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• AP: Tuesday’s primaries include presidential races and the prosecutor in Trump’s Georgia election case
  
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California

Today some Californians will complete their voting in the special general election for CA's US House District 20. Per the New York Times: "Nine candidates are vying to fill the seat left vacant by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for the duration of his term, which ends in early 2025. Two weeks ago, a primary election was held to fill the seat for a full two-year term starting next year. In that race, two Republicans who are running again today, Vince Fong, a state Assemblyman, and Mike Boudreaux, the Tulare County sheriff, advanced to the November general election."
News and Analysis

• AP: AP Decision Notes: What to expect in the California 20th District special election

Results and Resources

• California Secretary of State: Special General Election, May 21, 2024
  
• The New York Times (soft paywall): California 20th Congressional District Special Election Results
  

Florida

Per Ballotpedia, Florida's sole election today is the "Special general election for Orlando City Council Commissioner District 5"
Resources

• ClickOrlando: Special election underway for Orlando City Council District 5. What you need to know

News and Analysis

• Florida Politics: Seven face off in Special Election for Orlando City Council

Results

• Orange County, Florida Supervisor of Elections: Election Results and Turnout

Georgia

Per the Georgia Recorder: "Georgians will have one last opportunity Tuesday to head to the polls to vote in state and congressional primaries and a host of nonpartisan races on ballots all across the state."
Resources

• Atlanta News First: Answers to every question you have about voting in Georgia

News and Analysis

• Georgia Recorder: Georgia polls open Tuesday with key state, local and federal races on the ballot
  
• Georgia Recorder: Georgians go to the polls to pick legislative nominees but few competitive races await in the fall
  
• WABE: Guns, gambling, abortion and more: Here are the ballot questions for the 2024 primary elections in metro Atlanta
  
• US News: State Supreme Court and Republican Congressional Primary Elections Top Georgia Ballots
  

Live Updates

• Georgia Public Broadcasting: Georgia's 2024 Primary Election: live results and updates from GPB News
  
• 11Alive: 2024 Georgia primary election Live updates
  

Results

• Georgia Secretary of State: Georgia Election Results

Idaho

Idahoans finish voting today in statewide primaries as well as a local recall election in Kamiah
Resources

• Idaho Capital Sun: Today is Idaho’s 2024 primary election. Here’s what you need to know to vote.
  
• Idaho Statesman: 2024 Idaho Voter Guide
  

News and Analysis

• KTVB: Extreme hate in Idaho: Part I of III
  
• Idaho Statesman: ‘What’s in it for them?’ This outside lobbying group is top spender in Idaho GOP primary
  
• The Washington Post (soft paywall): In a place with a history of hate, an unlikely fight against GOP extremism North Idaho has beaten the far right before. Now renegade Republicans are seeking to root it out of their own party, with a crucial test in Tuesday’s primary.
  

Results

• Idaho Secretary of State: Idaho Election Results

Kentucky

Resources

• USA Today: Here's what to know about Kentucky's primary election on Tuesday

News and Analysis

• AP: AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Kentucky’s primaries
  
• AP: Kentucky congressman expects no voter fallout for his role in attempt to oust House speaker
  

Live Updates

• Lexington Herald Leader: Live election updates
  
• WVXU: Live results from Kentucky's 2024 primaries
  

Results

• ABC: Kentucky 2024 primary results
  
• Kentucky State Board of Elections: Kentucky Election Results
  

New York

Resources

• Ballotpedia: Lackawanna City School District, New York, elections (2024))

Results

• Lackawanna City School District: 2024-2025 Budget and Election Information

Oregon

Resources

• Oregon Capital Chronicle: Oregon’s 2024 primary election: Where to vote, find results and more

News and Analysis

• Oregon Capital Chronicle: U.S. Supreme Court won’t hear Oregon lawsuit that sought to end mail voting
  
• Oregon Public Broadcasting: Turnout for Oregon’s primary election still lags behind historic levels
  
• USA Today: Tired of your state politics? These residents are looking to secession as the solution. An Oregon ballot initiative is the latest in a long line of secession efforts that speak to the nation's sharp divide.
  

Live Updates

• Oregon Live: Oregon primary election 2024 live results

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• ABC: Oregon 2024 primary results
  
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For context, me and my bf have been dating for about 4 months and there have been no red flags. Sometimes I wear slightly revealing clothing (nothing crazy, but since it's getting warm I sometimes wear croptops and shorts and I also have a few bikini pics on IG). He has never told me to dress more modestly or take any pictures down so I assumed he didn't care.
A couple weeks ago we were having a conversation (I don't remember how it started) and I was telling him that when I wear something it's because it makes me feel good about myself, and that I don't really care what other people think. He told me that what I was saying was "massive cope". He said that clothes are very social and that when a person says that they wear something because it makes them feel good, it's because subconsciously they think that other people will think they look good. I asked him what he thought about me wearing revealing clothing (I literally had a croptop and shorts on during the conversation lol) and he said that he didn't think I would be the type to cheat on him, but that I was dressing in that way because it gives me an ego boost to feel desired by other men. He also said that he went through the likes on my bikini pictures and most of them were "thirsty men", so he thinks the reason I posted them was because I wanted those men to thirst over me. I asked him if it bothered him and he said that it does, but every woman dresses like that now and that if he refused to date women that dressed revealing, then he would be single.
Since that conversation the topic hasn't come up again, but whenever I decide on what to wear, I worry about him seeing it and judging me. I don't think my boyfriend is right (I literally sometimes wear baggy clothes specifically because I don't want creepy men to harrass me lol) and he's not trying to control me because he never told me not to wear something, but I just feel really shitty that he thinks that way of me. Should I just ignore what he thinks about me, or should I try to dress more modestly to please him? Should I try to change his mind? I really don't know what to do, but I can't get what he said out of my mind.
TLDR: My boyfriend think I wear revealing clothes and post bikini pics because I want other men to thirst over me.

Hey guys! I don’t know what to name this post but it’s a complicated story I guess.. I’m also not great at English😅
Sooo me (F~25) and my ex (M~30) broke up cause we were fighting, we didn’t communicated, he was hurting me and I was hurting him. We were not in a happy place together and we both didn’t feel good and had depression. I wanted to fight for us but he is the “leave me alone in my own bubble” kind of guy. Of course i was hurt and sad about this, he is still my dream man and I love him with all my heart. I’m just not in love with this guy, he is my person. I just feel like he is such a good person, he inspires me and makes me want to be a better person. It’s weird to say but he is really my best friend and we have so much fun together, even when we are a couple or not.. I felt sad when we broke up, I just lost my soulmat. I wanted comfort and attention and also wanted to move on. So I started dating. I met a few guys, went on dates and had s3x. During we were no longer a couple we would hang out, watch movies ect like friends. We had a really good friendship for a while and then started to “date” again. It was confusing because we didn’t say anything about our break and friendship and started fighting again since I kept meeting some guys. I felt like it was just a “friends with benefits” since he told me he didn’t like me when we broke up and never said then he started to again. I also thought he was meeting other. One night we were out partying, we got drunk and started arguing again. He asked me how many guys I have been with, told me that my “bc list” is growing, in what town the guys lived and what there names were. I gave fake answers cause 1, I thought the fight would end there 2, he has nothing to do with it 3, I might felt I little ashamed since he slutshamed me and 4, I was also drunk and wanted some payback I guess.. After that he told me a bunch of things he had done with other girls, not on our break tho but prior we met. I just brushed it away cause I knew he was drunk and gets really mean when he drinks since his depression. After that night we didn’t have any contact for some weeks and by this time I really got a reality check. I then realized that I’m a toxic parter and felt so bad for everything bad I’ve done to him, both before the breakup, after and during the party. Therefore I started really working on myself and I fought myself and my instincts to be a good person. Eventually we started seeing each other AGAIN and this time I felt like I was really good. I asked for forgiveness so many times and told him that I understand that he can’t trust me or forgive me right away but that I will keep on working and proving for him that he is the one. We had some really good months and I was not seeing anyone else and I really wasn’t interested in anything else that proving myself to him. But yet again he closed me out and was angry at me again.. He told me that he couldn’t let go of the past. Since I’ve worked so much on myself I felt that this was unfair. He was the one that asked me about stuff, I told him this and that the answer were fake. He didn’t believe me, told me that he would never asked me those questions and questioned why I lied and assumed that the number was higher than what I told him. I also felt that it was unfair because I didn’t see how much I have changed and how much better I have became since he was so trapped in the past. Of course I yet again told him that I understand if he can’t trust me but it is unfair to only see my bad/old side and not who I am now. Now I don’t know what to do. I know that he is toxic and I shouldn’t want to get back to him. But I miss my best friend..
This was a fkn long ass post so I hope someone had patience with my bad writing and English.

