Long pixi bob braids pictures

My PC has the LOD bug where shadows are not rendering, only if im close to it. I saw multiple people say it has something to-do with the Power from the Wall and the PSU. I currently have a bequiet Pure Power 11 850 Watt PSU inside which is powering a RTX 4080, a Ryzen 7 7800x3D, 32 GB DDR5 at 6000mhz cl 30 on a MSI B650 Pro Wifi and a 4TB Gen.4 Nvme. Does the efficiency matter with PSU´s or is there anything else what could cause it.
If someone has experienced the same issue and fixed it, please tell me if this "myth" is true and what power supply you are currently running.
If needed I can send pictures or videos.
Sorry if it is bad english, haven´t wrote something in english for a long time.

If you want, you can see my previous very long post about our breakup for more details (this one will also probably be pretty long tbh). Everyone’s comments along with a few therapy sessions made me realize how one sided our relationship was. I’ve been in much longer and more committed relationships than this one, and had much worse breakups all things considered. But I’ve never felt like this. I know that grief isn’t a linear process. It comes in waves. However, I’ve always prided myself on being calm and collected even in the worst of times. I managed to hold it together pretty well when I lost my dad a year and a half ago, and worked through that in a healthy way. Why can’t I do that now? It’s been a month and a half. This should be so much smaller in the grand scheme of things.
I saw her yesterday at the grocery store, we were using self checkouts right next to each other. We ended up basically walking out together. I think she noticed me and just tried to pretend I didn’t exist. I immediately felt sick to my stomach, with this mix of deep sadness and anger. It took everything I had not to fall apart right then and there. I couldn’t eat dinner, and still managed to puke when I got home and then again in the middle of the night after waking up from a dream about us.
A realization that I had after my last post is how little she would compromise on things. A few of you that said that I was a doormat, and you’re right. I somehow let so many things slip that I shouldn’t have. It was her first serious relationship, she wasn’t used to having to compromise much. I gave her the benefit of the doubt. She asked so much of me, maybe too much, and I gave to her maybe too freely. But the few times that I asked things of her, she’d almost always say no.
I wanted to watch Home Alone over Christmas. It was a tradition that I shared with my dad, some of my earliest memories are about that. I wanted to continue that tradition and I couldn’t bring myself to do it alone, so I asked her to watch it with me. I explained how important it was. She refused, time after time, every stay at home date we had between Thanksgiving and New Years. She went on rants about how traditions are stupid, and how she hates movies about kids (yet we watched the Harry Potter movies at her request, the first few are made by the same people that made Home Alone). It’s like she didn’t even hear me asking for support when I needed her, she only heard that I was asking her to put up with something she didn’t like for an hour and a half. On the other hand, I never said no to her.
This played out time and time again, in small and big ways. My mom was going to give us the money for our dream vacation to Ireland. All she wanted in return was a nice picture of us in front of something recognizably Irish, a castle or something. She was doing this incredibly nice thing for us, and just asked for that one thing. She just wanted to see me happy, traveling the world with the person I love, after having to give up the last 4 years of my life dealing with my dad’s illness (along with losing all of my grandparents and 2 uncles in the same timeframe) But my ex didn’t like having her picture taken. She would put up with it for friends and family, but if I asked her? Never. We have 3 pictures together, all of which are shitty group photos with her friends. Can’t even tell we were a couple.
Then there’s the big thing that led to our breakup. She wanted me to anticipate her needs without her needing to say them. She hated when I asked how best to help her when she was struggling and overwhelmed, saying that I needed to show initiative. She talked a lot about “mental loads” and such. I tried to support her as much as possible (often doing too much, as many of you said), but sometimes I’d miss the mark. She’d get so frustrated with me, and we’d sit down and talk things out. She’d tell me all of these things she needed from me, and I genuinely put in so much effort trying to work on it.
The only thing that I asked for in return is if I missed the mark, to please guide me to what she needed. I did it all the time for her, she was honestly awful at supporting me. If I was venting, had a bad day, all she’d say was “I’m sorry”, and pat me on the back like a puppy. No effort to dig deeper. No words of support or encouragement. Not even a kiss or a hug. I had to show her how I needed support. I never got mad or frustrated, I recognized this was something we had to communicate about and it was my job to open that communication.
So when we’d have those conversations about how she needed support, and she was asking all of these things of me that felt like mind reading, all I asked of her was to do what I did when she missed the mark. Just that one little thing to save our relationship. It was nothing compared to what she was asking from me, and it was for her own benefit. I put in the work, got us 80% of the way there. I knew I couldn’t bridge the gap on my own. I begged her time and time again. But instead of listening and guiding me to what she needed, she did the exact opposite. Full silent treatment at the very first text of support from me, because she wanted something more/different.
That refusal to compromise ruined everything. I know anger is part of the stages of grief, but I’m just so angry all the time. I know you can’t tell based off of what was said here and in my other post, she is genuinely a great person. She didn’t do any of this maliciously. I don’t believe that she’s evil. But I can’t help but to look at all the work I put in vs all the work that she put in, after being told that I wasn’t doing enough and she was putting more effort into the relationship. Being told that she didn't know me when she didn't seem to put in the effort to know me. Being told that it's my fault we didn't have a plan for the future, when I was always bringing it up and she was always shooting me down. Is this what gaslighting is? None of it makes sense and it's driving me insane.
I don’t even know if I’m more angry at her or myself. Should have I been more proactive? Enforced stronger boundaries? Been more clear in what I needed from her? I don’t know. Maybe I am just a doormat. I just know that I hate feeling like this. I don’t want to be that guy that’s angry and bitter about their ex, and I’m terrified that’s exactly what I’m becoming.

If you want, you can see my previous very long post about our breakup for more details (this one will also probably be pretty long tbh). Everyone’s comments along with a few therapy sessions made me realize how one sided our relationship was. I’ve been in much longer and more committed relationships than this one, and had much worse breakups all things considered. But I’ve never felt like this. I know that grief isn’t a linear process. It comes in waves. However, I’ve always prided myself on being calm and collected even in the worst of times. I managed to hold it together pretty well when I lost my dad a year and a half ago, and worked through that in a healthy way. Why can’t I do that now? It’s been a month and a half. This should be so much smaller in the grand scheme of things.
I saw her yesterday at the grocery store, we were using self checkouts right next to each other. We ended up basically walking out together. I think she noticed me and just tried to pretend I didn’t exist. I immediately felt sick to my stomach, with this mix of deep sadness and anger. It took everything I had not to fall apart right then and there. I couldn’t eat dinner, and still managed to puke when I got home and then again in the middle of the night after waking up from a dream about us.
A realization that I had after my last post is how little she would compromise on things. A few of you that said that I was a doormat, and you’re right. I somehow let so many things slip that I shouldn’t have. It was her first serious relationship, she wasn’t used to having to compromise much. I gave her the benefit of the doubt. She asked so much of me, maybe too much, and I gave to her maybe too freely. But the few times that I asked things of her, she’d almost always say no.
I wanted to watch Home Alone over Christmas. It was a tradition that I shared with my dad, some of my earliest memories are about that. I wanted to continue that tradition and I couldn’t bring myself to do it alone, so I asked her to watch it with me. I explained how important it was. She refused, time after time, every stay at home date we had between Thanksgiving and New Years. She went on rants about how traditions are stupid, and how she hates movies about kids (yet we watched the Harry Potter movies at her request, the first few are made by the same people that made Home Alone). It’s like she didn’t even hear me asking for support when I needed her, she only heard that I was asking her to put up with something she didn’t like for an hour and a half. On the other hand, I never said no to her.
This played out time and time again, in small and big ways. My mom was going to give us the money for our dream vacation to Ireland. All she wanted in return was a nice picture of us in front of something recognizably Irish, a castle or something. She was doing this incredibly nice thing for us, and just asked for that one thing. She just wanted to see me happy, traveling the world with the person I love, after having to give up the last 4 years of my life dealing with my dad’s illness (along with losing all of my grandparents and 2 uncles in the same timeframe) But my ex didn’t like having her picture taken. She would put up with it for friends and family, but if I asked her? Never. We have 3 pictures together, all of which are shitty group photos with her friends. Can’t even tell we were a couple.
Then there’s the big thing that led to our breakup. She wanted me to anticipate her needs without her needing to say them. She hated when I asked how best to help her when she was struggling and overwhelmed, saying that I needed to show initiative. She talked a lot about “mental loads” and such. I tried to support her as much as possible (often doing too much, as many of you said), but sometimes I’d miss the mark. She’d get so frustrated with me, and we’d sit down and talk things out. She’d tell me all of these things she needed from me, and I genuinely put in so much effort trying to work on it.
The only thing that I asked for in return is if I missed the mark, to please guide me to what she needed. I did it all the time for her, she was honestly awful at supporting me. If I was venting, had a bad day, all she’d say was “I’m sorry”, and pat me on the back like a puppy. No effort to dig deeper. No words of support or encouragement. Not even a kiss or a hug. I had to show her how I needed support. I never got mad or frustrated, I recognized this was something we had to communicate about and it was my job to open that communication.
So when we’d have those conversations about how she needed support, and she was asking all of these things of me that felt like mind reading, all I asked of her was to do what I did when she missed the mark. Just that one little thing to save our relationship. It was nothing compared to what she was asking from me, and it was for her own benefit. I put in the work, got us 80% of the way there. I knew I couldn’t bridge the gap on my own. I begged her time and time again. But instead of listening and guiding me to what she needed, she did the exact opposite. Full silent treatment at the very first text of support from me, because she wanted something more/different.
That refusal to compromise ruined everything. I know anger is part of the stages of grief, but I’m just so angry all the time. I know you can’t tell based off of what was said here and in my other post, she is genuinely a great person. She didn’t do any of this maliciously. I don’t believe that she’s evil. But I can’t help but to look at all the work I put in vs all the work that she put in, after being told that I wasn’t doing enough and she was putting more effort into the relationship. Being told that she didn't know me when she didn't seem to put in the effort to know me. Being told that it's my fault we didn't have a plan for the future, when I was always bringing it up and she was always shooting me down. Is this what gaslighting is? None of it makes sense and it's driving me insane.
I don’t even know if I’m more angry at her or myself. Should have I been more proactive? Enforced stronger boundaries? Been more clear in what I needed from her? I don’t know. Maybe I am just a doormat. I just know that I hate feeling like this. I don’t want to be that guy that’s angry and bitter about their ex, and I’m terrified that’s exactly what I’m becoming.

