Upset stomach sore throat

Hi. I’m new to the subreddit and have just begun seeking out support/community from autistic people other than my friends.
Something I’ve been struggling with is that I both get upset easily and tend to hang on to anger, especially over little things (probably because people don’t feel the need to address minor issues or apologize for them). I especially get really upset when I feel like I’m not being understood, which is hard for me to fix because I struggle to explain myself with words.
My main issue is that if I get mad over one thing in a conversation, I won’t be able to move past it and I’ll be thinking about it for the rest of the exchange and even though I try not to be outwardly angry I do get more direct and short with people and I don’t say as much/don’t have a happy expression on my face. This usually prompts people to ask me if I’m in a bad mood or treat me like I’m acting aggressive/angry, which makes it worse. I tend to just spiral internally, getting really angry in my thoughts and imagining throwing things, yelling, etc. I never do any of these things but it’s really annoying because I can’t calm myself down and it almost makes it worse if I try to. It’s like I get really stubborn.
Does anyone experience the same thing and does anyone have advice on how to cope with this? Either ways to stim (although my body usually gets more still when I’m angry) or mindfulness techniques or ways to explain this to loved ones?
Edit to add: Also any advice for apologizing? Sometimes I know I’m being a jerk and I wish I could snap out of it but it’s hard and I know I should apologize but the thought of apologizing especially when I’m still angry makes me feel revulsed and like my throat is gonna close up.

So today I was "sucking up" phlegm from my throat and I did it when my throat felt dry (just finished coffee and didnt drink water right after). It was a hot sunny day too so I felt a bit dry. I felt something stuck a bit and decided to clearmy throat.
Well it hurt but I did get something else out instead of phlegm. I guess i sucked up so hard that I got a tonsil stone out. Which is great cause i didnt know i had some but now my throat feels dry and achey a bit. I have been dri king water and it still feels super dry hours later. Now idk if I have an upcoming sore throat.
The reason I question if I was getting sick was because my kids caught a cold 2 weeks ago. They're already over it a week ago. So I wasn't sure if I already caught it and the symptoms are coming now, or I just caused my own sore throat just now coincidentally.
If it helps, I did blow my nose in the morning (as usual with allergies) and there was less boogers, yet stickier? It feels like my nose is drier than usual to the point it feels stingy?

Dad of 3 little hooligans here. My oldest (4yo) is likely somewhere on the Autism spectrum. I say likely because our pediatrician recommended delaying testing because he was born at the end of 2019 right before the chaos of covid, and the lockdowns caused a LOT of developmental delays in kids born around the start of 2020, leading to a huge spike in ASD diagnoses and likely false positive results. But he is likely autistic, or at the very least severely adhd (like his mom and myself and his grandpa. Kid gets it honest lol). Now that the set up is done…
4yo is in basketball at our local YMCA. His coaches are a married couple, dad used to play college ball and he has 3-4 kids, 2 of which are also on the team. They’ve been pretty good! They seem to manage the kiddos well for the most part. That said, the last 2 weeks have been hard on our kid. Last week they split the team in 2 and did the same 2 drills for like an hour. About 20 mins in, my kid was just done. He was bored and starting to lose what little focus he had. When the wife of the main coach scolded him, he was done. Cried, wouldn’t go back in, blah blah blah, so early end. All week he’s been asking to go play basketball. Today we go back, and he’s suuuuuuper excited again and ready to go. He’s participating fine (mind you he’s a distracted mess, and needs redirected more often than the other kids, but doing his best to hang with the team’s overall chaotic structure.) Halfway he gets water, says he’s having fun. Second half of the practice and they start doing this weird drill where they just told the kids “spread out a little” in the paint and would take turns pulling one kid to the top to dribble down and then tell them to pass to another kid. Obviously none of the kids had a clue what was going on and it was slow going. My kid started visibly struggling with being bored and unsure what he was supposed to be doing. He would be redirected to “stand here” and would try, but get distracted again. He would kind of play defense and run with the ball handler to try and have something to do. At one point I saw him tell the coach “I wanna play basketball”. He got a turn and was happy. But after, being distracted and bored, he sat down on the court. I tried to subtly point for him to stand up, but he wasn’t seeing me. Finally the coach picked him up under the arms and sat him on his feet and patted his back telling him to “stand there”. Not out of line at all, but in the chaos he was clearly annoyed a bit. My kid is perceptive and does not handle people being upset with him well….so he thought he was in trouble. He started pouting a bit and crying, and after they tried to get him the ball and his not wanting to, he ran over to me and mom. We did our best to talk him into going back, but to no avail.
So far not a big deal, but what makes me super angry is after practice and the kids start getting with their parents and leaving, I had calmed my kid down and was trying to give him a dad pep talk. I fully expected coach to drop over and do what I would expect him to do: say hi to him, ask if he was okay, maybe give him a high five and try to encourage him a bit. NOPE. The coaches talked to a couple of the other kids and parents and just gathered their kiddos and left. Not so much as a glance to us. I’m still angry about it. It makes me feel rejected on behalf of my son. Like I get that it can be hard and my kid is a little hard to keep focused, but he’s still a 4 year old boy who just wants to have fun, who felt strongly that the coach was mad at him, and frankly I think so too. Makes me sick to my stomach.
TLDR: if you don’t like little kids or are not able to channel dad-first energy……do NOT coach tiny kid sports. No wan wants a douche who looks down on kids who just want to be included and have fun

Female, 32 170lbs
I went to bed last night with a sore throat which was very minor, I didn’t think anything of it. I awoke in the night and it was much worse and I had bad chills and a headache. I woke up this morning and my whole body is sore and sensitive to touch, something I have never experienced before. I am just very run down. My back is extremely sore, it feels like the bones in my lower back are what hurts if that makes sense. It’s Sunday so I can’t get through to my doctor and I am only asking here because we have an important trip at the end of this week and I’m panicking a bit.

