FML. Tried SMART it's ineffective in my area
Page 178, second paragraph

Have a few items i'm trying to clear out all in good condition, noted if games are loose or CIB.
Open to offers on Bundles especially , bundle lots listed as well with discounts.
$5 Games for various systems available $25 Minimum if only buying from this list please.
$3.50 Shipping for first item & exact amount for bigger bundles sent via USPS and taking Paypal F&F with Pics available upon request.
Total estimate with PriceCharting is about $2,900
Will take and accept $2,400 Shipped on the entire Lot excluding Paperwork Material.

PS4 - $200 on Lot

PS4 Slim 500 GB Console with 1x OEM Black Dualshock $175
Metro Redux CIB $15
Plants vs Zombies 2 : Garden Warfare $10
Deus Ex MD $10
Grand Theft Auto V $10

XBox - $125 on Lot

https://www.flickr.com/photos/200232813@N07/albums/72177720315735025/
Metro Redux $10
Rare Replay/Ultimate Gears of War $20
Torment Tides of Nememura in GameStop Case $10
Transformers Devastation $20
Sunset Overdrive $10
Pillars of Eternity in GameStop Case $10
One Lords of the Fallen $10
XBox One Phantom Black Controller CIB USED $25 (Controller is 7/10 cosmetic wise with bottom back bumpers having heavy scuffs & 9/10 overall function wise)
XBox Series S White OEM Controller - $25 (Controller is 9/10 cosmetic wise. Left trigger buttons gets stuck randomly not sure if something small or dirt is stuck, buttons functions perfectly)

N64 - $500 on lot

https://imgur.com/a/H9g5GqQ
Cruis'N USA - $15
Body Harvest - $20
Aerofighters Assault - $10
Top Gear Overdrive - $10
Tony Hawk 3 - $65
Buck Bumble - $30
Pokemon Puzzle League with Manual (game and manual in great condition) - $40
Space Station Silicon Valley - $40
Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko (Entire label was missing so a cheap replacement was made) - $20
Command And Conquer - $20
The New Tetris - $30
Snowboard Kids 1 with Manual (manual and game in great shape small tear on back of Cart) - $70
Robotron 64 - $20
Forsaken 64 (video rental sticker on label) $15
Yoshi's Story - $25
Mischief Makers - $40
Wipeout - $15
Doom 64 - $30
Kobe Bryant In NBA Courtside Box(good shape includes inner tray) - $25
NHL Breakaway '98 Box (good condition no inner tray) - $10
Mario Tennis 64 Game with Box (Box is rough shape, missing ride side flap. includes inner tray, Cart is clean) - $50

Gameboy

TMNT Fall of the Foot Clan - $10

Switch - $325 on lot

Hori Split Pad Pro Blue CIB (used about 7 months in 9/10 condition) - $25
Old Skool GC Controller Adapter (Works on Switch/PC/Wii U) - $20
Hyperkin Joy-Con Grip Charger - $10
Monster Hunter Rise Joy-Cons with Grip NIB - $125
Shin Megami Tensei V [Steelbook Edition] - $30
Blacksad: Under The Skin [Limited Edition] SEALED $25
KORG Gadget $65
Psikyo Collection Vol. 3 JAP $45

PS Vita - $275 on Lot

The Walking Dead: Season 2 $25
Hot Shots Golf World Invitational $15
Legend Of Heroes: Trails Of Cold Steel 1 $40
Dynasty Warriors Next $20
Stranger Of Sword City $25
Shantae Half-Genie Hero [Risky Beats Edition] $45
UnEpic SEALED $65
Risk Of Rain SEALED $35
Aqua Kitty SEALED $40

Dreamcast - $20 on Lot

NBA2K1 loose $10
World Series Baseball 2K1 loose $10
MTV Sports Skateboarding loose $10

3DS - $100 on Lot

Legend Of Legacy Launch Edition SEALED $60
Crush 3D Loose in 3DS Case $10
Cubic Ninja Loose in 3DS Case $10
Codename S.T.E.A.M $10
Smash Bros 3DS CIB $17
Steel Diver CIB $8

PS1 - $45 on Lot

Fighter Maker Loose $10
FF9 CIB (Case damaged) $15
Sim City 2000 Game+Case (damaged) $10
Oddworld Abes Oddysee CIB $20

DS - $50 on Lot

Bleach Blade Of Fate Loose $15
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Ring Of Fates - $15
OEM Charging Base for original 3DS $20
Intec DS Case(scuffed up) $10

PS3 - $75 on Lot

Final Fantasy X/X2 Remaster Limited Edition CIB $10
NiNoKuni 1 Steelbook CIB $20
Zone Of The Enders HD Collection CIB $15
Yakuza 3 Loose $15
Metal Gear Solid HD Collection Loose $15
Genji Days Of The Blade $20
Genji Days Of The Blade Loose $10

PS2 - $225 on Lot

https://imgur.com/a/pBJLqjf
https://imgur.com/a/1odALsV
MGS 2 CIB $10
DQ8 missing Demo Disc $20
Onimusha 2 CIB $15
MX vs ATV Unleashed CIB $10
Tekken 5 CIB $30
Kingdom Hearts 1 GH CIB $10
Kingdom Hearts 2 GH CIB $10
Stuntman CIB $10
Looney Tunes Back in Action CIB Looney Tunes Back in Action $10
Tak CIB $10
Soul Caliber 3 CIB $15
God of War 1 First Print CIB $50
GTA San Andreas (missing manual) $10
Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec $10
Soul Caliber 2 CIB $15
ATV Offroad Fury 4 $10
MDK 2 Armageddon Loose $10
Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2 $10
The Getaway $10
007 Agent Under Fire Loose $10
Test Drive GH $10
Eye Toy Antigrav with Eye Camera $20