There is a lot of fuzz going on right now on social media [this subreddit is a prime example] about who should be our starting gk on the upcoming Champions League's final: Lunin, the guy who did his best UPS delivery impression carrying us here, or the belgian goa...err, giraffe, Courtois. People, especially on the internet has narrow sight and short term memory [and this sub is a prime example, again]: Kepa should and will be our starting gk. And it makes perfect sense: first of all, he played through the toughest part of the season, as we all know, the star, when no one knows the rules of the game or which position are they supossed to play. He was there for us. Left London in a hurry and got used to a new culture pretty quickly, even learning a new language [spanish] to fit better with their new teammates. Second, people say "Lunin deseves to play the final", well, if we are talking merits, Kepa is again in the lead: not only he is leaving us this summer, but he has to come back to Chelsea. Thats a fate worse than Saudi league, lad deseves a propper farewell. For me, its obvious that Mr. Ancelotti is playing missdirection here, starting Tibauth and fueling the controversy online and in the media, creating a false "Courtoise vs Lunin" narrative so he can have the element of surprise in the final. Correct me if a wrong [even tho I know Im not] but this this the starting XI for Wembley's match: Kepa/Lucas Militao Vallejo Marcelo j Ceballos Valverde [he never rests] Pintus/ Güler Joselu Kane [a 1 match-type of loan]. I guess if everything goes as planned, Carletto can give some garbage time to that german guy, Crust or whatever. He made a couple of ok games here and there.

I'd originally posted in another thread, and some of the commentors ( u/one85fortunes and u/Jeciew) had asked for elaboration as to the incidents that happened in my house.
I'll try to fill in as much as possible. This will probably be ridiculously long, so strap in.
My SO and I moved into this house a little under 2 years ago. It's an average looking rancher, built in 1990. We're the second owners of the house. The original owner was an older man, who'd cared for his wife after she had a stroke. She ultimately passed away (not in the house, but in hospice) and being in his late 70's he'd decided to move to Florida. We met him briefly during one of the inspections, and he wasn't creepy or anything. Nothing in the house seemed off. No signs of satanic rituals, etc. All jokes aside, I add these details because I assume some of these questions will come up.
There was a hurricane the night we moved in. Rushing back and forth from the AirBnB to get situated with our two cats that first night was stressful to say the least. We basically throw down an air mattress, got out the litterbox, cat food, and other basics and then passed the hell out.
When I woke up the next morning my cat Oscar was dead. As he was only 7, and not knowing if a danger existed that would harm his brother Max or us, I rushed and had an autopsy done. The vet said he basically threw a clot, probably because of the stress of the move. I miss him, he was a hell of cool cat. I think he's still around - his spirit or whatever, and I am almost positive he visits and plays with Max some nights. Just seeing Max start chasing (literally nothing) around, the way they used to chase each other. I'm probably crazy but I feel better believing it.
One of the first weird things that occurred was a few weeks in. I was in my office building some shelves. An idiot proof kit, with hardware in bags numbered, you open them depending on the step you're on. I was on the last step, which involved hammering in these four feet.. each one similar to a giant thumbtack. Just big enough to keep the shelf system from scratching up the floor. I hammered in the first 3, and the 4th was just gone. I stood up, searched the room. Searched the hallway (no clue how it could have moved, I was sitting immobile on the floor but who knows). It's nowhere. I check Max, he's a Maine Coon so maybe it got stuck in his hair. After an hour of tearing apart most of the house, I give up and stack some quarters where that foot would have gone. Told my SO to keep an eye out for it. We then found it 3 days later on the top shelf of my coat closet, under a ballcap. It's about this point I should mention it's just the two of us, no one else lives in the house, at least not full time. We do have a room over the garage that one of the kids calls home when she's not in college. As this was all around early October, she was away at school.
We'd start hearing things. The amount of times (to this day) we'll rush into one of each other's rooms only to find neither of us called each other, but one of us at that time had distinctly heard someone yelling for us, well it's not even scary anymore just annoying. Maybe the entity wants me to lose some weight and get my steps in *shrug*. Other times we'll hear crashing sounds. In the early days, with boxes and things scattered and being unpacked, I figured the cat just knocked something over. I'd go check and find nothing amiss.
Lights would start being on in rooms we hadn't used. Again, we chalked a lot of this up to confusion, or carelessness. It's a new house, neither of us had our routines yet, it was all a bit of a hot, sleepless mess, and I can't always swear I didn't go into that back bedroom and maybe turn the light on while on autopilot (even though I totally didn't). I'm a big fan of horror (post history proves that) and I don't spook easily. I'm also pretty pragmatic and realistic, so I'll try to find a rational reason for most things before jumping to the paranormal and metaphysical concepts.
Eating dinner one night we heard a weird noise, and we got up to investigate to find the bathtub running at full blast. Around this time we'd also find oddities like pictures on the walls being askew. Overall things started escalating. My SO and I promised to each other, on penalty of ending the relationship, that neither was pranking the other. That pact holds to this day.
At this point in the game, I'd started looking into metaphysical things that I could do to help. I'm talking amethyst and obsidian pieces in the house, saging, stuff like that. I honestly don't believe in it, but I also don't NOT believe, so what can it hurt. It didn't really do much that I could tell. Things continued to happen.
Twice in the same day, at vastly separate times and in different bathrooms, we both experienced an incredibly loud pounding in the attic over the bathroom as we were doing our business. I assume the ghost doesn't like whatever we ate that week. My bad, homie.
The locks had been changed at this point. I started looking throughout the house, wondering if someone was phrogging. I've seen a few horror movies about it. Nothing out of the ordinary. The attic has two entrances, one needs a ladder from the hallway, and the other is through an opening in the eaves, which you can get to from the FROG (Finished Room Over Garage). I stacked things in front of that eaves door, just to make sure nothing was coming and going. I did come to the realization that the attic was FULL of stuff from the previous owner. Luggage, clothes, random stuff. I still haven't cleaned it out, so maybe something up there is tied to an entity. No clue.
I've never felt anything malicious from the entity/spirit/energy/demon/whatever. My other half is terrified of it. Came home from the store one day to find the last rites crucifix in the bedroom turned sideways and half opened. Also felt every hair on my body stand up when I went in the room. The hair-on-end happens often when activity is spiked, I can't tell if it's energy literally raising my hair, or just me being creeped out.
I went to check the aforementioned stacked items in the FROG one night to find that all the LED strips the girl had put up were blazing red. She hadn't been home in weeks and never uses that color. I was up there just a few days prior and all the lights were off.
Halloween was fun. Giving out candy, talking with the cul-de-sac neighbors. One cute kid, maybe 4 years old turns to look to his right (my garage) and says you have a goblin in your garage. We didn't have any decorations on that side of the house. I'm sure just random kids being weird kids, right?
I have a habit of being flippant, and I started talking to the entity. SO also tried it once. At this point we'd started hearing breathing in the dark sometimes. One night she's in the hall, cleaning the cat litter. She felt something behind her, heard breathing. She calmly said "I'm busy right now, please leave me alone". The feelings and sensations instantly left, then all the doors in the hallway slammed shut. We both started wearing amethyst and obsidian jewelry, just in case.
I noticed movies I'd leave up on my computer (I watch stuff while I'm working) would be playing, or finished when I know I had them paused. I thought maybe if you are a ghost you're bored af, so I spoke to the ghost and setup a dozen books in the back bedroom. A mixture of my stuff and my SO's, not knowing what the thing might be into. I'm nothing if not a gracious host. The next day one of the books was turned upside down and opened, as if being put down after being read. I kept more books out but it never happened again.
For Xmas we had 6 different mini-nativity scenes throughout the house (yes, she has a problem lol). We found various pieces from the nativity scenes moved into scenes they didn't come with. We also had these little xmas gnomes that we sat on the curtain rods, we found one sitting upright in the middle of the couch one morning, a good 12 feet away from where it was before.
One night we were sitting out front having a smoke, came inside and heard music. There was a snowglobe that was playing music. It was an old heirloom, she'd forgotten it also could wind up and make music.
A box of kleenex that we keep on the living room end table was found in the garage one day.
One night, she sends me a video while I'm out - We have a first gen Alexa, that was playing Bad Habits by Ed Sheeran. She came inside from having a smoke and recorded it blasting away. I had unplugged it earlier that day when our new toaster arrived. FYI, first gens dont' have battery backups.
Another night we came back inside to find one of our butcher knives on the kitchen floor, instead of in the knife block.
One evening while getting ready for bed I noticed an earring on my night stand, it was part of a set her grandmother had left her, the other part was buried in a box under some clothes in a drawer.
One night I woke up to hearing knocking at the front door. I could see through the glass it was a decoration we had hung outside, beating against the door. I opened the door expecting to see a storm brewing but the night was completely calm, the trees weren't even swaying. No wind whatsoever.
The previous house owners smoked in the house at one point, that much we know. Weirdly, sometimes when you go into the back bathroom it'll smell like someone is actively smoking a cigarette.
There's been a crazy amount of times we've been outside and see movement, what appears to be a person in a window out of the corner of our eye. Friends and family who visit have also noticed this kind of stuff.
Things go missing, and reappear in random places far too often.
So those are most of the big things. I'll try to pre-emptively answer the common questions.

