Olga s white bean

hi everybody! like most current juniors i am starting the college search/list building and was looking for some guidance on what sort of schools i should be looking at! i want to ideally major in pre-pharmacy/physiology
here is my demographics and stats:
demographics: - white female - MA resident, dual-citizen - medium/high income family - small, mid-ranked private school
stats: - 3.88 UW/4.7 W - 1380 sat (will retake in august) - top 5 in class of ~50 - full IB diploma candidate (HL maths, biology, english. SL economics, french, world religions) - 2 years of student government—> my role was/is facilitating communication between administration and the student body and running the school’s instagram - 3 years of being a school admissions ambassador—> toured prospective students and families, helped run events such as open houses etc. - 3 years worked as a gymnastics coach for children between the age of 6-12 (used to be nationally ranked gymnast but quit 3 years ago, but received many awards for achievement and sportsmanship) - 3 years of varsity basketball, one as captain - 1 year worked at starbucks - (hopefully) will work over the summeschool year as a pharmacy technician in a local pharmacy - around 100 hours of volunteer hours between various organizations - organized a fundraiser (raised 1k so far) for helping low-income individuals pay the co-pays for prescription medications
and a few other random clubs/insignificant ecs (im aware my ecs are somewhat lacking for top tier universities)
also worth noting that i will have very strong rec letters from bio and english teachers!
thank you!!

I’m gonna lay out the whole context here, and it’s 2 years long so bear with me. A TL;DR isn’t really possible as there’s so much important context to whether or not IATA.
We’ve been married almost 10 years and she’s from overseas. She came here through our marriage. We were happy and doing extremely well for ourselves.
The problem started to 2 years ago. My friends wedding. Afterward we went out and then went to another friends house to continue partying. At the party one of the wedding guests started having a pity party about how he’s depressed because all these happy couples are around and he’s single.
For context. This guy is weird. He’s disrespectful to women, capitalizes on captive audiences (waitresses most often), and is overall a loser. He’s got a good job but that’s about it.
My wife, listens to his sob story and says “I have a sister!” and immediately starts FaceTiming her sister. This is something I’ve said isn’t okay. We’re not tinder, and we’re not matchmakers.
Beyond that her sister has a history of treating her poorly. She constantly told my wife she’s stupid growing up, well into adulthood. She blocked my wife for a whole year because my wife called her and told her not to go on boats with men she doesn’t know. Told my wife to live like she doesn’t have a sister. For a whole year I consoled my wife a couple times a week.
Anyways we were both drunk and with people so I’m not gonna start a fight right there. I figure I’ll talk to her about it maturely later. So I do. In the meantime, I switch to speaking Arabic with her sister and tell her this isn’t okay and isn’t what she wants.
Her and my wife to this day claim I was happy and supportive. They claim I was too drunk to remember. But there’s a few things wrong with this. I drove home, I take drinking and driving VERY seriously and would never, ever do it. In fact, if I know I’ve drank too much, I’ll hand my keys to a friend before the liquor starts hitting, just to avoid any possibility of making that bad decision.
Secondly, I switched to Arabic. I’m white. Arabic is a language I learned. When I speak it, I speak it very, very deliberately and remember the conversations perfectly. I know exactly what I said.
Anyways, when I talk to my wife later, I’m told how it’s wrong to prevent her from helping her sister and how her sister really likes this guy. A guy she talked to for 5 minutes. I told her it’s wrong to think of it as “helping” her sister in the first place and that her sister is a grown woman who can find her own partner.
So my wife says “okay I’ll tell my sister to stop talking to him”. That was the end of it. Or so I thought.
A few weeks later I’m at a different event and this guy let it slip they’re still talking. Immediately I’m upset and text my wife about how she lied to me.
She said her sister was really falling in love with this guy and separating them would be wrong. She said she did tell her sis to block him but when her sis went into a depression she told her she can unblock him and talk to him, behind my back.
Upset I told her we need to talk about going behind my back and how disrespectful of my boundaries this whole ordeal was. She said “it’s okay I’ll tell her to block him again”.
Over. Or so I thought for the next few months. A few months later I again am at an event with this guy and this time he’s smart enough to lie about them talking. But I’m a salesman and a bullshitter. You can’t bullshit me unless I trust you. I knew immediately he was lying but I let it go. I did ask my wife and she said no they’re not talking. So I believed her.
Well, a year and a half goes by. In that time her sister and her fought about how her sister could come to the US. We said we’d help her but it’s a lengthy process. At the time I had little animosity toward her sister and would’ve loved to see her come here and be near my wife again. She wasn’t happy with that and said it takes too long. This is her sister’s mindset.
Anyway. Her sister gets a B1 visa in the meantime, temporary business visitor and wants to come visit my wife. Lies through her teeth about her intentions to the immigration officer, telling them she wants to stay 90 days. They approve her for 60.
So we file for an extension ASAP so she can visit for 3 months. Staying with us the whole time. I wanted her to have fun on her visit so I arrange for my friends and I to go out. This guy shows up. She talked to him and told him our plans.
Immediately they disappear into the casino and come back holding hands and all kinds of PDA. I’m fuming because I know she’s a conniving word I won’t say here. I don’t say anything though and we go through the night and I let it go so I can have fun.
The next day he’s picking her up from my house and they’re out for the whole day. The next time my wife is off work, same story. Well, I thought you were here to visit her? And that’s where I put my foot down.
I got told it was wrong to try and control her, wrong to try and separate them, etc. etc. etc. Finally she blocks his number and he calls from a separate number. I turn off her SIM card because I’m not gonna support her going behind my back in my own home. He calls me and tells me he really loves her and just wishes I’d accept it.
I tell him very plainly I will never, ever accept it because it all stemmed from him, her, and my wife going behind my back. Primarily my wife, as she’s the only one of the three I should be able to trust is telling me the truth.
At this point, I feel as if my wife had an emotional affair, although it’s with her own family. She repeatedly chose to go behind my back, against a boundary I had told her repeatedly before this situation at my friend’s wedding after party ever transpired. If that’s not an emotional affair, I don’t know what is.
So I tell him bluntly to not call me anymore and I’m not going to change my stance, and his feelings don’t mean shit to me. He started to give me a sob story about how we’re friends and he I should be happy for him and I cut him off and told him to save his breath.
My wife is upset at me for how I talked to him. Another emotional affair. Trying to protect the feelings of this dude.
The next day, while my wife is at work I’m eating lunch at our dinner table and studying schoolwork her sister comes to the table and starts talking to me about this guy asking if I talked to him and I tell her plainly I did and what I told him.
She goes into a story about how she really loves him, she’s an adult woman and I shouldn’t be intervening etc. I told her I agree I shouldn’t ever have been involved and neither should my wife. I told her to save her breath with any talk of her feelings because I don’t care. She started crying telling me I’m cruel etc.
I told her at this point I’m done being nice. I’ve been lied to for 2 years and it’s over. I’m done being my laid back self and I’ve been pushed repeatedly and I’m standing up for my marriage and my boundaries.
I did turn her SIM card back on so she could call my wife and I, her hosts.
The next morning I wake up to my wife in tears calling me to her sisters room. Her sister is bawling her eyes out and packing her bags to go home. I talk her sister into coming for a car ride with my wife and I to talk things out.
Immediately in the car my wife starts berating her sister about how she’s selling her for a man and a whole host of other things. I calm my wife down and tell her that’s not okay to say to her sister. Because against what they thought I don’t want and would’ve never wanted this to cause a separation between them. I know how much my wife values family.
In the car her sister tells me she really loves this guy and that she can see them being a family one day etc. etc. etc. I tell her plainly don’t ever bring him around my house, if they do marry and have kids, don’t ever bring them around my house, and don’t consider me her brother in law because I will never do anything for her again after she goes home.
My wife is shocked, she’s shocked and they both wonder how I could be so cruel. I said I’m over it. I’m over hearing about this guy, I’m over being used, and I will never again trust her. She said she understands and resumes talking to this guy.
A few days later we’re in the car going to a family event with my family and I get asked if he can come. I said no, very politely. I said no, he’s not part of my family. I was told how terrible I am, and my wife and her sister both jump out of my car in a bad part of Chicago, an area neither of them know.
My wife calls my family and tells them I kicked them out of the car. So my family starts blowing up my phone screaming at me. Once I explained the situation my family said they’ll come pick them up but I hung around and kept driving by to make sure they were okay. Eventually my wife calls me and says they’ll get in.
So I pull over and they open the doors and my wife goes “I’m scared I don’t feel comfortable getting in the car with you”. So I drive away pissed off. This is a 85,000 car in a bad part of the city where carjackings happen every other day.
I go park somewhere but keep an eye on them to make sure they stay safe. A homeless guy passed them and my wife calls me to come get her. So I do and we go home.
Again her sister packs her shit and cries that she’s going home. I tell her to relax, sleep on it and we’ll talk in the morning. She does eventually and in the morning she decides she’ll stay.
A week goes by and I hear nothing about this guy from her. My friends and I all joked about him and made light fun of him. He caught wind of it and cried to my wife’s sister who told my wife, who came to me and aggressively told me to stop and leave them both alone. I got pissed off because this was a private convo between me and my friends and if he heard it and got his feelings hurt it’s on him.
This spiraled into a huge argument with me, my wife, and her sister. In the argument I asked her sister plainly if she planned to leave at the 90 day mark. She said no.
So I kicked her out of our house. Her and my wife went for a walk and I yelled out the front door to get her shit to the curb before the walk before I do, because if she doesn’t do it herself it’ll be thrown on the wet ground. They both thought I was joking before then I assume. Her sister comes in and packs her stuff and gets out. I said if you plan on staying here illegally it won’t be in my house. If the choose is between here or the streets, it’ll be the streets.
She went to stay with the boyfriend and his parents. His parents must not have liked her too much because within a couple weeks they made them both move out.
This was in January of this year.
Since then, I’ve been repeatedly goaded into accepting this. My wife has tried to get me to visit her sister, etc.
It came to a head recently at a wedding we went to for another friend. Her sister and this guy were there. I didn’t say a word to either one the entire night and all was fine.
Except my wife spent the whole night at their table because he wouldn’t dance or do anything to have fun. She can’t handle the idea that her sister might find something she doesn’t like about this guy. She has to be there just in case the relationship goes on life support.
This pisses me off, obviously. She’s more invested in their relationship than she’s been in ours for the past 2 years. Grown adults.
Well, today she was going to her sisters house. She had 2 bags. An ulta bag and a discovery bag. I asked what that is, and she said it’s for her sister. She pulled out taco shells and said it’s just small stuff she wants her to try. But I could see through the bag and saw beauty products. I’m not an idiot.
I looked in when she went to the bathroom and saw a fucking armoire full of shit. I looked at the receipt. $300. I was fucking livid.
I continued getting ready for work and said “her husband can’t buy her that?”. It’s confrontational, yes. But I said it politely, and was open to talking about it.
I get met with immediately hostility. I never raised my voice but I made it very clear I wasn’t being nice about this or anything anymore.
I told her “maybe she could pay you back and find you a new husband”. I’m going to give her a choice. Me or her sister now. Because this has gotten fucking ridiculous.
We pay for her to come here. She hired an immigration lawyer apparently, but doesn’t have money to pay me back for the flight or even pay for the Ubers they take or anything. My wife is trying to make up for this losers shortcomings. He’s too much of an idiot to see that her sister is using him.
By the way, this isn’t her first fiance. It’s not even her first western fiance. She’s been engaged to at least 3 different guys. One from France, another from Belgium, and a third from Canada before this guy. She was looking to immigrate. He’s a fucking idiot though so, oh well.
My wife’s sister is very materialistic. My wife is fortunately down to earth but is so far up her sisters ass because she thinks if she doesn’t do everything her sister wants that her sister will cut her from her life again. Which is exactly what would happen.
I told her that’s on her sister. I’m not asking her to never talk to her sister. I’m asking her to stop treating her sister like she’s a child and putting their relationship before ours. Stop bending over backwards for a grown woman who will throw you away the moment you’re inconvenient.
But it’ll never happen it seems and it’s the reason I’m strongly considering divorcing her. I’m over this fucking shit. Oh, and by the way, my wife claims that she’s scared of me etc. now when she tells the story to other people.
I have never and would never hit my wife. I’ve never given her any reason to be afraid of me. So to put that out there on me is absolutely fucking bullshit and I’ve lost all trust in her.
AITAH?

