There’s 14 slices. I’ve already had 4 🥲

What’s in the closet, Kirsty?
He knew I hid a secret.
I smiled, tried to look confused.
He waited, crossing his arms.
I worried that he'd already seen. He had.
What else could he think about the pile?
His wife’s a cheater. She has another life. Another husband. Children.
He’d never believe the truth: I’m not a cheater; there’s no other life; no other man; I don’t know who the children are who visit me at night.
But I did have a secret. And maybe it’s fair to say another life, even if was smaller and against my will.
I should have destroyed those frames, burned the photos within. Now it looked like I saved them, cherished them. The truth couldn’t be farther. I feared to touch anything to do with… whatever they are…with one exception.
“It started last Halloween,” I said to George, my husband, my real husband.
He stopped packing for a moment, working out the impossibility of this statement. “I’m taking the girls to my parents.” He resumed the tossing of shirts, pants, etc. into our big suitcase.
“It’s true,” I said, but weakly. The children in the picture are at least six and four respectively. They were born six months ago.
“They’re not… my kids,” I said of the boys in the photos. They’re not kids is what I almost said.
George stopped and squeezed the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger. “Kirsty,” he said slowly, “there are baby pictures. I saw them.”
“That’s-”
He quickly raised his finger, exasperated, angry, done.
“The first picture is you holding a newborn, and…” He swallowed painfully, his throat gone dry. It always does when he’s upset. “And the father in that picture, with his arm around you, isn’t me.”
When I couldn't deny it, he nodded like he knew all along our marriage would end.
We were happy. We really were. George and I had managed to overcome the typical breakdown that often comes with raising children. Only since last Halloween had distance been made by me.
I should have told him as soon as it started.
“Girls!” he called as I followed him down the stairs to the front hall of our lovely home. We’d scrimped and sacrificed to buy and keep this place, our dream by the lake. He’d been so proud. I couldn’t tell him I wanted to leave the first night sleeping there.
Cara and Ella protested through play, ignoring the adults, continuing to jump on an old box they’d long since flattened. Rays from the western sun placed my daughters into an inspired, hallowed light, and I started to cry. He was going to take my babies away.
George opened the door, intending, I’m sure, to drop the suitcase in the car before returning to physically carry the girls out.
But he hesitated in the doorway.
“George?”
The suitcase fell with a solid thud on the floor. “There’s no way,” he said.
“What?”
“There’s no way,” he said, with emphasis on the last word, “you would have had time for…this…”
Not defining "this" as cheating was progress. “Yes!”
He glared, quieting my desperate enthusiasm. I wasn’t off the hook. “Tell me. The truth.”
“I can’t.”
He reached for the suitcase.
“No, not because I don’t want to,” I protested. “I don’t know what’s happening!” I sat on the carpeted steps and stared through blurred vision at my trembling hands. The shriek I’d filled the house with - “happening!” - had put a halt to the box's obliteration. Cara and Ella hesitated for a few seconds before leaping into action.
Cara, the oldest, six, punched her dad in the buttocks. “You have to be nice!”
Ella, four, sat beside me and patted my trembling hands. “It’s okay, mummy.”
Such lovely daughters. Nothing like the boys in those photos when they were this age.
George grasped Cara's wrists and gently walked her back into the house, using his foot to kick the suitcase from the swing of the front door.
"It's alright, girls," he said with weak resolve. "Go and play."
"No!" Cara shouted. She kicked at her father and he pulled her close into a bearhug. Gradually, the girls calmed and were convinced to return to the box in the front room.
"Kirsty," George said, "you have to tell me." He sat down on the step beside me. "Please." I would do anything to take away the hurt in his eyes. "Please."
"I can't. But… I can write it down. Maybe." I took out my phone. We shared Google Drive. When I made a new document, he reluctantly started his phone. The man was a dream. He watched his screen, and waited patiently for my words to appear.
Without preamble, I returned to the awful moment when it all began: a strange and disturbing dream. Words came like an infection from beneath a torn scab. The wound had been opened. Nothing could stop this now.
Sex with another man has never been a desire of mine. I love George. He loves me.
Plus, the man in my dream was a stranger, and not particularly handsome. He has a plain face set to unwavering boredom and unkempt male pattern baldness. Our dream sex felt obligatory, just something we had to do.
I awoke on the wrong side of midnight. November 1st and I was craving ice cream instead of the girls' gathered candy. The freezer left by the previous homeowners came with unopened ice cream. Freezer burned or not, I wanted some.
After retrieving a spoon from the kitchen, I intended to destroy a brick of neopolitan. He waited in his flannel pajamas, barefoot on the concrete floor. His arms were crossed.
"Cravings?" he said.
I dropped the spoon. It clattered down the basement steps. Before I could run away, he disappeared like someone had erased him from head to foot in one clean sweep.
Had to be a dream. That's what I told myself. The spoon stayed in the basement until daylight. Ghost or nightmare, there was laundry to do the next day.
I crossed the concrete floor fast and only felt safer when I'd closed the door to the more modern laundry room. Never thought builder's grade tiles and track lights would make me feel anything but sad.
His voice caught me sorting.
"Kirsty!"
I dropped the cup of detergent all over the floor.
"Shit."
I came out of the laundry room, figuring George had been looking for me in uncharacteristically rude fashion. He hated speaking between rooms. Shouting throughout the house was highly impolite. It must have been important, I figured.
As soon as I stepped onto the bare concrete, however, deep sadness, the kind that seems to physically leech the strength from your body, dominated the room.
"Hello?" I don't know why I said that. The basement is a low ceilinged rectangle. There are no hiding spots except for the laundry room I'd come from. After a deep breath, I walked briskly to the stairs.
"Any day now," a raspy voice breathed into my ear. I jolted and slipped forward, falling and clipping my chin off a step. It made my teeth click painfully. Nobody there, of course. I ran upstairs and George had gone outside with the girls to play hide and seek.
I wanted to tell him. He looked so happy. It's hard to convey in words the kind of smile he showed me through the window. Imagine contentment mixed with unreserved joy and hope. Yes, it's difficult to picture. So few of us can ever have such a moment. Sort of like finding a natural view completely untouched by humanity. Beyond rare and precious.
I’m rambling now to avoid writing about what followed. The point is I couldn’t tell him. I hoped it’d go away and stop.
But, of course, it didn’t, and things got much worse.
I awoke in a great deal of pain. Having already given birth to children, the feeling was familiar. Despite getting up and gasping, George continued to snore in our bed. He’s a deep sleeper, but a quick and early riser. I’ve never heard him complain about getting out of bed either, especially when there’s an emergency.
I might have woken him up but I was disoriented and confused. Part of me believed I was still pregnant with Ella. It wasn’t until I’d gone all the way to the kitchen to avoid waking up the girls, that my brain caught up: Girls. Plural. Ella was asleep in her bed upstairs.
“Ohhhhhhhh shiiiiiiiiiiit.” I knew the signs of labour. This couldn’t be happening. “Ohhhhhhhhh.”
I was definitely going to wake everyone up if this continued.
My phone was upstairs by my bedside table. We don’t have a landline. I should have called 911. I should have woken up George.
Instead, I went downstairs where I could vocalize pain without disturbing anyone. Such a pathetically passive response. But that’s how I was raised. Keep it down, don't you frown.
His hands seized mine as soon as I descended the last step. Serious and bald without dignity is how to best describe his physical appearance. Cold and cruel is what he is. The lights turned off and, in the perfect darkness of the basement, he was all that I could see.
He produces a red light from his body somehow but his touch is literally frosty.
"Kristy, it's time," he said. No joy there. Just straight facts. Something was coming. I was going to give birth to it. In the dull red glow of his being, the first boy came.
"His name is Hadad," the man said, placing a large, infant boy with a lot of hair and, I swear, a hint of beard, on the bare concrete. Hadad looked like a three month old they use as newborns on TV. He didn't cry. He hardly seemed to breathe as his dark eyes roamed the darkness. His light resembled the man's, a less intense red.
I felt another contraction, and winced.
"She comes next," the man said.
I felt so weak. "Who are you?" I asked him.
At last, he smiled and I wished he hadn't. It made me feel small, insignificant, and beneath his concern. "You know who I am," he said. "I'm your husband."
Pain wracked my entire body. Something didn't feel right. The birth of Cara and Ella had been without difficulty.
"Push," my "husband" ordered. "She is upset with you, and will kill you if you don't get her out now."
"It has to be a nightmare," I told him. Sweat poured in streams down my face. The unborn "she" in question writhed and damaged my insides. I screamed. I couldn't help it.
"Push!"
I obeyed and the second boy spilled onto the bare concrete, coated in blood and dust.
"It's a boy," I said.
The man looked displeased. "The body is male. She is Hebat. No wonder she is angry." Like the other infant, Hebat appeared aware of her surroundings and had far too much motor control for a newborn. The light pouring from her body was dull silver. Her eye sockets were two pits of concentrated despair. I had to look away.
The babies were pressed into my arms.
The man stretched out beside me. "Open your eyes and smile." I resisted. "Do it. Now." What choice did I have? The flash from his cell blinded me. They were all gone by the time my sight recovered. Only the sweat remained as evidence of the ordeal.
It had to have been a hallucination. Some very bad food poisoning maybe. The source could be as simple as an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. I had been stress eating since we'd moved in. I stood up and took some comfort in a Charles Dickens' reference.
"More of gravy than of grave about you," I said. My words seemed consumed by the dreadful weight of the air. "Whatever you are."
Whatever you are: something bad in any case. At best, I'd hallucinated prolonged and traumatic labour and needed medical attention. Yet, when I limped up the basement stairs, all thoughts of waking George vanished. There on the kitchen island sat a propped frame containing the photograph taken only moments ago.
The man looked happy. Only Hadad appeared in this picture, which meant another one was somewhere. I didn't panic. I worried more about what George would think if he saw the photos. I had to find them all.
Hebat and his father and I were mounted in a dark wood frame by the master bedroom. It'd be the first thing anyone saw if they woke up. I plucked it off the wall and, together with the first photo, tucked it under some blankets in the dresser we'd shoved in the small walk-in closet.
You might not believe this, but I went straight to sleep after. I climbed under the blanket in my sweaty pajamas, shut my eyes, and didn't have enough time to deny what had happened. I was unconscious until morning.
George placed a coffee on my nightstand. That's what I remember. He rubbed my feet while I slowly awoke. The girls were watching TV downstairs, munching on apple slices. There was forty minutes still before we had to seriously consider getting ready to take Cara to school.
George would drop her off on his way to work downtown. He chose his hours and always chose convenience for his wife and kids. Ella and I planned to spend the morning gardening. Then we would nap much of the afternoon away until George and Cara returned. A life so perfect is so very rare.
I didn't want to spoil things with a very convincing nightmare. Besides, I felt fine. Not so good that I wanted to look in the dresser to see if those photos really were there, but not ill. So I remained silent again.
November started fine. Idyllic days and nights filled with laughter and joy and television. Just as I started to believe in the dream we'd made, they came again.
The wail of a child's hunger is a powerful call for a parent. When it's a chorus, even of two, it cannot be ignored. Only I awoke to Hadad and Hebat's cries for their "mother" from the basement.
Half asleep, I drifted into the kitchen and searched for their milk bottles. When no bottles could be found, I remembered they were newborns. Milk swelled in my breasts and made my nipples ache. Just like when Cara or Ella would awaken in the night. It was a relief to feed them.
