Casino themed birthday cake

I (f) just turned 17 today and my entire family is mad at me for spending the day with my bf 17(m). For some context I’ve never had a good birthday. I would always get in trouble the week of and before because my mom is irritable and I would never earn a good birthday. Celebrations would always happen without me or what I would get would be a card or a cake with foreign languages on it with mean comments. For my 15 she got a cake and in blue icing in Spanish she wrote do better and then put me on punishment for confronting her. She kicked me out a year ago to be with her boyfriend and my 9(m) brother her “perfect family” that don’t include me so I’m living with my grandma 65 and aunt 39. They don’t like my mom’s take to my birthday and how I have to earn it and how my brother always has what he wants but I can’t even be present. I’m sorry to sound like a brat but 17 years of resentment adds up. My grandmother and aunt have been preaching about how this birthday will be MY day but the allure of birthdays aren’t even there anymore for me. I got a bf almost 9 months ago and he’s been saying the entire time how for my birthday he’s going to go all out he asked them every month is he can take me out my birthday and they always say yes. I have always had restrictions put on me and they just got worse when me and him got together. I have to turn my phone in every night she checks if I’m otp with him so I can’t be and I haven’t seen him outside of school since his birthday five months ago. I ask and I get random excuses every time when they tell me no. My mom was the one who suggested that I spend my birthday with my bf and when my aunt and grandma were like yes ofc you can they were even saying that can be your birthday gift. I hadn’t asked much for my birthday everything I wanted had been turned down and so what I asked for I made sure I could get when I get told no. All I wanted to do was roller skate and get a cheap hello kitty Stanley dupe off Etsy since they said I could pick a place to go. When today rolled around and they dropped me off at his house since they also haven’t allowed me to learn to drive or get a permit I had fun at his house. He taught me madden even though it made him mad we made cookies and he took me to get chipotle. He got me a bunch of hello kitty gifts and got me a personal strawberry shortcake which is my favorite. I didn’t ask for what he did all I wanted was to play video games and get a cuddle in before I can’t see him for I don’t even know how long. I got home and everyone was mad at me my brother if visiting for the week and even he put his iPad down long enough to mean mug me . My grandmother explained to me that everyone was mad because I chose to spend my birthday with my bf. My brother honestly didn’t even know it was my birthday he asked if it was true. I asked her what she meant and she said how I had chosen my bf over spending time with them. How they had an elaborate day planned out and I didn’t want to. I tried telling her that wasn’t it I would’ve been fine with seeing him tomorrow or even a few hours but they gave me the whole day so I took it and then she said well we feel like you chose someone else over your family when you were supposed to choose us you owe this day. I was asking why they didn’t say no or give me an option or we could’ve compromise d and she said no I was supposed to choose them and be with them but now they know where my loyalties lie. When I went to my room my brother came in and asked why I didn’t choose them and I told him I’ll talk to him later so I wouldn’t get mad towards him. I’m still confused and very mad and hurt by all this but I took an opportunity when it was handed to me so am I the a hole?

My father is old but still has a fair bit of life ahead of him. He was a decent provider for our family and has never been violent or had affairs etc. Him and my mum are still together although there is no passion in their relationship. He’s never bothered to do anything for our (mum and my) birthdays - no cakes, no celebration, no gifts. Anniversary and Christmas are not celebrated, even though these things would mean a lot to mum and I.
I’ve expressed how mum and I feel to him and he dismisses it, claiming he does enough by providing a house, keeping the gardens in order, paying my school fees etc when I was a kid. Noting that mum worked and contributed just as much financially and probably did more in the parenting department, and both her and I do make the effort with birthday’s (even his) etc.
He’s a very well liked person amongst his extended family, friends and acquaintances as he is extremely likeable at a shallow level but doesn’t care for making the effort to show love in a meaningful way to those closest to him. he didn’t show up to my mother’s 70s birthday get away or the interstate funerals of her parents.
WIBTA if I/we did not arrange a memorial or funeral for him when the time comes?

Over the past 7 months, 3 unofficial banner themes have been changed in favor of the standard random assortment of heroes from 2-3 games.

