And those "friends" can become enemies at the drop of a dime.
Case in point, one of the reasons I gravitated towards this subreddit was I used to post on a smaller sports and hip-hop website/forum with people I had been posting amongst for the better part of 15 years between two sites, and I thought I was cool with them, and I had no issues with them.
Well, that's until 6 years ago this year when I got evicted from my apartment in Brooklyn, and needed help, and these "friends" made fun of a terrible situation that I still suffer from PTSD from. They made fun of me getting evicted, having all my stuff thrown out by landlords, they made jokes, posted gifs and smilies, basically laughed at my pain. Then I read all the trash they were talking about me when I left for a year. They disrespected every family member I had (some of them were wishing death on my family members), lied and said I was a scammer (100% a lie), and said some really foul stuff that I still want an apology for.
The worst part of it was, I never bothered anybody or caused problems. I was just looking to pass the time talking to people with like minded interests and hoping to promote my music, make jokes, wax nostalgia, talk about my favorite movies, music, art, fashion, etc. You know, the stuff people discuss on forums. But, I guess they had some secret discord meeting behind the scenes or something to get rid of me. Cause I came back to the site, and there were people liked my threads and posts, but 1 poster was being weird and took pictures (that I never knew anybody took) from almost 20 years ago of me at a club from Facebook (which I don't even know how they got, cause I haven't had a Facebook account in 10 years) and was spamming and derailing my threads, stalking my social media accounts to talk smack (I deleted their posts and blocked them on other platforms for that weird behavior), and was basically trying to turn the forum against me.
Eventually, it got to a situation where I was getting dogpiled on by these so-called internet "friends" who were basically trying to get me cancelled from the site. Just because these folks didn't like my music, didn't like me, and thought I was weird compared to the general population of the site. They were talking smack, saying all sorts of lies about me, and it even got to the point where people who hated me in real life were lurking this forum and creating accounts to try to expose and embarass and humiliate me to a group of strangers. This poster eventually got banned by moderators, but at that point, I was defending myself against all of these lies and allegations from people who did a 180 on me. I mean, I was cool with some of these posters one week, then the next week their throwing hate and insults at me. It had my mind boggled, like wtf? They gaslit me, they refused to allow me to explain my side of the story, they roasted me, they just drew conclusions and painted me as a terrible poster who needed to leave. They twisted my words to make it seem like I said something I didn't, they were doing all sorts of things that showed me how they REALLY felt about me.
Well I didn't need any other message to leave, I didn't want to deal with unneccessary drama from people bored at work anymore, so I quit the site and never came back. It was one of the most unpleasant (and borderline nightmarish and traumatic) experiences I ever had on the internet. Like they was trying to "little boy" a 39 year old man online just to have their little hate party where they liked and quoted each other's posts completely going in on me. I just had to roll my eyes and think about the maturity level of that site. I was getting harassed and bullied by a bunch of chronically online weirdos who would never take this offline. Period.
Since then, I have fallen back on social media and the internet in general
Sorry for the long story, but internet friends are not real. Until you meet them in real life, they are just text on a screen. I didn't even know any of these people in real life, had never seen what they look like, but they were hiding behind the scenes compiling all this information on me (cause I thought I could engage in conversation with them and trust them about the issues I was facing) just to use against me. And they were making this horrible image of me in their heads that didn't exist in reality. I would never want to meet any of those people in real life at all. Cause if they're that bad online, they're probably worse in real life.
It was a terrible experience. Just terrible. And I hope no one else has to go through what I went though.

• Bait and switch membership
• Extremely high reoccurring fees
• Automatic purchase without asking
• Difficult to end membership and cancel payment

While on Facebook I received a promotion from PinaDate requesting that I join. Is Facebook promoting scam social networks to is members? I am not sure how knowledgeable Facebook is about who advertises on their platform, but they still hold responsibility to their members if they are promoting something that is less than legitimate.
When it comes to dating sites there are many ways a person can be taken advantage of. You would hope that a platform that claims to be a safe place to meet quality people would not be the perpetrator of deception and predatory practices.
It is one thing to have a membership fee, that is common among dating sites. Even having other in app purchases for extra services is not uncommon. What is not normal practice or good for building a relationship is charging for access to everything. Even once you have a paying membership everything still cost credits.
In addition to initial membership setup you select it tells you that it is going to increase your membership cost after two month without any additional service or credits. They claim it’s because they allow you to join at a discount.
Hiding the true cost of membership and access to matches in a complex system of credits is dishonest. In reality there is no membership access, it is just a recurring purchase of credits at extremely high rates. If you should load additional credits it will setup an automatic deduction for that as well. I did not choose this option and there is no way to turn it off. Or making modification in the app, unless you would like to increase you monthly subscription that option is there.
Membership cost:
Monthly membership on PinaDate.com (150 Credits)
Purchase cost:
$19.99 USD
GST: tax
$2.05 USD
Total charged:
$22.04 USD
*1st month comes at a discounted rate, starting from the 2nd month you will be charged $50 USD + $5.12 USD GST — $55.12 USD in total.
Credit refill option:
20 Credits = $0.8 USD/Credit
You pay:
$16 USD plus $1.64 USD GST tax —
$17.64 USD in total.
160 Credits = $0.62 USD/Credit
You pay:
$99 USD plus $10.15 USD GST tax —
$109.15 USD in total.
1,000 Credits = 0.4 USD/Credit
You pay:
$399 USD plus $40.9 USD GST tax -
$439.9 USD in total
You can’t even quit the platform within the app. You are required to send an email to their customer support requesting the account be closed. No other legitimaate website or social media service requires you to contact customer support to close the account, you normally go into the account settings online and there are options to cancel a subscription or close the account. Making it difficult to modify these options is a trap.
Each credit cost $.60-$.80 depending on the quantity of purchase at the time. Every text message sent is 1 credit. Every email is 10 credits. So that is equal to $6.00-$8.00 per exchange. Sending/Viewing photos or videos costs 15 credits each. Which is equal to $9.00-$12.00. A 10min video chat will cost between $36.00-$48.00.
Price of services:
​

• Mobile App Message sending costs 1 credit per message (160 symbol limit);
• One-Way Video Chat (Video Call) costs 4 credits per minute;
• Two-Way Video Chat (Video Call) costs 6 credits per minute;
• Email costs 10 credits each;
• Sending/Viewing photos or videos costs 15 credits each;
• Sending/Listening voice messages costs 10 credits each;
• Sending stickers costs up to 10 credits each;
• Sending animated smilies costs 1 credits each;
• Sending gifts in Live Video costs from 5 to 5000 credits each;
• Sending personal message in Live Video costs 1 credits each;
• Viewing video in profile costs 10 credits each;
• Let’s Mingle costs 5 credits per use.
• Firstly bonus credits issued as a gift are used, then promo credits if included in your paid-monthly membership and then usual credits are purchased.

You can’t even read an email from someone trying to meet you without it costing. You don’t even know if they have written anything worth reading until you have already paid. In a short period of time a handful of action can quickly turn into hundreds of dollars in charges. Keep in mind that this is not a site where entertainers earn from tips or gifts sent. The site claims they don’t pay members so that means all money goes to the platform. Additionally the site has a strict code of conduct prohibiting that kind of activity.
For those females operating with a free account the activity requirement is quite rigorous. Encouraging them to respond to 80% of all contact within 24hr. Additionally requiring them to broadcast a blanket message to other members every time they login. You are also required to promote PinaDate on your other social networks. Sounds more like a pyramid scheme than a dating site.
I believe most of the accounts to be real and looking for a legitimate connection. There were some that were obviously fake or someone trying to be deceptive Out of hundreds of profiles that I viewed most of them were organized with active current postings containing many photos and videos. Additionally while online viewing profiles, if that person was online they would often request to video chat. It was as if they get a notification that you are viewing their profile or reading their email.
If you read their Free Members policy you can see why there is lots of activity among their female members. It is required and not complying will end in termination of your account. The platform claims to be a place of opportunity
Communication Policy for Free Members
https://www.pinadate.com/communication-policy/
A: Website & Mobile App Usage
​

1. Install PinaDate.com mobile app and allow push notifications.
2. Sign in to PinaDate.com website or mobile app at least 5 times per week.
3. Spend at least 8 hours online per week in total.
4. Allow web-camera and microphone access for video-calls with other members.
5. Check your personal email every day for the notifications from PinaDate.com.

B: Profile
​

1. Share the link to your PinaDate.com profile page in your social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc.).
2. Update your profile description, bio, interests and profile status so that information is accurate.
3. Change your profile and cover photo every 2-3 weeks.
4. Upload 3-5 new photos every week.
5. Film and upload 1-2 videos to PinaDate.com every week.

C: Communication with Other Members
​

1. Reply to 80% of incoming emails within 24 hours.
2. Reply to 80% of incoming online chats within 10 minutes.
3. Reply to 80% of offline chats within 24 hours.
4. Use Let’s Mingle feature every time you log in to send broadcast messages to other members.
5. Have video video-calls with other members on your contact list at least once every week.
6. Use proper English; keep up small talk and topics suggested by other members.

D: Streaming
​

1. Post a unique, compelling status message before streaming.
2. Broadcast interesting and compelling content for the viewers.
3. Welcome new viewers.
4. Do not leave your viewers alone: you should be on the 90% of the time.
5. Prepare yourself by limiting distractions: do not use your phone during broadcast.
6. Schedule and promote your broadcasts during the live show and in your social media.
7. Interact with viewers: ask questions, read aloud some of their comments.
8. Reply to all private messages and virtual gifts.
9. Motivate viewers to actively comment and send you virtual gifts.
10. Encourage viewers to follow your profile and send private messages.

Violations that may result in immediate termination of your account
E: Criminal activities
​

1. Facilitating or organizing criminal activities.
2. Causing direct or indirect physical or financial harm to people, animals, property, or businesses.
3. Inciting ethnic hatred or ethnic discrimination.
4. Celebrating any crimes committed, either by any member or by third party.
5. Display of firearms, promotion of gun violence.
6. Use, mention or display of illicit drugs and/or drug paraphernalia.
7. Death threats or threats of violence or harm against any individual or community.
8. Depiction of or advocacy for child abuse, animal cruelty, self-mutilation, bodily harm.

F: Nudity or overly sexualized content
​

1. Exposure of any genitalia at any time.
2. Lingerie is prohibited.
3. Swimsuit is only allowed in or near pools and outdoor waters.
4. Inappropriate or revealing clothing.
5. Sexually suggestive or provocative activity, which includes any sexual gestures, posture, dances, and/or general sexual behavior.
6. Sexually charged language, both on camera and/or in the comments section or in the broadcast title.
7. Offers of sexual services including prostitution, escort services, sexual massages, and/or filmed sexual activity.

G: Prohibited Types of Speech
​

1. Hate speech, which promotes or encourages discrimination, harassment, or violence based on race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, or nationality.
2. Harassment, defamation or intimidation.
3. Misleading or false statement about PinaDate.com, its product, features or policies.
4. Advertising for illegal or inappropriate merchandise.
5. Rumors, false or misleading information.
6. Depicting, encouraging or assisting suicide or self-harm.
7. Spam, junk mail or other unsolicited advertisement.
8. Bullying, Harassment, Or Hateful Language.
9. Profanity and/or vulgarity that is meant to hurt or attack.
10. Hate speech — Discriminatory or humiliating remarks based on: race or ethnic origin, religion or faith, disability, gender, age, nationality, appearance or physical attributes, or sexual orientation/gender identity.

H: Prohibitions in regard to Broadcasting Venues and Circumstances
​

1. Content highlighting tobacco, e-cigarette, and/or alcohol consumption by users is strongly discouraged.
2. Streaming in adult entertainment venues, such as a night club or an exotic dance club.
3. Filming children and teenagers at any cause.
4. Filming another individual without their consent or against their will.
5. Unauthorized broadcast or transmission of copyrighted content.