But what the fuck was I doing?
I was acting like the man in the basement and the devil babies were mine. It'd been less than a week since Halloween and that horrible nightmare illusion. I had already taken on the beleaguered newborn mother role without question.
Their cries intensified and flayed the weak resistance of exhausted reasoning.
Don't wake George. Don't wake my babies, my real babies.
"What took you so long?" the man critized, his voice monotone, the question unrhetorical.
"I… was sleeping. I went to the fridge first." Under his severe gaze, I stopped in the midst of the dark room. Hadad had quieted. Hebat cooed as if laughing at her own joke. I couldn't see them because the lights were off. They liked the dark better. Somehow I knew that about them and him.
"You should sleep down here," he said. "A mother should always be close to her babies."
The statement was nonsense but not altogether wrong. I wanted to be close to my babies, the daughters sleeping in bliss upstairs, away from the evil fermentation in the basement.
"Kirsty," he said. "Are you listening?" His hand touched the small of my back. The gentleness surprised me. I squawked and flinched away. "What’s wrong with you? They're hungry." He pressed on my shoulders until I sat on the cold floor.
They came from the shadows, already walking. I wanted to go, but I knew he wouldn't allow it. He pulled my cat t-shirt off over my head and their fierce mouths suckled, relieving the pressure of excess breast milk quickly. It felt physically good and psychologically alien.
I looked down at them once and immediately regretted it. Their emanated light had intensified to a point where perception of them hurt.
Each time I blinked my eyes were drawn to some isolated part of their bodies. The vision got closer to the point of disgust. Everything is gross if you're close enough. There is no beauty under a microscope. If you think there is then you're not using the right magnification.
Hebat's eye drew me in. At first, I saw the dark sphere, and then the strands of her eyelashes. Her gravity kept pulling until the creatures that live in eyelashes were revealed: Demodex folliculorum. I looked the microscopic horrors up.
The babies had more parasites than any child should. They wanted to show me and could somehow do so.
I asked him about it. "Why are they showing me these worms?"
He smiled, contemptuously as usual. "Trying to impress mother. Neither of them understand your horror and insignificance. You are the ant who knows they're an ant. Lucky you. They think you will be proud of the life their corporeal forms produce and host. Give them a few hours. It will pass."
"Why are you doing this to me?"
"I'm not sure what you mean. We're married. Now, prepare to smile." His cell reappeared and I noted the lack of features; it might have been a singed rectangle of spent firewood. He frowned when I failed to smile. "Smile, Kirsty. These are your children."
I managed to stave off the tears and hold the babies close. The smile was more difficult. In the inevitable aftermath of their sudden disappearance, the frames depicted an exhausted, wrinkly woman smiling painfully. It took a second to recognize myself.
The things in the basement sapped my strength. I looked dehydrated, beleaguered. The scale in the bathroom said I'd dropped six pounds. I'd weighed myself the morning before.
"Whoa, you've lost weight," George noted, thinking I'd be pleased. "This place has been so good for us, eh?'
To produce another smile proved as draining as the previous night. "Y-yes," I stuttered too late for him to ignore.
"Hey," he said, touching my forearm.
I flinched.
"Whoa, you okay? What's wrong?"
I should have told him. "Nothing. Bad sleep. A nightmare. I'll be fine."
A lie is an agreement. George wanted to agree, I think. He wanted life to be fine because he was happy for once. We struggled so hard before we came to Bridal Veil Lake. It was supposed to be our dream.
Guilty if I told him the truth. Guilty because I didn't. I began to resent his happiness, though he had done nothing but be the wonderful man he'd always been.
To Cara and Ella I became a body in motion, No brain left to guide them away from harm or answer their questions about nature and the universe.
"I don't know." That's what I told them often.
So they began to treat me like a kind of butler.
"Can I have some juice, please?"
"Sure, sweetheart."
"Mommy, can I have a snack?"
"Of course." And I'd run off to fetch it.
"Cookies."
"Yes, dear."
When Christmas came, I had two and they induced the same level of joy. Visiting the basement to feed and nurture Hebat and Hadad became a nightly occurrence. I'd learned to awaken, if I could get to sleep at all, and go quietly.
He berated me severely if I missed a night, and there were subtle threats made casually.
"I may have to squash you yet," he said, his tone as deep and cold as always.
"It won't happen again," I promised. "They’re getting big." In fact, they were no longer infants. Both had grown to the approximate age of six or seven in a few months. Still, they never spoke. Their dark eyes watched me as they ate food from the kitchen upstairs, food I'd hidden from my family.
"More meat," the man demanded.
"Of course." And I ran to the freezer and gave them frozen sausages in the package. They never complained or demanded the food be prepared a different way. No objections from my "husband" either.
Hebat tore the styrofoam and plastic wrap away and flattened the row of sausages stuck together between powerful molars. Hadad contented itself with licking them like a popsicle.
I'd stay until the photo. Then they'd release me by vanishing. Always with an exhausted breath, I'd trudge up the stairs and search for the frames and hide them in the same place.
They only smiled in the pictures. At no other time did they express any kind of emotion unless indifference counts.
My own children and husband weren't doing much better. Their concerns about my fatigue and ruminating slowly ceased as I repeated the excuse: I’m just tired. It'll pass.
Of course, I did not know when the nightmare would stop.
"When will it end?" I asked him one night, while Hebat and Hadad exercised like they had a mission.
"What do you mean?" he said.
I was surprised he answered. He usually didn't. "This. This. When can I go back to normal and not come down every night? I'm so very tired."
He frowned and I thought some punishment must be coming. Instead, he looked more confused. "I don't understand. You aren't happy? Your children grow into power and strength and will take their place in the world. They will be great and you - you, of all the tiny things, made that happen. Ask yourself what you want out of life, and see if Hebat and Haddad aren't your answer."
Too many words, all at once, for an exhausted mother. I didn't speak for the rest of the night. The infernal trio vanished, and the latter moments of the ritual I carried out with his challenge in mind.
I want my children to be strong, happy, and safe.
"Juice," Cara demanded the next morning, a Saturday, while she watched cartoons.
"Get it yourself!" I hissed, from tired to angry in a second.
"But I can't," Cara accurately pointed out. She didn't look away from the TV. Looking at me wasn't safe, and she knew it. Her and Ella held hands and sat a little straighter. It broke my heart. What had I done?
George came downstairs, attracted by my shouting. "What’s going on?"
Empathy became sadness, and the constant burden rekindled to anger swiftly. "Just children treating me like a servant."
He smiled. "Ah, yes, and how are the royal princesses this morning?"
His levity irked me. "You would know if you didn't sleep in so much."
The smile vanished from his face, and instead of the fight I seemed to want, he mumbled a quiet apology and joined the girls. They climbed onto him as he wrapped them into a cuddle.
"What are we watching?" George restarted his smile, his calm, for the girls. I hated myself. It had to end. Tonight.
After another dreary day of going through the motions, and the girls and George had fallen asleep, I went to the kitchen and chose the knife I thought sharpest.
"Kirsty," he said, his voice a whisper rising from the depths of the house.
"Coming," I whispered back.
"Mom," said another voice, a girl's, and I knew that Hebat had, at last, found herself and the wholeness of her being had been corrected.
I started to cry. I went downstairs and there she was with her brother and her father. He looked tired but some of the grimness had cracked to allow the first real contentment I've ever seen him express.
"Is that for the cake?" he asked. "We already have one."
I remembered the sharp knife. "Meat," I said. "There’s ham in the freezer."
He nodded, seeming to accept the answer.
"Mom," Hebat said, "Do you think I'm…" She gestured to herself, her face, and her body, and I understood the question, born from doubt and a desire to be validated.
I pulled her close. "You are the most beautiful girl in the whole world." We cried together. Hadad cut into a poorly made, asymmetrical cake by the light of his aura. No one cared that he did so on the floor. I brought out the ham from the fridge and we ate slices with our hands.
"It's almost done," he said. "They’re nearly grown. They are strong, and they are happy. You've done a good job, Kirsty." He watched our children fight to smear icing on each other's faces. "I'm sorry if I was mean. Or cold. I've never done this before." And he meant raising children. "It was the hardest, scariest thing anyone can try. I shouldn't have blamed you for… Hebat… It wasn't your fault."
Before I could pat his hand, he and the kids vanished. Darkness so familiar couldn't extinguish a new fear. I went upstairs and found the last frame. I held my daughter in the photo, my beautiful Hebat. He must have taken the photo without my notice.
I took it upstairs but couldn't bring myself to hide it.
I didn't see that one, George wrote into the document.
I forgot he was watching.
He typed again: Are you saying there is something in the basement?
Yes, I replied.
He stirred in the living room. I hadn't moved from the stairs, but I could tell by his stomping how angry he'd become. All of his negative, violent traits he saved for those in the world who would harm his family. George the Protector was fearsome to behold.
But he had no chance against my other husband.
"Come out! Come out you coward!" George bellowed. At first, nothing happened. The moment before calamity, even when the specific consequences aren't known, is still in slow motion. He carried on shouting. The girls rushed into the hall and didn’t hesitate to investigate.
"No!" I shouted. "Cara! Ella!"
Their feet padded down the steps. A violent commotion followed, screams and raging voices, both deep and childishly shrill.
The most unsettling quiet followed.
I chewed through the fear and the horror tearing me apart and finally moved.
No evidence of violence could be seen from the top of the stairs. The concrete looked bare and dusty and the light revealed nothing more. They were gone, all of them.
"Hebat," I whispered. "Cara? George?"
Him, I thought of, the nameless husband and felt no hint of his presence. He'd always been there. I know that now. It had nothing to do with the house. His absence was felt more than his insidious presence. Yet, I felt no relief. George and the girls were gone. I sat on the floor and cried for all my missing children.
When I finally emerged from the basement, the whole house had been filled with night. Their photos were everywhere. The others were upstairs. I gathered them on the kitchen island. How could I explain any of this to the police?
I needed help. I called my parents. It took twenty minutes before my father picked up.
"Kirsty? What's wrong?"
"Dad," I whimpered. "George is gone. Cara. Ella."
"What? What did you say?"
"They’re gone, dad. George. The girls are gone."
I heard his bed springs protest as he rolled out of bed. My mom said something I couldn't hear, and he shushed her.
"Kirsty," he said, "are you alright? Are you hurt? Are you in danger?"
Why was it so hard to understand? "Dad. George is gone."
"Kirsty, who the hell is George?"
It was my turn to be confused. "He's my- you know him. My husband…"
"Kirsty," he said very slowly, "are you on drugs? Did you take something?"
"No. Are you?"
"Excuse me?"
I hung up.
I have their photos. I have all of their photos. That's what I brought to George's parents before the sun rose. They wouldn't open the door and spoke to me through an intercom.
"George is gone," I said.
"We'll call the police."
"This is your son. These are your granddaughters."
I heard my mother-in-law say, "Who is she?"
"We don't have a son," my father-in-law said. "Go away."
I left.
Back to the house. Our dream sat empty and I live there, but none of the people in my family photos are my family.
I remember but the world never does. My parents think I'm ill and that I used AI to create the family I apparently never had.
How did I buy the house without a job or income? With deep concern for my mental health, they showed me a news story. I had won the lottery the day I turned eighteen.
His influence there, payment for services rendered.
A lie is an agreement.
What had I agreed to? I'm afraid I know the answer: I never wanted a family.
God help me. God help them.
I don't know what to do with these pictures.