XB360 - $35 on Lot

3rd Party Controller $10
Marvel Ultimate Alliance in Gamestop Case $10
OEM Black Controller with Battery Pack $20

Gamecube - $275 for Lot

GBA to GC Link Cable loose - $15
Donkey Kong Bundle (includes CIB copy of Donkey Konga, 1x loose Bogo Drum controller and DK Jungle Beat Bongo Drum controller in box but missing game BOX IS IN ROUGH SHAPE) - $125
Odama CIB with Microphone (Big Box is in rough shape but Game/Case/Manual/Mic are in perfect condition) $35
GB Player OEM Case Holder *Missing outer cardboard and Manual $25
Monopoly Party+Manual in Blockbuster Case $10
Star Wars Rogue Leader+Manual in DVD Case $15
Spiderman 2 Player's Choice (Missing Manual) $15
Megaman Anniversary Collection (Missing Manual) $20
MC Groovez Dance Craze$10
Fifa Soccer 2002 $10
Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2 loose in GC Case $15
Resident Evil 1 CIB Players Choice $30

Wii - $20 for Lot

Nights Journey of Dreams in Gamestop Case & Manual $10
Generic Dual Wiimote Charging Dock $10

$5 Games - $150 on Lot

GC 007 NightFire Case with Fantastic Four Games
GC NFL2k3 Loose with Cover & Manual
XB360 BF3 Limited Edition
XB360 Kinect Adventures
XB360 Motionsports
XB360 Call of Duty Ghosts
XB360 Darksiders 2
PS2 Wheel of Fortune
PS2 Motorcross Mania 3
PS2 Seaworld Deep Sea Adventures
PS2 Socom US Navy Seal
PS2 Final Fantasy X-2
PS2 ThrillVille
PS2 Star Wars The Force Unleashed CIB
PS2 Army Men Soldiers of Misfortune
PS2 Welcome to Jumpack Demo Disc
PS2 Metal Arms in Generic Case
PS2 MX vs ATX
PS2 Army Men
PS2 Rocky
PS2 NCAA Football 2004
PS2 Army Men : Sarges Hero
PS2 Full Spectrum Warrior
PS2 FIFA 2001 MLS
PS2 NCAA Football 2003
PS2 NCAA Football 2004
PS3 Need for Speed Most Wanted CIB
PS3 Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 3
PS3 Need for Speed Pro Street
PS3 Red Faction Guerilla x2
PS3 MoH Warfighter LE Loose
PS3 Crysis 2
PS3 Mercenaries 2 in Generic Case
PS3 Call of Duty MW3 x2
PS3 Assassins Creed 4 BF
PS3 Beyond Steelbook (Bad shape broken at spine)
PS3 Uncharted Dual Pack in Custom generic case
PS4 Has Been Heroes
PS4 The Division

Controller Lot for Repair - $75 Shipped

3x XBox One/Series Controllers
(White controller has minor drift on Right thumb stick, 1st Black one has Left Bumper issues where it's not detecting the press always and the 2nd Black one has the B button gets stucken on occasions.
Both Black ones have something small loose inside rattling. And both Black ones come with original back voters as the Power A one shown here is for my rechargeable batteries. Shipping should be around $10-15 at max if that.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/200232813@N07/albums/72177720316925867)

Covers, Cases and Manuals

8x Universal Game Cases (N64,SNES,Genesis,etc) $8 Each
3DS Persona Q : Shadow of the Labyrinth Case $10
PS4 Rise of the Tomb Raider 20th Anniversary Extras Only No Game $10
Grand Kingdom Case $10
Toukiden : Kiwami Case $10
Wii Dragon Quest Swords Manual $7
Wii Monster Hunter 3 Manual $5
Wii Elebits Manual $5
GC Ghost Recon Case & Manual $7
GC True Crime Streets of LA Case & Manual $10
GC Spiderman 1 Case Only $7
GC Dead to Rights Case & Manual $10
GC Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow Case & Manual $10
GC Hitman 2 Case & Manual $10
GC MoH Frontline Case & Manual $7
GC Rainbow Six 3 Case & Manual $7
PS2 Red Faction Case $5
PS2 Call of Duty FH Case & Manual $7
GC NFL 2K3 Case $5
PS4 Nioh Case $5
PS Vita Exist Archive Case $5
PS3 Zone of Enders HD Collection Case & Manual $10
PS2 Dragon Quest 8 Case & Manual $10
PS2 Onimusha 2 Case & Manual $10
PS2 Tekken 5 Case & Manual $10
PS2 Kingdom Hearts 1 GH Case & Manual $10
PS2 Kingdom Hearts 2 GH Case & Manual $10
PS2 Area 51 Case PAL version $5
GC NBA 2K2 Case & Manual $10
PS2 Final Fantasy X-2 Case $ Manual $10
PS2 Starwars Battlefront Case & Manual $10
GC Prince of Persia Cover & Manual $10
GC Viewtiful Joe 1 Manual $20
PS2 Katamari Damacy Cover & Manual $10
GC Burnout 3 Takedown $5
PS2 Nightmare before Christmas Oogies Revenge Cover & Manual $15
PS2 GTA San Andreas Cover & Manual $10
PS2 Capcom Classic Collection Cover & Manual $15
PS2 Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution Manual $5
PS2 Megaman X Collection Cover & Manual $15
PS2 Star Ocean Till the End of Time Cover & Manual $10
PS2 R-Type Final Cover & Manual $15
PS2 Soul Caliber 2 Cover $7
XB Panzer Dragoon Orta Cover & Manual $30
XB Ninja Gaiden Black Cover & Manual $10
PS2 Mad Maestro Cover & Manual $10
PS2 007 Everything or Nothing Manual $5
PS2 Half Life 2 Cover $10
PS2 Devil May Cry 3 Cover & Manual $10
PS2 FF X-2 Cover & Manual $10
PS2 REZ Cover & Manual $15
PS2 Rygar Cover & Manual $10
PS2 Chaos Legion Manual $7
PS2 Zone of Enders 1 Cover & Manual $10
PS2 Final Fantasy 12 Manual $7
PS2 Front Mission 4 Cover & Manual $10
PS2 Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence Cover $7
PS2 Escape from Monkey Island Cover $7
PS1 Final Fantasy Chronicles GH Back/Front Cover & Manual $10
PS1 Tenchu 1 Cover & Manual $15
PS1 Final Fantasy 7 GH Front/Back Cover & Manual $15
PS1 Buster Bros Collection Cover & Manual $20
GC Zelda Master Quest Manual + Windwaker Promotional Paperwork $30
PS2 Black Case & Manual $10

