I just need to vent, maybe get advice if there’s even any to give. My wedding is in 24 days and my mom still doesn’t have a dress. Actually, that’s not true. She has four with a fifth on the way. So she has plenty of dresses, just not ones she wants to wear.
Started with one she bought online, I thought it was nice but she ended up not liking the bolero jacket that came with it.
She then bought a gown on Facebook marketplace, but realized she’d have to lose some weight to wear it and wasn’t sure if she’d be able to.
She then bought another one online, I again thought it looked nice. She decided it was too backyard wedding-like and since my wedding is not in a backyard, she decided against it.
She bought yet another dress online and apparently isn’t happy with it either.
So today she has placed an order online (again) for another dress.
She’s been to stores and tried on dresses, I’ve gone with her. I’ve given my opinions on dresses in store and online. But she needs to just make up her mind. 24 days! Her not being able to settle on one is stressing me out. She’s building it up to be this huge thing and I don’t know if she’s ever going to be happy with what she chooses because of the expectation she’s put on herself.

Vi walked the all-too-familiar streets of the slums. A child lay in the street, abandoned. The young girl sobbed into her dress as townsfolk passed without a second glance. Memories rushed to the surface at the sight of her. Vi fought back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. When this assignment was over, The Order would finally accept her as a member. No one would hurt her again.
 
Vi chewed her lip as she tapped her fingers together in succession—thumb and index, then middle, ring, and finally pinky—repeating the motion several times. I’m not ready for this. I’m going to fail. They’ll kill me if I fail.
 
She scanned the street, trying to disentangle her mind from the waves of customers crowding the vendors, each patron haggling for the best deal. The smells of bread and sweetmeats wafted in the air, fusing with the merchants touting their wares, composing the symphony that was the market. Finding her mark in this mob would be complicated, and The Order would accept nothing less than perfection.
 
Vi double-checked her disguise. Her vibrant red wig flowed down in waves to rest upon her shoulders. She wore an apple cap pulled tight to hide the wig’s shoddy craftsmanship. Accompanied by the motley of ragged clothes, she was indistinguishable from the other beggars who plagued the streets.
 
Satisfied, Vi twisted the ring on her finger; a small needle protruded from a hidden groove underneath. Carefully, she reversed the spin of the ring to conceal the weapon. She scanned the street for her target, ready to do what she needed.
 
A young man across the street caught her attention; he wore a red scarf embroidered with silver daggers, just as The Order described. Vi’s heart rate doubled as he stopped at the bread vendor directly in front of her. She took a deep breath and tapped her fingers methodically one last time to steady herself.
 
This is it, Vi. If you do this, there is no going back. She thought about her life before The Order took her in. She had barely survived the streets, begging and stealing what she could just to prolong her wretched life. There was no way she would go back to that now. Convinced, she scanned the exits—families, merchants, beggars, and guards flooded the streets, creating a maze of sorts.
 
Content, she slid down the steps and weaved through the masses towards the young man like a snake slithering towards its victim. Her hands shook as she approached him, doubt creeping up with each step. He was barely old enough to grow hair on his face. Did this man deserve to die?
 
The memories of that night washed over her like a wave. Her father lay on the ground, a knife protruding from his chest, the shine erased by the dark blood that surrounded it. A man with jagged teeth knelt over her mother, gradually turning to look at Vi.
 
He smiled at her with a crooked grin that would haunt her dreams for the rest of her life. "Don't worry, child. I haven't forgotten about you." He chortled a rough, cracking laugh that turned into a cough.
 
She snapped back to reality. Tears welled in her eyes as all reservations shattered. She would go through with this, no matter the cost. She twisted the ring as she advanced, her eyes blank from emotion.
 
Vi feigned a trip and stumbled into the man, stabbing him with the needle. "I’m sorry, sir. I haven’t eaten in a week and I just got a bit dizzy," she lied as the needle dug into the man's arm.
 
He regained his balance and paused before handing a piece of copper to the bread merchant. The man picked up a loaf and ripped a bit off for Vi. He smiled. "Here you go. No one should have to go so long without eating."
 
Her face wilted. What have I done? She spun without a word, refusing to take the piece of bread. Her eyes filled with tears as she walked away.
 
