Here‘s a guide for Coop Mode:

Coop Captain:

How does Coop Captain work?

Coop Captain is any character that is either lvl 150 or you use a Coop Tome on. These Characters have predefined specials, Captain Abilities and Actions, which will apply to both teams. Rare Recruits (rr) or sugo rares (sr) have the identical coop abilities, so it doesn‘t matter which one you pick. Since these Captains have predefined abilities, Don‘t use OP Captains as Coop Captains (e.g any new SR or characters like G5 Luffy). It is better to use Rr or old legends, as those don‘t have Captain Abilities you might want to use.

What do the Coop Captains do?

The Abilities of Coop Captains are predefined, working as follows:
Captain Ability: Every Captain is a 4.5x boost of their Color (base effect) up to 6x (max lvl) and a rainbow Captain from 4.25x to 5.75x including a HP boost
Captain Action: Applies a 30% Resistance down of Characters 1st class for 2 turns and a 20% Resistance down of Characters 2nd class. Use this when you need that extra push in damage, for example on the boss. The effect is triggered by swiping down (like EX, Switch or Captain Action)
Captain Special: This is by far the most important aspect of your Captain, as this can hab the Tide of battle, when deciding who you wish to use, you should focus on this criteria. The Ability of the Captain is only based off of Rumble Style the Character has. Here‘s the Breakdown: - RCV-Style: Reduces unfavorable status icons on you and partner by 1-2 turns and heals all players (this does not include Hunger or status effects like bind, despair etc.) - DBF-Style: Delays all enemies (not bypassing immunity) by 1-3 turns and removes all enemy effects by 1 turn - DEF-Style: Reduces damage taken by 50%-90% for all players 1-2 times and heals all players - SPT-Style: Changes all player‘s (including block) slots to Favourable and reduces special charge by 1-2 turns and extends beneficial effects by 1-2 turns - BAL-Style: Reduces 1 enemy‘s HP by 15%-25%, heals all players (up to 2x Hp pool) and reduces everyone‘s Bind/Despair by 1-2 turns - ATK-Style: 250‘000-2‘000‘000 Damage (bypassing everything) to all enemies, changes both players‘ type slots to own type and reduces all players‘ Special charge by 2 turns

Which Coop Captain is the best / should you focus on?

Assuming you are playing with randoms, it is exactly in this Order: 1. RCV-Style 2. DBF-Style 3. DEF-Style 4. SPT-Style 5. BAL-Style 6. ATK-Style
This is because the 2 turns effect removal is OP. bleed? pain? Not with this special. Healing is also essential for playing with randoms, because you can make sure they survive so that you can clear the rest of the stage. Second is DBF, because they remove all enemy buffs by 1 turn, which allows you to save a special On the mob-stages or reduce damage limiter. The delay is also good, because if you don‘t manage to kill, you wouldn‘t get their atk damage. Next is DEF for its survivability SPT for extension and possibly special charge reducer (however, this character isn‘t immune to it BAL is situational, could be useful, but they don‘t reduce effects more than a simple support does. Don‘t use ATK-Style, the damage is a fucking joke, so only the special cooldown is useful, but SPT already does this
If you play with a teammate, I recommend using 1 DBF Style for the fodder stages (reducing def up) and one RCV Style for survivability and reducing of annoying effects like Pain, Bleed etc.

Coop Teams

What are the requirements for Coop Teams?

This Text is focusing on Infinitum Sea Difficulty:
Generally, you want to have a Team that is capable of: - Regular medium Damage Output (switch Characters with some type of ATK boosting effects) - Bind/DespaiParalysis Remover (this should be done via Captain and Supports) - Poison remover (as support Character, very important) - Enemy Buff Remover (I recommend 2 characters to be able to remove up to 10 turns of all 3 main buffs) - If you are unable (because of missions or other reasons) to be capable of all these things,focus on survivability and debuff removers, so that you can kill the fodder stages and can skip your turn at the boss to have your teammate clear it. - You want to use a Captain that removes some type of debuff on your crew passively, if they remove 2 that‘s even better (e.g Yamato Ace, G5 6* Luffy, Vegapunk)

General best use Crew

The Best General Team you can build is:
Psy Luffy G5 6* RCV-Style Coop Captain (preferably a Straw Hat) STND Sanji / Zoro Straw Hat that removes Def Up (Nami Carina for example) Yamato Unit (e.g Yace for resilience) Debuff Remover (e.g Psy Cerebral Chopper)
Add some supports that remove Despair (Whitebeard on Yace, Luffy has V1 INT Reileigh) Add a Support that removes Poison
With this team you can Solo Infinitum, as long as your Parnter doesn‘t die and skips their turn if they can‘t defeat the boss this turn.
This team is OP, because with Luffy’s EX you bypass all barriers, only needing to deal with Def Up. Zoro/Sanji give you amazing attack boosting effects, and a STND for even more damage. They also remove Def zip, but you should use this only on the boss stage. All other characters are more or less free to use what you want, but you want to make sure to have some debuff removers, Def Up removers and make sure to be able to trigger STND every turn (so someone like Yamato/Ace is amazing, as their burn bypasses resilience and they change their slot (including block), which can then be switched by Zoro/Sanji

What do you play for?

Every month there will be a Coop Event, where you can grind for Stones for that specific 3 month period. After 3 months there will be the Grand Feast Sugo Fest, where you can pull with the Stones you have grinded over the past 3 months. Here, a multi pull costs 100 gems, and at the end of the event you will only get 5 multipulls out of all the pulls you‘ve done. Based on the rarity (and how recent the character is) your get points for the ranking, which will give you even more rewards (Rainbow Gems, SR Tickets) The Grand Feast Sugo Fest will have all normal banner legends from before the 1st month event period started (right now this means all legends up until and including QCK Slasher Momo)

How does Luck / Boosted Units work?

Luck affects which drops you get while clearing a Coop Quest. Drops you can get are (not exclusive as I will probably forget something uninteresting): - Feast Stones - Cotton Candy - Special Level Tomes (including Sugo Rare) - Proof of Friendship
Luck is only affected by your Coop Captain and your Partners’ Coop Captain. You will get 1 luck every 5 levels and 1 luck for each rr of the same evolution tree and 2 luck for a sr for the same evolution tree. Your luck maxes at 100, meaning with your Partner the maximum luck you can have is 200. Boosted Units give you extra drops (similar to PKA or Blitz). However, different to those modes, you don’t need them in your crew, simply having the character unlocked is sufficient.

Communication

Lastly, but very important is communication. While the current ways to communicate are very limited, thee are a few messages you can use, which will allow you to more easily power through the content. Here’s how I’ve used and interpreted the ones I’m using: - Help Me: You are unable to clear this stage. This can mean either a debuff on you, or you can’t remove all enemy buffs. If the issue is that you have debuffs, try to stall while taking as little damage as possible and dealing as much as possible. If you simply can’t remove all enemy buffs, either a) it’s the boss: remove as many as you can, then skip your turn (top left next to the partner’s HP) b) fodder stage: Simply skip your turn - Let me Handle this: Mainly use this on the boss or if your teammate uses Help Me. This tells your Teammate to skip their turn, and let you kill all enemies - Please Remove that: Mainly used at the boss, letting your partner know they should remove enemy buffs as much as possible and then skip to you, because except for this enemy buff your can clear the stage - I’m sorry: Apologize if you didn’t manage to clear your stage, this is solely to be a good person and upkeep moral - Thank you / My thanks: Thsnking your teammate for something they’ve done, this is to upkeep moral and being a good person - Usopp Burn Emoji: Something fucked up. Very vague, I don’t recommend using this to properly communicate with your teammate - Wait! Stay strong: This tells your Partner they should stall, so for example only killing one enemy, or keeping the enemy left on low HP - We need a few more Communication Emojis, for example that you need debuffs removed

