Printable short stories for middle school

Soooo I fainted. Thank god not holding LO, long story short forgot to eat, or drink water... I KNOW OKAY. I just get so busy and used to ignoring my own body’s signals for literally anything. I’m on my like 50th lecture atm and it’s deserved. So… if you’ve got time to take a break don’t forget to like eat a cube of cheese and a glass of water or something. 😂😭😩
THE WORST THING IS…. I spend way too much time on Reddit talkin about food to not have remembered to eat something. 🤦🏼‍♀️

Long story short, my boss has been acting like he’s interested in my career development, but he won’t let me participate in important client meetings. I feel like he sees me as just a machine to produce financial models, without giving me the opportunity to develop relationships with key clients. I’m not sure if he’s doing this for his own job security.
In the past, it didn’t bother me much because it was just the two of us on the team: I wrote deals, and he sold them. Recently, a new person joined the team—a fresh grad with two years of unrelated experience who was given a manager title and gets to participate in those client meetings. She was hired by the higher-ups, beyond my boss’s control. When she was hired, I expressed my disappointment, and my boss reassured me she wasn’t a threat and it was just a title. But gradually, she’s been invited to key decision-making meetings while I’ve been excluded.
I don’t know if their long-term plan is for me to do the grunt work while she presents it. I’ve had several conversations with my boss about areas I’m interested in learning more about. He said he’d rely on me more but then just put me in a few unimportant meetings to brush me off. Additionally, he sends her materials to study on the areas I’m interested in.
I have another meeting with him tomorrow. I’m not sure if it’s worth one last try.

Long story short - I just came off of my first job out of university where I didn't have much mentorship, and I got fired for "poor work," and all of the details around the "poor work" were ADHD related. How are people with ADHD managing to keep jobs that require excellent organizational skills (and not hate them)?
(I tried posting it on ADHD) but they wouldn't let me for some reason.
Longer story:
I got hired and there was a lot of disruptions shortly afterwards due to my mothers' health (I worked remotely for a bit to help her out). Then, I worked half days for a month while starting new medications that help to regulate mood. After that, I came back to work full time, and that's where things started to get really bad.
My boss (and coworker) would look at me like I was the stupidest person because I didn't remember details from a meeting that happened over a month ago. I seldom got feedback, despite asking for it. I admittedly did miss some details at times, but hardly anything that completely ruined a project. Time management was tough, because I was given a list of things to do, without any context, and quite frankly ambiguous deadlines (there were deadlines, but there were so arbitrary). Then, when I inevitably didn't hit the deadlines, nothing happened. No reprimands, nothing. Until about 4 months later when I was told that by not hitting a deadline the project was unable to move forward. Another point of contention was when I asked for flexible start times (i.e. come in anytime between 8:00-8:30 rather than a firm 8:15 start time) I was told no, the job starts at 8:15 firm (that should have been my first red flag that I'd struggle here). My boss tried to help me a bit with time management by telling me to "time block" my day and stick to the time blocks, but that hardly works for me. Firm times might as well be a death sentence as far as work goes. I do much better by task rather than by time. And projects that took longer than 2-3 weeks were very difficult for me to keep on top of, especially when there was no perceived consequences for not finishing completely (no one told me the effects not finishing it might have). Other things that were an issue were that I was (allegedly) given verbal feedback that I didn't remember, or I lost the notes, etc. (but I did develop systems to keep track of that feedback for the most part, it just took me 7 or so months because I didn't have any guidance). I was also completely unable to balance competing priorities (that once I did not find a suitable solution to, and is a weak spot for me). I even got in trouble because I didn't get a task right after one round of minimal feedback, for a task that I had never done before (and I told my boss that too!).
Anyways, I basically got let go because of poor organization, time management, and attention to detail (all of which had substantial improvements since I started the job, since I was adapting and learning how to keep things organized).
Now I'm honestly scared to even apply for jobs because my first job was such a terrible experience for me (I learned a lot, but also had some of the worst anxiety of my life). My field is in public policy, which seems to lend itsself to a lot of jobs that seem like such a bad fit for someone with ADHD due to ambiguous timelines, the need for high project management skills, high need for organization skills, etc. I feel so deflated from my last job experience where my boss was too busy with her own work (and career advancement) to mentor a new employee.
I'm not particularly tied to this field of work, but I just finished a masters' degree (which was also a terrible experience for me) and I'm not particularly interested in going back to school (it also isn't super financially responsible at the moment).
TL;DR So, my question is, how are people with ADHD managing to keep a job, especially one that requires excellent organizational skills?

All three incidents were on private property (truck stop). MVR is clean besides one overweight ticket, which I paid. Long story short: recently got fully approved for employment at K&B Transportation. Full background check completed and everything. However, the day before orientation they denied my application due to too many moving violations, which tells me despite MVR being clean those three backing up violations are reported on my DAC report. Am I correct in this assumption? Also if true, does that mean other companies will deny me or should I give it a shot since companies differ?
For context: my third moving violation occurred in February of this year. So maybe the recruiter only saw my first two, hence approving my application, but then my third one lagged on getting reported and then got reported the day before my orientation?
Thanks for your time. Any input would be appreciated. If trucking is still the path for me, then I will ingrain the habit of GOAL into my DNA.