The sound of a thud reverberated as the young man's body hit the hard dirt. It was too much for Vi. Tears flowed down her face uncontrollably as she ran. She didn’t look back. She would never look back.

I need to replace a front strut mount and an looking at Rock Auto. Some of them state they come with bearings and others don't. Did that mean they don't include the bearing? Replaced struts a month ago using Monroe and am getting a creaking sound from the front when taking a left turn and accelerating. I've found videos here and other places that have this diagnosis. I'd return the strut but bought a wholesale closeout and didn't realize I couldn't return it under warranty.

Don’t have to be great at the game. I wanna try to run a three day stint on a weekly with someone. 18+/mic/usa :) thanks

When I played in a live band, we absolutely had our ‘signature’ sound, just like any other band.
What made our sound definitive in a live setting was:
• Marshall Mode 4 pushing the lower end, rhythm guitar.
• Vocals (sounded like Hetfield) always opting for the trusty & dynamic Shure SM-58.
• Drums, just a solid beat needed, for which my brother brought to the table.

• While other elements like bass and lead guitar were nice, they were never a very strong part of our musical identity.

With that said, I just received my interface so I’m about to start my venture into home recording (in lieu of fronting a band) and as much as I would like to just recreate my old band sound and emulate that. I know that just won’t work here because I don’t exactly have the space to belt out loud, aggressive & constant vocal practice. Or drums for that matter.
So at this point I am starting to wonder if there’s much purpose in using my Mode 4 amp head for recording. I know a lot has changed in the world of home recording. Do these amp heads have much place in creating original content these days? Or has amp emulation taken over to become the standard?
Of course the M4 amp head is rather large for a desktop. I’m sure I’ll at least integrate it eventually at some point. But do many people really utilize their amp heads for home recording, especially as default?
TL;DR I’m setting up my little beginner’s home studio. Would my Marshall Mode 4 serve much purpose?
Thank you!

I’ll cut to the chase lol. 23F I live in a big city, I never get approached in person and I don’t get many (if any) likes on dating apps (currently using hinge) , when I do get likes about half the time it’s for casual sex (I personally do not participate in that). When I go out with friends they don’t have trouble attracting guys and they’ve all had boyfriends, whereas I have never been in a relationship. I think it may be because I’m not conventionally attractive. I think I’ve maxed out all I can do superficially stopping short of plastic surgery lol. But I literally don’t know what else to do. I do shoot my shot with guys (and miss). But what else could or should I do? I think I could be a good girlfriend if given the chance lol

I actually genuinely cannot take this anymore. Both my last two recent favorite persons have been my best friends. My last favorite person who I’ve been friends with for the past year and a half has been becoming friends with my most recent favorite person of about a month and it’s so exhausting. It makes me extremely jealous and I feel so sick knowing I’m the one who introduced them to each other through a mutual game we all play. They hang out together when I’m not online and don’t acknowledge me when I get online anymore.
I don’t know if there’s a way to fix this without ruining my relationship with both of them. I don’t even know if it can be fixed. So I’ll probably just bottle up how I feel until I ultimately explode.

Have a home in SoFL with a mouse problem that will not die. I have had 3 different pest control companies, one of which was a “rodent expert” try to fix this problem.
The mice are supposedly field mice, which everyone tells me don’t even infest houses in FL. So I guess my house is just special.
Home a nearly 100 yr old, Spanish Mission style stucco on frame 2/1 with unfortunately no crawl space access. It is in densely populated city.
In addition to constant professional baiting and trapping both inside and outside… We have spent 1000’s on extensive exclusion efforts, repeatedly. We have had 3 different smoke tests performed to check for broken pipes (all passed). We have purchased a borescope for the latest pest control guy. They are doing all the things that are supposed to work, but the mice persist. They are occasionally weeks or months with no or low activity but they always comeback in force.
We are desperate to fix the issue.
House is clean and uncluttered. We have always had professional pest control services.
We have considered cutting crawl space access into the floor and are still willing to but the crawl space is too small for that to be particularly helpful.
At wits end, has anyone ever had this problem? Or have any ideas on how to fix it?
I want to drill holes and fill the entire crawl space with poison but the pest control guy says that’s not a thing lol.

