Blade and sorcery nomad record third person

I am wondering is I would be the a hole if I told my BIL that the woman he is seeing has a lengthy criminal record. My brother in law is in his late 40s and is older than me but has a very naive approach when it comes to people. He has been hurt by people in the past.
He began dating a woman who is coming on fast with him, like move in after 5 dates fast (to her place). This plus other people’s comments after meeting her in person made me look her up online and it was clear she had a criminal past. I don’t really care if some has had trouble with the law; at the end of the day we are all one bad choice away from having some type of record. However, hers is lengthy and seems intentional over a 15 year period of time. The charges range from misdemeanor traffic offenses (not parking, dui, or speeding), car theft, forgery of checks, attempt to defraud, assault, and assault to a person with a car. She has served a total of 40 days in jail with two years house arrest (over a few offenses) and 7 years of probation. She doesn’t have a history with drug or alcohol abuse, I would have a different level of concern if she was suffering from addiction.
For additional context, she is a parent with kids from three different relationships and has said that the fathers aren’t involved but through a family court search as of three months ago she had joint custody and has to pay the father’s child support. I think this is why she may not have served as much time.
I am truly struggling on if I should tell him. She hasn’t told him about any of this. If it wasn’t for the speed at which they are moving and other people’s comments regarding red flags after meeting her in person I wouldn’t have looked he up. I am only nosy if I have a concern. My husband doesn’t want to say anything, but I would feel guilty if something happened to him. The theft, fraud, and assaults are not something that I think he should be unaware of.
I am very curious to know what others would do in this situation or what they would want someone to do if they were my BIL.