Have you ever witnessed the first formation of life? I mean, I've seen my children, I was there for every step of the process if you know what I mean. Hah. But what I'm talking about is from beyond the beginning. The molten slag of a planet forming over millions or even billions of years into a habitable plane. Have you seen, from that very point, chemicals coalescing and reproducing? Amino acids and the forming proteins?
Well today, I found out, when you die in the crypts, you don't see a light in the end of a tunnel. You witness something truly beautiful and pointless.
I watched the birth of life from nothing. Short molecular protein chains. No cell walls, no encasing membranes. If DNA or genetic code of any kind was in their descendant's future, it wasn't present now. I watched it cling to the surface of rock, self-replication fueled by the warm free energy of a sun, millions of generations, hard work, decay, and new growth, only to be destroyed by a crashing wave. The weak hydrogen bonds were broken, as simple as that. The ancestor's hard work gone in a single blink-and-you-miss-it moment. Somehow I knew, wherever this was, that was all the life that planet would ever see until it was swallowed up by its star.
It was a quick fleeting spark. All the dramas and soap operas in the world could have taken place in a single raindrop. A unique potential, unlike any others, this planet's chosen ones, snuffed out before it could evolve to breathe its first breath. Rather grim isn't it? I don't know why I dreamt it, but there it was, a pointless creation followed by an equally pointless destruction. I guess it was a nice commercial break from the missing-arm-induced pain i was suffering. A wonderful hilucination, if a bit mocob.
Anyway, back to my unimaginable blood-curdling, mind-wrenching torture porn session. My eyes were closed a very long time, but when they did open, I was finally where I should be. Horizontal in a hospital bed, surrounded by trained surgeons. That said, it was on an alien world, and the surgeons were not trained in human biology. What's worse, they had no way to dull the pain.
Death would have been a blessing, unfortunately, the doctors were good, in spite of the unknown make, model, and engine size laying before them. 5 hours under an experimental knife, and I think an arc welder, is what it took to reattach my arm and fix my internal organ damage. 5 hours of poking and prodding and searing and stitching and pulling and zapping. All things considered, I am impressed it only took 5 hours. Ted's species was remarkable when it came to taking in new information and applying it in the real world. All their extra brains probably didn't hurt either.
If you remember, Ted's species came equipped with five extremity brains, and a central one. That's three for all three of his legs, two for both of his arms, and one in his central body. Ted would have had six individual minds within him before I found him dead in a ditch beside that interstellar sidewalk. By that point, only one, Ted, had survived.
After my, let's say, unique experience, I was left alone in a dark room to rest. Ted came by to visit. Oh yeah, he had a body now. He wore that "Tall, dark, and extraterrestrial" look well. He was easily 7 feet tall in his real body. Those Ted-fu moves should pack a real punch in a body like that.
"That reminds me. You wanted your fighting moves back, right?" My voice was terribly parched after my morning shouting sessions.
Shouting obscenities at medical proffesionals was about all I could do when Ted's doctors were busy inventing a new form of torture. Seriously, take notes. Good stuff in there.
"Keep them. That isn't going to be my concern here. It's hard to even walk now, let alone fight." He admitted. "I'm used to having secondary brains do all the work. I would only take over when the situation required. Now, I'm all I've got."
"Just another one of us handicap one-brainers," I taunted. "How does it feel to be on my level? Could you say you're just 'too single-minded?"
He laughed. I don't think I've ever heard Ted lower himself to laughing at one of my jokes. It wasn't even a good one. I know I could have come up with something better. Hold on. I- huh... well, I guess the moment has passed.
Instead, I teased him again. "so, you have a sense of humor after all."
"Always have. You just aren't funny." He shot back.
Then it was my turn to laugh at a bad joke.
"Bad idea!" I realized aloud. "Laughing hurts. Don't make me laugh."
There was an awkward silence before Ted finally spoke again. Our whole conversation was full of them.
"You're going back there aren't you?" He asked.
"I have to. I have a family somewhere, and I have to know if they're still alive. Something bad is happening on earth and I just want to be there to protect them."
"I don't think you ever will find out."
"Blunt and to the point today are ya?"
"Always have been. You just never listen. Im serious. I dont think you'll make it home."
There it was again, that quiet that kept creeping back up into our conversation.
"What if you run into Brad again?" He asked. "I won't be there to reboot your brain next time. You will either die or-"
"Don't tell me."
"Or you will suffer greatly, then die." He continued while checking his version of fingernails.
"I told you not to tell me. Now I can choose which option I like better."
"I'm being serious." He shot back at me. "You have no defenses against him."
"I know. I'm hoping he's dead. That's three shots from a Tedidian gun he has taken now."
Neither of us were convinced.
"Tedidian? That's the name you gave my species? I'm honored."
"I'm the first of my kind here, I get the naming privileges."
If our conversation took place over the radio, the host would be mortified. Not by the subject matter, no. The silence would be dubbed "dead air" and the host would desperately clamor for a new topic to keep the dialogue active and dynamic. We didn't have that luxury. I think Ted was sorry he couldn't have done more to help, but he would never admit it. I actually might miss him after all- Nah... Too stuck up his own butt to admit his shortcomings. I dont need a guy like that tagging along.
"Do you- mourn the loss of your secondary minds? Were they separate thinking entities?"
"I mourned their loss eons ago. I have moved on. Now I have to re-remember how to walk and talk and do math equations without them. I will be slower than my academic peers, but I have with me knowledge of the unknowable. That should make up for some of my deficiencies."
Eventually, Ted was ushered out. I needed the rest. The doctors here were good. They had managed to piece together this broken puzzle written with a completely different alphabet, and accelerated my healing a great deal. Not really a surprise, given they could build Ted a whole new body. I was back on my feet in a matter of 2 days, using my arm in 3, and back to 70% at 4. I dont think I'll ever make it back to 100%, but all things considered, this is pretty good.
It's hard to tell how long I have been away from earth, but given this trip was meant to last a very long time, I don't suspect I should miss my flight, so long as I find my portal. As long as I can find Eddy. So long as I can find all of them; Eddy, Rook, James, even Jyong and Me-Yan.
Ted's people had a similar arrangement to earth's at first. When Ted was an explorer, their portal was at the edge of the system, but they brought it down to their planet with rockets and parachutes after he and a few others never came back. The history was fascinating. They were a united planet, far and above the most advanced I have come across so far, but in spite of that, the portal slowly leeched off the planet, and spat out horrors beyond their imagination. What they once used as an interstellar fast travel, quickly turned into a speed bump, then a health hazard. There was a reason the builders set this portal so far away from the planet. It wasn't meant to be here, so Ted's people had to build a wall, with poor old lost Ted on the other side. They closely monitored the other side though, and were shocked to find the brain activity of a Tedidian coming from yours truly. That would be Ted's mind, shoulder to shoulder with mine, in my head if you weren't following along. Then they rescued me from Brad.
Speaking of, I asked around about Brad. Someone shot him, so that someone should know if he survived. I had to know if he would be waiting for me on the other side. Eventually, I asked the right person, who introduced me to my rescuer. He wore a white uniform and carried a big gun, even for Tedidian standards. I was kinda jealous. I like my pew pews, but these things were on another level.
He confidently told me that Brad was indeed "dead." I had Ted translate for me whenever I spoke to a native, but they were quickly learning on their own how to speak Sean-ese. That's the language I told them I speak. Might as well leave a lasting mark. That confidence, however, did not come from a place I liked.
"But did you actually see it dead?" I pressed.
"Nothing survives a plasma arc, even a graze, let alone two." He scoffed. Or I think he scoffed. There is no universal interplanetary sign that someone is scoffing at you. You just have to pick up on subtle undertones of pride, shock, or snood. Ted had lots of snood. Luckily, he broke the mold. The people here were as different as people are on earth. I just happened to get the most insufferable one imaginable. Just my luck.
"Then call this thing 'nobody,' because it survived one before." I suggested.
His eyes widened, glad to see that was an interplanetary sign of surprise. "Th-that isn't possible."
"Oh, but it is." Ted interjected
Oh good, that thing could be waiting for me for all I know. I never thought I'd be scared to be without a Ted in my head, but there I was, terrified. He was right. Without him, I had no defense.
We were walking back to Ted's place when I began replaying the past events in my head. My vision was something I couldn't shake. It was real. I felt like I was one of those chains of self-replicating chemicals. That's almost all they were, chemicals, but they had every marker required to classify life. They even responded to change in the environment. They were short-lived bonded protein chains that consumed, produced waste, even grew by self-replication and bonding.
"Hey Ted," I started. "I wanted to run something by you."
"I'm listening, but let's keep it under 280 characters. I'm not in the mood for a marathon today."
I rolled my eyes. "Glad to see you're back to your old self."
"My old self? I've been trying to get back to that, but every time I open my eyes, there you are."
"Look here Dane Cook, I saw something after the attack. It was on another planet. I think someone is trying to show me something."
"You were also close to Brad at the time, who we know can alter your perception."
"Maybe, but this felt different. The first time he affected my mind, he put me in a dreamlike state. Then he used something familiar to me to disguise himself. This was different. I wasn't me, I was this green amino-acid chain with no protective coating. All I could sense were chemicals, no light, no sound, but I knew what was happening too, like I was watching from the outside at the same time."
Ted learned how to roll his eyes just now from me, and mimicked the action to an exagerated end. "Don't think much about it. Many Tedidians see a light at the end of a tunnel when we are close to death. Perhaps this is just your version."
"Perhaps." One thing is certain, even if it scares me, I would be glad to be without Ted. I almost forgot how annoying he was after our little bonding session.
"But I have a question for you. Who is Dane Cook?"
"My planet's worst comedian. Thats not the point."
The day did come that I had to leave, and Ted, in his usual fashion, refused to say goodbye. Instead, all he would say is "I won't be far behind." Cryptic, right? Like, what is that supposed to mean?
At first, I thought "Great. And right after I thought I got rid of him." But then I thought about it. It would be an interesting cultural slang to say "we will meet again." Does Ted believe in an afterlife?does he think I'll wimp out and come back?
Pointless questions aside, there was some good news. He gave me a new gun. This one made an even bigger "kaboom!" It was really fun. Heh. Haha. Gimme-gimme.
I was happy to see Jim-Bob waiting for me at the portal. I hadn't seen him since I set off that sonic weapon. Their feet are so sensitive to vibrations and sound, that weapon really messed with them. The Tedidian doctors had their work cut out for them fixing 5 listening organs per Jim-Bobidian. Together, all 20 odd Jim-Bobs and I, stepped through the portal to the nightmare world.
Now that I was on this side of the portal, I could see that Brad was gone. Oh boy, what fun. You know what else? I held onto that old piece of alien tech that Ted had his brain shoved into. I thought it would make a neat souvenir. Wouldn't you believe it if as soon as the doors closed behind me, I heard that S.O.B's voice saying "So, where to next?"
Ted copied himself yet again into that stupid thing. Didn't take long to figure out what he meant by "I won't be far behind."
"What the hell, Ted?" I shouted.
"Surprised to hear my voice?" He asked?
"More pissed than surprised. I thought I finally got rid of you."
"Oh stop it, you are happy to see me, admit it."
"I thought you wanted to go home. What happened to me just being a pair of legs?"
"Ah yes, but there's a crucial difference between that Ted and this one. This one is artificial, and doesn't get lonely. I am merely a copy of a personality. That way, when you die, I won't get homesick."
"I smell bullshit," I said.
Surprisingly, he didn't make an astronauts and diapers joke. Instead, he said "Got me. I am an explorer, remember? Even if I was homesick, I still yearn for the other-worldly. My adventuring days are not yet over, and this way, I can never die, unlike someone I know."
"News flash, Ted, you did die, and give me that self-aggrandizing crap you pulled in the beginning, and I'm throwing your immortal ass down the throat of the next giant monster I find."
"My path will remain rectilinear, and true."
"Rectum what now? I thought you only knew words I used in front of you. I don't even know what you said."
"True, but now I have learned how your language works, thus am able to intuit new words. You cannot convince me that was not a word. Go- 'look it up' or whatever when you get back to Earth. It means 'I'll stay on the straight and narrow.'"
"Then why didn't you just say so? You're already teetering on the edge of being too annoying to keep around, buddy." I threatened, but I had to admit, a translator would be nice.
I have to say, the next leg of the journey went on without a hitch. The Jim-Bobs, Ted, and I were making good time. Find a monster, kill it, find a planet, explore it, find another monster, kill it too. I found so many new planets, although most were dead or never had life to begin with. The odd part was, Ted was sure he had visited some before, and interacted with the residents, but there was nothing but rock where I stood.

