Fun must have items for college student |

Hello, I believe I've reached as far as I can within my company and I don't really know what my next step should be. For reference, I'm a 29 year old man in a large Midwestern city. I've been an on-again-off-again student for ten years at my local community college where I've been working towards a degree in history. I originally wanted to become a teacher but now I'm not so sure.
I work for a small grocery store and I've been with my company for five years. I started out as a shelf stocker, became truck receiver, then beer buyer and as of a few months ago I've taken on the alcohol department in it's entirety. It's a pretty chill job and I make about as much money as I can for a non manager. That said I only make $20 an hour which, while being the highest paid I've ever been, isn't enough to carve out a comfortable existence here (for example I still do not own a car).
While the job has little oversight and little stress I feel that I've become stagnant and I desperately desire change but I don't know where to go from here while not completely starting over at another minimum wage job. I also feel that I'd like to do something around the skills I've acquired over my natural ability to move box good and clean floor good. I don't really know what skills I could say I have as I've never been good at buzzwords and resumes.
I would like to continue my education in history but to what end I cannot say to what end. I'm also curious what it would be like diving in deeper with the world of wine sales but I'm not super sure about what that entails.
Any advice or similar experiences appreciated.
Thank you!

I’m looking for a housemate to share my 3bd/2ba house in Webster with. I’ve tried downloading some apps like SpareRoom but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of activity on them for our area.
Facebook groups have more activity but it seems to be a lot of college students and I’m 28F so I would prefer another working professional.
Am I doomed to resort to Craigslist?

Hello y'all!
I would like to post about my honest review of this game.
For context, PH was my very first Zelda ever, and I haven't tried many Zelda games besides PH and ST (currently on my way to finish it). It was a big part of my childhood, and going back to play it once more recently was so worth it.
Having said that, this is my review of the game:
Overall, I think the game is very well made. I was quite surprised to see that in the English Internet the game is not as liked as it was in the country I grew up in.
The strengths of the game are as follows. First, the dungeons. I know this game is often hated because of its heavy reliance on the Temple of the Ocean King, but I think this is the best part of the game (although all the criticisms are understandable). I will discuss TotOK in detail later. The other dungeons are pretty well made IMO. My least favorite dungeon is the Goron Temple, but even that was pretty good. Besides TotOK I also loved the Temple of Ice with the grappling hook being a very well made item, the Temple of Wind for the vibes, and Mutoh's temple for both gameplay and vibes. I didn't like the Temple of Courage as much for its complexity, but I understand there's gotta be a dungeon with that characterstics at certain points.
Another strength is the plot.My favourite part of this game is that it really feels like a story with the plot development and whatnot. I think the developers did a good job making this progress especially with information being continuously revealed over the plot (with almost none at the beginning). I think TotOK did a good job with this as well, which I'll explain in a separate section.
Needless to mention characters. All characters are good, but Linebeck alone makes the gameplay 100 times more interesting. I literally named my character 'Linebeck' once to make Linebeck say "Linebeck? That's an odd name. My name is Linebeck!!!! Cool right?".
Now the weaknesses. I think the game could have had better controls (a lot of which were improved in ST). Especially with somersault, it did not need to be that difficult, although as an expert-level player myself I'd love to master that XD
Lastly, the Temple of the Ocean King. I personally know some friends who love the game but absolutely hated TotOK, so I know the hate is quite widespread. I personally don't mind doing repetitive gameplay, so its 'issues' don't bother me at all. I absolutely agree with the idea of having a dungeon you must revisit over and over, so that you can kind of feel the progress. I, however, also agree that the dungeon could get repetitive for some people, and think the developers should've done a better job making the repetition less repetitive and actually focused on finding out puzzles.
Having said that, I would have to ask one question who criticize the game for being too easy and/or repetitive: after the Ghost Ship, have you tried getting both SE and NE sea charts in one run in the TotOK? That makes the game so much funner with that run being so much more difficult (B11 is batshit crazy without bombchus and grappling hook), and you can save yourself 1 run in the TotOK, which means you don't have to think about TotOK until the very end of the game! To give my personal anecdote, in my first play of the game as a child, I kept on going after I got the SE sea chart, and although I wasn't expecting to finish another section right away, I ended up getting the NE sea chart (although barely with no time left in the hourglass XD). That was one of the most memorable moments of my life, and probably one of the greatest reasons why the game sticks so much to me even today (and the TotOK doesn't feel as repetitive as people make out to be).
Upon that, I would like to review each section of the TotOK with a focus on 'repetitiveness':

F1: 4 visits minimum, but only the first visit involves solving anything, and the other three are just 2 second walkovers to B1. Not repetitive at all.
B1-B3: 3 visits minimum. For B1 and B2, the second visit opens a massive shortcut with the introduction of bombs, making both rooms very simple (solvable in less than 30 seconds and 1 minute respectively). However, after the second visit, there is not much of a shortcut added (there probably cannot be given how simple they have already got, although it would be better to have evenore shortcuts). For B3, it's actually a floor I'm very critical of. Even in the first visit B3 is the most complex and tedious floor out of all three, pand there is not much of a shortcut in the three mandatory visits. The floor becomes entirely skippable with the grappling hook, but it becomes optional with the yellow portal by then anyways. Expert-level players like myself know how to have fun and try new things for each visit in B3 (ie. giving force gems to Swift Phantoms to have them deliver it closer to the pedestal in the third visit), but that's not what it should've focused on.
B4-B6: 2 visits minimum. B4 becomes much simpler in the second visit with the deactivation of wind walls with the bow and arrow, so not much to say here. B5 consists of 2 closed room fights that change between the first visit and the second visit and a 'shortcut' after the adoption of bombchus (which the yellow portal would've made the floor optional anyways). B6 consists of solving a mystery that is quite possibly the hardest riddle in the game (you know which one) but you know the answer in your second visit onwards, so it's not repetitive. My criticism for B6 is that the aforementioned riddle is in the TotOK out of all places in which people cannot save the progress until then and have to replay over and over again. The riddle itself is a gem though, it's one of my biggest video game regrets to have read the answer instead of figuring it out myself. Overall, the B4-B6 becomes extremely easy in the second visit onwards, so it's not super repetitive.
B7-B9: Now it gets more fun! 2 visits minimum, although most people do 3 (I suggest against this). In the first visit, you must go back and forth between all three floors. In the second visit onwards (after bombchus and grappling hook), B7 and B8 become extremely skippable, and B9 becomes much simpler as well (but players can still be confused if they don't keep track of these three floors). If you know what you do, however, it becomes thrilling to know how much you can just skip by having two more items. Not only is this section not super repetitive, but it's where the intention of developers actually succeeded. The best part of the game IMO.
B10-B12: 2 visits minimum. So this is the section you have the options: 'hard' option without bombchus and grappling hook and 'easy' option with the 2 items. Comparing how each of these 'options' differ, B10 and B12 are fairly consistent. Although B10 becomes somewhat easier, I don't think it's beyond the tolerable level. B12 is almost identical between the two options. My real problem is B11. As stated earlier, B11 is super hard without the 2 items . However, with the 2 items, it becomes a joke. This is where I think the developers failed to manage the difficulty between these two options. Having two options was a great idea, but their way of implementing it wasn't so great. In the second visit after the phantom sword, B11 becomes just skippable. I think if the difficulty of B11 remained the same between the two options making it skippable after the adoption of the hammer would've been more justifiable, but it just wasn't it. And needless to mention that B10 becomes less repetitive if you try it for the first time without these two items (they're pretty much all the shortcuts).
B13: 2 visits minimum. The first one is literally getting NE sea chart and nothing else. Not repetitive at all.

Thoughts?

So, I have been getting into coloring for the first time since I was a little girl, and have been coloring nonstop in a coloring planner I got at Sam’s back in September, using mainly Crayola markers. I just recently purchased a coloring book from Julianne Colors (Just Food), and I borrowed my sister’s alcohol markers for a page or two, and I liked them SO much better than my Crayola markers.
Since then, I’ve been trying to find some decent quality alcohol markers for a good price, since I’m a College student without a job and have very little money, but I really don’t know what to choose. The ones my sister has are (I think) $70 something on Amazon. Does anyone have any recommendations for which ones to get?