For whatever reason I never did the bonus content after my first playthrough, finished up a second last night and decided to finally knock it out. Thought it was pretty interesting because the obvious answer is Culex 3D, but honestly I felt like the mechanics in his fight were the easiest to work around once you understood it. Basically you can chump it out as long as your move on "1" is to move peach to the back row, and cycle people out to keep a decently full roster. On the flip side some of the other fights presented what I thought were bigger challenges.
From easiest to hardest, here's my rankings -
Jinx - So this one may just wind up to how I set up gear, but I'd say this was probably the least engaging of any of the fights I ran through last night. My typical setup is Mario/Mallow/Peach, with quartz charm on mallow and jinx belt on peach, which already negates a lot of the OHKO moves that Jinx is famous for. We did run into some issues because my lineup was set for opening against culex instead of jinx cause I'm smart (rip Geno), but once we got on track it just became a run of staying patient to get my gauge back up. Got it first try.
Booster - Can't lie, I did die the first time after booster finished his train set, which made me giggle a bit. Unfortunately after that the fight was fairly straightforward. Once you figure out "yeah, hit booster to knock him out of it" then there's not much to figure out. AOE attacks with Mallow take out the snifits relatively easy, Mario is on bonk the weirdo duty. Still more fun than Jinx though.
Cake - Kind of the same, made harder by just the sheer mass of aoe stunlocks/etc. Booster and Cake could basically be interchangable except it's occasionally better to swap a hitter in for peach for a turn to avoid a candle lighting and Bowser just spamming A tends to be better than mallow.
Punchinello - This is where I think we start getting into the actual interesting ones, because honest to god this is probably the longest it took me to get "the gimmick" of out of all the fights. Like an embarrassingly long time, and boy, those bombs hit hard. After I got it though I think it might be my favorite fight here? There's a lot of nitpicky strategy about what bombs to hit and how to keep everyone healthy if you don't time a block right. Really dug this one.
Belome - This might be so high just because it's the first fight you do and it really sets the stage for "ho boy, it's going down". Like punchy above it took me a minute to understand the clone makes him immune to that character, but once I was able to parse that then thongs got simpler. Mario got put on add duty, and I would hot swap in other characters for mallow as needed. This one took a while and sent me back to weapon world to level everyone up to 28, but I didn't die to it. I dunno, let me know if I'm overrating this one, but I kind of did a double take when it first started and I got my first "Immune" on mallow and it took awhile to square the circle.
Cuelex - So, to clarify from the above, culex is hard. Very hard. But he also transmit his schtick probably better than anyone else here and once you figure out how to play through it, it's also probably the most similar fight to the original fight in the main game. The very first Meteor really took me by surprise, and then I didn't really link it to the second after I recovered, but after that I got the idea of "either heal up everyone or get peach to the back". Most of my game was a conga line of dead bodies for peach to bring back, interspersed by mario doing aoe with the lazy shell, mallow tapping star rain, or the occasional shot by BowseGeno just to keep the vibe going (although lets be honest, Geno was mostly there to boost the newly risen zombies). Fight was a slog, but I didn't die (28 turns too, not bad for a first go I think). Lots of danger in the fight but if you can keep peach up and keep the line moving, I honestly don't think it has much on my number one, and I could see some people even ranking Punch/Belome over it. This fight will likely be longer than both of those, but I think the mechanic is more easily read and once you get it, you can deal with it with a number of strategies.
Johnny - .... So yeah I died like 3 times on this one lol. I think this is a horribly interesting fight but I'm also not a fan of focusing into one party member and putting them under a microscope, which obviously this fight requires. After a few stunted tries with my standard attack setup (and failing a lot of timed attacks/blocks) I decided the only way I was moving through this one was with the biggest block of cheese I could muster - Lazy Shell + Ghost Medal with Geno and Peach as my cheering section. We got through it but my god it had to have taken at least 15-20 turns. My attack stat did not like lazy shell, but my HP loves seeing 1, 3, 7 damage at a time. I'm sure some people who are way better at doing big J's attacks can do it with more aggressive strats but this was easily what triggered the most deaths for me and I think is probably the most skill intensive of the fights.
Anyway, what's your guys rankings? I had a blast with the fights last night, even if this add on did feel a bit short.

Before telling the story, I want to make it clear that English is not my mother tongue. It's also important to say that my fiancée and I are refugees. We left our home country because of homophobia. We do not receive benefits or social housing; we live on our own money and pay taxes.
I need advice on how to mend my relationship with my fiancée, but I don't know how to go about it.
We are not in a fight at the moment, but we talk a lot about our relationship.
My complaint is that she ignores my wishes and direct requests. There is no violence in her behavior; she is very kind and sweet, but she is infantile. She likes to ignore problems until the critical moment comes, and I have to deal with the problem.
For example, my birthday: Long before that day, we were at a holiday paraphernalia store. As we were looking at balloon figures, I asked her to buy them to decorate the house for my birthday. I wanted to make a silly video for social media. I was hoping for a cake and a confetti clapper. My fiancée said, “Of course I'll buy those things, but later.”
Fast forward a bit, to her birthday: We didn't have much money, but I got up at 5 am, cleaned, and decorated the house with ribbons and flags, baked a cake, and we went to a nice restaurant. I texted my family and her close friends so they wouldn't forget to congratulate her. Even my mom, my brother, and his wife texted her warm words. In the evening, I filmed myself singing “Happy Birthday to you” to her and her blowing out the candles on the cake. It wasn't a super-expensive birthday with no presents, but I tried to make it at least a little bit special.
A little further ahead, my birthday: Before it, my fiancée bought me a chocolate muffin so I could blow out a candle and make a wish (it's my tradition and has been for 12 years). She promised to bring it to me at midnight and celebrate the hour of my birth, but she fell asleep, and I went to do it alone. For whatever reason, she left the muffin in the fridge and it got stale, but it wasn't a big deal. She didn't buy candles, so I used one left over from her birthday party. She got up, sang me a song, and next thing I knew, I was eating a muffin alone because she went back to bed. Why am I describing this muffin in such detail? Because it was the most celebratory moment of my entire birthday. In the morning, it turned out that we had no money (my fiancée is in charge of all the finances), so the money that was given to me for my birthday had to be given to my fiancée so we could buy food and other essentials. When she left to change the money, I found out that I had run out of shampoo at home and had to wash my hair with regular soap. At that moment, my relatives called me, but some of my friends forgot about my birthday (and that's normal). When my fiancée showed up with the money, I told her I wanted a pulled cheese pizza for dinner. She ordered a pizza, but the cheese didn't stretch. That's how my birthday ended: no cake, no decorations, the gift money went into the family budget.
It's like that with everything. I can ask her to do the cleaning because I'm the only family member who works, but she will only clean the house if we have guests coming over.
I can ask her to hire a plumber to fix a faucet; she agrees, and after 3-4 months of inaction, I wake up to a burst faucet.
For six months now, I've been asking her to buy me home pants, but she says “sure” and does nothing.
You might think, “Why can't you do it all yourself?”
Okay, I can, except I also work, cook breakfast/lunch/dinner, clean, buy her clothes, and plan outings. Even our move, I planned alone from start to finish and had to do a lot of it.
All I ask my fiancée to do are basic household things, things that an adult should do when living alone. I can't understand why I have to ask for the obvious. The only thing she is 100% in charge of without my input is managing the family budget (and we are often broke). We also take care of our cat together.
Now we are in a crisis. I am trying to get her to realize that the way she is acting is hurting me.
If we want a family and children, she has to accept a much higher percentage of responsibility because she won't be able to ignore the needs of hypothetical children like she ignores mine. She accepts this and says she is willing to become more attentive, but it should have been done months ago. Let me clarify, this isn't the first conversation we've had in a 3.5 year relationship. I've brought this up often.
Now the damage has been done, and I don't understand how to deal with it.
How do I get over it?
TLDR: My fiancee ignores my needs and direct requests. In 3.5 years this problem occurs more than once. I don't know how to deal with the resentment.

