to keep things simple I will use the definition of “a relationship that’s rushed and/or forced with no real development.” I hope you can understand as I do not know of any other single word to describe that concept. If you do, perhaps you can tell me. Also, fair warning, this is long form content (some 10 pages), if you like it but can’t read it all at once you can save it and come back to it over a period of time, or you can stop reading whenever you get tired of it and still discuss those parts of it with me that you have read. But keep it civil if you want a civil response.
With that, to qualify the title, no, Ezra and Sabine do NOT absolutely have to be a couple, but if they were to become one, it would NOT be a ship. Ezra and Sabine’s relationship has had years of development. Could they remain as simply friends? Yes, but ironically, it was their “friendship” that felt like more of a ship. It felt like the Ahsoka show, helmed by Dave Filoni, was going out of its way to tell us: “no, they’re not a couple, they’re just friends.”
I believe that Filoni made some very poor writing choices to stress something that didn’t really need to be stressed, such that it almost felt like he was in denial. The line “I love you like a sister” was never in Rebels, Filoni essentially had that retconned in, and like many I was put off by their (largely) emotionless reunion. Even if they were “just friends” I believe there would be a great deal more emotion displayed between two people that hadn’t seen each other in some ten years, especially when one of them was in a precarious situation when they parted. I also believe Ezra would be far more curious about Sabine being Force sensitive, perhaps even offering to help train her when she told him that her training hadn’t gone as well with Ahsoka. He did help to train her with the Darksaber, didn’t he? Why that never came up is another discussion, but for now, let’s focus on shipping.
In case you think I’m desperate to have them as a couple, no I’m not. I’m about the furthest thing from it. Like many millennials and Gen-Z’ers (and perhaps some Gen-Xers and boomers) I DESPISE shipping. Absolutely DESPISE it. With a flaming passion. Perhaps for this reason, and maybe some others, like many millennials and Gen-Z’ers (and perhaps some Gen-Xers and boomers), I’m generally wary of nearly all romance in fiction, and generally avoid it in my own work. The sad reality is that romance is perhaps the most abused genre in all of fiction, all throughout history. It has been so badly abused that many people, including myself for the longest time, have equated romance with shipping, though I’m slowly beginning to see that they are not the same thing, and one does not necessarily have to go with the other.
But sadly, many writers, through time immemorial, have not been able to separate them, going back into ancient times and perhaps even into pre-history, that is before languages were actually written down. Some of what is considered great literature; classics like Romeo and Juliet, are predicated on shipping, though at least the consequences of this “whirlwind romance” are shown to be fairly stark. Star Wars itself is no stranger to shipping, resulting in a very awkward incestuous kiss when Luke was shipped with Leia, then Leia was placed with Han and Lucas made Luke and Leia brother and sister, apparently having forgotten his original ship. Later Lucas essentially shipped Anakin and Padme, resulting in some of the most cringeworthy dialog in the history of film. Many fans of the Prequels even have been somewhat critical of Anakin’s portrayal, particularly in regards to the “romantic” scenes, with many describing them as “creepy”. Some have speculated that this was intentional, though personally I think it was just the result of bad writing on the part of George Lucas, and an impatience on his part for Anakin and Padme to become a couple, hence “shipping”.
One might wonder why this is so prevalent in fiction, and tragically, one does not have to look far. Fiction is merely a reflection of reality, therefore the reason that shipping is so common in our stories is that we fall so easily into it in real life. Indeed, entire cultures may be based around shipping, or at least very heavily wrapped up in it. Throughout history arranged marriages have been the norm, and the idea of marrying for “love” is something relatively new. To be fair, I’ve actually met people in arranged marriages who seemed to be fairly happy, but those same people were very open in telling me that many despise that aspect of their culture, and that it is quite normal for those in an arranged marriage to try to get out.
People might come together for “love” without marrying, but even then it often creates expectations that might turn into a burden. Even when a marriage is voluntary and for “love”, people are often left unsatisfied, such that today in the West the divorce rate is something like 50%. Happy, stable, long term relationships seem to be the exception across cultures and across the breadth and width of time. And yet pursuit of love and some kind of relationship seems to be the highest calling for many people, both in real life and in fiction. And it could be that the accumulated disgust is finally starting to boil over.
To be fair, this may not be the first time in history that the pendulum has shifted. You may recall that in Victorian times attitudes changed drastically, as compared to the previously bawdy Elizabethan times. Looking at a play from Shakespear, if you can understand the language, you’ll see all kinds of vulgar references, as well as what I believe are fairly sappy romances like in the aforementioned Romeo and Juliet, though I can’t say for certain whether Shakespear was actually endorsing that type of attitude towards “love” or presenting it as a cautionary tale, maybe even something to be ridiculed in some of his other plays.
But regardless, Victorians as you may well know had a very conservative attitude towards anything to do with romance, and would often avoid the subject in many places, or tread very carefully around it, as if walking on eggshells. It’s not that people stopped being romantic, in fiction or real life, but it was treated as something very serious and even dangerous, with many urges repressed or even suppressed entirely. This had all kinds of effects on society, both positive and negative. On the positive side, it reinforced the ideal of people being committed to their partners, and of marriage as a sacred institution rather than a “casual hookup” as was more common in Elizabethan times. Likewise it reinforced ideals of modesty and chastity, which may be coming back into vogue, though under different names. But just as there were positive aspects to these attitudes, so were there negative ones.
Just because the urges I described were repressed did not mean that they disappeared. In fact, they often morphed into things that many would consider “unhealthy”. From one statistic that I saw, in Victorian times about one in every 60 houses was a brothel, with the modern rate being closer to one in 6000. Additionally, the rights of women were often repressed, such that they could not fully express themselves and find their own identity, and path in life, as individuals. Just as Elizabethan ideals gave way to Victorian ones, so did the Victorian ideals gradually begin to erode.
Perhaps it began with the Jazz Age of the 1920’s (the “Roaring Twenties”), or with the increased interconnectivity of people traveling to different parts of the world during World War I, not to mention the cynicism that pervaded throughout the West in response to failed old ideals leading to the deadliest war in history up to that point, but many Victorian ideals began to be seen as a joke, and even resented for their “oppression”, which to be fair was not entirely unjustified. But regardless, people gradually, and at times not so gradually, became more and more “liberated” and promiscuous. This culminated in the Sexual Revolution in the late 1960’s, when what had previously been seen as a vice and even a sin was now seen as not only “normal” but as a healthy form of expression, a virtue even. And just as these ideas were embraced in real life, so too were they reflected in our films, TV shows, and other media, often to the consternation of older people and institutions, like the Vatican. The Catholic Church even went so far as to “ban” certain films, that is to declare them immoral for good Catholics to watch. Many of the films that were banned back then, or at least controversial, like The Graduate with Dustin Hoffman, are fairly tame by today’s standards.
It continued through the 70’s, at times warming and at times cooling through the rest of the century, until you could argue it reached a kind of crescendo in the early 21st century with the advent of so-called “dark romance” and the publication of books like Fifty Shades of Grey. (Ironically, many of the themes within this “dark romance” can trace their roots back to the Victorian era, yet another indication that repressing urges without addressing them often doesn’t work out as one might hope.) But as happens all too often, just as something reaches peak popularity is when it begins to go out of style, and that is what we may be experiencing right now. As weird as it may sound, we may actually have come full circle and may be on the cusp of a “New Victorian Age” (complete with “dark romance”, even). Web sites like Porn Hub and OnlyFans, as well as other similar sites, may be the new “brothels”, and what was once openly celebrated may be going underground, to an extent. The effects of this on society have been interesting to say the least, and at times I would even say bizarre.
Whilst many younger people seem content with these changes, many older people are concerned. I’ve seen a number of books, films, and other media receive positive reviews for example based specifically on their lack of romance. Many of these books/films, etc. fall into the “young adult” category, meaning that it is young adults obviously who mostly consume them. At the same time I’ve heard a number of older people, mostly boomers and Gen-Xers, criticize these same books/films for their lack of romance. Even some older millennials seem upset by the changes, as perhaps evidenced by Jennifer Lawrence’s latest film No Hard Feelings (though to be fair that film may be lampooning the older generation’s frustration as well as the younger generation’s frigidity). So just as in the past older people were concerned about the promiscuity of the youth, now it actually appears that many older people are concerned about the youth’s lack of promiscuity.
Who could have seen that coming? But to be fair, the younger generation hasn’t gone completely frigid. As stated earlier, much of the promiscuity has gone “underground”, or online, which many would argue is not very healthy as it might undermine actual relationships, whether they are romantic in nature or simple friendships. And speaking of that, friendships within stories nowadays often aren’t portrayed in a very authentic or compelling manner, perhaps because in ditching romance modern writers haven’t quite yet learned how to replace it with something else. In other words, the “New Victorian Age” may not be an exact repeat of the previous one, but may have its own twists and turns, for better and for worse.
This may all essentially be a manifestation of the Human Condition, in that we just can’t seem to find a happy medium, neither in real life nor in fiction. Thus we keep swinging from one extreme to the other, apparently getting wilder with each swing.
So where does all this leave us? What is it that we really want in our lives, and in our stories? Especially in regards to relationships? I think at some level we all want to see good and healthy relationships between people and/or characters, whether romantic or platonic. I believe at some point we would like to see good examples of both friendship and romance, and I would argue that the best examples of romance have them combined. Even a toxic relationship, if well portrayed or documented, can be instructive and serve as a good example of what to avoid in our lives that we might be happier and relate better to each other. A good relationship, by contrast, can give us something to aspire to and inspire us to not only look for the right kind of person to complement our lives, but to make ourselves worthy of that person. And here I’ll add that I’m perfectly aware that in real life (and thus in fiction) relationships can be very complicated and heavily nuanced, with elements of both “good” and “bad” in them. Just as people change over time so can the relationships between them change, at times getting better and at times worse, sometimes breaking entirely and sometimes growing stronger. Relationships can have just as many layers and dimensions as characters, more even perhaps, and a skilled writer should be able to reflect this complexity. At other times a relationship can be fairly straightforward, simplicity sometimes being the best approach. But regardless, the audience should be able to relate and identify with what they are seeing, such that hopefully they can incorporate the lessons from it in their own lives.
Where can we find good examples of relationships to study? There may be a number of them in the real world, but the trouble with studying real world relationships is that they’re often much more complicated than fictional ones (just as real people are more complicated than fictional characters), and for many of them it is almost impossible to know all the details and nuances because they are often kept private, understandably so, and even if they aren’t it can still be difficult, due to unique circumstances, to see how to relate them to our own lives. Additionally there may be far more disagreement about a real life situation than a fictional one, with many more points of view. To keep things simple, for the purpose of this article I would like to focus on fictional relationships. (And fair warning, there will be some spoilers.)
One of the best places to look, I would argue, would be the films of Hayao Miyazaki. (And this is pretty significant to Star Wars as you will see in a bit.) A film of his that stands out to me the most is Princess Mononoke. Like many of Miyazaki’s films it has elements of romance, and yet subverts them in a way that makes complete sense and feels very genuine, without taking away from any of the accompanying charm. It starts with two young people, San and Ashitaka, and as soon as they encounter each other there is a kind of expectation of romance. This may be inevitable to some degree when you have a man and a woman of about the same age encounter each other in a story, especially if they happen to be adolescents. The expectation may not be inherently bad, and Miyazaki does play with it. Both characters are thrust into dangerous situations, at various points end up saving each other’s lives, and at a certain point I think it is obvious that they have feelings for each other. I was certain that at the end of the film, they would be together, and if things had gone that way, it would make complete sense. Instead, they go in different directions, but remain good friends, and considering their backgrounds and differing worldviews, this ends up making even more sense to the story.
Essentially, Miyazaki could have gone for the more conventional, tried and true “love conquers all” narrative, where the characters’ feelings for each other would negate everything that comes between them, they would somehow find a common ground in spite of their differences, the romance would not only take over the narrative but somehow also solve all the problems in the story, and then the couple would live “happily ever after”. Such an approach is not inherently bad or wrong, and is fairly common in Western media and storytelling. We can see it in films like Fern Gully, and more recently James Cameron’s Avatar, both of which have been compared to Princess Mononoke. As you can probably guess, the problem is that at a certain point such a narrative can become fairly simplistic, and lack nuance.
Miyazaki’s films, by contrast, are very heavily nuanced, and are anything but simplistic. In Princess Mononoke the characters San and Ashitaka don’t help each other simply because they are “in love”, but because it is the right thing to do, regardless of how they might feel about each other. Yes, romantic feelings are certainly alluded to, but they are not essential to the plot, for it could have worked just as well without any romantic allusions. And ironically, this makes those allusions even more valid, even if they are unrequited. How so?
Consider that if love is essential to a given narrative, is it not relegated to being nothing more than a plot device? Again, this is quite common in Western media and storytelling, and is not inherently bad or wrong, but when it becomes a trope or cliche, I believe it is the essence of where shipping comes from. Many storytellers get caught up in this, usually without realizing it, and while a story can still work even with shipping, I believe that it usually works that much better without it.
This extends not only to Miyazaki’s handling of romance but also to other things like environmentalism, the conflict between man and nature, and the contrasting ideals of human progress vs. preserving the natural order. Movies like Fern Gully and Avatar, as already mentioned, handle these themes in a fairly simplistic and I would even say hamfisted manner, whereby all progress and technology is shown as being inherently “bad” and in service to “evil”, while everything that’s “natural” is shown to be inherently “good”. Even our notions of good and evil, and right vs. wrong, are challenged by Miyazaki, with nearly all of his characters having complex motives and multiple dimensions to them, as well as understandable reasons for doing the things that they do. Rarely can any one of his characters be branded as a simple “villain”, and rarely is any one individual the source of conflict in his stories, again in contrast to most Western narratives.
I’ll reiterate once more, a simple, straightforward narrative is not inherently a bad thing, whether the themes being dealt with are romantic or anything else. Sometimes it is in fact the best approach. But the best stories in my opinion are usually the most nuanced, that challenge our notions of what we believe to be true, and that force us to think about what we do with our lives and what we could do differently. To that end Miyazaki introduces all manner of themes and motifs within his films that are familiar to us but shows them in a light most of us might not have considered, thus giving more dimension to our understanding of things.
“How is any of this related to Star Wars?” you might ask. It is quite related, and you don’t even have to look all that closely to see it. A very influential figure within Star Wars was very heavily inspired by the works of Miyazaki, and that figure is Dave Filoni.
This video shows the connections in some detail:
https://youtu.be/Q_4L0BbSpHo?si=04jDo6qFCnZT135w
But to summarize if you’ve seen any of Miyazaki’s films, especially Princess Mononoke, I think the callbacks in Filoni’s work will be all too obvious, especially in Star Wars Rebels. Some of the scenes in Filoni’s work look like they were taken directly from Miyazki’s films, and many of the same themes and motifs often come up. The relationship between San and Ashitaka I would argue is very similar to the relationship between Ezra and Sabine, and not just because both couples rode wolves together.
Incidentally, Dave Filoni was also heavily involved in Avatar: The Last Airbender, which I would also argue was at least to some degree inspired if not by Miyazaki then by Japanese anime in general. The relationship between Aang and Katara was developed with great care and was allowed to build very slowly, as opposed to simply shipping them. Likewise other characters very gradually developed as individuals and in their relationships, at times stumbling as they did so, and making mistakes, before finding their way back to the right path.
All of this is in stark contrast to George Lucas, whose character development is often very rushed at best, and at times some might say almost non-existent. So essentially, even though Lucas has said that Filoni has been “like a son” to him, and I believe referred to Filoni as his “padawan”, I would argue that Filoni is ultimately as much a student of Miyazaki as he is of Lucas.
Again, you might ask, “What does all this mean for Star Wars?” It means a great many things. It means that Dave Filoni has taken Miyazaki’s lessons to heart, and can handle things like romance, as well as other kinds of relationships, quite well most of the time. Like Miyazaki he can play with romance, tease the audience with it at times even, leave the romance unrequited, and yet still have it feel satisfying. A prime example of this is the love triangle that Ahsoka was involved in with the young Separatist Senator, Lux Bonteri, and Steela Gerrera. As wary as I am of romance and as much as I despise shipping, love triangles I normally despise even more, but this one seemed to actually work. It never took over the main story, and even though Ahsoka’s feelings were ultimately not reciprocated, she still learned from the experience, and grew and developed further as a character because of it. The other characters involved in this triangle also grew and developed from their involvement, though unfortunately not all of them made it. All in all it was a good bit of storytelling and gave the audience something to consider.
When a relationship in one of Filoni’s stories does bloom into a full blown romance he also generally handles it quite well. For one Filoni is sparing with actual romance, so that when it does occur, it can be that much more appreciated. And rather than rushing or shipping it, Filoni normally takes his time to build it up. An example of this is the relationship between Kanan and Hera. Some might argue that this is perhaps the best developed romance in all of Star Wars, at least in Canon. Built up over four seasons, at times it wasn’t certain whether it was a romance or a friendship, or perhaps even a professional partnership. Perhaps even the characters themselves were not certain, though it was hinted all throughout the narrative that something was going on. To this day I don’t believe anyone can say definitively when it became an actual romance, and I believe Filoni did this intentionally because he wanted to be subtle, rather than making things too obvious and having the romance take over the narrative, as it usually does. When it finally did become obvious as to what was happening, it felt very much earned, in a way that is seldom accomplished in other works of fiction, including Star Wars.
The relationship between Ezra and Sabine was also fairly well written, for the most part anyway, at least in Star Wars Rebels. Ezra was almost immediately smitten with Sabine, but being a young teenage boy, it was understandable that he would feel that way about an attractive girl. Over time he learned to see her more respectfully, as a colleague and even as part of his adopted family, not just as a pretty face. Sabine for her part found Ezra annoying at first (c’mon, what teenage boy isn’t?), but as he matured and she found out more about him she came to understand and respect him more, and see him as a friend and almost a brother, with there being potential for something more.
There were times when the relationship could have been better written, like in the episode “Blood Sisters”, where Ezra was written to be a bit too immature to make Sabine look wiser. But overall, the bond between them developed fairly well; both saved one another at various times, and took risks and made sacrifices for each other’s sake. Both reassured and comforted the other when they needed it, and it was endearing to hear their banter when they became more familiar and trusting of each other.
So why then was I so disappointed in how they were portrayed in the Ahsoka show? The thing is, after how well their relationship was built up in Rebels, as I’ve already mentioned it was strange to see how lackluster and uninspired their reunion was.
Within the Ahsoka show itself Sabine was shown to be almost obsessed with finding Ezra, living in what used to be his home, watching a recording of him over and over again, and calling out his name as she woke up in the middle of the night. She even risked bringing Thrawn back into the Galaxy, which ultimately happened, just so she could see Ezra again. After all that, when she finally does encounter him, her reaction seems fairly casual, as does his, as if they’ve been apart for no more than a week, rather than 10 years. Not too much happens between them afterwards either. Like I said Ezra does not appear all that curious about what happened with Sabine, how she found him, and how it was that she was now Force sensitive. Sabine likewise did not seem curious about what had happened with Ezra, and how he had gotten away from Thrawn. And with Ezra rescued and returned home, suddenly it didn’t seem as though Sabine was all that interested in him anymore, nor he all that concerned with her, though they were just as far apart as they had been at the start of the show. To be completely honest it made me wonder what the point of the whole show was. Were they just working to set up Thrawn’s return to the Galaxy? As some have said, Ezra felt like nothing more than a Macguffin in the show. Was Sabine and Ahsoka’s search for him just a plot device?
Considering how skillfully Dave Filoni had written his stories in the past, what happened in this latest project of his does not make much sense. Was he so concerned about “shipping” and so desperate to avoid it that he inadvertently “shipped” them in the other direction? Was there some sort of external pressure on him about how to write this story to have more of an appeal to “modern audiences”? Maybe some combination of those factors?
And here I’ll add that when I say “modern audiences” I don’t mean that in a contemptuous sense, though you may think I do. If there is any contempt on my part it is for those in charge of telling our stories, or those in charge of those telling our stories, who do not seem to grasp these basic truths. The truth is that audiences at their core don’t really change throughout the ages, only superficially so. Trends come and go but certain truths and ideals are eternal, and universal. How people relate to each other fundamentally does not change, whether they are friends, or more than friends. And deep down, I believe everyone (or nearly everyone at least) wants the same things. Nearly everyone at some point wants some kind of a connection with another human being, to know that they are not alone in the world, and to know that there is someone else who sees and understands things as they do. While this desire can certainly lead to abuse, and absolutely has, it is still innate to us and is not inherently wrong. Finding ways of connecting and relating to other people is one of the great challenges of life, but many would argue it is the most worthwhile of challenges. It may be the whole point of life if you think about it. As complex as it may be, many would argue it is what makes life worth living, and likewise makes for the best stories. Just as it may be the whole point of life many would say that is what most stories are about at their core: people trying to relate to one another.
Sadly, just as in real life, most stories unfortunately don’t quite get it, and the Ahsoka show in my opinion was an example of this, made all the sadder by the fact that Dave Filoni had done quite well with these characters up to that point. We may never know for certain what exactly went wrong and why, or if it can ever be “fixed” at this point, but I can’t help but feel curious. Maybe in the future Filoni will find a way to make it make sense, but I’m not sure how. And to be completely honest I don’t feel quite as enthusiastic to find out as I used to.
Also for the record I would like to add here that there are other factors that put me off from the show, such as Sabine’s Force sensitivity, that came about without much build up. But in this article I specifically wanted to focus on shipping because there seems to be so much misunderstanding around it.
I hope that I was able to clarify some, if not most of this misunderstanding, so that people could better appreciate what shipping is, where it comes from, as well as what it isn’t. Many people today are understandably sick of shipping characters, myself included. But I hope people realize that in overcompensating for something, we often come back around into the very thing that we are overcompensating for. Or sometimes, into something even worse. This may apply to nearly every facet of life, by the way, not just shipping. Finding a happy medium in how we portray our fictional relationships may help us to better understand relationships in real life, as well as how to navigate them. Neither fictional nor actual relationships can ever be perfect but they can always be better. To this understanding then I hope that I was able to give my own modest contribution, and if nothing else I hope we can connect on that.