Written after the Gaza Conflict of 2014
The U.N. wants the world to believe that Israel is leading the globe in human rights violations, partly as a result of the shameless propaganda war perpetrated by Hamas during and since the war in the Gaza Strip last summer. The war was precipitated by numerous Hamas and Palestinian terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians, the last straw being the bloody massacre of an entire Israeli family, including their newborn baby.
Only the uninformed could pass judgement on Israel for the unavoidable collateral damage on civilians of which any warring state must necessarily be guilty. The United States is no stranger to civilian collateral damage. We routinely kill civilians as a result of our drone executions which take place near daily all over the Middle East. How does the U.S. handle the repercussions of killing civilians in order to execute high-value targets? We pay them cash money. In the Mideast, it's referred to as "blood money", and in Islam, paying that debt brings balance to the scales of justice.
In 2014 alone, Obama authorized 357 air strikes in Pakistan. These figures are noninclusive of the multitudes of drone strikes which are a fact of life for citizens in several Mideast countries; including, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq, among others. The 2014 official Pakistani deaths by drone reported was between 2,410 - 3,902; 416-959 civilians; 168-204 children; 1,133 - 1,706 injured.
During the 2014 Gaza Strip conflict, an estimated 2,200 casualties were reported, many of them civilians that were used as human shields by their own leaders. The fact is, collateral damage is not a war crime, but a harsh reality that must be accepted in a world in which conflict and war is a part of human nature.
Unfortunately for Israel, her enemies have demonstrated for years their willingness to sacrifice their own civilians in exchange for uninformed global pity and empathy that will one day lead to global indignation against Israel. That strategy has had limited success until recent years; coinciding with the Obama presidency and global anti-Semitism, the likes of which haven't been seen since the holocaust.
How much do relatives get, you ask? I've heard of examples for common citizens in Iraq ranging from $10-30,000 dollars (a fortune to most Iraqi citizens). Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales went on a killing rampage against civilians in Afghanistan two years ago, resulting in the deaths of 17 women, infants, and small children. Afghan provincial council members reports the United States has paid the victims' families a total of $860,000 -- $10,000 for each of the six wounded survivors, and $50,000 apiece for the 16 dead. That's chump change compared to the $2.3 million "diyya" paid by the United States for the release of Raymond Davis, who was held for the killing of two Pakistani citizens; a third innocent pedestrian killed by the reaction team who drove erratically to extract him.
Israel is well aware that any time they're forced to use military force in response to the routine terrorism to which they've been exposed since 1948, collateral damage is inevitable. Hamas' war doctrine has been developed not from a viewpoint of military victory, as they are insanely outgunned and outsmarted by their mortal enemies. Hamas purposely antagonizes Israel and provokes Israel to engaging in violence to quell the unrest Hamas leaders perpetrate. Hamas then stages their military assets, soldiers, and weapons within the Palestinian civilian populous, using them as human shields.
When Hamas launches a missile or rocket into Israeli territory, counter-batteries automatically triangulate the munitions' trajectory and azimuth; counter-battery artillery is set to automatically return fire to the calculated enemy position. It is a known fact that Hamas uses schools, homes, markets, and other heavily populated areas in order to carry out their attacks, knowing full well the result will be the deaths of their own people. Hamas considers the victims of this barbaric system "martyrs", and the religiously brainwashed followers only see Israel as the culprit.
It used to be a widely known fact that the propaganda videos showing Israeli collateral damage broadcast to the world were calculated acts for which only Hamas was responsible. Not so much in 2015, where people now live in the fantasy that meeting violence with violence is Neolithic and unevolved. The worldview on Israel would be substantially different if those passing judgement lived a day in the shoes of an Israeli citizen, in constant fear of terrorist attacks.
Israel was denounced as the chief human rights violator above Syria, where Assad has launched Sarin gas attacks on civilians; North Korea, who houses untold numbers of political prisoners, most of them innocent; including three successive generations of their offspring who spend entire lives in concentration camps; and, Iran, a state where women's lives have actually been given a set value -- half the worth of a man's (Article 33 and 99 of the Law of Retribution: Hodoud and Ghesas, Section 2 of Article 237). Where the weight of her testimony in court is precisely half that of a man. Where a husband can kill his adulterous wife without punishment while a woman is punished with death for a similar crime. If a male Muslim intentionally kills a Muslim woman, he is subject to retribution (an eye for an eye) but only if the guardian of the murdered woman pays him half of the diyya to the murderer to make up the deficiency (Article 6 of Diyat, Article 209 Law of Retribution).
But it's Israel, a land populated by the eternally persecuted, that according to the U.N. eclipses all others in a world of wicked atrocity. Israel has turned the other cheek to violence, oppression, and subjugation throughout history. To rank Israel atop countries with well-known and well-documented histories of civil rights and human rights violations is an inexcusable insult and quite indicative of the sorry state of affairs within the U.N. and within our own diplomatic circles.

