Hey besties of reddit! Haven't been on here before, but wanted to invite you to join the Corvallis Creative Cooperative, my community building organization. We've mostly been organizing on Facebook, where we have about 800 members, but I’ve been running into more and more people around town who aren’t on there but have been hearing about us and are interested in taking part. So - maybe you're one of them! You're welcome to check out our website (www.corvalliscreativecooperative.com), but here's a quick rundown.
I don't have a real short version of what we do, other than the phrases "community building" and "Friendship is Magic", because we do a lot. I run about 20 events a week, from support groups to walking groups to communal cooking to a potluck to movie night to tabletop games and plenty more. We’re starting up a community farm on one of our member’s properties. I’m working on a cooperative housing project, to make sure that everyone in our group has a safe home that they can afford to live in (that’s an ambitious one, but we’ll get there). We have a burgeoning home business cooperative, and I’ve set up a community workshop in my home that people can come use to make whatever they want.
There’s more, of course, but that’s a few of the things we do.
The most important part of this isn’t really the things we do, though: it’s the people we bring together. What ties all of our events and projects together is my conviction that we fundamentally need each other, not just to be happy and healthy, but to be human. The general reckoning is that this is the most isolated time in human history. We have a tremendous amount of loneliness, social anxiety, and related mental and physical health struggles. Even for people who are doing relatively well, the kinds of tight-knit, interdependent communities that humans have formed for most of history are very much a thing of the past.
I’m trying to bring that kind of community back - and it has been delightful and shocking to see how many people have been excited to join in. I hope you’ll be one of them.
Before I get on to other things, wanted to share my personal favorite event we do: Upward Spiral. This is basically our anti-death spiral group, where we sit down, figure out goals and problems that people in the group want to work towards, and then help each other make our lives healthier and happier in real, material ways. That’s what friends are for, right? We had our first meeting for that group yesterday, and all seven people who took part came out of it with some pretty high impact solutions - new places to live, support with mental health struggles, helpers to organize their home; that kind of stuff. We all have different strengths and resources, and nothing warms my heart like seeing something one person struggles with get done by someone it's easy breezy for.
If you have any questions, or just want to talk, my number is 541-740-1452. My name’s Robbie, and we’re not just friends - we’re besties, bestie!

Third person POV:
It was a calm day in the Menumen empire. Lya was sitting on her throne and tending to the issues of her empire. Her seers had warned her of a possible slave rebellion that might take place in about a century. She obviously couldn't let something like that happen.
Lya turned her attention to her minister of human resources.
"Hear my decree, from this day onwards all slves shall-„
A guard burst into the room and fell to his knees in front of her.
"Yes?“
Lya inquired.
"Your majesty! There is a destroyer rampaging through the south eastern regions!“
"I see...I shall attend to this myself. Execute this guard, he has conducted himself improperly.“
Despite her words, a wide smile fell on the guards face.
"Thank you, your majesty! It is an honor!“
Lya rose from her throne and walked past the man, unimpressed by his devotion, paying him no further mind.
Meanwhile, in another part of the castle:
No sound was heard, as Delorem's many tentacles ripped apart the floor of the lower guards barrack's bathroom, the silence spell working as intended.
With a wave of their hand, Delorem dispelled the magic and rose from the hole, with Whisper following right behind him.
Mars POV:
I was in my cell.
“It’s been… how long has it been? I don’t remember…”
Im severely bruised and injured. My tail is limp, jagged, bent in multiple places, and dragging across the floor. There seems to be no magic coming out from me, around my neck is some sort of collar. I’m heavily bruised, malnourished, and frail looking. I look half dead.
Thirteen seconds…
7 seconds
5
4
3
2-
Before I could finish, the sounds of a guard walking past the cell could be heard, his loud but bored sounds of his patrol echoing out.
I whisper to myself
"I have 49 seconds.“
I attempt to crank up my perception, but halts just when it gets to the end of the hall. All this torture was starting to affect me. I gather the ambient fire mana into my fingertips, and make a small burning blade aura out of it. I begin cutting the bars…
30 seconds…
I make it through the first bar, two more to go.
25 seconds left…
I manage to saw through the other bars, and gathering whatever remains of the ambient mana, I cast a small illusion, covering up the bars and making it look like im sitting inside. I limp away, down the hall.
Damn stupid maze. 15 seconds…
”when I was first brought here, I attempted to remember the paths with my sense, but the pain made it quite hard to remember much of anything. Now I can’t see very far…”
I found a corner I know the guard won’t check. I’m out of breath. My body feeling weak and heavy.
Not… yet… I'm… almost… there…
I walk down the path I choose in the dungeon. Making turns wherever I saw fit. I didn’t seem to have a destination in mind. I was going in blind
I… … need… … to… … hold… … ou-
finally, at a four way intersection, I collapse to the ground of exhaustion. Alone. I’m far away from where the guards frequent.
I’ve fallen completely unconscious.
Third Person POV:
Thud
Yet another guard fell to the ground, his heart pierced by one of Delorem’s blade tipped tentacles.
Thud
The guard at the other end of the archway the two guards had been stationed at fell as well, his throat pierced by his own shadow at Whisper’s command.
Delorem waved their hand, dispelling yet another silence spell. They turned to Whisper.
„There are more guards stationed in this area then there used to be…I guess it makes sense she would have changed things at least once after 3000 years…"
"That is some very old intel Delorem. I am surprised the whole structure has not changed since then. I sense one around the corner and several above and below us.“
Whisper replied.
„My mother has a tendency to stagnate. She hasn’t even changed her- Do you feel that?“
"I feel many presences. Which one are you referring to?“
„Below us, the unconscious one. I think that’s Mars!“
"I will cover you if you want to head on in for retrieval.“
„Thank you. Take care of any guards that show up.“
For a moment, Delorem’s eyes were lit up by a dense array of golden runes, as silence fell over the area once more.
Delorem’s tentacles shot forwards, dairying into the ground as if it was made from styrofoam, throwing away pieces of debris as Delorem dug through the ground..
Then, a stone was flung too far, landing beyond the silence spell’s influence, the sound of its impact loudly echoing throughout the previously quiet halls of the castle.
„Shit.“
Delorem soundlessly mouthed.
"A patrol is coming to inspect. I will intercept.“
Whisper telepathically informed Delorem as she rushed off. Delorem simply replied with a feeling of approval as they continued to tear through the floor.
Soon screams rang out from the other side of the hall. None of the guards stood a chance.
Finally Delorem broke through the floor, allowing themself to fall into the newly made hole, Whisper following them seconds later.
Delorem landed on the floor, just a few meters in front of the unconscious Mars.
„That’s him! He must have made it out of his cell somehow.“
Whisper reached out telepathically: "Guards are down. What is happening on your end?“
„I found him. Let’s get out of this cursed place.“
Delorem rose from the floor and floated back up through the hole.
„Alright, we should have some time until-„
Suddenly, the sound of hundreds of trumpets could be heard, a fanfare to announce the arrival of someone of high status. The empress had returned.
„RUN!“
…
A few minutes later, Lyadria Menumen stood at the hole in the floor of her castle, the man who had brought her the news of her captives escape lying on the ground next to her, his head completely liquified.
Yet, on Lya’s face, there was not a hint of anger, only a sadistic smile.
/uw big thanks to everyone who took part!

