First of all, I'm so grateful for each person here who has shared about their experience with Ballet 5:8. I found ex58 after a random TikTok search one night last November, on the off chance anyone on TikTok had a negative experience there like I did. I found a series of videos from one ex-dancer at 5:8 who shared her experiences and mentioned this subreddit, and I debated about making a post for a while. Part of me was terrified that J would see it and figure out who I am and hate me even more for it (which is definitely my people-pleaser tendencies + trauma coming through), but I really don't care anymore. Hi J, if you're there. 👋
I was a staff member at Ballet 5:8 for four-ish months, which is a minuscule amount of time compared to many of you. It's heartbreaking to hear what you endured. I guess my four months there demonstrate how quickly J and the culture she's created can completely shatter a person's self-worth, faith, and beyond.
I was fresh out of college and desperately looking for a job. "Desperately" because I was in the midst of a season of rough mental health and family dynamics, and I needed something to keep me occupied. Up to this point, I had done PMarketing/Advertising for a few agencies as internships and part time, but nothing full time. I stumbled across a LinkedIn job post for an open staff position at Ballet 5:8 that seemed to align with my skills perfectly. It seemed to be some sort of match made in heaven that Ballet 5:8 was also a Christian organization and I was a Christian who had danced for 10+ years. All I needed to do was move across the country to Chicago. What could possibly go wrong?
The First Red Flags

• Turnover Rate - While I was interviewing, my soon-to-be-boss (not J) mentioned that 5:8 had been looking for someone to fill this role for at least a year, but the past few people they had chosen to fill the role either left or moved on to other opportunities. Huh. Despite multiple different people filling the role, there seems to be a common denominator...wonder who...
• Salary & "Benefits" - My high-school-age brother, who worked as a cashier at Panera at the time, made slightly more than what I made as a salaried employee at Ballet 5:8. Oh, and health insurance? Definitely not. It's laughable. I know you're a non-profit organization, but if you're going to try to hire someone to promote your entire brand, you might want to consider paying them more than Panera.
• Love Bombing - During my second round of interviews and as they were preparing to tell me I got the job, I remember Julianna saying something similar to, "We've been searching and praying for this role to be filled for years and we've finally found you. You're the person we've been waiting and praying for." Yeah, yeah. It was music to my people-pleaser ears at the time, but deep down I knew it was a load of crap to get me to sign on and drink the B58 kool-aid.
• Job Description - They made it sound like I'd be managing and directing a team, which is something with which I did have prior experience. However, they failed to mention that the rest of the "team" was currently a product of their imagination and they were planning to one day hire more people to support my role. This part alone led to a vast amount of stress on my part and infinite expectations on J's, because at least they had one person now, rather than none. Maybe I'll tell some of those stories here someday, which make up the bulk of the horrors. They had absolutely no idea what they needed, but they had a precise vision for the miraculous outcome that would follow each project and task I was assigned. A massive TikTok following overnight! A whole perfect Wikipedia page! Becoming bigger and "more obnoxious marketing-wise" than Shen Yun! Yes, those were a few of the goals.

I know those red flags should've been more than enough to make me run for the hills rather than accept the job. Hindsight truly is 20/20. Without my already terrible mental health clouding my judgement, or the love bombing mixed with my people-pleasing tendencies, there is no way in hell I would've ever agreed to work there.

1. BTN > College Graduation? Beyond the Nutcracker is ridiculous in my opinion, but unfortunately that's not what this is about. This is about the fact that Julianna & my (other) managedirect boss (who has since left 5:8) wouldn't let me go to my own college graduation ceremony because Ballet 5:8 was *far more important,* despite me requesting to attend my graduation 4+ months in advance and already making arrangements for a hotel, flights, and my grandparents to come. For context, I took summer classes and graduated during the summer term, so my university's next commencement was in December. Why did Julianna need me at 5:8 so desperately at that time? None other than to have me help operate the damn BTN ticket booth. I wish I could say I quit then and there when they told me I couldn't attend my graduation, but I stayed. My last day with Ballet 5:8 was working that Beyond the Nutcracker show, which otherwise would've been my graduation day.
   
2. Merry Christmas By late Novembeearly December, I was completely broken. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't focus, I couldn't even cry anymore. I could, however, feel the most overwhelming sense of anxiety at the thought of giving my two-weeks notice. I will never forget the night I pressed the send button on that email, going directly to J and my boss. If I thought J's intimidation tactics during the previous 3.5 months had been hell, I hadn't seen anything yet. Unfortunately, the morning after I submitted my two-weeks notice was a work day, so I went in early and tried to prepare myself for J's rage. It came, but through snarky comments under her breath, rushing past me on her way into her office, the silent treatment, and multiple vague and dramatic messages in the all-staff Slack. "Nothing like a good punch to the gut right before Christmas!" Oh please. You've managed to control and/or traumatize an entire organization for years. Don't let me, a barely 20-year-old at the time, intimidate you. There's a grinch or scrooge joke in here somewhere. In brief, she didn't speak a word to me for the last two weeks of my time there.
   
3. Chicago (Again) It's been a few years since Ballet 5:8. I moved back home. I'm married now. And I'm moving back to Chicago now. My husband's job is requiring us to move there for at least the next four years, and while I'm excited at the chance to redo my time in Chicago, I'm also terrified that the bad memories will be too much and I'll be living in fear the entire time. That being said, what were/are some of the things you've enjoyed in Chicago? I'm open to any recommendations. 😅
   

If you managed to make it this far, thanks for reading. I've found so much comfort by reading all of your stories and I'm grateful to have the space to share parts of mine.

I’d love to hear ideas for a Psionic focused expansion.
Here are the ones living rent free in my brain:
More Espionage. First and foremost, I fully expect that a Psionic focus will add and expand to espionage systems in place. From the Second Foundation to the Bene Geserit, from Anya Forger to Alfred Baxter, Psionics involves espionage, surveillance, and mind manipulation. And I for one would like to: * Influence politics in another empire * Steal Leaders * Sow mistrust amongst federations and vassals * Ferment rebellions * Remove corporate holds and replace them with your own.
Advanced Authorities a given since we got them in machine age, with the cybernetic’s individualistic vs collectivistic axis and physical vs virtual of synthetic. For Psionic, the authorities could instead go along an enlightening vs concealing axis. The enlightened governments are focused on output, stability, and/or leaders. While the concealing is focused on infiltration, manipulation, cloaked ships, faction affinity and/or the council.
Ascending to a higher plane, One thing that took me by surprise was the synthetic ascension giving bio pops the virtual trait if they picked a “virtual” authority. It would be neat if the “enlightened” option gave us unique traits to modify the Psionic pops.
Psionic Hives I think this is a constant community request, and just as we can assimilate into the hive with cybernetics, we should be able to assimilate through psionics, but I would like to see a very different gameplay for the concealing psi hive, one based on everyone’s favorite hated corporation: crime syndicates. Let me explain how the “crime” hive works:

• You can open holdings on planets, like a megacorp. Just like the crime syndicates, you don’t need trade deals.
• Some buildings will give resources, straight up like the megacorp, but the fun comes with the other holdings.
• Some holdings can ferment crime and lower stability.
• Other holdings slowly siphon pops, transferring pop growth to you.
• With Gene Tailoring technology, the psi-hive can take xeno compatiblity, allowing them to breed hybrids in their holdings, which build up armies that will join you in an invasion.

Origins We have already a psionic ascension origin in teachers of the shroud, but I can think of two new origins for the game:

• The Psi-tronic Brain: Requires Materialist or Machine empire, locks all ascensions except Psionic. Wether it’s a shroud planet in the system, or some artifact, this empire is wracked and assaulted by strange signals. Only a strong mind, or subroutine, can withstand the tide. Or, a Zro colony foresaw their doom, and left a path to their resurrection, by having machines that can store their souls. Regardless, by studying the strange substance, Zro, can the empire master the secret of psionic machines. It’d be cool if this origin got a unique covenant, one inspired by Vashtorr the Arkifane. Actually, there is a shroud being who already fits this concept, maybe take a good look at the S875.1 Warform? The blessing of the Animator of Clay has allowed the warform to survive in the most hostile conditions, and adapt to its corrosive environment
• The Brain-Slugs: Brain slugs, brain slime, neuro parasites, etc. this is the espionage origin. Start with unique governments (slug assembly, slug council, slugorship, the royal slug, corporate slugs, and slug hive). You can choose symbiosis, allowing for non slugs to join as full citizens, or maintain the slug-dom. They don’t need to be slugs, see: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PuppeteerParasite . The main premise is that, unlike a necrophage, these parasites/symbionts don’t need to kill elevate their hosts, instead they are full on infiltrationists, essentially they have unique espionage missions that allow them to steal pops, gain colony ships, and can covertly infiltrate primitives at any point of their tech tree.

