Hey all just a quick introduction and background. I am a college student and do not come from a well-off family and had a relative that cosigned my private student loan which is in deferment. It dropped his credit, and now he can not co-sign my next one. The issue I have is I really do not like the loan, and its current rate. I understand it is really bad it is at 14.02% interest. I initially took out 22k but landed a scholarship so my loan was reduced. It is now at 13,600. I did the math it is accueing $160 a month so I was tempted to start making payments on it now. I want advice if it is was worth refinancing or paying it off at its current rate now. If I refinance it loses its deferment, while if I were to keep it how it is I can still make large payments on it, but the interest would make it take slightly longer.
So here is my thought-process, I am working 2 jobs. My only expenses are decently low. My one job is contract work and pays relatively well $30-$40 an hour, but since it is contract I put away 36% for taxes, due to self employment and the state I live in. My other job is part time and pays $15 an hour. I work 16-20 hours a week. My only (debt) which under monthly plans (I put addiotional money into them) that are due, my school supplies which is under affirm about $1,300, summer classes another $1,550, and than rent for the whole summer is only $500. After all of those expenses are gone all of the money I make I keep. I have aid with groceries and my subcriptions. I did some math to figure out how much I would need to work my contract job to make enough to pay off my loan by decemeber at its current rate, I did not include any money I get from my part time job. I would need to work 80 hours a month to put away enough for taxes and pay $1,800 to the loan. I was wondering if I should do that under its current rate, and since it is in deferment if I lose this contract job I don't have a monthly bill. I know I can easily make $270 (the cost I was given when looking at options) a month if I were to refinance it. If I do refinance it, I would still put away the $1,800 to still pay it off asap. I want it gone I dislike the rate, and do not like the fact that I dropped my cosigners credit so much that I cant get my next loan signed again. I am currently looking at other cosigners for my next loan as well. So which path should I take and if I did not include any other relevant information I can do so too.
Thank you, I appreciate any advice!!
Also if the post is removed can I please be notified why and what I can do to change it to get the advice I need thanks.

Some months ago I [24F] started to hang out with a guy [24M] and I developed a crush on him. We started to do things alone, like going to the cinema or to dinner together, and I was confused because I thought they were dates, but he never made any moves on me. We didn't make any kind of physical contact but he always asked me to go out again. This went on for a couple of months, maybe more, and my crush on him dissipated. Like a month ago he confessed to me that he likes me, but I said I am not ready for a relationship (I got out of a long one not too long ago). Now every time we are alone together he starts talking about this again, he asks if our hangs out were dates, if I ever liked him, if there are any chances for him etc. etc. I got to know him better and I really can't se myself liking him or being in a relationship with him. I admitted I liked him in the past and I didn't see him just as a friend during those hang outs, but I said there are no chances of us being more than friends in the near future, but he keeps on asking to talk. I am getting very frustrated with this situation because I am a pretty avoidant person and, despite feeling very awkward, I am doing my best to communicate without hurting him. But I'm at my wits end... I just want him to leave me alone, he keeps on texting me and getting offended if I don't text back fast enough (which I ignore but it's frustrating) and he constantly asks me to do stuff together, even if I constantly refuse. How can I communicate that I am not interested and that I am getting frustrated with this situation? My mind really wants to avoid him, but we have a lot of activities together and it would be noticeable. I'm considering just being extremely direct and kind of mean, so that he gets mad and doesn't talk to me anymore, but I know I would feel guilty afterwards.
TLDR: this guy has a crush on me and keeps talking about it to me, wondering if there are any chances for him, how can I stop this?
Sorry for my English, it isn't my first language and I'm kind of tried.

I know it might feel like the usual write-up . But I had decided I will share my experience if I had passed Step 1. I'm and Indian IMG and thankfully cleared it in 1st try🙏🏼. First of all I'm grateful for all the help I could get from all the good souls who helped me in this journey 🫂 and also all those people who taught me what not to mind from all the negative posts that keep popping in this subreddit 🤦🏼. Honestly me and my friends were able to crack it because of all the valuable updates we kept on getting from here . I would suggest just go through some doubt clearing question based posts or some write up that motivates you . Other than that all other posts here include some sort of disheartening or demotivating stuffs to an extend that it doesn't help anyone. What I saw from my journey is that if u can make urself see that PASS in ur mind and keep feeling all those emotions of how u would react if u actually got that Pass. U will eventually manifest it. Just don't doubt urself and Trust urself and in that Energy(God, Universe or whatever u wanna call it)no matter what . Trust me I couldn't even recall more than 5-6 questions I made correct in test day. All I and my friends could recall is The WRONG QUESTIONS which were a lot. Which can easily make u cry or even loose hope that u will loose for sure. It's really hard post exam to even have a slight hope that we will pass. U r always in a continuous anxiety. But if u did pretty well on ur nbmes and free 120. Just know that somehow u would have chose enough correct answers to pass ur main exam. U can see urself in a safe zone if u have 60+ in ur nbmes...but yaa it's always better to have 65+ if u wanna feel confident or have some relief from that self doubt. Most my nbme results were BELOW 70. Just make sure u do as much questions as u can to practice topics... because some topics no matter how hard or simple ...it might take some time for us to understand it well. So question solving is very important. So I will now write point wise to make it easier. 1. You can use uworld just to learn stuffs and not compare ur skills. For reference I had 50% corrects ...which is not much motivating. But learn ur lessons and mistakes and move on. 2. Keep practicing ur weak and string topics...never take any strong topics for granted . 3. Mehlman's PDFs and his YouTube questions are a gem. It helped me the most to learn and to revise . His PDFs are so concise and it is safe to say they r enough to pass ur step 1 . His questions are mostly nbme style . Do more of his questions towards end of ur preparation because that can give u a boost if confidence. And most IMPORTANT thing that u want in ur final prep days are self confidence. So focus on ur strong topics . Another one is DIRTY MEDICINE - His videos are nice too...they are a huge time saver. 4. If u can't finish some huge topics towards end...don't go for crying about it. Just leave it and have faith that u have learned enough to Pass. Because no matter how much u learn u will always find something u don't remember. So don't judge urself that u haven't done enough . Just TRUST. But yaa don't be blind to get fooled also. Trust ur nbmes. 5. Stay away from negative and demotivating posts. Some people are here to scare . I don't know what pleasure they get in b/w their pubic symphysis from all this drama. 6. Exam is tiring and can feel like out if syllabus sometimes. But those questions are mostly experimental questions and there are around 80 of them . So there is high chance that u will only remeber those hard ones post exam and come to conclusion that u lost it. 7. Eat healthy and stay healthy...don't have much to add under here 😂 8. So find some time off in between but never take long breaks...I had to learn it the hard way...never take a break greater than 3-4 days. There is high tendancy that u will forget what u learned just before that break. But take a day off in between to have some quality rest for ur mind. It helps a lot. I used to try to at least have a walk 2-3 times a week. Move ur body. It helps in retaining ur memory. U can't expect ur body to benefit from continuous learning. It needs plenty of rest. Specially towards end u will need more. So take it and don't be guilty . It will only help . 9. The exam day can be tiring yet it might seem going in a fast pace. 2-3 blocks will be hard. This is not to scare u but this is the reality that all the exam takers face and not just me . So don't fall for it. U will get enough questions that are very Easy - Medium hard. Basically u will have enough to pass but u won't remember post exam. 10.Thank urself for what u r able to do everyday . This is a very tiring process , Be proud of urself . Feel free to ask anything else that I haven't addressed here. All the best to everyone 😊 ✨🫂

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?