For anyone who is interested, here is a detailed report of our days at Disney World this May! For this trip it was just me and my 8 year old son; husband and older son had to stay home for school and band.
I thought it would be lower crowds in May but it still seemed very crowded! The weather wasn’t my favorite either, it was either very hot or storming for the days we were there.
I do a LOT of planning in advance and use Genie + and Individual Lightning Lanes (ILLs), so we didn’t end up having to wait long for anything! We got 3-day park hopper tickets so we could do all 4 parks in 3 days. Information shared by everyone online helped me a lot in planning so I hope this report can help someone too!
Day 1 (Sat): Arrival at Pop Century
Got a ride from Tiffany Towncar from MCO airport, and arrived right around 3 pm. I reserved a preferred room but we got the 70s building instead of 60s, and it was a little further from the skyliner. We enjoyed the room, but it would have been tight if all 4 of us went. We went to the pool, they also had tie-dye shirt making and a campfire but my son preferred just to swim. He made some friends and had a great time. Mobile ordered some dinner at Everything Pop.
Day 2 (Sun): Hollywood Studios - Mother’s Day!
Woke up before 7 and purchased Genie +, booked Slinky Dog Dash, and ILLs for Rise of the Resistance at 11 and Cosmic Rewind at 5:45 pm. I modified Slinky Dog once it got to the evening time I wanted, around 7 pm. They don’t show you the LL times between 7-7:30 am which is super annoying!
Showed up for the skyliner at about 7:20, and there was quite a line (it started running at 7:30). We got to Hollywood Studios and through security by 8:00 or so, and then they let us in to make our way to Rise of the Resistance. No wait at all, and we were in the attraction by 8:20, and done by 8:30. We got to do Millennium Falcon with no wait either. Rey was out when we got off the ride, and we got to talk to her. Went over to Dok Ondar’s, my son wanted a new sith Kyber crystal - since we were there early, we got to talk a lot with the cast members there about the holocrons and such, that was fun! Got some blue and green milk (and some little sweet rolls they had), as well as cocoa puff iced coffee at Kat Saka’s. Some storm troopers and a First order commander came out and interacted; my son had a toy Darksaber with him, so they threatened to confiscate his unauthorized weapon :) Picked up a breakfast Ronto wrap and snagged a photo in front of one of the ships.
Next I had planned to do both Muppets and Star Tours before the Frozen show at 10:30, but we were running behind so just went straight to the show at around 10:10. I loved it! My son not so much, he’s not too into the shows.
After Frozen we headed back to Rise to use our Lightning Lane and go on it again! I was planning around it possibly being down, but it was up both times we rode it! After that we built custom droids at Droid Depot (reservation for 11:50), and played with them for a bit outside. It started to rain so I had to get some plastic bags to carry them, as they just give you cardboard cases that wouldn’t be good if they got wet! I wanted to see the First Order show at 12:30, but I guess they don’t come out when it’s raining so we missed that one. Got more blue and green milk and did some Datapad games, and looked in the shops. We really enjoyed Galaxy’s Edge!
Next we went to go meet Darth Vader (did the Disney Visa one which has no wait at all) and BB-8, took our droids out to show them.
Then we went to Star Tours, got a Kashyyyk mission/show with Ahsoka. Lunch at Sci Fi Drive-in at 1:40, which was a Fantasmic dining package thing. Enjoyed our meal - son is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts and most places were very accommodating about it.
Went back to the room for a break for about 2 hours.
We both love Cosmic Rewind, so at about 5:00 we took the skyliner over to Epcot just to ride it! It was a loooong walk through mobs of people at Epcot but totally worth it! Row 5 rules! We got Disco Inferno as the song, same as when we rode it 2 years ago.
Hoofed it all the way back to International Gateway, and caught the boat back to Hollywood Studios, aiming to be there about 7 pm.
All day I had been reserving LLs every 2 hours, and modifying the times to stack them up. So we grabbed a quick photo pass photo, then went on Mickey and Minnie’s Railway, Slinky Dog Dash (so fun!), Alien Swirling Saucers (not very fun), and Toy Story Mania all in a row. Headed down towards Fantasmic, and grabbed some great meat and potato waffle bowls at Fairfax Fare to eat while we waited for the show to start. Got reserved seating with the dining package, but we were still advised to arrive 8:20-8:30 for the 9 pm show. Fantasmic was wonderful! Skyliner had a line getting home but moved quickly. Met some nice people on the way home!
Missed out on Muppets and the First Order show, but it was a great day! We were already worn out from all the walking :)
Day 3 (Mon): Animal Kingdom and Epcot
Animal Kingdom opened at 7:30, so we woke up very early and got the bus. We arrived at Animal Kingdom around 7 I think.
7 am booked Kilimanjaro Safaris for 8:15, and ILLs for Flight of Passage (FOP) at 8 and Cosmic Rewind for the evening.
I was debating whether to rush to FOP to be able to go on it twice, but we weren’t up for hustling over there and I didn’t want to delay our whole plan if it ended up having a wait.
So we went to Navi River first, then enjoyed an empty Pandora and got a stuffed pancake and a pineapple cream cheese roll at Pongu Pongu - we weren’t really fans of either. At 8 we used our ILL for FOP and got right on, we love that attraction!! Shopped at the Pandora store and my son got a glowing spear thing (that broke down to fit in his backpack).
Then we headed up to Africa for the Safaris. Booked a LL for the Lion King show. Did the Gorilla Falls trail pretty quickly, saw the meerkats and gorillas.
Grabbed a frozen lemonade for son, then went to the amazing Lion King show. Booked a LL for Kali River Rapids.
Then we did the Rafiki’s Planet Watch, which we had never done before. The petting zoo was pretty small. We walked around the place for a bit, got to ask a cast member about how they feed the painted dogs and she had so much interesting info. Took the train back, then grabbed some food at 8 spoon cafe - mac and cheese with BBQ beef on top was great! Ate it while we enjoyed the Viva Gaia music and dancing at 11:45.
Went to Dinosaur which I had also gotten a LL for (grabbed an orange-swirl Dole Whip at Trilo-Bites on the way!), but unfortunately it went down while we were waiting. So we went ahead over to Kali River Rapids. Son got soaked! We could have put ponchos but we knew we were going back for a break right after. We considered staying for Feathered Friends at 1:30, but decided just to see the macaws at Winged Encounters at 1:15 instead and head back to the room a little earlier.
Nice break in the room, I took a much-needed nap.
At around 4:30-5 got on the skyliner to Epcot, but a storm was coming in and we got stranded at the Caribbean Beach station. After about 30 minutes of waiting there they brought a bus to take us to Epcot…people were pretty grouchy, and it was raining hard so we got pretty wet also. Made it to Epcot and went to Soarin and Living with the Land, which I had reserved LLs for. I was able to snag a LL for Remy for like 7:30, but we didn’t end up being able to use it.
Then we did Cosmic Rewind again around 7 pm using our ILL. This time we got “I Ran” as the song. That coaster is the most fun I’ve ever had on a ride!! And I don’t even like roller coasters. Son shopped at Wonders of Xandar, got a hat. Then we had to eat so we went to Connections - I had put in a mobile order in advance, but it still took like 30 min to get food so we ended up missing our Remy LL. Stopped at Club Cool, son got a frozen lemonade with soft serve on top :) Then we watched the awesome light show on the big ball, and made our way over to get a spot for Luminous, at the front of world showcase. It was wonderful!
You could see lightning around so I was very worried about taking the skyliner back after what happened that afternoon, plus the line was pretty crazy. So we ended up walking to Boardwalk resort and getting a Lyft back to Pop. That worked out well and let us get back sooner for more sleep!
Day 4 (Tues): Epcot and Magic Kingdom
Boy were we tired! It was hard to get my son going in the morning.
7 am booked Test Track for 9:45 am, and ILLs for Tron and 7 Dwarves. I really wanted to do an ILL for Cosmic Rewind again but they only allow you 2; and the virtual queue is just too unpredictable for me, plus still potentially a long wait.
We actually took a Lyft to Boardwalk again in the morning instead of trying to take the skyliner to Epcot. Skyliner worked well for Hollywood Studios, but it was kind of long to Epcot and we wanted to rope drop Remy. We walked from Boardwalk to Epcot (grabbed a coffee on the way) and were there by 7:45 am for an 8:30 am early entry opening. I was actually the first person to scan into Epcot that day lol, at least from the International Gateway. They let us in the park, but kept us at a couple of different points before finally allowing us to line up for Remy at about 8:20. It didn’t seem like they started the ride until right at 8:30. Lines were already insane at that point, but we were toward the front and got right on. Remy is cute - I didn’t notice any of the smells people talk about. Not sure it’s worth the hassle to be able to ride it though.
After Remy we lined up to get into Les Halles for breakfast, which opened at 9. Oh man the smell in that bakery in the morning!! Got egg croissants and a beignet (after talking to attendants about son’s allergies), both were amazing. Grabbed a photo pass photo and walked down toward Test Track, exploring Canada and UK on the way. Test Track had a bit of a wait even with the LL, but at least it was running! Son really enjoyed it. I booked a LL for Big Thunder Mtn for later in the day. After Test Track we considered Mission Space, but didn’t want to wait 30 min for the green side, so just explored the Advanced Training Lab. Then we did Project Tomorrow under Spaceship earth, and then the Aquarium in the Seas area. Walked through Journey of Water as well.
Then we headed up to visit some of the countries. Did Gran Fiesta Tour, and caught Mariachi Cobre at 12:00. The wind suddenly got crazy and you could tell a storm was coming (just when we were about to head back to Pop on the skyliner :/ ) I mobile ordered a pretzel bread pudding at Sommerfest, which was delicious! Then the storm hit. Everyone took cover indoors, we went into the Japan area and walked around the shop and art gallery to wait it out. After about 30 min it was safe to go outside again, and we were exhausted so headed for the exit (grabbed a steam bun from the Japan booth for son on the way, and frushi which I didn’t care for). The skyliner was closed, and I didn’t feel safe getting on it anyway, so - you guessed it! Walked to Boardwalk and got a Lyft back to Pop to rest.
Had a nice long break, then headed to Magic Kingdom on the bus around 4:00. Big Thunder had gone down during my LL time and the LL disappeared, but it showed up in the My Day area as an Experience pass (took me a while to find it). I also booked LLs every 2 hours for Magic Kingdom rides, and updated the times through the day by Modifying, so we were able to do all of these in a row with no waiting:

• Pirates
• Big Thunder Mtn
• Philharmagic (Haunted Mansion was down)
• Haunted Mansion (came back up)
• Seven Dwarves Mine Train
• Got food at Gaston’s - cinnamon roll was stale! They’re better in the morning
• Barnstormer
• Tron Lightcycle Run - So great! We both loved it, and it’s my son’s favorite now
• Mad Tea Party
• Buzz Lightyear

My son is all about the rides, so this was the best way for us to enjoy MK on this trip even though it was only half a day! Then we checked in for the Post-fireworks dessert party at around 8:40 and got a good spot for the fireworks. Sat on the ground until the show started at 9:20. I loved it! We got a couple of desserts, again after consulting with the chef about son’s allergies, and I had a pog-juice mimosa. I figured the bus line would be down after being at the dessert party for a while, but when we got to the Pop bus area there were like 300 people waiting there. At least 10 buses worth of people. So I decided to jump on the nearest bus that was there, Riviera, and then got a Lyft from there to Pop - this time we did a Minnie Van which was expensive but fun because you get a cast member to talk to.
Day 5 (Wed): Heading home
We finally got to sleep in and take it easy in the morning. There was a storm in the morning, and shortly after I got a text from Southwest that my flight (scheduled for 2:00 pm) was subject to be delayed or cancelled. We were going to go swimming but decided to skip it, and just got breakfast. They made a special nut-free meal for my son which was great. Packed up and did the arcade for a few minutes, then Tiffany Towncar picked us up at 11:30. Our droids were our carry-ons BTW. Shortly after we got to the airport they delayed our flight 3 hours. Then kept pushing it back periodically. The weather was cleared up at this point but they said it was due to weather, I guess that one storm in the morning caused Southwest to get completely derailed. We were in the airport for 6 hours then finally got to fly home. At least it wasn’t cancelled! Some people said they were stuck in the plane on the tarmac too and got delayed so I’m relieved that didn’t happen to us; I am very nervous to fly to Orlando again though, esp with Southwest.
Overall we had a great time and really enjoyed the mother-son time together! Our favorites are Cosmic Rewind, Tron, and Galaxy’s edge, and I just love the nighttime shows especially Fantasmic! Ideally we should have had a rest day though, the mid-day breaks were good but we still needed a full resort day in there. We walked 11-12 miles per day, 25K + steps!

