Ganz kurz: mein Baby ist 4 Monate alt und hat bisher noch keine einzige Träne geweint. Also geweint/ geschrien schon, klar. Aber immer ohne Tränen. Nix. Hab letztens verpasst die Ärztin zu fragen... Schande über mein Haupt. Aber, ist das normal? Kommen die später? Also seine Augen werden beim weinen maximal ein bisschen feucht. Aber da kullert halt nix raus so wie man es ja von einem selbst kennt. Hatten / haben eure das auch? 😵‍💫

I haven't seen any FPV of being the Dread Rhulk baby sitter so here's our run. Two cycle, platinum time and platinum points all in nine minutes. No need to die and bait him off the map; nine minutes to clear it normally is infinitely more satisfying than wiping to get the cheese to work. Should work week four (-20) too.
Aeons to generate heavy from tormentors (tagged by SS Warlock hat first for double drops). Swap to Strongholds for damage phase. Get his aggro and then block forever. Any sword can do it, strand and Banner of War to survive. Block to build up stacks, get a kill on a shadow thrall every now and then to get restoration x2, never die (except when I'm bad). Repeat ad nauseam. One guardian on Disco Div (spin around Rhulk to he doesn't move as much). Four guardians on Thunderlord because it's reliable albeit very boring, super when you got it (and you'll get it more than once per damage cycle).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlzStvqcQtw&t=720s
https://raid.report/pgc14831467355
I have a clip of add clear on Planets I want to edit and put up too.

Hallo, meine beste Freundin hat bald Geburtstag und ich würde ihr gerne etwas sinnvolles schenken. Da sie leider keinen Wunsch für sich selbst hat, habe ich gefragt ob sie sich etwas spezielles für ihr in ein paar Monaten zur Welt kommendes Baby wünscht. Die beiden haben es finanziell nicht unbedingt einfach und haben bisher noch nichts an Ausstattung. Ich hätte also freie Hand. Das Budget wäre auch im ersten Schritt egal. Da ich aber keinerlei Erfahrungen mit dem Elternsein/Babys habe und das Angebot im Internet einen erschlägt, würde ich gerne wissen, was eure Ideen wären. Oder auf was ihr auf keinen Fall hättet verzichten wollen. Ausgenommen wären Dinge wie Kinderwagen, Babybett, Wickeltisch etc. Ich denke, da möchte jeder selbst schauen. Danke schonmal für eure Ideen!

Hello THT team I love your podcast it's my favorite! I am 25f and live happily with my husband and our 4 furr babies. Me and my husband both work at a bakery together.
So for a few years I've had back pain it never seemed too serious to me just take an advil do some yoga or stretches. A lot of people have back pain. In fall it started to worsen but also my legs I thought maybe I started to have arthritis it runs in my family my mom and grandma got it at around my age. I have a fear of the doctor I went hundreds of times as a kid, mainly for allergies. I went though in October the doctor kinda brushed me off like we'll run a blood test, heres meds, and treated me like I'm young so I'm fine. Blood test came back good. I should have went back to another doctor and I should have signed up for insurance but it seemed too expensive at the time I live tightly paycheck to paycheck. I can't focus on should've and could've though I can't change it. My husband has told me over and over that i should see another doctor out of care but I say i will and procrastinate. I am always very much like the meme with the dog surrounded by fire no matter what I'm just like I'm fine.
Now over the past few months i started to have a harder time walking and the pain worsened. A few days ago I went to the doctor and was told I likely have a spinal injury and need an MRI as soon as possible. 3 years ago I was in a T-bone car accident I was told at ER i was fine just scraped and bruised, i suppose the injury has just now gotten worse. I won't know anything until my scans come back. I could tell the doctor was sugar coating and trying not to concern me but I could see the concern on his face. He strongly recommended i get a cane because I walk unstable now. My mind raced I felt numb I felt stupid like I hadn't taken good enough care of myself, I understand I could loose my ability to walk, I could be paralyzed even if just partially, it could affect my brain, my whole lifes hopes and plans could change so much. After the doctor me and my husband went to pick up my meds and a bit of food at the store. There i was 25 ,walking with a cane tears streaming down my face, people staring at me, trying to process everything. I am so lucky and glad to have my husband he is the best support and comfort.
Over the past 2 days I can't work until I get a more detailed doctors note i called for one but my doctor is off until monday. The first day I spent the whole day on the phone figuring out about insurance ,and talking with work ,and the doctors office, and the imaging place for my MRI. I have an MRI appointment its $930 without insurance. Monday im gonna enroll with a good insurance though. I have been on bed rest just trying not to worsen anything but also trying not to loose my mind I usually am always doing something. I always try to be positive, and find the silver lining, I am a sunshine and rainbows kind of person ;but right now I am very much overwhelmed and honestly sad. Just this year feels so long and its May before this it was already one thing after another. All i can do is take things one step at a time. I just wanted to get things off my chest I guess. Im going to crochet now to try to get things off my mind for now.

It if my belief that the hardest liberal ideal to uphold is not property rights or free-markets but pluralism. This is because the instinct to demonize and distance oneself from one's enemies is overwhelmingly strong, driven by pride, fear, anger, and disgust. But we should stand against these impulses, for the very core of democracy relies on people and groups of different to engage and hash out a plan for the future. With that in mind, I would like to make a case that one of the most powerful and useful things a principles neoliberal can do is bridge build.

What is Bridge Building?

Bridge-building is not rigorously defined because it's pretty new, but it comes from very old human instincts: curiosity and a desire for authentic connection.
Curiosity is not just a desire for knowledge, but a desire to expand one's view of the world and a practice of being an ever-enthusiastic learner. Curiosity does not have to be about facts but also about new experiences and ways of thinking. To be curious about a person is not necessarily wanting to know their social security number, but how they came to where they are in life and how they see the world. Curiosity is not just touching grass, but appreciating the park's beauty. If I were not curious, I would likely have noped out of this subreddit based on the name alone. But because I was, I read the sidebar.
It is my belief that people have an innate desire to be heard, to be seen and respected. And although it is diminished as of late, people also have the capacity to truly connect to others on a deeper-than-superficial level. This is hard online, but much easier in the real world. This desire and capacity for connection can help people overcome great differences and sprout the seeds of a great friendship.
Based on these two principles, Bridge-Building is a movement to ease polarization by connecting people of different backgrounds and groups together to foster greater understanding. The goal is not to reduce disagreement, but to make it more productive.