https://imgur.com/a/9BVhgOA
1 = Dual entrance / exit must turn right
2 = Single entrance only
3 = Dual exit only, two arrows on the pavement, one left, one right
So, I stop in the #3 left turning lane which everybody uses to get into the center lane to turn left on the green arrow, but when I look to my right absolutely nobody going straight uses their turn signal to give me a heads-up that they want to pull into the center lane too, they just do it unexpectedly. I'm not sure what to do here; I pretty much always turn right and go around the long airport runway (not pictured).

Have you ever witnessed the first formation of life? I mean, I've seen my children, I was there for every step of the process if you know what I mean. Hah. But what I'm talking about is from beyond the beginning. The molten slag of a planet forming over millions or even billions of years into a habitable plane. Have you seen, from that very point, chemicals coalescing and reproducing? Amino acids and the forming proteins?
Well today, I found out, when you die in the crypts, you don't see a light in the end of a tunnel. You witness something truly beautiful and pointless.
I watched the birth of life from nothing. Short molecular protein chains. No cell walls, no encasing membranes. If DNA or genetic code of any kind was in their descendant's future, it wasn't present now. I watched it cling to the surface of rock, self-replication fueled by the warm free energy of a sun, millions of generations, hard work, decay, and new growth, only to be destroyed by a crashing wave. The weak hydrogen bonds were broken, as simple as that. The ancestor's hard work gone in a single blink-and-you-miss-it moment. Somehow I knew, wherever this was, that was all the life that planet would ever see until it was swallowed up by its star.
It was a quick fleeting spark. All the dramas and soap operas in the world could have taken place in a single raindrop. A unique potential, unlike any others, this planet's chosen ones, snuffed out before it could evolve to breathe its first breath. Rather grim isn't it? I don't know why I dreamt it, but there it was, a pointless creation followed by an equally pointless destruction. I guess it was a nice commercial break from the missing-arm-induced pain i was suffering. A wonderful hilucination, if a bit mocob.
Anyway, back to my unimaginable blood-curdling, mind-wrenching torture porn session. My eyes were closed a very long time, but when they did open, I was finally where I should be. Horizontal in a hospital bed, surrounded by trained surgeons. That said, it was on an alien world, and the surgeons were not trained in human biology. What's worse, they had no way to dull the pain.
Death would have been a blessing, unfortunately, the doctors were good, in spite of the unknown make, model, and engine size laying before them. 5 hours under an experimental knife, and I think an arc welder, is what it took to reattach my arm and fix my internal organ damage. 5 hours of poking and prodding and searing and stitching and pulling and zapping. All things considered, I am impressed it only took 5 hours. Ted's species was remarkable when it came to taking in new information and applying it in the real world. All their extra brains probably didn't hurt either.
If you remember, Ted's species came equipped with five extremity brains, and a central one. That's three for all three of his legs, two for both of his arms, and one in his central body. Ted would have had six individual minds within him before I found him dead in a ditch beside that interstellar sidewalk. By that point, only one, Ted, had survived.
After my, let's say, unique experience, I was left alone in a dark room to rest. Ted came by to visit. Oh yeah, he had a body now. He wore that "Tall, dark, and extraterrestrial" look well. He was easily 7 feet tall in his real body. Those Ted-fu moves should pack a real punch in a body like that.
"That reminds me. You wanted your fighting moves back, right?" My voice was terribly parched after my morning shouting sessions.
Shouting obscenities at medical proffesionals was about all I could do when Ted's doctors were busy inventing a new form of torture. Seriously, take notes. Good stuff in there.
"Keep them. That isn't going to be my concern here. It's hard to even walk now, let alone fight." He admitted. "I'm used to having secondary brains do all the work. I would only take over when the situation required. Now, I'm all I've got."
"Just another one of us handicap one-brainers," I taunted. "How does it feel to be on my level? Could you say you're just 'too single-minded?"
He laughed. I don't think I've ever heard Ted lower himself to laughing at one of my jokes. It wasn't even a good one. I know I could have come up with something better. Hold on. I- huh... well, I guess the moment has passed.
Instead, I teased him again. "so, you have a sense of humor after all."
"Always have. You just aren't funny." He shot back.
Then it was my turn to laugh at a bad joke.
"Bad idea!" I realized aloud. "Laughing hurts. Don't make me laugh."
There was an awkward silence before Ted finally spoke again. Our whole conversation was full of them.
"You're going back there aren't you?" He asked.
"I have to. I have a family somewhere, and I have to know if they're still alive. Something bad is happening on earth and I just want to be there to protect them."
"I don't think you ever will find out."
"Blunt and to the point today are ya?"
"Always have been. You just never listen. Im serious. I dont think you'll make it home."
There it was again, that quiet that kept creeping back up into our conversation.
"What if you run into Brad again?" He asked. "I won't be there to reboot your brain next time. You will either die or-"
"Don't tell me."
"Or you will suffer greatly, then die." He continued while checking his version of fingernails.
"I told you not to tell me. Now I can choose which option I like better."
"I'm being serious." He shot back at me. "You have no defenses against him."
"I know. I'm hoping he's dead. That's three shots from a Tedidian gun he has taken now."
Neither of us were convinced.
"Tedidian? That's the name you gave my species? I'm honored."
"I'm the first of my kind here, I get the naming privileges."
If our conversation took place over the radio, the host would be mortified. Not by the subject matter, no. The silence would be dubbed "dead air" and the host would desperately clamor for a new topic to keep the dialogue active and dynamic. We didn't have that luxury. I think Ted was sorry he couldn't have done more to help, but he would never admit it. I actually might miss him after all- Nah... Too stuck up his own butt to admit his shortcomings. I dont need a guy like that tagging along.
"Do you- mourn the loss of your secondary minds? Were they separate thinking entities?"
"I mourned their loss eons ago. I have moved on. Now I have to re-remember how to walk and talk and do math equations without them. I will be slower than my academic peers, but I have with me knowledge of the unknowable. That should make up for some of my deficiencies."
Eventually, Ted was ushered out. I needed the rest. The doctors here were good. They had managed to piece together this broken puzzle written with a completely different alphabet, and accelerated my healing a great deal. Not really a surprise, given they could build Ted a whole new body. I was back on my feet in a matter of 2 days, using my arm in 3, and back to 70% at 4. I dont think I'll ever make it back to 100%, but all things considered, this is pretty good.
It's hard to tell how long I have been away from earth, but given this trip was meant to last a very long time, I don't suspect I should miss my flight, so long as I find my portal. As long as I can find Eddy. So long as I can find all of them; Eddy, Rook, James, even Jyong and Me-Yan.