Welcome to the Peanut Gallery! Today, I remembered to update! This is apprentice Lara filling in for the master thestoryteller987 with hopes for good health and a swift return! Sorry about the week's absents, it's been very busy over here in Laratown with so many thing happening I've barely had time to say ISW let alone read it. Without further nonsense though, (other than from Russian milbloggers) lets go! Remember I know less than nothing.

Ukrainian sources indicated that Russian forces are concentrating limited, understaffed, and incohesive forces in the Sumy direction, but even such a Russian grouping of forces will be able to achieve the likely desired effect of drawing and fixing Ukrainian forces in the international border area

Ukraine stands strong. But Ukraine also is stretched like a rubber band right now. Push in the wrong place, and things will snap. On the bright side of this, it genuinely looks like Russia is stretching themselves, too. Note how ISW states that the forces are drawn from other areas, so yes, Ukraine is spending manpower being fixed in the border area, however, by the same token if Ukraine can manage a breakthrough, other areas are seriously going to feel a hard punch. Something to keep an eye on and I suppose western weapons will be the big tell here, what will arrive first?

Kremlin officials expressed their condolences to senior Iranian officials following the announcement of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's and Foreign Affairs Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian's deaths on May 20

I am sorry for any children, wives and family these people left behind. Not so sad to see them past on, being no more, ceasing to be. expiring and going to meet its maker. Running down the curtain pole and meeting the choir invisible. Maybe there will be daieies. TLDR, They are x parrots.

Russian President Vladimir Putin fired Russian Deputy Defense Minister Colonel General Yury Sadovenko on May 20, replacing him with former Deputy Economic Minister and current Federation Council Accounts Chamber Auditor Oleg Savelyev

A mixture of booting out loyalists who are loyal to Shoigu and replacing them with people who can slow down the utter train wreckof the Russian Economy. Putin wants to get as close to a war time econoomy without putting the country on a war time economy. Because, as you know, it's not a war. It's a 3 day special operation.

Putin also dismissed Presidential Advisor Alexandra Levitskaya on May 20, but the reason for Levitskaya’s dismissal is unclear.

Rumour has it Levitskaya sneezed during a Putin speech just at the point where Putin was saying an important part about goods and the follow up "bless you" was taken as patronising.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reiterated the White House's unwillingness to approve Ukraine's use of US-provided weapons in strikes against military targets in Russia following a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (also known as the Ramstein format) on May 20

Once again, the US is dragging its boots. Seriously, guys! You're giving them bucket loads of democracy and freedom, just let them deliver some liberty to Russia!
There was an intersting quote here though:

Austin vaguely noted that "the aerial dynamic is a little bit different," but stated that he would not speculate further.

