Selling Things Overseas (EXPORT) or Bringing Them In (IMPORT) can be a fantastic business! But imagine getting WAY MORE CUSTOMERS without all the extra work. That's the magic of ONLINE MARKETING!
This guide gives you EASY IDEAS to GROW your business online, like turning website VISITORS into HAPPY CUSTOMERS. We're talking HUGE growth - up to a WHOPPING 434% MORE!

Ready to turn CLICKS into SHIPPED CONTAINERS???? Let's dive in!

IDEAS to ROCK your IMPORT/EXPORT business online!

1. Virtual Reality Product Tours: Take inspiration from companies like IKEA Place. Imagine potential customers using VR headsets to EXPLORE a virtual warehouse filled with your products. This can be particularly effective for BULKY or COMPLEX items like machinery or furniture.
   
2. Interactive 360° Product Views: Not everyone has access to VR, but high-quality 360° product views on your website can be a great alternative. Allow users to ZOOM IN on details and virtually WALK AROUND the product for a more immersive experience. Wayfair excels at this, showcasing furniture in various settings.
   
3. Partner with Local Influencers: Identify social media influencers in your target market (e.g., interior designers for homeware imports). Partner with them to create product reviews, tutorials, or even behind-the-scenes glimpses of the import/export process. Look at how Dollar Shave Club partnered with YouTube personalities to gain massive brand recognition.
   
4. Live Q&A Sessions with Industry Experts: Host live webinars or social media Q&A sessions featuring import/export specialists or industry leaders. This establishes you as a THOUGHT LEADER and builds trust with potential clients. For example, freight forwarding companies could feature customs compliance experts.
   
5. Gamified Learning Content: Turn dry import/export regulations or product information into interactive quizzes or games. This can be a fun and engaging way to EDUCATE potential customers, especially for complex products. Think of Duolingo's approach to language learning.
   
6. AR "Try Before You Buy" Experiences: For certain products (e.g., clothing, jewelry), utilize Augmented Reality (AR) technology to allow customers to virtually "try on" the product before purchasing. This can be especially useful for targeting INTERNATIONAL customers who might hesitate to buy online without seeing the product first.
   
7. Shoppable Livestreams: Host interactive livestream shopping events showcasing your products. Offer exclusive discounts or promotions during the livestream to incentivize purchases. Taobao, a major Chinese online retailer, has mastered the art of livestream shopping.
   
8. Customer Story Reels: Feature short video testimonials from satisfied customers on social media. These real-life stories can build trust and SOCIAL PROOF, encouraging others to purchase from your company.
   
9. Data-Driven Content Marketing: Analyze your website traffic data and social media insights to identify trending topics and customer pain points. Create targeted blog posts, infographics, or videos that address these topics and showcase your expertise.
   
10. Partner with International Trade Organizations: Collaborate with relevant trade organizations to reach a WIDER AUDIENCE. Offer educational webinars or participate in industry events to connect with potential clients.
    

Conclusion

The global marketplace is at your fingertips. By leveraging the power of online marketing, you can connect with potential customers worldwide, streamline your import/export operations, and propel your business to new heights. Remember, this is an ongoing process. Continuously adapt your strategy based on data and market trends to stay ahead of the curve.

Some pretext: We’re 6 months into our relationship, and I feel like we both love each other more than anything. We met for the first time in her country last month and it was the best time of our lives.
Issue: I’ve been trying to implement fun things we can do over video calls, so I told her that I wanted to have a home-cooked meal date night where we cook on camera and show our recipes to each other. She completely slept through the date time without giving me any heads up that she couldn’t make it. Now, she really does slept a ton and because of certain medication she’ll be out for a while. She fell asleep well before our date time, didn’t set an alarm, and slept through it. I’m disappointed, but I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. So I sent her flowers yesterday morning, said I missed her the previous night, and told her let’s have it tonight instead (last night). She misses it again, last text sent about 45 minutes before our date time, and doesn’t give me any notice or update to believe that she’d miss it this time. Of course I’m upset and mad in the moment. I wait 3 hours and she finally texts me, saying that she’s been getting really bad period pain and that she had her girlfriend come over to help her. Well, it is that time of the month for her. But she had the time to text her friend to come over, she’s up, she knows she’s missing this date, and can’t even send me a single message to tell me she can’t make it or explain why in a timely manner? Like I understand that things come up, but I also feel disrespected and hurt here. And I don’t know if I should be more understanding, or if it’s valid to feel like “Hey, this lack of communication is really hurting me and you need to have the courtesy to let me know you can’t do things we planned.”

I'm pregnant with our first child. A couple of weeks ago while spending time together playing viedo games, my husband started to feel bad. It turned out that was because of the scene in the video game that contained wounds and blood.
He later told me that he always had fear of blood e.g. he would pass out during blood exams. It doesn't matter if it's about him bleeding or someone else, it always turns out bad. He feels dizzy and sick.
I obviously don't want to expose him purposefully to any kind of danger or situation involving blood. I'm just worried about his presence during birth of our child (blood, pain, etc), I don't want him to feel bad or pass out. I obviously would feel much more safe with him by my side. Also, when it comes to any emergency situation involving me or our kids needing his urgent help with wound of some sort, I'd feel much more safe knowing he'll be able to step up.
I'm a qualified paramedic so I haven't really experienced any problem of blood fear kind. I genuinely want to help him overcome this and am looking for ways to make him comfortable with sight of blood.
As far as I can tell, he doesn't want to go to psychologist nor therapy, so please don't recommend that. We've had bad experiences with it that I don't want to get deeper into. I'm looking for something we can do by our own safely. How do we do this?