Use Skip

You can only skip your turn once in a row, and if you have skipped your partner cannot skip in that exact turn. When skipping, you do not lose a turn on the effects you have, so when you have a debuff on you and you skip your turn, you’ll not reduce any turns of debuff that’s currently on you. Skip is overpowered as fuck, especially on the boss stage, because it is the other player’s turn without the boss doing anything. Take a boss like Luffy. He does a lot of debuffs on you, so you remove as much def as you can, and then simply skip to your partner. Assuming you have cleared all stages prior, your Partner will now have nearly all specials and no debuffs on a boss with about 50mil HP. That is very easy. If you can’t defeat the current stages enemies, don’t forget you have a skip button
Please. Use. Your. Skip. At. The. Boss, especially when your teammate tells you “let me handle this”.
If there are any infos missing or wrong, please let me know so I can update this guide. I’m also open for questions

I hope this is in the right subreddit. If not, I will take down.
Backstory: my ex and I were in a 4 year relationship and he treated me pretty badly. No physical abuse or cheating, but after I broke things off, he later admitted that he did all that to “humble me” & because he thought, “I was too good for him”. Cut ties, done. A year after the breakup, I meet the love of my life & get married shortly after. I was living my happy life & he found out I was married & tried to contact me, but I shut him off & blocked him on ALL social media and my phone. Last summer, almost a year ago, he made a new Snapchat account and was able to message me. I told him how much I hate him, that I’m still happily married(5 years) & want nothing to do with him. Then I blocked him AGAIN. Made it very clear. Fast forward to last night, I delete my social media accounts(ig, fb, sc)except for here and TikTok(which is private) for a mental cleanse. Tell me why not even 24 hours after I deleted these accounts, he tried adding me on TikTok. My concern is that he’s been keeping tabs on me with new accounts and pretty much stalking my social media accounts& now that I deleted them, he’s trying to keep tabs on my only sm; TikTok. It’s honestly really disturbing that he has probably been keeping tabs on me for YEARS. I literally blocked him last year & he’s not getting the point.
My question for you guys is; should I block him again or just leave the request alone? My husband says just leave it alone because if I block him, I’m giving him more attention & he’ll just make another account anyway. Not doing anything or taking any action will pretty much make him non existent.
I’m starting to get really creeped out and concerned & I genuinely don’t know what to do anymore.

i have 2 outdoor cats that spend most of the day outside but come inside the house VERY FREQUENTLY throughout the day for food, snuggles, naps, etc. 4 days ago i let my cats out around 6am and one of them has not returned since. he did not come home at all on the day he went missing, which is again very unusual because he stops by very often. i have knocked on 20+ neighbors doors and have put posters up on all the neighbouring streets. i have made several posts on missing cat fb groups and websites and checking lost and found websites hourly. i have also been checking the local animal shelter lost and found site hourly and its so heartbreaking seeing so many found cats that look like mine.
he is very very friendly and walks up to anyone that approaches him. he is also a very handsome bengal mix, and these 2 things pose the possibility of some asshole taking him. (other cats have gone missing in my area , in the last 3 weeks) so i would not be surprised if someone snatched him up. its also getting very very hot outside, which makes finding water even more difficult
he also does not fear anything. he has chased dogs, foxes, other cats, and brings me at least one dead bird a week (i am working on that issue) one time i had to put myself between him and a fox because he was trying to attack and i didn’t want him to become injured. so i am so scared he got into an altercation with another animal and is now somewhere alone and injured.
please what do i do. i am so hopeless he is gone forever or dead. he always comes home to greet me when i come back from school and he did not that day. im so worried something has happened and i do not know where he is, or what happened. can someone please give me some advice to help me cope with this. or a service i can pay for that will help me find my cat. i dont know how i am supposed to live without this cat

Just got news that Phillips will debut, CJ will play and Sicily will remain out. These were all fairly expected changes. I love how Phillips is finally playing, I feel like CJ should have had some more time in the VFL to get his body ready and I don’t mind Sicily being out because realistically with or without him, this isn’t a winnable game.
FB : Hardwick, Frost, Serong HB : Impey, Phillips, Weddle C : Amon, Newcombe, Massimo HF : Moore, Chol, MacDonald FF : Watson, Dear, Ginnivian FOL : Day, Worpel, Meek INT : Nash, Maginness, Mackenzie, CJ Sub : Ward
In : Phillips, CJ, Chol Out : Gunston, Mitchell, Scrimshaw
Unfortunately Seamus Mitchell has to be the one who I think should make way, It’s a toss up between Maginess and him but I feel like Finn has been good bar last week on the wing and we should keep getting games into him. Gunston also deserves a rest I think, wasn’t too involved last game and Chol coming in allows that.

My boyfriend and I are both 30. We met last year, Aug30 and dated for months and became official on January 1st. A little background lang, I live alone in a condo and he visits me daily when we were just dating pa until we became official. So, last year when we were just dating pa(not official) I clearly remember this day when he visited me at my place, it was the coronation day of Miss Universe yung nanalo si Ms. Nicaragua. So I borrowed his ipad kasi I can put it at the table kasi may stand instead of phone na hinahawakan lang tapos that time I was watching live sa Fb, so i sent the link from my phone to his messenger so I can just watch it directly sa ipad. While I was watching sa ipad nya hindi kasi naka full screen. Na noticed ko lang sa right side parang may suggested na mga profile like except from his mom and dad’s profile meron then 1 person dun always suggested which is si (ex) pala kasi like sa right side ng screen parang like recommended talaga yung profile like( “ex commented to, ex like..”) yung mga ganyan. That was the day I found out na ex nya pala yun. Kasi pansin ko din si fb kung sino ang profile na vinisit mo palagi mag aapear talaga sya mostly sa profile mo like “yung shortcut”.. Out of curiosity, i visited her profile and saw that she’s already in a relationship, and I knew the guy from a previous company. So, mas na curious pa ako then when you try to search kasi sa fb makikita mo history sa “recent searches, visits” at that time nakita ko na my bf still visits his ex’s profile once i a while maybe 3-5x since the day we started seeing. I just told him after ng Ms. U, na “I think I know na sino ex mo, is it (name) noh? He didn’t deny naman and just ask n how did i know, and i just casually said na because sa fb mo sya ang top suggested profile together with your mom and dad, meaning you always visit their profile, that’s it. I didn’t ask anything na.
Then maybe after a month or so, we were open to giving access to our phones. One day, while I was browsing some photos, android kasi phone nya so medyo daming albums, meron like “google photos”, so when I went to click it, meron dun another gmail account with more photos, so while I was scrolling, i saw a photos of them, and when I returned the phone I intentionally left it to the photos and did not bother to exit so para when he open he would know that I saw the photos. I did not confront him or anything just waited for him to say something pero wala. Then a few days after I went to check the photos again, the other account was logged out na. I asked him, bakit na logout yung ibang account and he said wala daw sya ginalaw at wala nman daw ibang acct, i told him anong wala nakita ko pa nga photos nyo ng ex mo sa acct na yun sabi nya hindi naman nya ni logout. So ayun, i just dismissed it.
Fast forward, we rarely check each other’s phones na. We had disagreements, away bati in our relationship just like a normal couple but never this. So just this Monday May the 13th. I decided to check his gallery. I saw some retrieved old google photos na sa album nya. So I when checked the account I saw the other account na login na ulit, so I opened it and saw their photos again. So while he was lying down, even though I feel hurt na and medyo nag shake na hands ko I calmly said , wow “grabi yung glowup ng ex mo ngayon, like ang layo2 before grabi sobrang puti na” Pero without looking up, he said “yeah, because at that time dami nyang nilalagay sa face nya kaya daming sugat2. Like, hello is that the right thing to say to your gf? Instead of saying, sorry hindi ko pala na delete yung photos because this or that or why i I decided to keep it. He also insisted he didn’t see the photos and I was like how come you knew exactly which photos I was referring, also yan nga una nag aapear eh when you opened that account. I continued to browse the photos and he was looking as if proud na proud pa. He let me continued making side comments and until I saw video nya he was calling her ex their endearment. Then I said, “sus gusto nya palang endearment ****, ako ang dami ko ng sinuggest like baby, babe, love to the point na ginawa ko ng friend, bro and brader, kaya ayaw iba pala ang gusto, kaya pala hanggang first name basis pa rin tayo. Sana all, pati sa mga photos nyo ikaw mismo nag tatake directly pero tayo ni walang halos photos, buti nlang talaga hindi ko din pinipilit mag take tayo ng photos” tapos defend pa saying hindi naman ako ang gusto ng tawagan sya naman” I got annoyed and added more side comments saying na maybe ganyan talaga pag nasa tamang tao, mas nag go-glow naalagan natin ang selves natin, baka cgro we both look stress because we’re not at the right partner. Kaya siguro palagi mo vinisit ang profile ng ex mo kasi di kapa naka move on or maybe ng hihiniyang ka because she’s so happy with her partner now, traveling together.. Between, our argument he said “do you know when was that(referring to the photos) and what we’ve been through?”, “I don’t care about them kung anong gingawa nila and he keep shouting at this point, I’m trying to remain calm because nakakahiya sa neighbors ko kaya even if want to shout back I can’t, instead I sinabi wag ka mag scandalo dito, hindi mo ito place, hinaan mo boses mo”.. He calmed and took his phone put of my hand and deleted the photos. When he did, sinabi ko oh bakit mo dinelete nayiha kapa, kanini proud na proud kapa. He just stood and left. I went to msg him and showed him a screen recording of deleting all our photos and said this how easy to delete photos, it’s less than 1 minute and he should delete our photos too. I also told him that we need to talk in the morning . I have so many questions. He said he’ got diarrhea so we video call, and it turned to argument again, he shouted at me and cursed me a lot like big time! I never had a partner who cursed me before so i felt attacked and very disrespected like i never expected that it would come from a partner, haven’t heard from him not even sorry. So yesteday, I messaged him saying “Was it worth it? Worth it ba yung pag shout and pag cursed mo sakin over your past? Not even sorry or proper explanation. Ito pala gusto mo style disrespectful and bastos. Then I’ll give it back to you” right after sending the message I blocked him.
Did I overeact or valid yung ginawa ko? Sa true lang gusto ko gumanti ng insults and hurtful words, pero na realized ko na sayang sa oras but if he ever come to my place, feel ko, makapagbibitaw din talaga ako ng insults