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Synopsis:
Juliette Contzen is a lazy, good-for-nothing princess. Overshadowed by her siblings, she's left with little to do but nap, read … and occasionally cut the falling raindrops with her sword. Spotted one day by an astonished adventurer, he insists on grading Juliette's swordsmanship, then promptly has a mental breakdown at the result.
Soon after, Juliette is given the news that her kingdom is on the brink of bankruptcy. At threat of being married off, the lazy princess vows to do whatever it takes to maintain her current lifestyle, and taking matters into her own hands, escapes in the middle of the night in order to restore her kingdom's finances.
Tags: Comedy, Adventure, Action, Fantasy, Copious Ohohohohos.
​
Chapter 13: Clockwork Doll
Apple let out a snort as he plodded along the uneven dirt lane. Whether it was the rapidly degrading quality of the roads or the new company he found himself in that was the source of his ire, I would never know.
Beside us was Coppelia, walking at an easy pace despite the many sacks she was swinging. Swinging. Not carrying. She didn't sling those sacks of loot over her back like some overworked mule, but swung them as she walked like a young girl toying with a basket of flowers in the meadows.
It was a ridiculous sight. A girl keeping up with a trotting horse while also carrying more than the animal's burden. Granted, as a work horse, Apple was no galloping steed. He went as fast as he wanted. And that was very slow.
Still, I had to accept the slight on Apple's image. The horse could not have carried the extra weight. He lacked the bridle necessary to pull a cart. And while I'm certain I would have fashioned a solution, I wasn't one to reject the appeasement of commoners.
Thus, girl on foot.
Or rather, a clockwork doll.
“You know, you've been staring for a while,” said Coppelia, turning to show the giant golden key sticking out of her back. “Go on. Want to touch it?”
She didn't look the slightest bit shy. And I didn't act the slightest bit incurious.
It'd take a level of ignorance neither of us possessed to pretend that she wasn't an extreme rarity in this kingdom. Only a few workshops possessed the knowledge, technical and magical expertise to build clockwork dolls. And none of them were in Tirea.
The fabrication process required to create one was said to be so demanding that it was always clear when a doll was being built. Sales of coffee beans boomed.
And now I fully understood why.
A girl whose beauty almost rivalled mine. Almost. She looked my age, or perhaps a year younger. A sweet and dignified appearance, yet she had a spritely smile full of mischief … as well as cogs, sprockets and gears.
Seeing such a marvel of engineering before me, I now fully understood what I had to do.
… I had to build my own!
What was this?! Not only was she pretty. But she was strong! She couldn't just carry tea cups. She could carry me! With someone like that by my side, I wouldn't need to work an extra day in my life!
“M-May I?” I replied, urging Apple to slide over as I reached down for the golden key. “Do I just … touch it?”
“Sure. Just make sure you don't turn it.”
“I see … and what would occur should I accidentally turn it?”
Coppelia puffed up her cheeks, then popped the air.
“Boom.”
My hand froze. I looked at Coppelia.
She didn't correct herself.
“Per … Perhaps it's better if I don't,” I said, swiftly uprighting myself on the saddle. “Besides, you're hardly some plaything to be prodded and poked. I apologise for my less than discreet ogling. Clockwork dolls are not known to visit Tirea.”
“I bet. I mean, who'd want to visit this tiny kingdom out in the boonies?”
I almost choked on my response, such was the speed at which my indignation sought to leave my lips.
No matter how wonderful this invention of engineering was, that didn't give her a blank cheque to disregard my kingdom like some downtrodden restaurant!
“T-Tiny?! The … The boonies?! Miss—”
“Coppelia.”
“Coppelia! This is a majestic kingdom, graced with verdant fields and enterprising scholars! I assure you, there is nothing tiny or … or boonie-like about this rich land!”
“Really? My memory core must be out of whack. It says the Kingdom of Tirea is the second smallest independent nation-state by surface area on this continent, and that it's gross economic output—”
“Shhshhshhshh!! This … This kingdom holds treasures beyond the definition of crowns and industry. We measure prosperity in different ways. In culture. In harmony. And in peace.”
“You were attacked by bandits five minutes ago.”
“A most unfortunate and poorly timed coincidence that doesn't reflect the safe and harmonious nature of this kingdom.”
Coppelia giggled, delicately bringing up the back of her hand to hide her lips … all the while still gripping those huge sacks.
Such brutish strength! It was … marvellous!
Imagine if I had such a useful attendant by my side! The next time Roland hid behind a door to frighten me, I could order her to rip the door off and launch it and him through the nearest window! The possibilities were endless!
“Unfortunate and poorly timed coincidences are the domain of Ouzelia, actually. It's pretty much our trademark, and we guard it zealously. I'm afraid you can't have that.”
Her words could have been written as jest, but her tone was anything but.
“I see. My tutors always said that Ouzelia was a land of splendour and opportunity, and that its freedoms exceeded even that of Tirea.”
“A rotten lie. What did they actually say?”
“That it was full of oddballs and I should stay away.”
“Much better.” Coppelia twirled as she took her next steps forwards, swinging the sacks perilously close to Apple's side as she spun. “Ah, Ouzelia, where dragons roam the skies and there exists no fiction in fairytales. Humans live with ogres. Ogres live with goblins. Goblins live with … well, nobody since they're kinda grouchy. How are the ones here?”
I gave it a moment's thought, then decided to answer honestly.
“Still grouchy.”
“Goblins, eh?”
“Goblins.”
I nodded, needing to say little else.
At least ours were fiercely isolationist. As were our ogre clans. Such a mixing of cultures could never be considered in Tirea, where few non-natives other than the odd troll caravan or questing minotaur could be found passing through our towns and villages.
Then again—
As I stole a glance at the girl alternating between walking and skipping beside me, at the heavy sacks in her hands, and the large golden key protruding from her back, I couldn't help but think that even a dragon probably wasn't as rare as a princess and a clockwork doll passing through our streets together, either.
“Have you been searching for this missing book for long? I'm curious how much time you've spent wandering the kingdom.”
“Waaay too long. These shoes weren't made for walking. But books are hard to find. Especially the one I'm after. Alas, if only I had a different job. My sisters, they got jobs like cleaning bookcases. How wonderful is that? Books always get lost. But bookcases? If that's all I had to do, I'd be able to relax at the—”
“I understand!”
“Eh?”
A flush of excitement ran through me as I seized on the opportunity at once.
Ohhoho! Indeed, rejoice, fair clockwork maiden! No insinuation was lost on me!
As a princess trained in the art of reading cues and desires, I was adept at understanding the words between the lines as keenly as a conductor sensed the notes weaving amongst a grand sonata.
And my instincts were telling me ... that she wished to serve under me as my personal attendant!
“A-Ahem, if cleaning is something you wish to experience, I can offer you a position as attendant. You see, I happen to have left my previous residence without any. Therefore, you may be at ease, as from now, I will declare you to be my sole—”
“I refuse.”
“Geh?!”
My jaw dropped at the abruptness of her rejection.
Could … Could it be that I was wrong? Or perhaps I'd pressed her too suddenly? True, it was only natural to react with inappropriate modesty when presented with such an envied position as the personal attendant to a princess. There were rivalries to consider. New enemies to watch. Old allies to turn. To become my sole attendant was to make one's social debut in high society. Even a maid could be elevated to the lowest rungs of lower nobility by adopting such an exclusive role.
Hmm?
But wasn't I forgetting something?
Ah, but of course! She didn't know I was a princess!
“I refuse,” she repeated cheerfully. “Thank you for the offer. But I've no need for a mistress. My loyalty is to my library.”
A bizarre croak exited my mouth as a thousand responses amalgamated into one.
I … I couldn't tell her!
I was supposed to be incognito, not hiring new employees!
“Sooo, well-dressed, haughty girl who wants an attendant ... is it just 'Juliette'? Or is there a 'High Ladyship' or 'Her Revered Countess, Holy Destroyer of Unwanted Beetles' title somewhere in there as well?”
I winced.
Partly because my masterful disguise as a titleless 'Juliette' was clearly not enough to hide the fact I was simply far too dignified to pass as anything less than nobility. But also because she'd just butchered our entire peerage system in one single sentence.
“Those are not titles.”
“My cunning word trap worked. So, nobility?”
“Undisclosed.”
Coppelia raised an eyebrow.
“Royalty?”
“............”
Hmm?
What … What was that?
Was that … sweat? Why was I sweating? How long had I been riding for? When had sitting in a saddle been such a taxing activity on me?
“U-Undisclosed ...”
For a moment, Coppelia had the look of someone who wished to make an unnecessary comment. I was relieved when she didn't.
… She didn't suspect!
Really now. That was too close. And the fault lay entirely with me.
It was vexing, but the truth is that I didn't enjoy parading myself as anything less than a princess. To do away with my title was difficult enough. But to adopt another was quite another. I needed to find a compromise … eventually.
Eventually.
Meaning ... there was no rush!
I had no need to dive straight into the details of my subterfuge, did I? Once I picked an identity, I'd need to actively utilise it or risk being outed. I couldn't have that. A poor identity was more suspicious than having none. It'd undermine everything!
Therefore, the best thing to do was to disclose nothing. The less I spoke about my background, the less anyone would suspect I was a princess. If anyone asked me if I was Juliette Contzen, 3rd Princess to the Kingdom of Tirea, I could simply refuse to answer and they'd be none the wiser.
Ohohoho! Genius.
Why make things harder? Sometimes, less truly was more.
“To answer slightly more, I can't offer myself for any role other than that which I'm already sworn to do. My purpose is to search for unreturned books. That means I'm forbidden from washing the dishes of any ladies of high standing. Or putting on their socks. That one is specifically ruled out.”
I nodded, taking the loss of a potential handmaiden with good grace.
… Ohhhohoho!! Until next time, of course!
Fortunes waver and ambitions stir. When this girl wished to seek a rewarding new career path in the exciting world of courtly backstabbing, treachery and betrayal, I'd ensure that the door remained open.
“I see. A terrible shame. Nevertheless, I applaud your loyalty to your library. Indeed, by refusing my first offer, you passed the first test to becoming my personal attendant. Should you wish to continue this application, you may do so at any time.”
She connected her thumb and index finger into a circle and smiled lazily.
“O-kay~”
I contented myself with that somewhat lackadaisical response. It lacked the dirt eating grovelling that I usually received when overseeing prospective hires … but I was nothing if not mildly flexible!
When it came to receiving a promising new attendant who could carry my extensive wardrobe wherever I pleased, I was willing to bide my time.
In fact, if she could display such wonderful strength, would that not also make her an excellent candidate to be a bodyguard? If so, that'd make her a two-for-one attendant! I'd be the envy of the soirée!
“By any chance, does your prodigious ability to carry large weights hint towards how you defend yourself in this peaceful and harmonious land?”
“Hmm?” Coppelia looked down, then blinked at the sacks in her hands. “Oh, this? This is nothing.”
“I disagree! … Hence why I note that you carry no weapons on your person, and yet you're able to traverse the perilous wilds that exist between Ouzelia and Tirea. Tell me, would you happen to be proficient in overcoming physical confrontations?”
“My, my, my … what are you implying? I have my feminine wiles and girlish charms. What else do I need to travel the wide world?”
Coppelia flicked her fluffy golden hair and gave a smile as radiant as the sunshine.
I was appalled.
Who did this girl think she was? Me?
Clearly, she had to boast martial skill or magical ability. Not everyone possessed a princess's charisma. And for all the confidence in her smile, that also included her.
“Charm and wit is not enough to negotiate the dangers that pervade this world, unless you're me. Everyone else requires the knowledge of a scholar and the intuition of a rogue. To challenge, to compromise, or to flee based on coldly evaluating every morsel of insight available to you. This is the trifecta of choices one must continually master in order to overcome foes who wish to force victory through brute force alone.”
Coppelia nodded, interest sparkling in her turquoise eyes as she had the politeness to feign the correct amount of being intrigued. A valuable skill set. My tutors would be pleased.
“I see, I see … but what if your foe isn't someone who wants to talk or fight?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, what if it's say, a blight? How would you overcome that?”
“A blight?”
“A blight affecting crops and pastures, a faceless enemy with no notion of negotiation or belligerence. That'd be pretty tricky, wouldn't it? I just want to know where on the manual that is.”
I tilted my head slightly.
It was a concept I had to wrap my head around. To be frank, something which didn't try to sully my reputation or outright assassinate me wouldn't truly count as a foe.
At least not until I saw the first inklings of withering intruding upon the corner of my eye.
Apple came to a stop as I tugged back his reins.
Turning my gaze slowly, I took in the sight of the fields that lay ahead.
Appalling parched fields crept down from across the horizon. Beyond half-wilted lines of hedgerows and trees, a scene of death and decay promised to wait for me. The contrast to the green fields to my sides were stark.
Beyond a rotting demarcation as clear as lines in the sand, I saw a vision of the fine pastures fit for napping replaced by a barren stretch of broken livelihoods.
I couldn't believe it. Was this what was meant by failing crops?
This was beyond what I had imagined! We hadn't even entered the lowlands yet! Was this some disease in the soil? How far did it stretch? How much of our farmland was lost?
It was more morbid than anything I could have envisaged. I could literally see the trail of tax income from yield percentages to stall revenues collapsing in front of me! Each fallen stalk of wheat was another feather snatched from my pillow!
It was horrible!
Beside me, Coppelia was cheerfully humming an unknown melody.
Judging from the brightness of her tune, the state of the kingdom's collapsing grain reserves and the riots that were certain to follow ranked lower on her reasons to be concerned list than it did mine. It was not, after all, my fate that she shared. Even now, I could see a grim future where my family was forced to sell our gold framed portraits and ruby inlaid candlesticks just to appease the peasant masses.
The indignity almost knocked me off my saddle.
Awakening from my stupor, I clenched my fists and spurred Apple onwards.
It was time for Juliette Contzen, the Third Princess of the Kingdom of Tirea, to do her duty. No matter what, I would prevent a future where I was forced to degrade my quality of life. To live as though I were mere nobility.
Or worse, common-born nobility.
No blight would stand in my way.
This, I solemnly vowed.
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I applied to a company called "Frances Heating & Air Conditioning" for a Call-Center position contract. They reached out back and here's what the email said regarding the interview.
"Thank you for your interest in Right Time!
We have reviewed your resume, and we would like you to complete the first step of our recruitment process, which is our pre-recorded online video interview.
We use a company called Spark Hire to complete this portion of the interview.
Please find the Interview Link below (which you can complete at any time, hopefully in the next few days, you can use any smart devise to complete!):
We understand that this is a newer way to connect with a potential employer, and it does not replace a in person or live video interview. It is simply an added step in our process to help us find the best candidates.
I have listed some of the benefits below:
•It allows us to pre-screen a larger group of candidates than traditional recruitment methods and much quicker! We wouldn’t want to overlook a great candidate like you! •You can complete at any time – no need to schedule time off work! •You are guaranteed to connect directly with the hiring manager (you don’t have to go through a gate keeper first!) •This process also lets us know that you are truly interested in our opportunity, not just applying to apply! •We are looking for people who are open to new ideas and concepts, so this lets us know that you are an out of the box thinker and willing to try new things!
We have had thousands of candidates complete across Canada, with positive feedback from both the candidates and their managers.
We believe that you will see more employers utilize this type of tool in the future, some major employers already use this as part of their screening process. We are simply ahead of the curve!
We look forward to receiving your completed video interview.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me directly."
I tried to Google any employees past experiences but couldn't find anything.
Should I call the company tmwr to confirm that they reached out to me and it's not a scam?