So I will. I see this as being taken in three ways: 1: The fabled f16's. Is this Austin's way of subtley giving the nod that Ukraine can pursue Russian planes over the border? 2: does it mean Ukraine could use f16's to strike over the border? 3: does it mean Ukraine could shoot down fighter's in russia? IE if a Russian fighter fires a missile from Russia's side of the border, is Ukraine within its right to shoot down said fighter from their side?
All interesting questions!

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas stated that some unspecified countries, presumably NATO member states, have already sent personnel to train Ukrainian soldiers "on the ground."

The Baltic's have balls. This is a direct fuck you daddy Putin. this in direct alignment with more an more rumours floating through the EU that actually they might lift the embargo on Ukraine striking within Russia. Both the UK and France are talkking about it, and we never agree about anything!

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairperson Dmitry Medvedev amplified a known Russian information operation aimed at directly undermining Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's legitimacy as president.

Why is Medvedev still talking? How is he still talking?
Anyway, Medvedev is saying that the last Ukrainian election should have been in March 2024. Technically true, however in Ukraine's constitution it states that under times of marshal law, the term of the president mayy be extended. So, according to ISW at least, Medvedev is once again doing what he does best.
Talkin' shit, talkin' shit.

Russian forces recently made confirmed advances near Vovchansk, Chasiv Yar, Avdiivka, and Donetsk City and in western Zaporizhia Oblast and the Dnipro River Delta.

Unfortunate pushes forward. Ukraine is giving ground, but slowly and carefully. I fully still believe the second Ukraine is ready, she'll sweep Russia right back into their own border and fire a storm shadow up their ass for good measure.
I do actually have some maps now, not sure if they have the level of detail I need (they are maps of Europe in 4 volumes) but if not I'll order the rest.

Russian opposition outlet Vazhnye Istorii (iStories) reported that Russian military authorities and Kazakh law enforcement acting on Russian orders detained at least two more servicemen in Kazakhstan who had deserted from the Russian military.

Poor guys.
This is why you don't flee Russia by running to a Russian puppet state. Duh.
‘Q’ for the Community:

• Austin's vaguery about air targets. What do you think he is talking about?

• Join the conversation on /TheNuttySpectacle!

It’s sad that not many stores carry more/all the colors of yarn. I’m doing a project with Lily Sugar n Cream yarn (all cotton). One color I’m using is Strawberry, which is an ombré of white with pink in a couple of shades. I’d like to find a solid pink to go with it. Since it’s not in the stores, I can’t tell if Rose Pink goes with it or not (to my eye and online pics, it looks too dark and/or more of a coral color). Can anyone recommend a closer match? Doesn’t have to be Sugar n Cream, but does have to be all cotton. Thanks in advance for any help.