Like any other site some members have alternate motives to take advantage others. This will happen with offline dating as well. I don’t believe the female members on this platform realize how they are being used as bait to draw in paying customers. Setting them up to fail in their quest to make meaningful contact, by quickly burning out paying customers with high fees instead of facilitating relationships building.
After being on the site for about 1 week, I had received more than 600 email requests and hundreds of live chat requests. I quickly burned through credits just reading emails. I had not even responded to one email before my credits ran out. Then after adding more credit, answering some emails, chatting for 10 minutes, and exchange a couple photos, the credits were gone again, but instead of asking me to add more credits, this time it automatically just charged more to my credit card.
To read all 600+ emails it would have cost me about 6000 credits. That is equivalent to $3,600.00-$4,800.00. Responding to them would have cost equally as much. If I had video chatted with 50 of them for 10 minutes each, that would be another 3000 credits. So it is easy to see how it can quickly get out of hand before making a quality connection. Even if you limited yourself to 5-10 individuals initially you’re more likely to go broke before you even know who they really are. That is not the fault of the female members it is the setup of the platform.
What is even more concerning is that PinaDate is not a one off dating site, it is a large conglomerate of many ethnic and specialty based dating sites. There are more than 40 or niche sites in the group. I am sure running on the same platform. From what I have read all the data is in the same data base, a single click and you can join those as well.
PinaDate and other associated sites are nothing more than a financial trap. With all funds going to site operators. They use deceptive memberships to lock you into a reoccurring fee that you can’t easily cancel. Then charge extremely high rates for all interaction requiring the purchase of more credits.
It is my recommendation to others not to use this site or associated network of sites. The warning is for both male and female members since they are both being exploited here. Their networks also includes Christian and Military targeted groups.
I will continue to update this thread as I learn more about this site and its network. I look forward to hearing about other people’s experiences.

My(F39) father(M68) had been completely out of my life for the last 12 years or so. He was never a good person. Growing up, he was extremely selfish and uncaring to me, my older sister and my mother. I won't go into details but believe me, there were several tear-inducing events for the 3 of us along the years where both me and my sister considered running away from home. The worse would be how he got rid of my childhood pets who meant the world to me because he was sick of them (never knew where they went either), and how he cheated on my mom which resulted in their divorce (thank God for the divorce part).
Now, for a reason beyond my comprehension, last Christmas my sister invited him to the party she was hosting. Apparently she does not resent him as much as I do? I had not seen or talked to him in 12 years at that point. I considered not coming but didn't want to make my mother sad. She for some reason still talks to him after all he's done?? My mom's boyfriend was there too, talk about awkward. And it was pretty awkward but I still did small talk with him.
A few days later, he texts me saying Happy New Year with a kissy smily face emoji. Gross. I don't reply. I had asked my mother many times to NOT give him my phone number but she did anyways because she does not respect a thing I say, but that's another topic. He then complains to her than I did not reply and she made up a story about me never responding to messages to save me. Now fast forward to this week. It was my birthday. He sends me a message saying "Happy birthday" . I don't reply.
He tells my mom: "I sent her a message to say happy New Year and she never replied. I told her happy birthday and she did not reply. I'll remember this on Christmas!" Implying that he won't get me a present. My mom tells me to reply to him. I say there's no way he would even remember when my birthday is. She claims she did not tell him. But she did post a message on her Facebook telling me happy birthday so he must have seen this. He hasn't said happy birthday in the las 12 years, and even before that. Why should I reply? My mom says "He's making an effort! Reply to him or you won't get a Christmas present. He's never done anything to you!"
He had 38 years to make an effort and he did not! He gave me 50$ as a present last Christmas. No big deal if I don't get it. I didn't get anything for the past 12 years after all. Bold of him to assume he will be invited for Christmas again this year. (But he might be, just my luck.) And "he's never done anything to you". Really? She always says this like none of it ever happened. My mother has a very selective memory. Why is she even still on talking terms with him? I don't owe him anything. I don't want him in my life. I don't want to create family quarrels though. AITA for not acknowledging his "effort" ?

Autistic neighbor wont leave me alone
So I’m in a bit of a dilemma. Long story, so bare with me.
I got home earlier this week, and I had a girl approach me. She looked like she had a skeletal issue, and moderate autism of some kind. Spoke just fine. Kind as well. She asked for my name, and followed up asking if we could be friends.
Me, being approached suddenly and without my ADHD meds to regulate and process thoughts, and a people pleaser at the same time, I said yes. She gives me her phone to ask for my number. This is where I wish I handled things differently. I unfortunately did.
I wish I would’ve said “let’s wait on that” or something. But nope. Big mistake.
Anyway, I started getting a text that night. I didn’t respond because I just wanted to disassociate. I got another text yesterday, and I just responded with a one word text. She said “hey” and I said “hi” back. Then nothing.
Got home, and my wife and I went to dinner. During dinner, she calls me, I don’t answer, and she calls me again on the way home, and leaves a voicemail.
We get home and she’s outside in front of our house. I talked to her about the texting. I did some research and found being direct is the best way to deal with people with autism since they can miss cues.
She kept referring to my wife as my girlfriend, even though I said very clearly that she was my wife. That could’ve not stuck though.
I first asked why she called me.
“I just wanted to say Hi” she respond.
“Ok” I said. “I actually need to talk to you about that.”
What I said, is “look, we barely know each other. Maybe we should keep the texts at a minimum, and just be neighbors”
She said she agreed, but was still hanging outside our house. That one is maybe my fault. Because before I went inside, she asked if she can be in between my driveway. I thought she meant if she was walking, but I guess that meant to her she could just post up. She sent me another text, one with smily emoji, and then a good night text. I didn’t engage.
I’ve resorted to blocking the number this morning. And now I have severe anxiety, about being home. And even going outside. I want to be kind, but at the same time…I don’t want anything to do with her. And I’m afraid that she’s gonna post up in front of our house again. Been having literal nightmares about it the last two nights, and woke up drenched with sweat this morning.
From what I gathered, she lives with her grandma. I’ve considered leading with meeting her grandma, and then talking to her about it.
I couldn’t pinpoint her age…I assume she’s at least 18 since she has a tattoo. I still have that thought buzzing around in my head, just adding to my anxiety. I have a screenshot of her texts to prove I didn’t engage at all.
Her caller ID was her mother’s which I redownloaded Facebook real quick to track her down. But no grandmother. I’m not sure what the family dynamic is, and can’t help but wonder if I would end up making things worse If I contact her mother to talk to the grandmother.
But this can’t be the first time this has happened. I think the only difference is that I happen to live on the same street.
What’s the best way to deal with this while being nice, but telling her to leave us alone? I’m at a complete loss.
Also, I’ve already asked this question on the autism subreddit. They suggested to not block her number and to be literal. But I’m not sure if I should tell her I’m person, or over text. I articulate better via text, but I know that’s very disconnected as opposed to in person.
Edit: I don’t want her to be upset, last thing I want to do is hurt her feelings.

So I’m in a bit of a dilemma. Long story, so bare with me.
I got home earlier this week, and I had a girl approach me. She looked like she had a skeletal issue, and moderate autism of some kind. Spoke just fine. Kind as well. She asked for my name, and followed up asking if we could be friends.
Me, being approached suddenly and without my ADHD meds to regulate and process thoughts, and a people pleaser at the same time, I said yes. She gives me her phone to ask for my number. This is where I wish I handled things differently. I unfortunately did.
I wish I would’ve said “let’s wait on that” or something. But nope. Big mistake.
Anyway, I started getting a text that night. I didn’t respond because I just wanted to disassociate. I got another text yesterday, and I just responded with a one word text. She said “hey” and I said “hi” back. Then nothing.
Got home, and my wife and I went to dinner. During dinner, she calls me, I don’t answer, and she calls me again on the way home, and leaves a voicemail.
We get home and she’s outside in front of our house. I talked to her about the texting. I did some research and found being direct is the best way to deal with people with autism since they can miss cues.
She kept referring to my wife as my girlfriend, even though I said very clearly that she was my wife. That could’ve not stuck though.
I first asked why she called me.
“I just wanted to say Hi” she respond.
“Ok” I said. “I actually need to talk to you about that.”
What I said, is “look, we barely know each other. Maybe we should keep the texts at a minimum, and just be neighbors”
She said she agreed, but was still hanging outside our house. That one is maybe my fault. Because before I went inside, she asked if she can be in between my driveway. I thought she meant if she was walking, but I guess that meant to her she could just post up. She sent me another text, one with smily emoji, and then a good night text. I didn’t engage.
I’ve resorted to blocking the number this morning. And now I have severe anxiety, about being home. And even going outside. I want to be kind, but at the same time…I don’t want anything to do with her. And I’m afraid that she’s gonna post up in front of our house again. Been having literal nightmares about it the last two nights, and woke up drenched with sweat this morning.
From what I gathered, she lives with her grandma. I’ve considered leading with meeting her grandma, and then talking to her about it.
I couldn’t pinpoint her age…I assume she’s at least 18 since she has a tattoo. I still have that thought buzzing around in my head, just adding to my anxiety. I have a screenshot of her texts to prove I didn’t engage at all.
Her caller ID was her mother’s which I redownloaded Facebook real quick to track her down. But no grandmother. I’m not sure what the family dynamic is, and can’t help but wonder if I would end up making things worse If I contact her mother to talk to the grandmother.
But this can’t be the first time this has happened. I think the only difference is that I happen to live on the same street.
What’s the best way to deal with this while being nice, but telling her to leave us alone? I’m at a complete loss.

So I’m in a bit of a dilemma. Longish story, so bare with me. I also have little or no experience with interacting with anyone with Autism.
I got home one day and I had a girl approach me. She looked like she had a skeletal issue, and moderate autism of some kind. Spoke just fine. She asked for my name, and followed up asking if we could be friends.
Me, without my ADHD meds to regulate and process, and a people pleaser at the same time, I said yes. She gives me her phone to ask for my number. This is where I wish I handled things differently. I unfortunately did.
I wish I would’ve said “let’s wait on that” or something. But nope.
Anyway, I started getting a text. I didn’t respond because I just wanted to disassociate. I got another text yesterday, and I just responded with a one word text.
Got home, and my wife and I went to dinner. During dinner, she calls me, I don’t answer, and she calls me again on the way home, and leaves a voicemail.
We get home and she’s outside in front of our house. I talked to her about the texting. I did some research and found being direct is the best way to deal with people with autism.
What I said, is “look, we barely know each other. Maybe we should keep the texts at a minimum, and just be neighbors” she said she agreed, but was still hanging outside our house. That one is maybe my fault. Because before I went inside, she asked if she can be in between my driveway. I thought she meant if she was walking, but I guess that meant to her she could just post up. She sent me another text, one with smily emoji, and then a good night text. I didn’t engage.
I’ve resorted to blocking the number this morning. And now I have severe anxiety, about being home. And even going outside. I want to be kind, but at the same time…I don’t want anything to do with her. And I’m afraid that she’s gonna post up in front of our house again. Been having literal nightmares about it the last two nights, and woke up drenched with sweat this morning.
From what I gathered, she lives with her grandma. I’ve considered leading with meeting her grandma, and then talking to her about it.
Her caller ID was her mother’s which I redownloaded Facebook real quick to track her down. But no grandmother. I’m not sure what the family dynamic is, and can’t help but wonder if I would end up making things worse If I contact her mother or talk to the grandmother.
What’s the best way to handle this to both let her down easy, while telling her to leave us alone. I don’t mind small talk if we both happen to be outside, but she looks to see if my car is parked outside.
I’m at a loss and I do know what to do.

MATCH RESULTS

Winner	Loser	Match Finish	Stipulation
Axiom	~20 other NXT Superstars	Moonsault	Battle Royal to Qualify for North American Title Match at Stand and Deliver
Tyler Bate w/ Chase U	Von Wagner w/ Mr. Stone	Spinny Boi
Electra Lopez	Valentina Feroz	Electra Shock
Eddy Thorpe	Myles Borne	Swinging NEckbreaker
Indi Hartwell	Sol Ruca and Ivy Nile	Elbow Strike	Qualifying match for Stand and Deliver Ladder Match
Drew Gulak w/ Charlie Dempsey	Hank Walker	Roll Up
Tony D'Angelo and Stack	s Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen	Double Team Inverse Power Bomb	If Briggs and Jensen win they are added to the tag title match at Stand and Deliver

IMPORTANT NOTES

• Backstage Chase U are hyping up Tyler Bate, Andre says they are 4 days away from the match of their lives but tonight they're gonna gain momentum when Tyler takes down Von Wagner. Tyler says he's doing it all for Chase U. When Andre asks Duke if he's coming he sarcastically says he won't miss it and slowly walks off with them.
  
• Backstage Jensen tells Brooks that Kiana has to talk to him but says he's got this. Kiana and Fallon enter, and Kiana says she feels terrible but pivots to say it feels bad that Brooks and Jensen aren't on Stand and Deliver so she got them a match tonight and if they win they'll be added to the tag title match. Fallon says she can't believe this but Jensen thinks she's referring to Kiana's surprise and they cut her off from mentioning anything else.
  
