Sayings and quotes about nieces

i have been meaning to dwell down into this topic since a long time, and i really have thoughts and critic of my own regarding this and want to type down
rape as a crime in India has always been quoted in such a gendered manner like it's always been said that it's a crime against women or has always centred to the topic of women, which I think doesn't represent the main reason or more logical approach to why India has such heinous problem of rape
I do think that gender cannot be a dominant lens when it comes to rape, there is a lot of factor that can explain more of a reason why it is done more as a hate crime against certain communities, minorities, religion, or class, then just a person belonging to a female sex
Feminist in India are trying to dwell the attention towards the fact that rape is only crime done because of hatred against females. Women or perhaps anyone who comes off as feminine in such regard but I think its shallow, there are cases where a person is raped because of a certain community they belong, it's not a dominant factor that being a woman was the only reason they were raped. it was also because they were belonging to a community that is already hated widely in India. For example, Muslim and dalit women are more prone to such crime.
It doesn't throw the fact that females are surely more prone overall together of such crime despite of belonging to certain communities, but I think it is not done because of hatred, particularly of misogyny that most people tend to say it
I think misogyny as a culture is still an upper class thing specially in India
when we roam around the streets, see men who are such perverts or being creep towards women, I don't think so that they are doing it out of hate or misogyny. Apparently, they are not aware of such thing because they don't see women as a thing that should be hated or perhaps could be considered to such regard because they dont simply see women of any emotions or i could just say, they see women as nothing and emptiness. and it is very different from hatred because misogyny culture is more of a phenomena that is not done widely by poor men, you can see example of andrew tate and his whole influence, and whether you agree or not, his influence has targeted me from a particularly privilege class
India problem is perhaps in my senses are not just misogyny, and I think that seeing it as a gender crime only towards women cut down the fact that they are men who have been victims and perhaps women who have been predator
What I am trying to acknowledge, ensure directly is that the problem of rape is more linked with transgression, sexual trauma, taboo, poverty, Classism, communal hatred and perhaps lack of moral ethic
And while talking about this, one of the major issue is that that most rape or many rape are done by a family member and here I don't believe that this is done because misogyny, it is more dwell in a power Dynamic way it just that female is so sexualised despite that both male and female are sexual objects, but females are considered as sexually perverse
calling rape misogynistic crime against women and not misandry against men when its done to men is just a hypocritical approach
I think feminist scholar in India are not very good at presenting the issue of rape because they are fixated on the Idea that it is just a direct crime towards a person that comes out to be a female because it is simply hatred.
There is not a single type of rape in India. A rape done to a lower caste woman is different to rape done to an upper class woman, rape to men is different from rape to women and rape done by women is different from rape Done by men, Rape done by a family member is different from rape done by someone Strange, rape done by someone who has more power dynamic is different than rape done by someone who appears to be powerless. and of course, all of them are dramatic at the same level, despite being different when we sociologically think of it
There is a very need of a proper structural study that needs to be done on rape held in India that is focused on more psychological approaches like I mentioned before, but also keeping the political tension and economical roles rather than just gender roles

So, I'm in a relationship with a girl for the past 4 years. Currently, I'm residing outside India and have been for almost 2 years. We both were very serious about it from day one. Our parents met last December for the first time, and then again last March. Everyone in the family is extremely happy, as am I, since we are planning to marry at the end of December this year or early next year. I certainly love her from the bottom of my heart and she also loves me a lot. However, during the last few months, there have been issues after issues, and now I'm deeply concerned about our future. She is the only girl I have dated, and it was almost a blessing for me as from day one I imagined her as my better half.
Now, coming to the core issues between us, I have jotted down all the points that bother both of us along with her responses. I have tried to be as neutral as possible and removed our personal biases from it.

Anecdote One

This happened a couple of months back when her parents met my parents for the second time. Everything was looking good, but it seemed she was a bit unhappy. I asked her many times, but she was hesitant from the beginning. Later, she said I didn't appreciate her much and I don't understand her fully. Initially, I was hesitant to accept it, but I realized there is certainly an issue that needed to be addressed as we are not living together for a long time (I usually visit India once a year and stay with her for almost a month). I agreed with her and she was certainly right that I don't appreciate her enough. Regarding knowing her, I said it's a long process; I certainly don't know everything but I will try to do much better once we live together. Apparently, the fight was sorted and we both were very happy.

Anecdote Two

She has mostly male friends in her group from childhood to college and even at work, which is completely normal in this day and age. I certainly don't have a problem with male friends, but there are two folks that I don't like, though she admires them. There was no fight as such until last month as I accepted they were just friends. Somehow, last month both visited her place for 5 days and, as they were new to the city, they stayed together. To be honest, I was a bit unhappy as there was only a single room and she had to sleep in the drawing room on the sofa. But to be fair to them, this was not the issue. I understood that since both hadn't met for 6 months, they wanted to spend some time together and have fun. There was a day when I was a bit unhappy as she was not picking up the call or responding to texts. I then slept due to the late night in my place. Apparently, she was very angry about the incident and told me, "You don't really care about me being happy, you wouldn't have messed up the thing that day."
As she was very angry, I said sorry to her and assured her that it wouldn't happen next time for sure.
A few days later, when things seemed to be normal from our end, deep down I couldn't understand my fault. I believed and felt that she was not acting normal when they were there with her. I said I didn't like the idea of inviting the boys to her place and staying with them and the way they were holding each other (I'm not against hugs, but it didn't feel like just a hug; it felt a bit different, a bit romantic). To which she said, "Nobody has the right to tell me what I want to do in my life, I live life by my own choices."
She has written a long paragraph about the following incident and I'm quoting it verbatim: "Because I was the happiest kid who was having all the fun and where I felt I was perfect the way I was, not because I am, but because they made me feel so. Not for a single second did I lose a smile on my face. The child within me lived to the fullest. My madness was at its peak."
After this, I couldn't respond to anything. Now she is planning to stay at their flat for a week next month.

Anecdote Three

Last week, I was on a business trip and lots of our colleagues visited my office, including many colleagues from India. However, there were a couple of Indian colleagues who were a bit off from their normal behavior. They were throwing garbage in the bus, not following traffic rules, creating a ruckus in the bar after drinking a lot, and didn't arrive at the most important presentation because they planned a city tour. I can understand they are visiting the place for the first time, but I was a bit unhappy about their behavior. I shared the story with her and, strangely enough, she supported them. She said, "You are too serious about life. Don't stop people from enjoying." I disagreed as it was a very important event for our department. She said her male best friend would do the same and that life is for enjoyment. I didn't argue after that point.
I don't know what to say. I'm a bit anxious and nervous. If I say something, as she has said I'm considering my decision to marry you!, but I really wanted to know: Am I wrong to ask her? As things will not matter in the long term, am I being too insecure about my partner? For me, it's hard to share the same room/flat where only three of them will stay.

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To my beloved Marcus
I know you will make sure
this Heart reaches every lost Bastard
or any curious soul in general
until this guide is no longer necessary.
It makes me so sad to think I won't live to see that day.
It is hard for me to say this, but if this book has made its way into your hands, it means that it is already too late for you. For some reason, whichever it may be, you are already in the middle of our situation. And taking the chance now that I already said something so depressing, here is another thing: there is no way for you to get out of it.

Are you being surrounded by strange events lately? I don’t know, maybe the lights around you blink more often than not, the radio changes stations without anyone touching the dial? The animals are suddenly extremely aggressive, or maybe unnaturally tame towards you?

Suddenly you can’t shake the feeling that someone, or something, is staring at you from somewhere unseen in the room…

I guess that I don’t need to mention how this all started. You probably saw something you weren’t meant to see, didn’t you. Some random person breaking the rules of reality in one way or another. A guy flying, a girl on the streets spitting fire, objects appearing out of nowhere.

Nothing makes sense and no one seems to care or know how to explain it. Well my friend, I am sorry to inform you that you have been infected. You are incubating the Arcane Infection, and you are now Awake.

Now, you are a Mage. A Bastard Mage, if you don’t have a master to guide you… which is most probably the case.

If this is the first time you read this book, or any kind of Draconian Text, this probably doesn’t make any sense. I know, it didn’t make sense for me either when I was in your place, almost seventy years ago. But trust me, everything will be explained in time. Just be patient, and stay with me, ok? Keep calm, and keep reading.

The first thing you need to learn is to shut up. You cannot talk about this with anyone who hasn’t experienced it and holds some sort of relevant position in society. Really. Famous scientists, politicians, Mayors, I don’t know. Anyone who tends to be trusted by non-mages. Just. Don’t.

If you already did, let’s hope they didn’t believe you. With some luck, you were disregarded as a fool, a maniac or a person with too vivid of an imagination.

If you survive past three days or so after opening your dumb mouth, you should be safe? Now don’t do that again. The Black Pages don’t like it when you try to talk about this…

Remember that sensation of being stalked? Let’s say that it will eventually go away, unless you are stupid or naive enough to try and bring attention to this deal.

Yes. Magic is real. Good for you. Now shut your piehole and keep reading unless you want to be remembered soon. Walls have eyes and ears, and they’ll probably continue to have them for two or three months. Trying to run away will only perpetuate this, so the best thing you can do is not think about it.

Do something stupid in these months and you will die. Disappear. Kaput. Remembered.

There are people who want to maintain this as a secret. That is another thing I will explain in time.

Right now you have two options: You can learn how to manage this new “gift” (if you want to call it that) in a remotely appropriate way; or you can just be another idiot, and try to live a normal life.

What? You think I am being unnecessarily aggressive? Well maybe I am. But you need to understand the gravity of this situation.

Because I lied. You have no options. Learn how to use this new capability to your advantage, or you will die in a freak accident.

