Job opportunities in cameroon

I left my hometown 11 years ago, I grew up in a very conservative and boring town and my parents were super strict and protective. I neve made any friends, until I moved by myself to the capital city of my country and started to travel alone. I love traveling, I’m very adventurous and curious but my family never understood this, they are super conformists and they don’t like to leave the house. After a few years living alone, working and taking care of myself, I made my biggest dream come true, I moved to my dream country to study my masters, and had the chance to live in the city of my dreams: Rome. After graduation, I couldn’t find a job and I had no money left, so I had to come back to my hometown.
I’ve been here for a year, unemployed because I can’t find a job in my country either, and during this time I’ve been diagnosed with severe depression and ADHD. I started therapy and psychiatric treatment and I planned to overdose on benzodiazepines last January, but I got a really nice job opportunity so I decided to give it a chance. I was in the final stages of the hiring process and told a friend about it. He applied and got the job because he has friends in that office. It was my only hope, I lost many opportunities before and after that experience, it wasn’t my fault the projects just failed, and now I have nothing.
I don’t see myself living 40 years more, I don’t want to have children and no one ever loved me so I won’t get married. I don’t have any dream left, I made my greatest dream come true and lost it. There's nothing else I want to do and I’m also broke. I can’t move out of my hometown again, not without support. I stopped enjoying food and music, I can’t even watch a movie anymore. I’m so bored. I used to be so passionate about life and creative and happy… People used to compliment my glow and nice energy.
I’m thinking about hanging myself, because I’m sure that if I ingest some pills or poison I’ll throw up, my stomach is very delicate. I’m just afraid that I won’t die and end up with permanent brain damage.
I am a failure to my parents, they never recognized my successes, they are disappointed that I don’t want children. I was raised to be a wife and a mom and to live next to them my whole life, but I escaped that future. They support my brother, they say he’s the future of the family because he is an engineer and he wants a wife and children, so I don’t have any emotional or financial support.
Is not that I want to go, but I would rather go than stay.

Hi guys!
Long story short, I moved to Charleston with my SO after being in Buffalo my entire life and while I love it, she’s missing family back home and wants to move closer to home. I’m fine with this however I’m not 100% sure living in Buffalo NY itself is for me anymore and was looking into options close but not necessarily into the city itself. A few details:

• I make 83k a year, she makes around 20/hr
• Preferably would like to be close to BUF as in 2-3 hours away. I’ve looked at Erie and PIT but not completely sold on them yet
• I work in IT, she works as retail management
• Not particularly worried about night life, I’m 27M she’s 23F if that matters too -We’d be looking to sell out current house and buy another

If this isn’t the right place for this please let me know but could really use some advice on this. Erie looks like a great place, haven’t been too often but doesn’t seem to have too many opportunities job wise. Thanks for reading and GO BILLS!
Edit to add: I love Buffalo so if maybe I’m just being dumb about it lmk and should I just move back to town??

Hi all, as per the title, I'm a high-school senior who's soon to graduate and go to college. I've been interested in both software and hardware since I was little, and I'm lucky enough to have been admitted to one of the best electrical engineering and computer science programs in the world. The program, being very flexible in terms of coursework, got me thinking about possible educational/career pathways. I've since been researching career opportunities, and I'm feeling somewhat lost.
Firstly, I'd ideally love not to limit myself to solely software or hardware roles, at least early in my career. I recognize that my knowledge of either field is very limited, though through some experience with web development, cloud computing, and backend infrastructure, I'm not sure if I'd like to do that sort of thing my whole career. Similarly, I don't think I'd want to do analog design. I do enjoy scripting and low-level programming, embedded systems, computer architecture, and digital electronics, and I'm sure there are more things in EECS that I'll find interesting. As such, I'm not sure what industry roles I could potentially be looking for.
There's also the issue of education beyond undergrad. The consensus seems to be that general software engineering careers don't really need a master's or PhD, but roles like verification and architecture need at least a master's.
Being in the Bay Area, I don't think it'll be impossible to find jobs in either field, though I am concerned about salary in the future, given that the cost of living here is absurdly high. From what I've read, low-level and hardware jobs simply don't pay as well as pure software, unless you have a PhD with 20+ YoE. Looking at it now, it just seems more financially sound to go into software. However, with the inflationary and saturated market, I fear that salaries will decrease, or at the very least, stagnate in the long term.
I say all this because I'd like to get an idea of how to roughly plan my education and time at college from people who know the aforementioned industries better than me. Obviously, no one can predict the future or time the market, but any knowledge and advice would be helpful at this point.
Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone,
I am unsure whether to minor in physics or computer science. It is my understanding that I will need to learn programming at some point for most careers that involve statistics. I just finished my first year of college at a state school and took an intro to R class which was alright. I can already tell I am not a fan of programming. It was my first ever programming class though so I might be jumping to conclusions. I find coding to be repetitive and somewhat difficult/boring but I do understand why it’s necessary for most jobs.
On the other hand, I enjoy physics much more but I know that it will be much less useful than computer science for my major. I was drawn to it ever since initially learning about it in eighth grade. This led me to take AP Physics 1 in high school which I thoroughly enjoyed even though I was not the best at it. I would have majored in physics instead of statistics, but I saw that statistics is a pretty flexible degree and has so many job opportunities.
During undergrad, I will take some courses in my major that teach programming (mainly R and python), so it’s not like I will have no coding skills whatsoever. I am willing to learn computer science on the side at my own pace through whatever resources I can find on the internet if that means I can minor in physics. I am just not sure if these resources will be as good as learning cs through college courses. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
Other info that may/may not be relevant: I plan to apply to my schools accelerated masters track to get my masters in statistics. I will be taking my first college physics course in a few weeks over the summer to get a feel of what it’s like.

Hello everyone! As the title says I just graduated college with an Associates Degree on May 19th and I am looking for job opportunities in the Interior Design field. I have called designers and furniture stores in my area and surrounding area, but I’m struggling. I do have a current job that pays $17.25/hr and only gets 68 hours max every 2 weeks, I honestly need more than that to pay bills and my student loans. I'm also looking for any customer service/representative jobs either on-site, hybrid, or remote. I live in the Wisconsin area, thank you so much!

Hello hope all is well
i’ve been working at a private jet company as a fabricator for like 6 months. i enjoy working there. might be the best job ever i have had in my life. benefits, insurance, discounts, all that, and also the best people to work with.
anyway i’m wondering what’s opportunities or path did you guys worked up from fabricator. i would love to make commitment to this aviation line. schools? certificates? anything worth adding to my resume? would love to hear from your experience. much appreciated and thanks!

I’m 34 as of last week and have had a storied career(ADHD guy who moved around to different stuff). At one point around 23, I was in plumbing and is where I spent around 2.5 years along with my first year of schooling. I wound up moving cities, I had an opportunity in the next and took it(not in plumbing) and haven’t returned. Anyways, I started in refrigeration a few months ago thinking it would be my landing pad, but personally I hate it; the work, the people. I’m just not as into it as everyone else I work with is and I know I never will be.
I looked into my hours recently and realized in two years or so, I could have all my hours and schooling and my ticket and be done with it. Hopefully eventually way down the line, I could start a company although I know it’s crazy saturated so who knows.
Am I crazy to do this? I know refrigeration and HVAC seems to be some Holy Grail of trades due to the pay and ease on the body. I just don’t foresee myself finishing a ticket in this. I know we don’t have to love our job but I sure dislike mine with a passion and for decent reason I think(personally).