I consider myself a cinephile. I had recently gotten into the filmography of Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman and I often write screenplays for school plays and I have been working on my own short film before goin off to college. I have seen that for some reason, a large part of the community, at least the people I know, consider Christopher Nolan the best director of all time. Don't get me wrong, I love Christopher Nolan and Memento and Oppenheimer both are among my favourite movies but I could name 3 to 4 directors of this generation that are better than him(not that he can't surpass them by the end of his career). What is the reason for this? Villeneuve and Tarantino both are also very popular directors but they don't get as much acclaim from casu as Nolan. Maybe he is in fact the better director and I am the one who can't see it. I just wanted to ask you guys what are your thoughts on this and why is Nolan is so much more popular than other directors? (I've also noted you're called a normie by casuals if you mention that you love Kubrick)

The Truth was an anthology in the purest sense of the word. Each episode was a new present to unwrap. It spanned multiple genres and styles. It billed itself as movies for the ears, and it certainly lived up to that description. Now, it is true that quite a few audio dramas fit that description, but you have to consider the context that The Truth occurred in. The first episode of The Truth premiered way back in 2011. The indie audio drama community was still very much in its infancy. Fiction podcasts tended to be short story readings like StarShipSofa or Lightspeed Magazine. If you were lucky, you might get something like The Drabblecast, with music and sound-effects added to the mix. The Truth was a full-cast show, performed rather than read, and with immersive sound-effects and music.
There are over 200 episodes to choose from, but since this is a lunar subreddit, I wanted to highlight one episode in particular.
“Moon Graffiti” is an alternate history piece about the Apollo 11 mission. In this story, The Eagle comes in for a crash landing on the Moon. The lander’s capsule is damaged in such a way that it can’t launch into orbit. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are stranded on the Moon until their oxygen runs out. After that, they will go down in history as the first men to die on the Moon. They take their remaining time to chat and muse about the nature of life and mortality.
This was the very first episode of The Truth ever, and they certainly started out of the gate strong. As you might imagine, the alternate history premise piqued my interest. This scenario was very much a concern during the real Apollo 11 mission. In fact, President Richard Nixon had a speech prepared just in case Armstrong and Aldrin became stranded on the Moon. The speech is actually read at the very end of the episode. The actor sounds nothing like Nixon, but he certainly captures the emotion of the speech. Ironically, there was a memorial to the victims of the Apollo 1 fire included with the other equipment on the lander.
What would it be like to experience such a stroke of bad luck? You are stranded hundreds of thousands of miles from home with no hope of rescue. You can see death slowly, but surely, creeping towards you. I try my best not to think too much about death, but the thought proves rather intrusive. I don’t know how I would like to die, as I would very much not like to die at all. But I’m also keenly aware that the reaper will claim me sooner or later.
Yeah, there are a lot of implications on how such a disaster would impact the Space Race. However, this episode is presented as a very intimate story about two men complimenting their own imminent mortality. I am of the opinion that this was absolutely the right move.
I have reviewed several other episodes of The Truth. Just seven at the moment, but I’m hard at work on part two of the review. There’s a lot more really great episodes to cover.
But if you want to read what I’ve got now, you can find that over here: http://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-audio-file-truth-part-1.html?m=0

So, long story short--
I fired my PT employee and instead of re-hiring, I have been asked to consider taking on the additional role for an (unknown) pay increase.
I am proposing to my work place that instead of hiring a new part time employee, I (as the director of the department) will take on their responsibilities. I currently make 72k/year as a salaried employee. I am planning to ask for an increase to 92k/year. Does this seem reasonable? The previous employee was making an annual salary of 30,000 for PT hours--24hrs per week. I am asking for 67% of the salary (20k) to absorb the role.
At the end of the day, if I am unhappy with what they are willing to give, I can stick to my usual job/current salary and just hire a PT employee.
What would you propose? Does my proposal seem fair?
Any advice is appreciated :)

I'm sorry to be posting something negative, I'd avoid reading this if you want to stay in a good headspace. I'm hoping for some kind of guidance.Not suicidal! TW: Death
For those of you who don't feel like reading all of this, I'll add a tl;dr at the end.

I've been wary of posting about what I'm going through in any public space beyond general feelings I'm experiencing, for several reasons. I don't want it to somehow effect other people the same way it has me, I feel like what I have experienced is fully my fault and that I'm the only person who can change it, and I don't want to put more negativity into anyone's life, especially since I'm not paying for a service here. I also don't really want other people's beliefs to effect my issue, but it is what it is at this point.
That said, I really don't know how to proceed with my life. I hope I can gain some guidance, and that the many others who are facing similar if not identical issues might be helped with anything that comes from this.