Infertility can be a challenging issue for many individuals or couples, but fortunately, there are several treatment options available. The choice of treatment depends on various factors including the cause of infertility, the age of the individuals involved, personal preferences, and medical history. Here are some common infertility treatment options:
1. Fertility Medications : These medications stimulate ovulation in women or improve sperm production in men. They are often the first line of treatment for infertility and may be used alone or in conjunction with other treatments.
2. Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) : Also known as artificial insemination, IUI involves placing sperm directly into the uterus around the time of ovulation to increase the chances of fertilization.
3. In vitro Fertilization (IVF) : IVF is a procedure where eggs are retrieved from the ovaries and fertilized with sperm in a laboratory. The resulting embryos are then transferred into the uterus. IVF may be recommended for various causes of infertility, including tubal issues, endometriosis, male factor infertility, and unexplained infertility.
4. Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) : In cases of severe male factor infertility, where sperm quality or quantity is low, ICSI may be used during IVF. With ICSI, a single sperm is injected directly into an egg to facilitate fertilization.
5. Donor Eggs or Sperm : For individuals or couples with severe infertility issues, the use of donor eggs or sperm may be an option. This can allow conception when one partner has compromised fertility or in cases of same-sex couples.
6. Surrogacy : In cases where a woman cannot carry a pregnancy to term due to medical reasons, surrogacy involves another woman carrying the pregnancy on behalf of the intended parents.
7. Lifestyle Changes : In some cases, making lifestyle changes such as achieving a healthy weight, reducing alcohol consumption, quitting smoking, and managing stress can improve fertility.
8. Surgery : Surgical procedures may be recommended to correct anatomical issues that contribute to infertility, such as blocked fallopian tubes or varicoceles in men.
9. Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) : ART encompasses various fertility treatments including IVF, ICSI, and others. These technologies are often used when other treatments have not been successful.
It's essential for individuals or couples experiencing infertility to work closely with a reproductive endocrinologist or fertility specialist to determine the most appropriate treatment plan for their specific situation. Treatment plans are highly individualized and may involve a combination of different approaches.