Hello. I am in the process of applying for Meng program here at UBCO. I have met all of the requirements outlined for the program with the exception of my English proficiency test.
I decided to take the Duolingo English test. For the master they ask a 125 minimum overall score, with no section less than 115. I scored 125 overall (125 Literacy, 135 Comprehension, 120 conversation and 105 production).
As you can see my 125 overall meets the requirements but I have fallen just short in the production section with less than 115.
I want to know if it’s still worth applying and if I may still have a chance with admission into the course? I am very close to the deadline for the upcoming fall intake and I need to apply early next week.
I would appreciate if someone can give me advice. Thank you!

Hey! So, the one big issue with my resume right now is the bullet points. I'm not including the right details or doing STAXYZ/CAR correctly. So I went into a google doc, arranged the stuff into boxes and highlighted it before turning it into sentences. I'm going to share everything I have created and then share context to see if there's anything I can do to change them, how I can make them sound better, etc before I try applying it to a resume and posting. Sorry about how long it's going to be. If you only want to look at one bullet point that's fine and I appreciate it! I'm just struggling to make these and even after reading through the wiki and looking at success stories I'm still not including what I need to. I'll just do the work section for now and hopefully I'll get a hang of it so I can replicate it on the project sections. If you want to see the project sections I can always edit the post to add them :)
Section 1: Work
'‘Fabricated thermocouples and RTDs according to company or customer provided engineering schematics using a variety of shop methods in order to get the products to the customers on time or early’ [STAR]
‘Updated, corrected, or clarified company engineering drawings using SolidWorks or Autodesk depending on original file type in order to meet customer needs and maintain standards’ [CAR]
Increased the quality of parts being sent out by 25% by using various inspection methods and tools such as calipers, thermometers, pyrometers, and multimeters’ [XYZ]
‘Repaired shop equipment as needed allowing products to be generated with minimum downtime by using root cause analysis, hands-on repair skills, and lock-out for safety’ [XYZ]'
For my job, I create thermocouples and RTDs- small electronic parts. Also the thermowells and ceramic tubing that protects them. It's mainly shop work with TIG, Micro, and Hydrogen welding, oxy-acetylene brazing, sandblasting, mills, lathes, belt sanders, wire wheels, hydraulic tube bearers and what's essentially a horizontal impact hammer used to get MgO out of the tubing to get to internal wiring. When I graduated I was titled 'engineer' but I still do mostly the same things, just with the added responsibility of fixing shitty 3D drawings that are outdated, need a change, or just outright bad and confusing to read. I also will do quality control on parts shipping out and I'll take measurements with pyrometers, multimeters, and calipers in order to make sure that the parts were built to spec and are working (and look good and have the correct quantity). I also have to fix various machines as they break, though I do have help with that. And I was responsible for setting up the brand new hydrogen welder. Have been learning coding on the 5D cnc mill but I'm not listing that since the last time I did it was high school, though I do know how to do it just not that well.
Sorry that's a lot to read. Thanks for the help!! I really do want to do this right and get a job.

I find myself getting worked up and angry because of what I see online… And people’s views on not only bariatric surgery, but anything related to weight loss intervention (Ozempic and such).
I think we all want to feel valid, so I understand not listening to what other people think, but what I do see still bothers me. I’m down 70 pounds now since the start of March and every aspect of my life has gotten better. I walk/run 3 miles everyday. I haven’t cheated and have stuck to the instruction of my bariatric team to the letter. I look fantastic and quite frankly… I’m proud of myself. No being humble about it.
However, Instagram and TikTok’s algorithm have been feeding me more health related content lately, and when I look in the comment section for inspiration or stories or anything related… especially on Instagram… it’s overwhelmingly negative. Why is being overweight a demon that people seem to have little to no sympathy for… when other addictions get a pass, we’re treated like trash? There’s legitimate people out there who think we should bully and shame people into being fit. There’s a mindset that if you don’t do it like some influencer who followed some fad trend diet like 75 hard… or if you’re not this Goggins guy… or if you aren’t some super athlete… then you aren’t valid?
People are just… nasty. If you did anything to take control of your life that isn’t ultra traditional, then according to people online in certain spaces, you’re a cheater, fraud, undisciplined, and a quitter. I want to be as proud of myself as I can be, but it’s just depressing to me to see those things. It makes me question everything I’ve been through my entire life when it came to my weight. Other people’s opinions shouldn’t matter to me, but how can I be open about my surgery if this is how people act as soon as they’re veiled by online anonymity? How can I trust anyone isn’t talking behind my back about how I’m a fraud… with how many people act like that online?
It’s just upsetting to me. I don’t know. How do you tone those overwhelmingly negative voices out? For now… I deleted TikTok and Instagram. I don’t need to see that stuff anymore.
TL;DR - People are toxic online when it comes to sleeve or any other weight loss intervention, and that negativity is getting to me.