I am reaching out to present a lucrative investment opportunity in the heart of Manhattan. I am seeking a partner or partners to invest in a high-potential deli store located in one of Manhattan’s bustling neighborhoods such as SoHo, Bowery, or Tribeca. This venture promises significant returns, driven by high foot traffic from office workers, locals, and university students.
Business Concept
The grocery store will be a quick deli that offers fresh meals, convenience items, drinks, coffee, bakery, Beer and ready-to-eat salads. The concept is designed to cater to the fast-paced lifestyle of Manhattan residents and workers, providing a convenient and high-quality food option.
Market Opportunity
Manhattan, especially areas like SoHo, Bowery, and Tribeca, is known for its high foot traffic and diverse population. These neighborhoods are frequented by:

• Office workers seeking quick, healthy meal options • Local residents looking for everyday grocery needs • University students who require convenient food choices

Unique Selling Points

Location Advantage: Placing the store in a high-traffic area ensures a steady stream of customers.
Product Variety: Offering a mix of fresh meals, bakery items, beverages, and groceries to cater to a wide range of needs.
Quality and Convenience: Prioritizing fresh, high-quality products and quick service to meet the demands of busy customers.
24/7 Open: the store will be open all days. To ensure we capture sales from late-night shopper and early risers alike.

Financial Projections
Based on market research and initial assessments, the store is projected to achieve:

• Annual Revenue: $1.5 to $2 million • Profit Margins: Expected to be strong due to the high demand and strategic location • Return on Investment: With a 60% stake, your investment is projected to more than triple within the first year

Investment Details

• Required Investment: The total funding required is [$300k-400], covering initial setup costs, inventory, lease of a retail store,working capital. • Ownership Structure: 60% for the investor and 40% for myself. • Management: I will handle all day-to-day operations, leveraging my experience in managing one in the past. This allows you to benefit from the investment without any operational involvement.

Why Invest?

1. No Operational Involvement: As an investor, you will not be required to participate in any day-to-day operations. I will manage all aspects of the business, drawing on my extensive experience working in a family-owned grocery store. This hands-on experience has equipped me with the skills needed to efficiently run the store from the ground up.

Experienced Management: With my background in a family-owned business, I bring a deep understanding of store operations, customer service, and community engagement. This experience ensures the business runs smoothly and efficiently, maximizing our potential for success.
High Demand: The chosen location guarantees a steady customer base due to the high foot traffic from office workers, locals, and university students. This demand is key to driving consistent sales and profitability.
Significant Returns: The business is projected to generate annual revenues of $1.5 to $2 million. With a 60% stake in the business, your investment is expected to more than triple within the first year, providing substantial financial returns.
Transparency: I guarantee complete transparency with all funding. Every dollar invested will be accounted for, and you will receive detailed reports on how the funds are utilized, ensuring you are always informed about the financial health of the business.

This investment offers a unique opportunity to be part of a profitable venture in one of the most dynamic markets in the world. With your financial backing and my operational expertise, we can establish a successful deli grocery store that meets the needs of the local communit
I am confident that this venture will be rewarding for both of us. I look forward to discussing this opportunity further and addressing any questions you have.
(Video of a store I manage) ⬇️ https://vimeo.com/948807788

Hey there! I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a light workload PE course. I’m taking all stem courses in the fall and bio plus my chem lab tend to mess up my credit count, so I’m a credit short. I took meditation this term to account for the missing credit, but there was a bit more HW than I was expecting and kinda felt like we were treated like high schoolers / middle schoolers a tad. I’m wanting to be able to mainly focus on my academic classes in the fall and wanted to see if anyone has suggestions on some good PE classes where you get treated like a college student and don’t have 16 writing assignments and a paper.

I feel like this question may be more prevalent than I think, but I just finished my associates in general studies this past semester. I went into college originally for game design, but while I did have fun creating I hated the structure around it and I also saw the little pay as a detriment to my personal goals. I want to own my dream car one day, and be debt free with my wife and kids. I know that seems like just the American dream, but as an adopted kid, I really want to plant my own family and wealth where I am now. There's obviously competitiveness in both fields like software engineering or being a financial analyst, but I have always been a determined person and I'm willing to put in the work on either side. Tech side, I have always loved computers, technology and engineering, while I have been struggling to get myself to code, the aspect of creating and being apart of the future is enticing, as well as the pay obviously. I just recently got more interested in finance, but I have definitely been strategic and efficient when it comes to my own personal wealth as well. I've taken finance/business classes in the past and enjoyed it, and I really like the idea of strategy and analytics when dealing with money. I also like investing, and as I've gotten to college I feel like I've been able to open up socially which has made me realize I really enjoy the one-on-one of creating connections and working with people. However I feel like I'd definitely need to freshen up on my math skills, and I also wonder if it's too late for me to do a major switch like that. I realize anyone of them I choose will take hard work and networking to get me where I want to be, and honestly that excites me.
Does anyone have any similar experience or advice? I also know there are hybrid majors/careers like fintech or more business oriented tech roles and I am interested in those as well. Any advice is appreciated!

https://www.wastedive.com/news/minnesota-extended-producer-responsibility-packaging/716716/
Here are some highlights from the bill:
By 2032: All packaging sold in the state must be recyclable, compostable, or reusable
By 2033: 15% of materials source reduced. 10% transitioned to a reuse system. 65% recycled or composted. 10% min postconsumer recycled content per item and 30% overall
From what I have read from other EPR legislature (Extended Producer Responsibility specifically for packaging), this seems to be the most realistic and supported by companies. Way to go Minnesota!
Edit: Fixed messed up spacing due to posting on a phone

I have a small friends group , 3 people .
2 of them are cousins and the third one is very close to them .
I have been struggling a lot because each person seems to bring people who dislike me for no reason at all .
The first friend the guy we normally hang in his house a lot , brings a female cousin who was divorced and she literally dislikes me a lot , she gets very well with the other 2 friends because they flirt with her low key or try to act tough and funny .
Something I don’t care about because i don’t want her approval to be myself .
2nd group is the 2nd friend , he recently moved with his parents to a new house and whenever we hang around his house , his father strictly avoids me and avoids eye contact with me (his father acts as if he’s his friend) .
He also brings a guy he works with at the car repair shop who has a kid and a wife , and this guy also strictly disliked me , he mentioned the first time we met “ oh who is this “good boy” “ as if me being a bit quit is a sign of weakness for him , since then i can just feel the dislike from him .
I don’t think I’m a disliked person, I think what’s happening is these low achievers look at me doing a college degree in stem and just dislike me for their low personality .
My 3 friends are good people and we normally have fun when we hang put together alone , but whenever a new person comes in I cannot find myself to blend in in a good way and unfortunately in a lot of cases some dislike me .
I wanna know how to deal with the people that dislike me without being looked down upon as “weak” or “good boy” .
I normally just stay quite and stay on my phone but they seem to wanna use it as a weakness and they start laughing and ask “ why is this guy so quite” or “ how come you guys are friends with such a quite guy” .

After tilting for hours again about players not spottting, yoloing, camping in the base etc I had this idea. Just would like to know what others think:
Lets divide the player base into 2 leagues: - League 1 contains all players with a win rate of 50% or better - League 2 contains all players with a win rate below 50%
To move up from league 2 to league 1 the player must reach a certain value, e.g. a PR of 1100 or a 60% win rate in league 2 (just a guess, has to be figured out what fits best)
That way: - The casual players can have their no strategy fun without getting slapped by Unicums all day long - The better players get reasonably capable team players - Bad players are given a reason to improve (if they care about only be in league 2)
I see only one problem and that is that need for enough player to fill up the games for both Leagues. The suggestion would therefore be that the division into leagues only takes place if there are enough players online. Otherwise both leagues play together (like it is now).
Your thoughts?

Me (21M) and my gf (19F) have been together for 5 months. We've only had sex 3 times within that time, earlier today she came over to my place and we did it for the 3rd time. We always did it with condoms but today we had the unfortunate accident of the condom breaking during intimacy. We were not aware that the condom broke and it was my very 1st time doing it raw. I managed to pull out around 2-3 seconds before it came out. She has periods regularly and her period ended around 4 days ago. I'm very worried since we are both college students who aren't ready to support a child. Abortion is illegal in our country and she is also against the idea of abortion since she grew up in a catholic household. What do I do?
TL;DR: I and gf of 5 months had sex, she came over and had sex, the condom broke so it turned into raw sex, I managed to pull out, currently overthinking we both aren't ready to be parents.