Ted's people had a similar arrangement to earth's at first. When Ted was an explorer, their portal was at the edge of the system, but they brought it down to their planet with rockets and parachutes after he and a few others never came back. The history was fascinating. They were a united planet, far and above the most advanced I have come across so far, but in spite of that, the portal slowly leeched off the planet, and spat out horrors beyond their imagination. What they once used as an interstellar fast travel, quickly turned into a speed bump, then a health hazard. There was a reason the builders set this portal so far away from the planet. It wasn't meant to be here, so Ted's people had to build a wall, with poor old lost Ted on the other side. They closely monitored the other side though, and were shocked to find the brain activity of a Tedidian coming from yours truly. That would be Ted's mind, shoulder to shoulder with mine, in my head if you weren't following along. Then they rescued me from Brad.
Speaking of, I asked around about Brad. Someone shot him, so that someone should know if he survived. I had to know if he would be waiting for me on the other side. Eventually, I asked the right person, who introduced me to my rescuer. He wore a white uniform and carried a big gun, even for Tedidian standards. I was kinda jealous. I like my pew pews, but these things were on another level.
He confidently told me that Brad was indeed "dead." I had Ted translate for me whenever I spoke to a native, but they were quickly learning on their own how to speak Sean-ese. That's the language I told them I speak. Might as well leave a lasting mark. That confidence, however, did not come from a place I liked.
"But did you actually see it dead?" I pressed.
"Nothing survives a plasma arc, even a graze, let alone two." He scoffed. Or I think he scoffed. There is no universal interplanetary sign that someone is scoffing at you. You just have to pick up on subtle undertones of pride, shock, or snood. Ted had lots of snood. Luckily, he broke the mold. The people here were as different as people are on earth. I just happened to get the most insufferable one imaginable. Just my luck.
"Then call this thing 'nobody,' because it survived one before." I suggested.
His eyes widened, glad to see that was an interplanetary sign of surprise. "Th-that isn't possible."
"Oh, but it is." Ted interjected
Oh good, that thing could be waiting for me for all I know. I never thought I'd be scared to be without a Ted in my head, but there I was, terrified. He was right. Without him, I had no defense.
We were walking back to Ted's place when I began replaying the past events in my head. My vision was something I couldn't shake. It was real. I felt like I was one of those chains of self-replicating chemicals. That's almost all they were, chemicals, but they had every marker required to classify life. They even responded to change in the environment. They were short-lived bonded protein chains that consumed, produced waste, even grew by self-replication and bonding.
"Hey Ted," I started. "I wanted to run something by you."
"I'm listening, but let's keep it under 280 characters. I'm not in the mood for a marathon today."
I rolled my eyes. "Glad to see you're back to your old self."
"My old self? I've been trying to get back to that, but every time I open my eyes, there you are."
"Look here Dane Cook, I saw something after the attack. It was on another planet. I think someone is trying to show me something."
"You were also close to Brad at the time, who we know can alter your perception."
"Maybe, but this felt different. The first time he affected my mind, he put me in a dreamlike state. Then he used something familiar to me to disguise himself. This was different. I wasn't me, I was this green amino-acid chain with no protective coating. All I could sense were chemicals, no light, no sound, but I knew what was happening too, like I was watching from the outside at the same time."
Ted learned how to roll his eyes just now from me, and mimicked the action to an exagerated end. "Don't think much about it. Many Tedidians see a light at the end of a tunnel when we are close to death. Perhaps this is just your version."
"Perhaps." One thing is certain, even if it scares me, I would be glad to be without Ted. I almost forgot how annoying he was after our little bonding session.
"But I have a question for you. Who is Dane Cook?"
"My planet's worst comedian. Thats not the point."
The day did come that I had to leave, and Ted, in his usual fashion, refused to say goodbye. Instead, all he would say is "I won't be far behind." Cryptic, right? Like, what is that supposed to mean?
At first, I thought "Great. And right after I thought I got rid of him." But then I thought about it. It would be an interesting cultural slang to say "we will meet again." Does Ted believe in an afterlife?does he think I'll wimp out and come back?
Pointless questions aside, there was some good news. He gave me a new gun. This one made an even bigger "kaboom!" It was really fun. Heh. Haha. Gimme-gimme.
I was happy to see Jim-Bob waiting for me at the portal. I hadn't seen him since I set off that sonic weapon. Their feet are so sensitive to vibrations and sound, that weapon really messed with them. The Tedidian doctors had their work cut out for them fixing 5 listening organs per Jim-Bobidian. Together, all 20 odd Jim-Bobs and I, stepped through the portal to the nightmare world.
Now that I was on this side of the portal, I could see that Brad was gone. Oh boy, what fun. You know what else? I held onto that old piece of alien tech that Ted had his brain shoved into. I thought it would make a neat souvenir. Wouldn't you believe it if as soon as the doors closed behind me, I heard that S.O.B's voice saying "So, where to next?"
Ted copied himself yet again into that stupid thing. Didn't take long to figure out what he meant by "I won't be far behind."
"What the hell, Ted?" I shouted.
"Surprised to hear my voice?" He asked?
"More pissed than surprised. I thought I finally got rid of you."
"Oh stop it, you are happy to see me, admit it."
"I thought you wanted to go home. What happened to me just being a pair of legs?"
"Ah yes, but there's a crucial difference between that Ted and this one. This one is artificial, and doesn't get lonely. I am merely a copy of a personality. That way, when you die, I won't get homesick."
"I smell bullshit," I said.
Surprisingly, he didn't make an astronauts and diapers joke. Instead, he said "Got me. I am an explorer, remember? Even if I was homesick, I still yearn for the other-worldly. My adventuring days are not yet over, and this way, I can never die, unlike someone I know."
"News flash, Ted, you did die, and give me that self-aggrandizing crap you pulled in the beginning, and I'm throwing your immortal ass down the throat of the next giant monster I find."
"My path will remain rectilinear, and true."
"Rectum what now? I thought you only knew words I used in front of you. I don't even know what you said."
"True, but now I have learned how your language works, thus am able to intuit new words. You cannot convince me that was not a word. Go- 'look it up' or whatever when you get back to Earth. It means 'I'll stay on the straight and narrow.'"
"Then why didn't you just say so? You're already teetering on the edge of being too annoying to keep around, buddy." I threatened, but I had to admit, a translator would be nice.
I have to say, the next leg of the journey went on without a hitch. The Jim-Bobs, Ted, and I were making good time. Find a monster, kill it, find a planet, explore it, find another monster, kill it too. I found so many new planets, although most were dead or never had life to begin with. The odd part was, Ted was sure he had visited some before, and interacted with the residents, but there was nothing but rock where I stood.

