This is not a rant or anything informative but just me reminiscing on my RBT days. I remember when I started out as an RBT it was the dead middle of summer. My company had a dress code and (my bad) I committed a little too hard to looking professional. I also had no car and was working in home. I spent my days riding the bus, subway, walking you name it, to get from home to home. Most of the houses I visited had no AC. I was tired and hot from my commute then I had to jump into session right away for the next 3 hours. I remember on one particularly hot day, I walked next to a group of girls my age wearing tanks and shorts and feeling so jealous. I wanted to rip my clothes off in that very instant. It was so hot that day!
This is all on my mind because summer is approaching again, and I feel for the RBTs out in the world rolling around, playing, chasing, getting hit, potty training all while in the summer heat. You guys are the GOAT. I think the summer is literally what pushed me to my breaking point lol

I guess I can just jump right into things: I'm 35, ~5'11, ~200 pounds (losing weight), and have a beard and glasses. Here's me with my two cats https://imgur.com/a/zr4SIvA. I treat my cats like my children. I'm a huge animal lover. Speaking of children, I don't like them and can't have them. I've had the snip snip so it's no longer a concern.
I'm fairly shy at first, but warm up quick and am a huge nerd at heart. I spend pretty much all of my time either gaming or watching movies/shows/anime. I have a dark, morbid, and meme-ey sense of humor. For games, I love ones with a strong sense of personality, progression, good story/characters, and fun or unique gameplay. Some of my favorites in no particular order are FFX, Catherine, Nier, Bayonetta, and Katamari Damacy. I'm a sucker for JRPGs. As for movies, I have a few I'd consider as my favorites: Galaxy Quest, Scott Pilgrim, Dr. Horrible, and Little Shop of Horrors. Lately I've been on a horror binge. I'm also a huge Star Wars nerd.
I do game development professionally for a living, working as a gameplay engineer. Right now I do remote work (technically unemployed due to the massive gaming layoffs recently), but live in Washington. Music is a big part of my life as well. I go to a lot of concerts. I've gone less recently though because I live a pain in the ass amount of driving time away.
I love hanging out and doing mutual activities like watching movies together or playing games together. I'm also totally cool with just hanging out and us each doing our own things. I love having somebody there, even if online, to talk to and share things/banter with on a daily basis. I'm open to local or (not permanently) online relationships. Also I apologize for the throw away, I don't like my real info linked back to these posts. I have no issues with switching to another form like Discord with my real account.
I'm pretty bad at trying to come up with topics to talk about, so I apologize in advance lol. I'm not the kind of person to just ghost, but I might stop responding if I can't think of something to say. I'm pretty much always online and open to talking. I'm pretty social for being an introvert

I have BP2, MD, and GAD. I'm a single mom to 3 young kids working full time in childcare. I can't go more than a few months without hitting this same patch over and over. I can't keep living this way.
I don't want to die. I don't want to take a mother away from my kids. I just don't want to live my life right now. I want to disable myself enough to be able to just be home with my kids and give them a real parent instead of a shell of a human who can barely cook them dinner and can't keep up on the basic cleanliness they need to grow. I feel like my only other option is to give them up to their physically abusive dad.
A cousin of mine shot herself this past Mother's Day after years of struggling with her mental health. I don't want to be her. I just want a different life.
Tweaking my meds hasn't helped yet. I steady out for a few months before spiraling again. I can't afford therapy, financially or time off wise. I feel like a horrible mother every time I have to say "please don't don't touch mommy" because the feel of another human, even my own kids, makes me want to peel off my own skin.
I need an out. Something that will allow me to be a mom again without the constant desire to end it all.

I guess I can just jump right into things: I'm 35, ~5'11, ~200 pounds (losing weight), and have a beard and glasses. Here's me with my two cats https://imgur.com/a/zr4SIvA. I treat my cats like my children. I'm a huge animal lover. Speaking of children, I don't like them and can't have them. I've had the snip snip so it's no longer a concern.
I'm fairly shy at first, but warm up quick and am a huge nerd at heart. I spend pretty much all of my time either gaming or watching movies/shows/anime. I have a dark, morbid, and meme-ey sense of humor. For games, I love ones with a strong sense of personality, progression, good story/characters, and fun or unique gameplay. Some of my favorites in no particular order are FFX, Catherine, Nier, Bayonetta, and Katamari Damacy. I'm a sucker for JRPGs. As for movies, I have a few I'd consider as my favorites: Galaxy Quest, Scott Pilgrim, Dr. Horrible, and Little Shop of Horrors. Lately I've been on a horror binge. I'm also a huge Star Wars nerd.
I do game development professionally for a living, working as a gameplay engineer. Right now I do remote work (technically unemployed due to the massive gaming layoffs recently), but live in Washington. Music is a big part of my life as well. I go to a lot of concerts. I've gone less recently though because I live a pain in the ass amount of driving time away.
I love hanging out and doing mutual activities like watching movies together or playing games together. I'm also totally cool with just hanging out and us each doing our own things. I love having somebody there, even if online, to talk to and share things/banter with on a daily basis. I'm open to local or (not permanently) online relationships. Also I apologize for the throw away, I don't like my real info linked back to these posts. I have no issues with switching to another form like Discord with my real account.
I'm pretty bad at trying to come up with topics to talk about, so I apologize in advance lol. I'm not the kind of person to just ghost, but I might stop responding if I can't think of something to say. I'm pretty much always online and open to talking. I'm pretty social for being an introvert

TL;DR

If you're in a hurry, you can skip to the bottom of this post.

Background and reasoning (you can skip this)

I'm a BA student.
Let's say I see an interesting-looking class on the York Courses website.

• If it's too empty, and risks being cancelled: I want to know this. Then I can enroll right away, before it's possibly cancelled.
• If it's almost full: I also want to know this. I'll know that I might have to enroll right away. Otherwise, I might end up having to enroll late instead.

Right now, the York Courses website shows only non-numerical information. It shows something like the following:

• "Seats available."
• "Remaining seats may be restricted."
• "Section/course full."

I think maybe I'm gonna email York and suggest that they offer more information on their website. TMU (Ryerson) already does this. York also can.

Proposed new look

Maybe the new on-screen information could look like this:
Seats Available Seat counts: Open public: 35. Open restricted: 65. Taken public: 25. Taken restricted: 75. Total: 200.

Questions for you

• A.) Would seat count info like the info above be clear enough?
• B.) Is it as clear as possible, without taking up too much screen space?
• C.) How could it be made even clearer, still without taking up too much space?
• D.) Would the seat count information be useful to you? If not, why not?

For huge courses with labs or tutorials (e.g. BIOL 1000), I propose that the seat counts would not be shown per-lab or per-tutorial for now. Instead, the seat counts would be total numbers for the entire section, including all labs or tutorials added together.

• E.) I am guessing that showing per-lab or per-tutorial seat numbers might be more work, including some annoying HTML table work. Am I correct?
• F.) Is it reasonable to leave per-lab and per-tutorial information unavailable for now?

Thank you for reading this!