I actually got coaching from this guy... and it made my mental health even worst. His videos are flawlessly made bc he's a graphic designer but tbh... he doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to manifestation & the Law.
It's a cash grab for this guy. And I am here to warn everyone of this guy & his fb group.
Like most YouTubers & these manifestation "coaches" - they prey on ppl who genuinely need advice & direction on how to manifest their SP & such.
His only advice for me was to work on my SC & just listen to SC affirmations. After a month of this... it just made me feel even worst about my SP situation. After awhile, I felt like something was off with all this.
And then I watched one of Sammy Ingram's video where she said that SC helps but it doesn't help with manifesting SP if you have poor concept about SP. You can have AMAZING SC but terrible concept about SP. It really resonated with me. I went back to robotic affirming... and within a week... I was in contact with SP after listening to Sammy's free content.
He also encourages ppl to detach from their desires when manifesting - which is so impossible to do when it comes to manifesting. I have heard ppl say detach from the outcome but not the desire - which makes more sense. All of his info was so confusing & conflicting that it was causing me more stress & confusion whenever I referred back to his content & fb group. Their fb group causes more confusion & stress than helping others when it comes to manifesting.
The tipping point for me was watching his moderators post fear mongering posts & limiting beliefs in the fb group. They will remove & block you if you disagree with any of their limiting beliefs. One of their moderators posted a fear mongering post saying that you need to visualize in 1st person & if you visualize in 3rd person, you're gonna give that manifestation away to someone else. I had challenged that limiting belief. Another member responded & said that she had successfully manifested using 3rd person visualization. I was very appreciative of her response & moved on. And then found myself completely blocked & removed from the group bc I challenged that limiting belief.
He also deletes comments if there's any criticism of any sort from his channel to ensure that nobody knows about the criticism & flaws of his teachings & fb group. Very cult-like behavior.
So stay away from this guy & his fb group.
Just follow @jendsu free advice & you will be OK! And YES, I also did get coaching from her. She's great - moderately priced & genuinely cares about you & your well-being.

Looking for stories of children you wholeheartedly forgave for assholery. I feel like a wimpy pushover!
I left my daughter's push bike unattended at the playground while I walked her to pick flowers. She is developmentally delayed: we rely on the bike to get her around town.
As I walked back over the hill towards the playground - my daughter resting on my hip - I could distantly a see an older boy swinging her bike by the handle. I doubted my eyes at first. He can't be? Then, he smashed the bike into the slide. I watched the handle arm collapse to the ground.
I yelled "stop that! That's ours!" The boy and his two friends hopped on their bikes and sped away. I was raging. Surely this was a sociopathic bully who delighted in destroying a baby's favorite pink bike!
Fuming, trying to get her home with a broken bike, the kids are riding in the street right past me from the other direction. I yelled "YOU RUINED HER BIKE! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!" Probably something else. His two friends raced away.
You guys... this boy pulled over to talk to me, bellowing and all. He had tears running down his face. He was shaking. He said he was sorry and he didn't know why he did it. He wasn't angry when he did it - he just thought it was abandoned and he wasn't thinking about it belonging to anyone. He would buy her a new one. He told me he is 10 years old. I told him how impressed I was with him. More than once. Because I was. I didn't want his money and he was free to go (he said "are you sure?" And "am I going to be in trouble?" 😭)
In between the park incident and the talk, I posted about this on my community FB page. First to warn of the unruly hellspawn vandalizing the local park. Then, to update about the conversation I had with a sad, remorseful 10 year old. I apologized for yelling (his mom recognized him from the timing of the incident).
Half of the comments were supportive and relieved. Another 1/4 suggested I was too quick to forgive or was right to bellow or was weak. The remaining 1/4 were appalled that I yelled or posted about him . Since the child's identity was outed I deleted the post.
The comments are getting in my head. Please help me make sense of my mixed emotions. I feel like such a dick when I picture his sad little face. But, he broke my 3yo's favorite riding toy! But, he's still learning too! Butbutbutbut
Any similar or related anecdotes you can share?

This comes from Cults and Nonconventional Religious Groups: A Collection of Outstanding Dissertations and Monographs, "Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism and the Soka Gakkai in America: The Ethos of a New Religious Movement", Jane Hurst, 1992, pp. 152-153.
Context:

The years from 1966 to 1976 were the time of NSA's (former name of SGI-USA) greatest growth and most fervent activity. Source

Here's what was happening organizationally:

Although NSA was born the child of a highly bureaucratic Soka Gakkai organization, its communication with American potential members always took place on a one-to-one basis. The pattern of propagation was similar in most cities and towns in which NSA eventually gained a following. A core of Japanese immigrant Soka Gakkai members, most often wives of American servicemen who had been stationed in Asia, would begin to hold discussion meetings. After receiving guidance from NSA, these Japanese women would conduct a shakubuku campaign of street solicitation, going out on the streets and inviting people to a "Buddhist meeting." As soon as they had enough guests, they would hold a discussion meeting in the nearby home of a member. These meetings would most often be led by American converts to NSA, especially the husbands of these pioneering women. At the meetings, the basic principles of Buddhism were explained and the guests taught to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Sometimes several meetings would be held on one evening of street shakubuku.

When I joined in 1987, NSA (still called that at that time) was still (or again) doing "street shakubuku", concentrated during the "Shakubuku Months" of August and February, but otherwise done on the weekends and some evenings - going to parks to accost strangers, knocking on strangers' doors ("Have you ever heard of 'Nam myoho renge kyo'?") and just standing on a busy street corner trying to collar someone who will listen. It was gross.

