Hi All - I'm Greg. I'm a bit new to the group and have been deeply moved by many of your stories. I founded a women's health startup with a mission to modernize and democratize women's healthcare while promoting health care equality.
A loved one of mine was diagnosed with late stage deep-infiltrating endometriosis and adenomyosis several years ago (two surgeries and now taking hormone therapy to control recurrence). When I learned about her patient journey, marked by severe pelvic pain and a decade-long wait for a diagnosis, I was frustrated (but not surprised) by the ongoing challenges women face in getting accurate diagnoses (or even being taken seriously) by healthcare providers. Our initial goal is to develop a non-invasive blood test for endometriosis to reduce the time to diagnosis and improve patient quality of life.
As part of our pilot, we need your help - we are looking to recruit 5 healthy donors over the upcoming month in either the SF Bay Area or Boston. We would be collecting menstrual effluent samples using a menstrual cup. Donors will be compensated $150 for their participation.
If you or someone you know might be interested, please message me and I will be happy to provide more details and answer any questions you may have. Thank you so much for your help!
Additional details: We need to test our antibodies to ensure they detect the cells of interest prior to collecting peripheral blood (from the patient's arm) from endometriosis patients. To do this, we need 5 menstrual effluent samples. These initial samples will NOT be from donors with endometriosis (they are controls). We have established an approved IRB protocol that permits us to collect samples and would provide all donors with all necessary information about our work along with informed consent forms. We also will ensure patient privacy and data de-identification (with respect to protected health information). We can provide written documents ensuring all of this. Once we have completed this step, there may be additional opportunities to provide standard blood samples at a later point.
Thanks so much for your help!

Hey folks, I'm looking for a rather niche request.
Some people the old days of Everquest 2 (veterans of EQ1 can laugh at the use of "old days" here, but time marches ruthlessly onward, I'm afraid) will remember the starting area, Queen's Colony.
This was before a lot of the QOL and rebrands to make it similar to World of Warcraft, the game started like this:
After character creation, you found yourself on this island. Basic, calm, pretty. You'd answer a question: Were you a Fighter, Scout, Mage, or Priest?
You'd answer. And that was that.
No immediate prestige classes, no immediate class-thematic armor set. Just some robes, leathers, or modest armor. No secret powers, no other chosen-one progression systems.
You'd make your way to this tower at the center that had any relevant NPCs for buying and selling some things, learning how to become a woodcutter, or blacksmith, what have you.
Beyond the walled ring were fields dominated by goblins, and you'd make your way out in little excursions, by yourself or with whoever else was in the area, doing the similarly modest quests nearby, before returning to the safety of the walls to sell your things, maybe buy a new woodcutting axe, etc.
I was probably thirteen or fourteen years old.
I'd say a good 85% of the core of this memory is because, to a 13 year old who's parents are yelling in the other room, progressing your little life on Queen's Colony was an entirely new life.
But I do think a good 15% of that experience was the cumulative environment created by that starting area, and the feeling of all those details I mentioned.
I'm writing this post for a few reasons. One, does anyone else remember this? Is the (admittedly decent) venn diagram between progression fantasy fans and old EQ2 players large enough to snag anyone who knows what I'm talking about?
Second, I'm a writer myself, and want to hear about anything that evoked this feeling for you. That might be your version of EQ2, or your commisseration, your stories, what you like in a novel, etc.
Which leads me to my third point: I'd love any book recs to read that sound like a good fit for what I want. Not for professional writer reasons or anything, just to enjoy on a personal level.
Anyway, thanks for reading, thanks for the commiseration, or recommendations, or what have you.

Hello!
Since 2022, my employer is sending me regularly in missions of about one week all around the USA.
I'm from France and heavily influenced by american culture and my recent trips in US turns me even more in love for the american culture and way of life.
But I reckon that I still lack a lot of the unspoken US cultural customs that would help me feel less foreign when I'm visiting the land of the free.
If you have some kind of ressources that could help with that, it'd be much appreciated. Books, podcasts, YouTube channels and whatnots, give me all you have, I'm not picky.
I know that in time I'd finally get a lot of things that I don't right now. But I don't spend that much time in US (about 5 weeks for 2024 probably) and I'd love to make the most of it and speeding up the process of feeling less awkward in my interactions with you all.
Thanks for your help!

The Other Eye of the Serpent:

In which the heresiarch Cygnifer attempts to resolve certain mysteries of Lightning.
Cygnifer considers Lightning to be 'the division, the connection, the joined serpent. The Serpent's Eye is said to be the Sun - but as the division and connection, it must have a second Eye.
Cygnifer considers and rejects, three times, the hypothesis that the Moon is the Serpent's other eye, insisting that it and the Sun do not share a nature. (This, as much as the Serpent business, is what got him burnt by the Church.) He proposes that the Serpent's teeth are towers, that the Serpent's mouth is a gate, that the Serpent is the 'devourer of Ys'... and 'therefore' that the Serpent's other eye is amber.

There is only one Hour that is refered to as Amber: The Watchman. He is Amber due to his triple origin: Part remains of the Egg Unhatching, part the Unwise Mortal and part Light of Glory.
This eye business may refer to who is the Sun in The House of the Sun. In the times of the Gods-from-Stone the sun was Red and Low, who is most likely the Egg Unhatching. The Chiliarch's Victory':

The environment is a chilly desert beneath a low red sun. On closer inspection, the brighter patches seem to be golden blood, seeping from vast wounds.

Then the Sun was the Sun-in-Splendour. But since its Division The Watchman is the Sun, Lifting Fifth Eye Curse:

When the sun was always red and low, we needed all our eyes. Now, Glory enters mercilessly if we open them unwisely.'

Also if you look at the Sun during a sunny day you will notice it has the Watchman's eye. Mystery solved, the book makes sense. Leave now if you want.
I am not reponsible if the next part gives a fascination. Also you need to already have 2 to understand it.
What the hell is the Joined Serpent?
Let's think, who are the Serpents in the Lore and how are they tied to Light?
Worms: The Serpents which are not Serpents. Very unlikely, Lantern can be used to avoid their curse and they are not Serpents. In addition Worms are numerous while there is one Joined Serpent.
Great Hooded Princes: Unlikely given that they Worship the Key-Serpent, the Crossroads-Twins and the Mirror-Queen, (Twin Serpent Tantra). And again they are numerous, not one.
Seven-Coils: The Hour is dead, it has been dead long before the Watchman rose. I don't think it's him. And he has no known connection to Light.
Mother-of-Ants: She is not a Serpent, she is the Older Sister but not a Serpent herself. She also lacks connection to Light.
That's it then? The mystery goes on. No, because here is when I pull the rug. There is one more Hour, one who has the symbol of a Joined Serpent, one who has ties with Ys and one who has a connection with light, and that is pretty much all we know about them. That is Hour XXI, The Giribrago.
Joined Serpet: His Tatot Card has a snake eating its tail, often called Ouroboros.
Caer Ys: The Giribrago sponsors the Rose endings in Book of Hours. This endings are about building the City Unbuilt (Refuge from Eternity) in Ys.
Light: The Weather Factory description of The Giribrago is: "He contains; he brings gifts; he does not destroy. He bursts forth from the mountain. He is the Shard, the Leak, the Remnant, the Wound, the Diamond." Alongside it a photo of Jabal al-Nour, a well-known real-world mountain whose Arabic name means "Mountain of the Light". And he had the unofficial name "The Second Egg".

He bursts forth from the mountain.

This is a curious one because there is a type of Lightning that goes Ground-to-Cloud.
So what does it mean? Currently not much, I think. The best I can come up with is that: If The Giribrago is the Devour of Ys, but he also "contains and does not destroy", does it mean it's the guardian Hour of Ys? Hours in general do not like Ys, the city is a threat to them. They would have eliminated it unless it was protected.
Perhaps there is lore that can provide more info but I couldn't find many mentions of lightning. The best I could find was a text that connects mountains lightning and the Division, The Vinzant Inscriptions:

Everett Vinzant transcribed these from a cliff in Anatolia, where he famously survived a lightning-strike. He died seven years later to the day. His bones, the legend has it, were hot to the touch.
Long ago, the Sisterhood of the Knot recounted, the Forge loved the Hour called the Sun-in-Splendour. The Red Grail long anticipated their union, and the Grail-priestesses prophesied it...
The remainder of the text consists of gloating remarks by the Grail-priestesses of the Shaping that will come, interpolated with warnings and laments from those of the Sisterhood who serve the Ring-Yew and especially the Horned Axe. Nevertheless, an invocation to the Forge is included as part of an attempt to urge it onwards.