I, a 45 yo female, had my bottom two impacted wisdom teeth removed in the mid '90's around the time of my braces treatment. I don't remember much about it other than waking up during the surgery, to loud radio music, the surgeon and nurses talking and laughing, and a couple of cuss words amongst their conversation. Then I blacked back out. I also remember having an allergic reaction to either the pain med or the antibiotic, but since I was taking both, I don't know which one caused the reaction.
When I had the first surgery, there was no reddit, no widely used internet. I had no one to advise me, other than my surgeon and orthodontists' offices, which I of course didn't spam them with my fears, I just followed their post-surgery instructions to the letter. There were no other young adults around me having their wisdom teeth removed. My parents and other family had had theirs out two decades earlier. I was seemingly all alone and freaking out about whether I was healing normally.
Fast forward to 6 days ago, I had my upper wisdom teeth extracted. They'd erupted long back with the lower ones, and were fully grown in. In fact, they'd been in so long, that with no lower teeth underneath them, there was no opposing force to keep them from moving slowly down further and further. My dentist told me they may stop moving downward, or they may eventually start to touch my bottom jaw bone, and when that happens, I'd definitely need to have them removed. He recommended it 12 years ago when I first started seeing him, because he said all they do is catch bacteria and start to decay. But I held firm that as long as they weren't causing problems, I didn't want to go through another surgery. I was able enjoy to not worrying about dry socket for 25 years since they erupted. Until this year when they both developed small cavities.
Now, here I was, this week terrified of getting dry socket. Everything was a breeze up until day 3 when my pain gradually got worse, and I just about freaked out. I started re-reading my current post-op instructions, reading every dental website I could find, and I came into this sub. I was convinced my blood clots just didn't form at all (because nothing had fallen out). All of my fears were being laid out by other people every hour of the day. I got plenty of answers and personal experiences to help me relax and realize that if I'd developed dry socket, I would KNOW IT.
I found out that days 3 and 4, or for some people 4 and 5, are the worst for pain, and that it can take up to 48 hours for anaesthesia to be processed fully out of the body. No wonder days 1 and 2 were such a breeze. I was very worried that at my "advanced age" (although 45 isn't old!), I might have a more difficult healing period.
So far, so good. I'm on day 6 and seeing the swelling in the sockets finally reduced to where I can see in the holes, and I can see the last remnants of the blood clots in both of them now. I'm taking my ibuprofen 3x a day. Sleeping well. Eating mashed potatoes, apple sauce, strawberry shakes, yogurt. So far, my healing is right on schedule.
Just want to let everyone know I think it's really great that we have so much information online to refer to, to find comfort, see pictures, to get our questions answered. Take the positive stories that you read here to heart. Yes, it's scary. Try to relax, follow your instructions, and consult your surgeon or dentist with any problems for the answers that fit you specifically, because they really are the ones you need to be ACTUALLY listening to. But geez it is so amazing to have this sub!! Best of luck to all of those going through this now and in the future. Happy healing!
There's a great informational website called Animated-Teeth that I read over and over all weekend long.

(I posted about this in the chat thread but mod asked that I make a post on it too so we can more deeply discuss!)
https://x.com/butdaddyilovehstatus/1791108440007286833 - Taylor Nation posted a gif of Taylor with merely the caption "and james" this morning. like, literal Gaylor fever dream.
i know we've sorta made jokes about how one person who runs the TN twitter is a gaylor intern and the other is Scott Swift (or someone with a similar hetlor-leaning agenda). im starting to think that the stark contrast between tweets like this one, the "nurse shes out again" for Fortnight promo, tweeting out the OG gay ass cardigan lyrics, etc. etc. and the ones following Paris Eras that were seemingly celebrating Travlor and even ridiculously seeming to "confirm" Taylor's 1989 outfit was Chiefs colors even though we know now they 100% were not... i believe this stark contrast is intentional and all part of the performance art that Taylor is enacting right in front of our eyes.
IMO the album and new Eras tour choreography of TTPD perfectly encapsulate "every bait and switch was a work of art" as well as "Dear reader, if it feels like a trap, you're already in one." TTPD as an album is fullllllll of super queer central themes and honestly is up there with Evermore/Folklore for her gayest albums (in my personal opinion, esp once you consider The Anthology)--but then she drops little red herrings that honestly DON'T actually negate those themes at all (so long as you're able to look past pronouns, as we all have gotten used to with Tay ofc haha) but DO provide just enough "Tay the hetero princess in luv with her prince Trav" fodder for the Hetlors to eat that shit up and ignore the glaring truth: that it is a fucking queer album.
The choreography in TTPD section of Eras just further drives this home; the TTPD era starts with visuals that show goddamn cages and prisons falling into the ocean and then BDILH features visuals of churches burning down lmao. Religious trauma and comphet healing personified. But then it transitions into just like 25 seconds of what *we* can see is campy as hell choreo for SHS, but it satiates the mainstream Travlor loving swiftie. "Omg shes twirling her hair and giggling because he makes her so giddy!" No...she's making fun of the entire narrative. But they see what they want to see and ignore the rest. Even as the TSMWEL choreography blatantly shows Taylor in GREIGE marching with drums in a line just like she did in the Me! MV -- but now, it is a funeral and the performance is filled with rage. Complete with a goddamn lesbian salute!! But still....they will ignore all that in favor of keeping Taylor in the little straight good girl box they've placed her in for years.
I think this contrast between "Gayloring on Main" TN and the tweets that seem to lean into the spoon-fed Travlor, American princess narrartive is part of this bait-and-switch. IMO Taylor is making that contrast as stark AS POSSIBLE, all part of her plan to eventually show what is real and how so much of the public will ignore the most earnest pleas of an artist to see their truth, so long as they get to maintain their picture perfect narrative of that artist--regardless of the cost.

My boyfriend (22M) and I (20F) broke up because of his mom. The thing is, we were in a long-distance relationship (ldr), like he was in another country. We've been together for 2 years, but in March, he left the Philippines to review for his med school. I couldn't help but to overthink, especially when he didn’t call me for weeks. Because I kept asking, he finally confessed something that happened in the first week of May.
His mom and he went to the beach because it was his mom’s birthday. I couldn't understand why he needed to be dared to take pictures and be kissed by white girls. Yes, his mom dared him to do that. He even sent me the pictures because I was curious. When I saw the pictures, I was deeply hurt because why would his mom do that when she knew her son was committed to me? I tried not to think negatively, but I was really hurt. It would have been okay if it was just a simple picture, but no, one of the girls kissed him on his left cheek. I couldn't understand why his mom would do that to her own son. Just seeing him with someone else hurt me, what more being kissed.
I cried so much, to the point where my hands were shaking from anger, and I didn't talk to him. I broke up with him for my own peace of mind. I couldn't handle this kind of situation, especially knowing that it was his mom pushing him to do such things. My boyfriend told me that I always make everything an issue and that it was nothing but just a dare. He didn't seem guilty for what he did, since he kept it from me for a few days before telling me. He didn't even apologize right away but blamed me for making it an issue. I'm so hurt, I don't know what to think anymore. He could have refused, why didn't he? I can't trust him anymore, not even his mom. What are your thoughts about this? Am I too sensitive?
TL;DR : My bf's mom dared him to take a photo with two girls he didn't know. One of the girls kissed him on the cheek, and he didn't object. They know he's in a relationship, but his mom pushed him to do it. I feel very disrespected by what happened.

