I (19F) and my best friend Neesh (not real name) (19F) have been friends for 3-4 years. We met in high school and we got really close since we have really similar personalities and interests. To make a really long story short, Neesh has been through a lot of crap in a short amount of time; turbulent family relationships, mental health, living in a homeless shelter, couch surfing, losing her job, and now currently lives with her dad. She's developed a drinking and vaping habit and has dabbled with some hard drugs, and I'm starting to get worried. We both have ADHD, and if you don't know, people with ADHD run at a far higher risk of falling into addiction due to the defaulting deficit of dopamine in our brains. Neesh constantly goes out to bars, drinking god knows what with bar friends that she's met by going to these bars all the time and I'm starting to notice how her drinking is physically affecting her voice (she loves to sing), her skin, constant coughing, etc. I've tried my best to be there for her, and help her understand that if she needs any help or wants to talk about anything, she knows I'm here for her and that I'll do my best with anything I can. What really got me to this point was when almost a month a go, she told me she went on a bender staying up for three days after doing some coke ( I literally have no idea how she got it, or how much she took. Considering she was up for three days, you can make your guess). I'm at a point now where I'm now just waiting for a call or something notifying me that Neesh is either pregnant, over dosed and in the hospital, or dead. She doesn't have anyone else to help her, I know I can't be her saviour and it's going to take a serious rock bottom for her to come to her senses, but is there anything else I can do to help her? Or should I just slowly stop talking to her?

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?

TLDR; I have experienced anxiety off and on but its been ramping up over the last few years specifically around traveling and it is really hard to eat food when I’m anxious. I’m feeling debilitated and worried that I will never get better and I’m scared meds wont work. I want to be able to travel and see my friends in other states without being completely consumed by anxiety.
——
I have struggled with anxiety off and on my whole life and as I’m reflecting now, it had a lot to do with not being home/change. I would get homesick at summer camp, I would get anxious before a sleepover, I had anxiety my entire 8th grade year because I was going from a tiny private school to a huge public high school.
When I moved away from home I was fine and I don’t think I had anxiety for several years. I was an adult, figuring out life on my own and doing fine. I would travel to visit my friends in other states and I was fine. I got married, had a bachelorette trip, a honeymoon etc. all good.
During covid I went to test for ADHD and realized I was depressed so I went on wellbutrin which changed everything for me.
In 2021 I went on a trip with a bunch of girls that really fucked me up. Nothing happened but I was so anxious I couldn’t sleep or eat and it affected my friendship. After that I went to see my psychiatrist because I could not go on a trip again and be stuck because I didn’t have any medication to stop it. Most times after that trip that I went on a trip, I got unexplainable anxiety. Came out of nowhere, couldn’t tie it to a thought, hurt my stomach etc. But I had hydroxyzine which helped me fall asleep without anxiety. I decided to reduce my wellbutrin in half because of a variety of reasons, one of them being my heightened anxiety. And it did seem to be a good decision to do that. I went on a trip in 2023 to a state I’ve never been to and my anxiety was pretty bad but my husband was with me so it was mostly manageable but I kept losing my appetite and not wanting to eat. We went to a 6 course dinner and I had to get up in between every plate to run to the bathroom cuz I had anxiety runs.
I came home from that and went to see my psychiatrist and explained my anxiety was mostly a bodily response and I wasn’t noticing anything in my brain. She said meds are really good for the worries but it didn’t sound like I had that so try making sure I had substance in my stomach since maybe I had so much stomach acid it was making me feel sick.
I didn’t have a trip for 7 months to test this theory until this last weekend. The whole week leading up to the trip I would have moments of anxiety but I usually took a deep breath and it went away. The travel day was pretty bad but I kept food in my stomach but I kept noticing myself checking in with myself seeing if I felt okay or not. Constantly. Then it became of fear of getting anxiety and ruining my friends’ time with me. And the anxiety of getting anxiety and feeling unwell not in my comforting space. Every single day was so hard. I could barely bring myself to eat food. I became anxious about mealtimes coming up and if I would be able to nourish myself. I had moments of relief, and one almost full day of no anxiety but I ended up coming home two days early because I couldn’t hang.
But even as I’ve been home, my anxiety hasn’t gone away. I was anxious walking through the mall with my husband. I didn’t want to eat dinner. I think about my next trip coming up and I feel a pit in my stomach wondering if I’ll be able to enjoy myself. Waking up yesterday I felt my heart rate immediately spike and the anxiety start to come on. I talked to my psychiatrist and she asked why I didn’t take the xanax I had with me. I am scared it wont work or will make me feel flat or make be all delirious in my head. I dont want to become reliant on it. She explained it is a tool and would I refuse pain meds if I’m about to have surgery? No. I decided to go off my wellbutrin because I’m curious if that is making me more anxious since my depression is so much better. She said I should give it a week and see how I feel after the wellbutrin is out of my system and giving space to my bad experience on my trip and if I still feel worried about my upcoming trip we can start Zoloft. This morning I’m still anxious, and I’m starving but I can’t think of any food that seems palatable and I don’t want to get out of bed and I feel extremely hopeless that I’ll never get better and wont be able to experience new things again. I’m scared Zoloft wont work or it will eventually hurt me or my anxiety will get worse and I just feel completely debilitated.

