Pain in back of skull right side

Hello everyone! I had stage 3 Varicocele for almost a year. I’ll be short, it started when I was living in an apartment on the 8th floor and no elevator. I had a girlfriend at the time and we were very active sexually, and sometimes after the intercourse I would go all the way down the building to get water, and coming back up, 8 floors down, 8 floors up, carrying bottles of water.
Broke up with said girl in 1 month however I noticed red vains outside my scotrum and got worried.
I was fapping every now and then after that, however I started a beautiful job as cabin crew and I stopped fapping for 6 months, varicocelle was gone.
I met a passanger, who I fel in love with, and got back to being sexually active again. I have been with this girl for 2 years now, and the varicocelle showed up agaij right after being sexually active.
4 months ago I made the operation
And everything seem to have gone to normal, however I got back to being sexually very active with my partner again, and right now as I am writing this thread, I think my varicocelle not only came back, but it has been in the words condition it has ever been.
I stopped sex, been 10 days no sex, but veins are hurting, quite much. I seem to sleep alot. Im still working…
Should i have surgzry again? Ir should i wait some more maybe it will go back?
Its like a bag of warms, crazy….. im scared, that I f+cked up and I damaged my vains even more after the surgery. Any opinions guys?!?

Hello everyone
I (31F) and my husband (37M) have a 5yo son who is non-verbal autistic. Yesterday was my son's birthday and we decided to arrange a cookout with my SIL, which I absolutely adore, and her girlfriend. It's not the first time we got together, we've been doing this for two years now. The only difference was that my SIL's girlfriend brought the kid she is raising (6M) I'll call him Simon, for the first time.
She is not his biological mother. When Simon was 2yo he was taken away from his parents because his father was a dr*g addict and his mother a pr*stitute and the environment he was growing up in wasn't safe. As next of kin my SIL's girlfriend took him in, and has been caring for him since then.
Every time we would meet she would leave him at grandma's house but this time it was not possible. She told me that she explained to Simon that my son wasn't very good about sharing his toys and to behave in other people's houses.
All good for me, I put various toys in the living room and we went to the kitchen to prep the cake and the meat for the cookout. I was checking my son from time to time to see if he was okay and in the beginning, it was fine. Simon was playing with the toys and my son was watching cartoons unbothered.
Things just went downhill from there.
We caught Simon throwing toys at my son, with not enough force to hurt but enough to the point my son was getting annoyed. His "mother" told him to stop, and he did for a whole five minutes than when he thought we weren't looking he resumed. My son turned off the TV and retreated to another part of the living room, further from Simon.
Then Simon started going through drawers and boxes, I didn't get bothered because I figured a kid was probably going to look for more toys although there were enough already out. Then he tried to purposefully break my son's toys by trying to rip out the wheels and doors of the cars, and stomping on other toys. He got scolded and stopped.
My son's juice bottle fell onto the floor and spilled a little, Simon came to me to tattle on my son and suggest I should punish my son, I cleaned it but didn't punish my son and I could see the frustration on Simon's face. He tried to do this a few more times, with different things but I didn't punish my son (of course) and I could see the frustration growing on Simon's face.
Then it came the time to start cooking on the grill, we all went to the backyard and right away Simon asked to take my son's pedal tractor out of the little garage my husband built, I replied that it wasn't a good idea as we were cooking and going back and forth and it wouldn't have the space. He seemed to accept it until he was caught taking the tractor out of the garage, and when he was scolded for it he just tried to blame my son, that my son had told him to take the tractor out, my non-verbal son.
We gave him other toys to play with and it was all good, for a while. They played together for a good amount until my son went into the house to get other toys and Simon was putting a few toys on the step, I thought it was odd since he was further away from the step but when my son got out of the house I understood, the moment my son put his foot on the step he immediately slipped and fell.
At this point I was getting annoyed with Simon's behavior and so was my son, so much so that my son signaled he wanted to take a bath, I figured he wanted distance from Simon. I remember my SIL mentioning that Simon hates water and screams bloody murder every time he takes a bath.
I went to the bathroom and bathed my son but left a little water for him to play before getting out. I went real quick to the backyard to check on things and that's when I saw Simon sneak into the house. I went after him only to find him near the tub watching my son bathe. At this point, I felt really creeped out. I asked Simon to go to the backyard and closed the bathroom door staying with my son. Two minutes later the door opened, I thought it could be my SIL or her girlfriend to ask to use the bathroom or something but no, it was Simon, asking me to watch my son bathe, I said no and asked him to go to the backyard. He left but did it two more times.
I took my son out of the bath, dressed him, and left him to play in the living room while trying to contain Simon in the backyard. That's when my husband arrived home from work. We went inside, the food was ready and after a few minutes he went to kiss our son, that's when Simon grabbed my husband's hand and dragged him away to show him something in the kitchen (which ended up being nothing, and he met my husband two minutes before) just to get him away from our son.
My son has a piano that he doesn't share under any circumstance and it is stored in another room, my son went to play (smash random keys, I'm still trying to teach the little I know) and I followed him, not long after Simon was there too. My son was playing and Simon inserted himself, trying to play the piano. My son pushed him not enough for him to fall just so Simon couldn't reach the piano, and here comes the performance worthy of an Oscar, Simon started making some throat noises and saying in a chocked voice "he's chocking me" when I could clearly see my son's hand on his chest.
At this point, I was beyond annoyed and just turned off the piano and motioned for us to go into the kitchen. We ate and SIL's girlfriend was commenting on how little Simon had ate (he had been dismissed already and we were still eating). He comes back and asks in a demanding tone "When are we eating the cake? I'm hungry"
SIL's girlfriend felt embarrassed and apologized but I said it was okay, from this point on we just quickly lit up the candles and sang happy birthday, and then my husband who was at this point also getting annoyed at Simon's attitude just made up plans on the spot for us to take a walk after "such a big meal" and SIL started to grab her things to go home.
SIL's girlfriend came to talk to me and apologize for Simon's behavior, she told me that every day she is called to the school because of his behavior, for one thing or another. I suggested to her to get him a psychologist and she said he had regular appointments and she is now waiting for a psychiatrist appointment to get him assessed. I said it wasn't her fault, the feeling I had was that she is at her wit's end. We said goodbye and went our separate ways.
I don't want to put my son through all of this stress again but on the other hand, I don't want to stop inviting my SILs and girlfriend over for the things we used to do. How do I proceed from here? How do I ask SIL's girlfriend to stop bringing Simon? Should I even ask that? I feel I'm being unfair by asking this of her. Any advice?
Sorry for the long post!