Opening**
A security guard is seen running from foxy the guard runs into Freddy and Bonnie and chica in the dining. Foxy raises his hook and slices the guards arm off and the guard is knocked down. He wakes up in a chair it is a torture chair with sharp saws going to his face he sees a screw and tries to unscrew it doesn't work. The sharp saws go threw his face as his skin and meat and blood scattered on the floor and you see his bone they get cutting so wide the cupcake sees this and bites his meat and eats it.
Scene 1**
Mike wakes up in his bed staring at the clock reading 6:00 AM. He goes to his job as a cashier getting paid 3.29 a hour he is planning to quit but he needs rent money. He sees a guy stealing something so he runs and tries to tell him to give it back but sees a child and he realizes he should let them go because they could be hungry. Mike gets called to his boss. The boss tells Mike you are fired pack up your things or we will call 911. Mike packs up and goes home. He calls number for a job council he finds one. 2 weeks later (4/8/2000).
Scene 2**
Number 27, number 27. Mike realizes he heard his number and goes to a office. Hello my name is Dave Miller I am ur councilor today so what is your deal Mike letting people just go after stealing something is just bad you know that right? said Dave Miller. Mike said I did the right thing mr.Miller. I know but you can't be doing that ok Mr.Michael Schmidt also do you want coffee for ur job. What job? Said Mike. Security at Freddy's said Dave. Mike said how is the pay. Not good but hours are worst said Dave Miller. I will take it ok said Mike. Okay said Dave Miller.
Scene 3**
[1 day later]
I am at Freddy's Mike tells Dave on the phone. Ok remember check the place top to bottom but do not look in the suits said the owner and no parts and service also the owner said Dave. Ok I said Mike. (20 minutes later) I am in my office goodbye said Mike. goodbye said Dave Miller. Mike saw a tape with his name he played it and it was the year 1987 of the tape. Hello and welcome to Freddy fazbear pizza place our wonderful staff will love you and if you cook good so will chica and beware of one thing FUN!!! And remember the animatronics should be taken with care ain't that right Henry said the staff. Yes said Henry. Let's see th- th- video tape ends. Mike hears a call from the phone and answers. Uhm hello hello hello and welcome to Freddy fazbear pizza place it is for fancy and fun come to life and remember do not like do anything bad that would get you an illegal trouble I know I know why am I reading this well our last night girl let's just say was terrible at his job and I mean it just make sure to not do anything bad and hopefully not like the last last last night guard he was a train wreck oh yeah guess what he did on his cameras he wrote he nobody like drew the middle finger on every single camera lens that's all I got to say is don't do that and take my warning animatronics are alive and remember close the door and check the lights I'm not going to tell you again because if you ever mess with them they will harm you or worse the last night card sadly passed away because of a glitch at least that's what we think basically we have to reopen this place so we need another car to clean up it and make sure to keep it clean that's all I have to say goodbye said phone guy. Mike said okay and proceeded to look around the place. And before he knew it it was 6:00 a.m. and he could leave ending his shift for night one.
Scene 4**
Mike drove home and he saw a card taped to his door it said that he could get evicted in the next two weeks or else he would have to pay a lot of rent and if he didn't pay it by that time he would lose his house and be forced to live on the streets. So Mike just went to bed waited for 11:30 so he can drive off to Freddy's and get started with his night. He woke up and it was 11: 37 he was 7 minutes late and it was a 30 minute drive so he's so he went a little over the speed limit for the start of it and then calm her down but luckily he knows on the road or else they could have gotten hurt or even killed and but by the time he slowed down those traffic so he got the place at 12:03 and well he just went to his office and checked on everything and cleaned and made sure nothing bad would happen but he heard a phone call. hello hello oh yeah it is me again I tried giving you that warning the last time but you're not going to take it so I'm going to tell you in the hardest way I can and that is damn electronics will try to forcefully stuff you into a Freddy suit but pretty much saw in your face and pretty much that's what happened to the last guard so just be careful I guess but yeah I'm finishing my last week cuz a matter of fact yeah the last card was the one before mine yeah I don't know I'm calling it your last one but it's a awkward just trust me with this I know you probably say I was crazy last time but I'm going to redeem myself but I'm going to send the VHS tapes the company said not to to prove to you that those animatronics are nothing but bad and they always will be so I recommend you just stop messing with them or else they will mess with you in the most Gory way possible they will make sure they rip you live from when they will make sure you do not survive trust me well that's the end of the call goodbye. I thought the guy was crazy. Mike continued his night and well he got curious and he went by the animatronics they smelled disgusting and he saw a drip of blood fall out Mike just cleaned it up thinking it was just water pipes or something but cuz he got Mike just cleaned it up thinking it was just water pipes or something but cuz he Mike just cleaned it up thinking it was just water pipes or something but he got told not to look in the animatronic so he just ignored him and just cleaned he cleaned up the place and finished his night and then he just left thinking that exact drop of blood he realized something was deadly wrong so hey just text again and again and again he couldn't find anything so he heard a knock on the door it was 2:00 a.m. so he didn't care he saw on the cameras it was a police officer her named is Vanessa Mike learned when she told him when he opened the door Vanessa walked in. Mike showed her to her office and he was told about kids went missing in 1987. They never found the bodies. She asked Mike why did you choose this job is this something you think of yourself being at 10-20 years. Mike said no. She told Mike I have to go. Mike said okay cuz it was 5:59 a.m. Mike had to go anyways and he did he went in his car and left and went home and disgust on the phone with his own with the house on her he lives in and they talked about if they can postpone his rent to be later the owner agreed and said we will but if you do this again I will charge you extra.
**Scene 5
It was 7:38 pm and teenagers thought Freddy's place would be a good place to party they went inside and set up everything at 9:54 pm a kid went in the kitchen and saw chica and laughed because he didn't think chica was alive and went by her mouth and chica opened her mouth and peeled his head skin the boy screamed but the speakers where loud. Chica pickled at his meat as she went more and more deep as the cupcake jumped at the boys stomach and ripped his guts and blood on the ground as the blood was gory and one of the girls went to check on him and the cupcake jumped at her biting her face open. One teen went behind the stage with her boyfriend and saw Freddy put his microphone down her throat deep and ripped it out of her neck inside her and he stomped on her face. The boyfriend got scared but Freddy put his arm in his eye holes as he rips his head from there. Another group of friends went in the janitor closet to tell each other the scary horror story of Freddy fazbear pizza place and the light went off and the door opens and closed and the light was back on and they saw Bonnie in there with them as he uses his guitar in one put it in thee boys mouth and putting it out of his back ripping his torso open the teens tried to escape but the doors where locked and bonnie toookk them out one by one. In the dining room foxy ran at them using his hook to kill them slicing there brains out and golden Freddy desposes the bodies.
Scene 6**
Mike went to his office and cleaned the pizza place but phone guy called. Hello hello yeah as you can see I'm back from the call I know you're probably thinking right now and this guy talking about where you found out either way I'm going to help you no matter what even if I am dead right now and probably am I get that because they don't like me they will get to know you and they will like you I will give you hints that I found out on the way they are ghosts children I mean if I was forced to sing songs for decades I would be mad too because that is kind of bad basically no one caught who did I found it out because I'm not dumb and I am actually very smart at least I think but probably not I know exactly will have the bite of 87 happen that's what we call it basically Mike it was dangerous basically this child got bit in the forehead by foxy yeah pretty crazy stuff foxy but the kid raising his suck at him yeah the kid at least yeah the kids did not survive sadly imagine having to write that note to the parents or the parents right now basically they gave him a discount to me that's pretty messed up in the brain like if your child I would you want to do that no I'm not saying that you don't have kids or if you do I don't know anything about you probably know you can be the owner's child right right yeah you probably are knowing your name and that's the same name that's his and he did change his name and it will be new in the public is a start with an s because someone tried leaking the full name I'll ask is if you are him do not try killing me do not be like your father because I found out he's the one and as soon as I get going with this job you know what I'm going to do I'm going to report it to the police station and they're going to find out all the evidence cuz I found the bodies but I didn't remove them because that's disgusting their children dead in the suits I know you I'm guessing you're only doing this because your father told you to let me tell you something why you can stop right now you can at least I mean you were 6 years old when you accidentally killed your brother and dwell changes your name and everything all I ask I don't remember what happened and the year 1983 that's all I have to say goodbye. What Mike said. As he thinks I don't even remember being a child before I was 12. Mike was confused it was 2:00 a.m. he realized Bonnie moved and moved and he got scared Mike right now if his office try to get the exit the exit doors lock so you run back to his office went underneath Bonnie's legs as Barney tried trapping him with his kneecap almost freaking Mike got loose and ran to his office door and closed it and he started realizing phone guy was crazy as he thought Mike knew he was wrong the whole time Mike thought he knew they where not alive but he was wrong bonnie slamed the door trying to get in but left. He closed all doors at 5:00 a.m. and waited it was 6:00 a.m. he left. Mike found Vanessa and told her their alive Vanessa. She said I know they are they are just kids you shouldn't mess with them like do not harm them in any way just quit your job and leave every one you know that is a child out of this place or else they will get dangerously hurt said vanessa mike went to bed.. to be continued next week
Up for part 2

hi. I've been dealing with what I believe is Long Covid Syndrome (fatigue, brain fog, gastrointestinal issues, joint pain, intense dreaming and many more) for 2 years and most of my days look like this:

• I have these daily: fatigue, brain fog, sweating, gastrointestinal issues, phlegm in my neck.