If after reading this you prefer to just keep on with your life like nothing happened, then good for you. Close the book, and put it back where it was. With some luck it will land in the hands of someone less dense.

.

.

.

Still reading? Good. Excellent! Sit down, get comfortable, maybe grab a drink. This is going to be long.

Among the words of this tome in your hands, you will find all the information I have been able to gather along my eighty god damn years of life, or at least all that you need to know to keep yourself alive until getting a proper guide.

It will be a long journey, and many of the things here won't make much sense, especially because I had to take the time to adapt and translate documents three or four centuries old to a mostly understandable format.
So you better be thankful.

The first thing I want you to know: please, for the love of God, do not settle for the things I am exposing here. All the information in this book will be absolutely basic, it won’t replace a formal education.. All the information here is for you to know where you are, how to start, and where to aim.

And now is when I am going to start telling you what IS inside this book.

We will start with something simple: what is Magic (or “The Art”) exactly, how did you end up in this situation and why is it important that you study it by yourself.

Then, after the general explanation, I will talk a little about our “Society”, if we can call a bunch of lonely, grumpy jackasses a “Mage Society”. There are some non-written rules of etiquette and other details that you need to keep in mind, if you want to keep the head on your neck.

Another section of the book will talk about the dangers around us… and this section will be, ironically enough, quite short, because the less you know about it, the better.

Mystery is your greatest ally, it’s everyone’s greatest ally. All that you don’t know is as important as what you do know. And that is what the fourth chapter is about. Each Mage has their own magical system, according to which they can create a Heart. There are as many ways of Magic as Mages in the world (so, not really that many), but all of them share some similarities.

Chapter Five is about the foundations of a ritual. Not every magical system has rituals, but it is always useful to learn and understand how these work, just in case you may find yourself in a desperate situation..

Finally, Chapter Six will be a directory with Formulas, Glyphs and Thrills that should serve as a starting point for all of you. Nothing too complex, but still, very useful. I left a few blank pages here, for you to add anything you learn and feel convenient.

If any of you misuses it, I swear to the Gods.

And this would be the real reason behind this tome: take whatever you can, leave what you create for others to use. I started this book as some sort of reproduction of the classic “Metodología del Fantástico”, that dear Gwendolin de Recattio left for us almost four hundred years ago, and that is obviously beyond obsolete at this point.

That and also probably burned to ashes as many other manuals end up.

Take notes damn it, I will leave spaces for everyone to make a little mark. But for the love of the Gods don’t use your real name, don’t be an imbecile.

Let’s make something together. Let’s create something important for once in our stupid lives. Let’s make the Bastard's life a little easier.

Gato.

That casual exclamation to the so-called ‘gods’ makes it clear that this book is either heretical or very old. Then again, the Wohlian it is written in is quite modern… but that could be the effect of magic, right? After all, this thing is written in ‘draconic’, which seems to be a magical language that self-translates or something?

But that was not the only thing that kinda came to my attention. This guy, Gato, is treating magic like this incredibly serious and dangerous thing… and I can’t help but feel a little nervous about it. I mean, everyone seems to be doing just fine, even if there are a few rules that I have to consider. Was this deal really so complicated?

Well, Gato was the expert, and it felt like everyone respected them plenty so… I will abide by them!

Besides, the knowledge here is beyond promising! A part of me wants to skip right to chapter 6 and start learning new runes! But no, I have to be patient, I have to learn the way it was intended and take my time absorbing/acclimating to the knowledge!

That does remind me, I have my own runes to learn and start using, too… should I begin practicing that before I start learning new ones?

“Wait. Before you do any of that… there’s more on the page?”

Huh?

I will add as much as I can! This book is a great resource but it is also a bit outdated, after all it’s been almost 80 years since its writing!

Don’t give up! We will see this through!

— Giovanni.

If I leave that idiot in charge of the notes he will undoubtedly forget things. Take his optimism with a grain of salt.

Pay attention.

— Mustafá.

Annotations?

I quickly open the file on my computer to compare… and just as I thought, these annotations are not on the scanned version. The beginning is exactly the same, but the writing makes it obvious that these two were written at different times, by the same hand but, still, copied individually!

I look down at my physical version again. Who are these people? And why did they feel the need to vandalize the book like this? I can only beg for them to actually make sensible and useful comments. If this book is as old as they say, maybe the updates will be a good thi–

Wait, only 80 years? I thought a book like this would be at least a century old.

Maybe magic is surprisingly modern after all!

“Fat chance. Gato quoted one of his sources, ‘Metodología del Fantástico’, which should be around five hundred years old.”

Hmmm, whatever the case… I should ask someone about this.

But I can’t just go right back to the Chatbox after saying I would be busy, that would be silly! I instead connect to the Messenger.

Pepe is not online, probably planning a cool vacation with his family or something. Vito is out drawing, Patricio is online but busy… ah, there it is! The group Gal made. Someone should know something there…

xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Hi hi! n.n Anyone here?
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: hey Tav, just me for now! the others are busy or snoring.
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: I wish I could go for some zzz right now
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Is it late where you live? o.o
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: early, we have a few hours of difference between Wohl and Rayah.

The Commonwealth of Rayah… that’s on the literal other side of Jericho, so of course we have half a day of difference!

xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Wait O.o is it like, five in the morning over there then!?
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: eyeup
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: today I gotta take care of granny’s business and that means waking up EARLY
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Damn u.u I hope you have a good day, remember to keep hydrated!
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: hah, will do, will do.
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Hmmm… hey, sorry to bother you with this but, I gotta ask… uwu
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Have you ever heard of Mustafá and/or Giovanni? uwu
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: in what context?
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: those are names, you’re saying names right now
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: In magic contexts? O.o
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: not a clue, sorry
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Bah, probably just a couple of randos then u.u
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Oh well, thank you anyways! n.n
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: where did you even find those names?
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Ah! I found them in the physical version of the book you sent me!
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: why did you go looking for that?
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: I don’t like reading in electronic media TwT
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: hmmm ok but be careful
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: don’t go testing the knowledge of randos or something like that
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: I won’t, I won’t -u- I will be nice and careful!

Cracking my knuckles, I finally get back into the book. Finally, some answers at hand!

Bought my car in January of this year, and had a pre-purchase inspection done.
Now it’s May and I’m planning to get the recommended Corolla maintenance done, but I’m not sure which maintenance tasks should be done. I looked up the scheduled maintenance but I’m kinda worried about being scammed if I just say “can you do the recommended maintenance?” They could add anything onto the quote.
Any advice on how to do this? The pre-purchase inspection went well so, not to jinx it, but I’m thinking my car is overall sound but I want to start on the schedule.
Thanks!

me and her have been friends for 1 1/2 years and she has been sending me quotes about love friendship ect for a week or 2 saying she is just saving them. its weird cause this was after i got a girlfriend
tell me your best guess cause i am stuck

So i am in third semester now (after the exams), in first semester there was a team of 5 for hackathon in which apart from me there were two M and two F. I was a pretty much goal oriented person so much to the point I barely left my laptop while I was coding and when I wasn't coding I would either be at my shop or college, this was my life for whole 1st semester. Fast forward to december, we gave our sem ends, I was free so I thought I'd use them holidays productively, to my sheer luck my mother spilled coffee on my laptop and it took more than a fkin month to get it back. In between this month I had nothing to do so I started to talk to one of those F in my team. Thing went on pretty quickly, I developed feelings, we were spending literally all days chatting away, telling each other everything we could. Fast forward to 12th Feb i proposed to her and she accepted it. We both were happy to each other. My friends got to know about this progression and they started brain washing or don't know what u call it but they started kind of forcing me to be physical with her. Two to three weeks went by and one day when we were talkin in night like usual she got horny and she said and as I quote "talk dirty to me". So I did sir. Next day we had a free lecture. We went to an empty class and i just slept on her laps and sucked her B, the next day she would behave distant, don't know whether its her conscience or what but the whole week she was like this, then I calmed her down maybe by taking her to eat out or maybe by reciting a poem for her. The same events happened three more times and i, my fuckin brain got no clues what's going on. One day she got so distant from me that she started straight out ignoring me, I was so "depressed" that even my 3 yr younger sister noticed it and confronted it to her directly. She said she needs time to heal but not to me to my sister. I said if you need time that's OK I'll wait for you even if it takes my whole life. Then one day I wanted some answers regarding the material or something I don't even remember it correctly now, things went down the rabbit hole and it was bad, believe me she really said I was nothing more than a nuisance. This was just all so overwhelming and heartbreaking, I didn't want to lose her. Then i planned the most romantic thing of my life. I booked out a cafe, called her friends to invite her, they were three (including her) and i was alone. By the sheer determination of not loosing her I proposed to her again, she accepted and we were happy. After a week in one of my finals she says "mere papa ko pata chala gaya, unhone chat padh li". At this point I don't know what but I didn't care about whether she stayed with me or not cuz I thought what more I could do with current me, (I had literally spent all my savings, I wanted to upgrade my laptop so bad). I asked her "what now, you want to leave me? " she replied "what would you do if you were in my shoes?". I got up and left the place. I don't even feel sad about we broke up anymore like I did the first time she acted that way. Are these feelings wrong? Should I ask her for all the money I spent on her? What do i do now? She will surely leave me but I don't feel a thing.

