Cover letter for in-house job at same company

I work for a high-rep company that everyone competes for and I am lucky to start off from right after college. My pay went from 60k to 65k, to now 69k. I have been here almost 3 years. I am still a meekly analyst and since it is a large company, they do 1 promotion per team each year. According to my manager, I excel at many things but my coworkers got promoted each year due to slight seniority by a few months. I am now next in line for promotion, according to my manager, so he told me to keep doing what I am doing.
1 of my promoted coworkers left awhile back for a better opportunity. Before he left, he told me with wide eyes that his new position offered WAY MORE pay and we are not being paid enough to do what we do. As of right now my other promoted coworker is considered an "associate". Meanwhile, we had new hires coming in, all associates. I'm the only one who's still "entry level", yet.......I manage everyone's work and projects (besides the other promoted associate). It has been over a year now and I am still holding hands with everyone. One person particularly sucks so bad at his job, he ask me for help and takes all the credit. But since he was originally so bad, everyone knows this by now that every time he turns in something, he did not do it on his own.
Several times I have met with my manager with frustration and near tears that I have done NOTHING because of one guy. I used to love the job too until this guy came along to 1) throw my name under the bus any chance he gets to make himself look good and 2) ask me privately for help but then takes credit and makes me sound dumb on group chats. All his attempts failed miserable and my manager knows the truth, but I'm still tired of the fake attacks and consistent hand holdings. And I cannot just say no because I'm the only SME here for particular topics.
I currently lead 3 team projects and work out of normal hours to meet with people from different time zones. No one else seems to care enough to do so (except the current promoted associated but she is an SME in a different topic and handles different tasks from me). Everyone else does the bare minimum. They dont care enough to understand the concept behind their tasks fully. Basically, I am Google to everyone, yet I am just a meekly analyst.
I have started applying to other jobs internally and externally. So far some internal jobs denied me :(. I really love this company AND PEOPLE FIGHT FOR THIS REPUTATION. But idk if I should leave or stick around to build myself up here.
I had a call from an external recruiter and he asked how much I am being paid now and LAUGHED at my 69k. He was shock that such a high reputable company pays me so low. I am currently applying for a 108k job that he thinks I'm a fit. No interviews has happened yet, so I'm not going to say this job will be it (especially I just got rejected a few times already with the same salary range :( ).
Idk if I am making enough or have high expectations. All I know is I used to love the job that I do but people are tiring me out. I love the company still and would like to stay.....but if we're all sacrificing pay for reputation, then idk.
What do you think? Stick it out or no?

My family is a ball and chain.
I've waited 30 years to become independent. To live on my own. To be free, to see the world.
I did all the right things. I went to college, I work full time. Yet in my entire adult life I have never been free.
My family.
My 50 year old mother, I love her dearly, born with a rare condition has not worked since she was 24. Survives off of social security.
My 25 year old sister i love her dearly. Only a highschool diploma and no desire for higher education or job training. For much of our lives only thought she was lazy and a slacker only to realize she most definitely is on the autism spectrum and has only held one job in her life and due to her crippling anxiety and depression and adhd. hasn't worked in over 4 years. She has her own issues, coming out as trans was difficult for her but we have always accepted her.
I discovered my sexuality thanks to a close friend, got passed the internalized homopobia and eventually found my love of my life and we both discovered the gay community and created a large friends group. Something i never thought I'd have. Yet despite these improvements in my mental health I am still trapped.
My family and I live in state funded housing which is cheaper than market rent but its designed to keep you in poverty, not meant to help you out of poverty.
My boyfriend comes from the opposite kind of family. Father worked the stock market. Multiple homes, a vacation home that is larger than an average home. Sent him to college debt free. On a whim giving each of the 4 children $20,000 to save.
My entire life our family has never had much money, my parents divorced, dad is in the picture but never held a steady job. Grandfather passed away, his brother gambled all of his savings away. My other grand father put money into a life insurance program for my sister and I, instead of an investment resource. We never saw a dime.
When my parents divorced I became the man of the house, I got my first job out of highschool as I went to community College.
As a family we have always pooled the family funds. This month I pay off xy and z bills next month mom pays them etc. To make matters worse the amount of times my mother has had to go in the red to pay off something just handicapped us for the following month and so on.
Then a tree hit out apartment and shook our family to its core, we where displaced, lucky enough to get onto a friends lease at the current state supported place but despite all of that nothing has changed.
My sister doesn't work, we pay for everything for her, and when I say we I mean me.
My mother's monthly check pays off rent and all my cash goes to the bills.
I've always wanted to leave. This year I had a chance. My boyfriend and I found a friend, we planned to move. I finally could save. Even just a fraction. My first savings account. A measly 1,000. But of course something needs to be payed, so its always chipped at, but we try to replace what we can.
As the months move closer to the move out, my partner lost his job. Dealing with his own recently diagnosed adhd and depression, I comfort him and after 6 months and eating away at much of his savings just to survive he finally got another job. Things where looking up. I told my coworkers I "this was it."
Then my partner lost his job again, no more than 2 months after getting it. The same mental health reasons caused it. Now his family are truly trying to help him. And in the meantime I'm still here, in the same moneyless pit that my family has become. Where I have to support them on the meager salary I have.
I know it will get better, I will move. I will have actual savings and can continue education when I'm comfortable. But. Tonight as I stare in the black void of my bedroom with the lights off. I just want to be free.
When I have friends with homes, children and savings over a couple 100k i just think, what if I was in there shoes, or they in mine. Would they understand the struggle?
Forgive me, I'm tired, and I need to get ready to work tomorrow. That freedom can't come any faster.
Thanks for letting me vent.

Let me start out by saying I know I haven't been myself lately and have been slacking, so I'm not saying I'm not in the wrong at all. But my boyfriend just got done screaming at me and belittling me and I want to know if I'm just overreacting because of past trauma or if it is actually messed up what he did (or if he is justified). Lately I have been going through a lot of health issues. A major depression spell, and my back and joints have been way worse the past month than they've ever been. (I have several herniated discs, arthritis, fibromyalgia, EDS, patella alta, and a bunch of other issues in my back that I honestly don't remember everything my doctor said). Just getting up to take the dogs out or take a shower is extremely difficult right now. I can't stand more than 5 mins. I've let the house get messy. In turn that just makes the depression even worse. I'm used to picking up after my bf which was slightly annoying but I didn't mind that much because I don't work so I figure I should do everything at home since he has a job. So he just comes in and throws everything on the floor or on the counter and I have to sort through it all to figure out where everything should go. This is extremely stressful for me as we live in an RV and don't have very much space to put things and I get super overwhelmed and shut down. I asked if he could just start putting things where they go when he comes in and stop putting trash in the sink. That's all. That would help me be less overwhelmed and able to keep things cleaner. I rarely have migraines but today I had a bad one. (I have had them more often for the past 3 ish months). He was even being really nice about it and rubbing me and asking every now and then if I felt any better. Well I mentioned that I needed to go feed the dogs, but I just got back inside so I needed to sit down for literally 1-2 minutes before I could stand back up again to do that. I guess he didn't like that so he picked up all the dog bowls and went to go feed them. I said I was about to do it if he wanted to sit down and he just laughed and rolled his eyes and said all I was doing was sitting on my a$$. Once he was done feeding them he came in and said that it's not fair that he works and still has to do stuff when he comes home. I'm in an awful mood today because of the migraine so I did say something a little sassy back, I admit that. I said "I'm sorry, millions of people have jobs and still have to do things when they get home, life isn't always fair". He then started screaming and yelling "fvck you", "you never do sh1t", ect ect. He ran outside and slammed the door several times. I have a bad trauma associated with slamming things which I have told him several times in the past. I literally started shaking and curled into a ball to hide. I can't physically help that response. I heard him coming back up the ramp and flinched and he started yelling even more. "Start doing more shit around here or get the fvck out of my house" over and over and over again, the same words getting louder and louder. "I shouldn't have to go to work and come home to do things in the hours I'm not sleeping", "You're just like having a toddler", "You're so fvcking lazy" "You're gonna have to get the fvck out of my house and find somewhere else to live". "Fvck you, all you do is sit in bed all day". And a bunch of other stuff. We've been together 4 years, he knows I can't handle being yelled at. He was just being very demeaning to me and not talking to me in a way you should talk to someone you love. He kept saying "do you hear me?" "Helloooooo??" "Tell me you heard me", ect. Like I said, 4 years together, he knows I shut down with the yelling and literally CANNOT bring myself to speak. I don't know why, I've talked about it with my therapist and she said that he needs to bring things up in a nicer way. I literally freeze and can't speak. It's scary. But he knows this. So screaming "can you hear me?" he knows isn't gonna get a response. But the fact that I couldn't respond was making him madder and yell more. I just don't know why he picked the day that I had a migraine, of all days, to be like this. It seems like he did it on purpose to hurt me. Idk man. I guess I just need advice.

