I’m at my wits end and I really need some help or direction. I (28f) have always had issues with my hormones. I’m average height and weight and my family has a history of low hormones but not anything that’s been treated by a doctor.
I didn’t have a period until I was 17 and that was only after multiple sonograms, ultrasounds, blood tests, and putting me on estrogen/progesterone to medically induce a period. Back then, I was told I was too skinny so my body wasn’t producing hormones like it should. There was also talk about possibly having PCOS. Once my body started menstruating on its own with the help of birth control, my periods were awful and painful. I had suicidal ideation while I was on birth control so I stopped taking it.
Afterwards, my periods would start and stop randomly for years. I think I went almost a year without a period and then ended up having one for 6 weeks straight. At this point, I went to an OBGYN and she told me I could have a partial hysterectomy due to my severe side effects of birth control. At 26, I had my uterus removed and that has been one of the best decisions I made. The OBGYN found lots of endometriosis during this process as well.
But lately I’ve become more aware of symptoms that I probably should’ve taken account of before. No libido, extreme fatigue, irritability, really hot sometimes and sweat during the night, muscle weakness and loss.
I had been looking at previous hormone tests and they all fall in the “normal” range. I’ll be honest, I don’t know how to read all of them but the testosterone test. My T serum test peaked at 19 years old with 25 ng/dL. My most recent serum test before my hysterectomy was 14 ng/dL and records show it has steadily dropped over the years. I recently had a free testosterone direct blood test done and it came back as 0.8 pg/mL.
Every single test has been labeled as normal but I still have all these weird symptoms. I have an appointment with an endocrinologist next month but I’m afraid they’ll say the same thing. I know google doesn’t hold much weight but everything I’ve looked at has said at least my testosterone is low. But no doctor has said anything is low.
I just want to live a normal life and feel good in my body again. Please help or give advice, anything at all!! I feel so alone and like I’m going nuts.

he broke up with me in mid april. so it's been a little over a month. we went no contact, despite explicitly saying we would. it has been devastating for me. i speculate about what he is doing and torture myself with thoughts of regret and grief. i miss him more than i've ever missed anyone.
i feel better than i did a month ago but only so much. i have been busy with art making and traveling and going out and spending time with friends and meeting new ones. I still think about him several times a day. He is always in the back of my mind. my new attempt to stop hurting so much and detach is to say to myself "i'm not going to let you hurt me anymore." that seems to work, temporarily, but i can't shake the desire to reach out, especially as what would have been our anniversary approaches.
He expressed his feelings at the beginning of March, after I returned from a weekend trip to nyc. I expressed extreme emotions, because I so desperately wanted him to stay with me, and felt so badly for anything and everything I had done to make him feel that way. He wouldn't look me in the eyes when I cried because it was "too much." I called him at some point the next day and asked if we were still together, despite knowing he wanted to break up, he said yes. This was the beginning of a month of mixed signals and reluctance to hang out with me. Looking back, I didn't respect what he wanted and his boundaries, and I regret that deeply. I should have let him go and not made him feel more resentful toward me.
When we had that last conversation in mid April, he said "i don't want to hang out with you anymore." In the last month we were together (March), he also would say he loved me and call me every day (usually greeting me with "hello beautiful") and say he was glad we weren't doing the single thing because dating sucks. Yet, he would make this face, a face that appeared angry or upset at me, right upon greeting me. He would get angry with me over little things, would sulk when he hung out with me, after being sweet minutes before.
He was dealing with depression, major depression, that he has dealt with his entire life. I tink he felt he was depressed because of our relationship. He was also struggling to adjust to the new city. He wasn't making friends as quickly as he thought and was unable to motivate himself to getting started on writing music and go out. I admit that during the winter, our relationship became boring and we would stay in together on the weekends. We would argue too. Neither of us were having much fun during that time, except when we watched movies, went furniture shopping or had sex (lol).
For context: we both moved to the same new city. I was terrified when he said he wanted to move when he got laid off last May. I expressed this sadness and frustration and worry but I made plans to move as well. I moved for him yes, but this city was one I'd been talking about moving to since before I met him and it seemed like the right time to go, for myself but also to continue this relationship.
About a month before I moved, because of being upset and angry with him still for leaving me behind, he attempted to break up with me. I still lived in our home town and he drove all the way back to arrive at my apt, and surprise me by saying "i came to break up." I immediately had a panic attack and begged him to stay with me. He stayed with me, against his will but, after that, everything seemed fine and our relationship suddenly became much better than it was before. He seemed to still love me a lot. He even helped me move out of my apartment and drove the uhaul for me.
I look back and realize how much he probably felt forced or obligated to do. Maybe not everything, or all the time, but out of some kind of love he was trying to still have for me. I know now that you can't make someone stay and I feel terrible for doing that to him. I just loved and still love him more than I've loved anyone. I couldn't, and still can't, let go.
It had been a long time coming. We were incompatible in many ways; I was too anxiously attached and would demand too much of his time and emotional energy. He was avoidant. We would get into petty arguments about things rather frequently. I unfortunately would get angry with him over things that were rooted in my insecurity, which resulted in my own jealousy and possessive issues. I regret acting this way, and not supporting his music in the way he deserved. My regrets are endless.
He also said- "we can't stay together just because you don't want to be abandoned." and while that is true, it wasn't just my fear driving my attachment, i didn't want him to leave because i loved him so much. So, I feel invalidated by that statement now. I feel like so much was blamed on me and i willingly took the blame because i was trying to be better. i recognize what i did and where i went wrong. i really never wanted to hurt him.
i've been trying to analyze why he would reject my intense love for him. and i'm learning a lot. I don't know about you but i imagine that we all want to be loved, and the pain just gets in the way.
and i know all i can do now is respect his boundaries and his need to get away from me. i know i must do everything i can to not contact him and let him go.
i feel so pathetic!!!

So my prior to my current bf, I’ve never ever had thrush. But one day my bf and I were in the car and he put his hand down there, and after that I got thrush?
Every now and then, when we’ve had sex or even just using hands, I get it… it’s so random.
He’s a clean guy, doesn’t use anything weird on his hands - I’ve asked. He cleans down there normally.. I just don’t get it! It could be that it’s not wet enough down there, but that being said when I was with my exes, 9/10 I was bone dry not turned on at all (bad I know) and never had this issue.
We use lube sometimes and that does help on occasion.
I honestly feel like for some reason I end up being torn a bit down there inside and then it causes thrush. It’s not always full cottage cheese situ but just swollen and itchy for a few days at least.
Why?!

For the rest of the world this should be a normal Tuesday, but in Southeast Asia this is a monumental day as Team Liquid enters the biggest and currently most watched (not counting Chinese viewership) Mobile Esports title in the world, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB).
For those who are curious what's going on why TL in SEA is a big thing and all you need to know what's going to happen moving forward.

What is Mobile Legends: Bang Bang?

Mobile Legends Bang Bang or MLBB is a 5v5 Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) that is played on mobile devices. The game itself is easily accessible whenever you are in the world, except for certain areas due to various reasons (mostly geopolitical due to the game being developed by Moonton, a gaming company based in China) but generally it's available in Google Play or in the App Store. It has a average player base of over 70 to 80 Million users monthly and has made over a billion downloads. The game quickly took Southeast Asia by storm and has ever since took over as the biggest game particularly in Indonesia, the Philippines, and in other SEA countries.

What is Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Esports? Why has the esport have gotten that big?

Competitive MLBB got underway in 2017 with tournaments in Southeast Asia eventually leading up to the inaugural MLBB Southeast Asia Cup (MSC) held in Jakarta and was won by I DONOTSLEEP ESPORTS of Thailand. Soon after, in 2018, the MLBB Pro Leagues or MPL were launched in Indonesia, the Philippines, and jointly in Malaysia/Singapore. From there on other regions in SEA slowly grew and more competitive regions develop particularly in regions outside SEA leading up to its inaugural World Championships, now labeled as the M-Series, in 2019. Held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the first edition won by Evos Legends of Indonesia.
The boom in popularity happened in the pandemic when people were engaged on their phones playing the game and eventually found themselves watching the competitive scene after to look how the best players play and do it on their own in ranked games or to get some codes flashed to grab themselves some juicy in game diamonds or skins to show off.
Eventually viewing numbers were growing so fast that it reached to millions particularly in Indonesia where their MPL is averaged to almost a miilion viewers and peak to around two to three million come playoff season.
Today, MLBB Esports is considered to be the most watched mobile esports based on the data from Esports charts with its peak viewership reaching over 5 million during Game 7 of last years World Championship (M5) held in the Philippines between Indonesia's Onic Esports and the Philippines AP Bren. The game became the third most watched of all time (Only surpassed by T1 vs DRX game 5 and T1 vs Weibo Game 4, both at Worlds Finals in suceeding years).

Why Indonesia and the Philippines? Who are Aura and Echo?

Indonesia and the Philippines are considered as the most popular and competitive regions of MLBB. Think of it as the LCK and LPL of the esport as they are the most successful in international competitions. The Philippines, in particular, has won four (4) consecutive World titles and has considered to be the "Korea" of the scene with Filipinos imported to so many regions across the world. Indonesia on the other hand has the biggest viewership as its marquee MPL matches often top the viewership charts even beating out the LCK and the VCT based from data from Esports charts.
Aura and Echo are MLBB teams based in Indonesia and the Philippines. Aura Esports was founded in 2018 and became a part of MPL Indonesia in 2018 when the league adopted a franchised system (similar to how League teams worked at the same time). Unfortunately the team haven't found great success with its highest finish was in season 10 when they placed third, However they have won 2 domestic cups, known as "Piala Presiden" in 2021 and 2023.
Echo on the other hand, stared as a qualified stacked in MPL Philippines Season 3 as No Limit. They placed sixth that season. The following season, the roster was acquired by Sunsparks, a local team in the MLBB scene and took the league by storm. Eventually winning back to back titles including an epic 5 game series against Onic Philippines in the grand finals in Season 4 and a backdoor clincher in season 5). The stack was acquiored by Aura and rebranded as Aura Philippines in seasons 6 and 7. When MPL Philippines adopted the franchise system, the team did another rebrand to distinguish themselves separately from the Aura brand and named themselves Echo.
The team finished in 5th-6th in back to back season which was particularly painful especially in Season 9, when they were dominant for majority of the regular season as a Super team comprised of big names in the Philippines scene including KarlTzy and Yawi (a little more about them later). In season 10, many considered Echo as a middle of the pack team compared to RSG Philippines who were crowned MPL Philippines and MSC Champions and was considered the best team in the world mid season, and Blacklist International, the World Champions of 2021. The team made another promising run with 2 rookies in Sanford and Sanji however, resulted to a different ending. After finishing second in the regular season, they never turned back as they beat RSG Philippines twice in the playoffs to secure the regions second seed in the M4 World Championships to be held in Indonesia.
Both Echo and Blacklist, the regions first seed, found themselves in good forms and eventually met in the upper bracket finals where Blacklist dropped Echo to the lower bracket after a 3-2 win. Echo held themselves on and finally got it all together to steamroll both the lower bracket finals beating Indonesias second seed RRQ Hoshi and in the grand finals, they finally scatter the code with authority by sweeping Blacklist 4-0 in the grand finals to become M4 World Champions. Echo followed that success win a domestic title in Season 11, beating Blacklist again with a 4-0 sweep in the grand finals.

What exactly did TL acquire?

Team Liquid basically acquired the company who handles both Aura and Echo, Stun.GG as they secure not only the MPL teams of Echo and Aura but also they acquired its developmental teams. (similar to TL having an academy in the NACL) Aura and Echo have their respective teams in the MLBB Developmental Leagues or MDL in their respective regions. This means TL have four teams playing in top two competitive regions in MLBB .

So why did TL acquired Aura and Echo in the first place?