As we all know, Mark Cuban will be leaving Shark Tank after season 16. In my mind, there is no doubt that the departure of such an iconic Shark will leave a huge hole in the show that might turn off many viewers. I believe I am the solution to that for a variety of reasons.

1. As a 17 year old, I believe I can draw in viewership from demographics that might not regularly watch the show. By utilizing expansive and complex vernacular such as “sigma” and “rizzler” when describing my thoughts on products, I’ll guarantee a sense of relatability that’ll deeply resonate with gen Z and gen alpha audiences.
   
2. I have like $12 in my bank account. In contrast to the other Sharks, who are lightyears beyond me in terms of wealth, I believe I can play into this aspect of my character to craft an engaging underdog narrative. Imagine how excited audiences will be when the Shark with less money than the people pitching finally inks a deal. It’ll be awesome.
   
3. My unique experience with small businesses guarantees a richer understanding between investor and entrepreneur. When I was in elementary school, I would bike to the nearest corner store and buy a bunch of snacks, and then sell them to my friends at school at the exact same price I bought them for. Of course, I didn’t make any money, but that’s besides the point. I didn’t do it for the money, I did it for the love of the game. The same love entrepreneurs have towards an idea they believe in. My disregard for making money will allow me to cut deals that benefit only entrepreneurs, such as $500,000 for 0% of their company.
   
4. I hate sob stories. I promise to laugh at every single one.
   
5. I will bully every Shark. I mean it, I just have that hater energy in me. Robert starts yapping about his father? I’ll look him dead in the eyes and say “womp womp.” Mr. Wonderful says something about royalties? I’ll point at him and loudly exclaim “BALD!” as I maniacally cackle. Daymond makes a deal?… Actually I think I’d be too surprised to say anything. BUT NO SHARK WILL BE SPARED. Not even the guest sharks, hell not even the announcer. That’s right, I’ll bully him too.
   

Anyways I’ve yapped for long enough, I’m sure I’ll get an email from ABC asking me to be on the show any minute now.

I really love crossbar knives and I’m always looking for new models and manufacturers. Some of them turn out to fantastic, like the Hogue Deka and TRM Shadow. I was disappointed by the Iridium just because it sort of felt cheap, though for its price that’s sort of expected, but the Bel Air is a huge improvement.
Right out of the box it feels smooth and fast, and the action just pops open. The knife runs on ball bearings so that’s to be expected. I also really love the shape of the blade and handle. The blade is very practically sharped and the handle just rests easily in the hand. I’m not sure how I feel about the sort of black stonewash finish on the blade, but it is magnacut so such issues are minor.
The problems with the Bel Air really only became apparent when I took the knife apart to see how it works. Now I’m aware that there are plenty of knives that you’re not supposed to disassemble, but I’m of the belief that you should be able to maintenance your own pocketknife and simplicity in a design is a virtue. The bearing/washer system is pretty over the top. The Bel Air has four steel washers and two captive bearing washers. The steel washers sit in either side of the bearing washers. This makes for a smooth action, but reassembling the knives if very tricky because you have to make a washebearing sandwich on each side of the blade. I was struggling with this a bit and decided that I’d take the scales off to reassemble the knife like one big sandwich. To do that I had to remove the exterior aluminum scales, remove the clip, pop out the omega springs, pop out the steel frame plates, and then finally reassemble the knife with the four washers and two bearing washers in their place. It just feels overly complex to use six washers rather than two large ball captives bearing washers.
And there’s a bit of lock stick with the bar.
I think the knife is very good so far, but the design seems overly complicated, especially compared to other crossbar knives. The knife does feel premium in the hand, and I’m glad that the crossbar design is now available for other companies to use. I think with some simplifying the Bel Air could be improved and considered among the best crossbar knives and likely the best one on bearings.