I (F22) recently moved in with my fiance (M22) and I have started a new job at a pet store. Before I moved, I lived in a relatively small countryside town and everywhere I worked the customers were always pretty friendly. Sure there were a few bad apples, but for the majority of it the residents were very nice.
Now I live in a large city, and the people here are actually atrocious. To preface, I have only worked at this store for 2 months.
The first Karen came in on a slow night but we had a lot of stock/deliveries to take care of so my mind was scrambled. She came up and asked for 40 crickets (we sell crickets for reptiles), usually people NEVER get the exact amount because it’s quite difficult to count jumping creatures in a bag. I gave her the bag of crickets and she left, she comes back in maybe 10 minutes later and she was fuming. She was screaming at me saying that she went in her car and counted each cricket one by one and only got 33. I apologized and told her I would fix it immediately and that it wasn’t a problem. She stood by me the entire time degrading me and belittling me. Another customer came over to ask for crickets, and this woman looked at her and said “Well, be sure to count them, because they LOVE to short you here!” She got her 7 crickets and left.
The second one happened maybe 2 days ago? I was on the phone with a customer and I had a long line forming in front of me so after I hung up I focused on getting my line of 10+ people cleared so I could finish the rest of my work. I was on my last customer when a woman behind me starts yelling that she’s been standing there waiting for me to wait on her. She was behind me. Whenever someone has a question they’ll usually stand in line, come directly into the line of vision, or call out to get our attention. She never once tried to get my attention, ever. My manager came over to help her and I was hearing the hateful comments from across the store. Here’s the irony: when she was checking out, I was working on something behind her. She said to my manager “tell her to have a blessed day.” But, I was right there? I guess she couldn’t see me!
The last one was yesterday, and it was a bit milder than the others. This woman came up with two bags of dog food, and apart of our rewards program is a free bag after so many bags have been purchased. She wanted to buy one and check the receipt to see if she had a free one, but she didn’t specify that. She said, “Just scan it so I can check it.” Now, as an autistic woman, that did not make any sense to me. I was trying my best to ask her if she could clarify what she meant, and she started yelling at me. “I just wanna see how many I have! God, how hard can it be to just check?” I eventually figured out what she was trying to do after she made me feel incredibly stupid, and it turns out she didn’t have a free one. She wasn’t even close.
TL;DR- PLEASE!! Be nice to customer service workers. $11.50 an hour is not enough to be yelled at over crickets and dog food.

4 months ago, I had a sudden break up with the person I thought was my soulmate. Before that, since College, I've had many episodes of depression and anxiety and weeks before he broke up with me,I was already starting to spiral back into depression. The break up triggered it more, I became suicidal and I honestly thought I was gonna lose my mind. Despite that, I still wanted to get better it seems because I started seeking help from professionals and accepted all the support from the people around me. I was also very vocal about my feelings and even my suicidal thoughts. For 4 months I've been going to therapy and taking meds and I was able to manage it so far. Recently I reached out to my ex and his response was something that triggered me again and I again lost all logic, and acted on my emotions again. After that, I realized the problem is me. I see how I affect the people that loves and supports me, I see how I worry and hurt them, specially my parents, yet it's not enough for me to want to keep living and endure. I am selfish, and I self sabotage. I'm not giving myself the right affirmations to help myself. I am refusing to do so and that I am incapable of change. I don't want to keep hurting the people around me, I don't want to keep them with me as I go through this cycle over and over. So the only way I see to break that cycle is to end my life. This time, I don't want to seek help anymore. I know therapy could help but I don't want to go anymore. I don't want to vocalize my feelings anymore. I don't want to endure the pain anymore. A part of me wants to tell them that I am feeling this way, but I can't bring myself to do so. It's like I don't want anyone to sway me away from my plans. So I guess that's why I'm telling everything here instead.

I am really weary of posting this because I sense there could be a blindspot in myself whereby maybe I am the unfulfilled one... but basically I noticed that so many people from my past - friends and family - really badly want access to me now that I have been born-again (though they don't know it) and they can probably sense my 'light' (I live alone and in a different country to the people I'm referring to).
I hosted my mother a couple of months ago and she had a really good holiday but for me it was awful. And this is an ongoing pattern in my life - people feel really good in my company but I feel awful in theirs. And then I feel worse for feeling awful in their company, especially when it's family.
Just now I had a family member ask to come visit me and it is FREAKING ME OUT. I feel like there's a spirit trying to put me back into bondage, when the truth is Christ has set me free. But then when I consider saying no, the intrusive thoughts that come up are:

• something is wrong with ME for not being able to put up with them
  
• feeling guilty
  
• is it possible I actually can't stand anyone in my life right now? There is not one person that feels good to me (~ tho I counter this argument by holding faith that God will bring me 'my' people that do feel good to my soul)
  

Can anyone relate? Catch my blindspot? Any advice?

I used a leather holster for my last CCW (M&P Shield) and had issues printing, so I made the investment on a good gun belt and kydex holster (Tier 1 T1-ECHO, I carry Strong Side) for my XMacro. With the belt and kydex holster the XMacro conceals amazingly.
However, I'm finding that the grip texture on my XMacro is much more aggressive than my last CCW and is rubbing my skin raw. One of the factors for discomfort is the new setup: better concealment means the grip is tighter, up against your body. But it feels like sandpaper against my back, every move I make.
I live in the South. So, I really don't want to wear two shirts to solve this problem. Especially because my typical summer outfit is shorts and a tank top.
Any suggestions to make this setup more comfortable?
Thank you in advance, for your insight.