Reject the Covenants: It would be cool if we could pick an option where we decide to safeguard against the Shroud, rejecting covenants and gaining the ability to establish a unique enclave of monks/knights.
Guild Navigator Civic: This Civic is child of Privatized Exploration and Augmentation Bazaars. A Megacorp, whose space exploration has been limited by the presence of a Psionic caste of pilots. It: * Can’t be egalitarian. Can’t be Materialistic or a Machine. Also can’t be removed, and limits all ascensions except Psionic. * species starts with a unique trait, navigator gene, that has a chance of giving leaders the latent Psionic trait. Always rolls at least one Admiral of the species to have a unique Navigator trait that boosts jump cooldown. * replaces a leader slot with a powerful guildmaster, which can only be filled by a navigator gene, latent Psionic, or Psionic pop. * Gain access to a limited psi-jump drive, similar to the subspace drive. * While unlocking Zro might make sense, one simple idea that would convey the navigators is to give a -75% reduction in naval capacity from all other or traditional sources, and a unique trade policy that converts trade value into naval capacity. * The Councilor position lowers the distance cost of opening corporate holdings.

Hello everybody. As the title says I’m looking to do a fandom roleplay. Here are some I would like to do:

1. Spider man across the spider verse (OCXOC) after joining the spider society and getting the the bracelet that basically lets you to travel to any verse from Miguel. You seemed to notice one person. About the same age as you, and Miguel’s son (aka my OC character). You have seen him walk through base but never spoke to him since he just seems cold and silent. Only knowing how to follow orders and take down anybody in his path, however you were more of the friendly outgoing type of person. So one day you approached me after you saw me in HQ. Could you maybe bring out a good side of me that I don’t show people at all? And possibly win my heart? Who knows
   
2. Spider man across the spider verse (Gwen X OC, heads up for this one miles will not be involved). After everything that happened between Peter in her universe.. and losing miles, Gwen didn’t know what to do now. She basically lost both of her best friends, so whenever she was in the spider society she mostly kept to herself like always, that’s until we got assigned a mission to bring a villain from earth-(whatever number you’d like). She saw how I was positive even when things went wrong.. and she liked that about me. As time passes we became friends.. to Gwen slowly realizing she has developed feelings for me
   
3. The last of us 2 game (we can come up with a plot for that)
   
4. RDR2 (Basically an OC O’driscoll X a OC van der linde gang character)
   

If you read all the way through in your first message send “Book” and a ref with your character. Please be detailed when replying please

Looking for a little help here. We're in Texas if that makes a difference. About 3 years ago my son was riding his bike in our neighborhood, and has he came out of an alley he was hit by an elderly driver. Nothing too serious but he did have a swollen knee that required a little bit of physical therapy. After a little bit of back and forth the insurance company agreed to a $30,000 payout. My wife and I also requested reimbursement for medical expenses which amounted to about $2,500. In doing so we were asked to provide receipts for reimbursement. Because of my son's age a third-party Council, sorry I forget the actual title of the person, was appointed to make sure that a fair amount was accepted. He was very clear that he was not to advocate for either party. So again we were under the impression we were getting a $30,000 settlement plus $2,500 in medical reimbursement. Over the course of about 2 years or was it back and forth with different attorneys and representatives for the insurance company and we had to explain ourselves at least 3 or 4 times to different parties that we were seeking at $30,000 settlement plus the reimbursement. Each time we were asked to submit receipts. Flash forward to today and we are being told by an attorney that we have to accept the $30,000 settlement and that any reimbursement will come out of that money. We insisted that we were told differently but the attorney has continued to overtalk us talk down to us and indicate that there's no budging on their part. After our conversation today he told us we have until Tuesday to make a decision and he wanted to know our address so he can send us a check. My wife and I have hesitated getting attorney because we didn't want to chew into what was going to be set aside for our son. Now we're wondering if it's too late to get legal advice and what the repercussions would be if we don't make a decision by tuesday. We're not idiots, but we're totally out of our element. Any advice or direction would certainly be appreciated.

Hi, I haven't come here in a long time. I have my knickers in a twist, I guess. There's a pivotal plot point near the climax of my story that idk if it feels repetitive because it's related to royalty... and there's already royalty in the book.
Let me explain.
So there's this princess/prince from another dimension, and their brother wants to kill them. Their civilization was the last remains of the Incan royalty, and they choose another dimension to hide. The princess character serves as an oracle apprentice, and isn't eligible to be the heir (is also a romantic interest of the FMC). Their younger brother is the heir. And he tries to kill their sibling and the FMC. They barely escape. So they are hiding in the FMC dimension.
But then something happens with the other main characters. They have to cross the sea and need the passage of a goddess. The goddess refers to a mermaid among the group as 'Daughter of the queen of the sea', but there's already royalty so idk if it would mix things up and confuse readers. The storyline is supposed to go as this: The mermaid character is the bastard daughter of the former queen of the sea, disguised under another family an other name. She has been waiting all these years to take back the throne from the governor, who made a coup to take it from the queen.
The mermaid is part of the advisers of the governor. And she plans to take the FMC sword to kill the queen.
I guess I should have done an outline for the story in general (I plan to do 5 books, this is the second), but I don't know how to do one and connect every dot in the story. I need help in that department.
Any thoughts? Is it too repetitive? How do I make it make sense?

I’m a 20F my now ex is 20M, this was an hour ago. For context we have been dating for seven months now and we’re both in college. We had meant each other on campus when he was working at the campus cafe.
And we click really well we went on dates together and had became official in Oct 13 of 2023.
Everything has been great so far we have been in small arguments but we work them out. The last few months however have been a little lacking on both ends for us, usually for dates or even hanging out. We tried to be intimate for a bit but both of us have found it lacking as well but fully I was ok with I just like him with me and have his company apparently that was not that case…
The hour ago- we planned to go on a date TODAY and Tomorrow. A date up at his place in the city and a date down at my town area…anyway I park my car and see him I was really excited and ran up and saw him and kiss him. I smiled and was happy. I said let me go get my bag(to stayover night) but he need to talk in the car I thought some bad was going to happen and when we went in he’d said “I think we should not see each other anymore” and that’s when it shatter. I was taken aback and was about to just leave but he said if I wanted to talk. I ask if” I did anything wrong, that if I did I could change.” He said no that I should not change just for him.” He said “there was no spark anymore like there was when we first meet nor could he see a future with us together.” and genuinely he was carrying about it and he was crying I saw it with my own eyes that this would not be easy for him to, I was crying hysterical and I was wondering. I kept going in and out. I ask if there was anything that I do wrong. He kept saying no that I’m really a great person that some will find me and take care for me better then he could. I was heartbroken. We hug and cried. He said he just needs to be single for a bit but back at it we will see different people and move on with our lives. We promise each other to do stuff over the summer to try to forget about this but the memories that we have had we amazing and that the time we spent there was no regrets having this relationship. He said.
I said promise me if we don’t see another people that we would get back together. And he said here the deal by the age of 30 if we are both single still I will marry you. But if we see people we can not get jealous with one another we can still be friends and I don’t want to ruin this friendship. He said that all will be great and that we can found different people still.
He just dose not want to drag me around if he dose not feel the same or give false hope.
We hug and cried and a few last kisses. I told my family but they said it’s ok people come and go in your life that he was not the one and god has better plans that I’m young and I’ll see other people . I ask my dad and he said it’s ok to hurt but you will go to sleep and next day is a new day and after awhile you will be better.
The thing is I want him to be in my life still as a future partner.
Should I just let go or keep hope that we will both meet again.
Reddit I’m crying my eyes out any advice.

For starters, I live 5 minute drive away from my parents. Hubbies family live in another state. I'm an only child.
Everything has to be on their terms. If we don't go there we don't see them.
We both work full time with 4 kids. Every day except for Sunday is taken up with commitments, we are completely fine with the fact that this is our life for the foreseeable future (we don't expect "help" from them). We have about 2 hours per day that is free (ie wind down, organise the the next day, actually talk to each other etc.)
I don't want to go there, the kids are bored, their dog sucks, their house stinks. ADHD 6y/o starts destroying stuff, toddler can't go to sleep anywhere etc.
Passive agressive messages about "haven't seen you in ages", "I'm missing my grandchildren", no response when we suggest coming to our house, or alternative plans when we explain why 4pm on a Thursday doesn't work for us.
Starting to think some serious mental health issues might be going on. But they have no issues with visiting friends or extended family, or attending hobbies etc. outside of the house.
Ugh... emotionally draining and feeling guilt for something that shouldn't be taking up emotional brain space in my head.