I had a wonderful childhood. I couldn't have asked for a better one. My parents, brother, family, ... so much love in my life.
As I got older, I started to become exposed to the harsh realities of life. The people closest to me and the ones I loved the most started to get sick and pass away. I lost my dog. Life wasnt the same. And later, was diagnosed with Crohns which had a massive impact on my life and self confidence. I felt like a lab rat.. so many tests, doctor visits, medicine, diets, needles, ... eventually extensive surgery.
Luckily, after years of torture, I made it out ok. I started to build back my confidence, and was optimistic about the future. Before I knew it, I met the love of my life. I felt so extremely lucky to have you in my life. It felt like a dream. I felt that after all that pain and loss, I had finally had something good happen to me.
As time we on, we became best friends. You confessed your love to me, said I was different than all the rest, and you saw a future with me. You expressed how special I was to you. I felt the same way.
We met eachothers families, who became so close with eachother. I truly loved your family, they felt like home. My family loved you so much... my parents loved you like a daughter, and I knew you loved them too. We had everyone's support and love. We were the golden couple. We grew and experiences so much together. Bought our first house, saw the world, new jobs, school, ... Everyone was so proud of us, and we were proud of eachother.
Somewhere along the way, you started seeking outside the relationship for attention. I knew you were very social, so at first, I was happy to see you making friends. I knew you had a difficult childhood and past, and didn't have many good friends, so I was very supportive and encouraged you to do things with your friends.
We were inseparable. Always going things together, planning trips, going on adventures. Everything was easy. We enjoyed eachothers company so much. We made eachother laugh, feel loved, and safe. We were so comfortable and open, goofy with eachother, and always so intimate.
We shared a lot of the same hobbies: plants/garden, camping, trails, video games, movies, travel, outdoors, relaxing at home, ... it didn't seem to matter what we were doing, we were happy together.
I loved making you smile and laugh. I loved seeing you happy doing what you loved, or eating a meal I'd prepare for you.
I always wanted you to have the best. Since you were in school, I provided for you. Food, toys, restaurants, trips, ... whatever you wanted. I wanted to give you the world. It felt so good to make you happy.
You would tease me and hint towards wanting to get engaged. After 3 years, it happened. We were so happy, and you were so excited and happy to share the big news. We started planning our wedding, moved into a bigger house, new jobs, everything felt good.
I never expected to love someone so much. This young woman brought so much love, happiness, and adventure into my life. She completed changed everything. Everything was so easy.. effortless.. felt right.
When we moved into your dream home, things became more stressful. The house needed a lot of work, as well as the property. Regardless, we were willing and eager to tackle projects together and were excited to make things our own.
As time went on, and school/work seemed to become more stressful for you, I was left finishing a lot of our projects and maintaining them by myself. I also stepped up and started trying to take on more of the chores and responsibilities so that you could focus on school/work and still have time to relax. I was happy to help give you some relief.
After a few months, your brother asked to be our roommate for a time. I was hesitant, but you encouraged me that it would be a good thing. He would pay and help around the house. At first, it was nice. However, as time we on, it became more and more stressful.
The stress of doing everything and having a roommate that didn't mesh well with us overwhelmed me. I knew it was temporary, so I endured it.
One day, you came home from your new job and expressed what a good day you had.. that you had the chance to work with a different doctor, and that he was very fun and nice. I was so happy to hear it, since I knew you hadn't been having good days and people had been difficult. I was glad you seemed to have a mentor.
You started to have more good days than bad, working with this person more and more. You started talking to me about them more, sharing things you learned and talked with him about. As time went on, I started to feel a bit jealous. You had been spending more time with this person than me... your shifts were long, and I hadn't been seeing you as much. You started even talking to our parents about this person.
I started to notice you texting him while we were at home together. I'd ask, and you'd happily share whatever it was you guys were talking about. One evening, you were texting this doctor late at night. I approached you about this, and expressed how it was making me feel. I felt that it had started to become too much, and wasn't appropriate. I didn't like the idea of this older married man communicating with my young fiance so much. I expressed that I was happy that you had a friend at work, but felt that it was becoming too personal and inappropriate. You tried to reassure me that you were just friends, and that he was old and married, you would never be attracted to him. I stood firm and expressed that I would like for you to only communicate while at work, or for work related matters. You agreed and assured me it was nothing.
As time went on, I noticed you would sometimes hide your phone, turn it away, flip it upside down, or turn it off as I walked by. At first, I thought it was just me being paranoid. But as time went on, it started to mess with my head... otherwise, everything was good, so I told myself it was nothing. You started to enjoy that type of work and decided to join his practice. I was happy you were able to make up your mind and find something you enjoyed. Time went on. At some point, you needed an invasive procedure done... and you requested that doctor complete it. I didn't love the idea, but you preferred to have someone do it that you trusted. After that, the doctor seemed to be a thing of the past.
As the wedding date approached, the excitement increased. We had everything planned out and we were so excited for our big day. I saw how happy you were throughout the whole process. I couldn't believe our big day was right around the corner.
Our wedding was like a dream. Everything came together so nicely. We had the best night of our lives. I loved seeing you so happy with our friends and family there to celebrate with us. We went on a wonderful honeymoon and I felt so loved and appreciated.
Once we returned home, our roommate left, and stress started to decrease dramatically in the house. I was so relieved. You finished school, graduated, and I threw you a big surprise party to celebrate. I had always put together parties for all your special occasions, and I knew you really appreciated that. After so many nights helping you study, it felt wonderful to see you walk across that stage and finally finish.
You shortly after moved to a different hospital, and seemed to really like your new job and everyone there. Life was so good...
The house and our list of responsibilities and all the maintenance was still a lot, but I felt we were quickly starting to knock things off our list.
One week, you started working a lot... I hardly saw you that week. We'd always text and check in, saying we loved eachother, missed eachother, and looked forward to seeing eachother. When the weekend finally arrived, you had mentioned your best friend invited you to join her for girl time. I realized you hadn't seen her much lately and encouraged it.
That weekend, my grandmother had been struggling. I felt alone in our big house and had wished you were there. We checked in on eachother while you were gone. I was expecting you to return one evening, so I had dinner prepared. I was hurt when you didn't arrive and decided to stay another night with your friend.
When I saw you the next morning, I was feeling pretty down. I was already sad about my grandmother, but also felt like an after thought that week. You were so happy to see me, which was nice. We had a nice evening, spent time together, .. you never stopped telling me you loved me.
The next day after work, I got home, and you seemed so cold and distant. You seemed bothered by something. I checked in, asked if you needed anything, then went about my day. It seemed like you wanted space. I checked in every few hours, and you were busy doing something on your laptop.
I prepared dinner and started watching TV. I encouraged you to take a break, eat, and relax some before bed. You joined me on the couch, but was quiet and explained that you had some work to finish.
As it got late, I went up to bed. You explained you'd be up a little longer while you finished your work. As the hours went by, I thought it was so odd that you weren't in bed yet. I knew you had to get up early... sleep was always such a priority. I got up to check on you and to get some water. You were still on your laptop.. I noticed you were looking at rooms to something. I encouraged you to get some sleep. You joined me, looking exhausted.
We cuddled, said we loved eachother, then fell asleep. The next morning, I finished getting ready for work while you slept. As I was getting ready to leave, I sae your laptop. I decided to check and see what you were looking at... another air bnb for a trip? I was curious. We shared the laptop, so I didn't feel like I was invading her privacy.
I opened the laptop and saw apartments. I was so confused. I checker her email.. apartments. I noticed she had Facebook messenger up with recent messages. I checked... my world turned upside down. Those seconds felt like eternity as my heart sounded and my stomach sank. I read a message to a friend saying she wanted a divorce, never loved me, felt like a stranger in her house, dreaded coming home to me, ... that she loved a doctor.. he's married, but his wife is a lesbian. That was easily the worst moment of my life. I panicked and didn't know what to do... I was in shock. After a few minutes, I decided to address this with you.
I quietly walked up the stairs, sat on the edge of the bed, and calmly woke you up. You were sleepy, asking why I woke up.. you still had about 30m before work. I apologized for waking you.. As I looked at you silently, I started to cry. I quietly said "I know...". "I saw the messages". She looked back at me in shock.. eyes wide in the dark. I asked if she had been having an affair. She said no.. then started to look at me as if I wad a stranger. It was a terrible feeling.
You got up to get ready for work, and said we'd talk later that evening. You left. I was standing in the driveway and felt sick. I wasn't sure if I could make it to work.. but being at the house was making me feel worse, so I left. I didn't eat anything that while day. While at work, I prepared myself for our talk.
When we both got home, you pulled up to the house and started to pack some things while I sat on the couch. When you finally joined me, you were quiet.. asked about my day, I asked about yours.. then more silence. I asked what you needed from me. You explained that you were feeling very anxious, and didn't want me to get upset. You said you were going to stay with a friend for a few days to clear your head and wanted to talk once we were both rested.
You left for almost a week while I stayed in our big empty house, taking care of our pets, and completely confused and dead inside. I hardly ate or slept. I desperately started reading and watching whatever information I could find to help explain what was happening and to prepare myself. I spent most of my time thinking, reflecting on our life. I started tonrealize how stressed I had been... and thought about all the things I should/could have done differently. I knew I treated her so well, but no one is perfect.
Looking back, I started to think about all the red flags. Love is blind. I truly loved, trusted, and cared for this person more than anyone in the world. I thought she felt the same way... I never imagined us seperating.
I started to think of that doctor she used to talk about.. and realized she probably never stopped talking to him. I started to realize that my wife had stopped opening up to me... was no longer emotional or vulnerable... her emotional? affair started to kill the emotional intimacy between us.
I was happy just to have her in my life and enjoyed just being with her... she never expressed or talked about being unhappy... if I had known, I feel certain that we could have fixed whatever was lacking. I would have met whichever needs werent being met.
Were you lonely while I was busy working hard for us? Was she bored? I would have happily planned more outings... whenever I suggested something, you expressed that you were tired or didn't show interest. I knew you enjoyed time alone, so I never felt bad doing my own thing. I figured you would tell me of you needed or felt something...
I was so confused... started to question what was real. When did this all start? Why? How? Terrible thoughts entered my mind... so many late shifts, staying the night at the hospital, leaving early to get the air bnbs ready, ...
I also realized that towards the end, you had suddenly started to listen to different music, got a nose piercing, tattoo, talked about signing up for a sport, working out, ... these were all things I knew you had wanted to do for awhile, but it was all so sudden.
Why didn't you ever communicate... I recall you expressing your concern with my stress, but nothing else. I felt that my stress was reasonable considering everything I was doing.. and knew it was temporary. I didn't ignore it though. I saw a therapist, and started making changes. Was it all too late?
When we finally spoke again, it was so nice to just see you. We sat and you were so friendly and sweet - it reassured me that everything was going to be ok. We made small talk and joked, which immediately lightened the mood. You suggested I spoke first. I expressed my feelings and how important the marriage was.. that I'd so anything to save it. I took responsibility for my side of things and expressed the changes I had made and would continue to make. When you started, you expressed that you would always cherish our time together, but we're set on divorce. That we both deserved to be truly happy. Shortly after, you left.
The days after, you started packing your things while I was at work. I was living in a big empty house, every day getting more and more empty. I was a complete mess living in hell. Her family started to reach out to me and shower me with support, apologies, and disbelief. No one could make sense of this.
After a week or so, I couldn't take it any more, so I moved to stay with my parents while we finished moving out. I attempted to stay cordile through all this. You seemed so unphased and happy... texting me and talking to me like we were still best friends.
You explained that you felt bad for saying you never loved me... that you did, but not in the way a wife should love their husband. That it could be years, but in the future, I could count on you.
As time went on, and the pain increased, I was more distant. You texted more and more. Finally, I suggested that we limit communication unless she was interested in working on our marriage.
As the days went by, you grew colder and irritated.. I started to feel like the bad guy. I know you started to feel the weight of your decisons, and starred to project onto me. Making me the bad guy made you feel better. I attempted to end things on a good note... being helpful throughout the move out process, but you were so cold. It hurt so much... 5 wonderful years tossed aside like it never mattered.
I havent talked to you in weeks... I miss my best friend, my love, your family, our pets, and the wonderful life we built. I'm left trying to pickup the pieces. I feel so lost, confused, broken, ...
The tremendous amount of support I've gotten from both sides has helped a lot. I'm seeing a therapist, reading a lot, eating more, working out, and focusing on my self. The days are getting better, but I still have days where I am a mess.
I havent been sleeping well... always tired. Waking up several times, terrible nightmares and thoughts of you being with another man... I still have believe you would be capable of all this.. of hurting me so much.
I have urges to reach out to you... wanting to fix this, that there must be a misunderstanding... there are so many things I'd like to say. I got complacent and comfortable during our time together. I stopped doing the little things as often as I used to... I never meant to hurt you, make you feel lonely, unloved, unappreciated, ... whatever it is you felt. It's difficult for me to accept that my sweet innocent wife was capable of this... surely there was a reason?? I was just so caught up in my list of things... I was working so hard for our future.
I feel like my wife was manipulated by this man... why does an older doctor (20 years older) have a lesbian wife? He doesn't love her like she seems to think... he is using her. I feel sorry for her... I know there is no future there.
I've done a lot of reading on Attachment Styles, Limerence, love addiction, and other things that come as a result of childhood trauma. I feel like a lot of this has to do with her trauma... but also her selfishness and emotional immaturity. There is nothing I can do. I just pray she figures things out on her own, finds longlasting happiness, and puts an end to this cycle.
I would love it if we were able to reconnect in the future... I still deeply love and care for her. I don't want our story to end... none of this feels right. My gut is screaming that this is all wrong. I just know we both need to work on ourselves for the time being.
One day I had it all, the next, it crashed down before my eyes. Meeting you was the best thing to happen to me... you leaving was the worst. You rushed out of my life so quickly... I wish things were different.