The necropolis was gorgeous, for what it was. Its white outer walls hiding the darker Victorian Gothic interior. The tech that was hidden in the walls though was able to move bodies in their caskets from a designated place in the necropolis to the "viewing area" as the necropolians called it. This was where I waited for my, for lack of a better term, escort to take me to the mortuary. Since science has grown surprisingly fast our abilities for forensic sciences have also grown, and that's to whom I was headed. (S)He was an, unusual (wo)man to say the least. An expert in their field and about as learned as a doctor, if not multi-doctorate. If you ever asked them why they never pursued an actual doctorate, they would get angry and act all prissy while saying that going to school would've slowed them down and all they needed were the basic certificates for their work. The reality though, revealed to me during a drunken bout, they just never liked school and believed that it ultimately stunted a person's growth and ability to question the reality around them, that everything that you need to learn is already in books and in some form or another in digital content online. They were brilliant, if a little wacky. About five minutes after I had arrived and was sitting down in the viewing area, a little box rolled up to me making a couple of beeps to let me know to follow it and immediately started rolling towards the wall opposite of where it came from. When it looked like it was about to hit the wall, a hidden door opened up by the casket viewer, inside was a set of stairs leading down into the darkness. Stepping through the doorway I became acutely aware of sounds seemingly coming from all around me suddenly. It really is impressive, as though I just stepped from a tomb to a busy workshop, the sounds of gas escaping pistons, whirring, and clanking chains flooded my ears. I continued down the stairs following my helpful little box, which despite its size and shape would suggest was actually quite nimble on the stairs. It seemed to have wheels that would extend down to the next step as the edge rolled over it and once the back of the box was clear of the step it would drop back into its squat position, hiding its wheels as quickly as possible. It continued to do so the entire way. The box seemed to notice me watching it and made a kinda shrill whistle and its undercarriage light went from a comfortable yellow to a, is that... Peach? Is it blushing? My god I think it is! I let out a small chuckle and my little blushing box stopped dead in its tracks mid-step, its light suddenly going white, almost blinding me from behind and lighting up the hallway for a split second. Luckily both of my feet were solidly on a step so I didn't take a tumble or anything, but I couldn't help doing anything but laughing harder. After a second the little box crept up behind me and continued down, its status light continuing to show pinkish. I followed it slowly, the chuckle slowly dying in my throat as we reached Ceriths office. Well "office" was being nice. Morgue, mortuary, both of these fit just as well. Cerith was, for the most part, a recluse. We reached the door and the little robot continued through a little hole in the wall. I waited a second and knocked. "Enter!" Came the voice on the other side. I opened the door and stepped through. Along one wall set doors that normally housed the dead waiting to be processed. One out of dozens were open, its occupant missing from its silver slab. The middle of the room was brightly lit from a single overhead light. In the middle of the circle of light stood a figure, long Raven colored hair bound in a single braided ponytail, the rest of them bound in medical examination garb. They seemed to be engrossed in the corpse in front of them. The little robot rolled up next to Ceriths feet and made a little chiming noise. "Thank you Tabitha. That'll be all," said a voice that was neither male nor female from beneath the mask. Just sort of in the middle. "Tabitha? Never knew you to be sentimental," I said gently, the chuckle in my voice making itself clear. "I see you still find even the darkest things funny," Cerith quipped back. "My line of work Cer, you take the laughs where you get them. Look who's talking anyway, you're usually elbows deep inside someone 25/8. Even you have a seriously fucked up sense of humor." That got Cerith laughing, sounding like thunder and the whip crack of lightning at the same time. "You've got me there Julius," Cerith said after his laughter subsided. I think he suits him today. Which is both a good and bad sign. When Cerith is acting like a man, it usually means some grim news, but they are going to try to make it seem like not a big deal and laugh a lot. Plus they almost never call me Julius. Something was wrong. Very seriously wrong. As this realization hit me I got this odd tingle in the small of my back. Like someone had put several freezing needles under the skin and into my spine, something I'm familiar with from the anima-games from the cyber sphere. Halos: Divine Retribution If I remember right. Those Angels were sadistic bastards. I shuddered at both the memories from the game and the shockingly similar feeling I was experiencing. Dread, that feeling is dread my friend, the quiet part of my mind whispered to me. "Cer, what's wrong bud," I asked. He didn't say anything. For a long time. After a few minutes I was about to ask again, but then he spoke. And what came out will haunt me, quite possibly till the day I die . "This ones temporal lobes are gray matter. Nothing even close to being coherent. Just. Dead neurons. And he's not the first." Gone was the jovialness of the past ten minutes. This was Cerith the whisperer. In an almost dead tone they continued, "the others didn't fare nearly as well as this one. Most of the brain is intact here, which means that if they didn't deliver a massive shock or something similar to fully kill him he would have possibly lived as a vegetable with memory issues, but that's not what I'm looking for in this one here now. Now I'm trying to figure out what else the others had in common with him, and so far that's brought up all but naught. Well this one has a bit of liver damage. But that's about it. So Mr John was a drinker. Not much there." When Cerith is "whispering" the best thing to do is just let him be. But I couldn't help but prick my ears up at mentions of others with similar wounds, and the fact that this one had liver issues.... "Cer. You said... CERITH," I finally snapped out and caught his attention mid ramble. "Thank you. You said liver problems. But nothing similar to the others? No drugs? Alcohol? Not even a synth brain-pattern? You checked Everything?" "Well let's see, John here was a drinker that's for sure," Cerith said his hands never ceasing their work as he started to put 'John' back together seemingly satisfied that he found nothing else, " Mr Lombardo in chest 3 had cocaine mostly, and Mr Lei in chest 9 had opium. Although to tell you where it came from for both I'd have to do a molecular analysis and see what it compares to. Other than that, no. Absolutely nothing connecting any of them. As far as I can tell they are all unique cases completely separate from each other except for the damages to the brain. And I only found this by accident. During a routine scan I happened to look at the screen as it passed through the brain and noticed an odd density in his temporal lobes. Just slightly higher than normal. Hell to be honest with you it had the density of a fresh cutie, you know those little oranges?" I nodded, and he continued, "Right of course you do, who hasn't? Anyways it's just super dense compared to the surrounding tissues, and I take a sliver probe and drop it in like you do. And when I turn the damn thing on to look at the neurons the area all I see are dead cells packed on top of one another. Not natural decay death, but forced to die. Most of the cell walls were torn open like they had blown up from the INSIDE. That's when I called you." He finished up with 'John' putting the final few perfect stitches in place and sealing him up for good. Once he seemed happy with his work he called out to his seemingly empty morgue, "Grom I'm done! Can you put Mr John Doe here back in his room? Number 11 if you please." He turned away from the body on the table and removed the giant rubber gloves that went to his elbows. He walked into the dark calling out over his shoulder, "I'll be back in a sec I gotta scrub out, want a drink? I have beer, whiskey, vodka, I might have some Cognac somewhere, and bourbon. Your choice, just call out what you want and Tabitha will be there with it. Also have a seat! We have much to discuss." With that he disappeared from both sight and sound in the dark. It was a neat trick I have to admit, and it had something to do with how he had his morgue set up. Even the giant war machine that was Grom was absolutely quiet unless you managed to catch him through the gloom. I thought for the longest time the reason why I could never catch him sneaking around was from some sort of stealth program put into place, but when he goes up and down those stairs he's as loud as can be. So it was definitely not his program but the way the morgue was built. I'm confident in saying that because when I turned back to look at the table, or rather where it was, there was now a chair that looked like it had just grown out of the floor and the body was gone. Also the thought of something as big as a fridge just sneaking up on some poor combatants and snapping their necks as quietly as he walks in the morgue just gives me the heebies. As I sat in the chair a thought occurred to me. Considering how advanced the morgue seemed to be it would make sense that it had some sort of AI or integrated computer. "Computer?" I