hey guys, I’m in a bit of a spot. I currently have a policy with progressive and my insurance is running me over 500 a month. I’m 19 and had an accident almost 2 years ago. Because I was on my family’s plan, we didn’t realize that my accident was a huge part in what made it so expensive. My parents took me off their plan and now I’m stuck looking for a new one. I tried all the big names and they’re all horrible. Should I just take the chance with liability only? I’m a good driver and the circumstances with my accident were complicated and im sure I can’t say that on here. The general was the one that quoted my 1200 a month, which I think is funny to mention. just insane. If anyone in Texas knows of a way a can get cheaper coverage please put me on. I’m a student, and I wait tables so it’s not like I can just throw away money. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

“We both know what we know we know that we know” -Mickey
“Look, man you tell your wife this is a legitimate business and under the 14th amendment we have every right to exercise our right to free speech and show boobs.” -Kev
“Im very hard right now ma’am- fully erect for police work.” -Carl
“Give me liberty or give me meth” -Frank

Last updated 5/21/24 (Any updated servers at bottom)
Anyone stumbling upon this: About 3 months ago I literally went through every single community server, empty/full/whatever, and added any that sounded interesting, and didn't have crazy ping to Favorites (My region is Northeast US (NJ), FYI). I repeated the process twice. There are still a bunch of good ones out there (I've also had many solid ones in my favs for quite some time) I don't know if anyone cares but been around since Beta & have run a server before.
For reference:

• Good servers (to me): Emphasis on not being a dickhead, actually gets players, if running custom content it has to be tastefully done, not bloated & tacky, ping <100, anti-teamstacking measures
• "Bad" servers/what will not be here ( again this is just my opinion, also a couple exceptions ): Instant Respawn, 1 map or game mode only, more than 32 players, RTD, "friendly"/no combat servers, unmoderated racist/toxic BS
• Servers/settings I'm indifferent towards: Crits/Nocrits, Vanilla vs. Custom, Average skill level, 24 vs. 32 player, NSFW sprays, centered around niche/"weird" fandoms, Bullet/Damagespread, Class limits

Scroll down a few lines to my "To keep it simple..." header for the best ones. The following link is a much fuller list:

• Green line ones are my seal of approval
• Pink line ones I either haven't checked out as much but seem to be ok, or have 1 big issue or 2 I think holds them back from being fully recommended
• No underline = probably seemed interesting, haven't checked out at all, or never gets full

Full server list: https://i.imgur.com/qY2gCH9.png

To keep it simple, I think the best ones right now (for me are):

tiny kitty's girl pound - friendly community, runs really solid, nice-looking custom maps, Meme Maps Wednesday is a blast, always has people in it, just be wary of nsfw furry sprays (yeah I know...put cl_spraydisable 1 in console to disable)
1st server: 74.91.115.12:27015 2nd server: 74.91.113.115:27015
OPRAH's PETROL STATION - Friendly community, always has people in it, no goofy Instant Respawn which has no place in payload yet half of all community server owners see fit to do that, pre-round scramble
108.181.63.51:27015
-EOTL- Payload - same deal
74.91.114.223:27015
redsun.tf - This community is the poster child for tastefully modded custom game modes, and is very active. It's very well maintained & polished and even though I may not enjoy every game mode I've been very impressed by this server network (esp. as a former highly-modded community server owner). The EU one fills up most of the time, and I deal with the ping because it's a cool community (it even runs a Battle Royale mode that is surprisingly well-made). Their server "shop" is extremely impressive with the amount of customization available (Taunts, player skins, custom voicelines). I'd recommend downloading their asset pack here as it's fairly sizeable to DL upon server connect:
EU (actually gets players): 141.95.28.56:27015 US: 66.206.13.139:27015
Trigger Happy Gamers (EU) - Trigger Happy Gamers have been around forever and even though they are in the UK I deal with the ping to play with them because they are an awesome, fun, friendly community. Their main server gets reliably full from around 1 PM - 3 PM EST every day, and on the weekends a little longer. Their Nocrits server also gets full Saturday
main: 87.98.254.85:27015 Nocrits (gets full Saturdays @ 1 PM - 2 PM): 87.98.254.85:27025
Fucked in the Head - Another community that has been around forever. To be honest, they have equal respawn on Red & Blu, even for Payload, which I hate with a searing passion, HOWEVER, the regulars are entertaining af and give off vibes of drunk buddies goofing off and not giving a fuck that it almost offsets it. It's also decently populated.
216.52.148.223:27015
Skial Payload & Casual servers * - I never got the hate for this server network, decent spawn times, Halloween mode year round, no power tripping admins, feels like a bunch of randoms having a good time. You can also equip any weapon or cosmetic. The Payload+ EU in particular has some really chill/cool regulars, Dustbowl+ US some interesting/funny peeps. Payload US generally decent also. Their Autoscramble is also on point.
Payload+ EU 91.216.250.226:27015 Payload+ US 91.216.250.11:27015 Dustbowl+ US * (has become very stack-prone lately) 91.216.250.12:27015 ~~~~~
~Trying to get the word out that unlike their other servers, Casual is very barebones- no Instant Respawn, no RTD, normal map pool:
Casual NY 91.216.250.34:27015 Casual US 91.216.250.40:27015 Casual LA 91.216.250.21:27015 ~~~~~ Harvest (32-pl), also: 91.216.250.18:27015 ~~~~~
If you are super super new, their server network might be worth checking out, even if RTD, 2fort & other weird mods aren't my cup of tea: https://www.skial.com/servers/
Uncletopia - Pretty standard Casual experience except the skill level is generally higher, though it seems to be evening out honestly. And tbh from my experience people in these servers seem pretty cool. If you're looking for Vanilla I'd say this is your best bet.
https://uncletopia.com/servers
Southern Cross Gaming (Rainbow Swirl in particular) - Stumbled across this & played 1 round with these guys running a cool custom mode but apparently they run stock maps as well as custom maps/game modes. Their rules had a huge emphasis on keeping it fun & being respectful and everyone seemed really cool & laidback. It was full at peak time on the weekend. They also have other servers, even in other games & seem to have been around awhile:
IP: furfortress.com:27016 Site: https://www.scg.wtf/servers#team_fortress_2
ciggyland 18+ LGBT+ Furry server run by puppygirls
Funny, chill vibes, lots of custom maps. Seems to get full around peak time. Another diamond in the rough I discovered recently.
74.91.115.82:27015
Bad Weapon Rehabilitation (Vanilla US)
A really solid rebalancing of all weapons in-game. Nothing really feels overpowered or underpowered anymore, also fun things like flames stay on surfaces & I think spy or engy can radar enemies within a few feet or something to his team? It's really fun and gets full. Here's the site with IPs and stuff (The US server gets full around peak time, esp. on weekends)
(Yes this is the website): http://74.91.126.159/
redstar.gg - Arena server, the owner ComradeYazoo seems pretty dedicated to starting it up and I hop in whenever I can. Believe it or not it's still very fun with little people but it's gotten pretty packed a couple times. It also has like every good custom arena map, and scrambles if a team wins 3 in a row. North America I believe.
204.12.240.186:27015
Step in the Arena - Another Arena server I see get randomly populated on Saturday into Sundays around 11 P.M. - 2 A.M. EST. Probably missing a Discord announcement or something from a group of buddies.
172.240.237.2:27015
The Furry Pound - Some people list this one as one of the best non-UT for Vanilla TF2, however the one time I decided to give it a try I was met with some weird overly dramatic BS happening in Voice chat, and I heard someone else give a similar criticism the other day here. BUT, I've also seen people say they're ok. Might depend on what players/admins are on maybe, IDK:
Main server: thefurrypound.org:27015
shounic trenches (100-player TF2) - This goes against everything in my being but it's so unique and while not my cup of tea it's definitely a bunch of others'. Some maps such as pl_dbz_b5 & pl_dustbowl were created for this player count & people seem to have a lot of fun there. Again, I think 100 players is too much but I can't argue with how popular it is.
45.62.160.71:27015
UGC High Tower servers - They run no carts, so it's the TDM High Tower everyone's always dreamed of. They also run Instant Respawn and on any other map I hate that setting with a searing passion but because it's reworked as TDM I feel it actually improves the gameplay (put "high tower" including the space, and without quotes in the search box for a list of 'em in the following link):
https://www.ugc-gaming.net/servers/tf2/
UGC also runs other servers which I cannot vouch for but might be worth looking into.
Tropic Crisis Official Servers (NA, SA, EU)
These are the official servers for the Tropic Crisis project which is very very cool. I looked up their stats and most get full around standard peak hours.
Atlanta 155.138.213.202:27015 São Paulo 216.238.106.29:27015 Minsk 86.57.152.101:27025 Buenos Ares 45.235.99.105:27038
UEAKCrash's House of Nerds - official server of the mapmaker responsible for several very fun official maps. Runs a lot of very cool custom maps, Gets full on Fri, Sat night (must have a Discord/Twitch announcement I'd assume).
74.91.124.162:27015
Wolves Den - I'm going to make an exception to the "no "friendly"/non-combat server" thing (even though people seem down for combat ~50% of the time) because everyone just always seems to be having fun here. If you want to just screw around on interesting trade-type maps this is the place. Plus they have hilarious custom player models like velociraptors. (Has RTD)
162.248.92.33:27015
Samwiz1's Stupid Server - Another server I feel obligated to mention despite feeling like it's too much personally. Very goofy and people seem to have fun there.
173.237.52.135:27015
Swoocehut 2024 Workshop - Seems to be tied to a Discord as far as getting full, but runs a lot of custom maps apparently:
149.28.248.101:27015 Discord: https://swoocehut.com/discord Map rotation: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2802508136
swagtown epic maps only no random crits 18+ - Suggested by someone on Steam Discussions. Looks alright- seems tied to a Discord as far as getting players, but got full last Tuesday @ standard peak hours. Looks like it runs stock & custom maps.
79.127.234.193:22136 Discord: [https://discord.gg/DTH3sMWsH8](discord.gg/DTH3sMWsH8)
TF2's Official VS Saxton Hale LOOS - 'Nuff said. Very laidback goofy atmosphere.
205.178.177.24:27027
GFL Clan (maybe???) - Someone said these guys are chill too, though I hate 2fort with a passion:
https://gflclan.com/forum/26-team-fortress-2/
Kogasatopia if you're desperate. They run some really fun mods, and solid (especially good gimmicky) custom maps, but their community is 4chan edgelords that like to say racial slurs. However their server is almost always full of people. Again, if you're truly desperate. Just mute chat & voice I guess by entering this in console (replace with 1's to re-enable)- hud_saytext_time 0;voice_enable 0
74.91.116.171:27015
The Weeabootique if you're desperate. Pretty much the same description as above. Mute chat & voice by entering this in console (replace with 1's to re-enable)- hud_saytext_time 0;voice_enable 0
198.245.61.57:27015
Custom Weapons servers (including a guide to the best one via TF2Classic)
More Arena Servers
pic of a dog