Hi ITSJ’s - female ENFJ here.
I like an ISTJ. I could tell he liked me a lot because he kept showing up to things and physically kept leaning into me, would act like a gentleman and send me memes. We became friends by attending church together.
Here’s where it gets complicated: We met while I was dating someone, but I could tell he’d grown to like me over time as we hung out innocently as friends.
Friday, I asked a couple of friends if they’d like to join me for dinner with another couple, and he was the only one to say yes. Then the couple left after dinner and we went to a bar to hang. After talking and making intense eye contact, he leaned in and held my hands and kissed me (while I was still dating someone). Then he apologized a ton. He said he felt terrible because my bf is a really good guy, and this made him “such an asshole”. I told him I liked him, and he immediately said “I like you too”. I said I couldn’t tell fully if that was true, and he said “I love your personality and you’re attractive, of course I like you. But I can’t pursue someone in a relationship”. I felt like there was pain in his eyes, and assumed it was because he’d liked me for awhile and felt he messed up (mostly because he kept saying sorry and touching me). Then he kept holding my hand and rubbing his fingers across me out of nervousness. I told him it was okay, not to feel guilty, I was the one in the relationship and that I was going to break up with my bf soon (which was true). He said that did make him feel better that I was ending things with him. But also proceeded to grill me on why I chose to live with him if I wasn’t sure. I told him I was 22 when it happened (we dated for 6 years).
Then I kissed him back and we went to another bar and kept kissing.
Then Sunday, a friend invited us both to brunch, many of whom knew my bf. he didn’t sit near me and seemed distant, but I did catch him looking at me (tho I could be overanalyzing).
I broke up with my bf that night Sunday, and told him the next day: “Hey, I wanted to let you know that I broke up with [name here] last night. He doesn’t want to make it very public and out of respect for him, not many folks know but I wanted to be fair to you. I’d been planning to do it within the next month and didn’t want you to feel guilty. We’re all invited to this MDW party but if I’m not there, didn’t want you to worry that it was you.”
He responded 6 hours later with: “Hey thanks for letting me know and definitely not going to mention this to anyone. Don’t worry about being fair to me, you don’t owe me anything. Sorry about all of this, I know it has got to be a really hard time for you and I probably contributed to that, so I am sorry. I would totally get it if you didn’t want to run into me (I’m out of town Memorial Day anyway). Happy to catch up if you want to sometime, but please don’t feel obligated at all.”
I do feel terrible and am focusing on caring for my ex through the transition of us parting. That being said, I still like this guy. I’m afraid how he acted at brunch was an indication he doesn’t like me anymore. His vague text feels bad. I value honesty and trust and this is the first time I’ve let something like this happen. I’m afraid we messed things up, but hoping to reconcile. Wondering if i should try to be friends first and still pursue something. I can’t tell if his text means he’s being cautious or that he’s polite and we’re done for.

1. how do you interpret his text and intentions, what his fears and goals may be? Would you rule me out as a prospective partner as an ISTJ or would you want to just wait?
   
2. any advice on how to fix this?
   

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]