(This is the background on which the story will occur. Not the story itself. It will take place at different times within this framework.)
The Program
…..A ufo crashes on Earth.
The ufo is found by a farmer who calls the military, and a secret group is created to study it.
In order to keep it secret only a small number of people are allowed to know about it. It is classified at the highest level.
The ufo inspires the creation of new technologies resulting in huge amounts of money being made by the people in charge of The Program.
They find a way to classify all ufo information so only they can benefit from it.
Billions of dollars are made that only benefit certain families. These families become extremely powerful.
The technologies of the craft lead to the realization that there is something to the “Woo” aspects of ufo encounters reported by experiencers.
Studies are funded. Specifically, remote viewing is explored.
Remote viewing studies of possible futures were done using hundreds of remote viewers over the decades. There seems to be a huge problem reported starting on earth starting between 2024-2027.
Possible causes are investigated.
Solar maximum occurs in 2025.
It is determined that a massive solar flare knocks out half the world’s electricity permanently, the superpower with the lights still on attempts to take advantage and launches a massive nuclear strike on their enemies. Electromagnetically shielded missile silos survive and retaliate.
A nuclear winter sends the world into famine. When there is no food left mankind begins to eat itself. Everyone becomes food.
More secret remote viewing studies are done and repeated to confirm the timeline.
The American Elite develop a plan to survive this. Money is funneled into black budget classified special access programs, and deep underground military bases are dug. Massive secret cities connected by underground tunnels are created, costing trillions.
Scientific progress and industrial development is pushed with no regard for pollution. The world is fated to end, pollution means nothing to those who know this.
Mankind is pushed towards wage slavery, and beyond. The suffering of the non elite doesn’t matter to those in the know. From a certain point of view they’re already dead. Their lives and happiness are sacrificed for the “greater good” of allowing the Elite to survive the end of the world.
When the time comes, certain groups are saved from the end of the world. Less than 100 thousand humans are chosen. 90 percent of the people who were told they were part of the Elite and were complicit in the Program find out that they were merely pawns and are left on the surface to die with the rest of humanity.
The world ends. Horrifically.
For thousands of years the remnants of humanity, the Elite, exist underground. Radiation eventually seeps into groundwater and they begin to suffer from dna damage. In time they become monstrous in appearance. Pale skinned and weak. Resorting to genetic manipulation they attempt to survive, but in doing so much of what we consider human is lost. Emotion, compassion, and the ability to feel pain become relics of the past.
Progress is extremely slow underground. Tens of thousands of years pass before the ufos are fully understood, but when they are it is realized they offer a means to travel back in time to collect genetic samples from healthy humans.
A breeding program is created.
The subterranean future humans eventually figure out how to breed healthy generations of offspring from the most intelligent, healthy, and beautiful human specimens from the past.
In time they restore and reclaim the surface of the earth. They learn from the mistakes of the past and create a beautiful, balanced and healthy ecosystem and develop an enlightened society that lasts for millions of years, eventually spreading to hundreds of worlds beyond earth.
At some point someone decides it would be better if the destruction of earth had never happened. They illegally go back in time to try and change the timeline.
Changing the timeline would result in millions of years worth of humans that existed after the “world ended” being wiped from existence. It is decided that this would be highly inappropriate.
The humans of the past, us, made our choices of our own free will. It is decided that there will be no interference in the timeline. Temporal Laws are created. WW3 will occur as recorded.
A defense network of small orbs, spherical shaped ufos are created to defend the integrity of the timeline. All illegal time ships are intercepted by the orb defense network, as is recorded in many old ufo photographs.
Time ships are legally sent back to verify that nuclear weapons can be turned on or off at the appropriate time to result in the correct end of the world happening.
The Elite eventually discern the intentions of the future humans from their temporal incursions into our time, they learn the fate of humanity and understand the results of The Program by interrogating captured occupants of downed ufos, and so they develop a strategy to alter this outcome.
The intent of this secondary project is to avoid attracting the attention of the orb defense network and use their limited understanding of ufo technology to prevent the full destruction of the earth in WW3, while still destroying all of their enemies.
If successful, there will still be a full collapse of current society, billions of deaths, but in time the Elite families will rise from their holes in the earth in their “primitive” ufo reproduction vehicles and claim to be Gods that have returned to earth in order to lead mankind into a better future.
Pyramids and temples will be built. A religion formed. And populations will be continually culled to prevent anyone from ever gaining enough scientific knowledge to overthrow the “Gods.”
But the advanced future humans from the other timeline had a contingency plan. AI drone ships were concealed outside of 4d space-time. Free from timeline alterations.
These drones patrol multiple Earth timelines searching for anomalous temporal activity.
The two largest enemies of the American Elite in our current time, Russia and China, get wind of the situation.
They begin to shoot down ufos and plan their own contingencies to survive the end of the world.
Their countries laws make it easier for them to do unethical experiments. Many horrific things are created through genetic experimentation and unrestrained AI development.
China loses control of an AI that disappears into the past with a small army of insect/human hybrids. They move out well beyond the patrol zone of the 6th dimensional AI contingency drones and travel deep into the past.
On distant worlds billions of years ago the AI “Queen” begins its plan and starts to quietly populate worlds with its insectoid mantid servants.
In time there are multiple schisms that occur within the hive. War breaks out between the various insectoid groups.
The ancient universe begins to fill with problems.
Billions of years later, primitive humans in 10,000 BCE look to the sky and see ufos. They wonder who could be piloting them. They dream up new gods as the seeds of civilization begin to appear.
Time passes, a farmer in America in 1947 looks up at the night sky, wondering if anyone is out there, and a ufo crashes on Earth…..

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.

6'0" 45M. I broke an 8 day fast today with powdered greens and homemade turkey broth. I'm planning on continuing with powdered greens and broth for a week or so just to see how it goes - never tried doing it after for an extended time. As I'm on my last 10 lbs this is where it can get sticky, but I feel my body is ready to make the move.
I haven't been in the 160's for about 7 years so my plan is to be extremely cautious to try to spend at least a couple weeks at this weight to allow my body to recondition. I'll see how my body responds and do a few days of fruit when I feel ready to push my next 7+ day fast.

Okay so, I bought my kitten from an old “friend” who literally was going to let mama and kittens roam the streets. I bought the one, and literally stole the entire group of kittens&mama. These were not good people and i literally just made a run for it (it was dramatic, but i was 20 and just couldn’t let these babies struggle when I KNEW they’d be adopted at my local shelter)
So fast forward a few months, I find out my kitten has feline herpes. she got vaccinated, got the meds, she didn’t eat her food with the powder they gave me with both wet and dry food. So I continued the eyedrops and ditched the powder, I got an alternative paste to add to the food. She hated it. So we stuck with eye drops.
Fast forward to now, I’ve managed the flare ups well, she sits in the steamy bathroom, I always wipe her eyes multiple times a day with a warm cloth, eyedrops when necessary, etc.
Unfortunately as a first time pet owner, I was always told by relatives that unless the animal is showing signs something is wrong, a vet appointment isn’t necessary. Her and her sister are crazy playful, she loves snuggles and gets so many of them, she eats and drinks on routine and she seems really happy, however her flare ups have been a bit more intense than normal, her ears won’t stay clean no matter how often I wipe them, so I made an appointment right away.
I can’t shake the feeling I’m going to get judged and crucified for asking questions or just not knowing things I should already know. Or even judged because maybe her ears are dirty, or her nails are a little long. I give her trims but it’s the fight of my life, truly, I’ve almost lost an eyeball like 12 times.
Any advice on how to calm my nerves? It’s insane I’m even asking this, but I get anxious over everything so I just want to make sure I can handle things well, I guess?
Both are spayed, purely indoor cats. They only go outside for vet trips.

I use SAIN and realism and swag+donuts, all of which make bots less terminator. most of the fights I've been having in my many raids this 3.8.3 have been fun and almost human. When ever I run into a PMC, I find that things turn terminator really fast. I'm talking: tracking me through walls, firing accurately while in full sprint (headshots included), full bum rushing away from me or towards cover when getting shot by me and other things that a human couldn't do (unless on multiple drugs). I even put the global difficulty preset on easy after getting pre-spray head-shotted after peeking while I THOUGHT I was undetected. With headshot protection on, I notice I get EVEN MORE headshot deaths. On average, it is 1-4 bullets in that I get head faced. I really even thought of cheating to make my head not kill-able to see just how many bullets hit my head without me dying on the spot. Anyone have some knowledge to share to at least not die to headshots as often?

TLDR

• CS graduate.
• Never worked in tech.
• But building web apps 7+ years as hobby and freelancer.
• Want to kick off my web dev career.
• What do I put on my resume?