I know this is such a cliché question, but finally, after 19 years living on this earth, I finally know what I want to do. For context, I am currently studying about AI. The reason I chose this field is because of part of my friend's advice, my lack of direction after I'd finished high school, and because I think that since AI is basically everywhere now, it would open up many job opportunities for me in the future. But in the middle of my FIRST semester, I fell into this kind of depression phase? Where I would just stay at home all day and just do nothing, I just stop caring like I wasn't even taking care of myself anymore for awhile..., I just watch a bunch of YouTube videos all day. I just feel hopeless and directionless, the major that I blindly chose just isn't for me at all (shocking, I know), it had gotten to the point that I often make up excuses just to not go to class, and as a result, I failed 2 subjects. So fast forward to 1 day while I was mindlessly watching some YouTube videos I came across an animation channel that makes me realize how much back in the day I always wanted to start an animation YouTube channel like Jaiden Animation, TheOdd1sOut, or Domics since these are some of my favorite channels that I grew up with. I know that whoever reads this might roll their eyes or find it cringe (it's me, I'm just self-projecting), but I feel like I have a purpose to keep living now and It's been 2 weeks since I started learning how to draw, and I know it's too early to say anything, but after realizing what I truly wanted to do gives me life now, I even go to class regularly now. But now I face a dilemma since the major that I'm currently pursuing still sucks the soul out of me. I wanted to know what should I do? Should I focus on my passion or just forget about it since it's just delusional, or should I just keep studying while focused on what I wanted to do, but then the time and money I put on my college degree would be wasted... So I would like to know what you guys all think
edit: sorry for the long paragraph it's my first time posting anything on Reddit since I'm just mainly a lurker, if there any further question you guys wanted to know more you guys can just comment. edit 2: if some of you guys wanted to know the channel that inspired me ,it's "Cận Thị TG" he's an vietnamese story time youtuber who has a fire art-style and animation if any of you guys can understand vietnamese I highly recommend watching him !

I am 22 years old and I aspire to become an accountant. I'm soon starting school again to pursue the degree, and I think what caught my attention most was the fact that accounting provides a lot of branches and opportunities one can get into(Also the pizza parties are to die for according to you guys haha jk). Apart from being financially literate which is also a pro, but in my ignorance I wish to one day open up my own firm. Why do many accountants avoid this path? I understand being an entrepreneur isn't for everyone but for example you've been in the industry for 20+ years what is stopping many from becoming independent?! I come from a line of entrepreneurs in my family and it's always been an inspiring dream of mine to have my own business someday. I like accounting and it's what I have in mind. Now again is it worth starting a business in this industry? I really like bookkeeping but I keep hearing AI will replace it or has, should I be concerned? What are things that make it very complicated for accountants to open up their own firms or even in general getting side work aside from your day to day job. Please be nice, I'm just looking for some solid advice and trying to grasp peoples perspective on becoming an entrepreneur in this industry. Thank youuu :))

One month ago, I was hit by a car while biking. After reaching out to their adjuster many times, I finally got an appointment for a call tomorrow (I totally understand that adjusters have a stressful job).
I was taken to the ER due to my abrasions/swollen knees and bleeding wound at the head. Luckily, besides a (undiagnosed) minor concussion, I didn't suffer long lasting damages. However, I don't feel comfortable biking anymore in California.
I don't have any more strong symptoms. However, I struggled with wounds/sleep and nausea for a week. What would be considered fair compensation besides the coverage of medical bills? Of course, I don't want to exploit this opportunity but also don't want to simply take the first offer.

So boyfriend and I have been dating for 2 years. It’s been very good and we are very much on the same page with our future and what we want, house, kids etc. We make over $250K per year and equally split, we work very hard career wise and being financially set was important for both of us. Boyfriend and I have lived separately throughout our relationship but I’ve put in my notice to leave my apartment July 1st. Plan is to move in together, either at his or move into a rental home temporarily until we buy a home together. Id be happy to buy right away but I’m also fine to wait another year and experience living together first.
Here’s where it gets interesting- boyfriend has younger sister that moved in with him in September. She hasn’t been successful holding a job in the past, has some serious mental health issues (depression, anxiety, PTSD) has no education and has a 65 lb dog. Originally this situation was temporary to allow her to get back on her feet - look for a job or apply to a diploma program or something to get ahead in life. We were thinking by March she should be able to move out.
Here it is almost June, sister just started a minimum wage job working 15-20 hours a week. She has no savings and spends whatever money she makes on vapes, cigarettes, junk food and dog supplies. She pays no rent nor does she split groceries that my boyfriend and I have supplied since September. I help buy dog food and fill her car with gas, etc. I’ve done what I can to improve her life and make sure she was welcome and comfortable, as I spend a lot of time at my boyfriends and truly wanted to help her feel less stressed financially so she could focus on what she wanted to do for work or school. I would chat with her all the time about opportunities or programs. She spent all of winter not working and not leaving the apartment, severely depressed. We paid for her gym membership and took her with us whenever we could etc. I really feel that we did all we could to help her out. She has a therapist and medication and social supports, etc. I don’t see her being able to be successful on her own any time soon, the rental market in our area is expensive and a minimum wage part time job is not going to cut it. Also many rentals do not allow a larger dog.
I’m wondering what to do here. This sister situation has been a huge roadblock in my relationship with my boyfriend and our future and our chance to move forward. They live in a 2 bedroom suite, so there isn’t really room for me to move in, nor do I really want to in the current situation. It’s tight and honestly I’m so used to having more privacy and space at mine. I really crave one on one alone time with my boyfriend and we have sacrificed it so much to make her feel welcome and help her life improve.
My boyfriend and I are both financially ready to buy a house and move forward but we are now tied to being financially and personally responsible for this sister. The parents are struggling financially and health wise so they cannot take on this daughter of theirs. We have decided she and the dog are moving with us in this next chapter of either renting or buying a house.
I do recognize this situation may improve when we all have more space and maybe a basement for her to have her own area. However, I do not want to become resentful for a dependant I did not ask to be responsible for? I do not want to be resentful for not having the opportunity to live alone with my boyfriend and work on our relationship. I want a family and I also want to fully enjoy this next chapter of life we have both worked and saved for so long for!
How do I best set boundaries or a time frame to help this sister move on and live independently?
I fear we have made it to comfortable that she has no desire to pay her own rent or groceries, let alone live a full filling life of her own.

Dear Nashville Community Members,
I reach out to you today with a plea for urgent assistance for a young soul in our midst who is teetering on the brink of hopelessness. At just 18 years old, this individual has already faced more than his fair share of challenges. His father passed away when he was 2, leaving him and his bedridden mother to navigate life's stormy seas alone. He has been berated and told he was not good enough by a string of drunk "father figures" who have all left him abandoned.
He has been left to fend for himself, lacking the crucial support and guidance that every young person deserves. With no one to push him forward or provide a guiding hand, he has faltered in his education, slipped through the cracks of the system, and now finds himself in a dire situation.
I'm a concerned neighbor that has watched him become more and more withdrawn over the years and after talking with him recently, felt the need to post this message.
Imagine living in a home where the stench of neglect and dog feces hangs heavy in the air, where the floors are littered with filth, and where the only constant companion is the crushing weight of despair. This is the reality this young man faces every single day. And despite all this tragedy, he still has hope. He's a good kid.
But he cannot do this alone. He needs someone, the Nashville community, to rally around him. He needs our collective strength, compassion, and resources to pull him out of the abyss that threatens to consume him. I am currently raising 2 young ones myself and unfortunately do not have the time required to help him.
Perhaps you have guidance to offer, a job opportunity that could provide him with a lifeline out of his current circumstances, or simply a listening ear and a word of encouragement. Whatever it may be, no gesture is too small when it comes to saving a life and offering someone a chance at a better future.
I knew him when I lived in East Nashville years ago, and have remained friends since then. He was 7 when I met him, and I remember often walking outside early to go to work and would hear screaming coming from the home. It is hard to hear a kid screaming and crying and the "adults" screaming back at him..
If you can offer any assistance or know of resources that could help, please DM me and we'll work out a plan. I want to make a difference and rewrite the trajectory of this young kids life.
With gratitude and hope..

