Hello fellow tutor aspirees, side hustlers, academic extraordinaires. I’m here to give you the scoop on the various tutoring platforms, how their services work, tutoring requirements, the types of students on each platform, and of course - how much you get paid for your time.
A little about me. I’ve tutored for a few months now on the following platforms: Varsity Tutors, Wyzant, and SuperProf. I’ve had a number of students on each platform, and it’s safe to say I’ve definitely realized the pros and cons of each one.
Wyzant
Money Info: You set your hourly rate. Wyzant takes 25% of it. If you set your rate to $20/hr you get paid $15/hr.
The Requirements: Each subject you tutor you have to take a 10–20 question multiple choice test on it. The test will be beginner to intermediate questions on the subject you’ve chosen. You only have one chance to pass the test.
The Pros:

• You set your own rate
• Tutors and students can freely schedule meetings on their own, rather than have someone assign you
• The user interface is better(mobile app, messaging system, teaching platform, etc)
• Students can largely vary(this can be a con too). You will get a wider range of students, who can be adults with various full time jobs.

The Cons:

• You are charged 25% of your hourly rate
• It’s very hard to get started as a new tutor. There are tons of tutors with a lot of reviews already.
• There are scammers(be cautious of people asking you to communicate off the platform)

Final Verdict
Wyzant is an easy to use platform that takes a while to build a student base. You’ll have to apply and reach out to students a lot at first before you start getting more consistent jobs. This can take a few months, so consider this before you start. The 25% fee is high, but certainly not unreasonable compared to other platforms.
Varsity Tutors
Money Info: Unless you’re tutoring GRE or LSATs, the flat rate is $15/hr, regardless of the subject. GRE and LSAT tutors make $28/hr. Varsity Tutors charges their students $50 - $75/hr.
Requirements: Most subjects do not require a test, however you do need to send in a video interview of yourself, mostly to confirm that you can speak eloquently.
The Pros:

• You are assigned students after declaring interest, so you can get started tutoring within a few days.
• Students are screened so you’ll mostly get students more prepared for lessons.

The Cons:

• A large amount of tutors will only make $15/hr, whereas they charge $50 - $75/hr per student. This can be a huge cut, and limit on pay, especially if you’re teaching harder subjects like programming, sciences, higher level math.
• The user interface is not as great. Basic functionality is there, but the overall platform is not aesthetic.
• You are legally not allowed to take students off the platform.

Final Verdict
Varsity Tutors definitely has the lowest pay amongst all the platforms. $15/hr to teach is what you can make at some retail jobs in the US. The platform can be better if you need to start making money immediately, or if you live in a country where the cost of living is lower. The amount you are paid is better for people who are teaching subjects that aren’t too difficult.
SuperProf
Money Info: You set your own rate, SuperProf takes 10%. The caveat, SuperProf charges students $39 a month to use the platform.
Pros:

• For tutors, SuperProf takes the least amount from your pay compared to other platforms.
• Students are generally more prepared because they are paying $39 a month to use the platform.
• The user interface is also pretty good.
• You can set your own cancellation policies

Cons:

• There are less students because of the monthly subscription fee.
• It’s very hard to get started as a new tutor. There are tons of tutors with a lot of reviews already.
• You have to teach your first two lessons free.