My wife, Mia, and I were driving cross-country. It was our first attempt at the “Great American Roadtrip.”
Mia and I rented a small RV; more of a camper than a full blown RV. We packed up a couple suitcases with plenty of room for any souvenirs and we hit the dusty trail.
We started our journey on the “Mother Road”-- Route 66-- driving south from Chicago until we connected to i-70 and shot straight west through Missouri.
The goal was to see those parts of the country we had never seen before, stopping anywhere that seemed interesting. From the plains of Kansas up through the badlands of Wyoming and South Dakota.
In Missouri we saw the world’s largest cap gun. In Kansas we visited the Evel Knievel Museum and the World’s Largest Belt Buckle.
We love all those kitschy, tourist trap places.
Eventually, we made it to Colorado and after a few hours more of driving through amber waves of grain, we saw them... the Rocky Mountains.
We made an exit and headed north through the winding mountain highways.
The Rockies were gorgeous. Snow capped in the middle of summer, some of the peaks pierced through the white fluffy clouds.
We saw a sign that read “Traffic Tunnel - 3 Miles.”
A little further and sure enough, there it was, a large tunnel bored directly through the mountain in front of us.
A large sign read, “Pike Tunnel - Longest Traffic Tunnel in the Nation! - Please turn your headlights on now.”
“How long is it?” asked Mia.
“That’s what she said,” I quipped.
But she was right, there was no information beyond the detail that this was the longest tunnel in the nation.
“Can’t be more than a mile or two,” I said as I watched the little white car ahead of us slip into the darkness. A moment later we joined it.
The tunnel was lit by fluorescents that gave everything a greenish yellow tinge. On the left hand side was a raised walkway behind a railing for maintenance access.
Initially I was struck by the incredible amount of work that went into the construction of this man- made marvel.
“We’re under a million tons of rocky mountain right now,” I said.
“How many years before this caves in?” Mia responded.
I shot her a look--
“Let’s save the cave-in talk until we’re out on the other side.”
“I’m just saying, nature will take this back eventually,” she continued.
I scanned the empty road ahead of us.
“Where did the other car go?” I asked.
We were now alone in the tunnel, no cars ahead of us nor behind us.
“Huh... they must have sped off ahead. Maybe they’re scared of a cave-in?”
My Spotify playlist had stopped playing. Mia looked at the phone.
“No cell service.”
She turned on the radio and spun the dial only to find static.
“You’re not going to be able to pick up a station in here,” I said.
She turned the volume down.
“Just wanted to check... If only we had some CDs. This tunnel really keeps going.”
“I would have thought we’d be through it by now,” I replied.
I looked at the RV’s odometer, 45,600 miles. I picked up speed. I wanted to try and catch up to the little white car.
Up until this point, the tunnel was a straight shot, but now the tunnel started to curve to the right. It may have been my imagination but it also felt as though we were descending…
Mia felt it too and she started to get antsy.
“Where did that other car go? How long is this tunnel?”
There was an urgency in her voice.
I was getting nervous, claustrophobia was not usually a problem for me but when I looked down at the odometer and I saw that it had gone up by 3 miles, my mind began to wander to unsettling places.
We were descending in altitude. I could feel it. I could see a slope in the lights on the ceiling and the railing of the maintenance walkway. I could feel a pressure in my head, and I was getting cold.
“Could you grab me a coke from the back, Mia?”
I couldn’t have Mia getting anxious, that would only start a chain reaction and make me freak out which would then make her freak out.
She unbuckled and ducked into the back of the RV to where we had a cooler stocked with drinks and food.
Just as she stepped into the back, I saw something.
There standing on the side of the road was a MAN wearing a reflective safety vest and a hard hat. He was WAVING to me as I passed him by.
Something about him looked... strange…
I watched him in the side-view mirror as we passed and he was still watching the RV, still waving at the back of our vehicle as he faded into the distance.
Mia reappeared from the back of the RV, Coke in hand. She popped it and handed it to me.
“You look worried.”
“I’m fine,” I smiled and took a sip of the Coke.
“Eric, slow down!”
I slammed on the breaks as I saw what made Mia scream. In the road in front of us was a roadblock.
Two reflective traffic sawhorses blocked both lanes of the tunnel. Beyond the roadblock, the lights of the tunnel were dark. There was nothing but a void of blackness.
Standing in front of the roadblock was another man wearing a reflective vest and a hard hat, only this time his hard hat had a light on top which obscured his face.
We came to a jolting stop.
I turned to Mia
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” she replied. “It’s a cave-in isn’t it?”
“God, I hope not.”
I rolled down the window, leaned out and yelled to the man in the hard hat.
“Hey! What’s going on?!”
The man was about 5 yards away. He took two steps towards us and then raised a hand to his mouth and yelled.
“Just doing some maintenance!”
“How long is it going to take?!” I yelled back.
The man made a hand gesture as if he didn’t hear me.
“How long is it going to take?!” I called again.
He made the same gesture. I unbuckled my seat belt and grabbed the door release.
“What are you doing?” Mia asked.
“I gotta know what’s going on.”
“Eric, just stay here, it might not be safe.”
“I’ll be just a second,” I said.
I pushed the door open and stepped down from the RV.
“Stay in your vehicle!” the man yelled.
He took a couple steps towards me with his hand out telling me to stop.
“What’s the hold up?!” I shouted.
The man was a bit closer now but I still couldn’t see his face through the shining light on his helmet.
“Please stay in your vehicle!” he shouted.
There was something off about him.
Then I heard it–
“EEEAAAUUUUUUGHHHHHHHH!!!”
A scream, or something, rolled from deep in the tunnel. The worker turned and looked into the darkness. Then he ran past the barricades and soon all we could see of him was the light on his helmet.
The light disappeared a moment later.
“What the hell was that?! Is someone hurt?” Mia asked.
“I have no idea,” I said.
“Should we do something?” Mia asked.
I just sat there and watched the pitch black tunnel in front of me. I had no idea what to tell her. I checked the sideview mirrors. There was still nobody behind us.
“Where are the other cars?” I asked.
“They must have gotten through before the roadblock... Or maybe they caused the roadblock?” Mia replied.
“I saw another worker a little ways back. We could try to go back and talk to him.”
“We’d be going straight into any oncoming cars.”
“There’s a maintenance walkway. We didn’t pass him that long ago. We can probably catch him on foot.”
“Maybe we should just wait for the guy to come back.”
She reached over and grabbed my arm. I squeezed her hand.
She was right.
I looked out at the tunnel ahead of us. I turned on the RV’s high beams but all I could see beyond the roadblock was more tunnel and more road.
I checked my phone. Unsurprisingly, there was no service still.
We waited, but the man never came back.
“It’s been twenty minutes,” Mia said, “How come there hasn’t been another car behind us?
I was having the same thought. I rolled down my window and stuck my head out. I looked back at the road behind us. It went back about 200 yards before curving out of sight.
There was no sign of that first worker I saw on the maintenance walk way. I looked at the roadblock ahead of us and clicked on the RV’s high beams. There was nothing beyond the roadblock but more tunnel. It didn’t look like it was under construction, just very dark.
“I think we should keep going,” I said.
“What about the roadblock?”
“We’ll move those sawhorses out of the way and just drive past,” I said as I opened my door.
Mia looked at me, then she cast her eyes to the dark tunnel ahead of us. I knew she was processing the same limited options that I was.
Driving backwards would be a huge risk in the instance of another car finally coming along.
Getting out and walking would take God knows how long, we could have driven 10 miles at this point.
Forward was our best option.
“Let’s do it,” Mia said.
We jumped out and quickly pulled the two sawhorses out of the right lane. I pulled the RV up past the barriers, then we jumped out again and put the sawhorses back where they were. We didn't need another car to come barreling through.
We were finally moving again, slowly. It was pitch black save for the high beams of the RV.
We crept forward at around 15 miles per hour. As the tunnel turned and twisted, my eyes started to play tricks on me. I kept seeing shapes at the furthest point of the tunnel.
I kept seeing something standing just at the end of the next bend but as we roll forward, there was nothing there.
“Where are the workers?” Mia asked.
“I don’t know.”
I was done rationalizing. This was all wrong. Traffic tunnels are never this long.
My mind started to wander to all the road trip urban legends I’d read about; The Killer in the Backseat, The Disappearing Gas Station, The Pale Man In The Corn Field.
Did we stumble into some strange outlier location? An in-between point on the endless roads that cross this country?
Then I saw it–
“Look! A person! Thank god!” Mia shouted.
As we rounded a curve in the tunnel, a group of maintenance workers entered our view.
The three of them stood on the left side of the road behind two more sawhorses topped with flashing lights.
Two of them faced towards us, the third was facing the other two.
The one with his back to us wore a light on his hard hat. Was this the same guy we saw earlier? How did he get this far away?
I approached slowly and rolled down the window.
“Hey! You left us waiting back there!” I yelled.
There was no response.
In fact, all three men were completely silent, and it was hard to tell in the flashing light of the sawhorses, but they looked to be standing COMPLETELY STILL.
“Hello?!” I yelled again.
I pushed open my door and stepped out onto the pavement.
“Eric wait--”
I held up a finger to Mia.
“Just a second.”
I slowly stepped towards the 3 men.
“Hello?”
No response… What the fuck?
The bright lights of the sawhorses obscured their faces.
I kept moving closer.
“Hey, what’s going on--”
Then I saw it.
Their faces... They were plastic.
In front of me stood three mannequins.
I backed away toward the RV, then I turned and walked hurriedly to the vehicle.
I was seriously freaked out but I didn’t want to alarm Mia. I climbed into the driver’s seat and slammed the door shut.
“They’re mannequins.” I said.
“What?”
“They’re mannequins.”
”Why?... What?...”
“I don’t know…”
I looked back over at the three figures and my blood ran cold…
The Hard Hat Mannequin had somehow TURNED AROUND to face us. All three figures appeared to be watching us now.
Then we heard it--
A loud resonant banging on the side, and then the roof of the RV.
“What the hell was that?” Mia whispered.
We listened, holding our breath. Then--
A shuffling sound--
Something was moving ON or IN the RV.
“Stay here.” I said.
I got up.
“Eric, wait!”
I moved to the back of the RV.
It was dark. I went for a drawer in the kitchenette space and pulled out a flashlight.
I moved to the rear of the RV, the bedroom. My flashlight illuminated an empty room.
“Whoever is back here, I have a gun…”
A shitty bluff. But I didn’t see anything.
I shone the light out of the windows of each side of the RV. Nothing.
Then I heard it–
A shuffling sound, from right above me.
I looked up and screamed–
“Fuck!”
On the roof of the RV, staring through the skylight was a woman with vacuous black eyes and a dead smile.
Her stringy black hair dangled down towards me casting thing black shadows across her horrible pale face.
“Mia, drive! Fast!” I screamed.
Mia JUMPED over to the driver’s seat, shifted into gear and STOMPED on the gas. The RV was clunky but it could move when it needed to.
We lurched forward and I fell back.
I trained my flashlight up onto the skylight again and the woman was gone.
I scrambled to my feet and looked out of the side windows.
Did Mia shake her off? There was no sign of the woman. I moved to the passenger seat, breathing heavily and sweating.
“What happened?” She asked, keeping the RV at a steady 50 mph.
“There was a woman on the roof,” I said flatly.
I realize now that I was in a kind of shock.
“A woman?”
“Her eyes were black.”
Mia just looked at me, then back at the tunnel ahead of us.
“There’s something wrong with this tunnel.” I whispered.
Mia pointed at the road ahead, “Look.”
I looked out at the tunnel. There were more mannequins. A LOT more mannequins. They were positioned on both sides of the road.
They were all facing us and even though I never saw them move, when I looked in the side-view mirror, they were somehow STILL facing us, turning to watch us as we drove past. Watching without eyes.
“Just keep driving.” I said.
As we drove on, the mannequins crowded the sides of the road more and more. There were thousands of them. Eventually they were so close that some of their outstretched arms hit the side of the RV.
They were closing in on us. Squeezing our path forward. One stood in the middle of the road.
“I don’t think i can get around it.”
“Run it over. Don’t stop.”
The RV smashed into the mannequin. Its head shot forward and bounced against the windshield and the vehicle shuddered as it rolled over the body.
Soon there were two in the road. Then three.
I could see where this was going. Pretty soon there would be too many for the RV to ram through, but goddammit we were going to get through as many as we could.
“Speed up, Mia.”
CRASH!
The sound was surreal, smashing into mannequin after mannequin at nearly 60 miles per hour.
Hands, legs, heads and torsos flew.
The windshield cracked, the RV shuddered and screamed and eventually slowed down, despite the screaming engine.
I’m certain the axle was jammed up with lifeless, plastic body parts. Eventually we came to a stop.
“She won’t move,” Mia said.
She pressed on the gas but it was no use, the RV just rocked a little bit.
“Try reverse.”
She shifted and pressed on the gas, we got some decent movement before running into another jam.
“Fuck.”
“Should we get out and look?” Mia asked.
“I’ll go,” I said as I grabbed the flashlight and popped the passenger door. Mia unbuckled her seatbelt.
“We’ll go together.”
We stumbled out of the RV on the passenger side. It was like stepping into Hell.
Countless, lifeless faces stared out at us from the darkness. The only light came from the headlights of the RV and my flashlight.
We clumsily made our way along the side of the RV. The ground was littered with mannequin pieces.
I thought to myself, if we could get a couple yards cleared out behind the rear tires, we might be able to back out and get enough momentum to reverse all the way back out of here.
Instead, when we got to the back of the RV, my stomach flipped and my heart sank.
I was expecting to see a trail of flattened mannequins, instead the RV was now surrounded by thousands of perfectly intact mannequins standing at attention. As if their ranks had some how been replenished after our vehicular assault.
“This is impossible.”
She started to cry. I held her close.
“We’ll keep moving.” I said.
“It will never end. The tunnel makes no sense. It only curves one direction.”
I looked at her.
“What do you mean?”
“This whole time the tunnel has only been curving to the right. it would sometimes straighten out or go left for a few yards but before too long we were curving to the right again. We’ve either been driving in circles or spiraling downwards.”
“So we’ll go back the way we came and hope we’re not going in circles.” I said.
We had been driving for hours at this point. Walking back out the way we came would take days. But now that I thought about it, Mia was right, we’d only been curving to the right.
This tunnel seemed to be very gradually taking us downwards into the earth.
Going forward would not get us any closer to escape.