Tout est dans l'intitulé...
Elle a toujours était malade, mythomane, narcissique, manipulatrice, mégalomane etc... tout le gros lot de la manipulatrice narcissique quoi. Depuis notre adolescente, elle a toujours éloigné (par tous les moyens, mensonges surtout) mes ami.e.s, mes petits-amis et a continué à faire ça jusqu'à nos 25 ans.
L'année dernière, elle vivait en Dom-Tom (on avait renoué des liens par téléphone après avoir été séparées pendant plus de 10 ans, devinez pourquoi ?) et à son arrivée en France chez moi, tout allait très bien. Puis... En moins de 48h, on s'est disputé une 1ère fois parce qu'elle me racontait qu'elle avait trouvé un terrain à reprendre, qui faisait aussi chambre d'hôtes et que j'ai eu l'impolitesse de lui poser plusieurs fois la simple question : s'il y avait des transports en communs à proximité pour son fils puisqu'il devait être scolarisé. Pas de réponse, elle a fait comme si elle n'avait rien entendu. Je lui avais donc répété que j'étais contente pour eux et ai reposé la question tandis qu'elle continuait de me parler de ce projet, à partir de là, elle a sorti les grands mots comme "je n'aurais jamais venir chez toi" ou "je regrette d'être venu"... J'ai été choquée, ça sortait de nulle part, elle avait sorti les grands mots. Ensuite je m'étais mise en colère en lui disant que c'était une simple question et que c'était injuste de sa part de m'envoyer dans la figure ses grands mots de désespoir. Que ça rimait à rien, que c'était bête, méchant et gratuit... À partir de là, elle a intimé à son fils de prendre ses affaires pour quitter mon appartement. Parce que j'ai posé une question ? que j'ai eu le malheur de lui dire que c'était injustifié de m'envoyer ça dans la figure ? J'étais hyper déçue, j'ai su à cet instant qu'elle n'avait pas évoluée... elle est partie pleurer sur le balcon et JE m'étais excusé. En essayant d'expliquer cela en disant que faisait plus de 10 ans qu'on ne s'était pas vu et qu'il fallait ré-apprendre à ce connaître.
Trois jours plus tard, elle racontait qu'un guépard s'était approché de son champs, que c'était hyper rare. Je rebondis donc, en disant qu'elle était chanceuse puis je lui ai partagé ma théorie, comme quoi les êtres humains avaient leurs terrains agricoles de plus en plus proches de la forêt, peut-être que les guépards s'étaient habitués à la présence des agriculteurs ? Rien qu'à ça, j'avais déjà pressentis que quelque chose n'allait pas dans son regard, il commencait à devenir de plus en plus noir... Elle n'a rien dit… Puis elle racontait qu'un colibris s'était posé sur son épaule, que c'était là encore hyper rare et j'ai rebondis sur ça, je lui disait que j'avais vu ça en vidéo, que les gens mettaient du miel dans leur main et les colibris venaient butiner dans leurs mains. Que n'avais-je pas dit ?!?!? Elle m'a rétorqué "de toute façon y'a que maman qui me comprend"... Qu'est-ce qu'il s'était passé à ce moment là dans sa tête ? Qu'est-ce que ma mère venait faire ici ? Qu'est-ce que j'avais encore dit pour mériter ce reproche ? Bien sûr, je m'en étais pris pleins la figure, pleins de reproche, qu'elle me racontait quelque chose et que je lui coupait la parole, des reproches quoi… Je m'étais mise en colère et je lui ai dit mes 4 vérités, que je ne méritais pas ça, qu'elle était hyper susceptible et qu'elle ne savait pas être dans une discussion anodine, la preuve en était qu'elle ne recevait rien. J'étais donc la responsable, évidemment. Et coupable de ma colère… après avoir reçu tous ça dans la figure dans un calme olympien jusqu'au reproche de trop.
Bref ! On s'était disputé puis elle prenait ses affaires, son fils, quittaient mon appartement parce qu'elle n'a pas aimé que je lui partage ce que j'ai vu en vidéo dans une discussion totalement anodine ?...
Ma théorie, c'est qu'elle voulait en fait que je fasse les grands yeux pleins d'étoiles émerveillée par elle, par sa lumière et que je sois bouche bea, que je la caresse dans le sens du poil, que je la considère comme une messie arrivée sur terre.
Bon d'accord, je suis sarcastique j'ai aussi mon caractère mais après l'avoir côtoyé pendant plus 20 ans, même après avoir été séparées pendant plus de 10 ans, elle a toujours voulu être au-dessus de tout, qu'il n'y en ait que pour elle et les autres (dont tout le monde) en dessous. Etc...
Je croyais, non j'ai cru que cela aurait pu changer et évoluer entre nous.
Donc rien avait changé et rien ne changera.
Quelques semaines après cette dispute et qu'ils soient partis, elle a envoyé un texto à ma belle-sœur en me dénigrant, que j'étais hystérique, colérique, que j'étais un monstre etc... en écrivant que sa fille (donc ma filleule) lui manquait, qu'elle aimerait l'avoir avec elle (alors qu'elle ne l'a rencontré que 2 fois). Et enfin, elle a essayé de monter ma belle-sœur contre moi sauf que ma belle-sœur (on se connaît depuis presque 20 ans) a été assez intelligente et ne s'est pas laissé faire.
Mais là, ma sœur je le vois arriver , je le sens, elle veut monter mon fils contre moi.
Pourquoi ? Parce qu'on s'est revu, froidement, à l'hôpital (un membre de ma famille est hospitalisé) il y a 1 semaine.
Un soir, ils invitent mon fils à dîner ensemble. Puisqu'ils ne s'étaient jamais revu depuis 1 an, je me suis dit que c'était bien, mon fils pourrait enfin faire connaissance avec son cousin et partager des moments qu'elle nous avait privé après être partis. Qu'ils puissent grandir ensemble enfin…
Et mon fils me dit aujourd'hui (après un accrochage) qu'elle lui a dit que je suis seule parce que je ne suis qu'une colérique, qui cri au lieu de discuter... et qu'elle avait sûrement raison…
Ça m'a brisé le cœur… d'entendre ça de mon fils… qu'il l'a écouté et que ma sœur a commencé sa campagne contre moi en rangeant mon fils à ses côtés…
À chaque fois qu'elle est entrée dans ma vie, toujours avec une gentillesse extrême, en faisant de mes émotions des montagnes russes et à la fin, c'est pour la détruire.
Et là, elle est en pleine campagne de haine contre moi et s'attaque maintenant à mon fils... pour le récupérer et en faire un biais de confirmation pour se faire passer pour une sainte.
Et ça ! C'est dangereux !
Je sais plus quoi faire... on a toutes les plus ou moins 40 ans aujourd'hui et j'ai l'impression que ça ne s'arrêtera jamais...
Je crains que mon fils se fasse embobiner bien que je l'avais déjà averti, bien qu'il ait été témoin de son mépris envers moi à l'hôpital, que malgré mon calme dans la chambre d'hôpital, en sortant de l'hôpital, il ait été témoin des horribles textos qu'elle m'a envoyé… même dans des événements comme ceux-ci, elle veut pourrir ma vie…
Mais comment expliquer à un garçon de 17 ans la complexité du manipulateur narcissique sans prendre des pincettes ? D'autant plus que c'est sa tante... Je crains qu'il soit trop naïf parce que gentil et qu'il agisse par gentillesse pour ne pas blesser sa tante, qu'il ne fasse pas attention parce qu'il n'a jamais vraiment eu sa tante et son cousin auprès de lui... à cause du manque et l'absence de cette famille... je crains qu'il ne tombe dans cette famille 'Guru' ... et qu'elle en profite pour en faire ce qu'elle veut.
Je veux pas faire de drama à mon fils ni la laisser faire, seulement, suis à un point où j'ai juste envie de d'exploser et d'aller crier sur tout les toits quelle horrible femme elle est... Je sais qu'il faut pas que je craque.
Mais...
Sais plus quoi faire.
Quelqu'un pour éclairer un peu ce passage sous tunnel ?
Demain j'ai rdv avec ma psy, j'ai hâte de la voir !
Merci de m'avoir lu, c'était long, fallait que ça sorte... 😅 et merci pour les personnes qui veuillent bien prendre le temps d'écrire ❤️