Final Verdict
SuperProf is very similar to Wyzant in that students and tutors can openly communicate and set up time with each other. The 10% fee is lower than the other platforms. But because it’s already hard to get started as a new tutor, and there are less students on the platform, it’s one of the harder platforms to build a student base.
Additional Notes
While all these platforms have their pros and cons. You can always consider tutoring independently. You do not need any licenses or business registration for tutoring in most places. Once you get a student base through Wyzant or SuperProf, you can take them off-platform and teach independently. The best part? You keep the money you work hard for.
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Olá! It's me! I'm Rickle Pick! Hello everyone!
So, I’ve been listening to some stories about Neckbeards and Kevins, as well as some Legbeards and Kevinas (Is that the correct term??). Well, most of the times I listen to those stories, I am reminded of some people I used to deal with in school. Specifically, this time, the tale of a guy, who I’ll name Roger Bacon for reasons soon to be explained. Sorry for any grammar errors, eu falo português! I also don't really know the posting rules here, so I'll just post it and see how it goes lol
This prologue is more of a compilation of stories that I think is needed before we get to the main shenanigans and awkward situations this guy put himself AND me into. If this generates any interest, I will post more specific tales of this weirdo! Long time lurker, first time poster, english is definitely not my first language and the whole shebang. I also never wrote a text this large, so go easy on me!
THE LIST:
Well, I guess it’s usual to make a list of people that appear in those stories, so I’ll make one just for you!
Me: Your basic musician-type nerdy theater kid white guy! Tall, thin with medium-light brown hair. At the time, I usually wore a leather jacket and sometimes a hat (not a fedora, a Chaplin hat. Also, where I live, hats are an acceptable attire choice lol). I kinda looked like the Once-ler from Lorax. At this time, I had just failed my second year of high school because of… honestly just lack of effort, mixed with undiagnosed ADHD and a bit of lacking in the ol’ confidence and self-respect department. At the time, I also was physically incapable of saying no and had a crippling fear of disappointing people.
Roger Bacon: 168 centimeters (or 5,5ft for the uncivilized) of pure muscle! Or at least he thought it was that way. In reality, he did have some muscles but was kinda chubby and flaccid. Not FAT fat, but athletic fat (???). He was mixed, light skinned, had shaved short curly hair, no beard (except for the inside beard) and his face was a special kind of oval, besides having a, "chiseled jaw". He always smelled like he had just gotten out of a day-long brawl with a french cologne wearing burrito. He wasn't an usual neckbeard, but he was a huge attention whore. Thought too much of himself, as we say here in Brazil: “Promised too much, delivered nothing at all.” His moto was: “Dude, I think she’s into me!”
For now, these are the characters, as the focus is to introduce you all to Roger Bacon as a person.
With the list over, let us get to the story.
FEBUARY 2018:
The year of 2018 started pretty badly for me. I had just been held back from 10th grade, had no friends and didn’t really know anyone. As most people know, high school in Brazil is quite different from America, as we start school in febuary and we share the same class with the same people all day, excluding language classes and extra-curriculum activities. This meant that, for the foreseeable future, I was alone. On the first day of school, I shyly sat on the last desk on the far right corner of the room, as I scanned my classroom to see what I was dealing with. A few groups of people sitting together, talking and greeting their friends, some loners reading or playing on their phones. The artsy girl drawing a beauriful woman on the white board. Some guy drawing a penis right beside her. Perfect balance. A normal classroom.
Another difference between our school systems is that we don’t really have clicks based on like Jocks or Nerds or Pretty Girls, it’s mostly people who connected in childhood or matched personalities, instead of connecting through roles and interests within the school. Not saying either one is better, just different. And yeah, the bullying situation is just as bad. I was bullied for my whole middle school and through first year of high school, and made a very specific group of low profile friends. So when I failed sophomore year I thought to myself “Screw it, if I’m going to be held back, that’s at least a second chance for me to grow an acceptable social life.”
All this elucidates how intimidating it could be for someone to join a new classroom full of mostly new faces. If you were unable to make a friend, you’d pretty much be on your own for the whole year unless an already formed group “adopted” you. So my mindset was to at least try and meet new people.
Well, have you ever said “I’m gonna do this thing I’ve never done before!” And got the worst possible circunstance you could get at the very first attempt? Welp, that’s just what happened. My strategy was to start small, and go talk to only one person at first, and then try to interact with a few of the groups as that was a bit intimidating (fun fact: we call “clicks “panelinhas”, spelled “pah-neh-lin-ias”, wich means “little pans”, because, you know, they’re closed groups, like a closed… pan. Idk, anyway), so I went up to this guy in front of me, and that guy was Roger Bacon.
He was almost lying on his chair, on a cool guy pose while messing around on his phone. He was also wearing a black sports tank top with a grey opened sweatshirt and the standard uniform wine-red shorts that were mandatory in our school, which made him look like a short and jelly version of Rocky balboa mixed with Kick Buttowski.
In real life, my name and his started with sequential letters, and because of this, we would sit near each other for the whole year, so I guessed he’d be the best person to interact with. I also KINDA knew him because we had basketball training after class in like 2015 and I went to the same church as him, in which I befriended his brother, Kevin, slightly, but didn’t have much contact with him because he had already graduated (I have some stories about basketball and church so tell me if yall wanna read them lol). I approached and gestured for him to take of his headphones (They were extremely loud, so I could recognize he was listening to the song In The End by Linkin Park).
Me: Hey! Aren’t you Roger? You’re Kevin’s brother, right?
RB, trying to sound stoic: “Oh, hey Rick. Yeah, it’s me… fortunately for you.”
Me: “What do you mean?”
RB explained: “Well, I’m the cool brother! Kevin was lame, and also had no friends.”
Me: “Isn’t he in a band with [insert band members]? They seem to be his friends…
RB: “They might look nice, but they’re all assholes. Don’t let them fool you! I’m the nice brother, Kevin is a dipshit.
To elucidate you: that band he said was made of assholes was the Worship band of the church we went to. It was also the worship band that I occasionally played the piano with.
I said, jokingly: “Guess I’m an asshole then! Because, ya know, I play with them more often than not”
RB: “No man, it’s just them. They’re just so infuriating! They never let me participate!”
Me: “Wow, that’s weird… I mean, I didn’t know you were a musician too! What instrument do you play?”
RB: “I play the drums, piano, guitar, bass and I also sing. But Kevin keeps me out because he wants to be the 'star brother'!”
I could tell he got a little heated, and went silent for a little while. I decided not to mention the band or his brother in his presence, 'cause ya know, that was pretty awkward lol.
I remember thinking to myself “This guy’s kinda weird”, because his brother was one of the nicest people I had ever known, and he also didn’t have the say on who played on the band, the worship leader did. I thought about confronting Roger with this, but I didn’t want to abandon my quest of finding a friend. And also, he seemed chill at first, if not a little insecure.
I was a little uncomfortable with this line of conversation, so I opted to change the subject. We talked a bit more about me having been held back, and he went on about how he was really good at math and chemistry, and how he could help me with my school stuff.
I was glad to have someone to help me, and even more, someone who apparently liked the stuff I liked. I remembered what he was listening to, so I commented on it and asked which song was his favorite, and we talked about Linkin Park for a bit. He said “In The End” was his favorite song, and then I mentioned I was a huge Linkin Park fan. He told me he was a big fan as well, but as we talked about it, it became a bit fishy. He never specifically said anything and just kinda repeated what I said. It became clear after a while that “In The End” was, in fact, virtually the only song he knew from that band.
That was the first time I noticed something strange, but only in hindsight, as at the time I just thought he really wanted to make a human connection. I remember thinking he was just excited to know someone who was open to talking to him, so I didn’t think anything of it.
Also, not everyone memorizes this stuff, and maybe he did only remember one song, for whatever reason, so I let that pass. I only felt necessary to include this information because it was, at least in some way, the first lie that Roger told me, a little sample, if you will, of what’s to come.
After we talked for a while, mostly catching up on our lives, the bell rung and our first actual class had begun, and I had the first-hand experience of this guy’s sense of humor. The teacher walked into the classroom and introduced himself as the new Geography teacher, and started a power point presentation about some of the subjects we’d be covering that year, saying “Please pay attention to this class, as you’ll need to know how our schedule will work”. Roger looked back and said “Huh, I guess this class is useless for you then, being held back and all, hahah”, which made everyone look at me and just kinda stare like I should say something, and he kept repeating the joke to anyone that showed any reaction besides just staring, adding “Amirite? Huh? Amirite?”.
I was kinda salty about this, but my people pleasing peapod brain couldn’t handle letting it show, so I just laughed and said nothing. I guessed it was a poorly thought out joke at first, but then Roger proceeded to make the same comment on every single one of the opening classes we had for both of the introductory days. There were 12 of them. He did it every time. Every. Single. Time. Sometimes he repeated it even louder, as if he didn’t think people heard it, because no-one was laughing.
“Ok”, I said to myself, “He didn’t mean to make fun of me, he’s just a little overexcited and probably is trying to make a connection and help me get acquainted to our classmates.”
Either way, I was very uncomfortable and annoyed.
Thankfully, this came to a halt when he was practically thrown out of the Literature class for interrupting the teacher mid-sentence while she talked about how important the first month of class would be for our comprehension of the whole subject. He made the joke four times. FOUR TIMES. I was beginning to think that I made a mistake, but well, the mistake was already made, at least I can try and understand him a bit, before judging.
The rest of the week went by and he didn’t get any better, but I got kinda used to it. In fact, I actually enjoyed having conversations with him at recess, when we could talk a bit more freely. And, as all things in life tend to do, it got weirder. Weirder in the sense that as we spoke more and more, I noticed a bit of a concerning pattern: every time I shared an experience I had, he’d share a cooler and more awesome almost equal experience back.
Some light examples:
I told him I went hiking for 2-3 kilometers on a trail by the beach. Then he smirked and said he went hiking for “at least 7 kilometers on a deserted beach that only his father’s company’s employees had access to and he saw a Gorilla. There are no gorillas in Brazil. Maybe in zoos, I guess, but definitely no gorillas.
I told him I was kinda sad because I had just ended a “thing” with a girl from my old grade. He “proudly” said he’s been dumped by his ex, Laura, after they dated for 11 months and made out aaaallll the time after school, and he even saw her “lady parts” once!”.
And then he went on to describe that shit for like 3 straight classes, adding more and more to the story every chance he had to speak, providing me with my daily dose of cringe in tiny bits of uncomfortable information at a time! Like a sporadic cringe snack! Sninge! Crack? Probably Crack.
ANYWAYS
There was also the time I told him the story of how I became best friends with a guy because we got into a fight in P.E.. We were arguing about some nonsense and he wanted to fight, so after he socked me on my stomach, I cheaply kicked him in the face so hard I almost sprained my ankle and then we started laughing (because I guess sometimes that’s all it takes). Phillip is my best friend for almost 10 years now.
Roger puffed up his soap dish chest went on for at least 2 classes worth of time about how he “beat up his last bully and broke both of his arms, and almost went to prison, but his dad is a lawyer and bailed him out”. Dude was 16, and I don’t think he’d need to be bailed out, but okay… He was, in fact, very badass.
Those are all approximations of actual stories he told me, because my ADHD memory is shit, but you get the gist of it.
My days were filled with endless stories filled with absolute bullshit, like a Gary Stu from a dying rpg campaign. (I have a story about a DnD game he participated in, but that’s for another time!)
Roger, not content with lying to me about anecdotal facts about his past that could be true but were almost certainly mostly bullshit (if not entirely), had a tendency to just negate reality when presented with facts in certain situations.
And example of this situation is the time we were doing a group assignment and a girl at least 3 meters in front of him dropped her pencil and he just kinda threw himself on the ground, picked it up and said “Here you go, Lana!”. She said “Thanks Roger!”, barely turning around and carried on with the assignment. Roger, then, turned to me with a sleek shit feasting smirk on his face and said:
RB: “Dude, do you think she’s into me??”
I contained a ridiculing laughter just in time to realize he was dead serious.
I said “I don’t know man… Doesn’t seem like it to me, but sure I guess.”
RB then straight up asked ME to go talk to her and get HIM her number. When I asked why shouldn’t he do it, he said it was “the wingman’s job to get the number of the girl” so that he wouldn’t “look weak for asking”
I said I’d do it, cause I genuinely wanted to see if he was right about her liking him (I hadn’t really understood the dynamics of the classroom, so I actually had no idea if he was actually right, just a gut feeling that yeah, he probably wasn’t).
I went up to her and asked for her number, explaining it was Roger who was interested in her and, as I pulled out my raging 2014’s Sony XPeria, I was swiftly interrupted by her delicately saying “Sorry! I have a boyfriend.” (She said the boyfriend part out loud, and stared at Roger)
I said “Oh, ok, sorry to bother ya!” and, as I was starting to walk back, I noticed that she turned back and glared at Roger. Later that day her boyfriend texted him, telling him that “He’s got to stop asking her out, and next time, if he wants to get rejected, he should come do it himself” He called him a moron. And then they both blocked him.
Well, that was embarrassing.
Despite having been turned down (for the 6th time now, I’d come to find out), Roger still maintained that she was “totally into him”, and it wasn’t just Lana. Any time he had even the smallest interaction with any girl, he’d say that they’re “probably into him”, or that “they made out at a party, but she was drunk and probably won’t remember”, or that they “sent him nudes last year but he’s already deleted them because he’s a good person, with morals”.
This went on for a while and, after about a month, Roger begun to dial down the crazy stories about how he’s a “badass and he gets all the girls but he’s single because he’s too good for them”. Until I started seeing a girl from another church I started going to. I met Janice () at the churches youth group, and we talked the whole time afterwards about lots of stuff. This name’s given because of her insanely similar laughter and demeanor of Janice from Friends. We clicked well and I was very interested in her, but my ADHD ass forgot to get her number, and remembered it only when she had already left.
When I told Roger, he laughed and said “I had just cockblocked myself” and that I’d “probably missed my only chance of banging a girl ever”. I was bummed, but clarified I didn’t really want to have sex before marriage or at least before making an emotional connection (I had just then begun to go to church, so I didn’t really get the rules, so it was more of a personal choice I always had in mind when thinking about dating. Also I met her at church so wtf).
He said “that was dumb” and, “even though he was a virgin, he’d dance the Devil’s Tango with the first chick he had the chance to”
“What about Laura?”, I asked. His face went from a confident smirk to an almost sad expression, and he blankly replied: “She didn’t want to, but I tried anyway at times. I even got a blowie once!” I let it go because I was very tired, as Mondays are hell on earth.
A few classes later, I went up to him and reminded him of our conversation and asked:
I said “Ooookay, but what about all those girls you told me were all over you? Didn’t they want to have some bum bum times with you??”
He was taken by surprise by this, and was visibly trying so hard to think of an answer for at least 15 seconds. He mumbled “Well…”, and like just left. Like he got up in the middle of the class, and walked away. Well that was weird!
He got back and I didn’t pry, thinking he had some kind of trauma, and I tried to change the subject.
I say “tried” because instead we were suddenly interrupted by a girl asking me if I was Rick. I didn’t know her or how she had materialized beside our desks, but later I found out that that girl’s name was Mary. She had blue eyes and was smiling mischievously, and I answered “Yup, that’s me”. She then giggled and said that “Anna wanted to make out with me after class”. Me and Roger were both very much taken aback by this, and I immediately thought to myself that this could only be some type of dare or prank (which it probably was), and was about to try and respond with the first witty joke that popped up in my monkey brain when, without missing a beat, Roger said “Rick’s already seeing someone!”. Mary was visibly surprised and said “Oh, you have a girlfriend??” with a look of disbelief on her face. Ouch. I explained that I wouldn’t say I do, I just liked a girl from church and we’re going to see a movie with some friends on Saturday, and that either way it was a pass on the making out sesh! Mary said “Oh, okay!” and started to walk back to her desk. I was about to make a joke and say that Anna could probably do better than me, when Roger interjected:
RB: “I’d like a making out sesh if she’s interested!”
Mary looked back with a visible “Lol, ew no” expression and just said: “I’m sure you would, Roger!”, turned away and sat down, laughing with her friends when she got to her desk.
Roger turned to me and said:
RB: “Dude, do you think she’s into me?”
This cycle repeated once in a while, so I’m not gonna tell you all of the situations that I felt like shaking him and trying to wake him up like Woody does to Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story. Exhausting, right?
Another thing Roger tended to brag about was that he did Martial Arts. Specifically, Kung Fu (Wushu). I would come to find out that, in the year before, he made a big scene to tell everyone in class that he’d just started Kung-Fu classes and, when no-one payed attention, he started a habit of punching the wall beside his desk, audibly making “hmpft” noises. When anyone asked why, he’d say he was training, and that his Sensei (Not shifu, he actually said sensei) had asked him to do that to strengthen his fists so he could harness all the strength he had, so one day he could put a hole through a wall with his fists.
He would also punch the school’s fireproof doors because, if you didn’t know, they dent pretty easily, and he would show me and tell me to bask at his strength and ability. That until I said I’d give it a try. He told me not to, because “I wasn’t trained” and “it could really hurt my hand”. I punched the door. It made a dent.
Roger said it was beginners luck and that he’s just a good teacher. I told him I really didn’t even make an effort to pay attention, the metal was just bendy and soft. Roger never talked about it again, and started only punching walls. For that, he would feel superior because, yeah I ain’t doing that. There were consequences for his wall punching habits, but I’ll address that some other time.
The last thing I’ll say about him for now is how clueless Roger was, how much he thought of himself and how he treated everyone else like they should (and would) respecting for what he told them, and not for what he showed them.
(I plan on doing another part eventually, with the story of how his disconnection with reality, lies, schemes and generally narcissist behavior eventually exploded back into his face.)
As a last bit of exposition of our circumstances, there’s an important part of our school life that fueled Roger’s social life’s demise.
Pranking was a big part of my class’ culture. There were also some people in my classroom who were bullied. The thing is: the bullies actually made fun of literally everyone else, which made it very hard to figure out if you were considered a target or just a colleague. They’d mess with people’s stuff, tie backpacks to the windows and hide pencil cases, but they would also do it to their own group.
Essentially, the only way to differentiate those who they considered normal schoolmates from those who were bullied was the frequency of the pranks and their demeanor in general towards those people. They would apologize for the pranks, ask to make up for it, buy you lunch, make jokes, try to laugh with you. I swear some of those guys were politicians in the making. Luckily, was very good friends with one of the guys in that group, I’ll call him Turkey, who was also held back a few years before me, and he liked my sister, so I was mostly safe.
Roger, on the other hand, THOUGHT he was one of the pranksters. Every time someone pranked him or anyone else, he would laugh knowingly, like he was in on the joke the whole time, and try to make jokes, only to further humiliate himself. And they would capitalize on that as hard as they could.
You see, Roger liked to portray himself as the “Mysterious-Badass-Quiet-Protagonist-Take-No-Shit-From-Anyone-Mr.-Steal-Yo-Girl” guy. This combo of personality substitutes was the recipe for the downfall of his popularity, and the start of the longest lasting pranks I’ve ever seen in my life, which will come if yall want another post. That prank is also the reason I named him Roger Bacon.
Because he was so into Math and Science (and into himself too lol) he also always wanted to look like the smartest guy in the room. The problem is that, as our first semester went by, it became clear that he wasn’t as good as he hyped himself up to be. Shocker, right? This was proven to be true when we were doing a chemistry group test, and I was paired with him and Anna, and we needed to calculate some entropies or whatever. He made a point of telling us to do all of the “easy ones”, and he would take on the more complicated questions.
The thing is, he was trying really hard to look like a genius, to maybe impress Anna, so every time he made a calculation, he would roll his eyes up and kinda vibrate a little. I guess he wanted to look like a genius mathematics robot, but instead he looked like he was trying to imitate an autistic person having a small stroke. I didn’t mind the Good Doctor amateur impersonation, because at least it looked like he knew what he was doing. Unfortunately, it really just looked like he knew what he was doing.
Each easy question of the test was worth 1 point, and there were 4 of them, and there were 3 hard questions worth 2 points each. We got a 4/10 on that test, and lo and behold, the only questions we got right were the ones me and Anna worked on. We were a bit pissed, not gonna lie.
Until the last time we spoke, Roger still blames Anna for his complete failure at this test for, in his words, distracting him because she was obviously into him.
But that’s just Roger, I guess!
I've got A LOT of stories about Roger and other neckbeards I've encountered, and I can't wait to tell them!
Until then, thanks for reading, and have a good one yall!