“We’ll need food from the RV,” Mia said.
I nodded and we stumbled our way back to the front of the RV, the mannequins’ lifeless faces watching us the whole time.
I stepped up to the passenger door and nearly fell back when I looked through the window.
“What the fuck?” I breathed.
What I saw were two mannequins sitting in the driver’s and passenger’s seat.
How they got in there? I have no idea, but what really made my blood run cold was that they were dressed EXACTLY like MIA and I.
They wore identical sets of clothes. The one in the passenger seat had my same New Order T-shirt and black jeans. The one in the driver’s seat had Mia’s green striped sweater and denim shorts.
Their plastic faces stared out through the shattered windshield at the endless crowd of mannequins staring back at them.
Mia stepped up and saw the uncanny display.
“What the fuck?” Mia echoed.
I pulled myself up into the RV and slowly stepped around my mannequin doppelgänger. I avoided looking into its face but I swear i could feel it watching me as I stumbled around it.
Mia followed and we made our way into the back of our dark RV. Luckily we had just stocked our cooler full of deli meat and water not long after crossing the Colorado state line.
I handed Mia the flashlight and pulled open the cooler. I filled a backpack full of food and water.
I turned and saw them–
My mannequin double had somehow moved. It was standing in the aisle watching us.
Mia’s doppelgänger was still seated in the driver’s seat but had turned to peer back at us with its eyeless gaze.
Mia saw the look in my eyes and turned. She screamed when she saw them and backed into me. I put my arm around her and we stood there a moment, letting our skyrocketing heart rates return to Earth.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said.
I slid the backpack onto my shoulders.
Mia joined me at the door. I looked into her eyes. “Are you ready?” She nodded. I kissed her.
“I love you,” I said.
“I love you,” she said.
The look on her face killed me. She was terrified. I’m sure the look on my face was similar.
I opened the door and we stepped out…
We again stumbled to the back of the RV. Once we were clear of the RV and all the crushed mannequin body parts, it became easier to find footing, though weaving through an endless crowd of lifeless people was a slow process.
It was pitch black. Without the flashlight we wouldn’t be able to see a foot in front of us.
As I walked, the beam of light created the illusion of movement in the crowd. At least I hoped it was an illusion.
The limbs of the mannequins seemed to stretch and turn, but the only sound was that of Mia and I shuffling our way through the crowded tunnel.
Things went on like this for what felt like hours. Mia and I were sweating and aching. I was about to suggest we stop and rest, but then I saw it and I froze…
Out in the crowd, beyond rows of blank faces I saw a pale face, black hair and a dead smile.
I saw two vacuous eyes staring right at me.
“Mia, do you see her?” I whispered.
“See who?”
I slowly raised my arm and pointed.
It was the woman, or whatever it was, that stared back at me through the skylight on the roof of the RV.
“Oh my god!” Mia squeaked.
I could see now that the Pale Faced Woman was tall. A few inches taller than the mannequins.
As I pointed, she stared back at me with that terrible grin.
“What do we do?” Mia whispered.
I raised the flashlight and pointed it right at the Pale Faced Woman. I thought maybe this would scare her off.
I was wrong.
The light only made her appear more unsettling as she stared back, unflinchingly.
“What do you want?!” I yelled.
She only stared back at me. She was as still as the mannequins.
“We have to keep going.” I whispered.
Mia didn’t respond. Her body was tense as she held onto me.
“We’ve come this far, we can’t turn back again,” I continued.
I pulled Mia’s hand and we continued on our way through the mannequins, keeping the distance between us and her as wide as possible.
As we moved past, she kept watching us. Though her movements were imperceptible to us, her eyes never left us. Like one of those portraits whose eyes appear to watch you no matter where you stand.
Finally, we got far enough that she was out of sight. But the thought of her being somewhere behind us only unsettled me further and I quickened our pace.
As the hours wore on, there was no sign of the Pale Faced Woman and the crowd of mannequins began to thin out. They still populated the tunnel from one end to the other, but there was more space between them, allowing Mia and I to walk more freely.
The mannequins on the maintenance walkway on the side of the tunnel seemed to thin out as well and I decided it would give us a better vantage if we were walking up there.
I helped Mia climb up the railing that bordered the walkway, then I climbed up behind her. The walkway was elevated 3 or 4 feet above the roadway. We could easily see over the heads of the mannequins in both directions.
There was, of course, no end to the tunnel in sight.
We kept walking.
The mannequins continued to thin out, but they were different now.
There were mannequins dressed as maintenance workers again, but also mannequins dressed as families and businessmen. There was even a group of mannequin nuns standing in a single file line, heads bowed in prayer.
Needless to say, we passed none of this on the way in to the tunnel. I was feeling very hopeless that we were going to be able to find our way out.
I was far beyond speculating how this was at all possible. It’s NOT possible. And even if it were, there is no good reason for someone to do this to us.
The only explanation was the supernatural. Then I saw Her. Rather, I saw THEM.
Arranged in the middle of the tunnel was a circle of mannequins with long black hair and tattered cloth.
They looked exactly like the Pale Faced Woman, minus any facial features. I kept a close watch on them as we passed to make sure they didn’t start following us.
“A door!” Mia shouted.
Mia pointed a few paces ahead of her. There was a door leading into the wall of the tunnel.
We ran towards it. Mia grabbed the handle, turned it and pulled. It was heavy and Mia had to brace her foot on the wall to get it moving.
The metal door groaned as if it hadn’t been opened in years.
Finally, it was open enough to see past.
It was a hallway. It went out about 5 yards then turned right at a 90 degree angle.
The strangest part was the design of the hallway.
It wasn’t cement or pavement like the tunnel.
The walls were wood paneled and the floor was covered in a thick carpet, like a house from the 1970s.
“I say we see where this takes us.” Mia said.
There was no reason to disagree, but I wasn’t going to get us trapped in there.
I opened up my backpack and took out a water bottle. I opened it and handed it to Mia. She drank half, then I drank the other half.
I slowly closed the door, shoving the empty water bottle in the crack to keep it from closing all the way.
I turned to Mia-- “Okay, let’s go.”
We slowly made our way down the quiet hallway. We got down to where the hallway cornered to the right and that’s when we heard it–
KA-CHUNK!!!--
I whipped around. The door had closed behind us. I ran back to it and tried to push it open, but it was no use. There was no way it closed on its own.
Someone had to have removed the water bottle. Our path had been chosen for us.
There was no turning back.
We continued down the hallway. We turned right. The hallway continued, then turned right again. That should have led us right back to the tunnel. But it didn’t. This part of the hallway went on far longer than was possible without running into the tunnel. Then it turned right again.
It went on like this. Sometimes a section of the hallway was 20 feet long, sometimes it was 20 yards long, sometimes it was 3 feet long. But it always turned to the right.
At first it was a relief to be somewhere other than the cold, dark tunnel. But the hallway very quickly became claustrophobic and before too long, I heard someone walking behind us.
We had stopped to take a break and I heard a third pair of footsteps on the carpet coming from behind us. I backtracked to the last corner.
I was terrified as I slowly peeked around the corner, tense and waiting to see the vacuous eyes and inky black hair of the Pale Faced Woman... but there was nothing there. I wasn’t about to backtrack any further.
“There was no one there.” I whispered.
Mia slumped against the wall and slid down to the carpet.
“I think I need to rest.” She said.
I put my backpack down on the ground for Mia to use as a pillow. She laid her head down and was passed out in seconds.
I had no idea how long we had been walking at this point. I stood leaning against the wall. My body was telling me to rest but I couldn’t risk falling asleep. I had to keep watch. I knew SHE was following us.
I took in the details of the hallway for the first time. The carpet was a dull brown and the walls a cheap wood paneling. The hanging lighting fixtures were shaded by stained glass, something you might see in an old diner.
Who built this place? Did someone pick out the carpet and the lighting fixtures? Did a team of workers blast these tunnels into the Earth? Or has this place always existed? Was this Purgatory?
I began to feel dizzy. I was panicking. My heart felt like it was trying to escape my chest. I slumped to the floor and tried to slow my breathing.
I closed my eyes... –
I SHOT up in a panic. I had fallen asleep while I was meant to be keeping watch.
I snapped to my feet and looked around.
Mia was still asleep on my backpack.
Then I noticed that the hallway had changed. A few paces away there was now a plain wooden door in the wall.
I slowly approached it. I put my ear to the door and I could hear what sounded like TV static and the low murmur of voices.
I discreetly grabbed the door handle and turned it slowly. I felt the latch bolt clear and I carefully cracked the door just enough to peek inside.
It was dark, so it took a second for me to register what I was seeing. I saw a small board room. A long table in the center was surrounded by seated men in suits.
At the end of the table stood another man next to an old CRT TV that was playing static. This was the only source of light in the room and all the men around the table were turned towards the tv.
Suddenly the screen flickered from static to a solid dark background. And some warped new age style muzak began playing.
Then the words appeared on the screen that terrified me like nothing else before. In plain text the words read–
“YOU WILL LOSE HER.”
I froze as I knew these words were meant for me I watched with terror as the men seated around the table slowly turned toward me in unison.
They were mannequins.
The TV screen then clicked off and they continued staring at me as I could barely make out their forms through the near pitch darkness.
I quickly pulled the door shut. And whipped around to look at Mia, I had a horrible feeling of dread that when I turned around she would be gone, like the message on the TV promised–
“Eric? What are you doing?” Mia was leaning up and staring at me.
Thank God. There was Mia, right where I left her.
I pointed at the door and said, “This door appeared and I--”
“What door?” she interrupted.
I turned and sure enough, the door was now gone.
I explained what happened to her, but I left out the message that appeared on the screen.
-- YOU WILL LOSE HER –
Those words still burned in my brain. I tried to force them out.
We drank water, ate granola and then got moving again.
Hallways. Endless hallways.
After a couple hours of walking we started to hear music. There were small speakers in the corners of the ceiling.
I recognized it as the same new-age muzak that played on the TV in the board room. The melody drilled into our minds. Combined with the dull aesthetics of the quiet hallways and the endless right turns, the music had a hypnotizing effect.
The lengths of the halls became more uniform. That is to say, the straight section of hallway was about 7 paces, then a right turn, then 7 paces and a right turn.
“I think we’re walking in circles... or a square,” Mia said.
I looked at her and took out a bottle of water. I peeled off the plastic label and dropped it on the floor.
Then we kept walking.
7 paces, right turn. 7 paces, right turn. 7 paces, right turn. And there it was... Mia was right.
The label from my water bottle lay in the middle of the hallway. Somehow we had been led into a loop. I lost it.
“FUUUCK!”
I kicked the wall repeatedly and screamed. Mia just leaned her back against the wall.
This was our dynamic. If one of us lost it, the other became zen and thought of a solution. More often than not, I was the one to lose it.
I finally stopped freaking out
“There has to be a way out. A door,” Mia said.
“We would have seen it,” I replied.
“A hidden door,” she said.
She turned around and ran her hands along the cracks of the wood paneling.
“Most likely on the outer wall,” she said.
She beat her fist on the wall, listening for a change in the sound. I exhaled heavily, sweating and tired, and I started searching the wall as well.
We checked the whole first wall, nothing. We checked the second wall, nothing. The third, nothing.
The final wall... Nothing. I gave up and slumped on the floor. Mia immediately went over to the other side of the hall and started checking the inner wall.
“What are you doing? I thought you said it would be on the outer wall?” I asked.
Then we heard it.
Mia beat the wall and instead of the dead thud, we heard a resonate BOOM –
A door…
I shot up and started tapping the wall with Mia until we found where the door ended. It was the width of about 4 wooden panels. I lined myself up in the center, lowered my shoulder and pushed–
IT MOVED! It barely moved but it was enough to confirm this actually was a door! I re-centered and tried again, lowering my center of gravity, I pushed as hard as I could. The door pushed inward about 3 inches, then Mia joined in. We slowly moved the door, 5 inches, then 10, then 15, then 20.
Then Mia slipped inside.
I had a moment of panic as she disappeared into the darkness and those haunting words came back into my mind, “YOU WILL LOSE HER.”
I darted past the doorway, falling through the threshold and hitting the concrete floor.
I looked up and there was Mia, thank God. I promised myself I’d never let her out of my sight again.
“The exit...” Mia said.
She looked and sounded as if she were a thousand miles away. I got to my feet and followed her gaze. What I saw nearly brought me to tears.
We were back in the tunnel, but there was light. About a mile down was the mouth of the tunnel, and daylight pouring in. Beautiful daylight. I grabbed Mia tight and kissed her.
“Thank God...” she cried.
We started moving. Nothing was going to slow us down this time. We sped up into a RUN down the maintenance walkway towards that beautiful sunlight.
As we approached, something else came into view. Parked in the middle of the roadway was a large vehicle…
It couldn’t be…
It was!
Our RV sat in the road waiting for us. We ran all the way to it, pulled open the passenger side door and climbed in. There were no mannequins to be seen.
I fell into the driver’s seat and Mia handed me the keys. I turned over the engine, the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard. I shifted into gear and floored it towards the sunlight.
As we got closer, I could see the green of trees and the blue of the sky. We were maybe one hundred yards away.
I turned to Mia, tears in my eyes…
And what I saw turned my blood to ice.
Just beyond Mia’s window, that horrifying pale face grinned at me.
The Pale Faced Woman was somehow floating outside of the RV.
Before I could say anything, her hand smashed through the window and gripped Mia by the throat, then in one horrible motion the thing PULLED MIA SCREAMING THROUGH THE WINDOW AND…
Disappeared…
I SLAMMED on the breaks just as the RV passed through the exit of the tunnel and sunlight flooded the cab of the RV. I threw it in park and shot out of the door screaming.
“Mia!? Mia??!!”
I screamed over and over. I rounded the front of the RV and looked back at the tunnel –
-- and what I saw shattered my mind…
The tunnel was gone.
There was only open road.
I had lost her.