• No, we don't have cameras inside. We've considered it. Feels like a lot of work to maybe catch something moving. Having video proof of any of this isn't going to sway a non-believer either (anything can be faked on photo/video imo). That said I do have photos and videos of some of the events (the alexa, the music box, the butcher knife).
  
• The neighbors filled me in a bit about the familial history of the home. The father worked hard, his kids were drug addict shitbags who trashed the place and partied a lot. No one died in the house that I know of, nor were there any other weird activities. Could they have gotten drunk and sacrificed a cat on a ouija board? Sure, I dunno.
  
• We considered getting the church to bless the home, but she was raised very catholic and I'm more of an agnostic mutt so I haven't jumped on board the idea. Again, I don't believe but don't NOT believe when it comes to most spirituality, mysticism and religion.
  
• I did look to see if there were any paranormal investigators nearby, and it doesn't look like there are any local ones. The activity in the house is so intermittent that I can't justify offering someone to come down when there are months that go by with nothing, then a bunch of stuff for a week straight. I thought maybe it was cyclic, tied to an event, hell even the phase of the moon, but so far I've got no clue. I also really have no interest in paying someone to investigate.
  

Last thing that might be worth mentioning, my SO is 95% positive her grandmother was a witch. The bonafide, keeps their baby teeth hidden away in a box so you can't be cursed, type witch. She often dreams of her when things start acting up in the home. It was HER jewlery mentioned before, and HER last rites crucifix. I don't know if that changes things or not, I've done some reasearch but I honestly learn more from episodes of Supernatural than what I find on the internet most days lol
If you've gotten this far thanks for reading, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

You can read the history from my other posts but I (41m) am in the process of divorce with my stbxw (38f). We are over 6 months past separation and she is starting to open up a little more about how she feels. She isn’t showing any signs of changing course but she is being more open I think because instead of talking about all of the random and mostly irrelevant “reasons” that she previously coming up with, she’s openly talking about how she felt. One of those feelings is that I should’ve known she was unhappy and me not knowing is the “number 1 reason that she knew it was over”. We talked about this a bit and she said that she shouldn’t have to spell out her needs and that a good partner should know how to make her happy. She has said that because of me she needed to be treated for depression with antidepressants.
I am of the belief that if she was not feeling loved or appreciated that she should’ve told me. Clearly she thinks that shouldn’t be necessary. I tried to relate by suggesting that you wouldn’t fire an employee without first telling them what they are doing wrong. But her response was the same. I think she realizes that she never told me she wasn’t happy and was feeling unappreciated but I’m surprised that she is doubling down with the talk about not having to tell the right partner.
I am pretty sure that she is actively seeing the AP still so it could just be more blame shifting and gas lighting. But for my own self improvement, should I have noticed that she didn’t feel loved? Is it normal to hold that in instead of telling your spouse how you’re feeling? When we have talks like this she warms up a little for a day or so then goes right back to being cold again. So I’m not really sure how to read that and I try not to read too much into it.
I have had a lot of time to reflect and I know that once we had the second kid alone time faded to nil and with the third kid in 5 years life got really hard. I know there’s a lot I could’ve done and I wish I thought to do it. But through it all I busted my butt to provide for my family, take care of my portion of the household chores (mainly outdoors and repairs - 1+ acre property), and bathe and put kids to bed every night. But I am 100% sure that the real culprit for us was the loss of closeness that happened after we had kids. And no wish I recognized it sooner.
She also seems so paranoid and constantly thinks that everything I do is to track her, stop her from having fun, and just generally not have my kids best interest in mind. It’s so unlikely her. Early on I was worried that all of this was because of her sudden regular use of Lexapro, but eventually gave up because I think it’s more likely not. But I do wonder if this erratic behavior and paranoia could be related to that.
I know I bounced around a lot but the main purpose of the post was to gather thoughts on communication in the relationship.
Thanks!

For context, me and my bf have been dating for 4 months and there have been no red flags. Sometimes I wear slightly revealing clothing (nothing crazy, but since it's getting warm I sometimes wear croptops and shorts and I also have a few bikini pics on IG). He has never told me to dress more modestly or take any pictures down so I assumed he didn't care.
A couple weeks ago we were having a conversation (I don't remember how it started) and I was telling him that when I wear something it's because it makes me feel good about myself, and that I don't really care what other people think. He told me that what I was saying was "massive cope". He said that clothes are very social and that when a person says that they wear something because it makes them feel good, it's because subconsciously they think that other people will think they look good. I asked him what he thought about me wearing revealing clothing (I literally had a croptop and shorts on during the conversation lol) and he said that he didn't think I would be the type to cheat on him, but that I was dressing in that way because it gives me an ego boost to feel desired by other men. He also said that he went through the likes on my bikini pictures and most of them were "thirsty men", so he thinks the reason I posted them was because I wanted those men to thirst over me. I asked him if it bothered him and he said that it does, but every woman dresses like that now and that if he refused to date women that dressed revealing, then he would be single.
Since that conversation the topic hasn't come up again, but whenever I decide on what to wear, I worry about him seeing it and judging me. I don't think my boyfriend is right (I literally sometimes wear baggy clothes specifically because I don't want creepy men to harrass me lol) and he's not trying to control me because he never told me not to wear something, but I just feel really shitty that he thinks that way of me. Should I just ignore what he thinks about me, or should I try to dress more modestly to please him? Should I try to change his mind? I really don't know what to do, but I can't get what he said out of my mind.
TLDR: My boyfriend think I wear revealing clothes and post bikini pics because I want other men to thirst over me.

21F, 4ft 11, 120lbs, Caucasian, no pre-existing medical conditions, drinks occasionally, no use of recreational drugs.
Last year during the summer before University started I had a lot of free time so I'd stay in my room most days, with the window open watching movies on my laptop, gaming, or doing art. I found that I had headaches daily which would go away but only with the help of paracetamol. I drink about 1 liter of water every day, I got blue light glasses in case it was the screen time doing it but before I could test it out Uni started. The headaches disappeared and I stopped wearing the glasses. I've had a handful of headaches and migraines since then the worst was sitting in the lecture theatre for hours with no natural light for 3 hours. But nowhere as nearly as many headaches as I had in the summer before. Now the first year is over and I'm back home the headaches have started again, they disappear when I'm out of the house unless I'm around a screen for hours or in a place with no natural lighting. I'm looking for reassurance that I'm on the right track, any advice would be appreciated.
Could it be the screen time? will blue light glasses help? Could mold be an issue?