Hey all, just thought I would post here to share a personal experience and see if anyone else has experienced anything similar.
Disclaimer: During this time frame, I also cycled through a few different ADHD medications with varying results, settling in Adderall XR for the longest and seemingly with the best results. So factor that as you see fit
A while back, right about the start of 2023, I started getting seriously back into reading. I have ADHD up to my eyeballs, so this was difficult and took a bit of work and practice. At the start, I had a tremendously difficult time picturing just about anything I read. Always googled characters/monsters/places as much as I could to get a reasonable looking visual to fill it in, because I just couldn't piece together descriptions in my head.
Also, during mid-2022 I started playing chess more seriously. Actually studying, learning theory/openings/principles, etc. as some of you may know, chess has a lot to do with memorization and pattern recognition to a certain extent.
Fast forward about a year, early 2024. In 2023, I managed to read 54 books. It absolutely blew my mind that I got that much done. Reading became easier and easier, and I am still reading a ton, often times in lieu of other forms of media.
But, a year and a half on, I find that I am not nearly as convinced of having Aphantasia as I once was. I still occasionally have a hard time picturing something, but it is not nearly as severe as it was. Now, when recalling a scene from some sort of media, it will sometimes be so clear that when trying to place it, I have to discern if it was something I read or something I watched. This was never a problem I expected to run into.
At this point, I am starting to lean heavily into the idea that maybe my brain had just gotten out of shape. After being an avid reader in high school (I am 29 now) I hardly read books at all until the very end of 2022. After spending a year to a year and a half reading a ton and playing chess and working at it consistently, my brain feels like it's working infinitely better. I can picture things more clearly, I can remember details of books to an obnoxious degree sometimes, and all around everything is clearer.
Granted, as mentioned in the disclaimer, this may also have something to do with landing on a medication that works well for me, but I also started my reading journey well before starting what is now my current medication, and I can't help but feel that ultimately working out my brain this way has helped improve my shortcomings.
None of this is to say that Aphantasia is any less real or that reading is a cure, but more so to share my experience and the sort of improvements I saw after starting some activities that really worked on my brain.
I am eager to hear from some of you if you've had similar experiences, the complete opposite, etc.
Thanks for reading this far along, and I hope to see what some of you feel about it!

Hi everyone. I am notorious for shutting myself down or feeling like I’m over reacting due to how my parents raised me, so I’m just looking for perspective.
I understand a parents’ love shouldn’t be about accomplishments, but I feel the need to describe the situation I’m in. Also, my parents made us heavily dependent on accomplishments, lmao. My mom would say “ordinary or extraordinary” and wrote me a horrible letter when I got my first B in high school, lol.
My brother grossly underperforms (took 6 years from a four year to graduate, which is fine, but it was a private university, so it cost my parents 75,000 a year and he lost his scholarship 3 times. He also failed out of his initial major, chose a diff major and failed out of that one, and ended up with a degree that was basically put together so he can graduated), has a lot of emotional issues(trigger warning for SH: he has threatened su!c!d3 multiple times), and is essentially an alcoholic at the age of 25. He needs so much help, and I’m aware of that. I’ve begged my parents to put him in a program or make him see a therapist, but they can’t force him as he is an adult, and he is so damaged that when his therapist needed more info to schedule an appointment, he got defensive and refused to go. He screams when he speaks and if something does not go his way, there is a problem. One time I didn’t want to go get oysters on a family trip because I don’t love them. And he had to walk away and ignore everyone for an hour. And my parents refuse to address that behavior because they’re afraid of him threatening to hurt himself.
I got accepted into a good private school (a mini ivy) with a 50,000 dollar scholarship. I went in as undeclared pre-med, but then decided to come home to pursue music (I know, I know). I went to community college for two years and then ended up going to a state school for music performance, fully funded. I won a huge nationally recognized award as I wrapped up my undergrad. I’ve tried to do everything “right” by my parents.
We both ended up graduating this year, and the lengths my parents went for him was crazy. We flew to Texas, they paid for my aunt and uncle’s hotel rooms, bought 500 dollars worth of alcohol, and planned a whole graduation weekend for him (itinerary and all). Dropped at LEAST 2k on him. My mom wept as he graduated and we all cheered him on.
I graduated and my parents missed the tassel moving, and it felt like any normal day. I was at home the day before and I basically prepared everything for graduation myself because my brother was home and they spoke with and to him the whole time.
My extended family makes me and my boyfriend feel more loved than my own mom and dad. I feel guilty feeling like they like or do more for my brother because I recognize they still do a lot for me, so I feel ungrateful when I feel resentful.
I’ll never tell them this because If I do, my mom will get so defensive and lash out at me. It’s like talking to an emotionally inept wall.
Let me know what you think bye ♥️