• Dragonween. From Books 4 to 6, Halloween banners consisted entirely of dragon units, and thus was unofficially called Dragonween. However, in Book 7, this was changed in favor of a mix of Engage and Awakening characters (with a random Flayn cause 3H needed its equal attention cake).
• Ninja class banners. From Books 4 to 6, Ninja banners were based around specific classes in mainline games (excluding the Duo backpack). Book 4's was centered around the Myrmidon classline, Book 5's was centered around the Archer classline (although this one is cheating a bit cause it used avatar characters, which can reclass into anything), and Book 6's banner was centered around the Wyvern Knight classline. However, in Book 7, it was similarly replaced with the standard format, this time being a mix of characters from Radiant Dawn and Fates.
• Harem banners. In Books 6 and 7, the unofficial theme this time was harem banners, where it was a main lord, their exclusive A supports, and an unrelated Harmonic backpack. Book 6's was centered around Roy, while Book 7's was centered around M!Robin. Also important to note is that Books 3-5's themes were of a canonical couple hosting a mock wedding (Pent/Louise, Naliah/Rafiel, and Zelot/Juno in that order). Book 8 seems to have not included either of these themes, with there being no main lord on the banner or a canonical couple to base the banner around, and is instead a mix of Heroes and Engage characters.

However, they did keep the Valentine's and Children banner themes, although I would consider these more official themes due to clear trends throughout the years, and a harder difficulty to move away from their established themes compared to the 3 I mentioned above, which all have a history of staying with the standard theme (the only exception is the Ninja banner, which started with an established theme before moving away from it).
How do you feel about this? Personally, I'm mixed; on one hand, I appreciated the unofficial traditions IS had and it gave the banners a sense of continuity and predictability throughout the years, but on the other hand, it's nice to know that a fav of mine isn't immediately excluded from a banner because they don't fit on the unofficial theme.
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Today is my 70th birthday and my amazing husband is not here to share it with me. He passed away almost 6 weeks ago. He had been sick for a while with renal disease and he was ready to go. He went to sleep and he didn’t wake up. I could not be more happy than he found peace from his pain and suffering The hard part is that I’m still here without him every day my heart and my soul ache for him not being here. He was an amazing man and I was blessed to have had almighty 26 years with him. Every year for my birthday, he would bake me my favorite cake. Last year he was too ill so he sat with the caregiver and helped her to make it. This year there is no cake. There is the memories, pictures and knowledge that this man provided me a great life and I would not be who I am and where I am if he had not come into it I found this site and come to it because it gives me great solace to hear other people talk about their grief whether it’s recent or past. I have some great book recommendations that have been really beneficial to me before this journey and his journey. I thank God every day for what I had and live gratitude. My grief is about what will not be.

Hey guys, I (25M) wanted to post this here and get some advice of what to do next? I have been considering legal action, but I wonder if I have much of a case here. Some key things to note:

• I live in Nevada, USA, which is a right-to-work state and I was about to complete my 6-month probationary period before I was let go.
• I never signed off on a termination letter or any written statement about what happened
• The company I work for is a private company

