Little car poemv

Me (M22) and my girlfriend (F23) has been together for a little over 3 years, this is our longest relationship, we had highs and lows, but supported eachother no matter what. In the last few months there's something weird about her which I can't place anywhere. I really feel in my gut that she's cheating on me (we live 180 km away from eachother, but we meet almost every week for 2-5 days) and I simply didn't have the courage yet to confront her about it, because it could lead to a breakup. I never see her texting anyone else, nor does she hides her phone from me. She lives in a college dorm, so it wouldn't be hard to find a (sex) partner. I know for sure I never cheated on her, yet she had "problems" down there, even though we use protection. I know it could be from anything as it's a very sensitive part on women body. This is where my suspicion started. For next, I feel like she's ashamed of me in public when I'm in my work clothes, I started working in construction a few months ago, and I simply go to work and come home in my clothes or go to the grocery store in them. She swears she's not ashamed, but I see the way she looks at me. Third, she suggested I should buy more casual elegant clothes for normal occasions, which I did, because I like them too, but I feel like she wants me to look and act like an other man. Otherwise, we have programs, dates, we talk, cuddle, have a normal sex life too, but... for me it's not like how it was, and I can only think about my suspicion and how she does it with someone else too without my knowledge. The funny part is, when we started dating I had no job, no car, no money, no my own apartment, but now I have them all, (even started hitting the gym in the last year) so it's not like I can't provide. Now, for the worst part, I feel like my emotions towards her faded a bit because of my suspicion. I really need some advice, because I can't really sleep at night or think straight. Thank you all in advance, will try to reply to every comment.

I bought a used 2009 camry 2.4 with 224k, on the pretense that it had the piston ring job done to reduce oil consumption. I found out later that the seller lied and this had never been done. I top up the car, and 200 miles later, the oil is below the bottom dot a little ways. I'm terrified this thing is gonna die any time, I check the oil every single place I go. What can I do? I'm young and broke and just got kicked out of my house right before I had to buy the car. Thanks guys.

TLDR: Baby (13 weeks) won’t nap out of arms. We’ve been practicing for 8 weeks. Practicing is making me miserable. Planning to sleep train in July. Should I cut my losses and just contact nap at this point, or is there something I’m missing?
Baby is almost 13 weeks old. Since the end of March, I’ve been working on the elusive contact-free nap. Based on my Snoo record, I’ve tried in the Snoo least once a day (sometimes twice) 29 times in the last 54 days. We’ve had four successes in total, all under an hour. Twice I put him down awake and he fell asleep on his own, and twice I got him to sleep then set him down and he stayed asleep for another 20-30 minutes or so. A few times I’ve tried putting him asleep on my bed, the baby swing, the doc a tot knock off, or some other more comfortable less safe location … but no bites. We’ve also tried naps in the car and in the stroller (both bassinet and car seat attachments), and he’s only had one nap in one of those arrangements—it was in the bassinet part of the stroller, but I had to keep the stroller rolling.
During the day, he primarily naps in the baby carrier. If you get him in before his internal timer is up, he doesn’t even fight it. (If you get him strapped in a little late in the wake window, he’ll let out his swan song for 15 minutes before passing out.) At night he sleeps great in his Snoo, typically nursing to sleep before bed and during his 1-2 MOTN wakes, but he doesn’t always nurse to sleep! Sometimes I’ll put him down awake and asleep he goes. Even when he nurses to sleep, he’ll sometimes wake up during the transfer. The point of this paragraph is to spell out “sleep crutches” that he does have and the extent to which he depends on them, and to suggest that he doesn’t have reflux since he sleeps flat on his back all night long.
When we try for Snoo naps, he typically cries so intensely that the Snoo almost immediately (3 minutes in) turns off. I’ve tried just sitting there in the room, resetting it several times in a row—you have to do it manually because you’re not supposed to let your baby cry that loud for that long I guess. I’ve tried SITBACK. I’ve tried getting him sleepy before setting him down, but almost nothing pisses him off more than me trying to “Taking Cara Babies” CRIES him into a drowsy state. Once we’ve given it 10-15 minutes of wailing in the bassinet (I’m talking 100% volume, sets-off-your-smart-watch decibel levels), the road forks: I hold him to sleep then keep trying to put him down; I hold him to sleep and just sit or stand in his room for the rest of the nap; I strap him into the carrier for the rest of the nap. But whatever we do at that point, it involves a lot of intense crying and a far less restful nap than he’d have if I just put him in the carrier to begin with, and 2/3 of those options tie me down for another hour or more while I try to keep him asleep.
His room is dark with blackout curtains and is 71-72 degrees (bought a thermostat for his room in particular in case temperature was the issue.) We use a sound machine, and we have a pre-nap routine that mimics the bedtime routine. And of course I’m watching the wake windows; he seems to be a little higher sleep needs than average. He still doesn’t love being awake for more than 75 minutes at a time, especially for that first wake window which typically precedes our practice nap, so usually I start the nap time routine at the one hour mark.
I am struggling to provide more consistent practice than this because I also have a 2 year old son, and when I’m taking care of him, my ability to sink time and attention into the baby’s nap is very limited. When my toddler has other care, I need to be getting work done, so it’s a big loss to spend so much time on the nap. Best case scenario, trying for the bassinet nap takes 40 minutes more of my time than just putting him in the carrier and carrying on with life, but often it’s much more because I get stuck in his room trying to salvage some sleep for him. And of course, various life things come up, too: grandma visits and offers to hold him, we take a trip, we try to hit up library story time, baby gets his shots, etc. While I understand that this is not a great deal of consistency, it’s hard for me to imagine that there are parents of multiple children out there who have much more consistency to offer. Who that is also taking care of other kids has an hour and a half out of every 3 to render themselves otherwise unavailable, multiple times a day, every day of the week? Maybe I’m dead wrong on this point, but I have to imagine I’m offering as much consistency as other parents of multiple kids have offered their younger babies, babies who somehow began to get some traction after months of effort.
I’m feeling frustrated and hopeless. I am going on 8 weeks of making what feels like a lot of sacrifice to encourage independent napping, and I am not really seeing any progress. In fact, I’m starting to feel like it’s not worth it any more. I’ve already accepted that I’ll need to sleep train; we’re ripping off that bandaid on 7/22 and have multiple out-of-town trips planned before then. And the practice naps come at a big cost to me in terms of both time and peace of mind. Right now, I don’t have full time childcare for my baby, so I am already working in the margins. I keep telling myself that it will save me time once it clicks for him, but like we are months into this and have seen literally no return on the investment. With all the stress it has caused me, we are actually pretty deep in the red.
So: should I cut my losses and just lean in to the carrier nap until the end of July? Or is there something I can do to get bassinet napping online? Why does practicing help other babies but not mine//why have we seen no progress at all when practice is touted as the ticket?!