Capfriendly has the Avs July 1st cap space at $15,916,250 with 11 roster spots open.
Pending RFAs -Casey Mittelstadt: -62gp 14G 33A 47pts w/ Buffalo -18gp 4G 6A 10pts w/ Avalanche -Mittelstadt is the main piece to sign this offseason as he has stepped into the 2C role and thrived after being acquired from Buffalo, and at only 25 he is a piece to lock up for the future.
-Alex Beaucage: -21gp 1G 6A 7pts w/ Colorado Eagles -29gp 11G 14A 25pts w/ Utah Grizzlies -At 22, he is likely looking at a deal coming his way this offseason. Slotted to be with the Eagles for the time being, if he performs well, he could become a float between Denver and Loveland or see himself being moved in a more “win-now” focused deal
-Jason Polin: -7gp 1G 0A 1pt w/ Avalanche -42gp 4G 6A 10pts w/ Colorado Eagles -An Eagles mainstay this season, who spent some time with the big club this year, he is likely looking at another year primarily with the Eagles, and at 24 another cheap deal is likely in the Avs best interest.
-Wyatt Aamodt: -60gp 6G 8A 14pts w/ Colorado Eagles -An AHLer this season and not much else, he is looking at more playing time with the Eagles this upcoming season. Will likely see a qualifying offer.
-Gianni Fairbrother: -1gp 0G 0A 0pts w/ Colorado Eagles -8gp 1G 2A 3pts w/ Utah Grizzlies -Part of the Newhook trade in 2023, Fairbrother is a young, only 23, developing defenseman who could see increased playing time in Loveland, and Utah, but is a way away from being a potential AHL call-up.
Pending UFAs -Andrew Cogliano: -75gp 6G 13A 19P -At 36, the NHL journey is coming to an end for Cogliano in the near future, it appears he likes it in Colorado, and Colorado likes him. For the right price, Cogs will be back in the burgundy and blue as pillar of the bottom-6.
-Jonathan Drouin: -79gp 19G 37A 56P -A guy who has come into his own this season in Denver, while a new contract will be expensive, it is in his best interest to stay in Denver and playing next to his QMJHL buddy MacKinnon.
-Brandon Duhaime: -62gp 4G 4A 8pts w/ Minnesota -18gp 1G 4A 5pts /Colorado -A high energy player who is not afraid to play the body and muck it up in the o-zone. At 26, for the right price, the Avalanche could benefit from a deal.
-Joel Kiviranta: -10gp 3G 6A 9pts w/ Colorado Eagles -56gp 3G 6A 9pts w/ Colorado Avalanche -I don’t see Kiviranta coming back next season, I feel the Avs can replace his production and energy from within.
-Yakov Trenin: -60gp 10G 4A 14pts w/ Nashville -16gp 2G 1A 3pts w/ Colorado -Another piece in a crucial bottom 6 for the Avalanche, for the right price, would be welcomed back with open arms.
-Jack Johnson: -80gp 3G 13A 16pts w/ Colorado -At 37, I am not sure he fits into the window for the Avs anymore. His production can be replaced from within, or through a younger free agent on the market. But his veteran presence is likely highly important in the locker room
-Caleb Jones: -12gp 0G 6A 6pts w/ Colorado Eagles -25gp 0G 5A 5pts w/ Colorado Avalanche -Not expecting Jones to be back with the team next season, while high-energy, the production is just not at the level it needs to be at across the board, another case of he can be replaced from within.
-Sean Walker: -63gp 6G 16A 22pts w/ Philadelphia -18gp 4G 3A 7pts w/ Colorado -Unfortunately, Walker has likely priced himself out of Colorado and will be wearing a different logo come October. Giving up a 1st stings for a rental, and I would expect the Avalanche to kick tires and see if an agreement can be made.
-Fredrick Olofsson: -20gp 3G 9A 12pts w/ Colorado Eagles -57gp 3G 6A 9pts -I would not expect Olofsson back in Colorado in 2024-25, his production can be replaced, and did not play with the big club during the most important part of the year
-Spencer Smallman -53gp 12G 9A 21pts w/ Colorado Eagles -Another AHLer who is likely looking at a deal to be mainly a piece in Loveland, don’t expect to see Smallman play with the Avalanche
-Riley Tufte: -67gp 23G 22A 45pts w/ Colorado Eagles -5gp 1G 1A 2pts w/ Colorado Avalanche -A high-energy and hungry player during this sort stint with the Avalanche this season, I expect him to have a new deal and be fighting for a mainstay spot in the Avalanche roster at training camp.
-Nathan Clurman -37gp 1G 4A 5pts w/ Colorado Eagles -At 26, Clurman is likely an AHL only defenseman, and is likely low on the pecking order when it comes to call-ups, I think a deal is negotiated for cheap. Also he’s a Boulder native.
-Brad Hunt -70gp 16G 33A 49pts w/ Colorado Eagles -As captain of the Eagles this season, I definitely think Hunt is due for another deal here in Colorado, as well as being a call-up candidate in event of injury
-Corey Schueneman: -64gp 4G 18A 22pts -Another likely AHLer, we’ll see what happens. Could go either way.
-Ivan Prosvetov: -11gp 8gs 4W-3L 3.70GAA .881SV% -At 25, Prosvetov is likely wanting to find a place to prove himself in a backup and potentially starting goalie, I feel the Avs want to keep him to depth purposes, but I don’t see Prosvetov staying.
Resigned: Mittelstadt, Drouin, Trenin, Tufte and others
Resigned for the right price: Walker, Duhaime, Cogliano, Johnson, Prosvetov, and any of the other AHL guys who want to stick around
Mittelstadt and Drouin will eat a good portion of the cap space we have, leaving 9 roster spots open with under 10 million to spend.
League UFAs(Top 10 on Capfriendly) -Steven Stamkos -Sam Reinhart -Matt Murray -Jake Guentzel -Tyler Myers -Adam Henrique -Anthony Mantha -Tyler Bertuzzi(🤢) -Teuvo Teräväinen -Jason Zucker
We are unfortunately probably priced out of most of the premier talent in this years free agency class. We are likely targeting bottom 6 forwards and bottom 4 defense as depth, our top players are payed for a reason, need to find the complimentary pieces. Not sure what realistic options would be.
Promotion from within options -Riley Tufte(pending UFA) -Oskar Olausson -Jean-Luc Foudy -Sean Behrens -Sam Malinski -Nikolai Kovalenko -Calum Ritchie -Mikhail Gulyayev(Under contract with Avangard Omsk until 2025/26)
-I think the lack of money to play with is the perfect opportunity for our young talent to step in a prove themselves, or can become trade pieces to improve. Olausson and Foudy are the most dire in need to make the jump, we are running out of time on their development as prospects. A full season will undoubtedly help Kovalenko, as he can adjust to the North American game and can likely become a valuable piece on the 2nd or 3rd line. Ritchie will have to wait until training camp to see if he is ready for the jump, at only 19, he can afford to wait to make the move full time and flesh out his game. Gulayayev is a pipe dream this year, although I believe once he makes the move he will be a quality defenseman who will inject some youth in a d-core that is starting to age.
Definitely leave your thoughts, opinions and other comments. I’d love to discuss.

With George's latest mention of Winds my hopes have never been higher.
It's fairly safe to assume he'll be doing some form of panel/QnA at WorldCon in August so I'd love it if any more info comes out then.
My main hope is that with Season 2 of HOTD there will be some new lore given to us which is relevant in Winds, namely The Pact of Ice and Fire and as this will be extremely relevant to Jon's story; dragons in Winterfell (eggs??) and at The Wall will be extremely interesting to see. Not to mention Harronhal and The Gods Eye has been in a few trailers so I'm dying for a crumb of info here.
All of George's projects are bottlenecked by things which we will find out in Winds, so my dream (of spring) is that with the new info and hype following HOTD2 we'll ride that into Winds announcement for winter this year.
There is also the stage play of Harronhal Tourney which was delayed from last year to the end of this year. Surely this will confirm R + L = J as cannon (outside the show) and would contain stuff which would either be extremely relevant stuff going into Winds, or George might only want it to come out after Winds as to not spoil any reveals he wants to do in the books.
(See you all in 2025 when we have no more information and this ages like mother's milk)

I am a 64M, married, college professor. I am active in my liberally progressive church.
Part of our denominations work is to empower women, particularly in developing countries. As a result, I traveled to Haiti 10 years ago to volunteer at a community center in the mountains outside of Jacmel. I traveled there 4-5 times over 5 years.
During the first visit I met a young man whom I befriended. He would be the age of my son if I had sons (3 daughters). He just turned 34.
We sponsored him and I found an internship for him in the USA in 2017. In 2019 he came and stayed 6 weeks with us.
In 2021 we met him and talked to an immigration lawyer and worked to get an F1 student visa for him to come live with us and get his Masters degree. He has completed 2 of 3 semesters work.
He made very few friends, mostly worked on campus and studied.
Tonight he told me he is going out (again) to "play games" with the "Church of Jesus Christ" people. There are two female missionaries but I don't know if they have anyone else included. My friend is protestant, mostly Methodist, far more conservative than me.
I learned about LDS when I had business in Utah and went to Provo, Orem, and SLC twice a year for about 10 years.
My experience with LDS folks has been generally very positive, but my position is substantially different than my friends.
Here are my questions:
I understand they will befriend him and eventually ask him to join the church, is that a problem?
What "games" are these missionaries playing? I assume some board games, but am I right?
His English is good, not great. He is smart, but not "worldly". Do I need to provide him any advice or insights? Do I ask the missionaries to come to our house to talk so I can meet them?

Is my cat broken?
I have a 3 year old moggy. He’s quite a large cat, around 5.5kg, not overweight but just built solidly. He’s very friendly, playful, cuddly. Generally just very sweet-natured.
He’s friendly with other cats too. Obviously many neighbouring cats are not friendly back. I’ve seen other cats bully him. There is one in particular who comes into our garden to mark territory and intimidate him. We probably moved into his territory so it’s understandable.
What I’m wondering about is that he has made friends with two cats that just hang out in our garden with him, one in particular, they will take a nap together in the sun, and occasionally play flight.
Now I have been hearing a lot of cat fights in our garden recently, but when I check, it’s not my cat. It’s one of his friends fighting other cats in our garden. Just now there was a fight happening at the bottom of the garden and our cat was near the house hiding under a chair. I opened the door to let him in of course, but he just wants to go straight back out. It’s like he doesn’t get involved in fights but still wants to monitor the situation.
Is it normal for a cat to be so passive about other cats on his territory? Is it ok when he’s just a friendly guy? Or is something up with his instincts? He’s a keen hunter though.
We aren’t his first home so I don’t know too much about his kittenhood. I got him neutered at the age of 1.