One month ago, I was hit by a car while biking. After reaching out to their adjuster many times, I finally got an appointment for a call tomorrow (I totally understand that adjusters have a stressful job).
I was taken to the ER due to my abrasions/swollen knees and bleeding wound at the head. Luckily, besides a (undiagnosed) minor concussion, I didn't suffer long lasting damages. Still, I don't feel comfortable biking anymore in California.
I don't have any more strong symptoms. However, I struggled with wounds/sleep and nausea for a week. What would be considered fair compensation besides the coverage of medical bills? Of course, I don't want to exploit this opportunity but also don't want to be "lowballed".

The stress of the last six months has nearly killed me. Besides the general cratering of the outside world—political strife, climate change, inflated rents, corporate greed, and the baffling resurgence of crew socks—my internal life was falling apart, too. I'm at the point where I can't see a way out of the darkness, and that feeling has only grown in the last few days.
My struggles ramped up exponentially in the last two weeks. It started when my long-term girlfriend and I called it quits after five years. There was no definitive relationship-altering fight or infidelity. It was simply the boring banality of the "roommate-ification" of our lives together. We both felt the shift but never talked about it. Turns out communication is important.
Truthfully, we'd stayed together for so long because we couldn't afford to live apart. Our rent had nearly doubled the last time we re-upped our lease but even that was a bargain compared to what was out there currently. We were trapped by our need to have a roof over our heads.
My job had stagnated, and I couldn't find anything better. I was stuck. Like me, she'd been job hunting as well. Unlike me, she had a master's, and her prospects should've been higher. They weren't. For five months, she applied to hundreds of jobs and couldn't break through. If she got a rejection email, it was a win. Most of the time, the companies never responded.
Finally, she found a great opportunity at a Fortune 500 company. It was an involved process. She nailed the five interviews, and her "test project" was well received. She was offered the position, and it came with a massive pay increase—double her current salary. I was proud of her—she needed a win. We celebrated with pizza and beer that night.
Two days later, she dropped the bomb that she was breaking things off. The relationship ending wasn't a surprise. The timing was. The discussion was brief, and there was zero chance of reconciliation. She declined when I asked if she could stay until the lease ended. Mentally, it would've been too much for her. Two days after that, she moved out, taking half the rent with her. I was stuck in a lease I couldn't afford on my salary for the next six months.
My free time evaporated as I took on two extra gigs to help make ends meet. In addition to my office nine to five, I drove for a delivery app on the weekends and took a part-time night job stocking shelves at a local grocery store. When I wasn't hustling for housing, I slept or ate. I did nothing beyond that. Nothing brings me joy. There is no spark.
This drudgery has become my daily routine, and it's killing me.
To help cover some cost gaps, I've started selling off some of my stuff online. It was just me here, and I decided that the Spartan lifestyle would have to work for now. Anything I could fetch a decent amount for went up for sale. My apartment is so empty now every noise causes an echo.
Before my shift at the grocery store, I agreed to meet someone who wanted to take a look at my kitchen table. It was a lovely table – my ex had obsessed over it – but I didn't see a need at the moment. Now that I was a bachelor, my TV trays became my default kitchen tables anyway. I wasn't planning on any dinner parties in the future anyway.
A couple showed up later than they said they would. It was a bored-looking guy and a fastidious young woman. She made friendly small talk as she looked over the table. Her boyfriend (I think) stayed quiet and played bodyguard. I gave him a friendly nod at one point, and he just looked away. She said they'd take it without trying to talk me down. I took the small win.
She asked if I could help carry it down to their truck. I was running late, but feeling helpful, even for a fleeting few seconds, was worth it. Her silent boyfriend and I hauled the table through the hallway and even managed to avoid hitting the walls the entire way down.
I placed it in their truck, got my money, and turned to leave. The girl said thanks, and the boyfriend finally returned the nod. I gave a weird half-wave to them both and started to walk away when I heard the passenger window being rolled down.
"Hey man," the boyfriend said, his voice higher pitched than I thought it would. "What was up with your brother giving us the evil eye in the lobby when we got here?"
I turned around, "Huh? I don't have a brother."
"A cousin then?"
"My family lives about a thousand miles away. What happened in the lobby?"
"A dude that looked just like you was hiding in a dark hallway in the lobby and staring at my girl's ass."
"Jacob, really," she said.
"I'm sorry that happened, but I had nothing to do with it. We do have the occasional homeless guy meander in. Maybe you saw one of them," I said. "Did he say or do anything bad?"
"Jacob, I asked you to not say something," the girl said, burying her head in her hands.
Jacob's frosty attitude to me made sense now. "He said something about running up that ass. I dunno, he was mumbling. I told him I'd beat his ass if he didn't stop staring. Seemed to shut him up."
"Oh. Well, congrats," I said. "I'll tell the manager. Thanks for letting me know."
"You should do a better job keeping jokers like that out of the building."
"Jacob, he's not a security guard."
"He should still be a man and protect his home."
"Have a good night," I said, ending the conversation and heading back up to my apartment. I had about five minutes to change and head out before I'd be late. Last thing my ego needed was to be fired from my backup job.
Thankfully, I was able to slip into work and not get spotted by my boss. That was the last of the good news, though. We had a massive weekly order come in, which meant I'd be there late, plus someone had called out. Worse, our hand truck had a flat tire, and I spent the next few hours torturing my muscles, schlepping heavy boxes around the store. I soldiered on, counting down the minutes until I left and fantasizing about going to bed for the night.
If wishing for sleep wasn't a sad statement to my mental well-being, nothing was.
I came home after my shift at the grocery store and plopped down on the couch. I had contemplated selling it, but it was an older Ikea number, and I didn't think the value would replace my desire to sit. I could feel my body sink into the cushions, and the day's tension seep out. I was beat and tired to the point that turning on the TV was a chore.
I picked up my phone and thought I'd doomscroll until sleep overtook me. I didn't expect it to be a long scroll, as even the methadone that is my phone has failed me lately. As I lowered myself from a slumped position to a supine one, I heard footsteps outside my apartment door. This was not unusual, but the noise I heard sounded like kid footsteps. That was unusual, as nobody on our floor had kids, and it was almost midnight.
Despite my body screaming at me to not move, my brain suggested I check it out. I rolled myself off the couch and eventually stood up. I listened again and heard the kid running down the hallway. I walked over to my door and looked out the peephole. I didn't see anyone.
"Maybe I'm dreaming," I said to myself. "Maybe I'm not staring out a peephole, expecting to see a kid running down the hall at midnight, but instead, I'm cuddled up in my bed, snoozing." I pinched my arm and felt the pain. I was definitely in the waking world.
I turned to head back to the couch when I heard the running again, this time louder. I opened my door and peeked out into the hallway. Nobody was there. The door from the apartment across me opened up, too. Gloria, a young at heart grandma who was friendly/constantly buzzed in a wine mom kind of way, gave me a once over.
"You heard that, too?" she asked.
"Kids?"
"No rugrats around. I assumed it was some drunk assholes stumbling home from the bar."
I laughed. Gloria was, as always, blunt. "I didn't see any assholes," I said.
"Then you're not watching the right kind of internet videos," she said with a wink and a hoarse cackle.
I blushed. How do you respond to that? I just kind of nodded in agreement and shrugged.
"Gotta get your jollies while you can," she said before adding, "You need some rest, dear. You look like hammered shit." She shut her door and went back inside.
She was right. I felt like hammered shit. Since I wasn't going to solve the case of the mysterious runner and was sure it wasn't some lost kid, I decided to call it a night. I went back inside, shut down the apartment, and crawled into bed.
I thought about watching one of the "right kind of internet videos" but fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
***
"Your problem is you think the world owes you something."
John, my elderly coworker at the grocery store, was standing by while I unloaded a pallet of cereal. I liked John, and when I first started, we instantly clicked. He's quick with a joke and fun to talk to. He's also about thirty years older than me and speaks with the Boomer combination of accumulated wisdom, backhanded compliments, and fringe conspiracy nonsense. Still, regardless of how couched the kindness is in gobbledygook, he's usually coming from a good place.
"What?" I said, putting a box of Captain Crunch on the shelf.
"You're complaining about your situation, right? Saying it ain't fair. The world took a paddle to your hind quarters? Hey brother, that's the way the cookie crumbles. Gotta just pick yourself up and start over. You're smart enough – figured this job out right quick – you can do it."
The job was wheeling pallets around the store and stocking shelves. It wasn't much to figure out, but I understood his meaning. The other stuff wasn't necessary, though. "I'm just in a funk. I don't see a way forward."
"Hey, so you've bottomed out. No shame in that. Happens to us all. Silver lining, you can only go up," he said before adding, "Unless some other bad shit happens to you like your car dies or your apartment building burns down. But after that, it's only up."
"The apartment building burning down would be a blessing," I said, hoisting another little Captain on the shelf. "The rent is killing me."
"Have you tried negotiating a lower rent? They used to do that when I was your age."
"I think they'd evict me if I even asked."
"Hell, then you'd have at least thirty days, maybe forty, before they'd kick you out. Plenty of time to turn things around."
"Uh-huh," I said, "Any chance you could give me a hand here?"
"My back is screaming like a pretty young thing after prom," he said, holding his back for emphasis.
I didn't push. "Hey, I meant to tell you about some weird shit that happened the other night."
"Lay it on me. I love the strange."
"So, after my shift the other day, I got home around midnight and was flopped on the couch. I heard someone running down the hallway outside my apartment. I wasn't the only one. A few other neighbors heard it, too. When we checked, though, nobody was there."
"That ain't strange," John said, waving his hand, "that's a man who's plowing another man's wife running for his life."
I laughed. "That's not the weird part. So, for the next two nights, it's the same thing. Around midnight, someone runs down the hallway. Only this time, they're trying the door handles as they pass. So, I asked the front desk to check the security cameras, and they do."
"They see a man running away holding his clothes?"
"There wasn't anyone running down the hall," I said, "But the weird thing was, you could see the door handles turning on the video."
"Damn, that's a good one," John said, "You sure it wasn't just a camera glitch. These new ones from overseas aren't as reliable as they want you to think. Chinese probably using them to spy on you, too."
He continued as my brain tried to reconcile John's two opposing comments. "Weird shit happens at night, man. Before working here, I only worked the day shift. Even when they offered me more money to work nights, I turned it down. Even when they promised me a promotion, I turned them down."
In a previous life, John had worked as a paramedic. He came by it after serving in a medical unit in the army. He'd told me he loved the rush of the job, but after a while, the death and hurt in people's eyes got to be too much to handle. But he worked there for almost twenty years. So, the man had a tolerance for shenanigans and odd occurrences.
"Why'd you agree to work nights here?"
"Shit, we're home before the witching hour. This is like late afternoons, at best. But if it was overnights, hell no. Captain Crunch can anchor his own ship to the shelves. I'd take my ass to 7-11 for a day shift before agreeing to work an overnight."
"Something happen to you during the army?”
“I got the clap,” he offered.
I sighed. “What turned you off nights?"
"Oh. I heard enough stories from coworkers to know I didn't want to experience any of that hoo-doo shit," he said, "trying to save someone's life is hard enough without adding in demon kids and ghosts."
"Did your coworkers see demon kids?" I asked, moving on from the good Captain to the Trix rabbit.
He nodded, "They saw too much. I find it odd, even with all the surveillance we have now and all the science we know about these days, that the night still scares us. You ever know someone who worked a night shift?"
I had. My ex. During college, she worked the overnight desk at a hotel for a while. She quit because the job gave her bad vibes. I told John as much.
He pointed and laughed, "See! Don't you find it odd that every person who works at night always has a story of something eerie happening to them? Every person, buster. That's what they call an irrefutable fact."
"Maybe the ghost running down the hallway is an old employee still doing his rounds."
"In that case, keep that door double locked. I'd even wedge a towel under the door just in case."
"Maybe they're friendly? Casper-like in that way."
"You ever heard someone tell you about a friendly ghost outside the funny papers?"
"I'm sure it happens," I said, "The scary ghosts are more popular though."
“We think we know everything there is to know but we are just babes in the woods when it comes to night things.” John shook his head. "Imma tell you one or three things that happened to a guy I worked with back when I first got hired on to chase after corpses in the ambo. Guy's name was Gil. Quiet man, kept to himself. Didn't rock the boat or demand a bigger paddle. Just rowed with us. Good cat to learn under," John said, finally handing me a cereal box.
I took it, and he kept going, "Now, Gil, ya see, he had a little wifey that would pester him about working days. She was a cop and worked evenings at that time, so they never saw each other. When married people can't align their genitals every now and then, it spells doom."
"A little too much information but sure," I said, shelving another box of Trix.
"Probably part of what happened with you and yours," he said. He wasn't wrong, but that didn't mean I wanted to hear it.
John kept on, "Gil finally got approved to move to nights. Little pay boost and a happy, 'fulfilled' wife should've made that man happy. But it didn't. I saw him a few months later, and he had changed. He might've been quiet when he was working with me, but he'd talk to you if you engaged. When I saw him that time, though, oh boy. He looked sick."
"Wasn't a fan of working nights?"