This might be a little niche but if you’re considering buying a non-Tesla EV AND you often road trip south to VA Beach or OBX I can assure you there is ample charging.
I do the OBX trip a few times a year and I waited years to get an EV because I didn’t think they had the range to get there and back with existing charging.
I’ve now done 2 trips in my EV with zero stress or anxiety. On the way south I stop at the Electrify America charging stations in Newport News (150miles from Nova) to top off the battery even though I have 100-150miles of range left. I could make it all the way but why risk it. My particular car only takes 20min to fill up and I can stretch and use the facilities.
I top off again at some point while I’m down in OBX at a ChargePoint station. Again, just to keep it on the full side.
Then on the return leg I stop in Newport News again to fill up. At each stop to fill up I still have 100+ miles of range so it’s not like I’m taking much risk. If for some reason all the stations are down I have 100miles of range to find another station along my route.
Anyway, if you have this specific use case and it was keeping you from getting an EV my advice is to not let that stop you.

I don't really know where to start. It hurts a lot but it's a diffent kind of hurt it's a comfortable kind of hurt...
Sunday I went to movie theater with a friend, and during the movie she's was texting me, my phone was on silent so I didn't find out untill after.
The dreaded "I think we need to talk. Call me back when you have a moment." My chest started pounding, and hands shaking. All while trying to remain calm in front of my friend
Soon as I got into the car I called, small talk about the movie then she said "I don't know how to do this, I've never had to do this before, do I do this over the phone, I don't know"
I told her that it sounds like something we need to talk in person. She's worried about me being getting sick I told her that not to worry because this sounds important.
We sat their together, and talked, cried, smiled, for a very long time. We talked about if we're becoming toxic for one another, if we're what we need in our life right now, how we've grown, the way we mis/communicate, her feelings of still needing to heal, but without me, needing to work more on herself, and her traumas. About our cards, our storage units, the things we'll have to move and how we wouldn't be the people we are today without oneanother.
We hadn't really eaten so we went to our favorite diner one last time. There we reminisced about the past. Asked about our favorite memories, talked about books and shows. I took her back home and we sat in the car for a while, not wanting to leave each other's side, wishing that we could stay in the moment just a little longer. We knew that eventually she'd need to head inside, but we'd make jokes keep each other there.
Finally after a long while, we said "I love you" as she slowly headed back inside and headed a friend's to vent.
We've been together for 6 years and theirs been so much pain, joy, regret, struggle, family/ friends death, and growth that we've gone through.
It's the kind of hurt that although I miss her and although I love her, understanding that we can't always give what the other needs, and that it takes time to figure that out as an individual and how to communicate that need and for another to either learn if it's in their ability too.
Regarless this really sucks, but I understand...