Hi folks, after having zero responses to my trusted trader job on this I'm at my wits end.
Basically about a year age my 15 year old twin inpailer power shower pump died.
My landlord went out and replaced it with exactly the same model and we had it installed.l by a local plumber.
Shortly after the plumber had left I noticed there was no hot water coming out off the shower head. Just cold. Other taps are fine.
I suspect this may be a result of the shower temperature control know somehow being able to turn 360...and some emergency cut out perhaps of the thermostatic mixer valve?
Not sure what to do as my landlord has left the responsibility to me to repair this, as he's having a personal crisis right not and we're lifelong friends.
And clues? Much appreciated

This is going to be super long :’) So i (19F) was friends with this guy (20M), (let’s call him Kyle) since 2020. When we met i was going through a breakup and he was in a very serious long term relationship. We became friends pretty quickly but it wasn’t any kind of close friendship, just surface level talking and joking around. Eventually i got with his friend (20M) with whom i broke up pretty quickly and we kind of eventually grew distant.
Years went by and we reconnected again when i was graduating and decided to plan a trip with my friend(let’s call her Katy) to a city where he studies in (he moved to a different country after graduating school). Eventually Katy couldn’t make it and him and i started to talk a lot, facetimes, texts, had each other’s pictures as wallpapers etc. He sent me a huge bouquet of flowers for my birthday since he couldn’t make it (which was pretty sweet :) ) A month later i came to visit him (the trip lasted 4 days) and i swear this was trip was one of the best times of my life. He was so gentle, funny, caring and all of the wonderful things you can think of. It wasn’t lovebombing, he was just absolutely wonderful. We did not sleep together because i have sexual trauma and asked him to take it slow and he was so understanding and kind about it, i’ll never forget it. By the end of my visit he decided to come with me to the city where i live (and well, he used to live) to see his family. So i ask him, “what are we? I really like you and i’m ready to try long distance for you” , to which he said that he didn’t plan a relationship and hoped that i would understand that long distance is difficult but he’d try it as well. So we agree on boyfriend and girlfriend.
on the ride to our home country things turned sour and i noticed he was a little distant, but didn’t give it much notice, everyone has their bad days. A day later he was very avoidant and tells me at a birthday party that he doesn’t want to be together still and wants “a less serious relationship” i felt absolutely horrible. The next few months he texts me once per day and i got fed up and just cut things off.
After some time Katy meets up with him and convinces him to see me to “fix things”. While she did that i told another girl, let’s call her Sasha, that i have this ex that i’ve been thinking about for ages and how much i miss him and how much potential we had. She was very understanding about it and shared her experience with a similar thing. Later on Sasha proposed a social project to me and Katy. We agreed and Katy suggested we invite Kyle to work with us.
Kyle joined us quickly. We started talking and flirting again even though i was a a bit defensive and mad (obviously). He then invited me for coffee to talk. We met and basically to spare you the details he told me than all he wanted was to sleep with me but eventually caught feelings and it made things complicated. i asked if there was a chance to try again and Kyle said that he wasn’t ready and suggested we stay friends. i agreed since i didn’t want to lose him again. What happened next is that Sasha started flirting and talking to him right in front of my nose. I got mad and called her out. She made everyone gang up on me and Katy in the project and we were kicked out. Out of solidarity with Katy (the project didn’t mean to me as much as it meant to her) i blocked everyone including Kyle. It’s been two years and i miss him every day. I don’t wanna betray Katy nor do i think it would be a good idea to text him and share my feelings, so i’m in constant tortures :’)
TL;DR Every day i think about someone who gave me the best days of my life yet eventually ghosted me and was mean to my friend. We’ve been on a no contact for two years, but i still miss him every day. what do i do?

Hi folks, after having zero responses to my trusted trader job on this I'm at my wits end.
Basically about a year age my 15 year old twin inpailer power shower pump died.
My landlord went out and replaced it with exactly the same model and we had it installed.l by a local plumber.
Shortly after the plumber had left I noticed there was no hot water coming out off the shower head. Just cold. Other taps are fine.
I suspect this may be a result of the shower temperature control know somehow being able to turn 360...and some emergency cut out perhaps of the thermostatic mixer valve?
Not sure what to do as my landlord has left the responsibility to me to repair this, as he's having a personal crisis right not and we're lifelong friends.
And clues? Much appreciated