Hi, mag 3 months na kaming mag kakilala ng gf ko 2 months ko syang niligawan at kami na pero diko nararamdaman na mahal nya ako, she's 1st yr college . Mag 1 month palang kami. Eto na nga, nag pa check up ako tapos sakto nayung pina check up pan ko ay super lapit lang sa school nya, exam week nila nun. Edi tapos na exam nya, then ininvite sya ng cm nya na kumain sa labas madami din sila, nag picture alam moyung parang photo booth? May sakit ako and super tagal na talaga neto. So, sa sm yung pa check upan ko then mag isa lang ako, Di man lang sya dumaan sa clinic kahit i ask kung kamusta ka? Samahan kita jan kase tapos na exam mo. Nag ask sya if want ko samahan nya ako, the answer is obvious ma diba? Pero sinabi konalang na wag na kase nga super konti lang ng tulog nya. Pero naka hang-out pa kasama cm nya, btw, up until ngayon di man lang sya nag a-ask kung kamusta naba kalagayan ko. Pati like pag lumalabas ako, di man lang sya nag aalala kung late nako umuwi, sino ba kasama ko, pero ako alalang alala and also nawawalan nadin ako ng tiwala sakanya kase nag lie sya sakin, ininvite sya nung friend nya na lumabas, around 5pm then nakauwi sya 9pm ayoko naman na di sya payagan kase nga pinapayagan sya ng parent nya yung mama nya yung papa nya kase strict pero nasa abroad so di alam pero one time nag lie sya sakin na ang kasama nya lang yung girlbestfriend nya pero yun pala may dalawang guy na sumunod she didn't even inform me up until kinabukasan ng hapon nakita ko my day ng friend nya na babae, the reason tiningnan ko is bc di sya nag a-update so yun pala kasama barkada nung shs. Super disappointed ako sakanya kase she lied to me and assure me na yung girl lang nayun kasama nya. Gabi na pero nasa layasan padin sya. Also na tuturn off nadin ako sakanya kase super immatured nya pa, like binibigyan pa sya ng mama nya ng tips like, dapat samahan mo sya kapag nag papa check up sya, "wag kang makikiinom kasama mga kaibigan mo kase baka di gusto ng bf mo" like tinolerate konalang na di nya pa alam mga ganyan, kase nga naintindihan ko naman kase nga 1st bf nya ako; pero napansin kolang din na nag lie ulit sya sakin, di daw sya nag iinom kapag ka di kasama mama nya, so 2 lies nayon diba? Also, she always ask something obvious like, okay lang ba na mag main character ako sa theater namin it's abt rom-com. Syempre for me "hindi" kahit paba acting lang yon nakakaselos padin. Ang hilig nya din nag mura hays haha. Mahilig din ako mag mura pero when she's around di talaga ako nagumura as a form of respect.
Tbh, ayokong iopen up to sakanya kase baka mag away lang kami at takot din akong maiwan. Feeling ko kase ako lang yung nag mamahal dito eh. Sorry for the long rants wala kaseng maoag sabihant

So my Audi has been playing up since last November At that time the coolant was leaking and I was having to change it every 1-2months, at this point my cars heaters would only blow out cold air. I was told by 1 garage that I just needed my thermostat changing and it would fix the issue. I booked this in the following month and during this time the coolant started disappearing a lot faster and I was topping it up every 2-3weeks. I finally got my thermostat changed and this seemed to eliminate the disappearing coolant so far, however my heaters now blow out hot air but for around 30 seconds then goes back cold. Any idea what could be the possible cause of this and if it something I need to be immediately eitly concerned about?
It's an audi A3 2015 plate