Yesterday I found out that my long distance crush and bff met her bf, she used to tell me that she made out with him and yesterday she said something that broke me to an extent I don't think I can recover from. She told me that they met in the morning and that was the best makeout of her life!!! Idk what to say I haven't replied to her yet I feel like a loser.
What hurts me the most since the day I met her (online, haven't met her IRL yet) she has been the nicest person to me she says I LOVE YOU to me everyday I get it's different when u say that to a friend but she has sent me 500+ pics of her hy herself I couldn't help myself but fall for her. She didn't liked when I talk abt different girls. She hates jy every female friend (even today).
She used to call me everyday for hrs but now she doesn't. She wanted to meet me but now she doesn't she refused that was really unexpected for me so I had to go to her city roam around all day and came back at night coz I had already booked the tickets.
She knows that I love her and when I confessed to her she said she doesn't want to be in a relationship it's just not her thing and all I understood. But one day she tells me that she made out with her neighbour who's her childhood friend. Months later she met her ex who has ghosted her and they kissed she didn't told me abt it she told me after few days that they are back together. I knew something was off between us coz the person who says that she loves me everyday didn't even wished me on my b'day despite knowing how imp it was for me coz I literally had no friends at that time. When I didn't replied to her she realised and wrote a paragraph but the damage was already done ig. A month later I made a special video for her bday she told me everyone was there but the person she adores the most wasn't (yes, she said she was talking about me) she spent the day with her bf.
The problem is she has broken up and got back with him multiple times during these 4-5 months and always tells me abt her relationship details coz she claims I'm her bff if anything happens in her life she would come running to me. She wants me to stay with her as a friend as long as possible. Even I can't stop talking to her coz I literally love her. She texts ne she feels lonely she feels anxious she texts me at midnight and I've to be there.
I do understand that I can't force her to choose me and I'm even okay to be her friend and always be with her but she keeps talking abt her bf and relationship even tho I told her to plz not talk abt him but she still does that. This whatever thing I'm having with her is killing me I can't think of anything else I can't look at couples without thinking of her and her bf I can't watch romantic movies songs anything I feel so down I cry all night. I don't know how to get out of this I've tried meeting new girls but it's just not working out I can't get her out of my head. I feel so worthless I literally feel pain in my heart (sounds cringe but true).

So when I had Win 8.1, when I had a YouTube tab opened with the video playing, said tab displayed both the red YouTube icon AND a little volume icon I could click on to momentarily disable the audio (it would shift from a volume icon with 3 bars to a volume icon with an X next to it). Now the entire YouTube icon is replaced by said volume icon and therefore no longer appears AS a YouTube tab, and since I have a lot of tabs open it's extra work to actually find the damn thing because I also need the dark mode enabled to have less pain in my eyes. I assume it's the same for every site, with the site's distinctive icon being replaced by an anonymous volume icon. Is it at all possible to have the tabs show up the way they were before?

Flying home as I write this.
First don’t sweat the weather in May. We had what looked like 5 days of rain but we didn’t get a drop of rain until the last day. Got cloudy and looked like it might rain here and there but for the most part it was very pleasant weather. Don’t sweat it but pack some options.
Cash/credit. Almost didn’t need a euro. Paid with Apple Pay everywhere - taxis, metro, sites, restaurants, etc. one exception was the artists near sacre couer only took cash. Never needed or asked for a PIN.
Sites. Did all the major sites. Each and everyone now has heavy duty security, metal detectors and even body scanners. This makes it a very slow process to get in. Plan for that.
Arc de triumph was particularly painful when we were there. Eiffel Tower is also very painful due to the queueing at the elevators. Took us 2 hours minimum to get to top and back down. Louvre did a mad dash for the Mona Lisa at 9am and that worked out well with pretty small crowds. Then got to relax and enjoy the rest of the museum.
Funny - by the Eiffel tour you can go see the Olympic countdown clock. Ironically it was showing 101 days to the games when it was only supposed to be 67. Got a picture. It even made the news. Dummies. Makes me question how prepared they are for the Olympics. Hopefully they don’t think they have an extra month of prep time :)
Olympics prep - didn’t impact us in the least. Nothing we wanted to do was blocked by it.
Safety - no issues. Felt perfectly safe late at night, on the metro, Ubers, etc. only saw one clipboard lady at the Eiffel Tower and just walked away.
Trip highlight - Le Calife dinner cruise was amazing. I’ve been to Paris several times before but never did this due to seeming like a tourist trap - which I think most are. This one gets it right. It’s high end food and service on a boat. It was awesome - not cheap though. We were very happy with our front of boat seats. Great way to end the trip. Was from 8pm to almost 11pm.
St. Chapelle was an amazing first for me. Pretty incredible and worth the body scan to get in.
Ubemetro - took the metro to/from sacre couer just to let my son have the experience - it’s very easy to buy tickets and use. Otherwise mostly walked or did Ubers which were quick and plentiful. Official taxi from Cdg to Paris was easy to find - the trip into the city however was very painful and took close to 1.5 hours with the morning traffic.
Food - too much to report. We didn’t have a bad meal anywhere and refreshing to have good service regardless of price.
Recommend an after dinner stroll to a gelato shop every night.
CDG - I was really sweating coming home today with some kind of strike going on which mostly impacted the trains but also some airport staff. Showed up 3+ hours early to CDG but breezed thru security and passport check in under 30mins. Give yourself time but the horror stories seem overblown.
Edit:
Language - almost everyone we came across spoke English to a good degree. We tried our best with French but usually switched to English when they heard our attempts :). I do think a merci here and there is appreciated. We did have one taxi driver with very limited English but we made it work.
Holidays - many French holidays in May. We were there for Pentecost and whit Monday - both seems to be a non event for us and nothing we came across was closed due to this. So hard to tell which holidays are impactful or not for tourists, but this wasn’t one of them.