So this is complicated and I'm very open to any ideas anyone has, but I've had an idea for a story in the Harry Potter world for a while now. I'm going to bullet point this because it'll seem really crazy otherwise.

• My character used to have a very prestigious, dangerous job that is one of one in the world and appointed by the international wizarding community.
• Your character was a star pupil at the wizarding school of our choice and was thus recruited by my character to be my protege.
• Typically, the nature of the job means that whoever has the title dies before they can retire, however, in the case that they reach the end of their tenure and they no longer wish to hold the position, due to the nature of the job they cannot simply quit. Thus they are more or less 'euthanized' by their protege in a kind of baptism to the harsh nature of the decisions the job demands.
• Following my mentoring you through an intense period of conflict in the world, I asked you to 'retire' me, but being a conscientious young woman you simply obliviate me. What's more, you've also broken tradition and settled down with your sweetheart from school.
• However, a new dark power is rising and after you recognize them as a branch of the threat you helped me fight against you realize you need my help to defeat it. Which brings you and your lover to take me back into the fold as you search for a way to help me remember what I need to remember to help confront this new darkness.

I'm open to playing the third character (in my mind you're basically Hermione and your lover is Fleur), or if you want to, or if you want us to share that responsibility that's great too. To me there are two essential dramas; the thriller plot of trying to help me remember and defeat the new dark force & the 'human' tragedy of all our characters dealing with what we had to lose as people to keep the world safe. The humanity I lost after my long tenure, the years I took away from you and your lover while you were my protege, and when I eventually remember everything the peace you took away from me in order to save the world. I see that last point as a particularly important point as it will mirror what I did to you and the decisions I had to make in my time.
Hope this doesn't seem too weird or insane. I think it could be fun. HMU!

For Context:
32F Current Role: Senior Analyst in Risk Mgt in big 4
Formal Education: High School (don’t let a single person that you need to have x,y,z in order to be able to move up the corporate ladder. It's such BS)
Study time: Jan-May (started strong, got lazy, casually got back into it early May and booked the exam when I was getting 60% in mock tests and that got me through the last 3 week slump)
First:
Before you buy anything, look up discounts on this page or online for Pocket Prep, Courses and the actual exam, they exist.
Check what resources are available by your employer and what you can get reimbursed for. Don's assume. Specifically go to the learning team if you have one in your job as they will know more than your manager or co-workers.
150 Q's Mock exam results on the 4 days leading up to my exam:
16th: 77% via Peter Landini 17th: 70% via Peter Landini 17th: 78% via AR exam at the end of his course 18th: 78% via Peter Landini 19th: 65% via Joseph Phillips 20th: 77% via Peter Landini 21st: Exam Day , Pass (T/AT/T/AT)
Recourses I used in the order in which I recommend they be used:
Ricardo Vargas's YouTube : I watched numerous times as different stages but should be your 1st step. (10/10) Pocket Prep: I bought 3 months but I recommend just utilizing the free version. Good to grasp the contents. This link gets you 20% off if you wish to purchase. (7/10) AR's course here : The best of a bad bunch of very dry, dull and boring course content that simply has to be covered. Overall, I recommend. (8/10) Peter Landini Quiz Book: I bought the book BUT, go to pg 152 which gives you a link to online mock exams. This one is a must in my opinion. (10/10) David McLachlan's YouTube: for any areas you are unsure of with logical explanations. (10/10)
And last but not least, for anyone that struggles with the EVM related Q's I highly recommend the below:
To remember the formula, watch this and write it out every other day: Earned Value Management Formulas in 5 Minutes! (youtube.com) (10/10) To remember the logic of the EVM's : Earned Value Analysis with no math for the PMP Exam (youtube.com) (10/10)
Closing Comments:
Review the exam content outline doc from the PMI website , specifically pages 6 then 8-11. It outlines exactly what to expect in the exam, don’t waste time trying to spot the themes on this sub. This is the shortcut your looking for.