The stories told of these early days inevitably mention both the struggle and the exhilaration of those times. It was very difficult to build a core of strong members out of a random group of people invited in off the street.

Then as now.

As NSA tells it, the determination of the early members and their faith in the Gohonzon are all that made it possible. Many of these same Japanese-Americans are among the strongest members of NSA today.

The highest-caste members (then as now) due to their being Japanese-from-Japan, the Soka Gakkai believing that the Japanese were THE superior humans.

In any case, the obstacles to NSA's recruitment of American members were gradually overcome.
In Philadelphia, for example, the 1970's saw NSA's headquarters move from the living room of one of the members, to a rented townhouse on Delancey Street in Center City, to rented office space in the suburbs, and finally to a large NSA-owned and renovated Community Center in a central location. Growth followed a regular pattern. Each NSA District, the level at which discussion meetings were held, would increase to a size considered too large for good communication (40 or 50) and would then split in half. The group grew geometrically as the various Districts, and then Chapters and General Chapters, would divide over and over again.

Wow, huh? Here is a first-hand account from someone who was involved during this time period (1965). The account is continued here.
These district "splits" weren't always successful, though - in Mark Gaber's memoirs "Sho Hondo" and "Rijicho", chronicling his experience in NSA starting around 1970, one of the subcurrents periodically emerging throughout his narrative is how the district he initially joined, Topanga District, was so strong and vibrant that NSA leaders decided to split it - except that they moved the strongest leaders to the new district, leaving just Gaber (pseudonym "Gilbert") and a weak men's division leader behind in what was left of Topanga District afterward, and how Topanga District ended up just an empty husk of its former vitality.
It's been decades since anywhere in SGI-USA saw that kind of dynamic. Now, the SGI-USA's Buddhist centers sit empty, dark, locked up. Even when they're open, few show up. The local organizations run on skeleton crews:

In my 5-ish years in SGI, I never, EVER saw a district split due to high membership. I only saw them dissolve into each other. At least 3 times across 2 different Regions! I can confirm that Diminishing membership is an issue across the entire SGI USA. Source

Yeah see that was the thing, it was the same 2-3 members and rarely if ever a new member or guest ever showed up! My life got too busy for this nonsense and lack of buddhist study made me want to leave which I did in the end.
This is in San Diego which is a big city of 2 million+ people as well. We may have 500-1000 members here if that and more leave each year and never return. Source

In fact, the San Diego Center was closed down years ago, supposedly with a "turnkey ready" replacement facility waiting, and nothing has happened.

"Building a district" is a bullshit-ass phrase that they use to make you feel like you're contributing something to the SGI movement. It's completely misleading.
When you participate in "membercare" and planning meetings, you're just making the district barely survive. The term really should be "keeping your district alive and not die out".

In my time at SGI, there have been more mentions of dissolving districts rather than creating actual new ones. For those of you who don't know what "dissolving" refers to, that's when 2 neighboring districts have attendance so low and abysmal and have very little leadership presence (maybe there is only 1 or 2 leaders that are active) that you have to combine them into one district so that there are enough "leaders" to "take care" of all the members.

I have heard of people succeeding at keeping districts alive, but there was never one that was made from the ground up and caused more districts to exist. Source

Districts used to split but this hasn’t happened in a long, long time. SGI just reorganizes. Source
So so many people first hand burn out on activities under the banner of another campaign. Another campaign. Another campaign. All the wHile the organization never grew. Ever. More people leaving than staying. Good people. Forgotten. Written off. Slandered. Source

The Dead-Ikeda-cult SGI has been withering on the vine in the USA for decades now. In fact, this research from 1976 concluded: "Further rapid growth either of the parent body or the overseas offspring is doubtful."
Those researchers were RIGHT.

Context: This is the first segment in my Worldbuilding/Lore Document for a story I'm working on, inspired by works such as RWBY, the Middle Earth with Japanese/Anime Elements mixed into it, what do you guys think? I chose to send this segment as this is the one I've made so far as of Writing (5-16-2024)

“For Orth sought love and longing, they have sacrificed their physical form to create a world where Orth shall never feel alone.”
Cerber Wodan on the Genesis of Orthross

Before there was Orthross, there was just Orth. Wandering the endless Abyss which served as borders between worlds, but Orth continued to wander endlessly watching and learning of worlds that they could not enter. Orth grew lonely and wanted a world of their own, eventually, Orth would sacrifice their body to create the world of Orthross.
Their flesh would be the soil that would nourish life.
Their blood would be the water that would allow life to flourish.
Their bones would create mountains and finally.
Their breath would serve as the air that would allow life to breathe.
Orth had sacrificed their physical form turning them into a spectral god as their soul wandered through the world of Orthross.
But Orth wasn't satisfied, Orth wanted to create more as soon as they learned of their newfound power to create life, Orth began to turn towards their next greatest project.
The Creation of Mankind. Their First creation was the Faunus or Beastmen which was the result of combining the essence of the beasts, but they were driven by instinct and were too emotional for Orth despite their often volatile emotions they were passionate and enthusiastic at everything no matter what trials unfolded. Their Creation was then followed by the Elderkin or Elves, in contrast to the Beastmen who were driven by instinct the Elderkin were fueled by Logic and were borderline robotic in general but they were highly intelligent allowing them to solve any problem with ease albeit at the cost of their empathy. This caused a conflict with the Faunus who enslaved the Elderkin by outsmarting them. Hoping to pacify both races, Orth created a third race that could essentially serve as the bridge between both races. And so they created Humans, they lacked the unique nature that both the Faunus and the Elderkin have, they were ordinary but they were gifted with determination and willpower to overcome any hardship.
However, things aren't as simple as Orth had initially believed.
Instead of the three races bonding together and forming an Empire, the three races simply waged war against one another trying to whatever the other race didn't have. This continued for hundreds of years to the point the three races eventually had their civilization. Eventually, Orth had enough and decided to descend.
By casting aside whatever godhood Orth had left and bestowed upon the knowledge of the universe into a devout child who came from a settlement from the frontier known as Thronos who believed in a religion that worships an entity known as the Ancient one and that all races are created equally. Essentially Orth hijacked whatever religion that is and supplanted themselves as the God of that religion.

“But why me? I am but a daughter of a farmhand.”
“Your humility is what stands out the most, you do not see the races as most people, you see them as equals.”
Orth to the Fifteen-year-old Girl known as Aerial who would later become the Prophet of Orth, 238 BT (Before Thronos)

It was a grandiose spectacle truth be told, the heavens cleared up for all within the settlement to see as Aerial was enveloped with a bright light as her body changed from a sickly girl to a beautiful young woman. From the simple rags that she wore now came a beautiful dress that came with a veil. Her body changed as well, she grew horns that of demons but sported a halo as well, glyphs would manifest around her and from it were tentacles made of the same material as Orth's flesh.
“Behold,” Orth said their voice was that of a thousand souls speaking as one for all to hear. “My Prophet, she shall spread my words and orders, which is to unite the world under my banner.”
And with that, the people knelt.
At first, Aerial was confused, not knowing what to do or how to achieve the dream of Orth. Seeking Orth's advice, she fasted and prayed, she did everything if it meant gaining an audience with Orth.
Eventually, her prayers were answered, and Orth would eventually instruct her to make a pilgrimage to Mount Archaeon. The highest mountain in the world, and so accompanied by her dearest friend Marchosias, the two travelled to Archaeon and began to scale the mountain. The two spent weeks reaching the summit until she finally arrived at the summit.
Upon arriving at the summit, Aerial would receive not only a revelation on what she must do but also the power needed. In Orthross, magic was a commonplace concept, and so Aerial was familiar with it. However what she didn't expect was to be given near godlike levels of Magical Energy, or Prana as the world calls it. She was also bestowed upon a vast array of knowledge of what it means to lead and how to wield such power. This caused her hair to whiten as she descended upon the mountain much to the surprise of her companion.
As the two descended from the Archaeon, the two began the steps needed to achieve unification under the banner of the God Orth. Here the two would spend nights going about strategizing and confiding with one another on how to achieve this.