Why should Neoliberals Aim to Bridge Build?

Yeah, why should we? If we know best, why should we listen to those chumps? After all, I already have a name for everyone to right and left of me: wrong.
For one, do we really know best about everything? In the Socratic Dialogue Meno, Socrates and the politician Meno discuss the nature of virtue. During a debate on whether virtue can be taught, Meno asks Socrates this:

And how will you enquire, Socrates, into that which you do not know? What will you put forth as the subject of enquiry? And if you find what you want, how will you ever know that this is the thing which you did not know?

Here in lies Meno's Paradox: how do you know if you need to learn? If you already have that knowledge, you do not need to look any longer. And if you don't, then you have no idea what you're searching for. Socrates uses the idea of inbuilt knowledge as his answer, but I have another one which may strike more directly to the interests of liberals: simply assume that your knowledge is incomplete, and seek a more complete picture. Given all the knowledge in the world out there and all the things have yet to be discovered, it is unlikely that you or any other person has the complete picture on even a single issue.
But even if we do not know everything, if there value in learning from those of different views of us? I say that there is, and I will use another famous parable, this time from Buddhism, to illustrate my point. In this story, a kind invites a group of blind men to experience something that they have never encountered before: an elephant. When each blind man has felt a part of the creature, the king asks them to describe what they are touching. The man touching the foot says that the thing is a pillar, the man touching the trunk says it is a plow, the man touching the tip of the tail says a brush, and so on. The blind men cannot agree on what they are all touching, and so start an ancient version of a flamewar which entertains the king. In this story, the elephant is "The Truth", if such a thing exists. Although we all come in contact with the truth and with reality, we each come at it at different angles, like how the blind men are touching different parts. This means that while our individual perspectives are incomplete, they can be put together as a much more complete picture. People who remember the "wisdom" of the crowds should also recognize the powerful insights that can come from non-experts, especially as a group. Neoliberals who aspire to be "evidence-based" should not just gather evidence from different sources, but learn about different ways of thinking from others, or else they would be like one blind man squeezing the elephant's gonads really hard and thinking he's touching a balloon.
Edit: Just realized another reason Another reason for bridge building has to do with pragmatism. Pragmatism is not simply being "less extreme", but meeting people where they are. But how can you do that if you don't know where they are? Polls can help, but some personal connection may help as well, given how unreliable polls can be.
Hoewver, there are a lot of people who will reply to this very post and say, "isn't it dangerous to engage with certain people? What about those who are too stupid and hateful to learn?". Firstly, you should never bridge build if you feel unsafe. However, feeling unsafe is not the same as feeling uncomfortable, and discomfort may help you shake out of old patterns. Secondly, the foremost goal of substantive discussion is not to teach but to learn: even if the other party is too stupid to learn, if you are able to listen and learn you will have gained from the conversation. This may not always work out, but I promise you that when it does the effect is magical.

How do you Bridge Build?

This is the hard part. I haven't fully figured it out myself, but I have some pointers:

1. Be patient. People, especially people on the internet, are no the most eloquent speakers. Struggling to find the right words or having incorrect grammar and spelling should not be taken as signs of being dumb babies not worth talking to. Additionally, try not assume all of what people are based on snippets of information.
2. Be polite. Avoiding infamatory remarks ("You can't even read a supply and demand graph") and ambiguous slogans ("From the river to the sea, drugs will be free!") and try to keep the focus on the issues instead of the other person (or what you assume of the other person).

3.Stand up for your beliefs. Common ground is only real if it is earned. Be upfront about what you believe and how you came to believe those things. Anything else would be a disservice to the other party.

1. Follow your curiosity. Try to ask questions in good faith instead of as traps (although I admit I do this a lot). Who knows where the inquiry will go?

But if that's too hard or ambiguous, there's a lot of help out there. Here are some organizations and projects that specialize in bridge-building:
Braver Angels: They host workshops, debates, and other events for bridging divides. I also like their A Braver Way Podcast. They also happen to be associated with one American Purpose Magazine.
One Small Step by StoryCorps: If you sign up, they may match you with someone they think you will have a fruitful conversation with.
National Institue for Civil Discourse: Come on, one of the founding Co-Chairs was Bill Clinton, and a former board member was H.W. Bush.
There are many more, so feel free to search for yourself. So, why not try building some bridges? They're an important piece of infrastructure.