As we all know, TL is one of the 30 participating orgs in the Esports World Cup (ESWC) in Saudi Arabia and MLBB is one of the participating titles in this two month long event. Organizations such as Gaimin Gladiators, Team Falcons, Twisted Minds, Band lacklist International do also have MLBB teams which are a part of the ESWC. Team Falcons and Fnatic have also partners with some teams in MPL Philippines with the goal of qualifying to MSC 2024, now rebranded as the MLBB Mid Season Cup as a part of the ESWC. Qualifying to the ESWC means orgs have a shot in gaining points to determine who will be ESWC Overall Champions and acquire financial bonuses from the program. Also MSC 2024 will have the biggest prize pool ever in the esport with three million dollars on deck.
Apart from the ESWC, the acquisition will be historic not just for TL but also for MLBB and Southeast Asian Esports as TL with finally expand their reach in APAC, particularly in SEA as the MLBB teams will be the first TL teams based in SEA. this will also mark the First set of Indonesians to represent the organization. Unfortunately for the Filipino players they aren;t the first from the Philippines as that title belongs to the legendary jungler of the back to back to baclk to back LCS Champions and 2x MSI Runner up Xmithie who is hailed in Iloilo province in the Visayas Region in the Philippines?

So who are the players in TL Aura and TL Echo?

For now I'll only rundown the players of MPL teams of TL .
Before that a quick explainer on MLBB player roles. Its basically composed of an EXP laner (solo laner who plays in the EXP lane, to get more EXP or in League terms the Top laner), Jungler, Mid laner (in MLBB jargon it is also known as Position 4 or Pos 4), Gold laner (the one who plays in the bot lane or ADC. that player plays in the Gold lane for more gold) and Roamer (Support in league)
TL Aura is composed of Aran (EXP), Gugun (jungle), Syndrome (Mid), Kabuki (Gold) and Yawi (Roam) with High (JungleRoam) as sub.
Players to watch will be Gugun, a super rookie who is very high skilled and touted as one of Indonesia's best junglers coming from the developmental scene, and Yawi, the team's Filipino import , who is hailed as one of the best roamers in the World. His signature hero, Chou (modeled similar to Lee SIn in League), was chosen as the signature skin when he won M4 as a part of Echo. He is known for getting pick offs at the right time and great initiator for team fights especially in contests for the major objective
TL Echo is composed of Sanford (EXP), Karltzy (Jungler), Sanji (Mid), Bennyqt (Gold) and Jaypee (Roam) with Zaida (Jungler) and Outplayed (GOld) as subs.
Players to watch will be KarlTzy, known widely as a prodigy who entered the scene at aged 14, and now recognized as one of, if not, the greatest MLBB players of all time, being the first two-time World Champion, first with Bren Esports in 2020-21 then with Echo in 2022-23 and he is only 19 (turning 20 in August). He is initially known as one of the most lethal assassins in the game but eventually expanded himself to a utility player with a team first mindset as the teams shotcaller and leader. Also to watch is the duo of Sanford and Sanji as being the main carries for Echo . They are recognized as the one of the best in the world for their roles in the EXP and Mid lanes. When the team needs a big play ahead, you'll be counting on them on the clutch.

So whats coming up for TL Aura and TL Echo?

The main focus for both TL MPL squads is to qualify for MSC 2024 as top two seeds in MPL Philippines and Indonesia will make the cut, however it wont be that easy.
TL Aura finished fifth in the regular season of MPL Indonesia season 13 and will be facing Evos Glory in the play in round of the playoffs in a do or die best of 5. The winner faces top seed Bigetron Alpha will loser ends its road to Riyadh. The series will happen on June 5th at 18:15 local time (GMT +7)
TL Echo on the other hand are in a much better spot finishing second in the regular season of MPL Philippines Season 13 and will be facing the dangerous RSG Philippines in their opening round of the double elimination bracket scheduled this Thursday, May 23rd at 16:00 PM local time (GMT +8)
There you have it, now you're in the loop in what's up with TL MLBB and we hope for to support their journey towards making it to MSC 2024 and later in the year, the ESL Snapdragon Pro Series and MPL Philippines and Indonesia Season 14, a qualifier for the M6 World Championship in Kuala Lumpur

#LetsGoLiquid

This is my attempt to summarize this research study (PDF): "Rhythmic tapping difficulties in adults who stutter: A deficit in beat perception, motor execution, or sensorimotor integration?" (2023)
Goal:

• Investigating the rhythmic abilities of people who stutter and to identify which processes potentially are impaired:

1. beat perception and reproduction
2. the execution of movements, in particular their initiation
3. or, sensorimotor integration

Research findings:

• People who stutter (PWS) were able to reproduce an isochronous pattern (aka occuring at the same time) on their own, without external auditory stimuli, with similar accuracy as the people who do not stutter (PNS), but with increased variability
• This group difference in variability was observed immediately after passive listening, without prior motor engagement, and was not enhanced or reduced after several seconds of tapping
• However, PWS showed increased tapping variability in the reproduction and synchronization tasks, this timing variability did not correlate significantly with the variability in reaction times or tapping force
• PWS exhibited larger negative mean asynchronies, and increased synchronization variability in synchronization tasks
• These group differences were not affected by beat hierarchy (i.e., “strong” vs. “weak” beats), pattern complexity (non-isochronous vs. isochronous) or presence versus absence of external auditory stimulus (1:1 vs. 1:4 isochronous pattern)
• Differences between PWS and PNS were not enhanced or reduced with sensorimotor learning, over the first taps of a synchronization task
• We hypothesize a deficit in neuronal oscillators coupling in production, but not in perception, of rhythmic patterns, and a larger delay in multi-modal feedback processing for PWS

Intro:

• In paced tapping tasks, i.e., when tapping in synchrony with an external metronome or musical excerpt, previous studies reported a greater tapping variability in PWS. In addition, when tapping along with a metronome marking a simple isochronous sequence, PWS tend to tap more ahead of the beat, i.e., they show a greater “Negative Mean Asynchrony” (NMA)
• Differences in movement behavior originate from deficits at more than one level e.g., paced tapping involves:
• (1) the skill to perceive a periodic beat
• (2) the capacity to initiate and execute movements to reproduce that beat
• (3) and the ability to monitor and update movement timing on-line, using sensory feedback

Identifying motor delays and variability at the speech motor execution stage

• What exactly is the reason for difficulties at the motor execution stage? For example:
• (1) muscle functioning can be impaired
• (2) inaccurate, unstable, or insufficiently activated internal representations
• Stuttering frequency is influenced by task complexity or speed
• In the current study, we investigated: To what extent is the increased timing variability and decreased timing accuracy of PWS related to difficulties in motor planning and execution?

Beat perception and reproduction

• “Beat” perception refers to the internal representation of periodicity when listening, seeing, or feeling a regular sequence of stimuli
• “Oscillators Coupling Hypothesis” suggests that beat perception involves the in phase tuning of endogenous neuronal oscillations in the brain, with external physical periodic or oscillatory phenomena. The observation that steady state-evoked potentials appear in the delta frequency range [0.5–4 Hz] in subjects who were passively listening to a rhythmic sequence at 2.4Hz, provides support for this hypothesis
• “Active Sensing” hypothesis: it extends the Oscillators Coupling Hypothesis by incorporating the role of the motor cortex. It proposes that the tuning of neuronal oscillations in the auditory cortex (which happens in the delta frequency range) is influenced by similar oscillations in the motor cortex. When perceiving beats in the delta frequency range (0.5–4 Hz), there is a coordinated tuning of oscillations between the auditory and motor cortices. This suggests an interaction between sensory perception (hearing the beats) and motor processing (possibly related to movement or rhythm)

Influence of motor engagement and sensorimotor learning

• It is uncertain to what extent the motor system influences or is intrinsically involved in timing processes
• Previous studies found some brain activity in motor regions during passive listening to a rhythmic pattern, without any movement, supporting the idea that beat perception intrinsically involves the motor system
• The coupling of neuronal oscillations to an external beat frequency, observed in passive listening to rhythm, is enhanced when gestures, like finger tapping, are simultaneously produced
• These observations support the idea that people build an internal representation of the beat by detecting the periodicity in sensory inputs without actual movement, but that this internal representation is nevertheless consolidated with engaging the motor system

Conclusions:
Is stuttering linked to difficulties in movement initiation due to a dysfunctional basal ganglia?

• This study found no significant differences between people who stutter (PWS) and people who do not stutter (PNS) in terms of average finger reaction time and its variability
• No correlation was found between reaction times and the severity of stuttering or synchronization accuracy
• Suggesting that movement initiation difficulties are not a contributing factor to stuttering in externally triggered movements
• The study concluded that timing differences observed between PWS and PNS were not due to difficulties in initiating movements

Are motor impairments in PWS related to inaccurate internal models or neural noise?

• The study found no correlation between timing and force variability, suggesting that the observed differences were not due to inaccurate internal models or neural noise

Beat Perception and Reproduction

• PWS demonstrated the ability to tap an isochronous sequence without external auditory reference and predict regular events, showing no significant acceleration or deceleration. They maintained acceptable levels of periodicity error and tapping variability, indicating accurate beat perception and transfer to motor actions
• Suggesting no strong deficit in tuning neuronal oscillations with the external beat in PWS
• PWS showed no significant difference in periodicity error during beat reproduction tasks but exhibited greater tapping variability. This indicates that PWS can perceive the beat accurately but have difficulty reproducing it consistently
• The study proposes that timing differences are not due to impaired motor execution but might be explained by the Oscillators Coupling Hypothesis
• PWS showed no difference in marking beat hierarchy compared to PNS. Both groups tapped stronger beats with greater force, indicating that beat hierarchy perception was intact

Sensorimotor Integration and Learning

• Current research findings exclude the idea that NMA is a compensation for motor delays or an underestimation of intervals
• PLV also varied with external auditory stimuli and task complexity, indicating that tapping variability in synchronization tasks involves additional sensorimotor variability. However, this was not significantly different between PWS and PNS, suggesting no deficit at this stage
• Improvement in synchronization consistency was observed for both groups over time, but not in accuracy. This excludes a sensorimotor learning deficit in PWS for consolidating internal beat representations

Tips:

• address the impairment in rhythmic abilities regarding beat perception and reproduction, the execution of movements, in particular their initiation, and sensorimotor integration
• address the increased variability when reproducing an isochronous pattern without external auditory stimuli
• address the prior motor engagement
• address the larger negative mean asynchronies (NMA), and increased synchronization variability (NMA refers to: a common phenomenon observed in synchronization tapping tasks is the tendency, even in typical individuals, to anticipate the beat, i.e., demonstrating a Negative Mean Asynchrony) (NMA depends on feedback modalities and is reduced when direct auditory feedback is available compared to information provided by only tactile-kinesthetic feedback. NMA reflects a slower processing and integration of tactile feedback than auditory or visual feedback)
• address the deficit in neuronal oscillators coupling in production (but not in perception) of rhythmic patterns, and address the larger delay in multi-modal feedback processing
• address the significant differences in movement duration, movement timing and reaching accuracy in upper limb and non-speech orofacial movements
• address the larger variability and disrupted timing across and within moving components, such as limbs and articulators (which is suggesting a timing deficit)
• address the dysfunctional dopamine receptors and address the disrupted basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical network (which is affecting both motor control and time processing)
• address the motor delays and variability at the speech motor execution stage
• address the longer voice reaction times
• address the longer movement durations, peak velocity latencies, and lower peak velocities for finger flexion
• address the longer durations between the peak EMG of lip muscles and the speech onset
• learn to rely more on the feedforward and automatized mode of motor control, rather than mainly relying on sensory feedback (leading to inducing additional processing delays and eventually leading to unstable movement behavior of different effectors, especially at fast rate) (For example: Using sensory feedback for on-line monitoring and correcting timing errors. Resulting in delays in the pathway linking motor commands and their sensory consequences that need to be compensated)
• address the peak in beta oscillations in the basal ganglia after the stimulus occurred (which is interpreted as an increased attention and prediction of an event after the stimulus occured)
• address the potential deficit in recovering an underlying beat (which results in increased difficulties to add and remove events (or musical notes) within a periodic pattern. In contrast, if you struggle with the underlying beat, these tasks become harder because you lack the regular reference points, and therefore it becomes more difficult to perceive and reproduce complex rhythms, as well as meter. For example: a triple meter is a waltz (1-2-3, 1-2-3), with one strong beat followed by two weaker ones)
• address the movement initiation difficulties (contributing to stuttering in internally triggered movements)
• address the impairment of (1) the medial premotor circuit (associated with self-triggered actions (in contrast, the lateral premotor circuit - associated with externally triggered actions - is intact in stutterers). Understand that research found no significant timing differences in periodicity error in tasks mediated by the medial premotor circuit, rather they found significant differences in negative mean asynchrony - suggesting overreliance on the lateral premotor circuit involving on external triggers
• address the greater variability in movement amplitude and timing
• address the increased timing variability during simple synchronization tasks
• address the greater tapping variability (PWS can perceive the beat accurately but have difficulty reproducing it consistently)
• address the deficit in coupling neuronal oscillators driving the motor system (that leads to increased variability in beat reproduction)
• address the increased errors in reproducing complex non-isochronous patterns (rather than beat hierarchy perception as this was shown to be intact)
• address the reduced accuracy and consistency in synchronization tasks - with greater negative mean asynchrony (NMA) and lower phase locking values (PLV)
• address the variations in phase angles depended on beat strength, external auditory stimuli, and task complexity
• Ask yourself: What compensations do I implement for motor delays or an underestimation of intervals?
• address the slower processing of tactile and proprioceptive information (leading to increased integration delays between auditory and kinesthetic feedback - which explains why PWS perform taps in advance of the beat to synchronize sensory inputs accurately)
• address the NMA compensatory strategy for slower tactile feedback accumulation

I don’t usually give out my number often whenever guys ask for it because i have this mindset where I feel like they need to earn it and by that I mean you never know if someone is actually gonna take you serious or not then it was just a waste of time.
I was on Facebook dating and matched with a guy. Our conversation was going well and he gave me his number, so without hesitation, I texted him, so now he has my number.
He claims he has two jobs, both of them being disability places, where he assists but his replies are so slow. About 9 times out of 10, he will take hours to reply, like up to 2 to 3 hours. The most I’ll go without replying is like an hour but I’ll respond back pretty quick usually. It’s only been 3 days of us talking and he’s already acting like this.
I texted this man since 12pm today and he didn’t text back until like 4pm…he claimed he needed to wash clothes…
And not only does he respond slow but he doesn’t follow through with what he said he was gonna do. We called once the other night and he had a to take a shower. He said he was gonna call me back right after…he never did. He said he was gonna FaceTime/call me the next day…never did.
I’m getting turned off quickly. And plus we probably wont go on our first date until weeks later. He lives 30 minutes away from my area, which I don’t think is a far drive. He claims whenever his brother moves into his apartment down here for college, he’s gonna live with him for a bit and we’ll finally be able to go out. Why can’t we just do something now? He’s not that far away.
Idk maybe I’m being too much. What do y’all think? I almost not wanna talk to him again.

Hi everybody, I was wondering if anybody had a similar experience. All 4 wisdom teeth were removed last year and especially my lower right extraction has been really slow to heal. It has been 10 months and the symptoms have been unchanged for most of this time.
The muscles inside of the cheek (one side only) and towards the back of the jaw (pterygoid muscles, I think) feel swollen and I can feel that they are hard and protrude further into the mouth than the other side. It is not overly painful but it is annoying and slightly sore all the time. No real trismus but I can't open it quite as wide as the other side of my jaw. There is a hard "bump" where the wisdom tooth used to be, which is also not the case on the other side.
I was just at the surgeon who did the extractions and had an...interesting experience where he claimed this is completely unrelated to the extraction. Supposedly, I grind my teeth and that is the reason (which he never mentioned before and my regular dentist denies is the case. I never had any problems like that before and it appeared directly after the extraction) As you can imagine, I don't really believe him.
I have an appointment with a different surgeon in 3 weeks but wanted to ask if anybody knows what it could be.

16M, I have for the most part decent attendance, the only reason I have absences is either a sick day but my mom forgot to give me a doctors note or I was late because of my bus, My mom is sick of driving me and paying for ubers if I miss the bus so she made an empty threat of saying she will make me walk of I was ever late again, cut to today and I was late, I woke up but had stomach issues. ended up missing my bus and I couldn't contact my mom for 2 reasons. 1, she would kill me and I'm convinced she would make me walk or call me and Uber but ground me when I got back, 2 even if I wanted to contact her I couldn't because I was so panic-stricken I couldn't find her new number in my phone. I hate using the school bathroom because my school has an issue with vape kids, attempted drug use, drugs, fights, etc. The school locked down the bathrooms and now has security watching them and we have a limit. The bathrooms are nasty so I use it at home and hold it for the rest of the day but I took too long thanks to that jelly I ate (freshly picked strawberries, I think something got into one of the jars I ate but my siblings have no issues, only me) I literally had everything planned to be on time but it was messed up because I this
Without thinking I set up my GPS and started walking to school, it was painful because it was hot and my water bottle broke a month ago so I had nothing. After picking the fastest route I started sprinting a little and made it to Wawas (it's close to the school) I turned off my GPS becausei knew the rest of the way, but when I finished I heard hissing, a creaking duck started running at me and I was freaking out because I didn't know ducks could hiss, it had its family around so I just took a photo and continued my sprint, I brought a bottle of water and put the extra in my phone case just in case this happened again without my wallet on me.
I was so scared of what would happen that I just kept going without thinking, while walking I find several dead turtles and I finally make it to school, my legs hurt and I was tired, I check my bag to find I had to deodorant. Security asks me why I was late and I explained the above and the securitystarted laughing and saying I was dedicated, one mentionedhow I should have just stayed home. I tell my first block teacher what happened and she started laughing and I showed her the photos I took. Our of curiosity she looks how long I would have to walk from my house to the school, 1 hour and 3 minutes. I was dripping with sweat but I was an hour late, I told the story to my other teachers and my second block was concerned and told me not to do it again, my third block teacher was loving it because I tell her stuff like this all the time, and my last block teachers was shocked. My bus driver was even in disbelief as well.
I ranted to the girl I was talking to and she told me I literally could have just called her or any of my friends but I was so focused on how I was late that I didn't even consider it as an option, I felt like an idiot and one of my classmates said I can tell my future kids that I had to walk a mile to get to school. To make it worse I still have to cut the grass when I get home
I now have to tell my mom that I got another UE Absence without talking about how I had diarrhea, the shame man…
TLDR, miss the bus because I had jelly and walked/sprinted an hour to get to school just to be marked absent and almost attacked by a duck

I don’t usually give out my number often whenever guys ask for it because i have this mindset where I feel like they need to earn it and by that I mean you never know if someone is actually gonna take you serious or not then it was just a waste of time.
I was on Facebook dating and matched with a guy. Our conversation was going well and he gave me his number, so without hesitation, I texted him, so now he has my number.
He claims he has two jobs, both of them being disability places, where he assists but his replies are so slow. About 9 times out of 10, he will take hours to reply, like up to 2 to 3 hours. The most I’ll go without replying is like an hour but I’ll respond back pretty quick usually. It’s only been 3 days of us talking and he’s already acting like this.
I texted this man since 12pm today and he didn’t text back until like 4pm…he claimed he needed to wash clothes…
And not only does he respond slow but he doesn’t follow through with what he said he was gonna do. We called once the other night and he had a to take a shower. He said he was gonna call me back right after…he never did. He said he was gonna FaceTime/call me the next day…never did.
I’m getting turned off quickly. And plus we probably wont go on our first date until weeks later. He lives 30 minutes away from my area, which I don’t think is a far drive. He claims whenever his brother moves into his apartment down here for college, he’s gonna live with him for a bit and we’ll finally be able to go out. Why can’t we just do something now? He’s not that far away.
Idk maybe I’m being too much. What do y’all think? I almost not wanna talk to him again.

Tldr; Been struggling lately because it feels like no matter where I go. I'm stuck in an environment that's hostile one way or another. And I'm stuck having to be around immature grown ass adults. And I'm very tired of it. It's tanked the hell outta my morale. To the point where I'm considering on enlisting because I don't feel like I can fit anywhere else in regular society. I'd appreciate any insights if you want to share.
I honestly feel like 2020 was the start of my downward sprial. I had always been depressed. But I feel like the Pandemic really made it worse. As ridiculous as it may sound. I was upset that my prom and senior trip was canceled. As I was looking forwards to it. Because I saw it as a day I could truly feel pretty. And the last time I could spend with friends before adulthood sucked the little life left in us. Didn't help me to see the next classes get to have their prom and trip either. But it's in the past, and I'm glad they had the privilege to have theirs. But a huge issue, back then. Was I didn't know what the hell I wanted to do with myself after Highschool.
My guidance counselor was more excited for my senior year than I was. And my dad didn't help with all the pressure he put on me. We got into more arguments when I was eighteen. As mentioned before, I was clueless on what I wanted in life. And had told my dad I was taking a gap year. Gap year turned into two years. Due to me having fallen into a deep depression due to the quarantine. Which didn't help things between my parents and I. They told me I had to get a job. Fine, started working part-time at dollar tree. And over time that wasn't enough. I started getting badgered about school again.
I have no issue with further education. Be it college or a trade. But the world is far more expensive than it was in the 80s - 90s. And it felt like my parents didn't grasp that. Everytime I brought it up I was treated like I was making excuses. I also didn't want go to school because I didn't want to be stuck with courses to something I fucking hated. I was the one that would have to pay for it in the end. I wanted it to be something I could at least tolerate until I found something better. Ended up doing it anyway to shut them up. And I started working another job to save money. Though I wasn't doing much of that.
Because I'd spend money to get a shred of serotonin. Mostly fast food. Not proud of it, but that was my reality. Eventually, I couldn't put up with the classes and two jobs. And attitude I was getting from my parents. And became very apathetic about life. This was maybe around 2021 - 2022. I truly felt alone at this point. And because I grew isolated from family aside my maternal grandma. I felt I had nobody to really open up to. Couldn't talk to my older brother because he's awful at communicating back with me. As he's always busy with work. And he has a son so. I have friends. But they have their own lives and seem to be doing well. I didn't want to risk being an emotional burden. So I didn't vent to them.
Didn't even have much energy to Journal anymore either. And I stopped therapy when I was nineteen I think. Because my father essentially said I was wasting my therapists time. Since I had been seeing her since I was fifteen and still had the same mentality. My care for my well being and self preservation went out the window for the most part at this time. Think I was twenty at the time. Because that's when I met my ex. Let's call him Gio. Gio is five years older than me (I'm 22F now). I didn't expect us to end up dating. As I wanted to just be friends. But I don't regret it. He's a pain in my ass sometimes. But a great guy.
I think in 2022, April 14th me and my dad got into an awful arguement. Gio had a habit of calling me after he dropped me off home. And we'd talk while he walked to his since he lived a town next to mine. So he had heard everything. At some point I stormed out of the apartment. And my dad had stormed out and tried grabbing me to drag me back in. And that's when Gio pushed us apart. I want to make it a point. That Gio didn't come to the apartment to fight my dad. He came to console me, and since my dad was being agressive, he got protective. They ended up getting into a little scuffle and someone called the police.
After a little more arguing I packed some of my shit and stayed with Gio the next two weeks. Two weeks where I dealt with passive aggressive texts from my dad. The next few months were hot and cold with them. I'd move in and then get kicked out due to my dad and I bumping heads. Around December that year Gio's brother. Let's call him Antonio, invited us to live with him in Massachusetts. Since my dad presses charges on Gio. And due to court stuff, his boss didn't want to give him hours. So we were struggling with money. And Antonio wanted to help us. It was a hard move for me. Since I'm from New Jersey and haven't lived anywhere else.
But I figured a fresh start outta state would get me to take initiative and get my shit together. But before that could even happen there was a misunderstanding between me and Antonio's wife. It was quite small, and I was willing to apologize for it. But she blew it out of proportion and called her daughter. And I assume said I gave her attitude. Little bitch actually came to the house in attempt to fight me over it. Luckily Antonio was able to hold her back. I ended up getting sent back to Jersey. Which leads to my whole point here. It seems like no matter what. Something gets in the way of me going somewhere in life.
Im always surrounded by at least one or two immature grown ass adults. And im tired of it. My dad hasnt changed much either. And ive been unemployed for three months. Theres no peace at my parents house because of my dad. And there isn't any at my exes house. Which I currently have to reside since my parents moved into a one bedroom two months ago. I have no issue with the majority of the house aside from Gios aunt. Who is an old bitch I hate. And I don't use that word lightly. I understand she deals with stress and chronic pain. But that doesn't excuse her attitude. I know my place in this apartment and generally keep out of the way. And respect everyone. But she has a very nasty spirit, lacks accountability and self awareness, is entitled, and rude as hell.
And being told by not only my ex but her DAUGHTER to just ignore her. Is tiring. I understand it though, because that's just how it is with some people. But like... that's been my WHOLE childhood. Being mindful and expected to have sympathy, understanding, patience, and respect for others. Yet never or barely receiving any myself. All because what? I don't pay rent? I don't work 40+hrs a week? I'm so tired of this shit. I know I'm pathetic. I can be immature. And emotional. But I'm TRYING and it's like it's never enough. And when I'm at a point where I'm hopeless. It's as if I never tried in the first place.
I'm supposes to appreciate and validate others and what they've contributed for or something that benefitted me. Yet I can't get the simplest acknowledgment that hey, you've been struggling. But you managed to do X today. And that's great, I'm proud of you. But perhaps that's too childish of me. I'm a grown woman. Not a toddler. You don't get stickers for doing what you're supposed to. Because nobody gives a fuck. Hell, when you're a child it's probably worse. To quote my father, why should or would I get praise for something I was SUPPOSED to do.