I am considering purchasing a 2022 GT Fastback and would like a little insight into the common issues I may run into. The car in question has a 6-speed manual and only has about 7.5k miles. The car drove beautifully and shifts great, my only issue is that it's been on the lot for 123 days. My guess would be due to the color combination of eruption green with red leather seats as well as not having a digital tachometer and spedometer, which may not be the most desirable combination but other than that I can't find an issue with this car and would like to know of any common problems that may arise. Thank you.

So I got a DUI in Spokane Washington it was pretty bad i was drinking heavily was going about 60 mph this car was turning in the lane i was i swerved to the right to avoid him ended up side swiping him and flipping over the curb and hitting telephone wires what should i do and how fucked am i no one was hurt i was just a little sore I wish i could just rewind life.

During my Freshman year of college, I became friends with my next-door neighbors. I had just finished helping my dorm roommate move in when a knock was heard on my door. It was then that I met my next-door neighbors, (Sara) and (Maci), as they were knocking door to door to find potential friends on our floor. I ended up joining them, however, it remained just us for the rest of the day. This was the starting point of a friendship that would hardly last.
At first, I was drawn to Sara. She was very active and enjoyed doing outdoor tasks with me, but I later found myself much more connected to Maci. I had a rough childhood and that is something we tend to relate to and connect with. By the end of Freshman year, Maci and I were as close as ever, but Sara and I only hung out in group settings.
Sara had some noticeable behaviors that were a little unnerving to the rest of our group. 1.) She tended to attach herself to Maci and would get upset if anyone had plans with Maci without inviting her. 2.) She was always late. There was a day in which Maci, Sara, and I planned to get piercings. Maci and I had set up a departure time of 12 PM. However, Sara was coming out of the shower by then. We ended up leaving near 2. Maci and I are extremely time-sensitive so this has always been something that bothers us. Especially since Sara knows that she's always late and tends to make jokes about it as well. 3.) If she didn't make the plans... she's not going. Sara is used to being the center of attention. So naturally, she thinks she is obligated to handle all of our plans. If someone else decides that they want to plan a day of fun, it is usual for her to say that she has other things going on even if she doesn't. 4.) The (Oliver) situation... Oliver was a guy that Sara met through our university website. Oliver has been our friend ever since. During Freshman year, Oliver had developed feelings for Sara. When Oliver confessed, Sara had told him that she wasn't ready for a relationship and that he should wait for her. During this waiting period, she strung him along on date-like activities while actively hooking up with other people... even his best friend. His friend, (Noah), actively liked Sara as well. I mean, taking her on dates and dancing in front of car headlights kind of "like." However, Sara ended up leaving that potential relationship to date a High School Senior named (Garrett). This relationship didn't last long as a couple of months later he ghosted her. By this time, Oliver had already moved on and began seeing his now girlfriend, Callie. Sara had a huge problem with this and would avoid outings when Callie was in attendance.
Flash forward to the end of Freshman year: I decided that I wanted to get out of our traditional dorm rooms and get a dorm suite with my friends, Maci and Sara. I wanted to remain on campus in a dorm. However, Sara completely hijacked this idea and began searching for apartments. I hadn't even seen the apartment complex I was signing for when I received my lease agreement through an email. She had told me that I needed to hurry to get a certain amount off of our apartment. So, in a rush, I signed.