I think this is an important information to learn especially for Chinese user here that seek Koreans perspective/ POV on historical problem that's written by Chinese journalist.
I'm just gonna copy-paste the whole thing :
1. Cao Cao is Korean?
Rumor: Quoted from South Korea’s “Great Korea Min Bao (People Newspaper)”, Korea’s Ewha Womans University professor Zheng Zaishu said that “Cao Cao is Korean”.
Fact: January 8, 2010, South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, director of China Department spoke directly with professor Zheng Zaishu and clarified this information was entirely false. And “Great Korea Min Bao” does not exist.
2. Sun Yat-sen is Korean?
Rumor: “Chosun Libo” reported that Sungkyunkwan University Professor Pu Fenqing researched based on family genealogy and issued a report saying Sun Yat-sen is Korean.
Fact: “Chosun Libo” never reported such news, and there is no such professor called Pu Fenqing in Sungkyunkwan University. A Chinese netizen wrote a blog post on Tianya which was reposted as the facts.
3. Koreans invented Chinese characters?
Rumor: Seoul University history department professor Pu Zhengxiu claimed that Koreans first invented Chinese characters, then they migrated into the Central Plains and brought the Chinese characters into China before the Han culture was formed.
Fact: There is no professor named Pu Zhengxiu in Seoul national University. South Korean Government has never proposed to the UNESCO (United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) the cultural heritage of Chinese characters in Korea, nor did they ever consider applying. Seoul National University scholar Puwen Ji (Music) had a similar idea, but it is not the mainstream Korean academic theory.
4. Korea applied for cultural heritage of calligraphy?
Rumor: Report said South Korea combines Chinese calligraphy and Japanese calligraphy into one called the Korean “book art”, and tries to apply for cultural heritage of it.
Fact: Korean government never tried to apply for cultural heritage of Chinese calligraphy nor Korean “book art”.
5. Chinese Mythology came from Korea?
Rumor: Korea’s Ewha Womans University professor Zheng Zaishu said “Chinese Mythology came from Korea”.
Fact: In his paper Professor Zheng wrote, “Chinese mythology in its early stage may be mixing blends of many different primitives of people’s myth (of which there is the myth of Dongyi), therefore in Chinese mythology you may find traces of the lost ancient Korean mythology.”
6. Li Bai is Korean?
Rumor: Chinese media posted an article written by a Chinese scholar “Li Bai is not Korean”. The article said, “Recently, I found some information, said according to Seoul National University history department professor Kim Bingde’s research that Li Bai is a Korean decedent.” The article argued that the Li Bai is not Korean, but he was from Tianshui, Gansu province.
Fact: There is no professor named Kim Bingde in Seoul National University, also there are Korean History Department, Oriental History Department and Western History Department but no “History Department” by itself. This news came out after the dispute over “Li Bai’s hometown” between Tianshu, Gansu Province and Anlu, Hubei Province, it is likely that the article was fabricated in order to provide more fire power to claim Li Bai’s hometown.
7. Korea successfully Claimed Dragon Boat Festival in World Heritage List?
Rumor: Korea successfully applied for Dragon Boat Festival as culture heritage on the World Heritage List.
Fact: South Korea only applied for “Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” which are the Dragon Boat Festival activities, not the Dragon Boat Festival itself. It includes dancing, shaman rituals, folk art shows and so on Korean folk festival, the only similarity is the time frame which is also held during the Dragon Boat Festival in China. In addition, the East Asia generally have the tradition of Dragon Boat Festival, during same time frame, however different content.
Controversies of cultures on the surface are mostly rumors
China does not really have much hatred towards South Korea, but because of Chinese media’s reports that Korea claims many of the Chinese cultures and history are originated in Korea, causing many Chinese people’s discontentment, but most of these reports came from China spread false rumors or slanderous messages, the mainstream Korean history and local public opinion do not have such claims
So the biggest question Is : Why do people who are “anti-Korean” keep dwelling?

1. Media irresponsibly create rumors.
   
2. The people: Relying on the “splendid cultures” for sense of security, and became over-sensitive about “stealing” cultures. The government: either Most culture disputes are driven by beneficial factors and interests.
   
3. nationalism factor by government.
   

Hello, I'm new here and I need some advice. My brother invited my family-2 kids, my husband and I, as well as my parents to Disneyland for my niece's 6th birthday. Her birthday is during the week we set aside to do a family camping trip with my husband's side of the family. His family has been making the same camping trip for 40 years.
For the last 3 years we have been unable to attend the camping trip due to my MIL needing care and my husband being guilt-tripped into staying home with her. She lives in her own home that he, along with my SIL, has had to maintain since my FIL passed away 5 years ago. My relationship with MIL was always :okay" until my husband and his sister started to coddle her after FIL's passing. They were all grieving and she took his death very hard, obvs. I assumed after a year or so she would get back to normal but the more my SIL and husband came over the more demanding she would get. 5 years later it's gotten to the point where they each go to her house daily to do laundry, dishes, prepare meals, clean house, mow lawns, everything. My poor husband works a physically demanding job but still has to stop by mommy dearest's house daily to do his chores there.
My husband is a good man with a big heart. He loves his mother and is trying to do right by her and I understand that but I worry that he's missing out on things at home and he will regret it. He is blind to his mothers toxic behavior and says he promised his father that he would take care of her. The problem is that now I feel like myself and our kids are getting put second. I resent her very much because she's making our lives so difficult. We have to schedule everything around her and I hate it. I've told my husband that I support his needs (which are her needs) but I don't want to talk about her. It's been years of this nonsense.
Back to the trip. My SIL will be going on the week long camping trip with her family. She has expressed that she is getting tired of taking care of mommy dearest and needs the break. That leaves my husband as the default. I should mention that my MIL is now immobile with lung and heart issues. I believe it's because she doesn't get up or move a damn muscle because everyone comes running when she needs something. She has ruined her health and we are all paying for it. Anyway, I don't want to disappoint my kids by not letting them go to the Disney trip so I arranged for my parents to take them. My whole family will be on this trip and I opted to stay home with my husband because I feel bad having fun without him. Don't get me wrong, I've gone on girls trips without him but this is different-it's Disneyland! Now the more that I think about it, I do really want to go I just have guilt leaving him behind. I know he's got to stay or there will be hell to pay. We travel regularly so I know that MIL will call him 20 times a day to complain or make him feel bad especially with my SIL camping off grid. What do I do? Do I go and enjoy my family and kids? Or do I stay home and probably be resentful?

I posted about this the other day but it was removed because it was interpreted as me posting and not being a therapist. I want to clarify, I am a therapist (associate licensed). This is a question about my own personal therapy session billing.
I went to one session with a new therapist back in April. It was terrible-worst therapy session of my life. That's besides the point though, but it was a complete waste of time and unhelpful. You can look in my post history if you want to read about it. That will give you some context of how unprofessional this therapist is.
Anyway, I got an invoice for the therapist for her full fee of 140. I had submitted my insurance information to the therapist and was under the impression I would be using my insurance and just paying a copay. I reached out to my insurance company regarding this and they said a claim had never been submitted/ they have never received a claim from the therapist. I contacted the therapist and she responded, and I quote, "I definitely did send in your claim thru Therapy Notes. I will resubmit it again and refund you if/when they pay it. 🤷‍♀️ " I had asked my insurance company if there was anything I needed to do for the claim to be filed or any information I needed to give the therapist, and they said no, but they did give me a fax number that the therapist could fax the claim to.
So I emailed the therapist the fax number (politely) and she responded, "I don't normally fax claims nor do we even have a fax machine. I can compare that number to our file and also, you're welcome to fax in the claim also. BTW, in consideration of the back and all the ensuring problems, I had submitted this claim 8 times, FYI."
What should I do? She is responding so unprofessionally. I don't know that I even understand what her last emails means 100%. My insurance company is saying she has not submitted a claim and she is saying she submitted it 8 times?? I don't know what to believe. Also her saying I can submit my own claim...is that normal? There is a person who does the billing at my practice so I am not directly involved with doing that so I do not know what is normal or not regarding that. I know we do not ask our clients to submit their own claims though. It feels to me as if she does not care that I am being charged the full fee and is not trying to help me out here.

I revisited this album and now I have multiple questions relating to these two songs that I would like clarity on if anyone has answers, I'll list quotes from the songs, followed up with my questions related to the lines:
​

Whitney's hurt, the purest soul I know, I found her in the kitchen
Askin' God, "Where did I lose myself? And can it be forgiven?"
Broke me down, she looked me in my eyes, "Is there an addiction?"
I said "No," but this time I lied, I knew that I can't fix it
Pure soul, even in her pain, know she cared for me
Gave me a number, said she recommended some therapy
I asked my momma why she didn't believe me when I told her "No"
I never knew she was violated in Chicago, I'm sympathetic
Told me that she feared it happened to me, for my protection
Though it never happened, she wouldn't agree Now I'm affected, twenty years later trauma has resurfaced
Amplified as I write this song, I shiver 'cause I'm nervous
I was five, questioning myself, 'lone for many years
Nothing's wrong, just results on how them questions made me feel
I made it home, seven years of tour, chasin' manhood
But Whitney's gone, by time you hear this song, she did all she could -'Mother I Sober'

(All relevant lines for most context)
1). This is the most confusing one to me. To my understanding this is the moment Whitney finds out about Kendrick's infidelity/lust addiction. It reads as though this convo occurred when he was 25 years old ("twenty years later, after I was five") so this would be at or around 2012-2013, which fits in with him saying Whitney asked him about this soon after the GKMC tour. Which he mentioned earlier on 'Worldwide Steppers'
"good kid, m.A.A.d city tour, I flourished on them stages, Whitney asked did I have a problem I said, 'I might be racist'"
So this kind of makes it sound like this was a conversation they had over a decade ago? The "I made it home, seven years of tour, Whitney's gone" line makes this more confusing because I would assume the GKMC or Yeezus tour or even the Drake one were the first ones he was a part of back in 2012/2013, unless he is just talking about 7 years prior to the original interpretation where he would just be doing random shows back when he was K.Dot. Unless he's saying this is when the conversation happened, they remained together until sometime recently they split, but this would be unsubstantiated. So personally I think it is clear when Whitney found out about his infidelity sometime 10+ years ago, however it's very unclear when or if Whitney is even really gone and if they don't live together, see each other, or parent their kids together. The meta perspective of her appearing on the album multiple times and being a part of the artwork, and posting a ton of her own self growth stuff on IG as well an Kendrick never really saying anything contrary besides this one line leads me to believe they're still very much together?
​