I have commented here a few times but never posted. It's long so i get if you dont want to read. I just have some feelings to let out! I've been with my(27f) SO(29m) for 4 years. He has a son(12) whom I met when he was 8. I am child free and have no interest in being a mother myself. However, I felt being a stepmom/cool aunt would be fine bc I don't have that big of an issue with kids and my SO only has SK EOWE (he now keeps SK 3 weekends a month bc SO's mother can't not stick her nose where it isn't wanted) I made the mistake of trying to be too helpful at the beginning of our relationship bc I am a people pleaser who didn't know better and wound up being main caregiver every weekend SK was here due to SO's excuse of having to work. For a little while it was fine bc SO had started a new, very fruitful and life changing job and I wanted to help him succeed and i was under the impression after a while he wouldnt be expected to work them as much. I picked up SK from BM's house after my own long day/week at work every weekend my SO had custody, I would pick up food for SK, even paid for groceries for SK when SO failed to get any for the weekend, cleaned up messes and was the only ear around for SK to yap into oblivion. HUGE MISTAKE!!! After a while (like 2.5 years) of this going on, no thanks or appreciation and then getting criticism from SO's father for literally parenting SK when no one else was, I threw my hat down and said I'm done taking care of SK for SO and would step back. Last year I had started to slowly nacho and do less and less as my resentment towards both SK and SO grew larger. At this point in time, SO was CHOOSING to work these weekends instead of being required to; and choosing to pick up extra OT (an extra 8 hours on top of the 16 he is working that weekend) on some of these weekends while taking off on weekends we didnt have SK. This grinded my gears and I had a discussion with SO about how unfair it is to expect me to be completely responsible for SK when I am not his parent. That resulted in SO's mother taking SK for one weekend a month and SO apologizing and saying he won't do that anymore. Now, maybe I should have been more clear, but SO took this to mean that he could work these weekends, but no OT. That is not what I meant. I meant for SO to not work when he has SK. It came to a big head when just 2 weeks after we had our initial discussion, SO texts me from work telling me he not only had signed up for the weekend, but asked for an additional 12 HOURS that weekend since it would be extra pay for working on a holiday without talking to me on a SO custody weekend. He had the audacity to tell me "dont be mad." I lost it. I told him that this behavior was disrespectful to me and a huge slap in the face given the conversation we practically just had a fortnight ago. He apologized, said he won't do it again but it wasnt good enough for me until i saw real, consistent change. I told SO he needs to get his mother to watch SK that weekend because I will not be doing it. He tried but SO's mom was out of town. I was pissed and told him if it happened again there would be a serious change in our relationship, either I move out or we split and that he will be making up for this for a long time. Things were fine for a little over a month. SO was taking off weekends he had SK like I asked and had someone watch SK if SO wanted to work. All is good. Then this weekend came. SO signed up this weekend despite SK coming over and didn't communicate with me. I was mad but kept quiet, when I shouldn't have. Today we were talking and deciding whether to go workout today since if we did we would have to rush around before SO had to leave for work. SO said something along the lines of: SO: "what do you want, then?" Me: "for you to not go to work tonight." SO: "So we can go to the gym?" Me: "Yea....among other things.." I think he knew what I meant. I could tell his tone got defensive. I know that was passive aggressive of me but tbh we had been having some rough times lately and I was so tired of being frustrated with him so it just kinda came out. I told him the same things I had been saying: not my kid so why am I expected to take care of him? I don't mind helping but I am not SK's mother or father, he has those. This did not bode well in SO's brain because even though I stayed level headed to express myself, he immediately jumped on the defensive, got loud and told me that since I am at home that it "shouldn't be too much to expect me to watch his kid." And just no. Absolutely not. I DID NOT PUSH THIS KID OUT OF ME OR BUST A NUT IN THE WRONG PLACE!! I put my foot down and I told him straight up I did not get into this relationship to be anybody's mother and if that is what he expected of me then we will not work. After A LOT of getting him to calm down🙄🙄🙄 he began to understand what I was saying(Or at least put on a damn good show of it if not). I tried my best to make him feel that I do not hate or really even dislike his son or wish him to be gone(I prefer Sk not be here but it is what it is and I try not to have SK feel that way bc it's not his fault) but I am very resentful of the amount of work I have put in and am expected to do for a child I did not have and isnt my responsibility. I also sited his lack of communicating efficiently with me about his work schedule. I said I know I get visibly irritated when SK comes over and SO decided to ask "well if I do this will your attitude towards SK change?" Which like...what bad faith question honestly. I told him "yea, most likely, with time and consistency from you." Overall, we are doing well as of right now and I feel like things are slowly changing, which is good. Not exactly how I wanted but that's reality, ya know? I love SO very much. He is an amazing partner and is the only place I have felt safe in my life. His child is just a really tender spot for us as SO does not want to be a father but feels stuck. I understand that but we have to wake up to our reality and not just push responsibilities off onto others. I hope things will continue to get better from here but I also wouldn't be surprised if this is what eventually breaks us up if we spilt ever. Apologies for the length. I've had a lot of feelings for a while and don't have anywhere to let it out but this subreddit has really helped me understand my own feelings and feel less like I'm the bad guy for how I feel.

I meet a guy, here sa reddit nong una kala ko totoo lahat nang nararamdaman niya sakin (idk kung na lovebomb lang ako) pero last February na entrap ko sya, nahuli ko sya sa sogo may kameet dapat na babae! after that nag away at nagkabati kami pero habang tunatagal na wawala yong feelings ko sakanya, parang unti unti nag bubukas yong mata ko sa totoong nangyayare , 1st kala ko non matured sya turns out hnd pala 😅 (M28 F28) hnd talaga ko napatol sa same age ko, 2nd nagpaka sugar daddy daw sya doon sa ex niya mean while sakin ako lahat, ako nag babayad nang apartment, kuryente tubig at kung ano ano even food madalas ako nagastos, 3rd never sya nag offer na bilhan ako nang vitamins or gatas para samin ni baby or kahit ano para sa baby namin, sasagutin niya ko na hnd niya alam "daw" pero kahit fruits wala nagsasabi naman ako sakanya kahit check ups hnd sya nag bbigay shoulder ko lahat yon! and nagpapitik sakin umupa ako nang apartment for my peace of mind pero gusto niya laging andon kahit hnd sya nag aambag! pinag bibigayan ko kase tatay sya nang magging anak ko! tapos pag may bisita ako magpipilit sya pumunta sa apartment ko. or biglag pumupunta doon kahit sabihin ko wag! ngayon na gguilty ako kase cinut ko na sya feeling ko kase wala kong nakikitang future samin or sa kanya