Hello, I have two cats who we have been introducing very very slowly over the last 10 months. We have followed the jackson galaxy method basically to a T and are in what I view as the last stage and need some advice. We have two cats S and K, K was originally my cat and has had terrible anxiety her whole life but is so sweet to people. S was originally my girlfriend's cat and could not care less about anything he is the most easy going cat I have ever met, the guy takes swipes from K like it's nothing and is ready to play with her again in 5 minutes. They are both about 4 years old and S is a boy and K is a girl, both spayed/neutered.
About 3 months ago we put K on prozac and have seen amazing results from it, she's nicer to her brother, reacts much more consistently and generally her quality of life is much better.
This process has taken quite some time, so we've had to find solutions that work given how long we've been doing this. For instance every single day I switch their litterboxes and one cat's "home" for the next 24 hours becomes the office and the other cat is out in the whole home. We used to only let them out after work and fully supervised breaking up anything that could turn into a fight for about 5 months. That has been going really well and so we let them out full time during the workday as well (we both work from home). They get along super well, K loves her space and used to get really annoyed when S would come close but has started to get used to it over the last couple months.
That brings me to the current issue, we live in an older 2 story apartment with some narrows hallways, narrow stairs and a couple narrow choke points between rooms. I find K seems to plop in those narrow areas which causes problems when S tries to get by her and she'll jump up and hiss and swat at him. She's only drawn blood once and then we started trimming K's claws more and while there have been many altercations since then she's never broken blood again. We always break the thing up whenever we hear the hiss and see her lunge at him but I am wondering what my next steps should be here.
Should I just let them work it out, should I put down cat tunnels in the cramped spaces so S has alternate routes, should I just pick K up whenever I see her in those spots that cause issues. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

chapters 1&2
chapter 3
chapter 4
chapter 5
chapter 6
chapter 7
chapter 8
chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
The lecture was supposed to be on Rationality 101, apparently not for Newcomers only. Serene was there to have her back but G was having a hard time focusing.
The boring black uniform more fitting for a hotel receptionist defaced the godlike beauty standing in front of a huge screen. Gentry couldn’t believe her eyes: this was the man she had her hands on a little while ago?
No, it couldn’t be.
It had been just an avatar, too perfect in its unblemished visage, too pure for this world. Yet the man whose face she remembered as if it was etched on the back of her eyelids, who she’d been constantly thinking about, who her hands itched to snatch, was standing right there, in the flesh.
Back in the dreamy simulated world she caught herself thinking that a trim waist like this couldn’t anatomically work on a human, yet here he was: a towering spread of fit shoulders perfectly balanced above the flexible whip of his midsection. The light-grey eyes that betrayed every movement of his pupils were as real as the ones that reflected the mock moon during her test. Below them lay the sharp slope of the cheekbones one could cut themselves on.
The only thing a bit different, apart from the outfit choice, was the young god’s hair. In the simulation, it was flowing and probably too long to be practical. This person’s mane was much shorter and fell down his neck in a neat ponytail, tastefully tamed with a single hairpin.
She had to get her hands on this treasure.
He was making last minute preparations for the lecture, looking through the papers on the desk, dark strands framing his face, light grey eyes sharp in careful concentration.
Professor Q, huh.
He said this was his name, and so did the note on the lecture hall door.
She was sure it was the man who had melted in her arms making the most delicious sounds a male throat could produce.
Had he recognised her?
Unlikely.
At the time of the simulation session, she didn’t have a camera that could pick up her facial features but just to be on the safe side, she decided to go by “G” in his class. There were bound to be lots of people with a name starting with a G, right? What would be the odds it was this particular newcomer that Q had tested that would end up in his class?
The man finally lifted his eyes at the audience and a gentle smile momentarily graced his features before disappearing as if he didn’t see someone he’d expected to.
The holoboard on the wall behind him obediently lit up following his nonchalant gesture. Gentry found it annoying that one needed a pair of special glasses to see all the augmented reality stuff and really navigate the city but again, with Sereen’s help she had more or less gotten used to it in the couple of days she had to deal with the necessities like settling down, getting food and finding her way around Ashtapada.
Still, could they use a piece of chalk or, at least, a marker to write on the board? No need to show off your Fully Automated Luxury Space Communism tech just to write a couple of notes on the board!
On second thought, high-tech-crazy or not, if this city brought up men like this one, she would definitely do her best to stay here to… reap the benefits!
They took a desk next to a huge clear floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked the winter garden.
“Professor Q seems a little distracted today,” Sereen said, swiftly tapping a couple of buttons on G’s wrist to show her how to confirm that she was attending the lecture. “He’s usually much more chatty and friendly. I wonder what got into him.”
“Is he?” Gentry responded with an artificial air of indifference. “I just hope he’s more open to a discussion than that Poe guy.”
“He is! And Professor Poe isn’t that bad,” Sereen reprimanded before chuckling a little — since his little secret became known to students, he became known as Holopoe. “Just wait and see, it’s gonna be a blast. Q’s lectures are always very engaging.”
It proved to be utter bullshit.
After fiddling with the symbols on the interactive screen for ten minutes into the class, students getting more and more agitated behind his back, the lecturer seemed to give up. Turning back to the audience, he absentmindedly nodded to a couple of people in the lecture hall and sighed with a painfully fake smile.
“For today’s class, we are going to need to read a certain extract from a book,” he said, tone apologetic for some reason, but it solidified G’s conviction that she already knew this person. “I’ve just sent it to each of your wristcomms. We’ll have some quiet time and read it by ourselves, alright?”
“Reading from the comm?” Sereen mumbled to herself. “Couldn’t he just print them out?”
The rest of the students’ grumbles showed that they shared her disappointment. Q could only hopelessly smile again before returning to his work on the board.
Reading from the little semi-transparent screens was indeed torture. Quickly giving up on trying to awkwardly use gestures for scrolling through the text, she looked out of the window to entertain herself with the garden outside. From the modest height they were sitting at, the people below were quite discernible, partly hidden by the greenery, spread here and there in small groups and pairs. Gentry longed to be there, too. What was the use of being here with the most attractive person in the whole world if the only thing she could see was his back?
Well, the back didn’t look half bad, if she was honest, and what was below also pleased the eye.
But still. It would soon bore even the most easily entertained.
Her gaze fell to a small clearing where a lone male figure was sitting, writing something in a notebook. By the looks of it, the notebook was a real paper-made thing without the bells and whistles usual for Ashtapada. The next thing G noticed was a pair of slender legs, barefoot, stretched to dip the toes into the clear water of the artificial stream.
God bless the urban designers of this place!
The figure lifted the head and in an inconceivably graceful motion, swung the long blond bangs away from the face.
G straightened her back. Was it... Ok, maybe Q was the most handsome man she’d seen in her life but this... This was the younger boy she’d noticed a couple of days back, the one in a plaid skirt, shamelessly flirting with everyone within reach. Today, he wasn’t wearing one but the blue jeans hugging his thighs, rolled up almost to the knees, presented a picture just as tantalizing. Even with the hair was a completely different colour, even though the half-up, half-down style kept his face hidden, she was absolutely certain it was the same person.
Just you wait, young beauty, as soon as this “lecture” was over, your princess in shining armour was coming to pick you up!
Suddenly snapping out of the dull weariness, she turned on the auglasses S helped her obtain earlier and tapped away on her comm screen.
What a chance to give the local text sharing feature a go!
“The garden is pretty, but with a blossom like you, it is truly breathtaking. I wonder if anyone has picked this sweet flower or if anyone dares to,” she typed a cheesy note and folded the message into a neat 3D figurine of an origami paper crane with her fingers in the air.
Was S watching? Screw it, even if she was, she couldn’t read the message with her glasses off, right?
Carefully aiming the device at the lone figure, she launched the crane downwards, and it fluttered like a weightless butterfly in spirals, through the glass and right into the young man’s lap, not disturbing the notebook pages. He started at first at the intrusion but then turned his own glasses on and unfolded the message. A shy smile appeared on his plump lips, and he looked flattered, turning his head around to see if the sender was in sight. Catching no one, he typed something below the initial message and deftly folded it back into a crane that, to G’s surprise, flew directly at her, in uneven spirals along the wall. The man traced it with a smile, propping himself back on his arms, his whole slim body and face on full display now.
God, was he good-looking.
Easily passing the physical border of the glass again, the crane crashed into Gentry’s wristcomm, dutifully delivering the message and betraying her tactical position at the same time. An amused kind of surprise showed on the young man’s face and he waved at her to show that she had been exposed. She waved back, trying to look nonchalant but probably failing miserably.
Very smooth, G, way to go.
The message read, “Is a flower only good for looking at? Not this one.”
Oooh, this boy was playing with fire!
“Hey, G,” Sereen nudged. “Have you finished reading?”
“Mm? Oh, yeah.” Gentry lied easily. She had skimmed the first couple of paragraphs and was sure she’d be able to come up with something if asked.
“Done everybody?” the deep gentle voice called from the holoboard and G’s attention snapped back to the dignified face.
The class murmured affirmatively.
“I’m sorry today’s lecture isn’t as fun as usual,” he admitted. “I must say I’m still unsure how to approach such complex topic as this one. But with your help, I hope we’ll figure it out.”
Everyone seemed to perk up.
“You just read an extract on paradoxes,” Q went on. “And you might be wondering why we are raising a philosophical topic on a rational thinking course.”
“There you go,” Sereen whispered. “He’s back to normal!”
G humphed. This did seem interesting. Was it a good idea to read the extract after all?
Q continued, “In the text, you might have encountered the definition of a paradox. Would anyone explain it with their own words?”
A raised hand and the lecturer’s nod brought some courageous soul to their feet.
“It’s when you start with the correct premises, use consistent logic but wind up with an impossible conclusion,” they said. “There are three types: falsidical, veridical and antimony-type, which are...”
“Correct,” Q smiled and nodded the person back down. It was a smile worth starting a thousand wars over.
“Now there’s a reason why I asked you to read about them. Why do you think people have been fascinated with paradoxes for such a long time?”
S raised her hand and received a kind invitation.
“I might be wrong,” she said. “But it seems that they point at the limitations of our thinking, things that seem rational but in fact aren’t. We feel that with our all-conquering logic we can solve any puzzle but it’s not always the case. Right?”
“This is very insightful,” the teacher confirmed. “It is believed by many that what’s rational is true and therefore what rationality cannot explain must be false.”
“I definitely know someone who would die on that hill,” Gentry grumbled under her breath.
“I’m sorry?” Q asked. “Is there something you wanted to add... sorry, I don’t know your name?”
Still half mad with professor Poe, Gentry stood up. “It’s G, I’m a Newcomer. I was saying how a human mind can fool itself into thinking it knows what it looks at as long as it makes sense. But in reality, it’s not there, like the sky.”
That was the only thing she remembered from that last lecture! She felt the tips of her ears heat up but the kind and considering look on Q’s face showed her gamble paid off.
“These are very insightful observations, G, why don’t we try exploring them together?” — he waived her to sit down and turned back to the class — “Five minutes to discuss how paradoxes might reveal the weaknesses of rational thinking. Send your answers to the board when you’re done.”
“Whoa, daring as usual,” Sereen smiled. “I knew you’d enjoy his class.”
“Now, consider these two questions,” Q said to another student who stood up at his hand wave. “If an unstoppable force meets an indestructible object, what is going to happen?”
The person seemed to contemplate it for a while and the teacher didn’t rush him.
“Isn’t it one of those which are impossible to solve because the existence of the one automatically disproves the existence of the other?”
Q nodded, “Correct. The second one about the barber in a small town is of the same sort. Sereen?”
S stood up too, “The one that shaves all and only men that don’t shave themselves?”
“Yes,” he confirmed. “At first, a premise like this seems perfectly reasonable, doesn’t it?”
“It does,” S responded, somewhat rashly. “But it’s clear that a barber like this cannot exist.”
“Wait, really?” Gentry whispered as Q nodded in satisfaction and urged her friend to go on.
“Yes, if we ask ourselves if this barber shaves himself. If he doesn’t, then he is part of the group which he does shave that do not shave themselves, but if he is in this group, then he does shave himself which makes it impossible for him to be this barber by definition.”
While the rest of the class was catching up with the logic, Q’s smile got only wider, more inviting.
“What does it tell us about the nature of the premise then?” he asked.
“That although it seems that it sounds logical on the surface, it is in fact nonsense and we don’t even need to hear the rest of the riddle to discard it completely,” S concluded.
The man chuckled.
“Well, I wouldn’t be that brash, to be honest, but on balance, you’re right,” he said. “If you stay after the lecture, I might recommend a couple of books on the topic. Your Newcomer friend is welcome to stay, too.”
G put up the best of the aloof fronts, “I’d be happy to, Professor.”
“Q is fine,” he smiled again and went on addressing the rest of the class that immediately exploded into a heated discussion.
***
“Basically, what I think we’re supposed to learn from this,” S concluded after a while, standing up so that everyone could hear her. “Is that before applying rationality, we have to make sure that all the premises we are dealing with are in fact realistic. Otherwise, there is no way rational thinking will help us.”
“Excellently put, as always,” Q applauded. “I’d love to see if everyone agrees or has something else to add to the discussion but our time is up. Feel free to write me a letter with your reflections on the topic.”
As interesting as the class was, the urge to leave the premises as soon as the teacher dismissed everyone seemed to be universal and applicable even to the Ashtapadans.
“I have to go now,” Sereen said. “Text you later, ok?” And with a reciprocal nod to Q, disappeared in the doors, joining the rest of the students.
Sadly, she couldn’t recall what they were talking about after the lecture, nor what titles Professor recommended for some home reading. She just hoped she didn’t make a fool of herself.
What Gentry did remember though was that after Q left as well and she came up to the panoramic window, Sereen and the mysterious flower boy were leaving the garden together. And it was hard not to notice that her new friend took off her wristcomm before they took off, and hid it in the tall grass.