I female age 15 was living in a camper in Rhode Island with my mom age 31 and my dad age 33 along with 2 siblings my mom got into a car crash which gave her a concussion so I had to take care of my family and was like a house wife every time I got off from school my dad didn't help unless it involved my siblings with his game console or with nothing other than steal my mom's stuff to go through it to make sure she didnt catch him cheating on her which she did but I hid it all which he had a suspicion of but my mom was acting like a child at the time I wasn't focused on the remarks my dad would make when i was In shorts about how my butt looked like mom's but bigger and how I was better than her while my mom was getting better my was about to be 15 but I notice while my dad made dirty remarks he was reading a online book and I caught him multiple times in my parents bedroom alone rocking his stick and why I mentioned this is because that book he was reading was my whole bathroom situation but with Mafia people in his book while reading my mom was mostly recovered by the week before my birthday and my dad gas lighted her that I did nothing while he did everything and my mom believed him for 2 days before he tattled on himself about looking through her phone and finding evidence of him cheating which make them fight and argue which they were doing before the crash during the week before my birthday I got a road rash which will be a scar for ever a reminder of how my dad was able to look at me in the camper the shower doors were made of glass and if the temperature was lukewarm then you could see everything on the other side I turned 15 on the day of my road rash I got into the shower around 8:00 p.m. while washing my wound my father went in there and didn't say a word and just started brushing his teeth and looking towards the mirror which at the time was not looking my way I was okay with it at first cuz I thought it would just be for that day but the next 3 weeks it went to a transition of him looking at the mirror then to him leaving the bathroom door open lean on the wall towards the shower staring while playing toxic masculinity podcast of how women and Young women should do what men tell them and I wasn't on social media a lot so I didn't know what "alpha" male ment but women would refer them as that or they would refer them selfs as that but then to every couple of days during those three weeks was like him pushing boundary after boundary to the point where I can't handle it cuz he tried to touch the doorknob to open the glass doors I told him that I wasn't comfortable two times along with my younger siblings telling him to get out because they saw him in there because the door was open which he told them that it was okay and that he was my dad and everybody deserve to be in there it was him during the third day of the first week of this happening I wanted to prove to myself that my father wasn't like his stepfather which was a S A @bus€r of mine when I was 4 through 6 and because I thought it was because of my schedule of me getting in the shower late so I changed my schedule throughout the last 2 weeks while he was pushing boundaries I would change the times where it would inconvenience my mother during her naps or whatever she needed to do to get better cuz she had appointments or she would be like dead asleep and she would need me to watch my siblings but I was busy in the shower and they were messing with her while she had a headache and my father was complaining about the hot water for dishes and other women chores I need or my mother needed to complete but the part that makes it the most messed up is that when it was 20 minutes of me being still in the shower he would walk out and I would hurry up and get out and he would go back to his game console or smoke a cigarette and not good to bed or a couple of hours on the last day of the third week my mom asked me about it cuz she was finally starting to be aware of everything and I told her to wait and I would get in the shower as soon as I got home and he will be in there and she didn't believe me but once I got home and got in there he was in there with the door open my mom grabbed him by his shoulder and ripped him out and yelled at him and told him if he ever did that again that she would go get her shotgun cuz now she's more aware than she has ever been after the crash and he said that I was taking a shower late and then maybe I should be taking showers so late and then maybe I should be using all the hot water and that I'm his daughter he changed my diapers so if he wants to be in there he can be in there if you want the door open for some air he can have it open cuz he also pays the bills and owns everything and that I should be grateful which made my mom come up with a plan to start secretly moving after that day I called my aunt and my uncle who did not believe me and thought there was a better explanation but they did see my point of view but still thought I was being dramatic they question my father and he lied and said it was for 3 days more arguments started and one day when I had a school day off my dad as soon as he found out stayed home while my mom had to be at a appointment and thought he already left but instead he went to chill and came back to have a conversation with me and told me that I was delusional and that if I was uncomfortable I should have told him and when I told him I did and that he didn't say a word he said that he must have not heard me and once I told him that I said it loud and clear and that all you did was sigh and looked like he was about to cry and was mad he said that I'm just like my mother and that we deserve each other and then went on to if he had to have boundaries with me then I have to have boundaries with my mother and we can't get changed in front of each other because we are both bisexual and then proceeded to tell me that I don't know what's going on and then told me that I should be ashamed because I don't know how it feels to feel like a predator in your own home which left me speechless because I know what it's like to have predators around you every corner and he knows this and when I told him that he told me to grow up and that my hormones should be kicking in and I should have already forgotten about his stepfather my mom came home and my dad said he wanted a divorce and felt like I would take his side which my mom says working on it and took me for a drive and I told her all about it and then a couple of days later I woke up to my mom crying and naked because my mom had sex with my dad and when he was done and he got her done he kicked her out of the room and when she was wondering why he said she was more convenient then to go get a stranger and do it in the back of a truck my mom told me to go back to bed and I did at the time not fully knowing what was going on till that day that my mom going back on her word thinking she needed him telling me not to break up the family and that if he agrees the counseling we're staying even if I said no and don't like it which he didn't of course and also I told her that I would kill her and him and that I have thought about it and was in their room multiple times with a weapon think about killing them both because of the things they do which made my mom understand that she needed to grow up and leave him now which is sad for me to say but we finished up packing we got a U-Haul and before we left my mom thought it would be fair to him if my siblings had a board game night with him which later I left cuz I couldn't handle that my siblings get a perfect dad well I always got a cursing child beating lying disciplining me for no reason father and couldn't handle that my mom didn't leave them for a military hasn't killed my father or believe me on many occasions or didn't do anything because of him and because of her always needing him he went to go find me a hour later and talked and walked with me said the same things as the other conversation and when I brought up multiple predators in my life and how he did nothing for example I had a high school boy threatened to r@p€ me in the third grade and him and his friends chase me around and has kissed me and touched me multiple times for 2 years and and he said that he couldn't because that high school boy was a friends son but told him to stop but this friend was a mistress of his which later to find out that it would have been 4 years of harassment if my mother didn't threaten to burn his house which again shows that my father is a liar and my mother even proved it to me by showing me pictures of text between the high school boy and the mother and her but at the end of the conversation a dark side of me popped out and just went to try to go grab the nearest gun to shoot him cuz my father has an eye nose twitch when he lies and he has to be active or loud when he's trying to be manipulative and at the end he thought we had a great dad and talk even though I was still crying and he was like a brick wall cuz he thought I was like my mom and I would give up my mom stopped me and told me that I shouldn't go to jail and that we are moving tomorrow she will make sure of it no more delays and no more of letting me down we move to Texas where we're originally from and while living with a relative my little siblings could talk to our father which slowly broke the relationship because he would always try to bring up me and how he wanted to talk to me which later you can't stand not talking to me that he stopped paying child support until I talk to him and in between breaking the relationship with my siblings slowly they started seeing the dad that I saw and while here with my relative my mom got some console and help cuz at the time my dad was paying for child support but there was enough to get me help which my family thinks I desperately need but when child support stopped her console stopped cuz she can't afford it then drama started happening with the relative we were with and we've been moving ever since but now my mom is on the road making a lot of money to make up for no child support until the child support office is get their affairs in order and we are living with relative to relative that will take us in and watches but my mom will be coming back soon to get a rent house so that we can finally settle down after a whole year of dealing with all this without him and I'll be 16 and I don't know how to feel cuz it marks the anniversary of a scar physical emotional and mental and still cuts deep