"You should go to Hallett. We went last year and it was fun. A good track for Miata's"
My friend Gerry the Texan who along with his team brings several Miata's to races all over from Road America to Houston to Seibring. It's a great bunch of people who are having a blast racing Lemons. He told me that and it got me to thinking. We wanted to go to a new track this year and after the disappointment at Barber going somewhere and having some fun sounded good. Also Hallett is noted for having a smaller field so we could be competitive. I always say that Barber is more like a pro level Lemons race in that it attracts the faster and better prepped teams. Road America was like that too.
But first we have to fix the car. As typical, we wait until the race is almost upon us to start. There's the matter of how bad the car is bent from the last race where Manny hit the wall. They thought it was good but we need to check this.
After pulling the rear sub frame in hopes of replacing it we learn that a 90 is a bit different than a 91 subframe or a 2001 subframe. Supposedly it all interchanges but after looking over the differences, Youngest adds a few reinforcements at places the internet gurus say are the weak points and we put the rear end together and put it back in the car. Then we check the alignment. To my great surprise the rear camber and caster is spot on. I was shocked, but the crew did a great job that night fixing the car while it was up on jack stands. Using just a tape measure they got the car really close. Toe was out but the borrowed porta powers got the bent subframe where it needed to be.
We changed the oil and brake fluid, bled the system where we took the rear apart to drop the subframe.
Another project we attempted was to swap in a larger fuel tank. Manny who has been helping with the repairs found a article on the internet that said you could bolt in a NB fuel tank out of a 2001 or so Miata and gain a gallon of fuel capacity. Yeah, that is not possible. The tank has a hump where the car does not and would involve cutting a hole in the car which would be a bit noticeable. Not worth it for such a little gain. Good news is I now have two extra NB tanks if anyone needs one. A gallon would not seem to be that much but we are still dreaming of two stopping the car at certain tracks, stretching our mileage to only stop every two hours and 25 minutes and make a seven hour day with one less stop. It's not all about raw speed, strategy can make a difference. One less stop per day could potentially add ten laps in a weekend of racing at certain tracks.
After we got the subframe in and the car aligned Youngest pulled it all apart again. He was not happy with the bushings holding the rear differential in place. The rear has to move a bit so it is not solid mounted, it actually can pivot a slight bit. He felt the bushings holding it were letting it move too freely.
Once again we put the car back together.
All during this time Manny and FabGuy have been working hard on a new car. Manny got a little crazy on Co-part. First one Miata shows up at our shop. Then another. Then another. I started joking with the guys "Hi I'm Manny, I might have a Miata addiction". Yeah. So after a lot of looking we have three wrecked cars, one being a automatic that was absolutely destroyed. It had zero good body panels and even the front subframe was pushed back where it had got up on something in a wreck. I think the only things we saved off that car was a rear axle, engine, transmission and the hard top which was cracked but usable.
We then robbed enough body parts off of one to put on the other so we ended up with a mostly maroon car with a drivers side red fender, red door and silver hardtop. I say we but all we did at the shop was to take the cars apart, everything else went to Manny's garage where he and FabGuy installed the cage and built the car. They did bring it over a time or two to put in the air to install a few parts or when we aligned it. The build and fitment were top notch on the car, lots of nice parts went in, like a better seat and belts than we use on our Miata. Like most builds they were literally bolting parts to it the night before we loaded the car to head west.
Finally both cars are prepped and it's time to get on the road. Manny has a business where he uses two rollbacks and moves cars mostly to and from car lots and auction lots. So he gets the newer one of the two trucks and shows up at the shop Thursday morning. RacerGuy and I are already there and have hooked our camper to RacerGuys truck. I am leaving my trucks at home, but taking our race trailer and our camper. The plan is to hook the camper to RacerGuys diesel F250 and hook the race trailer to Manny's newish Chevy 4500.
The plan nearly goes off the rails when Manny shows up and I get to looking at his truck. Being in the business I can't not help but look at tires. His drives are terrible, two are bald, one is soft and one showing wire. I go to air up one of the bald ones and it's not having it. Air is leaking out as fast as it was going in. In Manny's defense his employee was driving this truck and Manny had not seen it in weeks. I had already loaded tire tools and extra spare tires for every truck and trailer in the caravan except RacerGuy's truck and I would have got a spare for it too if I had thought about it. With nothing else to do, we all jump in and start busting tires. Forty five minutes later we have four new drives on the truck and we are in a much better spot to make the long drive. I hadn't done any big truck tires for a long time, sold that part of the business. Still got it, just like riding a bike.
We find I40 and start clicking off miles. Manny has already told us the limiting factor which is that GM put a really tiny fuel tank in his truck so we are forced to stop every 160-180 miles for fuel. It slows us down but it's not all bad, we find a roadside BBQ joint that looks like a camper up on blocks that has a huge parking lot and a ton of customers lining up. Of course we try it out, the best BBQ comes from little places like that, not the ones with massive buildings.
We cross Arkansas and I think it was the first time I ever went that way westbound on 40. Came back the other side when we brought the box truck back where we bought it in California. We finally make Oklahoma and bent north to go to Tulsa. Did not see the Tulsa King anywhere, stopped in a Super Walmart and stocked up on groceries for the weekend. Hallett is in the middle of nowhere, so we are planning on eating at the track.
We get there and make our way into the paddock. This will be the first time we have every camped inside the track. They have a cross over with gates that close during when the track is hot and a tunnel for access when the gates are closed. The tunnel looks kind of tight, I'm happy to not test the posted height limits. It says our trailers should fit. Yeah we will wait.
We hustle to get the camper leveled and the generator cranked up. For the next three days it will run non-stop to keep the fridge cold and our lights on. We run the a/c but for the most part temps are very nice.
The next morning we are up and on the road after the drivers meeting. We go to Pawnee, take in some sights then hit Stillwater for some parts and pieces at a hardware store. We also gas up all our empty gas cans so we are ready for race day.
Back at the track Manny and Fabguy are unloading their car off the back of the rollback. It was nice carrying one and towing one car. They go out and practice a bit, come in and make some changes then go out again. It's a new build and everyone has realistic expectations about the car. We are all expecting issues as it takes a while to find the weak spots and fix them.
We get our car out and practice. We send three of the four drivers out and have them run a few laps. I'm about to get ready and go out when RacerGuy comes in and says he felt something pop. We get to looking and the adjuster is gone off the alternator. Look a little more and the bolt has broken off in the alternator. So we have a spare motor in the trailer but it is missing the adjuster. Looks like we need the adjuster, the bolt and the alternator. We make a few visits around the paddock to look for parts but none of the other Miata teams have what we need. Youngest goes into the trailer and in a small miracle finds the adjuster laying under the spare motor loose. He and Coach head into Tulsa on a parts run while Manny agrees to put me into their car for a few laps so I can get a feel for the track. I've watched a hundred laps on Youtube but nothing is like actually driving the track. I go out and don't push things too hard. It is a very worn surface with some patches, particularly in the groove of turn two. Manny's car drives a lot different than ours, you can really tell you have more power and grip. Their tires are a lot wider as well as having 30-40 more hp. They have been working on the car all day and just finished taking off the lines where they installed a remote oil filter, they were not Lemons grade and were leaking.
Just before dark Youngest gets the parts on the car. We also install a helmet blower, we are going to try to use the air to defrost the windshield. All reports indicate rain is coming Sunday.
Then it's dinner time. Our friends from Minnesota have brought pure Lemons art down in the form of a Chrysler Magnum wagon powered by a slant 6 that is mid mounted. It is a engineering feat and runs out nicely. Adam the team leader and I have been planning and they are cooking for us for tonight and we are cooking for them Saturday night. They show us up by putting on a feed with steaks and salad. I'm feeling bad about the fact we are serving hamburgers, coleslaw and potato salad the next night. It was great.
Saturday morning dawns and we are up and moving around. I give up waiting on a shower as the line is too long inside and try the outdoor shower. It has no roof, just walls. It was ok. The next morning I tried it again and it was freezing, no hot water!
I skip breakfast and get ready to get in the car. I want to get on the grid early as I still am not feeling great about the track. The laps in Manny's car did not give me much to make me feel really attuned to the track as I was learning both the car and the track at the same time. I want all the practice laps I can get in our car. The line up is me, Youngest, Coach and then RacerGuy bringing up the finish for the day. FabGuy is gridded about ten cars behind us and he is under team orders to take it easy to start the race.
We get out and start doing pace laps. Soon enough it's green and the race is on. A few laps in Fabguy blasts by me. So much for taking it easy. Going into turn 2 I see a car off track. I mean he's not a little off the racing surface, he's 150 feet off the corner and just about in the tree line. I wonder what happened there. I am starting to get the hang of the track and pick up some speed. Then I mess up early on and miss the line completely going into turn 9 from 8 and run off the track. I fire the car back up and quickly exit and head to the penalty box.
"what happened?'
"I missed the line and ran out of asphalt and talent all about the same time"
The judge kind of laughs, "keep it on the track" and sends me back out. Youngest has made it to penalty and looks the car over from my adventure in the dirt and grass and gives the go ahead. If you are going to mess up do it right at the entrance to pit road, it really cuts down your time off track!
I run clean the rest of the stint. I tiptoe around the corner I went off but run hard the rest of the track without pushing so hard I get off again. Then Youngest, then Coach. We are having one of the best days we have ever had at the track. Besides my adventure off track no one else has messed up. Our stops are clean and quick. Our times top to bottom are very similar and consistent. Something strange is happening. We are in the top 15 overall and since we managed to get put in B class we are doing very well. Only 50 cars at Hallett this weekend, the smallest Lemons field we have ever competed against.
Fabguy pulls off to go to the gas pumps. We are fueling on pit road but they are going to just fuel at the pumps this race. They aren't planning on winning anything so why go to all the trouble of getting all your gear on and doing hot pit stops? Fabguy comes off a little hot and the officials come over to tell them they were over the ten mph paddock limit. Manyy drives the car up to the penalty and Fabguy comes up and they are told they are good to go. Later Manny gets off the track and goes to penalty. They start in on him not serving the penalty for going too fast in the pits. "we served that penalty" The judge goes off "do you really want to argue about this" Later when they realize the team was right and the previous judge had not marked it off the offenders list before going on break. In a first the judge apologizes to them.
With about two hours left in the day their Miata is towed off. The engine is super hot and will not crank. All signs look bad. Later it cools off and will crank, but cranks with ease, signs of a engine that has lost all compression. Their weekend is done and Fabguy heads out to get a headstart on getting to work early Monday. The rest of us will pull an all nighter after the race Sunday.
I start doing the math and realize it's going to be very tight. We make our calcuations based on a normal 7 hour race day. Today is a 7.5 hour day which is a bit longer than normal when racing Lemons. I figured out the stints and got it wrong. We realize our mistake and run Coach a bit longer before we put in RacerGuy. It's going to come right down to the limit of our fuel mileage. We start planning dinner and cleaning up the paddock with about ten minutes to go when all the sudden we realize the car is not out there. We run to the pumps and find Racerguy there. He ran out and limped the car to the pumps but could not get all the way there. By the time we get the car pushed around to get fuel the race is over for the day. I feel like a total idiot, I could have ran another five minutes easily in the car in the morning and not had this problem.
But the good news is that somehow even after I went off the track and and then we ran out of gas was that we were still very good on the day. We had enough of a lead on the car behind us in Class B that we still had a 7 lap lead even after running out of gas. Even better our paddock mates in the Chrysler are putting a shellacking on Class C as well. Their Magnum wagon is running a Richard Petty scheme, they all have uniforms and the requisite trademark Petty cowboy hat and STP logos, only this time it means "Slow Through Paddock" signs and all. They actually shouted this out when doing the morning driving meeting when they were going over the rules. "STP, Slow through Paddock!" every time the officials discussed that rule in the drivers meeting.
We put everything away, rain is moving in. We are in shock about how well everything is going. Surely we will find a way to loose this race tomorrow. Will other cars be faster in the rain? Will we shoot ourselves in the foot and have poor driving and get multiple black flags? Will something break on the car which has been running great all day long? And who the heck is this Coach guy? All that and more when we wrap up this in the next part of this story. Stay tuned!

I think a lot of us here are probably gear nerds—when I'm hiking or backpacking with friends, we almost always inevitably start talking the gear we're carrying, what we're liking, have you seen that new thing, etc. It's one of my favorite points of conversation. But at the same time, a lot of the gear reviews/stories/roundups/whatever we see in outdoor media can be pretty hard to trust and I feel like don't do a great job at staying interesting or relevant.
So I'm curious to hear about your likes and dislikes around gear coverage. What kinds of gear stories (maybe not just straightforward "reviews") do you actually like to read and want to see more, and what do you think is a waste of space? What helps you determine which (if any) gear stories you can actually trust? And what do your favorite gear stories look and feel like?
Full disclosure: I've been a writer and gear reviewer for a lot of publications (Gear Junkie, Backpacker, Outside, etc.) for almost a decade, so I am 100% part of the problem. But I'm also an editor now with Trails Magazine, where we have a lot more flexibility and we're trying hard to cover gear in a way that feels like the conversations we have on-trail. I definitely feel like I'm inside my industry bubble a little bit though, so I'm curious to hear what the ideal coverage is from the folks actually getting outside.
All thoughts welcome! TIA!