• Following Bate's victory, the Schism appear on the tron with a message to Chase U, they walk among groups of Chase U students placing smily masks on them and say they will be re-programmed and those who resist will have a special place in their detention hall. Gacy says when they take over a new class will be.
  
• Roxanne Perez is back! She's walking backstage trying to find Shawn Michaels so she can speak with him.
  
• Roxanne enters Shawn's office and asks if she has a minute to talk, she says as of today she's been cleared to return and that what happened was a result of exhaustion and her anxiety. She says she wants to be in the match at Stand and Deliver to defend her title. Shawn is hesitant to allow her into the match and says they may just crown a new champion at NXT and she may need to have a few matches before she's ready. Roxanne says she doesn't want to let go of the biggest accomplishment of her life and peak at 21, she wants to compete at Stand and Deliver and says Shawn would never back down from at Wrestlemania. She says she wants to show that she can over come her anxiety and prove to others that it doesn't define them. Shawn agrees as long as she gets tests and tells her good luck.
  
• Grayson Waller is streaming on the way to the arena, he says he's having security doing one last sweep because he knows Gargano is a sneaky little hobbit but he wants him to listen close from home.
  
• We get Prime Target for Carmelo Hayes vs Bron Breakker, Melo talks about his previous accomplishments and how he is more focused for this match than any other, training for 4 hours, in the club for 3, and then choosing not to go to the after party so he can train even more since there'll be time to celebrate once he wins the title. Bron talks about his training regiment and how he is studying tape of Melo to know his weaknesses. Melo calls himself the king and asks for his f***ing crown while Bron says Melo has no idea who he's standing across the ring from.
  
• Isla Dawn says when the sun rises at Stand and Deliver, the sun will set on Kiana and Fallon's title reign. Alba says her and Isla are bound together by their past as Isla binds their arms together with a red cloth, adding that where there's smoke there's fire.
  
• After Brooks and Jensen's loss Fallon demands Kiana tells Brooks the truth. Kiana says she'll tell him the truth, but she'd rather show him and moves in to kiss Brooks as Fallon looks on.
  
• Grayson Waller's security surrounds the ring as he approaches the announce table and grabs the contract from Vic Joseph. He tells Vic that anything he does to Gargano in their match is on Vic's hands. Grayson enters the ring and tells the crowd to watch his back for any trick attacks from Gargano. Waller says he is the real main event of Stand and Deliver and this is a break out moment for him, two years ago he was out here singing and dancing, pretending to like these idiots, and then Wargames happened. He said he put his body on the line to make a viral moment, but he was wrong, all anyone could talk about after Wargames was Johnny Wrestling. And so two nights later when Gargano walked to the ring with as much time as he wanted, Waller only needed 30 seconds. Waller says he hit his mark, and there is no mistake that Johnny is the biggest mark in this business. Grayson says no one has bet on themselves more than him in the past 15 months, and the proof is in his hands, the biggest star in NXT history is begging for Waller to kick his ass. Grayson admits that Johnny is Mr. NXT, but just like his idol Mr. Wrestlemania, Johnny is going to lose. Gargano may bleed black and gold, but he bleeds green and he'll use him one last time at Stand and Deliver. Gargano's theme hits and Waller readies for a fight but turns his back as a cameraman enters the ring and removes his hat and face covering to reveal it's Johnny Gargano! The two brawl as security tries to split them apart. Gargano dives onto Waller and the security guards until they are pulled apart one last time.
  

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Does anyone else have friends (probably not even the correct word here) on their Facebook that will completely ignore everything you post except for when they have an opposing viewpoint? And then they say it in a snotty way like 'You're wrong, and I'm right.' and they say it very matter-of-factly without being nice about it, no lol's and no smily emojis, just being a total bitch!! I'm sorry but that's what these people are. I have a few of them on my list but I keep them there because I run into them a LOT at events (special interest-related) and we all have like 150 mutual friends. I want to unfriend them but they'll still see me at these events and also commenting on mutual friends posts (which actually is where this latest one snapped at me, not even my own page). UGH! Is this an Autistic problem or are these people just a-holes to anyone they don't like?