I have been talking to my company's HR department about what happened and am still waiting to see what they say at the time of writing this. I'll just copy and paste what happened from the written statement I gave them:
"On 5/9/24 I was originally scheduled to work at 2 PM, and was heading into our office on the second floor when Chris, my director, was waiting for me at the elevator doors. At that moment, I did not know he requested to speak with me as I had not checked my messages yet prior to arriving to work. I followed him to a meeting room behind the bar on the casino floor and sat down with him and Kevin, a new Operations Manager that had just been promoted, as a witness. Chris informed me that I was being let go, to my shock. I asked why. He gave me a rather vague answer about how many factors have led to this decision, but he does not believe that I will mesh well with the team long-term and unfortunately it has come to this. When I had first started in my position, Chris and I had only two conversations about my progress and his concerns:
One was with my former superior Paul and Chris about how some of my behavior was a bit distracting to others and while it is good to be enjoying your work, please focus on my work and try to conversate with my coworkers about things relating to the job. I understood that, and took it in stride. I reigned it in and focused more on my tasks at hand and never heard another such complaint.
The second was when I had incorrectly scored an NHL game one night and the mistake was not found out until the next day, causing an all-around headache. I had similar, more minor mistakes in the past, so Chris told me to do better and that while mistakes are bound to happen, to have a better attention to detail. I understood and had improved in the months since that conversation and I hadn't made a mistake like that since.
With these in mind, I said to Chris that he couldn't deny that I hadn't improved since starting my position and my former issues had already been rectified, to which he agreed. So I asked him to give me a more tangible reason behind his decision. He cited my interactions with my coworker Logan made her feel uncomfortable in the office.
Logan is a girl the same age as me and her desk is on the other side of the room. My interactions with her were limited simply because of this fact and the most I ever spoke to her was greeting her when I arrived in the office, as I greeted everyone else, and benign small talk. May 9th is also her birthday, as I had heard from some of her other coworkers, so I even got her a birthday card and a singular cupcake that day.
For the record: I never singled her out in this treatment; in fact many times I had offered snacks or food to fellow coworkers. I even brought in staple snacks in Chinese culture for Chinese New Year this year a few months ago for the whole office to try. I offered them to everyone including Logan, as it is a big day in my culture and unfortunately I had to celebrate while at work. In my opinion, things like reminders of your birthday while at work is a very inclusive gesture and I was actively trying to make our company a better place to work at by promoting a more positive culture by setting an example. I even asked a coworker for his birthday so I could remember when it came around, as I realized I didn't know anyone's birthday yet. I did not mean anything by my actions, if they truly were making Logan feel uncomfortable, and I think some sort of warning beforehand would have been more than fair. If Logan herself was too uncomfortable with saying it to me personally, I could've also have heard it from any of my superiors first.
I made this point in my conversation with Chris; his only reply to me was that some people aren't comfortable enough doing that without hurting anyone's feelings. I feel that there is something more than what Chris told me and Logan's perception of me may not be the only reason I was terminated. And if Logan's perception of me was a deciding factor in my termination, I do not appreciate that treatment or assumptions being made of me simply because I am a man and she is a woman and therefore all my actions are perceived as malicious and/or having ulterior motives."

I knew my husband was in recovery when I met him (which he so kindly threw in my face Wednesday night) and we’ve been through some rough times with his addiction during our 8 year relationship. This last year, however, has just taken the cake.
He hadn’t used drugs in several years but was still drinking. It escalated to a point last summer where he started hallucinating things, including thinking there were people in our house. He was convinced I was cheating on him, when all I was trying to do was make it to and from work every day without having a meltdown. He finally sobered up in January and was sober until the end of March.
We went on a trip for his birthday in April and he decided it was ok for him to drink. I knew it wasn’t, but that’s not my decision to make. At first it was “manageable” but I could quickly see the escalation even if he couldn’t.
It finally came to a head Wednesday evening when he drank so much that he jumped out of the car while I was driving us home from a concert. He then blamed me for abandoning him, and got violent when he got home which resulted in me calling the cops. He wouldn’t let me get any of my belongings or my car and so I left in a Uber with the clothes on my back. I went back the next day to try to get some things, only to discover that my car had been moved from the garage to the street and it looked like someone had taken a baseball bat to the entire drivers side. I can’t prove he did it but I know he did.
I have been staying at a safe space since Wednesday night and he’s continued to text me on and off since then, going back and forth between being sorry, being hateful, and being all woe is me. Based on his bank account activity, I suspect he’s not only drinking but also using drugs.
The thing that kills me is that he claims he knew I would never see him as enough for me, that I would always want more. The more I sit and reflect on the whole thing, I realize that nothing I did would ever be enough for him to stay sober. I know that’s not my job but it still really freaking hurts. I love that man so much but it will never be enough.
Sorry for the long post. I’ve been trying to be super logical about next steps and the emotions just all hit at once.