had been here a million times but I'd never had a chance to think about it nor try anything. But not even a second after I had said anything a response came. "Yes Detective Julius. My name is DANNA. Or Dynamically Actualized Neural Net AI. How can I be of service?" The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, slightly feminine and breathy, all service but no sex. Honestly I was just surprised that it worked. "DANNA, I was just wondering if I could take a look at the files that Cerith had mentioned? If it is as bad as they claim I think I might need to know anyway. Also if you can get those blood works done for me I'd appreciate it. Also something with whiskey or rum would be amazing." "Of course Detective. I will have Tabitha bring it shortly. And how would you like the information to be displayed? Desktop or dynamic?" That piqued my interest. "Dynamic please." No sooner than I had said a series of screens blinked into existence in front of me. It was some sort of Holographic display. I reached out and touched the display and was surprised that I got stopped by something. It was hard but surprisingly I found that I could push into the screen with my finger if I pushed hard enough. It kinda felt like... Oobleck. I also found that by pinching the corner I could pull the screens closer or further from me. I even found that I could grab individual pages of the reports off the screen and hold it. It felt like a thin sheet of plastic and responded like both a tablet and a singular document. If I switched pages the old one would appear back onto the screen and the next would pop onto it. This was about as slick a set up as I had ever seen and whistled my appreciation under my breath, I'm definitely going to have to ask Cerith about where they got DANNA from. "See something you like, big boy?" A very DEFINITELY female voice said in my ear from behind, soft and throaty, screaming come hither. I felt small dainty hands gently caress the tops of my shoulders before slipping down the front of my chest, pulling me back into the chair that I didn't realize I had been slouching in. "You know better than that, Jules. Your back is important and slouching will destroy the muscles and cause some to atrophy." The voice left no room for argument, and left me more than a little bit flushed. I closed my eyes and dropped my head back as far as it would go, the back of my head hitting something soft and warm, stretching my neck and back out. "Damnit Cer I thought you were scrubbing out, not completely changing." I hadn't realized it, but at least an hour had passed from when I started playing with the computer and working with the files if the clock on the computer was to be believed. "You looked like you were pretty into it so I decided not to disturb you. Plus you know how much fun it is for me to tease you like this. Especially after, well these..." One hand waved at the screens in front of me. The small hands' nails were painted the darkest black and almost made them blend into the void that existed outside of the screens. "I do Cer, and that's part of the problem, we both know that it's never going to happen. Least of all for you." She laughed a little, a clear beautiful sound and the body beneath my head bounced slightly telling me I was against her stomach. "Still I know you enjoy these little moments," she said, the pressure on the back of my head disappearing and was replaced by the voice right by my ear again as she whispered, "especially when we both know that's not at all true." At the last words she nibbled my ear gently. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her, in spite of my baser instinct rising to meet her VERY juicy insinuations. But for as long as I've known Cerith and as many times as we have both been VERY drunk, they have NEVER cashed in. I just assumed that it was a quirk of theirs. "Anyways," she said standing back up, "what are you thinking so far about the files? Spooky, right? Like I said, nothing that I can see connects them." Her hands gestured in front of me in an approximation of a shrug. She then clasped them together, wringing the knuckles and effectively trapping me in the chair and back against her abdomen. I scrubbed my eyes with my fingertips acutely aware of the growing headache that suddenly made itself known. "Your right from the medical side. I can't see everything you can, of course. I don't have near the knowledge that you have," which is true being that Cerith is at least 200 years old. I never asked directly, the old adage still holding about women and their age. Still though her answers to certain questions would lead one to believe her being her first adult car was a Bing Cherry 2201 Firebird GT with white walled hover trim and chrome accents. From pictures that I could find it looked like a slick piece. Looking back to the screens I couldn't help but feel that itch again. I couldn't explain it. That prickly feeling of ice needles again, this time in the back of my skull. As much as I'd hate to admit it. I think Cerith is right. I sighed heavily before saying "send me everything. I'll open a new case file and have the team start working on it first thing." She made a happy noise and bounced slightly, clearly satisfied with my decision to take it on. I reached out and to my left and a glass was placed gently into my hand by Tabitha. I hadn't even realized she had come over while I was working and was now ready for that drink. Room temperature rum and cola. The drink went down smoothly enough considering I drained the glass in one gulp, during which time I finally got a good eyeful of Ceriths current form. Or rather the underside of part of it. From what I could tell she was wearing a black T-shirt. That was it. I put the glass back down, it's job done without moving my head and said, "What a lovely view Cerith. I'm guessing you chose this to try to get a rise out of me?" I couldn't lie though it was affecting me, but I couldn't let her know that. Not when she's like this. Otherwise she'll continue to tease me till she leaves me with the absolute worst case of blue balls this side of the City. Her hands came up and cupped my chin almost lovingly, and her voice said "Of course Detective. Do you not approve? Or would you rather I change back to my medical examination form? Or something else?" Her words dripped with implied sex. I groaned, loudly, and said, "This is fine. Jesus Cer." Before we could continue our most scintillating of conversations there was a sudden PING! And DANNA said, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but there's a message for you Cerith. It says 'If you can get to the department Cerith, do so. We need you to explain your paperwork. And if Detective Julius is still with you have him come in too.' signed the Chief. Would you like to reply?" 'shit, I forgot the morgue kills all signals,' I thought to myself as I stood up gently (regretfully) prying myself from Ceriths grasp with a, "duty calls. Need a lift?" I stretched gently, the scales in between my shoulders clicking appreciatively for the stretch, and turned around to notice she was indeed, just wearing a black T-shirt that hugged her voluptuous figure closely. The scales in my back clicked shut in surprise. Cerith let out a small cute chuckle, "I see after all this time I can still surprise you," she said blowing a kiss my way, reminding me of a little Gothic pixy. I rolled my eyes away from her and willed my scales to relax. I grabbed my jacket off the back of the chair, slinging it on and clicking the neck clasp shut under the cord that connected my scales to the unit in my head. I was awarded the cybernetics upon completing my training and getting all my licenses to have them. The force had allowed me to customize it, I had chosen top of the line. A dual unit with custom built AI. The individual scales were ceracoated titanium microprocessors all running in both series and parallel, and could move to expel heat or react. The main unit was the same except it was one solid unit that replaced a chunk of skull. Once that was done I zipped up the front of the leathers and ran the scales through the racer setting. They clicked and flattened against the outside of the jacket, securing it to my back. I shrugged making sure it was comfortable. "I'll take the fact that you're only in a t-shirt you'll be along shortly?" "Certainly detective." Her voice was filled with dismissive submission... And sadness? I looked back at her and noticed her makeup was gone. Or had she had any on in the first place? I gave myself a mental shake. There's no way. This was Cerith, veritable goddess of the necropolis. I put the last few minutes away for review later. Chief called. I have to go. On an instinct I thought long dead, I reached out and squeezed her hand. I felt a slight squeeze back. And then she let go with a, "Go on, be a good detective. I'll be along shortly." I left with Tabitha as my guide. Before Cerith disappeared into the darkness I thought I heard her whisper, "please don't leave." My scales raised in a saddened response. I couldn't be sure I heard her right though. If I heard her at all. I reached back and stroked them, knowing my ai probably heard her, and knowing it could feel me touch the scales. After a few seconds the scales settled down. 'I know buddy,' I thought to the AI. It couldn't respond like usual AI. The force thought that was too dangerous. What if it went rogue? What if it tried to kill the host and take over? The list went on and eventually they decided the basics were ok. When I got my unit one of the first things I did was jack it into a diagnostic to see what kind of hardware I was dealing with exactly because manufacturer specs from real use are sometimes different with AI if the bits and bobs are in place. When I did, all I got on the screen was 'Hello?'