Last year there was this derelict shop in a perfect location. The 63 y/o landlord said she would do it up and I can rent it for summer.
After 4 months summer was approaching and she hadn't done a single thing. I would phone and she would say she was going to, but she never would. I asked if she wanted me to do it and repay in rent she said no need. I had purchased $$$ in stock ready for this shop to open for tourist season.
So I just did it, I knew she wouldn't as people said she was known to be strange like that. I put 6 weeks full time doing it up to make my dream, and it actually looked better than I thought. Sanding, priming, painting, painting again, cleaning, electrics ect
When I move in I pay rent. She gave me one month free, but my work would have cost her thousands, so technically I should have got half a year free but whatever ... my shop was busy and business booming so I just put it behind me.
I don't have a lease, she won't give me one
She is now selling, I think people will see how nice it is and it will go fast. I have a feeling she will only give me 30 days notice, I can't shift 20k worth of stock in a month, I need until the end of summer.
So, is it legal to return the shop how I received it..if she screws me over with a 30 day notice. Repaint those horrendous orca murals in thick black brush strokes, hot pink on the other side... collect cobwebs from barns and put them back in the shop... smash the plastic plugs I had to replace. (I have photos of before I made it nice)
I spent £300 on a new window she wouldn't replace. (it was smashed, so no light was getting in) - I have the receipt in my name, its my window so technically I can re smash it?
It's silly but I'm serious. she has never even said thank you and I'm sick of her.
In scotland

So, I live in a small polish conservative village, and went to a public school there. If you ever experienced it, you know how it is. If you're in any way different, everyone will know, and everyone will judge you. And I'm a non-binary pan person. I didn't come out in school back then, but I didn't hide I support LGBTQ+. The day I said it people started yelling I'm mentally ill and crazy. But that wasn't the worst thing that happened.
I'm a very hyperactive person, who often talks about their fixations and I sometimes act… kinda extra. Of course, people made fun of that. I was bullied since fifth grade. People threw trash at me, threatened me, called me slurs and beat me up. And the school didn't do A THING, until my mom went there and personally yelled at all of them for allowing this behavior. Also, my school's extremely pathological.
People literally beat each other up in halls, and teachers don't react because, and I quote, "we want kids to learn how to settle their differences on their own". One of the teachers CONSTANTLY ignored my personal space and hugged me, even after my mom told her to stop. Another teacher's dream schools was one where "kids were chained to the desks and you could electrocute them". The only reason he's still teaching is that our principal's afraid of him. The only teacher that reacts is extremely hated by parents, because she "blows up small issues" (one of them being a girl accusing a boy of assaulting her). My mom proposed changing schools but I denied, since my only two friends were there. But last year I snapped.
We had a new maths teacher, and she was a total sweetheart. Bit everyone else, especially one boy, hated her. Mostly because she actually reacted when things happened. They threw trash at her, called her slurs, and even showed her inappropriate symbols. Again, the principal didn't do anythinh except giving us one short talk. One day few boys from my school barricaded the entrance to our class so she couldn't get in. She was clearly annoyed and didn't enjoy it, so I wanted to dismantle it. Everyone yelled at me to not do it, but I did it anyway. The next day everyone (except my two friends and one boy) ganged up on me and started yelling that I'm stupid and they were just playing.
Few days later our principal finally took some action. She told us to tell us how it went, and you know what? The guy's that made the barricade and yelled the most, said they were the ones to dismantle it. Only one guy confessed. He got detention. It was on religion, and everyone started yelling at each other. I was on the verge of a panick attack, and the teacher lighted an incense. After this stuff I decided to change schools. And what happened a month after only supported my decision.
We were in math class, and the guy literally threatened the teacher with a lighter. She yelled at him and told him to hide it immediately. He just put it in his pocket. On break, he and his buddies were alone on the hall. But I was there. They were trying to light stuff on fire. And they managed. A paper decoration. They threw it in the trash, and that's when his younger sister walked in. She put the fire out and ran off. I assumed she told the teacher. I told my mom what happened after school. She immediately called the school. Apparently they had no idea what happened. They didn't do anything for another two weeks. My mom stopped sending me to school, since I was scared for my life. The thing that frustrated me happened few weeks after, when I already changed school.
Apparently the boy got a curator and the cops are involved. And people are blaming ME for everything. They said it's my fault he has a curator and that if not me, the school wouldn't get closed (as if it wasn't falling apart). People call me crazy there. I sometimes still have doubts I did the right thing…

I press play an Origin and it will load up the launcher for sims 3 fine, it's when I press play on the launcher that it acts like it's going to load, then it will randomly take me back to Orgion like it was closed.
Before this it would sputter every few seconds to the point I couldn't play..honestly makes me sad I really wanna play sims 3 again, mod it and have fun.

Hi all,
I've been having an issue with Toyota Financial Services since January of this year.
From January through March, I would make my payments per usual and I noticed the money was not being taken from my bank account and the payments would fail a few days later. I was able to get them paid successfully and then April rolls around. Same issue happens again.
I then call them and the representative on the phone tells me on their end they have the money for April and there is no issue. I go about my days as I am under the assumption it is paid.
Fast forward to April and I get an email from Experian saying there has been a change to my credit file. I see Toyota Motor Credit flagged me for being 30 days past due. I call Toyota the next day and explain the situation (again) and the woman on the phone tells me it was a mistake in their system and it will be removed within 30 days, along with them mailing me a letter reflecting what she had just told me. At this time I then created a dispute with Experian.
Yesterday I get a letter in the mail from them saying what I believed was incorrect is correct in their system and they are reporting to agencies correctly.
The entire ordeal dropped my credit down ~40 points and it seems I have little to no recourse with Toyota in fixing this. I have documentation backing up that during this time payments were attempted to be made (and were successful before their due dates) and that April's payment was not only paid, but posted before its due date.
After calling today, the woman on the phone essentially told me I am SOL and all I can do is just dispute it with credit bureaus and Toyota (again). I was lied to by them twice and it really seems like I am out of luck here.
Any ideas on how to move forward? I called a little later today and was told I can send a letter to their dispute department outlining the issue and they will proceed with it if they believe I am correct. Has anyone had a similar situation and had any luck getting this removed?

I was a bright student in school. Was bullied left and right after my best friend quit the school and I changed schools where I was bullied and beaten up. Even the girls made fun of me. This affected me to fail and repeat a year in a new school, and I went to do my undergrad in usa despite failing 12th. I didn’t go to an Ivy League which I should have but went to a top stem school which was top 3 for engineering in my major.
I did well in college, won multiple awards, competitions, despite past failures I had reinvented myself, when again I was setup in a false criminal case by another student. I had to drop out and have a criminal record even with a dismissed charge in usa. Fast forward my life is hell, no education and degree, no decent job, no prospects.
I showed myself to an astrologer since all else failed, and he said I am born in pushya nakshatra which is very auspicious. Now I don’t know, does this mean I don’t have a right future ? Because not one good thing happened in my life since 2015. I was only tortured, borderline fooled closing to be in jail.
I asked an astrologer who said I will have a good time in 2021, followed by someone saying good time will start with Jan 2023, someone said August 2023, someone said may, and now everyone said 2025 is my good year, apparently I have some more kasth for another year where I will be super low on confidence etc etc and have been advised to not make decisions. Just asking is this proof enough that Vedic astrology is a pseudo science and doesn’t work ?
Also I have been told according to the pandit to go into textile trading business ? What happens if I don’t ?

I'm (25F) starting to open my eyes to how abusive I was being to this guy (25M) and how intense was the gaslighting. I was constantly turning tables. "How did he dare complain?? I have trauma!! I was abused, so he MUST understand my abuse as well".
I realise how hard it is for me to put myself in the shoes of others. I wasn't like this. A past relationship did fuck me up, but jesus I was doing the same to this cutie pie. I swear to god he has NEVER wronged me. Just cry, apologise, understand, beg, come back. And it was my biggest supply, I LOVED seeing him so obsessed and coming back after being the biggest bitch to him. I guess at some point I started just being in complete denial of how much of an asshole I was and even forgot?? And whenever he would try to make his feelings valid I'd snap and leave him, and break his heart over and over again, projecting the worst traits of my abusers on him and not giving a shit about his mental health.
What's fucked up is that I kinda understand my abusers, in a way. I question justice and humanity so much lately, it messes me up in pretty twisted ways. Like I'm not supposed to blame them anymore. Like my brain can't digest that information yet.
I try to tell myself that at least I'm holding myself accountable and going to therapy.. I started microdosing psilocybin, and it really helps getting in touch with my emotions..
So as I said, I decided it's time to let myself be the bad guy, and apologise, cry if I need to, feel like a piece of shit and stop victimizing myself for it. I caught myself crying mid way to his place, not for him, for ME. And I went, nuh uh in my head. "You are gonna stop victimizing your ass and hold yourself accountable. And stop expecting everyone to react according to what you decide when you get yourself vulnerable." And you know what? There's actually a pleasing feeling in accepting whatever pain comes with this vulnerability. I feel free from control, MY control, that gets so fucking exhausting and just perpetuates this guilt and shame.
I will apologise until he feels like himself again, and if he decides to leave my ass, I will cry and regret my horrible actions and keep it as the most beautiful proof of love someone has ever given to me. He liked the spaghettis; that's all I need to know.