Okay! So about five years ago, I got really into manifestation after I discovered it through youtube. No surprise here, I had been into the law of attraction previously but I never felt like resources like The Secret got into the nitty gritty enough for me to have a lot of success with it. I definitely tried, but I wound up thinking it was a bunch of delusional people wasting their time. Shortly after initially discovering the LoA, I ended up in a relationship where my partner introduced me to a lot of other kinds of "applied spirituality?". Energy work and witchcraft were pretty high up there, and I very casually studied ceremonial magick for a little while. Anyway, back to five years ago, I discovered a few resources that made it all make sense, and I had A LOT of successes. Some of them were straight up Glitch_in_the_Matrix worthy, like trying to manifest food and finding an untouched, full bag of groceries right in the middle of the sidewalk on my walk home or conveniently making a new friend who brought me food, literally every single day, unprompted.
So here's where the problem comes in. I've had OCD since I was a young teenager if not all my life to some extent. Diagnosed in 2021, but definitely was dealing with it wayyy earlier. My obsessions always fixated on religion prior to that point, but suddenly with my influx of successful manifestations, I became constantly fixating on accidentally manifesting something very bad. I would get the intrusive thought that my partner was going to die or be hit by a car. I did everything I possibly could to think the opposite, to assume she would be perfectly okay. To read every resource I could and manifest a long, healthy life for her. The thoughts didn't stop.
It went on for 3 straight years, every day, every hour. I was paralyzed by these intrusive thoughts. I tried to manifest the thoughts away as well, but they didn't budge. After years of this, I began to really notice that the bad things were taking their sweet time to happen. Nothing ever happened to her because of my thoughts. Things started to get better. I stuffed spirituality as a whole into a dark corner in the back of my mind and decided to never touch it again.
Then one day, I realized that there were some things I would really love to achieve or change in my life, and decided to get back into it again. Nothing bad ever happened from it in the past, so why not play around with the real life video game cheats again. Almost immediately, I became fixated on accidentally manifesting my own death.
Once again, every day, every hour for the past 1.5 years I've been fixated on it. Constantly thinking about whether or not I'm going to die, whether this is the day or tomorrow is the day. Many days I was convinced it was going to happen, and it did not. I was grateful, but the thoughts and feelings of impending doom never went away.
I feel weak and abused by myself. I feel like I caused this all to happen to myself by, as many in the manifesting communities say, "Living in a victim mentality". I often feel hopeless, as I do today. Really the only reassurance is that I'm currently alive somehow. I don't really care about dying, I just don't want to cause it to happen to myself. I don't want to be too weak to even save my own life. I have tried extremely hard to solve this problem. There were weeks last year where I hardly slept at all because every moment was spent trying to "Occupy the state of surviving to x age". Every time I'd feel like giving up, part of me would find the willpower to try again. But it's been a long time and I'm losing steam.
This is already EXTREMELY long so I appreciate anyone who has read through this a lot. So without going to deep into things, at some point in this process, I got into Buddhism and specifically learning to experience suffering instead of trying to change it. This was super helpful for me, but I'm still suffering, and can still manifest other things. Because of this, I ended up going long periods of time, just allowing my thoughts to do whatever they wanted to. Sometimes I'd be convinced it was going to kill me, but I decided to just let it come and go. This really helps, but I keep jumping back to feeling like I have to do something to survive.
I'll cap it there. Thanks so much for reading. Any thoughts or advice related to the spirituality aspect of this, besides the obvious amount that I need therapy?
tl;dr: got super into manifestation, became extremely fixated on accidentally killing myself with it. proceeded to suffer. hoping for helpful advice

So in SC with a no fault divorce you’re still legally married until living apart for a year. Her and her ex haven’t been apart that long yet. Long story short she’s very likely about to have no place to go and I offered her to stay with me for a few months but she has kids and she says her ex can tell her she can’t (because of the kids) because they’re still legally married. This could be sound, but I’m asking for help here. I’m trying to help her anyway I can but her staying with me is the only way out I’m seeing for her so far.

Hi, I'm new here. Completely new to this whole thing in general. Long story short I had oral surgery which resulted in nerve damage. I read that red light has been a bit promising at aiding the healing process as it improves blood flow and oxygen to the area? I got a red light want which I can use inside of my mouth. I need to know which wave?length and for how long. Can anyone help me with this? Sorry if I'm missing something i have zero knowledge and research on Google just says it's helpful without the details.

I (F17) live in a RV (temporarily) with my parents. In this RV, I have my own bedroom and half bath…
Long story short, I took a late night/half asleep dump last night and forgot to flush. Forgetting to flush isn’t the norm for me at all. I just got woken up about 15 minutes ago by my mom barging into my room to pour some kind of RV sewer treatment down my toilet. She saw the unflushed shit. I’m fucking traumatized. SHE SHOULD HAD JUST GIVEN IT TO ME SO I COULD DO IT MYSELF. I am beyond embarassed. So embarrassed that I dont think half asleep me would make that mistake again.
I don’t ever want to look my mother in the eyes again. I don’t ever want to speak to her. Not even be within a 100 mile range. I don’t think I’ll ever get over this embarrassment. I’m genuinely close to crying… 😭
TL;DR: I (F17) live in a RV, took a dump in my half bath while half asleep and forgot to flush, mom went and poured RV sewer treatment down the toilet this morning and she saw the unflushed shit. Currently dying of embarrassment.