I first stared into The Pit the day of the first earthquake. It was early September, a couple days after Jenna and I moved into the Verner Building in the Koreatown district of Los Angeles. I was walking home from a CVS run; I’d found a good parking spot for once, a free space without a meter right in front of the Verner Building, and I wasn’t about to give it up for the sake of plastic hangers and Red Bull - especially not when the alternative was a six-block jog on an unseasonably cool, pleasant day.
The Pit sat at the corner of a side street lined with squat little trees and red brick, art deco-inspired apartment buildings left over from a bygone era when Mid-Wilshire was a playground for the Hollywood elite. The Pit would eventually become a strip mall with an underground parking lot, according to the building plan on display, but in early September it was still a lifeless construction site surrounded by a mesh-covered rent-a-fence.
Curious, I peered through a tear in the barrier and saw exactly what I’d been expecting to see. A square hole dug out of the bone-dry earth. Nothing exciting, nothing threatening, just another unfinished development in a gentrifying neighborhood.
But I couldn’t look away. I stood like an idiot, plastic CVS bag dangling from my hand, face pressed against filthy black fabric, staring at a giant hole. I imagined climbing the fence, hopping to the dusty ground, and throwing myself off the cliff, as though the hard dirt floor of The Pit would transform into water beneath me.
There’s a French term - l’appel du vide. The Call of the Void. It’s the subconscious drive to self-sabotage; the inexplicable urge that propels us towards the things from which we should cower in fear.
The day of the earthquake was the day I first heard the call. And, every day since then, I’ve been dragged further and further into the Void.
*****
The earthquake hit around 9:30 that night. It was an event experienced and quickly forgotten - a 4.5 on the Richter scale, strong enough inspire a deluge of earthquake-related posts and clog my Twitter feed, but not strong enough to do any actual damage. When I felt the ground shift under me, I was leaning on the second floor balcony of the Verner Building, sipping my Red Bull and staring across the street at a fenced-in, overgrown empty lot.
My new apartment in the Verner Building, south of Wilshire in Koreatown, like so many aspects of my life, had come about less by desire than a lack of better options. I’d previously lived in North Hollywood; I had my own studio with air conditioning, a pool, and on-site laundry. Then, in August, I quit my shitty Burbank barista job for a slightly less shitty concierge gig at a renovated Downtown hotel. Three trips south on the 101 at rush hour convinced me, unequivocally, it was time to move.
The decision to live with Jenna, like the Verner Building, was a choice made out of convenience. She and I met two years before, as co-workers at a Starbucks in Pasadena - her after-school job, my humiliating post-collegiate drop in standards. We’d kept in touch on Facebook and Instagram, commented on each other’s photos, swapped smily-face emojis. It was through social media that I’d learned she, like I, was looking for a roommate and a place south of the hills.
Jenna worked night shifts for a Hollywood ambulance company. She’d departed a couple hours before the earthquake, leaving me alone in our two-bedroom apartment. For twenty-one hundred a month, we got ancient pipes, a roach problem, no air conditioning, and an aesthetic best described as “white lady in a horror movie.” I’d opened all the windows and turned on the fan, but the afternoon had warmed and the thick walls of the Verner Building made an oven of our little unit. It was too hot to accomplish anything productive. So I wandered to the second-floor balcony instead.
Then the world vibrated, upturning my energy drink and instigating a violent rattle of metal on metal. Seconds later, all was still. The metallic clatter, though, continued as gravity caught up to inertia.
Curious as to where the noise was coming from, I walked to the edge of the balcony and peered around the building. I saw a rickety fire escape, barely clinging to the stucco wall by nails probably hammered in the 1950’s. The rattling was a loose ladder smacking against its base. The structure seemed completely pointless - it descended to a platform on the third floor, from which a jump to the asphalt below would be a jump to one’s death.
Death by fire or death by massive trauma, I thought. I should decide which one I’d prefer, just in case this place goes up in flames.
*****
By the next morning, I’d forgotten about The Pit, the earthquake, and the useless fire escape. I began to explore Koreatown.
Koreatown is blatantly, perennially dirty. Discarded fast food bags and abandoned household items collect like driftwood along the thin patches of dry grass between the sidewalks and the curb, playing host to nests of roaches. There are a lot of homeless people. They stake temporary claims on the steps of the Korean Methodist church, beg for change outside Ralphs, leave their stolen shopping carts stuffed with trash and festering perishables by bus stops. When I went out at night, I’d see them sleeping on the sidewalks, curled under filthy blankets.
But, one bit at a time, I fell in love.
Jenna worked most nights. There wasn’t a lot of appeal to sitting alone in our sauna of an apartment, so I started taking long walks after the sun went down. And, suddenly, Koreatown became one of those I Spy books I loved as a kid - everywhere I looked, something new and interesting caught my eye.
Those blocks around the Verner Building seemed thrown together like the window display of a pawnshop; assorted pieces propped practically against one another with little regard for cohesion or theme or aesthetic merit. There were Korean barbecue joints that didn’t have an English menu. Cash and carry liquor shops next to trendy eateries, beat-up taco trucks stalled outside the Korean market, expensive coffee shops open until 2 AM and salons with names like Happy Nail and bars on the windows.
I found liquid nitrogen ice-cream joints up hidden staircases. Record shops nestled in the top-floor corners of shopping complexes with one entrance and exit. Karaoke rooms in the basements of office buildings populated by Korean doctors and lawyers and bankers. Dark, dirty alleys with gorgeous graffiti wall art.
I started taking my camera with me on my walks. I’d never particularly been into urban exploration or gritty realism, but the neighborhood inspired me. I put the better photographs on my DeviantArt page and, to my surprise, they garnished more positive attention than any of my drawings or short stories.
Then, I had an even better idea. I’d met a number of interesting people during my nighttime sojourns; they all liked to talk. To tell stories about the neighborhood, the history of the neighborhood, how the neighborhood used to be. I decided to record (with permission, of course) all of this local lore, to create a sort of oral/visual online diary of collective experience.
*****
One Saturday in October, I took a walk to a favorite hidden gem - an independent used bookstore called The Page Turner, located on the second floor of shopping plaza off Olympic between a check-cashing place and a tanning salon. On previous trips, I’d found V.C Andrews novels long out of print, Agatha Christie anthologies, and books of photography from pre-revolutionary Iran, all under ten bucks.
The lady who owned and operated The Page Turner, Shannon, sat behind the register, watching a video on her iPhone. I made a beeline for the back. There, the oldest and strangest volumes sat in boxes on the floor or thrown haphazardly on rickety wooden shelves; a paper sign reading 50 CENTS EACH hung above. I liked it there the best, amongst the dopey romance novels out of print since the 50’s, the vanity-published conspiracy theories of Hollow Earth, the golden-bound reference books and outdated encyclopedias. Reality felt slightly altered in that dusty corner of The Page Turner.
I reached for a book on an unstable shelf above my head. I don’t remember what the book was - there might’ve been a dragon on the spine. I grabbed ahold of it and tugged, and I must have leaned on the shelf with my other hand for balance because it collapsed under my fingers, then crashed into the shelf below it, spilling its contents all over the carpeted floor.
I jumped back and yelped. I heard footsteps behind me; Shannon rushing over to appraise the mess I’d made. And mess it was. But one aspect of the literary dogpile caught my attention.
It was a small, thin volume, black and nondescript. On the cover were two shapes - a “7” with a swirl at the tip, and a curly “N.” A white sheet of paper peeked out from between the pages.
I snatched up the little book and opened to a random page. It was written in a language I’d never seen before. There were a lot of curves and triangles. And, below one paragraph, a simple illustration: a blob-like creature with ten stout legs, three curled horns popping out of what I guessed was its head, pitch-black eyes, and a jagged mouth. It was terrifying in a way I couldn’t completely explain.
“Shit, not again!”
I turned. Shannon had arrived, shaking her head and scowling.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” she said to me. “I’ve got to get rid of these shelves. I’ll clean it up.”
I held out the little black book. “Hey, do you know what this is?”
She plucked it from my hand and flipped through the pages, vague recognition on her face.
“Jesus Christ, I thought I got rid of all these!”
“There were more?” I asked. “What language is that?”
She shrugged. “No idea. And yeah, the weirdos who rented this space before me left a few books like this behind. I threw them on the discount shelf but they didn’t sell. I thought I’d tossed them all.”
“Who rented this space before you?”
“Some Christian group,” Shannon replied. She shook her head. “I never met them, myself. The rental agent said they left in a real hurry. Secretive folks, she called them. I’ve been here ten years, and the most I’ve gotten from renters who’ve been here longer is that they were… you know, odd. Religious nuts.”
She handed the book back to me. “You can keep this, if you want. It’s worth shit to me.”
I slipped the book into my purse. I knew someone who’d be thrilled at the prospect of decoding chicken scratch out of a bizarre tome: my old college roommate, Adrienne, who was pursuing her Masters in linguistics at USC.
*****
“Seriously, Amelia? What is this?”
Jenna and I sat on the couch; me, looking over a batch of photographs from the night before; her, paging through the little black book.
“I told you,” I said. “It’s, like, a book of summoning spells or something. The chick at the shop said it belonged to some religious whack jobs who were here, like, ten years ago.”
“These illustrations are disturbing.” She held up a page.
It depicted a human-like figure with elongated, alien eyes, a face resembling that of an insect, and antennas sticking out of his head. What was creepier, though, was the beast he sat atop. Its face was round and bloated, with an equine nose but opal, eerily human eyes and a thick, scribbled mane.
Something fell out of the book and landed on our dusty carpet. I picked it up. It was the sheet of paper I’d seen earlier, folded and yellowed with age, peeking out from between the pages.
I unfolded it. On the paper was a blotchy black-ink drawing that resembled a simple map, the sort of map you’d draw in the old days when someone gave you directions to a place, before GPS. Lines, almost but not quite forming a grid-like pattern, with a pentagon superimposed on top. Dots at the five corners of the pentagon, each accompanied by a simple little picture. A pitcher with a rounded bottom and a curled handle. A spoked wheel. Three circles, linked together like the Olympic rings. A butterfly. And a cross, but with a third line through the “t.”
“What do you think this is?” I showed Jenna. “A map or something?”
Jenna sighed. “They couldn’t, like, write anything on it? In English? Wouldn’t that have been easier to work with than kindergarten drawings?”
“Easier for them to read it? Maybe. Easier for outsiders like us to decipher their nefarious plans? Definitely. But do you know what bothers me the most?”
I snatched the book back from Jenna, closed it, and held up the cover.
“I feel like I’ve seen this symbol before.”
It wasn’t until a few hours later that I figured out where I’d seen the pictograph on the cover of my indecipherable tome - the fancy “7” and the curly “N.” Jenna had left by then; she’d gone to take her dirty clothes to the laundromat on Vermont. We planned on hitting a hookah bar I’d found by Wilshire and Oxnard that night, with a girl from the building named Wren.
I took some pictures of the pages within the little black book and e-mailed them to Adrienne, the former college roommate studying linguistics. Then I transcribed one of my spontaneous, late-night interviews - a cook at Denny’s this time, who’d told me a cute story about hawking street dogs outside the Wiltern after a Guns n’Roses show.
The revelation came as I clicked through the thumbnails of photos I’d taken, searching for the perfect one to accompany drunk groupies and tattooed hustlers selling bootlegged t-shirts. I lingered on a shot of the empty lot across from the Verner Building, taken through a hole in the cheap plywood that covered the fence. It was an experimental failure, too dark to be good for anything, but a wooden telephone pole had been caught in the flash.
There was graffiti on the telephone pole. Old, fading, red graffiti. A “7” with an extra wave, and a curly “N.” An exact match to the odd symbol on the cover of the little black book.
*****
Later that night, on my way to the hookah bar, I approached the empty lot across from the Verner Building. Since the night of the earthquake, when I first spied the place from my balcony, I’d afforded it little attention. Along the plywood-buffered fence were cheap, tagged-up signs reading “PRIVATE PROPERTY - NO TRESPASSING” and “EAST RIVER DEVELOPMENT.”
I stopped in front of the telephone pole inadvertently caught in my photo. They were there, all right. In the light of my phone, I could recognize the two logograms, spray-painted in red. A “7” with a flourish, and a curly “N.” I reached out and touched the letters. They were old and worn; nearly invisible if you weren’t looking for them.
Then I noticed two things at the same time. A gate, from which a broken padlock hung, was cracked open, allowing me to peer into the empty lot. And, in the middle of the empty lot, a solitary figure crouched near to the ground.
I jumped. The figure was moving. In the dim yellow light of nearby street lamps, I could see it was a person, braced on all fours, scratching at the ground. Digging like a dog. There was a faint “crunch, crunch, crunch” as earth was dislodged.
Curious, I stepped through the open gate and into the lot. East River Development obviously cared little about the state of their property - it was a burnt-yellow wasteland; thorny weeds grew thick out of the tough, dry ground, as high as my waist, cluttered with trash.
I got a better look at the figure: it was a man, about fifty feet away from me, kneeling in a clearing, clawing at the dirt. He was thin, but I couldn’t make out any other distinctive features. I didn’t move any closer. An icy shudder rippled down my spine. I got the inexplicable sense that the gate was more than a physical barrier; that I was committing a sin far graver than trespassing.
Scratch, crunch, scratch!
“Sir?” I called out to him.
He ignored me. Crunch, scratch, scratch. There was something oddly graceful in his movements. Something fluid, flexible.
“Man, do you need any help?”
Scratch, crunch, scratch, scratch. It couldn’t have been easy. The ground below my feet felt as hard as a rock.
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
I was about to shine my phone’s flashlight on him when he raised a long, thin arm and waved.
Crunch, crunch, scratch, scratch, scratch.
He kept on waving. His bony hand extended, pale fingers catching the moonlight. The chill I felt curdled into panic, and I turned and all but dove back through the gate, then ran until I saw the brighter lights of Wilshire.
I hurried the rest of the way to the bar, Starlite Boba & Hookah. The digging man unsettled me. I couldn't stop thinking about him, about the skeletal, milky-white appendage he'd raised to… to acknowledge me? What was he doing, anyways? I assumed he was homeless - the neighborhood’s transient population was obviously familiar with the lot, judging by the discarded mattresses I’d seen lying around. Was he digging for treasure? Burying his daily panhandling earnings? It seemed impractical, at the least.
Or maybe it was just the energy the empty lot exuded. They say you can sense someone staring at you, even when you’re fast asleep. That’s what I felt as I stood amongst the dry weeds - unseen eyes, boring into my back.
*****
Jenna showed up with Wren fifteen minutes later. I’d found us a table and ordered a watermelon slush with tapioca balls. I came across Starlite Boba & Hookah on one of my nightly wanders; I wasn't much for smoking hookah, but Jenna had never been and Wren insisted she just had to try it once.
“This place is kind of trashy,” Wren said as she sat down.
Wren was thirty-ish, a bartender Downtown, and a bit of a goth. I couldn’t quite understand why she’d sought out my nineteen-year-old roommate as a friend, but Jenna repeatedly assured me she was really sweet.
“Yeah, it’s in our budget,” I said. “You guys can pick the flavor, I don’t really care.”
Wren picked peach. When it was my turn, I took a long drag, allowing the flavored smoke to coat my throat and calm my still-jangled nerves. The digging homeless man still dominated my thoughts. Why was I obsessing over him? Over that pale, skeletal arm?
I passed the hose to Jenna. Jenna breathed in, dropped the long tube, and bent over in a fit of coughing.
“So,” Wren said to me, “Jenna says you’re writing a book of urban legends.”
“It’s a blog,” I said. “And not so much urban legends as actual stories from people who’ve lived in the neighborhood.”
I pulled the hose back to me. Wren nodded.
“Has anyone told you about the Mid-City Mauler?”
“The what?” Jenna asked, before collapsing into another coughing fit.
“The Mid-City Mauler,” Wren repeated. Her eyes lit up, like she was primed to share an irresistible bit of gossip. She scooted towards me on the couch.
“This story is, like, crazy,” she began. “It all happened about ten years ago now, right after I moved in.”
“You’ve lived here for ten years?” I asked, probably a bit too incredulous. I couldn’t imagine anyone putting up with the Verner Building for that amount of time.
“Yeah. It’s the only place in town you can get kimchi on a taco. Not the point. Anyways, right after I moved in, people started finding half-eaten animals. Birds, squirrels, whatever. Like, something had taken bites out of them, sucked out of their innards, and left their corpses like chicken bones. But it wasn’t a big deal, you know? There’s a lot of feral cats around.”
Wren took another drag, pausing for dramatic effect. “Then, the feral cats started dying. Same thing - mangled and chewed and left where they fell. And after the cats, it was dogs. Pets. Then, people.”
I couldn’t help it. I laughed.
“There’s no way that’s true,” Jenna insisted. “What, like the thing was eating people?”
Wren raised her eyebrows. “The first two were homeless. They found the first guy - some middle-aged alcoholic from Michigan - stuffed in a dumpster outside 7-Eleven, his throat torn out, both legs bitten off, intestines leaking. Now I bet you can figure out why this bothered so many people.”
What about a half-eaten, eviscerated man wouldn’t seriously disturb anyone?
“They found him in the dumpster,” Jenna replied. “A wild animal couldn’t hoist a corpse into a dumpster.”
“Bingo, babe!” Wren clapped her hands. “And the lid of the dumpster was shut. Then, two weeks later, they found the second bum in a boarded-up tobacco shop on 8th Street. The employees at the place next door complained of a bad smell. The cops came to check it out, and there he was. Missing Hobo Number Two.
“Apparently, something had been living there. They found some torn-up newspapers in a pile, like a bed. The cops didn’t go into much detail, but the rest of the block kicked around a few contradicting stories. No one was sure exactly how long the homeless man had been dead. Or how many pieces he’d been discovered in.
“After that, everyone started going crazy. Koreatown turned into a ghost town as soon as the sun went down. There were stories… some people thought they were ritualistic cult murders. Something about jackhammer noises at night. But every lead the police followed went cold.
“Anyways, all was quiet for a month or so. Then a guy called saying his girlfriend hadn’t come home from work and she wasn’t answering her phone. Grace Jimenez was the girl’s name, some waitress at a barbecue place. The cops found her in a few hours. Want to guess where?”
Jenna and I just stared. I had no desire to guess.
“The roof of their building!” Wren answered. “Which was weird. Because the only door to the roof was locked and dead-bolted. The manager had the only key, and he had an airtight alibi - he was out of the state when Grace was found. And do you want to know what else was weird? The condition of Grace’s body.”
Jenna gulped. “Please, no more details.”
“Fine, no details. All I’ll say is she’d been dead for at least two weeks. So. Why hadn’t her live-in boyfriend reported her missing earlier?”
Wren paused again, took a long drag, blew a white cloud over her shoulder.
“Her boyfriend was the murderer?” I asked.
Wren shook her head. “No. Because her boyfriend swore he had seen his girlfriend, lying next to him in bed, the morning before her body was discovered.”
*****
“I’m not losing my deposit because of anything that came out of Wren Casey’s mouth.”
Jenna plopped down on our futon with a bowl of popcorn and a Pepsi. I lounged on the sofa, six Google windows of gut-churning articles open on my laptop.
“She’s telling the truth,” I told my roommate. “The Mid-City Mauler, active from… estimated May 2007 to August 2007. Three known victims, though possibly more.”
“Yes, ten years ago!” Jenna insisted. “Whoever did it, I highly doubt they’re going to randomly pop back up again.”
She wasn't making me feel any better, and she knew it. She changed her tone.
“Look. If you’re scared, we can buy a gun. Until then, I’ve got a baseball bat under my bed. I can do a lot of damage with a bat. You’ve watched.”
The lady had a point. When we’d worked at Starbucks together, I’d walk with Jenna after our shifts to the park where her varsity softball team held practice. And, yes, she was a powerhouse with a bat.
“Besides,” Jenna continued with a smile, “I feel like you’re the girl who lives through the horror movie. Artistic, doesn’t wear a ton of make-up, walking introvert meme, not like other girls…”
I made a face. “You’re making me sound like the Twitter accounts I want to punch.”
“I, on the other hand, am the low-level person in uniform. I die five minutes after I first appear on screen.”
I laughed, shut my laptop, and convinced myself I was being ridiculous. We’d just signed a twelve-month lease; I didn’t want to go through the hassle of looking for another place, and I really couldn’t afford to lose that deposit.
*****
At 4:30am, I woke up in a cold sweat.
The man. The man digging, the skeletal homeless man in the abandoned lot. That eerie feeling, like hundreds of maniacal eyes fixed on me, stinging like a knife wound every time recalled it. I suddenly understood why.
That hand. That pale-white, graceful, bony arm, extended in response to my repeated attempts to get his attention. There was no dirt on his raised, oscillating hand. The man had been digging, frantically digging, with two hands. He’d been digging as he waved.
He had three hands.
Part 2

Hi, sorry if im posting an already answered question, but i couldnt find it when i searched even in here.
So today 14th april somehow everytime i press emoji button in messenger chat it defaulty opens stickers instead of emojis(for several years its always emoji that opens by default).I dont have auto update apps on instead i do it manually.Also noticed that several emojis has left my emoji page.
so i tried to update to latest version if thats the problem, still same problem(even tried updating the facebook app just in case) , i downloaded several older versions ranging all the way to july last year, same problem with all of them.
​
so my question did i fuck something up or did i miss something ?
(on huawei p30 pro)
​
Sincerely Slanett
​
Edit: in some conversations the button acts almost normally and the missing smilies are in some conversations. but only a few.