Anxious, I sit and wait on my bed Phone clutched between my fingers Knuckles turned a ghost white Yet it remains silent. With a heavy heart, I sit and watch the minutes They tick and tock away Slipping through my weaking palms Leaving me hopeless in the fight against time Defeated, I slump against my wall The corner has become my refuge A growing stack of used objects surrounds me The wall of false-comfort grows each day Numb, I pull my knees close to my chest To feel some semblance of human connection In my stone fortress I sit and cry with the wind Someone save me __________________________
Comment One-https://www.reddit.com/OCPoetry/comments/1cxf379/comment/l52kge7/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Comment Two- https://www.reddit.com/OCPoetry/s/7VySl6GKtb

So, last weekend, my neighbor Dave invited me to a "community potluck." Now, Dave’s always been a bit of a weirdo, but he’s harmless and I’m always down for free food. Another thing is that I’m new in town and thought it’d be a great way to meet people.
When I arrived, I noticed everyone was dressed in white. My contribution of buffalo chicken dip suddenly felt wildly out of place. These people had fancy platters of organic vegan tofu wraps and kale salads. I shrugged it off, figuring they were just overly health-conscious.
Things got weird quickly. After the initial mingling and stuffing my face with hummus, Dave clinked a glass and announced it was time for the "ceremony."
We all sat in a circle, and a woman started chanting. Everyone joined in, and I, with all my social anxiety and exhausted social battery, still thinking this was some elaborate team-building exercise, awkwardly hummed along.
After the "ceremony," Dave pulled me aside and asked if I wanted to come to their next meeting where they would be trying to expand their group. I politely declined, citing a fictional family reunion.
Yesterday, I bumped into Dave at the mail room. He handed me a flyer for the event, winking as he said, "Think about it. The group would find it pretty selfish if you just came for the food and not the volunteer retreat". I honestly felt pretty bad, especially cause of how much nicer everyone else’s dishes were compared to mine. Everyone was also incredibly kind, which kind of refreshing.
So, AITA for crashing a cult meeting because I thought it was a potluck?