Hi vets, my mini poodle (2 years old) was scheduled for surgery to fix a luxating patella. My vet said it's a mild case and she's not in much pain.
However, the blood results came back and she had moderately low platelets. Vet said this normally isn't an issue for surgery, she might bleed a little more but he's ok to go ahead with it unless I want to postpone.
I already had anxiety about general anesthesia so I decided to postpone and focus on getting her platelets up. The vet prescribed some meds for 2 weeks (I think iron tablets) so now surgery is likely 3 weeks from now.
The problem is, every time I see her hop around I can't help but feel like I made the wrong choice; like my anxiety has caused her more suffering than is necessary.
While I appreciate the vet asking me, I'm not qualified to say whether to postpone the surgery or not, and by putting that on me I felt I had no choice but to postpone. I couldn't live with myself if she died.Did I make the right choice?
Did I make the right choice?

I've seen a big sentiment of people going "lmao they just added more rng and gold sinks...this is trash and doesn't fix anything...T4 is a mistake!" and to me it seems like these people don't realize that not all RNG and progression is created equal and there are good ways and bad ways to implement RNG and progression and what they showed with T4 so far looks very promising and does indeed fix a lot of things. I am not saying the new systems are perfect and they completely fixed Lost Ark...there are still some big L's in the new system which I will get to aswell but I wanna try and make a somewhat unbiased showcase of what changes these new systems will actually bring and why it is better than what we currently have.
Honing:
Let's start with one of the big L's that they didn't really fix. Honing has always been an annoying system where the gap of progression between lucky and unlucky people was too big and considering it is mandatory to do to access new content it felt like the most painful system since it is always the number 1 thing you are forced to focus on in terms of progression whereas the power increase for all the investement is very little.
They now introduced an improved honing system with Echidna that is far better and had the chance for T4 to make it the standard system and instead it seems like both systems will exist in parallel which is definitely sad.
If you wanna hear my cope take for honing: The big problem for the old honing usually only starts at the higher levels where honing chances go down to 5% and below. Beforehand honing usually goes relatively fast and the gap between lucky and unlucky isn't that bad yet. If they increase the amount of ilvl that is available through Echidna honing in T4 there is potential that you only need to go up to +16 to +18 with old honing and can then solely engage with Echidna honing for ilvl progression and accessing new content and the remaining 20-30 ilvl from old honing system is just there for whales that wanna flex and don't have to be used by normal players.
Books:
Lets go from the biggest L to the biggest W when it comes to progression systems. Atm books are a mandatory system for engravings that are completely useless until you reach 20/20 legendary books creating a massive paywall especially for new players but also alt enjoyers. You can also only use books for 2 out of 5 engravings and the other 3 have to be bought again for each new character through stones and accessory.
With the new system you now get a massive free baseline (I use Grudge as example since we have pictures of that) of 15% from blue and purple books (since you get tons of those from events etc. and they will always be cheap on the AH). And then you get slow 0.75% increments of power for each 5 extra legendary and relic books you buy. This means new players will instantly have access to a decent amount of the power and then have a slow and steady progression instead of having to face a giant paywall for all 20 books at once.
The books now also apply to ALL 5 engravings meaning they turned engravings as a whole into a ROSTERWIDE RNG FREE SYSTEM where the investement on your main also benefits all your alts making alts much cheaper aswell as balance updates hurting way less if your class suddenly gets a new build.
Obviously in the short term it is a new gold sink with relic books and lego books you dont have yet but the gold you spent into this system has 0 RNG involved and it will benefit every single character you will ever create which to me makes it probably the best progression system they have in the game.
Stones:
Atm stones are a mandatory system for your engravings that can be a massive gold and pheon sink depending on RNG since you are forced to get a 7/7 and anything below is useless on each new char which sucks for new and old players.
With the new system suddenly a 7/0 stones is also totally usable for new players and alts since the difference between 7/7 and 7/0 is only 3% dmg which nobody will ever gatekeep you for.
Yes obviously once you start maximizing your chars you wanna go for 7/7 stones again and the RNG of the whole system is the same as before but the big difference is that you aren't forced into doing it anymore to just make your char playable with engravings. It is now a minor dmg increase that you can come back to at any time once you have the ressources for it.
Accessories:
Everyone seems to be worried that you now have 5 new bracelets to roll and everything got worse than before but if you think about it current accessories are much worse RNG. You have base stats, quality and engravings on them and only a single shot per accessory to get a useful roll and it is again very binary where it is either completely useless or extremely good. With the new system you have multiple chances and the progression is much more linear where you can go for small dmg increases first and only once you maxed out other systems come back to improve your dmg with them.
Also the biggest change in this system compared to bracelets is that you can roll and then still sell AFTER the rolls. This means if you don't like the RNG part of this new system you can completely ignore it and buy finished accessories on the market for fixed prices.
This makes the system identical to its current form of just buying the right ones for you on the market with the difference that you now have options and can choose how much you wanna invest depending on how much power you want/how much gold you have to spare. It's again an amazing system for alts and new players who will be MUCH cheaper than before and even for your main it is a nice RNG free (unless you choose otherwise) gold sink system with more freedom compared to before.
And for anyone arguing "you are actually forced into upgrading all these systems instantly cuz of gatekeep"...no you won't. I feel like people overestimate the amount of effort people go into when it comes to gatekeeping. The order of operations for most people when it comes to gatekeeping goes: Roster Level -> Title(if asked for) -> Class(depends on the person of course) -> Ilvl -> Transendence+Elixir -> Engravings -> Gems And if there are no red flags along this path they will most likely accept. Nobody checks stuff like quality, bracelets etc. and people won't start with it here by going over every single accessory or whether someones Grudge deals 1.5% more dmg etc. And the few people that are cringe enough to go to these lengths in gatekeeping you don't wanna be in the party anyways.
Now overall all these changes give two big things: Flexibility and very cheap baseline power levels. The cheap baseline is absolutely amazing for new players who can instantly get their main and alts going without having to spend hundreds of thousands of gold on these system just to get a playable char in terms of engravings. It is also amazing for vets when it comes to trying out new alts because you don't have to wait and commit to a class with each new Express pass and instead can create a functional good alt for almost no gold and try them out in T3 raids before deciding whether or not you wanna commit to them. Your build is now much more flexible than before since you can easily swap out engravings for others and at worst loose 3-6% dmg and in most cases since books are rosterwide you loose no dmg at all. This can allow you to experiment with new builds, adjust to balance patches more easily, have PvP builds, swap between both Class engravings of your class without any extra cost and so on.
Now one limiting factor of this flexibility that I haven't adressed yet and is my 2nd L of these new systems is gems.
Gems:
When you change around engravings you often also change around abilites which means you also have to change Gems in a lot of cases but it is not realistic to just have spare high lvl gems laying around for each ability but you also can't reroll with silver everytime you change around your build. I think one change they should have introduced here is that instead of getting gems like in T3 currently you unlock a gem slot of the respective level and can then apply this gem slot to any skill and change the skill around whenever you want. If you wanna be extra nice make the gem slots rosterwide progression but that would probably be too much hopium to ever happen. But in general if they somehow make gems changeable in an easy way so you can easily switch builds it would just really compliment all the other changes they seemingly made with the goal for more flexibility.
Now the whole Lvl 10 -> Lvl 8 gems for T4 I don't think is that problematic. Gems have always been an extremely solid RNG free progression system (if we exclude the Lvl 10 dmg vs CDR roll) that people don't mind investing gold into and since in Korea the system is just maxed out for a lot of players raising the ceiling is just a nice way to give these players a way to invest into this system again. For an average player in the west not much changed by them raising the ceiling of gems...you won't suddenly get gatekept because your gems are Lvl 6-8 again because guess what...everyone around you also only has Lvl 6-8 gems and very few people will instantly go back to 10 again. The same way how a year ago nobody expected you to have Lvl 10 gems in the West nobody will expect gems above Lvl 6-8 in T4 for a long time.
Transendence/Elixirs:
Those 2 systems are obviously not ideal considering how massive the power increase is for them which forces players to engage and finish them asap if they dont wanna get gatekept. I don't think just removing them in T4 would solve the problem since it would first of all just create massive short term problems of these systems being obsolete very soon while being massive powerspikes right now and since so much power is tied to them you would have to just introduce a new system that compensates for the power loss in T4 so your char isn't suddenly weaker than before so instead of hating the current Transendence/Elixir system people would hate on the new system in T4 instead.
Still the good part about these systems is that they have a clear finish point at which you are done with them and don't have to engage in them anymore and by reducing the cost and time to get there by 50% they still did quite a big improvement on those 2 systems.
Quality taps:
Only got a small change by introducing a pity system to it which is obviously a great addition to make it so even unsuccessful taps give you some form of progress in the form of pity meter. I don't think this is a problematic RNG system because getting to a solid 70-80 quality baseline is very easy and nobody will ever gatekeep you for lack of quality on your pieces so tapping above 80 is mostly something you do at your own pace whenever you got some spare gold and not something you are forced to do.
Bracelets:
Probably the worst RNG system in the game but the good thing is that you don't really have to engage with it all the much if you dont want to. Its fairly easy to get a 6-7% dmg bracelet and nobody will ever gatekeep you for not having a 10+% bracelet. The reason why people invest so much into bracelets is mostly personal pride of wanting to have a god bracelet on your main but realistically if you dislike this system you loose at best 3-4% dmg from not going all out on it.
It's hard to say how big the changes are for the T4 bracelets...perhaps with the new options it's much easier to get good bracelets compared to before and the preview of being able to choose if you want the old or new values will definitely help too. But this system probably is still not gonna be that great but it's arguably an improvement to the current version.
So as a summary when it comes to the changes of RNG and gold sinks for T4 here nothing got worse compared to before and a lot of things just got a lot better by making the RNG cheaper or less mandatory in a lot of places while making the progression of systems much more linear compared to being a binary perfect/useless that it is right now while also giving new players and alts very cheap baseline powers in a lot of these systems.
Massive buffs:

• Books
• Stones
• Accessories

Small/Medium buffs:

• Transendence
• Elixirs
• Quality Taps
• Bracelets

Just as bad as before:

• Honing
• Gems

Me (19F) dated recently a guy for 7 months (22M) that is undoubtedly the worst person I’ve ever met. It took me a lot of time to notice his true colours as he was wearing a mask the whole time. Here are a few of the most alarming things he has done.
Extremely focused on his physical appearance. He always needs to look neat in an obsessive way and overthinks that everyone will constantly look at him.
Very stubborn and hateful of others. Usually expresses openly his dislike for others and gets frustrated when his friends don’t agree with him
Extremely judgmental about everyone but himself. Does a lot of problematic things and justifies it by saying “it’s wrong only if you get caught”
When we were planning to go on a trip, I suggested telling 2 female friends of mine to come and stay on different rooms or even hotels. He got mad and said that I don’t care about him and I just want to go on vacations and have fun, that this is a special moment of only the two of us and that if I love my friends that much I could go only with them and have a threesome.
He had a childhood female best friend. They used to fight a lot and they went no contact and got back together like 3 times. This girl has a very problematic mother, they have an unstable relationship. Her mother gets along with him, they continue to hang around until now. The final time they had an argument and went no contact, he started criticising her a lot to her mother and telling things about her that he knew her mother wouldn’t like. He ruined their relationship even more. At some point he told me “I have a strong urge to tell her that even her own mother loves me more than her”.
In every job he gets, at first he makes a great impression, he is happy with it and after a while he starts to hate the job and everyone there until he quits. In one of him summer jobs, a colleague had an attitude with him and he got mad and criticised him heavily to one of the highest managers (with is a friend of his uncle). Then he got him on a lot of trouble and damaged his reputation.
In another job, the manager didn’t like him and used to criticise him instead of always praising him as he expected. At some point he got so triggered That he took off his apron and threw it at him in the middle of the shift and demanded to give him the paper for quitting right then (it was a very busy time).
In another job, he used to steal from the cash desk and re print old checks.
He went through my phone without letting me know. Then he saw a text of a male friend that he considered too friendly and stared a huge argument. When I told him that him looking through my phone was bad, he said “it’s not my fault you have such an easy password I saw one time and could memorise it, anyone could have access to your phone with a password like that”. When I asked him to look through this phone he literally hide it and change password
Everytime he spends his money, he visit his family members, complaining about his life in order to make them feel pity for him to give him money. Then he disappears until he turns broke again
He used to have a fake profile in order to stalk his old group of friends and go to the places they visited to bully them.
When meeting new people, he literally puts on a mask and over tries to appear like the best person, until time passes and his true self comes out
He was trying to convince me that my parents and brother have a manipulative attitude towards me and that I have to be more independent to not feed their ego by submitting to them