Just found out I passed AT/AT/T!!!
So beyond proud of myself and so grateful for the resources this sub led me to.
Don't be like me and wait so long to take the exam, I had until June 7th to take and pass or else I would have had to reapply. I finally buckled down the beginning of April and booked it for 15 May. Unfortunately there weren't any in person slots left near me in the timeline I had left, so I had to opt for online. I would not recommend taking online unless it's your last resort, I had completed check-in and was waiting for the proctor to review my pictures, never got a chat or any notification they would be calling me, (once you get to this point in check-in it is recording you and says you must follow all exam rules, so I felt I could not answer my phone until they gave me a notification that they were calling, it's very confusing) and when I didn't answer, all the sudden the window closed and said it was complete. I was a hysterical mess thinking I just wasted $400 and tried to call the number back and no luck. I tried the check-in process again after calming down and had success this time, the proctor reached out via chat and then did a video call vs calling my phone. I needed to prove monitors were unplugged (I then lost internet connection while moving my laptop to show the cord and was about ready to give up at this point, but luckily the ethernet cord got set straight and reconnected) and I was able to start my exam.
Definitely take both breaks and get up to stretch in the very least. I had good timing and never felt rushed, I did utilize the flagging and had plenty of time to go back and review. If I felt I was spending an excessively long time on a question I picked an answer and flagged to keep moving.
After taking the test I felt pretty good about it, but not great, it also sucks that when you take online you have to wait 24-48 hours to find out your results. I had already told myself if I failed I was retaking in a test center bc of how awful this experience was taking online.
My study plan/resources:
I had already watched some of the AR Udemy course at that point, but restarted it and also focused on the mindset portion this time. I also used Study Hall (essentials) and did all practice mini exams and 1 full length exam (73% on the full length and average of 76% on all exams). I read about the DM videos on this sub and highly recommend. I'm convinced that those and Study Hall are what prepared me the best and got me 2 AT's. I unfortunately didn't have time to watch the DM videos in full, but watched a good portion of each (200 Agile, 100 waterfall, 150 PMBOK).
I was not religiously studying everyday as I probably should have, and should have had more of a plan other than taking practice questions and exams, but it ended up working for me. Once you start getting a feel for the questions in Study Hall and get consistent results in the 70s you should be good. I have a few years experience as a Program Manager and felt I had a basic understanding going into this, but getting into the mindset is the most important part in my opinion.
Hilarious sidenote- the photo you submit during check-in pops up when you take breaks and my photo was a HOT MESS after initially not getting through check-in, we are talking very obvious I had cried and was barely holding it together. It made me laugh so hard when I got to my first break and helped relieve some stress. I wished I had been able to save it bc it's that hilarious of a photo. Today it popped up when I clicked to look at my exam report, huzzah!

Hey folks, selling a few records, shipping is $5. If you're buying more than 1 deals can easily be made I'm pretty flexible, ships from Texas. Grade: (record/ sleeve).
Breakwater- Splashdown.VG+/VG+. Original press, excellent copy of an amazing album, I think this might be my recommended pick of the post. Beautiful blend of soul and funk here. Super hard to find clean and if you do it's not at this price. $29.
Ohio players- Pain. VG+/VG+. Original press on westbound. The Ohio players westbound releases are getting real hard to find clean these days, here's a great copy. $18.
100 Proof- Aged in Soul. VG/VG-. Original press on the hot wax label. I being conservative calling the wax VG, it really has very minimal light non feelable lines. The front cover has ring wear, jacket has hole punch top right corner, no splitting. Super hard to find this soul record. $19
Bob Marley- Exodus. Sealed/Mint. Original US press. Exodus is embossed on front, lions embossed in back. No bar code, on island. 7720 sunset boulevard Los Angeles address. So I've had two copies of this album sealed for over 10 years. Sold one earlier this year here on reddit this is the second and last copy. Absolute rarity to find an original sealed. VG copies of this are going for around 50 bucks y'all I think is a pretty fair price. I'm sure some moron would list for much more on discogs. $100
Sam Cooke- Live at the Harlem Square Club. VG+/VG. Original release. Record plays great, very few faint scuffs. Jacket in great shape with light wear. Great copy of one the greatest live albums of all time. $35
Roy Ayers Ubiquity- A tear to a smile. VG+/VG+. Original press. Vinyl is super clean, jacket in shrink. One of my favorite Roy albums, killer jazz funk. $30
Prince- Controversy. VG/VG. Original '81 pressing. The wax is really clean with a few light marks. There's a small pen mark scribble on side 1 label which is the main reason a graded vg. Jacket has some wear to the spine. This is a nice copy. $19
LTD- Love to the World. VG+/VG+. Vinyl is super clean in original pictures sleeve. Jacket in excellent shape. $14
Eugene Record- The Eugene Record. VG+/VG. Record is super clean, jacket in great shape, legible spine and no tears. Great copy of a nice soul album I don't see a lot. $18
The Modulations- It's Rough out here. VG+/VG-. Original press, the vinyl is clean, light hairline towards the end of very last track that causes a few ticks. Cover has wear on edges, light ring wear and 2" splitting top right corner at opening. Super hard to find soul record that is pretty clean. $28
Grace Jones- Nightclubbing. VG+/VG+. Original press on blue island label. Super clean wax. Bottom of front jacket has light ring wear. Such a well produced, fun album and man does it sound amazing on wax. Excellent copy. $18
Mutiny- Funk Plus the One. VG+/VG+. Original white label promo. Clean vinyl free of scratches, nice jacket. $15
Eddie Kendricks- Boogie Down. VG+/VG. Clean vinyl, jacket has edge wear. $3
Sounds of blackness- evolution of gospel. VG/VG+. Original us press. There's groove wear 30 seconds into the intro song" chains" that causes a a very quick jump. Rest of the album plays fantastic. Hype sticker on cover. I currently don't see any copies of this in the states for a reasonable price. $21
Anderson.Paak- Malibu. Mint/sealed. This is the original 2016 Europe 180 gram press with turquoise hype sticker. "SW234223" on the spine. My personal copy of this sounds great. Jacket has light corner creasing the top left corner. Note: my personal copy also initially had a corner crease and I imagine most will, two heavy 180 housed in a single pocket jacket will do that. There should be a poster in there when you open the shrink. I will bubble wrap this so the mailer is tight and the record is not moving around. $24
Donny Hathaway- The Best of Donny Hathaway. VG+/VG+. $12
Common- Be. VG+/VG+. Original 2005 pressing with STERLING in the dead wax. This is not the 2023 reissue from Canada. Both discs are in fantastic shape, jacket in great shape. $60
Clarence Smith- Whatever Happened to Love.VG+/VG. Original promo. Vinyl is clean, jacket has edge wear no seanl splits. For as long as Ive known this record it ha always been hard to find. Really nice funk, soul, gospel album. $30
Charles Lloyd- Moonman. VG+/VG+. This is the 1970 repress that came out the same year as original release with the red kapp label. Plays nicely. This is just a different album but different in a good way in my opinion. Just check it out, if you like buy it lol. 7 bucks.
Robert palmer- Pressure Drop. VG/VG. $5
Pat Lundy- Loving You-The funkiest feeling. VG+/G+. Record is clean. Jacket has splitting at the top and slight ring wear. This one is kinda rare. $8
James Brown- Live at home with his bad self. VG+/VG+. I played this one once. $15
Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack. VG+/VG. Discs are a Vg+ cover is a strong VG. $7
David T Walker- On Love. VG+/VG+. Original Us press. $26
Harvey Mason- Funk in the Mason Jar. VG+/VG. Original white label promo, vinyl iscl super clean. Play tested and sounds fantastic. The jacket has a promo cut top right corner. Just a real nice jazz funk album man. 7$
Houston person- Harmony VG+/VG. Record is pristine, jacket has very light staining due to age. $5
Thanks a bunch!

