Gold rush did they get paid

So earlier there was an argument as we’re on holiday and my mum ‘f 43’ and her partner Jenna ‘f 37’ had a little argument over what we should do when I thought everything was already planned. That was that nothing major, but she ended up leaving for nearly two hours.
Me, my boyfriend and step brother (my mothers parters son) were sat around and Jenna started saying she’s had enough and not to repeat anything but she’s fed up of my mum being pissed off all the time. I thought that was going to be it but no… found out my mum takes all of Jenna’s money every time she gets paid and only gives her a TINY bit. My mum is always constantly buying things and everyone is always wondering how she has the money for it and turns out it’s hardly ever her money. Jenna has struggled and asked her own mother for help with gas and electric when they’ve ran out and her mum barely has anything herself when my mums had money and lied about it.
Jenna has started questioning where her moneys been going and as a joke picked up my mums phone and said she’s going to check her bank and my mum snatched her phone back and got pissed off but then tried to play it off as a joke. Jenna knew something was up and went to the ATM with my mums card and checked her bank and there was £800 in savings… definitely not my mums money, if any is then it’s barely any of hers.
She said my mum also came in a few weeks ago and dropped 1k in cash on the table, for bills I think. WHERE THE HELL DID SHE GET 1K?! But the thing is I’ve lent my mum HUNDREDS at a time to catch up on all her bills then I have to wait months for it to be paid back and then she’s back in grands of debt again with money that’s NOT hers and it’s not even HER paying it back it’s always 100% Jenna but I never knew this until today. She says she’s bought people things like on birthdays or Christmas but SHE hasn’t because it’s NOT HER money.
Jenna broke down crying saying that time they broke up for 5 days she had the time of her life by herself and said she doesn’t even want to marry her but im unsure if she’s still going ahead with the wedding. She said my mum controls every aspect of her life, I’ve witnessed today Jenna ask for permission to buy something. And she’s wanted food and my mum hasn’t got her it. My mum has bought takeaways for herself with JENNA’S MONEYA BUT NOTHING ACTUALLY FOR JENNA. I’ve heard Jenna say she wants this and that and my mum goes “with what money”. I think my mum gives her £40 a month out of £1.5k (ish).
I’m not even sure if that’s the worst bit but apparently my mum threatens suicide and forced Jenna to get back with her and one time not that king ago my mum said she’d taken quite a few tablets after an argument then later on emptied out another packed of tablets into the bin and acted like she had taken an overdose and after hysterics from Jenna she said she was joking and that sent Jenna over the edge.
I can’t even look at my mum the same. My mum says to Jenna she needs more money to spend on petrol for when I drive her places but guess what…? She never gives me the money she always says no and she never has any money. Fucking bold faced lie. I ask her for petrol and she says she doesn’t have it but Jenna’s constantly giving her petrol money for EVERY trip I take her on.
She controls Jenna’s house with her constant cleaning. No shoes, sure that’s fine, but Jenna doesn’t care. Wash your hands as soon as you walk in.. okay? Sure. But don’t touch certain things. She’s made Jenna stop smoking in her own house. Tells everyone not to vape even though Jenna doesn’t care but she says it’s Jenna when it’s actually her. She makes everyone constantly clean everything. After a trip to a hospital you have to strip off at the front door and shower head to toe and wash your hair. She makes Jenna clean everything when going out, like now, we’re on holiday and she made Jenna clean the place five times over in a row. Jenna said she doesn’t care and wouldn’t do any of this. I don’t think she knows how to leave because if the suicide threats and my mum showing up to her house early hours in the morning and not leaving when they have had a breakup. They’ve been together for about 11 years now.
I’m really truly at a loss as I thought my mum was one of the most lovely, nice, respectable woman, how do I go forward?
TLDR my mum is financially abusive by taking all of her partners money and not letting her buy anything and getting them grands and grands in debt, lying about savings and how much money she has and making suicidal threats when there’s an attempt to leave, her partner doesn’t know what to do and neither do I

Hi all, I finished the novel (chapter 400-401) after having read the Manhwa.
All in all I would give a 6/10 to this fiction, and a big disappointment (good early novel, bad late novel).
Here's why IMHO:
FULL SPOILERS AHEAD 👇

• I like the novel until the 40th floor. After that, it feels like the author got lazy and just wanted to rush the floors. Why make a 100-floor tower if you keep finding shortcuts so that MC can skip or speedrun the floors? Floors 40-50, Floors 50-60, Floors 90-99, etc etc (honestly I can't remember them all).
• It's overly emotional. It's just my opinion, but it was too much for me. I liked the "Romance" arc where he met Raviel. I think the arc with the trauma of Lefanta Aegim / Kim Yul was good too. But beyond that I was fed up with all the drama and misery and people feeling depressed or lonely or whatever for no reason. I found it whiny. It's like the single focus of the novel (the author explains it was indeed his goal in chapter 401 which is an Author Note). I think it's a culture thing, I often read Asian fictions (Japanese/Korean/Chinese) and they have a different culture around emotions. As a Westerner this just feels weird and exaggerated to me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I just want fights, I'm saying I felt the balance was off here.
• The actual end was anticlimactic. The author built up the MC's ambition of overthrowing the Tower Master because her way was "wrong" and he wanted to relieve her of her duties... But no, it all ends with a drink with MC, Sword Emperor, and Tower Master. MC becomes "an executive" of the tower and seems happy with it – talk about Korean life goals of becoming VP something at Samsung 🤦. There is no "big reveal" at the end. No victory either. In a sense no... Climax. The choice of revealing the Tower Master early was very bold, but then no surprise was left for the end? All the pillars got omitted at the end, no face-off, no nothing. The Tower did not change for a bit, still the same system, still the same everything.
• I have read very similar manhwas/novels, and in many ways SSS-Class was better (before chapter 40). For example the chapters 30-40 felt very original to me and I loved the whole idea. But I think SSS-class completely missed the Post-40th floor part of the story. For instance, Second Life Ranker (also a Tower-based story) does a way better job at building up climaxes and keeping a good pace. Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (not in a Tower but still a similar notion of "scenarios" that are like stages/levels) or Tower of God also do a better job with the pace IMHO.
• It's a shame this story was great in so many ways but too rushed and overly emotional IMHO.
• Still I want to extend my most sincere thanks to the Author Shin Noah (신노아) and to the translation team of [WeTriedTLS](https://wetriedtls.com/series/sss-class-hunter-who-dies-to-live), Shout out to the translator Ryuu and to the editor Abstract). The Author is now actually writing a new novel: "[I'm an Infinite Regressor, But I've Got Stories to Tell](https://wetriedtls.com/series/im-an-infinite-regressor-but-ive-got-stories-to-tell)". I don't plan on reading it now as I was disappointed by the previous one, but if there are good reviews (people telling the previous flaws of the author are now fixed) then I might give it a shot!

Thanks for reading all.
Would love to hear your opinion as well!