I feel like the only way we can truly move on is if we don’t contact each other anymore. It’s not any animosity towards you whatsoever. I think we have to mourn the living. I don’t want you to feel like you have to check in on me from time to time out of guilt or if it’s simply from the goodness of your heart. I know you care. Tell yourself that this is about you now, figuring out what you want in life and growing into who you’re meant to be. Fighting these inner demons that have caused you to self sabotage. And to also understand why our relationship didn’t work out because of the uncertainties you had about yourself. It’s unfortunate for us to have ended in order for you to get here but this is YOUR journey now to venture. I’m not waiting for you to change because I’m working on MY healing journey too. It’s only been 2 months since and this is the hardest break up I’ve ever dealt in my life because I lost my best friend and also someone I thought I could trust with my heart till the end. I’ve never been hurt like this before. It still pains me and will take a lot of time. All I hoped for was a lifetime partner because after 5+ years, where else would our relationship have gone? Ultimately we want to grow into the best versions of ourselves with or without each other. I have so much love for you and only want the best. If not in this universe, I hope we find each other in the next.

I’ve been trying to reconcile with my WH since dday 2 (almost 3 months ago). I feel like I can’t do it anymore. I can’t get the messages out of my mind. I can’t help but feel like I don’t know it all even though he swears I do. I feel like he has cheated more than what I know of. He has tried to do everything right since I found out. Stopped drinking, worked on himself, got us into MC, etc. I hate MC. At first it was one of my rules for staying together but the more we go the more I just want to leave. I can’t live my life wondering when it’s going to happen again. I just feel so guilty for wanting to leave while he’s actually trying to fix this. It just sucks that it took him cheating multiple times to actually want to work on us. How do you know when you’re ready? Every time I feel like I’m ready to pack my car up and leave I get this overwhelming feeling of guilt for wanting to leave. I don’t want to hurt him like he’s hurt me. We have a baby together, 9 month old. I don’t want to take his baby from him but I just can’t be with him anymore. We can’t be a happy family. I’m not happy. How do you know when you’re ready? How do I stop feeling so guilty for wanting to do what feels like the right thing for me? We have only been married for a little over a year, together for almost 2.5 years. There were only about 7 months combined that he wasn’t cheating on me in some way shape or form. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you for letting me get this all out and sorry it was everywhere.

I have a pretty good relationship with my mom. We butt heads sometimes but she’s usually pretty reasonable. I’m living with my parents right now because I have a chronic illness and I’m working on getting on my feet and then moving out. I have a mental illness. I’m super healthy and have a bunch of healthy habits. I’m not a toxic person like the stereotype, I just struggle and I make sure to help my parents out as much as I can while I’m here. Just two months ago I was hallucinating so I’m on new medication. It’s working really well and I’m doing good. I go to my bipolar support group, I have a therapist and psychiatrist, I take medication. I’m on my shit bc I have to be. I never take my issues out on my parents.
(I know there will be people who blame me or judge me for having a mental disability so if you are going to do that, please don’t)
My mom has been sober for 30 years. Before that she was a mess, she’s told me intense stories. She’s very much involved with AA. She’s pretty high up there, she does speaker meanings in front of hundreds of people, all her friends are sober, her brother is sober, and she still goes to meetings regularly. Honestly, I am so grateful and proud of her sobriety. I know AA has helped her. I am super proud of her. She helps people. I just think she might need actual therapy instead of just AA work.
The thing is, she thinks everyone is an alcoholic. She can be very harsh sometimes. Ever since I started drinking alcohol as an adult, she has judged me. I definitely don’t have a drinking or drug problem. I drink maybe 2-3 times a month, a couple of glasses of beer or wine that’s it. I don’t even drink liquor. I’m happy with just a couple beers. I haven’t been blacked out since I was a teenager and I can’t remember the last time I had a hangover.
The thing is (which isn’t my main issue there’s more to this story) she literally judges me so hard if I ever drink or she hears about me drinking. We can be at dinner with the family, I’ll order a glass of cab to go with my pasta, and she will give me dirty looks and make comments. I’ve been dealing with this for 10 years. The one time I was hungover a long time ago I was vomiting, and she gave me so much grief and was like “wow you drank so much you are sick” and won’t leave me alone. At family functions I’ll have a beer with my cousins and she just vibes me so hard. She treats me like I have a serious drinking problem when I clearly don’t. For 10 years she gets shitty with me if she sees me even have one beer.
Well two days ago I had a great beach day. The beach was empty, my dog and I walked for miles, we ran into an old friend. It was such a good day. I deal with depression a lot so I treasure my good days. I was so sad that my day got ruined because of her.
On the way home I got a tall coors light bc it sounded nice after my beach day. I came home, super happy, talking to my parents, making jokes. I made some food, cleaned up the kitchen, did dishes and went to go to my room. we were walking to our rooms at the same time. As I began to say goodnight to my mom, she turned around, stared at the beer and me and gave me a nasty look. The thing about my mom she often lies, if she says something fucked up and I point it out she will lie . She does these lies and it’s so obvious.
After she gave me that nasty look, I calmly said “I’m 30 years old, I’m allowed to have a beer, don’t judge me”. Then she lied and said I was looking at your glasses. Gaslighting me. I told her, no you weren’t. You gave me a look because I have a beer. She denied it and I said “liar”. She lost her shit. She started saying you’re calling me a liar!!!! And started yelling at me. I stood my ground and said you were lying and I don’t appreciate being treated like that, you gave me a look about my beer. Shehe even admitted it and said that yes I saw you had a tall beer (she said tall as if that means something) and she continued to lie and said I was looking at your glasses too. I retreated to my room bc I didn’t want to have a full blown argument. She followed me.
The thing about my mom, when she is super upset she comes super close to me aggressively, like what people do when they are about to fight.
She came into my room and was yelling at me, saying over and over you called me a liar. She got in my face aggressively. I told her many times to get out of my face. It’s like she was trying to get me to fight her. She kept getting closer and closer until I was up against the wall. I was being rational and saying it’s not okay to treat me like this and she kept mocking me. Over and over, while inches from my face when she had me cornered. She wouldn’t listen and move.
We have a power imbalance in our relationship bc while I recover and get stable, they help me with gas sometimes or things like ordering contacts, or I’ll use it to pick up things for her or stuff like paying when I took her cat to the vet. I pet sit and pay for my bills. She gave me a credit card to keep with me just in case. I barely ever use it, usually just for gas id she says it’s okay. I’ve expressed my gratitude many times that they are helping me, while also sharing how embarassed and ashamed I am to lean on my parents and live at home for now. This hasn’t been how it was forever, I lived alone for 9 years in Northern CA. I just needed time to get more stable and save money, and have a place to live while I go to my appointments.
So she was hysterical freaking out, mocking me and getting aggressive. She all of a sudden yelled give me thee credit card now!! I barely ever use it, I don’t give a fuck about the card, she brought it up to throw the money thing in my face even though she knows how humbling it is for me to rely on them.
I said I’m not giving it to you until you get out of my face. She then grabbed my phone and said fine will your not getting your phone tonight. I said I don’t care about the card and you don’t get to treat me like this. She then ran to her office to cancel the card online. I followed her to get my phone back and got my wallet. She was hysterical yelling at me at her computer, and mocking every single thing I said. She twisted my words around. She also then said “Wow what’s going on with you tonight?” Alluding that I was being mentally ill or unstable, which she knew I wasn’t she just threw the good ol “wow have you taken your meds” to do a low blow about my mental illness. That in itself is so hurtful bc they know how much I’ve struggled with this. I told her I’m not giving you the card until you give me my phone. She got up and cornered me again. She got so close to me aggressively and I just kept telling her to back up. She got me against a wall again. Then she hit me multiple times, and I softly but firmly put my knee up and pushed to get her off me. I threw the card at her desk. I was saying that the card has nothing to do with this, you just brought that up to make me feel bad, you are so toxic, I did nothing wrong. She continued mocking me. I left and went into the bathroom and she finally left. I cried a lot in the shower.
I just treated her to a great Mother’s Day. We had a great time. It made me so sad and so hurtful she treated me like this. It keeps replaying in my head and I can’t believe she got so physical with me and hit me. The mocking, gaslighting, lies. Alluding that I was having an episode… that one hurt a lot. She didn’t say it genuinely she said it as an insult. All over a coors light. Her behavior was so toxic. I am hurt. I can’t believe she hit me.
I want to forgive her but I can’t bring myself to. I really don’t want to talk to her at all. She apologized over text but never in person. I’ve been avoiding her. Tonight, I was in the living room and she turned off the lights , I said don’t turn off the lights I’m in here. She coldly said “I don’t care”.
I need to wait to move out til my meds are stabilized and I saved the money. I’m a good roommate, I help them a lot. I miss living alone.
How do I move on from this? Where do I go from here? What should I say to her?