Paramount: Deal Rumors Aside, What About The Operations? Can The Company Turn A Profit?
May 21, 2024 2:41 PM ET
Summary
Paramount Global remains my worst investment, but I still believe in its potential for success.
Paramount's "lack of scale" is not the reason for its underperformance as it spends about as much on content as industry leader Netflix.
Paramount's loss last year was largely the result of one-off writedowns, both domestically and internationally. These losses will not repeat going forward.
Paramount's streaming operation suffers not from lack of scale, but an abundance of overload waste, which may be alleviated under new management.
The sports slate remains best-in-class, and CBS is still the leader in broadcast scripted. CBS Television City in Los Angeles, Ca, USA. JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images
Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) (NASDAQ:PARAA) remains my worst investment. Let's just get that clear from the start. I said two years ago it was madness not to buy Paramount. That was wrong, wrong, wrong. The fact that I recommended against buying the new Warner Discovery at the same time, and heeding that warning saved a lot of money, makes me feel a little better, but not much.
And no, the fact that Warren Buffett made the exact same mistake as me doesn't help much, either. Mr. Buffett and I are about to part ways, anyway. He is now completely sold out of Paramount, while I am hanging in. Yes, I am still buying. Get all the ribbing out of your systems, and then read on.
Although a few rounds remain to be played in the game, it is no longer inconceivable that none of the various deal permutations that have been put forward for Paramount will pan out, and that it will continue as an independent company. Essentially, Redstone will block a deal with Apollo Global Management, Inc. (APO) and Sony Group Corporation (SONY) and the 'B' shareholders will litigate a Skydance deal to death.
Because so many Seeking Alpha articles are already offering a blow-by-blow analysis of the deal talks - and I absolutely encourage you to read them - I wanted to turn back for just a minute to a more in-depth look at Paramount's actual operations. If it stays independent, can it turn itself around?
Scale Is Not The Issue I'm angry. Usually, when an investment goes wrong, I can manage to be philosophical or even dispassionate about it. Risks of the trade, can't win 'em all, pick your maxim.
But this one is really getting to me. I'm sure part of that is simply the sheer amount of my portfolio that has suffered - I bet a lot more on Paramount than I did on my typical investment, so sure was I that it had the tools needed for success. Fortunately, some of my other media investments have worked out much, much better, or I'd really be hurting. In fact, my Netflix buy has repaired all the damage my Paramount buy has done.
Still, I'm unusually angry, partly because of the sheer amount lost. But it's also that I still don't believe there is anything wrong with Paramount, at its core. It has become quite commonplace to speak of Paramount's "lack of scale" as the reason for its apparent impending demise, or at least subsumption. But I would still argue that that isn't born out by the numbers. Paramount spent roughly $16 billion on content in 2023, the same total as 2022, when $4 billion of it was spent on streaming. That is only slightly less than Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) which leads the industry in market cap and performance, if not in spending. While the gap with other studio peers is larger, I'm not sure spending at Netflix levels equals a "lack of scale."
What's more, a lot of that extra spending by other traditional industry players like Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) and The Walt Disney Company (DIS) is not spending that investors should necessarily cheer. As I've explained before, Paramount's lower spending total is almost entirely accounted for by its far more profitable approach to sports rights; a lot of that extra spending that Disney and Warner are doing isn't particularly profitable or even sensible.
What then, does account for Paramount's underperformance?
Stock Performance That depends on which underperformance you're talking about. First, the stock price. Paramount cut its dividend in spring 2023. That announcement, with its Q1 earnings, was enough to cause half of the past-year decline in a single day. Paramount went from $21 to $16 with the dividend cut and was still at $16 as late as December.
Since then, the other half of the decline has reflected the increasing evidence that Paramount is more or less ready to throw in the towel, and intends to be a distressed seller to another studio or private equity firm soon. More specifically, it is actually Shari Redstone, who exercises control over Paramount through her 77.3% share of Paramount's Class A voting stock, who is ready to call it quits. The perception that she has no leverage and will be forced to accept a fire sale offer has driven the stock lower.
Operations All that, however, merely explains the stock market decline; what is the operational explanation for Paramount's troubles? The company reported a $600 million loss for full year 2023. How is it that one of the Big Five movie studios, with the most popular of the Big Four broadcast networks, the most popular show on cable (Yellowstone) and the only profitable sports slate in American television, can't make money?
Accounting Element First, we need to acknowledge that there are some accounting factors in that 2023 loss. Paramount took a "programming charge," i.e., a write-down of the value of programming assets, of roughly $2.4 billion in Q1 and Q2 last year. That is money that would ordinarily be amortized over a period of years - it's mostly streaming originals, which Paramount usually amortizes over a 4-year period - that instead saw its red ink taken all at once. Had it been amortized normally, Paramount would have reported an operating profit of roughly $1.2 billion, more or less identical to 2022, instead of reporting an operating loss of the same amount.
Still, that write-down reflects the fact that the content isn't performing well, so those losses were always going to happen, and they're quite real; the accounting change is simply a timing issue. So Paramount is operationally deficient, even if perhaps not quite as operationally deficient as this one-time write-down makes it look. We cannot dismiss Paramount's operational issues by putting them down to accounting distortions.
TV Scripted Content Difficulties Paramount did not break down the programming charge, but outside reports have about half of it owing to the integration of Showtime in Paramount+ as a single service. It's not entirely clear which side of the ledger those losses are coming from; one of the less understood things about merging services is that it potentially makes content on both sides less valuable as it is replaced by more popular content from the other side. Showtime's Q1 2023 viewership was very top-heavy, with just two shows, Yellowjackets and Your Honor constituting 30% of all viewership. Presumably, those two shows reduced the value of some Paramount+ existing content while the rest of Showtime's library may have suffered from competition with P+ content.
Regardless of the exact source, Paramount's content is not performing. That's a little surprising considering that, as I said, CBS content is actually quite popular on the linear side. In fact, in the earnings call following the annual report now-former CEO Bob Bakish reported that CBS had the top 16 scripted programs and 18 of the top 20 in the first week of post-strike broadcasts. Paramount has disclosed in the past that CBS content makes up roughly half of the viewership on Paramount+; and this is despite the fact that P+ isn't even the sole beneficiary of CBS content; roughly $600 million per quarter of Paramount's licensing revenue comes from CBS shows as well.
One possibility that I perhaps did not consider sufficiently was the chance that the unique characteristics of CBS would make it harder for that channel to transition to streaming than its other broadcast peers. CBS is the most popular of all broadcast networks, but that popularity owes disproportionately to more elderly viewers; in the demo, it is actually Comcast Corporation's (CMCSA) NBC which takes the top crown.
With elderly viewers both less appealing to advertisers and less likely to make the transition to streaming, it is perhaps not so surprising that CBS is continuing to perform well on linear but having trouble translating that to streaming.
International Shortfall The damage isn't through yet, either. Paramount disclosed that it took another $1.2 billion impairment charge on content in the first quarter. This one has to do with the international side; a few years ago Paramount commissioned 150 new, original international shows and movies to try to boost international growth. Now, Paramount reveals that even international consumers spend no less than 90% of their time streaming Hollywood content; the local originals aren't doing very much for growth or retention.
About the only good thing that can be said about this complete and utter debacle is that it is a one-off; unlike Paramount's US content spending, which is ongoing and therefore must be made more efficient if Paramount is to survive and thrive, Paramount is gradually exiting International production. In fact, to help cover the losses on its international originals it is selling its share in Viacom18, the network that formerly served as Paramount's onshore operation in India, to its partner Reliance for a little over $500 million.
Where Are The Children? Yet another factor is children's programming. While many have essentially written off Paramount's entire cable channel group, and I agree the prognosis for MTV and Comedy Central is rather grim, I have argued that Nickelodeon remains a real asset, as one of the top two children's channels in linear TV. I believed that would be a powerful subscriber acquisition tool, alongside sports, as the streaming transition continued.
It hasn't worked out. Surveys consistently show the Big 3 for parents with children are Netflix, Disney, and the third is Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) of all things. Neither Paramount+ nor Warner Discovery's Max make the cut, despite ownership of top children's linear platforms/libraries Nickelodeon and Looney Tunes, respectively.
The prognosis here isn't entirely grim. Paramount has reported that half of their streaming subscribers touch kids' content regularly, so clearly Nickelodeon does mean something to the subscribers. It's possible it helps with retention, even if it doesn't drive acquisition. Paramount owns the number one brand for pre-school kids, Paw Patrol.
Paramount has shut down the separate Noggin streaming service and will presumably be amplifying the kids content on P+ as a result, so perhaps this trend will yet turn around. With so many other things going wrong, though, the inability to make kids content more central to the strategy is a painful blow.
The Mismanagement Of Streaming I suspect, however, that Paramount's single biggest defect over the past few years has been the competency of its management. In a streaming world, success hinges overwhelmingly on the efficiency with which a content budget is deployed. That efficiency, in turn, requires avoiding the trap of "overload," something cable doesn't have to worry about but which can kill a streaming service.
What Is Overload? In brief, overload is when a streaming service spends money on content that appeals primarily to those subscribers who were already subscribed and intending to remain subscribed, even without that content. Because revenue does not increase with more viewership, such spending is essentially wasted money. I have been arguing for several years that some economic models of streaming profitability fail to take account of this significant element.
Paramount seems to have had a lot of overload in the last few years. Specifically, its single most broadly appealing piece of content is the NFL, which Paramount is an anchor broadcaster for. Because NFL fans are accustomed to spending upwards of $100 a month on cable just to watch the NFL - over 10% of cable subscribers say that the NFL is the only reason they're still subscribing - Paramount's $6-$12 a month fee for streaming really doesn't need anything more than NFL games to attract these 40-50 million fans.
The Earnings Jaw-Dropper And yet, it seems that's where a lot of the extra streaming money has been going. On the Q2 earnings call last year, CEO Bob Bakish, watching the stock price steadily decline, seemed to be eager to reassure he had a handle on the situation and began describing some of the changes he'd be making. It started out well enough, really; he told investors that NFL viewers churn drops dramatically if they also engage with entertainment titles, which is what you'd expect.
But then, he stunned me and I expect just about everyone listening when he said, "we probably need to do less for [the NFL viewer] in the fall, and more outside the fall because we can rely on the NFL." Compounding the almost Looking Glass-feeling, he then went on to reassure everyone he would be "fine-tuning" the content strategy to address that point in the years to come.
It was, frankly, stunning. Both me and I suspect just about every analyst who was modeling Paramount had just assumed it went without saying that of course, any entertainment content targeted at retaining NFL viewers should drop in the other half of the year when the NFL wasn't playing on TV. My own calculations of the profit margin on CBS's NFL deal had always incorporated that.
And while that was bad enough, it also raised the concern that a management team that didn't understand that going in might have put a lot of other overload in other categories as well. Suddenly, it wasn't so hard to see how the best-scripted shop with the most profitable sports contracts was having trouble making money. Double-loading for 50 million households would be a major drag on the financial performance for streaming.
Light At The End Of The Tunnel Despite all of this, I still think there are bright spots in the Paramount picture, even without a merger. Its operations, as well as its merger discussions, don't seem to lack potential.

1: My Usual Paramount Bull Argument: Sports Profits

One thing that continues to go right is sports content. A few years ago, I wrote that Paramount was a strong contender to become a sustainable streaming business because it had the only profitable sports slate in the business. The stock hasn't gone where I wanted it to go, but that is the one part of my thesis that has been definitively borne out. In fact, many now say that it is CBS's sports deals, at least as much as Paramount's film/TV studio, that the prospective buyers of Paramount are after.
I've covered these in other articles already. The March Madness deal runs until 2032 and the NFL deal runs until 2033, although the NFL has an opt out after 2029 that it will probably exercise given the utterly ludicrous bids the NBA is receiving, so the last four years of that deal might have to be chopped off the profit projections. Even so, Paramount can probably generate $1.25 billion a year in profit just off of those two deals for the next six years.
Those are probably the biggest, but it doesn't stop there. Almost every sports deal Paramount has is profitable. For all the flak management has deservedly taken, Paramount continues to show discipline and focus on sports. You won't find Paramount throwing $2.5 billion a year at the NBA's 'B' package, which is more money than the NFL gets for its 'B' package despite having 10x the viewership.
For all its many, many missteps, a Paramount that can just manage to stay afloat long enough for some of these ludicrous sports bets at other companies to blow up may yet find itself with cards to play later in the decade.

2: Recouping Write-downs Via Preferred Conversion

Another small boon has been the official conversion of the preferred shares. The Paramount mandatory convertible formerly trading under the PARAP ticker was capped at 0.85 shares per common share. Given the initial price of the convertible at $100 per share, that effectively means that a preferred share that was carrying a $100 liquidation value has just been converted into 1.1765 shares of a common stock currently trading around $12. A total value per preferred share of around $14.
And they sold for $1 billion, so that's basically $860 million back into the common equity that management was able to get at the peak of the boom. That actually repairs almost all of the red ink from Paramount's doomed international originals push on its own.

3: An End To Streaming Waste

Finally, a lot of the waste in streaming may soon be ending. Bob Bakish was finally fired a few weeks ago, and while I never want someone to lose their job, he frankly had looked overmatched for a while. Bakish was a lifetime cable executive who seemed to be having trouble making the transition to a streaming-world mindset. Frankly, if I knew about it in 2021, the CEO has no business fine-tuning it into the strategy in 2023.
With international originals no longer draining the coffers and overloaded entertainment programming shifted to months of the calendar where it can be more productive, streaming may yet turn the corner.
Investment Summary I recognize fully that each fall in Paramount stock makes my bullish optimism seem ever more out of step. I do believe, however, that Paramount's failures are more failures of execution than lack of scale or structural disadvantage. Paramount CEO Bob Bakish simply wasn't up to the job. Ironically that wasn't what got him fired; Bakish was almost certainly fired for opposing Redstone's plan to enrich herself at the expense of other shareholders, probably the most competent thing he did in the last few years of his whole tenure.
Paramount has everything it needs to be successful; profitable sports contracts, which is just unbelievable in this day and age, a thriving scripted TV operation, and a viable, if recently somewhat mismanaged, streaming service. An end to overload waste, the continued exploitation of its favorable sports slate, throttling back unhelpful international originals and boosting kids content engagement may yet produce a different streaming picture going forward. Should older viewers start to get more comfortable with streaming going forward and following their favorite programs to Paramount+, that would just be icing on the cake.
It's been a depressing ride the last few years, but I'm sticking with Paramount.