And I got a cold recently and I am experiencing the same symptoms as above, but the phlegm is more intense and mucus also, the fatigue is more intense like almost lying in bed, the sweating increases and fluctuate with high temperature or chills, the join pain increases and I got also sore throat and hoarseness.
I don't know how to put this in words, but I really noticed that this cold is not something different than my chronic symptoms, but are the same but more intense. Especially that phlegm I have it daily, but during this cold is more intense. I believe that the COVID virus is somehow still in my body, creating chronic problems and reactivates from time to time and become more intense, acute?
Who else is experiencing the same thing?

After much research (here and online), close observation of personal symptoms / experiences and some hypothesized scenarios I may have a solution for at least a few physical symptoms that appear on the surface of our bodies.
I am not a doctor.
Background: I initially thought MD was alien in origin, but I gave that idea up because only crazy people believe in aliens. ;-)
Then I considered that it could be an ancient plague from days of old, but the study of children from 3 centuries ago (in England?) did not include the terrible symptoms many suffer today. So what we have today is relatively recent...
1) in researching this stuff I've found there are flesh dwelling fleas in the middle and far east mostly associated with dust, mold and fungi.
2) there are also studies examining the development (read weaponization) of parasitic fleas.
3) then I learned of graphine oxide. Wicked stuff that actually resembles small hairs, can activate with water and electricity and can be programmed...
So in my humble opinion this sh!t is a man-made 'kill-switch.' But to what purpose? Surely something so contagious and physically debilitating would not be released by anyone. What would be the point if everyone dies? Not even tree-huggers or globalist are that dedicated to depopulization.
So there must be a ready remedy that is available in most war-time scenarios. A remedy available to enemy combatants.
Salt is one natural remedy that offers some relief. Vitamin C is another. Sulfur is another. And then there is light...
I came to understand that this stuff is not a fan of light. The bright lights of medical facilities likely explain why doctors can't see what is troubling us just below the skin. I figured this out when I felt something moving around on an overcast day. When my flash went off prior to the camera focusing, the wyrm simply disappeared. This stuff is photophobic! In our bodies it becomes relatively inactive under bright light. Actually it hides.
Then I saw the thread about red light therapy.
I am not a doctor. This is simply my experience.
Not living near a red-light district and having no red light bulbs, I grabbed a small key chain laser.
When I moved the laser across the skin it felt as if I was brushing the surface with a soft thin brush. But I could only feel the sensation in places that had the wyrms. Another halucination? Nope.
To my astonishment when I pointed the laser at a small black sore (one of many much larger spots on my hand) for a brief period it seemed to fade. Unbelieving I hit the spot again for another brief moment. The spot scraped off with my finger nail with just a little pressure!
Then I tried one of the many tracks these wyrms use / leave when they move. The track disappeared! Seriously. Simply moving the laser back and forth along the track virtually eliminated it from observation.
When I tried the technique on a larger (more infested) spot the things immediately turn on the clear slime and when that fails they begin to move away.
The clear slime is not effective against the intense LIGHT of the laser! Additionally the laser is strong enough to penetrate slightly below the surface of the skin; right where this sh!t lives.
(To help contain the movement away from the laser I use a mixture of antibiotic ointment and OTC Sore Throat spray containing phenol. Applied liberally and frequently AROUND the infected area keeps the buggers in place.)
Your results may vary. I suggest trying the technique on spots not readily visible until you get an idea what the results are.
This method may be effective on the extremely fragile and tender skin of the face.
I have tried both red and blue lasers with similar results.
So, if inclined, give it a try.
No need to comment (though I enjoy reading everyone's posts and comments).
A simple 'up-vote' if it works for you. A 'down-vote' if it doesn't.
Call me crazy, but I sure hope it helps at least a few!
God bless!

Hey y'all. Hope your not in a flare or pain atm.
I need to start taking Biotin. Especially for hair. I took one pill of a biotin product from drug store and few hours and into next day, it tore my stomach up! So that's a no go on that one.
Wondering if anyone has had similar experiences with Biotin or maybe you've found one that worked and didn't upset your stomach. I've read that majority of biotin is known to cause gastro issues.
I'm I just SOL? Hope not.
Would appreciate anything