Join us!
Discord: https://discord.gg/itsradiantrp
Join Code: cfx.re/join/y7kd55
Our socials: Instagram // TikTok
Interested in establishing your new character storyline in a fresh new city you can call home? Search no further because Radiant Roleplay is the place for you. Radiant Roleplay is currently a small community seeking to grow a welcoming environment for all our members. We are currently seeking EMS, PD, DOJ, Realtors, Civilians, Gangs, Criminals, and more!
Ultimately Radiant strives to be a community worthy of calling home. We strive to provide the community with good character customization, constant updates, car variety, constant community events and most importantly quality RP.
What we currently have:
Whitelisted jobs / Custom Cars / Civilian jobs / Gang whitelist system/ Custom Scripts / Player owned businesses / Custom car handlings / Custom clothing (constantly adding more)/Custom Chains / Streamer Friendly / Balanced Rules / Slow build economy / Beginner friendly environment
Whitelisted jobs:
SASP: Cadets / Trooper / Probationary Troopers / Lieutenants / Sergeants / Captain
Additional: Gang unit / K-9 units / Air 1 units / Moto units / SWAT units / HEAT units
SAMR: Chief / Assistant chief / Doctor / Nurses / EMTs /Paramedics
DOJ:
Attorney General / Attorney general Assistant / Lawyers / Probation Officers / City Mayor
Radiant Realty: Agents, Managers
Business jobs:
Dealerships workers / Mechanic workers / Restaurant workers / Retail workers
Legal Jobs: Mining / Fishing / Diving / Metal Detecting / Hunting / Electrician
Illegal Jobs: House robberies / Fleeca bank / Pacific Bank / Paleto Bank / Store robberies / Illegal crafting / Gang crafting / Boosting / Car chopping / Drug selling
Player Owned Businesses:
Cafe Day / Bennys / Up n Atom / Cool Beans / Truth Organics / Taco Farmer / Maui’s Marijuana / Bahama Mamas / Koi Sushi Bar / Pump n Run / Luxury Autos / Western Motorcycle

So my gf and me decided to sell our first house 2 years ago. We bought our first house at 24 years old and had a fairytale idea of buying our house. It was a complete housewreck, which me and my dad and gf would rebuild to a completely renovated house. It took us 5 years when we eventually had enough. We lived under so much stress that it almost cost our relationship and caused lot of stuff to happen in our lives, including job losses and family fights and everything. We had had enough and decided to sell everything with pain in our hearts. We went back to renting a home and were looking forward to experiencing a stressfree live for the first time since 5 years.
Fast forward to now, 2 years in our new home we are planning to move back to our home town because at our new home we’re experiencing a lot of stress because of our neighbours. They’re always so present in every possible way. Music, loud cars drifting, screaming, dogs barking 24/7, it’s driving us crazy. What makes it even harder is the fact that we’re starting an ICSI (sort of ivf) treatment which has us in a lot of stress already.
The thing which makes it so hard for us is the changed housing market in the past couple of years. House prices in/around our home town became sky high which makes it really hard to get yourself in the market. Everytime we had like 20-30k short so we’ve no other chance than to stay here and feeling all stressed out.
Are there ways to gain money so we might be able to fit ourself in het housing market? I understand that there isn’t a 1,2,3 way to becoming a millionaire, but there have to be tips to adding some extra money besides your normal job. I’m desperate to leave and want live a normal life with my gf, diving into our new chapter…
Would love to hear some tips!

If you loose your job now, do you have a back up plan?
1) Go home(country) 2) Search for new job until savings(if any) expire. 3) you always have a backup job ready so you will simply switch. 4) investments can support basic needs 5) anything else?
Everyone here needs to have a backup plan. If you don’t you are up for a surprise.

https://www.epi.org/blog/explaining-the-department-of-labors-new-overtime-rule-that-will-benefit-4-3-million-workers/
The management at my job used to always say, "This is NOT a 40-houweek job. That is why you're on salary."
Now that the overtime laws are changing, next year everyone who's on salary under 58k (which is most of the salary management at my company) will make 1.5x pay after 40 hours.
My job's response is to now tell everyone they CAN NOT work over 40 hours, but you must still get the same amount of work done and profits must continue to grow.
Anyone else seeing anything similar?

Hello GoG,
I would like to take this opportunity to request Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth! at -30% off.
If there are 3 things the Yakuza/Like a Dragon developers know how to do:

• 1) It's how to make a compelling narrative.
• 2) Make an astonishing amount of mini-games and silly side-content.
• 3) Somehow manage to refine their combat system even further.

Of course, I did have a fantastic time with Yakuza 0 a few years back. I grew to love the Kamurocho district. It's a densely packed and pleasantly detailed location. So, Hawaii will be an entirely new experience.

• GIF: Absolute style, once again.

Having experience with Yakuza 0 and watching multiple playthroughs of Like a Dragon, you can easily tell there is a tremendous amount of heart and care put into these titles. It did take a little bit to adjust to Ichiban as the new protagonist going forward, but with the change in story direction, the new turn-based combat style and even the location, I found the Like a Dragon series to be heading in a very promising direction.
This time we're going to Hawaii! Expanding to a much larger map and having a plethora of new and old mini-games that we all love and adore. There's blackjack, card games, mahjong, uber eats delivery service (?), sujimon manager simulator, (Totally not Pokemon with real people, I swear.) dating adventures, photography, a whole island management game that is basically Animal Crossing. I haven't even scratched the surface, there is a tremendous amount of content and I don't think the human body can sustain that much sensory stimulation. That's a good thing. Like a Dragon is a marathon, not a sprint, and it is meant to be enjoyed.

• GIF: Who knew that delivery service could be so intense?

Ichiban is a delightful new protagonist and serves as a great foil to Kiryu. They have their common ground, but their personalities create room for interesting interactions with other characters. I'm very fond of Ichiban's sincerity and passion. He is the heart of the party, I love him!
I know Kiryu is the face of the Yakuza series, but passing the torch to Ichiban in Like a Dragon opened up so much more room to experiment with different character archetypes. Like a Dragon took a different approach to the beat-em-up combat in favor of a surprisingly good turn-based combat system that still feels visceral and interesting. It's also a visual treat since everything is so well-animated while also being hilarious and brutal, depending on your actions.

• GIF: It's great to see Kiryu and Ichiban working together. At karaoke, of course.

I very much appreciate having an older cast of characters for the main party. It's a nice break to have characters who have a solid grasp on their own identity while grappling with deep-seated flaws from their sheer life experience.
The entire Ichiban crew is odd and interesting. Saeko is a particular favorite of mine. (Don't mess with the bartender.)
The "job" system is great for combat and comedy, and I'm really curious about the direction of the plot. The Yakuza/Like a Dragon series always managed to balance the line between serious, interpersonal crime drama and the absurd shenanigans in the side quests. It's a great palette cleanser if you're in the mood for drama, heartfelt side stories, or silly antics.

• GIF: Absurdity at it's finest.

I really hope they kept the "summoning" system in the sequel because it equates to you phoning up a friend to call them into battle. It seems like they did! Because I miss that crawfish, Nancy, she's great.
The characters in the party really make up the heart of the story. I can't think of a single character that I didn't like in Like a Dragon. So, I'm really curious to see any new additions and how everyone interacts with one another.

• GIF: I need context for this.

I mean, the established crew is delightful:

• Ichiban is NUMBER ONE! No, seriously, it's in his name. Our delusional protagonist with the biggest heart is the most versatile character. Sure, everyone in the party can have their jobs changed, but it feels fitting that Ichiban can fulfill any role as he discovers more about himself in his personal journey. Or, at least, that's my interpretation.
  
• Nanba is your cynical homeless best friend who can wield the power of pigeons. He's basically the healer or wizard of the party.
  
• Adachi is the voice of reason. Your connection to reality and the gruff dad of the team. He fulfills the role of the tank by getting way too hands-on with his riot gear.
  
• Saeko (MY FAVORITE!) is the no-nonsense, sane person who happens to be a heavy-drinker. (Around this group, can you blame her?) She gets annoyed easily, but she's probably the most "normal" individual here. She's the debuffer by being an excellent barmaid in combat, or she makes a great healer with the power of...cheer and motivation...through the Idol job?
  
• Joongi Han. Well, I can't say too much about him. But he's cool and the assassin of the party.
  
• Zhao is a mysterious one. Principled, but a schemer. I'd say he would be the fighter of the party.
  
• Eri! Our special secret party member. She's an office lady who uses office supplies like a ninja. No, seriously, she'll strangle you with a lanyard, use thumbtacks as floor spikes, or she can cloak herself by stomping on a bag of flour to create a smokescreen. It's ridiculous, she's great!
  

Like a Dragon had a great soundtrack and a fantastic performance from the cast, both motion capture and vocal work. I was certainly invested, and I'm definitely curious to see where Infinite Wealth goes!
In terms of content, it's enormous, which is a delight in a single-player game. So, you certainly won't be wasting your time if you want to get invested in that world.
I'm really curious to see where it goes from here. So much happened in the prior game to establish the origins of the new cast and introduce their own development over the course of the game. So, I'm very interested to see how they develop and grow from this point forward.
As you can tell, I'm very much in it for the narrative. As serious, thrilling and silly as it can be.
It really is the complete package.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Steam Profile

Challenge link: https://www.geoguessr.com/challenge/IXRfRc6y9PfGCBWw
The map: US State Highways
Deadline: May 28, 8 pm UTC (1 pm PDT, 4 pm EDT, 10 pm CEST).
You are facing a U.S. state route sign. Do you recognize the state without moving? How fast can you find the route number on the map? You have just one minute! Good luck and have fun! :-)
Please post your score of the challenge as comment in this thread if you want to have it counted for the leaderboard. Every posted score counts for the leaderboard of the season.
Here are the results of challenge #109. Congrats to rtlewis123 winning the challenge.

Rank	Reddit Name	Result	Percentage	Points
1st	rtlewis123	24999	100.000	100
2nd	solarsensei	24998	99.996	99
3rd	kuhl_kuhl	23365	93.464	93
4th	gobluetwo	23219	92.880	92

Total standings of season 6 after 1 of 13 challenges:

Rank	Reddit Name	Points
1st	rtlewis123	100
2nd	solarsensei	99
3rd	kuhl_kuhl	93
4th	gobluetwo	92

Hall of Fame

Season	1st	2nd	3rd
1	bdm6985	saladpants77	solarsensei
2	bdm6985	solarsensei	fbrasseur
3	bdm6985	rumilb	solarsensei
4	solarsensei	gobluetwo	rtlewis123
5	gobluetwo	rtlewis123	solarsensei

Last Challenge:
I'm curious. ;-) Although I revealed that R5 was in Rhode Island, only four players guessed in that state. Did you just miss it? Or is there a display mode where you only see the challenge link? It's not the first time that I got the impression that players didn't notice clues that I posted in the description.
My map has several locations where you see a sign that you normally don't see in the given state. I tagged these locations in the map making app and remove them before I create a challenge seed. I forgot to tag this location so it stayed in the mix. I decided to keep this seed and reveal the state to show you that there are always exceptions to the rule.
R1: The silhouette of George Washington on the highway sign of Washington. We were somewhere along Interstate I-90 between Seattle and Spokane. We had the town name on the directional sign and the "Welcome to" sign. 10 perfect scores. :-)
R2: Idaho. The US highways are quite easy to find in Idaho. US 20 and US 26 are running in concurrency between Carey and Atomic City. 10 perfect scores. :-)
R3: Virginia. Some players guessed in Oregon. When I realized that Virginia and Oregon have similar highway signs, I used the following mnemonic to remember the correct signs: The sign of Oregon is round at the top, like the O in Oregon. The sign of Virginia is flat at the top, as if the two ends of the V in Virginia were connected with a straight line. I don't know any regionguessing tips for Virginia. 2 perfect scores. :-)
R4: New Jersey. Short reminder: Five states use a plain circle as their standard state highway shield. Delaware, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, and New Jersey. Sometimes, New Mexico also has a plain circle, but this sign looks different than the signs in these five states. We saw several cars with yellow NJ license plates. A bit further up the road was the green-yellow sign of the "Garden State Parkway". We were somewhere close to the water. Right next to us was a sign with the name of the bridge ahead of us: "Cape May County Veterans Memorial Bridge". Cape May is the southern most tip of New Jersey. 3 perfect scores. :-)
R5: Rhode Island. With everything I've written here so far, it was impossible to guess the correct state. Therefore I revealed the state. Everybody who was in the correct state also found the correct intersection. We were on the offgoing ramp from US 1. The end of "Kernick Street" on the other side of the highway should have helped to pinpoint. 1 perfect score. :-) Kudos to the two players who found a corresponding intersection in Massachusetts. :-)