First / Previous
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Suzanne thought it was absolutely brilliant of me to put books on a flash drive for Sun. She explained that Sun wasn’t as sophant (her word, not mine) as she might seem, more of a repository of information, but she was fairly intelligent. It was how she was able to connect Andrew being in pain to the fact that I was friends with Andrew, and that I would want to know that he was in trouble. Apparently some of Sun’s species had given some ‘wisdom’ to others in the past and it had made its way into mythology.
The key fact was that she was not smart enough to protect herself and her kind from the clever, organized poachers. With that information in mind, it was fascinating for me to think of how Sun took in and organized what she learned. It was almost as if she was a walking, talking library.
On the topic of tours, my first one went wonderfully, and I’m almost hoping Suzanne lets me do more of them. I know not all the tourists are going to be as awesome as these people were, but Suzanne gave me a lot of slack when it comes to dealing with them. She actually said that being a smartass is not grounds for dismissal, and that if I’m sarcastic or facetious to guests who are being ‘daft’ and they complain, she really doesn’t care. Is this the perfect job for me or what?
There were four guests in this party, two adults who were sisters and two children of one of the women, brothers aged thirteen and seventeen. The tour was a birthday gift for the older of the boys from his aunt, since apparently he was passionate about animal protection and conservation.
When they arrived at the front gate, I was sitting at Andrew’s desk, going over the booklet of information one last time. When the visitors pressed the button that sounded the alert buzzer, I tucked away in a drawer and let them in. I did have a cheat sheet with information about the animals on my phone just in case, a brief notation of each of them and which enclosure they were in, but I really didn’t need to use it.
Exiting through the front door, I saw them walk up the path toward me. “Hi, I’m Ripley,” I said, holding out a hand toward the woman closest to me.
She shook it firmly. “I’m Denise. This is my sister Carla and my nephews, Wesley and Jason,” she said, motioning to each of them in turn.
“I heard it’s your birthday,” I said to Wesley, giving him a smile. “You’re interested in animal conversation?”
“Back where we live, yeah,” he said, nodding. “The animals that you’ve got here are incredible. I can’t wait to see them.”
“Well, I can’t wait to show them to you,” I said. “Right this way.”
I led them on the path around the building, toward enclosure one. Despite the horrific memories of the animal killing Stanley’s friends, I knew it was just an animal, and I had to push past my feelings on what had happened. Keeping a small smile on my face, I motioned to the enclosure. “Fiercely territorial and amazing hunters, despite their large size, they’re arboreal and known to dart from tree to tree with barely a sound. This is one of only about two thousand left in existence.”
“Two thousand, three hundred and fifty six at last count,” spoke Wesley, his eyes on the trees.
I blinked, surprised and impressed. “Well that was fantastic. Do you plan on stealing my job when you graduate?”
Wesley looked at me with a grin. “Nah, everyone knows Suzanne only offers humans this gig. And I want to help animals like this one get off the endangered species list. The zoos are great for awareness and fundraising, but then the money has to go somewhere. I want to be doing the real work.”
“That’s really great,” I told him. “I wish you all the best in that career path.” At that, we saw the animal climb down from the tree, wandering a few yards from the tree line. This was because 90% of the time, when humans were at their enclosure and making noise, whether it was speaking to each other or calling out to the animal, it was someone bringing them prey to eat. Or, in my case, enrichment toys to play with.
“Whoa,” Wesley whispered.
“How close can we get?” spoke up Jason.
“The warding starts at the fence,” I told him with a small gesture. “So, just there.”
Both boys wandered closer and I glanced at their parents. It seemed that Suzanne’s zoo had a serious reputation for high quality invisible walls, because they didn’t look worried in the slightest about the boys being hurt or killed.
“They prefer dense forest as their home and have been known to make their nests in trees up to twenty meter in the air,” I continued. “And when hunting, they’ve been seen dropping eight meters straight down. They have incredibly dense yet flexible musculature, which allows them to tackle their prey without injuring themselves.”
There was more information about the animal that I continued to rattle off, though Wesley chimed in at certain points with the info I was about to convey. That was highly entertaining and very cool. When I’d been in school, I’d never met anyone who had my level of passion about endangered animals. I wondered if things were better where these folks came from, but realized that considering there were so few of these animals left, I guessed not.
The animal paced a little bit, seemingly waiting to see if we were the kind of humans that came bearing food, before deciding we weren’t and climbing back up into the trees as easily as I would climb some stairs.
As we moved onto enclosure two, Jason spoke up. “Are there any animals here we can touch or feed or something?”
I sighed inwardly before slowing to a stop. “Well, can you show me your hands?” Jason looked bemused, holding out his hands. “I mean…they both look like they’re in great shape. You can stand to lose one.”
The two women chuckled and Wesley smirked as Jason shoved his hands into his pockets. “Very funny.”
Grinning, I started walking again. “The animals here are all carnivores and all predators. You get to see them, but that’s it.”
“Alright.”
When we reached enclosure two, I started on my next spiel. “We’ve got three reanimated dead in this enclosure,” I spoke. They were just coming out from the trees as we arrived, presumably having heard our approach. “Marissa, Connor, and Bradley. They were donated by families who knew where they would be exhibited. Their next of kin, whoever they are, can’t stand the idea of putting them down. But we need to make sure they don’t have access to corpses, because one of them plus one corpse equals two of them.”
“They eat flesh though, don’t they?” Wesley asked.
I nodded. “Oh, yeah, but it’s from bodies that have already been dismembered. There’s no chance of them being affected by the transformation because it’s all parts.”
“Oh, got it.”
The creatures with blueish-white skin had superhuman strength, which is why they qualified for the security of Suzanne’s zoo. They also were likely the source of any Earth tales of people being brought back to life as zombies, specifically draugr, according to my research. They smelled like rotting flesh, so even as I kept talking about them and giving a background to the people they used to be, we were quick to move on once Wesley had gotten a good, long look at them.
“Enclosure four’s animal is a vampiric spirit. He’s a small, hairy humanoid creature with pointed ears. He wears a hat, and if he somehow loses it, he freaks out,” I said.
“They eat horses,” Wesley noted. “Also anything that gives them the chance to sit on it, usually catching them by surprise while they’re sleeping.”
The creature came out from the brush, giving us a suspicious look. He wasn’t in his humanoid form though; for some reason, he’d chosen to shapeshift to a dog.
I nodded. “Yep, indeed. Once the prey is dead, then he’ll eat it, and he has a voracious appetite. We have two wolves and two bears in the forest, which is one of the reasons I’ve got some self-defense items,” I said, patting my belt where my pepper spray (rated for bear) and my taser. “But the wards keep them out of this area of the zoo, so it’s really not much of a worry. It’s also a known shapeshifter, preferring the form of a dog, as you can see, as well as a cat, a snake, or even white butterflies, though the last one is rare.”
“The white butterflies are supposed to be a sign of good luck,” Wesley said, glancing to me. “Too bad we got the dog.”
“Yeah, otherwise you might be able to talk your mom into getting scratch-offs on your way home, huh?”
Wesley smirked at me.
The next enclosure was Spike, and he was waiting for us, dripping wet from having just emerged from the lake. I gave the introductory information about him, which included his propensity for eating animal eyes, nails, and teeth. “Recently, I’ve given him some enrichment activities, and I learned he likes artichokes, pecans, and hazelnuts,” I said, taking a bag out from my cargo shorts. “Wesley, do you want to toss this bag into the enclosure?”
The boy’s eyes widened and he nodded excitedly. He took a look into the paper bag before wrapping down the top to make sure nothing would fly out. Then he chucked it underhand past the fence. It landed a few yards from Spike, who waddled over to it quickly and tearing the bag open, spilling out the prizes inside. As the animal ate the pecans and hazelnuts, Wesley asked, “How’d you figure out he likes those?”
“It’s not all about taste,” I told him. “It’s mainly the difficulty of getting them out of the shells. He’s used to having to work for the parts of his prey he likes the most, so this mimics that activity, and he enjoys the process. I tried a bunch of different foods to find a few he liked.”
“Cool,” Wesley murmured, staring at him.
We watched Spike eat until he’d finished and then he went back into the woods, leaving us to move onto enclosure five. Japanese camellia were plentiful here, a type of pink flower, and that was because they grew anywhere near one of his species made their den. “This girl spends most of her time in the lake also,” I said, as the creature made its way toward the fence separating us from it. “But as you can see, she’s just as curious as the rest about what we’re doing here and whether we have food for her. She eats fish mostly, but she also regularly gets live prey.”
This creature was a spider-like monster, having six legs with long claws on each, and the head of an ox with two sharp horns. She was capable of shapeshifting to look like a human, but I guessed that she wasn’t fond of it, since I hadn’t yet seen her in that form.
“She prefers the easy way of catching prey, so to speak, by hiding in the lake and pouncing when something comes for a drink of water,” I explained. “Apparently humans are some of her favorite prey. She has an advantage of being able to spit poison, which often hits her prey in the eyes. But it’s usually used in defense rather than offense, since it secretes a limited amount.”
“What kind of animal would even go after something like this?” Jason asked, staring at her.
“Never discount one of its own species when you’re thinking about what might attack an animal,” I replied. “There are places that are breeding all of the animals here, but competition for mates is common. That means an advantage in a fight, like poison or venom, can make or break who the winner is.”
“Ah, gotcha.”
“It can’t spit past the warding, right?” Carla suddenly asked.
“Oh, no,” I assured her. “We’re fine. The wards wouldn’t let anything cross over.” She nodded, appeased.
The animal in enclosure six was the ginormous seal-hippo, Fiona, and she was looking at us as if she was imagining sprinkling us with herbs and spices and stuffing us in an oven. “This girl is one animal I’m going to work on enrichment activities for next,” I told them. “She prefers to feed on crayfish, though she’s happy to eat any humans that wander into her territory. She’ll even make a sound like a baby crying to reel us in. I’ve heard it a bunch of times.”
“Can you get her to make the sound?” Jason asked, perking up.
I grinned. “Not on command, sorry.”
“What enrichment are you thinking of trying?” Wesley asked.
“Possibly food placed in puzzle feeders,” I told him, “since she has claws that are pretty dexterous. Maybe a piñata made out of newspaper with flour inside, or a scarecrow that mimics a human.”
“Awesome,” he muttered.
After a little more educational tidbits, we moved onto Yui’s enclosure. “What is that?” Wesley asked, smiling.
“I got Yui the closest thing I could to a ping-pong ball,” I replied. “She quite likes it.”
“That’s so funny,” he said as she came out of the trees in her spider form. “I mean, the idea of her being a bloodthirsty hunter who seduces men to their deaths and eats them alive, but then on the other hand, she likes playing with something like this.”
“It is a little funny,” I agreed. “But when it comes down to it, all the animals here enjoy activities besides hunting.”
“She can shapeshift to look human, right?” asked Jason, trying to be casual about knowing something factual like his nerdy brother.