Hi, I am desperate for any advice. I left my purse containing my passport in an uber 72 hours ago. I know that was a dumb move but there was a lot going on in the moment and it took me about 40 hours to realize my purse was not in my house, as I thought I had brought it in with me and did not need it again until two nights later and assumed I had just left it somewhere in the house. I immediately attempted to contact my driver but was not able to because more than 24 hours has passed. I selected the can’t contact my driver option on the uber app support chat and was told they passed my contact info onto my driver. I asked what to do if he did not reach out to me and they said to reach out to uber support again. He never called me, nor did I receive any message from Uber. 18 hours later I contacted uber support again and had basically the same conversation. They contacted my driver, shared my phone number, and told me to contact uber support again if i did not hear from him. 8 hours later, after still not hearing from my driver, I reached out to uber support for a third time and relayed the full situation. They attempted to contact my driver and did not reach him. I asked that since I first started messaging uber support at 26 hours who I could talk to since the issue has escalated beyond a reasonable time to expect a response. I was given no answer whatsoever. I know uber has no legal responsibility here but I’m desperate. They keep to telling me to reach back out if I don’t hear from my driver but I’ve done that multiple times now. There has to be someone else I can contact beyond this chat I’m not certain isn’t a computer. Does anyone know a phone number I can call to speak to a real person at uber support? Is there anyway I can communicate to my driver that I will pay him way more than the $20 required? I will seriously do anything

I'm 28 [F], and my partner 34 [M] are looking for an open minded, fun female to chat and possibly grow with as a third addition.
A little history about my partner and I.. we've been together for 15 years. We both work full time and would love someone to help us get through our day. We're open to meeting, but as of right now, we're only looking for some online interaction. We love any genre of movie, nature walks, thrifting, and just having a good laugh.
A little about myself, 28F white 5'4 tubby, I am a graphic designer and a little sassy. I'm the occasional eavesdropper. Anytime we're out and about...I'll point my little ear out to hear all the gossip. It's fun coming up with stories of the people's lives I'm listening to. I am a disney lover and proud to support the Magic. I like collecting vintage disney items as well as a few 80s and 90s toys.
My partner 34[M] hispanic 5'4, is a sweet movie buff of a man. He loves movies and can probably tell you all about it before you decide to watch it or not. He makes for an amazing movie buddy. He knows lots of little random facts that always surprises me. He's very talkative, especially when he's excited about something. He's the funniest person I know and we would never go without a laugh throughout the day. Memes are his secret weapon. He enjoys gaming as well and we would love to play one all together. We're mainly looking for someone to get along with and just have a good times. Possibly someone else who can introduce us to new things or even just add some spark to our life. We just ask for someone who is respectful, kind, has a good sense of humor, and is opened minded to the idea of just getting to know us. We aren't rushing into anything serious so if you looking for a two in one friend special, let us know.

Luke Jackson is 21 and two games into his Freo career. He should not have been called out in the personal manner he was, writes WILL SCHOFIELD
https://www.codesports.com.au/afl/fremantle/fremantle-recruit-luke-jackson-was-target-of-back-page-story-that-will-erode-trust-between-players-and-media/news-story/05c95df73564191bc208496675af1fa3
Like many other Western Australians, I woke up Tuesday morning to a newspaper back page that made my skin crawl a little. I felt some anger, I felt some empathy but, overall, I actually felt embarrassed.
It featured a full page of newly recruited Fremantle Docker Luke Jackson. Attached to a picture of the young ruck was a price tag – pricing his marks-per-game at a high figure – under the headline ‘No action Jackson’. The piece focused on the lack of return Fremantle have had on their investment in Jackson after the first two rounds.
Jackson hasn’t played well in his first two games but nor has Fremantle. They have started the season at 0-2 and go into this weekend’s Western Derby in a must-win situation.
They have their issues. They’ve been beaten around the ball, their ball movement has seemed stale at times and their forward-mid connection has been poor. Their new ruck combination of Sean Darcy and Jackson hasn’t clicked either, yet.
But Jackson is just 21 years old.
Ruckmen often fully develop well into their 20s.
And has played only two games at a new club.
He is far from Fremantle’s biggest on-field issue.
No player is immune from criticism. In fact, that’s very much a part of the job. You should expect it as a player, especially if you aren’t performing to standard. Footy is a performance industry, one which holds huge public interest and investment, and if you aren’t at your best people and the media should have an avenue to speak about that.
The issue I have with the back page in question is the targeted, dehumanising focus on such a young player. The price tag, which portrays him as a commodity and not a person. The belittling headline. All directed at a player barely out of his teens and based on a minute sample size of games.
I know there is a potential mental health impact on young players in this regard, but I don’t like to overdramatise this aspect. There is a level of criticism you need to be able to deal with as a player. It’s a part of the game we love.
This is an industry wide issue, not just a solitary incident. In my experience, athletes don’t have great levels of trust in the media generally. Of course there are some great operators working with athletes in Australia; people who treat all with respect, don’t abuse the access and operate in good faith. But the actions of some others have left a lot of athletes with a sour taste when it comes to media interaction.
This is a generalisation, just like the one that gets made about players when a scandal emerges or an indiscretion is revealed. In both cases, you can’t paint all with the same brush, but people do anyway.
I’ve had plenty of great experiences with the media.
I’ve also been door stopped, ambushed, misquoted and misrepresented. I have had opinions aired about me personally from individuals who wouldn’t know the slightest thing about me or my life.
Back in my playing days, I became close with a journalist who was on a similar journey to me. They moved to Perth around the same time I did. I respected their writing, focusing on in-depth pieces. And, above all, he was a good bloke (and still is, for the record.)
Ahead of my 100th game, I promised this journalist a sit-down interview to talk about the milestone – an achievement I was extremely proud of at the time. It meant a lot to me, personally, and my family. We spoke about all things football, my journey and the battles I’d had along the way.
To finish the interview, the journalist asked about an incident from the season prior. I was out with friends in my hometown of Geelong and king hit in an unprovoked attack, fracturing both my eye sockets and cheekbone. I was knocked unconscious. It could have easily been the worst possible result. An individual was charged and prosecuted.
I was happy to speak about the incident. I’ve always been an open and honest person when dealing with the media. There’s never been a question I haven’t answered. But given the milestone and my families interest in the piece, I was keen to keep the interaction out of the article. I made it clear that I wanted the article to focus on football.
To my surprise the next day, I opened the newspaper to read the headline along the lines of: “Schofield survives one punch attack to reach milestone.” The article then went on to describe the attack at length, with my footballing journey a very distant focus.
The first call I got was from Mum, who was in tears. A casualty nurse, Mum calls a spade a spade. She was with me in Geelong when the king hit happened and knew all about the incident. She also knew how much my 100th game, and football generally, meant to me.
It was disappointing to say the least.
I was shattered.
I felt like something that I thought was about footy had instead become focused on an off field incident. I called the journalist, who blamed his editor at the time. Maybe it was the bosses fault. Maybe it wasn’t. I’ve always been taught to take responsibility for your own actions and to live by your decisions. I felt I had been betrayed. These sorts of incidents aren’t isolated.
The Jackson back page is something many footy players past and present have experienced.
Their legacy is to further erode the trust between media and athletes.
In the end, I think we have to be better as a media industry covering the sport. It’s an elite environment, a performance-based environment, but we must always remember that everyone involved is, above all else, a human being.
A final point: I find myself in quite a unique position.
Now working in the media, Will Schofield has experienced both sides of the ledger.
I have been the subject of a back page story. It didn’t feel good. And I’ve been the author of a story that ended up on the back page of papers nationally. And that didn’t feel good either.
So, just like I am calling for some sensitivity around targeting young players, the same should apply to individual journalists and writers when appropriate. Readers invariably pin the responsibility for an article on the journalist in the byline field, but headlines and images often fall outside of their control.
In the Jackson case, some criticism has been directed at the journalist which, like the player, is warranted to an extent. But I think the back page speaks more about the publication than the writer. In a city like Perth, if you are a sportswriter, there aren’t many alternative avenues for work than the main paper in town. If you want to write about sport, that’s pretty much your only option.
I have empathy for the journalist in this situation, too.

Hello!
This is my first time writing in here so I hope I’ll be able to find what I’m looking for. I’m looking for a long-term female writing partner who would want to partake in plenty of awesome roleplays together! Many of mine tend to fall into the slice of life category but hey, we like what we like, right? Here are some of my ideas:
Best Friends: We have been best friends for a while, and we have feelings for each other, but we’ve never been able to act on them because we’ve always been in relationships with different people.
Co-Workers: We’ve worked at the same company for a while now. I’ve always found you to be attractive, but I’ve never been able to ask you out because we work in the same department, and they frown upon that where we work. If we get caught, we’d both get fired!
Movie Night: We have been watching movies together all night, and it gets so late that we both agree that you should sleep over. I don’t want you driving home, especially since you’re tired.
Star Athletes: You’re the star cheerleader, and I’m the top athlete on the track team. We’ve never actually met in person, but we know of each other. Your basketball game that you were supposed to cheer for got canceled so you decide to go and watch my track meet instead.
Amazing Vacation: Being together for a while has been amazing, but until now, we’ve never been on a vacation alone together. We talk about where we’d like to go and what we’d like to do together. We both agree that we can’t wait to be alone since it has been so long!
Those are just some of my ideas, and it would be awesome to see what we can come up with together! Just so you’re aware, I like to roleplay in first person. I can do third, but first feels so much more real, and that’s what I prefer.
I’m 35 years old, and I prefer to roleplay with a woman who is 21+ so please keep that in mind when you send me a message. I also prefer chatting outside of the roleplay and I hope you do as well. I think it adds to the connection!
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I’m excited to see what we can come up with together!