Hello everyone:
I’m hoping someone can give me a little bit of advice on what might be going wrong with my setup. The car is an ‘08 Impreza. Id sure love to get a year or two more out of it. I’ve got a Pioneer head unit they put in around ‘19, replaced the front and rear speakers with Alpines (don’t remember the model number; something mid-tier), and have an additional kicker amp to drive the speakers. I do not have a sub. I also have a rear view camera that interacts with the head unit, a microphone mounted above the diver seat, and car play when I plug my iPhone into the USB. I think that’s all of the extra components.
All in all, I’ve been pretty happy with my setup. It’s not “best on the block,” head-turning stuff, but it’s a neat improvement over stock. I get a kick out of the neat mega super dream systems people build, even though that’s not for me per se.
For the past year or so, though, I’ve started having a big problem. I took it to Car Toys to get it looked at (they were the installers of the system to begin with, and notwithstanding their overall reputation they seemed like a nice crew to me), but they basically couldn’t figure out a damn thing. I feel like I’d love to figure out just *what the problem is almost as much as I’d like to solve it.
The problem: my sound starts to cut out completely when I go over bumps in the road. The best way I can describe it is like skips on a CD. Sometimes it’s more sensitive than other times. It seems to cut out whether or not I have my phone plugged in (sometimes listening to the radio). And when I mention bumps I’m not talking like off-road adventures. Think more like a raised train track or pothole. The interface on the head unit doesn’t indicate anything’s wrong— usually tracks on Spotify etc continues—but the sound goes out. Anywhere from a few seconds to large chunks of time- 5 or 10 minutes. Not really sure what gets it to start again. Sometimes hitting another bump, sometimes just leaving it alone for a few minutes or seconds.
I guess I should mention that my Roo’s suspension isn’t all that great anymore, but again I don’t think it’s crazy bad either. Just standard 15-year-old car type stuff. So, I thought I’d throw it out here. Is there a likely cause? Is my fix (probably not worth it economically anyhow) to just replace the head unit? Damn thing drives me nuts. It worked fine for the first 3 or so years!

Inside the city, they are:
"Los Santos PD, park your car asshole."
"What do you not understand about stopping the fucking car!?"
Outside the city, they are:
"Stop the vehicle we need to have a little chat!"
"Throw the fucking keys out the window!"
"Are you deaf? Stop the vehicle!"
"Turn off the engine in your vehicle!"
Non-megaphone, but hilarious nonetheless:
"A case of Pißwasser for the guy who clips this shitbird!"
"On my mark, go guns blazing!"

Sorry for the word vomit that is about to follow. It’s a wall of text and I apologize. <••••••••>
I’m having this dilemma rn 🫠 I’m def trans-masc, but I was leaning more to masc-nonbinary bc I think I might be repping a bit and not allowing myself to think abt identifying more as a guy. I’ve had demiboy whispering (and now screaming) in my head for a few years, and I feel like that’s what I would want to be. I have voice and top dysphoria, I don’t like my name or being identified with female/fem identifications so much it makes me nauseous (minus being referred to as “mom” to my pets). I look very fem and ppl just assume, i get it, but at least a good handful of my coworkers and all my friends have really started using they/them for me since the new year started but none of my family does. I’ve already (not legally) changed my name 2 years ago (a shorter version of my deadname that’s more gender neutral) and my family and friends all call me by it…. but… okay this’ll sound crazy, lmk if I’m crazy… I’ve had this other person in my head since elementary school … and he is me and I am him and he goes by a different name and uses he/they and he’s everything I want to be. (Damn writing that has me in tears, was not expecting that). He’s changed a bit over the ears with me as my interests and goal of what piercings or tats I want change but overall he’s been the same. He’s me but better. And a guy. Or well a demiboy technically.
I’m too scared to look into medically transitioning right now, and I tried binding but since I’m a bigger person it didn’t work out very well. I’ve started my weight loss journey a week ago so I’m hoping this will help in my binding attempts. I’ve been coping by using meladaptive daydreaming as my escape, so I can be the guy in my head w/o feeling too.. like.. like I’m contaminating him? I worry that if I try to medically transition, I wont be exactly the guy in my head and my attempt would be a mockery of him. Again he’s still me just.. I might’ve idolized him after all these years 😅.
(not scared of my family- they are accepting, if not a little confused and I genuinely just don’t have the patience or the right words to explain it. Plus i feel like my dad would think it’s a bad idea to be trans/identify as trans bc it’ll turn me into a target. He would probably think its not logical and i would be taking unnecessary risk. He says stuff like I shouldn’t put pride stickers or my Baphomet sticker on my caanywhere where the public eye can see bc it’ll make me a target, but I already am one by existing, even if I was cis-het I would still be one so.. idk. My dad is kind and means well, but he’s very efficient and see’s most things as inefficient and will always discourage it)
Not to mention, I have a new coworker WHO LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE THE GUY IN MY HEAD AND EVEN GOES BY THE SAME NAME!!! It scared me so much and idk how to talk to him sometimes. Saying his name makes my stomach churn.
I’m sorry to anyone who reads this, it’s just a huge repper’s rant by now. I’m a bit self aware but also too anxious to try. There’s a lot HRT would fix for me (voice, muscle mass, eventual top surgery), but theres some (like skin health, smell, and hair loss/hair growth) that I don’t really want.. are there any gels or pills for the hair loss part? I already have a massive forehead, I don’t want it any bigger.
Again I’m sorry. I’ve heard of others complaining abt the same thing and this community being absolutely done with it lol. If you’ve made it this far, I hope you have a good day 💕

