Give into gravity crossword clue

Disclaimer: This is light hearted and fun, so hopefully it helps cheer someone up on a bad day. This happened almost 20 years ago but another post reminded me of it, feel free to point and laugh at mistakes.
Just to start off, I got along great with this teacher in question Mr O. He was awesome but also a smartass, unfortunately so am I. One day after handing in a book report, the grade I got back was less than I thought it should be as I put a lot of work into it. When I asked Mr O about it, he replied something along the lines of "it wasn't up to your usual standards", so he knocked some points off. I still passed it, but it bugged me. I get now he was trying to push me to do my best, but it irked me.
Then SACE time came, and for our English exam we had one hour to submit a 250 word exam on the teacher's choice of subject. Mr O was and always had been a huge superhero comics fan, so he tasked us to write an exam on what would happen if we suddenly developed superpowers. He then looked at me and said something to the effect of "I expect great things from you all, get going".
Most of the other people in the class wrote the standard sort of fare, but I decided to cheat Mr O out of the story he wanted. I knew he was looking forward to my story as he had come to enjoy the extra creative flair I always used to put in for an epic story. Instead, I wrote a story about being a balding, 40 year old mechanic who one day accidentally kept starting fires. I made this the most compelling and funny story I had ever written and was the first to hand it in. When the results came back, he conceded it was one of the funniest things he had read and had even shown the other teachers, who pressured him into giving me extra credit for it.
(For those not in South Australia, SACE is basically the culmination of high schooling here. It's basically two weeks of exams before graduation.)
TLDR: Teacher knocked points off of one assignment but gave them back on a better one I did later.

Now this incident happened today and I'm feeling many emotions at the moment so I need advice.
I was walking my dog on this alleyway way will a creak down a small hill, I got there often so I'm used to the road. It's a road with many houses and parking right next to each other. I saw and Woman and her daughter going towards their car, nothing wrong with that. A bully (one of my favorite type of dogs) came up to us and based on his body language he was friendly but I still wanted him to leave since I don't like dogs approaching mine without there owners. I called for then twice no response, they were outside just didn't hear me I guess. Then all the sudden there's 2 others bully coming out and coming towards mine. Now instantly I knew this wasn't gonna go well since they were already trying to test my dog. Before I continue I need you to know that my dog is a big mutt, 100lbs and mainly husky malmute she's tall and well trained. The bullys were very small height wise but were definitely big and buff. My dog has been in couple fights before because of other of leash dogs so she knows what to do. She was leashed and walking on my right and the 3 off leash dogs came from a house on my left. Now one dog went behind me and started bitting my dogs ankles and the other one went infront to get after the side of my dog. I let go of the leash because she's whipping and need to defend hereself she knows how to handle herself enough to give me time to jump in and help. I'm yelling for the owners no response I yell and yell and yell and then the react, the Woman called the dogs name but no response from the dogs but as I turned around to get mine and help, she's giving one last bite as the dog was bitting her side and he let's go. I hope I described this well enough. My dog was down the hill almost into the creak shocked and whipping so I come down and help her up. And the most important thing about this situation is that my dog was recently diagnosed with epilepsy because she had 2 seizure in the period of 7 days last week, and has a heart murmur. I needed to make sure she was okay somewhere safe. She had some blood on her side and legs and apparently hers (owner of bullys) did too. But I checked and overall no puncture wounds. I called my older sister the other owner of my dog and we decided to call the vet because we needed to make sure she was fully, she was limping a bit afterwards when we walked home but was tired crying a little when we came back. We did a video call with the vet (the cheast option) where you perform the evaluation on camera type of thing. Again overall she's okay no meds prescription. I understand that this is long but after the fight we exange phone number and I talking to the neighbors down the road she said it happened twice before. Anyway city complain, animal control complaint. Done and done. Now I want her to pay for the vet bill and she's already giving me a bunch of demands and what to send and to send every single detail of the vets appointment. So I have a feeling she's gonna refuse to pay for the appointment since my dog was overall okay. She is a grown woman with 3 bullys who went out of there way to fight my epileptic dog and had 2 other incident with said dogs with 2 other neighbors of hers. I am a new adult who now has to find a way to afford Seizure medication along side everything else. I only feel that it's fair because I didn't ask for my dog to get attacked