I admit they did a pretty good job on this backpack, especially with the magnet things and the organization layout. Below some of my complaints about the bag. I admit some of these I may be nitpicking a bit, but get quite annoying the more I use it. I compared so many bags and at the end of the day the PD annoyances didn’t add up to be a dealbreaker, so I bought the backpack.

• duffle handle in the back makes no sense. We can’t easily use the side handle since it sits on an angle, and the back handle is terrible design and flimsy and uncomfortable.
  
• 2 water bottle holders with no zipper, magnet, or button. Who needs 2 water bottles? I’m sure some of you may need that extra hydration but for me most of the time I don’t even carry one water bottle.
  
• The compression buttons are super weak and keep uncompressing even when there’s barely anything in the bag. I love the idea of compressing the bag before I leave with the option to expand it while I’m on the trip, but I can’t even compress it consistently when there’s barely anything in the bag.
  
• the weight…
  
• zippers are eh
  
• straps aren’t so good
  
• waterproofness is decent but I’ve seen much better
  

I am considering giving this one back and getting the Tortuga backpack light. What do you guys think?

So it’s been about 1 and 1/2 weeks since my FA “ex” pushed me away and as I stated in previous threads we had contact twice. On Thursday she liked one of my OG posts about a concert I was going to. On Friday I drove to the city and messaged her saying I wanted to drop some of her stuff off at her sisters house. She got right back and said she also drove down to the city and asked if I wanted to meet and give her the stuff. We met, sat together and she was back to sitting close , laying her head on me, holding hands, warmth with physical affection. We talked a lot , I let her know what my biggest issues were with us. She told me she finally was no longer talking with her ex of 5 years before me. She told me that her previous marriage ended after 10 years when the guy came to her one day with a bunch of built up resentment of all the things he didn’t like about her that he kept inside and just dumped her, never talked again. She said it took her by complete surprise because he was always so nice and never complained about anything until that day. Her BF of 5 years was cruel, he would tell her nasty things but would just generalize about things he didn’t like about her without getting specific. I told her that I would always tell her what I didn’t like specifically and gave her a few examples..she did the same for me.. we joked around and laughed a bit and then we kissed for awhile. I told myself I wasn’t going to stay long so when I left o told her that if she wanted to see me the next day to let me know. She messaged me an hour later and was fairly non stop..initiating all the messages and sending multiple in intervals when I didn’t respond right away…saying she loved my smell and that it was all over her…we messaged late until the night like things had been prior to the break… she asked me to share some personal things with her which I did. We said good night.lthe next morning she tried to call early but I missed it since I was in a meeting. She asked me to remind her of my birthday . Sent a picture with comment but when I checked it was erased.. I tried calling back but no answer…asked her to call… I then asked if she wanted to go to the concert… she said she would really like to but not sure yet..she then called and asked how I felt about us going together given our situation. I told her that if she wanted to go and I wanted her to go then that’s all that mattered. She said she would get back to me..about an hour before the concert she writes that she thinks that we have too much feelings and history going on and we cannot hang out.. she says it’s better we get a fresh start once we have had time to become more stable and don’t have so much emotion… said it’s best that way… I called her.. she said that I told her that I would give her time and space ..A week and half wasn’t enough and she hasn’t had the time to figure things out… she still had doubts and if we went to the concert together it would only bring us closer and she doesn’t want to hurt me further if she still has doubts … framed it as she asked for a break not a breakup … I could sense her frustration.. I told her fine and we hung up..
I wrote her saying that I believe doubts need to be resolved by spending time together so we could figure them out either way but I wasn’t going to push .l said I would give her time and space she needs.
Then this morning I wrote that I came to the realization that if her doubts were because she saw more negative things about me than positive I would just have to accept that and try not to take it personally.. I said that I don’t want to be anyone’s “maybe”

About a month ago I moved into a house that's on a well and the previous tenant didn't keep up with softening the water at all so the quality of the water is in pretty rough shape. A couple weeks into living there my beard has become pretty brittle and a pretty noticeable amount of hairs are falling out almost anytime I brush or comb. I wash, condition, and use balms and oils pretty regularly, but it's getting to the point where it's looking like it's thinning on the sides.
I'm going for the yeard right now so I would appreciate some advice for different products or methods to help keep it healthy. Thanks