Michael. Hello. I've only discovered your presence recently; and I've only recently discovered your very confident style of presenting creative content. And it's great, I love it!
The thing is. I have a problem, and I genuinely need your help. I've spent the last 7 days catching up on your Twitch videos, your YouTube clips, grabbing hold of all your social media updates so I can keep track of that 1,000mph mind of yours. But I have a question, a question I'm which I'm routinely mocked for.
I'm a Java developer. Yeah, a woolly mammoth! Heh. I can't join in with the Java hate as I think Java is great. But it's very so uncool to say so. But it's true.
What, in your esteem, would be the best language for me to move onto learning (taking into account I'm already deep-diving Kotlin for Android development). I'm asking in a beer-chat in a bar, casual way, not a needy "please tell me why my life sucks *sad face* , *sad face* way!"
What language do you recommend as a top-tier choice to dive into. Cheers man.

I was driving in my car when I thought of the silent hill games and after 4 they went really down hill (pun intended) mostly picking ideals that could have worked but fail short due to execution and how they handle characters but enough of that you came the idea well I want to make a silent hill game were there are 4 characters you play as each with a unique style of play and character the first being Xìngcún zhě a Chinese grandma from world War 2 that was a survivor of the Japanese invasion lookingfor her grandson, an ex mexican carlet man name Joel that is looking for his daughter, a widowed wife named sana that came to buried her husband ashes in his home town of silent hill that turns out her husband was suffering from depression, Jericho a paranormal explorer that has seeked out silent hill foe the mystery and the last request of his best friend memory
Each character will start in different locations of silent hill to there own perspective troubles and each character will different monsters they deal with that is the manifestation of them pain and trauma but each will have a different way of dealing with enemy's Xìngcún zhě for examples for instance is really to old for combat bur she is clever she knows how to useful tricks and traps to take care of enemy and more stealth based, Joel is more obvious knifes and guns and aggressive style of fighting, Sana is also different she is also fighter however the ashes of her late husband can manifest into humanoid creature protecting her from monsters and helping her with situations that require alot of strength, Jericho has a way of combating the obstacles by using the equipment he brought to silent hill his EMF or sprit box can be use to frequency that can repel and anger enemies and a book of spells which he'll find in the beginning in the building to fight and navigate through the section of silent hill
Each character gets about 8 levels that can cross and interact with the other characters in the game and there going to be a choices in game on how to deal with some bosses and decisions that would eventually determine weather you get a good ending or not
I'm still working on the idea in my head for fun but that's all I got for now at least