Tom took another look at the dwindling encampment as his dismay began to fade away. "Whoever's left to hang out with are the most committed to the cause" he thought to himself. "If anything, I'll have more fun than I did before." And after all, they had a good lineup of activists scheduled to visit in the next few days, and an anarchist band had even agreed to play this afternoon. He had definitely noticed a rapid drop in the number of campers since the end of the semester, and had even begun to doubt that they would be able to get any sort of concessions out of the university. But his thinking had changed after hearing the speeches that morning.
First to speak was Tom's friend and comrade, Eric. His impassioned indictment of the Israeli government reminded Tom of the importance of their activism. Then came the married grad students, the Trotskyist Abdou and the pan-Arabist Farida. They were international students studying English and anthropology, respectively. Or was it anthropology and sociology? Abdou lectured on the university's connection to the military-industrial complex. His speech was filled with threats to the administration that Tom was sure the limp-dicked Trot had no means of fulfilling. Even so, he had to admit that despite all his other inadequacies, Abdou was a powerful speaker. Finally came Farida. Tom had always considered her the best speaker of them all, but frankly he had a hard time taking his eyes off her whether she was speaking or not. He had tried flirting with her before, and he got the feeling that Abdou was even more into it than she was. Thinking about it now, he couldn't quite remember what her speech had been about, but it had certainly improved his spirits.
As the "Bacon Brigade" began setting up their instruments, Tom decided to make a point of dancing with Farida that afternoon. As the average tent now held two campers rather than five, he even thought he might get a chance to enjoy some of the newfound privacy.
...
When there was a break in the music, Tom sauntered over to the table where Abdou was sitting. As an ML, Tom could hardly stand Trotskyists, but he put on a smile for the sake of "left unity."
"She's a good dancer isn't she?" said Abdou.
"Oh yes, the best," agreed Tom. He was trying to think of a way of progressing his slow seduction of this Muslim woman and decided to be bold. "Look Abdou, the band will be winding down soon, why don't you both come back to my tent and I'll show you some comradely hospitality. I also have some suggestions that I know you'll love."
Abdou's mind was racing with the possibilities of the situation. Would this be the chance to see his wife seduced and taken by this big stud? Supposing Farida won't agree? Before he could engage his brain Abdou found himself agreeing to Tom's offer. "Wonderful, wonderful," beamed Tom and he could feel his big cock twitch at the thought of bedding Abdou's beautiful wife.
Just then Farida reappeared. "What are you two talking about?" she said.
Before Abdou could say a word, Tom said "Well my dear, your husband has kindly accepted my invitation of hospitality at my tent."
Farida didn't know what to say. She had thought Abdou would whisk her off back to the hotel and give her the fucking she desperately needed. Rubbing up against Tom's manhood had taken its toll. "Well I suppose we could come and see where you camp," she said, "but we mustn't stay too late must we Abdou?"
"What? I err no, I suppose not," stammered Abdou as Tom rose and offered Farida his arm.
And the three of them found themselves heading off to tent where the lives of Abdou and Farida would be changed forever. As they walked along Abdou held one of Farida's arms and Tom the other. However, after a while Abdou consciously let go of his wife's arm and stepped behind Tom.
This was not lost on the big white and he put his big protective arm around Abdou's wife as if to say to everyone "she's mine." If Farida hadn't been so dazed by the afternoon's events, she might have noticed various other white students smiling at Tom with knowing grins. They had recognized the situation immediately; a Muslim couple with cuckold husband following on as a big powerful white man led the wife to his cot.
Soon they reached Tom's tent and both Abdou and Farida were pleasantly surprised at how spacious it was. "Let me get you some coffee," said Tom as both Abdou and Farida collapsed onto a big sleeping bag.
Having sorted the drinks, Tom put some music on, and crawling over to Farida he said, "Can we have another dance Farida, you're such a good dancer?"
Before Farida could answer she felt her husband pushing her up. "Go on Farida, you know how much you enjoy it."
Abdou secretly wanted to see his wife in the arms of this Adonis again and who knows maybe more. Having no real reason to object, Farida agreed and as she accepted Toms hand she couldn't help but feel a shiver at the thought of being reacquainted with his penis, albeit covered by his trousers. However, as they left the tent she had a suspicion that he wasn't wearing any under garments since his penis had seemed so clearly outlined earlier.
As he clasped her to himself Tom could feel his big cock twitch once again. He moved one hand down to the small of her back, just to test the waters and meeting no resistance after another minute or so he moved his hand onto her sexy bottom. He could feel through the thin dress that Farida wasn't wearing thick pants, or perhaps only very skimpy ones and he couldn't wait to see her naked.
Farida felt lost in a different world as she circled round with this big man. Not only could she feel his penis growing hard against her once more, but she felt his big hand on her bottom pulling her onto his hardness. When she looked at her husband (still sitting in the tent), she noticed that he was just rubbing his own penis through his trousers. "My goodness," she thought, "he's getting turned on watching us. Supposing I flirt a bit more and show him what he's missing?"
With that Farida deliberately started to open her legs and let Tom's muscular leg rub against her inflamed sex.
This change in Farida's demeanor was not lost on Tom. As he led her back to the tent, he let his hands roam all over the back of this sexy hijabi Muslim wife and he leaned down to kiss and nibble her neck and ears. He heard Farida sigh and knew that he was close to capturing this sexy wife. "Fatima, let's give Abdou a show to remember shall we?"
Farida was brought back from her dreamlike state by Tom's question. "What do you mean?" she asked.
Almost in a whisper Tom said, "You know, a bit of thesis-antithesis-synthesis."
He had already found the zipper that ran down the back of Farida's dress and he had it in his hands as he spoke to her. He slowly started to pull the zipper down and it was half way down her back before Farida realised what was happening. "Wait Tom, we can't do this, I'm married."
"So what of it, Abdou wants me to undress you, don't you Abdou?"
Abdou had no hesitation in replying in the affirmative. This is what he had wanted for so long.
Caught in the confusion and surprise of hearing her husband say that he wanted to see another man, undress her, Farida just lay there while Tom pulled the zipper right down and then eased the dress off her shoulders. Suddenly she realised that she was lying in only her stockings, garter belt, and thong panties.
As she looked up at Tom she saw something that she hadn't seen in a man for years and that was undisguised lust. This man was lusting after her, this married women! She should have felt ashamed at her feelings but she didn't. Having got half-naked, she realised that she was enjoying the attention of this muscular white man. In fact she decided to crawl around in front of him as if to say 'look at what my husband has and you haven't'.
This might have been a foolish act, but it merely served to confirm what both men knew. For Tom it confirmed that Farida was absolutely gorgeous, the sexiest Muslim woman he had ever seen and that she needed to be loved sexually. For Abdou as he fingered his painfully erect cock, he knew that he was just a few steps away from pushing his wife into a sleeping bag with another man. He was close to realizing his fantasy.
Tom pulled Farida to him, lifted her face to his and he kissed her. Farida would always remember that first kiss since it was both passionate but more significantly the precursor to her crossing a line that could not be re- crossed, and to setting in motion events that would last her and her husband a lifetime. She accepted his big tongue into her mouth and her tongue fenced with his. She could feel his big hands roaming all over body now.
In her trance-like state it seemed quite natural that Tom should start to remove his clothing. Both Farida and Abdou watched as the big man removed his shirt to reveal a hugely-muscled chest and then he dropped his trousers and just as Farida had suspected he wore no underwear. His big cock reared up in all is magnificence and Tom was gratified to hear both husband and wife express surprise at his size.
Tom crawled over to the sleeping bag where Farida was sitting and crouched in front of her, his big cock semi erect. He remembered that Eric had told him that the cops were closing in, and he knew he would have to move quickly if he wanted to finish before they cleared the encampment. Farida's head was at the same level as the big man's groin and she was amazed at the whole size and muscularity of this man. Her trance-like state was broken by Tom who said softly "Take my cock into your mouth."
Farida was aghast, "I can't! It's dirty and I've never done that before."
Tom laughed to himself. This wife was indeed naive and yet he was gratified that he would be the first man to have his cock sucked by her. Lifting her face so that she could look into his eyes, Tom said, "As we hear from German ideologists, Germany has in the last few years gone through an unparalleled revolution. The decomposition of the Hegelian philosophy, which began with Strauss, has developed into a universal ferment into which all the “powers of the past” are swept. In the general chaos mighty empires have arisen only to meet with immediate doom, heroes have emerged momentarily only to be hurled back into obscurity by bolder and stronger rivals. It was a revolution beside which the French Revolution was child’s play, a world struggle beside which the struggles of the Diadochi [successors of Alexander the Great] appear insignificant. Principles ousted one another, heroes of the mind overthrew each other with unheard-of rapidity, and in the three years 1842-45 more of the past was swept away in Germany than at other times in three centuries.
"All this is supposed to have taken place in the realm of pure thought.
"Certainly it is an interesting event we are dealing with: the putrescence of the absolute spirit. When the last spark of its life had failed, the various components of this caput mortuum began to decompose, entered into new combinations and formed new substances. The industrialists of philosophy, who till then had lived on the exploitation of the absolute spirit, now seized upon the new combinations. Each with all possible zeal set about retailing his apportioned share. This naturally gave rise to competition, which, to start with, was carried on in moderately staid bourgeois fashion. Later when the German market was glutted, and the commodity in spite of all efforts found no response in the world market, the business was spoiled in the usual German manner by fabricated and fictitious production, deterioration in quality, adulteration of the raw materials, falsification of labels, fictitious purchases, bill-jobbing and a credit system devoid of any real basis. The competition turned into a bitter struggle, which is now being extolled and interpreted to us as a revolution of world significance, the begetter of the most prodigious results and achievements.
"If we wish to rate at its true value this philosophic charlatanry, which awakens even in the breast of the honest German citizen a glow of national pride, if we wish to bring out clearly the pettiness, the parochial narrowness of this whole Young-Hegelian movement and in particular the tragicomic contrast between the illusions of these heroes about their achievements and the actual achievements themselves, we must look at the whole spectacle from a standpoint beyond the frontiers of Germany.
"Ideology in General, German Ideology in Particular: German criticism has, right up to its latest efforts, never quitted the realm of philosophy. Far from examining its general philosophic premises, the whole body of its inquiries has actually sprung from the soil of a definite philosophical system, that of Hegel. Not only in their answers but in their very questions there was a mystification. This dependence on Hegel is the reason why not one of these modern critics has even attempted a comprehensive criticism of the Hegelian system, however much each professes to have advanced beyond Hegel. Their polemics against Hegel and against one another are confined to this – each extracts one side of the Hegelian system and turns this against the whole system as well as against the sides extracted by the others. To begin with they extracted pure unfalsified Hegelian categories such as “substance” and “self-consciousness,” later they desecrated these categories with more secular names such as species “the Unique,” “Man,” etc.
"The entire body of German philosophical criticism from Strauss to Stirner is confined to criticism of religious conceptions. [The following passage is crossed out in the manuscript:] claiming to be the absolute redeemer of the world from all evil. Religion was continually regarded and treated as the arch-enemy, as the ultimate cause of all relations repugnant to these philosophers. The critics started from real religion and actual theology. What religious consciousness and a religious conception really meant was determined variously as they went along. Their advance consisted in subsuming the allegedly dominant metaphysical, political, juridical, moral and other conceptions under the class of religious or theological conceptions; and similarly in pronouncing political, juridical, moral consciousness as religious or theological, and the political, juridical, moral man – “man” in the last resort – as religious. The dominance of religion was taken for granted. Gradually every dominant relationship was pronounced a religious relationship and transformed into a cult, a cult of law, a cult of the State, etc. On all sides it was only a question of dogmas and belief in dogmas. The world was sanctified to an ever-increasing extent till at last our venerable Saint Max was able to canonise it en bloc and thus dispose of it once for all.
"The Old Hegelians had comprehended everything as soon as it was reduced to an Hegelian logical category. The Young Hegelians criticised everything by attributing to it religious conceptions or by pronouncing it a theological matter. The Young Hegelians are in agreement with the Old Hegelians in their belief in the rule of religion, of concepts, of a universal principle in the existing world. Only, the one party attacks this dominion as usurpation, while the other extols it as legitimate.
"Since the Young Hegelians consider conceptions, thoughts, ideas, in fact all the products of consciousness, to which they attribute an independent existence, as the real chains of men (just as the Old Hegelians declared them the true bonds of human society) it is evident that the Young Hegelians have to fight only against these illusions of consciousness. Since, according to their fantasy, the relationships of men, all their doings, their chains and their limitations are products of their consciousness, the Young Hegelians logically put to men the moral postulate of exchanging their present consciousness for human, critical or egoistic consciousness, and thus of removing their limitations. This demand to change consciousness amounts to a demand to interpret reality in another way, i.e. to recognise it by means of another interpretation. The Young-Hegelian ideologists, in spite of their allegedly “world-shattering" statements, are the staunchest conservatives. The most recent of them have found the correct expression for their activity when they declare they are only fighting against “phrases.” They forget, however, that to these phrases they themselves are only opposing other phrases, and that they are in no way combating the real existing world when they are merely combating the phrases of this world. The only results which this philosophic criticism could achieve were a few (and at that thoroughly one-sided) elucidations of Christianity from the point of view of religious history; all the rest of their assertions are only further embellishments of their claim to have furnished, in these unimportant elucidations, discoveries of universal importance.
"It has not occurred to any one of these philosophers to inquire into the connection of German philosophy with German reality, the relation of their criticism to their own material surroundings.
"First Premises of Materialist Method: The premises from which we begin are not arbitrary ones, not dogmas, but real premises from which abstraction can only be made in the imagination. They are the real individuals, their activity and the material conditions under which they live, both those which they find already existing and those produced by their activity. These premises can thus be verified in a purely empirical way.
"The first premise of all human history is, of course, the existence of living human individuals. Thus the first fact to be established is the physical organisation of these individuals and their consequent relation to the rest of nature. Of course, we cannot here go either into the actual physical nature of man, or into the natural conditions in which man finds himself – geological, hydrographical, climatic and so on. The writing of history must always set out from these natural bases and their modification in the course of history through the action of men.
"Men can be distinguished from animals by consciousness, by religion or anything else you like. They themselves begin to distinguish themselves from animals as soon as they begin to produce their means of subsistence, a step which is conditioned by their physical organisation. By producing their means of subsistence men are indirectly producing their actual material life.
"The way in which men produce their means of subsistence depends first of all on the nature of the actual means of subsistence they find in existence and have to reproduce. This mode of production must not be considered simply as being the production of the physical existence of the individuals. Rather it is a definite form of activity of these individuals, a definite form of expressing their life, a definite mode of life on their part. As individuals express their life, so they are. What they are, therefore, coincides with their production, both with what they produce and with how they produce. The nature of individuals thus depends on the material conditions determining their production.
"This production only makes its appearance with the increase of population. In its turn this presupposes the intercourse [Verkehr] of individuals with one another. The form of this intercourse is again determined by production.
[continues in comment]