I (28F) met my boyfriend (28M) when I was 27, we were co-workers. We were introduced by my manager who thought we would be a great match since we had the same interests and lived very close to each other. After we met, I felt like we could be good friends nothing more than that since I didn't find him attractive.
I decided to give him a chance regardless and then fell in love with him and dated for 4 months. One day random day, he drunk texted me saying that his bestfriend told him to break up with me because he wasn't good for me, and then, he proceeded to ghost me for the following 3 days until he hit me up with the "we need to talk" message. He arrived to my apartment and said he didnt want to have anything serious, he was only hurting me and that all I could get from him was being friend with benefits but nothing more. I said no, and he left my apartment.
A few months later, I ran into him at a party, I didnt want to talk to him, but things escalated and we ended up sleeping together that night and for the following 3 days, but we didn't get back together since I didnt want to get involved emotionally with him again.
He reached back to ask me for a favor, and we ended up sleeping together again, and so he asked me for a second chance, I was hesistant but I agreed. During our first interactions, he kept calling me Nancy (one of his ex's name), and I just ignored him when he did, because I thought our names were kind of smilar and it was an an honest mistake.
One night we were hanging out and he was getting messages from Nancy thanking him for buying her a toy. I thought it was odd, because he had broken up with her a year ago, but I didnt say much about it because I didnt want to seem toxic. Later on, we went to visit his mom, and she kept calling me Nancy, I got really mad but didnt say anything. His mom apologized and told me she just couldn't keep up with all the girls names he had been dating and that she didn't want me to think he was dating us all at the same time. I was shocked cause that hadn't crossed my mind until she said it. I tried talking to him about his mom's comments, and he said everything was my fault for believing his mom, and it wasn't his fault that I was so insecure and had so little self-love to believe something so stupid like that. I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty hurt by these comments, but I forgave him.
Fast forward, a day later he opened his tiktok, and I saw he had a friend with whom he exchanged messages with, that I never heard of before, and he got really tense but I didnt ask him anything about her. A few days later, he told me since he had no problem with me having male friends, so he had the right to have female friends too, so he talked to me about this "new" female friend Adriana. He said, she was an old friend from middle school who needed a favor and needed to come over to his apartment because her job was close to his apartment, which I asked how did she know he lived close to her job, if they hadn't seen each for years. He then told me they had dated and she had cheated on her boyfriend with him. I was very uncomfortable with this entire interaction, but I knew I couldnt do or say much if he wanted to talk or help this "friend".
A few days later, I had told him that I was struggling with my mental health again, and I was going to be having a harder time to attend to his family's gatherings and other events since I could barely get out of bed. He said he was pretty sure it was because I was very dissatisfied with our relationship (I was but I didnt want to admit it back then). He ghosted me after that for a few days, which worsen my symptoms. I had a theatre presentation a few days later, so he decided to show up to "support me". He took me to coffee and promised me to go off and live together, buy a house, and all sorts of things I have always wanted.
We didn't see each other the following days because I had various theatre presentations coming up, so a few days later, he asked me how my mental health was doing, and I told him it was not great, so he decided some to my apartment to give me some company, but when he took his shirt off, he had a hickey on his neck. I was in shock and asked for explanations since that was the very day he was supposed to meet up with Adriana. He said it was all a misunderstanding and his skin condition (which he does have a skin condition) was acting up and it made it look like a hickey, hoewver, I had never seen his skin acting up like that looking like a hickey. I felt like I couldn't trust him anymore, so we tried talking for a week to see if we could fix it, but there were no solutions whatsoever to my problems trusting him. I asked to check his phone but he refused, he said that if I did, he would break up with me, he agreed to send a screenshot with his conversations with Adriana, but there was nothing there to prove his infidelity.
He however confessed he had broken up with me before, because he wanted to see his chances to get back together with ex-girlfriend Miranda "the most beautiful girl he had ever dated" (title he never allowed me to forget) but she rejected him, so he decided to go back to Nancy, but then ran into me and decided to break things off with Nancy to "settle down with me". I was shocked and felt like the very last option for him and after this confession, I definitely broke up with him since everything seemed to be a bit much for me and my mental health.
He then drunk called me one night calling me an asshole for calling him a cheater even though he didn't technically cheat on me, so am IATA?

Hi, I wanted to share something since things are getting weirder by the day.
First of all, English is not my first language, sorry for any bad grammar.
So... I'm a 28 yo brazilian girl who lives "alone" and for the last couple of years I've been experiencing something I still can't quite explain, but in the last weeks it's getting more and more strange... I think someone (or something I guess) it's living in my house and even tho I can't directly interact with it, I'm beggining to think it can interact with me.
For 25 years, most of my life, I've lived in the same house my parents lived when I was born and experienced a lot of weird stuff while growing up there, I always tried to find a reasonable explanation for everything and even wrote a short-story based on some of these "interesting" experiences without really fearing any of it, but since I moved two years ago to the apartment that I live in today I have this feeling that I have brought some kind of company and it gives me the creeps.
Since the first day here I hear things moving on their own, drawers opening, furniture dragging, light switches and keys swinging, but every time I get to the room to check, I simply see no one, at best I find objects at different places from where they should be and lights turned on (I always turn them off when I get out of any room). My apartment isn't that big and I can't imagine it having any blind-spots where a person could be hiding. Even if it was not the case and my apartment was super big, I live on the third floor, always lock my doors and windows for which only I have the keys, and "phrogging" isn't really a thing here in my country. I also have three cats (When I first got here they were four, but one of them died last year, R.I.P. Bartho) and most of the times this things happen I can't blame it on them because they're usually just sleeping on my bed.
I already told this to some friends and everyone always says I'm just paranoid or even sleepwalking (to try and explain why some things are out of place when I check), but I stopped believing it's something with me when my GF lived with me for six months last year and saw some weird stuff too, getting to the point that one night we even woke up together scared with some heavy things falling to the ground (originally safely stored and heavy enough so the cat's can't be blamed for this either) only to also have sleep paralysis together later that same night (romantic, I guess) feeling someone was approaching our bed in the dark.
It's already very weird, why do I feel it's getting weirder? Okay, so... A couple of weeks ago I woke up with my left arm hurting real bad, as if I had a fight, figured I just slept in a weird position until I also felt a strong pain on my forehead only to check and find a big red bump out of nowhere. My mom was visiting and she doesn't sleep much, she was reading when I woke up and said she didn't saw or heard me waking up and much less bumping my head during the night, after a while thinking about it I decided it was nothing. That same day we went to the supermarket together and bought some groceries for me, after that, my mom went to her home and I got back to mine. I remember very clearly that when I was putting away the groceries I kept four bottles of vinegar in my cleaning area, but the next morning, all four bottles simply went missing and until today I haven't found them anywhere in my apartment. I checked, I really got scared and checked the whole apartment, but no signs of it. I told this to some people, only to hear the same thing I always hear, that I'm just paranoid and/or sleepwalking and even that probably I threw it away without noticing (???).
Then we skip to this morning. After a couple of days without new weird experiences besides the usual noises, I woke up today feeling anxious for no apparent reason, got up, threw water on my face, prepared my breakfast still half asleep, sat down in front of my computer to work and when I leaned against the chair I felt a very strong cutting pain on my back, ran to check it in the mirror and noticed that my back is covered in cut wounds, I mean, REALLY COVERED, like WTH? And it's mostly in places I CAN'T reach on my own (it was really hard to clean it up). I panicked and called my parents, who both said at first that maybe it was the cats, but then understood that even this wouldn't be ordinary behavior for them and they would need to have had a catfight championship on my back to get this bad. I now spent all of my day doing research on possible "natural" causes for this wounds, but I found nothing similar to this, and when I think about it, it really makes sense that somehow they're related to my other "paranormal" experiences living here...
Anyway, I just thought that sharing this in a place like this sub would somehow make it easier to deal with since the people around me kinda think I'm just crazy and maybe someone here could help me find an explanation ("logical" or not) for all of this stuff. Tomorrow I'm going to the doctors check my back and after that I'll buy some energetic cleaning material (incenses, salt, herbs and stuff) and if I have any updates I'll get back here to share. What are your thoughts about this? Am I really just being paranoid or it makes sense to think that something is lurking in my house?