So it's me again, back for another rant! Life is tough, and I don't have anyone I can talk to. I'm just so tired of the way things are!
Last night me and my bestie decided to have a few drinks and just unwind, it was actually a lot of fun. We had some drinks and sang along to some music, it was overall just great. Unfortunately if everything went good, it wouldn't be much of a rant would it. The night was going fine, I had 3 cans of Mike's Hard Black cherry (super yummy and definitely recommend it) and I had 2 glasses of rum & coke, so nothing all that crazy for me compared to how much I have drank in the past. Around 3am I got hit with some mild chest pain...
The chest pain turned into a really intense pressure through my chest that ended up radiating through my back, it was nothing like what I've felt before, I get stress chest pains and honestly this experience made them seem somehow diminished in comparison. As the pain got worse I noticed I was having trouble breathing, it got so bad that I started getting nervous. Within 20 minutes of the chest pains starting I got genuinely scared and asked my bestie to take me to the hospital, anyone who knows me knows that I will avoid it at all cost so she knew that it had to be serious enough. She went into panic mode and in spite of everything I managed to stay calm and take control of the situation. As we pulled into the hospital parking lot I started feeling an almost primal fear, the type of fear you get when you think you're truly about to die.
I got to the front desk and was immediately told to come in and take vitals, they couldn't get a BP despite having the cuff on my arm for about 10 minutes, she finally gave up and asked me the usual questions about pain and stuff. Weirdly enough my arms decided to shift between pain and numbness and I suddenly started slurring while trying to explain myself, that was when all "care" was off limits to me. Our hospital has a bad habit of sweeping people under the rug if they even remotely suspect alcohol use, but the thing is I was fine moments before going in... I was perfectly coherent and I actually felt completely sober thanks probably to adrenaline or fear. I was sent back to the waiting area and told to just wait my turn, and things went from bad to worse quickly.
I didn't know that I had passed out, my bestie filled in the blanks for me. Apparently while we sat there waiting I kept coughing roughly, my eyes rolled to the back of my head, and apparently I kept making weird movements with my tongue sticking out. She said the best way of describing it is "I was behaving like I'd been severely drugged and suddenly seemed to spiral quickly". When I came too I was still in the waiting room, freezing, in severe pain (I don't do well in cold environments and the hospital is always freezing), and feeling just beyond exhausted. When I asked her about if we were even checked on she confirmed my thoughts... we were left there, away from other patients, out of sight of anyone who could help if things got deadly.
After managing to stand up I looked at my bestie and said that I didn't want to be there anymore because no one cared about me, she agreed with me on the terms that if anything else happened we'd go back immediately. When I went back to triage to tell them I was leaving the nurse gave me a smug look and asked if I was feeling better or do I just want to leave, so I answered with "better isn't the word I'd use but dying at home seems like a better option". She ripped the IV plug out of my arm (which I frankly don't remember having one inserted), and told me to have a good day. I felt so angry! The experience triggered my PTSD from the last time I went to the hospital (long story short, I was kept isolated in a room soaking wet and freezing until the department I needed decided to take me in).
I could have died, and no one would've cared because they suspected I was drunk!!! What if no one came to check on me at all?! What if they only found out I died because my bestie couldn't wake me?! Would they have maybe cared than? Or would they have just said "oh well she drank"? It's infuriating to be treated like nothing just because there was a little bit of alcohol involved, like I said I wasn't drunk and actually felt sober! My condition deteriorated rapidly over the course of a 5 minute car ride. I spent the whole day just feeling rough!
After we left the hospital my body just doesn't feel right. My chest feels fuzzy/bubbly, I don't know how to better describe the feeling as well as feeling tight. My breathing still feels really labored like it's taking a lot of effort to just keep going, and small things are leaving me feeling winded. All day I couldn't shake this weird chronic fatigue, I'm just drained of all energy. And I've been noticing my arms go completely numb if I lean on them, which is super alarming. As long as nothing else happens in between I'm planning on following up with my doctor because at least she's taking me seriously, if something else does happen though were gonna take the 3+ hour drive to the next nearest hospital. The scary thing is, that weird primal fear still hasn't gone away and I'm nervous about that!

This is my first shot at this. My original goal was to just create a local copy that can be used in a browser even if your offline, but u/olegccc's comment in https://www.reddit.com/ex30/comments/1cv3v2t/pdf_user_manual/ gave me the idea to generate a PDF from it.
It's already pretty usable, but still more like a proof-of-concept, than a polished end result.
The PDF was created with the following steps:

1. Download a copy (local mirror) of the online manual. I used wget for now, but it's far from perfect (the mirroring process is quite error prone).
2. Process/modify the downloaded copy so it doesn't reference www.volvocars.com. I.e. make the copy self-contained, so it works even if offline.
3. Remove all JavaScript. This was easier than to solve the issues with burned-in hostnames and/or absolute URLs. For a PDF the JS code is not needed anyway.
4. Test in browsers via a local HTTP server (actually I just used Python's built-in HTTP server).
5. Generate a new "index-single-page.html" by using the start (mostly the ) from index.html, then adding the contents of the tags from all pages (index.html, software-release-notes, article/*).
6. Add CSS page breaks between all pages, this makes the PDF more readable.
7. Close the HTML (i.e. add a "").
8. Open the new "index-single-page.html" page in a browser and save as PDF.

I've created two versions of the PDF from the same HTML source. One with Firefox and one with Chrome.

• Firefox: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Fi0qqG5QzC0tqMqHCPv-SbwNJclrXNYview?usp=drive_link
• Chrome: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bBAYXRqFu9ImeuaKA3Qq-UvpiqCsjmWg/view?usp=drive_link

Both are based on a snapshot of the UK user manual, saved on 2024-04-29.
Known issues:

1. I've inserted page breaks before every manual page, but Firefox doesn't honor the first one (i.e. the one between the ToC and the "Software updates" pages). Chrome has no such issue.
2. There're a number of mp4 movie files in the manual, which the PDF rendering simply left empty (blank space). Later I'll take snapshots of these mp4 files and replace the video elements with them.
3. A couple of images are missing. I used wget to create a local mirror of the manual and there were some issues, it's not very robust, especially when volvocars.com starts to throttle the download (i.e. starts to send HTTP 4xx responses after a couple of hundred requests). Wget is not great at continuing an aborted mirroring session either. I'll try to look for a better tool for mirroring/saving the online manual.

Let me know what you think, what other issues/bugs you find, etc.