I have twin 8wo (5 weeks adjusted) baby girls. Long story short, we haven’t really got them used to sleep in the cribs and now they will only contact nap.
We’ve tried it all (really). We tried playing around with wake windows (45min, 60min, 90min) and found out that 1h awake is their maxed before they get overtired. They will sleep right away when somebody holds them. However, whenever they are put down, they will protest BIG time. It doesnt matter if they are put down drowsy, awake, barely sleeping or in deep sleep. They won’t last over 5min in the crib at this point. And it’s only getting worse.
In desperation, we tried to place them to nap in places that are not appropriate (snuggle me, mammaroo swing, bouncer, twinz pillow, our own bed) - but nope, they want to be held. Stroller, car rides and the Snoo (that I am returning today, actually) also do not work.
Today I was done with the contact napping and needed to do some stuff around the house. So I placed them in their mini cribs with white noise, dark room, appropriate temperature and a swaddle. It was the first morning nap, which is supposed to be the best one to try. They were sleepy and I could see it, but I placed them awake, in different rooms (for them not to wake up each other, just in case). They first cried for 5min nonstop, so I went there and tried to soothe them in the crib, to no avail. I left again and tried to CIO them a little bit even though it is not recommended at this age. The girls were crying SO much, it was a type of cry I haven’t heard them do before (they seemed to even choke on their cry, was intense), so after 10min I went to pick them up. I couldn’t do it anymore. They took forever to settle after that, but eventually took a little nap while being held.
At night,, they are a-ok. They can lie down in their cribs for 2-3 hours max, and eat every 3h. They do not seem to have reflux issues at this time (already on hypoallergenic formula, I’m trying it all)
I read TCB, the facebook groups (like, several of them), and searched a bunch of posts here on reddit. I don’t think anybody has as bad as I do. This is unsustainable as I will go back to work and they will stay with a nanny and a family member who is coming to help.
If anybody had similar struggles, please share what worked. I don’t know what else to do!!

It’s a 2007 BMW 335i. It was nice in its day, but it’s not the nicest anymore. The lights don’t work. A few of the speakers are blown out. The steering wheel has been replaced. It’s had hundreds of oil leaks. It’s been sitting so long it probably wouldn’t even start up.
We were 19 years old when my husband bought it. It was the coolest car in our apartment complex. He would never part with it. When we paid it off he said he’ll keep it as long as he can. Even when we were both turning 30 and he got his truck, he loved that car.
That car sat in our driveway on jacks with him and our under it, putting parts on it to lower it. I would bring them cold lemonade and hear them bicker over football and which players were better. Or they’d be in a heated debate over who would win in a fight an elephant or 30 gorillas. I’d hear my husband “Buddy, elephants are like, hella smart they could like figure out how to hit them with their nose” and then our son “but dad.. 30 of them?? You can’t stop 30 of them”
Ever since he passed away, the car means a lot more to me. I don’t let anyone touch it. I don’t even like people inside the garage because I don’t want them near it. The keys are locked in our safe. I’ll protect that car with my life.
Sometimes when our kids are at school I’ll go out and look at it. I’ll think back on all of the memories. Sometimes I’ll sit in the passenger seat but never the driver seat. I make sure nothing is touched. I look at his sunglasses, off to the side a bit in the cupholder. I look at the shifter. It’s up into gear 1, and he’d explain to our son in the backseat you turn it off, then put it into gear, just in case. I look at the steering wheel, he turned it a little to the left so the bumper wouldn’t scrape when he drove into the garage. And it’s perfect. Every scratch, every loose bolt for a part he looked up a YouTube video to figure out how to put on, every sticker including the one I hated that has a porn website on it but he thought it was funny.
It’s perfect because it’s exactly how he left it.