Hi all!
Me and a friend have launched a new Vault Hunters 3 SMP server a couple of days ago and we are posting here to hopefully find some folks who are interested in joining us. We are hoping to build a friendly and chill community to play and enjoy the modpack together.
Some information for you:

• The server is brand new, it started only a couple of days ago. Most players are just getting started.
• We are playing the pack as it is (so no teleportation or home commands). However, Open Parties and Claims is included so players can protect their builds.
• The server will be up 24/7. The server is based in Northern Europe. There is no whitelist.
• We hope to do some events where players can meet up, build, and spend time together as a community. Most players have built around spawn which we are hoping to continue building up.

If you are interested in joining, add me on Discord, my username is arctic_polar, and I will invite you to the Discord server and give you the IP.
Thank you for reading and we hope to see you soon!

Just yelling into the void. Old friend emailed about having surgery for post-Covid problems. Even wrote surgery is happening now because Covid infection accelerated existing issues. In the same email, reminded about invitation to their upcoming indoor party. "Masks welcome." At least I've had enough counseling that I responded I am not attending and why not. Ignoring the first invite wasn't sufficiently rsvp'ing no? Apparently no? If we say nothing, it never ends. Alrighty then. See something, say something!

About a year ago my (M38) wife (F38) finally admitted to me that she has been lying to me for nearly 20 years and that she cheated on me in the first months we were dating at 18 years old. She had sex with her ex during that time once, and she also shared that there was a time she went to an outdoor party with a campfire where she talked to some stranger guy who she was very attracted to, they may have smoked weed and drank, and she ended up kissing him for some time. She says that's all that happened but that she thinks she may have given him her number (even though we were officially together at that point). I also found out that she was "infatuated" with a work colleague in the last couple years and had also fantasized about her long ago ex and other men, but are said she never did anything inappropriate.
She says since then she's never cheated on me again and is committed to me, and she's apologized a lot, but she's also been defensive and resistant to a lot of the things I've wanted in reconciliation (mainly just verbal reassurance, empathy).
She's been invited by a friend to a big weekend event (which I think is supposed to only include women... But it's hard to know for sure who will be there) where they go on her friend's property, hang out in nature, drink, maybe do drugs if people want, have a bonfire, and camp out in tents. I think a decent number of people go to it and they're allowed to bring friends, but again, I think the idea is it's supposed to be women only...
The past thing about my wife making out with the guy at the outdoor party campfire thing makes this feel a little weird to me. I've also been struggling lately with not feeling very loved by my wife or her putting in effort into our marriage since the first few months of reconciliation.
This is one of those things where I'm not sure if it's reasonable for me to feel weird about.
Should I be concerned about her going to this event at all or not really?

Here's the scoop. My college experience was, well, meh. Small liberal arts school. Not terrible, not amazing. Part of the problem was I did not have a consistent group of good friends. Part of the problem was I had my own awkward/ambition/ego personality problems. Part of the problem was I attended the college to play varsity tennis, but I was cut my freshman year, thus throwing the next 3 years in a tailspin. And part of the problem was I did the pre-med track that decimated a lot of social time.
My wife and I attended the 5 year reunion (she went to a different college). It was nice, but we felt we kept getting ignored even when we tried to go around and meet up with people. The people I hung out with the most in college went awol afterwards and never wanted to meet up again- they didn't attend. A lot of people were still in their social groups, and we did not really identify with a single one. We spent two organized dinners eating by ourselves- for some reason people kept coming over asking to borrow chairs rather than asking if we could join them or if they could join us at our table, and that seemed to upset her. The dorm we stayed in was a lot of people partying and reliving the college days, which is ok to me but she did not enjoy the late night racket. We tried to ask a few of my colleagues who were there if they wanted to meet up and do something, but that didn't really happen. And we weren't really invited to any functions that others were hosting.
I get the vibe it might be time to move on and skip the 10 year reunion, especially since it is a long drive. The 5 year one was a bit more emotionally taxing than it was joyful. Then again, we hear about not burning bridges in life- is this a case where we do not want to burn bridges? And also, I feel flustered about this since I am not attending my high school reunion (too many bad memories). But that's the situation. Should we attend the 10 year reunion?

So who in Borchester has received an invite to Joy’s party?!

My boyfriend (22m) and I (20f) have been LC/NC with MIL since last July. I blocked her on Facebook in May after sending her a nasty message her for missing her son’s 21st birthday party. (Shallow, yes I know. I was just angry.) She had 2 months notice about the party and made excuse after excuse about why she couldn’t come, ultimately it ended up being because we didn’t want her alcoholic husband to be there and she refused to go without him. She never even sent him a birthday card.
My bfs birthday is at the beginning of May and this year MILs husband sent him a message asking what he wanted for his bday during the second week of April. My bf does not like him, wants nothing to do with him and has explained this to his mom. So the message was never read because he has his notifications blocked. I saw it about a week and half after it was sent while looking on his phone and told my bf. He was annoyed but texted MILs husband back, we didn’t hear anything for over a week and then MIL invited us up to dinner at her house but they wanted to wait until we all had a day off. We gave them our availability and she said they were waiting to get Sundays off together and that day would be best. They live about an hour away so we said sure whenever is fine after the 6th because my dad was coming to stay with us for a week. This upset MIL and she said she wanted to do it the weekend after his birthday, we said that’s fine then. It didn’t end up happening and we were gonna let her tell us when they were ready.
Now it’s 3 weeks later and my schedule just changed so I’m working Sundays. I asked my boyfriend to let his mom know and she said that she is trying to find a new job because they cut her hours at work. MIL and her husband always work at the same place and her hours always get cut…
I just need to vent because this is not how my family is, birthdays are special and to be celebrated with all of your favorites because you need to enjoy life. I wish this women would even take a second of her own time to spend with her son, even on the phone without her husband talking too. She didn’t send him a card or anything this year either. We live and hour away and she commuted to a job an hour and 15 mins away for over a year!!!! I want to believe she cares about her son but everything she’s ever done and how she treats him tells me she doesn’t.
Disclaimer: Yes I understand everyone’s family’s are different but she goes over the moon for his siblings and even grandparents birthdays. Her oldest doesn’t even get a second glance.