A Comprehensive Guide to Alaska Airlines' Cancellation Policy

Introduction
Alaska Airlines is known for its customer-friendly policies, including a flexible cancellation policy that caters to the diverse needs of travelers. Understanding the nuances of this policy can save you time, money, and hassle. In this comprehensive guide, we'll delve into Alaska Airlines' cancellation policy in detail, covering everything from eligibility criteria to refund processes. Additionally, we'll provide insights into how you can contact Alaska Airlines for assistance. Let's get started!
Understanding Alaska Airlines' Cancellation Policy
Alaska Airlines allows passengers to cancel their flights under certain conditions without incurring hefty fees. Here's an overview of the key points:
Hour Risk-Free Cancellation
One of the standout features of Alaska Airlines' cancellation policy is its 24-hour risk-free cancellation window. Within 24 hours of booking your flight, you can cancel it without any penalty, regardless of the fare type. This allows passengers to make changes to their travel plans or correct booking errors without financial repercussions.
Eligibility for Cancellation
After the 24-hour window, the eligibility for cancellation without fees depends on various factors, including the fare type, route, and timing of the cancellation. Passengers are encouraged to review their fare rules and conditions to understand the cancellation policy specific to their ticket.
Fare Types and Cancellation Fees
Alaska Airlines offers different fare types, each with its own set of rules regarding cancellations and associated fees. Let's explore these fare types and the corresponding cancellation fees:
Main Cabin Tickets
Main Cabin tickets are the standard fare type offered by Alaska Airlines. Cancellation fees for Main Cabin tickets vary based on factors such as the time of cancellation relative to the departure date and the specific fare rules. Typically, cancellation fees for domestic flights range from $125 to $200 per person, while international flights may incur higher fees.
First Class and Premium Class Tickets
Passengers holding First Class or Premium Class tickets generally enjoy more flexibility when it comes to cancellations. The cancellation fees for these fare types are often lower compared to Main Cabin tickets and may range from $0 to $125 per person, depending on the fare rules and timing of the cancellation.
How to Cancel a Flight with Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines provides multiple options for passengers to cancel their flights conveniently. Here's how you can initiate a cancellation:
Online Cancellation
The easiest and most common way to cancel a flight with Alaska Airlines is through their official website. Passengers can log in to their account, navigate to the "Manage Trips" section, and follow the prompts to cancel their booking. Online cancellations offer a seamless experience and allow passengers to view any applicable fees or credits instantly.
Contacting Alaska Airlines Customer Service
Alternatively, passengers can contact Alaska Airlines' customer service directly to cancel their flights. Customer service representatives are available to assist with cancellations, answer questions about fees or refunds, and provide guidance on rebooking or making changes to travel plans.
Refund Process and Timeline
Understanding how refunds are processed and the associated timeline is crucial for passengers who have canceled their Alaska Airlines flights. Here's what you need to know:
Credit for Future Travel
In many cases, canceled tickets result in credit being issued for future travel with Alaska Airlines. This credit can be used towards the purchase of a new ticket within a specified timeframe, typically one year from the original booking date. Passengers should note any restrictions or limitations associated with the credit, such as blackout dates or fare class eligibility.
Refund to Original Form of Payment
For eligible cancellations, refunds may be issued back to the original form of payment, such as a credit card or debit card. The timeline for receiving a refund to the original form of payment varies but is typically processed within a few business days to a week. Passengers should check their account statements or payment method for updates on the refund status.
Contact Alaska Airlines for Assistance
If you have questions, need clarification, or require assistance regarding your canceled flight or any other travel-related inquiries, Alaska Airlines offers various channels for you to reach out:
Customer Service Hotline
For immediate assistance, you can call Alaska Airlines' customer service hotline at ☎️+1-888-414-1245. Be prepared to provide your booking details and any relevant information to expedite the process.
Online Support
Additionally, Alaska Airlines' official website provides a wealth of information, including FAQs, live chat support, and email contact options. Visiting their website can help you find answers to common questions or direct you to the appropriate support team.
Conclusion
Navigating Alaska Airlines' cancellation policy can seem daunting at first, but with the right information and resources, you can manage cancellations effectively and make informed decisions about your travel plans. Remember to review your fare rules, understand any applicable fees, and utilize the available channels to contact Alaska Airlines for assistance when needed. By staying informed and proactive, you can ensure a smoother experience when dealing with flight cancellations or changes. Safe travels!

Hi ! I've put around 9 hours in Fez for now and I'm loving it. I love trying to understand what the game want from me but I feel a bit stuck right now. I'd be very happy if someone could give me some advice, nothing too revealing please, I still want to understand the game by myself. This is where I am :

• I've reach the first ending and obtained the first person mode and also the flying cheat.
• I have 32 cubes and 13 anticubes.
• I have the red artifact (reading ?) the green artifact (calculus ?) and the book artifact.
• I have all the treasure maps.
• I understood the language with the tetrominos where you have to input buttons to unlock stuff.
• I lowered the water level.
• I think I explored almost the entirety of the map, except for some areas behind codes I don't understand and the 64 cubes locked door.

I have no idea what to do with :

• The U shape pillars, I think they emit a sound, or a vibration, but I don't know what to do with it.
• The pillars with a hole on top and a little cube inside. I have 0 idea about those.
• The Telescope. It shows something at night but what can I do with this information ?
• The Bell.
• The big black spinning thing
• The room with all the doors and the treasure maps. I think I need to understand how to read numbers.

What I'd like to understand the most is how to read and how to do calculations. I tried to understand so hard by myself but I don't have any idea how to translate those weird squares into letters. I also know I need to understand how to calculate using the board in the school of the broken city but I don't get it.
Maybe just tell me where I can find the most useful info on how to understand those two concepts ?
Is there some bruteforce I need to do somewhere in order to better understand something ?
Thanks a lot for your help !

It happened I think around 3 years ago. I don't believe in ghosts and shit and it's the only paranormal experience in my life that I can think of. Some years ago, my mom's partner has got me a toy cat he got from his friend. It was a very realistic toy with fur, it run on batteries, after turning it on it would meow, purr, move its head, paws etc. After I grew up I kind of forgot about it and it ended up on the shelf in the attic. One day I went there, because there are a lot of old books from my childhood or earlier and they're in the same room as the cat was. I spent a good amount of time reading them, at least an hour, of course the cat was turned off the whole time. Then it turned on. It just started moving and meowing after so much time of being turned off. I immediately freaked out, so it could have been my brain making tricks, but I think after that I heard something like steps coming from the other room. I ran down the stairs and told my grandfather, he said it was him who turned the cat on. He didn't. It was off for at least an hour and then it turned on. For years, nothing happened in this regard, but lately the cat disappeared. None of my family members knows what happened to it. It was laying down on the shelf for years and then one day I've heard them looking for it. Well, that's something that can be explained, one of my family members could forget they took it somewhere, but the first situation I can't really explain, perhaps a random maintenance just happened.

Hello,
I have an LED project to do in a bar and I would need advice on its implementation.
The project consists of creating LED strips around the windows of the bar controlled via WLED on the bar's iPad. There are 2 + 4 windows which are each 220 x 250 cm.
According to my calculations and starting with strips of 30led/m, I therefore need 1692 LEDs, or 33.84A (20mA/led)
I'm wondering about the design of the power supply. The power of the transformer seems very important to me, and I risk needing power injection on the strip in order to not have any losses.
What do you think would be the best solution in my case? 5V/12V? only a power supply with injection on the route? multiple power supplies with multiple ESPs for each group of window?
Thanks for your help,

What’s happened to the news reporter I admired so much when she covered the 1st Trump v Biden campaign? She seems to be drinking from the MAGA fountain of lies. I watched in horror yesterday as she shouted Michael Steele down during a panel discussion. She was shouting over him like a hyper animated Fox News Corp. action figure. Now Keith Olbermann has claimed he basically ghost wrote Katy’s book on the previous presidential election she covered back when she was a new face at MSNBC. Huhhhhh? What in the world’s come over Katy Tur? I think maybe Katy Tur & Andrea Mitchell need to take a long ocean voyage around the world for a couple of years.

The Legend of Herobrine's Curse
I READ. The pages told of a mysterious entity named Herobrine, said to be the ghost of a miner who had died in a cave-in long ago. According to the legend, Herobrine haunted the world of Minecraft, leaving behind strange and terrifying signs of his presence. It was said that once you encountered Herobrine, you could never escape his curse.
Alex laughed it off, thinking it was just a silly myth. But that night, something strange happened. As Alex was building a new house on the edge of a dark forest, a chill ran down his spine. He turned around and saw, in the distance, a figure that looked just like Steve, but with white, empty eyes. The figure vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
Uneasy, Alex continued to build, but he couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. He started to notice odd things around his world: trees with all their leaves removed, tunnels dug in unnatural patterns, and pyramids made of sand appearing in the middle of the desert. At first, Alex thought it was a glitch, but the occurrences became too frequent and too eerie to ignore.
One evening, as Alex was mining for diamonds, he heard a faint whispering sound. It grew louder, echoing through the dark caverns. Alex’s heart pounded as he realized the whispers were calling his name. He quickly placed torches to light his way out, but the whispers persisted, growing more insistent and menacing.
In a panic, Alex tried to exit the cave, but every turn led to a dead end. The torches he placed flickered and extinguished, plunging him into darkness. Desperate, he dug upwards, trying to reach the surface. After what felt like hours, he broke through to the surface, only to find himself not in his familiar world, but in a twisted, shadowy version of it.
The sky was pitch black, and the once vibrant world was now desolate and silent. Alex wandered through the eerie landscape, searching for a way out. Suddenly, he saw him again—Herobrine. The entity stood motionless, staring at Alex with those soulless eyes. Alex tried to run, but no matter how fast he moved, Herobrine was always just behind him, silently watching.
Exhausted and terrified, Alex stumbled upon a signpost. The sign read, "Leave now, or be cursed forever." With no other choice, Alex attempted to log out of the game, but the exit button was disabled. His screen flickered, and a message appeared: "You cannot escape. You are mine."
In a final, desperate attempt, Alex unplugged his computer. The screen went black, and the whispers stopped. He sighed in relief, thinking it was over. But when he looked around, he realized he was no longer in his room. The walls were made of stone, and the air was cold and damp. He had been transported into the game itself.
Herobrine's curse had claimed another victim. Now, Alex roams the haunted world of Minecraft, a shadow of his former self, forever searching for a way out, but always under the watchful eyes of Herobrine. And so, the legend continues, waiting for the next curious player to uncover the book and fall into the trap of Herobrine's Curse.