Olá! It's me! I'm Rickle Pick! Hello everyone!
So, I’ve been listening to some stories about Neckbeards and Kevins, as well as some Legbeards and Kevinas (Is that the correct term??). Well, most of the times I listen to those stories, I am reminded of some people I used to deal with in school. Specifically, this time, the tale of a guy, who I’ll name Roger Bacon for reasons soon to be explained. Sorry for any grammar errors, eu falo português! I also don't really know the posting rules here, so I'll just post it and see how it goes lol
This prologue is more of a compilation of stories that I think is needed before we get to the main shenanigans and awkward situations this guy put himself AND me into. If this generates any interest, I will post more specific tales of this weirdo! Long time lurker, first time poster, english is definitely not my first language and the whole shebang. I also never wrote a text this large, so go easy on me!
THE LIST:
Well, I guess it’s usual to make a list of people that appear in those stories, so I’ll make one just for you!
Me: Your basic musician-type nerdy theater kid white guy! Tall, thin with medium-light brown hair. At the time, I usually wore a leather jacket and sometimes a hat (not a fedora, a Chaplin hat. Also, where I live, hats are an acceptable attire choice lol). I kinda looked like the Once-ler from Lorax. At this time, I had just failed my second year of high school because of… honestly just lack of effort, mixed with undiagnosed ADHD and a bit of lacking in the ol’ confidence and self-respect department. At the time, I also was physically incapable of saying no and had a crippling fear of disappointing people.
Roger Bacon: 168 centimeters (or 5,5ft for the uncivilized) of pure muscle! Or at least he thought it was that way. In reality, he did have some muscles but was kinda chubby and flaccid. Not FAT fat, but athletic fat (???). He was mixed, light skinned, had shaved short curly hair, no beard (except for the inside beard) and his face was a special kind of oval, besides having a, "chiseled jaw". He always smelled like he had just gotten out of a day-long brawl with a french cologne wearing burrito. He wasn't an usual neckbeard, but he was a huge attention whore. Thought too much of himself, as we say here in Brazil: “Promised too much, delivered nothing at all.” His moto was: “Dude, I think she’s into me!”
For now, these are the characters, as the focus is to introduce you all to Roger Bacon as a person.
With the list over, let us get to the story.
FEBUARY 2018:
The year of 2018 started pretty badly for me. I had just been held back from 10th grade, had no friends and didn’t really know anyone. As most people know, high school in Brazil is quite different from America, as we start school in febuary and we share the same class with the same people all day, excluding language classes and extra-curriculum activities. This meant that, for the foreseeable future, I was alone. On the first day of school, I shyly sat on the last desk on the far right corner of the room, as I scanned my classroom to see what I was dealing with. A few groups of people sitting together, talking and greeting their friends, some loners reading or playing on their phones. The artsy girl drawing a beauriful woman on the white board. Some guy drawing a penis right beside her. Perfect balance. A normal classroom.
Another difference between our school systems is that we don’t really have clicks based on like Jocks or Nerds or Pretty Girls, it’s mostly people who connected in childhood or matched personalities, instead of connecting through roles and interests within the school. Not saying either one is better, just different. And yeah, the bullying situation is just as bad. I was bullied for my whole middle school and through first year of high school, and made a very specific group of low profile friends. So when I failed sophomore year I thought to myself “Screw it, if I’m going to be held back, that’s at least a second chance for me to grow an acceptable social life.”
All this elucidates how intimidating it could be for someone to join a new classroom full of mostly new faces. If you were unable to make a friend, you’d pretty much be on your own for the whole year unless an already formed group “adopted” you. So my mindset was to at least try and meet new people.
Well, have you ever said “I’m gonna do this thing I’ve never done before!” And got the worst possible circunstance you could get at the very first attempt? Welp, that’s just what happened. My strategy was to start small, and go talk to only one person at first, and then try to interact with a few of the groups as that was a bit intimidating (fun fact: we call “clicks “panelinhas”, spelled “pah-neh-lin-ias”, wich means “little pans”, because, you know, they’re closed groups, like a closed… pan. Idk, anyway), so I went up to this guy in front of me, and that guy was Roger Bacon.
He was almost lying on his chair, on a cool guy pose while messing around on his phone. He was also wearing a black sports tank top with a grey opened sweatshirt and the standard uniform wine-red shorts that were mandatory in our school, which made him look like a short and jelly version of Rocky balboa mixed with Kick Buttowski.
In real life, my name and his started with sequential letters, and because of this, we would sit near each other for the whole year, so I guessed he’d be the best person to interact with. I also KINDA knew him because we had basketball training after class in like 2015 and I went to the same church as him, in which I befriended his brother, Kevin, slightly, but didn’t have much contact with him because he had already graduated (I have some stories about basketball and church so tell me if yall wanna read them lol). I approached and gestured for him to take of his headphones (They were extremely loud, so I could recognize he was listening to the song In The End by Linkin Park).
Me: Hey! Aren’t you Roger? You’re Kevin’s brother, right?
RB, trying to sound stoic: “Oh, hey Rick. Yeah, it’s me… fortunately for you.”
Me: “What do you mean?”
RB explained: “Well, I’m the cool brother! Kevin was lame, and also had no friends.”
Me: “Isn’t he in a band with [insert band members]? They seem to be his friends…
RB: “They might look nice, but they’re all assholes. Don’t let them fool you! I’m the nice brother, Kevin is a dipshit.
To elucidate you: that band he said was made of assholes was the Worship band of the church we went to. It was also the worship band that I occasionally played the piano with.
I said, jokingly: “Guess I’m an asshole then! Because, ya know, I play with them more often than not”
RB: “No man, it’s just them. They’re just so infuriating! They never let me participate!”
Me: “Wow, that’s weird… I mean, I didn’t know you were a musician too! What instrument do you play?”
RB: “I play the drums, piano, guitar, bass and I also sing. But Kevin keeps me out because he wants to be the 'star brother'!”
I could tell he got a little heated, and went silent for a little while. I decided not to mention the band or his brother in his presence, 'cause ya know, that was pretty awkward lol.
I remember thinking to myself “This guy’s kinda weird”, because his brother was one of the nicest people I had ever known, and he also didn’t have the say on who played on the band, the worship leader did. I thought about confronting Roger with this, but I didn’t want to abandon my quest of finding a friend. And also, he seemed chill at first, if not a little insecure.
I was a little uncomfortable with this line of conversation, so I opted to change the subject. We talked a bit more about me having been held back, and he went on about how he was really good at math and chemistry, and how he could help me with my school stuff.
I was glad to have someone to help me, and even more, someone who apparently liked the stuff I liked. I remembered what he was listening to, so I commented on it and asked which song was his favorite, and we talked about Linkin Park for a bit. He said “In The End” was his favorite song, and then I mentioned I was a huge Linkin Park fan. He told me he was a big fan as well, but as we talked about it, it became a bit fishy. He never specifically said anything and just kinda repeated what I said. It became clear after a while that “In The End” was, in fact, virtually the only song he knew from that band.
That was the first time I noticed something strange, but only in hindsight, as at the time I just thought he really wanted to make a human connection. I remember thinking he was just excited to know someone who was open to talking to him, so I didn’t think anything of it.
Also, not everyone memorizes this stuff, and maybe he did only remember one song, for whatever reason, so I let that pass. I only felt necessary to include this information because it was, at least in some way, the first lie that Roger told me, a little sample, if you will, of what’s to come.
After we talked for a while, mostly catching up on our lives, the bell rung and our first actual class had begun, and I had the first-hand experience of this guy’s sense of humor. The teacher walked into the classroom and introduced himself as the new Geography teacher, and started a power point presentation about some of the subjects we’d be covering that year, saying “Please pay attention to this class, as you’ll need to know how our schedule will work”. Roger looked back and said “Huh, I guess this class is useless for you then, being held back and all, hahah”, which made everyone look at me and just kinda stare like I should say something, and he kept repeating the joke to anyone that showed any reaction besides just staring, adding “Amirite? Huh? Amirite?”.
I was kinda salty about this, but my people pleasing peapod brain couldn’t handle letting it show, so I just laughed and said nothing. I guessed it was a poorly thought out joke at first, but then Roger proceeded to make the same comment on every single one of the opening classes we had for both of the introductory days. There were 12 of them. He did it every time. Every. Single. Time. Sometimes he repeated it even louder, as if he didn’t think people heard it, because no-one was laughing.
“Ok”, I said to myself, “He didn’t mean to make fun of me, he’s just a little overexcited and probably is trying to make a connection and help me get acquainted to our classmates.”
Either way, I was very uncomfortable and annoyed.
Thankfully, this came to a halt when he was practically thrown out of the Literature class for interrupting the teacher mid-sentence while she talked about how important the first month of class would be for our comprehension of the whole subject. He made the joke four times. FOUR TIMES. I was beginning to think that I made a mistake, but well, the mistake was already made, at least I can try and understand him a bit, before judging.
The rest of the week went by and he didn’t get any better, but I got kinda used to it. In fact, I actually enjoyed having conversations with him at recess, when we could talk a bit more freely. And, as all things in life tend to do, it got weirder. Weirder in the sense that as we spoke more and more, I noticed a bit of a concerning pattern: every time I shared an experience I had, he’d share a cooler and more awesome almost equal experience back.
Some light examples:
I told him I went hiking for 2-3 kilometers on a trail by the beach. Then he smirked and said he went hiking for “at least 7 kilometers on a deserted beach that only his father’s company’s employees had access to and he saw a Gorilla. There are no gorillas in Brazil. Maybe in zoos, I guess, but definitely no gorillas.
I told him I was kinda sad because I had just ended a “thing” with a girl from my old grade. He “proudly” said he’s been dumped by his ex, Laura, after they dated for 11 months and made out aaaallll the time after school, and he even saw her “lady parts” once!”.
And then he went on to describe that shit for like 3 straight classes, adding more and more to the story every chance he had to speak, providing me with my daily dose of cringe in tiny bits of uncomfortable information at a time! Like a sporadic cringe snack! Sninge! Crack? Probably Crack.
ANYWAYS
There was also the time I told him the story of how I became best friends with a guy because we got into a fight in P.E.. We were arguing about some nonsense and he wanted to fight, so after he socked me on my stomach, I cheaply kicked him in the face so hard I almost sprained my ankle and then we started laughing (because I guess sometimes that’s all it takes). Phillip is my best friend for almost 10 years now.
Roger puffed up his soap dish chest went on for at least 2 classes worth of time about how he “beat up his last bully and broke both of his arms, and almost went to prison, but his dad is a lawyer and bailed him out”. Dude was 16, and I don’t think he’d need to be bailed out, but okay… He was, in fact, very badass.
Those are all approximations of actual stories he told me, because my ADHD memory is shit, but you get the gist of it.
My days were filled with endless stories filled with absolute bullshit, like a Gary Stu from a dying rpg campaign. (I have a story about a DnD game he participated in, but that’s for another time!)
Roger, not content with lying to me about anecdotal facts about his past that could be true but were almost certainly mostly bullshit (if not entirely), had a tendency to just negate reality when presented with facts in certain situations.
And example of this situation is the time we were doing a group assignment and a girl at least 3 meters in front of him dropped her pencil and he just kinda threw himself on the ground, picked it up and said “Here you go, Lana!”. She said “Thanks Roger!”, barely turning around and carried on with the assignment. Roger, then, turned to me with a sleek shit feasting smirk on his face and said:
RB: “Dude, do you think she’s into me??”
I contained a ridiculing laughter just in time to realize he was dead serious.
I said “I don’t know man… Doesn’t seem like it to me, but sure I guess.”
RB then straight up asked ME to go talk to her and get HIM her number. When I asked why shouldn’t he do it, he said it was “the wingman’s job to get the number of the girl” so that he wouldn’t “look weak for asking”
I said I’d do it, cause I genuinely wanted to see if he was right about her liking him (I hadn’t really understood the dynamics of the classroom, so I actually had no idea if he was actually right, just a gut feeling that yeah, he probably wasn’t).
I went up to her and asked for her number, explaining it was Roger who was interested in her and, as I pulled out my raging 2014’s Sony XPeria, I was swiftly interrupted by her delicately saying “Sorry! I have a boyfriend.” (She said the boyfriend part out loud, and stared at Roger)
I said “Oh, ok, sorry to bother ya!” and, as I was starting to walk back, I noticed that she turned back and glared at Roger. Later that day her boyfriend texted him, telling him that “He’s got to stop asking her out, and next time, if he wants to get rejected, he should come do it himself” He called him a moron. And then they both blocked him.
Well, that was embarrassing.
Despite having been turned down (for the 6th time now, I’d come to find out), Roger still maintained that she was “totally into him”, and it wasn’t just Lana. Any time he had even the smallest interaction with any girl, he’d say that they’re “probably into him”, or that “they made out at a party, but she was drunk and probably won’t remember”, or that they “sent him nudes last year but he’s already deleted them because he’s a good person, with morals”.
This went on for a while and, after about a month, Roger begun to dial down the crazy stories about how he’s a “badass and he gets all the girls but he’s single because he’s too good for them”. Until I started seeing a girl from another church I started going to. I met Janice () at the churches youth group, and we talked the whole time afterwards about lots of stuff. This name’s given because of her insanely similar laughter and demeanor of Janice from Friends. We clicked well and I was very interested in her, but my ADHD ass forgot to get her number, and remembered it only when she had already left.
When I told Roger, he laughed and said “I had just cockblocked myself” and that I’d “probably missed my only chance of banging a girl ever”. I was bummed, but clarified I didn’t really want to have sex before marriage or at least before making an emotional connection (I had just then begun to go to church, so I didn’t really get the rules, so it was more of a personal choice I always had in mind when thinking about dating. Also I met her at church so wtf).
He said “that was dumb” and, “even though he was a virgin, he’d dance the Devil’s Tango with the first chick he had the chance to”
“What about Laura?”, I asked. His face went from a confident smirk to an almost sad expression, and he blankly replied: “She didn’t want to, but I tried anyway at times. I even got a blowie once!” I let it go because I was very tired, as Mondays are hell on earth.
A few classes later, I went up to him and reminded him of our conversation and asked:
I said “Ooookay, but what about all those girls you told me were all over you? Didn’t they want to have some bum bum times with you??”
He was taken by surprise by this, and was visibly trying so hard to think of an answer for at least 15 seconds. He mumbled “Well…”, and like just left. Like he got up in the middle of the class, and walked away. Well that was weird!
He got back and I didn’t pry, thinking he had some kind of trauma, and I tried to change the subject.
I say “tried” because instead we were suddenly interrupted by a girl asking me if I was Rick. I didn’t know her or how she had materialized beside our desks, but later I found out that that girl’s name was Mary. She had blue eyes and was smiling mischievously, and I answered “Yup, that’s me”. She then giggled and said that “Anna wanted to make out with me after class”. Me and Roger were both very much taken aback by this, and I immediately thought to myself that this could only be some type of dare or prank (which it probably was), and was about to try and respond with the first witty joke that popped up in my monkey brain when, without missing a beat, Roger said “Rick’s already seeing someone!”. Mary was visibly surprised and said “Oh, you have a girlfriend??” with a look of disbelief on her face. Ouch. I explained that I wouldn’t say I do, I just liked a girl from church and we’re going to see a movie with some friends on Saturday, and that either way it was a pass on the making out sesh! Mary said “Oh, okay!” and started to walk back to her desk. I was about to make a joke and say that Anna could probably do better than me, when Roger interjected:
RB: “I’d like a making out sesh if she’s interested!”
Mary looked back with a visible “Lol, ew no” expression and just said: “I’m sure you would, Roger!”, turned away and sat down, laughing with her friends when she got to her desk.
Roger turned to me and said:
RB: “Dude, do you think she’s into me?”
This cycle repeated once in a while, so I’m not gonna tell you all of the situations that I felt like shaking him and trying to wake him up like Woody does to Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story. Exhausting, right?
Another thing Roger tended to brag about was that he did Martial Arts. Specifically, Kung Fu (Wushu). I would come to find out that, in the year before, he made a big scene to tell everyone in class that he’d just started Kung-Fu classes and, when no-one payed attention, he started a habit of punching the wall beside his desk, audibly making “hmpft” noises. When anyone asked why, he’d say he was training, and that his Sensei (Not shifu, he actually said sensei) had asked him to do that to strengthen his fists so he could harness all the strength he had, so one day he could put a hole through a wall with his fists.
He would also punch the school’s fireproof doors because, if you didn’t know, they dent pretty easily, and he would show me and tell me to bask at his strength and ability. That until I said I’d give it a try. He told me not to, because “I wasn’t trained” and “it could really hurt my hand”. I punched the door. It made a dent.
Roger said it was beginners luck and that he’s just a good teacher. I told him I really didn’t even make an effort to pay attention, the metal was just bendy and soft. Roger never talked about it again, and started only punching walls. For that, he would feel superior because, yeah I ain’t doing that. There were consequences for his wall punching habits, but I’ll address that some other time.
The last thing I’ll say about him for now is how clueless Roger was, how much he thought of himself and how he treated everyone else like they should (and would) respecting for what he told them, and not for what he showed them.
(I plan on doing another part eventually, with the story of how his disconnection with reality, lies, schemes and generally narcissist behavior eventually exploded back into his face.)
As a last bit of exposition of our circumstances, there’s an important part of our school life that fueled Roger’s social life’s demise.
Pranking was a big part of my class’ culture. There were also some people in my classroom who were bullied. The thing is: the bullies actually made fun of literally everyone else, which made it very hard to figure out if you were considered a target or just a colleague. They’d mess with people’s stuff, tie backpacks to the windows and hide pencil cases, but they would also do it to their own group.
Essentially, the only way to differentiate those who they considered normal schoolmates from those who were bullied was the frequency of the pranks and their demeanor in general towards those people. They would apologize for the pranks, ask to make up for it, buy you lunch, make jokes, try to laugh with you. I swear some of those guys were politicians in the making. Luckily, was very good friends with one of the guys in that group, I’ll call him Turkey, who was also held back a few years before me, and he liked my sister, so I was mostly safe.
Roger, on the other hand, THOUGHT he was one of the pranksters. Every time someone pranked him or anyone else, he would laugh knowingly, like he was in on the joke the whole time, and try to make jokes, only to further humiliate himself. And they would capitalize on that as hard as they could.
You see, Roger liked to portray himself as the “Mysterious-Badass-Quiet-Protagonist-Take-No-Shit-From-Anyone-Mr.-Steal-Yo-Girl” guy. This combo of personality substitutes was the recipe for the downfall of his popularity, and the start of the longest lasting pranks I’ve ever seen in my life, which will come if yall want another post. That prank is also the reason I named him Roger Bacon.
Because he was so into Math and Science (and into himself too lol) he also always wanted to look like the smartest guy in the room. The problem is that, as our first semester went by, it became clear that he wasn’t as good as he hyped himself up to be. Shocker, right? This was proven to be true when we were doing a chemistry group test, and I was paired with him and Anna, and we needed to calculate some entropies or whatever. He made a point of telling us to do all of the “easy ones”, and he would take on the more complicated questions.
The thing is, he was trying really hard to look like a genius, to maybe impress Anna, so every time he made a calculation, he would roll his eyes up and kinda vibrate a little. I guess he wanted to look like a genius mathematics robot, but instead he looked like he was trying to imitate an autistic person having a small stroke. I didn’t mind the Good Doctor amateur impersonation, because at least it looked like he knew what he was doing. Unfortunately, it really just looked like he knew what he was doing.
Each easy question of the test was worth 1 point, and there were 4 of them, and there were 3 hard questions worth 2 points each. We got a 4/10 on that test, and lo and behold, the only questions we got right were the ones me and Anna worked on. We were a bit pissed, not gonna lie.
Until the last time we spoke, Roger still blames Anna for his complete failure at this test for, in his words, distracting him because she was obviously into him.
But that’s just Roger, I guess!
I've got A LOT of stories about Roger and other neckbeards I've encountered, and I can't wait to tell them!
Until then, thanks for reading, and have a good one yall!