I met the "perfect" girl 40 years ago my senior year of university. Not bragging, but she was quite a stunner. People would stop talking when she walked into a bar or room, guys would try to act cool and suck in their bellies, girls would give "the look" to each other. She was a lifeguard in Socal, played several sports, was the color of fine browned bread and Jewish to top it all off. I'm not Jewish, but for some reason dated many many Jewish girls. This was the most I have every felt for anther human being, nothing has come close in all the years since.
Had a wonderful last semester then I graduated. She was a few years behind me and transferred to a different uni back West. I went out to find my way in the world, but soon fell into mental health problems that were waiting in the wings most of my life. Drinking was out of control when I was 15 and now I was in the real world and my brain of darkness and the booze were doing a number.
Anyway we stayed in touch, and a few years later we got together in NY. I was crashing, and she was not happy that I wasn't happy and the night was a short one. She left and I never saw her again. We wrote to each other, but I stopped answering her letters in the late 80s, too painful.
Good news is I got sober, got medical help for depression and started a new career. I would think of her every morning, wonder what she was doing, how she was. that went on until I was 55 years old. Social media I don't use, but I did find her address and I wrote a letter about my life. No question for her, just what had gone on in the past 30 years. I didn't put my return address on it, just sent it - that was that.
Two years go by and one day mail comes and there is a letter in a script that I remember. I teared up immediately and threw the letter in a cupboard. After a couple weeks I opened it. It was nice, asked a lot of questions, told me about her children and their colleges.
Something changed in my that month, I stopped thinking about her every morning. I realized that our time was not so special to her as it was to me. Or maybe that feeling just died in her 30 years ago. The good thing was I stopped feeling like I did something wrong and missed some existential bus I was supposed to be on in 1984. Today I shrug, not in a sad way, but in a fashion of "whatever" - I won't spend any more time on the matter. Now i'm in my early 60s and the days of romance are probably behind me. I find joy from walking, kayaking, painting, travel, family (I never married so I have to live vicariously through my nieces and nephews).
Lost loves are usually lost for some good reason - don't torture yourself.

Hey TTT25, long time sub member using a throwaway so I don't get doxxed. I got into 3 out of the 7 ivies I applied to along with USC. Penn and Brown were my top choices and I officially decided to attend Penn. Here are my stats - DM me if you need any help!
Demographics:

• Indian, Female
• State school on the West Coast (2 years)
• No financial aid

Academics:
Major: CS + Psychology
GPA: 3.9 GPA HS: 3.75
ACT: 33 ACT
ECs:

• Created an app that has gained traction

Essays:
Personal statement:

• Wrote a story about my mobile app and how the idea came to me and how tech can be leveraged for good to impact entire communities

Why Transfer:

• Wrote that I wanted to attend a smaller college/work closer with professors

Others:

• Wrote about my heritage and how I paid for part of my education dancing at Indian weddings/events. Included how I was trying to keep traditions within our communities by teaching other girls how to dance (katak).
• I grew up in small town America and was bullied for the food I brought to lunch.

Overall:

• Tried to make my application very diverse in terms of things I was interested in and what I was doing to give back to my community. All of my essays were very different topically but had unifying themes.
• I put a strong emphasis on my reasons for transferring

Admissions Results:
Acceptances: Penn, Brown, Columbia, USC
Rejections: Harvard, Yale, MIT, Cornell, Stanford, Princeton, CMU

Aiden Ashley is new in town and decides to introduce herself to the neighbors with some freshly baked pie. She knocks on a door and meets a wild, pervy couple: Scott Nails and Jesse Pony. Aiden thought she was just looking for friendship, but after being repeatedly teased by the couple and watching Jesse suck Scott’s dick right in front of her, Aiden realizes she needs a good fuck. She joins Jesse in giving Scott a double blowjob, then things evolve into a hot threesome!"

Our rough collie female who is 5 years old (we have had her since she was a puppy), has always had some level of anxiety when encountering new things/"scary" things - think flags/awnings, high pitched barks from schnauzers etc. She is our first rough collie and when people said how "sensitive" the breed was I did not totally understood what that meant. However, I do think she is unusually so even for the breed. That said she is did go to classes with us for the first 2 years of her life, I do quite a bit with her to mentally stimulate her with puzzles/hide & seek games with treats/toys and we work from home. To give a background my partner takes her in the mornings for a 1.5 mile off leash walk in a nearby park which is dog friendly, but not a dog park. Then, in the evenings I take her around our (not so urban, think actual small town/village with mostly quiet streets) neighborhood or again to another place where she can be off leash or at least on a longer lead.
This leads me to now - in the evenings when I do take her out, I have her on an easy walker harness as her neck is so long & skinny. The harness helps with her pulling, and I do redirect her when she does pull by doing the old trick of stopping and turning around and then walking forward again. It helps for a little bit, then right back to pulling. Since we had a time change, and it is lighter for longer on our evening walks she is spooked by any little thing she sees/hears in the neighborhood. For instance someone taking a bag of dirt out of their trunk spooks her. A kid talking up the street scares her (head up, ears perked and pulling begins). If she realizes we are turning towards home she will start pulling. Additionally any sound that remotely sounds like a "pop" terrifies her and gets her teeth chattering. In which case we sit if it was just a one or two time thing and wait, usually this calms her down if it doesn't - home we go.
To be honest, this has made walking her terrible. I don't look forward to it, and I have begun again with high value treats on walks & when she notices something scary I "yes" her, and give treat. It does seem to help, but I am wondering what our options are. She is a very very good dog otherwise, super sweet/funny and well behaved inside. Outside in our neighborhood - no. Offleash, she responds very well to commands and is a reliable dog.
I would like to take her to rally, which we have not done but I don't know how she would do with the unusual space/newness (she very much dislikes going into any "box" stores like Petsmart/etc - hence we don't now). Otherwise I am thinking re-enrolling her in classes or working with a trainer who offers board & train with several weeks of classes afterwards working with her. Bottom line, we love our dog - we want her to be happy and are willing to work through it & spend a bit of money if that helps too. The other thought is, is my partner taking her off leash elsewhere too often? Are the neighborhood walks too infrequent for her to be used to the noises?
Thanks all!