Me and a few of my friends decided to meet up the other day and after a few drinks started talking about weird things that happened to us during our high school years. One of them brought up the time I “technically” died and it got me thinking about it, so I decided write down what happened and share it with you guys.
I believe it was my junior year that it happened, the exact day is still kinda fuzzy to me. I played football since I was in 4th grade and it was a no brainer that I would do it in high school. I wasn’t any Tom Brady but I’ll say I was a pretty good center. I remember it was a night game cause the stadium lights were on and our running backs were complaining that they couldn’t see the ball because of the glare from them.
You know that feeling you get when you did something you weren’t supposed to do? Like when you lie to your parents or break something and try to hide it? That’s what I felt like the entire day before the game. Something felt wrong. Even minutes before the game while the usual R&B music played in the stadium speakers, it still felt wrong. I would know why a little later.
It was near the end of the 4th quarter, the play was called in the huddle, we lined up, ball snapped and…nothing. Everything was dark, I could hear talking and some screaming but eventually it faded out. I felt like I couldn’t move, kinda like how sleep paralysis works.
Eventually the darkness I saw slowly disappeared and my body started to escape its paralyzed state. When I could fully see again I noticed I wasn’t on the field anymore. In fact I had no idea where I was or how I had gotten there. My brain was racing, trying to figure out what happened. I eventually settled on the obvious answer. I was hit too hard, got a concussion and passed, then was rushed to the hospital.
That’s what I thought, I was just in a hospital. But even then it didn’t make sense, the room I was in was too dark. There was no medical equipment or even a bed in there with me. I was just laying on the floor. The only thing that pointed towards a hospital was my clothes were replaced with what seemed like a gown.
Soon my brain started to conceptualize a new answer. It’s funny how the human brain will do everything in its power to make you feel as if all that’s happening has an explanation for it. While my brain was working on that, my body decided it was time to start seeing where I was. I slowly got up off the floor and headed towards what seemed like an exit.
As I walked I took notice of everything around me. The walls of the room seemed to be covered in a strange ash like substance. They also had a heated feel to them, not burning but still hot enough that if held long enough it was leave a mark. The floor seemed to be the same material as the wall, also coated in that ashy layer.
The room soon began to turn into a hall, it never seemed to end. I’m pretty sure I walked for hours on end down it, my gown was covered in ash and scuffs soon enough. I started to see what looked like light as I neared the end, and a sound started to fill my ears as I got closer.
Crackling. Like the sound fire makes as it gets to hot. My brain started to put pieces together, it explained why the walls and floor were hot. What my brain couldn’t wrap around was what I stared at as I exited the hall.
Hell. That’s what I would describe it as and where I believed I was. The sky, if you could call it that, was nothing but smoke and slight rays of orange peaking through. Mountains higher than any I have ever seen painted the back drop of this nightmarish picture. Creatures of unexplainable nature covered the ground and sky, they all looked like they were in pain. Then I heard the screams.
I had been captivated by the almost endless horror I saw that I never heard the screaming. There were billions and billions of people here with me. They all were screaming or crying, each being tortured in a different way. Some burned, some gored, some twisted into shapes Iv never seen. I just watched in horror at the scene before me.
It wasn’t long before I felt something clawing at me, I yelped in pain as I turned my head to see something scratching at my leg. It was like a snake had grown legs, but the skin of it never grew around his new found limbs. I kicked it away before someone grabbed my arm. My eyes worked up the exposed muscles of the arm, soon meeting the eyes of its owner.
He was almost beautiful, a black eyed man with bronze like skin. He held my arm, almost to tell me not the fight it. His body was covered in ashes and what looked like whip marks. He spoke but I couldn’t understand him. I wasn’t sure what language it was or if it even was a language. He pulled my arm and begrudgingly I followed, the snake still scratching at my legs.
He took me down a long stair way, making sure I could see every kind of torture being applied to the people around me. Boiling, grinding, crushing, gouging. It made me sick but I could puke, it was like my ability to was taken away. We continued to walk, we crossed herds of creatures as they seemed to eat and mutilate multiple people. I watched as they ripped them open and ate, yet the people never died. They just laid there and accepted they new life.
My brain couldn’t wrap around what was happening anymore. It started to just say I was dreaming, it was all a dream and I was still concussed. But it all felt to real. The heat, the scratching, the man’s hand gripping my arm. I could feel it all.
It felt like days had gone by since I woke up in that room. As we walked past the mountains I saw earlier I noticed they were made entirely of bones. Some human, some not. I stared up to the sky as I watched winged creatures fly through the smoke clouds, occasionally they blocked out the orange rays as they circled overhead.
We walked more and more, the snake had stopped scratching but only cause it had reached the bone of my legs. I felt it all but couldn’t yell or cry from the pain of it. I just watched at the muscles and nerves of my calfs moved with each step I made. The man suddenly stopped, he turned to look at me and pointed towards a pit.
We walked towards and as I looked down I finally could few something in me drop. At the bottom was thousands of people. They were pushed together in the tight hole, some crawling on top of others trying to get free. I watched in horror as the man pointed towards holes lining the walls of the pit. Thick, hot, red liquid pumped out of the holes, it covered the people and filled the pit. I watched as some swam to the top and cried, other being pushed down deeper into the liquid. Eventually the pit drained and the people went back to fighting and screaming.
I slowly moved away from the pit side as the man looked at me. He spoke again and pointed at the pit. I didn’t understand him but I knew what he wanted. “Get in” That’s what it was. This was to be my new home. I just started to pull at my arm, trying to get free. He pulled me closer and I started to pull more. He stared at me and let go. I don’t know why but he just let go and stared at me, speaking.
I ran. I ran as fast as I could from him and the pit. I ran for what felt like days, maybe weeks even. Each time I looked back it seemed I had only moved a foot away. I just cried and ran, no other thoughts were in my head besides the fact I had to get away. I stopped looking back and just closed my eyes. I could feel thousands of those creatures chasing after me, I could feel they breath and heat running down my neck. I heard they horrid growls and the sound of crackling filling my ears. I just screamed and cried until.
“AHHHHH!” I screamed as I sat up from a gurney, my body drenched in sweat. The two responders that were with me jumped back and quickly told me to lay down. I tried to fight back but they told me to calm down and relax. My eyes darted around and looked where I as. I was in an ambulance. I slowly laid back and let them check me, one of them told me what happened.
When I snapped the ball a defender had hit me and knocked me to the ground. My heart had stopped. They were called and saw my coach doing CPR on me. They got me in the ambulance and continued compressions. My heart had stopped for almost 9 minutes and they were ready to declare me dead until my heart started to beat again and I came to. I just laid they and started to cry.
The doctors could easily explain why my heart stopped. They had thousands of reasons why. But they never could explain the scars on my legs that appeared after I came too. It also wasn’t until recently they noticed the significant amount of damage to my lungs, like I had being breathing in smoke for years.
I would regularly visit the doctors to have my heart checked and besides the scars, everything I was told about what happened made sense but what didn’t make sense was what I saw when my heart was stopped.
I was in that hellish place for what felt like months. Everything I felt was real, sometimes I still feel my legs bleeding and look down just to stare at those scars, almost like a reminder that maybe it wasn’t my imagination. I told people what I saw and they all say it was my mind making a place holder or working to stay alive while my heart was stopped. I took that idea and ran with it for a long time but still. Sometimes when I’m alone and everything is silent, I feel like I’m still there.
The screams of those people, the growls of those beast, the smell of that smoke, and the crackling of that fire. It’s all still there, tormenting me. Like they all crying for me to return. Like they saying that even though I escaped I must come back, that that’s where I belong now.
I see those people in that pit and ever so often I’ll here those retched words. I might not understand them but I know what they are. They push past the sound of fire and screams, calmly saying to me…
Get in

Me F(22) and my ex husband (23) were married when we were married at (19) and (20). We got married so young. He was in the military and he was during basic training. I believe that we had the best relationship before the army. We were both heavily in love with each other. But then the army happened and got married. My parents never really liked the ideas of getting married and we did it anyways without them knowing. It created a hard time for us. He was stationed in the Texas. Hundreds of miles away from where we lived. We did long distance until I got out of our lease and moved with him. I was constantly told by my parents that he is using me for the bah money, or not to feel lonely. I never did I feel that way until we got divorced but I don’t know what to feel about that anymore. I’ll explain more after I add more information to our story. He got into a car accident and the car totaled so he need a new car. Which added to debts and with the debts came the problems. We had so many debts and the army pressure never helped us. I worked for a few months but i quit my job cause it wasn’t good for my mental health. I can attribute some of the blame. I could have continued to work and paid off our debts but i couldn’t. I went into a heavy depression state that I didn’t realize I was in. I did do things around the house like cook dinner (not all the time cause I didn’t have any motivation to do it so we order DoorDash), I used to do laundry in the bathtub because he was so busy and tired to go to laundry may, I constantly picked up and cleaned the house. I could have done more. I know I’m partially to blame for a lot of things. I had trust issues but those added to our problems. One day I was gone for a month, I went to spend time at a youth group trip with his mom and then I went to see my parents after that. When I got to Texas his best friend told me that he was trying to sleep with another woman while I was gone. Which killed me. I asked him when he got home and he told me that he was trying to but he didn’t do anything with her and was trying to seem like it cause his friend was pushing it on him. I forgave him and push past it. I fucked up too. I did something that i regretted and still regret till this day. I loved him and I still do. I don’t think I will ever stop loving him. We were had our fights like always. It was always about money and how I wasn’t valuing him and he wasn’t valuing me. I think the only time that we didn’t fight was the last month we had before he deployed. We were so happy. We spent our time together watching movies, playing card games, playing video games, just being the same kids we were before we got married. I miss those days sometimes. I wish I could turn back time and do things differently. Now the hard part. The divorce. I never wanted to be divorced. He was/still is my person. The person who understands you to the core. The person that you can be yourself without shame or guilt. The person that your heart beats from no matter how much it hurts when they break it or damage it. The person that you picked in a room filled with people who you have loved in the past/future. He is that person. My ex deployed and was gone for six months. Three months into the deployment he stopped calling me, he stopped snapping me, he stopped talking to me. It felt like he shut down on me. I begged him to call me or anything. We went through a dark phase. Then he got back to the states and we were good for a while. He came to visit his mom for Christmas through new years. Our anniversary was the 30th of December. His mother lives 4 hours away from my parents house where I was staying while he was away. He didn’t bother to spend our anniversary together or even bother to say happy anniversary. Which killed me inside. On New Year’s Day I sent him a message that it seemed that he didn’t want me in his life anymore so I was setting him free. But on his way back to Texas he and I talked and we were going to make it work but 8 days later. He met a girl. He hide our marriage status, archived post that he made of me, and hid our pictures. Which made me think he did the same thing he did when I was away. I decided that I wasn’t going to stand for it so I asked him to file for divorce. He agreed. It was a little messy. I found pictures of him and this girl on a romantic date, he got dressed up in a suit, had a picture of her on his lap. So much which set me off and I became petty and tried to fuck him over with the army for it. This is where things get complicated. This week I had to go to separate our things because he had everything in a storage unit. When I got there we were polite to each other and we talked to each other. He explained to me that nothing happened with that girl. They went with a group but only made a reservation for two, she was awake for the picture of her hand on his lap, she was wearing the same clothes from that night in the morning cause she slept in them but she didn’t sleep at his apartment, and that she knew what was going on. Which I don’t know what to believe. I want to believe him and I kinda do believe him but I don’t know. I love him but everyone around me telling me to not believe him. I was a mess for months when things were going wrong between us. I didn’t want to lose him but I feel like I lost him. He said we can be friends. I want him in my life but I always want to be us again. I know in my heart that I can never really move on from him. I always want him in my life but I don’t know what to do or what to believe. My parents hate him because they believe he is a liar and will constantly hurt me but they say a tons of things that weren’t true. I just want an unbiased opinion from people who don’t know the shit I said while I was mad or sad. There’s a lot that happened this week with him but it’s been long story already I can explain more in the comments