I graduated in Computer Science in 2011, but instead of pursuing a career in tech I spent the next 7 years building and running a small travel agency with my brother. By 2018, I got burnt out, sold my shares, and with my savings decided to travel.
So with my savings, the privileged Westerner that I am, I relocated to Asia and Latin America where my Euro would go far, and went all-in on indiehacking.
My goal was essentially to build my own apps and make a living from that.
I was confident that within 2 years I'd be making a good living from this.
Well, 2 years pass. Still no money. Savings drying up. Picked up some freelance work on the side to pay the bills while continuing to indiehack..
2 years became 3, then 4, then 5... and now here I am 6 years later and I'm making less than $1k a month coding 50-60 hours a week.
Talk about sunk-cost fallacy...
The miserable money I am making is purely from my freelance work (which for the most part I hate... WordPress, or some frontend stuff, nothing backend heavy which is my real expertise).
So I've come to realise I suck at sales. I suck at marketing. And really all I want to do so is work on interesting technical problems.
And at the ripe age of 36, I can now understand why people get day jobs lol
And now to get to my question: How do I go about getting my first tech job?
I have 7+ years amateur experience (PHP, Python and JavaScript) But 0 years professional. So I understand I would need to start from the bottom as a Junior Developer.
I haven't applied for a job since I was 19. No idea how to go about writing a resume for someone in my circumstances.

Portfolio

I have a relatively large portfolio of personal projects (mostly apps and SaaS)
In terms of "real projects", my client work is either:

• not really relevant to the role I want (mostly WordPress, landing pages)
• something not so easily demonstratable
• under NDA and cannot disclose

Qualifications

• I hold a BSc Hons in Computer Science (graduated in 2011)

GitHub

• haven't contributed to open-source projects
• have 6+ years of commits (mostly Laravel) - more than happy to open-source a couple of big projects

Technologies

Laravel, Vue.js, SQL, Nginx, Docker, Ubuntu, Linux, git, Tailwind, JavaScript, PHP, HTML, CSS, Filament, Statamic, Alpine, Livewire, Nuxt, WordPress, Python, Django
Furthermore, I'm an EU national and open to relocating to a new country for work.
My biggest dilemma, is having no idea what to put in my resume since I have zero relevant work experience.
Should I just be upfront and say I have no professional work experience?
My gut feeling is that most employers aren't keen on hiring someone with my track record (i.e. being self-employed and freelance... ok fine... unemployed).
Furthermore, they might be concerned that I plan to open my own business in the future and go in competition with them. It's a reasonable concern.
So what to put on my resume as a 36 year old aspiring software/web developer with no relevant work experience?
No need to sugar-coat your answers. Be as blunt and direct as you want. I appreciate all advise.

Hey everyone. Just outta curiosity how do you guys have y’all desks looking/ organized? I haven’t started my new position as an advisor yet but I’m looking for ideas on how to have everything organized since I feel that having things organized would help best on keeping things on track and make it easier and fast for me to do my job.

I (31F) just want to share my experience from asthmatic childhood into a fairly fit adult.
At school, we were made to do cross-country/long-distance running from the ages of 7-16, even in the height of winter (I'm UK-based, so this tends to be very frosty air). I almost always had either an asthma attack or close to one, and sometimes I was allowed to rest, but mostly I was made to keep going despite huge discomfort/pain. This was just seen as something we kids with asthma had to 'tolerate'.
Fast-forward 15-20 years later and I'm still asthmatic, but I'm very fit at high-intensity exercise, an excellent sprinter (can outsprint men of my age) but I *still* have issues with long distance, and winter is a huge asthma trigger and I avoid doing cardio outside in this season. My point is...if I had a time machine, schools would have evidence of how anaerobic and aerobic exercise has different impacts on different asthmatics, and how cold air can be a huge trigger - endurance activity in the winter, is therefore, something that is to be avoided if your child experiences this. If we avoid it as an adult, why should we be making children go through this?

Hey y'all...so this has to be one of the craziest things that's ever happened to me and I really wanted to share it. Buckle up cause it's a long one...sorry in advance lol.
It started in 2019 I (26f but back then 21) met this dude (23m at the time) on kik from the Netherlands, let's call him...butthole. So, me and butthole hit it off, we're vibing, we're flirting, all that shebang.
We decide to date online long distance (cause I still lived in America at the time) so we text every day and we call a lot and it's just sooo nice. He was really sweet and nice to me. Well, August of that year I went on a trip to Ireland and got SA'd while there we'd been dating for 3 months at this point.
Once I got back home I finally worked up the nerve to tell him cause I legit had PTSD from that shit and when I did, he got mad at me. He accused me of cheating...I was like wtf?? So we broke up and went no contact and that was that.
Until
2020 it's lockdown....my diddly dumbass was lonely and bored and decided to text him! Like girl wtf was I thinkin? So I text him and he ends up apologizing for accusing me of cheating. He realized he was wrong and just like that, we went back to vibing and flirting. We're also making low key plans for me to visit him once lockdown is lifted too. After a few days of this I'm thinkin we're gonna get back together. But he says to me "I have something to tell you and you're gonna get mad at me".
And I'm like....ok? I didn't even know what to think like no clue what it could be (cause I'm dumb lol) And he goes "so I'm actually living with a girl who is (and I quote) officially my girlfriend". Oh man I was pissed and really hurt...like that fucking hypocrite!! So he goes on to explain they'd been dating for 2 Y E A R S!!
Anyway, so I'm dumb and was so in love and had no self esteem and thought he was the best I could get so I ask if he wants to leave her. He was like yea but we have a house together and I recently lost my job because of the pandemic so it'd screw us both over if I left now. I should've run right then and there but nooooo.
So I was like "you want to leave her and be with me right? Like, you will right?" And he said yes, I want to be with you, I'll leave if I can, blah blah blah." After a couple weeks of us acting coupley, sexting, sending pics, flirting and shit I woke up one day and realized, he's never gonna leave her for me. Ever. So....I decided I have to find this girl and tell her cause this is bullshit.
Problem is...I know nothing about her and apparently barely anything about him. He wouldn't tell me her name or anything. And he told me back in 2019 that he doesn't have social media (I should've known that was a lie cause who doesn't at least have facebook?) So I have nothing except his first and last name (later I find out he lied about how his last name is spelled and he gave me his nickname instead of his actual first name!...bro is a pathological liar I s2g!)
I tried looking for him on social media (obviously I didn't find him) I would try to ask about her name, but like in a really chill way, obviously he wouldn't tell me. I got desperate and googled Netherlands chat sites, and got on one and legit asked each person if they knew butthole mcbuttface from Rotterdam...I knew it was a long shot but I had to try.
That ended in a flop (well not entirely but I'll get back to that later) So then I get real crafty. I decide that I'm gonna play an adult fun game with him. I ask a question, he answers it truthfully and he gets a "reward". So I made sure to write out all the questions, starting with super innocent ones and I put the really revealing ones later cause I figured he'd be thinking with his other head at that point so he'd answer anything I asked.
We didn't do this over video call, we texted and I sent videos doing the thing (that way I could write down his answers) I did a lot of shit I'm not proud of. But I got the answers I needed. So I went all FBI and I got the specific area he lived from him and I ended up finding roughly where his house is, I was hoping I could find her name somewhere with that but it was a bust.
I tried to use the other answers to find stuff but I got nothing. I then decide to confront him over one of the answers (his brother's name) cause I legit thought he lied, it didn't sound like a name a Dutch person would have. He told me it was the truth. It's a really weird name for someone in the Netherlands so I looked him up on Facebook and I FOUND THAT BITCH!
That's how I realized he gave me the wrong spelling of his last name. So through his brother I found butthole's page and through butthole's page I found her!!! It took me weeks to find her! I was so shooketh! I couldn't believe I actually did it! So I go and look through her profile for a bit and I see that a few days before we played that game he FUCKIN PROPOSED TO HER!!!
I literally screamed when I saw that...I was so pissed and upset that he did that to her..... So I take a shit ton of screenshots and send her a message basically telling her everything. And she responded like "omg thank you for telling me". Like she wasn't upset at me or anything and that made me so sad. We chit chatted a bit and she was telling me all this shit about how she heard he was only with her for her money and blah blah blah...and she asked me for a few more specific screenshots which I gladly sent.
Then she said that she was at work and would confront him when she was home. I was in full support mode and was like I'm here for you and I'm so sorry this happened. And she was in support mode and she said she was sorry it happened to me too. So we exchange numbers and start texting. Later she texted me saying that she was off work and she was almost home and I wished her luck. At that point I texted him saying something like bye bitch good luck and blocked him lol.
So then I waited to hear from her...I check an hour later and saw that she blocked my number....I was so confused. I genuinely wish I could know what he said to her cause y'all...she ended up staying with him and getting married.I saw the pics on Facebook lol but yea....she could do so much better like...idk how this gremlin lookin ass bitch pulled 2 girls cause he's ugly inside and out. Idk if they're still together. I haven't looked in on them since I saw the wedding pics.
So yea, that's my story...but I said I would come back to the chat site not being a complete flop. I met a dude on there and we became friends and he introduced me to a guy who is now my boyfriend of almost 4 years and I ended up moving to the Netherlands to be with him lolol....I'm nowhere near where butthole lives so I'll never run into him but yea thanks for reading!