Recently my school had its prom, which I went too, and so did my best friend (let’s call him Peter), and he went with his girlfriend (let’s call her Sarah). I only went with a bunch of my friends because I knew Peter would basically just spend the whole time with Sarah so I didn’t really care to hang out with him. Him and Sarah haven’t been dating long (just over a month now) but I never really liked her.
At prom I took a picture of them dancing and sent it to his sister, who I am also friends with, to make a joke that I figured she would find funny. However, Peter found out and got really upset at me, except I didn’t really know why, I was just making a joke that was unrelated to him or his girlfriend. I only found out why he was upset after another one of his friends had to explain that he thought I was trying to cause drama or get him in trouble, which I wouldn’t do. Him being upset at me crippled my mental health, and I had several panic attacks and depressive episodes during the rest of prom and the next day too. At first I was really sorry and apologetic, and I apologized to his sister because I knew he wouldn’t respond if he got a message from me anyways. However, he was incredibly rude and his girlfriend was awful too, telling me to “disrespectfully, f*ck off” (actual quote). He never tried to hear me out, and overreacted at this incident, and even created drama himself, which is ironic because that’s exactly why he was mad in the first place.
Since then I have been directly ignoring him and refusing to speak to him directly, because thats my best method for coping. I initially planned on ignoring him for a week so I could isolate myself and cool off because I got upset at him getting upset. This was until he sent his “apology” which basically just said that he was upset I was trying to create drama and he wouldn’t treat his friends like that (which he literally did to me) and that he would want to spend more time with Sarah than his other friends because he’s dating her, and would expect me to do the same (I’ve had a girlfriend before, and that isn’t how I acted, nor would I ever have acted like that to someone I considered my best friend). Because of this I prolonged my period of silence to an unforeseen date.
Other friends of mine are also not talking to them for various reasons. One is because of how fast he moved on from his last relationship, which was about a year and a half or so, another is because of how he ended that relationship and then tried to cover it up and play the victim when he was clearly in the wrong, and another is because Sarah used to bully them in middle school. Anyways, I feel bad about not talking to him but I also feel bad when I think about talking to him because I am afraid I might blow up and start yelling at him, and make it worse somehow. Am I in the wrong? What should I do?
Edit: Paragraphs

WELCOME TO THE SIN FAMILY!
In this community i will be reacting to you guys memes, quotes, funny clips etc.
you can say anything you want but if ANY harsh comments are made i feel like is not right will be deleted or banned from the community!
if you better ideas to improve the community pls send a message in my dm or message me on any platform @ Sosintreal !
FOR THOSE WHO ARE NEW! - I am a Content Creator that goes by SoSintreal (sin) - i react, make music, go live on twitch, make tiktoks etc. I HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR STAY!

Been a few weeks now but I wanted to type up my race report for my first ever marathon finish!

Race Information

• Name: Kalamazoo Marathon
• Date: May 5th, 2024
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Kalamazoo, MI
• Website: https://www.zeiglerkalamazoomarathon.com/
• Strava: https://www.strava.comhttps://www.strava.com/activities/11340116487 (Note does not match chip time due to starting prior to line and ending a bit after as I forgot to turn watch off immediately!)
• Time: 5:40:11.63

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Don't Die	Yes
B	Finish	Yes
C	Sub 6:00	Yes
D	Sub 5:30	No

Splits

Mile	Time
1	11:37
2	11:41
3	12:22
4	12:44
5	12:43
6	12:29
7	12:35
8	12:41
9	12:37
10	12:51
11	12:42
12	12:36
13	12:32
14	12:03
15	14:39
16	13:26
17	13:08
18	13:04
19	13:20
20	14:51
21	13:22
22	12:57
23	12:30
24	12:29
25	13:37
26	14:25
27	13:26

Training

The training journey for this marathon started as a continuation of my original running goals back in April of 2023. In said April my sibling ran a set of Disney races while very pregnant and it lit a, "I can do that" fire under my ass. I signed up for the 5k, 10k, and half during the Princess weekend in february and then the Marathon in Kalamazoo early this year when I decided I actually liked running long distances. So the training went as follows: Couch to 5K, Jeff Galloway 10k, Jeff Galloway fairy tale challenge, then a mix of Jeff's marathon post wine and dine and another random one I found online that fit my schedule better. The training overall went fairly well. I missed a large stretch in September with a foot injury, and missed a few mid-week runs due to life being crazy. The biggest mental wall I hit was when I bonked out at mile 18 of the final long run before the Marathon. I forgot gels and suffered for it, this created a lot of stress heading into the marathon as I'd never run more than 18 and self-doubt heavily creeped in.
As for strength or other training it was basically non-existent. I did a lot of pre-post stretching, massage guns, lacrosse balls, etc. I had a very short period of strength training regime but I heavily lack motivation in that world. Before any future marathons (will be starting Dopey training in July) I will try and get better in this realm, especially lower legs.

Pre-race

Travelled to MI the day before the event. Got into town and settled into the hotel before prowling around town for a few hours. Ate a good pasta heavy meal for dinner at Hop Cat before settling in for the evening.
The morning of the race I got up and dressed before heading to the pre-race area. Had half a leftover turkey/bacon/avocado wrap (my wife's dinner) and a banana nut muffin. Chugged a bunch of water and took some ibuprofen right before race start. Made sure to stretch and keep moving during pre-race ceremonies. This is such a small race that it was nice to just wander up and down the start/finish area. Did a bit to stay warm as it was slightly chilly in the morning at about 50F, but didn't layer up because I knew I'd be fine during the race. Rest of the weather was grey cloudy skies, no rain (rained a bit around mile 13/14 but not much). A very wet race due to humidity.
It was also a fun start line since the only other official races I had done were Disney (Massive crowds, multiple waves in multiple corrals) and a smallish 10k in Chicago that had poor organization and a 2ish person wide starting chute.