My husband and I have been married for almost 4 years and we have a 3 year old son. I'm very extroverted and have a lot of friends while my husband is very introverted and only has 3 friends who all happen to be female. Over the past year and a half, he got very close to one of them but I never put the kibosh on it because he has so few friends. Just at the beginning of May he had a couple nights where he did not come home because he was at her house. On the second night that he did not come home, I waited up for him and confronted him when he came in the front door. I gave him the ultimatum to either stop talking to her or to leave. At first he decided to stop talking to her and to work on our relationship. However, after a few days, he decided it wasn't worth it after we had done a silly marriage workbook and I just ended up asking him about accountability. I wanted to know what kept him from doing this again or what kept him from abandoning me when something more so severe in my life may be going on like ill physical or mental health. He has also done other things like spend $500 on a stripper on my last birthday when he was on a work trip out of town, and then after I had my son he racked up more than $800 in bills on only fans. He thought about it for a moment and told me that he was only going to hurt me again and again, and that there was no reason to try. I ended up convincing him to stay and that it would be worth trying for to keep stuff together for our family.
However, a couple days later I caught him messaging her again. I confronted him and he told me that while he loved me, he wasn't romantically in love with me. That I wasn't meeting his needs and I didn't understand him like she did. At this point we were still having sex at least twice a week. I helped him get his green card. I helped him get his license back. I bought him a new car every time he wrecked one. And I just helped him get into college. It was also smoking anywhere from 100 to $300 worth of weed every week, and I was just taking it on the chin and figuring out our finances around it. At this point, I just asked him to leave. He cried and moaned while I made him pack a bag, and was upset that I was asking him to leave which would prevent him from being there for our son. However, I told him if he remained I wouldn't be able to be there for our son, and that's what mattered the most to me.
He ended up leaving and staying with his stepdad. According to his mother and his sister, he's been taking money from his dad because he said I was still receiving his paychecks (which I am not) and that he has been into his dad's medical cabinet to try to take painkillers and his dad's diabetic needles. The girl that he is hooking up with has mental health issues and with drug usage. He also has prior issues with drug usage. He's also been switched psych medications four times in the past year.
At one point he offered to reconcile and just get to come home by stopping seeing her. But I told him that there was way more that we would need to work on before he could come home. He ended up going back to her and then trying to come back to me. And then just yo-yoing between the two of us for several weeks before he eventually decided to just pick her. He's now trying to blame the end of our marriage on me for being a "mean bitch who is no fun" and that I'm not accountable for my actions in ending this. However, I had overlooked so much of his previous bad behavior to remain in a relationship with him so my son would have a father. I tried to get him to help me understand what I had done wrong, and he told me that I was impossible to communicate with which is why he never communicated his needs to me.
He has also told me that he doesn't want any more kids, and that he doesn't believe in God. He told me that co-parenting our son will be fine, even though I've told him how much my parents divorce at a similar age deeply ended up wounding me as a child. He thinks just because he's going to be around some. It's better than his father who wasn't around at all. However, I told him sometimes it's more painful to have your dad two cities away living a life with a new family than it is to have an immovable image completely gone from your life.
He talks about co-parenting our son, but he is only seeing him a handful of times in the month that he's been gone. Most of those occasions have been at my suggestion and I have also been present. He's also stood us up once because he told me he had gone to the woods to contemplate suicide instead of meeting up with us. He doesn't call our son every night even though a FaceTime call with him would probably only last like 2 to 5 minutes. He's only sent me $320 to deal with expenses in the month that he has been gone along with getting our son a haircut. At each of these meetings he starts off by being horrible to me and rude. By the end, he's softened and does whatever he can to spend as much time with me and my son before he leaves. Even after my son goes to bed he wants to hang out and smoke a joint together. However, this last time he came to drop our son off, he got really sore at me because one of our mutual friends had sent him pictures of a conversation I had with them. In the conversation, I had Said that my husband and this girl are in a codependent cabal, and the only thing that they have in common are poor morals and bad teeth. He was upset by that but all of it was true. Now he refuses to see me or communicate with me. He told me that he wants to be friends but I can't say mean stuff like that. However, he says a bunch of mean things to me all the time about me being a horrible wife and how perfect this new woman is. Both of us want to be friends for the benefit of our son, but I just don't think I have it in me. He always says things to me to make me feel low, and he acts like I should just be over it even though it hasn't even been a month yet.
My life has completely changed and I feel so much grief over the life I thought I had, the partner I thought I had, and the future that I thought I had. It feels like a devil has crawled into his skin and is walking around pretending to be him. I feel so much resentment being left to pick up the pieces of our life and to hold everything together for our son. He gets to go run away and fuck someone new, while I have to be strong and stoic. I don't understand how I can be friends with someone who's hurt me so much and has cared so little. He's going to miss out on so much of our son's life and he doesn't even care. He's just convinced himself that life with me would be miserable. Even though we had so many good times together, and I had always tried my hardest to make him happy and to make sure our family's needs were met. He didn't even want to go to therapy and he didn't even want to try to start things over by dating me again. I'm just so disappointed.
I don't know where to go from here. I am definitely talking to a divorce lawyer. I worry about whether or not he's using drugs, and whether or not he'd be safe around our son. I definitely don't want this woman around our son and he doesn't see the big deal with it. Should I just cut him out of my life? Should I cut him out of my son's life? Should I try to be friends with him? It's all so hard because it's just all so shocking and I still love him. Part of me wants to reconcile but also part of me is starting to realize how easy my life is without him around. He's also also kept trying to make reconciliation not an option. What should I do?

I went into the hospital today for a cough that I’ve had for over 2 weeks. The only other symptoms I’ve had is loss of appetite. No fever, diarrhea, sore throat, headaches etc.. still the cough didn’t seem like it was going away so I went into the ER. I was given a covid test that came back positive. I totally trust their expertise but I don’t think I have it. I’ve been in close proximity to many family members over the last two weeks and all are fine. After being discharged, I took a home covid test and it come back negative. So is the hospital a false positive or mine a false negative?

I am not the OOP. The OOP is u/user posting in AITAH
Concluded as per OOP
1 update - Short
Original - 14th May 2024
Update - 25th May 2024
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AITAH for not getting my ex wife anything for Mother’s Day?
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My ex wife (34F) and I (35M) finalized our divorce proceedings last year. It was fairly amicable, we had fallen out of love, and that’s all there was to it. We also have a daughter who’s 14.
I have now been dating my current girlfriend for a few months, and we celebrated Mother’s Day yesterday. My daughter asked me if I could get something for her mother, like flowers, and I told her no.
My ex wife and I are still amicable, but I don’t see any reason for getting gifts for my ex wife. I know my ex wife is not dating right now. Since my ex wife gave birth to our daughter, I used to go all out every year for Mother's day, and treated Mother's day as a very special day. But we're not in a relationship anymore, and I explained that to my daughter.
Was I the AH?
​
Comments
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elysabyth
YTA because your CHILD asked for help and you said no. You could have taken her and given her a few dollars to go get flowers (it wasn't coming from you.)
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mouse_1963
Agree. This wasn’t about your ex-wife, it was about your daughter and her mum. YTA
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cupholdery
OP telling on himself while trying to get internet points.

Because my girlfriend lives with me now, and she has been amazing to my daughter and has taken over all the motherly duties.

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ThrowawayFishFingers
“I have to be nice to my new bangmaid or she’ll leave me, too!”
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Silver-Raspberry-723
I have a daughter in her mid 30’s with 3 children 9,7 and 4. She is currently going a really acrimonious divorce. Like hugely horrible.
Weekend before Mother’s Day, was his weekend. He went out and bought 2 vases and paints and helped the kids decorate them and filled them with her favorite roses for the kids to give their mom.
No, he does not want her back. He just loves his kids.
YATAH Do better.
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**Judgement - YTA*\*
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Update - 11 days later
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So a quick update, my girlfriend and I got engaged yesterday! I am really happy, but I also realized I was an AH and should have allowed my daughter to get her mom a Mother's Day gift. So I gave my daughter $200 today and told her to buy her mom a nice Mother's day gift, and my daughter was really happy about it.
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Comments
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ZeroZipZilchNadaNone
Good for you on funding your daughter’s gift for her mother.
Quite frankly though, even though you felt it important enough to brag about first, we ready don’t care about your engagement. You only finalized the divorce last year. Are you really jumping into another engagement/marriage this quick or is your new fiancée the true reason for your divorce? What does your daughter think about it? Is she happy about it or are you blindly shoving it down her throat?
Best wishes to your daughter.
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Prestigious_Dee
Wow! $200? That’s a lot!
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Upset_Sink_2649
That's with guilt tax included.
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I am not the OOP. Please do not harass the OOP.
Please remember the No Brigading Rule and to be civil in the comments

I had protected sex with bc pill 5 weeks ago. I got my period two weeks early after. After that week I started spotting brown a week after, and noticed some nausea but not enough to puke. I get Minor back pain and my stomach is always upset. I have not received my period currently, and I am stressed. I haven’t missed one pill at all. I was visiting family so I adjusted my pill taking time to 7pm( PST equivalent) because I usually take it at 10 PM EST. Help? Everytime I think I’m okay, I google my symptoms and the first thing that appears is pregnancy.

I’ve had these red marks on my body, some are itchy some are not. My dr suggested it was ringworm but now I’m second guessing it, I’m getting new rashes everyday and it looks like it’s spreading all over my body despite following proper protocols and hygiene (washing clothes/bedding/ wash clothes daily, applying topical treatment as well as the oral pill, frequently washing hands) i also now have it on my hand and im paranoid its gonna spread even more it’s affecting my daily tasks and life. I’ve also developed a sore throat and a runny nose, dr says it’s not related but I’d love a second opinion please I’m kinda loosing my mind

I started following Lacy back in her Free + Native days after she wrote a blurb for mindbodygreen about her hair growth infusion. I finally joined the Pathway in 2020 and did it in tandem with therapy and got a lot out of it at the time! But once I graduated from therapy I felt I had graduated from the Pathway as well. Even though I’ve since unfollowed TBM and Lacy and become a bit disillusioned by both, I realized just how much Lacy and her recommendations have influenced me over the years!