I nodded. “She looks like a woman from a region of Earth called Japan. And she’ll use strategies like holding out a hand to shake to get you closer. She tried that on me when I first got here but, as you can see,” I said, holding up my hands and waving them, “I didn’t fall for it.”
The boys both laughed as they got closer to the fence, watching her slowly pace near the trees.
Next was Sun, but she didn’t make an appearance as I spoke about her species. “Well…unfortunately we can’t guarantee that every animal comes out to say hi,” I sighed. “But…oh wait, here she is.”
The green lion with several horns and many eyes along her flank came out from the forest. “Hello,” she spoke.
“Hi, Sun,” I replied. “We have visitors.”
“What’s that?” Wesley asked suddenly, pointing at the small plastic bag that was still where I’d left it.
“Oh! That is Sun’s enrichment,” I said with a smile. “I put dozens of books on a flash drive and found that she can read them just like she’d read a shelf of books.”
Wesley’s eyes widened. “Wow. I don’t think I’ve read about anyone trying that before. That’s really cool.”
“The books are new and interesting,” Sun spoke, drawing our attention. “I’m grateful for them.”
I nodded to her. “You’re quite welcome.”
The next animal, unfortunately, wasn’t there, and we waited around for ten minutes as we discussed him. He was large and reptile-like with red eyes, with its hind legs and tail making him look vaguely like a kangaroo. Then, enclosure ten was a terrifyingly disturbing creature, the not-a-centaur with no skin, that I’d only seen a few times while walking my route. It gave a good demonstration of its ferocity, showing its sharp teeth and snapping at us a few times.
“I’m thinking of trying salt licks and other horse enrichment like a big bouncy ball,” I told Wesley, whose eyebrows went up at that. “Maybe give him more things to forage like scattered grains or a box filled with pinecones and seeds. Foraging is a huge part of a horse’s life in the wild, and humans have to do a lot of activities like that to keep pet horses busy. Of course, he also loves the little salt-water lake that was built for him.”
We spent some time looking at the animal before moving past our last stop, the empty enclosure of the animal was stolen. Carla glanced at me with a sad smile, knowing what had happened, it seemed. I gave her a nod as we continued on our way, walking into the office. “So, I hope everyone enjoyed themselves!” I said with a smile.
“That was the coolest birthday present I’ve ever gotten,” Wesley said, looking to Denise. “Thanks so much, seriously.”
“It was my pleasure,” she said with a nod. “I’d never been here before, and knew I’d find it fascinating. Thank you for the educational aspect,” Denise said, glancing at me. “I learned quite a lot.”
“Happy to hear it,” I said, returning the nod.
As I escorted the guests out of the zoo and locked the door behind them, I reflected on how much I’d changed. The first time I’d seen Yui’s tarantula form, I’d nearly passed out from fear. Now here I was, walking tourists around like it was no big deal. Humans really can adapt to anything, it seems.
That afternoon, Suzanne had texted me that she was coming by after my shift, and I met her in Andrew’s office, shutting the door to the security room behind me. “How’s Andrew?” I asked first thing.
“He’s doing well,” she said with a wide smile. “Back on non-hospital food. He’s allowed to order food on his phone, and to hear it from him, that’s the best news he’d received in a long time.”
I chuckled. “I guess some clichés are true for a reason.”
“Indeed.” She took a breath. “All right. Ripley…I would like to discuss something with you.”
My face went slack at the serious tone in her voice. “I’m not… Am I being fired?”
“What? No!” she exclaimed. Then she chuckled softly. “No, it’s nothing like that. Just, here, let’s have a seat.” Suzanne walked over to the couch and sat at one end, and I took the other. “There’s something I need to tell you. Something I’ve kept from you, that I wanted to keep from you until you found your sea legs here.”
“Well…I have,” I said with a nod. “So, what is it?”
Suzanne took a breath. “I knew your mother.”
The words hung in the air for a moment before making their way to my ears. It was a perfectly logical sentence, and yet it didn’t make any sense. “What?” I finally managed.
“When you graduated college, I decided to move the zoo from Italy to within driving distance of your home,” she said softly. “Near enough to your town that you’d see the advert. We ignored any other applicants and I hoped you’d apply. Actually, I expected you’d apply. Not just for the money, but considering the field you wanted to go into. As soon as I’d found out your major, I knew.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” I said, holding up a hand. I pinched the bridge of my nose. “How do you know Patricia?”
“She owned the zoo before I did,” Susan explained. “Fourteen years ago…she was working to track an injured animal that we could bring into the zoo and she was killed by poachers.”
My heart calcified in my chest and a lump lodged in my throat. As my breaths became shaky, I stared at her in shock. “She…she’s really dead?”
“You suspected?” she asked softly.
“It…” I swallowed hard. “We had her declared legally dead after…I don’t know, seven years I think. My dad wanted to go after her for child support, but the police said…they said they couldn’t find…” Tears came to my eyes and I blinked them back before I met Suzanne’s gaze. “She owned the zoo?”
Suzanne nodded. “It was her baby, you’d say. When Patricia passed, I inherited it, which we’d discussed beforehand, a legal just-in-case that I never expected her to need. I’m under the impression that you were told she went to Africa for her photography career, but she was in fact going to remote areas back in my home world almost every time.”
“But I-I saw the photos,” I said, my eyes narrowing. “You’re telling me she put on a show of getting pictures that someone else took for us to see every time she visited? Did my dad even know?”
“I suppose that’s an accurate way to put it, putting on a show. And no, your father was never told. It’s not the way of things to tell humans unless it’s necessary. I won’t bore you with the details, but us and humans, we’re distant relatives, so we can still have children. But it wasn’t planned. Your mother fell in love with your father despite herself; she hadn’t meant to find love. Then she became pregnant with you and…well, the rest is history.”
“I think she had a different definition of love than the one I have,” I said tightly. “You’d think she’d have put her survival as more of a priority. Put being with the man she ‘loved’ as a priority. Her kids needed her. I needed her. She signed up when she became a mom. She could’ve screwed up all the time but she couldn’t even manage that one job: be there. When I was in the hospital, I kept thinking, ‘Where is she?’ and now you’re telling me that she put these animals above being there for her kids, and this whole time she’s been dead.”
“The hospital?” she asked, furrowing her brows.
“Never mind,” I said tersely, averting my gaze.
Suzanne hesitated before she nodded slowly. “I’m sorry for your loss, and not just for her death, Ripley,” she told me. “Patricia was…well, a ‘free spirit’ would be putting it gently. She always assumed the world would be there for her whenever she needed it.”
Staring at her for a long moment, I shook my head. “Why? Why come here and hire me?”
“I thought that would be obvious,” she said, smiling. “Your mother was so passionate about this place and once I found out your college major, I figured you would be as well.”
“Did you know that I hate her?” At that, Suzanne’s expression froze on the edge of shock. “She…she left us,” I whispered. “Didn’t tell us who she was or what she really did for a living and gave us no closure. And even when she was here, it was just visiting. Her real home was her work. She could give me all the presents she wanted, but even when she was here, half the time she was still on her computer doing work. It’s not like that stereotype of never making it to my tennis practice or something; it’s that it always felt like she was only partially here, even when I was sitting next to her. I don’t even know if I appreciate her turning me into a wildlife fanatic because it…it…makes me feel like I’m close to her in a way that’s just infuriating. She loved the animals more than she loved us.”
“Oh, Ripley-”
“Don’t,” I said, shoving myself to my feet. “Don’t try to convince me otherwise.”
“I wasn’t going to,” she said quietly. I pursed my lips. “I was going to say that I’m sorry that was the case. Your mother was…flawed, just like any other person. She had two loves in this world: her family and her work. And often, her work overcame her, her zeal for environmentalism getting in the way of being a good mum. She left your father trying to fill the role of two parents, holding your family together. You and your brother and your father, you all deserved better than that.”
My lower lip quivered but I bit down on it hard. It would’ve been a lot easier for me if she’d been speaking from a place of clueless reassurance about all this. But everything she said was making sense and that meant I didn’t have someone in front of me to be angry with.
“Why didn’t you tell me when Andrew hired me?” I sighed, sitting back down on the couch.
“Well, like I said, I wanted you to find your sea legs,” she said with a small smile. “I didn’t want the truth affecting whether or not you wanted to work here, whether you wanted to stay here after finding out about what the animals are. It would’ve complicated things, the emotions you’ll have to work through now that you know the truth. Whether or not you decide to give another tour, you also know what they’re like. That’s the benchmark I wanted you to reach before you found out about who you are.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Who I-” My face went slack. “Wait.”
Suzanne nodded slowly. “You’re only half human. Your brother too.”
The room seemed to tilt on an axis for a moment. “That means I’m also half…what?”
“We call ourselves Eldritch, these days,” she replied.
My eyes bugged out. “What?” I exclaimed. “So you’re all, like, gods or something?”
Suzanne burst out laughing. “Oh no, goodness, no,” she chuckled. “It’s just a word. We live in a very different world from this one, and a few generations ago we discovered the word and it made its way into our lexicon. But it does mean you can see all the animals. Indeed you did, on the tour you gave.”
“Wait, no, I had the glasses that…” I stopped. “Did those glasses do anything?”
She gave a sly smile and shook her head. “Not a thing. You made incredibly quick progress, and then when it came time for the tour, all you needed was to expect to see the animals, and you did.”
Genetics. That’s what Andrew had said during our interview, that part of how many animals you could see was determined by genetics. I guess having a mother who was originally from the other dimension gave me all the genes I needed to see everything here. “Could I…visit your world?” I asked tentatively. “You said that my mom took photos of the animals there. Could I…” My voice trailed off, not even sure if or how I wanted to finish that sentence.
“Those who are half human, especially those who are raised on Earth, don’t come visit,” she said gently. “I could show you some photos of other animals, and I could loan you as many books as you’d like, but it’s simply not a place where you’d be safe.”
“Oh,” I said, leaning into the couch cushion as I pictured the animals in the zoo. “Yeah, actually that…makes sense.” I paused. “So, what now?”
“It’s up to you,” she said. “I wanted to wait until I was sure you were comfortable with your position here, and then put the ball in your court. And so it is. What do you want to do now?”
What did I want to do? It wasn’t that difficult a question, just a deep, serious one.
I wanted to thrive, as the animals did. This is my enrichment now, working at an incredible, wonderful, terrifying zoo. The experience so far hasn’t been perfect, and I know there are risks, but life isn’t about staying safe. It’s about learning new things and making a difference in the world. And, if you’re lucky, having a job that’s something really special.
​
THE END
​
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Like, our girl has thrived after a stressful and rough pregnancy, and i suffered from debilitating ppd/ppa fpr the first 5ish weeks
Now, she was sleeping through the night at 6 weeks, is almost walking at 8 months, eats damn near everything offered, has the brightest smile and personality of any baby I've ever met (biased) Like, I'm just so freaking proud of this little crotch fruit
She is just amazing amd I want to love on her and brag on her constantly. Even our worst days are so few and far between (knock on wood)
Idk I just need to brag and I want to hear other patents brag.
Gush, love, brag, go off about your baby, I want to hear it!!!