Race

Miles 1-2 were fast, I had that starting excitement, my competitive brain just NEEDED to keep up with people around me, but luckily I didn't burn too crazily because I do run/walk intervals (4:30 and 2:00). I did this because my knees always felt better on run/walk than pure run. When I hit mile 2 at under 12/min miles I knew I needed to slow down and did.
Miles 3-14 is where I was truly in my groove. My pace was very consistent, varying mostly for the various crazy hills this course has. I ran for a good 6 or 7 miles bouncing off the 5:30 pace group who would just start to catch me during walk intervals before I'd get space back during run intervals. This is the main meat of the tougher part of the course as well, a lot of rolling hills, some steep, some not, and a run through a park trail passing a lot of non-race walkers on the path. I felt really good during this whole stretch and it really helped me dig in mentally and believe I could finish
Mile 15 - I lost some pace here as I managed to get a rock in my shoe and stopped to dig it out. A bit annoying but I was able to get it pretty quick without my body thinking we were done.
Miles 16-19 I was a bit slower, getting back into my groove of 12:30ish miles was tough because I was all alone at this point and didn't have much around me to gauge off of. The course here was also a bit less exciting as it was longer stretches on non-scenic roads winding back towards downtown Kalamazoo from Portage. I also was attempting to slow down just a tad purposefully as I was approaching that PB of 18 miles and fighting the mental idea that I couldn't finish if I went too fast.
Mile 20 - My slowest mile, I stopped here at a medical tent as the damp air meant I was fully soaked and my inner right bicep managed to get so chaffed that it was bleeding pretty badly. Stopped to let them clean it and apply a bandage so I didn't look like a horror movie victim crossing the line.
Mile 21 - Getting back up to speed after my medical stop and spent a lot of this mile doing the mental math to see if I could finish under 5:30 still, a stretch goal of mine. I'm usually very good at math, it is a strong point of mine, but doing times in my head I managed to come up with that I only needed 13min/miles to meet 5:30. Post race I did the math (By post race I mean while typing this report) and I need to be doing 11:49s so it wasn't happening but because of bad math I got fired up at least 😆
Miles 22-25 - Here, due to bad math above, I managed to get back into my pace groove finally after the previous 8 miles of up and down, rocks and medical issues, etc. I felt really good and it was here that I finally was released from the idea that I wouldn't finish. I actually felt really good and had that great running revelation that my training worked. Everything was starting to hurt, and I could feel the muscles losing their will to live, but I knew I could push through it to the end. I was also somewhere around mile 23/24 that I lost some feeling in my left toes.
Mile 26 - at about 25.5 miles I reentered downtown and spurred by the notion that I was less than a mile out I hit the anti-wall, I felt SO GOOD and just jubilant, right up until my right quad decided to MAJORLY cramp and spasm. It didn't deflate me at all since I knew, at that point, that I had right around an hour to cut off time to do 1 mile, but it hurt BAD. I chugged the rest of my flipbelt water and massaged while I walked for about half a mile. I got it to the point I could run again and I told my leg (out loud in front of spectators and other runners), and I quote, "Just shut the fuck up for a quarter mile you stupid bastard." I'm pretty sure one spectator clutched their pearls but whatever.
Final stretch - at this point I was good, I ran through the slight pain, turned the final corner and crossed the finish line. My first ever marathon in the books and the longs continuous run I had ever done bested by 8.2 miles. My race fuel strategy was a gel every 5 miles with the last at mile 24 instead of 25. I took one extra as a backup that I did use at mile 20 when my stomach started rumbling a bit.

Post-race

Being a smaller marathon the post-race was much calmer. There was a decent sized crowd left for us last 40-50 runners, but my wife was able to just stand in the road behind the finish line, got a good picture of me and all that fun jazz. I rang the first time finisher bell, grabbed a banana and a chocolate milk from the tables and wandered into the post-race expo area with an absolute high of serotonin and self-pride. Grabbed a pork taco from a taco truck before heading to the car, changing shirts, and hitting the road for the 3 hour drive home. Unfortunately I am too slow to have kept my hotel room for a shower after the race, but I was mostly wet and not too sweaty/smelly so the wife didn't have to suffer too much.
As a final piece to this race report I will leave the first train of thoughts that I had after crossing the finish line about the race. It went like this:
"What a stupid distance, I don't understand why anybody does this, it hurts, it's stupid, I'm stupid for doing this, I hated everything about that, and I can't wait to do it again." The rawest reaction which of course now a few weeks later I can look back and see that I didn't hate the race at all, I really enjoyed it, but thought I'd share that funny slew of hatred with everyone.
Thanks for reading.
Made with a new race report generator created by herumph.

A little disclaimer before I get fully into it: This was my first real, long term relationship so a lot of things still don’t make sense to me, but I will try my best to explain everything clearly and fully.
Me (19M) and my boyfriend (19M) got together in February of 2023. We met through our job, and even before dating we were good friends for about 6 months prior. During this time in my life, I had just turned 18 and was struggling heavily with my self image, self worth, and the idea that a relationship was even a possibility for me. In fact, I would say i was struggling the most with relationships and men in general. When my boyfriend came along it honestly seemed too good to be true. We hit it off instantly, got along very well, and shared a lot of the same morals and values when it came to dating. Except for when it came to sex, but i’ll go more into that later.
For the first few months, I would say the dynamic worked out well between us. Then, he moved out of his parent’s and in with his best friend and her family, which consisted of her mom, dad, and brother. Since the beginning of the relationship, I wasn’t too crazy about his best friend. I do care about her and have empathy for her, but for lack of better words, my boyfriend kind of let her walk all over him. This seemed to get worse after they started living together. And, it became apparent that they did not see eye to eye on most things and wanted different things out of their living situation. She would get jealous anytime we wanted to spend time together alone, and often times would not let us be alone when I was at their house. This eventually was talked about between them and i will say, in the regards of giving us more space, she did back off. However, their living situation was still toxic. They would have disagreements, but ones that would never be talked about or worked through. In turn, my boyfriend would talk/rant to me about her, and I always agreed with his POV, but that was the end of it. He always said that it’s extremely hard for him to confront people due to his own anxieties and past trauma. I 100% understood this, as I struggle a lot with confrontation too, but when it came to the point of his friend putting stress on our relationship/on me and I would talk to him about it, he would say he understood but nothing would ever be done about it. I could’ve very well spoke up for myself against her, but I was terrified that he would be upset with me and it would cause problems for us. I know that’s unhealthy now but in the moment it felt like I just had to get over it.
Then, around OctobeNovember last year, his friend’s mom ended up kicking both her daughter and my boyfriend out over a very small misunderstanding involving transportation. It was one night that I was taking him home from work, and her mom thought she had to pick him up, so we both showed up to get him. She absolutely flipped out over this and used it as justification to kick him out. Then when his friend tried to defend him against her mom, she kicked her out too. She ended up going to live with her current boyfriend and mine came to live with me. At this point, I had moved about 45 minutes away from our hometown with my dad and step family. I was (and still am) working in said hometown, because I do like my job and most importantly the people I work with. My boyfriend could’ve gone back to live with his parents, but honestly, neither of us wanted that. In hindsight, that’s what should have happened.
Up until this past April, everything was okay with our situation. We were living and working together full time and considering he didn’t have a car or his license yet, I was his source of transportation. Something shifted inside of me though. I found myself not being excited about his presence anymore and also not having sexual feelings towards him anymore, which is highly unusual for me. I felt like I had hit a wall that I couldn’t climb over in the relationship. In that moment, I chalked it up to being a “simple” change in feelings and that we were just growing apart. This did not go very well when I told him. I didn’t expect it to, but I know that he wasn’t even trying to fathom how I felt in the situation and ended up being pretty hurtful about it. The first night after it happened, we had a lengthy conversation over text where he was essentially saying that I ruined him and broke him and that I couldn’t possibly have loved him like I said I did since I was doing this. He also said, and I quote, “You built me back up and made me believe I was finally having the life I deserved and then you destroyed me and left me worse than when you found me”. This of course made me feel immense guilt but I knew it was coming from a place of hurt and I didn’t let it weigh me down too much. He also said that I would never find a friend in him and that this was goodbye, and blocked me on all social media and my phone number. Even though I was the one to break up with him, this still hurt a lot because I did and still do very much care about him.
The next day, he reached back out and apologized for how he reacted and asked me if we could try space instead of a full-on break up. I agreed to this because the relationship really did mean everything to me and I genuinely loved him. I did make sure to tell him that I couldn’t make any promises about my feelings returning but that I would try. And I have. Since then, we have still been working together, just not on the same schedule as before, and he is staying with his parents back in our hometown. We still text on the daily because we both made the agreement that we didn’t just want to go back to strangers. We mainly just talk about work and life and what not, but not much has been said about our specific situation on either end. We both agreed that we needed space. We both also agreed to not really see each other outside of work because we both know it would just complicate things even more, especially if we were to still act like a couple and even more especially if we continued a sexual relationship. This brings us to current day.
It has been about a month of space now and although it’s hard to admit to myself, I don’t want to be back with him. After I’ve had time to think everything over, I’ve realized that I may have put up with more than i deserve/disregarded my self and my feelings for him. Sex was honestly not that important to him, but it always has been for me. It’s not all that I care about of course, but I found myself being told no more often than not. I found myself suppressing my true sexual feelings for him in order to comply to what he wanted. I am also the type of person who likes to try new things, and he was almost always opposed to it. For a while I told myself this was the right thing to do in order for us to work out. With all this being said, our sexual relationship was good and we both enjoyed each other in that way, but it was just very inconsistent.
I also now feel like we just started to want different things out of the relationship. We both needed our own personal space which was impossible at the time, considering we lived and worked together on the same schedules and I was his transportation to and from work and also to hang out with friends when he wanted to. We also have conflicting love languages, as mine is primarily physical affection and reassurance while his are more along the lines of quality time, gift giving, and sharing his interests. As far as the love languages go, I knew early on that they were not the same but I thought we had come to a place where they could coexist. I know now that it was starting not work out that way, and I think he felt the same too although I’m not 100% positive as I found it very hard to understand him and his feelings sometimes, as did he with me.
Like I said previously, he struggles with confrontation. Any time I had an issue with something he did that would upset me, it was usually met with silence and a simple apology or “I don’t remember that/That’s not what I meant.” It seemed like he was taking things as a personal attack rather than trying to understand where I was coming from. One specific moment sticks out to me. One night after work, his best friend wanted to see us before we went home, but she got off of work later than us , which meant we would have to wait around for that. I was very tired due to a long busy day and just wanted to go home as did he, but we stayed and waited anyways because he was afraid of her reaction had we not. I did not respond to this well, and I told him straight up that she walks all over him and that I felt he was not considering how I was feeling about the situation either. All i got in response was confused silence and a simple “I’m sorry.” I was not satisfied with this, and after telling him so, he said how he doesn’t know what else to say/doesn’t know how to communicate how he’s feeling. I ended the conversation there because I could see that I was getting nowhere, but I was still very visibly upset. After we left to go back home, he wouldn’t talk to me and just fell asleep on the drive. This caused me to start crying and after he realized and I reiterated my feelings, I was met with a little more compassion and “i’m sorry”s but then the conversation shifted and no more was said about it on either end.
There were also multiple times that I knew that I had upset him over various things, because he would start acting different (short responses, dirty looks, spending more time on his phone etc). But , when I would ask him what I did, he would just say that he’s fine and to not worry about it. For example, on Valentine’s day this year, I made a very inconsiderate joke about his size (even though it wasn’t true). I was trying to be funny and we both knew I wasn’t being serious, but it still was wrong. It did affect him and eventually he opened up to me and we talked about it, and i apologized profusely and all was resolved. But before that, his demeanor and attitude towards me completely changed and he was treating me very differently. Before we talked about it, I was unaware that the joke I had made was the cause of it, but he told me that he was upset about something I had said but told me it was fine and that he’d get over it, while still treating me differently. I didn’t respond to this well because I knew I had hurt the person I loved, and wanted so desperately to resolve it and make sure it never happened again, but until he brought it to light I was stuck in an intense self-hate/guilt trip.
I will say I don’t recall him ever using any of that against me, but communication is extremely important to me and I just wasn’t getting it. It was like , we always were fine together until the more serious issues came about (differences in intimacy desires, communicating our issues with each other , etc.)
It’s worth mentioning that I also struggle with self image/self worth, and a lot of anxiety/uncertainty. I forgot to include it earlier, but another reason the space is happening is because we lost ourselves in the relationship. We still don’t really who we are or what we want from life. I was constantly preoccupied with how he was feeling and how my actions affected him, and he was constantly preoccupied by turning to me for comfort and safety. I don’t blame him for that though, as I know that we have to fully love and know ourselves/know what we want first before making a commitment to someone else. That’s why I struggle so much with knowing if I’m making the right decision or not. I’m also scared that once I tell him, he won’t want anything to do with me anymore similar to how he reacted the first time. I will forever be grateful for the love that we shared and all the good he showed me and would rather have him as a friend than nothing at all, but I don’t know if that’s the reality. And if it’s not that’s okay and I know that, but I haven’t accepted it. I just want us both to be happy in life and live to our full potentials even if that means it’s not together. If you made it this far I’m sorry for the novel but thank you for taking the time to read. I may be the asshole here and if that’s the case, I will do better and I will make the right decisions. I just need a little insight. Thank you again for anyone who took the time.