So a mystery is solved and another is open. In the future we should look for mentions of joined serpents/Ouroboros, and lightning.

The Catholic Church has stood firm for the past two thousand years, in spite of persecution, wars, schisms, dangerous heresies, secularization, and even the failings of her own members.
“The Church is one great movement animated by the Holy Spirit, a river that travels through history to irrigate the world with God’s grace and make it full of life, goodness, beauty, justice and peace.” – Pope St. John Paul II

I guess I fit into the metalhead/alternative category, so I’d love to make friends with a similar aesthetic too if possible, although I’m open to being friends with anyone.
My main hobbies and interests include photography, Warhammer, tattoos (if that qualifies), reptiles/amphibians (although I don’t have any yet), photography gaming and some exercising while listening to metal, drinking coffee, going out for walks and some cosplay. I also like to read and write when I have the time and inspiration. I also haven’t been to the cinema for a long time so that’s a thing I’d be up for doing too, or just going out and having a good time in general. Would also be interested in learning Magic The Gathering if anyone plays that. I also have a PS5 so gaming buddies would be appreciated too.
If any of this sounds interesting, definitely send me a message.

I (F24) have been in a on and off toxic relationship with my ex (M24) for 2 years and i’m 99.9% sure we are trauma bonded. He has cheated on me, lied, disrespected, used, and manipulated me more times that i can count since knowing him. I’ve walked out many times and i still go back because im lonely and NEED the feeling of being loved. Towards the end of our relationship I cheated. I was sick of everything that he has put me through and I wanted to feel good for one night. I told him the next day, he was upset but still wanted me to stay cause he believed it was his “karma”. At that point it was better off just me leaving for good so i can do whatever i want but i didn’t. I still don’t know if i love him or i just love the high the relationship gives me. It’s been slowly ruining my life, my school and my job. We are not together but we are still in contact and he claims he still “loves me”… While i’m talking to him i’m talking to other men who give me the satisfaction that i’m looking for, love. I fought to feel loved by my ex. I know how to let him go im just really terrified on how life will be without him. I want to stop talking to men just to fill the void. I want to stop focusing and hunting for love when i know i could give it to myself. Before i cheated back on my ex i was a lover girl, i was honest and dedicated my time and life to him and all i got in return was stress and tears and it lead me to be this disparate sad woman.

These are the questions we have been trying to answer ever since we as a species first evolved the ability to ask such questions.
Let us first briefly consider our ability to voice those questions and how is it we can formulate any questions at all. There has been some discussion recently on how we in essence 'hallucinate' our reality. While this is true to a large degree, it would be more accurate to say that we 'read' our reality. We process the stimulus we receive from external world and then transform it into language through the neural dynamics found in our cortical thalamic complex.
As we develop and mature our cortical/thalamic complex gradually creates a VR type experience for our consciousness, so gradually we no longer see what arrives at our eyes but rather is what is constructed from the direct sensory experience in the occipital lobe of the cortex - our visual center. By the time we are adults our awareness can no longer directly perceive the external world. It can only see and hear the reprocessed reality as it is reconstructed from direct sensory stimulus, in our cortex. As adults we never see the outside world. We don't see the mountain. We only see the image of a mountain created in our visual cortex. Only when we encounter something that cannot be fit into any existing linguistic category do we see it before filtering and reconstruction within cortical visual centers.
We linguistically interpret and assign meaning to raw stimulus within our cortex which determines our subsequent response and behaviors. Under normal conditions if what we are experiencing cannot be translated into our existing vocabulary then we cannot act coherently and we will either freeze up or become completely uninhibited and out of control. The parsing of external reality into language is a reflex and it is normally beyond our ability to perceive this neurological process as it is occurring.
The answers to the nature of life, why we are born and die and how we can ask such things all lead to the same place and if one question is answered then all of them will be. Therefore I will begin with the nature of life itself. I will use one of the tools that western science adopted early in its history and that is dissection. Lets first dissect life and look at it in the detail that has been revealed throughout the hundreds of years we have been using this tool.
The first medical dissections were performed at the University of Salerno in about the 12 century. Now all these years later we have dissected much and we now have little pieces of everything lying around everywhere. Now we are dissecting some very large things and some very small things. Dissection reveals information contained or hidden beneath the perceptual paywall of physical boundaries like the biological membrane of the cell, or an organ like our skin or the boundaries of the earths gravity. What we see in the modern world is the result of centuries of dissection and reassembly.
Now after all the thousands of years of humans history there is one item that has been produced more times than any other single thing made by humans and their ancestors...transistors. Most people have no idea what this item is or how it works yet humans have made more of it than anything else by orders of magnitude. These things also require more electrical energy than anything else ever mass produced by humans to perform their function as intended. This is a result of a history of dissection and reassembly without any underlying worldview or morality to guide the technological exploitation of the discoveries uncovered through the process of dissection and analysis.
Now at the pinnacle of our evolution we have completely remade ourselves and the world and the results appear to be anything but enlightening and emancipating. We have server farms that are using the energy of a small city and space tourism is well on its way. Unfortunately during our history of dissection we have ignored certain things discovered that do not support the underlying ideology motivating our technological innovations. The problem hasn't been in the scientific process but in what aspects of what we have discovered that have been followed up and not relegated to the the dark shelves of history and ignored. Our cultures idea of progress and evolution as a driving force of nature may be entirely misplaced and as 'superstitious' as any of the other antiquated views our culture has abandoned and transcended along the way.

The long delay in accepting the evidence of developmental neuronal death has been regarded as an historical enigma. Here is how the puzzle may now be solved.
Nineteenth-century biologists saw that development has an overriding telos, a direction and a gradual approach to completion of the embryo, and also saw a terminal regression and final dissolution of the adult; but a fallacy arose when the progression and regression, which coexist from early development, were separated in their minds.
Development was conceived in terms of progressive construction, of an epigenetic program—from simple to more complex. For every event in development they attempted to find prior conditions such that, given them, nothing else could happen.
The connections and interdependencies of events assure that the outcome is always the same. Such deterministic theories of development made it difficult to conceive of demolition of structures as part of normal development, and it was inconceivable that construction and destruction can occur simultaneously. It became necessary to regard regressive developmental processes as entirely purposeful and determined. For example, elimination of organs that play a role during development but are not required in the adult or regression of vestigial structures such as the tail in humans were viewed as part of the ontogenetic recapitulation of phylogeny. Regression in those cases is determined and is merely one of several fates: cellular determination may be either progressive or regressive.
The idea of progress in all spheres, perhaps most of all in the evolution and development of the vertebrate nervous system, has appealed to many thinkers since the 18th century. Such ideas change more slowly than the means of scientific production; thus new facts are made to serve old ideas. That is why the history of ideas, even if it does not exactly repeat itself, does such a good job of imitation.
In the realm of ideas held by neuroscientists, the idea of progressive construction, of hierarchically ordered programs of development, has always been dominant over the idea of a plenitude of possibilities, from which orderly structure develops from disorderly initial conditions by a process of selective attrition.
DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROBIOLOGY Fourth Edition Edited by MAHENDRA S. RAO MD and MARCUS JACOBSON (Page 396).