So it’s been about 1 and 1/2 weeks since my FA “ex” pushed me away and as I stated in previous threads we had contact twice. On Thursday she liked one of my OG posts about a concert I was going to. On Friday I drove to the city and messaged her saying I wanted to drop some of her stuff off at her sisters house. She got right back and said she also drove down to the city and asked if I wanted to meet and give her the stuff. We met, sat together and she was back to sitting close , laying her head on me, holding hands, warmth with physical affection. We talked a lot , I let her know what my biggest issues were with us. She told me she finally was no longer talking with her ex of 5 years before me. She told me that her previous marriage ended after 10 years when the guy came to her one day with a bunch of built up resentment of all the things he didn’t like about her that he kept inside and just dumped her, never talked again. She said it took her by complete surprise because he was always so nice and never complained about anything until that day. Her BF of 5 years was cruel, he would tell her nasty things but would just generalize about things he didn’t like about her without getting specific. I told her that I would always tell her what I didn’t like specifically and gave her a few examples..she did the same for me.. we joked around and laughed a bit and then we kissed for awhile. I told myself I wasn’t going to stay long so when I left o told her that if she wanted to see me the next day to let me know. She messaged me an hour later and was fairly non stop..initiating all the messages and sending multiple in intervals when I didn’t respond right away…saying she loved my smell and that it was all over her…we messaged late until the night like things had been prior to the break… she asked me to share some personal things with her which I did. We said good night.lthe next morning she tried to call early but I missed it since I was in a meeting. She asked me to remind her of my birthday . Sent a picture with comment but when I checked it was erased.. I tried calling back but no answer…asked her to call… I then asked if she wanted to go to the concert… she said she would really like to but not sure yet..she then called and asked how I felt about us going together given our situation. I told her that if she wanted to go and I wanted her to go then that’s all that mattered. She said she would get back to me..about an hour before the concert she writes that she thinks that we have too much feelings and history going on and we cannot hang out.. she says it’s better we get a fresh start once we have had time to become more stable and don’t have so much emotion… said it’s best that way… I called her.. she said that I told her that I would give her time and space ..A week and half wasn’t enough and she hasn’t had the time to figure things out… she still had doubts and if we went to the concert together it would only bring us closer and she doesn’t want to hurt me further if she still has doubts … framed it as she asked for a break not a breakup … I could sense her frustration.. I told her fine and we hung up..
I wrote her saying that I believe doubts need to be resolved by spending time together so we could figure them out either way but I wasn’t going to push .l said I would give her time and space she needs.
Then this morning I wrote that I came to the realization that if her doubts were because she saw more negative things about me than positive I would just have to accept that and try not to take it personally.. I said that I don’t want to be anyone’s “maybe”

I really hope I don't get downvoted into oblivion for this, as I'm genuinely in a bit of a state and pulling my hair out...
TL;DR - I have two main queries here...

1. Where is the current place where someone can look up and check they're following the correct path(s) for their choice of Azure accreditation?
2. What are the best sources and methods for getting there?

I completed the Fundamentals accreditation last year and have since decided to follow the path to the Architecture (AZ-305) accreditation. I plan to work through the Administrator and Network accreditations on the way.
I'm not even sure if that is the correct path as I can't find anything that appears to be up to date showing the "map" to follow for AZ-305.
I went through the Microsoft Learn modules for the Fundamentals, completing everything. Then sitting the practice exams multiple times until I felt I really knew each area. But I was very disheartened when I came to take the real exam as the format was nothing like the official practice exams and I barely scraped through (I feel).
I work best when I have a plan I can set aside time for a stick to, but I do not want to waste days of time, pouring myself into learning resources that turn out to be complete garbage. Even the search results within Microsoft Learn bring back hundreds of potential hits.
I have access to Udemy, LinkedIn Learning, as well as others through my current employer. I've also been following John Savill's videos, but I'm not sure how relevant his past videos are for a learning resource. But whenever I enquire about what's best, each answer seems to crap on the previous one. And some of the videos in the above portals feel very thrown together, as if they just want views reading off a script.
I also don't have any working access to an Azure tenant to play with (my previous employer allowed us some lab time) so practicing could be tricky.
So, I want to dedicate time. I want to know I'm following the correct path. I want to know I'm pouring myself into decent learning resources. I just need something that states "If this is what you want to achieve, you following these steps using this material".
Why is it such a mess out there? Getting myself away from generic Sys Admin and into an Azure-based career path shouldn't feel this convoluted... right?

my last ex absolutely DRAINED me of all the love i had to give, at least that’s what it feels like right now. i used to be very loving and sweet and all those things and now talking to a man alone pisses me off and i recently realized im just not capable of love anymore, at least for now. has anyone experienced this after getting out of a toxic/abusive relationship? did you ever get your “old self” back? i understand it might take time but i just want to know how to navigate it i guess because i hate who i’ve become after him, but at the same time kind of like that side of me because i feel like it’s that subconscious thing about feeling like im protecting myself but i don’t even try to act “cold hearted”, i just am. now.

I used a leather holster for my last CCW (M&P Shield) and had issues printing, so I made the investment on a good gun belt and kydex holster (Tier 1 T1-ECHO, I carry Strong Side) for my XMacro. With the belt and kydex holster the XMacro conceals amazingly.
However, I'm finding that the grip texture on my XMacro is much more aggressive than my last CCW and is rubbing my skin raw. One of the factors for discomfort is the new setup: better concealment means the grip is tighter, up against your body. But it feels like sandpaper against my back, every move I make.
I live in the South. So, I really don't want to wear two shirts to solve this problem. Especially because my typical summer outfit is shorts and a tank top.
Any suggestions to make this setup more comfortable?
Thank you in advance, for your insight.