Here are my 9 ideas for future novels and the authors that would be perfect for them.

1. The War of Beginnings Trilogy by Joseph Staten:

the first book would cover the first half of the war between the Sangheili and the San' Shyuum mainly covering the events from The Desecration of Ulgethon to the Raid at Codisfold, The second book would covers the events in the aftermath of the Raid at Codisfold and included other events like when The Sangheili warrior priests reluctantly begin using the forerunner relics to improve their warships, arms and armor. ending with the beginning of the Battle of Sanghelios. The Third and Final book would cover the full Battle of Sanghelios, Breaking Shadow a coup d'etat against Pervading Stone, and the signing of the Writ of Union.

1. a Game of Thrones style series of books set during the Blooding Years by Troy Denning:

I think the Blooding Years are a very important war in the Halo Universe but they were barely touched by 343. We saw the start in the Kilo-Five trilogy and the end in Halo 5 (well technically the true end of the war will be in the third Onyx book) but we know nothing of all the battles and politics that take place in-between. Troy write Sanghelil politics very well and I think he is perfect to write this series covering the full period as only see the beginning that we see in Kilo-Five Trilogy.

1. A Darth Plagueis style novel for The Prophet of Truth and Tartarus by Joseph Staten:

Somewhat of a continuation of the Covenant plot line from Staten's first novel Halo Contact Harvest as not only we get to see Tararus rise to the ranks and eventually becoming Chieftain of the Brutes but also getting to see how The Prophet of Truth's plan develops as well as general Covenant politics.

1. A Novel about the First Immolation and the integration of the Brutes into the Covenant by John Shirley:

For those who don't know, the First Immolation describes the planet wide nuclear civil-war that engulfed the Brutes and ended in apocalypse just shortly before their discovery and subsequent integration into the Covenant.
Much like Broken Circle gave us insight and perspective on the founding of the Covenant, and the tensions that lingered until its collapse, I think diving deeper into this period can give us further insight into Jiralhanae/Sangheili relations from the onset, and why the Jiralhane were so quick to accept Covenant religious doctrines and technology (potentially viewing this incoming alien race as saviors from their own destruction).
I also think it's an interesting notion that the Brutes were around our current present day tech level (nuclear weapons but confined to their home system), upon their discovery by the Covenant, and less advanced than humanity was at the time in 2492. However unlike humanity who managed to avoid nuclear war, knock on wood, the Brutes succumbed to it due to their own innate nature. I've always found intelligent Brute characters and leaders such as Atriox, Castor and Hekabe incredibly interesting, so I'd love to gain some insight into their pre-Covenant politics and what lead them to the path of war.