I've waited 30 years to become independent. To live on my own. To be free, to see the world.
I did all the right things. I went to college, I work full time. Yet in my entire adult life I have never been free.
My family.
My 50 year old mother, I love her dearly, born with a rare condition has not worked since she was 24. Survives off of social security.
My 25 year old sister i love her dearly. Only a highschool diploma and no desire for higher education or job training. For much of our lives only thought she was lazy and a slacker only to realize she most definitely is on the autism spectrum and has only held one job in her life and due to her crippling anxiety and depression and adhd. hasn't worked in over 4 years. She has her own issues, coming out as trans was difficult for her but we have always accepted her.
I discovered my sexuality thanks to a close friend, got passed the internalized homopobia and eventually found my love of my life and we both discovered the gay community and created a large friends group. Something i never thought I'd have. Yet despite these improvements in my mental health I am still trapped.
My family and I live in state funded housing which is cheaper than market rent but its designed to keep you in poverty, not meant to help you out of poverty.
My boyfriend comes from the opposite kind of family. Father worked the stock market. Multiple homes, a vacation home that is larger than an average home. Sent him to college debt free. On a whim giving each of the 4 children $20,000 to save.
My entire life our family has never had much money, my parents divorced, dad is in the picture but never held a steady job. Grandfather passed away, his brother gambled all of his savings away. My other grand father put money into a life insurance program for my sister and I, instead of an investment resource. We never saw a dime.
When my parents divorced I became the man of the house, I got my first job out of highschool as I went to community College.
As a family we have always pooled the family funds. This month I pay off xy and z bills next month mom pays them etc. To make matters worse the amount of times my mother has had to go in the red to pay off something just handicapped us for the following month and so on.
Then a tree hit out apartment and shook our family to its core, we where displaced, lucky enough to get onto a friends lease at the current state supported place but despite all of that nothing has changed.
My sister doesn't work, we pay for everything for her, and when I say we I mean me.
My mother's monthly check pays off rent and all my cash goes to the bills.
I've always wanted to leave. This year I had a chance. My boyfriend and I found a friend, we planned to move. I finally could save. Even just a fraction. My first savings account. A measly 1,000. But of course something needs to be payed, so its always chipped at, but we try to replace what we can.
As the months move closer to the move out, my partner lost his job. Dealing with his own recently diagnosed adhd and depression, I comfort him and after 6 months and eating away at much of his savings just to survive he finally got another job. Things where looking up. I told my coworkers I "this was it."
Then my partner lost his job again, no more than 2 months after getting it. The same mental health reasons caused it. Now his family are truly trying to help him. And in the meantime I'm still here, in the same moneyless pit that my family has become. Where I have to support them on the meager salary I have.
I know it will get better, I will move. I will have actual savings and can continue education when I'm comfortable. But. Tonight as I stare in the black void of my bedroom with the lights off. I just want to be free.
When I have friends with homes, children and savings over a couple 100k i just think, what if I was in there shoes, or they in mine. Would they understand the struggle?
Forgive me, I'm tired, and I need to get ready to work tomorrow. That freedom can't come any faster.
Thanks for letting me vent.

Four years ago I was doing well at a new job and making enough money to consider taking ownership of my grandparents house that was currently being rented to a family. My good friend was living in a one bedroom apartment with her two children. She was having issues paying her rent which was $1800. I decided to use around $25k to renovate my grandparents house so that I could have a tenant living upstairs and me living downstairs. I planned to let my friend be that tenant living upstairs. I really cared about her and her children and wanted to help her get out of a bad situation. For context we live in NY.
Since I know she couldn’t afford her current apartment at $1800 I made the rent $1500 with all utilities included, water, heat, Wi-Fi, and electric. The apartment is a two bedroom apartment on the second floor of the house. It has a big room for a kitchen/dining area/living room space along with a big bathroom, two big walk-in closets and a lot of extra hallway room in the foyer. She has a parking spot in the driveway and the house also has a big backyard where the kids can play. At that time the apartment could have gone for at least $2100, it was severely under the market price for apartments in the area. When I gave her that price I did not expect to keep it at that price for long. I had hoped it would help her afford another place. Because with the price I gave her I was not going to make a penny back on what I spent in renovations and I would still need to put in money every month to pay the bills to live there as well.
When I was creating the lease I referenced a lot of different lease agreements I saw that it was common to charge $50/day till rent was paid if rent was late. These seemed like harsh terms but I have never been a landlord before and I hoped it would never affect her since I thought she would pay on time. I gave her the contract, she looked it over, she never questioned it and signed. She moved in and so began our journey of living together in the same house.
Over the course of 4 years she continued to struggle to pay rent. All spread out by several months in between, she had a series of unfortunate events.
When Covid hit, she wasn’t working, so they weren’t paying her. When she started working again she got Covid and was out of work for weeks. She almost lost her eyesight and needed to get a surgery which successfully saved her eyesight. Her car broke down and needed to get a new/used car. She lost her job and struggled to find a new one. Most recently her kid was in the hospital for 6 months and is now home but she can’t work a full-time job because she has to be home to take care of her kid.
To get through these times she used a lot of government assistance programs and borrowed money from friends and family. Unfortunately she was late often. I was always very understanding and patient with her about rent. I have never mentioned late fees or asked for late fees. She was always the one to bring it up and say that she will get the late fees to me. I even decided to waive the late fees several times. Every time I had a chance to raise the rent I decided not to because I knew she could barely afford what I was charging her and was still continuing to struggle.
Recently she wanted a meeting with her boyfriend and I, to talk about her boyfriend moving in with her. At least that’s what I assumed. I was startled when we met and her boyfriend aggressively dug into me about how my late fees are unlawful and that they must be rectified as soon as possible. Going on and on about how he has lawyer friends and if he took this to court it wouldn’t go well. I kept my cool and just said I need to look into this on my own and we can reconvene for another meeting.
This is not a legal apartment. So if they were to go to court about this then she would lose the apartment. If I were to have made it legal, I wouldn’t have been able to charge her so little for rent because taxes would be a lot higher.
After a lot of research, I’ve come to terms that my late fees are no longer legal. I did not realize but after Covid the laws had changed for apartment rentals in our area. Which changes it to a $50 flat fee if late on rent. After recognizing that I had made a mistake, I decided to look over how much I owe her in whatever late fees she paid over the years MINUS a $50 flat fee for every time she paid late. After doing a quick analysis I owe her $800 minus the 10 times she’s been late on rent which is $500 so I owe her $300.
I’ve then look at all the renovations I’ve done on her apartment over the years that I never charged her for. I fixed four blinds that she broke and bought her new ones for the bathroom since she didn’t like the curtain I put there. I repainted her children’s bedroom plain white since they had grown up and no longer liked the bright pink and blue that we originally painted in their room. I painted the floor in the bathroom because she said it was dirty looking and embarrassing to the kids when they had company. I fixed a door that she broke and installed a new door knob she also broke. I changed the light fixture in the kitchen twice because she had issues seeing. These are all renovations that my dad and I had done. I am very handy so a lot of it was done by me.
With this in mind the $300 that I owe her doesn’t seem necessary. I am currently gathering up the prices for all the materials and items I have bought to do these renovations. Not to mention I never charged her for my labor. I could have gotten someone professional do the labor but then neither of us would be able to afford that.
Currently we are both gathering our bank statements to get a full understanding of the situation. She does not know that I kept the terms by mistake. I tried to set up a meeting with her again to talk more and she treated me like a villain. She does not wanna talk without her boyfriend present. Saying that I should say sorry to her and that she is going to look into what she is due.
I’ve been feeling pretty mad about this, she has not given me the benefit of doubt and even after all these years of doing so much for her. I am in the process of writing a new lease with a rent increase. I am sad to think that this might be an end to our relationship. I have been trying to think of tactful ways to have her move out, so I can finally rent the apartment for what it’s worth which is now around $2500-$3000. I am also no longer making the money I used to. I had also lost my job twice during and after Covid so times have been hard on me as well.
Any legal or other advice is appreciated. Thanks for listening to my story.