A few days ago I noticed a chemical like smell coming from the ac unit after running the ac all day. I noticed the secondary drain line outside my house was leaking water out the side. I’m located in other California, the system is from 2001
I called technician one - he went up to the attic, said my blower probably needed to be replaced, as well as my service platform, quoted me $6k
I called a second company to get an opinion - they said the evaporator coils are jacked, there’s mold out here and the whole system needs to be replaced. They quoted me about 12k for an all new system, that includes rebates, discounts and all that jazz. They’d be giving me one of the newer Bosch units
All that to say, is there really something wrong with my unit? I’ve run the ac a few times since and I haven’t smelled anything funny since. I’m theorizing that after running the ac all day, maybe there was some overheating which caused leakage to be burned and that’s what I’m smelling? Or maybe a nearby neighbor was spraypainting and it wafted downwind to my house?
And the issue seems to be the evaporator coil, if it is moldy or faulty, can’t I just replace that and be ok? They quoted me 4k just for that. That should also address the leak into the overflow pan too? They said that this may just be kicking the problem down the line
Should I replace the evaporator coils for 4k? Get a brand new system for 11k? Should o get an actual tech out here for another opinion?
What do you all think? Thanks

I don’t know where to start. Roaring kitty picked GME for SEVERAL reasons right, but at the heart of it was nostalgia, aka i like the stock. (Hedge funds obviously was a huge playing factor) I have too, put money into this. But the facts are that the ceo hurt us. Even if we create a movement, this is NO GameStop, it’s a metal scrap company. Does this mean im selling ? Fuck no. But, that means we all have to get creative. Almost everyone has visited a GameStop but wtf do people know about a scrap metal company? We need to make it look enticing, it needs to be FUNNY. The memes helped so much in 2021, we seriously need to put out ideas right now. I was one of those four that reposted the meme video btw.
Does anyone want to be the face of the movement? Who is willing to take that on? But whoever steps up, the rest of us needs to rally 1000% behind. Someone who is charismatic. We have to be willing to also admit that the ceo made a move that hurt us, but he also bought in don’t quote me but i think he put in 200 million shares of his own? Like he definitely lost money too, and it makes sense that sometimes we have to scratch our way up to stay afloat, to keep people employed. So i feel that narrative can be spun a little bit. If i can recall, GameStop also had to dilute at some point but people still look at it fondly. So what’s it gonna be guys?
Also can we somehow start a live chat?