Me (19F) dated recently a guy for 7 months (22M) that is undoubtedly the worst person I’ve ever met. It took me a lot of time to notice his true colours as he was wearing a mask the whole time. Here are a few of the most alarming things he has done.
Extremely focused on his physical appearance. He always needs to look neat in an obsessive way and overthinks that everyone will constantly look at him.
Very stubborn and hateful of others. Usually expresses openly his dislike for others and gets frustrated when his friends don’t agree with him
Extremely judgmental about everyone but himself. Does a lot of problematic things and justifies it by saying “it’s wrong only if you get caught”
When we were planning to go on a trip, I suggested telling 2 female friends of mine to come and stay on different rooms or even hotels. He got mad and said that I don’t care about him and I just want to go on vacations and have fun, that this is a special moment of only the two of us and that if I love my friends that much I could go only with them and have a threesome.
He had a childhood female best friend. They used to fight a lot and they went no contact and got back together like 3 times. This girl has a very problematic mother, they have an unstable relationship. Her mother gets along with him, they continue to hang around until now. The final time they had an argument and went no contact, he started criticising her a lot to her mother and telling things about her that he knew her mother wouldn’t like. He ruined their relationship even more. At some point he told me “I have a strong urge to tell her that even her own mother loves me more than her”.
In every job he gets, at first he makes a great impression, he is happy with it and after a while he starts to hate the job and everyone there until he quits. In one of him summer jobs, a colleague had an attitude with him and he got mad and criticised him heavily to one of the highest managers (with is a friend of his uncle). Then he got him on a lot of trouble and damaged his reputation.
In another job, the manager didn’t like him and used to criticise him instead of always praising him as he expected. At some point he got so triggered That he took off his apron and threw it at him in the middle of the shift and demanded to give him the paper for quitting right then (it was a very busy time).
In another job, he used to steal from the cash desk and re print old checks.
He went through my phone without letting me know. Then he saw a text of a male friend that he considered too friendly and stared a huge argument. When I told him that him looking through my phone was bad, he said “it’s not my fault you have such an easy password I saw one time and could memorise it, anyone could have access to your phone with a password like that”. When I asked him to look through this phone he literally hide it and change password
Everytime he spends his money, he visit his family members, complaining about his life in order to make them feel pity for him to give him money. Then he disappears until he turns broke again
He used to have a fake profile in order to stalk his old group of friends and go to the places they visited to bully them.
When meeting new people, he literally puts on a mask and over tries to appear like the best person, until time passes and his true self comes out
He was trying to convince me that my parents and brother have a manipulative attitude towards me and that I have to be more independent to not feed their ego by submitting to them

I have never had stomach issues or pain in my entire life until four months ago. I am praying someone has had similar symptoms because nobody knows what's happening.
I'll start from the beginning. I started eating healthy and exercising. I included oatmeal, grilled chicken, blueberries, greens, brown rice, healthy fats from virgin olive oil and almond butter, and eggs in my diet. My food macros were on point. After about two weeks, I started getting a dull ache under my right ribs. I didn't think much of it, but it started to get worse over the next few weeks and would radiate to my back.
I went to the ER. They did blood work and a CT scan with contrast but found nothing wrong. I noticed my stools were slightly lighter. Over the next few weeks, the pain worsened, and I felt fatigued and terrible. They checked my gallbladder, ran more blood work, and did an MRCP to check my pancreas; all came back good. They checked me for Celiac disease. I had an endoscopy and a colonoscopy, both of which came back amazing.
I finally asked the doctor to check my vitamin levels because I felt like I was deficient in something. Everything came back okay except my vitamin D, which was extremely low, which isn't normal for me. They did a stool sample and said everything was fine. I started taking vitamin D3, and my joints started feeling better. At this point, I got extremely depressed. I was still in pain and kept being told I was fine.
I stopped eating healthy and started eating poorly because I was so depressed. Here is where it gets strange. Over the course of six weeks of eating complete garbage, I started feeling better. My stools looked great in size and color. I still had that pain on my right side, right under my ribs, but it became just a slight dull ache that I lived with.
For three weeks, I started eating healthy again, and bam, two weeks into it, my symptoms were in full swing. The pain is bad and always hurts much worse when I am sitting, like I am squashing something inside. My stools look different, like they have grains in them, which is new. I can't figure out for the life of me what's wrong with me, and neither can any doctor I have seen. But something serious is happening, and I am just so lost.
I am praying someone knows what's up

Me (19F) dated recently a guy for 7 months (22M) that is undoubtedly the worst person I’ve ever met. It took me a lot of time to notice his true colours as he was wearing a mask the whole time. Here are a few of the most alarming things he has done.
Extremely focused on his physical appearance. He always needs to look neat in an obsessive way and overthinks that everyone will constantly look at him.
Very stubborn and hateful of others. Usually expresses openly his dislike for others and gets frustrated when his friends don’t agree with him
Extremely judgmental about everyone but himself. Does a lot of problematic things and justifies it by saying “it’s wrong only if you get caught”
When we were planning to go on a trip, I suggested telling 2 female friends of mine to come and stay on different rooms or even hotels. He got mad and said that I don’t care about him and I just want to go on vacations and have fun, that this is a special moment of only the two of us and that if I love my friends that much I could go only with them and have a threesome.
He had a childhood female best friend. They used to fight a lot and they went no contact and got back together like 3 times. This girl has a very problematic mother, they have an unstable relationship. Her mother gets along with him, they continue to hang around until now. The final time they had an argument and went no contact, he started criticising her a lot to her mother and telling things about her that he knew her mother wouldn’t like. He ruined their relationship even more. At some point he told me “I have a strong urge to tell her that even her own mother loves me more than her”.
In every job he gets, at first he makes a great impression, he is happy with it and after a while he starts to hate the job and everyone there until he quits. In one of him summer jobs, a colleague had an attitude with him and he got mad and criticised him heavily to one of the highest managers (with is a friend of his uncle). Then he got him on a lot of trouble and damaged his reputation.
In another job, the manager didn’t like him and used to criticise him instead of always praising him as he expected. At some point he got so triggered That he took off his apron and threw it at him in the middle of the shift and demanded to give him the paper for quitting right then (it was a very busy time).
In another job, he used to steal from the cash desk and re print old checks.
He went through my phone without letting me know. Then he saw a text of a male friend that he considered too friendly and stared a huge argument. When I told him that him looking through my phone was bad, he said “it’s not my fault you have such an easy password I saw one time and could memorise it, anyone could have access to your phone with a password like that”. When I asked him to look through this phone he literally hide it and change password
Everytime he spends his money, he visit his family members, complaining about his life in order to make them feel pity for him to give him money. Then he disappears until he turns broke again
He used to have a fake profile in order to stalk his old group of friends and go to the places they visited to bully them.
When meeting new people, he literally puts on a mask and over tries to appear like the best person, until time passes and his true self comes out
He was trying to convince me that my parents and brother have a manipulative attitude towards me and that I have to be more independent to not feed their ego by submitting to them