 * * * * * * * 

⭐️Pregnancy⭐️
I have my own place, go to school full time, in a coding boot camp, and taking certificates while also providing all the income for us. I was still actively working right after the military and then lost my tech job after 4 months job due to the whole company going under. The next day I found out she was pregnant. I believe she should have the choice since it’s her body /and she choose to keep the baby.
⭐️The problem⭐️
The 1st problem was she didn’t want to work or get license that I pushed her to do but can’t do it herself. I have been nice about it I’ve made docs, videos of motivation, applied for jobs for her, let her use my car, been with her to do it, but still doesn’t want to do anything so I gave up. A counselor would help but her mom doesn’t believe in that so brings in her mind there no point of getting better. She adores her mom but her mom is a does pills all day who hasn’t worked for over 20 years and even refused to work when they were all on the streets. I took her brother and my girlfriend to Disneyland and mind you spent over of all of the money I earned from the military from the gifts, vacations places, and food because she has never seen any of this before because they live off the goverment.
⭐️Uncle⭐️
her uncle turned homeless and started living with them.( he attempted to s/a her as a kid) but didn’t succeed. Her mom not doing anything and me knowing things she could do to get rid of him ( I even paid her 2,000 dollars) to get rid of him and nobody did anything my girlfriend said she was fine about it and she not much afraid of him and started resenting me because how I felt about her mom. I started doing online classes and staying with her and saving up for an apartment. A month goes by and the uncle TALKS ABOUT HER BOOBS INFRONT OF HER MOM. and yes he is still living there and yes we got the aprartment right after that. she still resented me because of how I felt about her mom and now I’m losing feelings for her because of that and not helping me mentally or with money.(Also I want to say it has never slipped my mind that I would not provide for this child that’s the whole point of doing the college). ⭐️My day⭐️
I feel alone most days and now i would rather watch YouTube or video by myself than with her.the one time we did take a break which was 2 days she cried all day, that’s not right for the baby so I went back to get her. I don’t think she would commit sucicde if we broke up but she says it as a joke but most of the time I can’t take it as a joke( my dad attempted and succeeded when I was 10).

I came to the US on a students visa in 2021. I fell terribly sick in the very first week of coming to the US. I was my university's approved health insurance plan. I went to my university's hospital; got tested for numerous things; and accordingly got treated. I gave them my insurance and waited for my bill. I checked the hospital portal often and got no outstanding bill. To which I thought my insurance might have covered the cost but having heard all the fuss about inaccessibility to health in the US due to its cost I was still skeptical about it. I kept checking my mail and the hospital billing portal diligently for any bill that I might get for 1 and a half years.
I got my SSN in the beginning of 2022 and graduated in 2023. Just when I graduated I saw a debt in my credit history which lowered my credit down. I panicked, researched about what collection is, and yada yada, & figured it was from labcorp. Now the only time I had been to the hospital was in 2021 so if it was a legitimate bill, it had to be from that 1 visit.
From what I read online the collection company is legally needed to communicate the outstanding amount/try to collect the amount before filling for a collection against my credit. There had been no communication to me regarding this what so ever from any party involved. I checked my hospital bill on the portal and there was nothing outstanding.
First, I filled a dispute to two of three credit bureaus where it was reported, one of which removed the debt from my file. While Experian did not resolve the dispute, for which I contacted the debt collection company. I explained to them that I had received no communication for the bill/collection, and I am not sure what the bill is about. They said they had no contact information of me what so ever, neither my address, or my phone number, and that it was a medical bill of $592. This was later removed from my account.
Since it had been 2 years there was not way for me to put a claim for this against my insurance. I feel it was not my mistake that I had to cover it out of my pocket for a medical treatment while being insured(which I paid for). It was a mistake on their end to not communicate/send me a bill on time for me to be able to claim it.
Now the claim has reappeared from a different collection company exactly 3 years later and is affecting my credit. What can I do? Again, no communication was made from this other collection company before putting it up for collection. Can I go to the consumer court? or hire a lawyer? I can't have it showing up every year and reducing my credit for no reason.
TLDR: Got collection for a 2 year old medical bill without prior communication. Raised dispute, and it disappeared from credit history. The collection is added again to my credit history a year later. Seek help on what to do.
edit: Added TLDR.

Rings for sale:
1) 8.5mm moissanite solitaire from Kuololit, size 5.5, in 10k white gold. Worn briefly and professionally cleaned. I purchased this on BST awhile back for $175 and am selling it for $145. CAD, proof of purchase, and photos/video in links below.
2) Kuololit bubble band, size 5.5, 10k white gold. Worn a few times with this solitaire. Fits flush if you’re interested in both rings. Paid $79 and change from Kuololit, asking $40. Proof of purchase and photos/videos in links below.
Photos and videos of the rings and verification photo
Photos of proof of purchase for both rings
Purchase includes: Shipping if you are in the US, and each in a pink ring box. Outside of the US please plan to cover shipping. I will only accept PayPal G&S, please DO NOT send F&F. I will ship within 24 hours except the possibly exception of Sundays and depending on if I need to get customs paperwork done, but I do my best to be speedy at shipping.
Reason for selling: I do not wear them and would prefer they go to a good home, hopefully together!

⭐️Pregnancy⭐️
I have my own place, go to school full time, in a coding boot camp, and taking certificates while also providing all the income for us. I was still actively working right after the military and then lost my tech job after 4 months job due to the whole company going under. The next day I found out she was pregnant. I believe she should have the choice since it’s her body /and she choose to keep the baby.
⭐️The problem⭐️
The 1st problem was she didn’t want to work or get license that I pushed her to do but can’t do it herself. I have been nice about it I’ve made docs, videos of motivation, applied for jobs for her, let her use my car, been with her to do it, but still doesn’t want to do anything so I gave up. A counselor would help but her mom doesn’t believe in that so brings in her mind there no point of getting better. She adores her mom but her mom is a does pills all day who hasn’t worked for over 20 years and even refused to work when they were all on the streets. I took her brother and my girlfriend to Disneyland and mind you spent over of all of the money I earned from the military from the gifts, vacations places, and food because she has never seen any of this before because they live off the goverment.
⭐️Uncle⭐️
her uncle turned homeless and started living with them.( he attempted to s/a her as a kid) but didn’t succeed. Her mom not doing anything and me knowing things she could do to get rid of him ( I even paid her 2,000 dollars) to get rid of him and nobody did anything my girlfriend said she was fine about it and she not much afraid of him and started resenting me because how I felt about her mom. I started doing online classes and staying with her and saving up for an apartment. A month goes by and the uncle TALKS ABOUT HER BOOBS INFRONT OF HER MOM. and yes he is still living there and yes we got the aprartment right after that. she still resented me because of how I felt about her mom and now I’m losing feelings for her because of that and not helping me mentally or with money.(Also I want to say it has never slipped my mind that I would not provide for this child that’s the whole point of doing the college). ⭐️My day⭐️
I feel alone most days and now i would rather watch YouTube or video by myself than with her.the one time we did take a break which was 2 days she cried all day, that’s not right for the baby so I went back to get her. I don’t think she would commit sucicde if we broke up but she says it as a joke but most of the time I can’t take it as a joke( my dad attempted and succeeded when I was 10).

⭐️Pregnancy⭐️
I have my own place, go to school full time, in a coding boot cam p, and taking certificates while also providing all the income for us. I was still actively working right after the military and then lost my tech job after 4 months job due to the whole company going under. The next day I found out she was pregnant. I believe she should have the choice since it’s her body /and she choose to keep the baby.
⭐️The problem⭐️
The 1st problem was she didn’t want to work or get license that I pushed her to do but can’t do it herself. I have been nice about it I’ve made docs, videos of motivation, applied for jobs for her, let her use my car, been with her to do it, but still doesn’t want to do anything so I gave up. A counselor would help but her mom doesn’t believe in that so brings in her mind there no point of getting better. She adores her mom but her mom is a does pills all day who hasn’t worked for over 20 years and even refused to work when they were all on the streets. I took her brother and my girlfriend to Disneyland and mind you spent over of all of the money I earned from the military from the gifts, vacations places, and food because she has never seen any of this before because they live off the goverment.
⭐️Uncle⭐️
her uncle turned homeless and started living with them.( he attempted to s/a her as a kid) but didn’t succeed. Her mom not doing anything and me knowing things she could do to get rid of him ( I even paid her 2,000 dollars) to get rid of him and nobody did anything my girlfriend said she was fine about it and she not much afraid of him and started resenting me because how I felt about her mom. I started doing online classes and staying with her and saving up for an apartment. A month goes by and the uncle TALKS ABOUT HER BOOBS INFRONT OF HER MOM. and yes he is still living there and yes we got the aprartment right after that. she still resented me because of how I felt about her mom and now I’m losing feelings for her because of that and not helping me mentally or with money.(Also I want to say it has never slipped my mind that I would not provide for this child that’s the whole point of doing the college). ⭐️My day⭐️
I feel alone most days and now i would rather watch YouTube or video by myself than with her.the one time we did take a break which was 2 days she cried all day, that’s not right for the baby so I went back to get her. I don’t think she would commit sucicde if we broke up but she says it as a joke but most of the time I can’t take it as a joke( my dad attempted and succeeded when I was 10).