Just finished an adult rookies program and gearing up for a beginner's league, trying to get some ice time under me in actual scrimmage or game play and not just drills. Showed up to the local rink and found myself with a bunch of AAA players, a couple college guys home for the summer, including 2 really good goalies so we were playing 4v4 full ice. In a little over my head 😂
God I had so much FUN. I kind of know where I'm supposed to be, I'm an okay skater but definitely have my baby deer moments including falling trying to get back on bench over the boards lol, I can definitely not keep up with those fast kids, my stick work is terrible and the game moves so fast, but just being out there in the thick of it and feeling the adrenaline and playing honest-to-goodness ICE HOCKEY was amazing. Everyone was so nice, the guys recognized immediately where I was at and weren't playing me as hard, were feeding me the puck, encouraging me when I made a nice pass. I skated hard on my shifts, didn't miss a single one, didn't puke, didn't slam into anyone on accident or flail my stick around. Even had a few assists.
I'm still riding the high. I cannot wait for that league to start.

TW: mentions of COVID; social isolation
I (20F) have been having a hard time adjusting to college life and the growing expectations placed on me to do well. Within my first two semesters, I wasn't doing so hot and ended up having the worst mental health break since covid, even falling back into one of my worst habits: responding to failure by falling off the face of the planet and hoping that all my friends just forget about me. I managed to reunite with some of them once after my first year, specifically the summer of last year, but as time went on I started feeling less connected to them. I felt like increasingly more awkward around them, like they were more like a person than I was. At the time, I believed my mental health was getting worse and that by avoiding them I was responsibly keeping my neuroticism to myself. I justified it by convinced myself that they were always going to have more fun without me and that I didn't need to worry about them. I hadn't made any friends at university either, so it's not like it's an issue specific to them. I've felt this way with everyone I've been meeting up until now. I think that with how inconsistent I am when it comes to interacting with them I'm just being a bad friend. I don't want to drag them down with my neuroticism. I feel like they'd just be better off without me.
Just this morning, one of them reached out to me to ask where I've been. I feel like a piece of crap. This whole time I just assumed that they just forgot about me and i don't know how to feel now. With all that baggage I'm questioning about how should I respond to them or if I even should. Should I?
tl;dr:I've slowly been withdrawing from people I cared about for a long time. I expected them to just forget me but they didn't and I don't know how to deal with it