I (28F) am conflicted because I don’t know if my best friend (29F) is a bad friend or if this is just a me problem. My family’s restaurant of 25 years recently got shut down and I’m afraid I may just be going through a rough time. But also, so much of what she does triggers me. Please be honest. ——-
I met my friend Sarah in martial arts class when we were both 20 and we connected immediately. We were the type of friends that didn’t really hang out much outside of class, but whenever we did get together it awesome! She was like the first and only irl friend I made in my 20s and we both call each other “best friend” since we met. We text every single day.
Recently, I’ve felt like I no longer want to see her. I first felt this about 2 years ago when her other friends and I were helping her move. Sarah got pregnant when she was 23 and I didn’t find out until she was 8 months in and planning a baby shower. She said she didn’t tell me about it because she didn’t want anyone in our martial arts group to know and wanted to keep it secret. Understood. During the move though, I witnessed her other girl friends reminiscing with her about how excited they felt when she told them about her pregnancy. They were showing off the ultrasound photos and everything. This stung a bit.
I had a falling out with another girl friend of mine back in 2019. I was the one that introduced Sarah to her. I unfortunately learned that my past friend was talking about me and my family behind my back. Sarah still hangs out with her to this day despite that and they travel/post Instagram pics together. I’ve explained to Sarah how that friend basically ghosted me and is out here talking about me. I just recently found out that friend is the SAME person that was there when Sarah gave birth. I don’t see their friendship changing anytime soon.
My family’s restaurant is vegetarian. We were struggling to stay open this past year, and I’d see Sarah posting pics of herself eating at other vegetarian restaurants in the area. People are free to eat where they choose, but I must admit I was upset since she could’ve supported my family’s restaurant instead. My family even offered her a place in our restaurant to put up her crochet designs when she first got started with her business. Sarah has text me about going to eat at other vegetarian restaurants and in the back of my mind I’m thinking, “Are you dense… first off my family and I are struggling for money here! I can’t even afford to go out and secondly why would I want to support competition?” This pissed me off.
Fast forward 2024. When Sarah and I hang out these days, it’s mostly because she needs my advice on a guy/needs to vent. I don’t mind this as I love giving advice to those in need, but I just want the same support system for myself, especially during this rough time. She allows me space to vent, but I just don’t feel fulfilled after our convos, more drained. When we text there are so many misunderstandings. All these little things I wrote about above are getting to me and I just want to stop connecting with her. Do you think I’m being dramatic? Would I be an a*hole if I distanced myself from her over this stuff?

