The most effective study methods for academic success boil down to:
Time management
There are countless time management techniques, but one beautiful thing about going to school is that a lot of your time is managed for you.
The week and when you need to be in class is arranged.
Professors tell you when assignments are due, etc.
Heck, when I was in university they even gave us calendars for use to write in our due dates.
So the number one thing is to combine what you know with the tools everyone has: the calendar.
In many cases, you can also get advanced notices from professors by simply talking to them before the semester even begins.
You would also do well to explore techniques like the Eisenhower Matrix, time blocking and the Pareto Principle.
Above all, make time management something you study unto itself.
There's no one-size-fits-all approach. But those who study it as the discipline it is will win.
Study Environment Optimization
Studying effectively cannot be random or subject to interruptions.
If you have to study on transit, invest in custom ear plugs of the kind musicians use, not noise-cancelling headphones that will put you at risk in the case of an emergency. Custom ear plugs have filters that let you still hear without being bothered by shrill noises and you can switch between light and heavy filters.
Having multiple study locations worked out in advance is a great strategy because you can walk between them and percolate your thoughts – literally remembering more by simply getting in a bit of exercise. I used to call this "Road Work" when I was in university.
When at home, put a "Do not disturb" sign on your door. Make it clear to others that you are studying and train them to respect the hours you want to put it. Do not compromise. It's your future.
Note-Taking Strategies
There are many different kinds of note-taking methods. My fave is to use Zettelkasten in combination with Memory Palaces.
These two videos detail how the Zettelkasten Method operates in combination with the Memory Palace technique:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIQRiqQFKQY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrN0kaE6DkY
Memory techniques
Like time management, the topic of memory improvement is huge. Make sure to spend a good three months learning all of its ins-and-outs.
The key techniques you'll want to master are:
The Memory Palace A Alphabet System (or pegword system) A Number System (usually based on the Major System) A Symbol System A Spaced Repetition system
These accelerated learning techniques may feel like you're building an airport in the beginning, but think about it:
You do need airports to launch and land planes as effectively and efficiently as possible. It's the same with memory techniques.
You can also do yourself a favor and learn more about memory science. It will teach you about how the mind and memory work and give you ideas that will only arise if you know a little bit about what researchers have found.
Stress Management For Students
Don't make my mistake. I drank like a fish and ate poorly throughout university. This meant that a lot of the experience was lost to depression.
Sure, memory techniques helped… but I can't help but imagine how much more successful I would have been during and after if I'd had better ways of coping with the stress.
Diet, fitness, mindfulness practices, time off with friends for positive and healthy recreation. This is not complicated, though when you're young, impulsivity can certainly make it seem that way.
Exam Preparation Strategies
This basically comes back to properly using your calendar and memory techniques.
For the benefits of what is sometimes called state-dependent or context-dependent memory, it can be useful to study where you will take your exams. It's advisable to use Memory Palaces based on these exam rooms whenever possible.
(Those terms are the kinds of insider memory hacks you'll enjoy only when you understand your memory science, and there are many more that can help you with your exam prep.)
Take mock tests as much as you can. Reflect on what you're learning often. Talk about it with other students.
Don't cram and avoid wasting time on the fantasy that there are any "subject-specific study tips." Maybe if you're in nursing school and need to have patient bodies in specific position, but generally tests are about words, numbers and symbols. Learn how to commit them to memory and talk as much as you can about the information so it is well-exercised before you sit for your exams.
Form Effective Study Groups
There are many benefits to group study if you can select solid group members. This can be tricky, but one way to do it involves a slightly involved strategy:
Try to be part of a club or association. I was president of the English Undergraduate Student Association at York University in Toronto, for example. This drew precisely the right people because anyone who wanted to be part of the association already loved English Literature by default.
After you find the right members, it's just a matter of scheduling regular meetings based on decent agendas and following reasonable time limits so you don't burn out.
One thing my fave study group in university did a lot was to share reading. In other words, we'd each tackle an article or book and then present on it.
Ultimately, you still have to do the reading yourself, but it forms a nice mental framework that makes reading faster and easier when someone you can speak with has summarized the core ideas. These days, you can search YouTube and podcasts for this kind of summarization much of the time, but it's still not the same as being in a study group with other people.
You also get experience with peer teaching and tutoring this way, which is hugely beneficial for your memory. Even if you never intend to teach yourself, the simple effort that goes into preparing and delivering short presentations will benefit you in the short-term for your exams and long-term in your career. Collaborative learning also gives you something powerful to put on your resume, especially if your study group is linked with a formal university institution or group.
Work On Your Reading And Comprehension Skills
The main shortcut here is to simply read a lot, boost your vocabulary as you go by memorizing terms and write summaries as much as you can.
Doesn't sound like a shortcut, I know. But it really is. It helps develop pattern recognition and that's how you ultimately wind up quickly assessing the key points and inferring many things correctly.
Be humble, though. Mistakes will always happen, so be willing to go back and read things again.
Another key aspect of reading is to challenge yourself. Get outside of your comfort zone and read above your level at least a few times a week.
Don't worry about whether you understand what you're reading or not. Soon, moments of insight will arise.
Even if it doesn't happen soon, rest assured that will. There are aspects of philosophy that didn't come clear to me until after 30 years of reading. I'm not ashamed of this at all. I just haven't read and reflected enough to connect the dots. But if I had read above my level sooner, I probably would have had the insights sooner.
Motivation and Discipline
Technically, motivation is not necessary when you have systems. That's what discipline is all about.
That said, it's useful to know about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. These will be arranged differently in different people as some people respond well to threats of pain whereas others respond better to promises of reward.
Know thyself.
Hire a coach if you have to, as it will be worth it in the end. Many exist and some universities have behavioral science programs, learning disability labs and other institutions where you can learn more directly about these issues.
Finally, you can learn about the difference between tonic and phasic dopamine relative to how the Default Mode Network of your brain is in a kind of battle with the Task Positive Network. This area is kind of heavy on the brain science, but well worth an afternoon or two to figure out the implications in your life.
Just watch out: When optimizing your dopamine levels for motivation, you could wind up enlightened and have your ego make you think you're better than everyone else… which would not be enlightenment. But it'll sure feel that way.
That's why the next category is so important.
Make Time To Learn Critical Thinking
A lot of education involves humans who weigh what they teach and how they teach it based on subjective agendas. It's pretty difficult for anyone not to do that.
When you spend some time developing your critical thinking skills, you'll be able to determine when teachers and writers/video creators, etc. are being too subjective or otherwise slaves to any number of cognitive biases.
Likewise, you'll be able to spot them in yourself and weed many of them out before they can distract you.
The simplest way to use critical thinking while studying is to put Why, Where, When, Who and How up on a Memory Wheel and constantly rotate through it.
As you learn more about different thinkers, you can also start to ask, "What would Freud say about this? What would Skinner say? What would x say?"
To do this, study as many of the sciences and Liberal Arts as you possibly can. If you don't know where to start, go through the Trivium and then the Quadrivium. Knowing how to think through those seven lenses and ask what the major figures in each field would generally say will help you "triangulate" just about any issue and think both objectively and subjectively about it and know which is which.
Self-Assessment And Improvement
Ultimately, the best judge of your progress is you.
To make sure you're giving yourself good materials to judge yourself by, journal, ideally daily.
If you can, keep two journals:
A snapshot journal that simply lists what you did on a particular day.
A discursive journal where you reflect on your thoughts about how things went.
There are many formal products you can buy that will help you journal in particular ways. The Freedom Journal has been one of my faves, but the real tip is to experiment with as many journaling styles as you can in the two main styles I just mentioned.
As you can tell, there's not that much when it comes to embracing a wide number of learning strategies. Apply these tips to the study resources you need to cover on your way to the exam room and you'll do well.
Take Care Around Technology And Studying
There are tons of apps that can help "gamify" these activities, but at the end of the day, gamification is really just a mental metaphor. If it doesn't work for you, find a better metaphor.
Nir Eyal discussion the power of mental metaphors based on some research in Indistractable and more on the matter is found in The Victorious Mind by yours truly. There was even recently a Duke University study showing just how powerful adopting mental metaphors can be for remembering information.
Academic success can indeed be enjoyable, and all the more so when you work out what will make it enjoyable and meaningful for you. Personalize as much of the journey as you can, constantly applying critical thinking to every suggestion you come across and all of your study experiences will become much, much more rewarding.