I wanted to fully prioritize Solar power + Battery on my power grid, only activating Turbines as a backup when the Batteries are depleted, to minimize overall non-renewable fuel usage (ie maximize the amount of power used from solar). I found a solution isn't 100% efficient and is more complicated than just sticking everything on one power grid, but it does work to prioritize Solar + Batteries before running your Turbines.
Here's a simple example setup: https://i.imgur.com/UpRhXmN.jpeg
The basic design goal is "Run off Solar + Batteries until the batteries are depleted, and only then provide fuel to the Turbines." Because Foundry doesn't have any method of positive control like that, this method operates on the inversion: prevent fuel from reaching the Boilers until after the Batteries are depleted - indicating that the power provided from Solar Panels has been exhausted - and then allow the fuel to reach the Boilers. It does this with the fuel switch in the top left of the picture. The first Conveyor Balancer is set to prioritize input from the fuel loop (rather than the fuel production input), and the second Balancer is set to prioritize output to the fuel loop - both are prioritizing "up" in the picture. Fuel is passed immediately through the Logistics Container (since the output Loader on LV3 is always on and the input Loader on LV1 is also powered). This way, the fuel loop only ever gains as much fuel as can fit on the belts in the loop. As long as the Solar + Batteries are still producing/have energy remaining, the input Loader to the Logistics Container keeps running and fuel never spills over onto the Conveyer leading to the Boilers.
There are 3 Low Voltage (LV) grids. LV1 is where your main production (ie main power consumption) is. You can have your fuel mining/production on this grid as well, doesn't matter. Your High Voltage grid will be feeding into LV1. LV2 is the grid with only the Loaders going into your Boilers. LV3 is the smallest, which only has a single Loader on it as part of the switch that controls the Solar + Batteries to Turbine transition. LV2 and LV3 should be powered with Solar + Batteries such that they are always on - these are the Solar Panel + Battery + Transformer lineups on LV2 and LV3 - if either of these run out of power, the whole system will/might get bricked and you'll have to fix it. One Small Solar Panel and one Small Battery provide enough energy per in-game day to run ~20 Loaders indefinitely, so running out of power is easy to avoid.
The High Voltage grid is shared between the Solar + Battery array and the Turbines, because Foundry doesn't allow you to connected multiple HV grids to the same LV grid.
How It Works:

• Your primary Solar Panel array (bottom left in the picture) charge your primary grid Batteries and power the Transformers for LV1. During the day, everything runs as normal.
• The fuel switch in the top left of the picture fills with fuel.
• At night, Solar stops producing so your Batteries start draining. Once they're depleted and LV1 has no power, the fuel switch is activated.
• LV1 running out of energy disables the input Load to the Logistics Container. This backs up the second Balancer which then starts feeding fuel to the Boilers. Because LV2 is powered by its own separate Solar + Battery grid, the Loaders for the Boilers are always powered, and the Boilers start running as soon as the fuel reaches them.
• The Boilers run, the Turbines start, and power is restored to your grid.
• Because power was restored to LV1, the input Loader in the fuel switch starts working again, which cuts off fuel to the Boilers. The remaining fuel in the Boilers is burned, charging the batteries and running your production. Once the fuel in the Boilers is burned, the Batteries start depleting. After they deplete, the fuel switch is activated again and the process repeats.

This switching of Turbines on>off>on>off repeats until your Solar Panels start producing again in the morning.
Issues:

• Because the Turbines are also recharging the Batteries, they will run at 100% until either the Batteries are charged or their fuel is depleted. This means it's not a perfect system of only running the Turbines when the Solar Panels are offline and Batteries are depleted - more fuel than strictly required will be burned ie the Turbines starting an "on" cycle just as the sun is coming up.
  
• Power goes out during the transition period. This should only be a few seconds in a well-designed system, set by the distance between the fuel switch and the boilers, but it's still a factor.
  

I usually start my period between cycle days 27-30. I was on cycle day 28 and something told me to take a pregnancy test and it was positive. After a few hours I noticed slight bleeding that was a dark reddish/ brown color. It wasn’t like my period because I can usually feel my period when it comes out compared to this which was only noticeable when I went to bathroom and wiped. This morning I’m 29 days and the bleeding started getting a bit heavier but it hasn’t filled a pad. I took another pregnancy test and it was positive again. So, is this implantation bleeding or am I starting my period? I don’t have any cramps really or any symptoms other then bleeding and this would be my third pregnancy and never experienced this with my other two, so kinda confused on what is normal and what isn’t.

(M24) Hello everyone! Whether you’re reading this from a safe distance away from your breakup, or if it has just happened, please understand that I’m not going to give you the old advice to “GO OUTSIDE.” I’m going to keep it real.
We all know what it’s like—whether you’re the dumpee or the dumper, and in my case, I was the dumpee. We all entered our relationships with rosy-eyed lenses, making us ignore what was wrong until the pot exploded and we were faced with the actual outcome.
Just so you understand a little more about my connection to this piece I’m about to write, I will let you know a bit of what happened to me.
I met someone who I thought at the time was amazing and gorgeous. I’m sure all of you have felt that way before. As time went on, her mother didn’t like my job and that I wasn’t yet in my career of choice, having just graduated in video game design a year before the incident. I was insulted by her family, told I was nothing, that I was a loser and had no ambition. I tried my hardest to be with her, even after her mother placed a deadline on me. I fought through it because I loved my ex. I fought to find work as hard as I could. Then my ex started to insult me, told me I was nothing, I wasn’t husband material, and that she was on another level than me. When I found a job, it wasn’t enough. In the end, my ex left because I couldn’t buy her a home and her mother hated the fact I had a student loan.
Now, I know what you’re thinking… “WTF?” It’s okay. All things are better because today I’m going to share what I’ve learned from this situation and how to reel yourself out of a pit where you feel like you’re not worthy, where you feel like you’ve lost it all.