***Lily***
“Stupid gnome prejudice. I may not be the biggest fan of gnomes but, just because we are small doesn’t mean we can’t cause some damage.” Mogsten says as he walks over, kicks the fishman, and picks up the horn and dusts it off. “I’m hesitant to admit this since, when he regains consciousness, he will do what he could to ruin my business even more but, still, thank you Wabbajack.” He says.
“Don’t mention it Mogsten, this guy’s haggling game was all over the place.” Wabbajack responds.
“Indeed, he has no understanding of value.” Mogsten says with a smirk on his face.
“Well, unless he knew that you had about another sixty of those in the back that is.” Wabbajack says as he chuckles.
Mogsten quickly turns around as he says, “Shh. That’s a trade secret.” He then lets out an “oh ho ho” chuckle. He then looks down and yells, “Gourdsten! Clean up!”
Just like that, Gourdsten comes out from the back and drags the body off. Soon after the body disappears towards the back, Gourdsten reappears with a spray bottle, gloves, and a sponge.
“What happened to him?” I ask Mogsten.
“Don’t worry, I can’t afford a bloody reputation. He is just in stasis until the authorities get here.” Mogsten answers with.
“Stasis?” I ask.
“She really is new to all this huh? Stasis is basically freezing someone in a state of time. In this state however, while nothing can happen to them, they can’t function. Depending on the state they are in when they go under, they may be aware of the environment around them. Sometimes, certain criminals may undergo such punishment for their crimes.” Mogsten explains, looking at Wabbajack for some reason.
Mogsten then looks at me and asks, “So, did you find all the ingredients?”
I nod my head.
He then rubs his temple as he asks, “And you Really intend to go through with this?”
“There’s no other option!” I exclaim.
“Well, there are quite a few, just that they would take a LOT longer.” Wabbajack points out.
I look at him in annoyance and he responds with, “What? Just saying.”
I sigh and look at Mogsten and hand him the “ingredients”.
“Let’s see what we have. A fur scarf, a pistol, a lantern that looks like a child tried to make it, a… rubber duck. And what the world is this?” Mogsten asks pulling out the leg.
“It’s a prosthetic leg for a dragon-sized crocodile. Well, a smaller scale version at the very least.” I explain.
“Who would put a prosthetic leg on a Dragon-sized crocodile?” he asks.
“Right?” I ask in return.
He then looks back at the leg, strokes his fake beard, and says, “Well, when you put it like that, makes sense you would want to use it as an ingredient.” He then looks back at me and asks, “Are these the ingredients that you Really want to use?”
“They fit the descriptions that you gave me.” I point out.
He then looks at the ingredients again and says, “Yes… this may actually work then.”
“Come again?” I ask him.
“Well, one of the Biggest reasons, after that whole dark nature I mentioned, that this fails is that people try to influence their familiar by using ingredients that don’t inspire these feelings.” He explains.
“Because of this disconnection between the host and the familiar, that may also cause the familiar to go berserk as well.” Wabbajack then explains.
“Exactly!” Mogsten exclaims as he points towards to Wabbajack. He then looks back to me and asks, “With that in mind, are you one-Hundred percent sure that these ingredients are correct?”
I nod again and explain, “I can explain my reasons if you want.”
“No. As long as you are certain, then follow me to the back.” He says as he picks everything up again and starts waddling towards the back.
“Would you like some help?” I ask.
“No, I have to prepare everything anyways so it’s best I handle most things from here.” He explains.
Wabbajack walks past me but, I notice he is holding his banjo-thing upside-down. But, its neck is awfully long. Long enough to reach the ground and have the base be about level to his head. Which is pretty impressive since he is not that much taller than me. I want to ask about it but, I figured that is better left for later. Besides, I could probably guess that it can switch between a staff and an instrument. So, I shrug and follow them towards the back.
As I pass the flaps, I let out an audible, “Wow” because the room is massive! There is so much stock in here. I would have never guessed it from the gypsy-sized tent I see from the outside.
I guess Mogsten hears me as he says while putting the items in a pattern, “Spatial compression spell. It’s like that bag you are probably holding. It’s a pocket of space that you can mess with everything as long as it’s registered to you. Any merchant worth his salt at least attempts to lessen the target on his store to wannabe burglars. For example, there was a tannery that was completely torn apart for scrap. I hear the owner left it unattended And unlocked. I hope he can recover from that, it’s a pretty costly mistake.”
I look off towards the side and say, “Oh, I hear he is doing alright. Hehe.”
He pulls out a spray can and says while he shakes it, “That’s good.” He then starts spraying the ground.
I look over towards Wabbajack, who is standing sideways towards the thing Mogsten is working on. He has his free hand about chest level, fingers-spread, and it looks like he has a weird circle thing again like when I think I have seen him do before when he casted magic. Like when he summoned that ghost thing. I guess he is on guard duty.
I look back at Mogsten and see he is about halfway done at this point. He works fast since the design is very intricate. Now that I think about it, it looks like that circle Wabbajack has but… different. I think I remember reading about this. These must be magic circles. While they look similar, they must be different since each magic circle represents something different. Kinda like snowflakes. I can’t help but ask, “What’s that you are spraying to make that magic circle?”
“Ah, someone has been studying. It’s a mixture of compounds for creating the familiar summoning circle. I kept a few around just in case that someone managed to convince me to do this.” He explains. He then stands up and shakes it some more as he says, “I thought it was unlikely but, a smart businessman looks at every opportunity.” He then goes back to spraying and says, “Now, no offense, but mind letting me focus? I got to make sure I get this perfect. I want to lessen the margin of error as much as possible.”
“Oh! Sure. Sorry.” I say. Now that I think about it, I look towards my bag and think about what he said, “Like my bag.” I open it and it looks like a normal bag. Either it needs to be activated or it doesn’t have that spell yet. I’ll have to ask about that after we are done.
“Before I forget, leave your bandolier and bag over by Wabbajack there. We don’t want to add unnecessary items to the circle.” Mogsten says as he shakes the can again.
“Oh! Alright!” I respond. I take off my bandolier and put it down by Wabbajack.
“Don’t worry. If worse comes to worse, I’ll protect you. And come whatever may, we’ll figure out what to do next.” Wabbajack says.
I feel a little relief hearing him say that. Next thing I know, Gourdsten runs up to me with a simple white robe. “Oh, what’s this?” I ask.
“It’s a robe.” Wabbajack says.
As I look at him, annoyed, Gourdsten says, “Robe! Wear Robe!”
Mogsten then explains, “You’ll have to take off the rest of your gear as well and wear just that robe. Like I said, No unnecessary items. Only simple clothes.”
I look at the robe and say, “Oh… There is a changing room, right?”
“This way! Here, here!” Gourdsten says as he pulls my arm.
“Alright! Calm down.” I say.
I follow him to a wooden stall. “I guess I change in there, huh?” I ask.
“Yes! Correct!” Gourdsten says.
I sigh and open it up, step inside and change. Afterwards, after I step out in the robe, Gourdsten then says, “Shoes! Too!”
I look down and sigh. I then ask, “Can that wait till we get back?”
“Shoes! Shoes! He repeats.
I then puff my face in annoyance as I sit down and take off my shoes. “Happy?” I ask.
He just jumps up and down and starts walking back.
All I can think is that it’s a good thing that the floor is at least wooden. I then get up, grab my stuff, and chase after him.
As we get back, Mogsten appears out of nowhere and points behind him as he says, “Circle is done. All that is left is the blood of the subject.”
“You’re not going to slit my wrists, are you?” I ask with a meek chuckle.
“Heaven’s no!” He says as he pulls out a syringe. He then grabs my wrist under these large sleeves and asks, “On three. Ready?”
I nervously nod my head. Just as he opens his mouth, I quickly say, “Wait! Why do we need blood again?” Trying to delay the inevitable.
He looks at me and explains, “A familiar is an extension of yourself. Quite literally. In order to cement that bond, it needs the blood of the host. That bond will allow you and your familiar to share experiences but, still allow autonomy for individual thought. You can live without it but, for it to retain its presence, it needs you alive.”
“Fascinating. Mind going into more detail?” I say with a weak smile.
He then stabs the syringe into my wrist as he says, “No.”
“Ow!” I yelp.
Just like that, he pulls the syringe out and empties it out into a bowl. “Alright, here you go.” He says as he hands me the bowl.
As I stare into a small bowl of my own blood, I ask, “What am I supposed to do with this?”
“Now, You stand at the center of the circle. As I activate the circle, the blood will start sloshing around in that bowl. Do NOT let a SINGLE drop fall out until the last item is floating. When the last item does start floating, pour the blood in the center and take four steps back. Got it?” he explains.
I look over back to the circle and then look back to Mogsten and repeat, “Don’t let it spill until the last object starts floating. When it does, pour it all out and take four steps back, right?”
He nods and says, “Correct.” I think I then hear him mumble, “I can’t believe I was convinced to do this.” As he walks away.
I then take my place at the center of the circle. I am somewhat trembling at this point.
“Are you sure, you want to do this?” Mogsten asks again.
“Just do it already!” I yell back.
He lets out a sigh and starts mouthing something as he levels out his arms towards me.
I could feel the energy around me shifting and moving. I start seeing the objects that were placed start floating one by one. Slowly but surely. I then look down at the bowl and it is sloshing around. So far, not too bad. Around the time the fourth object starts floating, the blood really starts flying around to the point I have to actually adjust to make sure it doesn’t go flying out.
After a few more minutes the last object starts flying up. As soon as it stops moving, I pour the blood and take four steps back. The blood stops midair and forms a bubbling ball. It then rises up about level to my face. It stops bubbling and then a flash of blinding light envelops the room and I try to shield my eyes.
After a minute, I slowly open my eyes and lower my arms. What I see before me is something pretty weird.
It’s in the shape of a sphere with a detached fox tail. The floating tail matches the fur of the body of the “familiar”, I guess. Its fur is a golden yellow with a white tip. The body looks like it has a line down the middle, with Very sharp fangs from the top row. It has fox ears and tiny fox paws and a fox nose. It’s got lines for eyes? Either that or they are just closed. Between its ears, it has a lantern dangling from a line, kinda like an angler fish. The other side of that line looks like white gator leather and it has two tiny gator feet. As it yawns, I guess, it opens its massive mouth, showing all its fangs, top and bottom rows, and stretches its fox paws, revealing some nasty looking barbed claws. It’s only as tall as, from the floor, up to my knee.
[First] [Previous]