Okay, so I can't be the only one who was disappointed that Shulk and Rex don't come with any quests when you unlock them from challenge mode. Let alone the fact that you can't inherit their classes. I understand it wouldn't make sense in the canon. But Land of Challenge always did non-canon fanservice of characters from other games interacting with each other. So I think it's dumb they couldn't do it for Shulk and Rex here. So I've come up with some quests for them to feel more like substantial rewards for beating both games.
Shulk & Rex Hero quest:
Basically, the cutscenes you'll get will be similar to Elma's in XC2. Where Nopon Archsage is the one responsible for bringing Shulk and Rex back into Aionios. They're still acting as avatars of Origin but the mysterious power of the Archsage has allowed it so that both Shulk and Rex can still walk around Aionios while still being in Origin. Kind of like how the Archsage in XC2 was able to bring Elma to Alrest and alter the time dilation so that she isn't gone for too long on Mira.
​
Shulk's Ascension Quest:
The main idea for Shulk's quest will be dealing with the sudden return of Fog Rifts and Fog Beasts in Aionios. The group is traveling when they suddenly encounter a Fog Beast. Shulk advises they inform Melia about the matter and how to deal with the return of the Fog Rifts. We get a nice touching reunion with Shulk and Melia as they catch up on things. And we learn that many Fog Rifts have started appearing all over Aionios recently after being gone for eons. Shulk and Melia then explain to the Ouroboros gang what the Fog Rifts and Fog Beasts are and how they relate to the Black Fog. And that in the past they once dealt with them before Aionios was created. So now the main party has learned the true nature of the Black Fog and volunteers to assist in destroying the Fog rifts and beasts. So you travel to various spots on Aionios where there is a lot of Black Fog as that's where the Rifts have formed.
During the mission Shulk starts to ponder why the Fog Rifts are showing up again all of a sudden. And suspects that someone might be creating these rifts to form. He also talks about Origin's construction to the party after some battles against Fog Beasts. And how he was one of the leading designers of it and intricate details on how it works that Nia didn't tell us. We then find that the Fog Rifts that have now been reforming have been caused by the actual Consul A experimenting with the Black Fog. Finding a way to make sure that the fog doesn't destroy Aionios to permanently preserve the Endless Now for Z. But accidents with the experiments had caused Fog Rifts to form again once more.
The party catches him in another experiment with the Black Fog. And they managed to stop him. But not before another accident causes another Fog Rift to form. However instead what's summoned isn't a Fog Beast but a Fog Zanza. Shulk wonders how this is even possible. And starts to piece together that the Fog Beasts are not only a result of the worlds fusing together but also they're the restless spirits of those that died on Bionis and Alrest. Explaining why the Fog King in Future Connected looked like Inferno Guldo from XC2. Applying more of the Gnosis lore from Xenosaga. Fog Zanza proves to be far more powerful than any Fog Beast before. As Fog Zanza is acting Zanza's desire to destroy the world and remake it anew.
The quest ends with the party destroying Fog Zanza and Noah promising Shulk that they will stop Moebius and save their worlds before the Black Fog destroys Aionios.
​
Rex's Ascension Quest:
At camp, Rex is looking at his family photo with wives and kids. Wishing they could all be together again. Mio asks what the photo is which startles Rex. After he composes himself he explains to Mio that it's a photo of him and his family. Even giving it to her to look at. He then talks about how after Z hijacked Origin a lot of soldiers that make up Keves and Agnus were all children 1-20 from the two worlds. And thus separated from their parents who are all trapped in Origin. He was one of the lucky few that didn't get put into Origin and talks about how he would love to see his kids again as they were reborn to be a part of the Agnian army. He mentions how he already found two of them and wants to find out where his 3rd kid is. His son Milton. The one he had with Mythra. He doesn't mention to Mio that she's his daughter as he doesn't know the best way to tell her. Mio decides that they should help Rex find his son. And will travel to all the Agnian colonies they know to find them.
So the party goes around to a few Agnian colonies only to come up short. They then decide to go to Agnus Castle and see if there are any documents on file on Milton on where he was stationed or if he had already reached homecoming. We get a very touching reunion with Rex and Nia. Where Nia accidentally acts like her normal self when the Ouroboros party shows up unannounced. Only to turn around and be greeted by Rex. Tears swell up in her eyes and she dashes towards her husband faster than Kite did with Juniper. Tackling Rex to the ground and surprising everyone around them. After that funny moment. She gladly tells them where to find the records of all the soldiers. She then asks Rex to talk to her alone while the party goes looking through the documents.
Both husband and wife are so glad to see each other again after over a thousand years. The two look from afar at Mio and ask if either one of them has told her about them being their daughter. They say neither one haven't and is unsure what the best course of action would be. Whether to tell them or not. As Rex mentions he and Shulk never mentioned their familial relationship with Glimmer and Nikol.
The party comes back and they sadly can't find any information on Milton. Which deeply saddens Rex but he was ready to accept they might have already reached homecoming a long time ago. Taion suggests that there is one other place they haven't tried. That is the lost colony that Nimue is from. As no documents of that colony exist due to the hidden nature of the colony.
They all rush to the lost colony and sure enough they learn that Milton does indeed live there. However, he currently isn't in the colony. They find out from Stella that Milton has a bad habit of searching for treasure. And has often constantly dug holes around the colony looking for any. She suspects that because he's already searched every inch of the colony for treasure he likely went outside looking for more.
So the party has to search around Cadensia Region to find him as he hadn't gotten far. And we managed to save him from a giant sea monster. There we see that Milton looks very much like Rex from Xenoblade 2 only now with blonde hair. This helps save Monolithsoft from having to make a completely new model. So it'll just be young Rex's head on an Agnian soldier's body with blonde hair. I fully give credit to XenDrawsStuff as Mythra's kid looking like a blonde Rex was their idea. But I also thought it was a nice cost-saving measure.
After they save Milton Rex chews him out for the dangerous stunt he did much like how he did with Glimmer in FR. Once they return to the colony Rex apologizes to Milton for snapping at him before and the two bond over their love of digging up treasure. Rex mentioning how he used to be a salvager. The party looks on at the two from afar and Eunie comments how Milton looks pretty similar to Rex. Taion believes that could be a natural thing that can happen between parent and child from what they learned in the City.
Mio ponders on it too, as she takes Rex's photo out of her pocket. As she looks at it more and thinks back to how Nia interacted with Rex, she realizes that that's her in the photo. And once she notices the baby she's carrying as well as how similar she looks to Nia, something she hadn't really thought of before, she puts the pieces together that she's Rex's and Nia's daughter. And while she doesn't completely understand it or is fully confident about it, she decides to keep it to herself. As she feels it's best that Rex come forward with this once he feels comfortable.
And done. Please give me your thoughts and critiques on these quest ideas.