• Number 1: Even though it’s incredibly hard to do in the beginning, if you feel a pain so heavy you can’t function, you’re human. You were in love, and that part of you in pain is the care and hope you wanted to provide to your partner. Honor yourself for feeling your connection—honor yourself for the level of love you were willing to give. Keep it simple. Not everyone can love so strongly, yet here you are.
• Number 2: Reassess what you did. Ask yourself what you were proud of in that relationship and what you weren’t. Really be thorough. I learned that I was very anxious and had anxiety attacks a lot. Maybe you made a mistake, and it’s hard to forget, but remember the things hardest to forget are the strongest lessons learned. Your goal here is not to feel better. I know it’s crazy, but how can I expect you to feel better, especially if the breakup just happened or if it’s still on your mind every day? Instead, view it as learning who you are, changing who you are, taking responsibility for your shortcomings, and appreciating yourself for the things you did very well. Experience comes from taking responsibility for the things you aren’t willing to admit, but also the things you are proud of.
• Number 3: LOVE DOESN’T GO AWAY. Despite what happened, I love her. I had a connection to her, to always do my best for her. Think of love as clay. The love you feel is sculpted to resemble your partner, but as time goes on with no maintenance to the clay, the sculpture fades. Its sharp edges become smooth bevels, its most standout features erode over time, ultimately becoming something else, a blob if you will. But that clay doesn’t leave; it just lacks direction at this point. So, what if the clay started to resemble you? What if you took time after you’ve gone through what you did wrong and actually walked away improving yourself? I know hearing “work on yourself” is common advice, but no one tells you why. Imagine yourself learning how to cope with your insecurities, giving yourself the love and care you gave to your partner. You know you wouldn’t have given up on them, so why give up on yourself? Imagine yourself conquering your trials, much happier. What can negativity do to you if you’re proud of your trials? Seriously, ask yourself that question: what can bad moments do to a version of you that can’t be defeated by tough moments? All in all, that same blob of clay that was sculpted and molded to envision your love for your partner is now molded into strength for yourself. Love went from them and became love for you.
• Number 4: Listen. Simple, just listen. Listen to those who are always supporting you. I’m sure they know of your circumstance, but in their efforts to help you, take a moment to be a third person. More often than not, the support they give reflects the type of person they think you are. If they tell you to keep pushing and keep going, they know you are someone who can take hits and keep fighting. If they tell you “I know it hurts,” it’s because they trust you to be stronger. Support comes from connection, and connection comes from knowing. If you’re the type of person, like me, who struggles to understand yourself, just listen to those who are supporting you, for in their words to help, you may just see your true reflection.
• Number 5: PROTOTYPE. This is an interesting phase. With everything you’ve learned, what types of things would you like to do differently? What about your personality have you learned? Experiment with your mind, prototype your new personality, introduce new morals, and if they don’t fit, introduce new morals, new ideas, new hobbies! When you have a stronger sense of self, you know what experiments in your mind will lead to better results.
• Number 6: Execute. After all you’ve learned, after all you’ve observed, take command of your life, take your life BACK! Execute your plan to get better, and once you start doing things out of love for yourself, if you just give yourself even just six months of doing things that let you feel better and more accomplished, I promise you will see change. So, if a basic six months can make you feel better, imagine a whole year. Execute your plan.
• Number 7: The most important of all: PATIENCE. This is all going to take time. The ultimate advice I can give you, the only cure to a broken heart, is the one you make for yourself by refusing to be stuck where you are and delving into your life. There is not a one-day cure or a cool mental trick. Take your time, slow down, and remember this is going to make you better.

Whether you are a man or woman, I hope anything I’ve said here can help you out. Because we’re all different, maybe you will tweak these steps a bit, add your own meanings to them, add your own order, or just completely disagree and have your own way of doing things. Those are all perfectly valid. Heartbreak is heartbreak. I’d be damned if I didn’t share what helped me. Truth be told, I miss her, her smile, the way she made me feel like my life was finally together. I remember the best moments; they help steer the ship to better, but the bad moments add the wind to my sails!
You will find someone, you will be okay, and I’m rooting for all of you!
If you make it to the end please upvote this post, because someone somewhere out there needed to hear this today and if that's you, this is your sign things are going to be better, take it from someone whose going through the same thing as you, you're stronger than you realize.

Hello,
I got approved for the US BANK Altitude Connect 1/12 and 10/24 for $500 limit. All was fine logged in and saw it last night after approval where it prompted income update. Put the same income as application and then tried to add card to mobile wallet.
After logging in a second time, I saw the following message:
“System alert: All account updates and banking functions are temporarily disabled” where opening it shows the full message:
“Your balance and transaction history may be delayed. All account updates and banking functions are temporarily disabled for mobile and online banking, and bank by phone. Account balance and transaction history is delayed and will be updated as soon as we complete the maintenance. Rest assured that no data has been lost. Please check back later. Thank you for your patience.”
Clicking on any account shows: It’s not you. It’s the account settings.
Something went wrong. We’re sorry. The problem is on our end.
I called the tech support number and was told they can’t even see my account with a ticket to resolve it being made for 3 day turn around.. WTF. I have hardly used my old card in the past year and all information was correct.
Have any of you experienced this before or is it looking like an account shut down is underway? Thanks for any advice.

This is a rundown of the predominant intelligent races on my fantasy version of Saturn, which is a sword-and-sorcery world loosely based on Classical mythology. Your feedback is greatly appreciated!
Aranians are the oldest of Saturn’s intelligent races. Like their kin the Arthropoids, they are entomons, with multi-jointed legs and semi-flexible exoskeletons. Unlike the Arthropoids, they are only slightly humanoid. Their lower bodies are spider-like, with eight legs and large abdomens, while their upper bodies are more humanoid, although they have six arms and numerous eyes. Once long ago, they boasted a planet-spanning civilization; they were the first to develop philosophy and art, mathematics and astrology, architecture and literature. But in the apocalypse of the Day of Wrath, their civilization was annihilated, and today, the descendants of those ancient Aranians have largely forgotten about the glories of their once-proud people. Many Aranians, such as the Slavars, live nomadic existences, although a few settled Aranian nations, such as Anansazi and Ctenizan, still exist.
{Classical Mythology equivalent: Centaurs}
Arthropoids are entomons, insect-like creatures with semi-flexible exoskeletons, but are far more humanoid than their Aranian cousins. Most are of human height, with two legs and four arms, but a few are smaller, such as the ant-like Marwari, who stand roughly four feet tall, or the flea-like Zaoi, who are usually less than three feet in height. Most Arthropoids have wings, which allow them to fly thanks to their irridescent membranes, membranes which manipulate colour and permit flight despite the Arthropoids’ weight. Unlike the Dendryads, the Arthropoids are not a single species, but rather a collection of many species that are not capable of interbreeding. A wide variety of nations have been founded by the Arthropoids—the expansive empire of Marwar, the reclusive land of Aed, the militaristic Vazhka—and in a few places, mainly Naranj and Merinj, they live in harmony with the Dendryads. In the main, however, a state of war usually exists between the Dendryads and the Arthropoids, as the two “superraces” compete for control of Saturn.
{Classical Mythology equivalent: Myrmidons, Amazons}
Although Dendryads appear to be plants, they are not. They are instead phyta, a kingdom of organisms that split off from plants roughly 400 million years ago. Humanoid, like almost all creatures native to Saturn the Dendryads have six limbs, four arms and two legs. Unlike the Arthropoids, the Dendryads are a single species, although with astonishing diversity; their subraces are capable of interbreeding, but this usually requires divine intervention. Most races of Dendryads are sequential hermaphrodites: they change from male to female or female to male periodically throughout their lives. Over the millennia, the Dendryads have spread out across the surface of Saturn, forming mighty kingdoms and vast empires. Today, most Dendryads would assert that, even if their own nation is not particularly powerful, the greatest and most puissant of Saturn’s civilizations are still Dendryad. The most notable of these is Aquarium, the Golden City, the Light of the World, the last remnant of the Anthemite Empire and defender of civilization since Anthem’s fall ten thousand years ago. Other Dendryad kingdoms of note are Naranj and Merinj, Dzjanggakh, Mora, and Qoq. With the fall of Anthem, though, the Dendryad position is threatened by rising powers, most of which are either Arthropoid or Mykobold in ethnicity. On multiple fronts, the Aquarine Empire is challenged: by its ancient enemy Marwar, by the new and dynamic Swarm of the Azzuzzazi, by invading Slavars. Only time will tell if Aquarium can withstand this onslaught of “barbarians”.
{Classical Mythology equivalent: Dryads}
Mykobolds are the fungal equivalent of Dendryads. Shorter than the Dendryads, they prefer dark and moist regions of Saturn, such as deep caves, swamps, and the undergrowth of many of Saturn’s forests. This often brings them into contact with the te’Ythul (see below), often at the Mykobolds’ cost. Their relations with the other races of Saturn vary significantly depending on the tribe of Mykobolds and the counterparty: the Russulkas or Redcaps are mischievous bordering on murderous, the Troggoths of the subterranean empire of Troggoroth are insane cultists, the Kuba are peaceful shamans, the Lichens are undead necromancers who possess the rotting bodies of other races, the Gomphlins are friendly but isolationist, the Thallids have an ancient but proud scholarly tradition, and so forth. Recently, many tribes of Mykobolds have begun migrating from their traditional strongholds into the vacuum left by the decaying eastern half of the Anthemite Empire, creating new petty kingdoms for themselves and occasionally finding themselves as the ruling class over Dendryads. This has led to tension between the two ethnicities.
{Classical Mythology equivalent: Troglodytae}
The Coral Brains are not, strictly speaking, a race in the same way as the others. They are, instead, vast colonies of polyps that function as enormous neural networks. Once a single supercomputer that covered much of the surface of Saturn, the coral was shattered during the Day of Wrath and many fragments were ejected into Saturn’s atmosphere and beyond. Now the remaining pieces, which range in size from a few dozen meters across to dozens of miles, roam the skies of Saturn, kept aloft by careful channeling of colour which provides an antigravity force. It also fuels their computation. Some of them have seen their surfaces colonized by other races, but those settlers exist on the coral brains only at the brains’ sufferance. For at least a million years, the coral brains have been locked in a secret war with the Shimmering Demons, recruiting from the other races individuals and sometimes entire nations as pawns in their struggle to control Saturn; most notably, both sides have engaged the services of what remains of Anthem’s ceramic legions as foot soldiers.
{Classical Mythology equivalent: Genii Loci}
The te’Ythul, or Spawn of Ythul, are one of the most ancient and mysterious of Saturn’s races. These hulking giants, who can reach heights of thirty feet, are found only in humid and swampy areas, where the water in the air keeps their mucous-covered skins moist. Having arisen from the congealing, rancid blood of the thousand-mile-tall embodiment of primordial chaos Ythul when it spilled from his body on the Day of Wrath, the te’Ythul hid themselves in secret parts of the world, far from the other races towards which they were and are profoundly hostile. Many have become masters of manipulating the obsidian oil, giving them access to arcane and eldritch powers unknown and forbidden to the rest of Saturn’s peoples. A few have even taken to dabbling in anti-colour, a sinister and unholy force of unknown origins. With their dozens of tentacles, they are formidable and terrifying foes for any adventurers who encounter them, whether in the depths of the earth or secreted within foul swamps or roaming the dusk-shrouded undergrowth of Saturn’s rainforests.
{Classical Mythology equivalent: Cyclopes}
Syngnals are the messengers and servants of Phragma, the trickster goddess of magic. These small, seahorse-like creatures flit around, gradually influencing the course of Saturnian history in the direction Phragma would like it to go. Unfortunately for her, they aren’t very good at their jobs. Or maybe they are…
{Classical Mythology equivalent: Hippocampus}
Titanians and Uberonians are humanoids not native to Saturn; instead, they originated on Saturn’s moon Voeba. However, when Voeba was destroyed during the Day of Wrath, its inhabitants were forced to migrate elsewhere, to other moons. One group settled on Titan; the other, after finding their first choice of Hyperion unsuitable, eventually formed a new society on Rhea. Not being native Saturnians, they only have four limbs, rather than the standard six, and they have a higher level of technology than the Saturnians, boasting flying saucers, rocket ships, and rayguns. Since the Day of Wrath, they have been locked in a cold war for control of Saturn’s moons and rings, largely ignoring the planet itself, which they regard as inhabited by primitives. Of the two, the Titanian are marginally more benevolent, although both nations feel perfectly free to abduct Saturnians and probe them, or, in the case of the Uberonians, enslave them for their own amusement. This latter habit is frowned upon by the Titanians, who attempt to enforce what they call the “First Order”, which states that more advanced and sophisticated and, frankly, intelligent races are not supposed to meddle in the affairs of primitives, because primitives, with their primitive planet-bound brains, simply cannot grasp how dangerous even a single piece of Titanian or Uberonian technology can be to a witless primitive. That raygun? Put it down. That com-talker? Put it down. That belt buckle? Put it down! The Titanian Ring Patrol, with its stalwart band of Space Marshals, attempts to enforce the law on a largely lawless Ring system, but even they periodically break the First Order, usually because the Uberonians broke it first or because the primitives had already been exposed to advanced technology or because the captain really didn’t feel like following it.
{Norse Mythology equivalent: Ljósálfar and Dökkálfar}
The Shimmering Demons, like the Titanians and Uberonians, are not native to Saturn. In fact, no one knows where they come from, exactly. What is known is that they don’t seem to be entirely…here. Flickering in and out of perception, they are found throughout Saturn, usually as traders, but what they trade in is…odd. Want wealth? They’re happy to oblige, in exchange for a handful of twigs. Want power? Sure thing; you’ll just need to give them your happiest memory. Want immortality? It only costs a broken sword. Want true love? Not a problem—but you’ll be sacrificing all the messy complexity of a real relationship…which the demons are glad to take off your hands. It’s been noticed that people who deal with them come away from the transaction a little…flatter, somehow; a little more two-dimensional. Those of the demons who aren’t engaged in trade are busy measuring. They measure everything, absolutely everything—from the diameter of that tree to exactly how much of a “hero” you are--and when they aren’t measuring, they’re cataloguing. They catalog everything. Even people. They would classify you as a web-based amateur worldbuilder grade B+ (not to be confused with a web-based amateur worldbuilder grade B++). Would you be interested in being reclassified as a web-based amateur worldbuilder grade A---? They have an installment plan…
{Classical Mythology equivalent: none}