I (28F) am conflicted because I don’t know if my best friend (29F) is a bad friend or if this is just a ME problem. My family’s restaurant of 25 years recently got shut down and I’m afraid I may just be going through a rough time. But also, so much of what she does triggers me. Please be honest. ——-
I met my friend Sarah in martial arts class when we were both 20 and we connected immediately. We were the type of friends that didn’t really hang out much outside of class, but whenever we did get together it awesome! She was like the first and only irl friend I made in my 20s and we both call each other “best friend” since we met.
Recently, I’ve felt like I no longer want to see her. I first felt this about 2 years ago when her other friends and I were helping her move. Sarah got pregnant when she was 23 and I didn’t find out until she was 8 months in and planning a baby shower. She said she didn’t tell me about it because she didn’t want anyone in our martial arts group to know and wanted to keep it secret. Understood. During the move though, I witnessed her other girl friends reminiscing with her about how excited they felt when she told them about her pregnancy. They were showing off the ultrasound photos and everything. This stung a bit.
I had a falling out with another girl friend of mine back in 2019. I was the one that introduced Sarah to her. I unfortunately learned that my past friend was talking about me and my family behind my back. Sarah still hangs out with her to this day despite that and they travel/post Instagram pics together. I’ve explained to Sarah how that friend basically ghosted me and is out here talking about me. I just recently found out that friend is the SAME person that was there when Sarah gave birth. I don’t see their friendship changing anytime soon.
My family’s restaurant is vegetarian. We were struggling to stay open this past year, and I’d see Sarah posting pics of herself eating at other vegetarian restaurants in the area. People are free to eat where they choose, but I must admit I was upset since she could’ve supported my family’s restaurant instead. My family even offered her a place in our restaurant to put up her crochet designs when she first got started with her business. Sarah has text me about going to eat at other vegetarian restaurants and in the back of my mind I’m thinking, “Are you dense… first off my family and I are struggling for money here! I can’t even afford to go out and secondly why would I want to support competition?” This pissed me off.
Fast forward 2024. When Sarah and I hang out these days, it’s mostly because she needs my advice on a guy/needs to vent. I don’t mind this as I love giving advice to those in need, but I just want the same support system for myself, especially during this rough time. She allows me space to vent, but I just don’t feel fulfilled after our convos, more drained. When we text there are so many misunderstandings. All these little things I wrote about above are getting to me and I just want to stop connecting with her. Do you think I’m being dramatic? Would I be an a*hole if I brought up all this stuff to her first?