Ok this might be a bit long... I'm in the state of Massachusetts and been on workers comp since October of 2021. The limit here is 3 years and this October makes it the 3. Everything's was going good and adjuster always paid my checks bi weekly and most my meds. I temp at my job went crazy and attacked me with an almost 2 foot pipe wrench that weighed at least 20 lbs. I was in my car and he destroyed it along with my face head and shoulder. I was knocked out for I really don't know how long but was pouring blood everywhere. Me and this man never had an issue or words at all. So I was sitting in my car eating lunch and was dark since I worked 2nd shift and there was basically no supervisors on my shift. I don't really eant to get more into the assault but will say I had eye damage esp. from the glass from the first strike through my window that knocked me out. My shoulder was injured and motion is back but couldn't finish PT due to my migraines which got better but with quilipta and zavzperat spray and Botox injections from a nuero. I still get them and triggered by certain things but did improve a bit since 2021.this man was not even clocked him my boss invited him to live there and sleep at the warehouse whenever the office went home and he would come since he was homeless and sleep wake up drink and just very odd guy which me and a co worker complained many times about his drinking and making us uncomfortable and my boss would just laugh. So they knew there was negligence and co operated fully and so did workers comp up until few months ago started sending me to imes which is when I finally got an attorney.my state can't use for apin and suffering when it comes to workers comp. The thing I face know which I did have anxiety and depression a bit in the past and was in and out of therapy through the years with self medicating before that around 2008 off and on also due to my brother's death. Since this assault though wow I panic daily about little things. Extremely scared to drive or leave the house. My family does almost everything for me and I'm a 37 yr old male. I'm on about 12 meds total and 9 is for mental health. I am diagnosed with post concussion syndrome, agoraphobia, depression, anxiety and insomnia. Of course the imes the insurance sent me to treated me so bad the first was a neurologist and tried to treat me as a psych patient the second wasn't rude and was actually a psychiatrist but could tell was not listening at all to me and wrote I have no issues and I am all good just like the first time. My attorney sent me to his own ime that will say just based on my pictures and medical records that I am disabled for life. My neurologist therapist and psychiatrist all wrote great letters but said they don't know if or when I will get better but also didn't say I am disabled for life and that's what my attorney is looking for but said the letters will help and are greatly written esp. how it goes against the imes. He said the judge knows how it goes insurance gets there guys they pay 900 to to make a report and my attorney gets his guy and plus treating Dr s that the hospital recommended through occupational therapy. My memory is very bad and sorry if I'm all over the place. My question is I have court on June 4. Saw my attorney Dr. Yesterday. Today attorney called me to talk about the case. He said you're payments stop October anyway and I'm sure I can get it to that but October comes the judge can cut off all money or extend it 4 years of checks but cut in half which is like 43000 in them years he said he would like to fight for full life long disability but due to my age being 37 it's an uphill battle but doesn't mean he can't get it but if I was in my mind 40s he said he'd have full confidence getting it. That's one my questions about the age thing also he told me they said well we would offer about 45000 to settle and a little more to settle the mental part of it he laughed at them he said. He said I can get you 100,000 but probably and this is all jus predicted but about 75,000 before I pay him his 20%. I really don't know what to do. I'm afraid it's such a low amount for head I jury and sever mental trauma where I don't have friends anymore and don't leave the house and pa ic non stop. Also want to be done with this and try and move on like my dr.s said maybe you'll start healing once this is behind you. I do have mass health insurance and they fill a lot scripts no problem when workers comp should be. So my attorney thinks it's fully up to me and court is less then 2 weeks and it takes him about a week to put together a settlement amount request hes cobfident about 75,000 i said i need to think hes said of course. I'm thinking I should ask him I won't take less than 80,000 but look more for 85,000 or little more. More I get he gets I know. I just don't want to piss him off he's very intimidating blunt straight forward guy. Any similar stories and advice should I say ok go for 75 or should I say try for 80 or85,000. I feel like if he thought he could get it he would since he gets a percentage. Sorry for the long rant guys. Any advice is helpful,tia.

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?'

Amidst all the meme stock mania and pump and dumps lately that have fizzled out, I found myself wanting to find more short/long plays penny stocks with less volatility and more security. I feel this one is a solid one based on its financial results, not by saying “its gonna moon” and leave it at that. lol
I have researched it quite a bit the past week. Here is a write up on how Supercom describes what they do:
About SuperCom Since 1988, SuperCom has been a global provider of traditional and digital identity solutions, providing advanced safety, identification, and security solutions to governments and organizations, both private and public, throughout the world. Through its proprietary e-Government platforms and innovative solutions for traditional and biometrics enrollment, personalization, issuance and border control services, SuperCom has inspired governments and national agencies to design and issue secure Multi-ID documents and robust digital identity solutions to its citizens and visitors. SuperCom offers a unique all-in-one field-proven RFID & mobile technology and product suite, accompanied by advanced complementary services for various industries including security and safety, community public safety, law enforcement, electronic monitoring, and domestic violence prevention. For more information, please visit SuperCom's website, www.supercom.com
Supercom trades on the Nasdaq. The impressive part about this company is how they are able to be profitable year over year.
They reported record profit and 400% YoY Ebitda for the first Quarter of 2024.
It has beat its earnings estimate every quarter and has a positive eps since Q2 of 2023.
TradingView Analysts report as a Strong Buy
First Quarter Ended March 31, 2024, Financial Highlights (Compared to the First Quarter of 2023) * Revenue increased by 8% to $6.9 millionfrom $6.4 million. * Gross Profit increased by 139% to $3.8 million from $1.6 million. * Gross Profit margin increased by 123% to 55% from 25%. * Operating Income improved by $1.8 million to $0.7 million compared to an Operating Loss of ($1.1) million. * Operating Margin improved by 27.2 percentage points to 10.5% from negative margin of (16.7%). * Net Income improved by $2.3 million to $0.8 million compared to Net Loss of ($1.5) million. * EPS improved by $0.36 to positive $0.04compared to Negative EPS of ($0.32). * Non-GAAP Net Income improved by $1.6 million to $1.35 million compared to Net Loss of ($0.25) million. * Non-GAAP EPS improved by $0.12 to positive $0.07 compared to Negative ($0.05) * EBITDA increased by 400% to $2 millionfrom $0.4 million. * Working Capital at the end of the quarter of $23.6 million.
Recent Business Highlights: * The Company has received over $5.0 million in new orders from European governments. * The company raised $2.9 million in gross proceeds in a registered direct offering in Q2 2024, providing additional capital to execute the Company's business plan. * SuperCom, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, LCA, won new project in California valued at up to $2.0 million to provide a comprehensive program focusing on re-entry services for adult inmates, designed to support individuals transitioning back into the community. The award is a result of winning a formal competitive bid process. * SuperCom launched a $4.25 millioncontract to provide adult re-entry services in Northern California through its wholly-owned subsidiary, LCA. The project expanding LCA's existing day reporting and electronic monitoring services to include jail-based and community-based sites. * LCA secured a new EM contract in California with an established Californiaservices provider in the judicial sector. This contract is particularly notable for SuperCom's successful displacement of a long-time incumbent competitor, primarily due to SuperCom's new innovative PureOne solution. * SuperCom won a new project in Canadawith a renowned Canadian industry partner in the tracking solutions sector. This new project expands an existing collaboration with a long-standing partner, transitioning from providing RF-based tracking technology to embracing new GPS technologies. This expansion into new GPS technologies with the state-of-the-art PureOne devices underscores the company's commitment to innovation and its ability to adapt to the evolving needs of its clients. * SuperCom launched a $3.6M national EM project in Finland with the national government in 2023. The PureSecurity EM Suite is fully deployed in Finland, covering all EM offender programs – house arrest, GPS, and inmate monitoring. SuperCom has also expanded its footprint in Finland by securing and launching a national program for the Electronic Monitoring of Domestic Violence offenders. This program leverages SuperCom's cutting-edge PureSecurity Suite to empower Finnish authorities to enhance citizen safety.
This is all just my opinion, DD, and what I believe to be a good pick among all the trash out there that is at a similar share price. Lol it isn’t financial advice, do your own research. Just wanted to put it in the spotlight. This is one I have added to my portfolio and it is nearish its 52 week low so I like the price. They just received a 1.8 million dollar contract from a long time customer that starts at the end of May and will be completed after 5 months.

First a couple legal acronym meanings for those unaware of what these stand forTRO-Temporary Restraining order EPO-Emergency Protective Order.
I 38f reside in Rverside County, CA. I’m wondering how to go about filing a lawsuit against my former landlord for his illegal self-help eviction as well as him knowingly allowing me to live in uninhabitable conditions. When I attempted to withhold rent and make him aware of my decision to do so, He violently assaulted me, harassed me in many other ways, and retaliated against me in the most unbelievable ways (ie. shutting off my electricity, water and plumbing, witholding my mail, and keeping me from my patients as the house on the property that he owns but doeNOT live in was my place of employment at the time.) He also caused my great financial ruin in one of his attempts to have me removed from the property by filing a false TRO and EPO against me forcing me to have to leave for 6 weeks. I had to shell out thousands of dollars in air bnb fees due to that little stunt. He also never allowed me to gather the remainder of my things as when I arrived to do so, he had random people moving my things out of the unit that I was still in lawful possession of. He not only violated my tenancy rights, but also basic human rights and continues to do so with the tenants that still reside there. I want to stop him from continuing to do so. EVERY single government entity I’ve attempted to get help from (ie. Sheriffs dept, code enforcement, fair housing counsel, adult protective services, but especially the RCSD) has failed me greatly as I attempted to reach out to them numerous times and was told by every one of them that “there’s not much I can do for you”. My landlord violated the restraining order I had in place against him the very day he was served with it and when I called the sheriff about it, they did nothing! He has violated the restraining order more than once and neither time was he held accountable for doing so. The RCSD has been MORE than negligent. I even attempted a call to the watch commander whom pretty much gave me the same crap all the officers did. They keep telling me that they can’t get involved in civil matters when I know for a fact that this is not merely a civil matter but a criminal matter finable up to $100per day he stays in violation of my civil rights. It’s even stated in their penal code. So any attempt to hold him responsible for his blatant violations of my rights have been met to no avail So here I am doing everything to the letter of the law and going about this the legal way, while he’s basically being rewarded for being an abusive slumlord who sees my attempts at legal action as nothing but a game. I’ve got mountains of evidence to back up ALL of these accusations and need help persuing a lawsuit… the problem is…all of my savings were squandered when I had to pay thousands for an Air BnB when I was forced off of the property due to his false claims against me which prompted the approval of his EPO. At the hearing for that TRO, his claims were found by the judge to have no merit and so it was not extended. I attempted to seek payment from him for such expenses at that hearing, but the judge wouldn’t grant it to me bc I had not served him with my answer to the TRO prior to the hearing. I truly feel like I have a solid case here against my landlord and possibly even against the RCSD as I feel they pretty much assisted him in illegally attempting to remove me by cutting my utilities. Like I said though, since I accrued astronomical costs not only on temporary housing, but moving costs as well, my funds have been exhausted. Are there any lawyers that would possibly take my case on a winning contingency? I’ve tried to find one, but keep running into dead ends or just being referred to legal aid services which I always feel are kind of scammy. Any advice as far as what I can do to move forward with this matter even though I don’t have the finances to cover upfront costs?