Hi I’m a pediatrics rehabilitation nurse and I had a patient who is 16 years old completely tetraplegic from a surfing accident . Today his gf was visiting and at 5 pm he had a catheter insertion. I go in and ask if it’s a good time for him he said yes. I went to do the catheter insertion.. not one drop of pee. I did the bladder scan he had around 100ml in there. He was semi erect. I wanted to come back later but he refused. Later on at 9 pm his gf left he had another insertion at that time. This time he also had a urinary incontinence of 450ml. I checked with the bladder scan around 300ml of pee was in there. I go to do the insertion he was fully erect. So not one drop of pee. I was gonna use a cold towel to stop it. But he started sighing and getting pretty angry and uncomfortable. (TOTALLY UNDERSTAND) he refused. I explain I can come back later to try again. He started getting angry and saying there is no pee in there. He refused . I explained he is also at risk of autonomic dysreflexia. He said he already knows and refuses he would rather have another urinary incontinence. I left for a moment because I could feel his frustration. My colleague tried to explain to him again and he kicked her out and refused, so we left it at that and charted everything. I honestly get it. It must have been difficult for him , his gf was literally sitting on him and cuddling all evening. What would you guys have done ? I came to vent here because I want someone else’s opinion. This isn’t the first time this happened to me with a male patient I usually just put a cold towel on them and come back but in this case my patient got really upset. (Again if I put myself in his shoes I would be upset too) any advice? Opinions?