I (28F) am conflicted because I don’t know if my best friend (29F) is a bad friend or if this is just a ME problem. My family’s restaurant of 25 years recently got shut down and I’m afraid I may just be going through a rough time. But also, so much of what she does triggers me. Please be honest.
——- I met my friend Sarah in martial arts class when we were both 20 and we connected immediately. We were the type of friends that didn’t really hang out much outside of class, but whenever we did get together it awesome! She was like the first and only irl friend I made in my 20s and I’ve considered her my best friend since we met.
Recently, I’ve felt like I no longer want to see her. I first felt this about 2 years ago when her other friends and I were helping her move. Sarah got pregnant when she was 23 and I didn’t find out until she was 8 months in and planning a baby shower. She said she didn’t tell me about it because she didn’t want anyone in our martial arts group to know and wanted to keep it secret. Understood. During the move though, I witnessed her other girl friends reminiscing with her about how excited they felt when she told them about her pregnancy. They were showing off the ultrasound photos and everything. This stung a bit.
I had a falling out with another girl friend of mine back in 2019. I was the one that introduced Sarah to her. I unfortunately learned that my past friend was talking about me and my family behind my back. Sarah still hangs out with her to this day despite that and they travel/post Instagram pics together. And apparently, this friend was also there with her when she gave birth so I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
My family’s restaurant is vegetarian. We were struggling to stay open this past year, and I’d see Sarah posting pics of herself eating at other vegetarian restaurants in the area. People are free to eat where they choose, but I must admit I was upset since she could’ve supported my family’s restaurant instead. My family even offered her a place in our restaurant to put up her crochet designs when she first got started with her business. Sarah has text me about going to eat at other vegetarian restaurants and in the back of my mind I’m thinking, “Are you dense… first off my family and I are struggling for money here! I can’t even afford to go out and secondly why would I want to support competition?” This pissed me off.
Fast forward 2024. When Sarah and I hang out these days, it’s mostly because she needs my advice on a guy/needs to vent. I don’t mind this as I love giving advice to those in need, but I just want the same support system for myself, especially during this rough time. She allows me space to vent, but I just don’t feel fulfilled after our convos, more drained. When we text there are so many misunderstandings. All these little things I wrote about above are getting to me and I just want to stop connecting with her. Do you think I’m the being dramatic?

I haven’t been on a trail in over 6 months due to a difficult third trimester and painful postpartum recovery. I’m itching to get outside and bring the baby with me, especially since I want to lose some of this weight. I’m looking to do something short and easy for now. I’m not looking to overwhelm me or the baby.
I got a 3 month old who is starting to be able to keep his head up for a longer period of time. I’ve got a baby bjorn he can sit in while we walk around.
However, summer is approaching and I’m concerned about the sun and the heat. I live in SoCal so it gets really hot and sunny during the summer. Obviously, I won’t take him out when it’s super hot. But even if it’s 75-80, he’s going to be pressed up against my body and it will feel warm. Also, I’m wondering what to do about sun protection for his body, and how to make sure he doesn’t get too hot.
I know I gotta get him a hat and sunglasses. I know he’s not supposed to wear sunblock. But does anyone have any recommendations for clothing? And other products that can help him stay cool?