Ok probably I expect to recieve answer along the lines of: Egocentrism is a side effect of too much self-esteem (which means self esteem isn't always good?) or Ego is a compensation for lack of self-esteem. Or again, Self esteem is being confident about being different than all other umans, without doubting about one's own value despite fails and flaws. Ego is the presumption to have or to gain more value than the "average" human which can basically be accoplished by a constat seek for others approval/attention.
But this somehow still doesn't convince me:
First because society in one hand blames hardly egocentrism which somehow is almost like the source of human's evil, to the point where people seem to see egocentric and narcisitic peronalities everywhere... As well as it's the main topic among most coaches on Media or Yt f.i.
On the other hand though, society prizes a lot success, being successful, self-realization and self-establishment. Strong sportmen are prized, as well as musicians, businessmen, actors and so on... The whole "positive" world of self-improvement and life coaching supports the ambition of being "better humans" in the sense of gaining results that get tangible validation from society... Almost like telling people "you need to want be better", "you need to enter an elite of better and more intelligent humans".
At this point I think, what if we just accept that every human needs some amount of "exclusivity"? Which means a confirmation of self value? I mean is it possible to be happy without some sort of sense of uniqueness? Isn't humblness just too boring for human nature? (I mean completly clean humblness). What's the sense of relationships if not for feeling loved-appreciated-validated? If you ask whoever who is in a relationship what he/she likes about the relationship, 90% of time you'll get the answer "I like feeling special and making my partner feel special". Isn't gaining more self-esteem a way also to feel more free to stroke our own ego? Isn't motivation for self-growth and doing stuff in life driven by our own ego at the end of the day?