I left the LDS Church via quitmormon last year(2022). However, I had stopped going to church nearly 2 years prior to that. There are a plethora of reasons I stopped going, but the last straw was quiet ironic. Since around 2018 or so, I had developed an idea to purposely look at the other side's arguments against the church and write a book so that members of the LDS Church could read it and see the ridiculous and false ideas that the world had against the church. It would be designed to immunize them against the spiritual threats of the world. This was especially important since I was convinced we were all living in the last days, yet I had personally witnessed fully believing members increasingly leaving at higher rates than I have ever seen in my life. I even prayed about it and received the answer to create this book, but was waiting for a time I could. I also had this odd fear to look at anything Anti-Mormon at all. Covid gave me that time. The church was true and my testimony was immune. I began looking at anything and everything that I was told to be 'Anti-Mormon' that I could locate online during the first or second week of Covid since we all had the time. Here are the results:
It only took about a week before I switched from fully believing to being convinced the church is a fraud. I am agnostic now; leaning toward atheist. I have become convinced if any god exists at all, there are three gods that 100% don't exist: The Mormon Elohim (God the Father), Mormon Yeshua (Jesus), and Mormon Holy Ghost. I was unsure what to do with the knowledge I had obtained and remained in a strange sense of disbelief for over two years. I analyzed the pro's and con's of both leaving and staying, telling family or not telling family, and so on. Ultimately I decided in March 2022 I couldn't remain in a church that lies to its members on a regular basis and expects the members to do the same regardless of level of belief.
Over the past 2 years however, something kept happening to me which has happened at least twice now and I am at a loss of how to deal with it. I have reason to believe the church figured out my doubt far before I ever applied for my church resignation. There are many other reasons for this but I will not discuss them at this time. What is more the problem at hand is I am convinced the church is harassing and stalking me. They have learned to do this using third parties. I do not know the lies that are being told to my fellow workers, but the actions speak for themselves. The harassments occurred at the last two places I worked. Initially, both my bosses and fellow employees acted kind and helpful, but over time, they became distant and then began to act strange. I've never had this happen anywhere else I ever worked.
I had tricks played on me, and many incoherent things said to me. Sometimes straight up gaslighting. The actions started as individual acts but over time-before I quit both times-the actions became clearly coordinated between two or more people. It is clear to me they have been lied to, but they don't even question it when I confronted some of them. I had even came into the second job telling others outright about leaving this cult, about the things it has been caught doing and yet that made no difference. What the heck is wrong with human beings? How can the church use third parties to do subtle collective harassment and appear to be getting away with it?
During this time, my family effectively ceased contact not calling me with many times not returning my calls and currently I'm not even bothering to call any longer. The only member friends I had left were fine at first but also began ignoring me, except when I called them. I can't see those friendships as being anything other than a strange façade and inauthentic. In fact, just to let you all have a taste of what I'm dealing with I told one of them I think a member was harassing me to see a response and asked if moving would make a difference. They answered 'No, if they were they would just follow you'. Contrast that answer with others I asked the same question who said the opposite. Besides those I worked with at my last two jobs, this is another reason I am convinced some of the members I personally knew are in on this harassment, but have no evidence. So, I am alone and on my own in basically every way. I have only managed to maintain one previous friend who technically considers themselves ex-Mormon(but hasn't officially left the church). However, I can only talk to them on the phone. They are too far from me to be of any immediate physical help.
Unfortunately, the worst part is I have no proof of these strange words and actions besides my own word. I have talked to random people I used to know, law enforcement, lawyer offices, and so on questioning what I can do or what could be done. Due to my financial situation of currently having no job, the best plan I have is to get an ex parte for at least one of the people at my previous job, if not more than one person, in hopes the church will stop this harassing pursuit in the assumption that I send the message I will not be harassed and take it. But this will take time. I can't afford a lawyer. I was informed it will take weeks for people to get the paperwork let alone the court date set so I may not have the time. And worse, what if they don't stop even with this? What if I am followed to my next job? What if the courts don't take or believe my case? What do I do then? I'm at my wits end.
I adhered to the LDS's teaching so hard I never did more with a women physically than kiss a few times my entire life and yet now I have no GF or wife to speak of. I kept the word of wisdom, etc. Yet now, I have no friends I trust any longer. My family is unhelpful. And worse, I have learned anyone who isn't Mormon, or never been in a cult, does not understand what it is like to have been in a cult your whole life suddenly realizing its true nature and that you wasted 95% of your life serving them. Even the law appears to be helpless in aiding me or anyone to its full extent. I'm baffled! I have read a few posts in this forum and see that perhaps some of you are also going through similar situations, but I quiet literally got followed into another city.
How can this be? How is it that this is how reality truly is? I can't fight large numbers alone. What do you do when large numbers of people don't believe you or minimize what has happened or is happening? Or worse, deny it outright. I'm beyond frustrated. I don't know how to find ex-mormon allies or friends and even if I do that doesn't mean we will get along or agree on everything. What is it that provides you all some level of a shield against the constant barrages of the LDS Cult? Is this exact situation happening to any of you? What else can I do to prevent ongoing harassment? I have so much more to say, but if I could get any advice on this issue or ways to get in contact with ex-mormons that would be helpful.

As previously mentioned, the essence of meditation is to keep the mind awake while allowing the body to enter into a state of sleep. The specific method for achieving meditation is to maintain stillness in the body so that the body’s built-in “sensors” cannot detect any muscle movement. With enough practice and time, your brain (more accurately, your unconscious brain), mistakenly believing that you have fallen asleep, will gradually shut down both your motor and sensory nerves, inhibiting the sympathetic nerves while stimulating the parasympathetic nerves. This ultimately leads your body into a completely relaxed state of sleep.
That is why I have repeatedly emphasized that maintaining stillness is the first key element of meditation, and I can even assert that it is the only key element of meditation. Moreover, through simple logical reasoning, I can make a bolder guess that any human activity that is achieved by maintaining stillness in the body is essentially meditation. For example, Zhan Zhuang, Neidan, and various “static exercises” in Qigong, including “Tuna” and “Xingqi” through breath adjustment. Although they may superficially appear to be vastly different, some standing, some sitting, and some lying down, with different internal focusing points as well, they all essentially achieve meditation by maintaining stillness in the body.
However, although most meditation methods are achieved by keeping the body still, there are nevertheless some very special methods that achieve meditation through bodily movement. For example, in addition to “sitting meditation,” Buddhist practitioners sometimes choose an outdoor space, focus their minds without any distractions, and walk back and forth in a straight line with very slow steps, called “walking meditation.” In fact, the slowness of the pace is not necessary, because some experienced practitioners can achieve the same effect with faster speeds. That is to say, slowness is not the key to “walking meditation,” but maintaining a “constant speed” and moving in a “straight line” are the keys. So, what is the connection between moving “at a constant speed in a straight line” and maintaining “stillness”?
People who have studied physics know that Newton’s first law states that when an object is not subjected to an external force, it will remain at rest or move at a constant speed in a straight line. It is common sense and relatively easy to understand that an object that is not subject to external forces remains at rest. However, an object that is not subject to external forces can also maintain constant speed in a straight line, which is a discovery that contradicts common sense and also underlies Newton’s greatness. So again, what is the inherent commonality between maintaining stillness and moving at a constant speed in a straight line, or uniform linear motion? In other words, what is the essential difference between stillness/uniform linear motion and other forms of motion (that is, nonlinear motion and non-uniform linear motion)?
The answer is simple. That is, the acceleration of stillness and uniform linear motion is zero, while the acceleration of nonlinear motion and non-uniform linear motion is not zero. The “sensors” in your body, mentioned earlier, like the “sensors” in smartwatches, are actually “acceleration sensors,” or “accelerometers,” not “velocity sensors.” That is to say, stillness and uniform linear motion are the same for them because the acceleration is zero. This explains why uniform linear motion (like “walking meditation”) and stillness have the same effect, since your unconscious brain mistakenly thinks you are asleep because it cannot detect any “acceleration” of your muscles and thus lets your body go into a sleep state.
In addition, the “sensors” in your body are not as sensitive as you thought. That means that as long as you keep the acceleration of your body movements within a small range, even nonlinear or non-uniform linear movements may cause your unconscious brain to mistakenly assume you are asleep because it cannot detect sufficient “acceleration.”
So, how can you keep the acceleration of your body movements within a small range? You just need to slow down your movements! Tai Chi is a perfect example. Most of the movements in Tai Chi come from Chinese martial arts, but the biggest difference between Tai Chi and other martial arts is the speed of the movements. Therefore, although most of those movements are nonlinear, due to the slow and uniform speed of each movement, and the seamless and continuous transitions between movements, the acceleration throughout the entire flow can be almost ignored.
Also, in various “moving exercises” of Qigong, most (if not all) use very gentle and slow movements based on the same principle. That is to say, whether it is Tai Chi or Qigong, so long as you truly practice “slowly,” you can achieve the effect of meditation. Or to make the point more bluntly, Tai Chi and Qigong are essentially forms of meditation.
Moreover, Newton’s first law is also known as the law of inertia. The so-called “inertia” refers to the property of an object resisting changes to its motion state. By applying this law, we can not only better understand the relationship between stillness and motion, but also unlock the principle behind the “progressive muscle relaxation” method mentioned in Chapter 1, “Awake Sleep.” We already know that this method deliberately tightens and relaxes different muscle groups in the body progressively, thus gradually eliminating the tension and inducing a sense of relaxation. But how exactly does that work?
Suppose the degree of muscle tension ranges from 0 to 10, with several levels in between. That is to say, when we engage in intense physical activity, the muscle tension can rise to 10, whereas when we are asleep, the muscles are completely relaxed, and the tension drops to 0. When we wake up, under normal circumstances, our muscle tension level is not 0 or 10, but rather stays at a value between 0 and 10. Let’s assume that that value is 3, although it may vary slightly for each person.
Note that, under normal circumstances, it is difficult to experience the feeling of muscle relaxation below that normal value of 3. However, if we deliberately tighten our muscles and maintain this for a while, and then suddenly relax them, the muscle tension will quickly drop from 10 to 3. However, it will not stop there, but due to the “inertia” effect mentioned earlier, it will continue to decrease to 2, then 1, and even 0. Of course, after reaching the lowest point, the muscle tension will rebound, and rise back up to 1, and then 2, before finally returning to the normal value of 3 and staying there.
Although this relaxation of muscles below 3 is not long-lasting, usually not exceeding half a minute, it allows us to experience the physical changes that occur only after falling asleep even when we are awake. It can be said that Dr. Jacobson’s invention is truly remarkable. This is also why in Chapter 6, “A Thousand Hours,” we considered achieving full-body muscle relaxation as the criterion for completing the initial phase of learning meditation, because not only is it a very clear and explicit goal, but, more importantly, it is a goal that we can partially experience through the “progressive muscle relaxation” method.
Also, the series of movements in yoga share similarities with “progressive muscle relaxation.” The principles behind both are exactly the same. In fact, the founder of yoga, Patanjali, explained in detail the “Eight Limbs of Yoga” in his book Yoga Sutras. What we typically practice today in the gym is only the third limb, which is the “asana” or posture yoga. The later “pranayama” or breathing yoga is similar to Qigong’s “Tuna” or “Xingqi.” As for the seventh limb, “dhyana,” it is an extremely deep meditation, and the eighth limb, “samadhi,” is the highest state that meditation can bring us to—the unity of Heaven and humanity.
In short, stillness is meditation, as well as uniform linear movement. Slow and continuous nonlinear movement and non-uniform linear movement can also be forms of meditation. As for the various muscle relaxation techniques, they are excellent warm-up exercises for meditation. They help us set meditation goals, experience or partially experience the wonderful feelings that come with achieving those goals, and always have a firm belief and a lively hope.
In many Eastern temples, you will find a stone tablet or plaque inscribed with the words “Entering Samadhi.” It means that no matter who enters there, they must put aside their distractions and purify their minds to discover their true selves. However, most believers do not know that Samadhi is not in the temple or in the wild forests, but in everyone’s own hearts. Instead of looking for immortals and seeking the Tao far away, it is better to sit quietly at home or walk slowly in the yard to find the mysteries of life in the joy of meditation.
May each of us find our own Samadhi and enter it whenever we want to, whenever we need to, and whenever we have to.