I'm gonna start this off by saying this is a vent post. It's really long and goes over all the big instances I can recall of animal cruelty happening in my childhood all the way to present, so it will be a lot of paragraphs. The timelines are estimates, but due to trauma I have poor memory involving dates when things happened, and this probably still isn't every incident, again just the big ones I can recall. Read at your own discretion.
I (19F) live with my grandparents (70M and 67F) and my parents (42 M 43 F). Due to some injuries from last year and some medical history, I am disabled and currently jobless, and in the process of trying to obtain disability, which is relevant for later.
Since I was as little as I can remember, my family has always had cats. I even grew up with some cats that ended up feeling like siblings for me not having anyone around them age to interact with until my sister was born when I was 8.
My parents have always loved cats, but I don't think truly ever valued cats. They've always been left outdoors, and eventually the elements always get them. I have never had a family pet that grew past the age 12. All of our cats have either been attacked by dogs that are also loose in my neighborhood, been suspected to have been tortured and unalived by neighbors, got sick, or got ran over, because my family doesn't care and will just 'replace" pets less than a year later.
When I was around 5, I had my very first pet kitten. This kitten was a runt, so it stayed small for a long time. It also was very hard to potty train, and because of this, they released it outside when it was maybe barely 7-8 weeks. He did good for about a month, but after that, he vanished. But there was evidence when he disappeared that there were large dog paw prints in our driveway because it was rainy that previous night, and his food bowl was dragged out in the yard, which he couldn't have done.
Also around 5, my aunt (at this time 13F) was living with us, as her mom (my mom's mom) wasn't taking good care of her and was in and out of jail. She had pet guinea pigs for a bit. My parents decided to feed the guinea pigs potatoes without doing any kind of research. One of them died. The other one was sick and anxious all the time, so my aunt decided to release it in our backyard? It was also winter. (I want to say that I do not blame her directly because she was still a child and in a similar situation to me, and my parents didn't care about the well-being of these poor guinea pigs anyways.)
And yet another story of around age 5, my dad bought the family a pet red-eared turtle. The tank was too small for her. My dad also thought it would be "funny" and "cool" to put fish in there with this turtle whenever we were about to go on vacation. She ate all the fish in the tank: Neons, goldfish, the tank cleaners, and whatever other fish species he put in that confined tank that wasn't more than 20 gallons. (Red-eared turtles alone need around 40 at minimum.)
But that's not all. While on vacation, both I and my 13 year-old aunt got baby yellow-belly sliders. We took them home, and we put them in the tank with our adult turtle. She ate the heads off of both of them. There was one goldfish left there as well, and I got traumatized seeing both the dead turtles, and seeing her eat that last gold fish in two chomps one time.
When I was around 6, my family randomly decided, "Let's own goats!" because they have a big backyard with an old shed. Well, they ended up buying a small amount of chicken wire fence and giving them outside of the barn about a few feet to move around when our backyard is fairly large and most of it wasn't being used. And we live in a residential area, so every night we had the goats, they would scream. My parents hated their screaming and started neglecting them more by giving them less attention, which only made them scream 24/7. Finally, my parents decided to give the goats to some distant family that has farmland. (We are in the south.)
When I was around 8-9, I got another cat. She was a pretty cat, but very mean and feisty. She didn't really like anyone, but I loved her regardless. This cat was too annoying for my parents to deal with because she had behavioral issues, and instead of taking her to the vet, they decided to make her start staying outside. She loved it, but a bit too much.
(Big TW: death and some descriptions of gore) One day, I had to help my mom deal with her corpse on the road. I was obviously really sad and fell into a deal depression. I also panicked and nearly threw up when I saw, because her eyeball was hanging out. It was so disturbing for a child to see. We buried her together, but I was made fun of one day by my parents for randomly crying about her death.
When I was around 10, I owned my third cat. She also had a brother from the same litter, and my mom had recently lost a cat that she did keep inside from kidney disease. I haven't had my own cat in a while, and they decided to adopt this sibling pair from the neighbors. I got the female, my mom got the male, because she is the type to insist that boy cats are better.
Anyways, I LOVED this cat. I did so much for her, and she loved me and followed me everywhere. We'd cuddle to sleep together. She was my best friend.
But my parents never got her fixed. They also never got the brother fixed. They ended up doing the tango (gross I know, but nature) and my cat had kittens a little bit less than a year old. Since she was too young for kittens, she at first didn't know what she was doing and even misplaced her first outside and ran to me while in labor with the second. I found that kitten and helped her with all 5 of her kittens, all girls also, and the kittens ended up getting close to me as well.
Of course, once they were around 6-7 weeks, my parents were wanting to start finding home for them. But they also had another idea in mind. They wanted me to get rid of my adult cat, and the brother cat as well, and we'd take one kitten. At first I was like no, but they manipulated me and convinced me a kitten would be better. I told them which kitten I wanted, and it looked a lot like my cat. But no, since they thought one of the cats might be distantly Siamese and thought it looked the coolest from it's tabby and Siamese-like pattern, they chose that one, and then dropped my beloved cat and her brother off at a cemetery, didn't even let me say bye. They just threw them away like pieces of garbage. And then I ended up resenting that kitten anyways for not being MY cat, so the family ended up crashing her as well, and she disappeared a few years later.