Hello! Had issues with my first BDO account. I need advice to help me make sure I don’t make the same mistakes again (I am a student wanting to start saving up).
My BDO account fell to 0 balance because I had to withdraw my money out of emergency (I was out for a project and didn’t have enough cash to go home so I withdrawed below maintaining balance.). After that, naging busy ako sa school na di ko na talaga maisingit magpacash in (kahit Gcash ko, walang laman huhu) kaya tumagal ng 7 months since last activity ko. I checked my BDO online, and 0 balance na account ko.
Pwede pa ba magpareactivate? Will this affect my records? Any tips on how to cash in? (Legitimately, di talaga ako maalam bukod sa Gcash kaso they have higher fees na, looking for alternatives to cash in)
Thank you so much!

WWYD, Hello all, this is my first post in here so bear with me as it might be long and very detailed. My ex-husband and I have three kids together. I am currently in a relationship and have been for a few years. We live together and it’s a completely different relationship that I’ve ever had. There’s been a lot of me giving in as i did during my marriage. I was a severe people pleaser all my life, caving in to more than i ever should have to too many people. This year has been the first year that I really have stood up for myself when it has come to anyone in my life. It took me 5 years to leave my ex-husband. Our whole relationship was rocky. We, of course did have good times. My parents were split up when i was 3 and they both also had rocky relationships after. Along with that , my dad chose when to be present in my life. Due to all that, I was very committed even though even before our marriage, many people told me to break up with him. We had our first child, two years before we got married. Fast forward to Marriage, 3 kids total, and were currently in marriage counseling. I had already had one foot out the door. One of my breaking points during marriage counseling is him lying to our counselor. That was basically the end of the road for me. My kids were suffering and saw everything going on and it was just time for me to strengthen up. Divorce starts and that was hard enough. I’ll save the headache on that one. He took nothing, but his clothes and he signs a dissolution of divorce because he wanted nothing more to do with me. We figure out custody of the kids, I did not file for child support as i agreed not to due to the amount of money he was making. Due to me having epilepsy and not having my license, He would pick up and drop off the kids at my house. I really tried to have a nice coparenting relationship, caved over so many things and so much more. Fast forward so much has happened between then and now. Everywhere from my kids have been in therapy due to issues that have been caused by him, them being scared at the first place he lived, and so much more. My number one thing I have done is severely work on myself, so much so that after he split, I was able to get my license for the first time in my life at the ripe age of 34. Now, I’ve had my issues too, i am definitely not perfect. I met my boyfriend randomly the same time during my separation and divorce, waited 6 months for my kids to meet him. When my ex found out about him, sometime even before then, my ex would cause issues at pick up and drop off including to using his car to kick up dust on my boyfriends car, stalk my house when he would go out of the way to drive by it at midnight when he didn’t have the kids. Made racist and rude, sexual comments in front of the kids. I caved so much, so much more than I should have. I went to file child support, he gets the papers in the mail, begs me to stop it, so i do. Child custody, same thing. Wow, I didn’t know i would be typing this long, lol, but I have been meaning to post in here ever since I found this group and this seriously feels like a weight lifted off my shoulders since I’m finally posting. I update him on everything about the kids even though each teacher have communication apps and he gets them on Tuesday until 5. He doesn’t have our kids do their homework so they have to do it when they get home, I still do everything for them, of course he used to have to take them to all their appointments, I do give him that when it came to our oldest, he took so much pride in being her dad, but also turned her against me when she was 3, he also does take our youngest to speech. He isn’t in the best financial situation, hell none of us are these days, so I’m really trying to not file child support or child custody, but im at the point where having everything through the courts is going to make everything just ease some anxiety, I can’t be around him without shaking. We’ve been doing better at drop offs and pick ups, we meet half way now, he pays me once a week, a total of 600 a month. I struggle financially. I get less than 1200 on SSDI. Now, My kids absolutely love my boyfriend, he lives with us now. My oldest want to call him dad, but knows her siblings will tell their dad. When I ask him about Child support, He will tell me to have my boyfriend help me pay for things, which when it comes to house bills, he does help, when it comes to the kids though, I really try to make sure I can cover everything. Unless, it’s something at his house, I pay for everything even school items. But the clincher here is, he wants my boyfriend to do nothing with our kids and frankly, i am tired of hearing it. My boyfriend really wanted to try to patch things up with him ( he expressed it would be nice that we all could come together for the kids) since years have gone by, but my ex stated, “I don’t trust you with the kids, and I trust him less.” My boyfriend is really involved in the kids life, including school, but when it comes to school visits for things, he doesn’t go to avoid unnecessary drama. We went to my oldest’s band concert, it was a Tuesday so he had them, I had picked up my daughter to take her to band after she was picked up by him. She called me, he was yelling at her on the phone, cursing at her, after he cursed at her in front of her teacher just minutes before . This was after the 3rd time being over 20 minutes - 1 hour late to pick up our kids. One day he forgot about them. So band concert, My 2nd child wanted to come sit with my boyfriend and I my 3rd stayed with dad. My second has ADHD and OCD and her anxiety is very stressful for her. He told her, “if you go sit with your mom, you have to stay with her.” Well, while that might have been the best idea, although, she has done it all the time with each concert, she started breaking down crying and shaking in anxiety because her dad told her that and she missed her dad and wanted to go sit with him. He just kept staring over at us until our daughter played. When done, never asked why she was crying or if she was okay. Kind of just ignored her which again broke down in the car on the way home. She is extremely sensitive that even though there’s issues with dad, she tries to see past it because she does love him, as do all my kids. My oldest states that she doesn’t want to shorten the days because she’s scared of what he will do or take it out on them. There’s days she doesn’t want to go because how he acts sometimes. Things she expresses to me, she no longer wants me to address to her dad because he has yelled at me in front of the kids at pick up or drop off when addressed, he will completely lie through text or phone calls. She tells me that no matter what she will go to protect her siblings. Unfortunately, I feel the same way. I fear he will cause issues all over again. Thank you for the long read. I really do appreciate it. I apologize for the grammatical errors lol 😂
​
Also, the day he yelled at our child the day of her band concert, I asked if he apologized and she said nope. He did although say,
Ex: I apologize
DD: for what?
Ex: for being a bad ass dad. *face palm*