Writer's Block? Befriend the Blank Page: How to Turn Creative Stagnation into a Goldmine

Ah, writer's block. That looming specter that haunts every wordsmith, from the wide-eyed newbie to the grizzled veteran. But fear not, fellow wordslingers! For even in the face of this dreaded foe, opportunity lurks. Yes, you heard that right. Writer's block, that seemingly insurmountable obstacle, can be your secret weapon, a springboard to unleashing your most creative work yet. Let's delve into the minds of seasoned scribes and discover how they turn their blank pages into bestselling goldmines.
Embrace the Block:
First things first, ditch the self-flagellation. Writer's block is normal, even expected. It's a sign you're pushing boundaries, exploring uncharted territory. So, instead of panicking, befriend the block. See it as a pause, a chance to step back and reassess. As Jodi Picoult wisely says, "Writer's block is a wonderful time to catch up on your reading." Immerse yourself in other authors' work, let their voices spark your own. Remember, inspiration can strike from anywhere, so keep your eyes and ears open to the world around you.
Befriend the Unconventional:
Now, let's get down to the nitty-gritty. Forget the usual "go for a walk" or "stare at a tree" advice. We're talking about weapons-grade creativity here. Here are some battle-tested techniques from the pros:

• Automatic Writing: Channel your inner James Joyce with a stream-of-consciousness freewrite. Set a timer, ignore grammar, and let your subconscious take the wheel. You might be surprised by the hidden gems you unearth. Bonus: Do it in public for maximum awkwardness-induced inspiration.
  
• The One-Sentence Challenge: Craft a single sentence that encapsulates the essence of your story. Then, spend the next hour fleshing it out, exploring every possible avenue. This tightens your focus and forces you to think outside the box.
  
• The What-If Flip: Take a familiar trope and flip it on its head. Think Romeo and Juliet as zombies, or a superhero origin story where the hero is actually the villain. This forces you to break free from cliches and explore new possibilities.
  
• The Sensory Safari: Describe a scene using only one sense. For example, write a scene solely through the sounds your protagonist hears, or the textures they touch. This jumpstarts your imagination and forces you to paint a vivid picture with limited tools.
  
• The Random Object Prompt: Pick a random object (spork, stapler, rubber ducky, anything!) and write a story centered around it. This forces you to think creatively and find connections where you least expect them.
  

Embrace the Insane:
Now, let's unleash the real wild cards. Here are some downright insane prompts that might just spark your next bestseller:

• Write a love letter from a houseplant to its owner.
• Craft a news report from the perspective of a goldfish.
• Compose a grocery list that doubles as a murder mystery.
• Write a children's book about the existential dread of adulthood.
• Pen a sonnet from the point of view of a rogue punctuation mark.

Remember, the key is to embrace the absurd. Don't be afraid to be silly, outrageous, even downright nonsensical. Sometimes, the most unexpected ideas lead to the most brilliant work.
Final Words:
Writer's block is not a dead end, but a detour. By using these unconventional techniques and embracing the insane, you can turn it into a springboard for your most creative work yet. So, the next time you face the blank page, don't despair. Befriend the block, unleash your inner weirdo, and watch your imagination take flight. Remember, the greatest stories often begin with a touch of madness. Now, go forth and write something truly magnificent, even if it involves a spork-wielding goldfish detective. The world awaits your words!