Around age 11-12, I somehow managed to have pet hermit crabs, another pet yellow-belly slider turtle, and two pet rabbits. My parents were basically throwing pets at me because I guess they felt guilty or something about what they did to me. I didn't end up taking care of any of them, and they all died of starvation and/or dehydration, and I still feel terrible about it. I was so depressed that I couldn't take care of myself either. And I was given animals on top of it, and I was forced to be a high schooler in school. The pets suffered at the cost of what? Why did I even have them?
Around age 13, my parents were driving me home from school, and we saw some Canada geese with their babies by a pond. I'm sure you know where this is going, considering everything else. My mom convinced me to jump out of the car with her, and she distracted the adult geese while I caught a baby one. I knew that in itself was bad, but I didn't know Canada geese were such a protected species.
The little guy imprinted on me. I loved him, he would follow me around the yard. But once again my parents got out that chicken fence, only this time it was on the side of the house, and no shed for him to take cover in (still like a few feet of movement max.) He was growing fast, and he was plucking his feathers. A neighbor noticed and told us to get rid of him or we'd call authorities. They lied and said we "found him and rescued him." I was told to lie about this narrative for years. They ended up dropping him back off at the pond we got him from about two months after we first got him. He couldn't fly, his family wasn't there. He was defenseless. I still feel terrible to this day, I know I was manipulated, but I was 13. And again, I defend my aunt and she was also 13, so I really don't know.
When I was 15, that first turtle I mentioned was still there at our house for all those years. She had quite literally been there for a decade. My parents got tired of having to clean her tank, and she was obviously too big for it as well. But was their response to upgrade tanks and the old filtering system that's been there all that time? Nope. While I was at school, he just...released her. And not in a pond or anything, you know, being an aquatic turtle. (Not like that would be better, but better than what he did.) He just put her outside, in our front driveway. She ran away surprisingly fast according to him. An aquatic pet turtle. Just released in a residential neighborhood. I'm totally sure nothing awful happened to her.( /sarcasm.)
When I was also 15, this was when the pandemic hit. I was super depressed and bored all the time. But then a female stray cat came to our house and had kittens behind a board against my grandparents house. I started fostering them and their mom immediately. I didn't know at the time that we had any no kill shelters nearby, and neither did my parents. When the kittens were old enough, we started rehoming them. There were 3 in total. 1 got a home. The other was still outside for some reason and disappeared. The other one became my pet, whom was at first the family pet. But then they decided that he was too annoying (because he was sweet and affectionate and not what they wanted out of cats which was mean, feisty, playful.)
He is the sweetest boy ever and is still alive to this day, but because I still live with my horrible family, he has to be outdoors, and he gets really scabby from the bugs outside during the summer. As soon as I can I will move out, take him to the vet, and take him out of this home. He shouldn't have to be here.
A few years ago, my sister (11F but maybe 9F at the time) got her own kitten. He ended up growing up to be sweet and affectionate like my cat, so neither her nor my parents want him and he's outdoors, so I'll probably try to take him too.
My sister now has her own new cat that's about a year old she got last year. So far she's not abandoning him since he's a mix of sweet and playful, but my parents have talked about making him indoor-outdoor, which really means "Indoor-outdoor for a few days but after a while we'll just leave him outside and let him stay there."
As a child, I was taught so many messed up things about animals. That dogs are disgusting, gross, and pets have no feelings, and I was taught that cats also have no feelings as a child, but that they are at least a more fun and less gross pet. In fact, in my parent's eyes, no animals have feelings or sentience or any of those things. They are just play things for our benefit. Because of this, as a child I also did not treat animals with the respect they deserve, and I acknowledge this. I have been unlearning so much of this behavior since I was about 13, the goose that I had was my wakeup call.
Please, I know it may seem crazy to some that I out of all people are speaking on this, but if you own animals, please keep them indoors. And with cats specifically, if they crave outside, harness train them. Buy/build a cheap patio in your window if possible. Just don't let them roam free. They will kill so much wildlife. Having to also deal with the grief of my pets killing and bringing dead rabbits, moles, birds opossums, etc. is also a lot. It heavily effects your surrounding ecosystem as well, because annually house cats are estimated to kill over a billion birds and over 6 billion mammals. That's disastrous, and could be avoided if there weren't so many bad pet owners.
Also, don't get animals that go in tanks/terrariums/cages in general if you don't have the money to get them the most spacious enclosure with ALL of their needs. Don't put fish in bowls, it effects their eyesight and shortens their lifespans SIGNIFICANTLY. In general, do not get a pet unless you have the financial means to do so AND if you've thoroughly researched that pet, get it ethically sourced, and if you make sure you have the mental capacity to care for an animal. ANIMALS ARE NOT TOYS. ANIMALS ARE NOT HERE FOR OUR ENTERTAINMENT, FOR OUR JOY. THEY ARE LIVING BEINGS WITH THOUGHTS, EMOTIONS, AND A LIFE. THEY DESERVE RESPECT AND DECENCY. NO, THEY DESERVE BEYOND DECENCY, THEY DESERVE TO BE WORSHIPPED AND NURTURED AND SPOILED BY US, NOT TORMENTED AND ABUSED! Thank you.
Also, if you somehow got this far, please read my previous story and give me advice on that one if you have the time, but if not that's perfectly okay. My living situation sucks, but hopefully things can change. I'm counting on a change to happen soon.