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/i2JBmRE (measurements are optic center line above the top of pic rail when mounted)
prices include shipping and the 3.5% G&S fee
Low Salt Leupold Mark 4 CQ/T on ARMS #12 qd Mount $700 shipped
Never used, only mounted, Leupold Prismatic 1x14mm prisms. each $475 shipped
2 available $800 for both
If buying all 3 scopes $1500 $1425
Available with Box contents, hardware, and paperwork included. Both spacers will be included in each box.

• Please Note: I believe the unit on the 1.6" mount has its spacer epoxied into the scope body. 1.45" mount is otherwise normal.

If you dibs =>pay asking price. Dibs will take priority after which I can take offers.

As a writer, I have a conflicted relationship with commissions, but you’re here for the tea. Sorry if this is jumbled, but the client is an amalgamation of every bad commissioner that you have ever read about or that you may have worked for.
First, they ordered a writing commission, but during the first 5000 words they were surprised there was “too much” writing and reading. I told them from the start the first draft would be better off as a script so I could easily adapt into a novel, a D&D homebrew or whatever they desired. They originally had 60 PAGES of characters, but I have cut it down to 31 pages (so far). I gave them three simple ‘homework’ tasks to gather all the information I needed for the three parts of this commission. A plot summary (in bullet points) which took them four months because they insisted on writing it like a novel. The list of characters took six months (they are going back to remake EVERY character reference because it took them so long that the early references are out of date) and they fought me with every character we cut and they still haven’t sent me examples of how they want the D&D homebrew to be formatted. They say they have no idea what to look for as they knew nothing about D&D, but they blew me off for two years playing a D&D game with other friends using a D&D Beyond account ( I do not support Wizards of the Coast). For context, the bullet points took me 2 pages and 2 voice calls with the commissioner to summarize and the list of character names took 3 days and 3 voice calls to compile on Google Doc and move to Trello. What about my plan to script? He INSISTED that I, an expert in my field, should write the novel while he worked with a ‘friend’ of his on the D&D homebrew. Why would he need a script? He didn’t WANT a script.
Only a few weeks later, he ran back to me after being blown off by said ‘friend’, with the genius idea of having me write a script, novel and homebrew. His card is always empty whenever he pays for the next part of the commission because he spends it on $400 sketches and junk food. He refuses to listen when I say he doesn’t need 300+ characters. One of the stories he is plagiarizing is mine. My novel only has 27 characters (including a canine). We will be celebrating the 16 month anniversary of the commission by the time this is posted. He has nine days to finish the characters before I cancel. I’d rather live in my car again. Two hours ago he LITERALLY just made a FULL bio (in the description) with five full body outfits for a character that was deleted. He spent a month adding a shine texture to an npc's tiddies.
After making me wait for 16 months, he has the AUDACITY to get angry at me when I was offline for an emergency and I could only make one of our two commission vcs. Now he’s using the deaths of friend(s) caused by recent global tensions to ADD more characters. Why do you NEED to keep your brother’s ocs? To kill them? Delete them! This psycho has a history of making fictional versions of people who he perceives as having wronged him to kill and/or torture them graphically. Do you really need an entire MONTH? You won’t recycle two characters (that don’t belong to your brother) to fit VITAL roles but you proceed to make two random characters FROM SCRATCH that have nothing to do with those roles. Or last month I asked him for a list of 8 damage modifiers (8 digits) he replied in 12 minutes. This task previously took him an ENTIRE month because he was ‘busy’ with maps (in reality he was blowing up on a ‘friend’ who turned down his art commission on Discord and watching videos). This client is too lazy to browse with Google but he deliberately makes changes in complex organization software to disobey me. I am going to die before this torture ends! Would I be the a–hole if I put a stop to this nightmare?
It’s happening! Finished or not, the commission ends on my birthday (May 24). I am sick or getting “Okay.” every time I ask him a question about his commission.
Just when I thought I was in the clear, he drops a D&D manual of dice rolling, resting and training mechanics, skill trees and a point buy system he has NEVER mentioned predating these 16 months; all the way back to when we met (2012). He does this the week that I am “finishing” the commission. Did I mention that he has “accidently” erased the maps through his own bad habits. ARGGHH! He’s got until Monday. I don’t care if he pays me one last time. I can’t live like this.
FREEEEEEEEEEEDOM! After 16 months and two weeks.
Since I had writer’s block and another traditional art friend was suffering from art block we decided to remake some of each other's characters in our styles. The subject of this post got excited to join us. What kind of a--holes would we be if we gate kept something this trivial? I remade nine of the subject of this post's characters in my style (in two days). We both use the same program for the same amount of years, but we have developed wildly different styles. Will I ever learn? He spent the whole stream telling me their sweaters were wrong, he disliked the ribbon in one of the girl’s hair because it was too big, asking why do all of the girls have the same stockings (while wearing school uniforms) and why they do not have the exact same skin tones (despite me using the eyedroppecolour picker to show him the neon colours (one background character has eight colours in their hair) he chose in his style does not work with my duller, minimalist palette. Did you ask for me to copy your style or use my own style? After they were done, he listed all of his (multiple) issues with them like nine college essays. I can take criticism, but I had to force one compliment (one word per character) out of him. His criticisms regarded me adapting elements from the references that HE sent me. 90% was negative and 10% positive. Naturally the subject of this post still has not even thought about which character of mine he'd like to remake, but even professionals cannot unravel the web of things this person has done to avoid me even in situations when I am the center of the conversation/activity. I was unsure where to post this since this rant is a bit of most subreddits that I enjoy. Thank you for reading! I have mountains of experiences to share from freelancing and I will have many more in the future.