1. A Young Adult Novel about Miranda Keyes by Beth Revis or Claudia Grey:

This one is a bit hard choice because I really loved Beth Revis Star Wars Rebel Rising which was a novel covering Jyn Erso life in the 13 year gap from the prologue when she was rescued by Saw Gerrera to when we see her in Prison at the start of Rogue One. What I like about Rebel Rising is that it is a very dark novel despite being young adult. That said I really loved Claudia Grey's own Star Wars work like Lost Stars and Leia: Princess of Alderaan the latter of which I could a Miranda novel having a similar format.
Regardless who would be the author the novel would take place around after 2541 to 2550 C.E. as the former was the year that Miranda was accepted to the Academy at Marie Nubium pre-enlistment training at age 16, making her the second-youngest to ever have attended the school. After graduating with honors, she immediately requested assignment to active duty.
The Novel would begin where Miranda is assigned to the UNSC Hilbert, an older, unarmed science vessel patrolling the outer reaches of UNSC-controlled space. This was due to her mother's influence, who wanted to keep Miranda out of harm's way. Nevertheless the ship would be used by Keyes to play a critical role in the Battle of Gamma Pavonis VII, (In which we would actually see this battle in this book.) by ramming the Hilbert into a Covenant destroyer. In the following years that the book would also cover is Miranda's time in the front lines, playing a crucial advisory role in the coordination of several major offensive strikes against Covenant targets. This proved invaluable to her as she quickly rose through the ranks of the UNSC. Throughout her career, she was forced to confront accusations of nepotism from those who ascribed her rapid rise in rank to the position and influence of her father, Jacob Keyes.
Throughout the book, Miranda resentment her estranged mother, there would be a scene in the book where while she was a Midshipman, she sent her mother a message, stating that she was somewhat aware of what Dr. Halsey had done. (the Book would explain how did she learn about this classified information.) She promised to keep who her mother was a secret, simply because she didn't want her father associated with what she had done. She ended the message promising to make sure she would take after him.
Anyway the book would end around April 2550 where Miranda is promoted to the rank of Lietuenant Commander in a promotion ceremony at downtown Quezon on Reach. in which Fleet Admiral Terrence Hood also personally awarded her the Silver Star, and it was announced that she would assume command of the Amber Clad.

1. A Thrawn-esque novel about Atriox by Troy Denning or Timothy Zahn himself:

A dedicated novel on Atriox who is more of a Thrawn equivalent in the Halo series as a brilliant, cunning commander who is largely explored from the perspective of other characters (Eli Vanto in the Canon Thrawn novel, Captain Pellaeon in Legends IIRC) as the Rise of Atriox comics explores Atriox's own rise from the perspective of his enemies, those who tried to execute him to those who would become his allies.
But while Rise of Atriox does a solid job at establishing Atriox's rise, there are several "gaps" that need to be filled where a Atriox-centred novel could help, such as Atriox unifying the Jiralhanae clans across Doisac and the Jiralhanae colonies as the Nanished expand without the Covenant empire imposing on their rise to providing deeper insight as to why Atriox made his plays at the Ark and Zeta Halo. Even Atriox's origins are a mystery, such as what skein he may have been associated with to Escharum's mentorship to a young Atriox to Atriox serving as a member of the Bloodstars with Castor.

1. a series of one-off novels covering lesser known battles and engagements of The Human Covenant War:

Give us the full accounts of Battles such as The Battle for Tribute, The Defense of Mars, The Battle of Meridian and of course The Full Battle of Earth (covering events that didn't see in Halo 2, ODST, Uprising, and Halo 3.) give us points of views from not the spartans but from the marines think of Band of Brothers but maybe a flair of Andor.

1. A Horror Novel about The Fall of High Charity by either Joseph Staten or Tessa Kum and Jeff VanderMeer (the latter two are the authors of The short story Mona Lisa.

I would love a book about the fall of High Charity. How the Prophets reacted to the surprise outbreak and the Flood, the Prelates rescuing them, the civil wacomplete collapse of the Covenant society, their capital being transformed into a hive and the population being trapped inside.

1. A Third Anthology book by various authors:

Not sure about the rest of the stories but the one I'm currently thinking about is a full story about the Battle of October 10 about the short engagement of Battle Group Rhino of the UNSC Navy's Third Fleet and the unknown ship that resulted in the loss of UNSC Totem Lake. It mostly from the perspective of the UNSC so the mystery of who is this unknown alien threat would be preserved as not everything have to be explained just keeping mystery with the short story mostly from the UNSC's perspective you could have panic and fear within the fleet especially those on the Totem Lake.

Any other guys feel this way? Since slowly growing apart from old high school and college buddies and being in a stable relationship I have become domesticated. My main social interaction comes from my girlfriend and her female friends. I feel like my personality has slowly changed to more fit into this clique.