I’m a (22, M) Capricorn man who has a crush on a wonderful (21, F) Cancer woman. We met a week before finals week (school was ending); we go to the same university.
Here’s the context (sorry if this is too long):
How we first met was due to her needing help editing her dance video (she is a dance major) and I was called up to help her edit her video (I’m a film production major). When we were working together, she pointed to a guy in the video who was in her dance team and told me she had a huge crush on him. She even told me she confessed her love to him but it didn’t work out because of his sexuality status. I was sort of mad? b/c why would someone I just met make me jealous like that. Anyways, towards the end before we departed, I asked her if she had any finals to study for next week. She said yes, but she told me she does’t know what to do because she has a lot of free. As soon as she said that, my overthinking and delulu cap mind thought she was hinting that I should ask her out for food or something. So I did. She said yes with a smile, and we decided to get food during finals week next week.
Finals week approaches, I pick her up, we go get food. I've read that Cancers can be initially shy and reserved until they feel comfortable with someone to open up. But she was not shy at all – very bubbly. I could see her blush a bit, but even on the way to the restaurant, she was the one leading the conversation and even at the restaurant. She was asking a lot of questions to learn more about me – I think it also has to do with the cross cultural curiosity too because we are both from different countries. But she would ask questions like what I want to do in the future, etc. Then she also shared a lot about her family which I thought she was opening up a lot compared to what I've read about Cancer women. She told me about her mother, her sisters, etc and how excited she was to go back to see them soon.
After the food date(?) or thing (I think we were there for like two hours), I tried to be romantic or more respectful, I guess, so I opened the passenger door for her to get in, and as I was walking over to my side of the car to get in, I peaked over her and she was smiling and I could see her blush (again, I don’t know if its a capricorn thing but I really try to observe every little detail and overthink them every night). Anyways, I dropped her off at her dorm, I got out of the car to say goodbye, she opened her arms to give me a hug. We said goodbye but I didn’t really say too much about next plans because I didn’t want to be rushing or pushing and also summer break literally was about to start, and also I just met her.
Any advice from those who understand Cancer women's behavior better or insights from fellow Capricorn individuals who have been in similar situations would be greatly appreciated. What does this show about her? My delulu mind keeps overthinking to the point where I’m reading all about Cancer women on reddit and trying to confirm if she perhaps is into me or maybe she is just an outgoing person who just likes food dates with random people for fun 💀
Thank you all for your astrological wisdom and guidance!

I’ve finally made it past a week, and this is the longest I’ve gone in a couple years. For some reason I’m having a really, really hard time not going and buying some shooters today.
I’m right here, staring at my car in the driveway just waiting for more reasons to go buy some and come back home and drink. I’ve made it so long (I know, just a little over a week) without it and I don’t know what it is that makes me want it…