I have written countless posts in this community, but erased every word before posting every time. I’m posting this time. I’m doing it because I have a problem. My rationalizing addict-brain can’t deny it or stop me from posting here anymore.
I broke my streak again yesterday. My SO was at a concert and I was meeting up with a couple of friends in the sun. You know how it is, history is repeating itself as it has so many times before. The weather is great and everyone is drinking. You rationalize having a couple of beers in the sun with your friends, because that’s what everyone does, right?
One thing leads to another and before you know it, you’ve not only had the beers you brought, but also sparkling wine, rosé and a cocktail. The fucked up thing is that that everything seems normal on the surface. Everyone is doing it, and it didn’t even lead to any disasters this time.
Anyway, you find yourself trying to sound sober when your SO calls after her concert. Why? She will find out whether you sound sober or not. Forgets half of the night. Fun right? This is what everyone else does.
Fell asleep last night before my SO came home. Woke up 5 am this morning and I’m now lying awake with the worst anxiety. How do I explain drinking last night when she wakes up?I mean, after having praised sobriety and explaining in detail how it has served me well during the last weeks and months. It makes me feel totally fucking worthless.
I don’t even know where I’m going with this. It feels like I could write forever without telling you guys what’s on my mind. It’s just fucking sickening how you can rationalize drinking every damn time you relapse. The truth is that I can’t trust myself and once again it hurts so bad.
I guess the only thing I can do is tell you that I will not drink with you today. I’ll take it from there.

I recently came across Diamond Reserve and wanted to share some insights on how they operate, especially for those interested in lab-grown diamonds. Here’s a breakdown of their process:

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2. Certification: Every diamond they sell is certified by the IGI (International Geological Institute). This certification involves a thorough examination and evaluation of the gemstone to determine its quality and authenticity. Factors like color, clarity, cut, and carat weight, along with any treatments or enhancements, are considered. Each diamond also comes with an engraved serial number for added assurance.
3. Storage: Diamonds are securely stored in banks across Europe until they are redeemed by a customer.
4. Redemption and Shipping: When a customer redeems a diamond, it is extracted from storage and shipped via DHL courier services. Due to the complexities of handling diamonds, shipping can start from around 5 to 30 days after redemption and can take anywhere from 2 to 45 days to reach the customer’s location.

This meticulous process ensures that every diamond you receive from Diamond Reserve is of the highest quality and authenticity, making them a reliable choice for lab-grown diamonds.

I just started writing romance out of nowhere to procrastinate studying for my science and geo test but then I feel like I'm not doing it right (it's going down tragedy lane so hard it would take time travel or reincarnation to fix it but let's not talk about that). Please tell me if you can kinda feel the emotions (omg thats so cringe) in the text 'cos I can't feel anything when I'm reading it. And if there's any punctuation, spelling and/or grammar mistakes feel free to point that out too, as well as any feedback or analysis.
This is going to be a short story but it is not yet finished so I just took out a two hundred or so worded snippet. Have fun reading!

The Blindfolded Guillotine

Meeting you was a mistake. It tore your life into shreds and chained your fate to mine. But at the same time, meeting you was the best thing that has ever happened to me.
And meeting me was the worst thing that has ever happened to you.
I want to be selfish. I want to walk blindfolded down my mess of a road with you by my side. I want to fall to hell wrapped in your solid embrace. Because as long as you are here, even hell won't feel cold.
I want to destroy us both. So that even when I'm a pile of ashes on the ground, swept by the wind, I won't feel lonely.
But I love you, and while love is a drug for others, for someone like me, once is enough. So if I ever get a chance to do it again, I won't repeat the same mistakes. I won't take the wrong turn in the forest. I won't wake up that morning to see the sunrise. I won't get swept away by the crowd. And I won't meet you on that bridge. In your second life, you won't ever know a girl named Evelyn Jones, who loved you so much she would let herself burn alone for the sake of you living a happy life without her.
If I ever get a chance to do it again, in your second life, you won't ever learn of pain.
That night, two caged birds fell asleep holding each other's hands through the bars, making promises that shouldn't be kept, while dreading the sunrise they once scaled over walls to see. (Bet you finished reading it in less than a minute)

Hi
I am very much grateful to you for your swift response and I want to assure you that you will be gratefully rewarded for your concern. Though this mail might come to you as a surprise and the temptation to ignore it seriously could come into your mind. Please consider it a divine wish and accept it with a deep sense of humility as I seek your indulgence to solicit for your assistance concerning the content of my email because I know in my heart that you can be trusted. Please note that I found your contact email on Google email database while doing some search and you seem to be a reasonable person I can work with, because I needed a reliable and experienced person who can handle an investment worth $22 Million US Dollars.
INTRODUCTION: I am Mrs. Rula Ghani, born in 1948 and wife of the former Afghanistan President (Mr. Ashraf Ghani) whose throne/office was taken over by the Taliban on 15th August 2021 for political reasons. I am presently writing to you from the UAE where I and my husband have currently sought Asylum. I have been in emotional devastation after the assassination attempt on me and my husband in Afghanistan and because of the crisis in the Kabul city of Afghanistan. So, I am seeking your assistance in relocating the sum of $22,000,000 USD (Twenty-Two Million United State Dollars) from my foreign bank account in Jakarta, Indonesia to your Country so that the funds can be used for investment there in your Country and the funds can also be invested into your existing business if any.
I am trusting you with the sum of $22,000,000.00 USD (Twenty-Two Million United State Dollars) which will be transferred to you from my foreign Bank account in Jakarta, Indonesia. I am willing to share 60% / 40% of whatever profit that will be made from the investment. The funds can be invested into any profitable business of your choice and the investment has to be in your name since I will not be able to come there in person for now.
All I need is your absolute trust, commitment, honesty and confidentiality. Because you have to do all the transactions and the investment on my behalf since I am very far away. I advised that you kindly keep all our discussion and the transaction secret and confidential to ensure safe and uninterrupted transfer of funds. Be rest assured that the transaction is 100% legal because I and my husband had deposited the money in my foreign Bank account in Jakarta, Indonesia and the funds will be transferred to you legally on your readiness. I will instruct my bank to start the transfer process as soon as you are willing and ready.
Please note that whatever we are facing currently in Afghanistan are political matters and I know it was a plan from our political opponent. You may not understand this if you are not a politician. Anyway, I will enlighten you more on the political matter in future as I do not have much time to discuss politics at the moment.
Please think about the proposal very well and let me know your decision whether you are INTERESTED or NOT to enable me to proceed to the next step. If you are interested and agree to accept 60/40 sharing, kindly reply immediately so that I can provide you with more detail.
I am hoping to hear from you again and may God bless you for taking your time to read my letter.
Regards Mrs. Rula Ghani.