Hi everyone, so I need some advice. I am currently a trainee health visitor. So I go uni and placement 50/50. I have a practice assessor at work who gives me so much anxiety and stresses me out. I’m not sure what to do.
She makes me feel like I’m so stupid and incompetent but when I work with other staff they say I’m doing well. I understand that everyone has their own style of working and I should do things the way she wants since she’s assessing me but i genuinely don’t think I’m actually doing things wrong and when I ask her about it she just waffles. I can’t help but feel like she wants to fail me and always trips me out and nit picks on the tiniest things. The way she speaks to me is so weird aswell, like her tone. It seems like working with me is such a chore for her. She once made a comment saying how ‘working with students for too long gives me a headache’. Also she appears to be a bit bipolar aswell. Like one second she’s fine and normal and then she would just switch to being rude.
Anyways it has recently started affecting me more physically. so I’ve noticed that before work I have so much anxiety and my heart starts racing really fast, I get night sweats the night before, feel a bit nauseous and feel like crying. I hate feeling like this just because of ONE person. I really enjoy this course and really want to be a health visitor but honestly she’s actually ruining it for me and I’m very tempted to drop out.
I may potentially have the option to switch teams/localities within the trust but I would need a very valid reason. If I do leave I wouldn’t want my assessor to find out it’s because of her because I know it will negatively impact me if I move areas because she’s friends with everyone basically. I finish the course in December and I’m so annoyed that I’ve completed half of the course already.
What do I do?

I’m absolutely miserable at my current job. The clients are horrific (call me racial slurs), my boss is clueless, my team couldn’t care less whether I was alive or dead. (That sounds dramatic, but I was literally in the hospital for food poisoning and no one cared to ask if I was okay). I don’t like the work I’m doing and it’s gotten to a point where I’m barely doing the job because I’m so unhappy. It’s affecting my appetite and sleeping. I barely eat or sleep from the anxiety.
Obviously, I need a new job. But I also know the job market is horrible right now. I need to leave for my mental health, but also, I live alone with my dog and wouldn’t be able to survive very long without a paycheck and health insurance (I have a lot of health issues). I don’t know what to do.
Any advice, ideas or even words of encouragement would be welcomed. Thanks.

First, I want to say that I am hyper aware that this is such a privileged problem to have.
My MOH was excited to plan a bridal shower in the state that we are from and where most of our family is (about a 12 hour drive from where we live now). I am so thankful because I know there are people who won’t be able to make it to our wedding who will be happy to celebrate me and honor my extended family, etc.
Someone who’s like a sister to me offered to throw me a shower here - bridal, couples, whatever. It also happens to be in time with when my MIL will be in the country, as she lives abroad.
All I’m asking is, is it weird to have two showers? Do I just need to make sure the guest lists don’t overlap too much? Should the party from my friend be just an engagement celebration?

people say when u have a twin you have a built in best friend and that really does not feel like the case for me. since childhood she has always done weird or disrespectful things to me, and im introverted as is so i just always felt somewhat alone. don’t get me wrong we have lots of good times together but the things that happen to u as a child really shape who u r and who become as an adult. anyways, today she cause a fight with me and every time u try and tell her the wrong things she does she’ll yell at me, talk over me, and then threaten to kill herself and it just sucks not being heard and it’s frustrating

Are there any guys out there who want to remain child free ? Why is it seen as a stigma if an indian guy wants to remain child free ? I am a very professional and practical person who is well settled in a good career , so i even want my future partner to be professional and well established in her career even if it makes us sacrifice having an off spring i don’t want her to suffer and get backlashes in her career due to her motherly responsibilities , I believe gone are those days where women had the duty to raise kids , now its an equal responsibility for the guys as well , so why do all the guys out there still see this as a stigma , i once discussed this with my friends saying i specifically can’t divert my attention from my career to raise my kid so I would rather prefer to remain child free , they just behaved like we were still living in the 19th century, they made fun like as if i am impotent and they are a fuckin god and they can just easily handover all the responsibility of their kids to their wives when will these kids change and start seeing their partners equally?