Selling multiple items. Lot Pictures on request.
Ships from Hong Kong, all my prices include shipping fees unless stated otherwise. Paypal Goods and Services. Any questions please ask.
GameBoy Color
x1 GameBoy Color Indigo (JAPAN REGION) CIB, outer box in great condition, comes with matching serial booklet, no scratches on the screen lens, very good condition - $180 usd
x1 GameBoy Color Teal (JAPAN REGION) CIB, outer box is quite beat but system is in good condition has scratches, clean screen with no noticeable scratches on the screen lens, includes matching serial booklet - $100 usd
x1 GameBoy Color Hong Kong Exclusive Pokemon Limited Edition, more info here an incredibly rare variant, the shell colorway is entirely exclusive to Hong Kong. Some minor scratches on the screen lens and a little yellowing on the top of the console but otherwise in great condition. - $750 USD (I sold one in worse condition months ago for $750 usd) LOOSE SYSTEM ONLY.
Nintendo 3DS/DS
x1 Pokemon Heartgold with Pokewalker, pokewalker is brand new, CIB. The outer box is in beautiful/mint shape with the exception of a slight on one of the corners of the box - $350 usd
x1 Pokemon Soulsilver with Pokewalker, pokewalker is used, box has rips on the back but otherwise good condition, CIB - $230 usd
x1 Pokemon Black 2 CIB, cartridge has no scratches on the label, very clean. - $160 usd
x1 Pokemon Soulsilver (loose) - $125 usd
x1 Pokemon White 2 (loose) - $160 usd
3DS + DS Game lot (pricecharting valued at $497 usd) asking $380 usd shipping fees included:
Games included are as follows: 28 games total - (all US//NTSC region), CIB unless stated otherwise.
x1 NDS Mario & Luigi Partners in Time
x1 NDS Kirby Canvas Curse
x1 NDS Sega Superstars Tennis
x1 NDS Gardening Mama
x1 NDS Mario Kart DS
x1 NDS Mario & Donkey Kong 2 March of the Minis
x1 3DS Pokemon X
x1 3DS Style Savvy Trendsetters
x1 3DS Cooking Mama 4 Kitchen Magic
x1 3DS Cooking Mama 5 Bon Appetit!
x1 3DS Steeldiver
x1 3DS Super Mario 3D Land
x2 3DS Pilotwings Resort
x1 LEGO City Undercover the Chase Begins
x1 LEGO Batman 2 DC Super Heroes
x1 LEGO Star Wars III
x1 LEGO Chima Laval's Journey
x1 LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean the Video Game
x1 LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7
x1 Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
x1 Monster Hunter Generations
x1 New Super Mario Bros 2
x1 Puzzle and Dragons Z + Mario
x1 Rayman 3D
x1 Resident Evil Revelations
x1 Mario Kart 7
x1 LEGO City Undercover the Chase Begins (Nintendo Selects)
Wii + Wii U Game Lot: (CIB unless stated otherwise), NTSC USA region. (Pricecharting value: $516 usd) Asking $390 usd shipping fee included.
x1 Wii Sports
x1 Wii Sports Resort
x2 Wii Super Mario Galaxy
x2 Wii Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition
x1 Wii Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess
x1 Wii Super Paper Mario
x1 Wii Dragonball Revenge of King Piccolo
x1 Wii The House of the Dead OVERKILL
x1 Wii Conduit 2
x1 Wii New Super Mario Bros Wii Edition
x1 Wii Mario Kart
x1 Wii Super Smash Bros Brawl
x1 Wii U StarFox Zero & Starfox Guard Bundle
x1 Wii U Bayonetta 2
x2 Wii U Nintendoland
x3 Wii U Splatoon
x1 Wii U The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD
x1 Wii U Captain Toad Treasure Tracker
x1 Wii U Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games
x1 Wii U Kung Fu Panda Showdown of Legendary Legends
x1 Wii U Mario Party 10 (red box)

For the context, I am from India. And in India, in-laws/parents have a major role to play in the affairs of a married couple. Thankfully, I am not having to live my in-laws. But I do remember how when I was pregnant, they never bothered to call or ask me how I was doing. They have also never been very approving of me because their son went against their wishes and married an intercaste person.
Anyway, I had my elective Caeserean Section a month ago. As soon as I was out and back to my hospital room, I remember my mother-in-law holding the baby. The baby was never brought or shown to me in the hours following the delivery. I remember asking her to show me the baby's face and then she reprimanded me saying, "You just keep quiet and rest!" She kept the baby to her and even my own mother came and whispered into my ears, "I wanted to hold the baby but never got a chance". And then out of nowhere, my mother-in-law alongwith her own sister came and started putting the baby to my breast pressing hard on my CS scar. I screamed in pain but they didn't stop. They kept squeezing my breasts and not a single drop of milk was to be seen. Then they dismissed me off as someone who was too unhealthy to produce milk (according to them, thanks to my older food habits) and immediately put my newborn to bottle feed. They repeated this for the next 5 days and then I was discharged. The in-laws and their family would spend the entire day at the hospital and be with my baby. I had to ask someone to take a video of the baby and show me because he was never brought to me. The husband was also negligent towards me. Once discharged, I was asked to travel immediately to their hometown which is ten hours away and the condition of road is extremely bad. There were potholes and bumps and I had to cry my way. Neither my husband nor my parents showed any compassion or tried to stop this travel. I was still not able to produce much milk during my stay at my in-laws. They kept judging and commenting on me, thereby ruining the first month of my recovery as well. I was expected to be prim and proper to entertain their deluge of guests and was called "disrespectful and selfish" for staying in bed all day. My husband also totally supports his parents and it irks me to no end. This disguised patriarchy and domination has literally ruined my bonding experience with my baby and I'm still not able to breastfeed him or produce enough milk.
I would see videos and pictures of mommas holding their newborns right after delivery. Some on their chest, some to their cheek. And videos of husbands holding and helping their wives walk after surgery. When I asked my husband to help my out of bed, his mother commented that I was too fat for her son to help and it would take 4 persons to pull me out of bed. I was so hurt by this comment that I ended up getting out of bed, unassisted, took bath unassisted and had my first walk post surgery unassisted. But I regret how everytime I tried to hold my baby, I was either told I'm too weak and should rest or that I don't know how to do it. So I could never snatch my baby and exert my right. My husband even called me "failure of a mother" when I was unable to breastfeed in the hospital.
All of these incidents keep playing in my mind and I am just not able to be the mother that I could be or wanted to be. I feel like it is too late to teach my baby how to latch and that he would be on formula milk forever. I feel like it is too late to produce enough milk for my baby and that my breastfeeding journey has truly been a failure.