"Wasn't a fan of living anymore is the feeling I got," John said, "After some prodding, he got to talking with me some. Told me he missed days because the nights were messing with him. I thought it had to do with the schedule change, but that wasn't the case. He said he saw things in the dark he couldn't explain. Things that would turn James Brown into James White, ya dig?"
"I...dig," I said.
"Told me they got a call to an abandoned apartment building one night, around three in the morning. Wasn't unusual. Old buildings in the city are where hop-heads congregate and share drugs. Sometimes, the drugs are too much. Sometimes, they find a person passed out or, worse, dead. When you work in the ambo, you aren't scared of death like a civilian. You've been around it. Probably seen a few folks take their last breaths. It doesn't bother you the way Mother Nature intended it should."
He handed me another box, continuing his assist streak, and kept going, "Ambo pulled up, Gil stepped out and looked for someone to talk to. Nobody there, though. Not uncommon. Some people want to help but not be involved. There's not a soul around. He calls out, but nothing comes back. Tells me he turns to get back in the ambulance when he hears a scream from inside the run-down building. They're calling for help. He's gotta go in the abandoned building in the dark."
"No thanks," I said.
"But it don't bother a medic like that. Gil's done a million of these calls. No big deal. He runs into that building but doesn't come back out until twenty minutes later. Just goes missing. After five, the crew heads in to back him up but can't find him. Gil tells me his crew called the cops. It was like he had vanished."
"What happened?"
"I asked him and he got real quiet. Said he fell into some place that looked like here but wasn't here. Said he felt their eyes on him. Judging him. Told me they followed him home and wouldn't leave him be."
"Who?"
John shrugged, "He didn't say. Shut down after that and left. Just walked past me like I was shit on the sidewalk. He quit about a week later. Heard he had a stroke a year later and was a tombstone owner three months after that. Good guy, though."
"Your aversion to overnights makes a little more sense."
"Never in a million years. You don't want something like that coming after you."
"In my case, could it get much worse?" I said with a half-smile.
"Man, I wouldn't even joke about that," he said, making the sign of the cross, "You don't want that shit attachin' itself to you. With your luck, you'd bring him in here, and it'd hop over to me. I can't have a ghost crimping my style."
After a bit, he got called away to sign off on a delivery. I finished out my shift and headed out to the parking lot. When I exited the building and spotted my car, I froze. My doors were all open, and the interior lights were on. Someone had broken in.
I glanced around the lot to see if the thief was still around, but there wasn't another person near me. I walked over to the car and peered inside. My glovebox had been ripped open, and my registration was pulled out, but nothing else was missing.
I found little hand prints in the dirt all along the body and the windows. I held mine up for comparison, and they were about half the size. It must've been some tweens or teens who did this. Maybe they were going to steal some things and got cold feet. I contemplated calling the cops, but since nothing had happened and they wouldn't do anything anyway, there was no reason to delay sleep any longer than I had to. I closed all the doors and climbed inside.
I started the car and heard something rattling in the AC vents. I pulled out my phone and shined the light at the vent. There was a small piece of paper inside. I looked around my car for some tool to pull it out and only found an ink pen and a bent-up paperclip. After McGuyvering the vent for a bit, the paper finally came out.
I held it up and unfolded it. There was a handwritten note. It simply read, "I know you're here. I know you're hiding him. I will find you both, and then it'll be your turn to run the race. We all have to run at some point."
I had no idea what that meant, but my body still provided goosebumps. Who was trying to find me? Who was the second person? Why leave a note in my AC vent? What the hell did run the race mean? I hadn't run a race since elementary school and wasn't planning to do so any time soon. Did they mean the rat race? Because I was basically marathoning that motherfucker already.
"Jesus Christ," I said, shaking my head. "What else, universe?"
As if it were a well-practiced comedy routine, the universe responded. My back passenger door swung open, and I heard footsteps running away from my car. I sprung up and scrambled to get out. There wasn't anyone else in the lot that I could see, but very clearly, someone had been hiding in my backseat.
My nerves were shot already, and this was not something I wanted to deal with at the moment. My brain decided that to avoid a breakdown, I needed to shift into automatic mode and just get back to the safety of my apartment. I'd be more prepared to deal with this – whatever it was – in the morning.
Either that or I'd jump in front of a bus. Both sounded satisfying, albeit in different ways.
***
"There he is," Gloria said as soon as I turned down the hallway. I looked up and noticed a small cabal of my neighbors standing in a semi-circle, waiting for me. They all look displeased.
"Hey guys," I said, confused. "I miss an invite for a block party?"
"What do you have to say for yourself?"
"About?"
"Don't play dumb," another neighbor said, jabbing their finger in my direction.
"I'm not playing," I said, realizing the self-burn only after the words escaped my lips.
Gloria showed me the screen on her phone. It was a static shot of her door from across the hall. She pressed play, and nothing happened for a beat until something darted across the screen. That was the whole thing. I looked up at her, my face twisted up in confusion.
"Well," she said, "What do you have to say?"
"What was that?" I asked.
"That was you!" the pointing neighbor said, pointing harder than I thought possible.
"What?" I said, laughing. "Are you all serious?" They didn't laugh, and I realized they weren't joking. "How can you even tell it's me? It's a blur. Never mind the fact I've been at work for the last five hours. Plus, this blur is half my size. I get we're all weirded out about the Phantom Runner, but it's not me. I swear to God. I don't even have the energy to think about running, let alone the physical desire to."
"Then explain this," Gloria said, slightly swaying from the half bottle of Pinot Noir coursing through her blood. She rewound the video and froze it on a specific frame. I couldn't believe my eyes, but I was looking at...me. Or, rather, something pretending to be me.
"What the fuck?" I said, my jaw dropping.
"Still think we're lying?" the pointer said smugly.
"No, but, guys, this isn't me. I... I've been at work. Wanna see my schedule?"
I reached into my phone and pulled it out. There was an email with my work schedule that confirmed what I was saying. They relaxed, and, for the first time, anger gave way to fear. Their very plausible explanation was suddenly invalid. It left two implausible answers floating in the ether: either I had a pint-sized doppelganger terrorizing the hallways of my apartment, or a ghost was haunting the building.
"I'm...gonna go inside," the pointer said, walking back to their home. Everyone else drifted away until it was just Gloria and I standing alone in the hallway.
She looked at me and sighed, "I feel like an asshole," she said. "Sorry I accused you of causing the racket."
"If I had seen the video, I would've thought the same thing," I said. "We're good."
"What do you think it is?" she asked.
I shrugged and let out an exhausted sigh. "Honestly, Gloria, I've had a screwed-up night already, and this is the cherry on top of the shit sundae; forgive my language. I don't have the mental bandwidth to even comprehend what's on the video at the moment."
"Think it's after you?" she asked, though I suspected the wine had forced her to put that idea out into the universe. As I had already seen, the universe seemed to take requests on my behalf.
"Maybe it's after you?" I said, coming off a little meaner than I intended, but I didn't care. I left her there to contemplate that scenario and went into my apartment.
As soon as the door shut behind me, I felt on edge. Just because I didn't have the mental bandwidth to discuss the doppelganger didn't mean it wasn't dominating my thoughts. I saw the frame of the video. The damn ghost looked exactly like me. What could that possibly mean? I know I had wished for death, but I was very still alive. I had rent due to prove that.
Did I happen to live in a place haunted by a ghost that looked strikingly like me? Was it some kid with a passing resemblance just causing chaos? Was it something else I couldn't even comprehend – an alien? A clone? A secret government project?
There was a thumping coming from the hallway. The mini Usain Bolt was at it again. I knew the neighbors would ignore it. Since they had all thought it was me, which was proven to be untrue, they would avoid the running man from now on. While curious and confused by the creature, they'd never put themselves in harm's way to discover what it was. They were not a brave lot.
Neither was I, but maybe my life crumbling around me had forced my hand. I walked over to my door and swung it open. I hit record on my phone, stuck it out like a periscope, and glanced around the hallway. Nobody was there. No neighbors were looking. No person was running.
"You gotta stop, man. I need to go to sleep," I said to the empty space. No response, not that I was expecting one.
I turned to walk back in, and I caught something out of the corner of my eye. A face at the end of the hallway peeked around the corner. For a quick second, we locked eyes, and it was like I was looking into a mirror. This thing was me. But...how?
I tried to get it on video, but it ducked back into the shadows. I took that as a cue to shut and lock my door. My heart was racing, and I didn't want to think about this anymore, but I couldn't help it. There was a me in the hallway who enjoyed pestering my neighbors. Worse, they liked to run for some ungodly reason.
I put my phone on the counter, the video still rolling, when there was a knock at my door. It echoed in my near-empty apartment. I tried to ignore it and convince myself it was something else, but it wasn't. The ghost was knocking on my door. Even with my brain paralyzed, I couldn't help but think that it was awfully polite to knock.
Another knock, this one more forceful. I wondered if the neighbors thought I was making this up?
"I know you're in there," a voice said. It sounded just like me. "This is about the race. We all have to run the race. It's your turn now."
I froze. My legs went wobbly like a boxer on the brink of a blackout, but I stayed tall. I opened my mouth to speak and found the words dying in my throat. I grabbed a nearby bottle of water and took a chug.
"We all have to run the race."
"What race?" I choked out, "What are you talking about?"
"Open up. They're in there already, and I need to get them."
I glanced all around my empty apartment. I didn't see anyone else in here. I didn't hear anything. Whatever this thing was, it was lying. I grabbed my phone and held it in my hand. I wanted to document this to prove that I wasn't crazy.
“Did you leave the note?”
“I know they’re in there with you,” it repeated.
"There's no one in here," I said.
"They're hiding. I think I know where. I can hear them."
"You've gotta get out of here," I said. "There's nothing here, and you're scaring people."
"I'm scared, and you should be! You have to run the race, man! Open up, and I can show you."
The handle started to shake. I peered through the keyhole and only saw the top of the other me's head. They began to shoulder the door, and it crunched against my nose. I screamed out in pain and stumbled back. I tripped over my feet and landed hard on my ass.
The thing slammed into the door two more times, shaking the walls. The strength seemed unnatural. On the third hit, the door burst open. I finally got a view of the thing. It was me. Scaled down by half, but it was me. We both seemed shocked.
"You're so much taller up close," the other me said.
"Who the fuck are you?"
I felt a buzzing in my feet that seemed to climb up my body until it reached my brain. There was an intense pain that rippled through the folds of my mind. Through the pain, I could hear a disembodied voice whisper, "We all must run the race. We all have to run. Chase it. Chase yourself." It felt like my skull was going to split in two. I clutched the sides of my head and let out a primal scream that hurt my own ears.
Then it was gone. But I could still feel the echoes in my mind. "We all have to run the race. We all have to run." The thought would waver between making no sense and making complete sense. One second, I was questioning what was happening to my mind, and the next, all I felt was the desire to continue the race.
"There he is!" the other me yelled, pointing at the hallway.
I glanced over and saw another version of me standing in the hallway. It was half the size of the other me that had broken into my place. When tiny me locked eyes with my intruder, he ran for the open hallway closet.
The other me followed, screaming that it would catch the little bastard if it was the last thing he'd do. I pushed myself up to my feet and felt queasy. I watched as the other me ran head-first into the closet without slowing. I expected to hear a loud thump as it hit the back wall but none came.
"We all have to run the race," the voice in my head said, soothing my nerves. "It's your time to run the race."
I moved down the hallway, each footfall echoing loudly in the empty apartment, each step bringing me closer to the closet door. Something was drawing me there. The voice's words echoed in my mind as well: "We all have to run the race. It's your turn now."
I grabbed the door and stopped. Something was compelling me to move forward. To go into the closet. To chase myself. To run the race.
"No," I whispered and yanked my hand from the door. I pulled out my still recording phone, and stared into the camera. My face was devoid of color, and you could see the fear etched into me. "I'm freaking out because...because…"
I stopped. I felt an invisible hand grab my body and tug. "Because...because if I don't run the race, something bad will happen. I have to chase it. I...I have to."
My phone dropped from my hand, and I didn’t care. The force pulling me forward stopped but my body kept going. I could feel the last strands of my rational mind splintering. My thoughts became focused on one thing: I had to catch myself, find out what was happening, and run the race. If I ran, maybe I'd win.
I needed a win.
I walked into the back of the closet and felt a door handle sticking out of the wall. I'd been in that closet a million times before and never had seen this. But a sense of calm washed over me. This….this was supposed to be here. This was perfectly fine.
I turned the handle and pulled open the invisible door. In front of me was a hallway that looked strikingly like the one outside my apartment. At the end of the hallway, I saw Gloria step out of their home to leave for the night. She was huge. Twice my size, easy.
Another door opened, and I saw...me—a giant version of me. The Hulk version of me was getting ready to go to the grocery store for work. I watched as the giant Gloria and giant me joked and laughed. I was stunned.
I stared, and a new thought came to me. I have to find the smaller me and talk to it. I needed to find out if there's a way out of this...this….
"It's your turn to run," the voice said.
Calm embraced me. "It's my turn to run," I repeated. As the giant me took off and the giant Gloria re-entered her apartment, the hallway beckoned.
"We all have to run the race," I said softly, "It's my turn now."
I started running.