In the future every website will reward you for being on their website/platform, from a simple 'login everyday' to posting content. A vast majority of these will be on a Blockchain and either be in crypto or have a way of being traded for cryptocurrency. It will be a industry standard of online business to attract users with rewards like cryptocurrencies or blockchain tokens of their own.
It will be unimaginable to think about social media without being rewarded, reddit, twitter, facebook, instagram,... Users are the content, without users there is no content. Wether it's likes, upvotes, smilies, comments, retweets, login everyday, every website will implement a way to reward popular content and visiting their website.
Data is another huge part of this, data is extremely valuable and every user matters. Targeted ads backed by data of the user is worth billions of dollars already and will only increase over time. Rewarding users will not only increase content on your platform but also bring in more and more data.
We are already seeing the start of this today. Reddit is in beta with community points like moons, bricks and donuts. Coingecko has candies for just logging in everyday, with rumors of becoming a tradeable erc20 token. Brave browser rewards the user with BAT. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey saying blockchain will shape Twitter’s future. Everything will be connected to blockchain and crypto.

I (27) am a daughter and I had a restraining orders against both my parents, and stayed away from them without contact for 4 years. I even changed my name, changed phone number, and moved without leaving an address behind. During that time (and even before that) my family had private investigators look for me and try to call me (despite the conditions of the RO), plant people in my life to be my friends, and other controlling and stalking behavior. Recently I just spent 11k trying to renew one of the ROs but it didn't go through (really turns out it's just a piece of paper), the other one is still in effect. I have no contact with any of my blood kin (including extended family).
Now the whole extended family displays some very uncanny behavior, for example sending me emails to my old email address acting as if we're still in touch despite me not responding to it for 4 years. Or my cousins including me in their group chats (despite no response on my end) - but the moment I actually sent a message to someone in the family (my uncle, to get more information to renew my RO), my cousins suddenly stop using the group chat they included me in. This isn't the first time the "grown ups" in the family (my parents, uncles and aunts) tried to use my cousins to get close to me or got involved in the shenanigans. These are the same people who tried to cover up some things that were happening behind closed door, like me getting molested or our family dog getting starved and beaten. Yeah, that was my childhood and hopefully that gives you an idea of why I don't talk to the family anymore.
Now I practice OPSEC as humanly possible. I generally don't have social media, but lately I had my facebook profile searchable within the website (but not on google search engine) so my coworkers and other people can look me up by my new name. Today, I see a new friend request from my granddad. My guess is that he found me because he typed in my new name (they must've used a PI to find it), and I stupidly forgot to edit the privacy setting of my current location, so I know that they know where I am located now. Turns out my dad (who I have an RO against) also messaged me on facebook with smilies (ew) and saying "we miss you".
I am trying to live my life, but I see that not feeding them any attention isn't working, and I don't want to keep running. So I thought that I would make one general message to the whole clan why I am not talking to them anymore, my side of the story why I established the boundaries I did, and the condition that I will only talk to them if they're willing to talk about the HUGE and disturbing issues that are going on in the family. I am thinking of sending it to everyone - immediate family, the "adults" in the extended family, my cousins. Just break the lies, let the dirty laundry (only those involving me) out in the open. Maybe, finally, they'll just disown me and leave me alone.
So my question: Is this a case where they can start a legal case against me for "emotional damage" or some other bullshit? I heard that anyone can start bullshit legal cases for anything. But, these people have money and know that they can run me dry in court to be vindictive for including their children (my cousins, who are all older than me btw). I don't know if it's just my ethnic culture but I know that among my family members, image matters and I would assume the reason why they're preoccupied with getting me back is because they don't want to look like they can't control their daughter. Honestly at this point I wouldn't even be surprised if they tried to kill me, they never cease to surprise me.

Logo

Index

●Intro 5 short poems
●Hearts Connect (Youran and Gavin)
•AU Story
•When their hearts connect
•Aladdin and Princess Jasmine Arabian Night
•Symbolism (Modern day's Youran and Gavin)
●Entrapped in Sweet (Youran and Lucien)
•AU Story
•Overwhelmed by her sweetness, Will he be listening to the (good) whisper of his heart?
•Sleeping Beauty and Snow White Fairytales (relation to Youran and Lucien's love story)
•Foreshadowing (The connection between this AU story and modern day's Youran and Lucien)
●Oriental Night (Youran and Kiro)
•AU Story
•Reference: "The weaver girl and the cowherd"-The Original Story of Qixi Festival events
•Mythology in Qixi Festival events and West Moon event
•Implication (Modern day's Youran and Kiro of the original game)
●X (The Poetic Rogue Heart Flutter and The Interesting Sweetheart) (Youran and Shaw)
•AU Story
•Back then.. when the mother, the older brother and little Shaw had good times together despite the hardships, and.. After then-
•The Poetic Rogue
•The Human Wolf encounters the Human Rabbit (Modern day's Youran and Shaw)
●Emperor in Gravity (Youran and Victor)
•AU Story
•Reference to the Folklore/Myth of Reincarnation, and Modern Victor's Time Travel: Science-Fiction or Nonsense-Fiction?
•Victor's Extremity
•How Victor's Love is different from the other boys- Ancient or Modern, Victor is drawn to the Gravity of her appealing Personality, not her soul, not her beauty or looks or human sunshine nor her heart. And why Youran being a "Psychological artist" works out with Lucien, Kiro and Gavin (What about Shaw? I doubt anything of such would work with him..), but doesn't work with Victor
​
●Intro 5 short poems
Hearts Connect (The speaker is Gavin)
•That long of night, on guard to fight, not flee
•Then glints Princess, emotive I (you) depart
•I didn't think an outcast as me worthy
•Shall opening our windows connect the heart(s)?
Entrapped in Sweet (The speaker is Lucien)
•Sea; Thine heart art Pearl or mellow murmurs
•Melting refuel I in sweet, thine glamour
•Our nuclei in hearts, Not evil whispers
•Love; good story, no(t) tragic hero in armour
Oriental Night (The speaker is Kiro)
•O, once in eastern night- to peace excel
•Prince me fell for melody humming, (in) starlight
•(Your) Stuffed cheeks are apples in red- (Even if far away, we 2 humans) In (each other's) hearts dwell
•Shall win, (With) belief in Heaven, (life) game, delight
X (The Poetic Rogue Heart Flutter and The Interesting Sweetheart) (The speaker is Shaw)
•Like a thunder after lightning- gonna
•I release the passion, anger in poetry
•Then, Shawty fell for you fun jolly- tryna
•Tease ya, showing love to my ❤ma chérie❤
Emperor in Gravity (The speaker is Victor)
•We(humans) thrive, aspire, but turn in grave; end (of age) bridge
•Whilst (alive), (I) drew to your gravity's field and shade
•When (you) eclipse, I will live and Howl with rage
•No more amnesties and (for sake of finding you in chronicles of time) innocents can fade
​
(I tried to cope up with a meter or in-lines rhyme this time. As for the ending rhyme, the endings of the 1st and 3rd lines rhyme, and the ending of the 2nd rhymes with the 4th.
"ma chérie" in Shaw's short poem is a French for "Sweatheart".)
​
●Hearts Connect (Youran and Gavin)
•AU Story
(Genre: romance, action, historical, martial arts, slice of life, comedy)
Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4
​
•When their hearts connect
Did Gavin have to change himself so that she loves him?
Was that really the condition in order for their hearts to connect,i.e. to return his feelings and hence becoming a Requited love?
Did the princess fall mainly for his social standing or looks?
No.
A few years ago and now, when he met the princess, vagabond Gavin back then and knight Gavin now wondered: "Shall opening our windows connect the hearts?". He asks himself doutedly if coming clear and being honest in conveying his feelings through a letter or asking her hand directly Enough to Connect their Hearts/for his feelings to be mutual when she gives him the chance and gets to know him better. The answer in this specific situation: Yes; Opening the windows shall connect their hearts.
Back then in the past, however, the emperor shut the doowindow in his face before his letter and feelings even reach the princess- which caused misunderstanding and Gavin's already low self value worsened, and thought he must be a fit and proper man so that no one would dare look down on him and shut the window in his face again because of social standing, clothes or messy looks. He wanted to be on equal foots, thus being treated seriously and respectfully.
After then, at present, when he succeeded and could reach the princess, he's trying now to get her to know the present him more, and not the uncool and shameful vagabond fighter of the past. Still, he has self-confidence issues, even after thriving that much in his life; he asks the same question doutedly "Shall opening our windows connect the hearts?". He wanted her to like him, even the slightest amount. Although they spent a lot of time together, he's still lacking the confidence in love. What he didn't know that the princess was attracted to who he is as a human and a man and not out of kindness or sympathy, but now, she is attracted to him even more and loves him after knowing more of him. She was going to ask his hand, but she let him do so his way since she found him fascinating trying his best to surprise and please her. So, the key to connect their hearts here was in hands, but Gavin wasn't aware of it. Anyway, when he confronted his fear and was direct with her, his heart connects then to her heart.
​
•Aladdin and Princess Jasmine Arabian Night
Is this Arabian Night story applicable here? Yes.
One day, while sneaking out of the palace(but for different reasons from the princess in "Hearts Connect"), princess Jasmine met the charming poor and street boy Aladdin. She didn't care for social standing or looks, but for his pure heart of gold. He wasn't some prince or rich, and didn't have anything to offer the princess her, but Jasmine accepted him for who he is...
​
•Symbolism (Modern day's Youran and Gavin)
Youran(MC) as a Human Psychological artist in Gavin's life:
To begin with, Gavin was alive and can be alive without Youran, but probably a life of a wounded bird who is psychologically broken.
Although him seeking freedom from the chains of the past and present(Not actual freedom, but emotional and psychological) and in search for peace of mind, he wasn't travelling to a certain destination with the passion to; his heart felt empty and lost in the streets and defeated like a bird of wounded wings. His fear and feeling of being in a maze with many dead ends were dominant when he was on the verge of death in the rooftop incident back in high school.
When he found her and she saved him, the story changed for him. His perspective and view of life became more optimistic, and he opened more to it. He decided to write a letter and being honest and direct with her with a longing smile despite his physical wounds he got from fighting, but they separated..
Without any bit of glorification to any character or their roles in other's lives, it is simply an engaging story.
​
Then comes another phase "Hearts Connect"- which is their love and more story after meeting again.
After Youran's understanding and falling for him, Gavin still wonders if his feelings are requited even a little bit.
Their hearts should connect and they would be serious When he takes courage and opens his heart to her or when she says it directly to him probably..
​
●Entrapped in Sweet (Youran and Lucien)
•AU Story
(Genre: thriller, horror, mystery, crime, gore, psychological, super power, romance, historical)
Chapter 1, Chapter 2
​
•Overwhelmed by her sweetness, Will he be listening to the (good) whisper of his heart?
He will do, But he won't be honest with his heart until she disappears.
​
Lucien giving up his (evil) goals and behaving as a good boy Won't actually turn him boring. No; Lucien would still be smooth and eloquent speaker, charismatic and bad***! Not to mention his flirtatious side that is seemingly a natural talent and rooted in him.
​
•Sleeping Beauty and Snow White Fairytales (relation to Youran and Lucien's love story)
Sleeping Beauty and Snow White Fairytales aren't tragic stories; because after the struggles, the protagonists would get their happy ending.
Similar way, Youran and Lucien's love story is Not tragic story of tragic ending.
​
•Foreshadowing (The connection between this AU story and modern day's Youran and Lucien)
There're hints here and in Lucien's frequent focus on miserable tragic love stories in the original game about the expected forthcoming events and how they would be separated.
Lucien "listening to the (good) whisper of his heart" foreshadows spoilers of coming chapters in the original game, with Lucien becoming more honest with his heart and her and giving up his evil plans for Youran and joining her side this time for real. Hence, their love story shall end in a good way.
​
●Oriental Night (Youran and Kiro)
•AU Story
(Genre: psychological, historical, gender bender, romance, action, comedy)
Chapter 1, Chapter 2
​
•Reference: "The weaver girl and the cowherd"-The Original Story of Qixi Festival events

The general tale is a love story between Zhinü (the weaver girl, symbolizing Vega) and Niulang (the cowherd, symbolizing Altair). The two were separated to opposite sides of the Silver River (symbolizing the Milky Way). Once a year, on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, a flock of magpies would form a bridge to reunite the lovers for one day.
Wikipedia

​
The distance between star Vega and star Altair in the Milky Way galaxy is about 8.3 light-years. This example is used metaphorically to portray how long the distance between the two couple is.
Why the "magpies" especially? Dunno, but they are birds like others and the thing about them bringing bad luck is a facade.
​
•Mythology in Qixi Festival events and West Moon event
Myths are false stories or beliefs that people, especially ancient people think are true.
There are two myths here.