1. Beans- Oh the beans! I never did the bean protocol strictly, but after listening to Karen Hurd’s first podcast (let’s pretend that second one never happened) I figured it was a cheap and pretty easy way of incorporating more fiber in my diet, especially as I move toward eating a more plant based diet. And now that my baby’s eating solids he also eats beans most days 🫣
   
2. Flower essences- I will sing Alexis Smart’s praises until my dying breathe! Her flower essences really are amazing. I bought my best friend and I some on a whim after we had our babies because we were navigating so much postpartum and whoa did I notice a tangible difference! I’ve literally had her formulas on rotation ever since. I also DM’d her on Instagram and had the funniest, sweetest interaction with her. I won’t try and explain the conversation because it’s confusing without the full context but she actually came back and messaged me apologizing in case I took offense to her message (which I did not, there was absolutely nothing to be offended by! But I thought it showed how sweet, sensitive, and thoughtful she is that she’d reflect on what she recommended to me! It made me like her even more tbh.)
   
3. Hair growth tea- If you don’t know the one I’m talking about, it’s this one. Even though I’ve technically been drinking this infusion for years, I’m never consistent enough to tell if it’s actually making any difference. If it’s worked for you let me know and I’ll try and get better about drinking it 😅
   
4. Lara Elliott- I know someone on here recently asked about Lacy’s inner circle and Lara was mentioned. I had a life-changing womb healing session with her a couple years ago before I was about to begin trying for my baby. She was genuinely so warm and friendly! And I still talk about how powerful that session was to this day. She also gave me a really wonderful taco restaurant recommendation after our session haha. Seriously if you’re interested in booking a session with her, it’s worth every single penny!
   
5. Jenna Zoe- I’m not even into Human Design but I love Jenna’s app so much, specifically for the meditations! It’s so affordable for the amount of content that she is regularly uploading (ahem take note TBM). She also has one of my favorite Instagram accounts PERIOD.
   
6. Beekeeper’s Naturals- This stuff works amazing, I fear! We have a baby in daycare so the throat and nasal spray stay in rotation.
   
7. Infrared mat- I forgot I opened an FSA account so I had a lot of money to spend in very little time lol so I bought myself an infrared mat after literally seeing Lacy have one (I feel like she had it at the Forest Retreat House?). The brand she used wasn’t FSA eligible so I bought a different one. I still loved it! Again, not sure if it made any difference to my overall health, but I it was great for menstrual cramps, I always used it when I got sick, and my dog also loved to have a snooze on it which is obviously most important haha.
   
8. ION Biome- Bought this stuff after listening to Zach Bush’s Expanded episode when I was have a particularly rough bout of stomach issues. I don’t think it made them worse? But it definitely didn’t make them better. It also gave my husband the shits for days lol. I still gave it a couple months but traditional probiotics just work better for me 🤷‍♀️
   

I feel a real kinship with this particular community and would love to know what products/people you found through Lacy/TBM, and whether you recommend them or not!

So. I've read quite a few posts here regarding so many people's lovely experiences with trying to get a rating of OSA as a rating.
Long story short. I had sleeping problems practically my entire time in service. I always noticed it and I definitely made a comment several times to those at my base in the clinic. I do have a current rating of 70% for MDD w/Insomnia. I've been denied on my Sleep Apnea claim twice already. I did request a HLR back on April 18 and my lawyer submitted an article that has a few pages illustrating the link between Depression and mental health things and OSA. I did have a sleep study in July of 2023. And I have OSA pretty bad. It honestly makes sense considering I've had severe headaches for years, wake up with a dry mouth & sore throat most days, and even when I sleep for 8-10 hours. I would feel as though I never had more than 3 hours of sleep.
I also rarely ever dreamt at all (Which I was told is a telltale sign of OSA). Again, I made several mentions of the symptoms I would have regarding my poor sleep during my time in. But nobody ever suggested I should have a sleep study done. I was young(er) and naive and honestly never event thought it would be possible for me to have sleep apnea. I always assumed it was an old person thing or that you would need to be extremely overweight. While I wasn't the skinny guy I had always been during my time in. I was sitting between 170-220 max. And before I got out of the military was at about 185. So, for me (a guy who's always been pretty stocky & muscular), I felt pretty comfortable in my body. Now I feel as though I'm being penalized for my ignorance and it's just infuriating. The CPAP that I do have is a life saver and I'm extremely thankful that I got it done. But now that I understand that I've had practically the same symptoms for years...It feels like a slap in the face to deal with all of this.
Basically I'm curious if anyone else has had any success with filing secondary to MDD w/Insomnia at all? As I stated above, my lawyer did submit some article that provided evidence of links between all of that stuff. I also filed for an increase to my Migraines/Headaches. Basically just filling out a log that stated all the times I have headaches, with prostrating attacks, etc. I guess I'm just not sure what else I need to do or have to have done to make the examiners believe that I may have more than likely had OSA while I was in service. I'm waiting on a decision (have been since April 18th), and I'm literally holding my breath for that rating (if approved). If I get that & the increase for my Migraines/Headaches. I'll be sitting at 100% and a pretty hefty back pay amount that would literally be a life saver at this point.
I'm sure I'm missing some other things that I wanted to say, but this is pretty much the gist of what I was wondering about.

I (early 20s F) have a chronic health condition which means I am immunocompromised, when I get sick it’s often more severe and lasts twice as long as other people. It also aggravates my health condition more so it’s a pretty bad feedback loop.
My partner (early 20s M) is aware of this and does try to do stuff like get covid vaccine boosters and such but can’t help but get sick constantly and “not notice” before passing it onto me. So far this year he had two pretty prominent warts on one of his fingers that I had to point out and ask him to deal with (I had persistent warts years ago and broke records at the clinic which treated them for the treatment duration, it took years of effort and painful intense treatments, being constantly vigilant to get rid of them). He told me he’d sort of noticed them but didn’t want to tell me because I’d “freak out”. Needless to say, his went away in a month or so with over the counter treatments and I’ve of course caught them, they’ve spread to almost half of my fingers and I’m back to sustaining really invasive treatment as they seem to only spread and grow over 4 months or so.
He also has chronic allergies which he doesn’t really take his prescribed medication for. This sort of bothers me because he sniffles every day and spreads snot with stuff like snotty tissues that he leaves everywhere. This is kind of gross already but means that when he has a cold he “can’t distinguish between it and the allergies” even though the first sign of a cold is usually a sore throat which I would imagine is sort of easy to notice as standing out from other hayfever symptoms? Usually he’ll complain of a sore throat offhand and I will have to explain to him that he’s sick and needs to take this more seriously and be more on top of his symptoms so I know to avoid him for a few days and avoid getting sick myself. Because when I inevitably always do, already 2-3 times this year, I’m impacted for closer to 3-4 weeks.
The most recent incident has been him coming down with gastro which he initially put down to food poisoning (as he isn’t great with food safety either). I get that it can be hard to distinguish, and that he doesn’t want to make me sick. But yesterday he told me that he he was better and wanted to hang out so we spent the day together. Only for him to be visibly sick the whole time, offended when I didn’t want to eat something his cutlery had touched, and for me to be invited to his home without the knowledge that his parents had caught his “food poisoning” and were both throwing up, and had still invited a guest over to dinner?? I only found out when I got there and immediately left. If I come down with something like gastro and can’t keep food/fluids down I will need to go to the emergency room immediately as it is dangerous for me.
I asked him today if he washed his hands properly and he said yes but when not sick he doesn’t even always use soap. I’m starting to get really tired of his bad hygiene/self-care practices which keep becoming my problem and I’m not warned about before it’s too late (and often I have to pick up on it myself and tell him to deal with it and be more careful next time).
Even if he does genuinely makes a mistake each time, I’m starting to feel like he doesn’t care enough. And I know that my condition sounds bad and that I should be more vigilant/expect to be sick sometimes which of course I understand. But why can’t he be bothered to notice something is up/why does he avoid telling me every time! I’m starting to really resent him for this