So I (18F) joined a college that is an over 6 hr car drive from home because it felt suffocating there. I don't have siblings and neither do I go to friends homes (this has happened only once.) All through kindergarten, middle school etc I've been the cheerful outgoing nerd until I started slacking off real bad by highschool.
Yeah teenage years bullshit drama but still I became aware of the people around me. It was quite obvious that I never fit into any crowd. Around then nearly everyone was getting into relationships, going places alone, hanging out with friends outside school hours etc I did nothing. Let me tell you, things were extremely bad at home then... Mom and Dad were always arguing and being violent with each other. I've been hit so many times and when I talk with casual friends they say at most they've parents hit them a countable no. of times and I would feel so jealous.
By senior high I began failing exams and my Mom who's always had extreme expectations on me only got worse. Mind you, I got my phone only after graduating highschool. I remember so many times when I'd mark dates on my calendar to run away and debate on whether or not to completely cut my hair to look like a guy. But considering how little my worldly experiences were, I was very scared to do anything stupid. Anyway, I ended up attempting to cut my wrists a bunch of times u til my parents found out and that brought a significantly change in them.
I won't lie, I've always led a blessed life. Both Mom and Dad are rich, own over two cars, houses etc. but they're always working and I'm often left alone at home with my grandma who's very old so we barely talk. I became so used to being on my own this way that the very presence of others infuriate me now. It's true, I'm posting out here seeking online validation but at the end of the day, I find a certain peace in locking my room shut and minding my business.
I don't think I'm an introvert because I dont mind starting conversations with strangers. When I am with a bunch of 'friends' I usually have a good time with them but that's all just in the moment. Only with two nice souls have I actually bonded in my life. Just like others, I want to be in relationships too but my confidence is at an all time low even though I barely show it. I'm just super convinced that no guy would want to be with me physically or emotionally. I don't have a golden body or anything. Everything is average. In fact, I'd say a little below average because I don't even put effort into looking good.
Maybe my life crashed when my parents began labelling me as fat, ugly, annoying. My mom has cursed so many times as to why a burden like me was born. When my dad was extremely mad, he said he'd kill me if I stayed in the house. I've spent too many nights crying blah blah blah a lot of shit yeah, anyway I began working on myself after leaving home. Began working out, lost quite a lot of weight, topped the class etc and I began feeling truly happy.
But the thing is, if I put aside all these materialistic incidents, I'm always alone. I enjoy it. Even though I've never had a one time fling or any kind of fling with anyone, I feel like having no commitment is more peaceful. But it's funny how I still dream of a cute ass family like in Wattpad romance novels (which I love writing).
My parents have been extremely kind towards me after I attempted suicide. They feel sorry, I know and they are trying so hard to fix everything. Lol this is kind of silly but dad gives me kisses and hugs sometimes... It makes me want to cry because there were times when we've been really rude to each other. Now it's all in the past even though I have mild ptsd now.
I have distanced myself mentally from them and everyone tbh. My roomates keep telling me that I'm always in my own world. I love doing things alone because it gives me a sense of independence. I don't know why I have such a proud character that hates asking help or talking about my problems. But I certainly despise being vulnerable in front of someone.
Because of my peculiar 'antisocialness', I've been called weird so often. And especially for my taste in men as I only have eyes for older men. I want to work much harder, leave the country and live in a quiet corner of the world.
Now that I've gotten it all out, I can hopefully focus on my test tomorrow lol wish me luck 🤞

Long story short, I’ve got a chance to go on an African safari for almost free. I actually shoot almost every day, but I’ve been waiting years for the right opportunity to upgrade from my T5i. I shoot mostly birds and lizards, but I enjoy wildlife in general, as well as landscapes and astrophotography.
I’ve long had my eye on the OM-1 or the Z8. I’m trying not to overthink the budget, but I‘d like to keep it around or under $10k in the short term. Long term, there’s budget for more lenses. The Z8 is the better all-around camera, but I really like what the OM-1 can do and it’s ultimately the better fit for my daily photography. There’s also the size/weight constraints of light aircraft travel to consider and I like the superior weather-sealing. That said, the OM-1 feels limited; M43 plus the lack of upgrade path to larger format, the future of Olympus is unclear, the quintessential wildlife lens is $7500, subpar video, etc. With Africa on the table, I‘m leaning heavily towards the Z8, especially since DX mode will give me equivalent crop and IQ to the OM-1 in addition to its superior IQ overall. But every time I go to pull the trigger on the Z8, something about the OM-1 + 150-400mm calls to me. My ultimate goal is to have an all-arounder that excels at bird photography but isn’t going to leave me disappointed in other aspects. With the hitch being it has to work for an African safari.
I would appreciate any advice or experience or anything like that. Open to suggestions.

The Truth was an anthology in the purest sense of the word. Each episode was a new present to unwrap. It spanned multiple genres and styles. It billed itself as movies for the ears, and it certainly lived up to that description. Now, it is true that quite a few audio dramas fit that description, but you have to consider the context that The Truth occurred in. The first episode of The Truth premiered way back in 2011. The indie audio drama community was still very much in its infancy. Fiction podcasts tended to be short story readings like StarShipSofa or Lightspeed Magazine. If you were lucky, you might get something like The Drabblecast, with music and sound-effects added to the mix. The Truth was a full-cast show, performed rather than read, and with immersive sound-effects and music.
There are over 200 episodes to choose from, but since this is an alternate history subreddit, I wanted to highlight one episode in particular.
“Moon Graffiti” is an alternate history piece about the Apollo 11 mission. In this story, The Eagle comes in for a crash landing on the Moon. The lander’s capsule is damaged in such a way that it can’t launch into orbit. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are stranded on the Moon until their oxygen runs out. After that, they will go down in history as the first men to die on the Moon. They take their remaining time to chat and muse about the nature of life and mortality.
This was the very first episode of The Truth ever, and they certainly started out of the gate strong. As you might imagine, the alternate history premise piqued my interest. This scenario was very much a concern during the real Apollo 11 mission. In fact, President Richard Nixon had a speech prepared just in case Armstrong and Aldrin became stranded on the Moon. The speech is actually read at the very end of the episode. The actor sounds nothing like Nixon, but he certainly captures the emotion of the speech. Ironically, there was a memorial to the victims of the Apollo 1 fire included with the other equipment on the lander.
What would it be like to experience such a stroke of bad luck? You are stranded hundreds of thousands of miles from home with no hope of rescue. You can see death slowly, but surely, creeping towards you. I try my best not to think too much about death, but the thought proves rather intrusive. I don’t know how I would like to die, as I would very much not like to die at all. But I’m also keenly aware that the reaper will claim me sooner or later.
Yeah, there are a lot of implications on how such a disaster would impact the Space Race. However, this episode is presented as a very intimate story about two men complimenting their own imminent mortality. I am of the opinion that this was absolutely the right move.
I have reviewed several other episodes of The Truth. Just seven at the moment, but I’m hard at work on part two of the review. There’s a lot more really great episodes to cover.
But if you want to read what I’ve got now, you can find that over here: http://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-audio-file-truth-part-1.html?m=0