Bare with me now… Europeans created the economical system as we know it today right? Before that the nations that lived there before traded, at first the Europeans traded with them too but like 3 axe for a gun i don’t know, the reason they got there is that they tried to find like India i don’t know like spices gold, they wanted to conquer and get richer in ressources and be more powerful. So my theory is that if the human didn’t have a thrive for control and power and if I had a Time Machine to go back in time and prevent the invention of the creation of the economical system as we know it today, I would literally save the world, and I’m gonna explain why.
Think about climate change, why? Pollution, when you throw your kitkat wrap on grass, but factories that emit bad gas, why do we have factories ? To make stuff, why do we make stuff? Well we need it, but, I’ll go back later to a solution but for now we buy the item we need made in the factory. Whether it’s a shirt or a phone we buy it cause we need it but do we really need like 75 dresses, 13 watches, 19 cars, no. We only need one of each. But the thing is we need money to buy it thus the need for money we created it’s a cycle, get the ressource to make the product, make it, buy it. And then, just to stay via the global warming and money issue, like for example, take the Amazon Forest, each day somebody burns or cut hectares of wood, to make a farm to get more crops for animals and for you, why? Intense farming is to make money thus creating the need to cut trees to make space for economical activities. Cutting a tree with machines polluted a lot, and there’s also the fact that those trees won’t filter our air anymore. Pollution to get money.
Take child labor now, why do children work? Because the family needs more money to survive. Money again. Without the need for money less children working. Now your thinking but how do we buy food? I’ll go back to that later.
Wars. The most profitable way to make money selling weapons to other countries, selling guns and tanks and food and all that stuff to the army. Makes so much money… Think about the Second World War, how did Hitler convince thee people to join his army and elect him, he said he would start up the economy again, because Germany is really poor. Why did the hate against the Jewish people start first? Because the Jewish people had a economic system where the money stayed between the Jewish people so they weren’t as poor as the German people. Money creates conflicts. Money.
Now how do you get food without money? Think about it, communism was introduced as a way to control people. But the idea of sharing everything isn’t dumb, make everyone equal isn’t dumb. Yes we would have to work, but not get payed, there’s a group of people that would handle all that. And you would be forced to work else you get no food no house. Without the need for money if everyone is equal you need food, shelter and entertainment. Now this would only work if the human didn’t have this need for power, the need to get more powerful and rich and to be superior in some way to all the other humans, this is the only reason why this wouldn’t work, yes it is a big one but imagine how great the world would be if it was simple harmless and nobody would fight for money.

F28 with Ovarian Cancer and I need some advice here, I am really struggling with medical negligence not just from one doctor, but multiple. I’ve been dealing with a lot of discrimination because I’m young and “healthy looking” and doctors constantly dismiss me or discriminate me for some reason and I’m tired of it. I’ve been sick and disabled since last November and I had a job but started my LOA then.
For two years I was seeing a rheumatologist for an underlying autoimmune disorder(s) and was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis, Primary immunodeficiency, fibromyalgia, CIDP and still being investigated for more issues.
In November I decided to go on a LOA because my flares were starting to become more frequent and severe. My psychiatrist was the one who filled out the LOA paperwork for the time from Nov-Dec because I was hesitant to ask my Rheumatologist. I was told by my rheumatologists office that filling out LOA paperwork was $300 out of pocket and at the time I didn’t have that money so my psychiatrist signed it because I was also struggling with my mental health and family issues that time.
I was supposed to go back to work in January but at the start of the new year I got really sick and my flares started to ramp up again so I had to request a new LOA. My psychiatrist couldn’t help me with my LOA paperwork anymore because it was more health related now and told me to go see my rheumatologist. I was still hesitant because of the fee and then when I was about to see my rheumatologist again and get my bloodwork done I got a surprise bill from the lab where I get my bloodwork done for $400 after insurance. They wouldn’t let me get additional tests until I paid the fee and I couldn’t see my rheumatologist until I had my bloodwork done. I made an appointment with my rheumatologist anyways but the soonest I could get wasn’t until after the LOA deadline in March. I also couldn’t get any disability benefits until that LOA form was filled out by my doctor so I had no income to pay for any of this.
I ended up in the Emergency Room on 2/16/24 a little over a week before I needed to submit the forms for LOA and at this point my employer was threatening to fire me for failing to provide the LOA paperwork. I tried explaining the situation to one of my managers but he wasn’t having it and didn’t care.
When I went to the first emergency room I went in for multiple serious symptoms, the knew I had an underlying autoimmune disorder causing the flares and that I had surgery 3 years prior to remove ovarian cysts on my right ovary. I told the emergency room that I had a lot of abdominal pain across multiple areas, I was really weak, fatigued, dealing with vertigo, blood in stool, persistent bloating, frequent urination and my symptoms were to the point where I was losing my ability to walk. My partner was holding me the entire time so I wouldn’t fall.
The emergency room did a bunch of tests that included a basic blood panel, physical exam and a CT scan of my abdomen. They didn’t find the bleeding but instead found that I had a complex 14cm tumor on my right ovary which they deemed a dermoid cyst.
When they gave me the news they officially diagnosed me with a “dermoid cyst from birth” even though I countered their diagnosis and told them that was impossible because I had surgery 3 years prior. The doctor didn’t backtrack at all, just stuttered and continued to discharge me because it “wasn’t an emergency” just because I wasn’t bleeding out despite all of my serious progressing symptoms.
I angrily left the ER knowing it was utter BS and deep down I knew it was cancer because of how sick I was. I could literally feel I didn’t have much time but because I looked young and healthy and my basic blood panel didn’t throw up any huge red flags at them even they dismissed me and misdiagnosed me. I wasn’t even given anything to manage the pain.
I even told them I was already on a medical leave and that I’ve been really sick but that it was getting bad and I couldn’t see my rheumatologist. However I didn’t know about the tumor until then. I told them I needed help with the LOA paperwork too and had they admitted me I would have been able to get an extension and still have my job and benefits. I could have started treatment sooner and received disability pay but instead was forced to continue living with this pain. It was so large that I was at risk of torsion rupture and necrosis.
The next day I called up every gynecologist I could to see where I could go for the soonest appointment for an ultrasound. I found a doctor who took me as an emergency appointment a few days later and he confirmed it was most likely malignant and that I needed surgery ASAP. I talked to him about my LOA situation too because I was running out of time and I was too disabled to work. He also refused to help me sign my LOA paperwork because according to him “ovarian cancer can’t cause systemic symptoms and you’re going to need to wait until surgery before put you on leave”. I told him I had an underlying autoimmune disorder that I think is being exasperated by the cancer and I was just dismissed yet again despite needing someone to physically help me walk so I don’t fall. He also didn’t give me anything for the pain I was in.
I had to turn in my LOA that day but because of this I was forced to resign my position or face getting fired and becoming un-hirable so I had to quit. In quitting I lost everything, benefits, stocks, my job. I’m now in debt with multiple cc going to collections because I haven’t been getting an income since January and I’m just starting chemo so I have no idea when I’ll be able to work again. I don’t know what to do here. I was going to try to settle my debt but with what money??
After I lost my insurance I applied for medi-cal but something with my application in there system wasn’t right and it was in a never ending pending limbo state. I tried waiting it out for two weeks, calling them sorting it out and doing it right by the system but every day I was getting sicker and I felt I was running out of time.
Two weeks later I went to a different ER because at this point I could sleep and I couldn’t eat. I was miserable from the symptoms and never ending anxiety and mood swings of possibly having an autoimmune disorder like SLE and ovarian cancer.
The second ER finally admit me and confirmed it was cancer. I was admitted for emergency surgery and by this time the tumor had already ruptured, twisted my ovary and grew to 20cm at the largest point. This was also a battle but that’s besides the point.
Anyways now to my current situation. I started chemo about two weeks ago and my current oncologist is also being negligent.
I found out the other day that she blindly prescribed a medication for nausea that interacts with a medication that I was already on. The interaction is known to cause arrhythmias apparently. During my first week of chemo I was taking both meds and mentioned that my chest had been feeling heavy and I had pain. I was told it was steroids. It continued and then one night as I was falling asleep my heart started to pound really hard for about 10-15 seconds. I told my doctor about it and again steroids.
That same day I went to pick up a prescription and just happened to ask if anything interacted and that’s when I found out that it was a major interaction and I literally could have died had I not luckily been titrating off of the offending medicine. I stopped taking those meds and immediately the chest pain stopped and I haven’t had an episode like that since.
I am freaked out and don’t want to continue my care with her due to her negligence. This should have been a conversation at minimum and she didn’t even tell me she prescribed it. I just got a notification from my pharmacy that it was ready. I also didn’t know about the interaction when it was picked up because my mom picked it up for me and she doesn’t speak English very well.
I talked to my care teams assistant and told her I wanted a change of doctors because I didn’t trust her after this and she said she was going to put in the request. They called me yesterday though and said they weren’t going to switch me because I had already started treatment and refused to switch my doctors despite everything that’s happened. I am livid and don’t want to continue with them.
I already set up an appointment for a second opinion but that’s not for another two weeks before the appointment and I don’t want to interruption treatment.
I have a rare type of ovarian cancer with a high grade tumor. It was a germ cell tumor called immature teratoma. They said it is stage 1 but because I had emergency surgery and everything was rushed I don’t feel this is an accurate diagnosis because I have pain in all of the surrounding areas where the tumor was pushing up against. The tumor was exasperating all of my autoimmune symptoms and causing me to be in a never ending flare so my body was heavily damaged. Im becoming disabled at 28 and I don’t know who to hold accountable here. I have so much anxiety with doctors now because I’m traumatized from my experience with them dismissing me and discriminating against me. Like I’m young so I “must be able to tolerate more”.
I’m in a dark place right now and really need some advice here. What should I do? What CAN I DO? Who do I hold accountable? What do I need to have a solid malpractice case??
I feel like the first emergency room should at least be held liable for making me lose my job, misdiagnosing me, failing to treat me or provide relief and then sending me a $1600 medical bill. Someone help me with this please I am struggling and still haven’t gotten approved for disability benefits yet so I’ve had no income since January. Thanks.