Hey, hi, hello.
I’ve been posting on and off for a few years now and I’m sure some of you are sick of seeing me. Oh well, we’re in this sub for one reason and one reason only: to find a connection and possibly a happy ending.
I’ve been told I’m too picky and too open about myself; I don’t think Im either of these things. We all have different tastes and expectations from other people and that’s fine. And yes, I am very open about who I am, shouldn’t we all be? Would save us some disappointment.
I did try numerous dating sites and chatrooms but to no avail; those whove been in the same situation know what’s that like. I have a fair share of horror stories from dating apps and who knows, one day I could share these with you!!
Before I move onto the spiel about myself and how much of a catch I am please read below:
About you:
-living the UK/Europe/US (max of 6h time difference)
-a straight man
-a homebody, with the occasional want to go out and do things
-aged 29 – 48 (I will not reply if you’re not within the age bracket)
-speak English (for communication purposes duh)
-child free (and must want to remain this way)
-MONOGAMOUS
-NO PREFERENCE HEIGHT OR BODY WISE, I’m all about a nice face
-impeccable basic personal hygiene (not expecting you smelling like your local perfume store)
-no addictions (ie excessive alcohol use, smoking and any type of illegal drugs)
-respectful, loyal, funny, affectionate, caring, loving and patient (a lot of it needed with me).
-will not demand any personal content (if you know what I eamn)
-in full time employment (if we are long distance, how else are you going to fund your travels?)
But beyond all that I’m after a best friend. Someone who will have my back until the end. Someone who will accept me for who I am and wouldn’t want to change me (I can offer the same back). Someone who will enter my life and assume the role of my partner (eventually) and join me on this rather bizarre journey called life. Don’t give up on me and I wont give up on you.
I will not respond to any messages along the lines of ‘hru’. ‘hi’.
Once again, no budging on the age or location.
If your profile contains anything inappropriate, I won’t respond either.
I think I made myself more than clear.
Just one more thing, I promise!!!!
This is not to get any attention or sympathy or help; more of a prewarning. I have met a lot of amazing people on here who got their hopes up about me and once things didn’t seem to be as amazing as this image, they had of me they left.
I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 12, as well as severe anxiety (no self-diagnosis here, by an actual professional). I take meds for it but some days are worse than the others. I’m also on the waiting list to get help, but like me you’re in the UK you’ll know what this is like (no issues with the NHS, they’re amazing; just overworked and understaffed). I can’t afford to go privately. At this moment in time,I am about 2 years away from seeing someone.
I suffer from fibromyalgia (if you don’t know what this is, just google it) in late 2019 after ruling everything out. I have days when I’m extremely exhausted and in a lot of pain. I still go to work and try to go on about my life as much as possible but please bear that in mind.
Ive been taking all sorts of meds too, including painkillers to control the pain.
Please don’t see me as someone hopeless or feel sorry for me. This is not the point of this confession.
My name is Anita and I’m a 29yo Eastern European woman, living in the UK just outside of Bristol. I’ve been here for the last 17 years and I consider myself England my home. I’m not considering moving back at any point in my life (however I’ll move elsewhere for the right reasons and right person). I will share my exact location once we’re acquainted a bit more.
I’m 6ft tall (yes I am this tall and I’m aware that it’s way too tall for a woman) and. weight approx 13st or 200lbs (my weight keeps fluctuating a lot and no, I’m not looking for any tips to lose weight). I dye my hair red but it’s more like ginger these days. I have green eyes (they’re useless as I wear glasses) and I wear a lot of black eyeliner lol. I guess you could say I’m kinda emo/goth?
An extreme introvert since I was a young one (definitely not shy, in fact I can get a bit volatile when it comes to standing up for myself). I don’t need to get out of my shell, so none of that please. I like my own company as well as my loved ones; and leaving the house only for work and groceries suits me well.
I’m a vegetarian (not a deal breaker if you’re not; your choice is to eat meat and mine isn’t. Respect it and you shall receive the same back). I think it’s time for everyone live and let others live too.
Tea, coffee and snack addict! (I love herbal tea with no sugar or milk; coffee wise I like a good cap or a caramel macchiato as a treat. Snack wise anything goes really. Fruit, crisps, cake and sweets!)
Bookworm (I haven’t read in a long time, I love books I promise. Just haven’t had much time lately. I have a stack of them which is growing. I need to finally find some time and immerse myself in one of many crime novels I have).
Apolitical (now, I read the news everyday but I do not support any of the parties. They don’t care about you or me, sorry to break this to you).
Animal lover (I have 4 rescued cats two boys and two girls aged between 10-11 who are my absolute life. In total, my mum and I have rescued about 60 cats in the last 10 years. We found them safe and loving homes but for some of them unfortunately it was too late).
No addictions here (I don’t drink or smoke; although I like my vapes a lot).
In my spare time (whatever I get of it) I like to go for walks, listen to music and podcasts, nap, watch tv, chill with my mum and cats, go shopping and grab a coffee with my ma, visit my brother in London, over eat, over think and read books.
I don’t really have any hobbies.
I don’t game religiously but I do enjoy sims 4 (someone told me that isn’t gaming although I’d say it’s a computer game so clues in the name but what do I know, right?) I don’t watch anime either, tried once and couldn’t get into it.
As you can tell, I’m just a relatively unremarkable human being, trying to find her place in this world. And I’m happy about that, being in the limelight is the last thing I know.
With that being said, if you managed to get through my ramblings and they somewhat resonated with you, shoot me a message.
Message me with your name, age and location and what caught your eye about my post. Don’t have to send me your picture right away; I won’t send mine until I’m comfortable enough. To show that you have read, end your message with ‘toodlepip’.
I will respond as soon as I can but please note that there might be delays in messaging back due to well… life being life I suppose.
And if you didn’t like what you read… well then scroll along, no need to let me know about this in the comments or to message me to call me names. It’s nice to be nice.
Thank you for reading this and looking forward to seeing some messages. If not, best of luck in your search!!!

I supposedly have MCAS, but is it mastocytosis? Also PSA for people in Portland, Oregon at bottom. A couple months ago I started allergy shots at a local clinic. They hit me extremely hard, like I had a severe flu and all I could do was lay in bed. The doctor upped my ketotifen and Cromolyn to the max and I discovered that Benedryl Extra Strength is ridiculously effective and I started being able to function again, even though I still felt bad. I made it through the lowest tier of doses and then they started injecting me with the next strongest tier and things got really bad. I started having anaphylactic shock responses to basically everything (never had anaphylaxis before that I know of) and sometimes to nothing at all - heart rate going up to 150, almost passing out, extreme vertigo, profound sense of doom, nausea, difficulty breathing, etc. So I stopped the shots about a month ago but the symptoms just kept coming. I started having seizures whenever I eat anything that isn’t rice cakes with almond butter and cheese, and even that I can only eat so much. So that’s basically all I’ve eaten for weeks now, and all I can do is lay in bed to conserve energy so I don’t have to eat much. The only thing that’s made a difference is a different doctor put me on Prednisone, and that’s the only reason I can even eat the rice cakes. And the allergy doc gave me an inhaler which helps with breathing, but makes my heart beat faster too. My blood tests are coming up with low neutrophils, and a low C Compliment, and I have persistently disregulated blood sugar and anemia. I also had a DEXA scan that showed Osteopenia. I also always test positive for lupus on general screenings but negative for it on lupus testing (which the allergy doc ignored when I told her and is just convinced that I have lupus now). Does any of this sound familiar to those of you with Mastocytosis? Have any of you heard of the KIT D816V blood test and know whether it’s worth doing instead of a bone marrow biopsy? Have any of you had bad reactions to allergy shots like this? Was your health permanently worsened? Did anything help? What type of doctors were able to do anything about it? Has anyone had any side effects like this (paradoxical reactions) to Cromolyn or Ketotifen? Does anyone here have any weird mystery immune issues like this lupus thing I’m talking about? Anyone here have seizures in relationship to histamine/food? What helps? I’d also appreciate any suggestions for the lowest histamine foods that have worked for you, because I’m really trying to find other foods that can work out for me. So far it seems like carrots, and weirdly cheese and nuts, and then rice cakes are all I’ve got. Thanks for reading and for the help, I really, REALLY appreciate it.

PSA Time: if any of you are in Portland, Oregon I highly warn you against the Know Allergy Clinic. I genuinely feel they’ve recklessly put my life in danger in so many ways and times, while also treating me with contempt as though I’m making all this up and wasting their much more valuable time. Like at my last doc appointment, when I said “this can’t be normal” the doc said this “happens all the time”, and to see her again in September, while also not being able to tell me why this is happening or what to do about it, or how not to die of starvation or anaphylaxis in the next few months. I don’t even know if I can use an Epipen because they increase your heart rate (which I only found out through Google, not even the allergy clinic) and mine is already so freakishly fast (possibly hypertensive anaphylaxis though), and she wouldn’t help me with that either, despite the fact that they have mini Epipens there that could be safer for me to try in an emergency. And when I said all I could eat is rice cakes to the nurse who asked why I looked ill, she was like “Well, that’s what I like to eat at breakfast and lunch”. 

I’m in extreme need of help. Also PSA for people in Portland, Oregon at bottom. A couple months ago I started allergy shots at a local clinic. They hit me extremely hard, like I had a severe flu and all I could do was lay in bed. The doctor upped my ketotifen and Cromolyn to the max and I discovered that Benedryl Extra Strength is ridiculously effective and I started being able to function again, even though I still felt bad. I made it through the lowest tier of doses and then they started injecting me with the next strongest tier and things got really bad. I started having anaphylactic shock responses to basically everything and sometimes nothing at all - heart rate going up to 150, almost passing out, extreme vertigo, profound sense of doom, nausea, difficulty breathing, etc. So I stopped the shots about a month ago but the symptoms just kept coming. I started having seizures whenever I eat anything that isn’t rice cakes with almond butter and cheese, and even that I can only eat so much. So that’s basically all I’ve eaten for weeks now, and all I can do is lay in bed to conserve energy so I don’t have to eat much. The only thing that’s made a difference is a different doctor put me on Prednisone, and that’s the only reason I can even eat the rice cakes. And the allergy doc gave me an inhaler which helps with breathing, but makes my heart beat faster too. My blood tests are coming up with low neutrophils, and a low C Compliment, and I have persistently disregulated blood sugar and anemia. I also always test positive for lupus on general screenings but negative for it on lupus testing (which the allergy doc ignored when I told her and is just convinced that I have lupus now). Have any of you had bad reactions to allergy shots like this? Was your health/MCAS permanently worsened? Did anything help? What type of doctors were able to do anything about it? Has anyone had any side effects like this (paradoxical reactions) to Cromolyn or Ketotifen? Does anyone here have any weird mystery immune issues like this lupus thing I’m talking about? Anyone here have seizures in relationship to histamine/food? What helps? I’d also appreciate any suggestions for the lowest histamine foods that have worked for you, because I’m really trying to find other foods that can work out for me. So far it seems like carrots, and weirdly cheese and nuts, and then rice cakes are all I’ve got. Thanks for reading and for the help, I really, REALLY appreciate it.