PC
Reddit Account: FromTheInkpot
Discord Tag: jayonline
Name and House: Tessario of Lys
Age: 28
Cultural Group: Valyrian
Appearance: Taller than the average man, with slender and effeminate features. His skin is pale, his hair consists of curled white locks and his eyes are a vivid lilac. He favours black leathers with silver accents, and often adds coloured silks as sashes, belts, or capes. On the middle finger of his left hand he wears a signet ring of black steel and gold, used to seal letters from the Pearl Bank.
Trait: Marketer
Skill(s): Avaricious (e), Merchantman (e), Broker
Talent(s): Linguistics, Arithmetic, Reading People
Negative Trait(s): Sociopath (non-mechanical)
Starting Title(s): Keyholder of the Pearl Bank, Heir to the blood of Altaerys (secret)
Starting Location: Opening Event
Alternate Characters: N/A
Bio:
Born in the year 4BC, Tessario was the son of a Lyseni courtesan and a nobleman of the Old Blood who had left for the Black Walls of Volantis before he even knew of the child.
Growing up in Lys, Tessario was raised by his mother in a small manse where she would teach him lessons learnt from the courts of the free city.
Since his mother first spoke to him tales of Valyria and dragon riders, Tessario was enthralled.
His bloodline was of the forty families, from one of the few dragonlords on Lys during the 'Night of Tears', when the dragonlords had been poisoned and their dragons slain by their very hosts - the magisters. That the dragon rider had been his ancestor was his family's deepest secret and one that could have seen them killed in generations past.
The knowledge that the dragon riders of old were his very ancestors was almost too much for the young boy to keep secret. Especially now, when dragons had waged conquest on Westeros' shores so recently. But while the Targaryen's were said to wed brother to sister to keep their bond with the dragons strong, his family had not had a dragon rider in five generations. Since then his family's bloodline - the house of Altaerys, thought lost in the Doom of Valyria and the Century of Blood since, had become clouded with the Old Blood of Volantis during their occupation of Lys. And before that, diluted among the courts of Lys the Lovely, where none truly knew or at least none spoke of how much dragon blood they had. It was clear most of Lys had some. The features of silver-blond or white hair and the eyes of pale blue or shades of purple were all too common. The city was truly Valyrian. Who knew how many dragonlords' legacies his blood carried now?
Tessario, with his pure Valyrian blood and features to match, had the fiery will of his ancestors but an uncommonly pragmatic mind. As he grew, so did his keen mind, picking up his numbers and letters faster than other boys his age.
Raised in the turbulence of a city still reeling from the uprising against Volantis, Tessario learnt how violent people could be at a young age. Surrounded by the cruelties of slavery, he grew up numbed to the hardships of others.
By nine name-days he would begin visiting the Temple of Trade where he and other boys would talk with the magisters and tradesmen who congregated there. From among these wealthy and noble men of the city, he and a lucky few others, would gain apprenticeships; a position that was highly coveted in the city of Lys, where trade was considered a profession more honorable than arms.
Tessario shadowed his sponsor for three years, learning the inner workings of trade negotiations, currency exchange, and contract creation. He met several other apprentices who like him hungered for more, as well as making friends among the less prominent families of Lys all too keen to climb the social ladder. So, when his apprenticeship was over they formed a merchantile group of ambitious youths. Tessario and the others began with insurance cons and profitable arbitrage that filled their pockets and funded bigger schemes.
The war in the Stepstones came as a wondrous opportunity for the newly founded group. The members invested heavily, with some overseeing the battles themselves. Luckily the Lysene forces met up with not only those of Tyrosh, but also ships from Dorne and the Stormlands. Tessario wore armour for the first time as he sailed sellswords to the fighting, though did no more than watch in actuality. War made them rich and for the first time in his life Tessario knew what it was to wield true power. The power to make others die for your ends.
The pirate threat crumbled easily, but the true prizes were had after the fighting. Contracts for trade opened up and new ports to invest in saw the merchantile group grow faster than ever before. They hired lingering hedge knights and sellswords to protect their assets and even convinced some of the former pirate vessels to become corsairs under them.
As the Stepstones begin to flourish, the group started to look further afield for other trade routes. In 18AC, just as Dorne began to invest heavily in Sunstone, Tessario sailed to Driftmark as one of three emissaries of their group tasked with finding new avenues for profit. It was while on this mission that Tessario first met Valarr Velaryon, Lord of the Tides. Seeking a base of operations outside of Lys, Tessario negotiated plans for a bank to be built in Spicetown, profiting from the flow of trade.
Tessario broached the concept to the group telling them of the pearls found by fishermen in the pools of the island's coves and a contract for the Pearl Bank was drawn up. Tessario, as one of the two-and-twenty key holders, was now responsible for much.
Construction began in late 19AC with a main building that was reinforced with strong stone and deep vaults. Pearl farms under the control of the bank were also created, with construction of the entire project finishing before the end of 24AC. During this time the bank engaged in numerous amounts of trade, amassing a full vault, as well as funding loans to the many growing businesses of Spicetown, merchants of the free cities, and other Houses of Westeros. This includes House Massey of Stonedance, House Celtigar of Claw Isle, and many other minor houses.
Timeline:

• 4BC - Tessario is born in a Lysene manse.
• 6AC - Begins a trade apprenticeship for three years.
• 9AC - Forms a merchantile group in Lys.
• 12AC - Funds the war in the Stepstones.
• 13AC - War in the Stepstones ends.
• 18AC - Visits Driftmark as an emissary, meeting Valarr Velaryon.
• 19AC - The Pearl Bank begins construction.
• 24AC - Construction is completed.
• 25AC - Current day.

Family tree:
https://familyecho.com/?p=START&c=izpgpsokcmwmhxa6&f=478495015333730745
AC
Name and House: Somovo Saan
Age: 21
Cultural Group: Valyrian
Appearance: Piercing blue eyes shine out from dark features. Somovo has a lean build and freckled face from years of sailing the Narrow and Summer Seas. Her skin is dark and her hair falls in long brown curls down past her shoulders, the occasional braid holding beads of copper. She often wears loose shirts and wide breeches that allow her skin to breathe the salty air of the sea, while sticking to practical leather boots for moving about the deck.
She has a slender black cat named Sȳndor 'shadow' that lives on deck and prowls the bank offices while on shore.
Trait: Reaver
Skill(s): Raider, Fence, Tactician
Talent(s): Winning at Tiles, Tying knots, Swimming
Negative Trait(s): N/A
Starting Title(s): Captain of the Spice Runner
Starting Location: Opening Event
Alternate Characters: N/A
Timeline:

• 4AC - Somovo Saan is born in Lys.
• 9AC - Somovo's father, Sarthos Saan, takes her on her first voyage to Tyrosh.
• 12AC - Her father leaves to fight for the pirates in the Stepstones war.
• 13AC - After the pirates defeat in the Steptones, her father is hired by a group of merchants from Lys. Somovo meets Tessario, one of the groups founders.
• 18AC - Meets the sellsail Captain Laurei of Myr who becomes an inspiration for her to become a Captain of her own ship.
• 19AC - When the Pearl Bank begins construction on Driftmark, Somovo is on deck with her father and they patrol the Narrow Sea together, guarding trading vessels and seeking opportunities for their new employer.
• 21AC - Somovo is given command of her own ship and crew, becoming Captain of The Spice Runner, named after Spicetown.
• 22AC - Her father's ship is lost at sea during a storm near Volantis. The corsairs previously under Sarthos turn to her for leadership by virtue of her blood.
• 24AC - Construction of The Pearl Bank is completed on Driftmark.
• 25AC - Current day.

NPCs
Morio (30) - Cutthroat
Every man of ambition needs a ruthless and silent right hand.
Ser Thomas Storm (27) - Warrior
Knighted by Ser Edwell Celtigar in the Stepstones and knowing he would gain no further gold or glory, he joined the merchantile group from Lys to train their retainers and act as Captain of the Guard to Tessario.
Since then he notably won the joust at the Tourney at Aegon's Rest in 21AC.

I see there is a recent, useful post on cognitive decline, but I'm new here and also wanted to tell my story.
Background. Male, 61 years old. In summer '22, I had three concussions. (I don't drink or take drugs; it was three freak accidents, each one different.) Those injuries, especially the first one, gave me light sensitivity, language problems, memory problems, insomnia. I recovered after a month, then the next two I recovered after a week or two.
I got Covid in Jan 2024 and have had LC since. That's more like a "medium"-hauler in terms of time, and most of my symptoms (fatigue, bradycardia, PEM, POTS, insomnia) have seemed mild or improving.
Cognitive decline. But a week or so ago, I noticed cognitive decline and it's freaking me out. I've been doing some gig work that involves describing photos aloud, and I could not think of the word "cleaver" (like a meat cleaver) even though I was looking right at a picture of it. "It's a . . . knife, a kind of square knife," I said.
The other day I tried to say "September," but what came out was "December" and next came "November." So it took three tries to say one word.
Worst of all, I messed up my chance to get all my student loans forgiven--I'm getting just a fraction of them forgiven when I could have wiped out the whole debt. But a combination of executive function problems and not understanding how the program worked led to this mistake.
I get health care through an HMO (Kaiser Permanente) whose party line is that the only medical treatment for LC is anti-depressants. I'm not interested in that.
Poverty. LC has left me on the brink of homelessness. I live in low-income housing and was struggling to make a living as a freelancer before I got sick. One reason I tried so hard not to get Covid was I knew it could be financially devastating, and it has been.
I had to start working two hours a day just three weeks after Covid because I have no financial support other than my earnings. No paid sick time, no long-term disability, no short-term disability. I do mental work, editing academic books and journals.
I have about two months' of expenses in the bank--not in savings, just, all told, checking, savings, the extra savings account where I set aside money for taxes, that all comes to about two months of expenses. But as a freelancer, I often don't get paid until two months after I invoice. So two months is not a good cushion, it's barely a cushion at all.