Oh hey, it's me with more miscellaneous thoughts on Edrogrimshell's Generic Tamer jump. This remains one of my favorite jumps, to this day, it just sets a really, really high bar for generics without any outlandishly powerful perks that make you some ridiculous being. You can go here, and then go to almost any setting in the future and still potentially have a challenge, you're just better equipped to tackle said challenge.
Generic Tamer was actually the first of EGS's jumps that I made an extensive post about. I had a lot to say, and I stand by it all. I think that Generics get some flack for being... pretty OP, which is often warranted, but this particular generic is just a gem. One of the big appeals, to me, of this jump is that it doesn't ever do something that will actually no-sell the threats of other settings.
By coming here you won't gain some sort of super invulnerability or plot armor that makes you essential, but you will gain stuff that just makes you better suited to what seems to be, in the modern world, alternative lifestyles. Perks here make you far more self-sufficient without doing something as strong as making you not need to breathe or something. For example, if you fuse this and a Minecraft jump together this won't make you immune to dying of hunger, but it will give you the ability to more meaningfully interact with various neutral and passive mobs, potentially giving you new ways to get the stuff you want and need to survive, and also doing stuff like letting you tame tamable creatures without expending resources to do so (so every wolf is a buddy, not just the ones you see after you fought a skeleton).
There are a lot of settings that are just neat if you have the means to interact with the monsters present in them beyond fighting them. I think the Metroid jump is a lot more fascinating when you see a critter in the wild and you see a potential friend. I like the ability to tame and befriend Sheegoths and the War Wasps, and I think they make sick friends, especially if you have the perks that let you make them smarter, build unique bonds with them, and even give them human/humanoid forms. The ability to bring an army of wild animals in BOTW is very funny, and the power to give cows autonomy in Minecraft is hilarious.
Going beyond the directly, specifically useful and practical consequences of these perks a good number of them are just fun or handy in ways that transcend the needs of the specific jumpers who'd be most likely to come here. One unusual example is the Breeder perk, which is intended to be used to simplify the breeding process for monsters and animals but can actually allow you to do a good job working as a fertility specialist and someone who helps couples conceive, with the upgraded version of the perk being especially good for same-sex couples or couples that would otherwise struggle to conceive a child that is biologically both of theirs. This is hardly the only perk like this, as both Home Cook and Instructor are incredible perks for cosmic citizen type jumpers; those who either lack a grand purpose or those who just want to relax and experience the wonders of new settings in peace. These perks could serve as the basis for your jumper finding perfectly mundane, solidly high-paying jobs in settings outside of here, or even here if your jumper uses this as a supplement or is otherwise a skilled social figure who can navigate the generic world you've created.
The items here are also really good quality of life items. The Portable Cabin is probably the best early housing option I've seen that isn't something like the Apartment item from Generic Cubicle, with it being a a solidly nice housing option you can place anywhere that can fit the house. This limitation makes it a touch weaker than the Toon-Vehicle and Hole-In-The-Wall options as far as housing options in the same price range go, but both of those are part of Generic Cartoon World, a hilariously powerful jump for an early jumper to go. Feed Bag is also a lot of fun, and it's cheaper than Portable Cabin, though its purpose is different. It's a very nice way to either reward your peeps, if you have something like Home Cook, or to make sure your partners stay alive to help you out, since you can't make something yourself.

Fun Settings To Visit With/After Generic Tamer

So some of the easy settings to think to pair this with are other EGS generics (this pairs hilariously well with Generic Culinary Warrior & Generic Merchant). That said there's plenty of other options as well.
I can imagine this being a fun generic to pair with something like Generic Creepypasta, Generic Castaway, Generic Farming Sim, or even Generic Royal Court Drama, at least with the right perks from here.
This would be very fun to pair with any farming simulator, from Stardew Valley to Harvest Moon. This could also be a lot of fun to mesh with some LOZ jumps (BOTW and Wind Waker both come to mind), Mario, Minecraft (this is my favorite of the EGS's to fuse with Minecraft, taming Hoglins, neutral and passive mobs is always a funny mental image), to any of the DIsney jumps, all the way to the Elder Scrolls. I can think of so many settings that become way more fun if you visit here either before or during a visit to those jumps. I'd love to hear what settings you like to visit from here!

So my fiance and I have been struggling for a while now. Because back in december the house we are renting flooded. The landlord has been a POS and refuses to fix anything.
Now, we are at the point where WE NEED TO LEAVE. This home is unlivable and the LL is a fucking criminal. So I got a new job. 2hrs away. It pays good, good upward mobility, good lateral mobility, great environment. So we start looking for places closer to it. It's an expensive area but we'll work something out. I give the company my start date of june 3rd (3 weeks+ out at the time.) She says "I wish you would have talked to me about this first." Bearing in mind she's been party to the whole fucking endeavor. The first one to know after me. OH but the real reason is she didn't want to move to that area. She wants to stay here. "I don't think it's a good time to move." were her words. To which I replied "We. dont. have. a. choice." So she changed to "I want to stay in the area." Okay. But we need solutions here. She'd take a full time position at work. We'd find a place nearby. I guess, but we absolutely need a place asap and she needs to take the full time spot asap. Or we are boned. I kept saying how I hated to turn down such a good job...
Today we got a formal eviction notice from our LL and also our bid on a home was accepted (near our current jobs) and is about to be finalized. So I called the job and told them "Sorry, I can't take the job. My fiance has an opportunity at work and we need to stay here." Not quite honest, but close enough for them to get the picture and realize it's not me just jerking them around. She hears this. Calls me on it saying "No it was YOUR choice not to take the job." Uh... was it!? was it really? With her practically giving me an ultimatum over it? With her insisting we stay here? With her refusal to house shop in that area? Fucking WAS IT!?
We were getting ice cream and she was trying to make her point when she revealed that despite us agreeing almost 2 weeks ago she hasn't yet talked to anyone at work about going full time... not even a quick text... At which point I started to lose it and said "I'm done talking about this." but she pressed the issue and I had to state it again glaring daggers at her.
I'm so mad. I went to a separate room and every time I see her she looks like she's crying and just trying to guilt me into feeling bad but I'm so mad IDGAF. She deserves to cry right now. Making me give up an amazing career FOR HER, and then act like it was my decision from the start!?
Im over her gaslighting me. This isn't the first time she's tried... I'm so... ARGH!