To clarify, I now know that there are different definitions of the word “ship”, but for the purposes of this article and to keep things simple I will use the definition of “a relationship that’s rushed and/or forced with no real development.” I hope you can understand as I do not know of any other single word to describe that concept. If you do, perhaps you can tell me. Also, fair warning, this is long form content (some 10 pages), if you like it but can’t read it all at once you can save it and come back to it over a period of time, or you can stop reading whenever you get tired of it and still discuss those parts of it with me that you have read. But keep it civil if you want a civil response.
With that, to qualify the title, no, Ezra and Sabine do NOT absolutely have to be a couple, but if they were to become one, it would NOT be a ship. Ezra and Sabine’s relationship has had years of development. Could they remain as simply friends? Yes, but ironically, it was their “friendship” that felt like more of a ship. It felt like the Ahsoka show, helmed by Dave Filoni, was going out of its way to tell us: “no, they’re not a couple, they’re just friends.”
I believe that Filoni made some very poor writing choices to stress something that didn’t really need to be stressed, such that it almost felt like he was in denial. The line “I love you like a sister” was never in Rebels, Filoni essentially had that retconned in, and like many I was put off by their (largely) emotionless reunion. Even if they were “just friends” I believe there would be a great deal more emotion displayed between two people that hadn’t seen each other in some ten years, especially when one of them was in a precarious situation when they parted. I also believe Ezra would be far more curious about Sabine being Force sensitive, perhaps even offering to help train her when she told him that her training hadn’t gone as well with Ahsoka. He did help to train her with the Darksaber, didn’t he? Why that never came up is another discussion, but for now, let’s focus on shipping.
In case you think I’m desperate to have them as a couple, no I’m not. I’m about the furthest thing from it. Like many millennials and Gen-Z’ers (and perhaps some Gen-Xers and boomers) I DESPISE shipping. Absolutely DESPISE it. With a flaming passion. Perhaps for this reason, and maybe some others, like many millennials and Gen-Z’ers (and perhaps some Gen-Xers and boomers), I’m generally wary of nearly all romance in fiction, and generally avoid it in my own work. The sad reality is that romance is perhaps the most abused genre in all of fiction, all throughout history. It has been so badly abused that many people, including myself for the longest time, have equated romance with shipping, though I’m slowly beginning to see that they are not the same thing, and one does not necessarily have to go with the other.
But sadly, many writers, through time immemorial, have not been able to separate them, going back into ancient times and perhaps even into pre-history, that is before languages were actually written down. Some of what is considered great literature; classics like Romeo and Juliet, are predicated on shipping, though at least the consequences of this “whirlwind romance” are shown to be fairly stark. Star Wars itself is no stranger to shipping, resulting in a very awkward incestuous kiss when Luke was shipped with Leia, then Leia was placed with Han and Lucas made Luke and Leia brother and sister, apparently having forgotten his original ship. Later Lucas essentially shipped Anakin and Padme, resulting in some of the most cringeworthy dialog in the history of film. Many fans of the Prequels even have been somewhat critical of Anakin’s portrayal, particularly in regards to the “romantic” scenes, with many describing them as “creepy”. Some have speculated that this was intentional, though personally I think it was just the result of bad writing on the part of George Lucas, and an impatience on his part for Anakin and Padme to become a couple, hence “shipping”.
One might wonder why this is so prevalent in fiction, and tragically, one does not have to look far. Fiction is merely a reflection of reality, therefore the reason that shipping is so common in our stories is that we fall so easily into it in real life. Indeed, entire cultures may be based around shipping, or at least very heavily wrapped up in it. Throughout history arranged marriages have been the norm, and the idea of marrying for “love” is something relatively new. To be fair, I’ve actually met people in arranged marriages who seemed to be fairly happy, but those same people were very open in telling me that many despise that aspect of their culture, and that it is quite normal for those in an arranged marriage to try to get out.
People might come together for “love” without marrying, but even then it often creates expectations that might turn into a burden. Even when a marriage is voluntary and for “love”, people are often left unsatisfied, such that today in the West the divorce rate is something like 50%. Happy, stable, long term relationships seem to be the exception across cultures and across the breadth and width of time. And yet pursuit of love and some kind of relationship seems to be the highest calling for many people, both in real life and in fiction. And it could be that the accumulated disgust is finally starting to boil over.
To be fair, this may not be the first time in history that the pendulum has shifted. You may recall that in Victorian times attitudes changed drastically, as compared to the previously bawdy Elizabethan times. Looking at a play from Shakespear, if you can understand the language, you’ll see all kinds of vulgar references, as well as what I believe are fairly sappy romances like in the aforementioned Romeo and Juliet, though I can’t say for certain whether Shakespear was actually endorsing that type of attitude towards “love” or presenting it as a cautionary tale, maybe even something to be ridiculed in some of his other plays.
But regardless, Victorians as you may well know had a very conservative attitude towards anything to do with romance, and would often avoid the subject in many places, or tread very carefully around it, as if walking on eggshells. It’s not that people stopped being romantic, in fiction or real life, but it was treated as something very serious and even dangerous, with many urges repressed or even suppressed entirely. This had all kinds of effects on society, both positive and negative. On the positive side, it reinforced the ideal of people being committed to their partners, and of marriage as a sacred institution rather than a “casual hookup” as was more common in Elizabethan times. Likewise it reinforced ideals of modesty and chastity, which may be coming back into vogue, though under different names. But just as there were positive aspects to these attitudes, so were there negative ones.
Just because the urges I described were repressed did not mean that they disappeared. In fact, they often morphed into things that many would consider “unhealthy”. From one statistic that I saw, in Victorian times about one in every 60 houses was a brothel, with the modern rate being closer to one in 6000. Additionally, the rights of women were often repressed, such that they could not fully express themselves and find their own identity, and path in life, as individuals. Just as Elizabethan ideals gave way to Victorian ones, so did the Victorian ideals gradually begin to erode.
Perhaps it began with the Jazz Age of the 1920’s (the “Roaring Twenties”), or with the increased interconnectivity of people traveling to different parts of the world during World War I, not to mention the cynicism that pervaded throughout the West in response to failed old ideals leading to the deadliest war in history up to that point, but many Victorian ideals began to be seen as a joke, and even resented for their “oppression”, which to be fair was not entirely unjustified. But regardless, people gradually, and at times not so gradually, became more and more “liberated” and promiscuous. This culminated in the Sexual Revolution in the late 1960’s, when what had previously been seen as a vice and even a sin was now seen as not only “normal” but as a healthy form of expression, a virtue even. And just as these ideas were embraced in real life, so too were they reflected in our films, TV shows, and other media, often to the consternation of older people and institutions, like the Vatican. The Catholic Church even went so far as to “ban” certain films, that is to declare them immoral for good Catholics to watch. Many of the films that were banned back then, or at least controversial, like The Graduate with Dustin Hoffman, are fairly tame by today’s standards.
It continued through the 70’s, at times warming and at times cooling through the rest of the century, until you could argue it reached a kind of crescendo in the early 21st century with the advent of so-called “dark romance” and the publication of books like Fifty Shades of Grey. (Ironically, many of the themes within this “dark romance” can trace their roots back to the Victorian era, yet another indication that repressing urges without addressing them often doesn’t work out as one might hope.) But as happens all too often, just as something reaches peak popularity is when it begins to go out of style, and that is what we may be experiencing right now. As weird as it may sound, we may actually have come full circle and may be on the cusp of a “New Victorian Age” (complete with “dark romance”, even). Web sites like Porn Hub and OnlyFans, as well as other similar sites, may be the new “brothels”, and what was once openly celebrated may be going underground, to an extent. The effects of this on society have been interesting to say the least, and at times I would even say bizarre.
Whilst many younger people seem content with these changes, many older people are concerned. I’ve seen a number of books, films, and other media receive positive reviews for example based specifically on their lack of romance. Many of these books/films, etc. fall into the “young adult” category, meaning that it is young adults obviously who mostly consume them. At the same time I’ve heard a number of older people, mostly boomers and Gen-Xers, criticize these same books/films for their lack of romance. Even some older millennials seem upset by the changes, as perhaps evidenced by Jennifer Lawrence’s latest film No Hard Feelings (though to be fair that film may be lampooning the older generation’s frustration as well as the younger generation’s frigidity). So just as in the past older people were concerned about the promiscuity of the youth, now it actually appears that many older people are concerned about the youth’s lack of promiscuity.
Who could have seen that coming? But to be fair, the younger generation hasn’t gone completely frigid. As stated earlier, much of the promiscuity has gone “underground”, or online, which many would argue is not very healthy as it might undermine actual relationships, whether they are romantic in nature or simple friendships. And speaking of that, friendships within stories nowadays often aren’t portrayed in a very authentic or compelling manner, perhaps because in ditching romance modern writers haven’t quite yet learned how to replace it with something else. In other words, the “New Victorian Age” may not be an exact repeat of the previous one, but may have its own twists and turns, for better and for worse.
This may all essentially be a manifestation of the Human Condition, in that we just can’t seem to find a happy medium, neither in real life nor in fiction. Thus we keep swinging from one extreme to the other, apparently getting wilder with each swing.
So where does all this leave us? What is it that we really want in our lives, and in our stories? Especially in regards to relationships? I think at some level we all want to see good and healthy relationships between people and/or characters, whether romantic or platonic. I believe at some point we would like to see good examples of both friendship and romance, and I would argue that the best examples of romance have them combined. Even a toxic relationship, if well portrayed or documented, can be instructive and serve as a good example of what to avoid in our lives that we might be happier and relate better to each other. A good relationship, by contrast, can give us something to aspire to and inspire us to not only look for the right kind of person to complement our lives, but to make ourselves worthy of that person. And here I’ll add that I’m perfectly aware that in real life (and thus in fiction) relationships can be very complicated and heavily nuanced, with elements of both “good” and “bad” in them. Just as people change over time so can the relationships between them change, at times getting better and at times worse, sometimes breaking entirely and sometimes growing stronger. Relationships can have just as many layers and dimensions as characters, more even perhaps, and a skilled writer should be able to reflect this complexity. At other times a relationship can be fairly straightforward, simplicity sometimes being the best approach. But regardless, the audience should be able to relate and identify with what they are seeing, such that hopefully they can incorporate the lessons from it in their own lives.
Where can we find good examples of relationships to study? There may be a number of them in the real world, but the trouble with studying real world relationships is that they’re often much more complicated than fictional ones (just as real people are more complicated than fictional characters), and for many of them it is almost impossible to know all the details and nuances because they are often kept private, understandably so, and even if they aren’t it can still be difficult, due to unique circumstances, to see how to relate them to our own lives. Additionally there may be far more disagreement about a real life situation than a fictional one, with many more points of view. To keep things simple, for the purpose of this article I would like to focus on fictional relationships. (And fair warning, there will be some spoilers.)
One of the best places to look, I would argue, would be the films of Hayao Miyazaki. (And this is pretty significant to Star Wars as you will see in a bit.) A film of his that stands out to me the most is Princess Mononoke. Like many of Miyazaki’s films it has elements of romance, and yet subverts them in a way that makes complete sense and feels very genuine, without taking away from any of the accompanying charm. It starts with two young people, San and Ashitaka, and as soon as they encounter each other there is a kind of expectation of romance. This may be inevitable to some degree when you have a man and a woman of about the same age encounter each other in a story, especially if they happen to be adolescents. The expectation may not be inherently bad, and Miyazaki does play with it. Both characters are thrust into dangerous situations, at various points end up saving each other’s lives, and at a certain point I think it is obvious that they have feelings for each other. I was certain that at the end of the film, they would be together, and if things had gone that way, it would make complete sense. Instead, they go in different directions, but remain good friends, and considering their backgrounds and differing worldviews, this ends up making even more sense to the story.
Essentially, Miyazaki could have gone for the more conventional, tried and true “love conquers all” narrative, where the characters’ feelings for each other would negate everything that comes between them, they would somehow find a common ground in spite of their differences, the romance would not only take over the narrative but somehow also solve all the problems in the story, and then the couple would live “happily ever after”. Such an approach is not inherently bad or wrong, and is fairly common in Western media and storytelling. We can see it in films like Fern Gully, and more recently James Cameron’s Avatar, both of which have been compared to Princess Mononoke. As you can probably guess, the problem is that at a certain point such a narrative can become fairly simplistic, and lack nuance.
Miyazaki’s films, by contrast, are very heavily nuanced, and are anything but simplistic. In Princess Mononoke the characters San and Ashitaka don’t help each other simply because they are “in love”, but because it is the right thing to do, regardless of how they might feel about each other. Yes, romantic feelings are certainly alluded to, but they are not essential to the plot, for it could have worked just as well without any romantic allusions. And ironically, this makes those allusions even more valid, even if they are unrequited. How so?
Consider that if love is essential to a given narrative, is it not relegated to being nothing more than a plot device? Again, this is quite common in Western media and storytelling, and is not inherently bad or wrong, but when it becomes a trope or cliche, I believe it is the essence of where shipping comes from. Many storytellers get caught up in this, usually without realizing it, and while a story can still work even with shipping, I believe that it usually works that much better without it.
This extends not only to Miyazaki’s handling of romance but also to other things like environmentalism, the conflict between man and nature, and the contrasting ideals of human progress vs. preserving the natural order. Movies like Fern Gully and Avatar, as already mentioned, handle these themes in a fairly simplistic and I would even say hamfisted manner, whereby all progress and technology is shown as being inherently “bad” and in service to “evil”, while everything that’s “natural” is shown to be inherently “good”. Even our notions of good and evil, and right vs. wrong, are challenged by Miyazaki, with nearly all of his characters having complex motives and multiple dimensions to them, as well as understandable reasons for doing the things that they do. Rarely can any one of his characters be branded as a simple “villain”, and rarely is any one individual the source of conflict in his stories, again in contrast to most Western narratives.
I’ll reiterate once more, a simple, straightforward narrative is not inherently a bad thing, whether the themes being dealt with are romantic or anything else. Sometimes it is in fact the best approach. But the best stories in my opinion are usually the most nuanced, that challenge our notions of what we believe to be true, and that force us to think about what we do with our lives and what we could do differently. To that end Miyazaki introduces all manner of themes and motifs within his films that are familiar to us but shows them in a light most of us might not have considered, thus giving more dimension to our understanding of things.
“How is any of this related to Star Wars?” you might ask. It is quite related, and you don’t even have to look all that closely to see it. A very influential figure within Star Wars was very heavily inspired by the works of Miyazaki, and that figure is Dave Filoni.
This video shows the connections in some detail:
https://youtu.be/Q_4L0BbSpHo?si=04jDo6qFCnZT135w
But to summarize if you’ve seen any of Miyazaki’s films, especially Princess Mononoke, I think the callbacks in Filoni’s work will be all too obvious, especially in Star Wars Rebels. Some of the scenes in Filoni’s work look like they were taken directly from Miyazki’s films, and many of the same themes and motifs often come up. The relationship between San and Ashitaka I would argue is very similar to the relationship between Ezra and Sabine, and not just because both couples rode wolves together.
Incidentally, Dave Filoni was also heavily involved in Avatar: The Last Airbender, which I would also argue was at least to some degree inspired if not by Miyazaki then by Japanese anime in general. The relationship between Aang and Katara was developed with great care and was allowed to build very slowly, as opposed to simply shipping them. Likewise other characters very gradually developed as individuals and in their relationships, at times stumbling as they did so, and making mistakes, before finding their way back to the right path.
All of this is in stark contrast to George Lucas, whose character development is often very rushed at best, and at times some might say almost non-existent. So essentially, even though Lucas has said that Filoni has been “like a son” to him, and I believe referred to Filoni as his “padawan”, I would argue that Filoni is ultimately as much a student of Miyazaki as he is of Lucas.
Again, you might ask, “What does all this mean for Star Wars?” It means a great many things. It means that Dave Filoni has taken Miyazaki’s lessons to heart, and can handle things like romance, as well as other kinds of relationships, quite well most of the time. Like Miyazaki he can play with romance, tease the audience with it at times even, leave the romance unrequited, and yet still have it feel satisfying. A prime example of this is the love triangle that Ahsoka was involved in with the young Separatist Senator, Lux Bonteri, and Steela Gerrera. As wary as I am of romance and as much as I despise shipping, love triangles I normally despise even more, but this one seemed to actually work. It never took over the main story, and even though Ahsoka’s feelings were ultimately not reciprocated, she still learned from the experience, and grew and developed further as a character because of it. The other characters involved in this triangle also grew and developed from their involvement, though unfortunately not all of them made it. All in all it was a good bit of storytelling and gave the audience something to consider.
When a relationship in one of Filoni’s stories does bloom into a full blown romance he also generally handles it quite well. For one Filoni is sparing with actual romance, so that when it does occur, it can be that much more appreciated. And rather than rushing or shipping it, Filoni normally takes his time to build it up. An example of this is the relationship between Kanan and Hera. Some might argue that this is perhaps the best developed romance in all of Star Wars, at least in Canon. Built up over four seasons, at times it wasn’t certain whether it was a romance or a friendship, or perhaps even a professional partnership. Perhaps even the characters themselves were not certain, though it was hinted all throughout the narrative that something was going on. To this day I don’t believe anyone can say definitively when it became an actual romance, and I believe Filoni did this intentionally because he wanted to be subtle, rather than making things too obvious and having the romance take over the narrative, as it usually does. When it finally did become obvious as to what was happening, it felt very much earned, in a way that is seldom accomplished in other works of fiction, including Star Wars.
The relationship between Ezra and Sabine was also fairly well written, for the most part anyway, at least in Star Wars Rebels. Ezra was almost immediately smitten with Sabine, but being a young teenage boy, it was understandable that he would feel that way about an attractive girl. Over time he learned to see her more respectfully, as a colleague and even as part of his adopted family, not just as a pretty face. Sabine for her part found Ezra annoying at first (c’mon, what teenage boy isn’t?), but as he matured and she found out more about him she came to understand and respect him more, and see him as a friend and almost a brother, with there being potential for something more.
There were times when the relationship could have been better written, like in the episode “Blood Sisters”, where Ezra was written to be a bit too immature to make Sabine look wiser. But overall, the bond between them developed fairly well; both saved one another at various times, and took risks and made sacrifices for each other’s sake. Both reassured and comforted the other when they needed it, and it was endearing to hear their banter when they became more familiar and trusting of each other.
So why then was I so disappointed in how they were portrayed in the Ahsoka show? The thing is, after how well their relationship was built up in Rebels, as I’ve already mentioned it was strange to see how lackluster and uninspired their reunion was.
Within the Ahsoka show itself Sabine was shown to be almost obsessed with finding Ezra, living in what used to be his home, watching a recording of him over and over again, and calling out his name as she woke up in the middle of the night. She even risked bringing Thrawn back into the Galaxy, which ultimately happened, just so she could see Ezra again. After all that, when she finally does encounter him, her reaction seems fairly casual, as does his, as if they’ve been apart for no more than a week, rather than 10 years. Not too much happens between them afterwards either. Like I said Ezra does not appear all that curious about what happened with Sabine, how she found him, and how it was that she was now Force sensitive. Sabine likewise did not seem curious about what had happened with Ezra, and how he had gotten away from Thrawn. And with Ezra rescued and returned home, suddenly it didn’t seem as though Sabine was all that interested in him anymore, nor he all that concerned with her, though they were just as far apart as they had been at the start of the show. To be completely honest it made me wonder what the point of the whole show was. Were they just working to set up Thrawn’s return to the Galaxy? As some have said, Ezra felt like nothing more than a Macguffin in the show. Was Sabine and Ahsoka’s search for him just a plot device?
Considering how skillfully Dave Filoni had written his stories in the past, what happened in this latest project of his does not make much sense. Was he so concerned about “shipping” and so desperate to avoid it that he inadvertently “shipped” them in the other direction? Was there some sort of external pressure on him about how to write this story to have more of an appeal to “modern audiences”? Maybe some combination of those factors?
And here I’ll add that when I say “modern audiences” I don’t mean that in a contemptuous sense, though you may think I do. If there is any contempt on my part it is for those in charge of telling our stories, or those in charge of those telling our stories, who do not seem to grasp these basic truths. The truth is that audiences at their core don’t really change throughout the ages, only superficially so. Trends come and go but certain truths and ideals are eternal, and universal. How people relate to each other fundamentally does not change, whether they are friends, or more than friends. And deep down, I believe everyone (or nearly everyone at least) wants the same things. Nearly everyone at some point wants some kind of a connection with another human being, to know that they are not alone in the world, and to know that there is someone else who sees and understands things as they do. While this desire can certainly lead to abuse, and absolutely has, it is still innate to us and is not inherently wrong. Finding ways of connecting and relating to other people is one of the great challenges of life, but many would argue it is the most worthwhile of challenges. It may be the whole point of life if you think about it. As complex as it may be, many would argue it is what makes life worth living, and likewise makes for the best stories. Just as it may be the whole point of life many would say that is what most stories are about at their core: people trying to relate to one another.
Sadly, just as in real life, most stories unfortunately don’t quite get it, and the Ahsoka show in my opinion was an example of this, made all the sadder by the fact that Dave Filoni had done quite well with these characters up to that point. We may never know for certain what exactly went wrong and why, or if it can ever be “fixed” at this point, but I can’t help but feel curious. Maybe in the future Filoni will find a way to make it make sense, but I’m not sure how. And to be completely honest I don’t feel quite as enthusiastic to find out as I used to.
Also for the record I would like to add here that there are other factors that put me off from the show, such as Sabine’s Force sensitivity, that came about without much build up. But in this article I specifically wanted to focus on shipping because there seems to be so much misunderstanding around it.
I hope that I was able to clarify some, if not most of this misunderstanding, so that people could better appreciate what shipping is, where it comes from, as well as what it isn’t. Many people today are understandably sick of shipping characters, myself included. But I hope people realize that in overcompensating for something, we often come back around into the very thing that we are overcompensating for. Or sometimes, into something even worse. This may apply to nearly every facet of life, by the way, not just shipping. Finding a happy medium in how we portray our fictional relationships may help us to better understand relationships in real life, as well as how to navigate them. Neither fictional nor actual relationships can ever be perfect but they can always be better. To this understanding then I hope that I was able to give my own modest contribution, and if nothing else I hope we can connect on that.