Demographics
White dude
Iowa resident
First gen, rural (population of 700), and underserved background. Likely low income as well, not entirely sure.
Academics
cGPA (with dual enrollment included): 3.3
cGPA (only undergrad): 3.47, upward trend, 3.6-3.7 GPA in last 3 semesters with REALLY rigorous course load
sGPA (everything included): 3.32
MCAT: 508, even distribution, nothing below 126
Registered for Preview, will do casper as well
1 gap year, starting a 1 year master's program at my state school in the fall that is basically the first year of medical school. That is why this is kind of a fuck it we ball cycle, if I dont get accepted this year and dont fuck up, my chances at my state school are genuinely REALLY good next year.
Extracurriculars:
Hours are approximate but very close, I havent gotten to doing the exact math yet, but I did track hours for most things.
Research: 1500+hrs, 1000 in organic chem and 500 in Orthopedic surgery. One first author pub submitted for the ortho research
Clinical Volunteering: ~350hrs as coordinator for free mobile clinic for unserved communities, managed all of the supplies and lab equipment, trained over 300 student volunteers in lab tests and vitals. Clinics legit could not run without me, and that will be included in a rec letter
Leadership: ~100 hours as a fraternity VP and standards chair
Work experience:
2000+ total in a bunch of stuff
~500 hours as a peer mentor for first-generation college students
~100 hours as a private tutor, biology and chem at all levels
Other weird jobs I have had, mostly manual labor: Farm Hand, DNR State Park groundskeeper, tour guide for local architecture attraction, and working in warehouses.
About to get a patient care tech position
Other Misc ECs:
SHPEP Scholar
~30hrs working with a physician on a men's health initiative, targeted school's frats and athletic teams to educate young men on men's health
~30hrs social media manager for a Instagram page educating HS and younger prehealth students on the realities of healthcare and the opportunities at all levels
Hobbies: backpacking, photography, cooking and baking, computers, fitness, and reading
Other relevant info:

• Most of my extracurriculars, personal statement, etc., revolve around my rural, first-generation, and blue-collar background
• Really trying to leverage the fact that I am from a rural area, and would like to do rural health
• My lower GPA can also be explained by my extreme over-involvement in my earlier years and slower-than-average adaptation to college.
• My rec letters are pretty solid

School list so far:
Note: You're gonna notice I'm not applying DO. I know everyone's gonna lose their shit over this. 3 reasons why:

1. Im broke, I can't afford 30+ schools.
   
2. DO schools financially exploit the fuck out applicants even more so than AAMC already does, and I just don't wanna deal with that.
   
   1. Like I said, I'm getting a master's; if I get straight rejected this cycle, I'll be in a much better position to apply across the board in the next one and will apply for DO then.

In no particular order

1. Iowa Carver (please god just let me in)
   
2. Nebraska (where I did SHPEP)
   
3. U of Minnesota
   
4. UW Madison
   
5. Michigan State
   
6. Mayo Alix (No shot but I'm still a strong mission fit)
   
7. Medical College of Wisconsin
   
8. Yale (my one absolutely fuck it why not app, I really like new haven and pizza)
   
9. Ohio State (considering removing, outside 10th percentile)
   
10. U of Cincinnati (considering removing, outside 10th percentile)
    
11. U of Miami Leonard (Consitering removing, outside 10th percentile)
    
12. Oregon health and science
    
13. Indiana (considering removing, regional bias and outside 10th percentile)
    
14. Rutgers, Robert wood johnson (SHPEP is RWJ sponsored, again just trying to leverage anything I can)
    
15. Geisel at Dartmouth
    
16. Robert Larner at Vermont
    
17. University of Missouri - Kansas City
    
18. Virgina Tech
    
19. West Virginia
    
20. University of South Carolina Columbia
    
21. Toledo
    

I really did try to pick schools where my stats were at least on the bell curve and OOS acceptance was above 25%. My concerns overall are that I generally have no idea how to put a school list together and that many of these schools might be super low-yield for OOS. I am also worried that I might have skipped over a lot of schools that I'd be a good mission fit at.
I have had pretty much zero guidance on applying outside of this subreddit, so I really appreciate any and all advice. Be harsh if you have to, I get it.

I'm currently taking my 63 hr course for real estate I want to be an Administrative assistant for a real estate agent or be someone to take things off their plate. While learning about contracts and important tasks in real estate. Most jobs I've applied to require 1-2 years of experience in the real estate industry. Has anyone gotten a job as an assistant without a background in real estate? If so did you go in person asking for a job? Or how did you go about looking for these opportunities?