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

I only just discovered that this was a thing so it's nice to see i'm not the only one.
I worked a remote job for many years and after long relationship ended i got curious and did a lot of travel and it was shocking the difference between the dynamic between the women in my home country of Australia and those abroad. Since then have exclusively dated women from abroad both while traveling for extended periods and at home. I am seeking a long term partner and have had a couple of great relationships that didn't pan out amongst other shorter but just as rewarding encounters.
I came back to Aus as the pandemic was kicking off and I don't know if this is frowned upon and not in the spirit of ppb but Australia has a huge migrant population and also a vast amount of people study here from abroad. I have met a lot of wonderful women from other places here who I felt were genuine and not visa hunting. A lot of them were also high achievers and intelligent but had excellent grounding / moral compass from their upbringings and were of course well traveled.
I still like to take extended trips but have found meeting foreign women at home just as rewarding for those who maybe have jobs that don't allow or other constraints. I like that they are here on their own merit too so i don't feel any obligation as far as their living arrangements if it gets serious.
I just wanted to mention the two recent experiences I have had this year. One was a Filipina and I also tried dating an Australian girl for first time in years...
So this filipina was cute as a button, highly educated completing a masters here and also working. Her attitude was so different to western girls and she always wanted to take care of me bringing food, affection and also sexually she did her best to ensure i was taken care of. The way she was made me want to step up to try my best to ensure she had everything she needed and treat her right with lots of love and care. It's all the small things I tell you! people think PPB just want a maid or to have some sort of power over their partner but I just loved how it was so reciprocal.
Then i should mentioned this Australian girl. Playing games with me from day one, saying things just to try and get reactions out of me, almost begging to be constantly complimented which was a turn on in itself. Her texts were also super passive aggressive and if i didn't play the game she'd mention oh some guy at work was flirting with me etc like i would be outraged. She was a perfectly lovely person to hang with but i got this feeling like it was a one way street. She wanted to be worshipped but she was so uncaring and cold why would i? She also seemed to think every guy she met or knew was madly in love with her but she was a pretty average person. I just thought her attitude stunk. really hot and cold.
I don't even know why i'm posting but there are so many great girls out there who aren't the spoilt brats we have here in Australia. Im not surprised when i see such i high number of interracial / international couples here in Melbourne. It makes me laugh because i have a lot of female friends and they are always the ones that comment on it when we are out with snide remarks. We are friends so obviously I think they are awesome company, funny and cool but they have the same attitude and wonder why they are single in their late 30's / early 40's now desperately trying to hunt down a man to shack up with or have kids.
I believe in equality for men and women 100% but i also think we are different creatures and theres nothing wrong with that. Being vilified by western women for being a straight white dude blows.
Finally I would say my favourite destinations have been in Asia by far due to the cost, food, proximity to Aus and wonderful people of both genders. Vietnam, Japan and Thailand are honourable mentions. Although with Thailand I stay clear of BKK or Resort towns.
My first post but i look forward to following the sub. I'm at the stage where i really hope to lock someone special I can marry and build something with so i like seeing so many genuine posts also.
Excuse the poorly written post i just typed my random thoughts on the matter. If i've made any blunders that aren't allowed here i'm sorry in advance!

Amidst all the meme stock mania and pump and dumps lately that have fizzled out, I found myself wanting to find more short/long plays penny stocks with less volatility and more security. I feel this one is a solid one based on its financial results, not by saying “its gonna moon” and leave it at that. lol
I have researched it quite a bit the past week. Here is a write up on how Supercom describes what they do:
About SuperCom Since 1988, SuperCom has been a global provider of traditional and digital identity solutions, providing advanced safety, identification, and security solutions to governments and organizations, both private and public, throughout the world. Through its proprietary e-Government platforms and innovative solutions for traditional and biometrics enrollment, personalization, issuance and border control services, SuperCom has inspired governments and national agencies to design and issue secure Multi-ID documents and robust digital identity solutions to its citizens and visitors. SuperCom offers a unique all-in-one field-proven RFID & mobile technology and product suite, accompanied by advanced complementary services for various industries including security and safety, community public safety, law enforcement, electronic monitoring, and domestic violence prevention. For more information, please visit SuperCom's website, www.supercom.com
Supercom trades on the Nasdaq. The impressive part about this company is how they are able to be profitable year over year.
They reported record profit and 400% YoY Ebitda for the first Quarter of 2024.
It has beat its earnings estimate every quarter and has a positive eps since Q2 of 2023.
First Quarter Ended March 31, 2024, Financial Highlights (Compared to the First Quarter of 2023)

• Revenue increased by 8% to $6.9 millionfrom $6.4 million.
• Gross Profit increased by 139% to $3.8 million from $1.6 million.
• Gross Profit margin increased by 123% to 55% from 25%.
• Operating Income improved by $1.8 million to $0.7 million compared to an Operating Loss of ($1.1) million.
• Operating Margin improved by 27.2 percentage points to 10.5% from negative margin of (16.7%).
• Net Income improved by $2.3 million to $0.8 million compared to Net Loss of ($1.5) million.
• EPS improved by $0.36 to positive $0.04compared to Negative EPS of ($0.32).
• Non-GAAP Net Income improved by $1.6 million to $1.35 million compared to Net Loss of ($0.25) million.
• Non-GAAP EPS improved by $0.12 to positive $0.07 compared to Negative ($0.05)
• EBITDA increased by 400% to $2 millionfrom $0.4 million.
• Working Capital at the end of the quarter of $23.6 million.

Recent Business Highlights: * The Company has received over $5.0 million in new orders from European governments. * The company raised $2.9 million in gross proceeds in a registered direct offering in Q2 2024, providing additional capital to execute the Company's business plan. * SuperCom, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, LCA, won new project in California valued at up to $2.0 million to provide a comprehensive program focusing on re-entry services for adult inmates, designed to support individuals transitioning back into the community. The award is a result of winning a formal competitive bid process. * SuperCom launched a $4.25 millioncontract to provide adult re-entry services in Northern California through its wholly-owned subsidiary, LCA. The project expanding LCA's existing day reporting and electronic monitoring services to include jail-based and community-based sites. * LCA secured a new EM contract in California with an established Californiaservices provider in the judicial sector. This contract is particularly notable for SuperCom's successful displacement of a long-time incumbent competitor, primarily due to SuperCom's new innovative PureOne solution. * SuperCom won a new project in Canadawith a renowned Canadian industry partner in the tracking solutions sector. This new project expands an existing collaboration with a long-standing partner, transitioning from providing RF-based tracking technology to embracing new GPS technologies. This expansion into new GPS technologies with the state-of-the-art PureOne devices underscores the company's commitment to innovation and its ability to adapt to the evolving needs of its clients. * SuperCom launched a $3.6M national EM project in Finland with the national government in 2023. The PureSecurity EM Suite is fully deployed in Finland, covering all EM offender programs – house arrest, GPS, and inmate monitoring. SuperCom has also expanded its footprint in Finland by securing and launching a national program for the Electronic Monitoring of Domestic Violence offenders. This program leverages SuperCom's cutting-edge PureSecurity Suite to empower Finnish authorities to enhance citizen safety.
This is all just my opinion, DD, and what I believe to be a good pick among all the trash out there that is at a similar share price. Lol it isn’t financial advice, do your own research. Just wanted to put it in the spotlight. This is one I have added to my portfolio and it is nearish its 52 week low so I like the price.