The main events take place in the summer of 2023, but before that there’s some pretty crucial information you need to know.
Many moons ago, three or four years before I was forced to live with the burden of knowing my dear friend, some shit went down.
Sophomore year of high school, Heather and my now boyfriend Tony were besties with another girl, that I will call Jane (the sweetest person I’ve ever met, by the way). At some point, Jane and her boyfriend went on a break, and Heather decided, for some reason to this day unknown, to try and sext her best friend’s ex boyfriend. I say “try” because he never really indulged her, which made the whole situation all the more embarrassing. Heather, however, lacking self-awareness and critical thinking skills, decided to keep this up for over five months, after which Jane and her ex got back together, and he told her everything. Contrary to Heather, Jane decided to be a good friend and wait for Heather to come clean about her actions without revealing she already knew everything.
And so she waited. But Heather never said anything.
Keep this in mind, it’ll be important later.
Fast forward to February 2022, yours truly is introduced on the scene by becoming Heather’s roommate during our first year of college. Surprisingly we got along pretty well, we became really close friends in a very short time. She was also the extroverted one (also important) of the two and really helped me come out of my shell, so for a while I was really grateful to her. Anyway, throughout the three months we lived together she was constantly talking about her friends Tony and Jane from back home, but especially referring to Jane as her best friend, the only one that really knew her and that she really trusted.
Her friend Tony was also a very popular topic in conversations, and the reason she convinced me to visit her home country that summer, which resulted in us dating but I will spare you the details of that because it’s a different story (although a good one too).
The summer ends. She moves back to her country, I go back to mine, now pursuing two long distance relationships, the one with my boyfriend and the one with my only friend. So, in January 2023 plan a trip there with Tony but I decide not to tell Heather, and to let it be a surprise instead.
This is where the thing I told you to remember comes back for the first time, and I get front row seats for this years-long conflict finally unraveling.
Jane decided she had enough of waiting for her friend to become decent and slowly started growing apart from Heather, who had actually started the fight by accusing Jane of ignoring her.
When asked about the reasons for her behavior, some of Heather’s responses were, and I kid you not, “BRO I HAD A PLAN” and “IT’S LITERALLY NOT MY PROUDEST MOMENT”.
So. Yeah. Needless to say, they stopped being friends.
Now, for some reason, Heather decided to start this fight on the groupchat with my boyfriend, which meant I had access to everything, and after learning about everything I started to question my friend’s actions for the first time. Like, yes I knew she was a bit stubborn, and annoying, but who isn’t. Betraying someone you have talked about multiple times as your best friend and then lying about it for years, however?
But I decided to put my worries aside for the moment and just be more careful around her before I actually formed an opinion. I also had never met Jane before so at that point it probably wouldn’t have been my place to intervene.
During my trip, I get the idea to plan a surprise party for Tony in the summer and I share it with Heather who seems on board and ready to help.
That aside, the rest of my visit was pretty uneventful up until my last day there.
It being my last day, I wanted to spend it with all my friends, so me, Tony, and Heather met up at a mall to hang out. After a while, I noticed Heather looking pretty down so I asked her if she was alright. She told me she was feeling a bit worried because she got the impression that Tony was growing more distant from her. She revealed to me that this actually already happened before, during Tony’s last relationship, and she was scared it was going to happen again. “And I’m so sorry for involving you like this but do you think you could talk to him for me?”
Now, you have to know Tony and her were never the best of friends; he’s always been closer to Jane than he was with her, simply because they don’t have many things in common. Heather also had the habit of constantly bringing up his ex in my presence, by making weird comparisons with me about literally anything. “Oh, you’re dyeing your hair red? Tony’s ex also dyed her hair red for a while. Omg your eyeliner is so good, you know Tony’s ex actually—”
No. I do, in fact, not know and I would like to keep it that way.
So when she mentioned his ex, being the idiot that I am, I felt so bad because I somehow assumed it was my fault, that I distracted him from his friends with my psychic evil girlfriend powers and therefore it was my responsibility to fix it.
So in May, I start planning Tony’s birthday party and Heather decided that for some reason it was her job to invite people and plan activities and literally plan the whole fucking party actually. She kept making suggestions I knew he would hate and inviting people he outright said he couldn’t stand, until I had enough and was forced to put my foot down. I let her invite her boyfriend and a friend of hers and handled the rest myself. In the meantime, I contacted Jane. Because unlike Heather, I know my boyfriend well enough to understand who his friends are so I always knew Jane was going to make the list, which I anticipated to Heather back in February. Her response was something along the lines of, “It’s okay for me if it’s okay for her”, which I thought was good enough. After all, I wasn’t expecting them to chat like nothing had happened but I assumed they would both be mature enough to put their differences aside for their friend’s sake.
The day of the party comes and Heather and I get there early to set things up, and when we’re in the bathroom doing our makeup she goes, “Hey, this might be a weird question but did Jane mention if she was bringing anyone?”.
This is where I might have been a bit of a bitch. Because Jane did actually ask me if she could bring her boyfriend, the same guy from the story that keeps coming back, and she even apologized for that, but knowing there were going to be three couples at the party already, including Heather and her own boyfriend, I didn’t even think twice before saying yes. However, I also failed to mention that to Heather until the day of the party.
When she found out, she was gone. Completely lost the plot, would not hear reason. She spent the whole evening sitting on the couch next to her boyfriend, with her back to the rest of the party, ignoring everyone else unless they asked her a question directly or forced her into conversation. After the umpteenth failed attempt of including her I felt so guilty I went to cry in the bathroom thinking I had ruined my boyfriend’s party because Heather was not having fun.
Days later, when all of this turned into a paragraph fight via text, instead of apologizing she kept attacking Tony for being rude to her and not understanding that she is very introverted and has “major anxiety”, and that was the reason why she didn’t even try to celebrate his birthday with him once throughout the night. Something I found hard to believe as I had been in that position before, while she was the one to help me out of it, introducing me to new people. So I am well aware of what it means to feel out of place, which is why I tried my best that night, and I also know that if she really wanted to do more, she would’ve.
During the fight, I finally had the opportunity to really talk to Jane for the first time and finding out about some things Heather did to her while they were friends reminded me of something else she did to me.

Back in November 2022, I got on birth control. Naturally I texted my friend, telling her about it.
Her response was, and I quote: “I have a theory. I’ve noticed a pattern where all of Tony’s girlfriends (ex and you) have started taking birth control since dating him soooo he either forced the girls or the girls don't care about STDs and accidental pregnancies. And the side effects obv.”
So I brought this back up during our fight. She tried to deny and to claim she was simply in “shock” because of my sudden interest in birth control, but I sent her back the proof of how she ignored everything I was trying to tell her only to keep trying to prove her hypotheses. My message said: “I was excited because I had done my research, I found a gyno and I went on my own and I texted you knowing that I couldn't share that excitement with my mother so I thought my friend would understand but instead you just came up with conspiracy theories about Tony forcing his girlfriends to get on BC or his girlfriends not caring about accidental pregnancies which was extremely insulting and I still don't know what your intention was because if you were joking it wasn't funny. I was being really vulnerable and you just basically chastised me. I can understand not agreeing but there's ways and ways to say that, you can still be happy and supportive while disagreeing, which was not what you did at all.”
She apologized but also said “I’m sorry you felt that way”. I decided to leave it at that and forget about it.
A couple of weeks later she angrily texted me wondering why I didn’t wish her a happy birthday.
So, AITA?

Hey guys I want to include a quote for my senior graduation speech of ei any good wholesome or funny ones that won’t get me in trouble? I also wanted to design my grad cap with ei theme any ideas? Open to suggestions pls and ty <3

I've been getting hyped about Vessel of Hatred, and remembered this quote about future expansions:

In an interview with Kinda Funny Games, Fergusson confirmed the existence of multiple upcoming Diablo 4 expansions, explaining that the development team is “working on expansion one” and “kicking off expansion two”.

And I was quite excited. But months later, I read this article where they mentioned that this expansion may make or break the game. This article was written before news of Microsoft literally closing studios and scraping projects.
I don't think Activision-Blizzard is going to close. But based on everything that's happening, it seems like they might actually scrap future expansions (and only make seasons) if Vessels of Hatred "flops" (whatever Microsoft considers that to be). I hope not, so I'm crossing my fingers. What do you all think?

Went with my father today to get a quote to replace the shocks and struts on his 2016 Rx350. Rides funny and makes noise, car has 120k. Went in to check out what was making a noise and if any bushings or suspension parts needed to be looked at or replaced, I think they are mostly a tire and strut/shock place so they is what they wanted to sell us.
Went to Martin Tire in El Paso Tx for a quote today and they came up with this.
Salesman offered $300 off without us even contesting the price, like right after he printed the quote. So about $2,350. Does this seem fair for this job? I told my dad to get another quote, but he didn't want to. I feel like this is a ripoff, anyone have some advice?
https://imgur.com/a/nZIZ00T

Went with my father today to get a quote to replace the shocks and struts on his 2016 Rx350. Rides funny and makes noise, car has 120k. Went in to check out what was making a noise and if any bushings or suspension parts needed to be looked at or replaced, I think they are mostly a tire and strut/shock place so they is what they wanted to sell us.
Went to Martin Tire in El Paso Tx for a quote today and they came up with this.
Salesman offered $300 off without us even contesting the price, like right after he printed the quote. So about $2,350. Does this seem fair for this job? I told my dad to get another quote, but he didn't want to. I feel like this is a ripoff, anyone have some advice?
https://imgur.com/a/nZIZ00T

Game Information

Game Title: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Platforms:

• Nintendo Switch (May 23, 2024)

Trailers:

• Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door – Overview Trailer – Nintendo Switch
• Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door — Our Story Begins — Nintendo Switch
• Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door - Nintendo Direct 9.14.2023

Developer: Intelligent Systems
Publisher: Nintendo
Review Aggregator:
OpenCritic - 89 average - 100% recommended - 29 reviews

Critic Reviews

CGMagazine - Jordan Biordi - 9 / 10

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is an excellent remake of an excellent game with enough modern additions to make it feel fresh and new.

COGconnected - James Paley - 90 / 100

Thousand Year Door is a remake done right. The new sound and visuals look terrific. The game’s essential identity has been preserved. Plus, the original release is able to shine through with no distractions. It’s exactly as wonderful as you remember it being. I’m still impressed with the writing, and the level design is mostly excellent. I still hate the tournament arc, though. And I wish some of the puzzles didn’t involve scouring a dungeon until a forgotten button or door is dragged into the sunlight. Although the original release is amazing, it’s also nearly impossible to play anymore. For new and old fans, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is an essential addition to the Nintendo Switch library.

Checkpoint Gaming - Edie W-K - 9.5 / 10

Nostalgia goggles haven't failed us: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is still a masterpiece. With vastly improved graphics, a great rearranged soundtrack, and a few tasteful gameplay touchups, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for Nintendo Switch is now the best version of this fan-favourite classic. The only thing missing is extra content for those who have already played it, but for everyone else, there's no reason not to pick this one up.

ComicBook.com - Marc Deschamps - 4.5 / 5

All in all, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is an easy recommendation. For those that never got a chance to play the original game, there's no better time than the present, and the Nintendo Switch version is easily the best way to play it.

Console Creatures - Bobby Pashalidis - Recommended

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a masterpiece that continues to enchant nearly two decades after its initial release.