Hello, I don't know if this is the right place to say this but.. I want to make things move. I wanted to go to a psychologist but I don't have money for it. So, I feel pretty empty inside. Sometimes, I can feel emotions, but it is very brief, I have no family except my father with whom I have no interactions, he is watching TV laying on the sofa all day, he is full of hatred toward the whole world, he hates his job, he never tried to bond with me, well, I basically raised myself. I never had any family connection, I have a biological mother but she is not in my life anymore as I cut her off my life at 14 years old but that's another story.
Now I am 18. I want to move out so I can be free and have my own space and life. I adopted a hamster 3 days ago because I didn't want to be alone anymore and so I could keep up through the days. It is my first ever pet, I love him, I took several pics and videos of him already, and I love having him in my arms, but still, even tho I am saying that, I am not loving him as plenty as I would like to, like I am stressed out to do something wrong with him, that he has a bad life with me or I don't know but I know my feelings are blocked inside, and that's a recurent problem in my life.
I had a 3 years relationship with an aweful boy some years ago, I wasn't even mature myself, this relationship destroyed me. I took a significant amount of weight which destroyed my life and health, now I get medical help to try to lose weight, but it is extremely hard because of stress and hyperphagia.
Now I am going out with a wonderful boy who is everything to me, he is incredibly kind and is working his ass off to get driving licence, to get us an appartment, I would be nothing without him. But again, I am loving him as much as I could, I know inside that I love him very very much, but I am not feeling those feelings, I don't know how to explain but it is very painful to me. I get irritated often, I want my peace, and I get more and more angry because of stress, I have a really high stress level, so much that I recently developped cardiac problems, if I have too strong emotions, my heart beats fast and then stop. It never stopped yet but doctors said that's a big possibility.
I recently kinda exploded with my boyfriend because things he said hurt me, even is his words weren't mean, I just exploded and that wasn't happening to me before, at least not that much, I don't want to make my boyfriend handle all of my problems and my anger, I just want to change, to break my wall that is blocking my feelings inside, I want to live freely but I don't know how to do... I am so mad at life, scared when I go outside, I am so scared... A lot happened recently but I wrote already a lot so... Yeah thanks if you went until here.

It was my cousin sister's wedding and we are Indians, so if you are Indian or know Indian friends/weddings, you know the drill - the daysss long wedding events, the heavy dresses and jewelry, and also, some serious family dramas.
My cousin and I are very close even if there is a huge age gap between us. Naturally, when her wedding came around I was very excited and I helped a lot with the planning and decoration and the food - literally everything. It was exactly as we have imagined her wedding to be like. Just perfect in every way possible. But again, it's a wedding. How is a wedding ever complete with a Drama Llama? So dear potato community, here is the tea.
The man that my cousin was marrying to, my current BIL, is an amazing man who has been with my cousin since their college days. They were friends in their college days and when they started working they joined the same company so they remained close to each other. Friendship turned into love and they decided to date and eventually get married. Both the families were informed and everyone was very happy with their decisions, except just one person. BIL's sister. She didn't have any personal problems with my cousin, her only issue was that her best friend liked my BIL, let's name this friend the 'idiot' (because she truly is an idiot and this is honestly the nicest word I can use for her).
When idiot found out that BIL loved someone else and is getting married, she went ballistic. She has been trying to get his attention for so many years and he didn't even turn towards her even for one day and he was being head over heels for my cousin. I understand her being upset, I have been a girl in love and in heartbreak too, but I wouldn't try to break someone's marriage because of my heartbreak.
Yes she tried to stop their marriage via BIL's sister. The two forged all types of absurd accusations on my cousin and tried to anonymously sneak in the accusations in means of messages from unknown numbers to my cousin's then future FIL and MIL, to emails and even letters delivered to their doorstep. My cousin was really stressed because she thought the FIL and MIL would think the accusations are true and would stop the wedding. I told her, "don't worry sisso, I am here." (add dramatic music here and imagine a cape on my back).
My cousin's father (my maternal uncle), me and my brother first went to the FIL and MIL to let them know that all of this was false and that my cousin is innocent. We asked them for some time and that we will find proof of who has been sending them those false news and will let them know of everything and then they are free to judge and make decisions from their side. We got the permission from them and decided to get to work immediately.
One thing I forgot to mention was that BIL used to live in his own house in a different state from where his parents lived after he got a job. Before this, my cousin and BIL used to live in one town and went to college together. Once they got their jobs, they both came to my city, BIL got his own house and my cousin came to live with me. His family came to live with him when he told them that he wanted to marry so they came help him with the wedding arrangements. What's unfortunate is that the sister also brought her best friend, the 'idiot', who was in love with my BIL since she was 15 and BIL was 17.
I mentioned BIL having his own separate house in a new town because it was important to mention. Both his sister and the idiot didn't know he installed security cameras in his house and that the camera was pretty well hidden so they couldn't have noticed either. We asked BIL if we can see the camera's recordings and we saw someone early in the morning at 4 am dropping a letter. Guess who it was... THE IDIOT!! We showed it to my cousin's FIL and MIL and they cross questioned the idiot about it and she was in tears and admitted to everything. She and BIL's sister apologized for everything. They were forgiven and it was a happily ever after... or so you thought...
Everything after that was pretty peaceful, all the arrangements were made and we are now at the wedding day. My cousin was really jumpy and on her toes at all times, she was panicking so bad about everything. My brother and I had to sit her down and talk her out of her panic. She however mentioned that she was scared that idiot might try to pull up some sick stunt to ruin her wedding day. I however told to her calm down cause I wouldn't let my precious angel's wedding get ruined. I have seen enough Charlotte's videos to know that we must always have a backup plan prepared in advance in situations like this. And so I did. I collected a lot of information and evidences and kept them in place in case they come in handy.
I had my suspicions that they would do something to mess up the wedding way before it even became a thought in my cousin's mind, so I did a little research about the two. Since we all belong from the same hometown, I got in contact with my friends who still lived in the town that my cousin and my BIL used to live in. I asked around about these two baboons and found out that BIL's sister had a boyfriend and has even slept with him. Premarital smex is a big no no here. As for the idiot, I found out that she was slowly getting BIL's sister into illegal substances and into becoming a call girl. Again, a big no no. And I think no parent in this world would want their child to do something that would end up in trouble for them and the child as well. I knew my cousin's FIL and MIL would be worried about their daughter and take actions immediately if I let them know of this. I would have told them this after the wedding was over anyway, but that would have been in private so no one else would know, but I guess the girls wanted something else.
Once the wedding ceremony started and the guests were all there, they were enjoying, everyone was having fun and giving their blessings to the new husband and wife to be. These two pain in the asses were going around and gossiping about my cousin to everyone. We noticed that, and we came up with a quick solution. I asked two of my male friends, who is very attractive to go and talk to the girls. However I told them to switch on their recorder and be with them no matter what. God bless my two friends, they did exactly what I told them without thinking twice. They came to me after an hour or so and told me what was going on.
The two girls were planning to ruin her wedding dress. When I tell you that shit was costly, IT WAS COSTLY. It was really heavy with all the heavy stone work that was done on the cream colored lehenga and if it was stained it would be ruined. We could not afford that in any cost. She was taking a glass of juice from the juice counters and tried sitting right behind the bride but I stepped in and told her to go sit behind her brother and that I would sit behind my cousin. She was trying so hard but me and my brother kept pushing her off and away from my cousin. Eventually she did manage to throw it but it accidentally landed on someone from the groom's side and she got scolded by her. While her grumpy face was funny to see, I still had enough because if that aunty wasn't there, it would have been my cousin. After the wedding was over and people were going to start taking the photos with the couple, I announced that me and my brother had some things to say. Initially we talked about the bride and the groom but then we shifted the attention to the groom's sister and her friend. We played the audios of the calls I had with her friends in the hometown as a surprise to the groom's sister. There were a lot of angry faces, some on the sister and some on me and my brother. I tried to explain, that had she and her friend not try to ruin my cousin sister's wedding dress, this wouldn't have been broadcasted to the entire wedding venue. I then called my two male friends and both of their faces was in gasps. Both of them pulled out their phones and I played the recordings on one of the phones, which explained how they were still spreading fake news about my cousin and also them planning to ruin my cousin's dress. We also got the video recording of them actively trying to throw the red colored drink on my cousin's dress.
Both of them got kicked out from there and weren't allowed to enter until the rest of the ceremony was over. Both of them stood outside, making attempts to convince anyone who would listen to them and let them in, but no one paid heed to them. Once everyone got home they were scolded badly and my BIL's sister kept screaming at me that I was so mean and rude to have their truths exposed to not just her family, but to every relative and friends who was there to witness the show. While my cousin was glad that I had her back and my brother is standing in support of me, my parents and some of our relatives think that it should have dealt within the family and shouldn't have been exposed to anyone outside of the immediate family members. AITA?
Note: I am so sorry if the post ended up being too long but I just wanted to give all the context that would be required to judge the entire situation and my actions as well. Also if something doesn't make sense just blame it on my sleepy head cause I wrote it in half sleep mode.