So I originally had unprotected sex 5 months ago and then about 5 weeks later I started having morning sickness for about 2 weeks and then I got a sore throat for a week, I originally thought I was pregnant but it was negative. I went to the drs and was negative for strep, covid, and the flu but my throat was killing me and I had nausea but no vomiting. Was told my ear canal was red so I probably had an ear infection, given antibiotics and it cleared within 7 days.
Fast forward 2 months from having a sore throat to then developing headaches
I then had unprotected sex 72 days ago with another guy and then I just started getting headaches behind my eyes everyday so I got on multiple headache medications to control them but naturally this scared the living hell out of me so I abstained from any sexual interaction for 72 days and did a full STD panel, and my HIV 4th Gen AG/AB came back negative. Is that conclusive? Is it possible to have symptoms 2 months after each other? Would they be connected? Is this probably just my anxiety?

I'm in the middle of a really unpleasant situation at my job and wondering if anyone has any advice or words of encouragement.
The issues here started long before this but everything really kicked off last week when I was written up for being out for 2 shifts the week prior. I had strep throat and provided an excuse from my doctor, according to company policy. I have a very good attendance record. At first they claimed that no attendance policy existed and it was all up to discretion to which I printed and presented the company policy which is readily available via our Microsoft SharePoint. They had also cited me for 1 day which was approved PTO and another which I was able to prove that I worked. On-site HR refuses to speak to me about any of this and has been attempting to ignore it entirely, so last night I composed a lengthy email which contained all of my requests (that they ammend my attendance record to be accurate, provide me with a written ADA exemption for my disability, clarify attendance policy and expectations and explain to me why I'm being punished for the same actions others get away with on a constant basis) and sent it to our on-site HR, corporate HR and both supervisors present during my disciplinary meeting.
Today, when I arrived for my shift, I was demoted by my supervisor. When I asked why, I was told that it was due to my actions and that the only reason that exists to miss work without getting disciplinary action "is if you have a child". I do not have a child; I am in fact, infertile. I was under the impression that Family Status was a protected class in my state, but it seems it may only be in housing situations. My supervisor refused to elaborate in any way, stated to me that i "should've let this go", "just taken the write up and moved on". He stood up and left the room while I was speaking, effectively ending the meeting and refusing to engage any further.
I don't know how to handle this anymore. My supervisor was extremely hostile towards me during our meeting today. I work a night shift and do not see any upper management or office staff due to my start time. I've been documenting absolutely everything including recording the audio from all the meetings I have here (one party consent state) and I have 2 job interviews on Monday, but I don't know if there's more I can do or if i should even be as upset about this situation as I am. There are SO many details I've left out for sake of brevity. Any advice as to how to conduct myself beyond "document everything" and "follow policy to the letter" is welcomed.
Thanks for reading.

I am wondering if anyone else has this, and how they deal with it. Some of this might be TMI, so sorry about that.
Usually I don’t struggle with stomach issues when I’m not on my period. But for the entire week before my period, everything I eat upsets my stomach, I have to shit multiple times a day, and I am nauseous no matter what I’m eating. Then once my period begins, I am nauseous on the first day of my cycle, and after that I’m back to normal and feeling good until before my next period begins. Does anyone else have this, and if so, what helps you? It’s so damn annoying and makes it extra hard to function at work in the days leading up to my period