I installed GarlicOS onto my Anbernic RG35xx and when I boot it up it randomly jumps though menus and when I select a game, the screen goes black and returns me to the next menu.
I followed these steps from the retro game corps guide on a mac: 1. Blank 32GB SD Card in 32fat format 2. Download from Image.7z.001 file from Patreon and use unarchiver to get .img file 3. Use BalenaEtcher to write image to 32GB Card 4. Remove Card and Reinsert 5. Backup ROM and BIOS files from card 6. Insert 2nd 128GB SD Card 7. Load Rom and BIOS files to the 2nd card 8. Add Bios to Bio folder and Roms to Rom Folder. (Only added GBA Bio and 1 GBA Rom to Test). 9. Insert both cards into rg35xx and start. 10. The console jumps around menus and will randomly open the rom and close out of it. The select date screen will flash on the screen and close out and jump around.
Am I missing something obvious? I'm so frustrated and it would be so appreciated if someone could help me. I would do anything. Please give me any advice!

Don't read ahead, don't watch ahead, just go down the path, or turn back now. It doesn't matter either way. I made a playlist with my bipolar ass... I'm not sure how long it is or I'd warn you, i wanna say around 3 hours, it's all music. I'm gonna post it here, and then start it and see how long it takes to get thru the whole thing. Then I'll update the beginning. Have fun, wear headphones to have the same experience that I had. <3
Instructions: next paragraph to be read after preceeding song, but, honestly, I don't know why I even bothered trying to make a note about something because all anybodies going to get out of this post is extreme mental illness, but like, it might make you feel something, i dunno. Sorry you guys, I'm chill. Have a good one, homies. Listen to some music if youre bored. It's just my sillyhead mind on full display. I wanted to play Danny Brown so many times, that just wasn't what the story was about this time. Yall stay safe. Lemme know if you need anything. Take your meds. ✌️🤙
(This is going to be long but its all optional) What's up homies! I'm diagnosed as Bipolar 1. It was funny, like, in highschool, so like 2008 - 2012, anyways, I knew that the rock band Avenged Sevenfold were angels. The lead singer is Gabriel, and the other guys are other Archangels, that's why they do the naming scheme that they do, Johnny Christ, Snynsyter Gates, M Shadows, ect, because they're some ancient dorks and that's the kind of nerd trash we like to pull. So I forgot about that because I pushed it away because like, um, hello, not a moron.
Then a couple years go by, I'm on psychedelics at my friend's house. Long story short, I have a conversation with Gabriel, I give them a song, I tell them to put a Mexican restaurant song on their album if the conversation is real, and I left it at that. So a couple of months go by, their new album comes out. The song that I gave to the voice on the trip is on the album, here, I'll link it to you. It's this one. https://youtu.be/5N-tTKERxj8
So I like wrote it about myself and what I needed to do and stuff... like it was a message to me. And avenged sevenfold, they've got a ton of angel imagery in all of their stuff, I mean their symbol, the deathbat, which is a skull with wings. Then there's their music, I'll link some of the more obvious stuff.
https://youtu.be/7bDg7n-chhU << Exhibit A https://youtu.be/HIRNdveLnJI << get it? https://youtu.be/94bGzWyHbu0 << I mean watch this video.
That's all I'll show you of a7x... look into them though, if you're in any way curious. I could be way off the mark, but that's what happened... it is what it is. I'm not worried about it, you shouldn't be either. But like, that's my band. Those are my bros. Or, you know, I have something. But I don't live my life like I'm sick: I live my life like I'm going to change yours. Because that's what I do.
So like... haha, this is gonna be hilarious. So you guys know all about receiving messages in songs type of deal.... me and Red Velvet and Everglow have been doing that since like... I dunno... 2014? Whenever everglow came out... but, basically, Red Velvet are uh... my girlfriends, back home, and they all came down with me to be my message system to wake me up. Because I got woken up, I remembered who I was in 2016. After that, it's just been messages in Kpop songs keeping me afloat. I'll show you. So Red Velvet has been sending me messages for a long time. Here's probably one of the most impactful ones. Remember, from your perspective, you're Archangel Michael, and you've planned all of this. You've put these people where they needed to be. You've designed the whole set. So to receive the messages is no big deal, right? So here, check it. I'm actually gonna watch this one with you guys, because it always hypes me up. https://youtu.be/c9RzZpV460k