breakup was mutual Relationship was long distance Problems were unsolved Hearts were broken, I am avoidant. I did not feel anything until couple weeks ago. Then it hit me, it happened on random day, I saw her in my dreams, when I woke up, I went to gallery and saw the videos from back then, cried a lot. Now I'm missing her more and more every day, I can't sleep anymore. Food does not have a taste. Everyone fades away. Nights are the hardest. I tried to contact her, she denied. Said she's been through a lot because of me and did not want to repeat that. What can I say, I absolutely agree, she deserves much more than what I was to her. It hurts When I smell the parfume she wore, When somebody laughs the same way as she did, When I see the places we used to hang around. I'm going through this kind of thing for the second time in my life, I reckon this one will last longer and be more painful than the first one. At least I know there's an end to this.

on mobile. kind of cw for abuse
I (16M) am autistic. One of my symptoms is that I'm very sensitive to noise. The effect that loud noise has on me is kind of like physical pain in my ears and down my neck. Loud noises also cause me to have full body muscle spasms which are quite uncomfortable and painful. I live with my older siblings (23F, 21M) and both of my parents.
My dad is extremely loud. He's very into sports, especially football (soccer) and boxing, so he watches every game with my brother. When something happens in the game that they react to, they shout very loudly, either cheering or shouting out of anger. They watch TV on the opposite side of the house to me and I can still hear them over my own music or TV.
My dad also has a habit of shouting my name very loudly every time he sees me and holding it for about 30 seconds. Imagine someone going "Jamieeeeee" (not my real name) at top volume for a while. He does this every time he sees me without fail. If I tell him that he's being loud, he will talk in an equally as loud fake whisper and doesn't get the hint. In my mind, it feels like an equivalent to someone blasting a car horn at you for 30 seconds.
He's also just generally a loud person. He plays videos on his phone or computer on full volume, or shouts when he's excited or happy, or takes phone calls and talks on full volume no matter where he is in the house.
Though upsetting, I can cope with all of those things. However, he does some things that make this much more difficult.
My dad has a history of being abusive to my family. It's not physical (though it was before I was born) but he causes us a lot of distress. He gets blindingly angry over simple things and takes it out on everyone else. He will get angry over something like his phone being slow because he has every app open. When he's angry, he'll usually throw and break things. There have been multiple times when he will throw his phone out of anger and destroy it. He will punch his computer and shatter the monitor. I have to hide in my room or evacuate the house when this happens.
While he's doing this, he is shouting the entire time, at other people or just at whatever he's angry at. This means that when he shouts playfully, like when he sees me, it makes me panic because of the association with his anger.
It's worth noting that my older brother also has these kinds of anger episodes, however that's because he has special needs and turned to hard drugs to cope, leading to him having violent meltdowns. He has gotten better and has not had a violent spell for a while now, and is a loving older brother. However, the effect of his and my dad's meltdowns on my childhood has impacted me in many ways, including the sensitivity to men shouting no matter the context and the association with it to anger or danger. Add that to the autism and you get this.
The reason I think I might be overreacting is that, when I tell him or my mom that this bothers me, they tell me that it's his house too and he's free to use the space however he wants. My mom says that if he's loud, it means he's happy, and so I should let him be and let him express himself. My dad knows that I have autism and believes that supporting my needs will make me worse, and that putting up with it through exposure will get me used to the real world.
I agree that exposure can be good for me but I'd rather do it on my own terms. I want to come home and relax, not be shouted at until I can't leave my room out of sensitivity. I have my boundaries and I want him to respect them. However, I don't want to dictate what he can or can't do, and I don't want to start an argument.
I think it's reasonable to ask him to be quieter when I'm in the house, but he thinks I should be exposed to it to build up my tolerance and that my boundaries are an overreaction.
Am I overreacting to my dad's loudness?