So this weekend I was doing the usual when I got a shop & deliver for $12.50 which was only 6 items and less than 2 miles.
Should have been easybut Uber Eats offered me a $25 order at the same store for 13 items and less than 2 miles which is gonna be $1.75 when done.
While doing these two orders DoorDash offered me a second order for $8.75 and less than 3 miles.
I don't know why but I must have been feeling wreckless because I took it.
That's 3 orders all from the same store with customers continuing to add items.
It took about 45 minutes total to get all of it because I had to do substitutions and the customers weren't always ready to take my call.
First drop-off was Uber, $10.87 which was surprising.
Second was the $12.50 DoorDash which they tipped $3 more for $15.50.
Last dropoff was $1 tip bringing it to $9.75 which was nice.
I was a bit frazzled from this because it had 12 gallons of water and juice along with ice cream and other cold items which is fine but i'm in Southern California and it was hot.
Not even 10 minutes later Uber let's me know the customer added a tip, $31.13 which brought it to $42.
It was so unexpected but helped immensely.

Hi guys,
So a little context first, I am a 21y/o student who was supposed to finish my college degree studying pre-law. My graduation was supposed to be in the summer. But I missed a final exam for a required course and won't be able to graduate on time and will be pushed back to the next graduation cycle. I missed the exam because I had a lot of mental health issues and couldn't write it as the stuff at home (I live with my parents) was very tense and my home life just wasn't safe, I lost around 20lbs, barely had any sleep, had panic attacks and depressive mood swings and everything. I have a really bad history with mental health, I was bullied throughout high school and had no friends. My life at home during high school was equally as bad due to constant fights between my family members so I never really had a safe place. School and home were just horrid in general. I would often skip class to just sleep in the cafeteria and almost had the police called on my family when one of the nicer teachers noticed my habits and how thin I was getting. I started going to therapy for it earlier in 2022. However, my parents found out and I come from a very conservative background where mental health is shunned and people just look at you like you belong in some kind of asylum if you even bring it up. It's the reason I wasn't never officially diagnosed with ADHD until I got into college as my family, immediate and extended, just didn't believe in ADHD and thought it was just me being lazy and unmotivated when I had so much time to become obsessed with other random hobbies I picked up. My family also thinks that if you take an extra year in college for whatever reason you are a failure. They have this entire timeline set in their minds that people have to follow and it's insane. So I had to stop therapy for almost a year after my folks found out. I've tried so hard to make it this far and I am in the process of applying to some of the best law schools in my country but I can't because of this exam. During the exam season, my family had a massive fight and I am talking massive. Things were said, objects were thrown, walls were damaged, and so forth. As I said, it's not the best environment, let alone one to prepare for finals in.
I deferred it but I had to write the exam during the summer session which would push my graduation and now my entire life is flipped. I've barely been myself, I started eating less, barely slept, have panic attacks and have just been lazy so much and don't know what to do. I know if I tell my parents they are going to freak out and become furious with me. My entire life I've been compared to my older brother who got into medical school without even finishing his college degree as he fast fast-tracked it and how he's so successful now as a surgeon. And how the rest of my family is all so accomplished being engineers and doctors and such. And I know my parents are going to feel so disappointed and bash me. They are going to be furious and I won't be able to live at home in peace for the entire year that I am taking my 5th year. They had this entire timeline set for me to finish college and get into a good law school and be done with my education but now I have to take a 5th year, now I can't graduate with some of the best friends I've ever had, now I am going to be the odd one out in my family and my community. I don't know how to break it to them. I worked so hard and struggled with so much over COVID, mental health and undiagnosed ADHD, MDD and AD. And now it's all pointless.
And if I were to tell them that I couldn't write it because of their argument my parents would just turn on each other and blame each other for it and a whole new problem would come up and I don't want to be the reason my parents fight they are already strained from everything and I don't want to cause more issues between them.
So to anyone who has had a similar experience or comes from a very conservative culture/family is there anything I can do. I understand that it's my life and I have to do what is best for me and who cares about what people think but in cultures like mine, where people's opinion of you matters and family respect is held higher than most things it's suffocating. I am also sorry if this sounds like a mini-rant, I guess without access to a therapist this is my only outlet of sorts so I sort of morphed this post into a mini-rant as well.
edit: just some grammar stuff

This will be a long one, as I'm going to vent a lot rage all at once and then disappear forever.
God I fucking hope Capcom has some competition in the monster hunting genre in the near future. There are so many problems in monster hunter that would be solved by another dev team holding their feet to the fire.
Let's start with hitboxes. Yes, I know, Monster Hunter has always had dogshit hitboxes. No I've never played a Monster Hunter before World. That means absolutely nothing to me. Capcom prints money with Monster Hunter, with Street Fighter, with Resident Evil. They have the money to devote to making hitboxes not fucking terrible. Leaving them dogshit is a choice. And why would they spend that money? The closest thing they've had to competition in recent memory is Wildhearts and Dauntless, and this post is probably the first time you've thought about either of those games in years. Street Fighter hitboxes aren't fucking terrible, because if they were people would go play Mortal Kombat or Tekken or Smash. They have to be good or no one would play them. Not so with Monster Hunter, so fuck making them good. Oh, we're introducing a new Pukei-Pukei variant that doesn't fight giant ass clouds out of its tail? Better not touch a single hitbox to make the new animations make any fucking sense. Oh, a Diaablos is doing anything at any point ever? Lets make its entire body an active hit zone. Oh, Namielle used her water attack and the animations have stopped? Fuck you, there's a lingering hitbox for no discernible reason. Oh, you're playing Rise and above the monster for any reason? Its hitbox goes to fucking Mars because we couldn't be fucked to make better hitboxes in a game where being in the air happens more than a first time insect glaive user.
Let's talk about punishment in Monster Hunter. I'm actually okay with stun. I slot in stun resist 3 as a religious practice, but I'm okay with it. Its the only punishment that makes you not play the game I'm okay with. Why are there so many OTHER punishments that mean you don't get to play the game? Tremors and roars and paralysis and hits that make to do an extremely long animation to get your back on the ground before you can get up. Iceblight is a punishment that's bad that AFFECTS THE WAY YOU PLAY while affected by it. So does waterblight, fireblight, poison, thunderblight, blastblight, they are all punishments that aren't good when you have them, affect the way you play, and can be played against through items or just dodge rolling. Why the fuck is Capcom unable or unwilling to give the other punishments some dynamic gameplay that both allows you to KEEP PLAYING THE FUCKING GAME but also incentivize you to not get hit by it again. Roars could mute sound cues (which would admittedly require sound cues to be useful in any way). Tremors could give you a chance to trip and get knocked down when you attack to make you choose between risky aggression or playing defensively. Paralysis could swap your inputs. Anything thats different than the usual which is, a good 60% of the time, our hitboxes suck, you don't get to play the game because you didn't instictvely know that Barioth's hipcheck behaved that way.
For a game so built on multiplayer, why are so many of the multiplayer functions terrible? Monster AI doesn't have to choose targets at random. Capcom could devote more than regional equivalent of 18 cents to server stability. Why the fuck can't I join a hunt if someone leaves it? Why the fuck do your friend need to watch a cutscene in every hunt before you're allowed to play with them? Why the fuck did someone see that concept cross their desk and greenlight it? Why the fuck are so many of the cutscenes unskippable? Who the absolute fuck keeps trying to tell stories in Monster Hunter and using that justify all these shitty cutscenes? NO ONE CARES WHY WE'RE KILLING KAIJU AND TURNING THEM INTO HATS, JUST LET ME HIT IT WITH A FUCKING STICK. Why did it take until Sunbreak to add in the Shcok Absorber jewel? Yes, sure, there is some skill expression in the party not knocking each other around. However, lets examine when people aren't. Picture this: you're fighting Alatreon, its down, you're charging up your TCS, you're about to hit that juicy horn break...and then a longsword user launches you. You don't get the horn break and the hunt ends when everyone carts to the nuke. You lost your TCS and hunt and you're furious with that longsword user. That longsword user doesn't know what happened, learned nothing, doesn't realize they launched you, and will do it again. And again. And again. That adds nothing to the game. It only subtracts from the experience of others. If the posts about other hunters launching people ever slowed, I might rethink this stance, but they don't. Because its not a fun mechanic. It shouldn't even require a single decoration slot, but at least it doesn't take mutliple 3 slots any more.
Capcom has said they want to devote more to the Monster Hunter games. I hope they do. I hope they devote resources to making the extremely shitty, grating aspects of the series better. Because I do genuinely love this game. I wouldn't have thousands of hours across two games if I didn't. I just really wish it didn't make me shout "What the fuck was that bullshit?" more than League of Legends.
Anyway, peace. I'm going to go back to waiting for the Safi siege to start again so I can kill the last three monsters in Iceborne and proceed to never touch the clutch claw again.
Fuck the clutch claw.