Theories:

1. Auntie Bev is upset she’s never invited to the McAlbert parties that Jen throws
2. Jen stole a boyfriend from AB back in the day.
3. Auntie Bev finally came to her senses and realized that there’s so much many inconsistencies, this could ruin her career and reputation more than it already has

Obviously a joke but I was truly shocked that she allowed Jen to answer so many questions and didn’t sustain as much as the previous days.

In university I (F20) became best friends with my roommate Eliza (F20). She was extroverted compared to me and helped me come out of my shell. She also convinced me to visit her home country and hang out with her close friends there. I eventually started dating one of her friends and I learned that she tried sexting one of her best friends' exes in the past and never told her.
This friend Alex and her boyfriend Jean got together again and Alex learned about my friend Eliza’s incident however never confronted her hoping Eliza would come out clean herself, which she didn't. When Eliza accused Alex of being distant however hell broke loose and the truth was revealed subsequently ending the friendship.
This incident scared Eliza to the point of asking me to talk with my boyfriend about their friendship because she thought they might grow distant too. She has also always compared me to his ex at anything and accused his ex (and basically me) of growing herself and him distant. Around this time she also accused him of forcing his girlfriends to take birth control, implying we didn't care about STDs or accidental pregnancies. These were all conversations I held with her while she knew we were dating.
I did put up with these comments, sometimes even felt responsible and paid no mind to the incident she had with Alex and Jean. This all changed however when I was planning a not-so-surprise party for my boyfriend and made the mistake of asking for her help. She took it upon herself to invite people and plan the entire party herself even though she thought he had no friends. I also invited Alex and told Eliza beforehand to make sure she didn't freak out, to which she replied with “if she's fine im fine”. Alex had also asked me if she could bring her boyfriend Jean and I said yes; there were two other couples at the party so it was only fair. Upon learning of this Eliza freaked out and dissociated during the entire birthday which made me feel responsible at the time.
We ended up having a big fight over everything that happened, even addressing some past problems. She did apologize in the end but also said "Im sorry you felt that way" and ultimately I was very offended by her actions. This gave me the opportunity to get to know Alex a bit more and confide in her, but a part of me can’t help but feel guilty about the way things happened with Eliza.
AITA for feeling this way? Are my feelings justified?

Hello, I had a long overdue breakup with a friend I've had since I was 12 years old. I considered her my best friend although it was one sided for a lot of the time and the realisation of that was part of the breakup. Its been almost one year and i have a hard time not thinking about her, I have bitterness some days, others I wish she is sad and appreciated me maybe, but I understand this is not good for my soul and I want to honestly be OK and wish her well, move on... Some background: Doing therapy the past years made me more honest with myself and observant of others, so I realised that this person was inconsistent, emotionally unavailable and did not really care about me. Examples included ditching me on a planned holiday and ghosting me on the days leading up to it saying it went over her head, planning a trip overseas with me as her other friends weren't available and last minute inviting another friend of hers once she was available after all. Most importantly when I was going through grief from the loss of a friend in an accident she was going though a breakup and gave little attention or space for what I was going through and even swayed me towards the direction that I should just keep enjoying myself as life moves on (this less than a year following his death). This because she wanted to party after her breakup and post stories so her toxic ex would find out... She always made me feel that talking about emotions and real stuff is a burden and for a time I literally thought I was weird for having that need. So on one of the above occasions told her that i need something different from a friendship. She turned on an attack mode and said we have different standards and expectations and that we shouldn't insist on things that don't suit us. And that she feels that she has to apologise all the time to me although she has nothing to apologise for. That traumatised me even worse because after 20 years I realised I had invested so much on someone that literally gives 0 fs about me. And I can't seem to be able to get over that...
Help?
Tl;dr: ruminating for almost a year about ending a bad friendship which I know is the right decision but I can't seem to be able to move on and not have bitterness towards the person that took so much from me.

Hey adventurers!

I'm relatively new to [StartPlaying](https://startplaying.games/gm/heyitsmainey) and lfgpremium, but have been DMing for my friend group for the past decade. I'd love it if you’d check out my listings and [Discord Server](https://discord.com/invite/HkEsC3R8Eh) to get started!
Here's what I'm running weekly:

Tuesday 10:30 PM EST

Boot Camp! $10 per player

Come learn how to create a character and play DnD. I'll set you up with the tools of how to use Roll20 and play Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition so you can teach your friends or join games on any of the multiple forums available.

Wednesday 10:30 PM EST

Colosseum Clash! $15 per player (first session free)

This is a full combat session of 1-3 encounters in 3-5 hrs with rewards varying on difficulty and how well your party did in the encounters

* It’s no-pressure, pop-in-and-out when you can
* After each session, your character gains persistent rewards
* Returning players will have the chance to earn additional seasonal rewards based on fun competitive challenges such as most critical hits scored, highest one-turn damage, least downs, and more!
* Tons of homebrew monsters and a variety of biomes, status effects, and challenges

Thursday Time TBD

Emberstone Stories! $15 per player (first session free)

This is a Stardew Valley-inspired RP-heavy campaign based on restoring and running a tavern.
* Get to know the local townspeople and set off on adventures for rare crafting materials.
* Set a menu at your tavern where you decide on recipes and amenities offered while trying to make your tavern the best in my original setting of the cozy Emberstone Isles.