I never thought I would ever enter one of these "Entitled" subreddits with a story of my own before, but apparently, the fates have decreed otherwise, for last week, I too, was blessed to be in the presence of a Karen. An EB. A whackjob. Whatever you want to call her.
The lady in question is someone whom I shall refer to, going forward, as "Hyacinth", mostly because she acts a LOT like Hyacinth Bucket from the Britcom "Keeping up Appearances". For those familiar with the TV show, why she has earned this moniker will soon become painfully obvious.
To continue...
I met Hyacinth about a year ago. Some friends and I were setting up a public exhibition, and I had volunteered to be one of the tour-guides, to explain said-exhibition to potential museum visitors, and guide them through the photographs, antiques, and other things that made up our display. One day, a friend texted me if I was free that Friday to meet-and-greet a group of people who were coming to see the exhibit. I said "yes".
Among this group was Hyacinth.
I did not at the time have any inkling of how bad this would get.
Fast forward about six months, then.
In the short time I've known her, a few things have become painfully obvious about Hyacinth - she loves - LOVES - LOOOVES (did I say 'loves'?) to talk about her family, her relatives, who she's related to, how she's related to them, why, what they do, how much they earn, how much they're worth, who else she knows, who her friends are, what they do, how much they earn, and how much they're worth. The words "Millionaire" and "Billionaire" pop up so often, you'd think you were reading the Forbes List. And she would talk about them for AGES - what should be a five-minute phone-call would turn into a 30 minute lecture about how well-connected she is.
For the most part, she was generally civil. She invited me out to meals with her friends, she asked me to tell them about myself...always, again, for some reason, with heavy emphasis on family history and connections and occupations and jobs and stuff. By now I had accepted that she was just weird, and eccentric and whatever. Takes all types, as they say, and I assumed that was it.
Something to know about the two of us is that we're both members of a local club. This club is a cultural club, dedicated to the promotion and preservation of our shared ethnic heritage. There's the main club, and then there's the smaller youth-group within the main club. Said youth-group is run by a friend, and we have a FB group. In this group we share videos, recipes, photos of food, family, friends, events we went to, or hosted, or participated in, and occasionally, historical stuff related to our culture - photographs, antiques, family heirlooms, and such-like.
The reason for this post is because of what happened about a week ago - in this group.
I had written a FB post about similar such organisations as our club, and a bit about their history, how they had formed, why, and where at. For visual interest, I'd added a photograph into the post, which was of the first-ever such club, at its formation, which was WELL OVER 100 years ago (our club doesn't go back that far!!).
I posted it in one group on FB and then shared it into the youth-group's FB group as well, and just...left it.
In a matter of a couple of hours, Hyacinth was attacking me on FB.
Which members of this photograph are my ancestors? Which ones are my relatives? Which ones are my family?? I told her none of them are - it's a historical photo in the public domain, it was relevant to what I was writing, it was relevant to our group, I shared it. End of story.
No, not good enough.
She immediately demanded to know by what right I shared this photograph, whether I'd asked anybody's permission, and why I hadn't contacted the descendants of the people in the photograph - which is WELL OVER 100 years old - 120+, to give you an idea.
I told her I had no idea how to do that, even if I had the names. She got furious and demanded I contact these people (how??) and ask their permission, or she would, and get me sued. She was also FURIOUS that I dared to share the photo in another group, which wasn't about our club, or culture, or heritage - and that I have NO RIGHT to do so!!
I'm like - that's my damn FB group - you don't have any right to tell me what I can or can't share in my own group. You don't get to dictate to me how I use my social media account.
But no, not good enough. She went on a diatribe that lasted two days, and a messenger diatribe that lasted at least two hours. Now she's threatening to send emails and screenshots and whatever, because I dared to share a public domain photograph, to some people who she says are SUPER RICH and SUPER INFLUENTIAL and SHE KNOWS THEM and THEY'LL SUE ME!!
Anyway, I reported her to our group-admin, who is my friend, who reported her to the club committee, citing harassment of a member as the reason.
The committee is currently in conference about this (and other incidents) surrounding Hyacinth - to decide what to do with her, finally, at long-last. According to my friend, Hyacinth has made loads of enemies, has done nothing but complain, has made outrageous suggestions to the club, and has attacked at least 2 or 3 other members - my incident is just the most recent one IN THE LAST THREE MONTHS!!
I'm waiting on my friend to provide an update about this, and if necessary, for me to provide evidence of the encounter.
My friend was shocked that this happened - and frankly, so was I - that Hyacinth was this aggressive about something which is REALLY a non-issue. We both agreed that any friendship that existed between us and her, was now fully, and completely dissolved.
Hyacinth is not going to like that - as I said - she's all about bragging and connections and who she knows and how famous they are...she's not going to like this at all. Especially if they kick her out of the club.

Hi guys I’m wondering if I’m alone here,
But I’ve been completely numb, frozen, paralyzed and devoid of any feeling or memory of who I was.
Like I know something happened and I know how I was at 21,22 etc but I can’t feel it. I feel nothing, and the world looks so freaking HD I’m terrified, I’m literally soooo aware of my body, the world everything is so HD. Even when I walk I feel pulled out of my body, like I’m not really in it. Alot of people talk about dissociation like a fog, but I feel sooooo HD the only reason I know it’s dissociation is because my memory sucks
This began since the war in the Middle East, I binge watched a bunch of violent videos, then re triggered by trauma felt alone, abandoned, ashamed, all over again. I didn’t feel, like what happened to me even mattered. After that a few other things, school, confrontation, old painful memories.
I’m wondering how you get out of this, I’m on autopilot and I feel nothing. I can’t live like this it’s so painful to be this aware, and this numb at the same exact time. It’s been 8 months, I’ve dissociated before but never to this extent.