I was asking a ton of questions when I started workbench 5 days ago and received a ton of feedback but no one was exactly certain if it was a scam or not or if they had just messed up. By day 4, yesterday, I had the majority of my answers and hope the following warning will help others.
So, this is how it works. I will use a $100 deposit as an example. You start your 40/40 set with $100. A 3/3 album comes up. 2 of the 3 songs will be of a negative value. Your $100 gets frozen when song 2 for the album comes up. You then put an additional $100 in to unfreeze and continue. At that point the system behaves as though you have started with $200 so when the 3rd song comes up it will freeze you at a negative $200. If you put in that $200 to unfreeze, the system will continue your set as though you started with a $400 deposit. They say it is “rare“ and “lucky” to get a 2/2 or a 3/3 but I guarantee you, especially on “salary” day, you will get combo albums. And they can throw as many 2/2’s or 3/3’s at you in a set of 40/40 as they want. Meaning if you are unfreezing the 3rd song of a 3/3 and you are at 9/40, this can continue to happen several more times within that 40/40 set regardless of how ”rare” and “lucky” you are told you are!
Following the math in the above scenario of an initial $100 deposit to start a 40/40, if you happen to get three 3/3 combo albums, you will need to spend $5,200 to get to the end of your 40/40 set, remembering that every time you pay to unfreeze, your initial deposit amount increases and all songs left in your set are based on the new amount each time. Start with 100. Unfreeze for 100 and then 200. Total 400 to continue to 10/40. Then unfreeze for 400 and 800 for second 3/3. Third 3/3 will be 1,200 and 2,400 to unfreeze. Total of $5,200 if you get three 3/3’s in one 40/40 set. And they could fit more in. No idea the extent of how evil they can get!
Final part of my warning. I used $100 as an example because I told them I was going to skip day 5 (long story short), so they hit me on day 4. I did not get sucked in past unfreezing once and walked away without unfreezing at 9/40. The warning is for those who get to day 5. They do put the $800 in your account at the start of or during a set so even if you only deposit $100, you will go through your set as though you deposited $900. I didn’t do the math here but hoping everyone understands and gets the big picture!

Posting on here for some advice on whether to start using retinol again… I have a long story with acne and getting perioral dermatitis recently - really need some advice
For context, I have struggled with acne my entire life, from the age of 11 I was on multiple treatments including creams and antibiotics to try and control my spotty and oily t-zone. At the age of 17 I had a terrible break out on my cheeks, it was really severe and I had never had acne like that before. After numerous things I ended going on the contraceptive pill and that completely cleared my skin. I was on the pill for about 5-6 years but it really affected my mental health, depression, anxiety and mood swings were horrible so I finally came off it before the age of 23.
When I came off the pill I became quite nervous that all my acne would come back, I began getting spots here and there, and after seeing the rave about tretinoin online I decided to give it a go. It definitely wasn’t the best decision from me, I got the retinol uglies, I went in with 0.5 which was definitely too strong too quick and I was losing hope after a few months. I think my skin was just TOO exfoliated, I couldn’t figure out a routine and I think I was using too many products.
I then switched to Dermatica and got prescribed Adapalene 0.2% / Clindamycin 1% / Niacinimide 4% This felt better but my skin was continually peeling, it looks glowy now that I look back on pictures but I was still getting spots. Nothing drastic but I was definitely searching for that glass skin look.
After 6 months they switched my prescription and removed the Clindamycin (due to resistance to that ingredient I think you can only take it for 6 months). This was before Christmas time in 2023, the weather became really extreme and my skin suffered. I thought it was just the weather and I would lather in moisturisers and continue to only use Dermatica every 3rd night but my skin would not stop peeling. I contacted Dermatica and told them my side effects and they said that my skin is just getting used to it. I began to get a dry patch near my mouth which slowly got worse, I thought this was because of the weather but I got a lot of redness around my mouth and looking online I felt like I had developed perioral dermatitis.
Long story short I did have perioral dermatitis. I stripped my skincare routine to be VERY minimal and began taking antibiotic, I was prescribed Lymecycline from my doctor for 3 months, I also started using Azelaic Acid after following Dr Sam Bunting advice online.
Now that I have finished my antibiotic, I am still continually getting spots, it almost feels a tad worse now that I’ve finished the antibiotic (Lymecycline is also prescribed for acne as well as POD). My skin feels really clogged and my forehead just has a lot of tiny spots, I keep getting breakouts and I just want to not have to deal with it all the time, it feels NEVER ending that I have acne for the rest of time at the moment.
Here is my current skincare routine: AM - Wash face with water - The Ordinary Caffeine Solution under my eyes - The Inkey List Azelaic Acid 10% - The Inkey List Vitamin C 15% (just started using this to brighten marks) - The Inkey List Niacinimide (for my oiliness) - The Inkey List Omega Water Cream (if my skin is feeling moisturised I don’t use this) - Paula’s Choice Clear SPF 30 Fluid
PM - Remove make up with The Inkey List Oat Cleansing Balm - Wash face with Dr Sam Bunting Flawless Cleanser - Dr Sam Bunting Flawless Neutralising Gel - this has 2% salycilic acid, 5% azelaic acid, 0.5% bakuchiol, 5% squalene (started using this in the past week now that I have finished my antibiotic and I only put it on my spots, most nights in the week) - Sometimes I may use Paula’s Choice BHA or AHA (probably once a week and not at the same time as the gel above) - Cosrx Snail Mucin (if my skin is feeling dry or I have used an exfoliator) - The Inkey List Omega Water Cream OR Aveeno Oat Restorative Night Cream
Treatments: - I’ve got the Omnilux Red Light Therapy mask and I use it a few times a week (my skin feels very hydrated and plump from this) - I’ve been using a high frequency wand a few times a week on my spots
I’ve been contemplating using The Ordinary Retinal 0.2% maybe once or twice a week in the evenings, but I’m just really nervous and not entirely sure whether it’s worth it. My skin did look good on Dermatica (apart from the peeling) and definitely way less clogged than I feel now, so I feel really tempted especially hearing that retinal is really good.
Considering I’ve been using Azelaic Acid daily for 3 months now I feel like my skin is slightly less sensitive, but I’m VERY worried I will fall into a trap and over exfoliate if my spots still continue, I’m a stress picker and I just want them gone so if one appears I just need to do something to it. I’m also very scared of the retinol uglies, I’ve started a new job recently and I’m definitely worried it will crush my confidence on a daily, as already I get quite down about spots.
Does anyone have any advice if retinal is a good idea?

Hi! I’m Emily! I’m a MTF Girl from Scotland. I'm looking to make some friends or gaming friends here! I am pretty shy at times and not really good at making conversation but i believe i can follow up pretty well as long as i don’t get dry responses! I also don't like people with super unrealistic, unfair expectations when they don't even get mentioned (Instant responses and such). I've had people bully me and randomly unfriend me and such without a fair reason.
Due to reasons that happened in the past very frequently, I most likely won't approach you / start a convo etc for a while until i am very comfortable and trust that you won't freak out. You saying "I won't" will not be enough for me. I'd need to trust you.
I only respond to people who are 18+, Speaking to minors makes me very uncomfortable!
I also prefer if you was from the UK (or are able to talk during reasonable times!) It isn’t fun being woken up at 8am.. I would like a longer lie in bed sometimes! Please also respect that i could be away and busy and won't always instantly reply to you.. I have a life!
I have a few options to play games on! PC, PS5 and my Switch! I primarily play on my PC as i have most multiplayer games on there! I have a wide variety of games! I don't have many games on the PS5 at the moment. I play the following games - Genshin Impact (EU), Valorant, Destiny 2 and a few other single player games! I can get into games
If you are wishing to talk to me and be friends with me.. Please do send me an INTRODUCTION and not some boring one-two worded message that i will ignore! I like to know who is messaging me!
I'm Autistic, Please have patience! I also will not not VC or send pictures as i get very uncomfortable! If i am to VC, I won't talk and will text! Thanks!