PSA Time: if any of you are in Portland, Oregon I highly warn you against the Know Allergy Clinic. I genuinely feel they’ve recklessly put my life in danger in so many ways and times, while also treating me with contempt as though I’m making all this up and wasting their much more valuable time. Like at my last doc appointment, when I said “this can’t be normal” the doc said this “happens all the time”, and to see her again in September, while also not being able to tell me why this is happening or what to do about it, or how not to die of starvation or anaphylaxis in the next few months. I don’t even know if I can use an Epipen because they increase your heart rate (which I only found out through Google, not even the allergy clinic) and mine is already so freakishly fast (possibly hypertensive anaphylaxis though), and she wouldn’t help me with that either, despite the fact that they have mini Epipens there that could be safer for me to try in an emergency. And when I said all I could eat is rice cakes to the nurse who asked why I looked ill, she was like “Well, that’s what I like to eat at breakfast and lunch”. 

Hey, hi, hello.
I’ve been posting on and off for a few years now and I’m sure some of you are sick of seeing me. Oh well, we’re in this sub for one reason and one reason only: to find a connection and possibly a happy ending.
I’ve been told I’m too picky and too open about myself; I don’t think Im either of these things. We all have different tastes and expectations from other people and that’s fine. And yes, I am very open about who I am, shouldn’t we all be? Would save us some disappointment.
I did try numerous dating sites and chatrooms but to no avail; those whove been in the same situation know what’s that like. I have a fair share of horror stories from dating apps and who knows, one day I could share these with you!!
Before I move onto the spiel about myself and how much of a catch I am please read below:
About you:
-living the UK/Europe/US (max of 6h time difference)
-a straight man
-a homebody, with the occasional want to go out and do things
-aged 29 – 48 (I will not reply if you’re not within the age bracket)
-speak English (for communication purposes duh)
-child free (and must want to remain this way)
-MONOGAMOUS
-NO PREFERENCE HEIGHT OR BODY WISE, I’m all about a nice face
-impeccable basic personal hygiene (not expecting you smelling like your local perfume store)
-no addictions (ie excessive alcohol use, smoking and any type of illegal drugs)
-respectful, loyal, funny, affectionate, caring, loving and patient (a lot of it needed with me).
-will not demand any personal content (if you know what I eamn)
-in full time employment (if we are long distance, how else are you going to fund your travels?)
But beyond all that I’m after a best friend. Someone who will have my back until the end. Someone who will accept me for who I am and wouldn’t want to change me (I can offer the same back). Someone who will enter my life and assume the role of my partner (eventually) and join me on this rather bizarre journey called life. Don’t give up on me and I wont give up on you.
I will not respond to any messages along the lines of ‘hru’. ‘hi’.
Once again, no budging on the age or location.
If your profile contains anything inappropriate, I won’t respond either.
I think I made myself more than clear.
Just one more thing, I promise!!!!
This is not to get any attention or sympathy or help; more of a prewarning. I have met a lot of amazing people on here who got their hopes up about me and once things didn’t seem to be as amazing as this image, they had of me they left.
I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 12, as well as severe anxiety (no self-diagnosis here, by an actual professional). I take meds for it but some days are worse than the others. I’m also on the waiting list to get help, but like me you’re in the UK you’ll know what this is like (no issues with the NHS, they’re amazing; just overworked and understaffed). I can’t afford to go privately. At this moment in time,I am about 2 years away from seeing someone.
I suffer from fibromyalgia (if you don’t know what this is, just google it) in late 2019 after ruling everything out. I have days when I’m extremely exhausted and in a lot of pain. I still go to work and try to go on about my life as much as possible but please bear that in mind.
Ive been taking all sorts of meds too, including painkillers to control the pain.
Please don’t see me as someone hopeless or feel sorry for me. This is not the point of this confession.
My name is Anita and I’m a 29yo Eastern European woman, living in the UK just outside of Bristol. I’ve been here for the last 17 years and I consider myself England my home. I’m not considering moving back at any point in my life (however I’ll move elsewhere for the right reasons and right person). I will share my exact location once we’re acquainted a bit more.
I’m 6ft tall (yes I am this tall and I’m aware that it’s way too tall for a woman) and. weight approx 13st or 200lbs (my weight keeps fluctuating a lot and no, I’m not looking for any tips to lose weight). I dye my hair red but it’s more like ginger these days. I have green eyes (they’re useless as I wear glasses) and I wear a lot of black eyeliner lol. I guess you could say I’m kinda emo/goth?
An extreme introvert since I was a young one (definitely not shy, in fact I can get a bit volatile when it comes to standing up for myself). I don’t need to get out of my shell, so none of that please. I like my own company as well as my loved ones; and leaving the house only for work and groceries suits me well.
I’m a vegetarian (not a deal breaker if you’re not; your choice is to eat meat and mine isn’t. Respect it and you shall receive the same back). I think it’s time for everyone live and let others live too.
Tea, coffee and snack addict! (I love herbal tea with no sugar or milk; coffee wise I like a good cap or a caramel macchiato as a treat. Snack wise anything goes really. Fruit, crisps, cake and sweets!)
Bookworm (I haven’t read in a long time, I love books I promise. Just haven’t had much time lately. I have a stack of them which is growing. I need to finally find some time and immerse myself in one of many crime novels I have).
Apolitical (now, I read the news everyday but I do not support any of the parties. They don’t care about you or me, sorry to break this to you).
Animal lover (I have 4 rescued cats two boys and two girls aged between 10-11 who are my absolute life. In total, my mum and I have rescued about 60 cats in the last 10 years. We found them safe and loving homes but for some of them unfortunately it was too late).
No addictions here (I don’t drink or smoke; although I like my vapes a lot).
In my spare time (whatever I get of it) I like to go for walks, listen to music and podcasts, nap, watch tv, chill with my mum and cats, go shopping and grab a coffee with my ma, visit my brother in London, over eat, over think and read books.
I don’t really have any hobbies.
I don’t game religiously but I do enjoy sims 4 (someone told me that isn’t gaming although I’d say it’s a computer game so clues in the name but what do I know, right?) I don’t watch anime either, tried once and couldn’t get into it.
As you can tell, I’m just a relatively unremarkable human being, trying to find her place in this world. And I’m happy about that, being in the limelight is the last thing I know.
With that being said, if you managed to get through my ramblings and they somewhat resonated with you, shoot me a message.
Message me with your name, age and location and what caught your eye about my post. Don’t have to send me your picture right away; I won’t send mine until I’m comfortable enough. To show that you have read, end your message with ‘toodlepip’.
I will respond as soon as I can but please note that there might be delays in messaging back due to well… life being life I suppose.
And if you didn’t like what you read… well then scroll along, no need to let me know about this in the comments or to message me to call me names. It’s nice to be nice.
Thank you for reading this and looking forward to seeing some messages. If not, best of luck in your search!!!

I stumbled across this long passage by Lev Sukhanov, Yeltsin's assistant at the time, from his book "3 years with Boris Yeltsin". The events described occurred in September 1989 and I've recited the passages below:

“When we were already returning to the airport, the devil pushed us to take a look at a typical American supermarket.
It was called Randall's Supermarket. From our group, only Boris Nikolaevich and I had never been to this kind of trading establishments.
Moreover, this was not a metropolitan, much less a New York store and, according to our standards, a very “ordinary” provincial one. If, of course, Houston can be considered a province.
Getting off the bus, I began to look for a crowd of people and something similar to our queues. However, there was no queue — neither around nor in the store itself.
It was a one-story building made of light metal structures. Naturally, none of the service personnel knew about our arrival and therefore there could be no talk of any “showing off”. An ordinary day, an “ordinary” assortment, “ordinary” visitors...
I was immediately struck by the abundance of light. And in general, the color scheme of everything was so bright and impressive that it felt like we were descending into the depths of a kaleidoscope.
The abundance of flowers was also mesmerizing - juicy, vibrant, as if just cut from a flower bed. Moreover, the flowers were not for sale, but as a decorative element.
As soon as we entered the supermarket, they called someone from the administration. From somewhere in the belly of the utility rooms appeared a very handsome young man in a snow-white shirt, neatly combed and, of course, smiling. It was the chief administrator. We introduced ourselves and said that we would like to find out about the work of the store.
When we walked along the rows, our eyes didn’t know where to stop. I could guess different things, but what I saw in this supermarket was no less amazing than America itself.
Some of us started counting the types of hams. We lost count.
I remembered our sausage shop on Krasnaya Presnya, where back in 1963 you could buy “Brunswick”, “Stolichnaya”, “Tambov”, “Uglich”, “Krakov” and a few other types of sausages. At that time, I thought this was the top of human dreams and that the first signs of communism hatched. To be fair, over the years, the store’s shelves began to empty and now only memories of its bright past remained. I remembered that Soviet store and compared it with this one in Houston, and realized that the abundance to which Khrushchev promised to lead us had passed us by.
At that moment (in Houston), all 300 Soviet research institutes and departments, whose job was to point to the advantages of socialism over capitalism could be trying to convinced me, but their efforts would be pointless.
The American reality, on the example of this supermarket, looked 100 times more convincing than any Soviet theories. Sure, not by bread alone a man lives... Not by sausage alone, not by cheese alone...
By the way, have you seen red, brown, lemon-orange cheese? How many types of cheese do you think we've seen in Houston? What about ham? All this unimaginable delicacy that everyone can try right in the store and decide — is it worth spending dollars on?
We couldn’t count the names of sweets and cakes, couldn’t grasp their variety of colors and their appetizing attractiveness with our eyes.
And although I am trying to convey my impressions, I understand that this is just a pathetic attempt, because the word is powerless before the reality of what that American store could offer.
Occasionally, I glanced at Yeltsin and noticed that it was a difficult test for him. And when a woman with a trolley caught up with him, on top of which a little boy was sitting, Boris Nikolaevich, apologizing, began to question her.
Does she often go to this store? It turned out, only on Saturdays.
Is your family big? 3 people: she, husband and child.
What is your family income? The woman explained that she was temporarily not working and lived on her husband’s salary, $3,600 a month.
Yeltsin asked how much she usually spends on food? It turned out that this family was spending about $170 on food for a week. From Saturday to Saturday. She still paid rent, insurance...
In the vegetable section, we were literally shocked by the quality of the produce.
A radish the size of a large potato was illuminated by bright light, and water was scattered onto it from small “spirits.”
Radishes were literally dazzling, and next to them were onions, garlic, eggplants, cauliflower, tomatoes, cucumbers.
You want smoked eel — here.
Would you like lamprey? Or is your liver accustomed to sturgeon and oysters? Pineapples, bananas…
And at the confectionery section, one can could stand for hours: it probably surpasses Hollywood in terms of entertainment. A huge cake representing a hockey arena awaited the customer on a stand. The player figures were made of chocolate. A real work of art, and most importantly — accessible, quite accessible.
In general, this was a hypertensive topic. For Boris Nikolaevich and me, visiting the supermarket was a real shock.
As I am writing this book, my wife today (September 1991) went to the store to buy milk at 7 am, but there were queues. Queues are everywhere: you have to stand for 2 days to buy sugar. And this is here — in Moscow, in the second half of the 20th century, 73 years after the Great Revolution. At the time, when, according to Khrushchev’s calculations, we should all already be living under communism. Or maybe what we had built in the USSR is the true communism?
At the exit from the American supermarket, the girl sitting at the cash register didn’t not have to count anything. In her hands, she held a small device that resembled a hair dryer, which she quickly ran over the price code on the packages. After this operation, the price appeared on the computer cash register screen, the customer paid and could freely pass through the electronic turnstile. Well, what else could be simpler and smarter than such a system?
When we left the supermarket, the administrator gave us a present: a huge plastic bag with the packs of food from this store.
I fully believe that it was after Houston (after visiting the supermarket), on the plane, that Yeltsin’s last faith in his Bolshevik way of thinking finally collapsed.
Perhaps, in those moments of spiritual turmoil, the decision to leave the Communist party and join the struggle for supreme power in Russia irrevocably matured in him.”
It was then that Yeltsin realized that all the stories of “international journalists” about American workers who allegedly were dying in hellish poverty and dreamed only about moving to the USSR, all these stories were nothing more than propaganda. Even the party “elites” did not know that.