Evening. I'm Greyson. I come to you to ask if this is weird or a red flag on my part. Thanks for reading.
TL;DR Is it bad that I do not have a consistent age spread of friends
Lately my social circle has exploded in activity, and everyone who meets me says that I am 'nice to be around' and 'honest/genuine'. I'm not sure what they are talking about but I don't mind that label, it feels good. I'm getting older (I'm 30M) and I am big on asking people to hang out because I like to learn about people. This could be the college gamer kid I meet at a lan event or the old dude I talk to at the park.
Problem is this: My range extends a decade above and below my age. I've got friends who are 20 and some who are 40-50. Whenever I'm with the younger folks I treat them well and take them seriously/look after them, but sometimes I feel like I'm an old dude hanging around kids, like a man my age should have more friends adjacent to his age and doing something besides being with kids.
I am wondering if this is a sign of immaturity. I know that in the dating space it's looked down upon to be dating people super younger than you, and I agree, but when I'm friends with these people I tend to just treat them how they are, with the thought that they probably might not understand some deeper topics that come with getting older.
Any thoughts or .. nah?

I (19F) work as a before + after school counselor at an elementary school. It’s my first job ever, and I started last August. My supervisor (25M) has been very touchy with male students. (He is gay and single as well and acts this way with male students only).
He will play with their hair, tickle them, pick them up, sit them on his lap, lay down with them while playing with their hair, basically cuddling them. The children’s ages range from kindergarten (5) to fifth grade (10).
The student he says he has the most attachment to is a fifth grader (10M) that he met in third grade when he first moved to that site as a supervisor. He will actively seek that child to watch his grade activities during after care, he will call that child up to the sign-out and let the child use his (supervisor’s) own phone, while cuddling.
The parents of this child seem to be aware, from the interactions I’ve seen and heard, but they don’t seem concerned at all. This happens daily.
All of my past coworkers have not mentioned it at all. However, all the students know that that child is his favorite. A month ago, I got a new coworker (21F) who became like a friend to me. Today we were talking, and she brought up the topic of that fifth-grader. She told me how sketchy it seems as the supervisor will always be walking and hugging him. Not even five minutes later, our supervisor comes and sits down with us to chat with us. He mentions how sad he is that the fifth-grader is moving to middle school and leaving. He says on Friday he will be “attached by his side” and “crying, so pretend like he’s not the supervisor for the day.” My coworker and I look at each other. The supervisor then continues to say that he mentioned to the student if he doesn’t leave early tomorrow after graduation, he will buy the child ice cream and keep him in the front with him all afternoon. The mom then agreed and the child as well, according to the supervisor. Supervisor also said that he will pick up the child early from middle school just to hangout with him and take him for ice cream, or bring him back to the elementary school to stay with him.
Should I report this? It’s been happening all year, but this is the first time another coworker mentioned something.
Who do I report this to? The supervisor is friends with all the directors, and I’m scared of reporting, but nothing happens because I’m overreacting and then everyone knows I reported. The organization that we work for has STRICT rules on no hugging, touching, especially tickling or laying down with a student. The supervisor and I attended meetings together with that same topic.
What do I do??? Please help.

A month ago a Youtuber by the name of "Goatis" uploaded a video reacting to a video Nicole uploaded which was her showing what she eats in a week. He has made some disturbing comments such as:

• "18 and already a Playboy T-shirt, what a bright future"
• "Growing up in LA especially as a girl is completely going to destroy you, nothing good can come out of that" ???
• "You're so deep into the system it does not get any worse"
• "So far it seems everything about you is fake"
• " Bread is ??? food it only has glyphosate which makes you infertile which is very important at your age obviously at any age anyway when you're 18 that should be the goal of your life, should have been already"
• "It seems like from what I've seen so far that she's malnourished [...] she's obviously deficient in certain micronutrients"
• He also questioned her lifestyle as she is religious and her lifestyle is going against the Bible

And a lot more which I am not going to transcribe as it's so painful to watch a grown man talking about Nicole becoming infertile.
What do you guys think about it?

So, I want to preface this by saying I write solely in third person, and write a minimum of two paragraphs per response. I recently turned 18, and I’d prefer whoever I write with to be between the ages of 16 and 22. This story won’t include anything sexual, but there will be a lot of romantic tension and ideally some emotionally heavy moments! Bonus points if you have an original character in mind for this, and want to build a friendship outside of just being writing partners! There’s two chapters to this story, we can obviously write both but I’m more than okay with skipping over to the second chapter.
Our characters have been best friends since kindergarten. I’ve been to every one of your birthday parties, we’ve walked home together ever since we were in the second grade, we’ve even invited each other to family vacations, etc. We’ve always been close, in spite of how different we are. You were always more of an introvert, but I couldn’t be any more different. My outgoingness even landed me a small acting gig in a local commercial, which ended up snowballing into something bigger.
The first chapter of this story opens with what your character thinks is just another sleepover. My little brother keeps pestering us, all while you’re in awe of him and cheering him on. You’ve always thought of him as your own brother, and he even has a mild crush on you. Slowly, over the course of the night, our characters start to uncover some romantic feelings for each other. It’s always been looming over us, especially when other people pointed it out, but we’ve never paid much attention to it. After all, why can’t a boy and a girl just be friends. Later on, things come to a boiling point, only for my character to tell you that he’s moving to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. You’re understandably heartbroken. The morning after is awkward and uncomfortable for more reasons than one.
The second chapter of this story opens three years later. Once I left town, we didn’t stay in touch. That wasn’t really your call. Every time you tried reaching out, you would never get the responses that you expected. You suspect it’s because I were too busy to keep up with you. To fill up the empty space, you started getting into songwriting and playing the piano because you needed some way to put into words just how angry you are at me. Instead of letting it eat you up inside, you wanted to channel it into something creative. You put some of your songs up on social media and gained a small following. You started getting messages from people in the industry who wanted to sign you to a record deal and eventually, you decided to bite. While in the midst of sending out college applications, you signed with a record label.
You got an apartment in Santa Monica and started going to recording studios to work on new music. You put out your first song, that one song you’d written years ago that kept resonating with you. Obviously it was about me. All of our old friends could tell it was about me. Suddenly, you’re everywhere. Your face is on billboards, your name is in tabloids, it was... terrifying. You get an invite to an industry event, from some CEO. You figure it’s a good way to make connections. After all, you’re the new girl in town. Everybody wants to talk to you... except me.
From the minute we spotted each other across the crowded room, I never once looked your way again. It made your blood boil. You want to scream at me, make a scene, and let everyone know what an asshole I am... but you couldn’t. Instead, I’d beaten you to the punch. I gracefully made my way to you and pulled me aside.