What is Bluehost and what type of hosting it offers? 🤔
Bluehost hosting review
Over the years, Bluehost has grown to be one of the most popular hosting companies out there, especially for WordPress sites.
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Just glancing at their homepage and all the different products that Bluehost offers tells you a lot about why it’s won so many users over. First off, Bluehost has numerous different hosting products in their portfolio – not just simple website hosting.
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Second, their prices are really, really affordable. Plus, you also get a handful of bonuses thrown in for free. This makes your overall cost of launching a site much lower vs what you’d have to pay with the competition.
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But let’s start at the beginning. Here are the different types of hosting that Bluehost has in store, including one that is likely going to be the pick for most users.
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Let’s divide the list into a couple of categories:
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1. Entry-level web hosting

This is the budget solution in Bluehost’s portfolio of web hosting. These plans are usually chosen by users who are new to the concept of owning a website and needing web hosting to make it happen.
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Bluehost has two main offerings that fall under entry-level hosting:
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Shared web hosting
Basic WordPress hosting
While it may seem like the latter is better if you want to use WordPress as your website engine, in reality, both are the same product. From what I’ve seen, this is simply a different marketing framing, but the elements on the inside are the same.
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1. Managed WordPress hosting

The basic WordPress hosting plans mentioned above are just that – basic. However, Bluehost also offers a more advanced package called Managed WordPress.
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Compared to the basic offering, the managed variety takes care of all the technical aspects of the hosting setup and WordPress maintenance for you.
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In other words, when you’re on managed WordPress hosting, you don’t have to worry about anything related to keeping your site operational. Instead, you can just focus on creating content and promoting your site.
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Managed plans also give you more power under the hood 💪, which is important for sites with an established position in the market that receive more traffic.
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Bluehost also has a tailor-made offering for WordPress websites running WooCommerce – for eCommerce stores. Those plans come with some WooCommerce-specific elements pre-installed (WooCommerce itself, an optimized theme, payment processing tools, security, extras).
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If you’re looking for a host because you are indeed going to be launching a WooCommerce store, this is probably the solution for you.
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1. Professional hosting