So I set free my cousin, chaotic for my mother's pain
I hope Hykeem made you proud 'cause you ain't die in vain -'Mother I Sober'

2). Obviously this is referring to Kendrick's cousin who is the parent of Baby Keem (who I always thought was Kendrick's first cousin, and not his first cousin once removed), but who is this cousin? Is this the cousin that was accused of touching Kendrick? I assume this isn't the same cousin from Auntie Diaries due to the similar age? Also do we know how or when they died? I feel like I'm missing something obvious. For some reason a Genius annotation says this is a female "his female cousin who’s the mother of Baby Keem" I'm not sure where this is concluded from.
​

"Mother cried, put they hands on her, it was family ties" -'Mother I Sober'

3). This is saying that someone in the family hit his mother, not that someone in the family was the one that molested his mother?
​

"Mother's brother said he got revenge for my mother’s face, Black and blue, the image of my queen that I can't erase" -'Mother I Sober'

4). Kendrick's Uncle beats up another family member to avenge what happened in the previous line above?
​

"I asked my momma why she didn't believe me when I told her "No"
I never knew she was violated in Chicago, I'm sympathetic" -'Mother I Sober'

5). I assume we have no further context to what happened here, whether or not this incident happened by someone in the family or not, just that it happened previously when she lived in Chicago before moving to Compton?
​

My Auntie is a man now -Auntie Diaries
Where is your uncle at? 'Cause I wanna talk to the man of the house -Family Matters

6). Final question regarding 'Auntie Diaries'. There was a little bit of discourse over Drake's line in 'Family Matters' regarding Kendrick's Aunt/Uncle. From my understanding, yes Kendrick's Auntie is a transman, but just because that's the case doesn't necessarily mean that he wants to be referred to as an Uncle. Is it reasonable to believe that because of the title of the song, the repetition of "My Auntie is a man now", and no other indication in the song, that Kendrick's Auntie retained the Aunt title regardless of transitioning to a man? (Technically making Drake's line incorrect/hurtful?) (Note: also in an interview around 2013 Kendrick referred to him as his Auntie then for what that's worth)

Apologies for any grammatical errors or formatting errors as I’m not the best at it.
So I all started back around August in 2023 when all this happened. I wasn’t in the right mindset as there were a lot of things going on in my life with losing family members to finding out my mother had dementia to just not wanting to have any sort of outside life and be a homebody. Just out of the blue I feel I just disconnected myself from everything and everyone and was just going to work and nothing else. I stopped talking to my gf without any reasoning after we got into an argument that I can no longer remember what it was about but turned out to be the “trigger” for me to just give up. By this time we had already been together for 5 years and living together for 3 years as well. So it got hard for us as we were both stubborn and did not try to talk after this fight. As time progressed through the months we just stopped talking and did our own thing while still living together and avoiding each other as much as we could. We didn’t talk much other than bills that needed to be paid and purchasing food as well. We somewhat talked a month or so later and mentioned that we were just civilized roommates nothing more and this continued until February of this year. During that time she would go out with friends and dates from what we discussed when we got back together and I would just stay home collecting myself and slowly getting back together by playing COD with friends almost every night.
Once February came around after valentines I decided to talk to her to see what our future would be in terms of selling the house working it out or whatever the case may be. Strangely enough she asked me if I wanted to join her at the movies that day and of course me being the stubborn asshole I am told her no also because I had already made plans to go the the movies with a friend. So she still ended up getting ready and I asked her if she was still going to the movies. She said no that she was going to her mom’s house to see a movie with her niece. I get ready and head out and lo and behold I see her walking to the theatre with another guy. This make my heart drop and realize she lied to me about going to her moms. She notices me and waves me down like nothing and just tells me “oh I didn’t know you were coming to the movies. I’m just here with a friend too” so I tell her what about her moms and said oh no I wasn’t planning to go and ask if I wanted to meet him. Wanting to call her bluff I decide to say no and drive off. She continues to call me and Ignore her and go with my friend to eat instead. I’m definitely devastated by this considering I was going to talk to her about making up and seeing if we still had a future or not. I understand that we were not together during this time but seeing it actually hurt more than just knowing. The day comes to an end and we decide to talk that night. We talked about the 6 months that passed what we did(not in detail) and if we really wanted to work things out. We agree to work it out and move forward.
During this time it’s still fresh and I notice the guy is still texting her and possibly others she dated a month before. I bring it up to her to discuss it and I ask her to please let them know we are trying to work it out and not to think she is available. Time passes by for about 2-3 weeks after we talked. The guy is still messaging her and i bring it up again that it’s not right and that she should say something. So she finally decides to meet with him in person to let him know that she is trying to work it out with me and that she needs some space. Only I come to realize later this month(May) that she told him she needs time for herself and did not mention trying to work it out with me.(could this be a red flag?)
As time moves on we have little hiccups here and there and I start to feel this guy feeling that doesn’t sit right with me. Not sure if what it is but it makes me feel down and my mind starts to wonder. I can’t help to wonder that she is still messaging someone else and I begin to investigate. This is all happening in May and by this time we are good(or so we say but don’t feel it) and by this time I find out that her close friends which is two do not know about us working it out and a new close friend she made at work as well does not know about us. Which is fine I guess but it kinda bothers me because her new close friend has a friend that introduced her to him to see if they can hit it off. This triggers something for me and I ask her why hasn’t she mentioned that we are talking but her excuse is she’s afraid that she’s going to look stupid in front of her friends if I leave her again like I did 8 months ago..I understand where she is coming from but I we discussed earlier I tell her I am devoted to her and want to make this work because I love her. Maybe I am looking too much into this but I figured by now she would’ve mentioned something that we are trying to work it out and are back together again since February.
So a couple days ago I get that feeling again and try to push it away but I still have that gut feeling something isn’t right. This past Friday we decide to go to the movies and make plans. All of a sudden she decides not to go to a certain theatre and go to a different one instead. I figured oh nice we get to go to another one since they serve food there so it’s a bit fancier. Before we go we decide to have lunch and then go. During that time she decides to switch it again and say to go back to the original place. So I don’t mind and say yes so she goes to the app to get the tickets. I get up to get a refill and decide to watch over as she does and she brings to panic. She tells me she wants a refill too even though her cup is almost full. I tell her she doesn’t need one but insists that she does but I tell her no and play if off as I am leaving. As I turn back I notice she is messaging someone and then goes in to cancel a ticket the guy made for her. I knew about her going to another movie after ours with her friend and the group but didn’t know she was messaging him directly. I ignore it rather than bring it up for now as I do not want to start an argument or ruin the date we are having until tonight. The night continues and we go home and go to sleep. Meanwhile my mind is all over the place and I can’t stop thinking about it and why is she messaging him.
The next day we make plans to do our own thing and she has plans with her friend. My mind is racing as I start to think if she is actually going out with her or with this guy who I find out later she invited to the movies..the plan was to go to lunch while I work on some things at the house and then meet up to take the dog to the vet. She leaves and I begin to let my mind unravel and by this time I’m just trying to keep my sanity but I decide to do something stupid. I call the restaurant to see who she is with. Probably the lowest I’ve gone to creeper status..but my mind and my heart are just in so much pain thinking of that time I caught her with another guy. I find out it’s just both of them so I am relieved.
She comes back for lunch and I head over to pick up the dog to go to the vet only to find out the waitress told her I called the restaurant to see if she was there.(again my fault because I told her I had a surprise for her 🤦🏼‍♂️) she asks me if I called the place and I said yes. My thing is always about honesty and loyalty. I own up to what I did for the reason I did it and apologize. She tells me she got embarrassed because her friend who has been against me since day one just tells her that she should move on and not do anything with me. Which I understand but all my gf has told her is the negative things and not about us trying to fix it and her being caught doing things as well. Which is fine because any friend will obviously take their side.
By this time we stop talking and she stays at her mom’s house to cool off. I message her asking if we could talk but this time I want to let it all out. How I feel what I’ve seen, how this is emotionally, physically, and mentally draining me. We’ve had these talks before and even before we got back together as well. I have given her an out that is she does not want to be with me then we can break up and move on with our lives. We do still owe on the house but I have even told her we can sell it or I can just leave and my part of the house would be lost because I do not care for the money. I would just find an apartment and live my life and she can continue talking to the man or men and pursue what she wants with them. I’ve mentioned that I am willing to work it out because I know I still feel something for her and I want to spend my life with her if she is willing to as well. Multiple times has this conversation been brought up and in the end she says she loves me and wants to work it out.
She comes home changes I get her a drink and snacks and turn off the tv. I had already written down key points of what is bothering me and what I feel is hurting us and me. So I explain to her that i do not like how she has kept us a secret that we are trying to work things out with her friends. It’s been two months and they still believe she is single and having dates and this is something that even though they are probably against me on she should still be mentioning something. She tells me that she’s afraid to look like an idiot and will tell them later. Am I wrong on this?
Then I mention how I saw the messaging and sometimes in the middle of the night she gets a message from this guy. I know that her friend tried to hook them up even though she says she didn’t and also mentions that he is just a friend of the group. I tell her it’s not right because he doesn’t know either that’s she is with me and trying to make it work and how she was acting weird that day I saw the messages. She says there is nothing going on but I feel otherwise and I know I’m not wrong. I tell her again that if she is interested in him then we can break up and she can pursue it if she decides. I ask her who it is and she tells me the name and is the guy that they were trying to hook up together. The guy messages her every morning and I’m sure throughout the day as well. What I can’t wrap around my head is that why would she do this if she is commuting to me and yet is disrespecting me in this way even after I ask her if they are messaging and she says no. But yet I happen to see the messages between them and she still denies it. During our talk it goes back and forth and tears and coming down. So I ask her to show me her phone messages and she begins saying no and that she doesn’t want to when I easily offer my for her to go through as I have nothing to hide. She finally agrees to do it and I see a whole lot of messages but she only shows me photos that they share of her dog, nice and Katy Perry. Only showing me what she wants me to see even though they have messaged throughout the day. I also noticed that she had the messages on silent as well and her excuse is that so I don’t get mad if I see his name pop out. We go back and forth on this and I tell her if she is interested in him then to leave me and we can move on. I can’t explain it any more clearer that we cannot be together if she is having something with him. I tell her I want her loyal, trustworthy, and honest with me if we are going to make it work. She says she still wants to work it out since she says she loves me but is just afraid that she will get hurt. Which I understand but I am willing to make up for what I did and prepared to spend my life making up for what I did and being happy. Moving forward after everything we have a clean slate and see how this goes..I asked her if he messaged her yesterday and she says he did about Katy Perry and just random text. Come this morning she happen to leave her phone unlocked and I noticed he messaged her good morning and responded to her conversation they had as it seems that she deleted the text she sent him and he responded this morning. I’m so confused as she tells me she loves me and wants to be with me and shows me affection, support and everything else we discussed as if nothing is wrong but still messages this guy on the side while they are on silent. I also noticed she deleted the chat history and started fresh as well since Sunday. idk what to do anymore I am so torn right now…i wanted to spend my life with this girl and only to find out she is still doing this and also may be going on a trip with her friend and their group which includes this guy as well without me since she wants to be able to spend time with them separately which I’m fine with me as I have no problem with that other than the guy she’s been messaging will be there. What can I do..I feel like I have already been transparent about how I feel and what is expected but to see these messages and even when asking her absolutely it she says no makes me wonder wtf is going on…why not just leave me. I don’t want to be checking her phone when I get a chance as I feel that puts me just as guilty. Please help.
Should I just move on and start new? Or should I continue to be with her and see how it goes?