So this is an insane story that I've put a post on LegalAdviceUK to try get some advice from the legal eagles but that didn't really cover the full story. But having an informal chat in a comments section of this page about it and posting the legal ins and outs yesterday has given me some strength. And if I need to I will have the tub of cookie dough ice cream to comfort my big fat butt. So here we go a story which I've been trying to do for months without feeling nothing but shame and humiliation for allowing this parasite into my life enough to impact it like this.
So some backstory on my life in January 2023 I was working for Uber Eats as a delivery driver and had a Motorcycle accident. As a result I broke my foot, lost my insurance as Uber did everything they could to make sure it was invalidated to avoid responsibility for me. As a result I became jobless and homeless within a matter of days as I was already behind due to high insurance costs and low pay. I spent the next 9 months couch surfing and jumping from job to job until I finally settled working for a convenience store chain and leaving the city of Portsmouth for the town of Gosport across the way. I was settled with a roommate in October and I was doing well again.
During this I'd won a seat for myself into a semi major Poker tournament that I cashed in during August. I made £1300 for a weekend. In enters Mr S the person who will be the focus of this piece. He needed me to help him out with opening up some betting accounts for some online sports betting. He sweetened the deal by saying that he would invest in me to make my dream company come true, making a film business. He would invest £5000 into me to get me started which is all I needed because my plan was to work from home and get film clients and work up to an office. I too would invest £5000 over time. You see Mr S was a successful businessman in the community, a former sports personality and everyone loves this guy. Couldn't find someone to curse his name in a thousand miles I'm pretty sure. I had known him through my times as a poker player for nearly 12 years myself and I couldn't say I knew a bad thing about him. So I opened the accounts thinking nothing of it, then he asked to borrow money off me which I thought nothing of at the time as he said that he had it in cash and could pay me back in the morning as it was in cash not the bank apparently. He regularly did have this issue apparently because he worked in a cash heavy business (buying precious metals) and he was a regular at casinos. So I gave him the money. He paid me back some of it then made me wait another week to get the rest after I was calling him regularly to make him respond. This would be a recurring theme throughout the story.
After this issue was resolved I made a thought to push for the money to secure the investment. Mr S got the call and stated that we needed a business meeting in his office. So I asked to set up the business meeting which he regularly called to reschedule. After two months of this I got fed up of him brushing me off whilst he's borrowing my entire salary to gamble on and off when he ran out of his own money. So I changed the passwords on all the gambling sites to force him to take a meeting and pay me back the most recent amount he borrowed. I was naturally pissed off that this multi-millionaire was so reckless with his money that he was borrowing off of me and was constantly late paying me back. He paid me back and set up a meeting. He didn't make the meeting but assured me he was going to transfer me £3000 without one. He did not claiming his accounts were frozen by the government (I know I should have ran like a Gazelle from a Hyena at this point). Well I excused this behaviour because he reassured me everything would get sorted. This accounts frozen issue also became a recurring theme throughout the story too.
For a while Mr S didn't borrow any money off of me, he just used his own money (or some other poor sods), I kept asking him to invest into the business as I had opened a business account and I was investing my own money and borrowing money via a credit card. In total I put in £5000 whilst working a minimum wage job and using small amounts I'd earned through a bit of penny stock trading and poker, trying to get the money together. I worked 50-60 hours a week to pay for Christmas and invest in the business because of the fact that I didn't want to waste time. I set up business meetings, got business cards, bought equipment and got my friend who I will simply call Angel to work with me to put together a team. My friend Alf and a guy we found on LinkedIn I'll simply call J became our first team. We also found a lovely Graphics Artists online who I'll call Ally. Everyone was on freelance for now as we needed to get clients but we assembled the team. Mr S kept missing business meetings with clients that I set up for him to secure including three major ones that might have cost me a potential 6 figure contract that I spent two months setting up. Making County Football (Soccer for you Yanks) games on a Patreon page and YouTube for live streams. This mega pissed me off and Mr S reassured me he would get the contract back or getting a bigger one. I entrusted him with this task but as far as I can tell he never did anything for it.
On the night of his youngest child being born, whilst his wife was giving birth he spent his time playing online poker or sports betting, I know this because I had the transaction record and he even borrowed money off of me. He took a week to pay me £500 and I almost lost my brand new housing because of this. Thank goodness for my new friend and housemate being understanding of the situation and after this I put my foot down and said no more borrowing from me and if he asked again I would cut him off. I also insisted again that he should invest into the business. He made his excuses of the bank being frozen again and I told him to get his shit sorted out and invest because I'm getting annoyed waiting on him. I wanted to make an advert and without his money I couldn't do this.