Daily Mirror - Scott McCrae - 4 / 5

Though Hellblade 2 has the power to force your jaw open and give you goosebumps, too often the whole project ends up feeling like a very expensive tech demo – an absolute tour de force of technical achievement bogged down in its own sense of gravitas and mystery. Keeping you off the stick for so many of its most impactful moments, and not giving you enough to play with when you do have control, hobbles the potential of this visual and aural masterpiece enough to make the whole experience feel like it was constantly trying to find a foothold on that dread Icelandic scree, and never really getting to its feet until you come staggering over the finish line.

Daily Star - Tom Hutchison - 4.5 / 5

Overall a beautiful looking game, one that feels fresh and in-keeping with recent modern Mario efforts.

Digital Trends - Tomas Franzese - 4.5 / 5

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door stands the test of time and is fantastic on Nintendo Switch.

Digitec Magazine - Domagoj Belancic - German - 4 / 5

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a classic Mario role-playing game that every fan of the chubby plumber should play. If you've already played the original, it's worth taking another trip into this paper world thanks to the completely revamped graphics and soundtrack.
The simplified role-playing mechanics and the interactivity of the turn-based battles make the game accessible even to beginners and players who don't usually like RPGs. The numerous environments impress with their quirky humor, excellently written characters and a beautiful paper look. What I didn't like were the annoying backtracking passages and some tedious mechanics. They unnecessarily slow down the pace as the game progresses.

Enternity.gr - Nikitas Kavouklis - Greek - 10 / 10

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a magical combination of parameters that make this title must have!

GAMES.CH - Benjamin Braun - German - 87%

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is still a great mixture of RPG and platformer with fine papercraft graphics and humorous story. But in terms of content, the visually advanced Switch version delivers nothing new for dye connoisseurs of the GameCube original, which makes it less interesting for them as for players who experience the remastered version for the first time.

Game Informer - Kyle Hilliard - 8.3 / 10

Thousand-Year Door is now a series highlight. It marks the first instance of where I didn’t want a Mario RPG to go (I generally prefer the Mario & Luigi direction), but the constant fourth-wall breaking, myriad colorful and unique characters, and its willingness to just be weird all lead to a joyful journey.

Glitched Africa - Marco Cocomello - 9 / 10

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Remake is wonderfully crafted for modern hardware while still capturing the magic and love of the original 20-year-old game. There’s a reason this is a cult classic and now everyone can enjoy it.

God is a Geek - Adam Cook - 10 / 10

Whether you're replaying for the new visuals, or a very lucky first-time player, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is one of the best RPGs ever to come out of Nintendo.

IGN - Logan Plant - 9 / 10

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is an amazingly loyal and visually dazzling remake of a treasured RPG, and the improvements made throughout easily make this the definitive way to experience Mario’s unforgettable quest.

Nintendo Life - Alana Hagues - 9 / 10

For 20 years, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door has been held as the best Mario RPG of all time, and the Switch remake proves it has earned that title. This is a fantastic RPG adventure, whether you're a Mario fan or not, with some best-in-class combat, brilliant writing, and a few little creases ironed out to make this the definitive way to play Thousand-Year Door. We wish there was a little more to do post-credits, but there's no doubt about it, this is a beautiful-looking Switch remake and a must-play RPG.

Nintendo News - 9 / 10

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for Nintendo Switch improves upon the GameCube classic in almost every way; not just with its impressive graphical overhaul, but with plenty of quality-of-life changes and additional content too. As long as you can handle some occasional backtracking and a reduced frame-rate of 30fps, this is undoubtedly the ultimate Paper Mario RPG experience. Mario games usually put the narrative to the wayside to focus on having fun and engaging gameplay, but The Thousand-Year Door manages to do both and succeeds at it in such a way that still hasn’t been topped 20 years later.

Press Start - James Mitchell - 9.5 / 10

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year-Door is a masterful remake that improves on the original in practically every way while keeping everything that made it a mainstay in the Nintendo canon. While its timelessness is reflected in the strength of its humour, wit and story, a major visual overhaul and much needed quality of life improvements make The Thousand-Year Door an adventure that can't be skipped.

SECTOR.sk - Michal Korec - Slovak - 8.5 / 10

It is not a full-blown remake with overhauled graphics or new episodes. But deep within lies truly one of the best parts of the series to be enjoyed even 20 years later with excellent gameplay, sharp-wit writing and funny dialogues for long evenings or short bursts.

Saudi Gamer - Arabic - 9 / 10

Behind its vibrant and cheerful appearance hides a great battle system and a memorable cast of characters and events in a world brimming with content. Just be aware that some patience is required to enjoy the ride fully.

Spaziogames - Gianluca Arena - Italian - 8.2 / 10

The Switch version of Paper Mario and the Thousand-year door is a rare delight, just like the GameCube one before it: it's a funny and clever mix between a turn based RPG and a platform game, full of jokes and memorable characters. The price might be a little bit steep and the frame rate is halved if compared to the original, but it's still worth to dip your toes into it even twenty years later.

Stevivor - Ben Salter - 9 / 10

The Thousand-Year Door remake is a triumphant return for Paper Mario. It turns back to an earlier chapter in the series that knows exactly what it’s trying to achieve and does it masterfully.

TheGamer - Ben Sledge - 4 / 5

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door will probably be the last Mario game to release (solely) on the Switch. While Wonder will take the plaudits, porting this cult classic means that a new generation of players can experience it. New fans will have a ball, laughing along with Mario & co., even if their experience will be slightly marred by the backtracking and pacing. Old fans will enjoy the quality of life improvements and some new additions. Whether you’re a Paper Mario veteran or this is your first time entering his origami world, this is the definitive way to experience The Thousand-Year Door.

TheSixthAxis - Stefan L - 9 / 10

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a wonderful remake of a GameCube classic. Now in a modern game engine, but with all the quirkiness and charm of the original story and characters, and with a return to the original Paper Mario combat style, it's great for Mario RPG fans and newcomers alike.

TrustedReviews - By Ryan Jones - 4.5 / 5

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Twinfinite - Luke Hinton - 4 / 5

While I wasn’t there for the original, I now completely get just why Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is so revered among Mario fans, and why demands for a remaster were practically ceaseless. It’s the absolute pinnacle of Mario RPGs, and if it was a bit more focused as an overall narrative experience, in the discussion as one of the plumber’s best-ever games.

VGC - Andy Robinson - 5 / 5

Alongside last year’s excellent Super Mario RPG remake, The Thousand-Year Door is one of the very best Mario spin-offs on Nintendo Switch, whether you’re an old fan or discovering it for the first time.

Video Chums - Mary Billington - 9 / 10

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a classic RPG with a perfect blend of turn-based combat and adventuring complete with a rewarding unlockable abilities system that encourages you to explore every nook and cranny. Plus, its updated graphics, hilarious humour, and welcome gameplay improvements make it more accessible than ever. 🚪

Wccftech - Nathan Birch - 8 / 10

While the new Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door preserves the gonzo charm that made the original game a cult classic, not a lot has been done to deal with its padding and other design quirks. If you’re a hardcore Thousand-Year Door fan, worry not, you’re going to love this spiffy new version. If you’re new to the game or weren’t entirely sold the first time around, you’re still likely to find plenty to enjoy here, but you may also notice a few tattered edges.

so recently i came across a video of a black male beater being exposed for beating his gf. (can’t find the ss atm but i know he was wearing a bonnet) when choosing to respond to these allegations, he decided to talk about how he didn’t gaf and that he wasn’t sorry, he also said he would do it again. ofc the internet decides to make a joke out of it because women’s pain is just a joke to everyone. when i went into the quotes of a tweet showing the video, i saw a bunch of black men making jokes about it, saying that they had to respect him being honest, saying that they agree, or even that his gf probably deserved it. i know this community and people in general dont care about our pain but to see ppl bakery jot caring and egging on this behavior pisses me off. why do we have to be in a community with ppl like this? why do we have to stay with the black men that will either abuse, or laugh about our abuse? the black community is such a toxic disgusting place that enables, encourages, and defends abusers. and they’re trying to defend themselves saying it’s a joke, but it’s less funny when you see how they really will abuse their partners, or stay aligned with their homeboys who do. especially seeing the diddy case of him abusing cassie on camera, it just makes me mad seeing ppl defend and laugh about both men. the same black men saying diddy needs to go are laughing about this gamer unapologetically beating his gf. or they’ll stream ppl like rkelly and chris brown. it just pisses me off, they’re all disgusting. i don’t know if we’ll ever live in a world where black women are treated like humans