So I was tending to my garden as usual yesterday and Poncho my Tabby cat was beside me (also as usual) and while digging out potatoes I noticed Poncho staring at the sky.
"What are you looking at Poncho?" I asked. My cat did not reply.
That was unusual to say the least. Poncho always replies. But Poncho was ignoring me so finally I looked up.
Long story short I immediately panicked and ran inside the house and googled the number for the nearest Air Force base because I had to make a report.
It was long process on the phone but eventually I was put in touch with the correct department.
A gentleman named Captain Shook asked me what I was calling about. I began to explain that Poncho saw something. He was obviously confused at first but by the end he understood that my cat saw something. I was getting frustrated because I had to repeat myself like 7 times.
Long story short that was the time I saw a UFO.
Also I don't have a cat, or a Poncho for that matter but who's counting?

This was originally posted to pettyrevenge, but for some reason got taken down. So here goes:
The revenge I took on my grade nine English teacher was so petty that I hesitate to write about it. But Mrs. Bristle (for that is the name I will give her) was cruel to me every chance she got, and she made my first year in high school a misery. So when a file with her name on it arrived at my office, my first thought was not that I would beat her (for I was certain that I would) but rather, of the revenge I would take along the way.
I was pushing forty when Mrs. Bristle’s file hit my desk, some estate litigation where a mother’s last will and testament left my clients next to nothing, and gave their sister, Mrs. Bristle, pretty well the entire estate. When I saw the defendant’s name it looked familiar, and after a bit of Googling, I confirmed what I suspected: the defendant, Mrs. Bristle, was my former grade nine English teacher.
I remembered Mrs. Bristle very well. She was supposed to be teaching us the wonders of English literature, but what she really taught us were her rules, by which she meant her arbitrary whims, expressed in vague language, backed up by petty punishments for non-compliance. There was an art to getting along with Mrs. Bristle, and while most of the other kids learned it easily enough, somehow I did not. I have trouble learning unwritten rules, and in Mrs. Bristle’s class where unwritten and constantly changing rules were the order of the day, I didn’t stand a chance. Mrs. Bristle admonished me almost daily for ‘not paying attention’. I did detentions, re-wrote assignments, and made visits to the principal’s office, all because I apparently wasn’t listening, wasn’t doing what I was told.
Many was the time when Mrs. Bristle took me to task for missing some obvious but unstated part of an assignment. One time I handed in a sonnet, and received an “F” because the rhyming pattern was Petrarchan, not Shakespearean. But she would be nice to me, Mrs. Bristle would always say when she tossed my work back at me. She would give me another chance to hand the assignment in with the arbitrary changes she required, in the end giving me a good mark, but then heavily downgraded for being late.
Mrs. Bristle's case worked its way through the early stages, and every time I exchanged an email with her (for she was a self-rep, no need for counsel, she claimed) I thought about the unpleasant time I’d spent in her class. I had a rough time in high school, and I always resent anything that makes me dwell on it.
After a few months, the case was ready for the next stage. It was time to examine Mrs. Bristle, to find out why she thought her mother wanted to disinherit most of the family and enrich Mrs. Bristle alone. I showed up at the court reporter’s office early as usual, to get set up.
“What’s that shit eating grin on your face?” Adam asked. He was a lawyer colleague, about my vintage, and we were sitting in the lounge for lawyers only, the room that most court reporter’s offices have, a place for the lawyers to hang out and shoot the shit, no clients allowed.
“I’m going to examine my grade nine English teacher today,” I said, “and it's going to be fun.” I explained how she’d hated me back in the day, and had done her best to make my life hell.
“What’s the case about?” Adam said. Adam had been around the block, same as me, and it took only a few words for me to summarize everything that mattered in the file. “Estate fight, one sibling against four, undue influence, holograph will cutting out most of the siblings, competing with an older will, a formal one, where the shares are equal.”
Adam nodded appreciatively. “Nice fees, if the estate’s got the cash.”
“It does,” I said. We chatted for a bit, and then sat there in silence as we each did the last bit of prep for the cases we had that day, making notes, reading documents and drinking coffee. My alarm dinged just before ten, and I made my way to the examination room, and Mrs. Bristle, the teacher who’d greatly disliked the grade nine version of Calledinthe90s. I was curious to see if she would like the older version any better.
* * *
The examination started, and Mrs. Bristle and I sparred for a while, me tossing vague questions her way, and criticizing her when she did not understand. I kept her on the defensive for close to three hours, until it was getting on to one p.m.
“Aren’t you in a conflict or something?” she said to me just before the lunch break, when she’d finally made the connection, and understood that the lawyer asking her questions was a former student.
“No conflict,” I said, dismissing her concerns with a wave of my hand. “During the lunch break, there’s something I need you to do.”