So it comes January 2024 I lost my job with the convenience store after I stopped a shoplifter who'd assaulted me when I turned a corner. And by stop I mean used my big boy voice and scared the crap out of them. Don't know why they fired me for that but what do I care it freed me up and paid me £2000 to go away. I got a new job whilst also securing my first client. The client paid the first half of the money which they owed for the filming to be done and Mr S knowing this asked me to lend it to him for the purpose of gambling which I flatly shut down because it was staff wages for the project. When I told him this he said "I'm sure I'll have it back in time and if not they won't mind because they'll get experience." Yep you read that right he was willing to let the staff work for free so he could bet on horses. I told him that I would never put myself or him above my team when it comes to pay because we have no right to ask anyone to work for nothing when they are all multi talented individuals.
Angel was a video editor, animator, photographer, camera operator and lighting expert. She holds a Masters degree in film technology.
J was a camera operator who had worked on major TV documentary sets and was already taking a pay cut to work on this as an investment in the companies future. He held a BA degree.
Alf is a sound operator and musician with a masters degree in music.
Yep this guy wanted to not pay these guys so he could gamble recklessly. I semi caved though by giving him my personal money because he would repeatedly call me three times an hour over this. This was his tactic, begging and harassing me so he can get the money and then when I want the money back ignore and excuse the debt for a week. He regularly said he'd have it back in a day and it would take a week. He gave me £200 extra on top of this debt and said to put it into the business account to help pay for an advert. I did it and yeah that apparently was all I was going to need to make and distribute an advert in his mind. In reality it would barely cover the graphics and music for the advert.
Finally my old debts were catching up with me in March 2024 and I got myself an IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement) to protect myself and the company as a debt management option. This is because of the fact that old bills, credit cards and loans that I'd taken out were catching up with me that I expected to pay off by now. Which I might have done, had Mr S not been screwing around with the investment. In this process I had to shut down all the gambling sites to comply with the IVA. I called Mr S and informed him to which he promptly told me he was no longer going to invest in my business if I won't let him gamble and risk my IVA. According to him he was going to invest when he won £10000 and was going to give me half of the money as his investment forgetting he'd already won that and then some 2 weeks prior and I knew it. I called him out on this fact and told him to pony up or bugger off because he'd wasted 8 months of mine and my teams lives promising his investment and failing on every level. He exploded on me telling me no one talks to him like this, how dare I describe him as a con artist and a fraud. He demanded his £200 back which I flat out refused as I didn't have it. I spent it paying the Angel the money I owed her because she did extra work on the editing that I failed to secure the money for from either Mr S or the Client. She offered to work for less but I flat out refused that offer because it was my mistake and my problem to deal with.
Over the next 6 weeks now I've been harassed every few days over £200 to be paid back which I'm now refusing to pay because screw him. He lied to me for 8 months and as far as I'm concerned he stole money out of the company and then wants me to pay him more money to buy him out and disregard the team members so he can get his money when he's a multimillionaire and the team are like me on minimum wage and freelancing. So AITA for calling him a thief and con artist whilst refusing to pay him a penny so I can prioritise fixing the damage he had caused? If he'd had invested in the business the way he said he would and it was a normal falling out I probably would pay him out as the business would have been more likely on solid ground with an advert made and a chance for the business to thrive. But this was my lot. I've since been told I'm a worthless person because I won't pay him back and take his calls. I'm a terrible friend for letting such a small issue like me trying to sort out my life at the expense of Mr S's gambling life.
As it stands I haven't paid Mr S back, I still owe a small amount to Angel but am paying her back and I've taken a new job at my local Maccies to insure I do. I'm still looking for more clients to do film work with to get my team into the swing of it. Hopefully we do get more work as I have a wonderful team and I want them to get work with me and make a very successful future for us all. I'm looking into getting a start up business grant from the UK government as well so we can go forward properly as well.
So AITA for cutting Mr S out of the business, trusting him at all and risking so much on his word or for not paying him back the £200?
Click here if you are interested in seeing our first clients advert. I apologise to the great Lady Charlotte Dobre for plugging my work on her channel but I would love to have people view my teams wonderful work and hopefully get more work for the future here in Hampshire UK. Please DM me for details to hire us too we intend to make music videos, business adverts and commissioned films.
For all you reading/listening this short novel I thank you and I wish you well. I hope I get more business soon and I want everyone to know that we will be posting up Patreon work soon covering Entitled People and Neckbeard Stories from Reddit along with Documentaries that we might be making with Sky TV, English Heritage and also a planned comedy show in the style of a budget John Oliver Last Week Tonight. Again sorry for plugging myself Lady Charlotte Dobre and I send you love and respect because your videos make my days feel better when depression is biting my ass.
PS - That Ice Cream Tub didn't survive.