My parents have been working with an attorney to set up a dynasty trust. But I read some reviews and there are a number of very dissatisfied clients. DT is not something you want screwed up because it can't be changed. So I have some questions.
I am an only child and will not be having kids. I'm not married either but that is likely to change. The attraction to DT is the lack of taxation when my parents pass and the inability of creditors, ex-wives, etc. to touch the money in the trust.
Because a DT exists for such a long time, I understand they can cause problems for future generations because they are so restrictive and a third party trustee is involved. But in this case, I am the trustee and the only beneficiary of the DT.
In this case, does it even matter how poorly written the DT might be? Let's say it has issues we don't catch up front, since I am the the trustee can I just ignore the flaws and do what I want? Is there anyone who can object if I am not following it to the letter? What about institutions I might name as beneficiaries. Could they object? Would they even know they are named if I don't tell them?
What if I get married and have nieces/nephews. Now I have possible heirs in my wife + nieces/nephews, can they object to the way I manage the trust if I don't follow it to the letter?
I know there are annual reporting requirements that are supposed to be drafted even if you are the trustee and beneficiary. But again, is this really necessary if there is nobody to hold me to it? And if it has to be done, how involved does it have to be? Can it be something I informally write, or does an attorney $$$ have to be engaged to do it every year?
In our situation, is there a better instrument? I don't know my parents exact finances but I would be absolutely shocked if they passed on an amount over the current $36M which would trigger taxes. They live comfortably but not that comfortably. Of course that limit could be drastically reduced at any time so the tax component is a nice safety net. But it's a crazy world full of shady lawyers and I like the idea of the money in DT being untouchable.
We are in California and I suspect it will be a California DT.

Look, however you want to spend your limited free time on earth is your business, you have the right to do what you want, but people also have the right to judge what that says about your character.
If you’re a successful person who makes 100k a year and wants to unwind by going into your big hot wheels track and race cars around the track like you’re still in elementary school, nobody’s stopping you, but most people are going to side eye you a little bit.
If you work 40 hours a week at age 32 and want to unwind by watching 3 hours of anime every night, that’s your right to do so but it’s a deterrent to most people outside of that specific niche.
We don’t “have to grow up” if we don’t want to but unless it’s something you’re doing with a child, niece, nephew - once you’ve fully hit the adult stage of life, most people you meet will look down on you a bit if you come into the office and reveal that you’ve spent your weekend watching someone unbox stuff in a video game, binging Pokémon, playing with your toy trains, or creating an epic party with your Barbie dolls

So my husband and I bought a house in the fall of last year. The previous owners built a small all-purpose room adjacent to the garage which is the support for a 2nd floor sunroom they added onto the kitchen. All of this appears to have been done without a permit.
Well when we bought the house we were aware it was going to have to be taken down since it’s in complete disrepair. I’m talking missing windows, rotting walls from water damage, it’s not great. In the meantime we’ve boarded up the missing windows to help keep rain out, but we really haven’t had the time or money to repair it. We had to have a lot of electrical work done, repairs on a chimney and the roof, plumbing work has been done. Honestly, we’ve been doing a million other things since moving in that we just kept pushing off the sunroom and all-purpose room til this spring/summer. We were more focused on what needed to be fixed to the actual living space in the house first since the damage to the sunroom/all purpose room is really only on the outside wall.
Fast forward to today and I get a call from our insurance broker. I guess our insurance company is asking about the sunroom/all purpose room and they want to know what we’ve done to it and send them any pictures of updates.
I didn’t speak to my broker, she just left a message, but mentioned the insurance company could issue a notice. What exactly does that mean? Do you think I could be honest and tell her we’ve been updating everything else and haven’t gotten there yet? Do you think the insurance company would drop us if we haven’t repaired it? Could we lie and say we’re waiting on a contractor to come out and give us a quote?
We’re planning on having my step dad who is a retired carpenter from a different state help us with this project over the summer depending on costs and his availability. If that’s the route we take, we weren’t planning on pulling permits since it wasn’t done in the first place and we live on a quiet, private, dead end road. No one would be able to see the work being done so we thought we could get away with this. But now I’m wondering if the insurance company will want to see the permit? Or am I over thinking this and they’ll just want to see a picture of it done?
If anyone has any thoughts or advice here, it would be greatly appreciated! My husband and I are first time homeowners with a fixer upper and we’ve dumped tens thousands of dollars into this place already. I don’t know if we can afford a contractor to completely redo both structures at this point.

Hello.
Has anyone had experience with Creatine supplementation contributing to a breakthrough seizure in situations where their seizures were relatively under control with medication?
I am a 53 year old female and I have had only a few incidences of seizures in the last 8 years.
The source of my seizure activity was from an OPERABLE cavernous malformation. They removed it successfully but some extra activity remains present due to previous seizures and the surgery itself.
My first ever seizure (pre-surgery) I woke up from a nap and was trying to get ready to leave the house for my nieces kindergarten graduation. To my horror, I realized I was unable to speak. I was with my mother and in the car and trying to say anything and she realized something was wrong. She brought me to the ER and as soon as we walked in, I had my first tonic clonic seizure. That’s when they found out about the cavernoma.
Since the first seizure episode I take Keppra and things have been pretty good although I have experienced two more definite episodes of tonic clonic seizures since the first one.
Every time I have had a seizure it has been in the presence of my mom. My poor mom!
The first breakthrough seizure occurred about a year after surgery when I STUPIDLY thought I could try to wean off of the Keppra. That was a bad idea. Without warning, I seized. Obviously I should not have tried to stop the medication.
The second breakthrough seizure was a couple of years later and occurred at the end of a very hot day. I had been commuting by bicycle and had another tonic clonic. This one was proceeded by a very bad mood in the early evening. I was extremely irritated for no reason and later that evening seized.
Every time I have had a seizure it has been tonic clonic and I have woken up in the hospital.
I live alone most of the year and am a bit of a hermit which is totally fine most of the time as I am relatively seizure free… HOWEVER…
In the last couple of months I have started weight lifting to build muscle and with that, I also started taking Creatine (5g) per day. Everything was going well until last week.
I was at the gym doing very high intensity sprint work on a spin bike. It was a hot day. I left the gym and drove to the grocery store (one minute from gym). Upon checking out, I kept entering my debit code incorrectly I felt confused and a bit embarrassed. I paid in cash and went to the next grocery (where I live there are two groceries and you need to go to both to find everything). I had same problem with debit card at second grocery and this time, no ability to figure out how to pay in cash so I left. When I got back to my car I was met with more confusion. All I can remember is not being able to get into my car. My car has an alarm and a fob. Even once I was in my car I had trouble figuring out how to turn it on. I then woke up in my car (HOT CAR!) and was able to turn it on and drive to the post office. Even though I was feeling horrible and confused it did not occur to me that I could be near having a seizure. After checking my P.O. Box I made it home, out of my car into the gate and even managed to mumble something about the heat to my neighbor in passing.
I made it inside and the next thing I know I am on the floor. I had hit my nose, had a scrape on my cheek, forehead, nose, right knuckle and left toe. Also slightly bitten tongue. I had a horrible headache and nausea. I just got in bed and went to sleep.
When I woke up, my left hand felt paralyzed (clenched shut). My mind felt scrambled. My vision on the right felt very distorted. I was extremely hungry and thirsty and even though I had all of these challenges I opted for a snack that was not the easiest to make nor was it the tastiest.
For some reason I ate the snack with my paralyzed hand and went back to sleep. I woke up absolutely drenched in sweat. I took a shower and hydrated and took my evening dose of Keppra. My mind was starting to return to normal.
I was thinking nonstop about how to get in my car. I went up to see if I could open it and it was fine. I tried playing some of the word games that I play and felt scrambled at first but was able to get back to normal. I practiced talking. Words were jumbled at first and then I was able to speak normally.
I looked up a recipe for homemade electrolyte drink, made some and chugged it down.
I took it very easy for a few days and lucky I work from home… I have been able to just chill and obsess over whether I had a breakthrough seizure or whether I may have just had heat exhaustion. A week later and I am feeling myself again though I have been very tired in the morning and allowing myself extra sleep.
I am away from home for a couple of weeks. I do have my yearly check up with my neurologist coming up. I really don’t want to tell her about this.
If this was a seizure, this is the first time I have been alone. I hope it was not a seizure. If it was, I am not sure. Also, if it was, my episodes are years apart and they seem to be triggered by extreme heat and exercise. My only thing that is making me feel better mentally is that if I did have a seizure alone, I survived.
I also just joined Bumble because think it might be worth having a mate because of things like this. And not just because of this. I do feel lonely sometimes.
But back to my big question…
Has anyone had experience with Creatine contributing to breakthrough seizures?
Thank-you for any input and please try to refrain from saying anything that might freak me out as I am already quite unnerved.
Xoxo