Hi! It’s already so nice to meet you if you’re here reading this, so why not say hi back in my DM’s!
A bit about me; I’m 6’1, athletic build with short and wavy brown hair, brown eyes and white/ olive skin from Australia!
I enjoy a lot of different things so I’m most likely not limited to this list below but a few of the things that come to mind are; the beach, gym, anime, board and video games, cooking, reading, movie nights in and adventure days out!
Chat to me about anything I’m into or even let me know what you’re into! I love learning new things and enjoy chatting about passions other people have (I just like seeing their eyes light up) but make it fun!
I enjoy meeting people who are witty, flirty and enjoy having banter go back and forth! Be sassy and bold, I like the challenge and will 100% reciprocate! Just make sure you match the energy.
Ultimately I’m looking for great conversations about lots of different things, learning about you and how your days are going! Telling you that you’re cute for over sharing your hobbies with me and playful banter mixed through!
I won’t go into much more detail as that’s the whole point of reaching out! Message me and we can potentially move to discord if we hit it off! Xx

Hi! It’s already so nice to meet you if you’re here reading this, so why not say hi back in my DM’s!
A bit about me; I’m 6’1, athletic build with short and wavy brown hair, brown eyes and white/ olive skin from Australia!
I enjoy a lot of different things so I’m most likely not limited to this list below but a few of the things that come to mind are; the beach, gym, anime, board and video games, cooking, reading, movie nights in and adventure days out!
Chat to me about anything I’m into or even let me know what you’re into! I love learning new things and enjoy chatting about passions other people have (I just like seeing their eyes light up) but make it fun!
I enjoy meeting people who are witty, flirty and enjoy having banter go back and forth! Be sassy and bold, I like the challenge and will 100% reciprocate! Just make sure you match the energy.
Ultimately I’m looking for great conversations about lots of different things, learning about you and how your days are going! Telling you that you’re cute for over sharing your hobbies with me and playful banter mixed through!
I won’t go into much more detail as that’s the whole point of reaching out! Message me and we can potentially move to discord if we hit it off! Xx

Salem Mass Women's shirt, M or L Herbies Burgers death metal shirt, L Instax Camera, Blue with black tape Womens Adidas 3 stripe hoodie, black M Womens Adidas black zip up,white side arm logo Womens Adidas black sweat pants L Men's Adidas sweatpants, black with green triangle size L Cannibal Corpse long sleeve, Size S Anthropology jeans, light wash size 28 Sickbay Band shirt, size L Misfits tank top, 20 years old sentimental value Age of Apocalypse shirt cut off sleeves, S Small black Nike backpack Out of the Pits long-sleeve, size S
Hi everyone, I hate to have to do this but I have a bunch of stolen clothing items from a vindictive ex. I have tried to recover them but unfortunately that hasn't happened so I'm posting this to see if anyone can help. This person isn't going to be named for legal purposes, but he is active in the local communities and music scene. If you have any information about the whereabouts are please message me or return them. I just want my things back as some have sentimental value and I can't afford to replace them. Thank you!!

Hi, everyone. Okay, so I (26F) know that this is going to be a tall order, but if you had to organize foods based on their textures, how would you do it?
Right now, I’m dealing with PMDD symptoms, and the idea of eating just makes me think, “I have to eat, again? You’ve got to be kidding me.” My 27th birthday is next week, and I have no idea where I want to go out to eat with my family, or what I want to eat.
(PMDD is like PMS on steroids, for anyone who doesn’t know. I’m on an IUD implant since December for symptom management, but I still get some hormonal symptoms.)
Nothing is really appealing to eat right now, either mentally or physically, so I’m trying to make a list of food textures, starting first with food groups.
I’ve gotten a lot better and adventurous with food textures as I’ve gotten older, because I used to be hypersensitive due to autism. Now, the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction, in part due to depression, and any kind of food is just “meh” to me, even if it’s cooked and seasoned perfectly.
So far, I have a few descriptions for animal meat, and that’s it. On the other hand, I’ve found white fish meat to be very “flaky” and much less of a “meaty” texture than animal meat. Albacore tuna has a texture that’s very similar to chunky canned chicken.