It is the first part of my AU clan story, a loose collection of events written more in the style of a documentary than a novel, highlighting only the most important moments and quotes. Tell me what you think, I'll post more parts and allegiances soon. Here it is:
As the first glimpses of the moonlight appeared in the black sky, illuminating the travelling cats, the danger was already in the air. For some time now, the Lake Territories were being invaded by an unknown group of cats. They always appeared in number, were uninterested in talks, and ready to kill if challenged. Attempts to reconquer the land were always met by decisive action and foiled by the much more numerous enemy.
The hope of the ThunderClan leader, Brackenstar, was that the issue would be resolved at the upcoming Gathering, but events moved faster than he expected. Yesterday, after another of his clanmates was killed, he was forced to prohibit his cats from hunting north of the camp and change the route of patrols, effectively abandoning over half of his territory to the rogues.
And yet, there he was, marching towards the island. His whole clan was with him - he wouldn't dare to leave a weakened camp with cats inside. When they arrived on the island, all the remaining clans were already present. The atmosphere was tense, no one was speaking or exchanging news, only watching the approaching ThunderClan warriors.
As the Gathering begun, the first topic was that of the rogues. The cats were divided. ThunderClan and SkyClan requested the five clans join their forces to expel the enemy, ShadowClan was hesitant, while yet unaffected RiverClan and WindClan were unwilling to make a hasty decision.
"Your obstinacy may cost us our existence!" the Risingstar of SkyClan told Nightstar of RiverClan, "I know the enemy, and I know, there's nothing for us to gain from waiting. What we need is not thinking, but a decisive action to vanquish the forces that threaten us!"
Nightstar argued, but his voice was cut by a shout from the back. The words no cat would want to hear or say fell, silencing the quarrel. "They are here! The RiverClan camp has fallen!" At that moment cats flooded onto the island. First, escaping RiverClan, then Rogues.
The messy defense, which the unorganized cats provided lost them the opportunity to hold the attack at the crossing point. The Rogues quickly established a breach on the shore and started pushing clan warriors further away from the tree trunk that served as a bridge. The first to react was Brackenstar, jumping off the branch and leading his cats with a rallying cry. He ordered his freshly appointed deputy, Olivefur, to secure elders, kits and medicine cats and move them to the other side of the island. Soon the other clans joined in, but it was too late. They fought valiantly, but to no effect. They soon found themselves yielding more ground to the relentless onslaught.
Some of the RiverClan cats, led by Blackpelt, suggested fleeing by lake onto the other shore. Meanwhile Olivefur, helped by Nettleleaf and Eaglefeather managed to break a branch from one of the trees and used it to cross the lake with four medicine cats and some warriors. It is often described that Olivefur opposed the idea of fleeing and had to be dragged onto the branch by Nettleleaf, who more strategically, pointed out that after crossing the lake the medicine cats would need escort as well.
As they moved out, their clanmates' defense started collapsing. From the water they could see Brackenstar falling under the Rogue claws. On the other side, Nightstar, after overseeing the retreat of his cats, entered the water himself, carrying one of the younger ThunderClan warriors. Deprived of leadership and without hope for victory, cats of all clans fought side by side till the end or tried to save themselves by swimming in the cold early-Newleaf water. The chaotic retreat left many of the cats dead, most on the island itself, but there were many who drowned or were hunted down after reaching the mainland.
Fleeing by a wooden branch, Olivefur and her cats landed on the ThunderClan shore, and were almost immediately targeted by a Rogue patrol. Having some ten cats with them, they were a force to not be taken lightly, but even they soon found themselves outnumbered. On Eaglefeather’s suggestion, they fled into the underground tunnels, planning to reach WindClan territory, the one least affected so far. The plan almost fell apart when a Rogue patrol appeared behind them.
"Go on. I'll slow them down," Nettlleaf's words sounded from the end of the escaping group. Olivefur was unwilling to abandon another one of her clanmates but moved forward. It is unknown how exactly Nettleleaf died, but her heroic sacrifice slowed the pursuit for surprisingly long, allowing the rest to reach WindClan camp unharmed. There, they found Rogue cats as well, besieging a group of defenders. They swiftly broke through and chased away the enemy with the help of a group of RiverClan cats that emerged from the other side led by Blackpelt.
Numbering now around twenty cats, they decided to look for more survivors. At first, they successfully rescued several more cats, including the RiverClan leader, Nightstar, the only one of the five to survive, as it would prove later. Yet, as they moved into the RiverClan territory they found increasing opposition and soon had to abandon the search and flee. They regrouped on the outskirts of the WindClan territory and set up a temporary camp. For the next week they found several more escapees, but then, were chased away again.
Faced by an overwhelming enemy, themselves underfed, exhausted and carrying wounded, they decided to abandon the Lake Territories. In total, of some two hundred cats that lived around the lake, only exactly forty-six set off with Olivefur's group.
Up to this day, it is unknown if and how many any other clan cats fled, never reuniting with the largest group, but it is possible such existed. Of the five clans, SkyClan suffered the worst fate, left with only two warriors and a medicine cat. Blackfeather agreed for her mate, Crackedcloud to take the role of the clan leader. In ThunderClan, that honor rightfully fell on Olivestar, who appointed Eaglefeather, her mate, to be the deputy. In WindClan, Wildstar was elected, while similarly to ThunderClan's case, the ShadowClan deputy, Greenstar, took command of his clan. The least affected was RiverClan, where the only change was Blackpelt's appointment for deputy - for his courage and quick thinking in face of danger that saved many lives.
And thus, the five clans, shadows of their former selves, set off into the unknown, a great adventure which begun a new age in the history of the clans - one of pain and suffering, but also of courage, honor, and one that forged the greatest legend in the clan's recent history, shadowed only by the great Firestar.
Context: The CE, or Clan Era, started with the events from the book S4E6 "The Last Hope". The story may not be consistent with some of the later books, thought so much time passed probably no one will notice.