Guys, if you like a good story please read. I need help.
I’ll start with some back story. So I’m 24(m); all throughout my younger stages, I’ve never been the type of guy to just be good with girls. All throughout school I’ve never had a girlfriend and have been rejected numerous times. I was kind of a nerdy kid but just didn’t really know how to talk to girls. Anyways, fast forward to today I’m currently on my 6th relationship of 2 years. All the girls I’ve dated aren’t that good looking. Some more than others but a little chubby and what not… you get the picture.
This girl I’m dating lives about two hours from me and we met online. We’d see each other maybe a couple times a month but we’d stay at each others houses for like 2-3 days at a time. She’s 23. Things are going pretty good between her and I. She is absolutely crazy in love with me and she honestly would do anything for me. I honestly do love her back but not to that extent and she’s so sweet and nurturing and innocent. She’s also a bit overweight and still immature in some ways. I’ve tried talking her out of her habits and that only gets so far I feel.
Given my troubling and frustrating time growing up with no female attention I’ve come across a difficult situation now. About a month ago at my job a very attractive woman drove through my job (I’m a toll collector). We exchange the cash and right before she drove off, she handed me a small pink piece of paper with her name and phone number. We glanced and smiled at each other as she drove off.
Of course I texted her because she was very attractive and I just wanted to see what would happen. This woman is 35 years old with an 8 year old daughter. She’s honestly very beautiful and has almost damn near perfect physical features. Short blonde mom not, not overweight but not skinny either. She makes six figures with her job, her family is generationally wealthy, she owns her own house and vehicle. I mean holy shit I hit the lottery. But I told this woman that im in a relationship with a girl and that unfortunately I can’t be going out to drinks with her. We stopped talking for about a week after that.
A week later she texted me and one thing leads to another, she was fine with me being with somebody and she just wanted to go out for drinks. In my mind I’m like holy shit I just struck gold with a milf. Quite literally something straight out of a porn video.
This woman and I have been texting daily for about a month now. She even has been buying me drinks every day at my work when she drives through. She’s just so mature and has goals and everything you could want in a woman. In my head i want to think what she sees in me but I don’t want to ruin it either.
Is this an opportunity of a lifetime? What do I do? If I break up with my current girlfriend, she’ll be so crushed. In her eyes everything is going perfect. I’ll feel ashamed either way.

WCW has been doing well creatively and is getting positive feedback from the die-hard fans. This creative direction has improved ratings on TBS weekend shows. The syndicated TV shows hold steady, but had been trending downward since 1984. House show business is still on the decline, even though the decline has slowed. No-shows, not getting advertised stars/matches, and overall quality are all major components for this. House Show business is down across wrestling in 1989. This is true in WWF, and around the smaller wrestling companies in North America. Stampede (Western Canada) and Continental (Alabama) look to be closing their doors. FWDem has been put in charge of the WCW.
Ric Flair is exhausted by putting on NWA Title caliber matches, booking the top of the card, and “being Ric Flair” every night. Terry Funk has proven he can still be “top of the card” caliber, but is not interested in full time wrestling. Lex Luger had his strongest year ever. He looked great in the ring, decent on the mic, and even got some cheers as a major heel. Steamboat came in for a great in-ring run. But his “uber’face” did not get over with the fans in the stands. He had a fall-out in contract negotiations. Sting continued to be popular, but had some inconsistent booking. Muta’s mystique and in-ring performance has made him a star. The Steiner Brothers have been a huge tag team for this company. There are already great teams (Road Warriors, Midnight Express), teams that have huge followings (Freebirds), and some newer teams that should dominate (Doom, Skyscrapers). Brian Pillman is popular and surprisingly, Mike Shaw has the support of the children as Norman.
The direction for October had mostly already been laid out by Flair. So there will be some small tweaks moving forward. FWDem’s job is to continue the positive movement in PPVs, TV, and improve House Show business. WCW has brought in a talent management and scheduling group. This group will help book travel arrangements for the talent. This is offered as a service to the talent under contract, at a reduced fee. This service is the “carrot” to reduce No Shows. (This service will be included in future contracts, but has an opt-out). The scheduling group will also coordinate schedules for wrestlers who have bookings elsewhere. This service is given at no charge to the wrestlers. Wrestlers payouts are paid at 80%, with 20% held for the month. This 20% is paid out monthly, assuming booking compliance. This is the “stick” for No Shows. A nightly bonus structure has been implemented for “match of the night”. This is another “carrot” to try and pick up house show performance. Show runners and local promoters will work closer together on making sure advertising for the show matches what fans will get, with “better” show given if advertised matches can't happen. Refunds, price reductions, or BOGOs for future tickets can be offered as penance.
FWDem’s next order of business is to try and repair or improve international standing. AJPW had booked the NWA World Champ, was expecting Flair, and got Steamboat. Giant Baba was very disappointed based on the communication. FWDem has offered to allow the Road Warriors to tour with AJPW for the Real World Tag League 1989. Ric Flair will get a few matches in AJPW during the January AJPW New Year Giant Series 1990. Ric Flair and the Steiners Brothers will take part in the NJPW Super Fight In Tokyo Dome on February 10th. By trying to improve these relationships, WCW at least got a heads up that NJPW will want to recall Muta to Japan for 1990. Muta will work through Clash 10. NJPW understands he will likely be losing, but will look good on his way out. Steve Williams was in line for a push in WCW, but it looks like he will have a very full schedule in Japan in 1990, with both NJPW and AJPW. Improving the relationship with Japan will also open doors in Austria/Germany (CWA) and Mexico (UWA and CMLL). These international opportunities will help on multiple fronts: excursions of young talent, keep wrestlers “fresh” for fans, make wrestlers more well rounded, and improve top end talent access.
New direction is upon us. Cooperation and embracing history (see Bruno at Halloween Havoc) will be strong in WCW moving forward. But most of November TV has been set. Clash of the Champions 9 in New York will be covered next post. WCW Has scheduled a strong House show for Greensboro on Thanksgiving (Bringing back the Starrcade tradition!). Starrcade, Clash 10, and WrestleWar are looking to help keep WCW on the upswing. Major push for Sting. Maybe Luger finally gets a shot as the top guy. Skyscrapers and Doom ready to really challenge Steiners and Road Warriors. Excited to see how things go forward.

Yesterday I reached out asking for feedback on a spell to make some job opportunities move a little faster, and a user recommended I petition Saint Expidite- and I am pleased to say he came through for me ASAP! This was something that was anticipated to take months and it was cleared up within 24 hours of me asking. I gifted him some red wine, red roses, and some Sara Lee pound cake as a thank you. I didn’t have his picture, but did use the Knight of Swords tarot card as a stand-in, which felt appropriate.

Context: We are both 32, met on neopets at age 11, met in person at age 14, didn’t see each other again until 2022 but remained close friends online.
In the summer of 2022, I was going through the absolute worst part of my life. Early June, I went on vacation out of state, and though I was in a 10 year relationship at the time, I didn’t talk to my at the time girlfriend much. Our relationship was cratering because she was struggling with alcoholism and depression. I was trying to figure out a way to break things off in a clean way, unwind our financial and living situation, etc. During this vacation, we didn’t talk much. It was tense and frankly exhausting. Instead, every day, from morning til night, I was talking to my now ex. Mind you… I wasn’t cheating. I didn’t have feelings for her at the time. We were both just in a bad place - her dealing with the father of her 3 children cheating on her, and still living with him, me, dealing with a failing relationship I desperately needed out of. To be honest, most of our conversations were about work, where our relationships went wrong, and our kids. My son from another relationship ship is low functioning intelligence / autistic, which also caused a lot of issues - my partner at the time did try to accept this and be a mother figure but deep down, it was too difficult for her.
I get back home, and in the span of two weeks, my life fucking cratered. I’m talking about cinema grade levels of shit hit the fan.

1. My son burned my garage down to the studs while I was asleep - I had to run and pull him out of a burning garage, get my then girlfriend out of bed, and get our dog outside. We didn’t have a fire extinguisher so it was, so far, my closest near death experience
2. I was forced out of a company I co-founded by my 2 business partners, losing a 125k year salary, just months before the company was purchased for approximately 10,000,000 - my share would have been 10%
3. My at the time girlfriend went to a routine doctors appointment - a woman who struggled with alcoholism, has pcos and ovarian cysts, with what we were told an almost 0% fertility rate….was 7 months pregnant.