At the end of the prisoner rescue the prisoners all get a boat and take off. Most walkthroughs I find say the end up at last light inn right away but the place is as empty as I'd left it after the barrier person was kidnapped. Anyone know why, or if and how to fix it?

My meager googling skills aren't good enough for this.
I can find reflectivity radar imagery easily enough. It's effectively the only thing Joe Average will find when they go looking, after all.
But the thing is... we just had a tornado warning in our area, and as far as I can tell, the dead center of the warned area was maybe a hundred feet from where I'm sitting. The reflectivity radar was zero help with this, because the storm wasn't a clearly-defined supercell with meso, but rather a globular mess tucked away in a squall line.
But I reckon if I'd had access to a velocity scan, I could have gotten a clearer picture of the actual threat. Something that would have been useful to have, given that the warning was issued when the epicenter was practically right on top of me.
(Side note: Reflectivity images are, by tradition, hopelessly low in detail. I am very jealous of the many streamers and Twitter posters who seem to have convenient access to detail that you can seemingly infinitely zoom in. That sure would be useful to the general public.)

A friend of mine recently came over for a bit to hang out.
I will first admit that I have a tendency to be paranoid due to my living circumstances and some long-standing mental issues, but I could swear I saw out of the corner of my eye my friend quickly putting his hand into his pocket on two separate occasions after he had been messing with a few things on a shelf where I keep random bits and pieces of other things I have stored away elsewhere - bits and pieces such as parts of board games, or break-off objects of toys and playsets from my childhood; in other words, items that I would not necessarily notice were ever missing. I want to confront him about this, but am unsure of how to do so without putting an unnecessary strain on our friendship.
Now, I recognize it's not my place to inform people left and right of other people's personal issues, which is why I'm trying to keep as many details about him to myself, but what I do believe is relevant here is that he has mentioned before that he has some mental issues of his own; what I'm getting at here is that, if he really has taken something from me, I'm more inclined to believe it's some form of kleptomaniacal behavior and to simply ask for it back before putting the entire matter behind us, as opposed to letting it become a longstanding or otherwise friendship-ending issue.
The big problem I have here is this: all I have to go on is that I saw him fiddling with some knick-knacks I keep on a shelf before looking away for a few seconds, only to then see him immediately put his hand into his pocket - in other words, I have no concrete evidence to suggest he did take something, and no idea how to identify what he might have taken if he did in fact take something.
So, how can I ask him about this without making the issue bigger than it really should be? It should be noted that if he did take something - anything at all - I truly need to have it back because I have OCD, and the thought alone of some unknown thing missing can and will cause a great amount of stress for multiple days in a row - and as crazy as that might sound, believe me when I say it has happened way more than I care to admit. So what should I do?

will this plan set me up for failure?
i’m moving 13 hours away in august and it’s just me, my cat, and barely a bedroom worth of stuff. i don’t have a license for medical reasons so renting a u-haul is out of the question and i have settled for a u-haul shipping container which is a little under $800
by the time i plan on leaving ill have $6k saved for everything and i will be staying with a family member in the new state while i get a job and move into the apartment
the rent is $950 and ill be making around $1800 a month based on the work i do.
i don’t need any furniture right away other than a bed and basic necessities and i plan to be very frugal until i get settled.
i’ve calculated the costs to be: shipping container $730 plane ticket $120 cat health certificate to fly $150 3 months rent $3k deposit $600 pet deposit $400
total around $5k
i also have a couple hundred in cash.
i already eat rice daily so grocery shopping frugally will be easy until i get more money there
i do HAVE to move by this date for personal reasons and im posting here for any advice or if im doing anything wrong (in an already tough situation)
any advice is appreciated!
EDIT: my credit score is almost 800 if that helps this situation at all

Hi everyone, I love decks that generate lots of value and are low CMC. Ivy spoke to me when I first saw the card and was eager to build this deck. I mainly only play with my group of friends who run creature heavy and fast decks, and this is where I struggle with Ivy especially in closing out the game. I would love if you could check out my deck and see if there are any cuts/additions you would recommend.
Looking only to spend another $20-40.
I've moved away from too much mutating/cloning since I found that quite clunky, and want to focus on cheap enchantments and cantrip spells. I realize there are some high CMC cards such as [[Vesuvan Diplomacy]], [[Irenicus's Vile Duplication]], [[Sawtusk Demolisher]] and am iffy on these, haven't tested them enough yet. I'm also running a low amount of lands but this has been fine for me since so much card draw. Main issue is just pumping Ivy enough to get the lethal by turn 5/6. Really struggling with that.
Metagame is primarily very good creature based decks such as Arcedes, and Lathril. I just need to be faster than these decks since there is no way I think [[Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief]] can last past turn 6/7 due to minimal numbers of creatures. We also don't allow any fast mana or infinite combos.
Thanks in advance!!
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/AcJAHO99pk216OyvU7FRmA

My Landlord is threatening to not renew my lease (after 6 years of renting here) if I do not pay the HOA fines that have been incorrectly charged to me.