• Crumbly: Ground beef
• Chewy: Tough beef
• Stiff: Chicken breast
• Wet: Rare steak
• Dry: Baked turkey

Fruits are tricky, because so many of them are “wet” in some way, which makes organizing them difficult. And the only thing that I could think about for broccoli/cauliflower is “al dente” when cooked or “tender” if overcooked and “crunchy” when raw.
I’m keto, so I currently don’t eat traditional bread products, pasta/rice, or sweets/desserts, apart from special occasions. But I do know that low-carb bread has a denser, chewier texture than regular American-type bread.
I know that I’m definitely having some type of hyposensitivity issues right now, because I could eat a mixed-texture food, like salad, and have a difficult time noticing individual textures.
Now, I know that don’t like grape tomatoes raw, because they “pop” when they’re whole, but cut them into pieces and then they’re fine. Similar thing with avocado because I don’t like it mashed by itself, but it’s fine when mixed with something else.
I’m trying to see what my current level of sensory perception is, and it’s not going well. I don’t know if I’m losing mindfulness/awareness or what, but I’m going to talk with my therapist about it tomorrow. Still waiting on the practice to hire a new psychiatrist.
I also started taking some supplemental zinc (25mg) on 5/16 because I’m wondering if that will improve the lack of interest in food and lack of taste satisfaction. I already take a multivitamin, but I know that sometimes, your body needs more than that. If that doesn’t show any improvement after two weeks, then there’s no harm in stopping it.

The only sunscreens I’ve found that don’t make my face look like an oil slick are:
1) hero cosmetics force shield super light sunscreen 2) jack black oil free sun guard (burns my eyes, though)
Does anybody have any recommendations for American sunscreens (for easier access) that feel light and don’t look super greasy or burn your eyes? I’m pretty pale so a white cast isn’t a huge deal for me. The two listed above are the best I’ve found, but I still don’t love the feeling of them on my face and find myself skipping sunscreen unless it’s super sunny and I’m outside for a while. I think I have some sensory issues… for my body I use banana boat light as air, but I’m scared it’ll make my acne prone face breakout.

Hello I am a 22 years old male, weighting about 225. I working a manufacturing job so earlier in the day my hand slipped and, my left hand hit the rounded edge of a metal guide rail. Impact occurred on the center of my hand over the tendon middle digit, impact was hard enough to make a small laceration. After the impact my hand went numb and I struggled to move my middle digit and pointer finger, after getting it cleaned up a white string like thing popped out from deeper in my hand it’s been 5 hours since, area around the impact is swollen, hurts to move middle and pointer, and I can feel it’s weaker, should I be concerned and what is this poking out my wound

6 months ago I was straining really hard on the bathroom, to the point I wasn’t breathing. I turned pale, my heart rate was through the roof and I had what was suspected from my doctor, my first panic attack which sent my body into a state of shock. For the last 6 months I’ve had random physical symptoms of anxiety which i’ve never had before in my life. I hate standing and walking around especially in really big crowded areas.
My symptoms are:
-Heightened anxiety -Blurry-ish vision nighttime -Migraine in forehead-behind eyes. I don’t have headaches that hurt etc, just a pressure behind my forehead.
I’ve gotten every test under the sun, blood work, echocardiogram, etc. Only other findings were a very low B12 and Vitamin D levels. I also went to urgent care the other day and they said I have some fluid that’s hardened behind my ear drums which are basically pushing against my drums. They said I should do saline nose sprays for 3-4 days. I also got a CT scan of my head and neck, which I will attach the results below. Can this be a CSF leak from straining too hard that day, or can it be my body stuck in heightened anxiety from my suspected first panic attack where I thought I was dying? CT results below.
TECHNIQUE: 1. CT Brain without intravenous contrast: Axial 5.0 mm images from the vertex to the tentorium and axial 2.5 mm images from the tentorium to the skull base without intravenous contrast material.

1. CT Cervical spine without intravenous contrast: Contiguous 1.3 mm axial images were obtained from skull base to the thoracic inlet without intravenous contrast, followed by 2D reconstructions in the sagittal and coronal planes.

IV Contrast: None.
Automated mA/kV exposure control was utilized and patient examination was performed in strict accordance with principles of ALARA.
RADIATION AMOUNT: 1194 mGy-cm.
COMPARISON: None Available.
FINDINGS: CT brain: There is no evidence of an acute intracranial hemorrhage, midline shift, or mass effect. No intra-axial or extra-axial fluid collections are demonstrated. There is preservation of the gray-white junction throughout.
The ventricles are normal in size and position. No brain parenchymal lesions are identified.
The osseous skull base and calvarium are intact. The paranasal sinuses, mastoid air cells, and middle ears are clear. The orbits and globes are unremarkable. There are no significant extracranial soft tissue lesions.
CT cervical spine: No acute fracture, subluxation, or malalignment. The atlantoaxial and atlantooccipital articulations demonstrate normal alignment. The dens is intact. The vertebral heights are well preserved. The intervertebral disc spaces are well preserved. No prevertebral soft tissue swelling. No epidural hematoma or canal compromise.
The visualized lung apices are clear.
IMPRESSION: CT brain: No acute intracranial bleed or territorial stroke.
CT cervical spine: No acute fracture or malalignment.

Idk why anybody is surprised that NJ is going down the drain. Niggas should’ve been known it was in trouble when Adam let his wife and the mother of his child fuck a guy on camera a month after their wedding
Trell you still look like a lame because this white dude got you bent out of shape and your girl (Heather) literally owns you.
Both Adam and Trell look like the BIGGEST L’s right now

So we have an old but updated 1700 square foot house (livable, also has attic and half-finished basement and not part of that 1700) house. I renovated the (huge, high ceilings) living room, kitchen, bathroom (with jacuzzi-for-two tub), and renovated half of the upstairs bathroom.
The downstairs is beautiful. My soon-to-be ex-wife picked everything out and the motif is amazing. All paint is matte black and extra white, with oak trim and oak shelving, bay window, etc. All the appliances will be included in the sale and are all higher end and no more than three years old, also the siding is brand new. It’s the kind of house that if you love it, you really love it. Huge back deck, two car garage, fire pit, and an extra parking spot I put in. Suburban and nice neighborhood, mostly older folks, in the “historical” part of town (there’s some brick roads and whatnot).
The upstairs is “meh” — huge master bedroom and two other bedrooms, two walk-in closets, but everything is dated as hell and needs painted and the carpet is a good 30 years old… because we didn’t get to that part of the house before we filed for divorce.
We live in a LCOL area, and our real estate agent (not some shady guy, very fair and informed) is in the middle of finishing his MLS, which he told me was going to be $210k-$230k.
He said it’s a double-edged sword when it comes to listing. If we list at $250k, we might get three showings the first week and none of them like it. If we list at $230k and get seven showings the first week, we will almost definitely get an offer at or slightly above $230k… if we list at $210k we could get 15 showings and someone falls in love and bids up to $250k.
Now, I know he’s right… but my gut instinct is telling me to list it at $250k, because I think the pics and uniqueness of the house would get someone who is dying to see it and buy it, but the agent is wary of listing it that high when realistically his MLS might only be $210k, and he doesn’t know if anyone would actually pay it.
I did my research and saw what the houses in my neighborhood were going for per square foot, and came up with $230k.
So, for the realtors out there… do I list high then hope for an offer, list in the middle and take it, or list low and pray for a bidding war?