My son was held in the care of the local state children’s hospital for mental and physical examination. My home was in shambles, and the insurance company dragged their feet throughout the entire ordeal. I was reeling from a massive financial blow and loss of identity in a lot of ways, because that company felt like my life’s mission. My current gf and I split up, she moved out to live with her aunt, and it wasn’t pretty. I was so angry, so defeated.
I had a complete mental breakdown. I’m talking, I flew my mother in town to help with daily tasks. I couldn’t function. I lost about 30lbs, lost many friendships both personal and professional.
But this woman was there for me. She was a shoulder to cry on. She bore the brunt of my mental and emotional exhaustion and never pushed me away, never looked at me differently. We were drawn to each other during this time of complete fucking chaos, and one night, I hit on her. I threw out some bait, she took it, and we met up for the first time since we were teenagers.
We hit it off tremendously. It was like we hadn’t been apart a day in our lives. We both fell in love, quickly, as I began to rebuild my life, welcome a new child into the world, repair my home, work on myself professionally. She was there, through all of it, and she made it easier. I could lean on her, I could look forward to her, no matter what life had thrown me, I thought I had found my soulmate in this woman I’ve known longer than anyone. So, we started to date.
It was difficult in the beginning. She had to move out of her ex boyfriends house and get an apartment. This took a lot of time and planning because she was working a retail job and hadn’t been on her own in 7 years. This man was abusive, controlling, and eventually she managed to get an apartment with her mother to get away from him. He was furious that after a year of the two of them being broken up, that we got together. He wrongfully assumed I’d been in the wings all these years, which couldn’t be farther from the truth - he had cheated on her and she left him and refused to reconcile. It took a few months but she got an apartment. This was difficult for her, she left a nice area and moved to a low income area. She could only see her kids 50% of the time. Transportation was rough between both towns. It put a huge strain on her mentally.
I, meanwhile, did what I could. In the beginning I went out of my way to see her at every opportunity I could. I’d take her out to dinner often, visit her at work, stay over at her apartment. She’d come over to my house. It wasn’t easy - I bought my home just as Covid started to rock the housing market, and I had to land in a rural town. So we had 45 miles between us. I was also busy dealing with life without a live in partner, facilitating my sons care, and having my newborn 50% of the time.
But it was good, I thought. We got along well, it was electric, it was our escape. About a year into the relationship, the mother of my child had to move back into my spare room. She was struggling and I was not going to turn her or my daughter away in the time of need, it was not even a consideration. My ex understood, but acknowledged the pressure it put on us both mentally and emotionally - my house was now, effectively, off limits. This greatly reduced the time we could see each other. We’d go 2-3 weeks without getting together, with our only time between managing our schedules being maybe 2-3 hours on a random day, or a quick outing. Our relationship devolved quickly into a FWB situationship, and this is where the mistakes were made.
I didn’t see it at the time, but that’s all we really had. I was complacent and aloof, a little distant, and just… okay only seeing her every now and then. I think deep down I wanted more but it became such an insurmountable hurdle to put together. During this next part of the year or so remaining, she began to fall out of love with me. She told me that she felt like we were just FWB, stagnant, and going nowhere. She was dealing with depression, openly despising herself, and struggling to see a future with me. I realized that my complacency was to blame, but to a certain degree, she too was complacent.
Instead of voicing her concerns, talking options, solutions on how to build a life together, she sunk into her depression.l, and her feelings faded. I guess the how’s turned into why’s, and the what ifs turned into oh well. I do acknowledge I took on a huge responsibility dating a single mother of 3, but…. After learning these things from her the last few days, I realized.
I never felt like a team. We were together in flesh and bond only, we never discussed our future. We didn’t plan, we merely hoped. And we drifted away from each other, and in the end, it became too much for her to bear, and being alone felt like the best solution for her. She left me 2 weeks ago after bringing these issues to light. Initially I was devastated. I collected my thoughts and spoke with her last night.
I told her, I did want more, but I got comfortable, and so did you for a bit. We were stagnant because neither of us pushed the other forward. I wanted to be a team, I wanted to work towards something, but the opportunity just slipped through our hands. I begged. I pleaded. I told her, I’d do whatever I can to build a life for us. I own my home, it’s small, but it’s something. I can work harder, I can figure things out, I can work towards pulling together the things we need. I can be more present, more attentive. Because despite the both of us checking out to an extent, I very much still love her.
I feel and see her everywhere in my daily life. I cling to her, I dream of her, I long for her. I feel like the deck was so stacked against us, that we both bit off more than we could chew. But in the end, she didn’t want to keep trying, she didn’t see a future, and I’m stuck picking up the pieces and so desperately wanting things to work.
She told me to move on, to heal, to grow stronger and become a better person. She has no hard feelings, no contempt or regret. She just lacks the physical, mental, and emotional capacity to have a relationship, and that she doesn’t want to. But I still can’t shake the fact that I really thought I had found my person. I love this woman. I…. I wasn’t ready to stop. I risked so much, pushed through so much adversity to bring us together, but in the end, it just wasn’t enough.
It sucks. I’m devastated, defeated. I truly feel like life looked me in the eyes and said no, you are not good enough for this. I blocked her this morning because I realize she has made her peace and moved on, and that I will only drag her down, push her away, and erode my dignity at every turn, because I am still struggling to accept no for an answer. She didn’t cheat on me, she didn’t abuse me. We never fought, argued. We got along so, so, so well. She was the most important person in my life outside of my children, and I failed to show her that. And I feel in some ways, she failed me too. Because when it got hard, challenging, when it became time to work on life together, she got spooked, spiraled, and…. Gave up. She gave up on us.
I thank you for reading. It’s disorganized and insane because frankly I don’t know how to put all of this on paper. I’m going into therapy next month to revisit a lot of the issues I faced before her and to understand life after her and what went wrong. I have never felt a void like this in my life, there is a her shaped hole in my life and just….. this is just another level of pain.

I have been working in childcare since I was 17. I started out with babysitting and eventually became a daycare teacher for 2.5-3 year olds. I loved it. I’ve been out of work for about a little over a year due my chronic illness and I know going back to early childcare isn’t an option with my immune system being compromised and also being unable to pick kids up/bend over all day now (I may have POTS). I have been thinking about applying at the local boys and girls club. I picked up an application a couple months ago and never turned it in because I was unable to print out some papers I needed. Out of the blue today I decided to call and see if they are still hiring. They are. I’m turning in my application tomorrow morning and am hoping my learning disability won’t be an issue. I have severe dyscalculia so I don’t have a diploma or GED yet but some friends who have worked there said they wouldn’t care. Worth a shot I guess? Anyways, for those of you that have switched from ECE to older kids how was it? The oldest I’ve worked with was 7 and on the spectrum and mostly kept to himself so I really don’t have much experience. I believe the position is for a teen staff but not 100% sure. I’m honestly not worried about pay because I just need a job I can handle lol. I’m so nervous but would love this opportunity. I just don’t know what to expect.

I feel like I'm not able to think bigger and better job opportunities since all I've worked so far is places like fast food and retail jobs like Walmart. I sometimes feel so down and ashamed telling someone I work at this place and they look at me so weird. They keep saying you're young why u working here. But I don't know really where else to look for better paying jobs. I thought maybe entry level desk jobs would be good idea in insurance companies, banks or maybe apply at local hospitals for no experience positions. I'm not sure really.
Most people in college find jobs based on their major so they get experience on resume and build network. Sighs, I'm also in community college but I'm right now unaware of what to do. So I'm getting kicked like a football here and there just trying to make the bare minimum with no end goal. I'm starting to feel hopeless as an adult like shit how have I not figured out my path. All this people are making millions of dollars and some working remotely.