Official Modules

I also have a couple of well-known WotC content if you have a group looking for a DM and a long-term campaign format. These include:
* Curse of Strahd
* Descent into Avernus
* Dungeon of the Mad Mage
* Tomb of Annihilation
If these interest you, bookings are $20 per player (for parties of 3-4) or $15 per player (for parties of 5-6)

You can follow me at my StartPlaying profile and join my Discord Server at these links below:

https://startplaying.games/gm/heyitsmainey
https://discord.com/invite/HkEsC3R8Eh

Me again!
Context: My beautiful baby turned 1 last week. She’s our first. On her actually birthday her dad and I took her to an indoor playground, and got ice cream after and it was the perfect day just the 3 of us.
We have a birthday party planned for her in early June, which is admittedly late but ultimately how it worked out. We have 1 party planned that everyone is invited to. Period.
We aren’t doing any side quests, and asked for both sides of the family to respect that. Its an honour and privilege to be able to do this for her (even if she won’t remember)
The Story: A suspicious brunch invite was sent to us for this last weekend at my ILs. It was decently last minute, and the timing of it being so close to my daughter’s birthday just set my spidey senses off. I asked DH to explicitly ask if this was a birthday celebration, or just a get together. MIL swore up and down that it wasn’t, and she just wanted everyone over for brunch. Cool, we agreed to go.
We get there and there’s presents and cake and the whole family was invited to celebrate. I immediately shut it down and very firm that this wasn’t to happen. Her response? “You celebrated her birthday last week, it’s my turn”
Full passive aggressive, running off and talking negatively about me within earshot. DH pulled her aside and we left right after.
She does this tho, that’s why I knew this brunch was suspicious. You explicitly ask her not to do something and she will do it anyways if she doesn’t agree with your answer.
Example: She announced my pregnancy at a party of hers after we explicitly asked her not to because I was having serious difficulties and hadn’t told a lot of people yet.
I can’t stand this woman.

I will try to keep this short. I'm a 43 single black gay man and I was recently invited to a group "activity" from a very nice friend of mine. I knew what kind of party this was and I was beyond excited to attend. When I got there, the host was very gracious and introduced me to many of the men. Everybody was hot and it got me ready to go. After about 30 minutes for everyone to get acquainted (about 25 guys) we all got naked. Many of the guys got right into business. Lots of making out and lots of oral. The person I kind of buddied up with is Asian. We were the only two people of color. When we tried to join in on the fun, people would leave and move on to another part of the house. I tried not to think anything of it. So, the other guy and I followed and tried to join in again. We got blocked off by the other guys and they continued on with their fun. The Asian guy then left the party. At this point, it was clear that we were being ignored, even though we were invited by people who were at the party. I went out to the hot tub to clear my mind and the host was there. We started to talk and making a connection. Soon after, people joined us and I lost that connection and the conversation me and the host were having. I couldn't take it anymore. I got dressed, left, and began to cry. I never felt so disgusting and ignored in my life. I was hoping it wasn't a racist incident, but even my friend who was there thought it was, afterwards. Yet, he was so horny he couldn't stop what he was doing to check up on me and ask why I was leaving. He saw me put my clothes on. I didn't think a moment like this would shake me so terribly. Three days later and I'm still trembling over the ordeal. Like some sort of PTSD. I get flashes over it. You know, we are gay and it's hard to find a group of people you can identify with. We go through such hardships, but to go through a situation like that by your own kind really hurts. I've tried my best to leave it all behind. It was just a situation and I was able to get myself out of it, but it doesn't mean I'm ok or it doesn't hurt. My friend did text me the next day to ask if I was ok. After I explained the evening, he thought it was very racist. The host contacted later as well, asking if I enjoyed the evening. I told him it was just ok. He apologized and was wondering if I was free at some other point to come over. He didn't say for what most likely sex. I didn't tell him exactly what happened and how I felt. I don't believe it was his fault. He was the one that asked if I was ok in the hot tub and conversed. Anyways, it's just days later and I can't seem to shake it off. It keeps me up and I can't sleep. For now, I have ended contact with the friend who invited me. More like he has to reach out to me if he wants to talk. I've always been a positive person. I've tried so hard to believe that this situation wasn't racist, but I just can't shake it. Any advice on how to shake this off and move on?