This has been an ongoing issue back-and-forth for probably almost 6 months now where the HOA has arbitrarily decided that the place where I had my car parked for a little while was not legal for whatever reason so they started charging a fine of $15 per day for every day my car was parked there. I had parked in this spot because over the years I noticed contractors and other maintenance people park there, and it's not an issue, but there are only 10 spots in the gated lot and my unit doesn't have one assigned to it.
So if that spot is not allowed for me I agreed to accommodate those charges and pay for any day that my car was parked there. However there have been charges appearing on the violation summary that include many, many days when I wasn't even in the state. like they're just using whole calendar months instead of actual individual charges per day that I am being charged $15 per day.
So I have repeatedly been asking the HOA management company to you send me some sort of summary with each individual calendar day that they want to charge me $15 for and I will provide them with photo date-stamp evidence that my vehicle was not parked there for any incorrectly charged day.
Right now they're charging me for 120 days or $1800 which I know is at least more than twice the number of days in my car was parked there I have had to spend months on end away from the apartment collectively out of state helping my dad with some health problems up at mayo clinic and my apartment is in Chicago so it will be easy to establish with the parking lot photo here in MN that my car wasn't there for the majority of the days I'm being asked to pay for.
Now I'm at the point where my lease is set to renew on May 31 - 10 days from now the HOA has not responded to my emails and frankly has been stonewalling me, no replies to my emails and evidently refusing to send me an itemize list (because they don't have one is my opinion) and are still demanding $1800
I told my landlord's management company that this is basically robbery and I'm willing to pay for any days I was parked there but I don't feel like I should be put under duress to pay for something that I did not incur charge for as a condition of my lease renewal.
What can I do? Other than let them actively steal from me? I have lived here for six years and have never had any problems whatsoever with my landlord or neighbors or any other significant issue of any kind to speak of.
The HOA is spearheaded by one crazy, sad, old man who does a boatload of drugs every day and has some sort of issue with me and that is why they are so vigorously pursuing these charges which they probably wouldn't even charge someone else.
The reality is my landlord is telling me that I had to pay $1800 fines or get out by the 31st. The cherry on top is I'm not even in Chicago right now I'm still up in Minnesota helping my dad. So should I just pay the $1800 and let them get the satisfaction of stealing my money just to have a security of my apartment for the next 12 months or do I risk alienating my landlord and risking being thrown out on the 31st if the HOA people continue to ignore my requests for a dated summary of each individual daily parking fine?
If I to pay the full amount that is more than double what I should pay, and If I do I doubt it would be worth it to try to recoup any overpaid balance later as these people are impossible to communicate with.
The stress of this plus dealing with my dad's poor health is becoming way more than needs to be so I need to get this taken care of any advice would be very much appreciated

Kimchi: Hey, you there. Yeah, you reading this. If you want to know about boring human stuff, go here An Introduction To The Book That Is Me : ASMRScriptHaven (reddit.com) . If you want to know about more fun cat stuff... and... I guess... other fun human kinds of stuff... even though humans aren't nearly as fun as cats, go here Masterlist for edgiscript : ASMRScriptHaven (reddit.com)
Edgiscript: Kimchi.
Kimchi: What? This is what you said to do.
Edgiscript: Not like that. Now they're going to think this is actually part of the script.
Kimchi: Whaaaaaaat? No. Humans can't be that dumb, can they?
Edgiscript: They're not dumb. But your format is all wrong.
Kimchi: Pfft. Whatever. It gets the job done and it's more fun that your boring-ass method.
Edgiscript: Hey!!!
Kimchi: Well, it is. You can't blame me for that.
Edgiscript: Look, you... all right, fine. The intros are usually pretty boring. So then, just get everybody to the script.
Kimchi: Ooh, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is really cool, because it stars me and my cute, little, adorable hubby. It starts out all spooky like because he doesn't know what's going on, but come on, nobody could be scared of me for too long, now could they? I mean, look at these cute little ears and tail.
Edgiscript: Kimchi, it's a script. They can't see you.
Kimchi: Maybe you can't. Anyway, the really, really, really, super-cool thing about this series is that each piece was written to work completely on its own. Well, maybe you need the 1st one to set things up. But then it doesn't matter. You can do any pieces you want after that in any order you want. And you don't even have to mark them as being a part 2 or part 3 or anything like that. You can just treat them as one-offs and see if your listeners make the connection. Each chapter is its own self-contained story. Some require multiple voices, but each one is its own thing.
Edgiscript: So, if you think series don't do that well, you can do any of these chapters without treating them as a series.
Kimchi: Duh. That's what I just said.
Edgiscript: I know, but... (shuffling his feet in the ground.) I just wanted to be a part of what you were doing.
Kimchi: Awww, edgi, you're so cute. Come here and sit beside me.
Edgiscript: But, I....
Kimchi: I SAID SIT DOWN!
Edgiscript: Yes, ma'am.
Kimchi: And now, on to part 1. Enjoy.
-------------------------------------------------------------
(And now, the Real Script.)
Title: Play Time