The used a similar tactic in 2021 causing massive panic sell offs with trading halts. Naturally you worry something is going to happen.
If you don’t sell the price won’t drop

Hi everyone! I’m the creator of the Michael’s Employee little comic series called “Creative Complaint.” I’ve posted 5 mini comics a day for the past couple days, in case you don’t know what I’m talking about.
I’ve decided to make a bit of a poll because I’ve notice that there’s a specific demand for me to make custom framing comics, which is great. But my question is, would you rather me release 5 custom framing comics at time like I did this previous time, or would you rather them be sprinkled in with all the other scenarios, such as cashier, manager, curbside, orders, etc problems? Custom framing is a breeding ground for room to complain, so I’d have no issue coming up with 5 at a time. I’d simple like to you what you’d all prefer!
View Poll

I’m I nterested in purchasing the above frags for a good price. May also be interested in Grand Master and French Defense.
Please comment here first before messaging me one on one. I ignore chats that don’t comment first. I’m ONLY interested in purchasing from someone with sales history.

I (20) was born with EDS. Hyper flexible variety. My mother (45) has it, my sisters (16 & 21) have it, we’ve all got it. We agreed mine is the worst of all of us and I can get diagnosed first so the rest of the family will have family history. I literally use a wheelchair for it when I’m out of the house.
The problem is that my mom is also obsessive about cleanliness (and I’m allowed to call it as I see it because I have diagnosed obsessive compulsive disorder) and I’ve tried my hardest to explain to her why sometimes I need to focus on things other than cleaning so I can get things done in my adult life (work, education, hobbies if I’m lucky) but she blows up at me for not cleaning an entire room in a single night.
I understand that part of this stems from her refusal to take care of her own health first. She’ll complain about back pain all day, huff about it when I say I can’t pick something up for her because my back hurts too, and then still spend time hunched over arranging things in the kitchen. I would be fine with that, because it’s her body and her life, if she didn’t make it my problem.
I accept when I ask her to grab me something while she’s bent over and she refuses on account of her pain, so why isn’t “I slipped a disc in my back barely a month ago and when I bend down it feels like it’s going to happen again” a valid excuse for me? Why are there double standards?
When I first got my wheelchair for surgery she doted on me and insisted on pushing me everywhere. Now that I use it for my EDS suddenly it’s too bulky and annoying, I roll myself too slowly, I don’t even need it. Then she gets mad at me for being stiff and sore and immobile the next day. It makes me feel like I’m crazy.
Right now I’m having a particularly busy period in my education and I’ve dropped all my hobbies to focus on writing for it, everything hurts even on medication, and she’s still sending me increasingly pissed off messages about how I didn’t clean up enough for her like a cleaning-based bill collector. I asked her to give me something more specific to work with than just general “everything is dirty and you need to clean” and she just sent me a rant again.
What the hell am I supposed to do? She’s the one who gets worried about money when I say I’m not sure if I can stay in school because of my health. I don’t know if she’s narcissistic clinically speaking, I know that can come up as an issue sometimes. I don’t care if it’s NPD or all of the other mental and physical health problems she won’t address that make her treat me like this but I’m stressed and pissed off regardless.