“I don’t want to answer questions during lunch. I need a break.” The examination had been rough on Mrs. Bristle. She was not used to being asked questions, to being held to account, to being constantly challenged, and even having her grammar corrected now and again.
“You’ll get your lunch break. But while you’re eating a sandwich or whatever, keep this copy of the holograph will next to you.” The will on which Mrs. Bristle’s case relied was a holograph will, meaning that Mrs. Bristle’s mother had written the will entirely in hand from start to finish. The mother, or more likely, Mrs. Bristle herself, had downloaded a holograph will form from the web, and had completed it in accordance with the website’s instructions. Holograph wills are special. You can do a holograph will without a witness, without a lawyer, without anything at all, so long as you did it right. But if you got anything wrong, if you messed up in any way, it was invalid.
“You want me to read the will again over lunch?” Mrs. Bristle said.
“No. Instead, I want you to make a handwritten copy of it.”
“You want me to write it out? Whatever for?”
“There’s an allegation that the will wasn’t written by your mother, and that you wrote it up instead.” An allegation that I’d made up myself, that morning, while I was sitting in the lawyer's lounge, drinking coffee and munching on a muffin. My clients had not challenged the will’s handwriting; it was obviously their mother’s, totally different from Mrs. Bristle’s own writing. But I had decided otherwise.
Mrs. Bristle was appropriately outraged at being unjustly accused of forgery. Said she could prove it wasn’t her handwriting, could absolutely prove it.
“Then let’s settle the forgery issue once and for all,” I said, “write out the will in your own hand, so that our document experts can examine it, compare it with the original, and make a determination.”
“I don’t need the entire lunch break for that,” Mrs. Bristle said, “and I’d rather eat lunch at the restaurant downstairs.” The will was barely a page long, at most three hundred words, that being all it took for the mother to allegedly disinherit most of her children, and inexplicably leave everything to Mrs. Bristle. The mother had written up the will herself, but she’d been ninety at the time, while living in Mrs. Bristle’s house, and very much under her influence.
“I’ve retained five different experts,” I said, “and each of them will need copies.”
“Five experts? Why so many experts?”
“Each expert needs ten samples, for comparison purposes. It’s going to take you a while, Mrs. Bristle. I suggest you get started.” I overrode her protests and once she started to write, I left her in the room, and went to the lawyer’s lounge to eat their small sandwiches and drink more of the excellent coffee. After a while I stopped by the examination room to look in on Mrs. Bristle. I wanted to check in on her progress.
Mrs. Bristle asked for more time, complained of writer’s cramp, and asked me again if it was really necessary for her to write out the holograph will fifty times in her own hand, and I assured her that there was nothing for it, that it was absolutely necessary. I returned to the lounge to check my emails, leaving her hard at the homework I’d given her.
After a while my colleague, Adam, popped into the lounge. He asked me how it was going, the examination with the teacher, the teacher who had treated me so badly.
“I’m making her write lines.” Adam laughed, and laughed harder when I explained that I wasn’t kidding, that I really was making Mrs. Bristle write lines, and how I was doing it. His laughter attracted attention, and a few other lawyers asked what was up. “He’s making his teacher witness write lines,” Adam said, and the lawyer’s lounge hooted with laughter when I told everyone what was up.
It was one of the pettiest things I’ve ever done to anyone, making my grade nine teacher write lines. But the writing lines thing was just a warmup. The real revenge had yet to come. I returned to the examination room after a while, to check up on Mrs. Bristle, see how she was doing.
“This is taking forever,” she said, “and I really don’t get why you need it.” She had writer’s cramp, and was shaking her hand to get the kinks out. I picked up the stack of holograph wills she’d created, and flipped through it. She was nowhere near finished.
“On second thought,” I said, “maybe it isn’t necessary. I think you’re right. I don’t need any handwriting samples from you.”
“Why not?” she said.
“The will is invalid,” I explained, adding that because her mother had used a pre-printed form off the web, the law would not recognize the will. “A holograph will has to be entirely in the testator's handwriting,” I explained, “every single word entirely in handwriting from start to finish. This will doesn’t qualify, because your mother used a standard form, a form printed off the web, with instructions and boxes and questions and so on, and when you do that, then the will is no longer a holograph will. It’s a regular will, and regular wills need to be properly witnessed. This one isn’t witnessed, and that means it’s not a will. It’s just a piece of paper.”
“Are you trying to tell me that you only figured that out now? What kind of lawyer are you, anyways?”
“What kind of lawyer am I? I’m a lawyer who makes a witness skip lunch, and sit in a small room all alone, and write lines. Sound familiar, Mrs. Bristle?” She said nothing, and just stared at me. I closed the door on her, leaving her alone once more, and left for the Middle Temple Tavern where the lawyers all hung out. It was time to hoist a Guinness and enjoy my petty triumph.