Part 1

(Slow footsteps. Sounds of night time.)
Kimchi: (From nearby. Spooky and mysterious. Singsong voice calling out.) Where aaaaaare you, human? Come oooooouuuut.
(Still spooky and haunting, but no longer singsong.) I know you’re here. I can smell you. I’ve been hunting you for a while now. Did you know that? Did you know I’ve been stalking you for weeks?
I’ve never had the opportunity to catch you until now. You’ve never been alone before. Is that because you knew I was watching? I wonder.
But this time you chose to wander through the woods back to your house. Is that because somebody slashed your tires? I wonder who could have done that? (Giggles creepily.) Maybe someone that wanted you out here all alone so she could have you all to herself. And now you’re aaaaaaaaaalllllll mine.
(Singsong.) So come on ooooooooooooouuuuut.
(Footsteps pick up the pace a little.)
You’re walking faster now. I can hear you. I see you like to play. Good, that makes this more fun. It’s so satisfying to catch prey that’s actually trying. When your prey knows there’s no chance and gives up, it takes away all of the thrill of the hunt, and I looooooove the hunt.
Your smell is so intoxicating. I’m going to love sinking my teeth into your neck.
I was hoping you wouldn’t bother calling for an Uber. After all, your apartment was so close, and you’ve walked these woods so many times during the day. You know every branch, every rock. Don’t you? You felt so safe walking this way. In fact, you even avoided possibly running into some very bad people in town by going this way.
I wonder if you thought they might have slashed your tires and were fooling them by taking this route. Bet you didn’t know that something else haunted these woods. But now you do. And now you’re beginning to realize that you can’t get away from me.
(Footsteps begin running.)
Ah hah. Now you’re finally running. Yes! Gooooood. That gets me so excited. The chase is on.
You know you’re fast. You run regularly. You work out. You’re healthy and strong. You believe you can make it. Go on, little prey. You can do it.
(Giggles creepily.) The thing that’s chasing you can’t be faster than you, can it? It’s not racing towards you right now drawn by your breathtaking aroma and your delightful sound, and now…
...your beautiful sight. Yes. There you are. You can’t see me, but I can see you.
Now, the real fun begins. Should I just take you, or let the chase go on? I want you so badly, but I also love the chase, and I never get to chase anything anymore. Nothing comes through here at night. I think they’re afraid of me. Nobody wants to play.
But you do. You came into my woods because you love to play, don’t you? Admit it. The chase thrills you too. Your blood is pumping. Your heart is racing. You feel so alive.
But not for very much longer now. No, not very long now. You know the end is near. Your home is so close, isn’t it? You have only a little further to go and you’ll be out of the woods and close enough to other people that I won’t be able to catch you. There’s hope. Hope you’ll make it. So, I guess this game is finally over. You’re MINE!!!
(Sounds of a tackle.)
Hello, little human. You’ve made for such an exhilarating prey. I loved this game very much and I want to thank you for your part.
(Pause.)
Yes, I said, “human.” You see what I am now. You see my teeth. You see my ears. I’m a cat-girl. Or rather, I am the hunter and you are my prey. But now the chase is over and you’re mine. Any last words before I finally… heh heh, finalize our… courtship?
(From now on Kimchi is sweet and endearing, not creepy and menacing.)
(Confused.) Whoa, whoa, whoaaaaaaaa!. Human, what are you doing? When I asked if you had any last words, I didn’t think you’d scream for help. What’s that all about?
(Pause.)
WHAT!?! Eat you? Of course I’m not going to eat you. Why would I eat you?
(Pause.)
Yes, I said I was going to sink my teeth into your neck, but not like that. Humans taste… well, I don’t know what humans taste like, because I’ve never eaten a human. But I’m sure they taste disgusting. Blech.
Do human girls eat their men when they catch them? I suppose that would explain why the number of marriages is dropping.
(Pause.)
Yes, marriages. That’s what I said.
(Pause.)
What do you mean, what’s that got to do with this? That’s got everything to do with this. I’m marrying you.
(Pause.)
No, I’m not proposing marriage.
(Speaking slowly as if the listener is stupid.) I’m ma-rry-ing you.
(Normal.) Right now. That’s what cat-girls do. We find ourselves a hubby, (Smiling.) that’s you, (Normal.) we catch them, and we make them ours. I’ve caught you. You’re mine. That’s how it works.
(Pause.)
Of course you have a say in this. That’s why I asked you if you had any last words. Isn’t that what the humans do? As the ceremony is wrapping up, they like to say, “I do.” Right? I was letting you say, “I do.”
(Pause.)
What do you mean I made it sound like I was going to kill you? Who says, “Any last words” before killing somebody?
Oh, come to think of it, you may have a point. I didn’t think of it that way.
(Pause.)
And I also said, “The end is near.” I meant the end of the chase, not your life.
Sorry about that, but whatever. It’s irrelevant because I’ve caught you and you’re mine. All I have left to do is attach this collar and tie you up and then I bring you back to my place for all of the love and affection I can provide.
(Giggles.) There’s your collar attached. Now, the humans will see that you’re mine. I still have to mark you with my scent when we get home so other cat-girls will know to keep their grubby little hands or paws off of you. That’s where biting your neck comes in.
(Pause.)
Yeah, I’ve got human looking hands. Some cat-girls have paws. It’s kind of like how some humans have black hair and some are blonde or red. It just happens that way.
Now, do you mind putting your hands together for me? That would make it easier on me to tie you up.
Thank you. Keep them like that.
(Pause.)
Am I worried somebody will stop me? You can’t be serious. Why would I be worried about that?
Wait. You don’t already have a mate, do you? I was certain you didn’t. I told you I’ve been stalking you for weeks now.
(Sniffs all over him.) And I don’t detect any scent of girl on you.
(Sweetly.) I just smell cuteness. (Giggles.) And Cheetos.
Ok, I’m done with your hands. Now turn around please so I can wrap this around you and finish these knots.
(Pause.)
What? You meant I might be doing something illegal? Of course I’m not. This was voted in by you humans several years ago. By a wide margin, I might add.
Cat people just decide on who they want and they take them. According to your human laws, I only can’t take you if another girl has made you hers. Those are your rules, not mine. Personally, I might fight a girl for you if I thought she wasn’t good enough for you.
We used to chase only other cat people, but you humans are the ones that said it was ok if we included you as potential mates. And I’m so glad they did, because you are the cutest, most adorable little man I have ever seen, and I’ve just made you mine.
There, I’ve got your legs all tied too.
(Pause.)
Yes, yes, I know I keep calling you “little” and I’m actually smaller than you, but it was supposed to be affectionate. A term of endearment. You’re my cute little baby. See? Like that.
But us cat people are so much stronger than you humans and so much more athletic. I can pick you up easily like this without a struggle. And now I can carry you back to my place. It’s not far. See, it’s right over there.
(Pause.)
Right. It’s that pile of leaves. It’s very cozy. I gathered all of the leaves myself.
Let me just put you down so I can finally shower my new little hubby with all of my love and affection. Let me start right back here on your neck.
(Kisses and nibbles.)
Yes, I told you I have to mark you so the other cat-girls will know to keep away from you. I’ve got to kiss you and nibble you back here too in order to really get my scent on you.
(Pause.)
Yes, now you get it. That’s what I meant earlier when I said I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into your neck.
(Pause.)
Yes, I thought you’d like that.
(Pause.)
I didn’t know you thought I was going to eat you. I thought all humans knew about cat people mating rituals. No wonder you screamed when I caught you.
I’m sorry, hubby. Can you forgive me for scaring you?
(Pause.)
Oh, that’s right. I haven’t told you who I am yet. Sorry. I was just so excited with the hunt and finally catching you that I forgot.
My name is Kimchi.
(Pause.)
Yes, I know what it means. A nice, old Korean lady gave me the name after she took me in when I was very small. She was wonderful to me. I called her mom. She fed me and gave me a nice place to sleep.
(Pause.)
Yes, I liked staying at her place. She was a magic lady.
(Pause.)
Uh huh, there are too magic ladies. Did you know that she could make it rain inside her house with warm water. Can you believe it?
(Pause.)
Yes, a shower. That’s what she called it.
(Pause.)
What? You have one too? Are you magic too?
(Pause.)
What do mean, that’s common among humans? Really? You say you have a shower at your apartment? And a stove where we can heat our food? And a bed like the one I used to sleep in at mom’s house? That sounds wonderful.
I’m so sorry. All I have are these leaves. But at least I have a beautiful night sky to sleep under. It’s very romantic, don’t you think?
(Pause.)
Wait, you’re saying we could live in your apartment? You’d really let me stay there?
(Pause.)
Well, yeah, you’re my hubby and I’m your wife. Awwww, I love hearing you say that. Say it again.
(Pause, then squeals with glee.)
Ok, I’ll carry you to your apartment.
(Pause.)
Of course I have to carry you. How else will you get there all tied up?
(Pause.)
Oh, no. I couldn’t untie you. You might get away from me.
(Pause.)
What do you mean, “Exactly.”
(Sad.) You want to get away from me?
(Pause.)
(Understanding.) Oh, you think I sounded sorry that the hunt was over so soon. You’d like to let me do it again.
(Suddenly very excited.) Wait, WHAT!?! You’d… you’d let me hunt you again? Really, really, really, really, really? I get to chase you and catch you all over?
(Concerned.) But wait. You were scared the first time. Why do you want me to chase you again.
(Pause.)
Well, yeah, you probably would enjoy it more if you knew ahead of time that I wasn’t going to eat you.
(Pause.)
(Excited again.) And you say you’re really good at hide-and-seek? Oh, ho, ho, hoooooo. Challenge accepted.
(Flustered from her excitement.) Now… I just need to undo… these knots… and… Oh, screw it. I’ll just bite the ropes apart. There. They’re off.
(Realizing.) Oh, wait. I just cut my ropes. Now I’ll have no ropes to tie you up.
(Pause.)
That’s ok? When I catch you, you’ll just come with me. And you’ll never take off your collar so everybody else knows what’s going on because I am your wife, after all?
(Squeals.) I love it, I love it, I love it. I knew you were beautiful, but I didn’t know you’d love to be chased.
Ok, are you ready? Then, ready, set… no, wait, wait, wait.
(Kisses. Giggles.) Ok, now you’re ready.
(Pause.) No, I’m not cheating by marking you up with my scent. I’m just so excited.
I’ll give you a five minute head start to make it fair. And when I catch you, we’ll go to your apartment and have showers, and hot food, and a bed.
(Pause.)
(Ecstatic.) And you also have more string to play with? GO! Go, go, go, go, GO! Hurry! Run! Now! The quicker you run, the quicker I can catch you and we can go back to your place. Now run.
(Pause.)
Oh, I caught the best mate in the world. I’m going to love him sooooooo so much.
(Pause.)
Has it been five minutes? I don’t know. I never figured out how to tell time. It’s been long enough. Oooooooh, look out, hubby. Here I come.
Part 2 coming soon.