How revolutionary could be the idea that there is a plenitude of possibilities, from which orderly structure develops from disorderly initial conditions by a process of selective attrition. The universe is not learning, experimenting, progressing, evolving and neither are we. The universe is already full of a 'plentitude of possibilities' and it already is what it is and is already all it will ever be... as are we. Whatever it is we think we are observing it is not progress or evolution in any sense of the word but is rather the processes of 'selective attrition'. The universe is something else much more and we are a part of it and need to look no further than within our selves since we are also part of that 'fabric' of the universe. Humans are not standing atop the pyramid of life but we are only one of many different morphological manifestations of the natural processes of 'selective attrition' which find us only different and in no way better than the other morphological and metabolic forms and components of the earths biosystem and its holobionts.
The processes of attrition affects 2 vectors in the realization of a particular existence from a plentitude of possibilities. In order for life and consciousness to exist in the earths biosystem 2 vectors must work together to maintain a fragile stasis between reoccurring periods of geological instability. These vectors influence morphology and metabolism. Morphology is influenced and regulated by viruses and that still ill defined aspect of our biological reality they represent. Multicellular metabolism is regulated and influenced by chromosomal and nucleic genetics. When the environment changes then the viral component of the tree of life induces morphological changes in the life forms currently inhabiting the biosphere. Within the nucleus of the cell the genetic code is changed now producing biological forms that after development have the metabolism to exist in the new environment. Life consciousness has within it already all the plentitude of possibilities needed to exist in many different potential worlds and it doesn't need to evolve as it is already capable of arising in almost any conditions. Look at the many amazing ways that nature is already incorporating plastics into its ecology.
Unfortunately for us, our ill fated venture into space has triggered processes of attrition between these 2 vectors that are now adapting the morphology and metabolism of the earths biome in response to the time many of its lifeforms have already spent living in a gravity free environment. The different forms of life we have have brought too and from a gravity free environment are also changing. Switching from a model based on evolution and progress to one based on a preexisting plenitude of possibilities may affect the statistical significance of our predictive models. If we are not progressing and evolving towards something then what exactly is it we are doing with all our technologies but creating the conditions for our own morphological extinction?
The human species is an embodiment of the force of attrition in nature. As a species we have introduced a plentitude of possibilities into the biosphere by reshaping ourselves and our environment through our behaviors and in doing so we have fulfilled our biological function. The model is no longer based on the idea of progress so our behavior as a species need no longer be seen as progressive but as simply transformative. The organisms with the largest genomes are creatures like amoebas and lungfish which could be considered as very important gatekeepers and librarians of the biological information accumulated from eons of harvesting 'information' from an ever changing plentitude of biological possibilities. This information is stored within many levels of biosystem and are all connected by the viral ocean in which the overall biosystem is immersed.
It is creatures like these along with long living organisms like trees and fungi that are at the heart of the biosystem while the human species seems doomed to be little more than a brief biological storm arising and passing away in but a few minutes of geological time. We are no longer talking about a universe born from simplicity and its slow progression towards consciousness of which we are the ultimate manifestation.
Consciousness is the fundamental universal force that gives rise to the biological reality we inhabit. Most everything around us has consciousness and it flows through the underlying fabric of our existence via 'fields' generated by metabolic life, much like how electricity moves along a wire...flowing via the field surrounding the wire and not really within the wire itself. It is what is perceiving the perceptual experience created within the cartesian theatre of our human mind. It is the cortical thalamic complex that creates the unique type of perceptual experience that humans have. There is nothing unique about human consciousness only our perceptual experience. The human experience does not represent any type of progression or evolution of consciousness along an evolutionary timeline.
The only thing modern humans bring to the table is their own unique type of perceptual experience which is initiating behaviors that results in biological information that will find its way throughout the biome and will be stored for eons to come and long after we as a species are gone. The introduction of plastics into the ecology represents a new type of information that the natural biological world is already starting to use in many creative and unexpected ways.

The study of the basic philosophies or ideologies of scientists is very difficult because they are rarely articulated. They largely consist of silent assumptions that are taken so completely for granted that they are never mentioned. The historian of biology encounters some of his greatest difficulties when trying to ferret out such silent assumptions; and anyone who attempts to question these "eternal truths" encounters formidable resistance.
In biology, for hundreds of years, a belief in the inheritance of acquired characters, a belief in irresistible progress and in a scala naturae, a belief in a fundamental difference between organic beings and the inanimate world, and a belief in an essentialistic structure of the world of phenomena are only a few of the silent assumptions that influenced the progress of science. Basic ideological polarities were involved in all of the great controversies in the history of biology, indicated by such alternatives as quantity vs. quality, reduction vs. emergence, essentialism vs. population thinking, monism vs. dualism, discontinuity vs. continuity, mechanism vs. vitalism, mechanism vs. teleology, statism vs. evolutionism, and others. Lyell's resistance to evolutionism was due not only to his natural theology but also to his essentialism, which simply did not allow for a variation of species "beyond the limits of their type." Coleman (1970) has shown to what large extent Bateson's resistance to the chromosome theory of inheritance was based on ideological reasons.
One can go so far as to claim that the resistance of a scientist to a new theory almost invariably is based on ideological reasons rather than on logical reasons or objections to the evidence on which the theory is based.
The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance ERNST MAYR(Page 835).

What do we see when we look at a lion feeding on a fresh kill that is still alive while being eaten? Or a grizzly bear keeping its prey alive for days as it eats it? How about a herd of orca's slowly killing a blue whale? We look away in horror and disgust because we have no idea what it is we are actually observing. Our everyday perceptual experience provides no insight into what is actually happening as this untamed savagery unfolds before us. We have no words for the world as it really is since we very rarely ever perceive it as it really is before being processed and recreated in the cortical thalamic complex. That is what we see and we do not see the outside world as it really is.
A lion consuming a deer is not unlike 2 galaxies colliding. When one animal eats another 2 very large populations of trillions of separate and specialized cellular organisms merge together combining all their biological information as it is being generated in real time. This biological material is processed within the lion and then the viral components and other transgenic organisms move this information between different creatures picking up bits of information and moving it around the biome to be integrated into existing info and/or stored for later retrieval and integration. Very little information is lost when the biosystem is working correctly. When it is not working properly then much information can be permanently lost very quickly. We see this as viruses mutate as they pick up new pieces as the processes of recombination unfold. In times of biological instability plagues are common as insects and rodents are very effective means of consuming this biological information before it is lost due to factors such as changing climatic conditions producing famine. The goal is not evolution or progress but the maintenance of a repository of biological information that allows the biosystem to self regulate its morphology and metabolism. If the organisms that act as gatekeepers, storehouses and librarians are lost then the whole biosystem will collapse.
It the the fundamental energy of consciousness as it 'flows' through metabolic life that powers the biosphere. Earths metabolism and morphology may not look like anything resembling how morphology and metabolism may arise elsewhere in the universe. Unusual organic molecules are being found in the atmosphere of Titan. One such molecule has only been previously found in interstellar clouds. As these molecules break down fairly quickly something must be producing or metabolizing them to maintain their presence in atmosphere. Like electromagnetism if consciousness is also a fundamental force then we can expect it to be active in many different environments.
The nature of consciousness as I am describing it gives rise to one quality that would make space travel somewhat irrelevant. This quality is also behind much of the fuss and importance that humans have made about different types of 'spiritual' experience from their earliest beginnings. Our consciousness is not attached to our own perceptual experience but can move freely between all the perceptual experiences arising anywhere in the universe right now. Every point on the torus is connected to every other point. The perceptual experience of the lion and the deer can be experienced and perceived through the shared dynamics of our own metabolic entanglements as we are all made from the same stuff. It is the 'one topology' suggested to exist in Velinde's and Hooft's model of entropic gravity and the cellular automaton. Morphology is the universal vector for perceptual experience. Metabolism is the universal vector for consciousness.
Biological organisms produce heat/entropy. Think about how significant it is that life can live in external temps well below its own internal heat. Metabolic cellular processes are producing this heat. Biological organisms are not unlike little suns with their ability to produce internal heat. Our bodies are literally made up of trillions of little suns. From metabolism/consciousness arises morphology/perceptual experience. The positive energy generated by the activities of morphological organisms, each with their own spectrum of perceptual experience, counters the negative heat energy of the many metabolic states of consciousness which permeate the universe. When an organism is producing more entropy than the system can absorb that organism is removed or reabsorbed and replaced with one whose metabolism is in balance with rest of biome. When there is too much entropy things like the 'time-reversal of a phenomenon occurring naturally' are no longer available as part of our perceptual experience or vocabulary. Invariably most spiritual practices inadvertently result in the production of less entropy or in the balancing and stabilization of existing entropic forces.
The shamans of old may of been much more in tune with things then we give them credit for. It is a shame that most of their languages and way of life are gone. Like the American Indian I hold the view that the animals and plants around us are our older brothers and sisters and we should learn from them, take our place beside them and not seek to dominate and control but to share the world with them. We have become a species of attrition and seem incapable anymore of transcending our own nature. We cannot help but destroy what we cannot dominate and now we have turned on each other as there is very little left in the natural world for us to conquer. We are no more aware of what we are doing than the couple of meteorites that changed life forever for the dinosaurs. Maybe as Emerson suggested we have learned to ride in a carriage and lost the use of our legs while our giant follows us everywhere.