I was married to a very abusive man. I suffered from vaginismus throughout the marriage in part due to religious beliefs and in part due to the abuse. We never had penetrative intercourse. We would try, but it never worked. After 4.5 years of marriage, he kept threatening to leave me because of it and other reasons. I got curious if my constant fear of him contributed to my inability to relax and let him penetrate me during intercourse. I had been a virgin up until that point. I ended up trying it with someone I was attracted to. He was a divorced single man. My period came that day, so we engaged in foreplay but he did not penetrate me. My husband immediately found out and ended the marriage the same day. We had no closure. I felt I had no one to turn to, and that man was the total opposite of my husband. He was incredibly nice, humble, calm, and funny. I started falling for him, partly because he was so different from my ex husband. I expressed my feelings to him. Initially, he told me that he didn't know if he felt the same and wanted to kiss me to figure out if he did. We did that and more. I continued wanting physical encounters. He agreed to them. We had one more physical encounter, and had trouble but came really close. I became interested in taking the relationship further. He told me he was in no shape to be in a relationship. I was heartbroken, but wanted to continue exploring the foreign world of sex with him, hoping he would be my big cure to vaginismus. So I asked him if he wanted to be friends with benefits, and he agreed. The whole time, he kept priming me to make sure I wouldn't get attached, which was understandable considering we agreed to a FWB situation. However, he kept insinuating that my pussy was one he intended on conquering, which made it sound like he was intent on taking my virginity. We did it one time after that, and he did. I was so happy that my vaginismus was finally cured, and wanted to keep exploring the sex world. He was the obvious go-to in my head. I'd try to meet up again and he'd be cold and distant and dodge the questions. I then started noticing inconsistencies in his stories, and figured out that he was probably married. I confronted him. He denied, giving a sob story that his parents are old and ill and he lives with them, and that he doesn’t do FWB situations. He also said he can't do it with me anymore because he feels nothing for me and isn't cut out for relationships with anyone, but that he's happy to stay friends. He made no sense but I accepted the BS. He continued texting me even though I wanted to start distancing myself from him. A few months later, I accidentally discovered he was secretly vacationing in Turks & Caicos with an awful woman from work. I later found out that they had been FWB for years, and he ended up falling for her before he had sex with me. I discovered it because I worked at the airline company their vacation was booked through, and saw that they booked this trip while he was still sleeping with me. I confronted him about his lie about not being able to be in a relationship with anyone, and it turned into a huge fight. I had taken a job offer across the country by this point and was leaving in 3 days. We ended up rebuilding a friendship that was an emotional support to both of us. I ended up moving back to my hometown, and discovered that he had been secretly married while sleeping with me and in a full-fledged relationship with this other woman, who had no idea that he was married. I confronted him about it and told him we can't be friends, and he begged me to stay friends and started treating me like royalty after that, being nice, caring and very sweet. Throughout the friendship I had repeatedly expressed how I felt this friendship was unhealthy for me, especially when he'd talk about his awful mistress and the royal treatment he'd give her when she treats others (including me) like garbage, and he'd beg me to stay friends with him despite me expressing how I didn't think it was good for me. About 8 months later, his mistress ended up finding out he was married, and he heartlessly ghosted me after I said some hurtful things to him, telling him he deserved it. He victimized himself, and then completely discarded me. I have wanted this man out of my life for some time, but I still have intense feeling of trauma and pain from every stage of the relationship. The damage is very deep. Thoughts?

My son was born at 35 weeks he has never hit a single milestone on time. He has an autism screening next week and I'm just trying to prepare myself. His therapists think he might have some sort of OCD, autism or anxiety. He is in our state's early intervention program and he has done occupational therapy, speech therapy, feeding therapy and developmental therapy.
My husband and I've been collecting a list of things that have been concerning for the last 6 to 9 months. I'm just wondering if these things seem worth having him tested for autism and what I should be expecting during his testing?
This is a random list completely out of order and not at all organized. I've made this list as things come to mind
[ ] Will quit eating if his hands get dirty [ ] Will stop eating if he drops food. Will not eat again until the "mess" has been cleaned up [ ] Does not eat well and when we cut his Kate Farms back he lost weight in a month [ ] His food needs to be separated and each section of his plate has to have food before he will eat [ ] He has had an upper scope, a lower scope, two swallow studies, anal, Botox He has prescriptions for Senna miralax and an appetite stimulant [ ] If his fork gets dirty we have to wipe it off before he will keep eating [ ] Mealtime takes one to two hours [ ] Most days he won't eat until 11:00 to 2:00 p.m. some days he will go all day without any food or water. He does not seem to be bothered by not eating [ ] Cries any time we try to have meal time [ ] Panics about things "coming apart" especially about food. He will say "back on" and cry [ ] He pockets food and uses his whole hand to shove food down his throat [ ] He will eat the same food for a few weeks at a time and that will be the only thing he eats and when he's done eating that type of food it takes us a few weeks to figure out something else he'll eat [ ] He has a food choice chart with pictures made by his DT to help with mealtime [ ] Knows what a horizontal stabilizer is on an airplane. Knows 8 or 9 planes parts and types [ ] Loves naming airplane parts, cranes, construction equipment, telescopes and trucks [ ] Loves wheels and gears and building things [ ] Used a medicine syringe as a screw driver to fix things around the house [ ] Blinks funny. Will hold both eyes shut for 2 or 3 seconds [ ] Will not get his hands dirty [ ] Hits and kicks during diaper changes [ ] I'm unable to change poop diapers without having to shower him because he won't stay still enough [ ] Cries every time he has a diaper change. He does not recognize when he's gone to the bathroom in his diaper [ ] We've tried a mirror, songs, hair brushes, TV, toys etc for helping with diaper changes [ ] Copies random phrases. "good job dude" or "hot dog" [ ] Bites every day. Mostly when happy or overwhelmed. Never during a tantrum [ ] I have to rip the tags out of his clothing in public [ ] He doesn't seem to care when we tell him his biting hurts or not to kick. [ ] Does not play alongside other children well. Does not follow directions or stay with the group like his peers [ ] Does not respond to his name unless it is called multiple times and then screamed [ ] Will only engage in conversations he starts [ ] Loves to fall down and crash. He will bloody his hands and then continue to throw himself down on concrete [ ] Covers his ears in public. When there is an air blower at the entrance he will freak out [ ] Loves to climb [ ] Loves to spin [ ] Head banging [ ] Loves flipping [ ] Is afraid of the dark [ ] Has little to no fear or sense of danger [ ] Gags himself with his hand until he throws up [ ] The vacuum scares him hair dryer scare him and he does not like it when the AC or heat kicks on [ ] Will get in your face to talk about something he is interested in but doesn't make good eye contact unless it's a topic he wants to talk about [ ] Will make eye contact briefly but will not hold it [ ] Plays with the same toys the same way every time [ ] Loves playing with small Legos especially the wheels [ ] Lines up his toys and food [ ] If we do something once it becomes our routine and it must be done over and over again [ ] Repeat the same words or phrases over and over again for a few weeks at a time [ ] He will have 2 hour long tantrums. We will do everything we can for him and we don't have any other things to help him. Last time we used a sensory brush and his z vibe. He will sound like he's having trouble breathing during these fits, has coughing fits and needs his inhaler [ ] He has trouble staying with his group and following directions at soccer and gymnastics. He doesn't like moving through rotations. He wants to stay in one spot [ ] He will zone out and we will have trouble getting his attention. We have to call his name multiple times and then scream his name for him to respond [ ] Had a speech delay. First word at 22 months [ ] Has trouble functioning outside of his routine. When we travel and we stay in our routine. He does great traveling as long as we follow our routine. He can't function if we change it up [ ] Will not lay on his back for diaper changes or bath time [ ] Freaks out if his hands are dirty [ ] He needs a tight squeeze when he gets upset but does not want to be touched unless he's asking [ ] Reacts well to changing tasks if we have a timer
[ ] Will stop writing his bike to clean leaves and dirt off of his tires [ ] Loves to be asked questions but will only answer yes and no questions. He doesn't always answer correctly [ ] He will pick a body part and say it hurts for weeks [ ] Everything has to be clean and picked up. He has to take every piece apart before putting a toy away like Legos, stackable boats in bathtub [ ] Refuses to leave Grandmamas house until all the mess is clean (toys and food) [ ] Never wants to be alone. Refuses to play alone unless he is outside or playing Legos. [ ] He's normally a very happy kid but the things that upset him makes it so he can't function [ ] Walk with his ear to shoulder [ ] Makes himself throw up [ ] Won't sleep unless his mouth is in the covers, his gray blanket in over his feet and his ceiling fan is on. He will lay in his bed and call for us to come fix it if we do it wrong. [ ] Does not follow what other kids are doing during soccer and gymnastics [ ] Loves to play Legos and build wheels [ ] Nightmares [ ] Lots of affection. Hugs, biting, tight squeezes, banging head when happy [ ] Loves trash cans [ ] Calls himself "you" [ ] Wants the same songs, toys, and books over and over again [ ] Doesn't like it when the wind blows. Covers his ears [ ] Whiny/ distressed/ high pitched voice [ ] Randomly walks away in public. Tries to chase cars in parking lots. Wants to touch cars we pass [ ] Only hits and bites when happy and excited [ ] Can not tell you his name [ ] Stopped hunting easter eggs to organize them by color [ ] Toe walks some [ ] Some hand flapping [ ] Remembers small details [ ] Runs his hands along the shelves in the grocery store [ ] Refused to get in his high chair at every meal until we confirm that it is clean [ ] Started chewing on hands and keeping hands in mouth all the time [ ] Will sometimes chew the neck of his shirt [ ] Loves reading. Will sit and listen to books for an hour [ ] Parents of friends have made comments. One parent said her child has started "saying everything 3 times like Teddy does" and "Teddy shakes when you touch him" [ ] His therapist have previously mentioned that Teddy wouldn't let her touch him [ ] Gets in your face to tell you things he's interested in [ ] Shakes so badly during swim class that he made himself throw up. He was not crying when he got sick. He loves water and loved swimming until his swim teacher started holding him [ ] Wouldn't go down the stairs to get in the car until I would sweep the dog hair out of the hall way [ ] Shakes his head really hard in front of sound machine [ ] If we are fussing at him or trying to get him to change tasks and we touch him, he falls to the floor screams and has a meltdown