Hi everyone, I’m feeling a little hurt over something my partner said. He unapologetically eats a lot, or so it seems. And farts more than anyone I’ve ever known, seriously. He’s not fat, just a little belly. I’m 4’11 and was right at 100lbs before getting pregnant. I’ve gained 10 lbs and am in week 20. I clean houses for a living and often miss lunch because clients like me to come midday. I usually eat a late light breakfast and a big early dinner, no lunch. Same thing today, except we were taking our friend out for dinner which meant I had to hold off two extra hours while starving until we went out for dinner. So when we got to the restaurant, I was starving. And I scarfed down a fried mushroom and coleslaw sandwich which sounds gross, but it was delicious. Afterwards, he commented that I ate a lot when he ate all almost all of my fries and some of my friends fries, no joke. We have this happen a lot where he judges what I eat and he will happily eat like a pig, which I don’t judge him because like he can do him, it’s fine. I don’t care but when I get upset is when he judges my eating habits. One time we went on an 8 mile hike that gained a lot of elevation. We were out there all day and all I had was an avocado cheese wrap, and trail mix. At the end of the day he had eaten so many Cliff bars that he wasn’t hungry at all. He didn’t understand that I was hungry and I needed to eat before our 2 hour drive home. He almost refused to stop to get me food, which ended up being pizza from a gas station that they were minutes away from throwing away that was barely edible. This was before I was pregnant pizza from a gas station that they were minutes away from throwing away that was barely edible.. generally he’s a really sweet guy, but this food thing is really getting on my nerves. I won’t talk about how he chews with his mouth open and kind of eats like a pig if he would just let me eat when I’m hungry. I’m a recovering bulimic and, it really upsets me to come this far with my relationship with food and have him comment on my eating. I literally ate a sandwich for dinner, a vegetarian sandwich and he told me I ate a lot after cleaning for four hours and not eating lunch and being pregnant. Anyway, sorry just a little rant. Thanks for listening.

Warning, this is going to be a long one. I’m male in my early twenties. The events I will be referring to have been taking place for the last 10 years. As a child my mother worked and my father stayed home with us. My mother’s income as the soul bread winner made us upper middle class. When I was young, my dad was the best father a kid could have asked for. He used to entertain every child in the neighbourhood building luges, a basket ball court and skating rinks. i learned as an adult that my mother and him had made a deal that my father would return to work as an engineer, once I was in middle school. This never happened. My father, then started getting depressed and started lashing out at my brother and I regularly. my father never wanted to go back to work. He decided to start publicly supporting trump during the first trump election. This made no sense as we are Canadian. Over the coming years, he slowly became an obsessive, compulsive and aggressive, conspiracy theorist. He began to spend more and more of my mother’s money on ridiculous, extravagant things. He didn’t do anything around the house either. there wasn’t a day in my high school life, that my dad didn’t scream at all of us at the top of his lungs about government control. By the time I went to university, may father had changed completely. I went home as little as possible. My mother at this point, enduring 6 years of domestic abuse, finally asked for a divorce. My father then moved out. He lived with some people in their early 30’s, that he met at a protest of some sort. It was at this time, I finally came out as gay. as a child my parents to me that I could be whatever as long as I was happy. My catholic mom accepted me as always. However, my father freaked out when he heard the news. He told me that the government was controlling my brain. He thought at this point that we were all “projections, in a simulation. Here to test him and kill him, if need be.” in the times I’ve seen him since, I’ve heard him referring to me as a faggot to his siblings. My father turned to very regular use of hallucinogenic drugs. Eventually, my father got arrested during covid for assaulting a police officer, after an argument where he refused to put on a mask. This lead to some pretty public legal trials were he was sent for a psych evaluation at a psychiatric prison. at this time, he was staying at one of my grandmother’s property. Unbeknownst to my grandmother, his hippy friends were staying there with him as well. I went to the house, to clean up while he was incarcerated. The place was a disaster. His friends were growing magic mushrooms in my grandmother’s bedroom. I was furious. i decided call the police, giving them all of the drugs I found in the house and his friend’s and my dad’s names. He friends who had been arrested with him got an extra 6 months in jail. My mother began to speak regularly with him during this process. Near the end of the month, from the Internet and drug detox. He became to seem like his old self. That was until, he was notified of what I did. My father then called me and threatened to kill me. Telling me “I’ve met some pretty scary people in here. People who would kill someone for only 20k. Watch your fucking back”. i also received death threats from two of my dad’s siblings. All of this was happening while I was trying to write a physics degree. from here, my father spiralled farther and farther downward. Every time I’ve seen him since he has assaulted me physically. We were pretty well known in our city prior to all of this. The 4 years of my father’s legal trials and the articles that followed effected our standing. Eventually, I couldn’t go to the grocery store without having someone approach me about him. last year, my mother and I went away to celebrate my education being done for a weekend. My father needed a place to stay. My mother got him to dog sit. (They still weren’t legally divorced at this point. He had the right to stay there) I instructed him not to use the wood stove in the basement because I cleaned it out and both my and my moms allergies react to it. There was no reason to use it for eat as the 7000 square foot home had forced air, baseboard electric and an oil furnace as well. He got high, I’m assuming. He left a box of hard charcoals on a pile of wood, went to bed and burnt down the house by accident. It was the worst smoke damage the restoration company had ever seen. He destroyed everything my mother owned, and many of my brother and i’s belongings. my mother had very good insurance, they got more money for the home than it would have sold for. (The dogs got out safe btw) now, he brags about the money. he told us that we should be taking him. Two weeks later, his father, my grandfather, died. when he was in the hospital in palliative care, (my mother works here) my estranged father came in after promising to wear a face mask. He ended up getting into a screaming match with one of the nurses regarding wearing a mask. He had to be escorted out of the hospital. This is the hospital where my mother made the money to support his 10k a month credit card bill. That night, I stayed alone in the hospital room with my grandfather. i wanted him suffer two strokes and die. Then, at 3am, at had to go to my grandmother’s house alone to tell her that her husband of 60 years died. Later on, my father came to the funeral and put up a big scene about not getting to say goodbye to his father, crying at the funeral. All of this is to say that my father brought ALL OF THIS on himself.
In the last 6 months, my father has had a “change of heart and want to reconnect and mend relationships” my father called me, I decided to answer. I told him “I have 3 criteria for seeing you again: 1. him being cold to the touch 2. A sizeable inherence and 3. His casket open for me to piss inside.” I added that “all of this conspiracy crap started because he was too lazy to get a job. Your kids don’t want you in their lives. The best thing you could contribute to society is dropping dead to not waste any more oxygen.” Now, he has repeated his downward spiral. My mother, and extended family are blaming me for the this. They said I shouldn’t have said anything. through all of this my mother hasn’t said anything negative about him other than,”I could never trust anyone again after him. I’ll never date”. I don’t understand these people. I HATE him with every cell in my body. I fell asleep a lot of nights wishing that I would wake up to him dead. Now, I need to be nice so he can heal. I’ve been living with him like this for half of my life. honestly, I don’t even remember the person he used to be.
I spent tonight drinking 2 bottles of wine alone and decided to write this down. Sorry for grammar and legibly

This question above gets asked pretty often here on Reddit and most responses are something along the lines of “You should have been training this whole time”, or “you’re already out of time”. And while it is important to train leading up to your race, I think that these 7 things can make or break your race day. So here is a better answer than Reddit users saying it’s too late.