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In this clip CEO of Nvidia presents a country's language, culture, and intelligence as a resource they cannot afford not to exploit by feeding them into Artificial Intelligence. This immediately brings to mind Martin Heidegger's 1954 essay The Question Concerning Technology wherein modern technology is described as a framework that transforms our way of understanding things away from a stand-alone essence and into an instrumental, standing-reserve of a resource.
In this post I'll articulate why I think the Nvidia CEO is saying something monstrous and awful by suggesting that we challenge-forth language and culture. Leaning on Heidegger's understanding of Technology, I will primarily make use of a critical distinction he makes in the relationship between humans and nature, which is that of bringing-forth and challenging-forth. I will summarize some key concepts form the essay so you don't have to read it in full.
The primary distinction between bringing-forth and challenging-forth is whether the essence (or if you prefer, identity or understanding) of some thing remains as a stand-alone existence unto itself or if it is subsumed under the essence of the process that extracts a resource from it.
Bringing-Forth is likened to an old wooden bridge across the Rhine river. The bridge is revealed as a way forward, as a space and a road and an object, but not in a manner that the Rhine is now subsumed under it. The Rhine is not reduced (in our understanding) to the waters that go under the bridge, the bridge brings-forth a way across the river, but the Rhine is still, in essence, still understood as a thing unto itself, independent from any need that water run under the bridge.
By contrast, Heidegger brings up a hydroelectric dam on the Rhine.

"The hydroelectric plant is set into the current of the Rhine. It sets the Rhine to supplying its hydraulic pressure, which then sets the turbines turning. This turning sets those machines in motion whose thrust sets going the electric current for which the long-distance power station and its network of cables are set up to dispatch electricity. In the context of the interlocking processes pertaining to the orderly disposition of electrical energy, even the Rhine itself appears to be something at our command. The hydroelectric plant is not built into the Rhine River as was the old wooden bridge that joined bank with bank for hundreds of years. Rather, the river is dammed up into the power plant."

To Heidegger, it is not just the physical flow of water in the river that is dammed and disrupted, but rather our understanding of the river is dammed. We are no longer seeing it for itself but rather as something within our control, something from which we can challenge-forth to give "maximum yield at the minimum expense". The Rhine is now the smaller part to a process whose essence has overtaken the essence of any one part.
In order to enable this process to continue Heidegger says that "Everywhere everything is ordered to stand by, to be immediately on hand, indeed to stand there just so that it may be on call for a further ordering." The dam is our order to the Rhine that the gravitational energy of the cubic meters of water that it has stand by for future use, in a manner that the bridge does not order the Rhine to flow underneath it.
This quote from Ayn Rand's Fountainhead neatly encapsulates how challenging-forth encourages the framing of the world:

"He looked at the granite. To be cut, he thought, and made into walls. He looked at a tree. To be split and made into rafters. He looked at a streak of rust on the stone and thought of iron ore under the ground. To be melted and to emerge as girders against the sky. These rocks, he thought, are waiting for me; waiting for the drill, the dynamite and my voice; waiting to be split, ripped, pounded, reborn; waiting for the shape my hands will give them"

Rand is (expectedly) writing in praises of this framework, but to the view of Heidegger, this is a monstrous thing, the tree and the granite and the rocks are all robbed of an essence, an understanding of themselves as they are and transformed into something that must be ordered around to stand by for an endless process of revealing, regulating, and securing.
What then, does this have to do with the Nvidia CEO's claim? Well, quite clearly, AI has made it possible for people to issue the order of standing-reserve not just to the forces of nature, but to things inside ourselves, such as language, culture, intelligence. These things, that embody the inner lives of people, our relationships, and our histories, are challenged-forth are to be ordered.
The writer, unlike the model, brings-forth something from language, she cannot hope to control language, merely to reveal some finite thing from it in the manner that the bridge revelas away forward from the Rhine. She cannot order language to be "immediately on hand" to be endlessly revealed into something whenever desired, because her limited and phenomenological perspective makes her attempts subordinate to the size of language as an entity larger than herself. She understands language as something with an essence that she cannot wield in its totality and in that relationship the essence of language is preserved, as something greater than her desires to make writing from it, but nonetheless able to yield to her enough for her needs.
This here is what distinguishes AI from other tools that relate to language, culture and intelligence. AI finally enables us to treat the great corpuses as a standing reserve we can challenge-forth and industrialize, that we can subsume those things permanently under the endless cycle of revealing. If our language, thought and intelligence are a river, AI is the dam. The river still flows, but it is subsumed as the resource from which the dam extracts something, as the thing the dam challenges to produce.
Like Heidegger, I see a certain monstrosity in this, and it is especially awful when it invades this realms of the inner lives of people.
Heidegger argued that man was the first resource to be ordered in this manner:

"Only to the extent that man for his part is already challenged to exploit the energies of nature can this revealing that orders happen. If man is challenged, ordered, to do this, then does not man himself belong even more originally than nature within the standing-reserve? The current talk about human resources, about the supply of patients for a clinic, gives evidence of this. The forester who measures the felled timber in the woods and who to all appearances walks the forest path in the same way his grandfather did is today ordered by the industry that produces commercial woods, whether he knows it or not. He is made subordinate to the orderability of cellulose, which for its part is challenged forth by the need for paper, which is then delivered to newspapers and illustrated magazines."

But indeed, with the ability to challenge-forth culture and language and intelligence, man is made infinitely and completely subordinate to industry. And that, I think, we should never allow.

Inspired by a shitpost mocking Destiny's misuse of "who's," I figured I'd see what else was out there and goddamn. Obviously, I think that the work Destiny is doing to expose common debate strategies or logical fallacies is important, but reading through the section in his notes triggered my grammatical autism. I felt like an outside party reading through it would be a bit confused by some of the wording, so I tried my best to rework this section in a way that would be more clear to the average reader.
I'll edit other sections as well if this doesn't get me banned lmao
Debate Pervertry
1.When you accuse the other side of saying a thing, and instead of allowing the other side to explain or clarify, you immediately launch in on an attack of that particular thing.
1. Quote your opponent without context and immediately attack this statement without allowing the opponent to provide clarification.
2."Show, don't tell."
When you constantly refer to other books, speakers, videos, etc..."sources of authority" that you claim to be familiar with, without contextualizing or demonstrating an understanding of any of that underlying material. You are substituting an appeal to authority for an actual argument.
2. "Show, don't tell."
Substitute a mere reference to a book, speaker, video, etc. in the place of demonstrating your own understanding or synthesis of this source material. Invoke the name of an expert instead of using their work to shape your own argument.
3. When you intentionally say the name of your interlocutor incorrectly.
3. Intentionally referring to your opponent by an incorrect name (^{please god call this the Bournelli Identity please please})**

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy_of_the_single_cause

5."The Clown Mirror"
Your opponent never seeming to be able to summarize your position, ever. You constantly having to criticize or refuse to accept ANY other characterization of your position.
5. "The Clown Mirror"
The refusal to accept your opponent's summary of your position. Never acknowledge a good faith attempt at characterizing your position under any circumstances.
6.The "Lazy Gardener," or, "Let's not get in the weeds" strategy
Oftentimes, when the opposition is lacking a thorough understanding of what's being said, they will oftentimes attempt to obfuscate away from crucial details by claiming that they "don't want to get into the weeds" or "don't want to get into technicalities", even though these particularly technicalities might be essential to justifying or attacking a particular argument.
6. The "Lazy Gardener," or "Let's not get into the weeds" strategy
When pressed by your opponent on crucial details of your position, brush aside an in-depth discussion of the issue and state "I don't want to get in the weeds" or "let's not get bogged down by technicalities." Dismiss crucial details as distractions to avoid betraying your own surface-level understanding of an issue.
7.The "Deaf Preacher"
When you refuse to engage with the argument and you just make big sweeping moral/virtue signal statements while avoiding any factual response to what was previously said.
7. The "Deaf Preacher"
Launch into a sweeping moral diatribe, praising your own virtues and/or attacking the morals of your opponent. Ignore any statements by your opposition and continue your sermon unphased.
8."Debate Edging"
When you constantly stack descriptive claims one over another that are clearly leading into a certain prescription that you never actually verbalize, causing other people to attack you on a prescriptive claim you've never made and allowing you to refute their arguments without addressing the obvious implications of what you're saying.
8. "Debate Edging"
Stack descriptive statements in such a manner that would lead an average audience to logically assume a prescription without actually saying it directly. Should your opponent assume this prescription as well, ignore the implications of your statements and attack the opponent for making an (oftentimes very reasonable) assumption.
9."Occam's Mallet"
When someone suggests that simply because a party benefited from something (or because they had something to gain something failing) that there must have been some sort of cohesive plot or scheme in order to bring about that particular thing, often involving highly subversive and unethical means.
9. "Occam's Mallet"
Attribute a plot, scheme, or conspiracy to any party which received a benefit from an action or event. Lead the audience to believe that no material benefit can exist without subversive and unethical tactics.
10."Moral Dodgeball"
Accusing someone of holding a different core value simply because you disagree with an applied position that they have.
10."Moral Dodgeball"
Accuse your opponent of holding a different core value simply because you disagree with an applied position they have. (Nothing really to change here!)
11."Robinhood Complex"
Always siding with the less powerful entity in any conflict, simply due to the amount of power both sides are capable of exercising.
11. "Robinhood Complex"
Take the side of the less powerful entity in any conflict by default. Ignore any complicating variables or extenuating circumstances and reduce the issue to an imbalance of power dynamics alone.
12."The Braveheart"
When someone poses a question about how a person should respond in a situation, where it's obvious that the person would need to act in a certain way to protect their interests, but the more privileged debater responds with "Personally, I wouldn't do this..." instead of acknowledging the need for the affected party to respond and protect their interests in a particular way.