Hi, not sure if this has been documented before but here I am, giving my 2 cents worth to everyone who needs this. I know it’s been really tough on everyone who has to go through this. It’s a really long post, so if you are short on time, just go straight to the heading in bold to find out what you’re looking for.
I don't know where everyone is from, but I am from Singapore and apparently, I can’t find any related posts by Singaporeans in any subreddits. If any fellow countryman needs this, there you go. For fellow netizens with Hip Dysplasia, there might be differences in the processes, but I suppose the recovery process is just about the same. Hope this helps, nonetheless!
Pre-diagnosis I have been a leisure runner in my late teens, and pretty much run about 5 to 10km regularly til mid-20s. It started with knee pain in a particular race, and the pain continued for a couple of years more. I had wanted to train for a half marathon, but I also wanted to ensure that I started my training right and pain-free. So I went to straight to a Sports Specialist Doctor in a Public Hospital and she diagnosed me with a Runner’s Knee (or formally known as Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome, PFPS) after looking through my x-ray, and my description of pain. She referred me to the Podiatrist and the Physiotherapist for gait correction and muscle strengthening. It was going on fine for a while, but I still couldn’t run pain-free. Then Covid came, and the appointments have to be suspended. But I was still doing my physio exercises and running about 2.5 to 5km when we were allowed to.
Diagnosis As more restrictions eased, I began training for speed, and that was when the pain started coming from the hip, and walking became strangely painful with a pinching sensation at the hip/groin area at this point. I sought help from a private physiotherapist to find out what happened. After a few sessions, he realized something was not right and suggested me to get a hip x-ray done. And so I did, at a Polyclinic, and the x-ray showed shallow acetabulum and I got referred (again) to a Sports Specialist to get a MRI done. And LHP with a labrum tear was the diagnosis. And to no surprise… I got referred to another Specialist again, who was affirmative that I need a LPAO and at the same time broke it to me that I have a RHP which will need a PAO too. If you need to know the timeline - I had the x-ray done at the end of 2022, MRI done on mid-2023, LPAO done at the start of 2024.
Pre-surgery Preparation (Work) Check with your doctor on the estimated rest period (mine’s 3months) and inform your boss about it. The surgery will most likely be about 5 hours max, hospital stay 5 days, and you will be on 2 crutches for 6-8 weeks, and another 1-2 weeks on 1 crutch to stabilize your walking. You might be able to resume work obligations if it’s a sedentary job or another 6 more weeks of home rest if your work requires much walking or manual labour. So it’s really important to work out with your boss and colleagues for a proper handover so that you can concentrate solely on recovery.
Pre-surgery Preparation (Hospital) There will be a blood test / some swab done 3 – 4 weeks prior to the surgery; the nurse will let you know. You will be under General Anesthesia (GA) during the surgery, so fasting is required a day before is required.
Do pack light for your hospital stay. Use a backpack for convenience. Clothes to wear after discharge + source of entertainment and communication is enough. You wouldn’t want to carry a lot of things home after discharge when you’re on 2 crutches.
Pre-surgery Preparation (Insurance + Hospital Wards) Do inform your Insurance Agent / Company about it so that they are aware. It may or may not be covered, so please get in touch with them as soon as you have the details.
[Singapore’s context] There will be a pre-admission appointment with the hospital staff about 3 weeks before the scheduled surgery, which the staff with share with you the cost of the different class wards. Basically, Class C (8-bedded) and Class B2 (6-bedded) wards are fully subsidized by the government. I can’t remember how much a Class B1 (4-bedded) ward costs, but probably about 10-15K SGD. Class A (1-bedded) is about 21-23K SGD. The staff with help you out with the Letter of Guarantee (LOG) from your Insurance Company and will let you know in about 2 weeks if the application for LOG is successful, if not you would have to prepare for the bills depending on your chosen ward (either Class A or Class B1). There is no need for LOG for Class C and Class B2 wards, since it’s fully government-subsidized. Medisave and MediShield/IPs will be used for all Class Wards (Note: IPs is only applicable to 30 years old and above). My insurance allows me to be in the Class A ward and the application for LOG was also successful, thankfully.
Pre-surgery Preparation (Personal) Since you will be on crutches, do arrange your house to accommodate that. A folding bedside table, a caddy trolley, a long-arm grabber, pillows are items that you can prepare beforehand. Do also ensure that your toilet is slip-free as well or restructure it in a way that is beneficial for you. I had to bathe sitting on the toilet bowl for the 1^st week as it is difficult to make it slip-free. It got better 2^nd week onwards when I was allowed a 30% weight-bearing on my operated side, so I could be in the showering area. You will be at home and ‘confine’ to the bed/chair most of the time, so it’d be good to have some form of entertainment at home. Nanoblocks, Colouring books, Wordsearch, Sudoku, Crosswords, Netflix, Disney+, Hbo, Reading, Crocheting, Journalling, Zoom with friends are some of the things that you can do / prepare before surgery. You may or may not have energy for them, but that’s ok, the main idea is to focus on resting and having a sound mind so that you won’t be discouraged / feel bored / unmotivated. For meal wise, it’d be good if your family can cook / buy food, if not do ensure that your budget allows you to get food delivery for 6-8 weeks. I got my meals from Grabfood. Do ensure that you have a good chair – not those that put your knees above your hips.
Day of surgery If you can, do arrive 5-10mins earlier to settle in after registration.
[Singapore’s context] Do note that the staff who registers you in will ask you for the person to contact after the surgery. It’d be a text message to inform the person on the end of your surgery and which ward you will be in. You will need to sign the LOG letter (if any) and proceed to take your height and weight at the self-administered machine. Wait and follow any instructions by the nurse. You will be asked to change into the hospital gown and the nurses will ask you more questions, just answer them accordingly. They will also help to keep your belongings in their storage and will deliver to your ward at their timeslot after your surgery.
Process of surgery The Anesthesiology team will introduce themselves to you and go through the pain management methods. They asked what method (they mentioned 3, but I only remembered what I had) I preferred, and I told them to go ahead with what they think was good for me. Epidural, it was. And so, I got pricked with needles and whatnots and they finally brought me into the operating room. I didn’t realize the room was so big and cold and there were many doctors and nurses around. They did their thing, and I was just trying not to feel awkward with so many people looking at my bareback and being in a very vulnerable state. It’s a little pricky and painful at some point. Do let them know if you’re too cold, they have this hot air thing that can warm you up. They will also insert a urine catheter for you to help with the bladder movements. I was quickly under General Anesthesia (GA) with a breathing mouthpiece (the Anesthesiologists will direct you on what to do). I woke up after the surgery with a very dry throat and asked if I could have some water. They gave me a tiny vial of water, just about enough to soothe my throat. I guess it was also caused I was under GA and couldn’t be given much for my stomach too. I was quite aware of what was going on though I was still a little sleepy. I had to be brought to the High Dependency Ward (HDW) due to low blood pressure.
After surgery (in HDW) I kept wanting to drink water but that also caused me to vomit out water and had no appetite for dinner. Nausea and vomiting are just some side effects of GA. (I remembered being disappointed that I couldn’t have the watermelon, I had wanted to eat that, but I knew I couldn’t stomach it) And little did I realize that was the last time I saw a watermelon during meal times (damn the side effects). I was also quite weak on my operated left side, I was not in that much of a pain, just some discomfort. I was given a self-administered morphine device too, there is this button that I can press to administer morphine into my system at regular interval, the device has some safety feature which helps to stop people from abusing it) Used it once after I had to be flipped over to be wiped clean by the nurse (at this time, I had given up on trying to maintain my dignity, though the nurses were quite humane about it, if you know what I mean) But I was also trying not to use the morphine at all cos it gave me more side effects like drowsiness and an even lower blood pressure). Thankfully I had a good Pain Team (that’s what they call themselves), which helped to lower the dosage after they realized I was not using it that much and I was still very drowsy (I fell asleep halfway unknowingly after talking to people), and eventually I was off it. I was taken for an x-ray after the nurse ascertained that my blood pressure was normal (since I had the catheter, I just sipped water without a care in the world, to help raise my blood pressure). And I administered the morphine once after they flipped me over for the x-ray (it was bloody hell painful and it took a lot of strength). Probably in a day or 2, the doctors decided to remove my epidural needle and I was finally free of it. The next thing to get rid of was the catheter. I had a love-hate relationship with it. I need to be able to pass motion to get rid of it, which I did after an arduous process. Constipation is a side effect of not moving around. Your stool will most definitely be a Type 1 under the Bristol Stool Chart but it will be back to normal in a few days or so. I did a little cheer when I finally pooped.
My physiotherapist came and pushed me to move around. The first step coming down from the bed was the hardest due to gravitational pull. My muscles needed to be woken up after lying down for 48 hours or more. I got transferred to General Ward (GW) soon after.
After surgery (GW) I had some bed exercises to help to wake up the muscles and I was using the walker to move around. It was tough doing the bed exercises, but they have to be done. I was also able to bath independently by sitting down on the bathing chair in the bathing area of the toilet. I still needed assistance to wear my pyjamas pants. So unfortunately, the nurse still had to be around when I bathed for safety purposes since I was a fall-risk patient.
At this time, I was trying to get out of bed and be in the chair and also use the walker more to help with moving around and getting the muscles up and running. I had 2 more physio sessions with the crutches. Using the walker frequently helped with the use of crutches. (You will know what I meant when you have tried both out. You can push yourself but please do not force it if you are not strong enough yet.) My doctors have cleared me for discharge, I just need my physiotherapist to clear me too (they have to be sure that I can use the crutches properly and safely and also complete simple daily adaptive skills). Finally, I got cleared for discharge. I got the medication, and it was a cashless and fuss-free stay/process for me. I stayed in the hospital for 7 days (3.5 days in HDW, 3.5 days in GW). Remember to get your crutches before leaving the hospital.
Home rest 1st Week I must say, it’s really liberating to be at home, though it’s really a chore to move around. I did my physio exercises about 3x a day and just be a sloth. I was still very tired, but it was difficult to sleep. I’m usually a side sleeper, but I had to sleep on my back for 6 weeks, at least. My doctors said that I could sleep on my unoperated side, but it can be achy.
Home rest 2nd Week Things are looking up a little more since I could place a 30% weight on my left. I could enter the showering area now, just be careful not to overload the operated side. 2 crutches are still a must to prevent any overloading of weight to help with the recovery. Protein and calcium-rich food are your best friend. Again, do your physio exercises regularly. I still do mine 3x a day.
Home rest 7th Week Finally, I got to put full weight on my operated side. Happily, I tried to ditch BOTH my crutches, please do not be like me! Ease into walking slowly. Use 1 crutch to help you with the gravity pull as you put 100% weight on both legs. It is also possible to ditch the crutch and try walking on very short distances, do take care of your walking form. If you limp badly, please use 1 crutch and practice walking. I did try stairs and use the railings if necessary. I managed to ditch the crutches by Week 8. Physio continues, if you have access to the gym, please go ahead, slowly. I am sleeping both on my back and on my unoperated side now.
Home rest 13th Week Not sure if things are still looking good, but my knees kinda hurt, and that’d be another story for another day. I am cleared to resume work, though I still got to be careful with the walking and all.
Week 14 – Week 18 (current) I think since I am walking a lot more, I am limping a little, but not enough for a need to bring back the crutch. It got more achy when I’m sleeping on my unoperated side and still a little discomfort if I try to sleep on my operated side. My operated side is still weak and achy when I walk or sit or lie down. I am still doing my physio, though not 3x a day now.
I am not too sure how I will progress but that’s my journey thus far. Happy to share here and to answer any questions you may have.
Edit: Formatting

Not for the reasons of hating my job or being a nurse. Majority of our nurses are LPNs (nothing against them, I think they’re awesome nurses regardless of what title they have) but they always put one RN only with 1-2 LPNs so I automatically become the charge nurse. I wouldn’t mind it so much if I wasn’t stuck with all the admissions. There’s a nursing admission assessment that only RNs have access to so I get to talk to all the new admissions. Some good nurses help out with other stuff like getting orders, home meds and drug test but most of the time I end up doing everything myself. I’m new so I’m honestly afraid of asking them to do it and seeming like I’m too good to do it (they were complaining about RNs that feel entitled to only do the assessment which doesn’t take that long). One admission a shift, ok maybe I can handle it if they don’t come in the beginning or end of shift but sometimes we get multiple admissions (as you all know) and I end up doing all of it.

I will be taking over as president for my university's investment club this year, and part of that is creating weekly powerpoints to teach people about investing. I whipped up this mini curriculum for the semester to try and get a condensed, comprehensive idea of what investing is all about. Please give any notes you have on anything that I should add/drop from this. Apologies if this post breaks any rules.
Week 1: Introduction to Investing

• **Why Invest?**: Importance of investing, inflation, and the power of compound interest.
• **Types of Investments**: Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, real estate, and commodities.
• **Risk and Return**: Basic concepts of risk and return, risk tolerance, and the risk-return tradeoff.