“At first I thought it was an impossible task, that what Orth had done is bestow a burden unto her, but it becomes clear that she and she alone can achieve this.”
Twenty-year-old Marchosias on Aerial, 243 BT

By 243 BT, the two had already formulated their plan, the two of them would first begin and gather a following with Aerial spreading the word of Orth while Marchosias would fight those who would oppose them. Their first objective was to gather followers and so they went through settlement after settlement as the two introduced the weak and the downtrodden to the word of Orth, wasn’t Orth’s words whatsoever but rather it was Aerial spreading her interpretation of what she believed that Orth would have wanted them to believe.
Core Teachings would focus more on equality and love, something that this world seems to lack due to constant war and strife.

Have a lifelong friend. We were BF until 9th grade when she became my "unless something better comes along, friend" As in, she would say yes to plans, but would often back out the day of as something better came along. She ghosted me on many occasions throughout adulthood, including my wedding, when I moved away and cut ties. Although becoming FB friends many years ago, we didn't really converse much. In 2018 I needed a place to stay while back home so I reached out to her. We have been really close since, talking 3-5 times a week, daily messages, a visit home last year etc. I consider her my best friend and my go to support.
A few weeks ago I had a long awaited MAJOR facial reconstruction surgery(with complications)which comes with temporary facial paralysis. A few days into recovery I left her a voice message to which she responded that she couldn't bare to listen to it because I sounded like I was in too much pain. I assured her I am not in pain, I simply cannot help how I sound due to the paralysis. Days later I get a message asking "When can you talk without me visualizing the pain you are in by how you sound"? I repeated that I am not in pain, this is her issue and joked that she needs to get over it. I tried calling over the next week and either got no answer or a message saying she is busy and will call back. Nothing. A few days later she messages that she misses me?? At the two week mark, I asked her if she wasn't calling because she was still struggling with how I sounded? That message was left on read. More unanswered calls.
Almost 2.5 weeks after my surgery I messaged her saying I am extremely hurt that she hasn't called me once since my surgery. The only explanation I had was that how I sound makes her feel uncomfortable. Regrettably, I said I was struggling to understand this amount of self-centeredness, and it was making me question our friendship as I would never treat her that way if roles were reversed. I asked her what I was missing.
Her responses were: "Not everything is about you" and did I consider that maybe something is wrong on her end? Admittedly, I did not consider this as she gave no indication while messaging about random stuff during those two weeks. She apologized for saying she felt my pain, which was not why I was upset, and repeatedly ignored that I was actually upset because she wouldn't call me. She claims I told her she sucks as a friend, I did not. She insinuated I was the issue for telling her she hurt me, as I'm the only person to ever say something like this to her. She was too busy to call, and if I were a good friend, I should have been checking in on her... I did, she never answered or returned those calls. She threw in some other passive aggressive digs and now she's unsure she can be my friend at this time since I accused her of doing something so "unkind."
I tell my best friend she hurt me, and she's acting like I'm the AH. All I was expecting was an "I'm sorry." AITA?

Thank you all for being a part of this subreddit !!!
Words aren't enough to express how happy I am for this achievement. I've received many compliments, words of encouragement, inspirational comments, and some insults too (LOL) while running this place.
Nevertheless, I plan to keep going forward with even more vigour and enthusiasm.
If any of you people is a graphic designer, or has a flair for it, please get in touch with me. I want to have a proper logo and banner to make this subreddit look even more official. Due credits will be given in the sidebar, you can be assured of that.
Or, we could also use AI-generated images as the subreddit logo and/or banner. I don't know how to use AI to generate images, and would be excited if you help me with it. Ours might be the first Tamil subreddit to use AI for that purpose :)
Last but not the least, I'd like to thank all my friends over here in Reddit, and some other subreddits which played an important role in promoting and giving it a higher reach: nocensorindia, kuttichevuru, TamilNadu etc.
Onwards and upwards !!!

The episode was very good. A few things I would like to discuss( I will keep it short ) 1. Osman Bey's Resilience: Displaying Islam, as how Osman would never allow infidels to stop him from raising the banner of Islam. Believing in Allah at all times. 2. Orhan's Capabilities: As the series is slowing progressing towards Orhan's rule, Orhan's capabilities to lead have been shown, how he is more instructive, calm and has more leader-like qualities ( Like managing the conflict between Alaeddin and Gunduz and making many decisions) 3. Storyline :- • Nicely displayed the entire conquest of Mekece, important details like the bomb, deflecting troops towards the caravan. • Boran and Konur on path of righteousness and helping Osman bey. • Possibly end of Ulcay..(Idk) • Tugay having pure Turkish blood hence Osman not killing him and giving him time to reconsider ( I hope he does and becomes an Alp under Osman ) • Alaeddin and Gonca's love progressing. Quite beautiful. Extras : - We didn't see Elcim the entire episode. What's going on? - As only 4 episodes are left, will be the next chapter? - Will we see any development in Orhol? - What will happen due to Black magic done by Melike? - Will Ibrahim bey return to his land? - Another question, when will Kose Mihal appear? ( has he appeared?)
These are the Important points which I gained from the episode. There are many other not important things as well. Overall 9.2/10
What do you think will happen next?
View Poll