I (30f) met my dad (M 64) when I was fifteen years old. We have always been close ever since we reunited. Out of all my siblings on his side I’m the only one who graduated high school and went on a career and maternal/family path. My brothers are either in jail or rehab. And one of my brothers is also terminally ill now.
Fast forward to January of this year, I moved in with my dad because his health is declining majorly. He has COPD, sleep apnea, heart disease, alcoholism (12-18 pack every night), heavy smoker (almost 2 packs every day.) So moving in was more so to take care of him than anything else. My husband and children stayed back so my oldest can finish her school year and I can focus on my dad before he had his back surgery on March 1st, 2024.
At first my dad told me he only wanted us to take over the mortgage for him. Okay no problem. Well Then mortgage turned into every bill. (Cable, electric, water, sewage, AC, etc) and we even footed the bill to replace the liner in the pool ($999) and the installation for it ($250) and the bill to fill it (water bill) which honestly was cheaper than I thought it would be not gonna lie. And our recurring purchases for the chemicals for the pool. But he pressured us into getting that pool done, like would not shut up about it. And my dad has us buy his beer and cigarettes every day except the weekends when I don’t have to go anywhere all day.
On top of that we pay for all the groceries. And clean the house every single day. (Vacuum, mop, deep kitchen cleanup, bathroom cleanup, etc)
Now while hubby and I were on separate sides of the state we were splitting bills between two households. Supporting hubby’s parents as well.
Husband and kids moved in Late March. We bit the bullet of getting the kids over here early due to the treatment they were receiving from Hubby’s dad.
I’ve had my own room this whole time, and my dad was supposed to clear out the spare room so the kids can have their own room. My dad was supposed to do this since February and he barely worked on it.
Well hubby moved in without a job lined up and I’m still building my clientele over here and our money is tight. We can’t afford groceries and my dad’s bills at this time due to our own bills coming out with no income streaming in.
My dad is saying he can’t keep paying for us (mind you it’s been a week since we been tight on funds) and we are both job hunting like crazy, putting applications in everywhere. And last night he told me “since you don’t have the money to get the kids bunk beds I’m not in a rush to work on the spare room.” I never wanted to hit anyone as much as I did in that moment considering I spent their bed fund on groceries and gas for his truck because that was the last I had and I wanted to make sure we had groceries for awhile to sustain us.
Now aside from money and cleaning, I practically have to make two meals per night because of how Picky my father is. He likes very limited food as in beef, rice and corn. Kids and hubby like everything else under the sun. I tried combining my dad’s diet and my family’s preferences into one dinner and my dad still won’t eat it. So I have to do something else for him and since he eats around 9:30-10pm at night I get to have the pleasure of dirtying up pans that I just cleaned up all over again.
And all he does all day is sit in his garage and smoke his cigarettes and drinks his beer.
He comes up with new rules almost every single day. Like my dogs can’t sit on the couch on the patio but his dog can. Tried telling me the kids can’t run in the back yard??? Like wtf. And every time he’s on the phone with his sisters all he does is complain as if we don’t do anything for him. I literally heard my aunt say “does she at least cook for you” referring to me.
My dad says he’s scared that we are gonna pack up and leave him, but at the same time I’m at my wits end and I don’t want to leave him due to his physical health, depression and more.
What would you all do?

Hello! I am a recent Algerian graduate from the Higher Teacher Training School, and will be starting my role as a high school teacher of English in the upcoming academic year. As I plan to further my education, I am seeking to enroll in a Master's program since my college diploma is not enough for me to pursue my doctoral studies. I am really undecided on which specialization to pursue (Applied Linguistics, Language Sciences, English for Specific Purposes (ESP), Didactics, Civilization and Literature, (LCE). etc). Given my intention to continue my doctoral studies in Canada after completing my master’s degree, I would appreciate your guidance on which specialization would best prepare me for this transition. I also want to know which one would enhance my employment prospects in Canada.