Week 2: Understanding the Stock Market

• **How the Stock Market Works**: Stock exchanges, major indices (S&P 500, Dow Jones, NASDAQ).
• **Market Participants**: Retail investors, institutional investors, market makers.
• **Order Types**: Market orders, limit orders, stop-loss orders.

Week 3: Fundamental Analysis

• **Financial Statements**: Income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement.
• **Key Ratios**: P/E ratio, P/B ratio, ROE, and others.
• **Qualitative Factors**: Management quality, competitive advantage, industry analysis.

Week 4: Technical Analysis

• **Charts and Trends**: Reading stock charts, identifying trends.
• **Technical Indicators**: Moving averages, RSI, MACD.
• **Patterns**: Support and resistance levels, head and shoulders, double tops and bottoms.

Week 5: Portfolio Management and Diversification

• **Asset Allocation**: Diversification across asset classes.
• **Risk Management**: Hedging strategies, correlation between assets.
• **Rebalancing**: When and how to rebalance a portfolio.

Week 6: Bonds and Fixed Income Investments

• **Types of Bonds**: Government bonds, corporate bonds, municipal bonds.
• **Bond Ratings and Yield**: Credit ratings, yield to maturity, current yield.
• **Interest Rate Risk**: Impact of interest rates on bond prices.

Week 7: Mutual Funds and ETFs

• **Mutual Funds**: Types, advantages and disadvantages, fees.
• **ETFs**: Differences from mutual funds, how they are traded, benefits.
• **Index Funds**: Advantages of passive investing, popular index funds.

Week 8: Behavioral Effects on Market / Consumer Sentiment

• **Common Biases**: Overconfidence, anchoring, herd behavior.
• **Market Anomalies**: Bubbles, crashes, irrational exuberance.
• **Strategies to Mitigate Biases**: Systematic investing, checklists, diversified portfolios.

Week 9: Macroeconomic Indicators and Their Impact on Markets

• **Key Indicators**: GDP, inflation, unemployment, interest rates.
• **Central Banks and Monetary Policy**: Role of central banks, tools of monetary policy.
• **Global Events**: How international events affect the markets.
• **Election years?**

Week 10: Introduction to Financial Derivatives

• **Options**: Calls, puts, how options work, basic strategies.
• **Futures**: Futures contracts, hedging with futures.
• **Risks of Derivatives**: Leverage, margin calls, market risk.
• **Other Derivatives?**

Week 11: Real Estate Investment

• **Types of Real Estate Investments**: Residential, commercial, REITs.
• **Evaluation Criteria**: Location, market trends, rental yields.
• **Financing and Risks**: Mortgages, interest rates, property management.

Week 12: Socially Responsible and ESG Investing

• **ESG Criteria**: Environmental, social, and governance factors.
• **Impact Investing**: Strategies for investing with a positive social impact.
• **Performance and Trends**: How ESG funds perform, growth in ESG investing.

Week 13: Developing an Investment Strategy and Staying Informed

• **Creating a Personal Investment Plan**: Setting goals, risk assessment, time horizon.
• **Research and Due Diligence**: Reliable sources of information, financial news, analyst reports.
• **Continuous Learning**: Books, courses, seminars, staying updated with market trends.

I'm not sure about ESG investing for week 12, so if anyone can think of a better topic I'm all ears. Thank you!

Really hate my job and feel stuck
So I wanted to come on here and ask some peoples opinions.. so I am a nurse and I currently work in one department which I absolutely hate.. and let me start by saying, in this department I work in, there are only four people who can do my job and I say this literally.
Me and 3 other people are able to do my job and no my manager is not willing to hire anyone else and does not try because she knows I am stuck. Per my companies policy, I have to stay in this area for one year before I am allowed to transfer. I am trying to transfer to the ICU, by the way and only the ICU.
I called HR and asked how I could go about a lateral transfer without quitting and reapplying. She said the best option is to talk to my direct supervisor and ask about transferring. So I talked to my direct supervisor and told her I was not happy at my job and I would like to transfer to facilitate as better mental space and career goal. My manager said she would keep it mind and see what she could do (obviously lies). I then talked to the supervisor above her and asked to transfer and she also said she could consider and see what she could do. This was like two months ago and have not heard anything else about it and they are not looking for more nurses so I just know it’s not happening. But I’m miserable!
I’m taking 6 days of call a week, my manager is nit picky and audits my charts everyday and finds something to correct me on daily. I’m working 5 days a week , weekends, till 8-9 pm several days a week. If someone calls out I am responsible for taking on the rest of the work no question giving up my free time and weekends. This situation actually happened to me Friday where someone called out and she asked me to take the weekend call and when I said no I just did 6 days of calls she said “you act like that’s a lot”.. if don’t come in when called I get written up.. I have 3 1/2 more months until I can transfer and I’m just miserable. Like so stressed out I’m gaining weight, can’t workout, I’m irritable and depressed.
Currently looking for other positions in ICU in the surrounding areas. Have a pretty good living situation so it’s hard for me to want to move and spend more money but at this point I’m over it and burnt out. Highly considering just quitting and re applying to the ICU department.. any suggestions? Words of advice? Please be nice I know you may not understand this whole situation but I just need some advice 👍🏼🙏🏻

So I wanted to come on here and ask some peoples opinions.. so I am a nurse and I currently work in one department which I absolutely hate.. and let me start by saying, in this department I work in, there are only four people who can do my job and I say this literally.
Me and 3 other people are able to do my job and no my manager is not willing to hire anyone else and does not try because she knows I am stuck. Per my companies policy, I have to stay in this area for one year before I am allowed to transfer. I am trying to transfer to the ICU, by the way and only the ICU.
I called HR and asked how I could go about a lateral transfer without quitting and reapplying. She said the best option is to talk to my direct supervisor and ask about transferring. So I talked to my direct supervisor and told her I was not happy at my job and I would like to transfer to facilitate as better mental space and career goal. My manager said she would keep it mind and see what she could do (obviously lies). I then talked to the supervisor above her and asked to transfer and she also said she could consider and see what she could do. This was like two months ago and have not heard anything else about it and they are not looking for more nurses so I just know it’s not happening. But I’m miserable!
I’m taking 6 days of call a week, my manager is nit picky and audits my charts everyday and finds something to correct me on daily. I’m working 5 days a week , weekends, till 8-9 pm several days a week. If someone calls out I am responsible for taking on the rest of the work no question giving up my free time and weekends. This situation actually happened to me Friday where someone called out and she asked me to take the weekend call and when I said no I just did 6 days of calls she said “you act like that’s a lot”.. if don’t come in when called I get written up.. I have 3 1/2 more months until I can transfer and I’m just miserable. Like so stressed out I’m gaining weight, can’t workout, I’m irritable and depressed.
Currently looking for other positions in ICU in the surrounding areas. Have a pretty good living situation so it’s hard for me to want to move and spend more money but at this point I’m over it and burnt out. Highly considering just quitting and re applying to the ICU department.. any suggestions? Words of advice? Please be nice I know you may not understand this whole situation but I just need some advice 👍🏼🙏🏻

I have had to take off after 5 weeks of an LTO Grade 1/2. I have a specific reading block where my ESL students were given books to read with partners. I had on chart paper sight words to get students to write sentences. We are heading into read assessment week and I want my class to catch up on certain areas. I was told this Teacher came in for me and was given math work from my neighbour teacher which was fine. Not only did she not follow the day plans again, she left some book from our library in the room, gave very easy work to the kids about building a tree fort...left no end of day note for me. She found some work not yet used I had set in a corner of the room and used them...it was not challenging materials also. I never saw a copy of my plans left anywhere. Maybe the OA did not print it for her? The students told me they did all their Math which was acceptable however she covered up all kinds of assessments I left there also. So I asked around who this Teacher was and they just said she was bounced around all week and part of the day she was helping out in other classes. I would understand if she is used to dealing with other classes but what stood out to me was once I told her before she covered for me there was no way kids would be using chromebooks after losing them for behaviours, I walked in later on and they were all on them! OA told me maybe she had a misunderstanding...
I understand some teachers are just trying to survive now but my detailed plans should have been recognized. This is part of our collective agreement no? I would never ask the Principal if it was the same person because I am not hiring them and I do think she has her qualifications but still, it sort of messed up a couple of things I needed to get done this week. If it were me, I would have at least taken out the book she brought in and checked off what got done. Was I expecting too much?