1. The story of the Qixi festival: is not true. It's said also that the Heavens separated the couple.

But Why talking falsely in place of the God in fictional stories as they like?
Even if it is a myth, it is Wrong!!!

1. In West Moon event that's yet to come in the EN server.

The stories about the origins of the gods and goddesses stand in sharp contrast to the One True God, who is not a created being. Those people, however, didn't know, and at that time, they were explanations for how the world came to be, why we have storms and other disasters, why mankind suffers, and what awaits us after death.

(The world's religions and cultures Book)
​
Well, Myths are Myths.
​
•Implication (Modern day's Youran and Kiro of the original game)
In Black swan's facility for human experiments, little Kiro had no one beside him of parents or any people to care for his existence, to care for his misery, to care whether he dies or lives. Still, he wanted to live, and in order to withbear the pain and could live, little Kiro put himself forcefully in a state of emotional hibernation. Accordingly, the more he stepped on his feelings and heart, the more he's numb to the pains of pins, needles and injection with chemicals. In this phase and stage of his life, he felt a warm hand patting him as if it's saying she is there beside him despite their catastrophe. It was MC who was in a similar horrible situation. If MC wasn't there at that time, then little Kiro would keep sealing his emotions more and more to endure the soreness and suffering, thus turning more and more cold, but surprisingly Not Evil but a Superhero. Although Kiro became Superhero Helio in the darkness in the Amnesia world of chapters 19-21(or till chapter 24? until Kiro persona finally appears?), Kiro without her wouldn't have realized the importance for a Superhero to warmly Smile and being friendly and kind-hearted with people, and how such little thing such as tenderly smiling and outer sunshines of a human sun can draw smiles on the faces of many children and people and encourage them. With MC in his life, he would come to know how such little things could have big effects on people; because Kiro decided to help people in need like MC did in his childhood, not only as Superhero Helio in the shadow, but as Smily and warmly opened Kiro in the day. Kiro has 2 super powers, the natural one(Charming/Mind Control Evol) which seemingly awakened because of MC, and another lab super power of Helio(making false or illusional dimension?) which he used in Thorns date and in chapter 20 when he sensed MC following him. So, this natural Charm Evol also, which awakened with MC there, was a major reason why it was easier for Kiro to become an entertainer in the main storyline whereas this natural Evol wasn't probably awakened in the world of chapters 19-21.
In addition, Youran is a human who added a taste and more flavors to his life, making it tastier and more delicious.
​
Moving to Youran and Kiro's love story, although they dwell in each other's hearts and came to love each other so much and are so close, they are still distant; because Kiro wouldn't open his heart to her and is afraid to face his fears and worries. So, once it happens and Kiro becomes aware of her serious and true feelings for him, the long distance shall then disappear.
​
●X (The Poetic Rogue Heart Flutter and The Interesting Sweetheart) (Youran and Shaw)
•AU Story
(Genre: adventure, slice of life, comedy, action, romance, fantasy, historical)
One Chapter
​
•Back then.. when the mother, the older brother and little Shaw had good times together despite the hardships, and.. After then-
Shaw and Gavin loved their mother so much, and the three had spent nice times together. Shaw, since he was younger and so little, was so attached to his mommy. He was still so innocent at that time.
Then, sadly, the mother died.. and with her death, their bonds started to fall apart..
A while after, when Shaw's super power awakened, he was praised a lot by his father and was given special treatment over his older brother who hadn't awakened his super power yet. Shaw didn't realize at that time the misery and sorrows of his brother nor the true intentions and motives of this doesn't-deserve-to-be-called father. His view was still narrow. Shaw had his own dreams and seemingly liked singing, but his father doesn't care about any of all this. As Shaw was growing up more, he started to realize and be aware of the true face and intentions of this selfish father who only cares for himself and his achievements. This masculine man wanted to control Shaw's life and use him as human weapon and shield to please his selfish ambitions, and didn't ever care for his children or the descendant wife he had been beating up and abusing. Shaw hated this trash of man from his heart content.
To add salt to Shaw's starting-to-grow wounds, his older brother, Gavin, left the home and abandoned him as if he has completely forgotten about his younger brother(but, in fact, this older brother was so wretched himself by then and way more than Shaw who didn't know probably..).
Then, Shaw also left home...
​
•The Poetic Rogue
What is a "Rogue"?

1 : a mischievous person
2 : an impish or playful young person
Merriam-Webster

3 : resembling or suggesting a wild monster (as a wolf) (living separately from the herd)

especially in being isolated, aberrant, dangerous, or uncontrollable
: a person whose behavior departs substantially from the standard
Merriam-Webster

​
4 : of or being a group(delinquents?) whose leader defies the story's laws or not behaving or not being on any of their sides(not STF, BS or his dad's.. but maybe he will fall deeply for MC and become her knight officially, joining her side.. or maybe joining her side just for fun, or both love and for fun..)
​
5 : go rogue

: to begin to behave in an independent or uncontrolled way that is not authorized, normal, or expected
Merriam-Webster

​
Who is "X" in the title?
"X" in the titles refers to Shaw/Ling Xiao, and symbolizes Unkown or a hidden/puzzling character whose true goals and deal are still mystery, not officially revealed.
​
The following lines/words may apply for Shaw/Ling Xiao and give more hints of him (from Am I Wrong, here a version made with human voices only with no instruments):
​

Am I wrong for thinking out the box from where I stay? Am I wrong for saying that I'll choose another way? I ain't trying to do what everybody else doing Just cause everybody doing what they all do If one thing I know, how far would I grow? I'm walking down this road of mine, this road that I call home
So am I wrong for thinking that we could be something for real? Now am I wrong for trying to reach the things that I can't see? But that's just how I feel, that's just how I feel That's just how I feel trying to reach the things that I can't see
Hope you, hope you don't look back, always do what you decide Don't let them control your life, that's just how I feel Fight for yours and don't let go, don't let them compare you, no Don't worry, you're not alone, that's just how we feel

​
Shaw/Ling Xiao would find passion and release his angst, anger and concerns through singing them out with powerful feelings. (Oh? A rival voice for the charming and talented Kiro's?)
​
•The Human Wolf encounters the Human Rabbit (Modern day's Youran and Shaw)
There is no wolf or rabbit; they are two Humans, and the terms "Wolf" and "Rabbit" are used Metaphorically.
​
It is surprising that Shaw/Ling Xiao is in love with MC, and the level of teasing increases seemingly when it comes to the girl he likes or at least is interested in.
Behind all his bad boy vibes, Shaw/Ling Xiao is probably a nice, kind and romantic person.
​
Showing love by Teasing? "nice, kind" and even "romantic"? Are you kidding me?
​
●Emperor in Gravity (Youran and Victor)
•AU Story
(Genre: historical, medical, fantasy, slice of life, romance, action)
Chapter 1, Chapter 2
​
•Reference to the Folklore/Myth of Reincarnation, and Modern Victor's Time Travel: Science-Fiction or Nonsense-Fiction?
In the AU story, Victor wasn't reincarnated actually despite the mention of the term, but some of the original Qixi Festival event lines come to the mention of it.
So, What is the Floklore/Myth of Reincarnation?
Reincarnation is a myth saying that the soul or the memories are re-born or moved to another new born body or mind after death.
It Doesn't have any scientific proofs or any logic.
To tell the truth, I haven't met any reincarnated person myself yet, and the dead haven't returned back for real and not illusions or sth in new bodies.
​
Let's move now to the logic, if there, in Modern Victor's Evol of Time Travel.
In order to travel, you have to have a destination, but, What if there is a destination but no road to walk in?
That's why when Victor travels in time going to a certain time or a random time, this time line(the road leading to a destination) must be existed.
That must mean also that there are coutless time lines in existent, and these already existent time lines must flow and move on, right? For example, if there is an existent time line of the 10th of June of year 2000, then after a whole year of the earth time, it would be the 10th of June of year 2001, but What if Victor wanted to go back to the 10th of June of year 2000? Where is this time line? The answer: it keeps creating over and over again, every single second.
Now, What about the dead and the souls???
Would the ancient people's souls go back to their bodies from their sleep specially for the sake of creating endless time lines for time travelling?!
Then, Would there be endless souls of the same person?!!
​
As much as Time Travel is complex, it is Nonsense-fiction.
(I think Einstein spent the last 4-5 years of his life researching on the 4th dimension of time and the possibility of Time Travel? With 0 results?)
​
•Victor's Extremity
In normal and peaceful times, Victor is neutral. When he falls deeply in love, however, and especially when something happens to his beloved girl or when she disappears, he turns from neutral to someone who is ready to go to far extremes to save her without consideration to the other innocent lives. When he cannot find her no matter how much he searches, Victor won't die then. On the contrary, he is a strong person whose psychological pains and grief would turn in the form of him living and to persist to still alive and then showing others a brutally ruthless, cold and emotionless ancient emperor or modern businessman.
​
•How Victor's Love is different from the other boys- Ancient or Modern, Victor is drawn to the Gravity of her appealing Personality, not her soul, not her beauty or looks or human sunshine nor her heart. And why Youran being a "Psychological artist" works out with Lucien, Kiro and Gavin (What about Shaw? I doubt anything of such would work with him..), but doesn't work with Victor
Victor is a Practical person, and he loves for a logical reason(s). When he is drawn to the woman, he isn't drawn to a heart or a soul or things like her warmth or her being a shinning sun; since he thinks such things are mere emotional and nonsense. That's why it would be nonsense for Victor with Youran playing a role of a "Psychological artist" who helps heal his wounded wings(that's if they even exist) or helps him in search for a meaning in life or paints adding colors to his world.
What Victor is drawn to in the woman is her Mentality (even if he is not that smart himself) or a Personality's Gravity that appeal to him. This Gravity of Personality here is associated with her bravery when she jumped to his rescue despite her tiny body in childhood, her ambitions to thrive at work in adulthood, her strong-willed boldness that she was the very first person who dared to talk back and rudely with this CEO of LFG(what a narcissist)- and, ironically(?), he LOVES it when she is rude, bold, stands up for him and talks back.
​
Questions for Discussion:
1 - What AU would you like to be there in the original game? (No religious or myth's reference like in West Moon event)
2 - What is each boy (Lucien, Shaw/Ling Xiao, Kiro, Helio, Gavin, Victor) attracted to in Youran(MC) from your point of view?
​
NOTICE: Don't use the AU ideas in any fanfic of explicit content.

i mean what if i just called them 100x? or maybe got went to waterloo and me and my dad try to like convince them to admit me. i have a 62% average, but a 100 in physics (private school tho) but im actually really smart, one of the smartest people i know. it's just that i lack motivation but i really want to be in CS and then be a hackor for google in CALI. also #CALIORBUST lol (ive been trying to learn UW culture so i can fit in for when i come to UW). anyway can anyone please let me know what to do?
i know some of you may think im being to arrogant, but i really really want this. it's been my dream since childhood to get into CS at UWaterloo then transfer into ARBUS after the first semester, and then be dropped down into the non-coop stream of ARBUS after the second semester, while still trying to convince myself this makes me superior to a regular Arts student.
i dream of all the awesome experiences UWaterloo students get to have like...