I know the dissolution of the USSR was much more complicated than one person, but this alcoholic piece of shit destroyed the lives of millions of people and set the history of humanity down a rapidly destructive path just because he was amazed by some brands of ham and tinsel. To Yeltsin being able to chose from a thousand brands of mass-produced highly processed junk food that's all owned by one conglomerate was more important than maintaining his country. Fuck Gorbachev but especially fuck Yeltsin, at least Gorbachev pretended to care about his people and communism while Yeltsin sold his country to a handful of oligarch thugs just because he thought there's no greater tragedy than being able to purchase 10 different brands of processed garbage.

Imperialism would have been able to disintegrate the Soviet Union, had the Soviets not destroyed themselves, had those responsible for the strategies and tactics and for the country's political and government policies not destroyed the country. In other words, socialism did not die from natural causes: it was a suicide, socialism was murdered.

-Fidel Castro, 1992

Alright, got no fancy pictures here, but here we go
Problem: cooking is straight forward and one note. I wanna see that skill do some cooler stuff
Idea: let’s have a battle royale cooking mini game which subtly teaches players to track in game ticks
Recipes? Take 2 eggs and whisk them for 5 ticks, add cheese, and onion, and bake for 10 ticks. How on tick can you be? And for how long? Jad will be a cinch after doing dozens of wedding cakes!
Judges? Did you get the gnome? Get ready for cocktails. Did you get the queen? Get ready to spit roast a pig.
Rewards? Plenty
Get a big dome plate cover that’s a rune pouch for food. Get a combo platter that allows a player to combine a food and potion (drink) of their choice. Get an excessively fancy tea cup that doubles all tea effects when sipped out of. Stuff like that
Though pretty much to strike at the heart of it, maybe cooking could get these sort of ‘lost recipes’ that drop like clue scrolls.
Doing that requires players to follow a tick sequence. Depending on how tick perfect they are influences the final product and xp rates
But yeah, that’s all folks. Have a good one

Hi everyone!
I work for a grassroots community based organization and we have been asked suddenly to host and coordinate logistics for a state meeting at a community satélite location.
There are approximately 40 people in attendance from about 8am-5pm. We are providing lunch and coordinating with a local place but I need to set up a snack table for food/drinks.
I wanted to know if someone was familiar with how much food or what types of options to have? I’m thinking fruits (apples, bananas, cuties mandarins), yogurt, granola, maybe fresh cut fruit, bagels, cheese danishes, trail mix etc?
I need to also make sure I buy the supplies for the snack table, silverware, cups, etc how do I want to have the bagels presented? Do I need to put them on a platter etc.
Hoping someone can give me a pretty good list and instructions of what’s worked for you in the past. Planning to go to Costco for example so if there’s any specifics or recommendations in general, please would be greatly appreciated!

I work in a bakery in a grocery store and we have tags on the cakes to show what day we received them. My boss got mad at me cuz I said a cake is 2 days old which it was. Customer said she is taking it somewhere and she wants it fresh so i suggested another fresh cake and still sold a cake. Our store is literally named olive FRESH marketplace so it's no suprise that they always ask if it's fresh.
Customers are not that dumb they can tell when a cake isn't fresh cuz it gets hard and my boss was basically telling me to lie and say it is. I feel like I did the right thing but I got in trouble for it. Some customers don't mind if the cakes are a few days old but others want it completely new they are taking it as a gift or for birthdays.
It's my first job and I'm not sure if this is how business works. To lie to customers to sell as much product as possible, but it feels morally wrong.

Hello everyone,
I recently posted saying that I was about to start watching Safe House, and as a native Thai speaker, I offered some summaries/translations/explanations (but not in a video because I don't have enough tech skills). Some people expressed interest, so I wanted to try out this sort of outline format with rough timestamps for Day 1 to see if it's helpful to anyone at all. Also, if anyone wants any specific details or transcriptions of specific parts, please let me know!
Is this sort of thing helpful? Do you want more detailed transcriptions/translations? Any and all feedback is welcome! Thank you, everyone!
Day 1 video link: https://www.youtube.com/live/EMCbX52XYf0?feature=shared

• 5:00 Participants enter the house. Gun reads the welcome letter, which states that they'll be competing for a "dream gadget" of their choice. They introduce themselves by order of tallest to shortest, then run around the house to find and greet each of the cameras together. Lastly, they need take a series of group photos to print and hang around the house
  • Luke: mobile phone
  • Pond: computer
  • Earth: (didn't hear clearly; I think maybe it's something fancy I don't know. Hahaha)
  • Phuwin: computer
  • Neo: guitar
  • Mix: Notebook
  • Khaotung: guitar
  • Gun: (doesn't have an answer because he's only going to stay for 3 days; might work something out with his replacement if they win)
• 20:00 PD (producer) asks Earth to go out to collect their dinner. Menu includes crab fried rice, pad gaprao beef with boiled egg, soft scrambled egg/omelette with cheese, and flavoured tapioca with young coconut meat (dessert)
  • Dinner summary/highlights: They're getting used to "living" on camera, so they try to find entertaining things to do/say so the audience don't get bored.
    • General explanation: a lot of Thai humour involves language and wordplay, so a lot of the jokes involve those. Luke sometimes has a bit of a hard time following (but I have to say that his level of Thai is extremely impressive).
    • The other participants very gently and playfully tease Luke for his Thai sometimes, but they're also curious about the US and life abroad, so they ask Luke about American cuisine, whether there's anything spicy there, etc. Some of them also want to improve their English, so they ask questions and practice with him.
    • Around 42:30, they realise that they need to wash dishes, so they start negotiating who's going to wash dishes. There's also some regret about using plates instead of eating from the original food containers. Khaotung and Mix wash while the others give them "moral support."
• 54:00 In the game room, Neo and Pond try to make some language jokes and wordplay with Luke. Example: "Which language can open and close?" Answer: "Swedish" (Because when you say it in Thai, it sounds kind of like the English word "switch" said in a Thai accent). Luke tries to tell the "why does the chicken cross the road" but translated to Thai, etc.
• Around 59:00, Earth, Gun, and Phuwin join and play some of the games that were on the coffee table, such as Jenga, and a thing that makes impressions of whatever you put in the frame. At around 1:04:00, Gun loses Jenga, so the punishment is pushups.
• 1:06:00 They play darts; the punishment for the losers is washing dishes after breakfast tomorrow. Phuwin loses. Everyone continues playing games for fun (darts, table football, etc.)
• 1:14:00 PD announces the first competition for "medals" (official competitive points on the scoreboard). Game is called "What the Face?" sponsored by Canon. Gun and Phuwin are team leaders and take turns choosing who they want on their own team. Each team needs to send one person at a time to try to construct someone's randomly-assigned face using the parts from the large board. The winning team will win one medal each.
• 1:46:00 PD announces that the additional reward for the winning team is that they get to choose their bedroom first. The losing team were originally happy with their room until they saw the luxury of the other room.
• 1:52:00 They relax, unpack, etc.
  • Highlights: Gun and Phuwin discover a separate fridge (provided by one of the sponsors) that is full of packaged seafood items. They're particularly excited about the imitation crab (which is very popular in Thailand in general)
  • Jam session in the dining room area
• 2:39:00 It's Luke's birthday, so while he's showering, the rest of the guys prepare a birthday surprise for him. Neo (and later Phuwin) goes to help stall to buy more time while the rest continue setting up the surprise
  • Birthday celebrations, cake, and more jokes/wordplay/puns. Luke also helps Neo with some English (3:37:00).
• 3:41:00 They decide to play hide-and-seek. PD helps to be the referee. The second round, they decide to play for a medal. The winner will be either the person who's found last, or the person who's "it" will win if they find everyone within 10 minutes. They think the person who's "it" won, but turns out they forgot to find the last person, so they win the medal.
• 4:05:00 Snack/free time. Phuwin makes Thai omelette (khai jiao) with imitation crab. (Khai jiao is like a staple food in Thailand)
• 4:17:00 Fan talk
  • Group 1 highlights: This was the group that won the What the Face? game. First impressions of the house are that it's very nice and spacious, to the point that they were tired from running around trying to find each other earlier. They recapped how Mix and Khaotung found washing the dishes. They were happy to have won the first competition of the show, and they thought it was even nicer that they got to choose their bedroom in addition to getting the medals. They also talked about Luke's birthday surprise, especially about how they needed to send Neo and Phuwin to stall him to buy more time to set up. They also talked about the gifts they got him. They complimented Luke's Thai skills, particularly in reading, and they (especially Mix) want to try to practice more English with Luke this week.
    • Fan comments: Fans remarked about the nice birthday surprise. They said that Earth seems like the tidiest person so far, and he agreed. They also talked about the jam session, and the guys joked about starting a band. In general, the guys all happy and excited about the experience; it feels like a sort of group trip/camp situation where they get to live with friends and peers for a short period
• 4:31:00 They share Phuwin's Thai omelette. They all approve, and several of them bond over the fact that they like salty foods (since Thai cuisine involves a lot of balancing of sweet/salty/soubittespicy flavours in one dish, each person tends to have a flavour category they tend to prefer stronger than the rest, so in this case, many of these guys lean more toward salt)
• 4:41:30 Fan talk part 2
  • Group 2 highlights: this is the group that lost the Face game earlier. Everyone is excited about the house and seeing all the places they can hang out. Luke and Neo recap some of their language jokes and exchanges. They recapped the Face game, and they claimed that it was difficult, partly because the photos are with lighting/makeup/touchups. They also said that Mix had an unfair advantage having Earth's face because he sees his face pretty much every day. They also expressed some (light-hearted) bitterness about their bedroom assignment, especially compared to the other bedroom and bathroom. They made some potential plans to try to steal the large bedroom during the day tomorrow while the other team aren't paying attention. They also talked about Luke's birthday surprise, and how the surprise was almost ruined a few times: Phuwin accidentally ran into Luke while holding his gift, and when everyone first thought Luke was in the shower, he actually was still walking around the house, so he almost saw what everyone was doing.
    • Fan comments: Fans complimented Luke's singing, and remarked that Phuwin brought a lot of stuff to the house. The guys also complimented Phuwin's Thai omelette; Pond claimed that he helped, and Neo retorted by sardonically changing his opinion that the omelette lacked flavour. They're looking forward to the rest of the week, and they're hoping to steal the other bedroom, so stay tuned. Luke gives a closing comment in English, and Neo successfully translates it to Thai.
• 4:57:00 Relaxing/TV time. At around 5:30:00, they talk a bit about ghost stories (ghosts are really big in Thai culture and art/media). Some of the guys have stories to tell, so they agree to have a storytelling session tomorrow. At 5:37:00, the other guys try to hide and scare each other around the house. Phuwin vacuums because he's sensitive to dust.
• 5:46:00 Saying goodnight to the cameras. There's a bit of confusion about which cameras are active, and they confirm that a red light on the camera means it's actively recording them, and a green light means it's on standby.