Hi there, sorry if incorrect format or misspellings I'm on mobile and in so much pain. So I had a marsupialization done on my left side on Thursday (it's now going on Sunday almost midnight) and when I first came home I didn't really feel much as I was pretty numb, and I was knocked completely out for this. Then on Friday I was in a lot of pain and the area was black I mean it looked like I had been burned so bad and had charcoal there. So I called the drs office and they told me to alternate between ibuprofen and tylenol along with my oxycoden. They gave me that because I regularly take hydrocodone for chronic pain issues. Normally she doesn't give "pain" meds. But they told me no baths, no soap, they didn't give me any antibiotics and basically no real instructions. Now I've dealt with this same cyst for 8 years. I had it drained twice in office about 8 years ago, it seemed to work but never fully went away. Then I got pregnant and when I gave birth I asked if she could drain it but she said no because of infection, okay I get that. I asked again at my 6 week appointment and she asked " well does it bother you?" And I said no it's just uncomfortable and that's all I ever heard from every dr until I recently said yes it does because it was so large I couldn't even put a finger in my vagina, like my vagina was non existence. Which leads me to here. Now today I was in so much pain. It's not really black anymore but it's super swollen and red and I can't sit or lay down it's miserable and sorry for tmi but it smells awful. I use a water bottle after I pee, I really need to do number 2, but I can't I even have taken stool softners and it's right there but because of the pain I physically can't get it out which just is awful. Please tell me some of your experiences with this. I feel this will not end. I miss playing with my son and hanging out with him, my mom is a big help as we live with her, but I just hate this and I feel like it's botched or something, I am bleeding but not a lot and it's a dark color and doesn't smell great (sorry tmi) what can I do to help with some of this pain? I do ice as they told me no heat at all. Also my inner thigh and left butt cheek hurt as well. Sorry for the long post. Thank you so much.

My boyfriend and I have been dating for over a year and a half. We had the conversation a while ago that I would only move in with someone if I was married to them. I’ve been in too many situations with past partners that have left me moving out after a breakup. We all know moving is never cheap and sometimes finding a place can be difficult. I wanted to make sure and protect myself this time around.
When things got serious, we started talking about our futures. I’ve had plenty of relationships that were not good/healthy… and being with him has been the complete opposite of anything I’ve ever had. I told him at that I knew and I was ready. We had been dating about 10 months at that point. He said he would like to date someone for at least a year and I understood.
Well, our one year anniversary was in October 2023. Then one day our conversation led to him saying he had proposed to his ex wife in December, so that month was out…. Fast forward to March 2024 and we were going on a 5 day trip to Vegas. Vegas was our first trip together as a couple back in 2024… so I thought just maybe… maybe he’ll ask! On the way to the airport, he says “just so that you know, I’m not planning on popping the question on this trip. I got my bonus just a couple of days ago and haven’t even been ring shopping.” Of course it’s not what I wanted to hear, but I understood. During the trip he pointed out several Tiffany stores we would pass by. By the 4th day, I started getting into a bad mood and went quiet. After thinking it over to myself, I eventually told him how I felt. I told him that from what I observed as his partner, when he wants to do something… he does it immediately. If he doesn’t, he beats around the bush and never gives a definite “no” answer. He said that even his friends get onto him about doing that.
So of course I said…. “It’s been a year. Over a year. Do you not want to marry me?” He said that wasn’t the case and it really was just waiting on his bonus. So then in a couple of weeks, he takes me to Tiffany’s and we pick out a ring, get it sized, and pick it up. Now I just wait.
My lease is up at the end of June so I had to go ahead and put in my 60 Day notice. We talked about it and we have both been excited. We bought bedroom furniture last weekend!
It’s been 2 months since he’s had the ring and still nothing. He knew how I felt about moving in together a while ago…. But still nothing. I feel like the conversation in Vegas pushed him to buy the ring. I almost feel as if I pushed him into furniture shopping (even though it was his idea, but just never pulled the trigger). Today, after work , I asked if he would like to do anything and even suggested some things. He came up with going to MicroCenter and then eating at Chuy’s afterwards so by then I knew it wasn’t going to happen again. 😔 So I got quiet. I told him never mind and that I wasn’t up for anything. I even later text him that I need some time to myself and even need to pause the moving in process.
I know this took him by surprise and he is very confused…. It hurts my heart but I don’t want to tell him about this because if he does propose soon, I will always think it’s because I pushed him to do it.
At this point I’m at a loss and don’t know how to navigate this.

I need to get inside the mind of someone that does this or understand this: My ex (first love who is now 27m) has been keeping up with my life on IG since we broke up 6 years ago. I keep in contact with his mom VIA Facebook, but other than that we don't talk at all. We last talked 3 years ago when we attempted to rekindle our relationship which went perfectly, but it's like he's scared of his own feelings so he disappeared and i had to confront him. Ended with both of us crying for different reasons. Still, I probably will always have a soft spot for him🤷🏾‍♀️ anyway, he is the very first person to like all my pictures and like all my post on my story. He doesn't actually use social media. He only has IG and uses for his business when necessary so he's never actually on it. No matter what time I post (2am, 4pm, 7:52am) he is the first to like it so I guess he gets notifications for my post? What the hell does that even mean? Why do that to someone you've let slip out of your life? I openly told him I'd take him back in a heartbeat since we broke up due his need to focus on his mental health at first. It was my choice to leave because he needed to get better. We tried 3 years later after he supposedly got better, but he didn't and I said he has a place in my life if he wants it as long as he focuses on getting better (i dont wanna go into detail about what better means). Idk...it's just weird. Why would he choose to watch me from afar? I would love to have him as my friend even. He's that important to me. I would like to understand the thought process here if anyone had any advice.
Im 26f now and I don't date since I'm in college and about to leave the country when I graduate so I'm not asking for dating purposes. I just want to understand if I can. Since I still hold a torch for this guy, I'd like understand him better. Thank you for reading🫶🏾