It all started with a dream night, the end of which was the end of my world. It was 8:00 pm the full moon and the weather was a little cool, rainy and wet my hair, it was the end of spring, and we would enter the dark autumn a little bit pleasant, so California had the last celebration of spring, let's say the last celebration of my life. It was a celebration in the middle of the city, the streets were closed and there were lights. There were also fireworks that night. I couldn't believe I was sleeping or waking up with a friend of mine, Alex, who was late, had called him, didn't pick up his phone, I thought I'd have a drink while Alex was coming, I walked into the party, it was so crowded, it was like I was being crushed between two trucks, but it was worth it. Everyone was wearing a costume for someone they loved. I was a gamer، I wore a hitman suit with a red tie and a mask that showed my head bald with a barcode tattoo that I had behind me، just like Agent 47 and a silencer gun that wasn't real but very much like the real one on my back. I like it and doesn't bother me. On the contrary, most people who don't like clothes that are tight and they look stifling to them, by the way, I said that the red tie reminds me of blood I like blood, but not like a vampire to drink it. My drink was ready because I had ordered a special one, and it took a while until Alex arrived, I told him why you didn't answer your phone, he said I was in the crowd, I didn't hear him, I told him he was drinking, he said, "Yeah, I ordered a drink for Alex, like me, and they were going to start the fireworks for another hour, I didn't drink much because I wanted to remember the fireworks that night. I don't know why I had a feeling that it would be the last fireworks of my life, we talked to Alex for about half an hour before we went to school because I was interested in basketball, and I was on the school team, and I wanted the future career to be basketball, but Alex wasn't very interested in basketball and he just watched my games. One day when he came to watch me play he gave me so much energy that we won the game that we were 50 points behind and it was impossible to win, Alex would have been a joy and savior for me and I would have been a depressed person without him. On the one hand, the memories of the past were really beautiful and on the other hand, sad that they are over and are not going to come back Alex and I know each other from high school. People say college friends stay for you and high school friendships don't last, but they are wrong because Alex and I were so tight that we could say that we couldn't be separated once we were in seventh grade, Alex and I were in the seventh grade. We were talking a lot in class when the teacher took us out of the classroom and said that because they talk a lot about each other, I want to take your classes apart and it's not your first time we've asked her not to, but she didn't pay attention to us. And we talked to our mother to come and talk to our teacher, and finally they could satisfy it, but even if they couldn't, I wouldn't have been able to tell them that much.It was serious for me that I was even willing to change our schools Somehow, if it wasn't for Alex, I wouldn't be there either. Reviewing these memories gave me a good feeling, but after that Alex told me that Ash's life was coming to an end. Cursed fireworks. My hand went to the trigger, but my gun was not real, and I killed my best friend without realizing it (that's why I shot at that time because the sound of the gun didn't come out and people didn't notice, I know my gun had a silencer, but it doesn't do anything wrong) When the fireworks were over, I couldn't see the crowd anymore, I didn't know why, until a voice whispered in my ear saying, "get up, it's over, you won." The game was real and memorable. That night was the last night in the world for me because I have never found another game like this game, but all the details were observed and all my memories were true. I said to myself that this game should not read my subconscious mind and this happened. Really, until this thought came to my mind, I entered another place of the game again, as if I had entered a new stage and I had to kill another person. I was stuck in the game and time had no meaning for me anymore. I had no way back except to search. I could go out there. After completing one of the 10 stages, I heard a voice in my ear again, as if it was saying that I made you, you are one of the characters in the game. I realized there that I was just a game bot and my home was right here and my creator was so right that for once I experienced the feeling of a human being.The creator of the game shut down the game servers forever because every game has a death time and I had been living for many years but I didn't know that I died that night but the memory that my creator has of me is enough because that reason makes me I think I'm still alive

Um..so I don't know how to start this but here goes nothing I didn't know I had social anxiety for the greater part of my life. I'm f18 and about to start my second year in college. People describe college as the best time if their lives but for me it has been the most dreadful part of life till now. I had to move out and live alone in a state I don't know any people in and a college I didn't have any plans going to. But I did it anyways to make my parents happy. It was so difficult to just even walk to the college alone forget about making friends. This is around the time I figured out maybe I do l have issues. Growing up I have never been to anyone's birthday parties or any party for that matter. I didn't go out and hang out with my school friends ever. It just made me feel anxious to be around anyone outside of our school setting. So it can only be assumed I am not doing anything like that even in college. But people around me keep asking me to go out even after realizing I don't like going out. Now they are even asking questions as to why i don't go out at all. Somehow I didn't face this problem back in high school since all my friends somewhere had some understanding towards me but these people I'm meeting in college don't. I don't know how to deal with them without straight out being rude. I have been missing all my college fests ever since I joined. Sometimes I feel like maybe I'm just increasing my own anxiety by not facing it and actually going out. But I can't help but feel comfortable staying in my own room watching a movie, reading a book or whatever. I just feel left out and envious of the people who are actually put there going out to parties, meeting new people and overall enjoying their college lives. For me college just means attending classes, studying for exams, going home occasionally and attending classes again. I'm back home for the summer but I know going back to college is gonna be difficult again once the next sem starts after getting so used to staying in the comfort of my home.
The only good thing about all this is that my gpa has been decent mostly due to staying in my room lol.