I (30yo woman) am getting married to my fiance (32yo man) in October. We have had a relatively long engagement and got engaged back in February of 2023. Since February of this year, I had this sad feeling in my gut that my grandparents would opt to not go to our wedding. Unfortunately, this was confirmed via email on Sunday, and they gave me the excuse I was expecting them to give: the dog.
My grandparents are healthy and relatively young. About ten years ago, they randomly decided to move away from us to go live in the north GA mountains. Despite the relatively short travel time of 3hrs, they have always insisted we go up to visit (even though my mom, sister, and I are not retired and work full time with conflicting schedules; plus, we take care of my 94yo great grandmother (my grandfather's mother)) and they have gone from spending every holiday with us when they lived here, to having spent a total of 3 holidays with us in the past 10 years.
When their last dog died back in 2017, they got another one about two years after that. My grandparents have always insisted on getting nothing but purebred English setters (even though each one has had plenty of health issues because... That's what happens when you buy a purebreed), and even though they knew it would be too much dog for them to deal with in their older years, chose not just a male, but the biggest puppy in the litter that would end up in the 90th percentile in size for a male English setter. Because my grandparents live in the middle of Actual Nowhere, this dog has never been around other dogs or people, and they've NEVER left him alone, not even for 10 minutes. If they drive over an hour into town for groceries, he goes with them, or my grandmother stays behind with him if the trip is going to take too long (like the time my grandfather had an eye appointment and drove back up into the mountains by himself with his pupils still dilated...)
So for the past 5 years, the dog has been their excuse. "Well he's too strong and might not do good around other dogs" (because you didn't socialize him), "he might become destructive if we visit and stay in a place he's not familiar with" (because he never left that damn mountain), etc etc.
Now, unfortunately, he has seizures. Massive grand mal seizures that have occurred two or three times since December that have apparently led to him running off into the Appalachian wilderness for hours, or biting my grandfather, or knocking my grandmother down.
Before this stuff with my wedding, we were already getting fed up with my grandparents. My great grandmother (the one I mentioned earlier and my last surviving great grandparent of the three that I had while growing up) fell back in October and broke her hip. She was in the hospital for a couple weeks and then was transferred to a pretty shitty place for physical therapy for two months after that. All the time her dementia and paranoia getting worse. She would constantly ask where her son Greg was and why he wouldn't visit her. So we'd call my grandfather and plead for him to visit his mother because we were so tired of feeding her the same excuses every time we visited to (kind of) placate her. Despite months of this, her breaking her hip AGAIN, us worrying she'd probably die (thank goodness this didn't happen; she got transferred to another long term facility that worked wonders with her and she's walking around with her walker again like she was 70), and her 94th birthday in December... He only visited twice. And neither of those times were on her birthday. When I tell you that was the most depressing "birthday party"... It was just me, my mom, my sister, and my great grandmother staring and not wanting to eat the birthday cake that my grandfather ordered. Cold rain pouring outside and my poor great grandmother finally sighing "I thought I would see Greg for my birthday..."
So you can see that I'm already at my limit with them. So when I had conversations with them to try to find ANY kind of option to take care of the dog so they could make it to my wedding, it would be like pulling teeth. They don't want anyone to come stay with him at the house, they don't want to bother with getting a pet friendly Airbnb near the venue, they don't want to bring him to the wedding because he might get overstimulated and have a seizure and run off again--I could go on forever. So to them their only option is: don't come to my wedding. And I am sick of them using that damn dog as their go to excuse for whatever their issue is. I want to cut them out of my life for all of this.
Questions I'm sure some of you may have and that may help with context/understanding my confusion and frustration:
-Maybe your grandparents don't approve of who you're marrying? • My fiance and I have been together for six years and they have told me multiple times how much they love him. They were both elated to hear about our engagement.
-Maybe the wedding is too far away? • The wedding is in southern GA, so same state as them. The drive for them would only be 2.5 hours. I have multiple guests coming in from Oregon, and a cousin flying in from Germany.
-Are you not close to your grandparents? • They practically raised me. Our family is painfully tiny (my dad and his family were never in the picture). My mom was 20 and single when she had me, so we lived with my grandparents until I was 4. And then during a period where my mom was involved with my sister's father, she essentially was emotionally and physically absent for 3 years (ages 7-10). I was at my grandparents' house 5 days a week and they were the only ones I had to talk to at the time. My grandmother and I are so alike and her interests molded mine. My grandparents and I used to call multiple times a week just to share different bands to listen to because we have such a similar taste in music. Them telling me they're not coming to my wedding for any reason other than a fatal illness feels like having someone shove a hot poker into my chest.
-Maybe they're not fully aware of how upset you are by this? • I don't like being emotionally vulnerable, but I concisely told them all of my feelings on the matter through an email. (I simply couldn't bring myself to do it over the phone because I know I would become a blubbering mess.)
-Do you hate dogs? • I'm genuinely surprised I don't with how often my grandparents have prioritized their dog over all of their living relatives and friends. I'm an avid animal lover. Honestly, I prefer animals over people 99% of the time. We have two dogs and two cats.
I just feel like an unlovable piece of shit and wanted to vent and see how strangers felt about the issue. Feel free to give advice or scream/cry along with me.

Something similar happened to me before about a year ago. I was taking a strong probiotic and noticed that during my ovulation period during my cycle, I would get vaginal irritation. I went to my gyn in those moments, too and everything was also negative. He offered me antibiotics, but I didn't want to take antibiotics for no reason. I think I read somewhere here before that taking too much of a probiotic can overload your system during ovulation and such and cause irritation. I stopped taking the probiotic and the symptoms stopped happening slowly.
Now, it seems to be back even though I haven't started a probiotic or made any changes to the products I use and such, though it also started again during ovulation. If anything, I've been eliminating sugar and carbs from my diet which I thought would be beneficial to my vaginal health, but no changes so far. Some days I'm pain free, but then it can arise out of nowhere. Like today, I woke up feeling fine and now the pain appeared without me doing anything. The other day I had no pain and had sex and had the pain afterward. It seems to be at my vaginal opening and I try to soothe it with coconut oil, but it's only temporary. I plan on making another appointment with my gyn after my period.
I'll post my results in the comments, but I'm at such a loss and the irritation has really been ruining my days. And reading some posts on here have been so discouraging. Anything else I can possibly test for that could be causing this? Anything I can try that has helped others get over this

Tl;DR: at Bottom
I am a landlord in the state of Indiana.
*All names have been changed from their real names.
A handyman friend (after this referred to as Josh) rents only the garage at one of my properties so he can store his tools there. Technically, Josh has a signed lease with me 5 years ago to rent the garage each month but I have never made Josh pay as he is a struggling man and a friend rebuilding his life.
The problem is Josh at some point allowed his friend, (after this referred to as Anton) to store items in the garage. Anton's main form of income is a washing machine/refrigerato appliance etc. repair and buyeseller. These appliances are the items being stored in Josh's garage by Anton. This issue was brought to my attention about 2 years ago.
Josh has pleaded with Anton to remove the refrigerators/appliances from the garage as it takes up the majority of the space but Anton claims since Josh doesn't actually pay any rent, Anton refuses to remove the belongings.
I had thought this was resolved a few years ago but just learned it is still ongoing to the point that Josh is trying to pay Anton to move the appliances out. Anton is refusing.
***My question is this: how do I remove Anton's (non-tenant) property from the garage or take title to everything that is Anton's in my garage (but not Josh's) so i can remove it.
I was considering doing something similar to this:

1. Send a certified mailed letter to Anton to cease and desist, giving him notice to remove all of his belongings in the garage within 30 days or legal action would be filed against him. (I would do this in hopes of "scaring" him into complying.) Hopefully solving the problem.
2. After the cease and desist, and 30 days, I would do something similar to when a tenant vacates or abandons their unit but leaves behind personal property. The problem is Anton was never a real tenant, so i am not sure if this is how i would go about taking title to the property to legally remove it. I would de more research but would likely after 30 days, then send a second letter by certified mail giving notice that I am taking ownership over the appliances if not removed within the legally required amount of days. ( Something similar to a mechanics lien/ or something)

I need to do a little more research but I was hoping someone could help me with this situation as it is similar to when a tenant abandons a rental and leaves behind personal property. Have one of your tenants ever left behind a washer and dryer? its trickier because Anton is a non tenant. How do I get title to Anton's property or at least get a court order to have it removed. Is it possible to sue for back rent since he has refused to remove the items for such a long period but Anton is technically not on the lease. I am not sure if appliances are personal property or fit into a different category.
****One extra important thing to note:
When this problem started 2 years ago, when Josh asked Anton to remove the property, Anton threatened to burn the garage down if Josh attempted to remove the appliances (Josh filed this in a police report at that time around 2 years ago).
Tl;DR:
I rent a garage to a tenant. Tenant allowed a friend to store appliances there. Now Tenant cannot get the "friend" to remove the appliances. How do I go about getting the “friend's” appliances out of my tenants garage. I am unsure how long the appliances have been there (2 years?) or if they are consistently switched out over the 2 year period.