The last tier of Bluehost hosting is what we can call professional-level hosting. Two main products here:
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VPS hosting
Dedicated servers
The former is a very interesting concept that’s built around hosting virtualization. VPS stands for virtual private server. What you’re actually getting here is access to a web hosting setup that runs as a virtual machine on a bigger, physical server. It’s a setup beneficial when building web apps or other types of web-based products that are not necessarily standard websites.
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If you do indeed need a whole physical machine at your disposal, that’s what dedicated servers are for. This type of web hosting is usually the most expensive and powerful hosting option available with most companies.
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Bluehost hosting review: features and pricing ⚙️💸
As you read above, Bluehost has many different hosting plans and tiers available, and each of them delivers a slightly different set of features.
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For the purpose of this Bluehost hosting review, we’ll look at the entry-level plan called Basic Web Hosting.
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It’s the most budget-friendly solution in the lineup and, for that reason, also the most popular one among customers.
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Here’s a snapshot of the pricing page at the time of writing:
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Bluehost pricing
As you can see, Bluehost has a very affordable offering that starts at just $2.95/mo. However, the first thing you must know about this price is that you have to sign up for a three-year contract in order to get it. It is also paid upfront, which means that you do have to shell out $106.20 on day one.
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There are options to begin with shorter contracts, but the prices grow with those a bit. Here’s the full picture:
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36 months: Basic $2.95/mo, Plus and Choice Plus $5.45/mo, Pro $13.95/mo
24 months: Basic $3.95/mo, Plus and Choice Plus $6.95/mo, Pro $15.95/mo
12 months: Basic $4.95/mo, Plus and Choice Plus $7.45/mo, Pro $18.95/mo
Bluehost doesn’t offer month-to-month payment options
Okay, but what do you get for these prices?
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Overall, Bluehost focuses on delivering two things:
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the basic set of features and server capabilities that most users will need,
making those features easy to use and accessible.
All the entry-level plans are very similar on paper, but there are a couple of fine differences.
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First of all, none is “more powerful” than the other. Speaking in terms of computing power and the “scale of website,” they can all handle the same load. The differences are mainly in the size of website and number of websites you’re allowed to run.
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On the Basic plan, you are allowed only one website. Your disk space is also limited to 50 GB.
All the other plans let you run unlimited websites and consume unlimited disk space while doing so.
This is great because what it means in practice is that if you want to build 2+ websites, Bluehost will only charge you $5.45/mo for that.
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Here’s what else you get.
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The Basic plan:
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24/7 customer support via phone and chat (more on the quality of that later in this Bluehost hosting review),
access to custom themes from within the Bluehost panel,
a free domain name for the first year(!) plus access to a domain manager,
email hosting – albeit it’s kind of hidden in the panel,
a $100 Google Ads credit and Google My Business integration,
free CDN integration – a “content delivery network” hook-up means that your website’s data is served from multiple servers across the web instead of just one machine; this improves your site speed a lot,
free SSL certificates.
The Choice plan throws in a free Office 365 subscription for one month. The Choice Plus gives you additional access to free domain privacy (so that no one can check your personal data associated with the domain name) and free automatic backups. Lastly, the Pro plan offers an additional dedicated IP address (important when building web apps/tools, not so much for standard websites).
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Overall, there really is nothing here that’s missing. Bluehost has put some real thought behind what the essential web hosting features are and then put them all together in this offering.
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The free domain is a huge deal in particular! You’d usually have to pay around $15 for a new domain name registration. While it’s not a lot, it still adds up to your overall website launch bill. The fact that Bluehost throws that in for free is great.
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⚠️ Note. Mind the renewal prices. Bluehost, like most hosting companies, will charge you a different amount when first signing up for their service vs renewing after a while. Those renewal prices are higher. Take a look at that pricing screenshot above one more time. See the crossed off price below the main price? That’s the renewal price – it’s what you’re going to pay after your initial contract is up.
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Bluehost hosting review: ease of use 👐
Bluehost does a lot to make the signup and website launch process as smooth as possible. They realize that whoever’s choosing the entry-level plan probably doesn’t have a lot of experience with web hosting. Bluehost tries to make it possible for that user to configure everything on their own without outside help. All within the Bluehost hosting interface.
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Once you get through the purchase process on Bluehost’s website and finalize everything, you’ll be invited to your new user profile page.
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Right away, Bluehost will ask you how you want to go about building your website and if you want to have WordPress installed on your setup. They will even ask you whether you want to work on your site in the classic model (by picking a theme and modifying it) or use Bluehost’s new builder interface.
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Bluehost builder
I went with the first option since it’s more common for WordPress users to do so.
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Next, right in the main dashboard, you get a couple of suggestions as to what you should do to make your site better:
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Bluehost hosting dashboard
You can log into your WordPress site directly from the dashboard as well – just click the Log in to WordPress button in the top right corner.
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If you take a look at the sidebar to the left, you’ll find links to other useful sections:
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Home. It’s where you are right now.
My Sites. Since you can have more than one site on most Bluehost hosting plans, this is where you can see them all.
Marketplace. Bluehost makes it easy to integrate your site with other third-party tools, add-ons, and also upgrade your hosting tier if needed. This section is where you can purchase and install those integrations with a couple of clicks.
Bluehost hosting add-ons
WordPress themes and plugins. This is a subsection under Marketplace, but I feel I should highlight it here. Bluehost gives you access to custom WordPress themes right from the dashboard. It also hooks up to your site directly, so that you can purchase and install those themes all from the Bluehost interface. This can be a huge timesaver.
Bluehost hosting themes
Email & Office. Bluehost gives you an option to integrate your site with hosted email via Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. This is where you can enable everything.
Domains. This is where you can manage your website domain(s) and purchase new ones.
Marketing Tools. This section is all about making it easier to integrate your site with popular marketing channels such as Google Ads, Google My Business, and others.
Advanced. Go here if you want to access cPanel (if this doesn’t sound like English, then Advanced is probably not a section for you).
Let’s look into what’s possible when managing your site, since that’s what most of us will want to do.
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When you go to My Sites and select your site from the list, you’ll see the following panel:
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Bluehost hosting WordPress panel
This is a nice view of your site’s status all in one place. From here, you can access the themes you have installed, your plugins, and even oversee your marketing promotions, backups, user accounts, security, and more.
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What’s great here is that everything is presented nicely, and you’re spared all the server lingo. You don’t have to be a pro to know what’s going on.
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And I remind you that we are dealing here with basic, entry-level hosting setup that did cost a mere $2.95/mo. So…impressive.
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Bluehost performance and load times 📈
Okay, so we know that Bluehost is cheap. But is it fast? There has to be a trade-off somewhere, right? Is it performance?
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Let’s find out:
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We did a very simple test. We set up a site using Bluehost’s tools, published some dummy content on it, added images, picked a theme and configured it, and basically made the site look real.
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Then, we also added a couple of plugins for good measure, like WPForms, Yoast SEO, Jetpack, and a couple more.
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Below are the results of the tests – done from several locations:
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Bluehost hosting review: PERFORMANCE
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LOCATION LOADING TIME TTFB FIRST PAINT INTERACTIVE
N. Virginia 0.77 s 288 ms 0.81 s 0.87 s
California 0.91 s 354 ms 0.93 s 0.99 s
Canada 0.92 s 385 ms 1.09 s 1.04 s
Frankfurt 1.36 s 576 ms 1.40 s 1.34 s
Paris 1.24 s 547 ms 1.19 s 1.19 s
Mumbai 2.05 s 849 ms 1.62 s 1.68 s
Sydney 2.21 s 911 ms 1.74 s 1.84 s
I have to give it to Bluehost…considering this is budget hosting, the results are more than impressive!
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Going below one sec for US traffic is pretty much all you can ask for with any hosting platform – even the more expensive ones.
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Bluehost hosting review: customer support 🚑
Bluehost offers 24/7 phone and live chat support. Apart from that, there’s also a knowledge base where you can find tutorials and answers to the most common questions people have about Bluehost’s platform.
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You can access the support chat from the main contact page on Bluehost’s site.
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Bluehost asks a couple of questions to identify you as a customer, and then gets you through to a support agent.
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From our experience when writing this Bluehost hosting review, a support agent got to us pretty much immediately after starting the chat.
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The interaction was positive, the agent offered advice and was willing to help. However, we seem to had hit a wall in terms of what they’re actually authorized to do.
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Granted, I did ask him to do a fairly specific thing.
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Bluehost support
Bluehost Pros and cons – 6 Pros and 3 Cons 👍👎
Before we give you our final rating in this Bluehost hosting review, let’s look at a quick list of pros and cons.
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Pros 👍
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The entry price is more than affordable ($2.95/mo).
They give you a free domain for the first year.
The setup is really easy to do, especially if you want to use WordPress.
The user interface is great, making it easy to do simple modifications and/or maintenance tasks.
The load times are really impressive, managing to go below the one-second mark.
The support is quick to respond.
Cons 👎
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The renewal prices are much higher than the entry-level ones. That’s why you’re better off going for the max-term contract right out the gate.
While you can set up hosted email on the platform, it’s a bit hidden. You have to go to the cPanel view and set everything up there by hand.
The reviews on the web are mixed. Some users seem to be having issues with their setups. However, many of those reviews are from a while back.
Bluehost hosting review conclusion: Why use it over another host 💪
At the end of the day, Bluehost looks like a great solution for the budget-minded person who wants to launch a new site as quickly as possible and also fairly cheaply.
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Bluehost has all the basic hosting features you might expect, and the performance isn’t lacking in any way either.
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Granted, the tests we did haven’t been carried out over a long period of time, so you’re mileage may vary, but the early indicators are certainly more than positive!

As stated, nmom called after not speaking for about 12 months. First day she called i let it ring and ignored it. Waited a day or two, she calls again. This time she left a message (sounding very pleasant) that she needed to speak to me about something "pretty important". I know well enough not to take the bait, so ignored again. Wait another 2 days, another call. This time i declined the call. Another voicemail saying that she has "important questions", adds in "i don't know why you're cutting me out of your life but that's your choice", and a "i think i took care of you for a pretty long time" for good measure. Also states that i need to "man up" and call her back. In response to that i sent her a text saying "You can text me any questions. I'd like a record of anything i say so it's not misremembered at any point". Almost immediately another phone call that went unanswered. Another voicemail sounding pretty agitated stating that, again, she has important questions to ask me. And now she starts to say that shed rather speak to me face to face, not on the phone. Anyone reading this is probably laughing by now because obviously there is a 0% fucking chance I'm meeting her for anything. This voicemail was also ignored, a second text was sent reiterating the first. Really wanted to make it clear that whatever she needs from me is going to be in writing because there was another request in the past, maybe a story for another day. Anyways, as you can probably imagine i received another phone call immediately following my text. Obviously ignored and followed by another voicemail. This one sounded pretty clearly irritated and made multiple requests for a face to face meeting for a "5 minute" conversation. Also made mention that it should be ONLY her and I. She wouldnt come right out and say it but she doesnt like my wife (the person begrudgingly responsible for my backbone). She said that she wanted a face to face so that neither of us had a record, which really set off the alarm bells.
I talked to my wife about it and she really wanted to know what she wanted lol and part of me did too just for morbid curiosity. I rolled around the idea of calling her and having my wife record, but ultimately decided that i really dont care. I learned a while ago that if what you say to a narcissist isnt recorded in writing, it really becomes a tool for them to use in manipulation or gaslighting.
All of this took place 5 days ago so who knows. Maybe I'll answer next time she calls just to see what BS she has to say, maybe i won't.

I feel like ab is more narcissistic than zach 🤣 I used to like him and lena but i find it so cringe how they think theyre celebrities and are always recording themselves. i recognize im just being a hater rn but i guess i never noticed it before. he finds a way to bring himself up on the podcast more than anyone and make everything about him or what a good person he is. the worst part is that he's also too sensitive and defensive for someone who wants such a large audience