I had some bumps at work for 2023, but it was generally good. Made some missteps, took accountability. Moved forward. Most coworkers were cool with it, but one sr. team member has made a professional grudge against me. Later, I find out I would then be reporting to this person for all of this year upon our manager leave. We were moved to a new manager hierarchy. The relationship tanked immediately which is how I know it wasn't just me in my head. I was also told they asked that I not speak to the director at all; our manager.
The senior team member tried to push me out twice before. They began the process not even two weeks after our manager left. The annoying part is the senior member makes 10x more mistakes than me, but they have no one reviewing their work so they don't get punished. But I do. Because they can and they get off on it.
Going to the review...
I thought my performance review was good in the beginning... but I got a 12/21, just barely enough for a small 2% raise. I know it has nothing to do with my actual performance. Our old manager had business sense that the coworker was going to be present and gave me a low review to protect the sr. team member's ego and their relationship. The other intent was to also make the sr. team member not feel threatened by me to try to give space for my relationship with the sr. team member to grow...(unfortunately it was non-existent long before). Old manager made sure to list my accomplishments at least; so some of it is documented.
I was told all 2023 that I was doing well. This was also shared verbatim "We are blowing our roles out of the water." in front of our entire team (this makes me confused as to why I got a 12/21). I stayed late. I signed in extra early to support events. I took on and completed additional projects. I supported a function completely outside my role; and well. None of this was reflected in my score. It was just in notes in the unscored section. I chose to not fight it because I'm mentally over the team. I received only positive news for 2023 and then the issues came in like a flurry after our manager left and it's been hard on me mentally. How can I be blowing my role out of the water and get a 12/21??? I feel like a 17/21 would've been more accurate.
This brings brings me to my title. My performance review felt like a verbal warning. I did have to sign my performance review document. I have a copy. I looked over it a few times. I didn't sign anything that was punitive but the message verbally stressed was that they want me to perform better.... (the irony).
I do want to say I was thrown off by two requests to check in after our review. I'm sure the first will be in August. It's 90 days. Standard. The next would be 90 after (but could be 60). Though they gave no hard dates yet. I am confused that as the director was delivering the news, they asked me to consider moving over to another team as they don't want to lose me if I'm open to that. I know this was my sr. coworker's request. It has their name written all over it so to speak. I can't tell if the director was telling me silently to jump ship now and they're giving me room to leave peacefully or if they're feedback was genuine. I don't have a relationship with them because there's never been time.
Here's why I'm making this post:
I'm stressed I'm going to be terminated sooner than what I'm prepared for because I have my lease for just four more months and I have no savings. I'm still snowballing my debt and I'm almost out (next paycheck). I paid a month ahead by accident once (probably a smart thing now) so I have three months left on my lease. I have another windfall coming in July that will bring the renting months down to just two. I am planning on moving back in wit family for a little bit to recuperate savings before a big EOY move to a different state. I'm fed up with where I am living now.
I know when the verbal warning starts, the written one usually comes 90 days after, and then a final warning (depending on leniency), and then term. Should I let them term me? Would it affect my career to be fired from my first full-time job of almost two calendar years?
Most places nowadays only verify title and dates of employment. They don't even touch if you would rehire them or answer if the employee was fired.
Question 1: With a lower than expected score that is not reflective of my actual contributions, should I plan to receive a PIP in August?
Question 2: Should I force them to fire me or move me instead of leaving?
Question 3: Do I turn on my job search now and just find a short temp assignment to gain more experience and get out before my EOY move?
Question 4: Can I last at least for another five months? I feel like it doesn't matter how much I try to improve. It will never be enough for the Sr. Member that has made it their mission to push me out.