For reference: I’m an engineer that works on aerospace electrical systems, and I’ve been in this job for 2 years.
I’m currently on my first business trip to hash out the design implementation for an initiative I’m supposedly a big part of. Day 1 was mostly my teammates and I getting acclimated and bonding. It went much better than I expected, since I’m usually a nervous wreck who rarely speaks. But I was able to be myself for once and actually felt apart of the team.
Then Day 2 comes (today), with the first round of technical discussions. Barely said a single word the entire day. My manager and I had an understanding this would largely be informative for me, but I still felt…gross. The technical/schedule discussions largely went over my head, then I was awkward at the happy hour afterwards since I’m very obviously not among my peers. Everyone involved is completely out of my league, actually. They’re all so well-spoken, intelligent, witty, and they understand the system on the same fundamental level (which likely helps with banter). I can barely write notes fast enough to keep up with their trains of thought. I feel embarrassed that I’ve wasted the company’s money coming out here, I’m completely inconsequential.
I’m only 2 years into my career, but it’s not like many of the major players are much further along (5-6 years). I’m starting to think I just don’t have the aptitude for this, or anything really. I’m not sure how I got promoted last week, I am not like these people and may never be. I’ve been wanting to get a shotgun and blow my brains out all day. I lied about feeling nauseous to avoid going to the happy hour with the vendors/customer who probably wonder why the hell I’m even here. I’m not sure where to go with my life at this point.

I figured I'd continue this sort of thing with the next weapon class down the list.
Historically, straight-bladed, one-handed or hand-and-a-half swords were sidearms. Either as a backup weapon on the battlefield or as personal defense/a status symbol for everyday carry. I think the devs did a good job of capturing that in game. As a class, straight swords are rarely if ever an outright bad choice, but in any specific circumstance they'll fall well behind a more specialized option. Once you have access to bigger, flashier, or more impressive options they tend to fall by the wayside. But if your main breaks or is the wrong choice for a fight, it's comforting to know that you always have something that's basically OK to fall back on.
One thing that's not historically accurate is the power stance. I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. The damage output was pretty impressive and the specific way you swing both of them seems to have a more generous hitbox than one alone. Would I recommend doing it yourself? Well, definitely with Blue Flame and maybe with a couple others.
There are 18 straight swords in this game so let's get into individual details.
Shortsword
The main thing you notice using this is it's short. Deep insight, I know. Thing is, this is Dark Souls 2 and weapon hitboxes are at least vaguely the same size as the model. At times you can really feel the lack of reach when you find yourself whiffing attacks more than is healthy. The second thing you notice about the Shortsword is it isn't very strong. Straight swords don't have a whole lot of variance in their damage, but the Shortsword is definitely on the lower end of the scale and the above average counter damage can only do so much to cover for it. The third thing you notice is that the moveset is bloody fantastic. I'm always going to value a straight sword with a thrusting attack over one that only slashes. Thrust is just plain a better damage type than slash, it improves performance in tight spaces, and it gives your attacks more forward momentum to keep up aggression (and make up for short reach). It also may just be me, but it feels like the thrusting heavy attacks are better than slashing against NPC invaders too.
Longsword
It's only the second entry on the list and my thrust attack bias is rearing its head again. The 2 handed strong attack of the Longsword is just plain good. Between the damage and the stagger, there's parts of the game where I treat it more like a thrusting sword than a straight sword. There are a few other swords that have the same attack, but the Longsword is the strongest of the bunch (though it's only in the middle of the pack for the overall weapon class). The free fire infused one you can get is fine enough for the price. It performs about as well on average as the base model but it has some advantages against fire weak or slash resistant enemies and some glaring disadvantages once you hit a water or fire level. It's a lot more useful in vanilla where the Dull Ember is a lot harder to get. One last thing: I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up the Longsword's performance in PVP. I don't know nearly enough about that aspect of the game to really talk about it, but something about the specific intersection of reach, stagger, moveset, and requirements means this gets an S rank in a LOT of tier lists.
Broken Straight Sword
Something has to be the worst option, and it's the broken sword's thankless duty to fulfill this role. It's pitifully short, pathetically weak, and disappointingly fragile. It exists mostly to give players a clearly visible bottom of the barrel to compare other weapons to. One thing it does have going for itself is the lowest stamina costs of literally any weapon which is at least something. Poison or Mundane infusion can even make it borderline usable for the masochists out there.
Broadsword
One thing I've noticed about DS2's weapon design is that the first weapon you find in a specific class gets treated as the "default" and most others will be variants of it in some way. The Broadsword fits that mold here and that's not a bad place to be. It's got a decent moveset, decent damage, and it's decently easy to get and use. The thing is that being the archetype for the Basically OK weapon class means that you don't stand out at all. Its damage is a little above average, but it's reach is a little below and it's still well in the middle of the pack for both. All other stats and its moveset are completely standard. There's nothing wrong with using it, as long as you don't need to stab anything that is, but you'll find plenty of better options down the line.
Foot Soldier Sword
Lightweight, extremely low requirements, good reach, decent base damage for infusions, and an excellent moveset. If it weren't for the incredibly low durability this would be one of the best swords in the game. As it stands, well, it can make a decent emergency backup option as long as you don't need to rely on it too much.
Heide Knight Sword
This got done dirty in the Scholar version. First by being shifted from a guaranteed drop to a rare drop, and second when they made infusion much easier to unlock and devalued pre-infused and natural elemental weapons. It's still a Basically OK weapon but it's been knocked down to niche use rather than a staple. I'd say the best use case is someone who wants to use Faith from the start (for instance, helping a friend with a dedicated support build in co-op) and wants at least some payoff in damage before late game. I used it as my left hand weapon in power stance for quite a lot of the game since I wasn't planning to buff that hand anyway and it pulled its weight. That said, there's a reason I didn't use it in the right hand. I'm not a big fan of the one handed moveset. It's not bad per se but the underhanded swings just feel less powerful and I'm not sure why the strong attacks are borrowed from the Royal Dirk.
Varangian Sword
These first 7 swords are available pretty much at the start of the game, with varying levels of effort, so I'm loosely grouping them together as the "starter pack." Out of these, the Varangian Sword is the most viable as a main weapon rather than simply a backup. Broadsword moveset, Longsword length, and noticeably higher damage output than any of the other 6. Durability is something you have to keep in mind, and it can be especially bad for newer players who aren't as experienced with making it last, but for me it was mostly a non-issue.
Blue Flame
You know, when Elden Ring came out and there wasn't a single melee weapon that doubled as a casting tool I was a little confused. But then looking at the ones that appeared in DS2 and 3 and I start to think that the Blue Flame being actually pretty good as both a weapon and a casting tool was some sort of fluke. It's not really the best at either, as a staff it's a bit slow and only about third place in damage and as a sword it's Basically OK most of the time but suffers from the frequency of magic resistant enemies. But it lets me double buff easily in power stance and when you do, it's a blast to use. Now there is the question of infusion. Both Raw and Magic are basically direct upgrades in different ways. Raw works best if you plan to use it primarily as a sword since while it does improve the magic damage, it doesn't do so by a lot. Magic greatly improves spell damage, but is worse than base as a melee weapon, in no small part because it drops the physical damage down to "might as well not exist" level. Personally I think Raw is the better deal overall, especially since you have the option to apply Aromatic Ooze for an even better boost to spell damage than any spell buff, but I can see situations where more powerful spells could tip the balance in your favor. Also a heads up when you use this, due to some quirks in the buff formulas, Great Magic Weapon is only a few points weaker than Crystal on this weapon.
Red Rust Sword
This is an axe. Normally I would be fine with that since I fucking love the standard axe moveset for reasons I can't fully articulate, but this is not a particularly strong axe either. In fact at 40 Strength it's noticeably weaker than the Battle Axe even before you factor in the complete lack of counter damage. And the Battle Axe upgrades with normal titanite. And that;s not even touching on the Bandit Axe. Though granted it is at least strong for a straight sword if you count it as one. The one unique thing about the Red Rust Sword is its power stance performance (as you might have guessed from the person you get it from). It has straight sword compatibility and moveset priority but axe power stance moveset. This means you can pair it with some things that you normally can't pair with axes (daggers, thrusting swords, greatswords, spears, and lances specifically) and putting it in the left hand means it's less likely to override the moveset if you don't care for the axe power stance (and I don't).
Sun Sword
So the thing about weapons in DS2 with noticeably higher scaling than others in their class is they almost always have much lower base damage. This means that high stats are a requirement for use rather than a reward. Said scaling in this case is also a textbook example of DS2's misleading letter grades. The game tells you A/A but doesn't tell you that means 80%/45%. The other semi-unique feature, the one-handed stab, is not nearly as impressive or effective to me as the Longsword's two-handed one. And farming it is a complete pain in the ass even with the best luck boosts and a good plan. But let's take a step back from negativity and look at what this sword really wants you to do. It incentivizes physical stats and one handed use, which to me suggests one of two routes. Sword and board, especially since it comes with its own shield, but I've never felt that that's a particularly interesting playstyle. Or you can use it as the right hand in power stance, and that's where I think it shines. Again, having the option to use thrust damage when needed is very helpful, and the Sun Sword is one of the better options for this specific niche.
Drakekeeper's Sword
This just barely avoids being a direct upgrade to the Broadsword by having no counter damage. Above average reach and stagger, good damage, and high durability make this a very strong if not particularly flashy or dynamic choice. Just a pity that it's found almost at the end of the game.
Black Dragon Sword
Until you get very high stats, this is the strongest straight sword in the game. Both with a Raw infusion when compared to the physical options and with elemental infusions. And unlike the other strongest options, there's no traditional downside to balance it. High durability, Broadsword moveset, average reach, average weight, and no notable stat deficiencies. The real downside, aside from it being a pain to farm, is the opportunity cost of spending your boss upgrade material on something that is only the best of the Basically OK.
Yellow Quartz Longsword
Imagine a Longsword with a Broadsword moveset, worse damage, half the durability, and a bunch of crud smeared on the blade. Preorder weapons had a couple of hits and a bunch of misses. This one's a miss.
Possessed Armor Sword
This one has a few unique things going for it. The least remarkable thing is the above average reach, nice as it is. The moveset borrows a bit from axes and greatswords for a few attacks, and it works pretty decently. But the real draw is in the self-buff. L2 gives you 25 seconds of boosted fire damage at the cost of durability (much like the Watcher and Defender Greatswords). As for how well all of that works in practice, well it's not great but it's not really bad either. The buff doesn't add all that much damage, and fire is in many ways the worst damage type, but as long as you keep an eye on the durability and are not using it on things that resist it, it's Basically OK.
Ashen Warrior Sword
This sword has the same moveset as the Shortsword, with thrusting strong attacks when both one and two handed, so it makes a good first impression. And unlike the Shortsword it has decent reach so it's even better. The cracks start to show when you see the durability, though even then it's not a dealbreaker for me. That comes when you see the damage output and realize it traded actual real damage for bleed. Heartbreaking.
Puzzling Stone Sword
This weapon is unique top to bottom. The light attacks are already a pretty unique combination before you get into the weird extendo whip sword strong attacks. It's even got some weirdly high Dex scaling. Thing is, even with that scaling it's always on the lower end of damage for straight swords. And taking advantage of the extended reach with the strong attacks means dealing even less damage since they're way out of the sword's sweet spot. Still, as a rollcatcher or zoning tool it's pretty effective. Just ask Fencer Sharron.
Fume Sword
This is the longest straight sword by a decent margin, and acts even longer with those thrusting attacks. It has dark scaling, but no requirements in those stats and can be buffed with resin so it works just fine in physical builds. It also has above average counter damage. I think like the Sun Sword, this works best one handed with either a shield or another weapon, just like how its previous owner used it.
Ivory Straight Sword
It's a lightsaber. It deals pure physical Strike damage. It requires 40 Dex. It has no scaling. It weighs 0.5 pounds. It does not benefit from Flynn's Ring at all. It has 250 durability. It breaks after 25 swings no matter what you hit. It deals the least amount of poise damage of any weapon. It has the slowest attacks and the highest stamina costs of any straight sword. The 2 handed strong attack can deal 4 digit damage. Using that attack costs as much stamina as drawing a Twin-Headed Greatbow. I'm about 70% sure it can headshot. It's cool looking and unique. It sucks so bad. If you're intrigued by this thing's design and want to try to make the most of it, there's two different routes you can take to make it work. 1. Treat it like some sort of weird fucked up pocket great hammer and exclusively use the 2HR2. 2. Go play Elden Ring and build around the Carian Knight Sword or Coded Sword instead.