1. trying to keep up with studying on the first week of a new semester, realize it's mostly review then neglecting it all for weeks and then overdosing on redbull's trying to stay up to learn it all for the midterm
2. explaining the work you did as a cs coop for the ministry of water fountains to a guy who built a hadron super colider while doing coop at Facebook (4A btw)
3. mistakenly believing the girl in ur PSYCH101 group project has a crush on you because she sent u a smilie in the group chat once
4. silently resenting your hackathon team for not doing enough work while you yourself browse UWaterloo
5. being asked to leave by a bouncer on Bomber Wednesday because you've spent the last 30min staring at 6 girls trying to build up the courage to approach them and it's creeping them out
6. make fun of ULaurier kids who are out partying with girls for not having the opportunity to spend 6 hours on a single assignment question
7. ordering a large chicken and rice shawarma platter from Lazeez and then die when using the toilet the next day morning
8. sitting at an upstair table in SLC with a bunch of girls you dont know cause no other seats are available while the rapidly alternate between discussing glucose metabolism stages and why preeti is such a bi*ch
9. telling next years admissions they aren't cut out for UWaterloo.
10. Posting worn out barely funny jokes on geese, feridun, and paninos to UWaterloo under Humour and not Shitpost (because these ones are actually good)

Thing? The emoticons? The smilies used on WhatsApp? On Facebook? On social media? Sure! In fact, between 2004 and 2018, citations of smilies in court cases have increased exponentially. Eric Goldman, a professor of law at Santa Clara University tried to get a picture of the situation. Last year, emojis and emoticons have been reported more than 50 times.A recent case concerned a San Francisco area court. In the proceedings there was a direct Instagram message, addressed to a woman and sent by a man accused of prostitution exploitation. The text said nothing about it: "Teamwork make the dream work", which can be translated as "unity is strength". However, the phrase was accompanied by some emojis: stilettos and money. According to the indictment, the icons indicated the existence of an economic relationship. For defense, they could instead refer to a love affair.

I am 35 years old, married for 7 years, 3 youngs boys (6, 4 and 3), with a house and a steady job and I am depressed. For anyone outside my life following my wife on Facebook, i cannot complain. She post the most adorable photo of us smiling, making cookies, setting up the christmas tree all year long. I love my wife and my kids are adorables, I love them deeply but it take EVERYTHING out of me to keep up with them. At the end of the day, I am exhausted and do not have an ounce of patience left to be diplomat, or even socialize properly with my friends online (only way to still socialize these days). I recently cut myself from that community because i couldnt stand their sarcasm and bad jokes. I just lost it, lashed at them and quit. I now feel awfull and regret it.
​
I have also come to realise that Facebook and reddit massively contribute to take down my spirit. While i browse endlessly and see other people life and witness on my screen that my kidless friend is currently with his girlfriend in Honduras hiking, or how some random stranger on reddit is sculpting Notre-Dame de Paris from a maple log he found on the beach, I know that I only see the facade. I know because my own facebook feed is full awesome post that does not reflect the reality, only what I want people to see, to believe. While it is true we actually hiked a mountain my family and I last weekend, what the smily pictures of my 3 kids and wife didnt say is that it was a nightmare. My 3 years old cried all the way , my 6 years old ran out of sight everywhere almost falling from a small cliff and my 4 years old just stopped in the middle forcing us to turn back. We cried, we screamed, and 2 hours after that pictures was taken, we were 5 angry people in the car going back at home in silence, while posting on facebook #Funwiththekids #hiking #goodtimes. Why the fuck do we do that?
​
We live in and era of illusion where everyone is entitle to sell their life better than it actualy is. It was already true before the internet, but i am convince it was never this bad. And while we lied to everyone else, we mostly lie to ourselves.
​
I am addicted to reddit. I cannot pass 3 hours without browsing a little. And each time, I now realise that it make me depress. While I smile when seeing something funny, or amazed by someone’s talent, it also says to me : You are pathetic, untalented, unfunny. And while i know it is wrong, i cant help it but feel that way.
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I realised today that i need to cut those sites from my life to start the process to heal. I know I have multiple problems and the majority of them are in my head. But it is still an awfull era to witness.
​ EDIT: I am overwhelmed by all the support this community has given me by their comment. I read them all and try to keep up. You are great. Thanks. As for my poor grammar, note that english is not my native language. Writting about it in english is kind of therapeutic because i actually need to think before typing. Thanks again!

Me [30/F] dumped by my ex {28/m} in the most sadistic way. Feeling utterly destroyed
*Re-post cause my original message got locked for being in the wrong category
Hi guys, I suppose I am writing on here because I am experiencing so much anxiety right now and I am feeling so very very alone and lost.
I moved 4 years ago to my passport country to look for work. I was raised abroad all my life so the place felt very alien to me. I dont really have a place I can call home either. I also came because my previous ex was extremely abusive; it reached the point where he beat me so severely that I had to take him to the police and I just left everything behind to start a new life over.
I was quite terrified of men so took it very slow and ended up meeting Jason who seemed to be the complete opposite of the last one. Very passive and submissive yet we had a very strong connection and I grew to trust him and love him very intensively. During this time i had a decent job at a big corporation, but I didnt like it. I studied a masters in another field and never explored it because my life circumstances didnt allow it.... And i wanted to return to it badly. It was always my dream and passion.
Jason would insist every day that I should quit my job. That he would support me and help me and that I should pursue my dream job. I was terrified at first.... My job was my only source of security. But he kept on insisting and pushing me to the point where I felt pathetic for not taking that leap of fate.
Well, I ended up quitting and looking for work in my respected field. I was not getting any results at all and it was much harder than I had expected. At the same time, my father became severely sick... To the point where we thought we would lose him. I didn't know how to handle it and became severely depressed. I ended up shutting myself from everybody and everything and relied entirely on Jason for support. He never showed much understanding and wanted things to be easy. He told me he never understood what depression was and never showed any real interest towards my feelings. I stopped asking him for help and continued with life trying to be more self-reliant.
There was a female colleague that I was always wary about who caused problems in Jasons last relationship. Jason used to go out of his way for her like: wait 1 hour after work just to walk her home, go food shopping for her. She had him wrapped around her finger. I didn't care much for their relationship and she ended up moving abroad to another country. One day I saw their messages and I told him they made me uncomfortable but he reassured me that nothing was happening. Well, a month ago she ended up coming back to our country wanting to meet him.
He ended up cheating on me with her and the worse part is he has left me with the expensive apartment and everything. He got another room instantly. I suppose he had pre-planned all of this behind my back which is terrifying cause I always told him to be honest and open with me. And it has shocked me really hard because I think I should have gotten treatment from my previous relationship.
They are both even rubbing it in on facebook. The girl privately sent me pictures of them together with smilie emoticons and sick messages... I blocked her. And Jason who plays in a band is wearing one of myridiculous bathing suits on his band page which I had accidentally gave to him when I packed his stuff. I feel he is also taking the piss. I cant even understand why they are being so cruel and sadistic about it, but maybe she convinced him I am a monster or something? I have no idea.
I am so worried about money right now too and on how to survive. I am feeling dependent still on Jason. He hasnt terminated his lease yet and said that "cause he is such a nice man" that he will do it with me at the same time which works in my favour. Since I am jobless I know it is extremely hard to find housing and you need proof of income so I am hoping he can comply with me to make it easy.
Besides that, I am not functioning well at all and I am getting many panic attacks. I have never felt this bad before and it is terrifying me. I left to see family abroad, but I am terrified in going back to the apartment but feel I must and need work asap but i just cant function at all. All I do is drink because I just cant deal with anything or of the reality of what has happened.I just wish I had a friend I could rely on and be close to but my friends are spread all over the world and I dont have anybody to really talk to.
Tl;dr: ex boyfriend dumped me in the worse way possible. not coping well at all. looking for support
EDIT/UPDATE: Guys I just want to sincerely thank each and every one of your messages. It means so much to have gotten this much support. I wish I could thank each and every one of you individually, and all of your messages have been giving me a new found strength cause I was in an incredibly dark and broken place... I am just hoping I can move on and survive from this.

Just for sport, and for the amusement of my WotB colleagues, I am posting a critique of my Medium essay on the recent doxing of Adam Carter, written by u/seventytvvo, which you can find here:
https://www.reddit.com/RussiaLago/comments/95cyck/ud3fi4nt_response_to_computerweeklys_article/e3rrg1k/
u/seventytvvo has visited us to provide a link to this critique, and to offer this helpful comment:
"Lay off it, Mark. You're a tinfoil goober. I posted a few of my thoughts on your dumb Medium rant. You couldn't reason your way out of a box."
Here is the critique:

So... Basically no rebuttal at all.
The Medium post by Mark McCarty is hilariously bad, making claims such as "G2.0 has gone out of his way to leave clues that he is Russian — purposely adding “Russian fingerprints” to his releases, using Russian smilies in his writings (“)))”), and choosing to use a Russian VPN service to mask his IP address."
How the hell would he possibly know what G2.0 was going out of his way to leave clues he was Russian? How would he possibly know that G2.0 chose to use a Russian VPN? How does he know any of this? Or is he just assigning intent to G2.0 because it conveniently matches his pre-conceived conclusion?
Mark McCarty goes on to make other ridiculous and impossible-to-know claims like,
"...the Mueller indictment is an overt fraud, and that Mueller’s team has no idea how Wikileaks received their DNC emails."
Again... how could you possibly know this? You don't know if Mueller has worked with American or foreign intelligence who may possibly have hard evidence of this. You don't know who they've interviewed and what those people have said. Are you making enormous leaps of logic here? Or are you just wildly speculating because your bullshit conspiracy theory has been blown the fuck up?
Here's more: "The indictment claims that G2.0 transferred the DNC emails to Wikileaks OVER A MONTH AFTER Assange had publicly announced that Hillary-pertinent documents would soon be published — and not more than a week before Wikileaks published the emails (not nearly enough time to confirm the authenticity of each of the over 20K emails.)"
This assumes that Assange's public announcement was actually ABOUT these particular DNC emails. Do you know that for sure? Or are you assuming? You're also making a huge assumption here that WL actually a) cannot possibly verify the authenticity of the emails in a week, or b) that WL actually authenticates the emails at all! HOW DO YOU KNOW? OR ARE YOU ASSUMING?
This is just a small sampling of reasons why no one takes you guys seriously. Because you form a conclusion and then jam the facts into it. The scientific method works in the opposite fashion... you take the facts and THENNNN develop a theory to explain them, then adjust that theory as new facts come to light.

Well, well, well, what have we here?!
As to G2,0 intentionally leaving clues he is Russian – are you capable of reading the summary of pertinent forensic evidence posted at Adam Carter’s magnificent website? I’m sure you are, you just won’t make the effort. In case you are too inept to find it, here’s the URL, which I have posted innumerable times: http://g-2.space/ I’m sure you won’t read it.
I had no “pre-conceived conclusion” on this issue. I formed a conclusion after looking at the evidence, and, in particular encountering the work of the Forensicator, Adam Carter, and Elizabeth Vos. However, my overall views are informed by the fact that Julian Assange and his colleagues insist that the Russian state had nothing whatever to do with the Wikileaks DNC/Podesta releases; moreover, Julian claims that he has hard evidence to prove this – which makes Mueller’s refusal to interview him very telling. Speaking against this, we have the documented perjurers James Clapper and Bill Brennan, whom any fair observer can see are psychotically Russophobic. Anyone who chooses to believe lying war criminals rather than Julian Assange (who speaks with great precision, whose releases have all been completely authentic, and whose evident agenda is to skewer the-powers-that-be with inconvenient truths) without having very strong, compelling evidence for this position, is simply war-mongering scum in my book. So, yeah, my “pre-conceived” position is that I will not believe the Deep State’s version of this until I see damned hard evidence. And an indictment that makes a string of assertions, without explaining how those claims were reached, is not evidence.
As to the Mueller indictment being a “complete fraud” – here’s how I analyzed it. I’m no expert in computers, but I do have a good nose for BS and a strong sense of logic. I realized that the crux of the indictment is the question of how the “Russian hackers” allegedly transferred their purloined booty to Wikileaks. (Hacking per se is practiced all the time by both sides, and doesn’t in itself constitute evidence of “election interference”.) So when the indictment was issued, I immediately honed in on the portion of it which described how this supposed transfer took place. I nearly fell over laughing when I saw that Mueller was claiming that G2.0 transferred the DNC emails to Assange no more than a week before Wikileaks released them – and over a month after Assange had publicly announced that – as recounted by Adam Carter:

"we have upcoming leaks in relation to Hillary Clinton which are great” and, when pressed whether WL had stuff “not yet in the public domain”, confirmed “we have emails related to Hillary Clinton which are pending publication

It is quite evident that Julian is referring to the DNC emails that Wikileaks released about a month-and-a-half later. Those who disagree are welcome to inform us what else this could have been referring to. Perhaps the Podesta emails released 4 months later? Are we supposed to believe that Wikileaks took over 4 months to authenticate the Podesta releases, but only several days to authenticate the over 20K+ DNC emails? Absurd. As to the indexed archive of Hillary’s SOS emails which Wikileaks posted in 2016 – these were in the public domain, released by judicial writ, and were not “leaks”. Assange’s announcement quite clearly refers to “leaks”.
Here is a further comment I made recently:

The reason I find this totally hilarious is that Assange had evidently announced the impending publication of these documents on June 12th — over a month before G2.0 allegedly sent them to him. The only way to make sense of this is to postulate that G2.0 had had some previous undocumented contact with Assange to inform him of his intent to transfer the emails in the future. But this requires us to believe that Assange is a schlock journalist who, after receiving a tip from an entity about which he knew nothing, would give public assurances that documents from this source — documents which he had never seen — were pending publication. Anyone who appreciates Wikileaks reputation for accuracy would consider this scenario absurd. Furthermore, Mueller asks us to believe that Wikileaks would require no more than a few days to confirm the absolute accuracy of each of the 20K+ emails transmitted from an unknown source before publishing them on July 22nd. If a single one of those emails had been shown to be maliciously altered, Wikileaks’ reputation would have been in tatters. (Indeed, the DNC was in a lather to do just this — but came up dry.)