Has anybody ever encountered a fellow colleague who will copy the previous charting word for word? Even if their assessments and charting are different each shift, depending on what the previous nurse documented? I am becoming very annoyed because I’m sick of doing all of the work and then having them copy and paste what I documented. It is just very lazy and dishonest in my opinion. This RN is not a very good one I must say, but where do we draw the line? Anyways, I would like to bring it up to my charge or something but perhaps I should let it slide? Any experience or feedback welcome.

Hello. I have had strange upper spine pain vertebrae from lower neck to between shoulders—since last night (Fri May 31). It hurts the most when I touch the area. I’m also not out of bed much last 2 and a half years, but I am fully mobile. Long story.
I have had MS for 19 years (more I had old lesions at dx, but they don’t know how old etc). I do have cervical lesions at right C4 C5, and left C4. I had more 18 years ago (I had zero spinal at dx—second flare was C4/5 but also more I don’t have the report, my Center lost it and MRIs). I did not have left C4 until…I’m not sure, several years at least later. I didn’t have a flare up with that one as in symptoms. I know there must still be more lesions as the spine is very hard to image, or they became goo who knows. I don’t believe they “healed.”
I am starting Tysabri on Mon June 3rd. I cannot get ahold of my neurologist or my primary (primary is private, she would see me on a weekend, but has been on vacation out of country just back today. I don’t know if I should text her tomorrow or try to see the doctor covering, as it seems rude to bother her just back, and also awkward to contact the covering doctor as I’m not sure he would come in on a Sunday or if it would be seen as very bad manners, yes I worry about these things).
My question is, what do I do? Just tell the nurses at infusion center on Mom about pain? It is new I don’t normally have it. I have to have my husband drive me into NYC after we drop off my child at school—there is no time to see my primary before I leave to leave to drop her at school and we must drive in directly after drop off or we might not make my 11am appointment). It is at same hospital as my MS Center but my neurologist is always very busy, and doesn’t read MyChart every day.
Should I be worried about the pain and starting on Tysabri with it? I am low JCV positive, but I’m not worried about PML because of spine pain. I am just generally concerned about starting Tysabri with spine pain unknown cause at this point. I can’t just cancel. That isn’t an option.
Two questions One, does anyone have random spine pain like I am experiencing? I do not need to press I just run fingers over spine and it hurts. If I move my shoulder blades together it hurts. I’m in bed and pillow behind me sitting up does not hurt. I mean the pillows are not hurting it, just sy when I touch area. Now I’m not sure as I took Tramadol and Ibuprofen for pain in other areas—it is a regular med the Tramadol. But I only noticed last night because I touched the area, then I pushed on either side of spinre and it hurt too.
If you experience spinal pain what does it feel like? What have you been told it is?
Second question Should I just not say anything and go ahead with Tysabri? Does it seem safe?
I know you all are not doctors—asking what you would do if it was you.
I’m very anxious. Apologies for bad writing and length. Thank you all for the kindness of your time.

Hey everyone as the title says my son was born on 05-28-24 and had it go into the nicu for swallowing to much fluid and had gotten a infection but all of his nurses has been good and he should be coming home tomorrow if his infection numbers are down enough but tonight we have a nurse that is rude acting like we don’t know anything yet everyone else is saying we are doing good and the doctor moved him into the parent room so we can stay with him as he’s stable and my wife was discharged so this is our boarding room and the nurse started chewing my wife out saying he couldn’t be in there because it was not a room and my wife was trying to explain everything the doctor told us and she was being rude saying she didn’t get none of that so she’s not doing it like that and she’s not charting any of our sons feed times like they have been doing just to make sure he’s good like protocol says to so should I ask for a new nurse or just try to hold out because it’s our last night