I'd like to share a lengthy and self-indulgent note about my history with the Baha'i community and the impact it had on my family and me. It's worth noting that I'm sharing this using a throwaway Reddit account that I generally reserve for browsing porn. I find funny to imagine a Baha'i apologist reading this, becoming angry and judgmental, and then, investigating my profile and ending up jerking off. With that said, let's dive into my story.
I want to share my experience in case it resonates with someone else, a lot of the stories on this Reddit helped me, and perhaps my story will give some comfort to someone else. It has taken me a while to write this down, and I'm glad I finally got around to doing it.
My parents emigrated from their homeland for reasons of principle and value. Upon their arrival, they were greeted by Baha'is who met them. And so, lovebombed and lavished with love, praise, and celebration for moving countries due to values that they portrayed as being closely aligned with the Baha'i faith, my parents fell for this validation and worked very hard once they became Baha'is in the mid-1980s.
My dad got rid of all of his whiskies, and swiftly, my parents began hosting potlucks and fireside chats, diligently working to integrate into the Baha'i ecosystem. Back then, the atmosphere was fairly light-hearted, with devotional gatherings, prayers, and a somewhat 1960s-esque hippie vibe. There was live guitar music, and joss sticks.
However, I remember Baha'i classes having an interesting edge. We were taught that Buddhists were not following a religion but merely a way of life, and that Hindus had become pantheistic because they had lost the core of their faith and religion, which had become corrupted over time. Thanks to Google, I can discover that yes indeed, this is from Lights of Guidance.
There was a significant emphasis on the importance of gender equality and the oneness of humanity – because, hey, the eighties. I feel sad there isn't anything anymore about the Virtues project - even if the Virtues project was sort of framed like it was created by Bahais.
Even in the 1980s, there was an overwhelming atmosphere that the key to being a good Baha'i was how you presented yourself rather than your actual behaviour. I recall learning an apocryphal tale of a young Baha'i who, while fasting, participated in an aerobics class and nearly fainted (yeah, aerobics, this is a real 80s fable), but was told by another Baha'i to prioritize representing the faith well over completing the fast because *it looked bad*. From a very early age, I learned the importance of putting the right face forward.
My parents then took their relationship with the Baha'i faith to the next level and volunteered at the World Centre in Haifa. As a child, this was a pretty interesting experience. I was suddenly immersed in the Iranian, or rather, Persian community, with its strong culture of martyrdom. Even as a child, every event seemed to feature graphic videos depicting young kids being taken from their homes. It was quite frightening, and I remember being afraid.
I also recall a strong sense of hierarchy within the community. My family lived in a small apartment with a very old, busted-up car from the 1970s, while others resided in nice homes with pleasant views and drove nice cars. I attended a local Israeli school, which was a cultural experience in itself, while my peers my age went to the much fancier American school. It's important to note that, at this point, the conversation about the "great catastrophe" – two-thirds of the world's population dying, leading to a period of peace and the entry by troops – was a prevalent topic openly discussed at the World Centre.
We completed our stint there, even living through the Gulf War. Upon returning to my birth country, my parents chose to live in places with smaller Baha'i communities, as they wanted to support and help establish Local Spiritual Assemblies. Things had changed by this point, not only because I was a teenager but also because the community itself had transformed. There was a significant Iranian presence everywhere, and the focus had shifted heavily towards rules, especially those related to sex, drinking, and drug use. There was also a huge emphasis on financial contributions to the faith, and it was the first time I began to see a somewhat materialistic outlook within the community.
As a preteen and teenager, I engaged in activities like dropping off flyers in mailboxes and soliciting strangers to talk about this great new religion, all in the name of “teaching”. I joined the local choir and sang, inspired by a crush I had on a girl there. This was probably the golden time of the community, with the choir doing outreach and a balance between Western and Iranian believers.
However, things began to accelerate. The Ruhi Institute and teaching became significant focal points. I was encouraged to bring a good friend of mine to a Baha'i camp, and once there, I was pressured to ask him to convert. It was very uncomfortable.
This Reddit loves cringe stories, so here is a winner: I had a birthday party with my non-Baha'i friends, and two older Baha'i girls attended. One of the girls ended up stalking my friend, showing up at his workplace and calling him at home with sexually suggestive comments. The matter was escalated to the Local Spiritual Assembly, but instead of talking to me about it, they basically ended my friendship with this kid. To me, this somehow captures so much of what it was like to be a Baha'i child and how Baha'i adults treat children to this day.
When I turned 15, I signed up for Baha'i membership because it was the expected thing to do. However, by the time I was in my early 20s and studying at university, I had started to interact more with the local, real-world community. This might seem like a small thing, but it was actually quite significant. You see, my parents had always felt a little bit on the outside compared to the average person on the street around them. This sense of elitism was really exacerbated by being a Baha'i because Baha'is would walk around in a cloud of self-assurance, slapping each other on the back and saying , "We don't do drugs. We've got all the answers and solutions, not like you." That was pretty much the attitude. It felt very socio-economic, with a lot of judgment towards working-class people. When the Iranians arrived, the cultural judgments grew even stronger.
But I was working in restaurants and learning about booze from bartenders. I had gotten to know real people. I had lost my virginity, and all that Bahai jazz seemed so much less relevant. I hardly even noticed when the year 2000 arrived without the predicted apocalypse, entry by troops, or any of the other anticipated events. Life went on. I lived in another country and met a girl, and we lived together.
Here is cringe story #2: my girlfriend /fiancé and I hosted a Bahai couple from my hometown. Despite being in my late 20s and engaged, and even though I hosted this gentleman in my house and helped him with his preparations for his business and presentations in the country where I lived, he reported to the Local Spiritual Assembly that I was living with a woman and we weren't married. It was absolutely amazing. The level of judgment still grosses me out.
I started to reflect on what the religion had meant to me and saw how it had changed. The obsession with fundraising was becoming ever more strident and panicked. The gaps in the actual scriptural logic of the religion were becoming more exacerbated as real-world problems still ran rife, and real-time discussions on social media brought these issues to light. It took me a while to start really digging into it, and it was only much later, when I started therapy, that I realized I needed to formally resign from the religion.
Looking back, it's astonishing how this religion, which professes to have such blind equality between the genders, as if other religions have some kind of hardwired sexism, actually had hardwired sexism in how the Universal House of Justice operates. A religion that taught the oneness of humanity, as if all humanity is equal and other religions don't recruit from anyone they can find, places divisors. Although of course, Bahai’s can’t recruit from Israeli Jews, so much for oneness of humanity. But this religion has taught that all humanity is equal, unless, of course, you're gay. Then you can't get married, let alone have sex.
There are other principles I haven't touched on, such as non-involvement in politics, unless it involves things happening to Baha'is or politics in Iran. The principle of independent investigation of the truth doesn't seem to work if you might investigate something that's not in line with the Baha'i perspective. The idea of a universal language? I don't really see any evidence that they're even really thinking about that one. The unity between science and religion? A religion that only allows men to sit on its senior board of a global theocracy probably isn't going to jive with a contemporary scientific perspective…. I mean, apparently you don't need a penis to be a man anymore, right?
In between these moments are my colorful memories of random things, like endless discussions about the boundaries of physical intimacy, people getting married at the age of 16 because they had exemptions for being Persian, and meeting Ms. Khanoom in Israel, feeling some sadness that the lone woman who at least brought some feminine energy to the World Centre is now gone, replaced by 12 boring men.
I've had conversations with my wife where I tried to explain what Baha'is actually do. She just wonders why they aren't doing stuff like normal religions do, like reading to the elderly or supporting schools for the disabled. I explain that's not the target demographic. I remember a wealthy man brought to firesides who obviously nobody else wanted to listen to, but we all sat around and applauded him like he was a great ukulele player and a clever man. He pointed out a hilariously Iranian man who was an alternative healer, and they got into a debate about modern medicine. The wealthy man said, "Well, you should see my daughter and what she studied. She studies Law." And then quickly changed the subject when asked about her name since I studied at the same Law school. Here's this man who's self-aware enough to join the adoration of his crowd but doesn't want his daughter mixed up in it in any way. Absolutely hilarious. Make that cringe story #3.
This reflection was sort of sparked when my wife and I discovered that the writings attributed to Rumi, which Baha'is often quote, is the same guy who started the Whirling Dervishes. We read about Rumi and I realized just how different he is from Baha'u'llah. Rumi wrote poetry, but he didn't pretend to be a prophet of God. He was just offering a different dynamic for how to interpret spirituality. He didn't say he was part of some sort of cycle. There's something beautiful about that simplicity. And needless to say, Rumi lived long before the Baha'is ever started.
It makes me wonder, will anyone ever watch the equivalent of a whirling dervish dance for the Baha'is?
The obsession with appearances sounds like a joke, but it isn't. It wasn't for me. Some bad stuff happened to me on my trip to Israel. When we got there, my parents didn't understand why I was so upset about everything. It was a culture shock, attending a local school, not speaking Hebrew, being lumped together with Russian kids who also didn't speak Hebrew, and getting beaten up in the toilet. It wasn't a very good time for me.
So, I was sent to counsel with a local Israeli counselor. After several sessions, she instructed that I had to sit down with my parents and tell them what I needed to tell them, particularly about the shadow that had come over me since coming to Israel. My parents were enraged when I said, “I wish we never became Bahai”.
And so, we returned from the Holy Land and moved to a tiny community that was struggling to get members. To this day, my parents are still members. I've resigned so I'm never dubbed a "covenant breaker." I'm pretty sure my parents know that I resigned because they literally never raise the topic of the Baha'i faith with me. I wish the religion had some interesting cosmology, something mystical, some interesting new take on the universe, or provided my family with tools to handle being migrants or raising teenagers. At the very least, it could have given us a common language we could have used to bond together. It did none of that.
But to be fair, if it wasn't the Baha'is, some other rinky-dink cult would have love-bombed my parents back in the 1980s. Of course, it would have been so much more fun if it had featured more sex and drugs 😊