As to how I know that “WL actually authenticates the emails at all”? Wikileaks has never been proven to have a released a document that has been fraudulently altered. That is its claim to fame. An organization such as Wikileaks that released corrupted documents could create unparalleled havoc – just like the havoc constantly caused by the documented liars of our Deep State. Wikileaks knows that its reputation is totally screwed if it releases corrupt material. Indeed, that’s why, as Adam Carter has informed us, FBI counterintelligence, while under Shawn Henry’s direction, sent a set of corrupted emails to Wikileaks in the hopes that they would be published. But Wikileaks did their due diligence, and they weren’t. (Shawn Henry, as you know, is the founding CEO of Crowdstrike, and a protégé of Mueller, who can’t be bothered to interview Assange.)
Indeed, one other clue that G2.0 is a fraud is that he posted other allegedly hacked documents on other websites, which don’t do the due diligence that Wikileaks does. If he had a tie to Wikileaks, if indeed Wikileaks were publishing material that he had purloined, why wouldn’t he have chosen to publish all his releases through Wikileaks, so that they would have credibility? (Though of course G2.0 didn't need to worry much about the credibility of the documents he released himself, as - except for the Trump Opposition Research report, which skewers Trump - they were wholly anodyne, having no implications whatever for the election. Rather odd behavior for someone who claims to be executing a nefarious Russkie plot to assure Trump's election.)
As to the amount of time it takes for Wikileaks to authenticate and prepare for publication over 20K+ emails – I recall that we were waiting quite impatiently for a number of weeks for the release of the emails – the Podesta emails – that Wikileaks had promised us prior to the election. And yet Mueller expects us to believe that Wikileaks acknowledged receipt of the DNC emails from G2.0 on July 18th, and then published them on July 22nd. Unlike the NSA, Wikileaks does not have a huge staff – and they have to be extremely cautious about what they release. I just don’t buy that scenario. However, even if it were technically possible for Wikileaks to do the job that quickly, the other arguments against Mueller’s claim on this issue still obtain.
In any case, within a few hours of the release of the Mueller indictment, I had an essay up on Medium proving it to be a total sham. Not bad for a guy who knows jack shit about computers.
And this comment is choice:

“your bullshit conspiracy theory has been blown the fuck up”

When precisely did this happen? I presume my critic is referring to the evidence-free assertions in the Mueller indictment. Apparently he fails to note that indictments are mere assertions; they often (as in this case) do not reveal the evidence that putatively backs these assertions, and they have not been subjected to the counterarguments that would be presented in an actual trial. He apparently also fails to note that the previous Mueller indictment of the Russian “troll farm” was a hilarious farce, in which the activities of a private Russian firm, attempting to make money in the U.S. by selling ad space on the variegated websites it had created (as the indictment itself admits), are represented as a nefarious effort to “sow chaos in the US political system.” The genuine merits of the indictment are that it nails the Russkies for illegally placing 13 Facebook ads – probably costing a total of about $500 – that advocate for a specific candidate during an election season (foreigners are not supposed to do this) – and for coopting the identity of someone who didn’t even know it was happening, and suffered no adverse consequences for it. The indictment was quite obviously a publicity stunt and a psy-ops on the American people.
https://medium.com/@markfmccarty/hilarity-alert-moon-of-alabama-explains-what-the-indicted-russian-trolls-were-really-doing-6f2c8bf4e1cb
Sad to say, I have not yet received u/sevenytvvo’s no doubt trenchant critique of that little essay.
As to this:

This is just a small sampling of reasons why no one takes you guys seriously. Because you form a conclusion and then jam the facts into it. The scientific method works in the opposite fashion... you take the facts and THENNNN develop a theory to explain them, then adjust that theory as new facts come to light.

Precisely what “facts” is this guy referring to? Is he under some delusion that the mere assertions in the Mueller indictment constitute “facts”. Does he believe that the “assessments” in the Jan 6th “Intelligence Community Assessment” constitute facts – when a footnote to the document explicitly states that “assessments” should not be assumed to be provable facts? (Of course, the very title of this document is an overt deception, as it is not the considered opinion of our Intelligence Community – that would be provided in a formal National Intelligence Estimate that incorporates the opinions and dissents of all of our intelligence agencies, whereas the ICA was crafted by a couple dozen sycophants from just 3 agencies, handpicked by the lying Russophobes Brennan and Clapper.)
And so “no one takes [us] seriously?” Oh, what you mean is, no one in the your circle of half-brights whose studied ignorance and credulity is exceeded only by your arrogance? Imbeciles who think they know something after listening to MSDNC or reading the Washington Post? Scum-of-the–earth who are willing to reflexively believe every dubious Deep State claim vilifying Russia - impelling us toward a second Cold War, with all its dangers and monumental expense - simply because they hold the demented view that sooner or later Trump will be impeached for “collusion with Russia”? When I was growing up as a Democrat, I was proud that the Democrats, at least to a greater extent than Republicans, were trying to cool down our tensions with the Soviet Union, and rein in out-of-control defense spending. What the Democratic Party has now become, thanks largely to the unbelievably vile Hillary Clinton and her despicable followers, is beyond reprehensible.
(Have I used up my quota on denigratory adjectives yet?)
It seems to me that our opinions on this affair are quite congruent with those of great analysts and true journalists such as Ray McGovern, Bill Binney, Scott Ritter, Gareth Porter, the late lamented Robert Parry, Craig Murray, Elizabeth Vos, Mike Whitney, the inimitable Caitlin Johnstone, and the indefatigable Adam Carter. I guess these are the “no ones” who take us seriously. And I’ll gladly stand with these “no ones” against the vast army of Deep State operatives, MSM shills, and political partisans wholly lacking in intellectual honesty who are intent on propelling us toward endless unnecessary confrontations that place the world at grave risk and deprive us of the money needed to build a more humane America.
Oh, as a matter of personal privilege , one other point – with respect to my not being able to “reason [my] way out of a box”. When I was in high school, I won every math competition I ever entered – except for the one open to every high school student in the L.A. area, in which I only took second place. When I learned about the Maschironi Theorem, a Euclidean geometry conundrum which it had taken the mathematicians of Europe about a century to solve, I had created my own 6-page solution within 24 hours. So where is that box you want me to reason my way out of?

I just recently came to terms that my parents are toxic. My mom and stepdad are going through a divorce and my mom stopped talking to me and deleted me as well as blocked me on Facebook because of an opinion. She told me she left him because she found out he was cross dressing and didn't chose her. She also said he was abusive. Which he was very neglecting and lazy. There was definitely abuse from both sides. The last day she talked to me she asked why it feels like I always take his side. I told her I wanted to remain neutral but I am coming from this logically. After being married for 12 years, not everyone can just walk away. He is hurting. She got mad and deleted me then made up the lie that I was telling my step dad her business. Then she blocked me.
I feel really hurt because my mom used to be really abusive when I was younger. I thought if anyone should walk away, it would have been me. She used to whip me around by my hair and rip out chunks with the girth of my hair brush, she used to break brushes and spatulas spanking me. She has punched me, thrown me to the ground, kicked me and even threw me to the ground,got on top of me and pounded her fists against my face. She has also left bruises many many times. All of the physical abuse happened before the age of 12. I will be 27 this year. I finally told my husband and start to heal but my mom keeps pulling me back in to her drama.
I always made excuses for her because she had a tough childhood and over all life. She was married at 15 then remarried at 18 where she had me also at 18. She divorced my dad when I was 4 and was in and out of relationships my whole life. She was molested, beaten, married off and even put in foster care. She dropped out of high school and never went back. I always felt like her punching bag when life was tough. If I was unhappy, she was happy. If I was happy she was unhappy. I was always called dumbass, fat ass, bitch and many other names.
For the majority of my life I thought she hated me. She always treated my brothers so much better than me. Of course my mother has bipolar really bad. She didn't even find out about it until she was over the age of 30. My biological dad was never around, off playing daddy to my step siblings. He called on my birthday and Christmas. I also saw him once every 2 to 3 years. I felt so alone, unloved and unwanted. I will be 27 at the end of the year and it has taken me this long to finally tell my story. I told my husband and you guys.... a huge amount of weight has been lifted.
I have brought up these events of abuse in the past to my mom and she either looks guilty and doesnt say anything or she will deny everything. She tells me that when you are younger that your mind makes stuff up and its been so long that you forget what really happened.
She always got mad when I wanted to be a kid or did stuff that kids did, like wearing a necklace from burger king or arguing with my brothers. She would always tell me to grow up and stop being such a baby. I always wanted to tell someone about the abuse I went through, to get help but I was afraid of being placed in foster care and being separated from all 4 of my brothers. I was afraid of the unknown and I was terrified of being blamed for everything.
I went through depression really bad to the point of suicide in jr. high and high school. I listened to Green Day, Good Charlotte aswell as many other punk/rock bands and wore lots of darker clothing. My mom would mock me in front of my brothers telling me I was evil and I was a dyke. To this day, my brothers will make comments that I was evil or dyky, that I sacrificed our cat. There was one time I was just walking through Walmart with my family and my mom saw a group of preppy girls walk by in their bright colors,long hair and skirts. She looked back at me, instantly angry, walked up to my and said God you look like such a dyke, you are such an embarrassment.
After all of this and more not listed, I stayed with her. I pitied her, felt sorry for her. I watched my younger brothers, did more chores and nothing was ever good enough.
I got kicked out of the house right out of high school because she believe my 2nd brother when he said I was coming home at 3 in the morning even though I was coming home from work and got home before midnight. I had already graduated high school (with honors). She told me I was wasting time in college even though I ended up graduating with my bachelors with a 3.4GPA. I can never please her. She has always plays mind games and it makes me feel like I am crazy or going crazy. She recently told my grandma that my step dad told her that I was going to testify against her at their divorce case. Which isn't true. I asked my step dad if he told her that and he claims he hasnt talked to her in months. Which I know is a lie. I dont know who is telling the truth. I feel like I am being manipulated into talk to her and feeling sorry for her. He has been messing with her mentally and harrassing her. I've seen proof of that. Idk if my mom is manipulating me to get me to contact her first and feel bad for her or if he is truly lying, causing trouble. This isn't the first time she has done something crazy to make herself center of attention. I suffered a miscarriage with my first son and she wouldn't stop comparing her miscarriage to her own and asking why I wasn't happy my smily self. She got mad because I didn't end my conversations in exclamation marks and put smily faces in my texts or like all of her statuses on facebook. Yes she bit my head off over something that stupid. Then proceeded to tell me not everything is about me, even though I had just lost my son. In the end I wasthe onewho endedup apologizing.
I do feel bad because I almost feel ecstatic that I may never talk to her again. I wont have to walk on eggshell or jump through hoops or basically have any worry. Now dont get me wrong, not every minute with her was bad. She had her good streaks too. For a short period we even had fairly decent relationship. I thought my mom had changed once she was put on her medicine for bipolar. I miss those times. It tears me up because I want a health relationship so bad.
But now I have a son of my own and she doesn't take my parenting seriously. She was upset that I was having a boy rather than a girl. She got mad when I took his bottle away and started using sippy cups (when the pediatrician said) as well as his binky. I told her that I dont want her smoking around my son and she did it anyways. Then my youngest brother gets onto me saying it's sad that I force my mom to smoke outside at her own home and that she has smoked around us our whole life and we are fine. I care and love my son so much, he is my world. I will do anything to protect him. Even if that means saving him from an unhealthy relationship from his grandmother.
I just feel like I can never win and as if I will always come out in the wrong. Has anyone experienced something like this situation? What did you do in these types of situations? How do you heal and not feel so crazy?