The Truth was an anthology in the purest sense of the word. Each episode was a new present to unwrap. It spanned multiple genres and styles. It billed itself as movies for the ears, and it certainly lived up to that description. Now, it is true that quite a few audio dramas fit that description, but you have to consider the context that The Truth occurred in. The first episode of The Truth premiered way back in 2011. The indie audio drama community was still very much in its infancy. Fiction podcasts tended to be short story readings like StarShipSofa or Lightspeed Magazine. If you were lucky, you might get something like The Drabblecast, with music and sound-effects added to the mix. The Truth was a full-cast show, performed rather than read, and with immersive sound-effects and music.
There are over 200 episodes to choose from, but since this is an alternate history subreddit, I wanted to highlight one episode in particular.
“Moon Graffiti” is an alternate history piece about the Apollo 11 mission. In this story, The Eagle comes in for a crash landing on the Moon. The lander’s capsule is damaged in such a way that it can’t launch into orbit. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are stranded on the Moon until their oxygen runs out. After that, they will go down in history as the first men to die on the Moon. They take their remaining time to chat and muse about the nature of life and mortality.
This was the very first episode of The Truth ever, and they certainly started out of the gate strong. As you might imagine, the alternate history premise piqued my interest. This scenario was very much a concern during the real Apollo 11 mission. In fact, President Richard Nixon had a speech prepared just in case Armstrong and Aldrin became stranded on the Moon. The speech is actually read at the very end of the episode. The actor sounds nothing like Nixon, but he certainly captures the emotion of the speech. Ironically, there was a memorial to the victims of the Apollo 1 fire included with the other equipment on the lander.
What would it be like to experience such a stroke of bad luck? You are stranded hundreds of thousands of miles from home with no hope of rescue. You can see death slowly, but surely, creeping towards you. I try my best not to think too much about death, but the thought proves rather intrusive. I don’t know how I would like to die, as I would very much not like to die at all. But I’m also keenly aware that the reaper will claim me sooner or later.
Yeah, there are a lot of implications on how such a disaster would impact the Space Race. However, this episode is presented as a very intimate story about two men complimenting their own imminent mortality. I am of the opinion that this was absolutely the right move.
I have reviewed several other episodes of The Truth. Just seven at the moment, but I’m hard at work on part two of the review. There’s a lot more really great episodes to cover.
But if you want to read what I’ve got now, you can find that over here: http://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-audio-file-truth-part-1.html?m=0

Okay so long story short I lied to my boyfriend about my body count for 2 years & he can't really focus on one thing that upsets him or makes him feelt betrayed about it.
But he's mostly upset cause he now sees me as, a "clapped out wh*re". He uses many different references & examples, insults & general rudeness around the whole issue.
I obviously understand lying is not okay & definitely not something I'm proud of but definitely something I struggle with still I guess. I thought I was sooooo much better than this now but I was so scared to lose him even in the beginning it just happen, there is no logical thinking I can explain around it because it's not a logical thing to do & I go out of my way for people tbh, I thought I was always very sweet to him & cherished him with all my heart <\3
Anyway, I'm try to keep this shorter ... Basically he's breaking up with me because I lied , but it was about the one thing he needs to take me seriously, even says in not wife material because Ive slept with more than 10 people. & then honestly I lied because I didn't want to be judged, I was ashamed, embarrassed, I felt guilty for putting myself through all that & always felt disgusted with myself after. & Now above all else my fp in the entire fucking world hates me , doesn't love me anymore, doesn't want me to be with him.
I'm so scared, I'm lost, I don't feel like I can go on without this man, I wish I wasn't so stupid & so selfish too , it's actually so sad, my chest feels empty again... I am, just, so tired.

TLDR: Shooting a very close friends wedding NEXT WEEK! Never shot one before, it will be small (around 20 guests) and he wants it to have an 'intimate feel'. ANY tips? Or recommendations of YouTubers to binge watch in the short time I have to prep would be an amazing help!! Thank you!
Hi All!
I'm a lifelong hobby photographer, recently made the change from Automotive to people having moved to the country where the car scene is virtually non existent. For the past couple of months I've been shooting couples/portraits to build somewhat of a portfolio and gain confidence before I delve into engagements and eventually weddings.
A friend of mine knows about this, is very supportive (sent a few couples my way to get a shoot done), and initially asked me to cover their wedding. I turned them down as I didn't feel comfortable covering a close friend's wedding when I haven't even shadowed a seasoned photographer yet, and the risk of messing up my friends special day made me nervous.
He ended up going with an acquaintance of his who has now dropped out at the very last moment (The wedding is next week!), and understandably stressed my friend asked again if I could do their wedding, saying he trusts I'll get photos he likes (We used to shoot street photos together and we like each others style).
Long story short, I feel like I can produce 'good' images, but there's a reason I wanted to wait a lot longer before doing weddings, and having my first time, when I'm not experienced, be a close friend is stressing me out!
So I'm here for any kind of tips you guys can offer, how to plan my day and what key shots I absolutely CANNOT miss (And how to prepare for them!), or any recommendations on YouTubers I could learn from in the short time I have.
As for equipment, I've got a single Canon R6mk2 (Part of wanting to wait was to buy a second body before I shot such an important day), a 16 2.8, a 50 1.8 and a 85 f2. I also have two goddox flashguns w/ trigger, stands and boxes. I'm not planning to use the lighting, but it'll be going with me on the day incase we end up taking any portraits etc indoors due to weather (Low chance of rain).
So yeah, that's about it, thank you for reading this stress essay, and any help you can offer would be amazing!