Today is my birthday and long story short, there was some family drama last night and my family whom I’ve been celebrating my birthday with won’t talk to me.
I don’t tell my friends, FWB, and even colleagues when my birthday is.
I’ve been looking forward to treating my nieces and nephews today and been passing by the bakeshop every day to see if they still make the cake I want to buy, but now I can’t go out of my room because no one is talking to me.
Happy birthday to me!

My husband and I have been together for thirteen years this year.
Around a month after we started dating, we got engaged (fast I know) because he knew right away that I was his person.
From the start we knew we wanted a courthouse wedding with immediate family followed by a BBQ afterwards. Due to health issues, we had to delay it for several years, but once we were finally ready, we told our family about our plans.
Pretty much immediately my mother threw a fit, essentially manipulating us both into having a “proper” wedding. She told us that because I was her “only daughter”, she just wouldn’t accept anything other than a proper wedding and refused to go if we had a courthouse wedding.
Being the people pleasers we are, we agreed but told her it would have to be small both because of our anxiety and financial constraints.
She told us that finances wouldn’t be an issue because she would pay for everything and not to worry. We protested for quite a while before eventually giving in because we’d already felt like we’d lost at that point.
Heck we’d even considered doing our ceremony beforehand at the courthouse with only his family, but considering one of her closest friends would be the celebrant, there’s no doubt she’d find out and we wouldn’t hear the end of it so we complied.
We already knew it would be her wedding before it even began. It started with the wedding dress shopping. She made sure to pick a dress that covered my tattoos because they would look “tacky” if they were on show. So right away I knew she’d control the entire day.
We then brought up the fact that we wanted our dog to be involved as the ring bearer. We had bought her one of those wedding outfits a few years back when we saw it, but she flat out said no. Our dog is extremely well behaved and calm, so it wouldn’t have been an issue but again, she didn’t approve of dogs being involved so we had to have my youngest sister in law be the ring bearer (something we both didn’t want).
Then came the catering and cake. We both didn’t get a say in either, which were both full of food we didn’t eat, and our wedding cake was a coffee cake, despite us apparently ordering white chocolate (apparently it had been changed last minute).
The decor had to be entirely changed because apparently my scheme of lavender wasn’t practical so it was changed to a bright red. So far nothing was as we planned, so we were already dreading the day.
The guest list went from under 20 people to 50, most of which were extended family we never saw or spoke to and ALL of my mums close friends, which alone made up 12 people. Again, this was HER day.
The night before, while going through the wedding playlist, she demanded we change our first dance and fathedaughter, motheson dance song. Now I had picked these from the start, especially my husband and I’s song, which has been ours since the beginning of our relationship YEARS prior. Of course this had to change to a song she liked, as did the fathedaughter dance.
Fast forward to the wedding morning. My hair was being done and because I had it cut a few months prior due to a health issue making it fall out, the extensions looked ROUGH. Again, I had said that I needed them cut in to match (which I would pay for), but no, they would apparently look fine.
Then came the makeup, which I did myself and apparently had to do my sisters as well, leaving me little to no time to get ready. Mum demanded I remove my lip ring because again it was “tacky” and when I tried putting on a Lacey white bra, she lost it and demanded I remove it because it would “ruin” the dress. You couldn’t even see it underneath the sleeves of the detachable, Lacey coat!
This made me extremely uncomfortable and anxious because I NEVER leave the house without one and it’s not like I have the melons to fill it out without one!
As we were about to leave, she told me to take my glasses off because they would ruin the photos. You know, the glasses I use to SEE! So the entire day I was squinting in every picture, which essentially ruined the photos anyway!
Then she insisted I drink some champagne on the way there. I don’t drink because of the medication I’m on for my epilepsy but of course I had to because again, she made a big deal out of it being a “normal” wedding.
When we got to the location, I saw my younger sister in law (ring bearer), wearing the same dress she’d been wearing all week, complete with CROCS. I knew at that point she’d make it about herself somehow. She’s the most spoilt, selfish and self centred person I know and I was soon proven right when she rushed to the bathroom pretending to be sick before the reception began (later confirmed she wasn’t at all sick, just didn’t wanna be there).
Her mother (MIL) left before the reception because she couldn’t possibly be left at home alone despite living 2 minutes away and being 13 years old!
We were asked about her several times during the reception so yes, she still managed to make everyone focus on her.
The entire reception , my husband and I were panicking because we hate large crowds, especially when we are the focus (birthdays are the WORST). We had to keep going outside for air because we kept getting overwhelmed by everything.
When it was all over we went home and the next day, my mother and I were going through our gifts (mostly money) when she confiscated it all saying we wouldn’t spend it wisely and that she would keep it until we found something she considered appropriate.
Despite telling us not to bother about paying her back, she still manages to bring it up to this day, as does my brother, who cruelly taunted us leading up to the day, telling us that it was embarrassing that we were relying on the family to pay for our wedding and that he would never get married if he couldn’t afford it.
Essentially we were manipulated into having a bigger wedding despite only wanting a smaller wedding and accused of being ungrateful when we mentioned how anxious the day made us both.
I regret everything about that day and can’t even look at photos without getting anxious and upset. My husband and I never celebrate that day as our anniversary and honestly wish we had just gone ahead with our original plans and stood our ground.