Welcome back to my running series of WWF PPV Reviews from a ‘blind’ perspective (I have no idea what’s going to happen; the results, the feuds or how good any of the matches will be). I have always heard stories of the attitude era and golden age but never watched it myself so I set myself to watching every single PPV event chronologically. I am also watching Wrestling Bios ‘reliving the war’ series to keep me updated inbetween the events with the feuds, and to get excited about upcoming matches.
Before I review the matches, based on the past few episodes of raw and last PPVs I’ll let you know, going into the event, which match I’m most excited for and which feud I’m most excited to see.
The match and feud I’m most excited to see is Shawn vs undertaker. I mean what needs to be said their feud is absolutely legendary, and with my favourite match of all time coming in the future between these two I cant wait to see how they perform together in these early years.
WWF In Your House - Ground Zero 1997 Match Ratings
Goldust vs Brian Pillman 2/5
Scott putski vs Brian Christopher 1/5
Savio vega vs Faarooq vs Crush 0.25/5
El torito vs Max Mini 1.5/5
Tag Fatal 4 way elimination match 1.75/5
The patriot vs Bret Hart 3.25/5
Shawn Michaels vs Undertaker 4.75/5
I cannot believe they pulled the “she’s my love child” story it’s so funny to look back on these storylines. Goldust and Pillman are set to fight and there’s a huge grudge for Goldust here so I’m hoping to see a physical bout.
Which it wasn’t… while it was a good bout with no botched or anything, and it was better than their Summerslam match. I saw pillman was limited due to an ankle problem he had, which is kinda weird with the amount of running around he did, but they still had a decent match. Honestly though this draw of this match was where the story was going and it definitely went 😂 Pillman managed to win the match by whacking Goldust with a brick concealed in marlenas bag, and literally drags marlena to his car where he drove off with her. Classic wwf is so hilarious.
The next match was the first time I’m seeing putski and Christopher wrestle and it was actually going well until that ending. I thought they pulled off some very clean looking spots but the crowd was completely dead for almost all of this match, especially after the match, just no one seemed to care. I didn’t really care for this Brian Christopher he was laughing like a clown or something, not even a figure of speech it was literally like a clown. He might’ve been trying to impersonate Lawler but it was just weird. I’m not sure if putski was actually injured or not it was pretty hard to tell but this match seemed like it was 3 or 4 minutes long of pretty dull action.
Going into the next match and honestly I’m pretty bored of these pointless gang wars but let’s see if it can deliver. Maybe rock will get involved and liven it up but all three competitors in this triple threat have yet to put on a good show during my journey through the new gen/attitude era. Also I feel like this is the first triple threat match I’ve seen since KOTR 1996 so there’s some level of excitement for me as it can make for a really entertaining match when done right.
I was surprised to see crush get a pop as I hadn’t heard one before when he made his entrance, but a big biker dude coming in on a massive Harley will get an American crowd going I suppose 😂. But oh man once the match got going there was actually boos going throughout the stadium for the last 1/3 of it. They were trying some weird thing where they played on the fact that they both used to be part of the NOD in which they’d team with farooq on sadio vega but oh my lord it didn’t work at all, it just came off like they had no idea what they were doing. There were no highlights at all, and the last 5 minutes was crush throwing vega out the ring to use moves solo on farooq to which he’d come back in the ring, break the pin and repeat the process. Then he randomly wants to team with crush after all that?? It made no sense at all and was just a bad match, the crowd wasn’t into it and booed during quite a bit of the match, big miss.
I’m just gunna call it a ‘mini-match’ and I’m sure you’ll know what I’m talking about but it ended up being entertaining for what it was in all fairness, much better than the match I’d just seen anyway. It was more of a funny performance than a match; they both end up biting everyone’s asses? Including the referee, and mini goes and steals lawyers crown too. El torito is bloody nuts, his character is basically to act like a bull so he chases refs and officials around trying to headbutt them, fu**ing nuts 😂. I do think it went on a little too long though, if they’re going to book this kind of match then it should be short and sweet filler rather than dragging it on. There was however a pretty good looking springboard move close to the end so that was cool. There were some impressive moves and the crowd was getting involved but It’s just some filler while the show gets going in the end.
Very good idea having dude love and Austin come out inbetween the matches to relinquish the titles as this crowd REALLY needed some livening up after the past hour of the show. And when Steve starts his promo the crowd eats up every second of it and it’s no surprise because he kills it as usual, what a breath of fresh air SCSA is in the WWF during this era. He’s throwing insults to Vince, to the sergeant to JR and it’s f***ing brilliant. It’s cool seeing dude love backing him up as well I think they actually make a really cool looking tag team. And then out of god damn nowhere he delivers a stunner to JR and the crowd absolutely loses it. I would say at this point he is truly the face of the WWF and it really does suck that he suffered that neck injury and couldn’t wrestle properly for a while, having to change his entire wrestling style because of it, but it was never to his detriment, we’re truly in the stone cold era now.
Before the fatal four way, while the LOD get interviewed I couldn’t help but notice how young Michael Cole looks, I mean obviously it’s over 25 years ago but still cool seeing how long he’s been involved.
I really don’t understand these fatal four way tag matches, they always come off weirdly as you can have two people from the same team in the ring that have to wrestle… but it makes no sense because why not just tag someone else in? I don’t know it’s a weird dynamic and I’m not surprised they dropped this type of match in the future.
It’s a shame LOD was the first to be eliminated because they randomly started beating the godwinns with a metal bucket? It makes 0 sense for them to blindly DQ themselves from getting the tag titles since they were crowd favourites, but okay you do you Vince. I wanted them to win too. I know a few people don’t care for LOD but they’re top 2 tag teams in the wwf right now beside Owen and bulldog. The godwinns get eliminated next (thank god), and they just feel like the most filler tag team I’ve ever seen they’re SOOO bland and basic, they don’t even play up to their hillbilly characters anymore which is a new level of bad I won’t lie. I was really REALLY surprised that headbangers took away the belts though, with the massive push of the hart foundation I thought it was a no brainer. It was awesome seeing Austin come in and disrupt the match, he absolutely brings the whole arena completely alive whenever he does anything. Overall though the match was bad and it went on far too long even with four teams. I think the ending was pretty fun but that was only about 2 minutes of the match that was entertaining the rest just felt veryyyy slow.
Man this event has really gotta pull out some f***ing 5/5 main events for it to be worth watching because we’re 1 hour 45 minutes in without a match over 2/5 at most.
When I hear Kurt angles theme playing I was so happy, excited, confused, and then disappointed when I realised it was 3 or 4 years too early. I had no idea they kept this theme and used it for Kurt angle as well as patriot.
I have a small inkling that Bret hart didn’t perform as well as he could’ve in this match because he was annoyed about Shawn getting the top spot after everything that’s gone down and him working more regularly recently than Shawn. Patriot wasn’t a bad wrestler but his character was extremely bland, what would happen after this feud? He’d just be a guy that’s proud to be from America that looks like a Mexican wrestler… in the time of big characters making the main events he unfortunately doesn’t really fit in that well. His in ring ability was good though, no botches or anything but I just couldn’t really feel myself getting into this match. I didn’t really know if they’d book patriot in to take the wwf title as I was pretty sure they wouldn’t want hart to lose his title being such a huge name in the business right now. It was pretty fun when Vader and bulldog came out for some extra drama with them interfering with each of the wrestlers but it’s not a good sign when a match needs drama like that to elevate it. It’s better than what we’ve seen tonight but not particularly worth watching. If you love Bret hart give it a watch as he was his usual fantastic in ring performer but it’s not one of his best for sure. The crowd was really into it, making the hard camera shake chanting “USA USA”, so that was cool, but I’m not entirely sure if it’s because of the crowd or because it was such a small venue. Also worth noting Bret hart is a perfect heel character, he’s a massive star with a character that works perfectly as a heel because he sprinkles some IRL elements into everything he does. The move of breaking the American flag pole and the strangling patriot with the flag is just brilliant, makes it that extra bit more believable and I love it, Americans however must’ve hated it!
Shawn Michaels entrance was so hilarious, he gets hit by a… idk what that even was, a brown cabbage? He makes BJ notions to the crowd, his pyro doesn’t go off properly in the ring like it usually does, and he still pulled it off because he’s HBK, fantastic. This FEELS like main event material though and I’m really excited for it. Sometimes main events don’t really build up properly and just haven’t got that hype behind it but this match should be great. The first of many times we’d see these legends in the ring together.
Starting off the match right too with undertaker taking out the referee and allowing undertaker to take it to the outside and absolutely lay into Michael’s without a count out. I absolutely loved Shawn’s selling during this match too, it’s so over the top that it’s brilliant, with one of his famous vertical presses while he gets kicked in the belly whilst in the corner, love it. Him begging to the ref to dq undertaker, trying to escape through the door of the set and banging on the door, it all works really well and he plays up undertakers character perfectly. I hate when wrestlers forget they’re supposed to play up this undertaker being very scary it really takes away immersion but Shawn does it perfectly. The boos for undertaker seem to be from the women only and the cheers for Shawn seem to be from the women only, of course 😂. I also love seeing the origins of d generation x, one of my all time favourite tag teams as I’m sure is the same with everyone else. HHH makes his way down to the ring with a referee to replace the numerous ones that have been taken out during this match, and they are just the perfect team together I love it.
The actual match I thought was really really fun. It was absolute chaos and maybe not a wrestling masterclass but you can’t deny it was fun. From start to finish we go through 3 referees, we get strangling with power chords, we get triple H and HBK telling the crowd to suck it, and an amazing back and forth showcase from Michael’s and undertaker. I think this match did an absolutely fantastic job and reinstating the undertaker as the most intimidating wrestler in the wwf. The poor referees during this match though, they got absolutely abused. The only thing I didn’t like about this match was the ending. Another random referee comes to the ring to end the match as a DQ, which is a really stupid ending because illegal stuff had already happened when the other referees came to the ring so why wouldn’t they have ended it then? The action continues after the match with undertaker almost soloing Michael’s and HHH. More officials come to the ring as Michael’s beats the hell out of them. And then other wrestlers are forced to come to the ring to try and break the two up which was awesome to see. This really sets up further matches between the two, and I think that’s was the whole idea of the match which worked well, it’s just that I hate these random DQ endings to main events. We see the undertaker flying over the top rope for… I think the first time? Correct me if I’m wrong but I’m pretty sure that’s the first time I’ve seen it in this era which was of course AWESOME!! Overall a really fun match that sets up for further main events but it’s held back by its weird and stupid decision. It’s still well worth a watch if you enjoy this feud however.
Overall, whilst the main event hit all the right places for me I just don’t think the WWF was ready for a 3 hour event yet. They simply didn’t have the roster for it to be enjoyable and so many of these matches went way longer than they had any business doing. I think Bret hart is always gunna deliver so he was fun to watch but it just want one of his best but the main event hit in every single way apart from the finish which I understand is setting up for further matches but ughhhh it was done weirdly and poorly. If you’re gunna watch this event, skip everything but the main event it’s just not worth sitting through everything else.
Overall rating 2.75/5