Cannibal had made up his mind a few moves ago: If this kid doesn't swing this chair, doesn't absolutely fuckin' nail me, then he's getting taxed, and big time.
The kid's name is Rob Small, and he's supposedly some hot-shot rookie fresh out of the local school. But Cannibal doesn't get it. Everything about the kid bugs him, right down to the name. The sport lost something when people stopped calling themselves ridiculous things, like 'The Big' this, or 'Ultimate' that.
And besides, it's a dirty trick. It's too easy, just like everything the new kids are doing. It's almost too real. And the audience doesn't want real. They only think they do. Cannibal knows this better than just about anyone.
Cannibal feels that he's been carrying them both since the bell. Again, it's this new, soft shit. Flipping, and posing, and nobody wants a single scratch on their pretty mugs. The word fake doesn't exist in this business, but as Rob winds up for another one of his little tricks, all flare, no impact, you can kind of see where people get that idea.
Cannibal takes a knee, then another, but wide, because that's how you take a real hit. Rob pulls the chair back.
"Don't fuck this up," Cannibal says.
The blade of the chair just grazes Cannibal's eyebrow, opening two inches of scar tissue, and perforation.
This is good. Unintentional, but good.
The crowd isn't theirs yet, but the stream of blood pulls a few people forward and gets them almost leaning into the next row down.
The blood is good, no doubt about it. But the sound of skull on steel would've lit them on fire, and that's just science.
Rob moves to the ropes, taking a squeaky-clean moment to acknowledge the crowd. He waves his arms around like he's leading a marching band or something, and it "earns" him a small pop of recognition.
Here's the problem- there's no story here. No tale of the tape. Just some rookie nobody cares about, and an aging prick that people care even less about. This is when every move is supposed to count. Not just every move, but every transition, every facial expression too. The kid's athletic, sure. But so is everybody. He doesn't have the rhythm yet, and his nose is too straight. And Cannibal is tired of carrying this match.
Cannibal starts back on his feet, quickly, counter-intuitively, like a jump scare. The kid's finally connecting with the crowd now, lifting the chair like some intramural trophy. But it's too little, too late, and Cannibal sees his opportunity.
First Cannibal snatches the chair, up, and behind Rob, then steadies his giant, calloused fingers with a well-timed exhale. He whirls Rob around, ready or not, and drives the lip of the chair into the liver side of his waist, which folds him directly in two. The crowd chatters a bit, but he isn't finished.
Cannibal throws the chair less than a foot away, then sets up the move that's going to win the crowd.
He didn't invent the move, not even close. It's not even particularly uncommon. But he made his name off this move. Here's some wisdom from the old school: There are precious few people who make money from this business by looking good. And if you can't look good, you need to look vicious.
Cannibal hooks his arms under Rob's armpits, then wrenches both arms so violently that the triceps almost touch. Operating on pure panic, and instinct, Rob's legs unwind, independently searching for a better position, but never finding it.
"Hey, easy up there," Rob says from somewhere near Cannibal's midsection, but he may as well be speaking to the mat now.
Cannibal wrenches Rob's arms again, but this time the triceps touch for one moment of searing pain. He does this half for show, and half as a warning to keep quiet during his finisher. He looks out at the crowd, and their features form for the first time since he entered the arena. Before then, they were nothing, just a wallpaper pattern of merch, and facial hair. There's a difference between the individual faces in the first row, and the voice that fills the venue, and guides your match.
A single fan can be wrong, but a crowd never is.
But Cannibal takes some of that power back now, and he's staring at the crowd, the entity, right in the face, starting with the first row.
The first few faces that he locks eyes with are rabid, their eyes wild with anticipation. They're gesticulating wildly, like they can't believe, or can't wait for what's coming next. The next face is a little boy who shies away and looks at his dad for help. He scans about a seating section and a half, screaming spittle-seasoned insults along the way.
Mid-taunt, before anybody can count it off, Cannibal hits his finisher, The Flesh Eater.
Cannibal pushes off the toes of his boots, about a foot into the air, bringing Rob's craned arms with him. That's why you really need to wrench. With Rob feeling real pain at each arm's socket, he has no choice but to sell. At the height of his jump, Cannibal shoots his legs straight out in a wide V, unclenching his ass for a nice, cushioned landing.
Rob's face hits the chair a microsecond before Cannibal's legs, and underside absorb the remainder of the blow. It's enough to make the aluminum ring out into the high warehouse ceiling and put a pretty little face-sized dent in the seat.
The crowd reacts with screams, with horror, with finally, some fucking emotion.
Cannibal climbs to his feet, while the lights flick on-and-off, on-and-off in Rob's eyes. Rob props himself on his palms, and knees, finding the floor he wasn't even looking for.
But he loses it again with a big, booted punt to the ribs. The crowd boos now from every direction.
This is good. It means that right now, they hate Cannibal. It means that when they go home, they'll remember how much they hated him. It means that he did his job.
Cannibal takes a victory lap around the ring while Rob writhes in presumably authentic agony. Cannibal leans over the top rope, pointing at the front row again, dissolving the boundary between them. He's screaming at a fan. He may even be screaming at one hundred fans when he notices a face that shouldn't be in attendance.
Was it section B? He looks over but can't find the face anymore.
He darts his eyes wildly, unfocusing them so that the crowd transforms into nothing but eyebrows, and merch, approval, and disgust.
He glances back toward Section B, right around where he thinks he saw the face, right as Rob crawls from behind, hooks his leg, and rolls him into a three count.
Both men roll onto their backs; Rob, because the pain from his neck, down to his waist puts him there. Cannibal, because he's defeated and confused.
Had he really seen that face? He knows he hadn't. One, because that would make no sense. And two, because, and he only saw it for a second, but the face was significantly younger than it should have been. About 20 years younger. Which would put it right around a time that he doesn't think, or speak about. Cannibal decides that he didn't see the face after all. He doesn't believe in ghosts. Especially not ghosts that haven't even died.
***
Cannibal collects his pay, and the doc plugs up his gash, in that order. He's got a show in a bigger market tomorrow, so the butterfly stitches just need to hold until then.
He unlaces his boots in the parking lot, then trades them for some once-white Adidas from the back seat of his gray Toyota Camry. Then he thinks about the ghost again. The one that he didn't see, the one that isn't even dead as far as he knows.
He stands still in his untied sneakers and thumbs a few reps through his social pages. If he had died, the news would have picked it up by now. An old friend would have even messaged,
"Here if you need to talk." Or, "It's not your fault"
Something like that, anyway. But Cannibal doesn't see anything, no messages, neither of their names gracing, or disgracing any headlines. And besides, that doesn't exactly solve the issue at hand. Maybe the kids are right, he thinks. I've officially taken too many blows to the skull.
For twenty years, Cannibal has always driven to the next city, or the next stop on the road, the night prior. Tonight, he checks into the nearest hotel/rest stop that connects to the main road. It's only about a four-hour drive, three if he can avoid traffic, and the need to piss. He doesn't even need to check into the venue until 5 pm. That's ample time, he decides for the first time in his career.
"I just need a bed and a shower", Cannibal tells the night clerk, a pimply boy who has deepened his voice since the exchange intensified.
He's the only employee, except for a few maids pushing yellow baskets around the parking lot, and a few unofficially affiliated girls prowling around from the local skin bar.
The boy wants to avoid a hassle. He knows that the nearest signs of life are the old warehouse a few exits down, and the sheriff's office even further.
"I'm sorry sir," he begins, and he's really using diaphragm now, speaking to the back of the house, "But all's we got left tonight is the honeymoon suite."
"So it's $30 extra for a dirty mirror on the ceiling, and a vase full of plastic fuckin' roses?"
The clerk winces at the swear, then gleams over Cannibal's right shoulder into the mostly empty parking lot. Cannibal gives the kid his best mean mug, the same one that he'd shoot toward a new opponent or a crowd that hates his guts. The quiet moment lingers, and then, wouldn't you guess it, just like that, thirty dollars gets shaved off the tab.
Cannibal tosses his duffel onto the frilly red sheets, then rolls off his sneakers as his reflections oblige in both the ceiling and wall-length mirrors. He sits on the bed, then wiggles his toes a bit generating a sound like gravel crunching in a driveway. He wants to get up and shower off some of the dried blood that's clotted his hair to his face, but the world rocks, and spins, and he lays down and falls asleep without even killing the bedside lamp.
He can't remember the ramp, the fans, or the bell. He can't remember the promos, or what angle he's supposed to be taking. But judging from the dark cherry splatted canvas, and the ringing in ears, it's been a fuckin' barn-burner so far. He looks directly ahead, at the high, pipe-laden ceiling, and realizes he's on his back. A boot lands next to his head, then another. Maybe it's the high-intensity discharge lights that are stinging his eyes, maybe he's still rattled from whatever move put him on his ass, but as his opponent steps over him, he can't seem at all to make out their face.
Whoever his opponent is, he begins to pick him up by the hair, and that's when Cannibal notices that the abstract art on the mat has mostly come from the back of his head. Drops of blood race down his opponents wrists, and pool near his elbows. Cannibal is bent over looking down at the mat, at his opponent's standard-issue black boots, and at the fresh coat of bright red, which will soon dry darker.
His opponent cranks his arms clumsily but with intensity. He can feel his blood greasing his opponent's grip, not allowing for any real traction. Then his opponent's knees square up, then bend, and Cannibal realizes. "Hey, that's my fucking move!" he says, or tries to say, but his opponent's airborne, and then so is he.
Usually, there's a nice thud when you hit the mat, but not this time. This time it sounds more like a series of wet pops, like cracking your knuckles underwater. Cannibal tries to roll over and assess the situation. Then he tries to roll over again.
Oh. Shit.
He's face down on the mat, and he intuits, rather than feels his opponent hurry off him, and in that same foggy way, he can feel the crowd. The beast with one thousand eyes is silent, but it isn't bored. It's murmuring, but with a sort of upward inflection, like it's asking him a question can't answer. Now a referee rolls him over. Cannibal awakens in a panic and tries to jump out of bed, away from the red sheets, but his body is uncooperative. His head lolls at an unnatural angle toward the mirrored wall. He can move his eyes, but nothing else.