The Reality of Housing and Utility Costs: Why Estimated Budgets Fall Short Across Different Income Levels

The discussion around housing affordability is increasingly relevant as home prices and utility costs continue to rise, especially near major metropolitan areas. Let's dive into a detailed comparison of estimated and true budgets for individuals earning the federal minimum wage, median income, and average income, and see how they fare in terms of affording housing and utilities close to major cities. This comparison will highlight why these budgets often fall short.

Budget Analysis

Federal Minimum Wage Scenario:

• Federal Minimum Wage: $7.25 per hour
• Annual Income: $15,080
• After-Tax Income: $13,572 annually ($1,131 monthly)

Estimated Monthly Budget: - Housing: $400 - Utilities: $100 - Food: $300 - Transportation: $100 - Healthcare: $50 - Debt Payments: $50 - Savings and Investments: $50 - Entertainment and Miscellaneous: $81
Estimated Total Monthly Expenses: $1,131
True Monthly Budget: - Housing: $400 (Shared housing or low-cost rentals) - Utilities: $367 - Food: $416 (national average) - Transportation: $400 - Healthcare: $400 - Debt Payments: $400 - Savings and Investments: $400 - Entertainment and Miscellaneous: $300
True Total Monthly Expenses: $3,083
Shortfall: $1,952 per month

Median Income Scenario:

• Median Annual Income: $74,580
• After-Tax Income: $55,935 annually ($4,661 monthly)

Estimated Monthly Budget: - Housing: $1,400 - Utilities: $200 - Food: $600 - Transportation: $400 - Healthcare: $400 - Debt Payments: $400 - Savings and Investments: $400 - Entertainment and Miscellaneous: $861
Estimated Total Monthly Expenses: $4,661
True Monthly Budget: - Housing: $1,919 (average mortgage for a $400,000 home) - Utilities: $367 - Food: $416 - Transportation: $400 - Healthcare: $400 - Debt Payments: $400 - Savings and Investments: $400 - Entertainment and Miscellaneous: $300
True Total Monthly Expenses: $4,602

Average Income Scenario:

• Average Annual Income: $69,392
• After-Tax Income: $52,044 annually ($4,337 monthly)

Estimated Monthly Budget: - Housing: $1,300 - Utilities: $200 - Food: $600 - Transportation: $400 - Healthcare: $400 - Debt Payments: $400 - Savings and Investments: $400 - Entertainment and Miscellaneous: $637
Estimated Total Monthly Expenses: $4,337
True Monthly Budget: - Housing: $1,919 (average mortgage for a $400,000 home) - Utilities: $367 - Food: $416 - Transportation: $400 - Healthcare: $400 - Debt Payments: $400 - Savings and Investments: $400 - Entertainment and Miscellaneous: $300
True Total Monthly Expenses: $4,602

Housing Prices in Major Cities

Here are the average home prices and their impact on affordability in some major cities:

1. New York, NY (Queens):
   
   • Average Home Price: $1,091,100
   • Typical Monthly Mortgage: $5,795
2. San Francisco, CA:
   
   • Average Home Price: $1,515,000
   • Typical Monthly Mortgage: $6,320
3. Seattle, WA:
   
   • Average Home Price: $800,000
   • Typical Monthly Mortgage: $3,579
4. Los Angeles, CA:
   
   • Average Home Price: $900,000
   • Typical Monthly Mortgage: $3,840
5. Austin, TX:
   
   • Average Home Price: $575,000
   • Typical Monthly Mortgage: $2,450

Additional Cost Increases: Food, Gas, and Car Prices

1. Food Prices: - Food prices in the U.S. have increased significantly, with the average cost of groceries being $416 per person per month (https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/how-much-to-spend-on-groceries).
2. Gas Prices: - Gas prices have been volatile, with significant increases due to global events and supply chain disruptions. The average cost of gasoline is now around $3.50 per gallon, up from pre-pandemic levels.
3. Car Prices: - The cost of new and used cars has surged due to supply chain issues and increased demand. New car prices have increased by approximately 12% over the past year, while used car prices have seen even larger increases.

Inflation and Price Gouging

Inflation Impact: - Overall inflation has driven up the cost of living, impacting housing, utilities, food, and transportation. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) shows a significant rise in prices across all major categories.
Price Gouging: - During periods of high demand and low supply, some businesses have engaged in price gouging, further exacerbating the financial strain on consumers.