All right here it is finally, thank you all for your patience and let's hope chapter 5 is a little more expedient. As usual I hope you enjoy and would love to get everyone's thoughts.
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4: Memory transcription subject: Zeak, Harchen orphan, citizen of the Venlil Republic. Date: standardized human time July 13th 2136.
The sky was a roaring mass of fire and pungent black smoke that choked out the light of the sun. As I ran down the street, green blood flowed like a broad shallow river. It splashed up with every step I took, sticking to my scales, the smell of it made me feel sick. As the piercing wail of the emergency sirens seemed to grow louder and louder with every step I took making my ears ring and filling my head with a thunderous pain. My heart pounded, my lungs were on fire, and my legs felt like they were made of lead.
A herd of towering blurry figures appeared out of nowhere and ran past me, some almost knocking me down. In their panic they began to look more like crazed wild animals than people. I cried for help but they couldn't hear me. I waved my paws then grabbed one of them a male Venlil, tightening my grip with all the strength I had hoping this would get his attention. He threw me off like I was trash, less than trash. I turned around and continued pleading for anyone to help me, reaching out for others. But their frantic idiot eyes looked only straight ahead and not down, never down, as the herd passed me.
I turned back around and continued to run, blood splashing up soaking me all the way to my knees. I stumbled, my legs were so tired I could barely stand, and I fell down catching myself, plunging my paws into blood as deep as my wrists. I felt myself scream but I couldn't hear it over the ringing in my ears. A scrap of paper gently floated past me, a single word written on it that echoed in my mind “Weakling.” It passed and four more took its place, “Coward”, “Liar”, “Oath breaker”, “Murderer.” I screamed in rage and slapped the pieces of paper aside, blood splashing onto my snout, but the meanings of those words remained. Getting back up I stumbled forward, and fell down again. Then with an effort born out of sheer desperation I managed to stand again lurching forward. My legs were too tired to run but I had to keep going, I had to save them. Or at least her, please Protector if you're listening please let me save at least her.
It felt like I was searching for an endless time. Lurching forward, stumbling, falling down, getting back up, lurching forward once more. Eventually I saw it and my heart fell into the pit of my stomach. My family's car was turned over on its roof, the driver's side had been caved in. It was engulfed in fire and thick black smoke that rose up into the sky. I struggled forward and when I reached it I collapsed, my knees hitting the hot pavement. The smell of burning metal and something else I didn't know assaulted my senses making my stomach turn. Every muscle in my body begged me to run away. Calling out their names l looked inside, and a wave of nausea and horror flooded through me.
I turned away and vomited, then reached up with my blood soaked paws and covered my eyes. Those words thundered in my head making me think it was going to burst open, as hot tears welled up. “WEAKLING! COWARD! LIAR! OATH BREAKER! MURDERER! MURDERER! MURDERER! MURDERER! “I'm sorry I'm sorry, I should have stayed, I should have helped. Why did I run?” I wailed, still unable to hear myself. Someone rested a delicate paw on my shoulder, and the world went quiet. As the pain in my head melted away.
My eyes snapped open and I was greeted by the gentle ringing of my alarm. In a rush of adrenaline I leaped out of bed not even bothering to wipe the sleep out of my eyes. Running out of my bedroom and down the narrow hallway towards the living room. Convincing myself It had all just been a horrible, horrible nightmare and everything was alright. Mom and Dad would be fixing breakfast, Dad softly singing a Harchen folk song while making something savory and delicious as mom sang along in harmony, preparing something special for my baby sister Naila. Oh yes and Naila, she would probably be sitting on a cushion in the sunny part of the living room. Holding her crooked tail, a birth defect which my parents said could be fixed when she was older. And making excited chirping noises at my arrival, while sunlight shone against her emerald scales. I loved my baby sister, I knew other kids resented having a younger sibling. Dismissing their responsibilities and spending less time with their family and more with their friends. I never once felt that way, the moment Naila hatched I devoted every spare minute I had to her. Finding music that would help her fall asleep, watching over her when my mom needed a break. Excitedly telling her about the day's events and what I learned at school, especially what I learned in computer science which was my favorite class.
“Mom! Dad!” I yelled bursting into the living room. “I just had the worst…” My voice trailed off as I was greeted with nothing “dream.” My heart tightened painfully in my chest, as I frantically ran through the house throwing open every door, knowing that they had to be here somewhere. They were just playing a game on me that was all, a game I would tell them I didn't appreciate. After the final door had been opened and no one was there to yell “Surprise!” My body slumped and I felt heavy as reality set back in, and the memories of what happened hit me like a hammer. I made my way back down the hall to my room, tail dragging behind me as I crawled back into bed. Wrapping myself tightly in a blanket, trying to find some comfort.
It must have been hours I lay there feeling numb all over, wishing I could get up the energy to just cry. I think I might have fallen asleep at one point. If I did it was a dreamless sleep, thank the stars for that. Eventually I did get up, sitting cross-legged on my bed, resting my chin in my paws, staring holes into the wall. I took a deep breath and side numbly looked out the window, searching for anything to distract myself with.
It was overcast, and eerily quiet. The emergency sirens had stopped blaring yesterday mere hours after everyone had gotten to the bunkers. The bodies of the dead had already been collected and their blood cleaned from the pavement. So as to not attract any predators into the neighborhood. I saw my neighbor A'shul was home, his white vehicle was sporting some new dents. I wondered, when he got into his vehicle yesterday morning and drove to the nearest bunker; did he try to help anyone? Or was he thinking only of himself? I suppose it didn't matter really. Nothing mattered.
I turned my head away and looked around my small room taking in everything, every trinket, misplaced item, my old second-hand desk, a big green crackle finished monster. Better suited for a Venlil than a young Harchen, heck I needed a stool just to use it. I had gotten it for basically nothing about a year ago, when the local extermination office was getting rid of their old furniture. All it took was a small bribe and they put it in my bedroom when no one was home. My parents, but especially my mom we're not happy when they saw it the next day. They would tell me at least once a week that It was too big for me and they were going to get rid of that eyesore. “Wouldn't you like something a little more modern dear?” My mom would ask, practically pleading for me to say yes. I used to pray that my parents would just shut up and stop bugging me about that stupid desk. I thought it was great, it made me think of private detective Bal from the exterminators show. Bal was a no nonsense Harchen who was so often pivotal in tracking down the predator or predator diseased person. My desk was very similar to his and that's why I wanted it. But at that moment, I would have given anything to hear those words again.
On the desk there was an ornate wooden box, with a fruit tree in full bloom delicately carved into its lid. There were also scuff marks where it had been dropped, and a deep crack running down the center. It was known as a blessing box, Naila's blessing box to be specific. When she hatched nearly ten months ago the whole neighborhood had been invited to come and write a blessing on a scrap of paper and put it in the box. I had written one too, not a blessing but a promise, a promise I couldn't keep. The belief was that if kept near the infant, the combined power of all those blessings would keep the hatchling safe until their first birthday. Where on that day the box would be set on fire and burned to ash. Releasing those blessings back into the world so they may protect someone else. It was an old tradition and not commonly practiced anymore, but as my dad always said “It is important to keep the old traditions alive my son. Both in song and action.” I remember asking him why? And he looked at me like he had been waiting for that question for a long time. “Because” He said, his tail moving with authority. “Someday when you lose your way, and you don't know where to turn to. You will always have something to guide you back to your center.”
Looking away from the box not wanting to look or think about the damn thing, I shifted my gaze down to my bedside table. There was a little holographic projector showing pictures of me, Mom, Dad and Naila on holiday back on Fahl, the Harchen home world to see family. I was born and raised on Venlil prime, so I didn't really know any of my extended family. There was a picture of my mom and Naila sleeping at the beach. Naila’s crooked tail coiled around mom’s arm, their scales a deep emerald in the light of the sun. The picture changed to me and Dad putting the finishing touches on a sand skyscraper taller than him. I had to sit on his shoulders to place the last bucket full of sand on top. Both of our scales were as blue as the ocean. My tail flicked sadly thinking of that day. I reached over and turned the holo protector off.
My holopad lay next to me flashing, alerting me to an urgent message. I hadn't really looked at my holopad since yesterday morning. Picking it up I tapped the flashing icon. It was an official government statement signed by Governor Tarva herself, saying that the humans Noah and Sarah were peaceful explorers, and that they only wished to be our friends. ‘No, that's impossible, they’re predators. Predators don't want peace, they want to conquer, kill and eat us,’ stunned and confused I kept reading. The rest of the message stated that the two human scientists were completely unaware there was intelligent life of any kind on Venlil prime. ‘No! Lies! Predator lies!’ I yelled inside my head. Something hot began to form in my chest as I read the last bit. Governor Tarver had shown the two predators footage of the Arxur torturing Venlil pups. It said that the humans were capable of empathy and felt deeply saddened and angered by what they saw. They vowed to do everything in their power to get their united nations into the war against the Arxur.
I scrolled all the way down and what I saw stopped me cold. Standing in her office being flanked by General Kam, stood Governor Tarva. Beside them looming over the two Venlil one bigger than the other, both of them covered in some sort of protective suit. Their faces were obscured by dark visored helmets. It said that the larger of the two Noah was male, and the smaller one was Sarah female. Sarah had her hands clasped in front of her, while Noah kept his to his side. Neither were acting threatening, and neither Tarva or Kam looked to be harmed in any way.
Something in me snapped, that hot thing inside my chest erupted and I could feel my scales turn black. I very carefully set my holopad down beside me, then I uncrossed my legs and got out of bed. I stood there in the center of my room shaking slightly, feeling terribly calm as white hot rage flooded my body, spreading to my paws and all the way out to the tip of my long tail. It never had to happen, the panic, the stampede, the death, we could have stayed home and avoided those people. ‘No… no not people,’ a bitter thought came over me. ‘They're not people at all, people stop and help, like that Venlil girl Kayleik, she was a person maybe the only one. But the rest of them were just wild animals, masquerading as sentient beings. ‘Do you really think you're any better, coward?’ Some internal voice said.
A sudden impulse took control of me and I grabbed my desks stool and hurled it against the wall. It dented the wall and bounced off still in one piece. Enraged, I leaped forward grabbing it by the legs, then turned around and slammed it into my desk. The sheet metal dented and the green crackle finish paint flew off, but the stool made of good dense wood from the string fruit tree stayed whole. “DAMN THEM! DAMN THEM! DAMN THEM! DAMN THEM!” I screamed, slamming the stool down again and again, my tail whipping wildly, striking the bed and the floor. The tip of my tail began to hurt, which only fueled my anger. Finally I heard cracking and wood began to splinter off. They didn't have to die, we could have stayed home. The muscles in my shoulders burned and my heart pounded as hot tears began to well up. I brought it down one final time narrowly avoiding the blessing box, and the stool broke in two. I hurled the pieces away from me, one slamming into the corner the other crashing through the window.
I leaned against the desk catching my breath as tears flowed freely. ‘Well that definitely showed them didn't it. Hey I got a great idea! Let's go break some more stuff, that will definitely make you feel better. Idiot!’ That internal voice said all coldness and bitterness. As I cried, the burning in my chest cooled, and I was filled with the same numbness as before. After a while my stomach growled, reminding me I hadn't eaten since yesterday. I moved sluggishly out of my bedroom and went straight to the kitchen, quickly grabbed some fruit and left to go and watch the view screen or something. The moment I entered the living room, memories came flooding back. Mom and Dad laughing, Naila sleeping peacefully, the lingering aroma of breakfast, and the warmth of our home. But now it was all gone and I was alone. For the first time in my life, I had no one to go to.
It was right then I realized I couldn't stay here anymore. This place felt like a tomb, all cold and filled with the memories of the dead. Besides, if I stayed here someone would eventually send the authorities to come and get me. Ship me off to an orphanage, foster care or maybe to my extended family back on Fahl. I balked at the idea of being forced to live with people I didn't know or trust. Memories of yesterday's stampede invaded my mind and I shuddered. I couldn't trust any of them not anymore. No, there was one person I could think of that maybe I could trust. Turning around I went back to my room, found my backpack and grabbed my holopad, the blessing box, the holo projector and my blanket stuffing it into my pack. Then I went to the kitchen and filled my pack up the rest of the way with dried fruit and vegetable snacks. With my backpack looking like it was going to burst I shouldered it and made my way to the front door. When I rested my scaly paw on the door handle I stopped and looked back at the place that was once my home. “Goodbye” I said in a shaky voice, knowing this would be the last time I would never set foot in this house. With my head low I opened the door and stepped out, into the dim light of a new unfamiliar world.