TDLR: Petco apparently doesn’t do genetic screenings, nor Kaytee, and I ended up with a “super” guinea pig who developed cataracts due to genetics and is almost fully blind at 1 1/2 years old.
I bought my first guinea pig at Petco, she was by herself because she was a little meaner. A couple months after I ended up getting a guinea pig named Teddy.
At this point, Petco was transitioning into getting super pigs only. There were some regular pigs but no females, and no other store near me sold female guinea pigs. The one I bought was very skittish but I chose her anyways for a great 80$ because she was “super.”
I chose to feed her a better food I had found because I’m not fond of Kaytee. I noticed that Kaytee puts dyes that are harmful to humans in their treats and I’ve never trusted their pellets. But in order to get the “super pig health guarantee” it’s required that you purchase the food, but I never did so I didn’t get the guarantee. I also believe that Kaytee was the company who was selling these super pigs because the guarantee was under them, and you had to purchase their food to get it.
I noticed that a couple months later Teddy’s eye looked weird. It looked like a camera lens almost, where her pupils had a light blue coating. I did some googling and got freaked out and told my parents I wanted to bring her to the vet. I was 16 at the time, and because there was nothing visible my parents said no.
It’s not their fault, but when her eye was almost nearly covered in blue I brought her to the vet and he said she had cataracts, which could have been genetic. All we could do was wait until it got worse. When it turned completely white and had a red line across I brought her back and they told me she had lost weight and needed medication at this point. I bought the medication and it’s been a month or so now. Her other eye has begun to turn and she’s almost fully blind. Considering how fast the other one progressed, I’d give it a week before she is fully blind.
Because my other guinea pig is a little meaner (there’s been no attacking and Teddy is able to access food and water whenever) and Teddy can no longer see, I had to make the difficult choice to put her down. I know she won’t be happy and I can’t afford her medical expenses because I’m going to college in the fall. My parent’s won’t be able to either since the vet is nearly an hour away. Luckily I did find a sanctuary place that will take her if I provide materials and a small fee so I won’t have to put her down.
I wish that they had these animals tested or genetically screened before selling them and allowing people to buy them and bond with them only to later find out that the animal might not make it. I know she could still live blind, but she requires extra care and medications that not everyone can afford. She also isn’t happy blind and lives in fear. I hope that someone who has the money will take her when I bring her to the sanctuary so that she can live happier. She has been happy here, but I think it’s cruel to keep her here knowing I can’t afford the care she needs and I won’t be here.
Please be aware of the animals you purchase from big corporations such as Petco, and ask health questions. I am heartbroken that I have to let her go, but I’m glad that they will take care of her at the sanctuary.

[Note: Living in western NY state, since I'm sure that's relevant.]