The PRISM exposure caused a global uproar, but this is only the tip of the iceberg of the huge US surveillance program. Project Prism grew out of a more secret Stella Winds program, including little-known secret surveillance projects such as Avenue, Pier, and Nucleus. The "Starwind" program can be traced back to 1994. In October of that year, the U.S. Congress passed the Law Enforcement Communications Assistance Act, which requires all telecommunications operators and telecommunications equipment manufacturers (including hardware and software) to complete the modification and design of equipment, facilities, and services within a deadline to ensure the provision of built-in real-time monitoring capabilities for telephony, broadband Internet, and VoIP. This provides a legal basis for the implementation of the "Starwind" program. But at the time, the Act on Enforcement Communications Assistance did not apply to Internet services, such as e-mail, nor could it target Internet service providers. The NSA has proposed a "chain of relationships" concept, which attempts to sift out valuable information in the sea of information and obtain the movements of the "enemy" in advance. Soon, then-U.S. President George W. Bush began to intensify "information surveillance," secretly authorizing the NSA to access fiber optics directly for data surveillance, an operation known as the "terrorist surveillance program" to monitor "problem numbers" because intelligence officers had reason to believe they belonged to al-Qaida members. Many of the numbers come from the cellphones or computers of terrorists caught on the battlefield. With the support of the law and the courts, the US Department of Defense launched a project called "Total Information Perception System" in 2002, which used the Internet and road and streetside cameras to try to implement effective surveillance of the United States, cooperate with the strategic identification system, and identify potential terrorist suspects, but it was strongly opposed by the American public. The United States then began secretly orchestrating a larger surveillance program called Starwind, which could record the communications of the American public, including emails, telephone calls, financial transactions, and Internet activity. Through a judicial process, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Tribunal grants intelligence agencies such as the National Security Agency comprehensive powers to monitor telephone conversations and Internet communications, not only for terrorism suspects, but also for people suspected of involvement in nuclear proliferation, espionage, and terrorist attacks, thus successfully circumventing U.S. legal dilemmas regarding citizens' privacy. However, the legal basis for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court's ruling remains classified to this day. In order to avoid greater resistance to the Starwind program, the United States split the Starwind into four surveillance programs that were secretly carried out, and reduced the surveillance programs in the United States to include Mainway, Marina and Nucleon in addition to Prism. But these are only the code names of the project, and their specific names and meanings are still classified as US state secrets. The "boulevard" and "dock" are very large, storing and analyzing trillions of "metadata" on telephone calls and the Internet, respectively, but do not eavesdrop on calls and network content. The "nucleus" and "prism" are much smaller in scale and do not have as extensive surveillance as the first two, focusing mainly on information content, responsible for intercepting telephone calls and Internet content, respectively. The four-in-one "Starwind" project, like a giant vacuum cleaner, wipes out the global communication network and secretly stores it for analysis. To legalize Starwind, Congress passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendment Act in 2008. Section 702 of the Act allows the U.S. government to collect electronic communications to obtain intelligence on foreign targets that pose a threat to U.S. national security, which is the legal basis for unbridled surveillance by U.S. intelligence agencies today. At the same time, the Act provides that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Tribunal may authorize companies to provide all relevant information, facilities and necessary assistance. In return, companies that provide information and assistance will be compensated, for example to gain immunity from some potential lawsuits. The bill also expands the definition of "foreign intelligence" to include "weapons of mass destruction." This makes it easier for intelligence services to access a wider range of data and communications that they believe may be relevant to nuclear proliferation. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Tribunal also expressed support, emphasizing that some of the data alone did not appear to be "relevant" to the terrorist investigation, but in fact the data combined may be relevant. Moreover, when the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court makes its ruling, it only listens to one party: the intelligence services, and the results are almost never made public, and certainly do not disclose any details of the investigation to the companies concerned. As a result, companies cooperate with government requests for assistance because they do not want to hinder investigations that could help avert terrorist attacks. When a complaint is received by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Tribunal, a review tribunal is also formed to hear the appeal. Since its inception in 1978, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Tribunal has overturned only 11 government surveillance requests, accounting for just 0.03 percent of all rulings. This led to the abuse of the "Starwind" program and its inefficiency. Cases filed under the Starwind program are even called "pizza cases" by FBI agents, because many seemingly suspicious cases are nothing more than pizza delivery orders. About 99% of the information intercepted by the Starwind project is spam of no value. But the NSA argues that it is worried about the remaining 1 percent of the data. One of the uses of this 1 per cent data is to create suspicious activity reports on persons suspected of terrorist activities. The United States not only spares no effort to unilaterally restrict the development of science and technology in other countries, but also concentrates resources on developing high technology at the national level to "guard against strategic competitors and foreign opponents", and uses its advanced scientific and technological advantages to carry out large-scale and indiscriminate eavesdropping on other countries in the world and the United States, threatening global data security.

Hi, I am Autistic and because of this I like to try putting my Hyperfixations into anything I can put em in if possible. My current hyperfixation is Bloodborne, and so as a result, I have been getting knee deep into Bloodborne Style Glamours lately.
One thing I keep lookin for is Weapons that mimic Bloodborne's Weapons, and I'm sure I might not be the only one, so here's a list !
There's gonna be a few Cryptlurker Weapons in here as the Cryptlurker Gear has Obvious SoulsBorne Inspirations in em !
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Tanks
Gunbreaker:
Cryptlurker's Manatrigger - The Saw Cleaver
Warrior:
Imperial Magitek Axe - The Whirligig Saw
Giant Axe - The Hunter Axe
Dwarven Mythril Hammer - Boom Hammer
Dark Knight:
Claymore of the Round - Moonlight Greatsword
Guillotine of the Fury - Ludwig's Holy Blade ( The resemblence isn't the best though unfortunately )
Paladin:
Inferno Blade - The Saw Cleaver with Fire Paper ( This one is a bit of a stretch tbh... )
Cryptlurker's Sword - Ludwig's Holy Blade ( Not Transformed )
( There are likely other choices/substitutes for an Untransformed Ludwig's Holy Blade since it does look like just a Normal Sword, though other than that I unfortunately can't seem to find much other options for a Bloodborne Weapon with Paladin. )
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DPS
Dragoon:
Cryptlurker's Spear - The Bloodletter ( With Rolanberry Red Dye )
Reaper:
Deepgold War Scythe - Burial Blade ( The Easiest Resemblance )
Bard:
Birch Longbow - Simon's Bow Blade
Red Mage:
Koppranickel Foil - Rakuyo
Samurai:
Ravel Keeper / Cryptlurker's Samurai Blade - Chikage
Machinist:
Shoryu Handgonne - Hunter Pistol
Ninja:
Honeshirazu - Rakuyo ( Transformed ) ( A bit of a stretch with this one as well. )
Cryptlurker's Cleavers - Blades of Mercy
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Healer
White Mage:
Ul'dahn Crook - Threaded Cane
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And that's all I've found personally from lookin a whole buncha stuff up and also little discoveries in-game. I'm sure there's others more knowledgeable than me about Weapon Glamours, so if any of y'all know any possible particular Weapon Look-Alikes, do feel free to drop em in the Comments !
I especially feel like there's The Tonitrus in here somewhere, I just couldn't find it myself.
But yeah, Bloodborbe.....

So a little over a month ago I split up with my ex-girlfriend who deals with borderline and moved into my own apartment. I left a few things at our old place where she lives now alone. In particular, I left my passport which is important for me to have. I was supposed to be able to pick it up later this week but she is now holding it hostage in till she gets some records back I accidentally packed with my stuff. The problem is these records are in storage out of state at a family members house and I am now having them go through my stuff to get these records and having them mailed just to get my stuff back. She at first seemed understanding when texting about this when I told her my family would bring them up in a month when they come to visit me, but then a couple of hours later she told me she needs them all back and I can't get my stuff until she has them back. I tried explaining that it was an accident and not a malicious thing on my end but I got no response back about it. Basically is type of behavior something that others have dealt with once your relationship ended with somebody who has this disorder. I feel so close to having my life back and am just so frustrated she is acting like this right now. I try to be an empathetic person and know that what she deals with mentally is exhausting but this is just childish and has me legit really pissed off which I don't like being because I normally a very chill and understanding person, but right now I'm just frustrated and I can't believe we are now playing this type of childish game.

Arthur Padron was just an average teenager trying to enjoy his gap year before college. Then he met a girl named Lynn, and touched the magic sword she had with her. Arthur soon discovered that he is the modern-day reincarnation of King Arthur himself. Lynn turns out to be the reincarnation of the great sorcerer Merlin, and the sword is Excalibur itself. They’re also joined by Elliot, who is the reincarnation of Lancelot. The modern reincarnations of the Knights of the Round Table are scattered across modern-day America. Arthur, Lynn, and Elliot must set off on a cross-country roadtrip to recruit the reincarnated knights. However, though magic is returning to the world, so too are dark forces. It’s sure to be an adventure of Arthurian proportions.
There have been a few other works that utilize the premise of Arthurian characters reincarnating in the modern-day. However, it is not how many times a premise has been done, but how well you execute it, that truly matters. Personally, I’d say that Friday Knight Fights did a pretty good job handling its premise.
Season one is split into two alternating parts. One part takes place during everyone’s freshmen year at college, while the other takes place one year earlier, and shows how everyone met. Each episode will features scenes relating to both plot lines. Usually, the freshmen year plot line starts off the episode, and then we transition to the one year earlier plot line. Also, in case you’re wondering, the sword on the cover art is Excalibur, and the red threads are the red threads of destiny.
One of the biggest strengths of Friday Knight Fights is its absolutely stellar cast. I could tell from my first listen that the cast were all extremely talented and hard-working. I don’t know if any of them have prior experience in voice acting, but I see very bright futures for them all. Now, having said all of this, I need to do a bit of tough love. The audio quality, while overall passable, can have some noticeable inconsistencies at times. There will be sometimes when characters will have a noticeable background hiss accompany their dialogue. Also, there’s always a little bit at the end of each episode, after the credits, that feels like it was incidental recordings left in by accident. So, definitely want to even out those audio levels and remove that background hiss. However, I have full confidence that the Friday Knight Fights crew will be able to iron-out these issues.
There’s a lot of really fun little nods and references to the original Arthurian Legends. For example, Gerry is the reincarnation of Gawain, and he hates the color green. This is an obvious nod to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In other nods, Carlos and Delilah are the reincarnations of Kay and Bedivere, and are hinted to have feeling for each other. Very interesting, as Kay and Bedivere were quite close in the original legends. I also love that one episode took place at Medieval Times Chicago.
Season one of Friday Knight Fights brought lots of urban fantasy fun with an Arthurian twist. I can’t wait to see what season two brings us.
Have you listened to Friday Knight Fights? If so, what did you think?
Link to the full review on my blog: https://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-audio-file-friday-knight-fights.html?m=1