TW for sexual, physical, medical, emotional, and religious abuse, childhood sa, suicidal ideation, and self harm
This past week has been incredibly difficult due to that holiday so I decided it would be good for me to write a letter to my nmom to keep for myself during my healing process to get everything out and it's been very cathartic. Part of my healing journey has been sharing my (extremely personal) experience with others who understand, hence why I'm sharing this here, and maybe it'll give someone some strength knowing that I made it out after all of this. I hope everyone was kind to themselves this week and was able to treat this holiday as a holiday for themselves for surviving their nmoms!
Dear mom, Happy belated Mother’s Day. My Mother’s Day was spent being upset and anxious so I decided to write this letter. This letter is so incredibly difficult to write and even more difficult to read back to myself. Moving away from university and back home during COVID was genuinely one of the most difficult things I have done in my life simply because of all of the repressed memories that flooded back into my brain every single day I was in that house. I used to resent the pandemic for forcing me to live in an environment that made me want to harm myself every single day and die every other day, but I am now thankful for the clarity that it brought me as I don’t think I’d have the foresight that I have now.
There is a lot that I want to say. I am angry, bitter, resentful, and traumatized from things that you have done to me as a child and also as an adult. I thought for a very long time that thing were normal but thank God I now know just how truly fucked up so many of my childhood experiences were. Not a single day goes by where I don’t think about the emotional, physical, and sexual abuse that I went through. I am haunted every single day by things that you did (and some things that you didn’t do) and hope that one day I will be able to heal from what I experienced.
I grew up being close to my cousin Chloe (a year younger than me) who was obviously very bitchy, mean, and abusive. This fact isn’t something you weren’t aware of as I know a fully grown adult would be able to see how she treated and talked to me when around you and come to the obvious conclusion that I should not have been allowed to be around her. She bullied me, called me names, physically assaulted me by pushing me, pulling my hair, and sitting on me with my hands held behind my back until I couldn’t breathe, forced me to bathe in scolding hot bath water that would burn my skin, making me undress and make fun of parts of my body, and forced me to watch things that she knew would scare me. This is the same time that I started having insomnia and struggled in school due to anxiety. It’s also the same time I remember my sound sensitivity starting. Do you remember my childhood friend’s mom Amelia and how protective she was over my friend, Diana? Diana met Chloe at my 9th birthday party and Diana went over to her house for a playdate and Chloe did something to her. She physically reached over and groped Diana on the privates. I knew Amelia IMMEDIATELY prevented her daughter from ever being around Chloe again. I also knew that it's possible she mentioned this to my aunt, but I'm not positive. I know that Amelia is the type of mom to prevent Diana from reading Harry Potter because she thought it was a bad influence on her due to being “demonic”, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she made you aware of what Chloe did to Diana as she knew that I spent a lot of time around her. I doubt that what Chloe did to Diana was ever kept a secret from you. Chloe also forced me to do sexual things I didn’t want to do from roughly the ages of 8-11. One time, we were in her kitchen and she pulled out a knife and said that she was going to stab me. By then, I knew she just wanted to scare me so when I had no reaction, she put the knife away. I was terrified of what would happen if I said no to her so I went along with whatever she wanted. She would go into the bathroom and tell me to follow, would lock the door, and make me take off my clothes and let her do things to me and forced me to do the same things to her. I used to think that you had NO IDEA about this until I remember you saying the words- “you were an amazing kid and never had any problems until you got a little older. I always wondered if something happened.” Who the fuck says that to their kid???? Yeah, something DID happen and it wouldn’t have happened if you protected me!!!! You fucking idiot!!!! I remember being in our new house and taking a shower with you when I was about 8 (which was VERY inappropriate and should NEVER have happened at all) and saying something that clearly made you uncomfortable. It CLEARLY indicated something was going on. I remember the exact face you made and know that any normal, healthy adult would have done something about it and made sure nothing was happening. They would have made sure I was SAFE, and talked to me about safety, but nothing was said or done. You have failed me many times, but this one is the most painful. Not only will you need to live with the fact that you knew about my abuse and did nothing, but I will have to live with the fact that my mom knew "something happened” and didn’t care about me enough to protect me. I look at my beautiful niece Hallie, and imagine not protecting her like that and want to vomit. I cannot fathom how a mother would have the thought “I wonder if something happened to my daughter to case a massive behavioral change” and NOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT! You didn’t talk to me, never asked me if Chloe was doing anything, or anything at all. If I even had a minor suspicion that something was happening to Hallie, I would IMMEDIATELY do something about it because THAT IS MY JOB as an adult in her life. You failed me and deserve to know that this traumatized me and gave me PTSD. I am NOT autistic, no matter how much you WANT me to be so you can go around and gain sympathy for “having an autistic daughter” rather than owning up to the fact that you caused what “went wrong” with me.
Not only did you not help prevent me from being molested by my cousin, you also added to my sexual trauma by forcing me to use the giant egg monistat insert to treat a yeast infection when I was 11. I was ELEVEN and you had a bright idea to force a HUGE foreign object into my prepubescent body even though you were fully aware I could have easily gotten a prescription for a pill to swallow from a doctor. I was scared. I had so much pain and itching and needed a mother to hug me, tell me it’s going to be okay, or at the very least, EXPLAIN what I had and how we were going to fix it. You didn’t do any of that. You told me to lay down and proceeded to try and administer medication that is NOT meant for children 12 and under due to the physical damage it could cause. I was clearly in pain and scared, but you kept trying anyways. At any point, you could have stopped and taken me to the fucking doctor, but nope. You then got frustrated that “you couldn’t get it in” and told your 11 year old daughter to shove it inside herself. Then you left the room. I hadn’t even had a period yet, let alone know where my vagina was but you sure felt the need to yet again abandon your parental responsibilities and place them onto your kid! Miraculously, I put it in and wobbled out to lay on the couch because I was in physical pain from BOTH the infection and YOU, but because a child’s body isn’t able to properly fully insert the medication used (which once again I’ll remind you is meant for girls 13 and up), it came out and got on the couch because you didn’t give me a pad. And rather than prioritize your own daughter’s health, safety, wellbeing, and comfort, you were more upset about the stain on the couch and yelled at me. I will never forget in all of the years that I am alive how ashamed and disgusted I felt standing behind you watching you furiously scrub at the stain that I caused (actually, that YOU caused since this never should have happened in the first place!) and feeling a huge flood of guilt every time I saw that couch stain. One of the best days of my life was when we got a new couch and I never had to see that stain again.