The Situation

Married for over 20 years, abused by my wife (emotionally, financially, escalating to physically) over the majority of that time. She's also been cheating with numerous men over the past several years, but I'm not sure how far back that goes. Family friends, random truckers, you name it.
I have long-term chronic health problems, and after she tried to throw me down a flight of stairs after the last time I found out about her stealing from and cheating on me, I knew it was time to get out. I've been the Dad/Mom for our two kids for the entirety of my daughter's life, and most of my son's. She doesn't do anything to them except complete neglect, so they're safe by virtue of a single parent who is tanking the damage and making sure they get everything they need. It's the best I could do.
I come from a religious fundamentalist family, so there's little to no support for any kind of divorce or getting us out of the situation. The best I've gotten was that this is the result of not following God. No resources to be had there.
My health situation means the only work I can do is writing. Fortunately, I'm good at it. Unfortunately, I don't have a degree or means of getting one, so I'm stuck scratching for freelance work that wouldn't even come close to paying any bills, in a highly competitive market full of people who aren't ~40 and perpetually sick with two kids to care for.
The kids are old enough (youngest just turned 13) that it seems like custody won't be an issue. Both of them avoid her on the rare occasions she's around when they are, and both also want out of this situation. Both break my heart promising me when they get old enough they'll get big jobs and we'll all escape together, but I don't know if I have that long due to the aforementioned medical conditions.
I am currently very malnourished and severely underweight. My psychiatrist, therapist, and doctor are all saying I won't live much longer if I don't get out, but none of them are offering ways. I can't move us into a shelter; right now our neighborhood is safe, the school is good, and I've done enough volunteer work with abused kids (I was one, so I am compelled to give back when I can) to know how those places are.
So I need a plan, and I need one who a diagnosed severely bipolar woman with what have been described by my psychiatrist as "strong psychopathic traits" will agree to, since she's the only one who earns enough money to hold the family above water.

My Only Idea

My best idea: I offer to not file any charges against her, sue, or any of that, in exchange for her agreeing not to contest the divorce and pay whatever is the maximum allowable alimony. She avoid criminal and civil prosecution, she never has to deal with being a mom again, and I can have the closure of not needing to monitor what's going on with her or fear for my safety. Maybe we don't move out right away -- that would depend on a lot of other factors -- but it's my best idea.

The Problem

I just don't know how to navigate any of this, I have almost no money, and she makes just enough to keep us stable paycheck-to-paycheck, so there's no money in a settlement to get or use to pay for a lawyer. Is there a way I could draft a legally viable document like that?
Right now her primary motivation is to maintain appearances for her family, and keep everything the way it is. (She does whatever she wants, she thinks I don't know she's cheating and such because I play dumb for my own safety and keeping things stable while I try to figure this out) so I think she has motivation to sign the agreement.
We couldn't move out right away, so she'd basically have what she wanted, I'd have ensured security of some sort to figure out our next steps, and there would be some closure so when there was an opportunity to move out and move on, we could without the divorce further traumatizing the kids.
I don't know how all of this works. I don't know if this idea makes any sense. I don't know how to do it or who would help us. So here I am, hoping there's a lawyer with the time and kindness to point me in the right direction, since I can't find one.
Please help. I don't know how many years I have left, but I don't want to spend them afraid anymore.

What makes Bayern the greatest club in the world? First, Bayern, with its accomplishments and achievements. What makes us great is that we have balls, and we're not just talking regular balls here, no sir, we're talking industrial-grade, titanium-coated spheres of audacity! "Balls of steel," and we aren't afraid to put it on the chopping block time and time again to prove to anyone they are made out of steel. Let's look at examples where we constantly put our balls of steel on the chopping block.
Exhibit one: We fired our coach a mere days before a showdown with City in the Champions League and hired a new coach. That's how much we have balls of steel; we don't care about anything. And don't fool yourselves; that's not where our mountain of manhood ends. Not only did we hire this new coach, we rode him good and hard. After we scared Dortmund like the little bitches they are with our big ironclad balls, from clinching the Meisterschale after 10 years, we decided to fire our coach even after having the greatest season in our entire football history. And why? That's right, again because we got balls of steel. So yeah, we decided to get rid of the best coach in our history. After using him, we decided to part ways with him and get, not just get, but snatch the new coach from around the block. And why? Because we are Bayern, the baddest pimps there ever will be! And we can do anything we want. And any coach in this world wants to work with us; hell, they even cry themselves to sleep to work with us. And nobody is stupid enough to reject us. And don't fool yourselves again; that's not just how good of a badass pimp we are. Not only did we part ways with our amazing once-in-a-lifetime coach in the middle of February, we made him stay until May and work his ass off and try to clinch the Champions League and the Meisterschale after firing him. Although our great once-in-a-lifetime coach failed, we weren't even mad at him because, after all, we are Bayern, the kindest, most generous team in the world. And we don't want to hog all the titles to ourselves. After all, what is the point if we don't spread some of our fortunes to the unfortunates! We're so kind that we're even trying our damn hardest to become a mid-tier team to spare our opponents' feelings, from the all success we are having. How noble of us, right? This is how kind we are!
Another exhibit of how we keep swinging our big balls made out of steel in to the chopping block, like the greatest showmen we still are. Like I told you, we decided to part ways with our once-in-a-lifetime amazing coach in February, and we dragged our balls on the floor for anyone to hear what we are packing. Our big ironclad balls making a "clung...clung...clung..." sound each time they hit the floor as we walk with our iron balls out in the open for anyone to see. And why? Again, because we can, and plus, we wanted to entertain ourselves and to become the envy of all teams around the universe. To show them we don't settle for one coach, we are badass pimps. We juggle coaches right and left. We are not a laughing stock like them who settle for one coach for five years or 10 years. We like to live on the edge, our motto "keep them guessing." Plus, we don't do our business in private like a scared little bitch. I mean, think about it, why even bother hiding when you have big balls made out of steel? And so, now we flirted with the Leverkusen coach, and we decided the coach isn't even in our league. We decided to ignore the coach, give the coach the cold shoulder, and decided to look to other coaches. And just like the first, we teased them with the opportunity of coaching us, and just enough, when they begged and pleaded to be our coach, we kept discarding them away, turning them into a laughing stock one by one. After all, we are Bayern, and nobody is good enough for us! Now, not only are we breaking the hearts of those meh coaches, we are even making the coaches that have never been looked at by any great team like us, giving them a chance, rizzing them with the idea we are a mid-club, and they are the only ones who understand us and who can pull us out of the state we are in, and so on.
Now, if you are still here and haven't taken a moment to vomit all over your keyboard and type out nasty things to say, like a drunken idiot over my sarcasm, but instead have decided to keep reading or, at the very least, keep your negative opinion to yourself as a sensible, decent human being should do, then good for you!
Here is the thing, bitch! As Einstein once said, "The basic requirement for stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different outcomes." Let's get one thing clear: this board doesn't want to fix the main issues we have. All they want to do is just repeat the same thing over and over again and expect different outcomes. I mean, if the requirement now is getting coached by Guardiola to be a Bayern coach, then why not get Basti or Philipp Lahm? Lahm is thought to be the smartest player, higher IQ and such and such, you know. It makes me think of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Man United. His only downfall was his lack of coaching tactics; he floated the team because he knows the club, the identity, and its culture... Let's get one thing clear: I don't care about Vincent Jean Mpoy or want to know the fuck who Kompany is. Don't get me wrong; he could be a cool dude, but I don't want to know him at the expense of Bayern. And besides, I'm tired of hearing those lame jokes about Kane! Plus, imagine if we proposed him an offer and he said no! That would be a good old kick to the balls! Wait, now I think about it, if he said no, does that mean their search parameters increase to random people who watched Guardiola on the pitch?! If so, interesting.
Most of you didn't find the idea of Arsene Wenger appealing; someone said big clubs didn't try to hire him, and at this point, as if we are, and I am saying this with the most sadness I can muster, and some of you even said he stepped away from coaching for a long time. Besides, weren't we considering Zizou after he stopped coaching three years ago, albeit he won the Champions League consecutively... And besides, I like to believe Arsene Wenger's poor performance in his later years was due to his constantly selling of top players and not losing his knowledge of football. Listen, I keep mentioning Arsene Wenger because I believe in my heart he could have really fixed the real problems we have at Bayern; it could have been a fairytale story of a forgotten washed-out coach gets a chance to coach a big club like Bayern again and he turns things around the club for good and so on and so on. But hey, life is not a movie; we don't get what we want in this world, and life keeps going... Even Rangnick was a good choice before he declined. In all honesty, I don't know much about Rangnick's style of play, but I knew he can scout good players. Plus, we could have gotten a Leipzig type of deal with him, him becoming a caretaker until we found a coach that would stay at the very least for five years and given us stability.
Listen, I know we don't have options at this point, and honestly, I don't care about Arsene Wenger nor Rangnick for that matter, but we could have considered coaches of their stature to fix the real issues and avoid getting a headache for the next 10 or 20 years. But instead, we are thinking about signing Vincent, the fuck who Kompany! Oh, I love my club! And by the way, if we sign Kompany, like my countrymen say, "እሰይ ይበለን።" At this point, why even bother.