Jamaican singer-songwriter Minna LaFortune, a rising star in the reggae world, has released a stirring new single, “The Black Star Liner.”
LaFortune told Caribbean Life on Wednesday that the uplifting anthem pays homage to Jamaican national hero Marcus Garvey and his teachings of African liberation, self-reliance and PanAfricanism.
“’The Black Star Liner’ is a reggae song with a driving rhythm that invites the listener to join the symbolic Black Star Liner, a shipping company founded by Garvey in 1919, and journey to Africa on a ‘mission of love and togetherness,’” she said. “The lyrics express the pride, hope and love that the Jamaican people have for Africa and the African Diaspora, as well as the determination and courage to overcome challenges and create a more prosperous future with other Africans.”
LaFortune said the song is inspired by Garvey’s philosophy and the music of Bob Marley and Burning Spear, “two of the most influential reggae artists who embraced Garvey’s teachings and spread them to the world.”
She said the song also “predicts changes that were going to happen in the Jamaican-African Bond and in Africa that were in keeping with the vision of Marcus Garvey.”
“With its dynamic reggae rhythms and socially conscious lyrics, ‘The Black Star Liner’ takes listeners on a metaphorical journey from Jamaica to the African continent,” LaFortune said. “’The Black Star Liner’ metaphor is so powerful because it represents the dream vehicle that will carry African peoples back to their ancestral homeland.
“Just as Marcus Garvey founded the actual shipping company in 1919 to facilitate the return to Africa, my song envisions a symbolic journey where we’re all aboard that ‘liner’ headed to the continent with pride, unity and determination,” she added. “The Black Star Liner embodies the hopes of the pan-African movement.”
The song’s powerful chorus declares in part: “On the Black Star Liner, we coming from Jamaica/On the Black Star Liner, we going to Africa/With the words of Marcus/And the strength we possess/We’re on a mission of love and togetherness.”
“’The Black Star Liner’ is my humble contribution to keeping Marcus Garvey’s dream alive – that, one day, African peoples across the world will come together in the spirit of pride, self-determination, and unity,” LaFortune said. “It’s a reminder that, despite our struggles, we have an unbreakable strength that will ultimately lead us to a brighter future.”
The single is available now on all major streaming platforms.
LaFortune’s musical voyage began in Jamaica, where she said she was immersed in the melodies of her homeland.
Migrating to the US at 30, LaFortune said she continued nurturing her passion while contributing to the Caribbean Diaspora’s cultural fabric.
Her debut EP “Dance with Me” Volume 1, released in June 2023, showcases her originality and song-writing skills, and her artistic range on themes from romance to social commentary.
The festive “Caribbean Christmas” album followed in December 2023, fusing vibrant Caribbean styles.
LaFortune said she is currently working on “Dance with Me” Volume 2, set for a 2024 release, and continuing her powerful musical legacy.
She said included in “Dance with Me” Volume 2 will be her recent releases, “Reggae Music is Love to me,” “Don’t Drink Your Sorrows,” and “The Black Star Liner,” among many more original songs.
Contact Minna LaFortune at [info@minnalafortune.com](mailto:info@minnalafortune.com), or call 917-771-7935.

I have been seeing a guy for a few weeks now. We went on 5 dates and he seemed to be long term material (similar values etc.,). He opened up to me and mentioned a few things that seemed to indicate he was on the introverted side (cannot mingle with new people easily, takes time to warm up in new settings, prefers to spend weekends curled up with books more than socializing etc.,). I was concerned because I am a fairly socially active person and would like my partner to be able to take part in these as well.
I decided to invite him to a birthday party (~25 people) hosted at a close friend’s place to see what we are like in social situations with each other. He came off detached and not as enthusiastic as I would have liked him to be. We asked him a few times if he was uncomfortable at the party and he said he was fine there and that as he had mentioned before he takes time to warm up to new people and also he was tired that day. We also pointed him to employees from his company who were at the party so that he could have something common to talk about.
Overall, what he was telling us was not adding up to the behavior we were seeing so we thought he was hesitant to mention he was uncomfortable being there. Also his being that way was making my friends feel like they were doing something wrong and we were not very happy. I talked to my friends and suggested he should leave the party. He pushed back and insisted he was fine being there and that he liked to listen and observe in large settings as he had told me before. And he continued to stay. We gave up trying.
Next day a huge argument broke out between us. He said the realization that I took him to the party to see what he is like in social situations felt like a covert test to him because there was an “underlying motive” to why I took him there and there was no conversation about it my concerns beforehand. And that he felt his openness about his introversion was used to put him in a situation to “assess” him like that without talking about it with him. I mean, all I was trying to do was understand our social compatibility and I didn’t mean it to be some test. I don’t understand why taking someone to a party is such a big deal. He also says he felt humiliated being asked to leave like that since he was not being harmful to anyone there. I really don’t understand that either - all we were trying to do was spare him some discomfort.
Apparently he shared his version of what happened with some mutual friends and now they are grilling me. Am I am the asshole here? All we thought we were trying to do was make him feel comfortable there and I don’t like how he is spreading negativity in my friend group. What do you all think?