All of this caused me to develop anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and ideation, self harming behaviors, having out of body experiences where I dissociate, and panic attacks amongst other things. YOU caused ALL of this and you fought tooth and nail to convince me that it was MY fault for being broken. “There’s something going on with you,” and you made it your mission to never take any responsibility for any of the trauma that you caused. Not only did you ignore all signs of abuse and sexually assault me yourself, you bullied and helped a family friend Sharon bully me when I was “being mean” to (her daughter) Faith. I was treated like I was a mentally ill monster who couldn’t be trusted and always got in trouble whenever Faith shed a single tear because I was “mean to her”. Faith cried at LEAST 15x a day, and I was blamed every time she decided to say I was the reason. You allowed a monster (Sharon) to ABUSE me and had the incredibly wise idea to start passing along what shit talking you two would say about me TO ME, a 13 year old girl. I was THIRTEEN. I was A CHILD. And yet, you came crying and complaining to me about how tired you were of hearing Sharon say I was being mean to her daughter when you could have TOLD THE OTHER ADULT IN THE SITUATION TO STOP. It never was my responsibility as a child to try and make another adult stop abusing me by “behaving better.” There was nothing wrong with how I was behaving. You never once tried to help me, you always blamed anybody and everybody else for your failures. I would come and ask you for help when I was struggling and if you didn’t care, you would pawn it off to somebody else- “go talk to your older sister” “talk to your therapist about that” “I don’t know what to say except to tell you to pray about it” and when I came back saying praying didn’t magically fix my depression, you told me to pray harder. I guess you really thought it was a skill issue rather than a diagnosable health condition! No wonder I wanted to die! Hahaha! I’ll never forget the look of disgust on your face when I was sobbing hysterically and struggling to get out the words when I told you just how badly I was affected by Sharon and said how you played a role in helping her harm and abuse me. “WELL. I’m SORRY if you think I didn’t protect you enough. I know what that feels like because my parent’s took my sister’s side a few weeks ago when we were having an argument” (as FULLY GROWN 50+ YEAR OLDS arguing and bitching LIKE CHILDREN!) No, mom, it’s not the same. I was a child and not only did you not stop an abuser from harming me, you joined in. You allowed her access to me and you passed along what horrible things she said was wrong with me. “SHARON said she thinks YOU’RE BIPOLAR. Do you think you are?” “Sharon told me that you’re having AN EPISODE and are being mean to Faith! Show me your phone!” Erm? I’m thirteen? What do you expect me to do? “Well, I just don’t understand why you keep bringing this up when it happened so long ago. I just hope you can forgive her and move on.” You’re fucking disgusting. Should I go into detail about how many times I asked you to not interact with Sharon more than you needed to and you proceeded to try and force her into my life more? You KNEW how uncomfortable I was with you attending Faith’s wedding and yet, you cared more about how you looked and not only attended, but hosted both her wedding and wedding shower. I have always wondered why you never cared how I feel until I realized that you prioritize yourself and how you look to other people above anything and everyone. There is a clear pattern of behavior- - When I was 17 and you were berating me at your work for wanting to visit my friend up in Boston to see a concert together because “you just didn’t understand why I’d want to do that” and I started crying. You rolled your eyes and said “you better leave now if you don’t want my next client to see you crying because her appointment is in a few minutes.” You cared more about having your random client seeing me cry and potentially thinking you’re a bad mom than comforting me. - When I was 13 and we were saying our nightly prayer the night that I had my “therapy appointment” (aka, you and my “therapist” chastising me for writing in my diary that I was having suicidal thoughts), when you were praying you said “Dear God, please help (my name)… and… pLEASE HELP ME!!!!” Clearly, YOU were affected more than I was even though I was the one wanting to die because of you. Wow. Your life is so hard! - Telling everyone around you that I “have problems” and am “really struggling” so you can gain an ounce of sympathy. The way that your friends come up and talk to me is baffling. - Laughing about me with my friends in high school when I was out of the room- “hahaha my daughter is sooooo weird hahaha” - When I was 18 and you called my “therapist” (who did NOT get my consent before doing this and violated her ethical guidelines) after I moved out and stopped talking to you, you got her to help you write a list of “rules” to force me to stay in contact with you. They consisted of requiring me to “talk to you, dad, or my sister at least 1x/day” so you “knew that I was safe” aka, you wanted to control me even though I was an adult and not living in your house. I was perfectly safe, and yet you made me sound like I was doing drug deals in the morning, prostituting myself after lunch, and had plans to commit felonies later that night. I went to school, ate, and went back to my apartment. You had no right manipulating me into talking to you by using my therapist, dad, and sister against me. Pathetic. - Telling me to go do my runs on a strange man’s property instead of the road because it’s “safer.” Dad said that this man who I’VE NEVER MET told him that “there are bad people out there who will kidnap her and do horrible things to her, SO INSTEAD she should run on MY property!” Not sketchy or rapey at all, right? And completely dismissing me when I said that made me uncomfortable by saying “my dad knows him”? Lady, do you know any rape statistics? Clearly not, because you’d then know that only 7% of assaults are strangers while 93% are family members or acquaintances. NINETY THREE PERCENT. The amount of times that I’ve mentioned someone made me uncomfortable or had a massive affect on me as a child and you’ve replied with “Oh, well did they touch you?” People don’t have to touch me to traumatize me. You’re pathetic for thinking that.
I’m not mad at Chloe. I don’t feel any anger or ill will towards her at all. She was a child just like I was a child. She was failed more than I was failed. No child acts that way and assaults other children without learning that from somewhere. I blame her parents for what happened to her. I blame YOU for what happened to me. I vividly remember things that my aunt would say the same time this was happening about little girls and their bodies and I want to smash my head against the wall. Children are to be protected above anything and everything else, by you didn’t. Do I hate Faith and think that she’s a bad person because of what happened when we were 13? No. I fully blame you and Sharon. The amount of adults that have failed me in my life keep me up at night. I think about how different my life would be had dad been more involved and seen what was going on and taken me away from you. I am angry with him for that. I dream one day I will be able to sit down with him and tell him everything I have written about and he will hug me, support me, cry with me, and apologize for not being there more to protect me. But who knows, he might defend his child abusing, mentally ill wife and say I’m making up everything. Who knows.
Do you want to know what my sister said when I told her all of this? She apologized to me for not being 15 years older than I am so she could have raised me instead. I want you to sit here and think about how fucked up that is. My own sister wishes she could have taken me away from you so you couldn’t have abused me. I imagine the pressure she must have felt having to grow up while also raising her mother and sister and I sob for her. I’ve sobbed for me for the mental anguish and torture I experienced at your hands. I’ve even sobbed for you because I can’t imagine being even a fraction of how fucked up you are to resort to abusing and neglecting your child- a child you begged to have. A child you had trouble having and prayed for. Embarrassing.
I’m never going to have a relationship with you again. If God is willing, I will never have to interact with you ever again. Saying that phrase “if God is willing” is ironic because you forcing me to pray my problems away rather than helping me led me to not believe in him. How can I believe in something that also neglected me? I’d sit in my dark bedroom night after night praying and sobbing for him to help me. I didn’t know what was happening to me, but I felt broken and alone. I now know that I was a child praying for God to take away my PTSD, and that is not possible. My heart breaks for that child.
You’re a pathetic excuse for a mother and human being. I’m truly shocked that I survived you and your abuse. I’m surprised that I didn’t ever try to kill myself to try and get away from you because you’re a vulture that prays on innocent people. The only important people in your life are people you think will give you something or will make you look good. That’s why you refused to ever cut ties with Sharon, you knew she was sexually abused as a child and you couldn’t POSSIBLY NOT be her friend because you need her to be your “friend,” or rather, your token sexually abused as a child friend. I genuinely hope that you get better and become a normal healthy person but I won’t ever be around to see it. I hope you feel even a fraction of the pain and abandonment that I have felt my entire life. Happy Mother’s Day, but today isn’t Mother’s Day for me, it’s Daughter’s Day. Moving far away from you one month ago has truly saved my life. Instead of trying to survive, I am enjoying my life. I would have died in that house. I get to finally celebrate being away from you and celebrate myself for staying strong and fighting when I could have easily given up. You once told me “you feel like I HATE you!” to guilt me into fawning over you and telling you how much I loved you, but now you get the opposite. I DO hate you and hate how you have permanently changed me and I wish to never see you again. Instead of praying for the “God forsaken, atheist, lost, evil, liar, miserable, spiteful, hateful, disgusting, mentally ill, “autistic” daughter, pray for yourself. Pray for God’s forgiveness for emotionally, medically, physically, sexually, and religiously abusing and neglecting me. You deserve to remain in your "clueless" state of "having NO IDEA what you did wrong to make her stop talking to me!" for the rest of your life.Happy Daughter’s Day.