I’m really hoping for good advice. I (26F) have been married to my (28M) husband for 2 years now and we have a 14 month old baby. The issue is, I may have unintentionally caught feelings for someone else and I am trying to figure out how to handle it.
Background: My husband and I started dating at 16 (me) and 18 (him). We had a tumultuous relationship due to him excessively partying and treating me poorly, for the first 5 years. I broke up with him and moved out of the apartment we shared. We spent 6 months apart and ultimately got back together because I couldn’t see myself with anyone else. He promised he would never treat me like that again and he didn’t. We’ve been together 5 years since that breakup. 2 years ago we got married, bought a house, and had a baby together. things got really rocky between us, which resulted in me spending a lot of time alone/with friends following several attempts of communication and no effort on his end. I started feeling like I wanted a divorce.
Now here is the situation that I found myself in. 2 years ago, a new guy (let’s call him Jake, 28M) started working at my job. I realized quickly that I was very attracted to him. For this reason, I avoided him at all costs, but still had to communicate with him because we were on the same team. Strictly work related conversations. I am also very close friends with a woman at work (let’s call her Maya 49F). Maya and I hangout outside of work regularly. I left work for 7 months of maternity leave. During this time, I was very emotional (postpartum) and really didn’t see anyone.
Upon my return, I realized that Maya and Jake had become very close friends. A new guy also started at our work while I was gone (let’s call him Kade 39M) who also became very good friends with Maya and Jake. The three of them hung out a lot while I was gone. Upon my return, I basically joined their friend group and began hanging out with them regularly outside of work. Now, I still avoided Jake at all costs. I had very limited conversation with him, when going out together. I never had his number and we never texted until the next time we went out and Maya asked me to text him to see when he was arriving.
Now, on this night we all went downtown. We decided to head to another bar in a neighboring city. Jake and I realized that we live right next to each other. Maya and Kade carpooled together. I offered to take Jake in my car, as he had walked to downtown and my car was parked there and we’d be heading back to the same place at the end of the night.
Jake and I spoke more during this night (entirely platonically). At the end of the night, I went to drive him home. We ended up talking in the car for hours. Again the conversation was appropriate. No emotional/physical cheating. Just basic things like where we grew up, how work is going, what our favorite places in town are. At the end of the night, Jake confesses that he’s been attracted to me since he started and that he likes me (he knows I’m married and have a child). I stated that I appreciated the honesty but I am married. He understood and stated that he wanted to be friends. He left my car. He never invited me inside, tried to touch me, or did anything inappropriate. He was very respectful. We did not speak at all after this night.
Fast forward a few weeks, I get a call from Maya, who is very concerned about Jake. She stated that he had not been to work in weeks and hadn’t responded to any of her texts or calls. She stated she was going to call crisis response. I offered to stop by his house to check on him, since he lives right next to me.
I showed up at his house, to find him sleeping in the middle of the day. He broke down in tears and told me that he had gotten so depressed (personal issues) that he had not been able to eat, go to work, take care of himself etc. I offered my help. I spent the whole day helping him clean his place and then we went out for lunch together. Again, everything was platonic and my husband knew that I was with him, helping him all day. As you can imagine, I learned a lot about him and how similar we are. He was very grateful that I came to check on him and thanked me for being a good friend. Ultimately, his issues caused him to leave work, so we do not work together anymore.
I would like to point out that during this time, I realized that I was falling for him and knew it was because I felt like I was losing feelings for my husband. I decided to communicate with my husband, once more, about how I was feeling and decided to pour my best effort into our marriage. He also did the same for me, agreeing that we needed to work on things. Presently, things are the best that they have been, in years, between us. I am in love with him and feel satisfied in the marriage. I am happy and continue to give him my all.
The problem is… I can’t stop thinking about Jake. I don’t know how to deal with it. We don’t talk at all, we no longer work together, and I see him maybe once a month or once every two months, when Maya invites us both to something. Last time, which was a week ago, it was unavoidable, as I was out at lunch with Maya and she called Jake in the middle of lunch, to invite him to come and have a drink, as he lives nearby. I barely spoke to him the whole time.
The issue is, it’s been making me feel very down. I catch myself thinking about him everyday, wondering what he is doing, and thinking about how it would be nice to hangout again. It feels like I’m going through heartbreak while married - which is so silly. I’ve tried to stay busy, focus on my husband and child, and avoid all contact. Nothing helps. I can’t stop thinking about him. It has made me feel so down that it has interfered with my ability to complete everyday tasks. I’ve fallen into some sort of depression over this.
I know the whole thing with people thinking the grass is always greener on the other side, when really it isn’t. I know people romanticize others, and turn them into the ideal person in their head, when that isn’t the reality. I feel like I’ve now seen the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of him and it hasn’t changed the way I feel. He is basically me in male form and that has done my head in.
Of course, some details are left out due to the crazy length of this post already. The post makes it sound like I feel this way based on 1-2 interactions. I’ve gotten to know him quite well over the last 8 months and things are no longer imaginary in my head. I know his personality well, his struggles, and favorite things. I know all about his family, upbringing, values, and beliefs. I’m not trying to justify anything, just explaining that he is everything I thought he would be, which is where I think my feelings are coming from.
Has anyone else been in this situation? How do I get over it? I feel like I’m really doing everything I can to move past it, but I can’t help the way I feel. I have no intention of cheating or leaving my husband. It has been 8 months of me feeling this way and nothing has changed. My brain can’t seem to let it go. I’ve never been in this situation before.
If you’ve read this far, thank you for your time and sorry for the long post.
TL;DR: I (26f) am married to my (28M) husband. I caught feelings for my (28m) coworker and I’m trying to get over it. Looking for advice.

Hi all, I've been struggling as to what to do with a current friendship. They used to be my best friend since middle school. I just don't feel that we vibe anymore and that they are an opportunist friend.
Ever since I've gotten married, it is not the same...we have drifted apart (I also moved states but recently moved closer) but I feel like they are keeping one foot in this relationship just for their personal benefit. They only consistently text back when they need something or if we are talking about them.
Recently they just take a whole week to respond back, and I feel like the response time that they take usually feels disrespectful. For example, I needed a response on whether we could hang out and they didn't respond until the day of saying maybe and then they never followed up on whether they could or not, (I knew they were busy with a life event) and I just wanted a yes or no answer. But it just felt like I was not important enough for a direct answer.
I just don't think there is anything in this friendship for me because it feels like we are acquaintances now. In fact I've had acquaintances at least text back if a timely answer is needed. Also, they invited me to an event through an app and did not text me personally...which is very weird because I've had more distant people actually notify me before they send an invite....it just felt weird to have a best friend not even follow up whether I can come or not.
For now, I am just being silent. I didn't send my response for the party invite. I have been very blunt with my responses.
Do you guys think I'm overreacting?.I just don't feel like they treat me like their other friends..like there's some resentment even though I have done nothing. It just seems like they do not care at all about the friendship. I just need advice on how to navigate this because I feel like there's huge periods of silence and then some convo to keep in touch in between but I just don't know if I can move forward from not receiving a timely needed response. I just don't believe you can be that busy to respond back but be able to post on Instagram.