Hi, my name is Luis.
I’ve built landing pages for SaaS companies that convert 20%+ of cold ad traffic into paying customers. In my agency we charge up to $10k for a single landing page (based on initial fee + performance fee).
Here’s some advice on how to increase your landing page conversion rate.
At the end of the day, paid ads are the best acquisition channel for a startup (it is scalable, predictable and automated), but it has become fu***ng expensive.
You can’t make ads cheaper, but you can turn a 2% CR landing page into a 20% CR landing page to make your ads profitable (and you already know what profitable ads mean: More customers, more revenue, more profit, more investors, more cash, etc.).
Based on what I've seen, high-converting lading pages follow three rules. But, first of all, if I've been able to build 10%, 25% and even 40% conversion rate landing pages is because I understand what drives conversion. Let me explain.
Do you know why they say that the money is in the follow-up? Because the difference between someone who doesn’t know about your product and a buyer is FREQUENCY.
Frequency drives conversion.
Why are retargeting ads so powerful? Because what they really are is a frequency campaign. Constant exposure to THE SAME ONE THING again and again and again.

Conversion rule #1: One big idea or message.

How you communicate your product is crucial. Communicating your product goes way beyond features and benefits. You need a big idea or message.
Sales pages with a conversion rate of 10%+ convey ONE (and only ONE) big idea. And they do it repeatedly—again and again and again and again and again and again.
My headlines refer to my idea, the body text talks about my big idea, my visuals depict my idea, my Q&A centers around my idea, the testimonials I include are the ones that mention my big idea, etc.
A big idea / big message is easy to remember and gets stuck more easily in our brain through repetition.
Which one is easier to remember?
"Focusing without distraction on a cognitively demanding task for an extended period…"
Or...
"deep work.”

Conversion rule #2: No options, no distractions.

That means no pricing plans, no bar menu, no about us page, no links, no “join our email list,” etc. Only one page, where the only way of getting out is by clicking a CTA button that takes you to the sign-up or a demo call.
When it comes to your offer, there are numerous variables to consider: Free trial or no free trial? 7-day or 30-day trial? Pricing? Plans? Features? Cc required or not required? Etc.
I would really love to advise you on exactly what to offer, but I don’t know your product, your industry, your competitors, etc. I can only say that each option has its pros and cons.
For example, free trials without a credit card requirement tend to convert better, but they also attract less committed users (most of those people won’t even try your product).
I’m not stating that one is definitively better than the other. What I’m trying to convey is that you need to test different variables. What works for another company might not work for you, and vice versa.
Remember: Options kill conversion.
So forget about pricing plans. Create ONE compelling offer designed for customer acquisition.

Conversion rule #3: Easy to read.

Headlines, headlines, headlines...
The rest of the copy doesn’t really matter. Convey your big idea through your headlines. Literally.
I should be able to understand your product solely by reading your headlines. The rest of the copy should sell your big idea again and again and again. People are lazy and will scan your page (via headlines) for 10 seconds, before deciding if they understand what your product is about. If they like it, they will keep reading.
So, don’t use typical, vague marketing headlines.
Headlines you don’t want:
“Powered by AI”
Headlines you want (specific):
“Save 300 hours per month thanks to our customizable AI.”

Easy to read. Easy to remember. Full frequency. No distractions.

Those are the building blocks of a great sales page.

Now, I know what you are thinking…

“Everything here resonates with me except ‘no pricing plans’. Can you clarify what you mean?“
My response…

1. Build a second landing page: A dedicated landing page where you’ll be driving ad traffic to and which is designed for conversion.
   
2. This page should target one specific group of people.
   
3. Put together ONE single offer: One price point, one set of features and an incentive to sign up TODAY.
   
4. Want to target another group of people with another messaging/price point/set of features? Go ahead. But, don’t offer 3 plans that will generate friction and create confusion when your CTA is a free trial, bc people will choose the most basic plan in 99% of the cases.
   

“Would you be ok with sharing landing pages that are at 20% or more? I’m a visual learner so would be cool to see something tangible.”
Yes, click here?node-id=0%3A1&t=2RNjGZslsPF1E3TG-1) (Figma file with 3 pages built by me and my team).
“Where do all these ideas come from? I’m curious to see your entire approach. ”
Here you'll find a $35 guide that I’m selling profitably through ads. I want to give it to this community for free. Inside, you’ll find my entire approach and philosophy to make paid ads profitable.

Last but not least

If you've read all this and come this far, you can comment your landing page, and I'll do my best to review it for free :)
I only hope this post was helpful. Let’s make paid ads for SaaS startups great again!
Thanks, Luis.
My LinkedIn in case you want to know more about me or even connect.