Logan the bounty hunter was in a really bad mood.
It all started when the coffee machine stopped working. This wasn’t a rare occurrence; in fact, it was the third time this cycle, but this time his go-to solution (taking out and reinserting the star powder battery) didn’t fix it, and he was all out of ideas.
It’s not that the caffeine even did anything for him. The nanomachines in his system filtered out many sorts of potentially addictive or harmful substances, and for some reason this included caffeine, which is a fact he only realized after the seven-cycle refund period had passed.
Still, it was an old habit and an act of comfort that he sorely felt the absence of.
That was the first thing. The second thing was that his tracker had stopped working. In fact, his entire connection to the galactic wide web (gww) had gone down. Without the tracker, he couldn’t pinpoint the exact location of his current bounty—a low-class deathworlder wanted for kidnapping and trafficking—which kind of made his whole bounty hunting business difficult to do.
Oh, and his ship had crashed.
Damn thing was overdue for maintenance, and the autopilot had started malfunctioning while flying over a small dusty-brown planet. It had taken some careful manual maneuvering and some buffeting about in the planet’s whirlwind atmosphere, but eventually he had managed the miracle of walking away from a smoking and unsalvageable wreckage with only minor cuts and bruises.
Here he was now, trudging through the sandy windswept dunes of a planet that hadn’t even showed up on the map. Armed with little more than a spacesuit, a blaster, and an undying will. And wishing he’d had that cup of coffee (and wasn’t immune to caffeine).
Logan raised a hand to his eyes, peering through the thick glass of his visor. There was so much dust and sand swirling around that it made it quite hard to see where he was going, not that there were any landmarks in sight anyway. It looked scorching hot outside, though his spacesuit registered a cool 286 Kelvin for some reason. Likely another malfunction, one that he’d rather not put to the test.
On a planet like this, he supposed, everyone (if anyone was even here) probably lived under the surface where it was probably cooler and probably free from sandstorms. All he had to do was find the entrance to their underground tunnels among all this shifting sand.
The chance of that happening was, unfortunately, not very high. Still, Logan wasn’t panicking yet; he’d been through worse, he thought. He’d been through jungles teeming with 8-foot beetles. Survived massive hiveminds circling to entrap him, faced slippery slimes that reformed their bodies to resemble those he held dearest. Horrible learning experiences, those.
That being said, sometimes it’s the mundane problems that pose the greatest threats of all. Starvation, aching thirst, and a dwindling oxygen supply while wandering a barren desert. It wouldn’t be a glamorous way to go out, and Logan was wracking his brain for ideas.
Now would’ve been a good time to use his rescue beacon, if he had one. This would be his, what, 127th bounty? And until now, he’d never had to use a beacon. Stopped carrying one a dozen bounties ago. Maybe it was just luck, but things had always gone pretty smoothly, and maybe he’d gotten a little overconfident.
Logan knelt down and grasped at the ground, watching the little grains of sand sift through his gloved fingers. Those little specks seemed to shimmer and flicker, like a low quality hologram call. Otherwise, though, they seemed normal; surprisingly similar to the sand he remembered from Earth. It made sense that some things remained the same throughout the universe; it’s not like every planet could re-invent the periodic table, after all. Even aliens had to remain grounded in reality, however loosely.
He looked down. According to his suit’s display, he had a few hours of oxygen left. He’d been walking for a while now with nothing but the sands to show for it. He also had to pee. It was really going quite terribly.
“It looks like you’re doing quite terribly,” a voice said, velvety and welcoming. Logan jerked his head up, blinking rapidly in surprise.
Standing before him, with crossed arms and a smoldering look, was a lithe, dusky-furred humanoid. They—or she, judging by the feminine face—was wearing a long, thin shawl translucent enough to reveal a pair of twitching, swiveling ears and a questioningly arced tail, swaying in the wind.
The feline features were unmistakable. It was, by all accounts, a catgirl.
Mentally, Logan pumped his arm and jumped for joy. Just wait until the guys back at Earth heard about this! Many a novice pilot first set out for the stars with dreams of catgirls and other alien babes in mind, but thus far, most alien species had been decidedly strange and eerily-shaped, though this didn’t stop everyone from pursuing them. Outwardly, though, he nodded, and rasped, “I could use some help. Do you know about this thing called ‘oxygen’?”
The catgirl frowned. “Great way to say hi to a girl. But yes, you aren’t the first traveler to crash-land on Shaw Prime. Follow me.”
“Oh, great,” Logan said. How convenient. “Where to?”
“My people live underground, hidden from the elements within a complex system of—”
“Tunnels? I knew it.”
The catgirl turned around and whipped her tail against Logan’s leg. It kind of stung for a moment. “I don’t know what culture you come from, traveler, but in mine, it’s rude to interrupt someone while they’re speaking. Especially if they’re the host and you, the guest.”
Logan rubbed the back of his head (or tried to, but the spacesuit got in the way). “Sorry. Just got excited. Interrupting someone speaking is actually considered rude in my culture, too.”
“So you should’ve known better.” The catgirl harrumphed and started marching forward, waving her tail to signal him to follow. He shrugged and started trudging along behind her.
“So where am I, exactly? ‘Shoe Prime’ you said earlier, I think?”
“Shaw Prime,” she corrected. “A small sand planet on the outermost reaches of the nearest solar system. Quite uninhabitable for most, and all our visitors arrive unwillingly.”
“I see. It certainly feels inhospitable. And,” Logan said, jumping in place a couple times, “you’ve got decently strong gravity, though less than where I come from. You know, this feels like at least a minor deathworld to me.”
“The term ‘deathworld’ is new to me, but it does seem fitting enough.”
“Right. I’m guessing the Galactic Federation hasn’t gotten around to marking your planet yet. Actually, your planet didn’t even show up on my map; people might not even know that civilization exists here. Huh.” It would be the first time for Logan to discover a new species. He could report this back home, and hopefully get handsomely rewarded for it.
“The ‘Galactic Federation’? I haven’t heard that term before. What does it mean?”
“That’s the big alliance formed by all the space-faring species of the known universe. They’re basically responsible for everything, including first official contact with new species like yours.” Logan paused a moment. “Wait, you said I’m not the first traveler to land here, right? How have you not heard of the Galactic Federation before?”
The catgirl’s ears twitched, but she didn’t look back. “They must have neglected to mention it.”
“Weird. Surely someone must’ve mentioned it. The Federation’s got these rules for first contact, see, and—”
“We’re almost there.” The catgirl interrupted, glancing back at him with those smoky eyes. “The hidden entrance to the tunnels lies just ahead.”
Logan peered through his visor. Ahead of his guide’s slim figure, he saw nothing but more of the same brown hues. A sudden uneasiness prickled his skin. “Where? I don’t see anything.”
“If you could see it, it wouldn’t be very hidden, would it? Come on.”
She beckoned him forward, and a few paces later, stopped entirely. She crouched down and scrabbled at the sand a few times, revealing a circular wooden hatch buried under a thin layer of sand. It didn’t look that heavy, but she grunted and strained to lift it up with her paws, revealing a dark cavern down inside.
“In you go,” she said, pointing her tail at the hole.
Something about this didn’t sit right with Logan. Maybe it was the way her fur stood warily on end, the way her ears shivered every so often. Maybe it was the fact that his guide didn’t know about the Galactic Federation, yet seemed familiar enough with travelers to communicate with ease. Sure his universal translator helped, but that was only supposed to work with discovered species, not ones that had yet to be contacted and researched. Or maybe it was just that he didn’t like jumping into suspiciously dark holes in the ground.
There was also the fact that the temperature gauge in his suit was now measuring a chilly 270 Kelvin. A far cry from the heat suggested by the sun-baked sands he saw.
He had a guess where this was going, and he didn’t like it, not one bit.
“Say,” he said, conversationally. “I noticed your hologram flickering earlier. Think you need some maintenance.”
“What?” The catgirl said, raising a dusky eyebrow. “I don’t know what that is. Won’t you go inside?”
“I’m just saying. It’s a convincing show and all, promise, but once you’ve been in the biz long enough, you start noticing small details like flickering sand and mismatched temps.”
“Look at you. All the heat must’ve gone to your head.” She said, sidling up to him. There was a sudden yet subtle shift in her demeanor, so quick that he almost didn’t notice. Her eyes lowered, her tongue darted out to lick her nose, and she placed one foot in front of the other gracefully, retracing her own steps perfectly. She approached him, casually curling her tail around his leg, sending tingles up his spine.
“Poor, weary traveler. It must’ve been tough, sailing through space all on your own. Won’t you come inside and rest a while?” She purred, tugging him gently towards the open hatch. “Quickly, before the sand covers it again.”
He inched a hand towards the blaster hanging at his side, unmoved by the obvious act. “Does the word ‘gelatinous’ mean anything to you?”
Her eyes locked onto his hand, her tail going stiff behind her. “Not as such, no. Why don’t we discuss this inside? After you, of course.”
“Of course. I’ll be on my way, then.”
Logan said, shoving her away, leaping back, and unholstering his blaster, all in one practiced motion. She landed softly on all fours, hissed, then sprang at him, fast as lightning. He raised an arm to block, pulling up his blaster and aiming it at her center mass. At the same time, she skidded to an abrupt halt before him, half-crouching as one hand darted past his arm without a sound.
They both froze. Logan’s blaster trained on her torso, her claws nearly piercing his neck. It seemed they were at a deadlock.
Wait, Logan thought to himself. I have a spacesuit.
His fingers itched on the trigger, but in that same instant, he heard a small tearing sound as a single claw slipped through several layers of synthetic polymers, Kevlar, and silica fiber to rest itself pointedly against the actual skin of his neck. A small hissing sound indicated the oxygen leaking from the new hole in his suit.
“That’’s a sharp knife you’ve got.” He said, feeling his mouth drying up.
“It’s not a knife,” she said smugly, though her raised fur betrayed her wariness.
“Enough of these illusions, okay? I’ve seen through ‘em. We’re not in a desert, and you’re not a catgirl. I’ve met your kind before—shape-shifting, amorphous slimes, always taking the form of something I love. Usually it’s my late wife or a dear friend, but pretending to be a catgirl is taking it too far.” He sniffed.
She hmphed, and said, “You’re only half-right, outworlder.” She let out a trilling sound, and a moment later, the world flickered out of existence.
With the veil lifted, Logan could see the world for what it really was. Gone were the tan-brown desert and the shifting sands. In their place was a world of ash. White and grey specks drifted through a sunless sky, cold and desolate. Looking down, he saw that his feet were buried ankle-deep in the stuff. So the feeling of sand had been real, sort of. He wondered what it was made of.
Dreading what he would see, he raised his eyes once more, only to see the same catgirl shivering in her shawl before him.
“This is what I actually look like,” she said, pricking her claw against his neck. “Now how about dropping that gun and sticking your hands in the air?”
“So catgirls are real.” Logan wondered aloud, feeling hope swelling in his chest.
“I… guess?” She seemed uneasy about the way he looked at her. “So about that gun—"
“What is this place?” He asked, prodding his blaster against her stomach. “I’m pretty sure it looked like a desert world from outside. Don’t tell me you have some, some kind of planet-wide hologram going on. That would be… I don’t know, prohibitively expensive, and very concerning.”
“Yes,” she said, straight-faced. “The hologram covers the whole solar system, in fact. We are at the center of a powerful criminal empire spanning the galaxy. The white ash is made from cremating the corpses of all who have dared to oppose us, and soon you will join their ranks.”
“Woah, really?” Logan said, raising an eyebrow. They must deal in trafficking, then.
“No, I lied. Although, usually that gets a bigger reaction out of outworlders. Now come on, you can surrender now or wait until my backup gets here, and then it’ll get messy. You choose.”
“I think I’ll wait for more catgirls to show up, thanks.”
She hissed. “It’s your lucky day. Here they are now, actually.”
From behind mountains of ash, they plodded forwards. All varieties of colors, from dusky to snow-white to calico, but all sporting the same unmistakable ears and tails. Logan’s heart beat with excitement, until he noticed the strange metal tubes being pointed at him from all angles.
“Ah, am I correct in assuming that those are your planet’s version of blasters?”
The catgirl retracted her claw from his neck and nodded in confirmation. “They’ll blast a big hole right through you.” She stretched her arms and yawned wide, letting herself relax now that her reinforcements were here.
Logan dropped the blaster to his side. “Well, shit.” Surrounded by armed enemies on all sides, he had no choice but to obey.
It was then that he had a really stupid idea. One that would probably get him killed, but which would be really funny if it worked.
His blaster had a laser scope that shined a visible red dot on his target when toggled on. An attached laser pointer, in other words. If these catgirls were anything like the felines he knew on Earth…
Hell, it was worth a shot.
[To be continued? Or maybe not. I didn’t know how to end this, and I felt pretty silly writing it :c]