I went NC with my FOO a year and a half ago it was messy I confronted my Ex brother and EX mother… a lot deflections, blame shifting insulting things said and especially a lot of pain I think my experience can help my wife avoid some mistakes I made like avoiding (Darvo) as much as possible and not engaging as much as possible
I’ve always notice my wife’s sister and mom lack empathy her mother has done petty things and very serious things that put us in danger her sister to me seems soulless she is the most self absorbed person I ever met she wouldn’t even visit a dying relative because she had “plans that day” that she could or easily changed also treats people like tools to be used for her ends she just acts like she doesn’t even care about her own family (unless they are doing something for her)… you can’t ask her a favour she’ll “forget” or have some ridiculous hoops you have to jump through
A lot of her sisters things are paid by bank of mum but always says she has no money to spend on others (yet goes on holidays and has expensive subscriptions and pays people to do her responsibility’s like mowing her lawn and hedges) and she runs to their mom with dramas she “ just can’t handle herself” yet seem extremely minor Basically she offloads her responsibility’s onto others and always has an excuse
All in all my wife had enough of her sister’s bs after the latest hurtful thing she did so my wife was upset all week her mother got wind of it and told the sister and the sister she texted my wife coming up with her usually victim excuses and no apology
My wife responded saying it wasn’t just this one event but in general she acts as if she doesn’t care about her own family and it’s hurtful
Next thing the sisters does is tell their mom then they both proceed to text and dictate what my wife “needs to do” and how hurt the sister is wtf!!!!! So the sister is hurt by being told that she’s been hurtful??? Yeah makes sense
This is really hard to watch my wife go through similar situations I went through she works with them so it’s hard to get too much distance away
All she wants is a good relationship with them but I’ve been trying to convince her it’s a pipe dream because I think people who care about you don’t respond like that if they hurt you in fact I believe they are trying to gang up and scapegoat her
I helped her write back saying she will not be discussing it further
Am I on the money here or mistaken?
Is there anything more I can do?

Long story short my old boss (who became a friend) was/is highly unstable. Im fairly certain she has undiagnosed BPD and had mentioned it to her in the past. She had no boundaries for work or personal. It was only her and I who worked together each day so I have no one to really speak for the experience I went thru (anyone who did work there quit by week 6 because she was bad. They don't want to write testimony letters in my appeal case due to fear of her retaliating). My boss ensured I quit via email and not fired so i could not get unemployment. I did get approved for unemployment due to a toxic work environment. She claims she did not receive the documents in time to dispute the claim.
Here's a quick overview of why I quit below: We where on a "worktrip" (I was not paid) at a medspa conference. I am not a injector but she is and I was her model. She got mad at me during lunch for inviting one of the girls to go out with us later that night because she was alone. My boss decided to be rude and say ACTUALLY NO THIS IS MY ASSISTANT AND WE ARE NOT GOING OUT TONIGHT (we where and had already had plans on the night for weeks) and then she said COME ON LETS GO and I said no Im going to finish lunch and the conversation and she rolled her eyes and walked away. After that she ignored me for the rest of the day and would pretty much walk away from me if I tried to engage her. She started to be rude to the people running this thing and throwing a fit because she was one of the last injectors. She threw such a fit that they ended up giving her thousands of dollars in free product to get back into her good graces. I was around for this and it was super akward. There was no reason for her to be so rude and disrespectful and she knows I dont play that game and dont want to be associated with people that do cause its not a good look (I had almost quit a few months back due to her being so rude to a sales person that she almost cried and told her then I would not be apart of that ever again and she said she would fix it). After the conference there was a reception for drinks and snacks. She went straight to bar and I sat where she could see me and she just walked away so I went downstairs to the lobby to call and check on my kids. When I went to go back up to the room she had a call on speaker and she was saying terrible things about me and lies. After 15 mins of this she realized I was outside the door and could hear her and asked me to come in and talk. I was pissed at the time so I said no not right now and she slammed the door. I went downstairs to call my husband and calm down and about 20 mins later she comes down with glass of wine in hand telling me we had to speak now. I said no I'm speaking to my husband right now and I'll speak with her later. She said OH YEA REALLY THATS HOW ITS GNA BE THEN I GOT YOU and went back upstairs. A few minutes later a text comes thru from the girl I met at lunch asking about plans for the night. I go to respond and my boss had locked me out of the work account so I go and check my other work accounts and I was locked out of those as well. Then I see her go into the lobby bar and I was not wanting to play her mind games and her "forcing" me to talk to her so I went up to the hotel room to pack my stuff and go to another hotel. I get to the door and try my key and it won't work so go down to the lobby asking for assistance. They called her 3x on speaker with no answer and then go to the back office and 5 mins later come out saying security would be escorting me to get my things. After getting my stuff with security I'm in the lobby and she's like where are you going and I said I'm leaving I'm not doing this with you and she freaks out so I said I was serious to leave me alone and we would discuss it once we got into the office on Monday. She went on to text me at least 70 text messages during the night saying how I wasn't suppose to hear her saying those things (backstory: she has been caught doing this multiple times to me either clients, coworkers, friends, and even directly in front of me. I had spoken to her about it previously saying to stop and she said would and was always just teasing). The next morning (aprx 8 hours later) we fly home. I changed my seat so I wasn't next to her and she kept walking the aisles trying to get my attention and after the 4th time dropped a note on my lap apologizing again). I didn't speak with her and had my husband pick me up from the airport. A few hours later she ends up sending a text that says HEY DID YOU QUIT? I said no I assumed I was fired since I was locked out of all accounts and I'm fine with that. She said no your not fired but if you want to quit please send a resignation letter so I did and it said I QUIT DUE TO A TOXIC WORK ENVIRONMENT. As the days and weeks passed she continued to message me apologizing and asking me to come back to work and each time I refused telling her until she is under the care of a mental health professional for at least 6 months I would not consider it. Once she realized I filed for unemployment and got approved she lost her shit and started to report me saying that I am working and frauding the system (I'm not) and that I quit because I was mad that she told me I was not hitting work standards. Eventually she filed the appeal and it's filled with lies and aprx 40 fake document "writeups" and where the employee should sign it says EMPLOYEE REFUSED TO SIGN on every single one (this is not true as I never received any write up in my 1 year). The appeal hearing case was the other day and she brought her brother inlaw/part owner of company/lawyer with her. I know this guy and have watched his child for him and we have always been on great terms. He came at me hard. So hard to the point that when I was answering the officers questions I had to ask that he be muted due to him laughing or repeatedly yelling at me saying REALLY or ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT?! They denied ever receiving my documents concerning the case (they did I sent them to her email where she sent her documents to me from) and insisted they not be used. This went on for over a hour leaving the officer to say we need to continue this at another date and the packet will be in the mail with the new date and time. He went on to argue about why it should be settled now and she had to keep repeating herself that it would be continued as she has other appointments. I expect this next hearing will be just as crazy and if I am still approved for unemployment that they will appeal it again and again until they win or are out of appeals. I'm not sure if I should continue to fight it or just say screw it because I have really bad anxiety over it all (even typing this my heart is racing and hands are sweating) and she is pretty crazy so I'm kind of worried how she will retaliate if I do win. I also know if I lose that I have to repay all money received plus interest and I can't afford that at the moment..obviously. Really the only reason I am at this point is due to principal and wanting to let's her know what she doesn't isn't acceptable. If I give up I feel like she will win and continue on her merry path of destruction and hate. Should I get my own lawyer for this? I'm sure it will cost me more that I will even get from unemployment in total (I have a max benefit amount of 2k) but I have never done this before and feel like I might need someone with experience.