As the title states, I’ve only very recently considered the idea of possibly retiring early. So any general advice that you all can provide and whether or not Barista Fire is even a realistic goal, would be greatly appreciated!
I am a 29M, married (no children), living in a MCOL area, and we have zero debt. Below is a breakdown of me and my wife’s current financial situation and contribution strategy:
401K (Mine) - $70K 50% match up to 8% salary. Currently contributing 10% (7% Roth, 3% Traditional)
401K (Wife) - $56K 50% match up to 6% salary. Currently contributing 10% (7% Roth, 3% Traditional)
Roth IRA (Mine) - $14K Max every year until they close the “back door” (just started late last year, 2024 max contribution has already been made)
Roth IRA (Wife) - $14K Same as mine
Money Market acct(Joint) - $81K Savings for house down payment
Brokerage Account (Joint) - $38K All equities, medium to high risk investment. Have contributed $35K in total starting late last year. Looking to contribute $10K/ year.
Personal savings/checkings (Mine)- $16K
Personal savings/checkings (Wife) - $15K
Total: ~$300K
Income
Mine - $140K
Wife - $98K
Misc - $60K (one time payment coming from land my wife’s family sold. We have not yet received this but expect to receive it in $15K increments over next two years).
Questions/Advice -The $81K currently sitting in the money market account is meant for a down payment on a house, but it is starting to look less likely that we are going to be buying a house for another year. Should we just continue letting this sit in the money market account, or should I allocate to other investments?
-Am I diversified enough? If we successfully retire early, the only investment we will be able to withdraw from before 59.5 without tax penalties will be the brokerage account. Should I be investing anywhere else?
-“Backdoor Roth”. Should I continue to utilize this as long as it’s allowed? (Bonus question- why does the govt even have an income cap on contributing to a Roth IRA if they leave this “backdoor” open)
-Barista Fire jobs. I’m sure this is a “it depends” type question, but just curious what most expect to generate from their Barista Fire job. Enough to cover basic necessities? More? Less?
I appreciate any and all thoughts!

Living with my family is severely wearing down on my mental health. It has just been a very emotionally unavailable and toxic environment for years to the point I now suffer with depression. I’ve reached my breaking point as I got called mentally ill and crazy by my mother for losing a LOT of weight, quite uncontrollably, due to my health problems (I have a very bad case of IBS, which is only worsening because of the stress I have living in this house, and a bunch of other deficiencies). This is not the first time my health issues have been disrespected by my parents as well. I feel extremely trapped.
I’m 18 years old, have been poor my whole life and live in council housing with my parents. My father lost his job this month so I’ve had to pay £400 out of my savings for bills, groceries etc. and I was lucky to not have to pay our rent as he managed to get a universal credit claim and an advanced payment to pay that. My father is in a shit ton of debt with no savings, same with my mother who is also stubborn and doesn’t want to work so I was the only option as I had money (which I had saved up from monthly £290 universal credit payments for the past couple months). These were savings for long term travel.
I do not have a job or any work experience. My only “work” at the moment is an unpaid, remote, digital marketing internship to gain experience in this field. My health makes it quite difficult to do on-site work and even with this I must have sent hundreds of applications for these jobs (like fast food, retail etc etc..) and I have never gotten anything back for MONTHS. And I’ve tried remote call centres too which was recommended to me by my work coach. No luck. I failed my alevels and wasn’t able to retake them at my college so I do not have qualifications to go to university, and honestly want to avoid going back to education for the time being if I can. I cannot afford to rent a place in my city.
I’m not sure of my options at this point. I’m in a long distance relationship with my boyfriend who lives in Australia, at this point I’m considering blowing the rest of my savings to stay with him. For further reference, I live in the UK on a settlement status so this would be seriously expensive. I just don’t want to be in this house anymore. My friends do not have their own places either so I cannot stay with them.
ADVICE ONLY.