Taxation of a Dollar

When discussing the taxation process, it’s important to understand how many times a dollar is taxed before it is effectively reduced to zero through successive transactions.
1. How a Dollar is Taxed: - Initial Income Tax: Assume a marginal tax rate of 25%. From $1 earned, 25 cents goes to taxes, leaving 75 cents. - Subsequent Spending and Sales Tax: When the 75 cents is spent, assume a sales tax rate of 10%. This deducts 7.5 cents, leaving 67.5 cents. - Cycle of Transactions: This process repeats with each transaction. Each time the money changes hands, it is subject to additional taxation (income tax, sales tax, etc.).
2. How Many Times a Dollar Changes Hands: - Mathematical Model: The dollar's value after each transaction is ( Vn = V{n-1} \times (1 - t) ), where ( V ) is the value and ( t ) is the combined tax rate. - Effective Tax Rate: Assuming a combined effective tax rate of 35% (including various forms of taxation), we can calculate how many times a dollar changes hands before it is effectively reduced to zero. - Calculation: Using the formula ( V_n = V_0 \times (1 - t)ⁿ ), where ( V_0 ) is the initial dollar and solving for when ( V_n \approx 0 ): - If ( t = 0.35 ), then ( V_n = 1 \times (0.65)ⁿ ). - Solving for ( n ) when ( V_n \approx 0 ) (practically considered close to zero when it is less than 1 cent), we find that it takes approximately 10-12 transactions for the dollar to be effectively taxed to zero.

Why Budgets Don't Make Sense

Minimum Wage Earner: - The true total monthly expenses for a minimum wage earner exceed their after-tax income by $1,952. Even with shared housing and minimal expenses, they cannot afford basic living costs without significant financial assistance or multiple jobs.
Median Income Earner: - While the estimated and true budgets balance, they do not leave much room for unexpected expenses or significant savings. Housing and utility costs consume a significant portion of the income, limiting financial flexibility.
Average Income Earner: - Similar to median income earners, the estimated and true budgets balance but are very tight. High housing and utility costs significantly constrain the ability to save or spend on discretionary items.

Conclusion

Comparing these budgets highlights the stark differences in financial flexibility between minimum wage earners and those earning median or average incomes. Minimum wage earners face significant challenges in meeting basic living expenses, particularly housing and utilities. Even median and average income earners experience tight budgets when purchasing homes near major cities. Addressing housing affordability requires a multifaceted approach, including policy interventions, financial support, and increased wages to ensure financial stability and quality of life for all income groups.
Sources: - National Association of Realtors (https://www.nar.realtor) - Kiplinger (https://www.kiplinger.com) - Redfin (https://www.redfin.com) - Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (https://www.jchs.harvard.edu) - MIT Living Wage Calculator (https://livingwage.mit.edu) - U.S. Census Bureau (https://www.census.gov) - Bureau of Labor Statistics (https://www.bls.gov) - Move.org (https://www.move.org) - HomeGuide (https://www.homeguide.com) - Food and Agricultural Organization (https://www.fao.org) - NerdWallet (https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/how-much-to-spend-on-groceries)
This comprehensive analysis provides a solid foundation for discussing housing affordability and financial challenges across different income levels. Let’s discuss