1994
News:
Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first Black president, is inaugurated
Varg Vikernes convicted of murder and arson
Qubilah Shabazz contacts Michael Fitzpatrick for hit-man job.
Soul Music (novel)

Movies:
When a Man Loves a Woman**
Crooklyn***
A Million to Juan*
The Crow***

TV:
"Saturday Night Live" Heather Locklear / Janet Jackson
Roc Finale
"Seinfeld" The Hamptons
Johnny Carson's last TV appearance on The Tonight Show
Games:
The Pirates of Dark Water snes
Andre Agassi Tennis
Rex Ronan: Experimental Surgeon
Space Ace (snes)
ClayFighter: Tournament Edition
Music:
Weezer - Buddy Holly

2004
News/Other:
Day of Mourning and Remembrance of the Victims of War in Ukraine
Cheat Commandos Adventures TV show (Homestar Runner)

Movie:
Coffee and Cigarettes**
Breakin' All the Rules
Troy*
TV:
"The Sopranos" The Test Dream
Helter Skelter (TV Movie 2004)
"The West Wing" Gaza
"Frasier" Goodnight, Seattle: Part 2 (Finale)
The Practice – The Series Finale
80% of the Vivendi Universal subsidiary was sold to GE

Games:
Nintendo Revolution (Wii) Announcement of existence
Music:
Somewhere Only We Know
Song by Keane
'Frasier' tv theme
Diana's Classic Corner
Twentieth Century 1934
Seven Up! Up (film series) **
The Natural
2014
News Other:
N/A

TV:
Suburgatory Finale
Penny Dreadful Debut
Star-Crossed finale
Trophy Wife Finale
"Game of Thrones" The Laws of Gods and Men

Movies:
The Angriest Man in Brooklyn
The Salvation*
Ida*
Million Dollar Arm
Godzilla***
Games
Super Time Force
Table Tennis Touch
Music:
All Of Me Song by John Legend
Deaths; John Wayne Gacy, H.R. Giger
Birthday Quiz: Stephen Colbert
Outro Music:
Dead Souls Song by Nine Inch Nails