Tier List: https://imgur.com/a/8uZCpGy
Oh boy, is this one gonna be a can of worms. Let's dive in headfirst!
"I'll school you in this battle of the baddest Bruce, with your He-Man haircut and your Daisy Dukes." It's an unremarkable line, but the rhythm here is pretty kickass, and I love the choregraphy of Jenner doing stretches in time with the beat, it's a really satisfying visual. "I hear you're good at running, you're just like the Flash. Especially in the 100-meter ditch-your-wife dash." Decent attack. They never fail to use someone getting divorced as material for a diss, do they? Banner looming over his beakers and microscope is a nice visual, and "You turned one gold medal to a lifetime of green; the most overrated athlete anyone's ever seen" is a competent enough attack. "You need to carry fatherhood across that finish line; kept up with the Kardashians but left some kids behind" is, again, a decent enough diss. A lot of material about Jenner's family here; I guess that's to be expected. There's still one or two much more obvious lines of attack to make, but I suppose Banner is just saving his best stuff for the end, right? He certainly wasn't saving it for the end of this verse, in which he just references the fact that he transforms when he gets pissed off without fashioning it into much of an attack or boast. The use of strings in the music here is a really nice touch, although I'd say the green screen effect with Bruce standing in front of those neurons or whatever ain't looking so hot.
Actually, the green screen effects for this battle broadly aren't the best. That stadium Jenner's standing in is looking pretty low-res. "I think you're in your element when you're behaving badly; honestly you're kind of boron when you're happy." It's a corny pun, but the sentiment is true enough. "I'll lap and pass your ass ten different ways. Decathlon athlete blast through you like some gamma rays." This is filler; it's fine, rhythm sounds pretty good, but it's just taking up space. "The truth is there's no truce between the Bruces, you're a drifter being useless, I'm a winner, no excuses!" That's a lot of playing on the same rhyme in a short period of time, and I dig that: truth/truce/Bruces/useless/excuses, hell yeah. I guess some of those aren't proper rhymes so much as, what's the word... assonance, maybe? It's good writing, is the point. The visuals panning in and out of this home gym is a nice touch too, and a nice parallel to Banner's sequence with his lab. "Beatiful women all up on my jock, I got a home gym, check me on the cereal box, Doc!" The rhythm Jenner's spitting here rules, this beat is low-key one of the better ones they've done. It's also a nice boast, and that Wheaties visual is pretty great. "You big green freak, don't try to flex; if it wasn't for your cousin, you'd never have sex!" Okay, this line goes super hard and I think it's one of the most underrated ones in ERB history. AND it's got one of the funniest visuals in the way Jenner pops in on that roller shouting "OHH!" while Banner suffers. That bit lives rent-free in my head. "You're so strong when you get mad, too bad you can't go back to protect your mom from your dad!" Holy fucking SHIT, this goes hard! The flow here kicks all kinds of ass, and we've got a 3x rhyme combo going on with mad/bad/dad; I LOVE odd numbers of rhymes! It's also just an extremely savage low blow. Another line that doesn't get enough credit. Jenner is kicking Banner's ass so far.
One questionable and inadvisable transformation sequence later, The Hulk comes in to spit a few bars. But only a few. "That painted face don't give you class; just one more thing Bruce do for cash!" Interesting argument. "Best thing you make? Kylie ass! She eighteen? Hulk SMASH!!" I do think this is a pretty funny way to reduce Jenner's legacy to Kardashian bullshit, and the Hulk SMASH joke always gets a strong reaction out of people.
Fully transitioned Caitlin Jenner comes in with "That's my teenage daughter, man, I have to forbid this; I'll put a javelin through your jolly green discus." Decent lines. Good way for Caitlin Jenner to brag about her athletic achievements while also throwing a Jolly Green Giant jab in. "Kylie not the kinda girl I'm gonna let you smash on; you'll get the medal without the decathlon!" I like the medeal/metal wordplay here, although Caitlin Jenner dual-wielding pistols and firing them at the Hulk feels extremely out of left field.
"Hulk is Hulk! No identify as man! Me thinks Cait might understand!" Pretty funny line, and Caitlin's reaction is also amusing. "No gender issue; this Jenner issue! Just you being you is enough to diss you!" So that's it, then? They're really not going to bring that one thing up, eh? I feel like that closing line would land a lot better if they did.
"Look I understand that you hate yourself; but you don't need to blame yourself." Oh, huh. That's different. Let's see where this therapy session goes. "You're a tiger, stop trying to tame yourself; you gotta be big enough to contain yourself." Well... I like that she's mixing things up by rhyming with the penultimate word instead of the last word, that's always something. They're clearly going for an angle of Caitlin relating to Bruce and trying to teach him to come to terms with his identity, which is kind of cute, I guess. "Be green, it ain't none of my business!" That line's pretty funny, as is the tea-sipping visual. "But if you think you're looking good in those torn-ass clothes; you're lying, which means you need a new wardrobe!" That's a reference to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, which has absolutely nothing to do with this matchup. Feels out of place because of it. And it's not a very strong diss besides, feels like padding. Doubly strange to end her verse on it. "The visions of those shorts kinda scarred me; what'd you just rage at a Barney themed party?" Oh, there's more? Alright. This burn is really lame. Barney jokes? Come aaaaaaaahhhhhn, what are we doing here? That line should have definitely been left on the cutting room floor. "That's probably not something you seen as a child; not one day did you see your daddy smile!" Okay. She already established that Hulk's father was abusive in her first verse, and while it was a powerful blow there, here it feels much more toothless. "Hulk not strong enough to deal with denial! Laying you down easy; that's kitchen tile!" The first line is pretty amusing with how Caitlin imitates The Hulk's speech, but that second line... why? Pretty weaksauce way to finish her performance off, but whatever. Also not a fan of these visuals with the diamonds, feels like they wanted to add some visual flair but couldn't think of a good way to do it so they settled on Caitlin popping out of diamonds which is just odd. "Examine this under your microscope; you've got no neck, but you still fucking choked!" Oh. This verse is still going? Okay. Well, it's a good line. "After battling me, you're gonna always be pissed! So the Hulk will stay forever, neither Bruce will exist!" You know, that's actually a pretty strong closer, but I can't help but feel like it's undercut by just how long that verse was dragging on.
Okay, so. I feel it should be pointed out that there's a lot of people who were always going to hate this battle for making the decision not to attack Caitlin for being trans. Furthermore, the overwhelming sentiment has been that Banner won this; it bears keeping in mind that there's a lot of transphobes out there who were going to say the Hulk won no matter what happened simply because Caitlin is trans. So to that end, I think that a fair amount of the hate this battle gets, and the hate that Caitlin's performance gets, is bullshit. But there are still some big criticisms that need to be made.
So let's be honest: they threw the match for Caitlin. Or at least attempted to. You might still think the Hulk managed to win, but with that insanely long final verse it's pretty clear they tried to make Caitlin the 'canon' winner, as with Thomas Jefferson vs. Frederick Douglass. They did this presumably because it was pride month, and they wanted to say Trans Rights with a trans rapper that gets a positive portrayal. I can get behind that sentiment, but the execution is questionable to say the least.
Like... I'm not trans, but there's some shitty stuff going on here that's easy to see. For one, the cardinal rule that everybody knows is that you're not supposed to misgendedeadname a trans person, and the title of this battle is Bruce Banner vs. Bruce Jenner. So from the get-go, before the video even starts playing, we're getting some mixed signals here. Are we to take from this that they made the tactical decision to go ahead and deadname Caitlin for the sake of the matchup making intuitive sense(what with it obviously being a play on their similar names), and then try and do a hard pivot and make Caitlin win the battle to avoid criticism for that decision? Feels like maybe they could have just not gone with this matchup instead. The whole transformation element also seems dubious, but I could see someone reasonably landing either way on whether that's actually an issue or just silly fun, so I won't go into that.
Another issue to consider: Caitlin Jenner kind of sucks. Most people do not like her. Most TRANS people don't even like her. For one, despite the fact that she's trans, she is a Republican who has made anti-gay marriage comments in the past. The bizarre shittiness of a trans person being like that is a pretty ripe source of material for disses, yet this battle does not bring it up at all. And more notably than that, Caitlin Jenner was famously involved with a manslaughter case, where she was accused of getting someone killed due to negligent driving. It was ultimately determined that there wasn't enough evidence for manslaughter and so she wasn't found guilty(though it's widely believed that this decision was bullshit and she did commit manslaughter), but it's an extremely well-known and controversial factoid and it's insane they didn't have Banner bring up as a diss. If you're going to have a rapper make the case of "Just you being you is enough to diss you", seems like being a trans Republican and quite possibly committing vehicular manslaughter are the two strongest and most obvious points to go with. And yet... nothing. If your goal to make a battle that gives trans people positive representation, then Caitlin Jenner is a pretty poor choice. If you don't want your trans rapper to look like a bad person, then maybe instead of ignoring either elephant in the room, you could just go with some other trans rapper in some other matchup. I get that there aren't a lot of choices for a trans rep with name recognition or ample material to work with, but... the Wachowski sisters are right there. And they've done more to warrant getting in an ERB than Caitlin Jenner anyhow.
Another thing is... why is it a moral imperative that Caitlin win this battle? Sure she's trans, and it's cool want to give trans people positive representation, but you didn't need to give her an absurdly long verse at the end to do that. You could just give her good writing, refrain from shitting on her just for being trans, and sure, let her have the final word. Then, yes, show the pride flag at the end to say Trans Rights. That's all you had to do. With something like Jefferson v. Douglass the scale-tipping made sense, because it was a slave-owner vs. a slave. Yeah, it's kind of hard for the slave-owner to win that match, and it makes sense to use it as a vehicle to take a firm stand against slavery. But it's not like this battle is Trans Person vs. Transphobe; Bruce Banner isn't some horrible person that must be morally condemned(there's a much stronger case for Caitlin herself), so... why have it play out like this? I think that ironically, by trying to hand the match to Caitlin they wound up getting more hate thrown towards the performance and more people voting against her in polls than there otherwise would have been if they'd just cut out all that excessive padding and given her a solid closing verse. As-is the verse isn't good, the overall quality is dragged down by just how much fluff there is.
In the end, my read on the situation is this: for whatever reason, they really liked the idea of this matchup and wanted to go through with it. They knew that going through with it would necessitate making it Bruce Banner vs. Bruce Jenner at the start, so they bit the bullet on the deadnaming and the conceit for the matchup and did everything they could to mitigate the potential backlash for that, going as soft on Caitlin as possible and giving her a verse that was ridiculously lengthy. People always say "but it's the Hulk, it makes sense he wouldn't say much!" and sure, I can buy that as an excuse as to why Caitlin's verse would be longER than his, but that still doesn't account for why it's as insanely long as it is. In any case... this paragraph is just speculation, I can't know their actual motivations, but I think this is likely what happened.
Anyway... despite all, this battle gets way too much hate. I think Jenner's first verse is really good, and the Hulk is also quite solid for as few lines as he gets. Bruce Banner is a little mediocre and Caitlin's last verse ends up just being a pain in the ass to sit through(could've been good if they cut all the fat and left in the handful of good lines) that's best skipped past on repeat listens. But still... there's some stuff here that is thoroughly enjoyable. I don't think this battle quite manages to be good, but it's got enough going for it that I think it manages to avoid being outright bad. I'm putting this in the top of C tier, because I genuinely think it's more enjoyable than all of the battles that are below it.
It's understandable to say that The Hulk beat Jenner's second verse, but I think her first verse was pretty fire and the highlight of the battle. I say she edges out a win, but a case could be made either way.
Let me end things off by saying this: I once watched this battle with an extremely transphobic relative, and he was pissed off by that "no gender issue, this Jenner issue" line. So even if this battle was a regrettable mistake, at least they did something right.