He wants to scream for the pimply-faced boy or one of the night girls, but nothing comes out of his mouth. He can see his reflection, the collapsed muscles in his face, and the pool of spit that's collected on the pillow by his ear. The parts of the bed directly under him appear a darker red than the rest of the sheets. His eyes roll wildly and take in different parts of the same wall that he's frozen on. He can barely feel his breathing, but he knows that it's sporadic and shallow. He keeps rolling his eyes, searching for a modicum of control over his own body. And that's when he sees him again.
The ceiling mirror casts its reflection into its wall counterpart, and with the furthest strain of his eyeball muscles, Cannibal can just barely recognize him. He's a little older than he looked in the crowd earlier, but it's unmistakable this time. Fucking ghosts. Ghosts who aren't even dead yet. From somewhere behind his eyes Cannibal feels the onset of rage.
His eyes blink involuntarily, and a well of tears are pushed, and guided down into the spit-soaked pillow. He imagines himself rocking forward and tries to send this signal to a part of his body that doesn't exist. He imagines it again. He tries to kick a leg, throw an elbow, he'll settle for anything. He sends that signal in random intervals like he's trying to surprise his own faculties. He "throws" another elbow.
Except this time his arm releases from his side and soars out in front of him. His body follows, and he feels a vile concoction of fear, and relief as he falls off the bed, with arms and legs too weak to break his fall. He narrowly avoids contact with the corner of the nightstand and lands with a thud on the carpeted floor. He wiggles his toes, and the sound of tires on gravel rings out into nothing. ***
After regaining some strength, Cannibal uses his recently renewed limb strength to tear through every creak, and crack of the hotel room. He finds nobody in the room, nobody in the mirrors, just himself and his aching fucking cranium. Exhausted, but no longer tired, Cannibal grabs his duffel and checks out of the hotel room by tossing his key in the general direction of the unsuspecting clerk. He tears his car door open, then drives off with only half a plan in mind.
The morning sun breaks as Cannibal pulls up to a red light, and re-reads his early morning text to the promoter, 'Can't make it tonight. I'll make it up to you somehow.'
He's never backed out of a show before, and he knows that he'll have to confront that fact soon, but right now, it doesn't seem to matter. He needs to see him. He cobbles his route out of headlines and news stories that he manages to search up between red lights and stop signs.
Where are they now? 6 Wrestlers Whose Careers Ended In Tragedy The Real Story of Ernie "The Eagle" Samson Former World Champion Contender in Hospice After 20-Year Battle
Cannibals mind races as single sentences fire out at him like shrapnel. He scrolls past his own names, both gimmick and government a few times over. He feels the rage, and tears form behind his eyes again.
You weren't the only one that lost your legacy that day, you prick.
After twenty years he knows these roads well. Well enough to cruise over to the hospice unassisted by a map, or GPS. He acknowledges his thoughts as his motions become routine.
Ernie Samson was poised to be the next big thing back before all the wrestling territories got swallowed up by the Big Guy in the corporate machine. He was a handsome bastard, and a city man with the strength of a farm boy. He could talk fear into the crowd without raising his voice, and he pulled women who didn't know and didn't care what he did for a nightly living. Cannibal hated him, but in a brotherly way that was steeped in admiration. Even in those times, Cannibal was more brutish and uglier than everyone in the locker room. It was a stroke of momentary genius when some otherwise dipshit promoter first suggested that they pair up. Some sort of beauty and brawn type gimmick. The monster and his mouthpiece.
And you know what? It worked. People ate that shit right up. Cannibal chewed through his opponents with ferocity, while Ernie dazzled the crowd with his mixture of strong style, flips, and tricks. They melted the imaginary territory perimeters and became shooting stars in every market they played. Men paid off their tabs at the bar, and Ernie was gracious enough to send some trim Cannibal's way every now and again. It was a nice system, comfortable even.
Then that dipshit promoter had another bright idea. The team was ready to break up.
The way he described it, they'd take all that heat they had amassed together, and cover double the ground. This storyline was a natural, mostly because it was real. What the promoter was saying, in his dickhead way, was that Cannibal had served his purpose. He'd put the real star in place for his meteoric rise. Cannibal looked at where his career was, and how far it had come, and he agreed. They'd go out in one final bloodbath of a match, and defeat their current rivals, The Maniacs. Then Cannibal would attack Ernie, severing their ties, and launching their individual careers. Cut, dry.
Right up until the end, that match stands in Cannibal's memory as his finest work. If he'd been vicious before, he was rabid in this match. The hits were real, the emotions were high, and the crowd invested in every last pectoral twitch. After nearly half an hour of slogging and bruising, Cannibal hit his finisher and covered his opponent to the tune of twenty-something-thousand screaming fans. As the three-count fell, the crowd hit a decibel that he'd never heard before. They were screaming so loud, that it almost dampened in volume, and became a whisper in his ears.
The Maniacs had done their jobs well, bloodying and bruising Cannibal and Ernie for a gruesome glamor shot that would make the following day's paper. That image, of Ernie raising Cannibal's arm before the inevitable turn, would haunt almost every article written about either of them from that day forward.
Soaked in the moment, and each other's blood, Ernie hoisted Cannibal's arm, and they spun the ring, facing every single fan in attendance. Normally you'd wait for a break in the volume before the next big moment, but this crowd had no intention of quieting down. They faced each other, and Ernie mouthed the words.
"You ready?"
To this day Cannibal doesn't exactly know what went wrong. First, he felt sadness. Then he felt anger. He realized that the cheers wouldn't end for Ernie, but there was a very real possibility that this was his own last big pop. He went ahead as planned. First with an absolutely brutal kick to the midsection, which softened Ernie's abs into dough. Ernie let out a real, dry cough as the crowd's cheers morphed into shock and confusion. Then he cranked his arms, clumsily, but with intensity. Ernie's arms were slick with blood, and Cannibal couldn't sink in his hooks correctly. His legs shot out gracelessly, and rather than hearing the cushioned thud of his own ass, all he heard was a sick, wet pop.
Cannibal notes that he is about one exit from the hospice, and shakes his head vigorously as if to erase his thoughts. The exit approaches, and he cuts in deftly. He is immediately greeted by a green, bustling town, in a decent Midwestern neighborhood.
He cruises toward the hospice, passing a few young couples, and their church-clothed children. Bells chime nearby, and a dog emits a medium-sized bark from a nearby public park.
Cannibal glances in his rear-view as he changes lanes. Ernie is seated behind the middle console, smirking, but with no joy in his eyes. Cannibal tries to scream, but can't.
With the wheel slightly angled for his turn, Cannibal cruises subtly across lanes, onto the sidewalk, then into the park.
The first few couples dive out of the way with synchronized, but inharmonious shrieks. A young man pushes his wife and child to the ground, and the driver's side front wheel crunches, and shatters his ankle. The next few people aren't so lucky.
A group of friends sprawled across a picnic blanket snap around toward the source of the commotion just in time to greet the Toyota Camry's fender. Cannibal's eyes dart between his windshield and the rearview where Ernie sits smirking. He sees a young woman snatched from his sight line and hears a gunshot of a pop as the back of her skull smacks against some concrete. Tears roll down Cannibal's face as he wills his arms, legs, or fucking anything to move. The litter of bodies test the car's shocks, as the wheels find their way over strange terrains of bone and flesh. Then, a street lamp.
Cannibal's forehead smacks against his wheel a millisecond before the airbags deploy. He flinches, and his arms twitch as the bag chafes his nose and brow. He has regained control of his movement, if only slightly. He kicks open the door but does not face the trail of mayhem that succumbed to his vehicle. Instead, he realizes that he is just one block away from the hospice. With the remaining screams a comfortable distance behind him, he half runs, half stumbles to the reception desk.
People react to Cannibal's arrival with appropriate confusion and terror. The butterfly stitches have ceased to hold, and a rigid pattern of blood trails him as he staggers across the linoleum tile.
"Sir, do you need help?"
"Samson. I need Ernie fucking Samson."
He peers over the desk and sees a directory of sorts, like a cheat sheet of hospice patients, and their assigned rooms. He leaks blood from his brow over the counter, and onto the sheet, and the seated receptionist recoils with disgust as he snatches and reads it.
Ernie Samson 211
Cannibal marches now on sturdy feet to the nearest stairwell. A small security guard attempts to stand in his way, but Cannibal dwarfs his face with his gigantic palm, and smashes it into the drywall behind him, eliciting a collective gasp from the lobby waiting room. He kicks open the stairwell door and drags himself up the single flight of stairs onto the landing. Then he kicks open the second door.
Nurses gasp and take a step back as he emerges from the stairwell, ferocity emblazoned across his face and written in his scar tissue. He observes the direction in which the numbered rooms flow and stomps toward Room 211.
Half a dozen people are stood outside the room, with hospital staff accounting for only two of them.
"Bradley?" an older woman asks, as Cannibal tears past her, and into the room.
Inside the room is a white sheet spread over a series of lumps on a lightly inclined bed. A young man is seated near the side of the bed where the railing has been temporarily removed. His eyes are bloodshot, and his cheeks are damp.
"Brad, what the fuck is-" he begins to say.
Cannibal lifts his leg and boots the man right off the green cushioned chair. Then he turns to the white lumps and tears the blanket off.
Ernie's face appears as it did in his back seat but without the rigid smirk. The muscles in his face are weak and sag as if they'd collapsed several years before his death. His dull eyes are still open, still staring at Cannibal.
"Ernie, you fucking prick," Cannibal starts, "You fucking prick, you get back here right now! You gonna fuck with me? You gonna fuck with me, Ernie? I fucking made you Ernie! We both fucking died that day!"
A small militia of security guards pour into the room, and it takes every last one of them to restrain Cannibal. He fights, and squirms as the fattest guard sits on the wide of his back, and pulls his arms. Cannibal thrashes and screams like an animal as he is restrained. He bashes his face into the tiled floor, leaving increasingly large spots of blood at the sight of impact. The fat guard applies some pressure to his hold, as small, wet pop emits from Cannibal's back.
There's no story here. No tale of the tape. Just a has-been wrestler in tomorrow's headlines, and a family mourning a loss that begun two decades prior. The crowd of mourners gasp and scream as all the fight leaves Cannibal's body at once. Then a woman breaks into sobs. She used to know Bradley Hughes. The real Cannibal. But nobody wants real.
They only think they do.