Hey everyone,
I'm currently someone (30M) who has always had folks by my side all my life as part of "my team," as my parents call it. A major reason for this outside support network is because I'm autistic, have ADHD-I, dysgraphia, generalized anxiety, social anxiety, PTSD (more on that later), and processing speed in the 3rd percentile. I did not learn I was autistic until I was 14 and always took medication for it and my ADHD-I. I also did not know I had ADHD-I until I was 24-25 because I was on my own for submitting the records of my disabilities to the graduate schools I've attended up until this point. As for my processing speed, I did not learn it was that low until this past August when I sought a DSM-V re-evaluation with my own money.
My mental health symptoms were so severe that, despite doing well academically in a suburban school district that was well funded through property taxes (I'm in the US so the education system here is messed up), I transitioned to a tiny high school that specifically accommodated disabled students. This school had no AP, honors courses, or foreign language courses offered at all. I enrolled in a rural undergraduate school because they gave me the best scholarship offer and my parents insisted on getting as many scholarships as I could (more on this towards the end of the post). Despite my university's reputation as the "stoner college" of northern Ohio, I got my butt handed to me academically and had a 3.1 GPA from that undergraduate and a 3.26 from all of my courses overall. Part of the reason was because I went for a BS, rather than a BA, in Psychology and didn't do well in the math courses with the exception of when I retook Calculus 2.
After my first year, I wanted to take a break from college, but I was forced to stay at the behest of my parents. They even hired a life coach who worked with me from a distance for all four years. As grateful as I am for that support, I realize it was the beginning of issues with becoming totally independent. Fast forward to graduation and I have one summer's worth of lab experience and a 3.5 PSY GPA to my name. I'm forced to take a gap year because I applied only to Ph.D programs (big mistake) and had low GRE scores.
So, how did I get into graduate school with my awful credentials? My parents hired a different coach who specialized in job applications and had a lot of connections. I was able to sell what little I had and get offers to 6/8 Master's programs I applied to in Experimental Psychology and had solid references that explicitly address that they thought I could do well despite my shortcomings. This coach taught me how to contact potential advisors and professors ahead of time and taught me the ins and outs of selling myself to get in.
My final Master's record upon graduation was a 3.48 GPA and I graduated a semester later. My final year of the Master's program, I reconsulted my old coach who helped me write my personal statement and get in contact with potential advisors again. I got two interviews and had one offer of admission to the current Ph.D program I'm in right now. This was despite my lackluster GPA (both undergrad and Master's) and not taking another 10 hours for an assistantship during my Master's program (no additional TAship or RAship in other words, even though everyone else in my program did something extra by their second year).
After I matriculated into the program, I got my Master's in December 2020 due to COVID delays and defending later than I had hoped in my case. I eventually had an ugly falling out with my first advisor due to a misunderstanding (I'll leave it at that since this background detail is already long), but thankfully passed my qualifier project still. I think the world of my current advisor, especially since he was the only one who took me when no one else would at all. I developed PTSD from the experience with my first advisor based on a neuropsychological evaluation I got back in August 2023. When I spoke to the original evaluator for my autism, she said that it was only likely that way because my stress management is characteristically poor and I have extremely low stress tolerance.
Fast forward to now and I recently turned 30 earlier this month. I am back with the old coach who helped me with my Master's and Ph.D applications once again and they're even helping me with "life stuff," getting through all of it and were immensely crucial for helping me get through the situation with my first Ph.D advisor.
I am thankful for the help I've received, but as the top of comment of a previous post alluded to in this instance, I have not learned to walk on my own.
In case this information is relevant, I have $53k in student loan debt principal. The undergraduate loans are eligible under Biden's SAVE plan and have their interest waived when payments are due since they're $0 at the moment. I have about $26k saved right now that I'm not going to put back toward my $24k of graduate loans until I know if I have income after this August.
I have student loan debt even though my father makes over $200k a year ever since I was around 10 years old and my mother makes anywhere between $60k-$80k a year. My parents do not have student loans since neither went to college. I also just learned that the coach billed my parents for around $680 each month over past two (highest ever). Even though its $100 per one hour session (thus leading me to think it was $200 a month since we meet twice a month). Turns out they charged for email and text communications with me even though those were encouraged. Should I feel guilty for not keeping track of the spending despite the agreement with my parents to help me on that? Given everything else mentioned earlier, should I feel guilty for "blowing through" these support systems? Folks love to tell me that someone who had half the resources I did taking my spot in graduate school instead could've gone further.
There is also something else I've been wondering ever since I learned their income levels. Other than the spending on me and my brothers, why would they be that insistent on me and my brothers taking out student loans? They said that they, my grandparents, and me would all pay for "a third" and part of that third on me and my brother's end was taking out student loans. I should also note that I went to a private high school for those with disabilities tuition free despite my parent's income as well because I got an autism scholarship from the state of Ohio that waived tuition.
Only other things I know that are finance related are the $350k in loans (not sure if this was principal or principal + interest) my father took out for his small business, which I know were paid off around my junior year of undergrad. Other than that, I don't know the mortgage of the house or anything else related to its value. I do know there's a mortgage in general though because one of my brothers asked if he paid for the house upfront and he said he did not at all and took out a loan. What else could be underlying their spending? I'm open to hearing others speculate.
Also, thank you for reading this super long post.

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