CAPUT I
...
Know, therefore, that the purpose of this book is to describe the four kinds of spirit-men, namely, the water people, the mountain people, the fire people and the wind people. Included among these four kinds are the giants, the melusines, the Venusberg and what is similar to them.
...
How things are in relation to us will have to be described in the following order:
First, their creation and what they are;
second, their country and habitation, where they stay and what their mode of living is;
third, how they come to us and let themselves be seen, how they mix and have intercourse with us;
fourth, how they perform some miraculous works, such as Melusine, the Venusberg and similar stories;
fifth, the birth of the giants and their origin, and also their vanishing and return.
...
CAPUT SECUNDUM
...
The flesh must be understood thus that there are two: the flesh from Adam and that which is not from Adam. The flesh from Adam is a coarse flesh, for it is earthen and is nothing else but a flesh that can be bound and grasped like wood or a stone. The other flesh which is not from Adam, is a subtile flesh and can not be bound nor grasped, for it is not made from earth. Now, the flesh from Adam is the man from Adam. He is coarse like the earth which is compact. And, therefore, man cannot go through a wall. He must make a hole to slip through, because nothing recedes before him.
But before the flesh that is not from Adam, walls recede, which means that such flesh does not require doors nor holes; it goes through intact walls and does not break anything. They are both flesh, blood, bone and so on, whatever belongs to a man, and in their whole nature they are like man’s. But they are different in that they have a double origin like two cousins; they are in equal way like a spirit and like man. The spirit goes through all walls and nothing locks him out; man, however, not, for he is locked out by the bolt or the lock.
...
With all this, they bear children, talk and eat, drink and walk—things that spirits do not. Hence, they are like the spirits in speed, like man in gestures, figure and eating, and so they are people who have the character of spirits and also that of man, and both are one in them. Although they are both spirit and man, yet they are neither one nor the other. They cannot be men, since they are spiritlike in their behaviour. They cannot be spirits, since they eat and drink, have blood and flesh. Therefore, they are a creation of their own, outside the two,... It must be understood further that although they are spirit and man, yet they are neither. Man has a soul, the spirit not. The spirit has no soul, but man has one. This creature, however, is both, but has no soul, and yet is not identical with a spirit. For, the spirit does not die, but this creature dies. And so it is not like man, it has not the soul; it is a beast, yet higher than a beast.
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Now, they are separated from us because they are not from Adam and do not participate in the same earth from which Adam was made, but God has decreed that we may see them miraculously, which has a particular meaning, as will be discussed in the last treatise. They have children and their children are their kind, not ours. They are witty, rich, clever, poor, dumb like we who are from Adam. They resemble us in every way. Just as one says: man is the image of God, that is, he has been made after his image—in the same way one can also say: these people are the image of man and made after his image.
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And so they are men and people, die with the beasts, walk with the spirits, eat and drink with men. That is: like the beasts they die, so that nothing is left; and neither water nor fire harms them, like the spirits, and nobody can lock them up, like the spirits, but they reproduce like men and therewith share his nature. They have man’s diseases and his health but their medicine is not from the earth from which man is made, but from the element in which they live. They die like men, but are dead like the beasts. Their flesh rots like other flesh and their bones like other men’s bones and nothing remains of it. Their customs and behaviour are human, as is their way of talking, with all virtues, better and coarser, more subtile and rougher. The same applies to their figures : they are very different, like men. In food they are like men, eat and enjoy the product of their labor, spin and weave their own clothing. They know how to make use of things, have wisdom to govern, justice to preserve and protect. For although they are beasts, they have all the reason of man, except the soul.
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TRACTATUS II - ABOUT THEIR ABODE
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Their abode is of four kinds, namely, according to the four elements : one in the water, one in the air, one in the earth, one in the fire. Those in the water are nymphs, those in the air are sylphs, those in the earth are pygmies, those in the fire salamanders. These are not good names, but I use them nevertheless.
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The name of the water people is also undina, and of the air people sylvestres, and of the mountain people gnomi, and of the fire people vulcani rather than salamandri.
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Now you must know that if their regions have to be described, they must be divided into their parts. For the water people have no intercourse with the mountain people, nor the mountain people with them, nor the salamanders.
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The undinae have their abode in water, and the water is given to them as to us the air, and just as we are astonished that they should live in water, they are astonished about our being in the air. The same applies to the gnomi in the mountains: the earth is their air and is their chaos. For everything lives in chaos, that is: everything has its abode in chaos, walks and stands therein. Now, the earth is not more than mere chaos to the mountain manikins. For they walk through solid walls, through rocks and stones, like a spirit; this is why these things are all mere chaos to them, that is, nothing. That amounts to: as little as we are hampered by the air, as little are they hampered by the mountain, by earth and rocks.
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Since water is the fish’s air, the fish does not drown, and so the unda does not drown either. As in the water, so in the earth: the earth is air to the gnomi; hence they do not suffocate. They do not require our air, we do not theirs. Thus also with the salamanders: fire is their air, as our air our air is. And the sylvestres are closest to us, for they too maintain themselves in our air, and they are exposed to the same kind of death as we, namely: they burn in fire, and we too; they drown in water, and we too; they suffocate in the earth, and we too. For, each remains healthy in his chaos; in the others he dies.
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Let us philosophize further, about their food ... The sylphs are like men, nourish themselves like men in the wilderness, on herbs in the woods. To the salamanders the soil is earth, their heaven is the air, and fire their chaos. Thus food grows to them from the earth and from fire, and the constellation from air is their heaven.
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About their clothing: they are clothed and cover their genitalia, but not in the way of our world, in their own way. For they have modesty and similar qualities, as men must have, have law and similar institutions, have their authorities, [etc.] ... To the beasts clothing is inborn by nature, but not to these people. To them nothing is inborn by nature; they must work for it like man whom they resemble. Their work, like man’s work, is in the nature and kind of their own world and earth on which they live.
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**About their figures, know that they are different. The water people look like men, both women and men. The sylvestres do not conform, but are cruder, coarser, longer and stronger than both. The mountain people are small, of about two spans. The salamanders are long, narrow and lean. Their place and abode are in their chaos, as was mentioned before. The nymphs live in water, in running brooks, etc., so close that they grasp the people who ride through or bathe therein. The mountain people are in the mountain chaos, and there they build their houses. This is why it often happens that one finds in the earth an attic, vaults, and similar structures, of the height of about a yard. They have been build by these people for their abode and dwellings.
The water people do the same in their various places. Know also that the mountain people live in the caves of the mountains and this is why strange structures occur and are found in such places. These are their work. Know also about the fire people whose yelling, hammering and working can be heard in volcanic mountains. It can also be heard when the elements are incinerated. For all these things are the same as with us, but according to their secret quality. Those who travel through wild regions learn the reason for such beings and obtain information. There these beings are found. In the mines also, close to good ore, etc. they are found, and in waters the same also, and the vulcans near the Aetna. And there are many more marvellous things, about their coins, payments and customs, which would be too long in this connection, but will be described in their place.**
TRACTATUS III - HOW THEY COME TO US AND BECOME VISIBLE TO US
All that God has created, he reveals to man and lets come before him, so that man has and attains knowledge of all happenings of the creatures.
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And in order that we may have a good knowledge of things, the water people have not only been truly seen by man, but have married him and have born him children. Thus also, the mountain people have not only been seen, but people saw them, and talked to them, and received money from them and blows and similar things. The same happened with the forest people, as was mentioned before, the people saw them and dealt and walked with them. Thus also, with the vulcans, who also, as mentioned before, appeared to man, and revealed themselves essentially, who they were and what had to be understood of them all.
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The nymphs, namely, become apparent to us, but not we to them, except in what they tell about us in their world, as a pilgrim would, who had been in foreign lands. They do not need such rapture, the way the mountain people enrapture us, or the water people. For they have no power over man, and their world is not such that they could adopt us. Man is not subtile in body, but coarse in body and subtile in chaos, while it is the contrary with them. Therefore, they can well stand our chaos, but not we theirs. Their element also is in itself their chaos, which to us may not be chaos. Thus they appear to us, stay with us, marry with us, die with us, and also bear children.
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This happens with the water people. They come out of their waters to us, make themselves known, act and deal with us, go back to their water, come again—all this to allow man the contemplation of the divine works. Now, they are men, but on the animal side alone, without the soul. From this it follows that they marry men. A water woman takes a man from Adam, and keeps house for him, and gives birth to children. Of the children, we know that they follow after the father. Because the father is a man from Adam, a soul is given to the child, and it becomes like a regular man, who has an eternal soul. ... Just as the condition of these people is, when they are in union with man, so is the condition of man, when he is in union with God.
From this it follows that they woo man, and that they seek him assiduously and in secret. ... they seek love with man, so as to be in union with men. With them all intelligence and wisdom are outside the qualities of the soul, and not the soul.
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One must also know that not all of them may be married to us. The water people come first; they are the closest to us. Next after them come the forest people, then the mountain and earth manikins who, however, rarely marry humans and are only obliged to serve them. The vulcans never attempt to enter into union with humans, and yet are apt to serve them. Know also that two of them, namely the earth manikins and vulcans, are considered spirits and not creatures, being looked upon as a mirage only, or as ghosts. You must know, however, that just as they appear, thus they are, flesh and blood like another man, and with that, quick and fast like a spirit, as was told in the beginning. They also know all future affairs, present affairs and the past, which are not apparent but are hidden. In that they can serve man, protect, warn, guide him, and such like. For they have reason in common with man (except in regard to the soul). They have knowledge and intelligence of the spirit (except in regard to God). Thus they are highly gifted, and they know and warn, so that man may learn about such things, and see them, and believe in such creatures.
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It is said of the nymphs, that they come to us from the water, and sit on the banks of the brooks where they have their abode, where they are seen, taken also, caught, and married, as we said before. The forest people, however, are coarser than they. They do not talk, that is, they cannot talk although they have tongues and enough of all that is needed for speech. In this point they differ from the nymphs, for the nymphs can speak in the languages of the countries; the forest people, however, cannot but they learn easily.
The mountain manikins are endowed with speech like the nymphs, and the vulcans speak nothing, yet they can speak but roughly and rarely. The nymphs appear, as was said before, in human clothing, with human features and desires. The forest people are like men, but shy and fugitive. The mountain people are like men, not tall, short; sometimes they reach about half the size of man or so, sometimes more. Thus and in the same way, the vulcans appear, fiery, and fire is all over their features and clothing.