I’m gonna lay out the whole context here, and it’s 2 years long so bear with me. A TL;DR isn’t really possible as there’s so much important context to whether or not IATA.
We’ve been married almost 10 years and she’s from overseas. She came here through our marriage. We were happy and doing extremely well for ourselves.
The problem started to 2 years ago. My friends wedding. Afterward we went out and then went to another friends house to continue partying. At the party one of the wedding guests started having a pity party about how he’s depressed because all these happy couples are around and he’s single.
For context. This guy is weird. He’s disrespectful to women, capitalizes on captive audiences (waitresses most often), and is overall a loser. He’s got a good job but that’s about it.
My wife, listens to his sob story and says “I have a sister!” and immediately starts FaceTiming her sister. This is something I’ve said isn’t okay. We’re not tinder, and we’re not matchmakers.
Beyond that her sister has a history of treating her poorly. She constantly told my wife she’s stupid growing up, well into adulthood. She blocked my wife for a whole year because my wife called her and told her not to go on boats with men she doesn’t know. Told my wife to live like she doesn’t have a sister. For a whole year I consoled my wife a couple times a week.
Anyways we were both drunk and with people so I’m not gonna start a fight right there. I figure I’ll talk to her about it maturely later. So I do. In the meantime, I switch to speaking Arabic with her sister and tell her this isn’t okay and isn’t what she wants.
Her and my wife to this day claim I was happy and supportive. They claim I was too drunk to remember. But there’s a few things wrong with this. I drove home, I take drinking and driving VERY seriously and would never, ever do it. In fact, if I know I’ve drank too much, I’ll hand my keys to a friend before the liquor starts hitting, just to avoid any possibility of making that bad decision.
Secondly, I switched to Arabic. I’m white. Arabic is a language I learned. When I speak it, I speak it very, very deliberately and remember the conversations perfectly. I know exactly what I said.
Anyways, when I talk to my wife later, I’m told how it’s wrong to prevent her from helping her sister and how her sister really likes this guy. A guy she talked to for 5 minutes. I told her it’s wrong to think of it as “helping” her sister in the first place and that her sister is a grown woman who can find her own partner.
So my wife says “okay I’ll tell my sister to stop talking to him”. That was the end of it. Or so I thought.
A few weeks later I’m at a different event and this guy let it slip they’re still talking. Immediately I’m upset and text my wife about how she lied to me.
She said her sister was really falling in love with this guy and separating them would be wrong. She said she did tell her sis to block him but when her sis went into a depression she told her she can unblock him and talk to him, behind my back.
Upset I told her we need to talk about going behind my back and how disrespectful of my boundaries this whole ordeal was. She said “it’s okay I’ll tell her to block him again”.
Over. Or so I thought for the next few months. A few months later I again am at an event with this guy and this time he’s smart enough to lie about them talking. But I’m a salesman and a bullshitter. You can’t bullshit me unless I trust you. I knew immediately he was lying but I let it go. I did ask my wife and she said no they’re not talking. So I believed her.
Well, a year and a half goes by. In that time her sister and her fought about how her sister could come to the US. We said we’d help her but it’s a lengthy process. At the time I had little animosity toward her sister and would’ve loved to see her come here and be near my wife again. She wasn’t happy with that and said it takes too long. This is her sister’s mindset.
Anyway. Her sister gets a B1 visa in the meantime, temporary business visitor and wants to come visit my wife. Lies through her teeth about her intentions to the immigration officer, telling them she wants to stay 90 days. They approve her for 60.
So we file for an extension ASAP so she can visit for 3 months. Staying with us the whole time. I wanted her to have fun on her visit so I arrange for my friends and I to go out. This guy shows up. She talked to him and told him our plans.
Immediately they disappear into the casino and come back holding hands and all kinds of PDA. I’m fuming because I know she’s a conniving word I won’t say here. I don’t say anything though and we go through the night and I let it go so I can have fun.
The next day he’s picking her up from my house and they’re out for the whole day. The next time my wife is off work, same story. Well, I thought you were here to visit her? And that’s where I put my foot down.
I got told it was wrong to try and control her, wrong to try and separate them, etc. etc. etc. Finally she blocks his number and he calls from a separate number. I turn off her SIM card because I’m not gonna support her going behind my back in my own home. He calls me and tells me he really loves her and just wishes I’d accept it.
I tell him very plainly I will never, ever accept it because it all stemmed from him, her, and my wife going behind my back. Primarily my wife, as she’s the only one of the three I should be able to trust is telling me the truth.
At this point, I feel as if my wife had an emotional affair, although it’s with her own family. She repeatedly chose to go behind my back, against a boundary I had told her repeatedly before this situation at my friend’s wedding after party ever transpired. If that’s not an emotional affair, I don’t know what is.
So I tell him bluntly to not call me anymore and I’m not going to change my stance, and his feelings don’t mean shit to me. He started to give me a sob story about how we’re friends and he I should be happy for him and I cut him off and told him to save his breath.
My wife is upset at me for how I talked to him. Another emotional affair. Trying to protect the feelings of this dude.
The next day, while my wife is at work I’m eating lunch at our dinner table and studying schoolwork her sister comes to the table and starts talking to me about this guy asking if I talked to him and I tell her plainly I did and what I told him.
She goes into a story about how she really loves him, she’s an adult woman and I shouldn’t be intervening etc. I told her I agree I shouldn’t ever have been involved and neither should my wife. I told her to save her breath with any talk of her feelings because I don’t care. She started crying telling me I’m cruel etc.
I told her at this point I’m done being nice. I’ve been lied to for 2 years and it’s over. I’m done being my laid back self and I’ve been pushed repeatedly and I’m standing up for my marriage and my boundaries.
I did turn her SIM card back on so she could call my wife and I, her hosts.
The next morning I wake up to my wife in tears calling me to her sisters room. Her sister is bawling her eyes out and packing her bags to go home. I talk her sister into coming for a car ride with my wife and I to talk things out.
Immediately in the car my wife starts berating her sister about how she’s selling her for a man and a whole host of other things. I calm my wife down and tell her that’s not okay to say to her sister. Because against what they thought I don’t want and would’ve never wanted this to cause a separation between them. I know how much my wife values family.
In the car her sister tells me she really loves this guy and that she can see them being a family one day etc. etc. etc. I tell her plainly don’t ever bring him around my house, if they do marry and have kids, don’t ever bring them around my house, and don’t consider me her brother in law because I will never do anything for her again after she goes home.
My wife is shocked, she’s shocked and they both wonder how I could be so cruel. I said I’m over it. I’m over hearing about this guy, I’m over being used, and I will never again trust her. She said she understands and resumes talking to this guy.
A few days later we’re in the car going to a family event with my family and I get asked if he can come. I said no, very politely. I said no, he’s not part of my family. I was told how terrible I am, and my wife and her sister both jump out of my car in a bad part of Chicago, an area neither of them know.
My wife calls my family and tells them I kicked them out of the car. So my family starts blowing up my phone screaming at me. Once I explained the situation my family said they’ll come pick them up but I hung around and kept driving by to make sure they were okay. Eventually my wife calls me and says they’ll get in.
So I pull over and they open the doors and my wife goes “I’m scared I don’t feel comfortable getting in the car with you”. So I drive away pissed off. This is a 85,000 car in a bad part of the city where carjackings happen every other day.
I go park somewhere but keep an eye on them to make sure they stay safe. A homeless guy passed them and my wife calls me to come get her. So I do and we go home.
Again her sister packs her shit and cries that she’s going home. I tell her to relax, sleep on it and we’ll talk in the morning. She does eventually and in the morning she decides she’ll stay.
A week goes by and I hear nothing about this guy from her. My friends and I all joked about him and made light fun of him. He caught wind of it and cried to my wife’s sister who told my wife, who came to me and aggressively told me to stop and leave them both alone. I got pissed off because this was a private convo between me and my friends and if he heard it and got his feelings hurt it’s on him.
This spiraled into a huge argument with me, my wife, and her sister. In the argument I asked her sister plainly if she planned to leave at the 90 day mark. She said no.
So I kicked her out of our house. Her and my wife went for a walk and I yelled out the front door to get her shit to the curb before the walk before I do, because if she doesn’t do it herself it’ll be thrown on the wet ground. They both thought I was joking before then I assume. Her sister comes in and packs her stuff and gets out. I said if you plan on staying here illegally it won’t be in my house. If the choose is between here or the streets, it’ll be the streets.
She went to stay with the boyfriend and his parents. His parents must not have liked her too much because within a couple weeks they made them both move out.
This was in January of this year.
Since then, I’ve been repeatedly goaded into accepting this. My wife has tried to get me to visit her sister, etc.
It came to a head recently at a wedding we went to for another friend. Her sister and this guy were there. I didn’t say a word to either one the entire night and all was fine.
Except my wife spent the whole night at their table because he wouldn’t dance or do anything to have fun. She can’t handle the idea that her sister might find something she doesn’t like about this guy. She has to be there just in case the relationship goes on life support.
This pisses me off, obviously. She’s more invested in their relationship than she’s been in ours for the past 2 years. Grown adults.
Well, today she was going to her sisters house. She had 2 bags. An ulta bag and a discovery bag. I asked what that is, and she said it’s for her sister. She pulled out taco shells and said it’s just small stuff she wants her to try. But I could see through the bag and saw beauty products. I’m not an idiot.
I looked in when she went to the bathroom and saw a fucking armoire full of shit. I looked at the receipt. $300. I was fucking livid.
I continued getting ready for work and said “her husband can’t buy her that?”. It’s confrontational, yes. But I said it politely, and was open to talking about it.
I get met with immediately hostility. I never raised my voice but I made it very clear I wasn’t being nice about this or anything anymore.
I told her “maybe she could pay you back and find you a new husband”. I’m going to give her a choice. Me or her sister now. Because this has gotten fucking ridiculous.
We pay for her to come here. She hired an immigration lawyer apparently, but doesn’t have money to pay me back for the flight or even pay for the Ubers they take or anything. My wife is trying to make up for this losers shortcomings. He’s too much of an idiot to see that her sister is using him.
By the way, this isn’t her first fiance. It’s not even her first western fiance. She’s been engaged to at least 3 different guys. One from France, another from Belgium, and a third from Canada before this guy. She was looking to immigrate. He’s a fucking idiot though so, oh well.
My wife’s sister is very materialistic. My wife is fortunately down to earth but is so far up her sisters ass because she thinks if she doesn’t do everything her sister wants that her sister will cut her from her life again. Which is exactly what would happen.
I told her that’s on her sister. I’m not asking her to never talk to her sister. I’m asking her to stop treating her sister like she’s a child and putting their relationship before ours. Stop bending over backwards for a grown woman who will throw you away the moment you’re inconvenient.
But it’ll never happen it seems and it’s the reason I’m strongly considering divorcing her. I’m over this fucking shit. Oh, and by the way, my wife claims that she’s scared of me etc. now when she tells the story to other people.
I have never and would never hit my wife. I’ve never given her any reason to be afraid of me. So to put that out there on me is absolutely fucking bullshit and I’ve lost all trust in her.
AITAH?

I'm 15, nearly 16 in just a month and I'm getting that sensation of regret.
It's happened very recently, right after I've suffered with my first break up. I had a long distance relationship with someone for 8 months, I was really happy and hopeful for once in my miserable life and then we broke up.
For context, I'm that silent depressed student that spent most of the time alone in school and considered themselves "anti social"
And guess what? Living like that, hurts. It hurts so much and I regret every day I was like that. Ofcourse I don't nessisary blame myself for it, looking back it made sence. (For more information I was diagnosed with autism since the age of 11)
I remember first starting year 7 in 2019, and that's when everything broke. Sudden everyone was so different, swearing, making horrible jokes, and ofcourse the change in school life. I couldn't take it, I refused to socialise with groups and I spent my time alone. This got even easier when covid hit and I spent a long time in quarantine.
So I've spent the whole of my middle school years as this anti social loner freak. I grew my hair out to hide my face cause I consider myself ugly, and through the years my depression grew worse and worse.
So that's how it was, and I regret it all. I regret being such an anti social severely depressed freak. Ever since my break up, I've had such an urge to socialise and be around people. But the damage has already been done, everyone sees me for how I was for so long. And sure, I'm only gonna be in middle school for afew more weeks and then gcses will be finished, but I just can't help but feel so regretful. I wasted my teenage hood.
And you know what? I used to be pretty social when I was young, there were signs of what was to come ofcourse but overall I was a social kid. Then I remember experiencing something, something that might have started the domino effect for this growth into such an anti social person
That "something" was when, around about age 8-10, I witnessed my drunk stepdad yank a baby gate from its hinges and slam it down only the floor in a rage in our home. I remember going to my nannas that night and thinking my mother was gonna get hurt or worse. It was at that point that I began to distance myself vaguely, it was when I realised how you can't trust people. And I think that was the beginning of the end for me
So yeah, I regret alot of how I've been for the past 5 years. I regret alot of it, and I just can't help but feel so empty and disappointed. I can only hope for the future I guess