I am a 22 year old male. at 18 I got in shape after being fat my whole life. I had a lot of trauma with rejections from girls and they even bullied me and made fun of me often in elementary and high school. When I have gotten more attractive things started to take a turn. I also grew more confident and started approaching them on the street. Of course, I always remained respectful, never made rude comments, never cat called, and as soon as I picked up that they are not interested, I would wish them a happy rest of the day and say goodbye.
Over the last 4 years, I must have approached hundreds of women. The results are sad though. 3 not so great short relationships, around 40 hook ups and everything else are just rejections.
I am yet to find a girl who I actually can love or who can love me. All the girls I really really liked ended up not liking me. I am unsure what I am doing wrong. I know the problem is me, I just cant pinpoint it and change it. This is turning into an unhealthy obsession where if I get rejected a lot of times in a short period, I starve myself to lose even more weight because thats the only thing that has worked for me so far and helped me to not be a total loser. This has led to me fainting multiple times and having health issues.
I work 2 jobs, I rent my apartment, I pay my bills. People often say to "work on yourself" but I dont know what else to work on anymore, I am quite happy with my living and financial situation. I have good friends, good parents whom I visit every day. All in all I think its not a matter of working on myself, they just find something so unnatractive about either my looks or my behaviour, and I want to change it. I am ready to answer any questions that will help me get to the bottom of this so I can fix my issues and maybe have better chances of being worthy of someones love.
Thanks.

hatesink

In a medieval fantasy story i wrote a very long time ago this was a minor antagonist based on the info below where would you place a character like this:
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE
Gender:F
Height:5'7 - 5'8 (170 - 173 cm)
Weight:120 lbs (54 kg)
Skin:pale
Hair:dark brown to black
Eyes:brown
Age:22
(Both physical appearance and personality are based partially on a real life narcissistic pick me girl i knew in high school lol)
(Unusual traits:deformed canine teeth that look like boar tusks)
Behavior:
-niece of a minor ivan the terrible-esque murderous nobleman
-one of several of sycophantic henchmen/goons
-verbally kisses ass more out of self preservation than genuine loyalty
-doesnt simply 'follow orders',adds in their own 'orders' a little bit every now and then just because
-basic personality traits are:1. Sycophancy 2. Sadism
-affinity for poisoning and backstabbing people (this b literally is portrayed as having a 'special room' thats just a collection of different kinds of poisons and daggers/knives)
-cackles like a hyena
-uses being physically frail/small to pretend like theyre not much of a threat despite evidence to the contrary (the idea is basically:what? Youre assuming a tiny,frail 5'8 120-lb female is capable of murdering someone? You must be out of your mind 🙄)
-has no actual social skills beyond when its necessary to suck up to authority figures for the sake of self preservation
-mindset (not actually said word for word but basically how the character acts):'you see,i cant be evil! Because im a part of the state and the state is good! So if you stand in the way of the state,YOU'RE evil! And you deserve anything you get! smug smirk'
-perfectly satisfied with being a mid-to-high ranking goon as long as it means 'i stay physically alive for as long as possible and get to indulge in sadism when convenient'
-also casually xenophobic (just like evil uncle) because why not
Etc.
Where do you put this karen?
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Looking for advice on this. Hubby wants to move to Greece. We live in Canada (Ottawa) and the cost of living is very expensive. He has a Master's degree in Political Science, I only have a high school diploma. We have great jobs, but we cannot afford to buy or rent a house here. We would really like to start a family, so we are looking for the best value for money, not looking to be rich. He wants to live in Athens. He was born in Greece and has a Greek passport. I only speak English and French, but I would be happy to learn if it means I can give our family the best possible outcome. Any go-no-go advice would be appreciated. Thank you :)

I want to read an interesting romance between adults, not children

Greetings! I'm a F36 with 18 years of roleplaying experience and I am seeking new RP partners to write with. I'm in CET (Central European Time) but am happy to partner with writers in any time zone as long as we can keep responses consistent.
Preferences:

• Writing in 3rd person, past or present tense
• Semi-literate to advanced literate RP, multiple paragraphs
• Discord (though I could maybe be convinced to use Google Docs)
• MUST be over 21, would prefer partners closer to my age (in their 30s), MCs must be adults
• Open to all types of pairings
• Female-identifying writers preferred, writing as any gender
• OCs-only! Even if we are playing in an existing setting, I don't/won't play canon characters except as NPCs/background. But it’s okay to take inspiration, of course.