1. "The Braveheart" (I'm actually having a really hard time figuring this one out. Anyone willing to help me out here?)

13."You're being so weird/obsessed!"
When someone does something that you do exactly and then you accuse them of being weird when they do it, e.g. making clips/compilations of what the other person does and then the other community creates something in response.
13. "You're being so weird/obsessed!" (or "Pot, meet Kettle")
Mislead your audience through clips or compilations of your opponent, yet dismiss the opponent as being obsessive should they or their audience respond to your characterization with clips or compilations of their own.
14."Death by a thousand anecdotes"
When someone is incapable of pushing back factually against a heavily data-driven argument and instead relies upon personal (or popular) anecdotes, or unrelated data, to make their point.
14. "Death by a thousand anecdotes"
If your opponent attacks your argument with data, tell a series of personal anecdotes or popular stories rather than provide data of your own.
15. "Tragedy of the Commons Sense"
Basically any time someone invokes common sense because they're unable to explain or justify their position in any other way.
15. Tragedy of the Common Sense"
If unable to explain or justify your position in any way, claim that your argument is simply "common sense" and refuse to elaborate further.

INTRO

• Dan John has once again released another book, and I, once again, voraciously consumed it, because Dan John could write instructions on a tube of toothpaste and I would read every single word of it. In turn, I’ll save you all the suspense of reading this full review just to say: yes, BUY Dan’s latest book, because irrespective of if you run the program(s) in it, the book itself is pure concentrated Dan John gold and absolutely worth any price tag. And, since the book JUST came out and I JUST finished reading it, I want to be clear that I am not reviewing the PROGRAM(S) in the book, but just the book itself.
  
• But I certainly see myself using what’s in the book someday.
  

WHERE AND WHAT

• To start, you can get the book here
  
• There are 3 books listed. Do yourself a favor and buy all 3, BUT, if you want the one I’m talking about, it’s the one listed “The Armor Building Formula: Bodybuilding for Real People eBook”
  
• And that, in turn, describes WHAT this book is: bodybuilding for real people. In that sense, bodybuilding does not mean “bodybuilding”: the competitive event wherein you put on posing trunks, step out on stage and get evaluated on your physique, nor is this a book to achieve the goals OF that event. This is a very classical sense of the word bodybuilding: to build one’s body, through the concentrated effort of resistance training, in order to specifically achieve an increase in the size of one’s muscles (and, ideally, muscles that are pleasing to the eyes of others). And by “Real People”, he’s referring to those of us that live in the real world and have real world obligations (work, family, school, etc) and don’t get to live the influencer lifestyle of being able to train for hours a day everyday.
  
• There’s a fair chance that YOU are a real person who is also more interested in Dan John’s bodybuilding than in “bodybuilding”, so you may find that the contents of the book appeal to you.
  

WHAT YOU GET

• Inside the book is THE Armor Building Formula, which is Dan John’s bodybuilding program that is entirely reliant on just kettlebells. Before you stop reading because you don’t have/don’t like kettlebells, there is a section with barbells too, I’ll talk about that too. But yes: you get Dan’s program in this book.
  
• “Armor Building” is here because it references an idea Dan has regarding “armor building” in the athletic sense: putting on the muscle in the right spots that allow a collision athlete to be able to handle what is thrown at them. BUT it ALSO references Dan John’s “Armor Building Complex” (ABC), which is a kettlebell complex that does a fantastic job of accomplishing this very goal of building armor. The ABC is comprised of 2 double kettlebell cleans, 1 double kettlebell press, and 3 double kettlebell front squats. It is a fantastic full body complex that hits just about everything, and can be used to absolutely blow out your lungs, finish out a kettlebell certification, get strong AND, in the case of this book, bodybuilding.
  
• The OTHER half of the Armor Building Formula is the kettlebell clean and press, with Dan providing 4 specific pressing variations to satisfy to ADHD demands of any trainee. Dan makes a compelling argument for WHY the KB Clean and Press reigns in the world of physique building, specifically referencing how a pair of big strong shoulders and well developed glutes tend to be the secret to a wonderful physique. Given my own prescription in “Chaos is the Plan”, you know I’m a fan of this philosophy.
  
• In the book, Dan details an 8 week program to follow for the Armor Building Formula. In true Dan John style, there are no prescribed weights, reps or sets: merely guidelines BUT, with an end goal in weeks 7 and 8: 30 ABCs in 30 minutes, and 100 KB clean and presses. Very similar to Mass Made Simple, you know the goal going in (squat your bodyweight for 50 reps) and you know the method: it’s on you to do the work.
  

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE

• Also contained in the book is “The Barbell Armor Building Formula”: a program that can be run with just a barbell. Dan John’s Barbell ABC is premised around 2 movements: the “continuous clean and press” and the front squat. For those of you that speak strongman, the continuous clean and press is “clean each rep and press”, as opposed to “clean and press away”, wherein you clean the weight once and then do all your presses. With this, Dan gives you 3 programs to be run sequentially for a total of 11 weeks, followed by another 8 week barbell program that includes a few more movements (curl, press, row and deadlift) which, with some breaks, totals out to 20 weeks of training.
  
• On top of THIS, Dan ALSO gives you a prescription on how to perform the ABC if you only have one kettlebell, along with what to do if you only have mixed loads (no 2 KBs of the same weight).
  
• He ALSO includes methodology on including his “Easy Strength” program into these bodybuilding programs, which I personally appreciated because it meant I wasn’t absolutely off my rocker when I combined Easy Strength with Mass Made Simple.
  
• Dan ALSO includes a few other programs in the book, one simply titled “A Bonus Program”, which requires a bit more equipment (most notably, a machine row), one of Reg Park’s programs, a sample of Frank Zane’s programming (more as an example of what the book ISN’T…but hey, it’s still there), and some helpful warm up instructions too.
  

WHAT YOU ALSO GET

• Just tons and tons of nuggets of Dan John wisdom, all on the topic of bodybuilding for sure, but also very easy to expand into the realm of for real training in general, and life as well. Dan goes into topics on warming up, cooling down, the value of walking, nutrition, the science of muscular development, historical precedents, strength standards, etc. It’s 198 pages, and they’re all pretty awesome.

WHAT COULD BE DONE BETTER?

• If you are the kind of guy that just wants someone to lay out a program for you: that’s not this book. It takes a LOT of reading to even get to the program in the first place, and once you get there, it’s in a narrative style, rather than a prescriptive style. I, personally, PREFER that manner of delivery, and, in turn, enjoyed the hell out of this book, but I know that some folks are going to get chapped about this.
  
• I’ve heard Dan speaking about this book a bunch on his podcast, and he actually almost quoted whole sections of it in answering some questions (which is awesome, because it’s like you have a printed copy of his podcast), but despite all the time and effort reading, reviewing and editing, there’s still a few typos and sentences that start and end the same (something like “lifting weights is one of the greatest ways to achieve physical transformation is lifting weights”). Given my blog (and most likely this very review) is full of these issues, I’m not one to judge, but those paying for a product might be put off by it.
  
• Some of the sections in the book are just blatant reprints of articles previously written by Dan. They’re still incredibly on topic and value added in the book, but if you’ve already read them before, it can feel like you got stiffed out of content. But, of course, that’s a GOOD thing as well: the fact I was upset there wasn’t even MORE content there means I enjoyed the hell out of it. I’ve read my fair share of books that I wished would just be over.
  
• The only thing keeping this from being a for real “all in one” manual is a lack of actual instruction on how to perform the movements in the program. Mass Made Simple contained that, which I felt was pretty awesome. In addition, I WISH Dan had released this book in 2020, for his sake and the sake of the world, because he would have made a killing giving people full on programs they could run with just some kettlebells or a barbell, and we all would have gotten a lot more jacked if we had this resource.
  

WHAT ABOUT MASS MADE SIMPLE?

• That’s the most immediate question: why would I read and follow THIS Dan John bodybuilding book and not his other one? This is just plain different from MMS, and that’s not a bad thing. MMS is another fantastic book also full of Dan John wisdom on the subject of building mass, but his audience there is less “real people” and more “real athletes”. To run that program, you have to be ready to really do some suffering and put in the work in the gym and at the table. * * You also have to be willing to set aside 6-7 weeks of your life to really dedicate yourself to the effort. In turn, I honestly like the idea of new trainees taking on MMS, because it’s a very solid gut check, recalibrates expectations of the self, and Dan does a great job walking the trainee through the entire program, to include instruction on the movements themselves.
  