Ok, so, maybe you can see a little bit why I'm at least getting screwed with a little bit, you see the lyrics? It's like they're talking straight to me man. And its like, kpop has been nudging me along, no matter what mood I'm in in reality or whatever place I'm at, the right song always comes out at the right time. For instance I was struggling with myself on whether or not I was going to move forward with any of this. This is my choice, I'm not suffering from a maladiction. I can choose to tell people or not tell people, I choose to share, I want connection. So anyways, look at this one, it was exactly what i needed to hear: https://youtu.be/JUJ3Pq74H4c
I know, I know... kpop girls aren't telling me to come pick them up. They are driving me to do something, though, however small that ever may be. And there's this thing I've always done to show people that I'm an angel without actually telling them. I put my thumbs together and spread my hands out, it's like code. And remember, these are all coming out at specific times. Watch this one, look at all the symbolism: https://youtu.be/R9At2ICm4LQ.
Man, I don't even know what to play after that one. Thats pretty much it you guys, that's basically all I wanted to show you, everything else is just going to be extra. It's all a complete waste of time anyways. I'll show you some more... let's see, there's other bands. There's Everglow. Like how it works is, we get everything ready in Heaven (we've got time), and then we like funnel everything to the earth to be put in when and where we will it to. Angels are like mega consciousness, we write scripts and, whatever, you're not going to believe me anyways. Let's see.
https://youtu.be/Z3RA7bi5FUM << fantastic song, really great message. I just don't think everglow is talking about themselves here. I know, I know, this is High Octane Narcicism if it's ever existed... if I'm such a narcicist then why are you such a sweet lil puppy dog huh, I could just numnumnum, oh why yes I could, I could just numnumnum all on those wittwe toesies, oh yes I could. Alright, one more everglow and we'll move on. Everglows a pirate, you say? Hmmm, what could that be code for... https://youtu.be/-2X-pL06628
I get it... but at least you guys aren't gonna judge me for it, because you guys can relate, right? Don't yall have stuff like this in your own lives? Anyways, there's one line in particular in this aespa song that gets me... see if you can figure out which one is the one messing with my head https://youtu.be/WPdWvnAAurg
Because like... I lost my memories and... it's whatever. Let's wrap back around to another Red Velvet video. You know how like, it's scripted? And like, I'm controlling the page? Well check out the symbolism and more obvious stuff in this next one... maybe you won't see it... it's obvious to me, but, well, you know 🤪 https://youtu.be/XGdbaEDVWp0
There's just... I dont know what to play next... that's really it, basically. I know it's dumb, but, I mean, I'm undettered, you know? Like I don't mind being classified as mentally ill, it's fine. I can still work something out. Let's see... dang feel my rhythm.... see they're all timed.... I'm like a sleeper agent haha and they had to wake me up but... it's stupid, I know.
https://youtu.be/xGr53sCo62c << this ones just a phenomenal song
Here's another one, straight up about God. Is Red Velvet a Christian band? I thought they were just general pop. https://youtu.be/YBnGBb1wg98
You cant take it away from me. I'm stronger now than I was when I didn't know. I fell for anything. Now I know which side I'm on. I don't listen to human beings about reality bro... I dont care how many degrees you've got. I'm God's Son, what are you going to do about it? I'm mentally ill? No I'm not. What else? I'm a narcicist? I love you, what else you got. I'm a troll? Go ahead.
My point is, I'm as mentally ill as you want me to be. If you want another patient... another sad case to be kept away, here I am. If you want me to do what I'm supposed to do, and free the earth, then I'll do that instead. You all are my guests, please, do whatever you wish with me. Let's see, what else should we play. Should I go? I guess I'll just show you guys some more cool songs while I'm here. This next ones a bop, I'm gonna listen to it too. I've been watching all the kpop vids with you.
Check this one out https://youtu.be/I3dezFzsNss
This one goes hard https://youtu.be/7OSSI5hgQVok
What about this one, you guys like adtr? https://youtu.be/Pn-6eOxnEMI
Yo you guys wanna listen to some Capitol Records while I'm gone? Me and my mom are going thrifting for chic new straight jackets. https://youtu.be/6CtVIHbi6bE
This ones awesome https://youtu.be/wapOqjQ4r_M
This ones super dope for those of us that have been in and out of the mental hospital, man, it sucks, they never have a guitar, I get crazier while I'm in there haha my guitar is like water to me, if I don't have access to it I'm like, gosh, like I can go on vacation or whatever it's just... I'm designed to play the guitar, you know what I mean? Here https://youtu.be/94bGzWyHbu0
https://youtu.be/7bDg7n-chhU << absolute classic.
Yo https://youtu.be/WumCI56iYUk
https://youtu.be/DWaB4PXCwFU
https://youtu.be/IHS3qJdxefY they really do be some boiz