Hello all. My wife and I received a De’Longhi ECP3630 as a wedding gift in October of last year. Since then, I’ve been making cappuccinos pretty much every day for my wife and myself. I’ve obtained a nice little assortment of gadgets for this hobby during the holiday season (dosing funnel, tamper, WDT tool, puck screen, bottomless portafilter handle which is better than the stock pressurized one that came with machine, little wood organizer for all these things). I have an entry level grinder (Baratza Encore ESP).
I’ve really enjoyed this hobby, and told myself and my wife that if we are still just as obsessed with it 8-12 months later, that I’d upgrade to a nicer machine. Since this machine and most of the stuff I have for it is sized 54mm, I’ll also need to obtain some new gadgets.
I think overall this machine has worked fine for our needs; it’s made some great espresso drinks, but I absolutely hate the steam wand on it. I’ve played around with a couple nicer machines with a more traditional steam wand, and I love the texture of the milk steamed using those more powerful wands. It would also be nice to brew and steam at the same time, but this isn’t a requirement.
Anyways, I’m willing to spend between $1000-2000 to upgrade my current setup. I’m still what I would consider a hobbyist, and am constantly learning more and more about espresso, but it’s essentially part of my every day routine. Would love to hear what you would suggest!

She was the sweetest girl ever and loved everyone. She was always so happy and constantly smiling. I miss her so much and wish that she was sitting here by side with her big ol smile. I think about the what if’s.. what if we did this, what if we did that.. where did we go wrong. Her kidneys failed her and then she stopped breathing when she was getting care. Growing up, I don’t remember all of these health issues with my childhood dog or any dog that I knew. We just miss her and I know my little guy Chico misses her. We lit a candle for her today and reminded her how loved she was and that she is so deeply missed. It bothers me when people say “it’s just a dog”.. no, it’s not just a dog, they’re my family, they’re like my children.. it literally hurts how much I love my furbabies sometimes because it’s such a powerful love. Rest in peace my baby girl, we love you and miss you so much!

So I hope this makes sense... I'm a Libra and have ADHD I know I can fall in love fast and I'm scared. I have reconnected with my bisexuality the past couple years but was not interested in men or any committed relationship really. I was on dating apps to find woman who I could be friends with and talked but just felt so stiff. I've been celibate for 3 years now. I've really been working on myself. I just had my one year review in therapy! I'm finally going to get serious testing for ADHD. I'm getting out of my agoraphobia and applying for work! I'm learning to set boundaries. I love and respect myself more now than I ever have. My social life is booming with positivity for the first time. I feel supported, really supported by others but mainly myself.
Well I've play Call of duty mobile since it came out and after years I found a strong online community. We've all been talking for about 2 months now. I'm so thankful for them! They've all helped me grow so much! It's also my first time talking to lesbians who are so openly... Lesbian lol.
There was this girl (CS) I had already been playing with before we met this group. We never talked but we played fairly often. I got invited to the group and kept inviting CS so we got introduced at the exact same time! We're both shy and started talking because they brought us out of our shells. My point is it's taken time but it's also going really fast. It feels strange. I feel weird about online especially gaming relationships...
She's a Taurus and we're both ruled by Venus. I've never been close to an earth sign like this. We talk about zodiacs alot lol. I found out she liked me pretty quick and I thought she was pretty but still felt celibate, no need for a romantic relationship. Just wanted some girls to get to know... Well I got the know her... We have so much in common and I feel the need to support someone coming back. It got really bad when the group chat was talking about lesbian relationships late one night love / horny music, tik toks, movies, etc. I just felt that longing for love creeping back into my soul hearing her talk about her life, herself and how she loves. We all even talked about exes and trauma the communication was unreal. I was literally scared after though! After I realized I was actually craving a relationship again..It felt like post nut clarity! Lol. It's so strong I'm scared it will take over my life again.. we've been flirting so much. The subliminal and obvious flirting in private messaging is so strong. We sleep and talk on the phone usually in the GC but for the first time alone the past two nights. My heart is heavy in that curious way attraction hits you. The group chat even took the bdsm test together 🤣 and she even calls me "bunny", babe, sweet, etc.
I feel like I'm falling into so many lesbian stereotypes it's painful I mean hell she even lives in another country... Idek why I'm posting this I guess I need to tell someone but don't know who. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I have been very much inspired by bonobo for years and recently I’ve been listening to fragments a lot whilst in recovery after a freak accident . I have found a lot of his music very healing, as mad as that may sound to some, but with having a brain injury from the accident, it can feel like you have a hangover most days and putting his music on really helps with a spinning head 😂 I’ve had to relearn everything and started on a remix of one of Bonobos tracks called Polyghost and it took me a month to make but I’m quite proud of it and would love to know what anyone out there thinks of it too , if bonobo/Simon ever sees this I’d like to ask for permission to put it on YouTube aswell if at all possible, no money will be earned from it or no copyright infringements will be made as that’s not what I intend but from what I’ve researched you need permission first. So I’m trying this as an avenue amongst many to try and get that permission if at all possible, I will also contact the label to see but they’re obviously over run with pests like me 😅 so I’m trying different avenues to try and get a listen or a permission slip 😂 if anybody is any wiser with this kind of subject it would be great to get more info on this :) 🕺🏿 big ❤️ and thank you 🙏 I hope you have a great weekend 🙌👊😎👍
https://on.soundcloud.com/rKQzxqHURZH7dnnLA

FOREWORD

Well, it’s been a hot minute since i posted here. Volume 9 as a whole (especially the last three Chapters) really did a number on my ever dwindling tolerance for this show. I’ve been lurking here ever since.
However, I actually engaged in a recent post asking how people thought the Silver Eyes should’ve been like. So, here’s my (extensively expanded) comment on that topic.

THE SILVER EYES

I always thought it would’ve been far more interesting if the Silver Eyes were conceptually more ‘scientific’. Like, the way to use them isn’t something as bullshit-ey or generic as “the power of love and friendship”, or FRWBY’s “loss of memory”, but that the Silver Eyed Warriors’ eyes had a unique biological property. That being the lens of the eye.
About
When light enters the eye, the lens would refract said light, turning it into the Grimm-atomizing white flash, which would be the only magical aspect to it. The light would then have to be reflected inside the closed eye, which would build up its power and release it by opening them.
Of course, the flash would only go in the direction the Silver Eyed Warrior is facing. Unlike in the show, where it envelops everything around them. It would primarily be used against Grimm (duh), but could also be utilised as a flash-bang on non-Grimm enemies and would have an effect on “Magic”, ie. disintegrating Dust and Maidens.
The Silver Eyes would fully ~manifest~ develop when the person reaches the age of Ruby in Volume 3 (I forgor 💀).
Effectiveness
The effectiveness of the flash would depend on two major, and two minor, factors:
• THE LIGHT SOURCE - Natural light sources (eg. the Sun/Moon rays, flames, lightning, sparks, etc.) would be FAR more effective than artificial ones (flashlights, Scrolls, etc.). Natural light sources would surely atomize Grimm, while the artificial ones would momentarily stun them. On top of that, some natural light sources are more effective than others, namely Sun’s rays being more effective than the Moon’s.
• THE DURATION OF THE REFRACTIONS - The longer the eyes are closed, allowing the light to bounce around more, the stronger the flash will become. This, however, isn’t without its drawbacks (which will be discussed next).
• The effectiveness would also depend on the size of a Grimm. Normal/smaller-sized Grimm would be annihilated, while giant Grimm would only be partially or completely petrified (some permanently, until broken out, and some temporarily).
• Teary eyes could also make the light refraction yield a stronger flash. Why? Because Magic nonsense… and also to explain away why Ruby’s first use severely damaged Cinder.
Uses/Drawbacks
When used for the first time, loss of consciousness and temporary blindness would occur (though the blindness wouldn’t be noticed). Consecutive uses would still cause temporary blindness and headaches.
Like a muscle, the eyes would get used to it after repeated uses and the headaches would cease, while the temporary blindness would remain. With each use the period of blindness would get shorter with the minimum duration being 10 minutes.
Effects on the story
The best example for this section would be the Apathy.
In the show, Ruby actually atomizes some of the Apathy and could’ve done so to the rest if she really wanted to. This removes a lot of the tension from that ordeal because the point was that the girls could only run away due to the Apathy’s scream attacks.
With my changes, Ruby would be unable to do anything more than stunning them by utilizing the artificial light from her Scroll. And even if she opted for that, now she’s not only weakened, but also blinded. Adding more tension.