"I love "Star Trek" deeply because of its radical, aggressive optimism. It envisions a world, and a form of entertainment, that downplays conflict. Drama and power can come from elsewhere. The future, "Trek" always declared, was going to be populated by nerds, miracle tech, and egalitarianism. And what's so funny about peace, love, and understanding?"
Witney Seibold (SlashFilm)
Link:
https://www.slashfilm.com/1582617/star-trek-changed-my-life-forever-reigns-as-greatest-sci-fi-franchise-of-all-time/
Quotes:
"Like many Trekkies, I came to "Star Trek" at an early age. Throughout the 1980s, reruns of the original series would air on my local station (KCOP, channel 13 in Los Angeles), and they would serve as a periodic video backdrop to our dinnertimes. As a child, "Star Trek" was merely an action-light, horror-heavy sci-fi adventure series, and my older sister and I would gleefully yell out when Spock (Leonard Nimoy) performed his notorious Vulcan nerve pinch, or when Captain Kirk (William Shatner) got to snog an itinerant babe. We would hide our heads from the monster of the week; like many, I was terrified by the scowling face of Balok, the Ted Cassidy-voiced puppet alien from "The Corbomite Maneuver" (November 10, 1966).
Perhaps unusually for a child, I wasn't powerfully drawn to action, fights, or explosions in my entertainment. I would indeed watch the era's toyetic wartime cartoons like "Transformers" and "G.I. Joe," of course, but I didn't care deeply for the characters, nor have much invested in their dramatic stakes. I had trouble taking the "oorah" action seriously, perhaps already innately understanding that the cartoon soldiers were fictional and their triumphs were only temporary; what is the meaning of a victory when the bad guys will merely return the following week?
I only realized this in retrospect, but "Star Trek" was secretly providing an antidote to the breathless mayhem oozing from every pore of my generation's childhood entertainment. It was a series that, despite bad guys, monsters, and fights, was ultimately teaching intense lessons of diplomacy and leadership. The crew of the Enterprise weren't "violent/cool," and I liked that. Finally, I realized, here was a show about pacifism.
And, yes, "Star Trek" communicated themes of pacifism. It might have been a fluke of 1960s special effects budgets, but "Star Trek" rarely showed the USS Enterprise firing off its weapons or getting into full-scale starship battles. The common playground pop culture query of "who would win in a fight?" seemed churlish with "Star Trek." Would Kirk win in a fight with, say, Han Solo? Even as a wee bairn, I had to ask why Kirk and Han Solo would be fighting in the first place. I figured Spock would merely ask Han Solo about his ship while Kirk invited him in for a meal. Power, "Star Trek" argued, wasn't derived from one's ability to dominate and overwhelm others with tactics and weapons prowess, but to negotiate, adapt, and remain friendly.
[...]
Whether "Star Trek" taught me to be a pacifist or whether I was already a pacifist can be debated, but creator Gene Roddenberry and I were definitely on the same wavelength. "Star Trek" took place in a post-war universe at a time when humans had outgrown the need to kill each other for resources, and petty political grievances were a thing of the past.
[...]
Star Trek is for nerds, and that's a good thing
While it may be a cliché, I still maintain that "Star Trek" is for nerds. That is, I should hasten to add, a high compliment. With the release of "Next Generation," I was given my clearest, most refreshing draft of action-antidote. I began to realize that the rest of the American viewing public longed for conflict and war and action in their entertainment, with boys my age constantly raving about the latest 'splosion-fest that evoked the word "awesome."
Meanwhile, over on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," the universe had already graduated, moved into the stars, and gave up on action altogether. Oh sure, Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) was handy with a phaser, Worf (Michael Dorn) could murder you with a bat'leth, and the USS Enterprise-D needed to employ some sneaky battlefield tactics to outgun the Borg (or any number of other opponents), but one always got the sense that weapons and fights were a last-ditch tactic, a formality that must be seen through before an understanding could be reached. War was to be avoided at all costs.
What's more, there were classical references! Whenever Picard quoted Shakespeare, my heart would sing. By the time I turned 13 (when NextGen had just finished its fourth season), I too was getting into Shakespeare and Picard emerged as a teacher, a fictional professor that you didn't want to disappoint. I finally realized that the nerdy sci-fi technicalities of "Star Trek," along with its classical obsessions, workplace propriety, devotion to diplomacy, multicultural mindsets, and ability to brainstorm open-minded solutions to complex problems ... these were all aspirational states. Scoop in a few ethical dilemmas — racism, euthanasia, gender politics — and "Trek" gave me everything.
Star Trek obsession is healthy, actually
Like with the original series, the peacefulness of "Next Generation" could easily have been a product of its budget; without the money to stage massive phaser battles, fights and scrapes rarely rose above the skirmish level. This, by necessity, required the show to de-emphasize violence. The makers of "NextGen" also couldn't afford to visit alien worlds regularly, forcing them to shoot on the same six or seven sets week after week.
The limitations, however, allowed Trekkies to enjoy our time on board the Enterprise. "Star Trek" is, after all, a workplace drama above anything else, and we loved seeing the characters do their jobs on an day-to-day basis. We lived with the Enterprise crew long enough that we started to get a sense of how the ship worked. That, in turn, led directly into fantasies of living in "Star Trek," knowing we could operate the machinery if asked. It also didn't seem so terrible to live in a world that was devoted to science, peace, and diplomacy.
[...]
When J.J. Abrams' 2009 "Star Trek" reboot film came out, the franchise was altered to be one of the usual action flicks that "Trek" previously eschewed. It appealed to a mass audience. Conversations began as to what constituted "real Trek," leading directly into additional conversations about gatekeeping, fandom, and franchise evolution. Is "Star Trek" for nerds, or can it appeal to — for lack of a better term — jocks?
Conversations between Trekkies in the 1990s were impassioned, but rarely caustic (at least in my experience). In 2009, however, notions of fan toxicity were more openly acknowledged among pop obsessives, and people became angrier about their obsessions. All of a sudden, I was an "old school" Trekkie.
I was 31 and okay being "old school." After all, decades had passed since "Next Generation," a series that responded to Ronald Reagan and flourished during the 1990s. Why shouldn't it adjust again? I didn't like the franchise's actioned-up response to 9/11, but I was still happy to have debates as to what "Star Trek" meant and what modern action films communicated.
"Trek" taught me to negotiate ... about "Trek."
What Star Trek means today
I am on record with my feelings about the Paramount+ era of "Star Trek," and I have frequently been rather critical. I want to go on record, however, that my criticisms are not based in misplaced nostalgia, prejudicial hate against new "Star Trek," nor a gradually closing mind (an unfortunate affliction that can sometimes strike people rounding middle age). Indeed, I have liked a great deal of the "Star Trek" shows that have debuted since 2017. I think "Star Trek: Lower Decks" perfectly balances humor and irreverence with notable "Star Trek" themes of growth and maturity. "Lower Decks" is about lower-ranking officers who have the crappiest jobs on a Starfleet vessel, and struggle to grow up when they have a twentysomething's instincts toward laziness and bad decision-making. "Star Trek" is about adults, and "Lower Decks" sees people becoming adults.
Likewise, "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" returns to an episodic structure, allowing for miniature dramas and handily-packaged morality plays to be presented more cleanly than the broad arcs of "Discovery" or "Picard." I only wince at "Star Trek" when it violates its own principles or lazily falls into action-based stories that (perhaps unwittingly) glorify combat, war, and aggression. And make no mistake, these kinds of stories were always part of the franchise; they didn't start in 2017.
I love "Star Trek" deeply because of its radical, aggressive optimism. It envisions a world, and a form of entertainment, that downplays conflict. Drama and power can come from elsewhere. The future, "Trek" always declared, was going to be populated by nerds, miracle tech, and egalitarianism. And what's so funny about peace, love, and understanding?
War was our awkward adolescence, "Trek" said, and our adulthood is in the stars."
Witney Seibold (SlashFilm)
Link:
https://www.slashfilm.com/1582617/star-trek-changed-my-life-forever-reigns-as-greatest-sci-fi-franchise-of-all-time/