This ones super cool, I love a7x they've always been my favorite band https://youtu.be/iJ-WsnaYDCg Tonight or Crime Stoppers: local lunatic "je" finally imprisoned today after, what some are calling, the funniest whoopee cushion prank gone SEXUAAL that we've ever seen. It was a fail but my God, the agility on that panda bear.
https://youtu.be/Z5NoQg8LdDk << these guys are so cool
Yo this ones hard too https://youtu.be/i7UkKEEGgAQ
This one goes hard https://youtu.be/wLdlw46Ru9I
https://youtu.be/lCPwR7R4hlA yuhhh it stayin hard bro, love chillin with yall
Have we already listened to ptv? I know we haven't heard this song yet https://youtu.be/icXUkIfZxyg
Sleeping with sirens is a cool band too, that's one of, that's the other guys band or whatever. They're not both in one band. https://youtu.be/_UwWYtLWEZg
This ones short but it's kind of cool https://youtu.be/xIQfK2fRNAg
Oh this one too https://youtu.be/yd4xjiRRVrI
https://youtu.be/nDcD62i0MpI
https://youtu.be/36stRPPIy2w this ones cool
https://youtu.be/bQ1yhsYr-hg interesting
This is terrifying, but in like, a good guys kind of way https://youtu.be/21dNBtcDzUg
https://youtu.be/4-NHVWecj2U
Yooooo fr tho like whaaaaat like no way dude https://youtu.be/Os_heh8vPfs
Yoooo this one you guys https://youtu.be/iTgcp1oDk2M
This one dude https://youtu.be/DcLfutPGouk
This one is also fire my dudes, you guys don't have to stay for these, I'm just playing music https://youtu.be/XA2YEHn-A8Q
This was one of their firsts https://youtu.be/0rtV5esQT6I
This ones pretty new, it's got a good beat https://youtu.be/vPwaXytZcgI
I haven't heard this one a ton of times, but nayeon is so cool https://youtu.be/f6YDKF0LVWw
https://youtu.be/rRgTMs_bGuI haha this ones so weird, like what are they even talking about?
I just wanna listen to this one one more time, then imma head out. I should probably be doing something with my day instead of posting random videos on like, random subreddits. But I guess this one isn't random, because I have bipolar too. Well, bipolar 1, too. Bipolar 1, as well. Also. I, you and i; gosh man, you guys should see me, I'm always swinging for the fences. Can't; in a crowd dude, my gosh bro, you wouldn't believe the carnage. Like upset me, you know what I mean? Like see what happens. Rrrrrgghh...... rrrrRRRRRGGHHHHH RADLEBLARABLEDABLABLE ... oh, right, alright, peace homies. Hope we all get feeling better soon. https://youtu.be/R9At2ICm4LQ
Ok I guess there's time for at least one more, https://youtu.be/QRN12TaTFlU is sooo cute.
I haven't actually heard this one many times, let's check it out, she's cute https://youtu.be/ShGVCembq70
This is another I haven't heard a whole lot of, I'm just going off recommended vids for a lot of these. https://youtu.be/SVgkNW2cENQ
How did I forget about this one, this one, mm, dude, this ones got like pop you know what I mean like, they bop it they're not crunching it like do you know what im saying? Like the whole thing is like a ring tone you know what I mean? https://youtu.be/EkSOOiMDGiY
Yo you guyssssss girls generation man, you guys wanna go on a girls generation run? 서녀시대 you know what my 글s are? Face it 남자, you're dead in 이믈을. You're going 아래 and face it, 퉁퉁해수퍼맨, https://youtu.be/F4-SxcCO5d0
I really like this song, but, because my daughter's name is Nova, but my ex won't let me show it to her because of my - you know, whatever. So like, she doesn't even know me. It's not a huge deal, noone does. I mean if you watch the videos you do, but, whatever I'm gonna roll in a minute. I had one what was it .. plub. Brb. Oh yeah duh holy you guys see what you're dealing with right now, grape jelly, boys and girls, spoonfuls, big heaping spoonfuls of grape jelly are now all over the walls of your poor, sweet, innocent subreddit: and behold, doth I flingeth mine spoon, mommy. Doth I swingeth mine spoon wi https://youtu.be/Z6FPJOgfCkc
Oo first few seconds of this one are a vibe, yall check this one out with me https://youtu.be/zvBNoSjlKG0
Dang, that was honestly really pretty. Ok, here's one more. https://youtu.be/0xdB_vo4r2c this ones so pretty have you guys heard this one?
I've honestly never heard this one before, let's see if it's cool https://youtu.be/eNmL4JiGxZQ
Man, turns out it was a total bop. Well guys I guess that wraps things up for me. If you stayed for any of the music I hope you had a good time, I don't really have anybody to DJ for so I thought maybe fellow bipolars would be able to relate to some of these songs. Anyways i hope all you guys have a massively tubular dube tube, my dude form, whoa man, get nebulous on it my waveform, hawhoa, my guy is riding the wave my dude, ahwha, my dude, he is hitting only the gnarest of half bowl wave cuts my energy saw. I should go. Uhhh I guess I'll go see Hannah and nova, I can work on the homework that I missed later tonight. Sure is rough running 3 jobs you guys; server, student, and speaker for bipolar awareness. I honestly can't think of a more noble cause. Huh. Yeah so 🫱🤌🤙👌🫷👌🤏✌️👇👅👅🧠🧠🧠🫀🫀🫀🫁🫁🫁🦷🦴👀👁🫃😇👽🙈🙉🤖🤖👾👾💫💥💢💯🖤🗯💨🕳🧡🧡🧡🩷❤️💜🩵💙🩵💜🩵💙💙💚💛💚💙🩵💙💚💙🩵💜🩵💙💜🩵💙💚🩵💜💙💚💚 peaceee, yall stay lazy.
https://youtu.be/Qpf26PtBXgo
.
https://on.soundcloud.com/r6Tjz
:

I got into anime about 4 years ago and Steins;Gate was one of the first anime I watched. I had seen about 10-15 anime before this and Steins;Gate was the first true 10/10 I had seen.
Nothing ever beats the first time you watch an anime, so I put off giving it a rewatch because I didn’t want to ruin that memory of the anime.
But after 4 years, I can say that I don’t remember much about the anime and I’m going to watch it again.
Ready to see this masterpiece once again.
El Psy Congroo

​
Ch. 1085 p2
Hello once again! I'll start with page 2 so I can spare you from the atrocious Franky scribble in the cover.
Last chapter was an absolute rehash of past moments and though not to the same length, this chapter starts like that as well. There's nothing going on in this page other than we being told, just like 5 years ago, that no one should be sitting on the empty throne, but since we already knew Imu does, this time it's not a shock for us.
By the way, WTF happened to Cobra in the big panel? I know he's supposed to be bending a bit forward and coughing, but last time I checked he didn't have that hump on his back. We've seen fodder victim to Law's shambles be more anatomically correct than Cobra here.
I also didn't want to talk much about this becaue it's a recurring theme, sadly, and I think everyone is well aware by now, but I just had an epiphany looking at something I thought I'd never see: The Gorōsei drawn as a doodle in a big panel. And I just wanted to share it with you:
Right-most gorōsei totally looks here like an old version of the gentleman with the amazing horse.
Look at my horse
And... if you don't mind scrolling back up a bit, you're surely used to the huge margins of empty whitespace around characters where backgrounds disappear because of pure laziness and lack of actual teamwork between Oda and his assistants (The scribbled gorōsei are drawn by Oda, the a bit more detailed background is drawn by the assistant(s)).
But, why are there random spots of empty whitespace at the wall behind the swords?? O_o What's the meaning of that?
Ch. 1085 p3
Cobra asks Imu for his/her identity and says he remembers that name from history class. However, Imu doesn't want to answer.
Why not? Imu and the gorōsei are determined to kill Cobra before he gets out of the room. Why answer some questions and not others? This doesn't make sense in the story. This is just Oda controlling which bits of information we get and which we don't.
He wants to put something on the chapter, so the chapter exists but at the same time not let us know things that we should naturally learn from the chapter. This will get worse in a moment.
So, the question: Is Imu one of the 20 kings who founded the World Government? Might be. Personally, if I were to get a throne for me and me alone throughout 800 years, I would not have it made many times bigger than how I need it to be.
Also, if Cobra can learn of "Imu" by reading history, "world government seal of approval" history, then everyone can and there's even less of a reason not to tell him. But whatever. Let's see what Imu answers:
"D. is the name of our ancient enemy". Nice. Really, thank you very much Imu, we had never heard that one before. You certainly solved Cobra's and our every doubts about the meaning of "D." Previously I said Oda wanted to put some info in the chapter but not all, didn't I? Well, scratch that. There's nothing actually new.
Didn't he say "from here on out I'm going to write all the answers to the mysteries of the world"? If he doesn't want to reveal the meaning of "D." yet, it's okay, but if he just teases us like this, like always, then that's not "answers to the mysteries" and it feels like he's just trolling us again and again.
Imu talks about Lili's "blunder". Is that really the appropriate word? Or a mistranslation? It'll be relevant later.
Look at Imu sitting on the throne for a moment. Why is Imu completely 2-dimensional? I mean, everything is 2-dimensional in a paper sheet, but why is Imu 2-dimensional even when accounting for the perspective? Imu is completely flat on the throne. Like a towel left over it. Is Imu really meant to be flat? Or is this just Oda's next level of "I couldn't care less about drawing well anymore"?