I (34F) recently had my bachelorette trip away. I've been looking forward to My maid of honour (34F) knew that I wanted a warm and sunny bachelorette. She had my list of friends I wanted to come and those were my only real requests.
She procrastinated planning it for quite some time (months) and then finally had it planned for May of this year. She said I didn't need my passport which was disappointing because I had mentioned I wanted to go somewhere out of country. We live in Canada and it's not warm and sunny here until late June/early July.
I had to pack everything from rain gear, fancy outfits, athletic wear and multiple shoe options. No bikini.
The first stop of the trip was at a lake hike. Within a few minutes of beginning our hike, the path turned in to complete coverage of ice and snow. Slippery and cold. I have knee issues (previous major knee reconstructive surgery) and I can't walk on any kind of slippery surface like that. Within a few minutes I had to call it quits. Everyone else looked so disappointed. Me, being the people pleaser that I am said for them to continue the hike if anyone wanted to. I would head down to the lake. My MOH asked me a few times if I was sure... and I said yes because 1- I didn't want to ruin the moment and 2- I felt bad. Looking back on this now I wish I wasn't put in this position to begin with being the bride. If it was someone else's party no big deal. But this is supposed to be for me.
I kept a positive attitude and made the best of it. We carried on to the house. The girls made it so special and great. I was settled in and having the best time!
The next day we had a fun activity planned that's been on my bucket list so I was looking forward to it!
After halfway through our activity my Mom and Aunty surprised me. My MOH had coordinated this surprise and it was quite sweet. I was a bit thrown off though because I definitely made a point to say that I only wanted it to be my girlfriends...
All was good. We carried along and had fun. The girls and I went for appies and drinks and then we went back to the house to meet up with my Mom and Aunt. Everyone was having drinks and getting in the fun mood to go out.
My MOH also made a few remarks over the weekend about my other girlfriends that didn't sit the best with me and weren't necessary to say to me. Things like "I didn't realize your friendship was like that with so and so" or "why do they other girls not wait for us like we should all be together". We had two separate vehicles so there wasnt complete being in sync every minute. Which I wasn't super bothered by. My MOH also buddied up to one friend (34F) the whole weekend and I felt like they were kind of in there own bubble the whole time which was a bit annoying.
That night we all went out. My Mom ended up getting way too drunk and kind of ruined the mood of us at the bar hop. I was upset and my friends tried to lift me up but I was also stewing inside because I didn't have my Mom on the list.
We ended up going home late and my one gf (34F) and I were walking a bit behind the group and once we caught up they all (including my MOH) were on bikes programming them. I asked if there were bikes for us and they said oh I guess not and kept programming there bikes. I was really upset. My feet were sore. My knee was hurting. I was super emotional about my Mom and her drunken state and now I was pissed because my friend and I had to walk back (20 minutes uphill in the cold windy weather).
I broke down on the walk back and cried. Saying I was so upset, who plans a bachelorette in May when it's cold and that I was pissed at everyone and that I had bitten my tongue a few times about a few different things. Clearly emotional and spouting off a bit more than I should have. We got back and I locked my door and went to bed. I knew I didn't want to talk to anyone and I was so upset I just wanted to sleep.
That night my gf (34F) who I walked home with and vented to, ended up telling my MOH and girlfriends everything I had said. I felt awful. I also felt really betrayed that she told everyone everything I said in that emotional moment... I feel like I can't trust her at all now. I apologized to all my girlfriends and explained why i was feeling ways that i was and all of them seemed to understand and accepted my apology and we moved forward. My MOH took it really personally, got defensive and became really emotional about it all.
I feel like I cant trust my one gf who aired it all out anymore and don't even want to say anything to her again.
I don't really know where to go from here right now. My MOH said she should've just let me plan my own trip. I thanked her for everything and explained why I felt a few certain ways but that so many aspects of the trip were amazing and that I was so grateful for everything. She kind of just pushed that away. She said she wants to just move forward and that our friendship foundation is strong... but I don't love how she became so defensive and disregarding of my feelings.
I'm in a great place with my Mom aunt and other girlfriends. We're all adults and we were able to talk about everything and move forward in a sincere way.
I feel really lost about my friendship with my MOH and the gf who aired it all out. These were the two who also buddied up to eachother the whole weekend quite obvious and exclusive.
TL;DR Bachelorette didn't go quite as smoothly as I hoped, I became emotional and friend vented out my feelings.

Swollen Brain Feeling Stinging/Burning Brain Brain Fog Feeling Spaced Out Neck Pain Swollen Burning Sinuses Blurry Vision Lactic Acid Myalgia Derealization Depersonalization Shortness of Breathe Air Hunger Fatigue Tinnitus Pots Blood Pooling High Heart Rate When Standing Temperature issues Feels like I have a Brain Infection Head Feels Full Extreme PEM Poison Feeling Flu like symptoms Sore Throat Warm Sensations in feet Concussed feeling in forhead Arms Feel Cold/Chills Prickly Hands and Feet Chest Tightness Watery Eyes Shoulder Pain Kidney Pain Eye Floaters Can’t Focus Bladder Issues Confusion Orthastatic Intolerance Muscle Twitching Burning Skin Anxiety Depression Cool sensation when breathing in Thighs burn Cell Dying Feeling Cannot Produce Energy Brain Inflammation
Could use some hope, I’m completely bed bound with these symptoms. Scared I won’t get better.