How do I start?
Hi. Im a 30M na may partner na 34M. He's my first. Naka isang gf lang ako tapos siya na. Kung san pa ko humugot ng lakas ng loob makaamin lang na gusto ko siya, and I did it over the phone.
Now, we're reaching our 2nd year.
Early stages ng relationship was like heaven. Best days of my life. Pero of course, there are shaky moments, actually madalas.
It all started when I tried to browse his phone. He came from a relationship (same sex) Where he allowed na maging number 2. Nung kinukwento nya to habang nanliligaw pa lang ako eh, I can totally feel the pain and how devastated he was. Kaya medyo nahirapan siya pagtiwalaan ako nung una. I saw some videos, during the time na nag eexplore siya (G app) Kasi prior to the number 2 situation, nagka rel pa siya na didnt end well too. I asked him why the videos are still there. ( I saw them on his very old phone na ginagamit lang nya for bank transfers) He said, years na bago ung last na check nya dun sa phone na yun and didnt know it was still there. So to put an end on this argument, I took the liberty of deleting every single thing, for my peace of mind as well.
Then there came a time na I had a problem financially during the rel. Nag offer kasi si bank ng loan, I took it. We spent it mostly, going out of town, cebu, tagaytay, galera etc, and magbili bili ng gamit sa apartment na nirerent nya. So basically, we were building our life together.
So, nung nagsimula na ung time na palagi akong CWD, tinanong nya ano nangyayare kung may loan ba ko, baket lagi ako gipit, kasi di na ko nakakapag bigay ng share ko sa expenses. I lied. Told him na wala akong loan, na majority lang ng sahod ay napupunta sa family.
This kept going on for months, ramdam ko ung stress nya sa pera dahil napapaheram na din siya sa family nya, feeling nya wala siya katulong, based don sa kwento nya sa mga friends namin, di nya masabi saken kasi nga mahal nya ko at ayaw nya ako pauwiin/paalisin.
Then, there were 2 instances din na minsan nakakuha ako pera sakanya ng di nya nalalaman. Sobrang mali. Sobrang sising sisi ako na ginawa ko yon. Moreover, nung nag stay temporarily ung isang friend namin sa apt (kasi walang wala din yon) nalaman namin na pwede pala unahan si bank sa pagkaltas, so gagawin hintayin macredit sahod then bibilisan ang transfer sa ewallet para di madeduct sa loan, don ko na lang nashare na may loan din ako, not directly to him, nabrought lang yung convo kaya nasabi ko na din.
When it comes to intimacy, we've never done penetration, ever. So I know that u guys knew what we were doing. Last time we did it was last year. After non wala na, recently nag ask ako kasi nga 1yr na nakalipas, sabe nya, puro kasi problema kaya pano gaganahan. I accepted kasi totoo naman.
Magkawork kami sa office at magkateam, after a year, napromote ako into level II. Actually sabay kami nag apply pero ako lang nakuha. Lungkot din sya non, kasi sabay kami inapproach to apply pero ako lang nakuha. He felt left behind, na parang wala siyang growth don. So he resigned.
Last year December, I lost my mom. Wala na siya sa office non, ako andon pa. Sobrang sakit mawalan ng magulang. I expressed my intention to him na reresign na din ako don kasi I lost my focus, I lost myself, gusto ko lang magkulong at magluksa.
He kept telling me na while andon pa ko and if Im planning to resign, mag apply apply na ko sa iba para di ako mabakante ng matagal. I didnt listen. Umalis ako at nagpahinga with my final pay as my only source, dun pa din sa apartment. Then, malapit na maubos funds ko saka lang ako nag apply apply, nahirapan ako, up to now naghihintay pa din ako ng final interview.
Siya naman, nakapag start na ulet mag work. Bumalik sa dati ang sitwasyon. Pinapasan nya ulit lahat, waiting for me na makabangon. Kaya lang di na nya nahintay.
He told me na napagod na siya maghintay makabangon ako, pinilit naman nya. Kasi ung pinangsimula nya, sa family nya siya umasa eh. So yun ang binubuno nya hulugan ngayon. Sabe nya saken, somehow nagsisi siya at nalungkot makita na nalugmok ako. Hindi ako nakakapag pagupit, sobrang pumayat ako, bumagsak katawan ko, bigat na bigat ako sa sarili ko.
Then sa office nila, may umaaligid saknya na guy. Nagpaparamdam. Before he started working, he gave me a headsup na hindi nya ipapaalam na Bi siya na may partner siya. I said ok, kasi discreet din kami nung una then eventually nalaman din kasi dahil saken din, I was just proud na kami, we're together.
This guy kept on sending him flirty messages, nag effort pa yun kumuha mga stolen pictures nya then isesend sa msnger with a caption "pogiii" I asked him sino yun, sabe kawork, at biro biro lang yon, palabiro talaga at may ibang nililigawan sa office. Di naman nya mapagbawalan magsend kasi di nga alam na may partner, tinatawanan lang nya pag nirereplayan nya. Pero I know na may something don sa guy. Na naaamoy nya partner ko.
Then saturday came, naginuman sila buong team. Mga 2pm na siya nakauwi, out nya 5am. Lasing na lasing, di alam pano nakauwi. So, forda alaga ako. While he was sleeping, sunday morning, I had an urge to check his phone, nilagay ko daliri nya kasi tinanggal na nya fingerprint ko at iniba ung pin dahil sa instance ng pangungupit.
The guy messaged him, called him "daddy mwa" at "wag mo ipagkalat sa office kung gano ko kasarap humalik kasi di naman ako magpapagaw"
P*******NA
Kahit tulog pa siya, talagang sumigaw ako. Sabe ako ano ibig sabihin neto at pano nya nagawa saken to. Nung sinagot nya ko siya ba nag sabe na "wag mo akong lolokohin" And then this??!!!
He said, hindi nya alam, wala siya matandaan, lasing siya. Typical reasoning.
Sobrang nagiinit ang emosyon ko, sabe ko papuntahin nya ung guy or tawagan at mag uusap kaming tatlo. Ang tinawagan nya, ung straight friend na offcmate nya to ask if nakita nya siya naghalikan, sabe non hindi nya alam, hindi nya matandaan.
Now, we're taking a break. Physically, intimately, emotionally. Dun nya nabrought ung struggle namin financially na naging deciding factor para sakanya.
Monday, the day I packed my stuff (Di ko nakuha lahat kasi andami) We had a mature conversation before I left, na aayusin muna ang mga buhay buhay, lalo na ko since wala ko work at pera, ang hirap kumilos. Then kapag ok na lahat, maybe we can try again. Focus muna ako sa sarili at pamilya ko, kasi pati rent namin sa bahay where are father lives ay behind na, malapit na kami maapaalis.
So, yun ang usapan.
The next day, siguro tinadhana na din na mahanap ko ung acct ni guy. Matagal ko na kasi talagang hinanap. Di ko napigilan at minessage ko, di ko inaway or minura. I kept it professional.
Told the guy na nababasa ko lahat ng chat nya lalo na ung inuman scene, told him na may partner is not available, not single kaya please pakitigil.
Sinend nya ung message ko na yun sa partner ko with a message "hindi ka pala single, gago ka" He said sorry to the guy.
Inabisuhan ko naman partner ko na nahanap ko ung acct, sinend ko din ung sinabi ko to prove na di ko inaway. Asked him what he feels, he said na di nya alam, na sana hinayaan ko na siya na magsabi. Sabe ko naman, kung matagal mo na sinabi, hindi aabot sa ganto.
Right now, nag uusap pa din kami. Minsan sobrang nakukulitan din ako sa sarili ko kasi nag usap na kami na time and space nga pero madalas ko pa din siya chinecheck. Maybe I'm still at the withdrawal stage. Nag apologize ako, and said unti unti kong ititigil. Na ano pang sense nung napag usapan kung araw araw pa din ako chat ng chat.
I asked an update don sa guy, sabe di na sila naguusap at nagpapansinan kasi galit nga. Na awkward na nga sa work.
Kagabi galing ako don, nag ask ako permission to stay the night kasi late na natapos interviews at wala na ko masasakyan pauwi. He agreed. Medyo inis pa nga siya na andon ako ulit eh akala nya ba may pinag usapan kami, sabe nya. Pero naging ok naman eventually.
Now, Im back home, pinipigil tanggalin siya sa sistema ko muna. Masyado ko kasi pinaikot mundo ko sakanya, kaya napabaayan ko na sarili ko. Katapos lang namin mag chat over IG pero hindi kami ok. Kulit ko din kasi talaga. Baka sa kakulitan ko eh icut na nya comms ng tuluyan para don talaga sa time and space. Kaya tumigil na ko, pipigilan ko hanggat maaari.
What are your thoughts on this po? Sobrang bait din niya kasi sabe nya pagsahod nya, bibigyan nya ko pang simula. Di na muna nya huhulugan family nya.
Im still trying to continue my life na di siya nakakausap, kasama at nakikita. Focus muna ako ibangon ang sarili ko, yun din sabe nya, na nawala na ung taong nakilala nya at minahal nya. I guess, heto muna ang mundo ko.
Help please.