• The Armor Building Formula seems far more sustainable than MMS. Dan recommends MMS be run, at most, 2x a year, whereas the ABF definitely has legs to go on for long stretches. ABF is more akin to a baseline 5/3/1 program, while MMS is more like Super Squats, if I were to employ analogy.
  

SHOULD YOU GET IT?

• Absolutely, 100%. No matter your goals or your equipment, you are sure to get something out of this book.

INTRO

• Dan John has once again released another book, and I, once again, voraciously consumed it, because Dan John could write instructions on a tube of toothpaste and I would read every single word of it. In turn, I’ll save you all the suspense of reading this full review just to say: yes, BUY Dan’s latest book, because irrespective of if you run the program(s) in it, the book itself is pure concentrated Dan John gold and absolutely worth any price tag. And, since the book JUST came out and I JUST finished reading it, I want to be clear that I am not reviewing the PROGRAM(S) in the book, but just the book itself.
  
• But I certainly see myself using what’s in the book someday.
  

WHERE AND WHAT

• To start, you can get the book here
  
• There are 3 books listed. Do yourself a favor and buy all 3, BUT, if you want the one I’m talking about, it’s the one listed “The Armor Building Formula: Bodybuilding for Real People eBook”
  
• And that, in turn, describes WHAT this book is: bodybuilding for real people. In that sense, bodybuilding does not mean “bodybuilding”: the competitive event wherein you put on posing trunks, step out on stage and get evaluated on your physique, nor is this a book to achieve the goals OF that event. This is a very classical sense of the word bodybuilding: to build one’s body, through the concentrated effort of resistance training, in order to specifically achieve an increase in the size of one’s muscles (and, ideally, muscles that are pleasing to the eyes of others). And by “Real People”, he’s referring to those of us that live in the real world and have real world obligations (work, family, school, etc) and don’t get to live the influencer lifestyle of being able to train for hours a day everyday.
  
• There’s a fair chance that YOU are a real person who is also more interested in Dan John’s bodybuilding than in “bodybuilding”, so you may find that the contents of the book appeal to you.
  

WHAT YOU GET

• Inside the book is THE Armor Building Formula, which is Dan John’s bodybuilding program that is entirely reliant on just kettlebells. Before you stop reading because you don’t have/don’t like kettlebells, there is a section with barbells too, I’ll talk about that too. But yes: you get Dan’s program in this book.
  
• “Armor Building” is here because it references an idea Dan has regarding “armor building” in the athletic sense: putting on the muscle in the right spots that allow a collision athlete to be able to handle what is thrown at them. BUT it ALSO references Dan John’s “Armor Building Complex” (ABC), which is a kettlebell complex that does a fantastic job of accomplishing this very goal of building armor. The ABC is comprised of 2 double kettlebell cleans, 1 double kettlebell press, and 3 double kettlebell front squats. It is a fantastic full body complex that hits just about everything, and can be used to absolutely blow out your lungs, finish out a kettlebell certification, get strong AND, in the case of this book, bodybuilding.
  
• The OTHER half of the Armor Building Formula is the kettlebell clean and press, with Dan providing 4 specific pressing variations to satisfy to ADHD demands of any trainee. Dan makes a compelling argument for WHY the KB Clean and Press reigns in the world of physique building, specifically referencing how a pair of big strong shoulders and well developed glutes tend to be the secret to a wonderful physique. Given my own prescription in “Chaos is the Plan”, you know I’m a fan of this philosophy.
  
• In the book, Dan details an 8 week program to follow for the Armor Building Formula. In true Dan John style, there are no prescribed weights, reps or sets: merely guidelines BUT, with an end goal in weeks 7 and 8: 30 ABCs in 30 minutes, and 100 KB clean and presses. Very similar to Mass Made Simple, you know the goal going in (squat your bodyweight for 50 reps) and you know the method: it’s on you to do the work.
  

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE

• Also contained in the book is “The Barbell Armor Building Formula”: a program that can be run with just a barbell. Dan John’s Barbell ABC is premised around 2 movements: the “continuous clean and press” and the front squat. For those of you that speak strongman, the continuous clean and press is “clean each rep and press”, as opposed to “clean and press away”, wherein you clean the weight once and then do all your presses. With this, Dan gives you 3 programs to be run sequentially for a total of 11 weeks, followed by another 8 week barbell program that includes a few more movements (curl, press, row and deadlift) which, with some breaks, totals out to 20 weeks of training.
  
• On top of THIS, Dan ALSO gives you a prescription on how to perform the ABC if you only have one kettlebell, along with what to do if you only have mixed loads (no 2 KBs of the same weight).
  
• He ALSO includes methodology on including his “Easy Strength” program into these bodybuilding programs, which I personally appreciated because it meant I wasn’t absolutely off my rocker when I combined Easy Strength with Mass Made Simple.
  
• Dan ALSO includes a few other programs in the book, one simply titled “A Bonus Program”, which requires a bit more equipment (most notably, a machine row), one of Reg Park’s programs, a sample of Frank Zane’s programming (more as an example of what the book ISN’T…but hey, it’s still there), and some helpful warm up instructions too.
  

WHAT YOU ALSO GET

• Just tons and tons of nuggets of Dan John wisdom, all on the topic of bodybuilding for sure, but also very easy to expand into the realm of for real training in general, and life as well. Dan goes into topics on warming up, cooling down, the value of walking, nutrition, the science of muscular development, historical precedents, strength standards, etc. It’s 198 pages, and they’re all pretty awesome.

WHAT COULD BE DONE BETTER?

• If you are the kind of guy that just wants someone to lay out a program for you: that’s not this book. It takes a LOT of reading to even get to the program in the first place, and once you get there, it’s in a narrative style, rather than a prescriptive style. I, personally, PREFER that manner of delivery, and, in turn, enjoyed the hell out of this book, but I know that some folks are going to get chapped about this.
  
• I’ve heard Dan speaking about this book a bunch on his podcast, and he actually almost quoted whole sections of it in answering some questions (which is awesome, because it’s like you have a printed copy of his podcast), but despite all the time and effort reading, reviewing and editing, there’s still a few typos and sentences that start and end the same (something like “lifting weights is one of the greatest ways to achieve physical transformation is lifting weights”). Given my blog (and most likely this very review) is full of these issues, I’m not one to judge, but those paying for a product might be put off by it.
  
• Some of the sections in the book are just blatant reprints of articles previously written by Dan. They’re still incredibly on topic and value added in the book, but if you’ve already read them before, it can feel like you got stiffed out of content. But, of course, that’s a GOOD thing as well: the fact I was upset there wasn’t even MORE content there means I enjoyed the hell out of it. I’ve read my fair share of books that I wished would just be over.
  
• The only thing keeping this from being a for real “all in one” manual is a lack of actual instruction on how to perform the movements in the program. Mass Made Simple contained that, which I felt was pretty awesome. In addition, I WISH Dan had released this book in 2020, for his sake and the sake of the world, because he would have made a killing giving people full on programs they could run with just some kettlebells or a barbell, and we all would have gotten a lot more jacked if we had this resource.
  

WHAT ABOUT MASS MADE SIMPLE?

• That’s the most immediate question: why would I read and follow THIS Dan John bodybuilding book and not his other one? This is just plain different from MMS, and that’s not a bad thing. MMS is another fantastic book also full of Dan John wisdom on the subject of building mass, but his audience there is less “real people” and more “real athletes”. To run that program, you have to be ready to really do some suffering and put in the work in the gym and at the table. * * You also have to be willing to set aside 6-7 weeks of your life to really dedicate yourself to the effort. In turn, I honestly like the idea of new trainees taking on MMS, because it’s a very solid gut check, recalibrates expectations of the self, and Dan does a great job walking the trainee through the entire program, to include instruction on the movements themselves.
  
• The Armor Building Formula seems far more sustainable than MMS. Dan recommends MMS be run, at most, 2x a year, whereas the ABF definitely has legs to go on for long stretches. ABF is more akin to a baseline 5/3/1 program, while MMS is more like Super Squats, if I were to employ analogy.
  

SHOULD YOU GET IT?

• Absolutely, 100%. No matter your goals or your equipment, you are sure to get something out of this book.

Hello people of Reddit, I need advice.
I’ve been together with my boyfriend for 2 years and he is my first boyfriend. I’m 30F and he’s 32M for context.
He was previously in a 7 year relationship that ended in 2019, we started dating in 2022.
A couple months back I saw in his camera roll of a picture of him and his ex (his niece was looking through his pictures and he didn’t think much of it).
He also has kept a picture of him and his ex on his Facebook (not current profile photo but in that album). I asked him about this and he said he didn’t want to be childish about removing that picture and doesn’t regret that part of his life.
When I saw the picture in his camera roll, I decided to snoop (I know it was bad of me) on his Amazon photos since he backs it up and saw many pictures of him and his ex in the backed up photos.
Idk how to address this. I know that 7 years is a long time and they broke up due to different life directions but should I be concerned? He says he’s blocked her on all social, wishes her well but doesn’t want to see or hear anything about her life.
Am I overreacting about him having these photo backed up? It’s my first relationship and I’m getting insecure and honestly a bit jealous about it.

I have a 2013 Honda Civic EX with 83,000 miles on it. I recently noticed the A/C unit taking 30-45 minutes before producing cold air on hot days (I live in TX, so AC is a must). The dealership quoted me $750 to replace the condenser, saying there is a leak. They also came back with a recommendation to replace the belt tensioner bearing. I'm not necessarily surprised at this, as I can hear a mild clicking around the belt when running. I did a bit of research and it seems like this is about the time to replace this part anyways. The total out the door cost on both is $1,500. I have 2 questions: #1 - Is $1,500 a reasonable price? #2 - Can I expect any future major (over $1,000) repairs in the future? I'm trying to decide if I should keep the car or trade it in for something newer.