They are the ones of whom one says: a fire man or spirit is going through the house; there goes a burning soul, etc. It often happens that such figures are seen. They also are the flames that are frequently observed as glowing lights in meadows and fields, running through each other and towards each other. These are the vulcans, but they are not found living with man, on account of their fire. They are often found with old women, however, that is, with witches, wooing them.
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You must know, however, that there is danger with the fire people, because they are commonly possessed, and the devil thus rages in them, which causes great harm to man. Know also that he equally takes possession of the mountain people and thus makes them subservient to him, and of the forest people also. He then can be found in the forest possessing sylphs and venturing to make love to women who live in forest regions. But they all become like lepers, scabby and mangy, and there is no help for them either.
When these beings are not possessed by the devil they are human and seek union as has been mentioned. But they keep the way of spirits, in that they disappear. One who has a nymph for a wife, should not let her get close to any water, or at least should not offend her while they are on water. And one who has a mountain manikin with him, should not offend him, particularly not at places where they get lost. But they are so much obliged to man and so closely bound to him, that they cannot get away from him, unless there is a reason for it, and this happens at the place from which they come. If one has a wife, she does not get away from him, unless she is provoked while they are on water. Otherwise she will not disappear and can be held. The mountain manikins also must keep their pledges, when they are in service and have been pledged.
But obligations to them must be kept also, in all that is due to them. If duties are kept as should be, they are honest, constant, and intent on their work. And one must know that they are particularly loyal to man and much inclined to spending money. For, the mountain people have money, because they themselves coin it. This is how it must be understood. What a spirit wishes to have, he has, and their wishing and desiring is thus: when a mountain manikin wishes or desires a sum of money, if there is need for it, he has it, and it is good money. Thus they give money to many people in the galleries of mountains, to make them get away; they buy them off. All this is divine order— that they thus appear to us and that we see what is incredible to tell. Man is the most earthbound of all creatures. What he must have and wants, he must make for himself, and he obtains nothing by wishing and desiring it. But those people have what they need and desire, and man does nothing for it. They have it without work.
TRACTATUS IV
As we came to the end of the treatise, we had sufficiently discussed the necessities of these beings, and how they come to man. You must now, furthermore, know about their disappearance from man, and about their doings with us, with many such tales and stories that have happened with them, in many queer ways.
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It also happens that sirens are born. They are water women too, but live more on the water than in it. They are not split like fish, but are more like a virgin, yet their form is not quite that of a woman. They bear no children but are monsters, just as a strange human being can be born from two normal parents. I would like to put it thus: the water people reproduce themselves like humans, but when it happens that they produce a monster, these monsters are sirens that swim on the water, for they repudiate them and do not keep them. This is why they occur in many forms and figures, as it happens and is the case with all monsters.
Thus we marvel not only at the water people but also at the sirens, who have many strange features and are very different from people. Some can sing, some can whistle with reeds, some can do this and that. Monks are also born from nymphs, that is, a monster which is shaped just like a monk. This you must know, namely, that such growths that are comparable to men and are found in some places, come from men, that is, they come from water people, earth manikins and similar beings.
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To continue the discussion of these beings, know that such people also convene and assemble in one place, where they may live together and seek intercourse with man, for they love him. ... There are more women than men in such groups, few men, many women; hence they are after men whenever they have a chance. From such people a group originated that is called the Venusberg. It consists of nothing else but a kind of nymphs, thrown together in a cave and hole of their world, yet not in their own chaos, in man’s chaos, but in their regionibus. Know about them that they reach a very old age, but you cannot notice it, because their appearance remains the same from beginning to end, and they die unchanged. Venus was a nymph and undine who excelled others and reigned for a long time, but she died and the succeeding Venus was not as endowed as she had been. She died in the course of time and her kingdom vanished. There are many tales about her.
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There is a story about a different beginning. It tells of a queen who resided there and sank into the earth. It was a water woman who resided there. She went into the mountain, under the pond that was above her, in her region. There she took her abode, and for making love, she built a gallery, for her to get to the lads and they to her. Such strange things happened there that nobody was able to report about these beings, what they were or where they were from, until it came to an end. It is quite possible that this could happen again should another nymph come, equal to her.
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There is also a true story of the nymph in Staufenberg who sat on the road in all her beauty and served the lord she had chosen. ... Our nymph was a water woman. She promised herself to von Staufenberg and stayed also with him, until he married another wife, and took her for a devil. Taking her for a devil and considering her such, he married another woman and thus broke his promise to her. Therefore, at the wedding, she gave him the sign, through the ceiling, during the banquet, and three days later, he was dead.
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We must pay equally great attention to Melusine, for she was not what the theologians considered her, but a nympha. It is true, however, that she was possessed by the evil spirit, of which she would have freed herself if she had stayed with her husband to the end. For such is the devil that he transforms these beings into different shapes, as he also does with the witches, transforming them into cats and werewolves, dogs, etc. This happened to her also, for she never was free of witchcraft but had a part in it. A superstitious belief resulted, that on Saturdays she had to be a serpent. This was her pledge to the devil for his helping her in getting a man. Otherwise, she was a nympha, with flesh and blood, fertile and well built to have children. She came from the nymphs to the humans on earth and lived there. But then, as superstitio seduces and vexes all beings, she went away from her people in her superstitious belief, to the places where the seduced people come who are bewitched in superstitionibus and spell-bound. Mind you, she remained the same serpent to the end of her life, and God knows how long it lasted.
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TRACTATUS V - DE GIGANTIBUS - On Giants
You must know further that there are two more kinds that belong to the kind of nymphs and pygmies, namely, the giants and dwarfs, who are not born from Adam. Although it is a fact that Saint Christopher was a giant, yet he took birth from human seed, and hence we shall not write about him. But we shall write about the other giants, referred to in the stories of Bern, Sigenott, Hiltbrant, Dittrich, etc., also about the dwarf Laurin and others. Such stories are frequently rejected, but you must know that the same people who reject them, reject also much more important truth.
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To come to an end, know that such people, giants and dwarfs, may well make women from Adam pregnant, because same likes to meet same, and nature may permit it. Yet you must know that the monsters are not fertile, although they are monsters only so far as their strength and size is concerned; they are not misbuilt. But they have only one seed available, that is, they do not attain the third, fourth, etc. generation. Know also that when they get into man’s kind, the result is uncertain. If the child’s body takes after the mother it falls into her kind; if not, it becomes a beast like the father. It is not possible for it to become a mixed being because the seed of one of the two always prevails. It happens otherwise that both become one seed, but here not. And if it were one seed it would have to be qualified by the one partner who gives the soul. More is said about this subject in other philosophical treatises, and there is no need to tell it here. Their kind, however, has died out and they have left no descendants to replace them.
TRACTATUS VI - ON THE CAUSES OF SUCH CREATURES
Now that we must reflect in terms of natural philosophy about the causes of these creatures we must remember the facts, all the points, many of which have been discussed in the previous treatises. We need not repeat them here. Further causes that may be explored are these: namely, that God has set guardians over nature, for all things, and he left nothing unguarded.
Thus gnomes, pygmies and mami guard the treasures of the earth, the metals and similar treasures. Where they are, there are tremendous treasures, in tremendous quantities. They are guarded by such people, are kept hidden and secret so that they may not be found until the time for it has come. When they are found, people say: in times-of old there used to be mountain manikins, earth people here, but now they are gone. This means that now the time has come for the treasures to be revealed. The treasures of the earth are distributed in such a way that the metals, silver, gold, iron, etc., have been found from the beginning of the world on, and are being discovered by and by.
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[Now of] the fire people. They too are guardians, of the fireplaces, in which they live. In these places the treasures, that others guard, are forged, prepared, made ready. When the fire is extinguished, it is the earth manikins’ turn to be on guard. And after the earth manikins’ guard, the treasures are revealed. It is the same with the air people. They guard the rocks that lie on the surface, that have been made by the fire people, and put at the place where they belong, from where they get into man’s hands. They guard them so long, until the time has come. Wherever there are treasures, such people are on hand. These are hidden treasures that must not be revealed yet.
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The nymphs in the water are guardians of the great water treasures, that lie in the sea and other waters, that have also been melted and forged by the fire people. It is, therefore, commonly understood that where nymphs are, there are considerable treasures and minerals and similar matters which they guard. This is apparent in many ways.
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The cause of the sirens, giants, dwarfs, also of the will-o’the-wisps, who are monsters of the fire people, is that they predict and indicate something new. They are not on guard, but signify that misfortune is threatening people. ... when this is going to happen, signs occur. These beings are such signs, as has been said, but not they alone; there are many more. You must know that the signs change each time. They do not appear in one way, but are hidden to our eyes.
And, finally, the last cause is unknown to us. But when the end of the world will come close, then all things will be revealed, from the smallest to the largest, from the first to the last, what everything has been and is, why it stood there and left, from what causes, and what its meaning was. And everything that is in the world will be disclosed and come to light. Then the fake scholars will be exposed, those who are highly learned in name only but know nothing by experience. Then, the thorough scholars and those who are mere talkers will be recognized for what they are, those who wrote truthfully and those who traded in lies, the thorough and the shallow ones. And to each will be measured according to his diligence, earnest endeavor and truth. At that place, not everyone will be or remain a master, or even a doctor, because there the tares will be separated from the wheat and the straw from the grain. He who now cries, will be quieted, and he who now counts the pages, will have his quills taken away. And all things will be revealed before the Day of Judgment breaks, order that it be found of all scholars, from the past to that very day, who had knowledge and who not, whose writings were right and whose wrong. Now, in my time, this is still unknown. Blessed will be the people, in those days, whose intelligence will be revealed, for what they produced will be revealed to all the people as if it were written on their foreheads. For that time I also recommend my writings for judgment, asking that nothing be withheld. Thus it will be, for God makes the light manifest, that is, everyone will see how it has shone.

Well he’s doing great he’s around the age of 7months to a year. They say he’s fairly healthy though he had an artificial skin infection and the large cut, and bald spots.
Big thing is the bill is 900$ which is honestly stressful. They don’t have payment plans which I would’ve loved but I want to help the baby. I’ll be using my credit card and try to pay it off in the months to come as I’m a college student.
He needs stitched and I think a tick and flea medicine aswell as antibiotics. I will be working on getting vaccines as I can gather the money for it.
He also had no chip yay! Thought he has bald spots it will grow back.
He will also be getting a cone so he won’t scratch his stitches. Anyways wish me luck on this, I’ll be doing my best to find a way🥹❣️