In a Dating post, I explained that as a man, I (26M) don't have the Hero Instinct; a need and desire to be needed, a lack of need to feel strong and like a provideprotecter. I'm a man who doesn't need--or even WANT, in my case--to feel like "the man" in a relationship. And I kinda want to know how common men like me is, because I don't think this is normal at all.
For men who do have the Hero Instinct, a damsel in distress is great. They make these men feel strong, reliable. Like a handyman, a protector, a provider, a hero. But for me, there's few things worse. To me, the more competent and less vulnerable a woman is--particularly physically--the more attractive she is to me.What attracts me physically is brute strength and athleticism. And to a smaller extent, I find tallness (being 5'7 or taller) more attractive than being short; after all, it's easier to reach stuff when you're tall. Plus, you're more likely to be seen as intimidating and a leader.
As for mental and emotional qualities, a woman who either lacks fear (bravery) or acts despite having fear (courage) is very attractive to me. At my job, a mouse was inside the office of a parking garage I work in sometimes, and three of my female co-workers were afraid of it. A woman who isn't my co-worker, but works in one of the rooms screamed when she saw it and ran back out where I was, and I accompanied her back in so she could get her supplies and work in another area. I knew that what I did was good, but I got no satisfaction out of it. The fact that I stepped up when my female co-workers were afraid meant nothing to me. Didn't make that office worker more endearing to me either.
Plus, growing up, when my mom or my grandmother needed help reaching something, they'd say, "I need your height!", and I'd help them, but...it didn't make me more secure about my height. And when I moved something heavy, my grandmother would sometimes call me her "strong guy", which was almost enough to make me throw up in my mouth. I HATED hearing that. And nowadays, I help my grandaunt with her DIY projects around the house, and my grandma often comments that I'm doing something manly...which--you guessed it--doesn't encourage or motivate me at all.
By contrast, I have glanced at the female cops at my job a few times; particularly one with an arm that was all tatted up. She looked super bad*ss, and I was kind of crushing a little bit. I'm genuinely curious. How common are men like me, who don't have the "Hero Instinct", and find strength and competence more attractive in a woman? Looking back, I worry I may have issues.

I was working for a fast pace, successful Endodontist office for 14 1/2 years. Finally after no raises for years and when did get a raise it made no difference in the check. So Finally I decided to move on. Doctor wasn't happy, but acted like he understood. I didn't put in my resignation until I had another job offer. Difference was other job was corporate and the job I was leaving was private. When I interviewed with the new office. They were like. Yea! You are being under paid and we have these benefits and we are offering this amount. Which was more to where I thought I should be. I been a dental assistant 17 yrs altogether. Worked in Periodontics 2 yrs before going Endo. Plus went to a dental assistant 9mth program to make sure I understood dentistry before I got into the field. So the new practice asked why I was leaving the old one. I explained. They were like you will like this better. So fast forward. I'm about 3months working the new practice. This practice is General Dentist office. I never call off, not late, team player, got along with all the ladies. Then one week at the end of the work week. The office manager comes at the end of my shift and tells me they have to let me go. No warning, no write ups. Just out the blue. She gives me a song about the doctor I was working for. Isn't making enough production to keep me on. I'm confused. He doing about the same as when I started. He was 5 yrs out of dental school. So he was pacing himself. As not to take on too much. So I was taken back by this. As one I didn't expect this and two I left a job I knew I had. To take this job and this bs happened and now I'm out of a job. Even though. She put on my walking papers would rehire. When a position came open at that same office. I found out that was a lie. Company called me, but the office manger was like no. The doctor I worked with was gone. Only worked 5 mths more after my termination. Although after all my years of experience. Where I live it's not alot of dental opportunities. Especially with the tech school here. Constantly cranking assistants out. So the moral of the story is. It might sound good. But if you are solid where you are weight it out before jumping into something else. Cause it just might be the end of your career.

Hey guys, I'm planning to replace my old but powerful "at his times" Lenovo G500 laptop with core I7 3612M processor, 8gb ram and SSD card. It was a gift in 2013. Now I feel like itnis time to update my horse 🐎 😌 especially the battery is not doing so well (keeps 1-1.30 hours browsing only so it is not convenient especially when studying outside)
I need your advice which laptop to purchase. I'm thinking of Lenovo or Asus. So far my eyes came to Viobook 16x and Lenovo but they have many options so didn't make a final decision yet
We all know that the best is MAC based on my 3 days research which gives easily 16 hours however I'm not mac or iPhone user so I prefer Windows as we can do more tricks there and much more features.
My main issue what I feel is 1) the battery - as the current laptop holds only for 1.30 hours using a browser or watching a video on youtube (I mean yeah this laptop is from 2013 so I guess it is still going great job old horse 🐎 haha) so main thing I feel like I want to get a laptop which hold good battery so if I'm studying outside or doing work somewhere in the cafe then I don't need to look for power plugs 😀
2) But since I'm get a new laptop, I don't wanna get something not powerful (slow performance but last long battery - processors with U or G suffix). Since it is an investment for couple of years then it should be either core i7 or core i9 gen 13 or 14th and Nvidia video card as sometimes i do some editing in photoshop or maybe later we never know need to perform harder tasks like video editing etc.. (I'm not playing games as more focused on self development but still i feel like it is good to have healthy and powerful horse which can run anytime when I need it 🐎🏇💪🔋.
Considering points 1 and 2, what model of laptops comes to your mind around 800-1200 EUR.
I feel like Lenovo and Asus manufacture good laptops which last long.

Hi all, we are an OnlyFans Agency based in the UK, and are looking to hire a new chatter.
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Job Description:
- Paid up to 20% commission on sales (expected starting 1,000 - 1,2500 USD per month - current earning expectation, great potential to increase this range based on immediate performance) - No hourly rate/wage is paid.
- Hours of work 1800-0200 BST (UTC+01) from Monday through to Saturday
- Remote working
- Flexible time off
- Sponsored training up front
- Daily support from managers, weekly team catch up calls
Role Responsibilities:
- Upsell models content to subscribers
- Short form daily sales updates to managers
- Regular training
- Team-working and communicating with colleagues
Requirements:
You MUST posses a western standard of English and strong communication skills. PLEASE DO NOT APPLY OTHERWISE. Prior industry experience is not mandatory, having backgrounds in sales and communication-related roles are favourable. You must have competent computing skills, and be fluent with a keyboard and mouse.
How to Apply:
If you wish to apply for this position, please complete our online application form that follows: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfgwg0mM98VnFYuHnl4BXQvRh01XRw-bD5eUwVSLUT4TqIaLQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

Dear my first love/ ex
I know we only dated briefly, but in that time we faced so much that time seemed like it passed faster than it actually did. When we first started out you helped push me to find a new job, because I couldn’t imagine working there alone. You even helped me quit by writing out my resignation letter even though I was gonna do it anyways since I had a new job lined up, but knowing that I wasn’t doing it alone or leaving you behind helped. I wish you could have been there to wish me good luck on my first day, but you got Covid and didn’t want to risk me getting sick before even starting.
I never wanted you to be anyone else, I loved the guy that I got to know before you ever made us official. The guy with several allergies to some of the weirdest most common things, but not allergic to common allergens. The guy with fears of heights, and bugs and scares easily. The guy that loves Disney movies and loves singing to them and cries at sad moments but would never let me see him cry. The guy that loves math, collecting Pokemon cards because they’re pretty, playing video games, D&D, anime, spending time with friends and family. The guy that was very judgemental when it came to certain things like how mint ice cream is wrong and anything with mint and chocolate together just shouldn’t be. The guy that seemed very uncertain about his future saying things like “I’m gonna take a job I hate so when I have money I can take a job I like that doesn’t pay much” “I want to buy a house here, because it would be such a flex to my friends” “ I would have quit school but everyone expected me to finish so I couldn’t quit.” Meanwhile you did know that when he bought a house that he wanted a cat and even knew the type of cat he wanted.
Now comes the tricky part that I hate because I don’t know how much you actually knew about me. Did you know I would have loved if you asked me to dance? That I would have loved a reason to get dressed up and show you a side of me no one has ever seen? You knew that you opened my heart and made me feel safe, but do you know what that has done to me? Do you know how your love has changed me? Did you know that since you were the first person to see me and love me that you helped me gain confidence I never had? Did you know that all I ever needed even when you physically couldn’t be there with me was you to say “I love you”. Just 3 little words to make me feel better, even on my worse days, just knowing that I have someone who chose me and chose to love me was a enough, but you couldn’t do that simple thing.
Instead you chose to create distance, trying to repair the damage after it was done instead of just saying “I love you and because I love you can we cool off and come back to the issue in the morning so we don’t say something we might regret?” No I got the response of “ I had a good day today and don’t need you bringing me down so I’m turning off my phone” the reason I was mad was because you blew me off and broke your promise the least you could have done was apologize instead of making me feel guilty and less than.
Do I hate you for that? Do I hate you for putting yourself first? Do I hate you for making me open my heart and be venerable to you? Do I hate you for shattering my heart into a million pieces? Do I hate that we loved each other and it seemed like you did all the talking but I was the one opening up more emotionally than you? Do I hate you for finding someone new so fast? Do I hate that you probably saw the northern lights with your new gf on my birthday, while I watched them alone after you said I would never be alone on my birthday again, along with the fact our first date we tried to see them only to get downgraded to cloud gazing and never watching them together like we wanted? No, for some reason I can’t hate you maybe that’s what true love is, because there will always be a part of me that loves you. Even with all your faults and flaws but it would be so much easier if I could just hate you. But I would be lying if I say that I’m not hurt and that I wouldn’t take you back in a heartbeat. I would have my reservations about it but as long as you would be willing to put the work in I would take you back because I’m not going to hate and judge you based on a few bad times when there were so many more good times. But we didn’t know how to deal with the bad times so we let that rip us apart.
~ your ex that you gave up on