Hi Everyone, I'm a Software engineer and product designer and I'm planning to create a platform to connect professionals in the video creation space. I've seen many requirements here for both video professionals looking for gigs and also creators looking for freelancers.
In this platform I'm planning to give professionals a portfolio space for their show reels and creations. Imagine behance or dribble but specifically for video creators. It could have editors, sound engineers, animators, special effects/ motion graphic professionals, script writers , etc.
Before I jump into building I want to understand the pain points for this community and to see if this platform is needed. I'd appreciate any inputs on the above pitch and answer to the questions below ,

1. Have you used any platform like this? What did you like about it ? What could be better?
2. While hiring freelancers from websites like fiverr, do you find it difficult to maintain long term collaboration and do you find it difficult to judge their skills?
3. If you are a freelancer , How do you go about finding gigs, what are the problems you face?
4. Do you think you will benefit from this platform and why?

After the excitement of the women's tournament starting last week, men's VNL is officially kicking off today! We will be weekly discussion threads, like past few couple of years.
This year the VNL will be way more importan than in the previous years, as each match counts towards the world ranking - and at the end of the competition top 5 highest ranked, not yet qualified teams will qualify to the Olympic Games!
Also, a slight change to the format of the competition is coming: no team will be relegated this season as, starting next year, 18 teams per gender wlll participate in the VNL (as opposed to just 16 now).
COMPETITION FORMAT + WHO IS PLAYING?
The competition rules of Men's Volleyball Nations League are identical to the rules of women's VNL.
Each week, the 16 teams participating in the competition get split into two pools of eight teams - and both pools are hosted by different countries. Each team has four matches to play per week,. Despite the tournament being held in two locations at the same time, all the points the team get and all the sets they win will be counted towards a joint league table for all 16 teams.
Top 8 teams after 12 matches will qualify to the final play off round to be held in Bangkok, Thailand. There is and exception to this rule: Poland, as hosts, are already pre-qualified to the play offs. That means that if they finish the regular round placed 9th on below, only top 7 teams will qualify and the 8th spot will be assigned to Poland.
The Pools this week are:
Pool I (Antalya, Turkey): TURKEY, POLAND, U.S.A, SLOVENIA, FRANCE, NETHERLANDS, CANADA, BULGARIA
Pool II (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil): BRAZIL, ITALY, ARGENTINA, JAPAN, SERBIA, IRAN, CUBA, GERMANY
WHERE TO WATCH
A variety of national broadcasters will show certain games of the VNL either on TV or through online streaming. These include (among others) Polsat Sport for Poland, RAI Sport for Italy, L'Equipe for France and CBC Sports for Canada.
If you have no access to any of the channels broadcasting the VNL, you could subscribe to Volleyball World TV - its a paid subscrpition service launched by the FIVB and Volleyball World, which will broadcast all games of the competition. There is a 7-day free trial available, and prices start at 1.65eur (ca 2$/ month) if you purchase the yearly plan (19.99 EU12 months)
In the previous years, select VNL games were also broadcasted for free on FIVB's Youtube channel. I am not sure if this will be the case this year, but I will update the post with links to the free matches if there are any planned for this year.
USEFUL LINKS
VNL Schedule & Live Score -
Team rosters
Live competition table
FIVB's Youtube channel (we can expect free highlists and potentially full matches)
Volleyball World TV (paid streaming service)
Volleyball World Rankings(updated after every match, important for Olympic qualification)

I see a lot of conflicting info about this. All medical articles say incurable. I have OCD and have researched non stop for 4 months. Looked at forums, sub reddits, Facebook groups, articles, YouTube videos, Dr. Weiss’ book, etc., all you can think of. Lots of people in comments saying healing & recovering from PN is possible but that directly contradicts all the health articles and searching for actual success posts turns up only 2 or 3 results that usually don’t seem all that successful in the end (pain usually rebounds after time or never fully went away in the first place.) Because of that I’d count retaining 90% relief as cured, even. And I mean true Pudendal Nerve Damage or Pudendal Nerve Entrapment - I see some with hypertonic or pelvic floor dysfunctions who can see good progress but typically it’s because they’re suffering from compression/irritation. I’m most interested in seeing if anyone with a precipitating injury recovered - and in 4 months I have turned up literally no one who has. And the surgery results, while there are a few who thankfully did recover, seem to turn up way, way, way more failures and worsenings. It’s my last ditch option but I truly don’t want it to come to that. I think when people say healing from PN is possible, it’s because they actually mean that PFD & hypertonic pelvic floors are fixable, not true damage or entrapment. Are there any? I just want to see them for myself. I am beyond hopeless. I feel this is truly a death sentence.