I moved to Melbourne last year, I’m currently sitting down eating a $6 mince and cheese pie (standard price). I didn’t think the pies could be that much worse than nz I just thought it was propaganda, but fuck me this is one of the worst pies I’ve eaten, and I’m sick of it. Do you know how many bakery’s I’ve been to just to be let down. I’m sure there are good bakery’s around, but in NZ I didn’t have to go searching for a good fucking pie. Moral of the story aus pies are shit.

Bit of background first. I was born with Stickler Syndrome; it can affect a lot of different things but for me the primary issue has been hearing loss. I am basically totally deaf in my right ear and still very hard of hearing in my left. I wear hearing aids, but it’s not a perfect solution. I am also on the low support needs side of the autism spectrum, though I’m not open about that fact at work. Because of the hearing problems and autism, I’m not much of a conversationalist.
I have a college degree but am currently working at a grocery store bakery as a cake decorator and clerk. I have tried to be direct with my coworkers about my hearing loss, told them to get my attention before speaking, if I’m not responding to them I’m not trying to be rude, etc. It does not seem to click for them. They actually thought I was being hyperbolic about having a hearing loss until one of them saw me take out my hearing aids to answer the phone. I even purchased a pin to put on my work hat that says I’m hard of hearing and to please speak up. It doesn’t seem to help even though it’s bright yellow.
It’s been a consistant problem (primarily with coworkers from other departments) where people will come up behind me and then start talking. I don’t hear them approaching, so naturally I get startled when there’s suddenly someone behind me. I’ve messed up a few cakes because of this. Sometimes coworkers (almost always the middle aged guys) will stand there for an uncomfortable period of time and just sort of stare at me. Not sure what to make of that, if they are being creepy, if they want food, to talk, or whatever. Like I said, I’m not much of a conversationalist and try to keep chats short and direct because I’m often unsure what (if anything) is being said, and what I do understand has to go through the Autism Filter (tm).
The worst part of the job is customer interactions. The way the bakery is set up, it’s really hard to see customers from behind the counter unless they are standing in a very specific spot. There is also lots of background noise from people working, the radio, and various machinery. I usually don’t notice a customer is there even if they are trying to get my attention, this is especially frustrating because I often will be the only one working. Even my fully hearing coworkers have trouble with noticing customers.
The other day I asked the store manager if it would be possible to get a service bell for our counter. I told him that I have trouble seeing and hearing customers from behind the counter, and that it would benefit my coworkers and customers as well. His response was to tell me to just work in a different area of the bakery. And yes, he is aware of the fact that I am disabled.
Sorry that this is rather disjointed. I’m just tired of this shit and needed to vent. I’m sick of always having to put in the extra effort for others and nobody doing the bare minimum for me. I don’t know how to get them to understand that I am actually disabled and not just wearing hearing aids for fun or whatever.

Hey, hi, hello.
I’ve been posting on and off for a few years now and I’m sure some of you are sick of seeing me. Oh well, we’re in this sub for one reason and one reason only: to find a connection and possibly a happy ending.
I’ve been told I’m too picky and too open about myself; I don’t think Im either of these things. We all have different tastes and expectations from other people and that’s fine. And yes, I am very open about who I am, shouldn’t we all be? Would save us some disappointment.
I did try numerous dating sites and chatrooms but to no avail; those whove been in the same situation know what’s that like. I have a fair share of horror stories from dating apps and who knows, one day I could share these with you!!
Before I move onto the spiel about myself and how much of a catch I am please read below:
About you:
-living the UK/Europe/US (max of 6h time difference)
-a straight man
-a homebody, with the occasional want to go out and do things
-aged 29 – 48 (I will not reply if you’re not within the age bracket)
-speak English (for communication purposes duh)
-child free (and must want to remain this way)
-MONOGAMOUS
-NO PREFERENCE HEIGHT OR BODY WISE, I’m all about a nice face
-impeccable basic personal hygiene (not expecting you smelling like your local perfume store)
-no addictions (ie excessive alcohol use, smoking and any type of illegal drugs)
-respectful, loyal, funny, affectionate, caring, loving and patient (a lot of it needed with me).
-will not demand any personal content (if you know what I eamn)
-in full time employment (if we are long distance, how else are you going to fund your travels?)
But beyond all that I’m after a best friend. Someone who will have my back until the end. Someone who will accept me for who I am and wouldn’t want to change me (I can offer the same back). Someone who will enter my life and assume the role of my partner (eventually) and join me on this rather bizarre journey called life. Don’t give up on me and I wont give up on you.
I will not respond to any messages along the lines of ‘hru’. ‘hi’.
Once again, no budging on the age or location.
If your profile contains anything inappropriate, I won’t respond either.
I think I made myself more than clear.
Just one more thing, I promise!!!!
This is not to get any attention or sympathy or help; more of a prewarning. I have met a lot of amazing people on here who got their hopes up about me and once things didn’t seem to be as amazing as this image, they had of me they left.
I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 12, as well as severe anxiety (no self-diagnosis here, by an actual professional). I take meds for it but some days are worse than the others. I’m also on the waiting list to get help, but like me you’re in the UK you’ll know what this is like (no issues with the NHS, they’re amazing; just overworked and understaffed). I can’t afford to go privately. At this moment in time,I am about 2 years away from seeing someone.
I suffer from fibromyalgia (if you don’t know what this is, just google it) in late 2019 after ruling everything out. I have days when I’m extremely exhausted and in a lot of pain. I still go to work and try to go on about my life as much as possible but please bear that in mind.
Ive been taking all sorts of meds too, including painkillers to control the pain.
Please don’t see me as someone hopeless or feel sorry for me. This is not the point of this confession.
My name is Anita and I’m a 29yo Eastern European woman, living in the UK just outside of Bristol. I’ve been here for the last 17 years and I consider myself England my home. I’m not considering moving back at any point in my life (however I’ll move elsewhere for the right reasons and right person). I will share my exact location once we’re acquainted a bit more.
I’m 6ft tall (yes I am this tall and I’m aware that it’s way too tall for a woman) and. weight approx 13st or 200lbs (my weight keeps fluctuating a lot and no, I’m not looking for any tips to lose weight). I dye my hair red but it’s more like ginger these days. I have green eyes (they’re useless as I wear glasses) and I wear a lot of black eyeliner lol. I guess you could say I’m kinda emo/goth?
An extreme introvert since I was a young one (definitely not shy, in fact I can get a bit volatile when it comes to standing up for myself). I don’t need to get out of my shell, so none of that please. I like my own company as well as my loved ones; and leaving the house only for work and groceries suits me well.
I’m a vegetarian (not a deal breaker if you’re not; your choice is to eat meat and mine isn’t. Respect it and you shall receive the same back). I think it’s time for everyone live and let others live too.
Tea, coffee and snack addict! (I love herbal tea with no sugar or milk; coffee wise I like a good cap or a caramel macchiato as a treat. Snack wise anything goes really. Fruit, crisps, cake and sweets!)
Bookworm (I haven’t read in a long time, I love books I promise. Just haven’t had much time lately. I have a stack of them which is growing. I need to finally find some time and immerse myself in one of many crime novels I have).
Apolitical (now, I read the news everyday but I do not support any of the parties. They don’t care about you or me, sorry to break this to you).
Animal lover (I have 4 rescued cats two boys and two girls aged between 10-11 who are my absolute life. In total, my mum and I have rescued about 60 cats in the last 10 years. We found them safe and loving homes but for some of them unfortunately it was too late).
No addictions here (I don’t drink or smoke; although I like my vapes a lot).
In my spare time (whatever I get of it) I like to go for walks, listen to music and podcasts, nap, watch tv, chill with my mum and cats, go shopping and grab a coffee with my ma, visit my brother in London, over eat, over think and read books.
I don’t really have any hobbies.
I don’t game religiously but I do enjoy sims 4 (someone told me that isn’t gaming although I’d say it’s a computer game so clues in the name but what do I know, right?) I don’t watch anime either, tried once and couldn’t get into it.
As you can tell, I’m just a relatively unremarkable human being, trying to find her place in this world. And I’m happy about that, being in the limelight is the last thing I know.
With that being said, if you managed to get through my ramblings and they somewhat resonated with you, shoot me a message.
Message me with your name, age and location and what caught your eye about my post. Don’t have to send me your picture right away; I won’t send mine until I’m comfortable enough. To show that you have read, end your message with ‘toodlepip’.
I will respond as soon as I can but please note that there might be delays in messaging back due to well… life being life I suppose.
And if you didn’t like what you read… well then scroll along, no need to let me know about this in the comments or to message me to call me names. It’s nice to be nice.
Thank you for reading this and looking forward to seeing some messages. If not, best of luck in your search!!!