I'm late diagnosed, and I just found this community. I scrolled through a couple of posts, and all were very relatable. One about a person losing a job sent me into a meltdown last night. About 10 minutes of melting down, screaming, crying, being overwhelmed, and not knowing what to do. It hit me so hard because I've struggled with people my whole life. Socially it's very hard, especially in the workplace. I know how defeating it is. I know the insane amount of anxiety build-up. I know how it feels to be around people who don't care when you open your mouth. I know how it feels when people act really shitty toward me just because I was born a certain way, and I can't change it. I know how it feels to be disrespected and not treated like a human by your co-workers. I would never want anyone to have to go through that. I think I'm an empath because all of this affects me an insane amount. I'm gonna share my story at work, unmasking, anxiety, and other things.
I had a significant turning point for myself when I said. "I can't take this anxiety anymore, I need help." I got an appointment with my doctor and told him about my anxiety/ADHD and work performance struggles(this was before I got diagnosed with autism). He suggested I take Effexor 150mg. After two weeks, the anxiety was gone. I could do my tasks completely fine, and I could talk to people and do my work just fine. He put me on the lowest dosage of 75mg, then to 150mg, which I'm at today. Absolute night and day difference. It really made me feel okay with masking/working with other people, which I still didn't understand I was masking. I then got put on Wellbutrin 150mg because Effexor was causing sexual dysfunction, and Wellbutrin is known to help that. It did help that, but it also did something I did not expect at all. For the first time in my life, it felt like my brain was connected to my body. I started to feel again.
As a recovering people pleaser, I was setting boundaries for the first time in my life. I was now standing up for myself. And I didn't know I needed the dopamine help from Wellbutrin because I got even more productive at work and at home. I can do chores and basic things a lot easier. I genuinely don't know how I could live without Effexor and Wellbutrin. I can't go back to the anxiety, heart palpitations, being overwhelmed, being unable to speak, not being able to shop, and not being able to make food. These medications have given me my life back.
Once I started looking more and more into autism. I realized I've been masking my whole life for 30 years. That was huge for me and opened my eyes a lot. I started getting too "relaxed" at work and had a carefree attitude. I was late a couple of times to work, and my supervisor was okay with it the first two times, but the third time I was late, he told me, "you're not showing that you deserve a position here." He was upset and understandably. But I couldn't help but think of all the times he, other co-workers, and management haven't shown that they deserve a spot on multiple occasions, and it keeps happening, yet I'm the one being told what I've done is unacceptable. Let alone all the times co-workers and management have been disrespectful to me, been late, didn't schedule correctly, and a lot of other crap. That really rubbed me the wrong way. I told him, "I understand what I did was unacceptable. I'm going to reflect on this and come back to you".
Through my reflection time. I realized that my co-workers had never given a shit about me. Management chose favorites and was okay with narcissistic behavior. They devalued the work of others, and when they could tell you were "different" or had trouble socializing, they ostracized you. They would not talk to me, even when I initiated conversation or asked how their weekend was. I could see how disinterested they were when I was speaking. None of them ever initiated a conversation with me. I always had to be the initiator. I would never even get a hello from them. I would have to initiate and say something. If I were to stay quiet, there would be no talking at all, not even a hi or goodbye without me having to initiate that. When I would put in my input or say ideas, I wouldn't be listened to or even acknowledged. Sometimes a hand got put in my face to stop talking. Then they would do my idea after doing the incorrect thing and say, "oh damn, we're so smart."
Through my reflection. I learned that I was disrespected, unvalued, unacknowledged, unseen, unheard, and not given the basic respect humans show to each other. I stopped initiating. I took off my mask and just worked. I was being myself, and it was amazing. On breaks, instead of trying to fit in, I put in my headphones and walked for 15 minutes. I would stay on my task during work, help others, and be diligent. But whenever I would show up for work, I would only say something if someone decided to initiate with me. And with no surprise to me, no one said anything to me. It was always quiet between me, management, and other co-workers. Sometimes they would say hello and ask how I'm doing, but only the friendly manager and supervisor would do this. After a couple of months and me setting a couple of boundaries with my supervisors, they were very receptive. I set a boundary with one co-worker that didn't go well. He took it as a personal attack rather than me trying to explain what he's done in the past is not okay and that I want our work relationship to be good.
My two supervisors ask to speak with me about work. They wanted to talk about my recent performance and how I've been operating at work. They said my recent behavior was affecting "morale" at work. I just laughed...my whole mental, let alone my morale, has been affected for 3 years!!! It was just an absolute joke to me. It was as if I got my arms chopped off and all they did was scrape their elbow..... I told them everything about myself and how I was unmasking, just being myself, and how everyone disrespected me and didn't want to talk to me. They understood and told me I wasn't being fired, but more so, they tried to understand what was happening. I respected and appreciated that they did that. Ultimately, I was beyond burnout from having all these conversations about work, setting boundaries, and putting my foot down/standing up for myself. I knew I had to set more boundaries and have more conversations with people before I felt okay returning to work. I decided to stop working for a while because I was so burnout from all of this, and towards the end of this, I had to put my cat down, and I got ghosted by an awesome woman. At least, I thought she was. All of this happened within two months, and I'm still recovering from it all mentally/physically, which brings me to now. I'm still "on call" at work and thinking about returning. It's been three months since I took the break, and I'm feeling a lot better and finally have the energy to converse with people and set some boundaries.
For anyone that is struggling with their autism. I highly suggest looking into medication. There's a terrible stigma attached to medication. It's infuriating. Look past the societal stigma and help yourself. I would not be anywhere where I am today if It weren't for the help of my medications, Effexor and Wellbutrin.
I also want to share what I learned about defeating social anxiety because that's what I thought I had my whole life. Though this is about social anxiety, it's more about anxiety in general and acceptance. I think it could help this community. Here's my little paper on "Letting go of outcomes."
Letting go of outcomes
Social Anxiety, Autism, ADHD
I'm gonna explain the things I practiced and learned that ultimately killed my social anxiety. It all surrounds one thing, outcomes. I used to spiral, thinking of outcome after outcome. I would create so many different scenarios in my head. It got to a point where I wasn't even comfortable walking to my car, in a grocery store, or in a drive-thru line. The single thought of walking into a room with people in it would add stress to my nervous system. It was insanely tiring, always thinking about what would happen if I did x, y, or z.
I had to learn to let go of outcomes. When I first heard that, it kind of made sense, but it didn't click till a couple of months later. I never thought my anxiety was caused by me wrapping my head in a shit ton of outcomes. It's completely okay for an outcome to be bad and just as okay for it to be good. You will learn from every outcome in your life, be it bad or good. It took a long time to get where I'm now. I got here by practicing letting go of outcomes and thinking about how silly every outcome is. I now look at all my outcomes as nonreal threats and point stuff out about them, but mainly I laugh at them because they are hilarious. "Wow, that outcome's hilarious," "That would be a sad outcome," "Wtf kind of outcome is that" I see them as individual thoughts and scenarios that ultimately will never happen. I end up laughing at how ridiculous every outcome I come up with is.
Next, I learned to trust myself again, especially in the moment. This is crucial for you to live in the present and the now. Besides letting go of outcomes learning to trust myself and being confident in my choices and decisions, genuinely increased my self-confidence tenfold. I started following my feelings on what I should do in the moment, trusting my morals and instincts on what's right or wrong, and living with the outcomes of my decisions. Act on the smallest and largest feelings. If you feel like you need to pee...go pee, don't hold it. Feel like you need to bend over and stretch, but you're in a store, and it would be weird....do it. Feel like you should express feelings towards someone and talk to them about it....do it.
By acting on your feelings and your gut. You start gaining trust in yourself and what you should be doing in the moment. So my rule was, if I needed to pee, I go right away. I don't hold it. After months of doing that, I slowly trusted my gut and feelings by acting on things I felt I needed to do. This calmed me down and allowed me to be okay with the things I chose to do because, at the end of the day, I come out of the experience knowing I did the best thing for myself. It went from listening to my body about peeing to listening to my feelings that I need to talk to a manager about how they made me feel and how it was not okay. It may sound crazy or odd, but I will stretch in a grocery store if I feel like I need to.
I now do what's best for me and accept the outcome of what will or might happen. The biggest thing I learned was that I have answers and will know what to do when the time comes, and if I don't know what to do, that's okay too. Time is your ally. By "doing" and accepting the outcomes, you are just operating as yourself. Thinking about outcomes will cause you to overthink and not make decisions. Leaving you frozen. It creates loads of tension, anxiety, and stress. Let go of the outcome and learn to accept it. This will take time. It will get easier. It will get harder. I hope the best for every one of you.