I am not The OOP, OOP is u/ThrowRA29329323
Me 25M grew up with parents 48F and 52M who had an open marriage it sort of messed me up and my parents wants to know why I had not spoken to them in almost four years.
Originally posted to relationship_advice
Previous BoRU posted by u/-bonita_applebum**
TRIGGER WARNING: depression, child neglect, mentions of bullying
While this was posted before, it has never been posted with the final update
Original Post July 31, 2021
I found out when I was around 12 that my parents liked to play around if you can call it that I did not get until I was around 14 what that really meant.
Anyways I kept my mouth shut and focused on myself and moved out when I was 18 and we have barely spoken since.
I ended up becoming very insecure I struggeled when it came to dating and girls and was alone for most of my teens, mom and dad was this perfect couple that was well liked by everyone.
All I can remember is how alone I felt during that time and was too afraid to speak to my parents about how I had it, they were always smiling and seemed to have the perfect marriage while they saw other people while I felt alone and miserable.
They used to go on weekend trips and was alone for many weekends and they rarely brought me along for vacations and I ended up being on my own when they did as well.
I struggle with depression and started seeing a therapist and are on antidepresseants right now, I just felt like I did not matter to my parents at all and see no real reason for why I should talk to them now.
I have not celebrated christmas with them or not been at home since I was 19 because I honestly have nothing but bad memories from living with them I just felt like I was in the way.
Not sure what I should do here my emotions are all over the place I don't think they know I struggle with depression.
Update Aug 4, 2021
I tried posting this earlier but yeah some other things have also happened so wanted to add that as well.
I dedided to write a letter but ended with me using that letter as reference to what I wanted to say to them instead.
I wrote the letter and actually just planned to drop in in their mailbox and just let them read it.
But honestly after so many years I needed to have the conversation with them so I did.
​
So I went home and surprise surprise dad and mom had a friend over, the woman who I ran into a few days ago let's call her Claire.
They were just sitting in the living room just talking I asked Claire politely to leave because I need to speak to my parents she said sure and she left, my parents understood I had something discuss and they did not argue.
​
Apperantly they were talking about me and Claire actually came over because she was worried about me after I basiclly ignored her the other day when I ran into her.
​
I sat down with my parents had the letter I had written and they understood I had a lot to say.
​
The whole thing was weird I sounded like a prosecutor trying to convince a jury of all my parents wrongdoings, it ended up being 40 minute indictment of my parents.
​
I went through all of it how alone I felt, me struggeling with depression, me seeing a therapist, on anti depresseants, me feeling since I was 11 that was always in the way, that I never mattered to them and that other people were always more important.
​
How Claire who was 25 the same age I am now when she started hanging around with you actually gave more of a damn than you did.
How you (dad) yelled at me when I messed up the settings on the dishwasher while you were away, I was 11 and did not know how it worked and that I offered to wash them by hand which I did.
​
I was bullied in school and was socially ackward, had no friends and was always alone both at school and at home.
​
I was 11 and had to deal with being alone on the weekends even christmas was weird and ackward I remember seeing families light christmas trees in our street seeing parents and their kids.
But you guys went to your christmas get togethers and only on christmas day were you home and I honestly felt alone then as well.
​
I have no such memories or felt any belonging whatsoever and now you keep asking me why I have barely spoken to you for four years ?
​
I don't know you and you never bothered to get to know me, other people were always more important.
​
When I found out and understood what you guys were into, I was even more mad why was that more important than me ??
​
How is it fair that you are happy and I am alone and miserable, it's not fair because you did this to me.
​
I have spent my childhood alone, my teens alone and now my twenties alone so far I never had a girlfriend because I struggle to trust people and have no idea how to get close to people.
​
You shared a picture of me on FB one of the few of us together from when I was a kid, saw Claire and your other GF comment on it how cute I was and what a great family we were.
Notice anything on those pictures ? I never smiled.
​
Why did you even have me to begin with clearly I was just a prop for you to show off to let others know what great parents you were, your FB profiles makes me sick to honest.
​
Dad wanted to say something and mom just looked stunned and she had tears, I just got up and left and that was that.
​
I never yelled or called them any names I was surprisingly calm I honestly felt numb walking out but also a lot lighter.
I left my sparekey to their place and just walked back to my place.
Mom has been texting and tried callin me I think they are both struggeling on what to say to me, I just demanded they remove the pictures of me from their FB which they did.
They do not get to pretend to the world like they were great parents anymore I refuse to be a prop.
So that's the update still gonna continue with my therapists or may need to find a new one.

NEW UPDATE

Update 2 - rareddit Oct 11, 2021
Just wanted to give an update and thank you for all the comments, I decided to switch therapists and the new one is better than my old one.
Still dealing with anxiety and feel very lonely sometimes, but trying to get through the day.
Had a long talk with mom who actually decided to stop by my place, she and I talked for almost three hours.
I decided not to berate her and instead just being honest and explain how my life has been and how I am dealing with a bunch of things.
It was as honest as it could get with me basiclly just sharing how I was doing, mom did not realize how bad it was and she just gave me a hug I don't know why but that helped, she was not sure what to say about everything and I don't really blame her.
She said come home for awhile especially at christmas you don't have to sit in your apartment alone, told her I would think about it.
Mom looks like she finally realized that I had been in pain for quite some time and her recognizing that is I guess what I really wanted like she finally got it.
So yeah progress I guess still not sure what the future holds, still feel very apathethic and my anxiety can get the best of me sometimes and have had days I feel very low like nothing matters anymore.
But I guess it's a step in the right direction
​THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT THE OOP
DO NOT CONTACT THE OOP's OR COMMENT ON LINKED POSTS, REMEMBER - RULE 7

Hi! I've been working with/ for this client for 3 years. She just put in a really big order and I'd like to know how much I should charge. She needs the following:

• New Logo (Made from scratch with her occasional input)
• Social Media Kits for the following platforms:
  • Twitter
  • Twitch
  • Ko-fi
  • Caard
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
  • Reddit
  • Redbubble
• Twitch Overlay
  • Starting Soon
  • Ending
  • Brb
• Custom Weekly Calender for Events
• Per Item Rate for Making Merch
• Banners for Discord
• Panels for Discord
• Youtube Thumbnails

I don't have rates for this type of scenario and I have no idea how long this will take me.
Any advice is welcome and encouraged!