AFTERWORD

And there you have it.
With these changes, you get a more dynamic overpowered ability that can’t be used whenever and actually forces the Silver Eyed Warrior to account for immediate and long-term strategy when deciding to use them.

The story is about a 30 year old teacher who dies protecting his students from a former student of his. He gets transported in a small village In another world. He takes some time to adapt and accept his current predicament. He becomes quite popular with the local children and teach them on his freetime. One day someone of influence who was passing by (could be important to the story like a minister, the director of a magic school, a noble or royalty) takes interest in his talents and as him to become a teacher in a prestigious academy to replace a homeroom teacher who went missing (there isn’t a lot of people willing or able to become teachers in this world).
He ends up going to the school and teaches (non Magic related stuff )While most of his students are noblility, from high ranked families or geniuses. There’s also very few commoners who managed to earn themselves a spot and are bullied. The very few commoners are the only one who at the start are nice to him since the others seem to hate him a lot due to him not having any social ranking, magic skills (despite being a teacher in a magic school) and also the fact that the previous teacher he is now replacing was a renowned teacher of great ranking.
We learn that despite having great academic results and getting into great schools, the Mc was a pretty terrible teacher not because of his abilities but the fact that he was very severe, cruel , harsh and always kept getting on his students bad side. He let a lot of them down. Even when some were getting bullied he never intervened which is why one of them committed suicide and the former student that attacked the school was her friend who blamed the school for her suicide. After the suicide of that student the teacher kept blaming himself and wanted to become a better teacher which was his main motivation for sacrificing his life for his students. So the story is about him trying to become a better teacher in this new world and help his students.
Bonus info about the story and world:
In this world there are monsters and dark creatures who threaten humanity (humanity in this world include every human-like races and not just Homo sapiens)
Monsters aren’t the only dangers since there are conflict between human and other races or even races on each other (including humans )
Each student in the class are their own person with their own personalities and complexities. So they aren’t to be treated as background characters or space fillers. The mcs interaction with his students, his relationship with them is a very important part of the story. So if you take this idea and use it please don’t forget to expend their characters.
Also the mc is not a pedophile he’s not gonna blush at teenagers. If a student does fall in love with him please make it one sided ( I have to make it clear cuz in some isekai Ives seen the Mc can be very questionable )
You guys are free to use that idea for yourselves and tweak it.

Telling my story here to get it off my chest. And maybe there are other couples out there facing the same issue who can relate.
I'm Chinese Non-Muslim and my Partner is Malay Muslim. We met in uni and we've known each other as friends for 2 years. After some trust building and heartfelt confessions, we decided to start dating casually, to see if we'd actually last together, knowing the challenges we'll face as a multiracial couple in Malaysia. I was upfront and clear about never wanting to convert my religion, so a long term relationship may not possible. He is open minded and he accepted my boundaries. We didn't change who we are for each other. We accepted each other.
1 week became 1 month, then became 6 months, then 1 year, and now it's been over 2 years. Ever since we started dating, he became less pessimistic about life, and I became more self confident. We both became better people, but we are still who we are. I've never been so sure of a man and I want to spend the rest of my life with him. And he has told me the same, which still makes me blush like crazy.
Throughout our relationship, I have thought about marriage several times. The first few times I thought about it, I ended up crying. Because I know we could never be legally married in Malaysia without me converting my religion. And no marriage means we would also never be able to have children in Malaysia. I have expressed to him my sadness and he reaffirmed what he said to me during the early days of our relationship, that he doesn't want to force me to change myself and he loves me because I'm me.
We talked about eloping overseas and building a life there, but that means we'll have to leave behind our life, our friends, and our families in Malaysia. We'll also need a lot of money to do this. Another option we have is to just continue dating forever, but in our hearts and souls, we'll be committed and intertwined with each other forever. Going down this road, I'll never have the big day of my dreams, and we'll never have children, but at least we'll save a lot of money and we can spoil each other haha. We can still have a big "Company" dinner just for the hell of it. And we'll have pets together.
We both know that's going to be a decision to make very far into the future. We've decided we'll cross that bridge when we get there. For now, we are going to relax and just enjoy ourselves as best we can. It's not always easy because I get worried about the authorities tearing us apart. We have to lay low and be careful who we trust. Fortunately, we are currently surrounded by close friends and loved ones, and are surviving just fine. I hope that the future of Malaysia is more progressive, but that's probably just wishful thinking.
PS: I'm not looking for solutions, just want a listening ear to share this with.

PF: https://imgur.com/a/UkCEvxD https://imgur.com/a/BrRK2Td
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I provide insurance and/or signature confirmation at your request and cost. I am responsible for getting your package scanned by USPS; once it has been scanned you are liable for the package. More info at bottom
I WILL NEVER ACCEPT CRYPTO. For many reasons. I also would warn users against using crypto to make purchases. If you ever are scammed, money sent through paypal, venmo, cashapp, zelle etc almost always ends up in a bank account that can be traced. There is some level of accountability. The same cannot be said for crypto (also physical cash, money order, for the sake of thoroughness). There is my two cents. Thanks for listening to my ted talk. Sale below:
Dos Pesos - BU/minor obv damage or struck through https://imgur.com/kNBNUKL https://imgur.com/Rc1SLJp - $129
Graded https://imgur.com/a/cswq58h
1941 MS64 Rattler Dime - $43
1942 MS64 Rattler Dime - $42 - buy both rattlers for $80
1881 S Silver Dollar MS63 OGH - $65
1928 P Peace NGC MS63+ CAC - $999 Vid: https://imgur.com/a/RRbBeYY
Barbers Min $100 purchase
3 dimes - most ~G, some damaged, all with dates $2.55 each https://imgur.com/UGV0nhr
57 quarters - most ~g, some damaged, all with dates - $5.75 each https://imgur.com/3L7Hnq1
14 halves - most ~g- some damaged, all with dates - $12.50 each https://imgur.com/zQcvdFX
World silver has a $100 min purchase or the rest of a lot

No cherry picking

Silver spot is $31.52
50% world silver by the troy ounce (mostly 1968 cad, post 1920 UK, and other stuff) - @ 96% of spot - 125 185 troy ounce available Sample: https://imgur.com/xQ84qCV https://imgur.com/GSNFV7i
Priced Y (how many troy ounces you want) x 31.52 x .5 x .96
So 10ozt would be 10 x 31.52 x .5 x .96 = 151.29
50 Bermuda Crowns Available .3636 ASW - $11.46 (SPOT) each https://imgur.com/Y5913J2
Canada Dollars @ SPOT (18.91) each - 16 21 available https://imgur.com/DqXsCQQ
80% Canada Coins https://imgur.com/mMz3Fcs
1937 canada dollar (damaged) + 7 x (mostly BU) canada halves - SPOT https://imgur.com/a/RGnZ9PF
187 dimes available @ 2% below spot
53.75 face value in quarters available @ 2% below spot
$18.53 per face
Sterling lot 2 jamaica 1 canada for 98% of spot - 1.4453oz + 2 x 1.2336oz x 31.52 * .98 = $120.80 https://imgur.com/KvU03n9
Greece
17 x 1960 20 Drachma - @ 99% spot ($6.28 each)
French Sample: https://imgur.com/So2ZvKq
46 x 5 Francs - (1960s) - ASW: 0.3222oz - $10.15 each
25 x 1 Francs - @ spot $4.23 ea
128 x 1/2 Francs 0.0671oz ASW - @ Spot - $2.12