My favorite pairings have a romance element and my favorite settings are historical/alt-history, fantasy, and/or scifi. I enjoy writing character-driven, gritty plots with a lot of depth and complicated relationships. I live for the drama!
I’m happy to world build from scratch to create something unique to us, or to build our characters in an existing fandom. (But again, OCs only.) Here’s some fandoms I enjoy to get the idea of what would interest me:

• Kushiel's Legacy
• Game of Thrones (also open to alt versions)
• Harry Potter prefer an alternate Wizarding School setting
• Broken Earth trilogy
• Shadow & Bone
• The Expanse
• American Gods
• Firefly
• Sense8

I'm also down to use TRPG settings as the world, such as:

• Vampire the Masquerade (or any WoD setting)
• Dungeons & Dragons (any setting, incl. Forgotten Realms which Balder’s Gate 3 is set in)
• Scion (would love to RP in this one, actually!)

DM me if you're interested and think we might be a good match. Let's get writing!
(Note: I may ask for a writing sample and am happy to supply one of my own.)

Does anyone else feel like 20’s now isn’t the same 20’s our parents and grandparents experienced? I’m 22 but sometimes on the inside I feel like I’m 18, especially working in a corporate office. My first office job out of college I got fired from after a month because I was under qualified and had no idea how an office functioned. I like to play with legos and watch old cartoons I did growing up but I know my parents weren’t doing that when they were my age. I have a water bottle with a bunch of Cartoon Network and Disney stickers on it and sometimes when I’m at the gym I get paranoid if other adults are judging me for liking cartoons. Even the way I dress I feel like still says college. And it doesn’t help I have a baby face, I’ve been told I look like I’m in high school. I just want to look and feel my age. I have a new office job I’m starting soon and I’m scared I’m going to feel like I don’t belong. I don’t know, I feel like our parents and grandparents seemed more “adult.”

I just got out of high school and my college is pushing for a bachelor’s in digital strategy. I couldn’t find much information on the internet, can anyone help me with what is the scope in this industry and what I should know before entering this field? Is it a growing field?

Hi all,
I’m sorry to rant but I am so utterly frustrated today.
I am a lone parent carer, my son has a chromosome deletion syndrome and high care needs. I don’t have any help or family about other than my Mother.
I care for my mother in the day, if and when my son goes to school. He is nearly 12 and his condition means his immune system is weak, so has about 60 percent attendance. He is non verbal and a big lad, almost size 10 feet and heavier than me by a stone.
Mum has been sectioned quite a few times and as no one else in the family likes her, I am her carer and the one who has to sort it all out. She can be a nightmare, if I’m honest. She doesn’t like me and says really nasty things but she has always been like that. She’s a strange one.
She claims that she can’t open the blister packs from the chemist (she can) so I make up her medication into pill boxes as she has a lot to take a day.
When she was in hospital last, as they had no beds, she was sent to a nursing home. She was still in psychosis and imagining all sorts but they needed the bed. My son hates hospitals or places so I would have to visit daily, with him in his wheelchair kicking off and try and arrange everything. It was last year summer holidays and we spent every day in that home.
Anyway, sorry for the book. I went to get her meds today and there is a UK shortage of Olanzepine. Her anti psychotic. I can’t handle another section, I just can’t do it and I am beyond stressed about this med. She has 6 days left. I’ve called her pdoc for a different script but nothing back.
My son is ill again and I’m supposed to simultaneously look after him and get to hers to do her stuff. She hates social workers, doctors etc
When she came out last time, I arranged for carers twice a day and she wouldn’t let them in.
Sorry to rant. I’m 48 and very tired. I also am trying to manage my own bipolar and adhd and it is getting a struggle. I haven’t slept past 5 am in over 5 years and am resentful that members of my family have zero conscience about walking away. How can people do that? I wish that I could, in a way. (Not from my boy of course )

Hello! I am a recent graduate from the Higher Teacher Training School (ENS), and will be starting my role as a high school teacher of English in the upcoming academic year. As I plan to further my education, I am seeking to enroll in a Master 2 program since my ENS diploma is not enough for me to pursue my doctoral studies. I am really undecided on which specialization to pursue (Applied Linguistics, Language Sciences, English for Specific Purposes (ESP), Didactics, Civilization and Literature, (LCE). etc). Given my intention to continue my doctoral studies in Canada after completing my master’s degree, I would appreciate your guidance on which specialization would best prepare me for this transition. I also want to know which one would enhance my employment prospects in Canada.