So in January, my SO brought up to me that he was unhappy in our relationship because we were arguing too much, and I wasn't making time for him. We have a son with adhd, he takes up my patience and time, I'm a full time student, and an office manager. Still no excuse to make someone feel neglected, so I apologized and prioritized my time, talked to my therapist for aid in stress relief (I knew I was in a bad mood often), and cut back on hours. I told him to keep me up to date in his feelings, and if there is something else I can do to work on my end.
Everything has been going so much better and I asked him if he's happy with me a couple times, to which he responded he was never unhappy with me but with how our relationship was. Making the changes I did and being more present has felt amazing for me and I realized like wow, I have my person and I don't feel as stressed anymore maybe I bit off more than I can chew and this just feels good. I excitedly planned our 10 year anniversary, and we're both beyond excited.
Brings me to my issue, I can't shake this feeling off since January when he told me he was unhappy. I overthink and I know that but I can't get out of my head. I worry I'm not doing enough, looking good enough, having enough sex, etc... so we make jokes about our sex life taking a hit when becoming parents, and I make jokes about myself gaining weight, my stomach being different, etc. But he made a couple jokes a week ago and it hurt. It doesn't feel the way it used to because in my head he's not happy and I wish I could change it all and be someone he's proud to have (I gained 40 lbs since my son and have pcos so losing it has been a nightmare).
Fast forward to last week, I got his phone to look up his cousin (to buy a minisplit from them) on Facebook. I see multiple searches for women on it and it made my heart drop. I trust him, I don't think he'd cheat but it caught me off guard because one them is a spitting image of his dream girl. I put his phone down and just let it be. Before I get scolded on here, I know I shouldn't have looked again as it's an invasion of privacy (even though he has told me years ago, I could look through his phone) I never felt the need to and this was just coincidence. But I did, two more times. The old searches for her were deleted. But he forgot to delete the search from yesterday. Now my thing is why search them so often? And why delete it? And apparently, they went to high school together (says on the fb).
My brother is his best friend since 8th grade (how we met) and I was kinda just made apart of the friend group and they have talked about old crushes/flings in the past and the name of the girl he's been consistently searching up has never came up in these conversations so I'm kind of like who is she? Where did she come from?
I guess another thing that is just so bothersome to me about the whole thing is how I've been trying hard, putting in work to this and he's just doing whatever. But told me when I asked how happy he is now and happy about the changes.
Anyway, any advice would be great. And I guess bottom line is, should I be worried about his consistent searches? Should I ask him about it or let it be? Am I too in my head? I don't know.
TLDR; F28, M31 my SO of 10 years is consistently searching someone up on Facebook after telling me he was unhappy in January but now says he's so happy and loves all that has changed so I'm unsure if to bring it up to him or I'm overreacting and in my head.

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I bought a cuisinart ice cream maker off fb marketplace yesterday and I put the bowl in the freezer and tried making ice cream multiple times since then and it hasn't gotten past the liquid stage. I have a kitchen aid ice cream maker bowl but hated how clunky it was, hence getting the cuisinart. I've made ice cream before I'm having trouble with the cuisinart. Does anyone have any tips? The ice cream mixture is cold, I used the recipe below:
Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream Prep Time10 minutes Cook Time20 minutes freeze time3 hours Total Time3 hours 30 minutes
INGREDIENTS 7 egg yolks 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 tbsp malted milk powder 3 cups heavy cream 1 cup whole milk 1 tablespoon vanilla extract / 2 tsp vanilla bean paste
INSTRUCTIONS In the bowl of your stand mixer add the egg yolks, sugar, and salt. Using the paddle attachment, beat on medium speed until pale yellow and light and airy. About 4-5 minutes. In a large pan heat the cream and milk over low heat, stir occasionally. If you have an instant read thermometer the mixture will reach 155-160°F. If you don't have a thermometer, the will be hot but not boiling! Turn the mixer to low and add the heated cream in a slow, steady, stream. Mix until thoroughly combined, about 3 minutes. Pour the cream/egg mixture back into the pan and heat over medium-low heat stirring constantly. Heat to 155-160°F. If you don't have a thermometer heat until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon. It should NOT boil, however, a few bubbles may come up along the edges. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla. Set a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl. Pour the warm ice cream mixture into the bowl (through the fine mesh strainer)* Cool the mixture over an ice bath, stirring every few minutes. After about 10-15 minutes place the mixture in the refrigerator until completely chilled. Set up your ice cream machine according to the manufacturers directions. With the machine running, add the mixture in a slow steady stream. Churn according to the directions. Transfer the churned ice cream to an airtight container and place in the freezer for several hours to firm up. Serve with your choice in toppings!

I went on a rescue mission over the weekend to save two oscars (one tiger one albino), a parrot, and a common pleco that were kept for 3 years together in a 25 gal. They were only fed shrimp treats the entire time.
The tiger Oscar and parrot had ick pretty badly and unfortunately didn't make it. I had quarantined them in a 55 low & long and I'm grateful that I did since they were so sick. Albino Oscar and pleco are doing wonderful (now named sushi and tigger respectfully thanks to my son) and are showing some signs of restlessness so I'd like to get them into a bigger space sooner rather than later without stressing them out too much further.
A very generous lady in a local fb fish group I'm in has offered me a gorgeous 75 gal long setup everything included to house these guys. I don't intend on adding anyone else to the tank, perhaps a few potential feeders, but I'm nervous that 75 is still on the small side. From what I've read people say anything bigger than 50 is okay for one full grown Oscar but I can see how antsy this one is getting in a 55 so I don't agree with that at all.
I'm wondering if 75 long would suffice for these two, and also if anyone has any advice on how I can make the transition to their permanent home as smooth as possible. This was my first "monster fish" rescue and while I've owned oscars over the years, I've never had one fully grown. Of course I would love to be able to home them in something that is donated to me but I took these guys in prepared to spend the money to house them properly so I just want to make sure I'm doing right by them.
Thanks so much in advance!!

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Exclusive TEMU promo code: Use code “acl377490 ” for up to 30% OFF!
About Temu Temu, which stands for Team Up, Price Down, is an e-commerce company that connects consumers with millions of merchandise partners, manufacturers and brands with the mission to empower them to live their best lives. Temu is committed to offering the most affordable quality products to enable consumers and merchandise partners to fulfill their dreams in an inclusive environment. Temu was founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 2022. Lightning Deals Temu’s Lightning Deals are limited-time flash discounts with significant discounts on select items. New offers are added daily and featured directly on the homepage. There will be discounts in several categories, including home goods, sports gear, jewelry, and gifts.
On top of these flash promotions, the Temu lightning deals can help you find 50-90% off items. Promotional banners with links to individual discount pages will be displayed throughout the site.
More Quick Temu Savings Tips Sign up in the app for bonuses, coupons, and offers. Subscribe to Temu's email newsletter for bonus coupons and deals: 1.Visit the site each day to "spin the wheel" for bonus Temu coupons 2.Get free shipping on many items across the site 3.In the app, click "earn credits and gifts" to save 4.Refer a friend via the app to earn gifts 5.New customers get a free Temu coupon bundle worth $100 via the app 6.Enable push notifications on your phone to receive instant access to new discounts and coupons via the app How to Use a Temu Coupon Code 1.Sign in or sign up on Temu 2.Add items to your shopping cart 3.Proceed to the checkout 4.Look for the "apply coupon code" field Apply your Temu coupon code there to save!
Temu FAQs How do I get a discount on my first Temu order? Sign up on the Temu site and check the promos within your account, and you will be eligible for a new customer offer. You can take advantage of a signup bundle with $100+ worth of coupons. When are the huge discounts on Temu? Check out Temu on significant shopping holidays such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Halloween, etc. They frequently do special offers around these times and may also offer extra Temu coupon codes to save on your order. Can I buy now and pay later at Temu? Yes, customers can take advantage of several financing methods at Temu. Afterpay or Klarna will spread your total over four installments, while Affirm can provide low monthly payments. Each service has its terms and will not apply fees if you pay on time.
Team up with us, watch the prices go down, and discover why smart shoppers are making Temu their go-to destination for everything they love and need. Your adventure in saving starts now – are you ready to shop smarter, not harder? Join Temu and turn every click into a celebration of savings! Exclusive TEMU promo code: Use code “acl377490 ”for up to 30% OFF!