1. Sleep
2. Eat Carbs and Protein
3. No New Foods, Be Hydrated
4. Make a Race Plan
5. Moderate Intensity Running/ Workouts
6. Injury Recovery
7. Understand your strengths

Sleep: A Lack of sleep while racing can cause faster fatigue, clumsiness, and may lead to possible injury. This doesn’t just go for the night before the race (and let’s assume you are like me and treat race day as Christmas Morning and can’t wait for it to start), but it goes for the week leading up to it. Most of us need 8hrs of sleep a night to be fully rested. Make it a goal to get 6 of 7 nights with an adequate amount of sleep.
Carbs and Protein: The food you consume has a high effect on your mood and how you feel when you exercise. Spartan Races take a lot of calories. On average, I burn 2500 calories for the beast. This past Trifecta weekend at big bear I burnt 5700 just from the 3 races! Eat Carbs for longer lasting energy and eat protein for muscle recovery leading up got the race or workout intensive days. I start eating more at the beginning of the week to compensate the loss.
No New Foods, Be Hydrated: This is a big one. Don’t change what you normally do when it comes to food before the race. No Brazilian Steak house with random meats wrapped in bacon the night before (I cannot confirm or deny I did this for SoCal this year). Likewise Breakfast on Race Day shouldn’t be anything new. What you eat should be true and tried with your body and workout habits. For me, Oatmeal, Bananas, and Plane Waffles sit well in my stomach as I am running. Drink Water! Heat Exhaustion is real especially now during the summer events. I drink a decent amount before and during the race to perform at my best.
Make a Race Plan: There are a lot of first timers that come to the races. There are many factors that may make your spartan race less than ideal. I plan what time I will leave, what time I’ll get there, stretching, and warming up before the race. In addition to that, I spend some time to plan out how I will run the race, what kind of pace I want to have, whether this specific race for time or for running with friends, what obstacles I failed last time and how I will change my strategy this time to be successful, and I even think about the obstacles that I do get that I want to be more efficient at. All these things allow for the best race day. Lockers, Bag Check, VIP Parking, transportation, and Hotels are all also important, you don’t want to accidentally stay 2 hours away from the venue because you forgot to look at the address. (Anyone do this at San Jose?)
Moderate Intensity Workouts: There are some that run spartan races that don’t prepare, think they really need to start doing something, and over do it. I’ve been a victim of my poor planning as well. I once had a race where I realized I had 2 weeks left to train (from not training the least bit). I wanted to do something so I started cranking out new PRs and distances, got sick, and then ran a race with being wiped from the sickness days prior. Trust me, you should keep your running and training more moderate the week of, no PRs, no new most miles ran, nada. If you wear a sport watch I’d say you should stay right in Zone 3 or 4 for your workouts and that will allow your body to be warmed up for the race on the weekend.
Injury Recovery: This is a big one. If you have injuries before the race plan for them. (You may ask why race when being injured and I tell you I am a Spartan, AROO!) If your knee hurts from running the past month get a knee brace. (Although the long term solution is to probably build up to running more mile or correct your form). If you pulled a muscle in your arm, plan on skipping the monkey bars or plan to take your time on certain obstacles. The biggest thing with this is paying attention to your body when it’s previously been injured and making adjustments as needed. Remember, transferring your race to a future venue is an option.
Understand your strengths: And I would add understand your weaknesses. This applies both to the running and obstacles. Part of this also ties into race planning. If you know you’ve barely hit the gym, but have spent most time running, I’d say try to get your legs to be used more in the obstacles. Don’t muscle up the wall but either hook your leg up on them or use the walk up the wall method. I ski a lot so downhills are my place to shine. Observing what other Spartans do on course is also a good way to learn better Techniques for your physical build. Open waves are also allowed to ask for help from other Spartans so keep that as an open option.
Good luck at your next race! Aroo!

(CW: abuse, suicide)
I hope I’m doing this right!
FMIL, but DH and I have been engaged and owned a home together for a decade and we have a 9 year old—just aren’t planning a wedding until I am done school and start earning money again.
Two years ago I was going to throw DH a surprise party, but FMIL and FSIL have planned a vacation during DH’s birthday the past two years, so I wasn’t able to. We are the only ones with a school aged child and these trips are always planned for a full week during my kid’s 1st full month of the school year, so we can only go for the weekend while everyone else (FMIL, FSIL & boyfriend and little kids, FBIL & girlfriend) is there the whole time.
For some background: the first year of the birthday/vacation was unpleasant, FMIL gaslighted DH the first time he ever had the nerve to bring up FFIL abusing him as a child, saying that it didn’t happen. FMIL didn’t like that I was insisting on keeping LO on his regular bedtime schedule on Saturday since he stayed up very late Friday and was returning to his 3rd week of kindergarten on Monday and we needed to drive back Sunday. On Sunday, I woke up to a very long email from FMIL explaining that saying no to a later bedtime on Saturday was unreasonable because this was family time, and that in the movie Dead Poet’s Society one character completes suicide because his parents said no too often. Yeah.
Anyway, last year DH wanted a cookout in our backyard with all his friends for his birthday. He’s never hosted a cookout with his friends. Once again they booked the vacation then so he didn’t. This year I planned to do the cookout, but it’s still months away, so of course I haven’t started.
I get a text today saying FMIL wants to plan a surprise party for DH’s birthday this year with me and FSIL, she wants me to pick a hall, she will make food, that my family will make food, “some” of his buddies can be invited, and it will be BYOB (halls here have bars and don’t allow BYOB, but whatever) and I will have to make an excuse to get him there. She asked what did I think.
Side note: I am a full time student expediting a degree in STEM (a totally new field for me), I was recently diagnosed with ADHD, I have many chronic illnesses, and I am still doing all the SAHM domestic duties I took on when I left the workforce to raise my kid because daycare was commensurate with my salary. I went back to school when LO started kindergarten (so that first vacation was entirely me studying). I finish my degree in December(!) but the months leading up to that are going to be SO busy for me.
I told FMIL that I was planning the cookout, what he wants, for this year. She said he should have surprise party because he doesn’t expect anything fancy and he deserves it and that I should pick a date the month before his birthday or the month after (this is the month I have to plan LO’s huge birthday party) for a surprise party and just have both parties, and if it’s the month after it can also be my graduation party (I won’t graduate for a couple months after that time, still). I don’t want a graduation party, and neither of us should have to split a party, especially if he deserves this surprise party. I do not have time to plan three parties in the final months of my degree, and I probably wouldn’t even have time to attend a second birthday party for him if she threw it all by herself!
I haven’t responded again. I have therapy in the morning and will respond after. I have never thrown him a birthday party, and it seems like she’s just trying to be in control of his birthday for three years in a row, and she doesn’t do this with her other children. I am so tired.