This is so bizarre. I met this guy on a bdsm subreddit a while ago and we were getting along and he said he was developing feelings for me and i liked him as well and were getting along fine until 3 days ago when my ex boyfriend who is cyberstalking me contacted me and i told this guy about it, and the day after he started acting strange, he was asking me to verify i was real (which i'd already done) with a random photo which i eventually sent after arguing with him for ages about why he wanted it. Then the next day he wants to end it with me because he said we're not a good match despite us getting along and he claimed to love me.
He also said something random when i tried to work out what was wrong. He said it ended because he wanted me to send him vlogs of my day as it happened, which is what he does, but surely thats a ridiculous request and he never asked me for that before. I dont wanna video myself walking around my house doing random crap. If he loves me why would he require me to suddenly do that? and then break up with me if i dont. And that kind of thing has nothing to do with being in love or bdsm dynamics. Im so confused. Whats going on in this guys head?
And because i wouldnt do it he said i dont know what a 'real connection' is, he seems manipulative and passive aggressive and said he's always sad. Is he self sabotaging or something?

I dream of a connection that doesn't have to try hard translating each others' souls—one that feels like home and is inhabitable for healthy energies whose goals are aligned. I long for that comfortable silence, rainy day embrace, flooded meme videos on our inboxes, and that warm forehead kiss after a busy day at work. In a world where sincerity is a rare find on an online setting, I'd still like to try.
About me: I graduated last 2023 is currently working as a government employee. I live somewhere in North Luzon with my family, and 5 dogs. I stand at 5'2 with my curls and morena complexion. I like dressing up especially on days when I am extra stressed. My hobbies revolve around watching (films, shows, kdrama, anime), reading (books, manga), listening to music (any genre except rap or edm), and I'm on a constant journey of learning more hobbies because I like keeping myself busy. I think it's also worth mentioning that I have a flexible humor in line with being interested with meaningful discussions.
Hopefully, you're around 23-26 years old, stands 5'7 and up, working, furdad, family-oriented, is nerdy about his hobbies and goals in life, hopefully with the same interests as mine, lifestyle doesn't revolve around smoking/clubbing (non-negotiable), and is a very expressive individual who likes to tell stories and yap about life.
I haven't been on a physical date as meeting people makes me anxious, so I'd appreciate if we got to know each other online first—slowburn and careful. If you know you have ghosting tendencies or is only in it for a temporary companion, please spare the effort of building any connections.
If this interests you, an introduction that actually highlights you being you will be appreciated. Thanks! = )