Original Prompt

Limited Time Offer
"Well, well, well, Mister Luck. How lucky are you feeling?" Mr. Pays caressed the back of Frederick Luck's neck with the flat edge of a long knife. They were alone in the antechamber of his hideout. Behind them was Pays's escape route and in front of them was a door that led to a bevy of police and news reporters.
The young man choked back a quiet sob but otherwise said nothing. He trembled on his knees which brought a smile to the haggard and scarred man's face. Mr. Pays removed the knife and slid it into the sheath sewn into his suit pocket. Then he pulled a metal band out and wrapped it around the son of the billionaire's neck.
"I hope you like this, fashionista that you are," Mr. Pays said in as soft a tone as his deep bass could manage. "Call it your own personal Luck detector. Do you hear that beeping?"
Beep...Beep...Beep...
"Uh...uh-huh..."
"Good. That beeping means it's armed. Do you know how much this little bomb cost me to make?"
The boy shook his head slowly.
Beep...Beep...Beep...
"Of course not. You've never known the value of a dollar, have you? This little piece of jewelry," he tapped the metal band with his knife, "cost me seven hundred dollars. But your ransom is far more than that. And if your father paid it, you'll be safe."
"I-I will?" Hope. It filled the young man's limp shoulders and bolstered his voice.
Mr. Pays knelt next to Frederick and pointed with his knife. "There are thirty steps from here to that door, Freddy." He patted the boy on the cheek and stood up, grabbing Freddy's arm to pull him up as well. "And if the police followed my instructions - which they have - there will be twenty more from the door to the car your father should have sent. Fifty steps. Does that number sound familiar?"
Beep...Beep...Beep...
"N-no?" Uncertainty. Worry creased the boy's face.
"Your ransom is fifty million dollars." Mr. Pays grinned. "This bomb," he tapped the knife to the collar again, "is tied to the account they were to send the money to. For each million dollars, you can safely take a step. If they didn't deposit it all, well...how much do you think your father loves you?"
Fear played across Freddy's face. Then resolve.
"Fifty million's n-nothing to my dad," he said, tripping over his own emotions for a moment.
"Okay then. Start walking."
Beep...Beep...Beep...
Mr. Pays stepped back and put his knife away. He crossed his arms and waited. Freddy took one slow step. Then another. Each successive step was faster than the previous until he all but slammed into the door in his rush to escape.
The door opened, and Freddy took two more steps.
Beep...Beep... BOOM!
Turning to the camera, Mr. Pays smiled.
"Hi! Killie Pays here, with a special TV offer!
"Are you tired of your victims surrendering to despair and giving up? Have you lied to them enough times that they just assume they will die? Well, have I the product for you!"
He pulled a metal band out of his jacket pocket and held it up in front of him.
"For just six hundred and sixty-six dollars and sixty-six cents - or finance for six easy payments over six months at six percent interest -, you can get your very own customizable Killar. It's wireless, Bluetooth, and infrared-ready, allowing you to configure it to your heart's content.
"Sync it up with a bank account," a graphic of a bank appeared to his left, "or use its built-in pedometer and geolocator to set your own safe zones. It can be voice-activated, remote, proximity-based, or triggered off a code word. Do whatever you think it'll take to get that spark of hope back in their eye before the end!"
Mr. Pays extracted a thin booklet out of his other pocket and held it up next to the collar. "Call now and receive not only the instruction booklet but the Advanced Techniques guide at no additional charge."
Reaching out of camera, he pulled a man in a nice suit into frame and stabbed him in the chest with his knife.
"Remember, I'm Killie Pays," he said as he pulled the knife with a sharp jerk. Reaching into the screaming man's chest wound, he pulled out a thick stack of blood-covered cash. "And I make killing pay!"

I FIRE'd at probably the worst market conditions in a while on Jan 1, 2022. So it's been about 2.5 years.
Here's my net worth numbers, I am renting, so this is all invested in mutual funds. No additional side income. I am assuming a 3% SWR. I'm now 38 years old, single, no kids.

Date	Net Worth	Percent Change	Safe Withdrawal
Jan 2022	3.4M		104k
July 2022	2.8M	-18%	84k
Oct 2022	2.6M	-24%	78k
Nov 2022	2.8M	-18%	85k
Feb 2023	3M	-12%	91k
Dec 2023	3.3M	-3%	101k
March 2024	3.5M	+2%	105k
May 2024	3.6M	+6%	110k

Withdrawals:

• 2022: 15k ( Had cash on hand already )
• 2023: 77k
• 2024: YTD 32k / Estimated: 64-85k

Analysis / Questions
I think the highest my withdrawals would be this year would be 85k. Given that the lowest my SW number went was around 78k I'm thinking this might be a pretty good baseline to try to keep moving forward?
Aside from tracking my withdrawals, I haven't really been tracking my expenses too much. It's been a breath of fresh air to relax and not be so obsessed with the numbers on a weekly or monthly basis. I have a very simple setup for handling my checking and savings accounts with bills and regular spending that I can share in a follow up post if anyone is interested.
For major upcoming life expenses, I'm looking to buy some land out in the country and eventually build a home on it when / if I decide to move further away from the city center. My strategy for doing this will be most likely a personal line of credit that's secured with investments. I think this will end up being less interest than getting a land loan, but i'm not sure yet. One friend suggests only paying interest on this loan & keeping money in the market as long as possible, but idk. I like the idea of paying it off with whatever excess money I have in my capital gains limit and still be at 0% tax.
The area I'm looking at is an up and coming area that's currently experiencing explosive growth, so it seems like a good time to buy now and I'll be thinking of the purchase as an additional investment for now, since I'll still be renting for a few more years. So I'd keep that amount of money in my safe withdrawal calculations. There's a very good chance it'll appreciate as much or more than the stock market in the next 10 years.
Another area that I have a question: I have about 400k in my 401k and with my excess capital gains I can convert some of it to a Traditional IRA and then roll into a Roth IRA. I'm not sure if this is worth doing vs doing a capital gains harvest if we have another up year.
With a capital gains harvest in 2023, I was able to harvest around 20k and reset the cost basis. I think I could have instead converted 20k from my 401k to my Roth and paid around 10% tax on it in order to do that. I'm curious what y'all think is best?
ChatGPT seems to think the best plan is different depending on up and down years. On up years, harvest as much capital gains as possible while also doing a small roth conversion that keeps me in the lowest income tax bracket of 10%. On down years, harvest losses and do larger roth conversions since the losses can be used to offset taxable income and stay within that 10% bracket.
Learnings
- When you transition to FIRE it's very important to turn off re-invest dividends and have them sent straight to your bank account instead. I made a mistake with this in year 1 & 2 and ended up with a wash sale on some of my re-invested dividends. Then just withdraw extra money as needed throughout the year.

• Retire TO something. This has been mentioned a lot on this forum, but I FIRE'd to escape work hell that I was in and didn't have a solid plan for after. I was under too much stress to formulate much of a plan at the time and I paid for it. I spent almost a year in a deep depression. I would recommend figuring out what you want to do with your time while you're still working. Another thing to consider is you can actually do this stuff a little bit while still working, you'll just have more time afterwards! I did eventually start a few fun projects I wanted to try and made some major life changes, so things are looking up this year!
• Have a consulting side business if it makes sense. If you're planning to actually try to work then you want an LLC otherwise it's cheaper to register as a sole proprietorship. It's pretty fun to hop on phone calls and talk about stuff you're interested in. Very low stress, would recommend. I've only done a few, but I would do more. The major benefit of this is you can write off expenses for a bunch of stuff, which allows you to harvest more gains at the end of the year to reset cost basis and save more money on taxes in the long run. It's important to stay very diligent with separating your income / expenses for business vs personal. But this also provides an opportunity to get a ton of credit card points on a business card if you're planning to set up a home office with a new computer and stuff.
• Pay estimated taxes! I messed this one up last year and got a small penalty.

FAQ

• How did I FIRE at an early age? It was due to a startup that blew up. I consider it to be equal parts hard work and luck to be honest. Not everyone at my company got the same payout though. I had negotiated better terms throughout the time I was there, so that's something to keep in mind.
• Do I plan to stay single and no kids? I'm hoping to find another relationship which I expect will increase my expenses a bit. IDK about kids, but I'm assuming that if I do then I'll need to go back to work or lean on my partner's work if they wish to keep working. I'll make that decision once the time comes. Maybe I'll get with someone that FIRE'd at an even higher amount? hahahaha

Thanks for taking the time to read this and sharing your thoughts!

This is all tinfoil Hundreds of thousands of years ago “humans” were one race that was bipedal and very intelligent. Whether we all looked like doctor manhattans or all lizard ppl idk, but probably nothing that cool. When we were all one race we had powerful globally harmonic technology.
Humans then used their tech to go into space, but we weren’t spiritually ready to cohabitate with other species. I think we could have done something horrible like wipe out another species do to our intolerance or our arrogant nature.
The consequence of this was our own annihilation. When other life learned of what we did they destroyed us in a way that’s hard to imagine. Physically decimating the planet, and then our “rehabilitation”.
After exacting their physical revenge on our planet they came to “fix us”. Intelligent race’s capable of managing the complexities of space probably know how rare intelligent life is, and that the humans dispite their flaws were not a hopeless species. So this group of beings has taken turns being our jailers.
The jailers have progressively been more hands off as long as our species stays within certain guidelines, and follows their “program”
Initially the jailers were brutal and experimented on us. Potentially making us mine our planets resources for them. I’m thinking they removed a lot of the gold as it was probably vital in our powerful technology that caused all the trouble. They experimented on us making us look different and separated us. This is a reference to the Tower of Babel. They did this as one of our deterrences and tests.
If we couldn’t learn to get along and accept people with differences that we may not understand then we would fight amongst ourselves. If we are fighting amongst ourselves we will not progress properly slowing down all types of evolution including technological.
Religion was given to us by them to learn structure because our punishment left the planet and our people a mess mad max style. The beings stayed for a bit to get our species back on track and we wrote about them as gods or god. Which they are to us but aren’t to the universe which they too are exploring and figuring out. That’s why space is unfit for us. It’s a space for those searching and traveling to discover the purpose of it all.
some of our original species may still be alive. Maybe they were off world, the peaceful ones, or just hid in the earth. They could be the snake in the garden of Eden story. Reintroducing the new human to something it wasn’t suppose to.
I think there is still interactions with them, and they are around. They could be either jailers or alien “protesters” trying to expose what’s really going on. Or maybe beings with their own agenda.
Thanks for coming to my tinfoil party.