Here’s the context. When you live abroad you find expat families and connections. We had our little trio Me (F 28), Paula (Friend 30) and Carrie (F29) all fake names of course. There is also our fourth friend who comes in and out Jemma (F28) however, for the most part it’s Me Paula and Carrie. Over the Years Carrie has been a one to cause a lot of tension within our group. We’ve had to adjust a lot of situations around her needs and wants because if she’s unhappy she can’t hide it and it ruins the mood. For example, one birthday we threw for her was ruined because literally all the cafes and events we had planned had been closed the day before due to Covid so we had to fly by ear. Best believe she was making comments the entire day about how “her mom said she had to let people have control and so she was going to sit back and shut up.” Not outwardly saying it, but really showing her displeasure. The next day, before we had a dinner for her birthday she was silent the entire bus ride walked ahead, sat at the table ordered a drink and drank before we could cheers her then as we moved onto the next event, she disappeared for like over 30 minutes making us wait for her. Then she was just horrible for the rest of the night. This is lowkey the theme, if it wasn’t like that it was rude comments, or it was selfish behavior. It was choosing to stay hours beyond check out times in hotels while traveling…or promising to stay sober for us when meeting up with guys on vacation but getting violently drunk and ending up in the hospital to show off because she needed to be the center of attention. It was years and years of situations building up and Paula was done. Paula and Carrie always had tension, but it all came to a head on Carrie’s birthday where Paula accidentally fell asleep and missed the party. She had an exam out of town and meant to come after it but she got home sat down and was out like a light. Where she fucked up was that Paula didn’t say I’m sorry or Happy Birthday to Carrie at all. In fact…she didn’t say anything for a couple weeks. We can all agree Paula fucked up There. She was afraid of Carrie’s reaction and after Paula and I talked She tried to approach the situation Carrie got upset sent Paula an essay about her feelings and blocked her. Effectively ending the friendship. Fair. It’s done. So, logically just cause Carrie and Paula aren’t hanging anymore, it shouldn’t stop me from maintaining my relationships with both separately. It’s been fine up until now. Except I think Carrie’s held a resentment with whenever I hang out with Paula and Jemma. Maybe she feels left out. However, she’s the one who cut off Paula so what am I supposed to do? This bring us to the questions. Due to Health reasons, Paula’s decided to go home to her home country. So of course we had a goodbye dinner with Me, Jemma and another mutual friend of Paula and I. We posted it on our stories and to my surprised Carrie replies to it with a “🫠 “ face emoji…like excuse me? What does that mean? So I took a beat and say “well you know it’s Paula’s last few days so we had to get one last one in…😭” to which she left on seen. For days. Almost 4 days. Nothing. Radio silence until yesterday where she suddenly started sending me posts again like she didn’t just ignore me for days on end. Did I do anything wrong though? AITA

Hey guys I just need somewhere to vent because I am just so mixed up with emotions. So today was my birthday and I got to celebrate with my family. We went out for a nice dinner, had a great time, then came home to sing and have cake. Now I've never considered myself to be very attractive but today I felt confident and happy because it was my day. But during the singing my mother wanted to record it so she can save the moment. However, after the whole celebration when I saw the video I couldn't focus on anything else but how awful I actually looked. I saw how chubby my arms looked, how chubby my face was, how uneven and weird my face looked. All my flaws stuck out like a sore thumb. I couldn't see any good looking feature on me. I kept asking myself things like "damn, is that what other people saw today" or "wow i really thought I looked good today?" I don't know, I know that the main problem is the way I'm thinking but damn, it really made me just sit there and stare quietly for a while. And this is only one of the many times my looks ruined a whole day for me. I just wish I was decently pretty. Looking at myself just makes me wanna hide.
TLDR: Saw myself on video during birthday celebration and realized I'm ugly.

hi everyone! my birthday is next month, im turning 24. i need suggestions for fun places to go for a group of 5 young women.
for context, i like art, nature, sight-seeing, arcades, activities, bars, and restaurants. i am open to all suggestions, even fun themes for a get-together at my apartment.
I’ve lived in tampa since 2018 so I’ve seen some classics like the dali, tampa museum of art, and sunken gardens. they were fun experiences, and i’m looking for something of equal caliber, a fun affordable stimulating memorable place to go.
please help me impress my friends with a fun activity. it can be night or day activities. thank you in advance!!!