Hello! I would appreciate some guidance. I'll briefly summarize my situation, followed by the information/advice I hope to find. To be clear, I don't have a crowdfunding account and I'm not asking anyone here for money.
My father died in 2011 in a dreary, run-down nursing facility. A drunk driver hit him and my mother, the 'accident' broke his neck and he died a few months later. Just before he passed, I promised I'd look after my mom and make sure she wasn't alone and would never end up in such a place. I believe that comforted him, knowing she wouldn't end up alone and miserable.
I moved in with her in 2015 as her health began to deteriorate. I worked for the first several years following my relocation, but due to health complications, she lost her sight by 2021 and I haven't been able to work outside the home since. We live in a very rural area, miles outside the nearest town of roughly 1100. Since I moved down here, it's been difficult finding regular employment, I've mainly done small gigs for people who needed the help, such as yard work, housework, errands, helping to care for animals, moving, etc.
My parents were always blue-collar and of modest means. My father was a mill worker and my mom was a blackjack dealer. They're both salt-of-the-Earth types, far better people than I've ever been. Before I moved back home, I lived in a city three hours away and worked a variety of positions in social services and mental health. I've never made much money, but I enjoyed social work as helping people to establish more stability in their lives was deeply rewarding. I only wish I was half as helpful in solving my current crisis.
Pause: I don't know how to do this, I've never posted anything more than brief responses to others on Reddit; I'm out of my depth knowing what I should include or leave out when attempting to explain the trouble I'm having. Also, I tend not to do a bang-up job at brevity. I just want to provide a little background and put a little flesh on the bones, so to speak.
My mom is elderly and growing more frail; she cannot see and is prone to falling. She needs someone here at all times, save a brief run to the store or something of that nature. Although she was able to pay off the mortgage on her small home following my dad's death, she has no savings or assets, otherwise. She only has her monthly Social Security, which is less than $20k a year. I no longer have any income and have long since gone through the modest savings I'd managed to put away while I was working. I'm in the process of applying for a Medicaid waiver on her behalf, so I can start getting paid as her caregiver, but it's a process that may take several weeks - even months (home visits/assessments and processing the application and documents needed for evidence takes times). In the meantime, we're getting a little help with Meals on Wheels and Snap benefits, which I'm very grateful for, otherwise, all bills and cost of living are being covered by her small monthly stipend. I've learned to make do with very little, but I'm easy to please and don't need much.
The trouble is transportation. We had a 2008 Honda that is no more; the head gasket blew. We were able to buy it used during the pandemic for a few thousand, we chose the car because the proceeds were being sent to a benefit fund for Haiti. Aside from the lovely widow who lives next door, my mom and I aren't familiar with anyone in this area. We don't have extended family or friends, we're both fairly reclusive and shy - which becomes an enormous drawback when disaster strikes. We're stranded. So far, my elderly neighbor has been wonderfully generous in giving me rides to the store, pharmacy, etc. But I've always been an independent, DIY, self-sufficient sort of person and I can't express how difficult this has been, to have an expense we can't possibly afford and no other resources to replace the vehicle. Thankfully, there's often help available for utilities, food, clothing, even furnishings as well as financial assistance in accessing public transportation.
It's much more difficult when one lives in so rural an area, with no access to a bus or other modes of transportation. At least we have the option of scheduling rides for medical transportation, but there are so many other issues that come up that require a vehicle... like the dump! Our garbage has started to build up and I need to take it to the dump but I no longer have a way to do it. I'm scared and feel trapped, with no way to help my mom out of this pickle. The most ideal situation, in my mind, would be to live near an elderly couple who needs a LOT of work done both inside and outside of their home - and they just happen to have two cars, the second one they rarely use and no longer need. In exchange for that car, I'd devote a great deal of hard work and cheerful company and it'd be mutually beneficial. I've searched in different communities online, including Craigslist, but I haven't found any situations remotely like this. I also understand that many people are struggling right now and I live in a tiny community with very little opportunity or prosperity.
I apologize for the length of this post, it's difficult to condense my struggle down to a few tidy paragraphs. I just remember during the pandemic there was a YouTube channel I enjoyed watching and one day he put out a video sharing that one of his long-time viewers was having a hard time paying for her father's funeral expenses. Not only was she dealing with grief and loss, but she couldn't afford the cost of the casket and service, etc. I felt a great deal of compassion for her, so I donated some money through the link he provided. I had an income, at the time, and I wanted to help. I believe in the concept of paying it forward, and although it hurts me down to my core to ever ask anyone for any sort of financial assistance, I honestly don't know what to do. I've never had a 'gofundme' project/account and I have no idea how to create or promote one. That's part of the problem, in researching this, I learned that people generally raise money from their own community and family, through uploading videos of themselves. We don't know anyone in our community and we don't have any family to ask for help. Also, I'd rather swallow a bucket of nails than upload of video of my unremarkable, yet desperate self.
I suppose that's why this is such a tricky, prickly pear of a hardship. How can I ask strangers to help when I have nothing to give in return? If I had the guts for it, at the very least, I could upload a ridiculous video performing an interpretive dance of gratitude. If people had a ditch to dig, some dishes to wash, a car to detail, a goat to wrangle, I would give back. Heck, if you hit me up in a year, I'd be able to pay the favor forward to whoever is in need then. I'm not sure if any of this will even make sense, or if it'll be seen by no eyes and get lost in the void.
What I'm asking is if anyone knows of a proper crowdfunding site where I might have a chance to find assistance. Writing this has produced a roller coaster of emotions and I feel wrung out. It's so hard to ask for help, nobody owes me anything, and that is one thing I'm certain of.
If anyone has made it this far, I hope you're well and I wish you one hell of a marvelous day!
Oh, and I sincerely thank you for reading my words.
Wilhemina Mare
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