LOTS

Not taking extra pictures - not cherry picking - will entertain offers on multiple lots - offers for ask price will take priority
Belgian https://imgur.com/a/swn3lNl - $110
7 Crowns $180 https://imgur.com/a/gDWhCQ0
10 x Austria Corona -$45 https://imgur.com/a/Ct2Vqx7
48 x sterling threepence - $100 https://imgur.com/a/hVxOtYw - couple damaged
28 x sterling sixpence - $80 https://imgur.com/a/bUb0L8Y - couple damaged
20 sterling shillings - $115 - https://imgur.com/a/SGtMK8N couple damaged
Italy - spot ($65.24) https://imgur.com/a/MQtWNnQ
Liberia $200 https://imgur.com/a/6FuDCLF one damaged
Cuba $135 https://imgur.com/a/9qexiJe
Germany 13 x 1935/36 5 marks - $255 https://imgur.com/a/hp1nrOD
spain $67 as pictured https://imgur.com/a/Xj5asZC
India - $55 as pictured https://imgur.com/a/nb0sLli
Morgans
Set 1: https://imgur.com/a/3LVAmDA
1882 O BU - $49
1884 UNC PL Details - Cleaned - $40
1897 UNC Detail Obv Cleaned - $33
1890 MS - $52
Set 2: https://imgur.com/a/8Fp37yi
1904 o UNC - Dipped Still BU - Almost PL Rev - $48 Vid: https://imgur.com/0ra26W5
1904 o UNC - $50 Vid: https://imgur.com/yjzuUQ5
1921 D Morgan BU - $65
1923 Peace BU - Hair Vam - $33
1924 Peace BU - $33

Below This line = SOLD

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END OF POST
Payment
New users must use Zelle or Cash app.
I accept Zelle, CashApp, Venmo FF, and PPFF. Venmo GS is NOT accepted.
I no longer accept crypto under any circumstance.
SHIPPING
I will not ship outside the US
Shipping in the US is $5 for 4 or fewer ounces, $6 for 5-13oz, and then $10 for anything above.
Priority SFRB = $10
Insurance
I provide insurance and/or signature confirmation at your request and cost. I am responsible for getting your package scanned by USPS; once it has been scanned you are liable for the package. Insurance costs: $1/$100 for the first $500 of coverage, .50c for every $100 after. If it is lost in route I will do everything I can to help you recover it and file insurance claims if applicable but I will not provide a replacement or a refund if insurance has not been purchased. Insurance purchased relies on the insurer paying out. Any purchase made is subject to these terms.
Note: NO NOTES WITH PPFF - if a note is sent I will issue a refund

Im just looking for other people that went through the same thing as I am going through now, to not feel as alone as I do now...
To recap: it was not an unwanted pregnancy, I was happy when I saw the positive test. We were not using protection anymore. But to be honest, I would have wanted to wait one more year. But to be double honest, I dont know if I would have ever wanted to have kids.
I am a very independent person that is very pragmatic. I know for a fact that being pregnant and becoming a mum is very strenuous on the woman. Your career takes a step back, your personal life and individuality takes a step back, your health and body now belongs to someone else.
I love my baby and love being needed but hate being needed at the same time. I would like to be by myself from time to time.
I feel like I cant really tell this to anyone I know, because all the other mums really wanted to be mums, unlike me. I kinda did it because of my husband and our marriage (he really wanted it). I want to have a kid and enjoy our future life in like 20 years from now (talking about family life, having everyone over for dinner, etc.), but right right now... not so sure.
I think I'm struggling the most with the lose of my person as an individual, and feeling like I cant accomplish anything I used to. For example, we just moved and everything takes 4-6 times longer than it used to, and its driving me crazy. I know this is normal but I just wish someone else had him so I can just power through and finally be done with the mess. We had help from MIL and it was great, but today was the first day alone and I am not doing so well emotionally.
Has anyone gone through something similar? Can anyone relate to not wanting to be a parent but loving their child?

For this roleplay, I am thinking of two distinct but connected options - depending on which specific theme you are looking for. Read below for details on each!
RESTRICTED GAMMA // NOT APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE BY THE DIRECTORATE
ASSET: AN - 4789
DATE: 2.18.2107
CURRENT DIVISION: OPERATIONS
CURRENT TEAM: DEEP COVER TEAM
You are hereby reassigned to the DEEP COVER (DCT) team within the OPERATIONS BRANCH (OPs).
You are to report to your new handler, AN - 2364, immediately for tasking.
Details of your reassignment will be provided after current assignment debriefing with AN - 2364.
RESTRICTED GAMMA // NOT APPROVED FOR RELEASE BY THE DIRECTORATE
For this roleplay, you are a member of an interstellar clandestine organization called The Directorate.
You may have already had an illustrious career within the organization, or perhaps you are about to be given your first real assignment. You get to decide!
The plot of this roleplay focuses on the investigation into a criminal organization called the Kidari Syndicate.
Your character will need to operate as they see fit, working to infiltrate, sabotage, misdirect, or even play double-agent with the Kidari Syndicate.
If you are interested in intrigue, thrillers or mystery roleplays - this is a great option!
Make no mistake though, this roleplay will be grand in scope - with your character potentially influencing way more than just the Syndicate itself through their actions.

Seeking entrepreneurial minds, brave souls, or affluent investors!
Kidari Enterprises is seeking to expand its roster of exceptional employees and benefactors.
For those interested, interviews will be conducted at the Higari Corporate Megatower - Floor 89, Suite 103.
Looking forward to introducing the best to our organization.
For this roleplay, you are an aspiring member of an interstellar enterprise called “Kidari Enterprises” - though the company itself is really just a front for the Kidari Syndicate.
You may be a visionary, someone who joins the organization hoping to do great things in their career only to be led down a much more sinister path. Or, you are a well networked mercenary who knows exactly what the organization stands for - and you just want in on the profit. The possibilities are pretty open!
The plot of this roleplay focuses on the character’s entrance, either knowingly or unknowingly, into a large criminal organization.
Your character will need to climb the “corporate ladder”, to impress the criminal bosses who run the day to day operations of the Syndicate. One day, they may even become a boss themselves, or they could turn tail and try to run with all their newly acquired dangerous knowledge.
If you are interested in dark, gritty, sometimes evil roleplays - this is a great option!
Make no mistake though, this roleplay will be grand in scope - with your character potentially influencing way more than just the Syndicate itself through their actions.

Hi there! My name is Sean and I have been roleplaying for probably close to 15 years now. I am 26 by the way! I got started with text-based roleplay while playing Runescape when I was (probably) way too young... Since then, I've had many different partners over the years. I've even created and ran a Discord group RP server that had around 30 members at its peak - but that just got to be way too much for me to deal with... Having a full time job made it extremely difficult, even with staff members!
Even though I had to leave that server behind, I still love diving into in depth roleplays with enthusiastic people. My ideal partner would enjoy collaborative worldbuilding, slow burn, intrigue and epic tales. As a Dungeons and Dragons dungeon master in real life, I have no problem creating various NPCs as the story unfolds, but I also love when my partner is comfortable doing the same - after all, I find most amazing roleplays have truly grand scope and scale and will more than likely involve more than just our main characters.
If you are interested in the options above, and made it this far - first off, congratulations! Feel free to send me a message in whatever way you feel comfortable. If you’d like to introduce yourself personally, that works. If you want to come up with a starting scene for the roleplay - go for it! I look forward to hearing from you!

I played the most Sym during support era(you know like 10 years ago) and I think I can break it down to 3 of my favorite things
1.The Genji counter. He was in like every other game at the time and the way her beam would latch on to him helped my defend the back line by myself. I loved how it would stick to him for like 1 more second after he climbed a ledge to escape you and by then it’s be to late.
2.Shield Generator. Back when the game was a bit slower it felt like we had more options to achieve victory. Shield gen was the biggest debuff to the enemy team because it gave them another obstacle then had to tackle. The flanker would have to break off and instead of picking off squishies they’d try and go for the generator. First they’d have to look for it( not the biggest time waster but every second counts) then they’d spend the time destroying turrets one by one which gave me enough time to walk with detours over there and deal with them.
3.Teleporter locations. My favorite teleporter strategy was when playing on attack to basically put it next to an enemy spawn but the door no one ever goes through. This would work like 80% of the time I’m talking team kills because them be looking the wrong way.
I’m probably just nostalgic for a slower overwatch. I only played her and she ruined my ability to aim completely. It was just so fun to put all your eggs into the dodge basket. Like a little gnat buzzing around your head and then your died. Also blocking Roadhog hooks with the proto sigma barrier