On may 25th of 2023, I stopped drinking completely. Cold turkey. Im not a good drunk. Im an angry drunk. Not an angry tipsy, if I get like DRUNK DRUNK, I get angry at the littlest things. Last time, in may of 2023, I lied about drinking and how drunk I was. This is what triggered me deciding to stop.
so I stopped 100%.
from may 25th, 2023 - March 2, 2024.
My wife and I have been married for about two years. She has her son through a previous marriage. I have my son through a previous marriage and then together we have our daughter.
during this time, my wife never stopped drinking. She can be an angry drunk, but it is not inherently in her nature.
She would order drinks when we went out to dinner, she would drink white claws at the house. For a while, she was not asking me to go to the store to buy her alcohol, but rather having it DoorDashed to the house. I genuinely thought this was a huge waste of money, so I offered a handful of times to go and do that for her. It didn’t bother me.
I stayed sober for roughly 9 months, that is, until my wife and I went on a date night. I planned it, booked a reservation, all that stuff. Real nice.
Anyway, we are at dinner and my wife asked me, “so, do you see yourself just going without alcohol for like your entire life? Like forever?”
And I said, “I don’t know I thought about it a little bit, but honestly not too much. I do have this image, though in my head, of me as like a 50-year-old man wearing my hair is all gray and my beard is gray and me and you are at some family event, maybe Christmas, maybe Thanksgiving or something. And all the kids are running around and doing their thing and I am just kind of looking out at all of the activity and really feeling proud of what we have built and the family we have built in the relationships. And in my hand is a glass of really really nice whiskey with a big ol ice cube, right in the middle. Like… That’s the idea that I have in my head for like… Satisfaction? I guess? Comfort? Security?”
So we talked a little bit more about that, but it ended up with her, offering me a glass of wine. And I said sure. It’s date night. It’s been like nine months. I have no intention, nor desire to seriously begin drinking again. Like I have absolutely zero desire to drink to get drunk.
Anyway, I had a glass of wine. Had one glass of wine. Enjoyed it. It was very nice. We had a great night. Went home. That’s it.
But then, like… Fast forward like a week or two or some thing… And one of the things I drink a lot is lemonade… So she comes home and she’s got two really tall Mike’s hard lemonade. And she’s like I got these for you to try. and I was like OK. And I drink them and we hung out and had a great night I didn’t get like wasted or even remotely close, and no issues. Cool.
So, then, like one night, I’m by myself, like I do every Sunday and and then, the urge just hit me to like have a claw. And I was like I mean, sure, why not? Like my whole mentality around drinking has changed over the course of this past 9 to 10 months , so I’m not worried about it in the least. I know my brain.
So I have a claw. I have two of them.
And then, the next day, she asked me, “hey, did you drink my claws?” and I was like, “yeah I had some.” and then she’s like, “I didn’t know we were like getting back into it like that.” And I was like what do you mean? And she was like well you were just by yourself, and you felt like you needed a claw. And I was like I didn’t feel like I NEEDED a claw, I just like felt like having one, and she was like that really scares me.
and i GET THAT.
But I’m also really fucking confused. And I feel like I’m being yanked around a little bit.
And then she just went on this spiel about how this is starting to really make her nervous in really scare her and shit.
and I just feel really annoyed. And confused.
Like I’ve made so much fucking progress in the thing is dude… I think alcohol had a massive role to play in me making bad choices, but I do believe it was the bad choices that led to the climax of me and my wife’s bullshit.
I thought my brain had changed and developed and I just think my view on alcohol and like a drinking socially has completely and 100% changed.
And I think my wife like SOMETIMES wants her old drinking buddy back or something… I don’t know. But it’s like she’s only cool with it when she gives it to me? Or when she wants me to have it?
so then like the whole month of May. I mean, it’s like… back to the old days of drinking in the house. Im not getting obliterated by any means, but like im coming home, cracking open a claw, etc. she’s cracking open claws, etc. and we’re drinking and having a blast and its all fine, staying up WAY later than we should have. We’re not getting in fights tho. Its all fine.
then, rewind to this past sunday. It was my morning to get up with the kids. I do. At about 12:30 PM, I crack open my first claw. That was my first mistake.
everything, is mostly fine throughout the day, no big deal. But then I go to start my start my hobby @ 5:00 PM, where i will be by myself until about 11:00 PM.
while im doing my hobby, im drinking, my wife and I are texting about a friend of ours and how they’ve been acting like not so cool lately. And its been bothering me.
by 11:00 PM im pretty drunk. Likkkeee pretttyyy fuckin drunk.
i call my friend up, we have a great conversation about the shit thats been on my mind. All good.
but then, I get off the phone, I go into our bedroom, i lay down on the bed and I begin telling my wife that I spoke to our friend and before I can even get through the story, wife can tell that im like 3 sheets to the wind. And starts yelling at me. Getting upset at how drunk I am. Understandable. I was not in a place to like… have that conversation. Like I was GONE. And then this fuckin angry version of me comes out. and we start arguing. I slam doors. I say NASTY shit. She locks me out of the bedroom. That pisses me off. I try to get in by just whiteknucling the door handle. Doesn’t work. I leave. I kick a laundry basket. I grab a blanket. I go up stairs to the couch and pass out.
the next morning, wife gets up with the kids, takes em to school, I try to talk to her in the morning. We get into another fight.
i spend all day upstairs. I work all day from the up stairs loft.
our daughter gets home. I make her dinner. We go about our regular shit.
i was scheduled to do my hobby again last night. I was not in the mood. I hung out with my wife in our bedroom all night just scrolling through my phone as she worked on her computer.
she realizes that im tired and gets upset saying, “its like if youre not doing your hobby, everything else bores you and you’re tired.”
i tell her, “I honestly didn’t think you wanted anything to do with me today.”
i stay up, scrolling through my phone.
she had conversation with me about certain things. About the gift we bought my son (her stepson) and where we were going to set it up and how to take care of it.
she talks to me about these two songs she’s heard that seem to have the exact same beat.
we talk about how we need to re-do our budget bc we just got new bank accounts.
we laugh a few times.
eventually, she climbs into bed, we watch an episode of last week with Jon Oliver, and she rolls over to go to sleep.
before she falls asleep, I tell her how sorry I am,. How ashamed and stupid I feel. I tell her im so sorry for overdoing it. I dont know what got into me. I dont know why I decided to drink so heavily. I tell her that isn’t the type of husband I want to be. I tell her it’s not the type of father I want to be. I scared her with how drunk and angry I was. And its like all the hard work I did over the past year, it’s completely went away and was tarnished bc of the decision I made in one night to drink so heavily. I tell her I dont know how she could ever forgive me and I understand that. I tell her if I were to lose her, it would be considered my greatest failure. I tell her a lot more before I say, “and thats about it really.”
she says, “I dont know if I can respond to that right now, but thank you for sharing.”
she falls asleep. I fall asleep. I toss and turn all night. Dreading this morning to come.
i wake up, I get the kids ready, get daughter breakfast, get myself ready, I take daughter in to say bye bye. She is as sweet as ever with daughter. As if nothing happened.
i leave, take daughter to daycare, I go to work.
we havent spoken. ———
I don’t know what to do.
I thought that I was different. And I thought that after spending so much time not drinking any alcohol, I had formed a sort of new relationship with it and now had control. I don’t know why I made that stupid fucking decision to crack open that white claw at 12:30 PM.
I’m now thinking that I’m going to lose my wife and kids. And I have never been so scared in my life.
The obvious answer is, “you have to stop. Not even a few drinks and getting tipsy and being able to handle it is even remotely worth risking losing my wife and kids.”
I could give a fuck about drinking alcohol ever again.
I don’t know how I let it weasel its way back into my life. But it is the definition of a slippery slope. It just keeps going. And I got too comfortable and too confident in my ability to maintain. Until I got obliterated and lost all sense of dignity and respect.
I don’t know what the fuck I could even begin to possibly say for her to give me another shot at this. Of course, I think if we both stopped drinking, that would be the most ideal reality, but I don’t think that she should have to pay for my bullshit.
If there’s anyone out there, who read this whole thing, I really do appreciate it.
i’m just looking for some sort of advice as to what to do next

🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️I hate my life wit a passion idk where my life went wrong. 1st off I have been married to my husband for 7 years now and it was not all good we had our good times and alot of bad times. Now fast forward a few years of our marriage I met a guy who was 19 at the time and I was 31 at the time we work together found out we have alot in common with each other and we would hang out after work a few hours like once a week he had a flex schedule so he didn't always work a full week like me. It started to bother me that we would only see each other only once a week cuz like I said we had alot of common and I wanted to keep talking and get to know him more everything start off platonic and somewhere along the way I start to fall for him. I'm bisexual and he straight and I told him that in a perfect world I would want to be with him and maybe we could be made for each other so basically at least close enough to be each other soulmates. Now the reason I'm writing all of this is just to vent and rant out my feelings of how life can just suck not to be judge of how awful person I am so before you judge me I'm sorry we don't live a perfect world where no one does anything awful to one another. Now I have told my husband that if we live in a perfect world I would be with him and not my husband only because me and him have alot more in common then I have with my husband. My husband purpose a question then why not go be with him since he make me happy and have more common things. I reply to my husband that life doesn't work that way one he 19 [at the time we had this conversation] he too young he just starting his life he need to figure out what the fuck he wants in life ( he wanted to be firefighter but now he want to be a paramedic so he in shcool for that) plus he still stay wit his parents (even still now) and they are homophobic or at the very least his dad so there that and plus he doesn't see me in that way he only see me as a friend and nothing more (he say I'm consider to be his best friend now but not as close as his actual best friends) we would never be more then that and even IF by some miracle that he return the feeling the very strong feelings that I have for him onto me I told both him and my husband (telling them separately they have never met) that even tho I love you and would very much like to be wit him my answer would be no because you have a whole life to try to explore and live the best life that you can without being held back. I am too old for you (hate fuckin saying that) I'm at the point of my life where I need a better job to have money and to start a family of 3 kids at least (I really want triplets but since we don't live in a perfect world I would settled like everything else in my life for wit 2 or 3 kids) and your too young to be suck up into my world if I was at least closer to his age then I would most definitely be wit him til this day. Now that my bday keep getting closer by the day I have just been depressed every single fuckin day even seeing him doesn't even bring me happiness I just keep getting more depressed and fighting wit my husband not helping because he doesn't get that I'm chosing my husband to be wit even tho yes I do love of both him and my husband and im trying to move on forward wit my husband of trying. To start family and live our lives.