Ch. 1085 p4
Okay, there's a little bit of drama going on in this page and I'll get to that in a moment, but first and foremost: How can I take any of this seriously when the one telling me about this drama is nothing else than the spillover of Oda's inkwell??
Everyone has been talking about the extreme overuse of silhouette piece this chapter because of the gorōsei showing not showing their powers, but the truth is that Imu has already had more than enough screentime, so that she's no longer a stain of ink in the paper.
It's perfectly okay if you want to not properly show a character in order to create some mystery and tension around it. We're even more than okay with having a black spot placeholder rather than an actual character even though there is no reason, story-wise, why the character shouldn't be seen. We accepted that long ago.
But that's always under the circumstance that the character is being introduced. And this is no longer the case with Imu. She's been doing things, creating consequences and more importantly, she's now holding conversations with other characters and with ourselves directly. This is way past being a teaser for the character, and this is completely unacceptable.
Oda should make up his mind, does he want Imu to take the spotlight or does he want her appearance to be a mystery? But it's not possible to put the character on the spotlight and pretend it's fine to never actually draw it.
In fact, there's a pretty easy way for Oda to reasonably get away with it. He's used it plenty of times as well. The chocolate character. He just needs to put a mask on Imu's face and that's it. Mystery continues and we get our manga with actual images.
Whenever he feels like, he can unwrap the chocolate and never wrap it again. King, Duval... the list is long. No one would have cared for one more.
So, the drama... Imu claims the poneglyphs were scattered around the world, that they were "released". Implying that the poneglyphs once were all together and under the custody of the World Government. She blames Nefertari Lili for that and wonders whether it was an accident or treason on her behalf. Imu says that was the worst possible outcome for them.
Call me an optimist if you want, but keeping control of most of the world for at least 800 years doesn't sound to me like "the worst possible outcome" nor a bad outcome in any way.
Also ¿WAT? The poneglyphs were under W.G's custody? How come?? The faction opposed to the 20 kingdoms that would late found the W.G. created the poneglyphs in coalition with the Kōzuki clan as a way to prevent history from being erased by the W.G. but then all the poneglyphs are somehow under W.G control??
Ch. 1085 p5
Is Cobra really begging for his life here? Did he not know how likely it was to die here when he came to raise all these topics? And more importantly, why did he do it? Is there any reason at all why Cobra would come here to risk his life (and endanger her daughter's) just to be pain in the ass to the gorōsei?
Does any of this have any explanation? Or is this the only way Oda came up to give us some exposition to what Imu says?
How disastrous it is to have characters act in unreasonable and unbelievable ways just to create a specific situation to provide info to the reader and then hide as much information as possible in that scene at the same time?? What's the point?? Does Oda want to explain a story here or does he not??
Ch. 1085 p6_7
Sabo is there in the same room, Cobra reveals Queen Lili had the "D." middle name, a gorōsei attacks him and Sabo intervenes attacking the gorōsei and Imu back. Let's go about it one thing at a time:

• Nefertari D. Lili.
  • Last page Imu seemed to be aware of that and simply wanting Cobra to confirm it, but now she seems surprised, like she actually needed an answer from Cobra to know.
  • Wasn't Lili one of the 20 founders of the W.G? How come is she a "D." too?
  • Wouldn't that fact be quite notorious back then, so that the Nefertari lineage was known for it to this day? At least by the gorōsei and Imu??
  • Between this and last chapter this part has been very obscure but, Queen Lili never made it back to Arabasta after founding the W.G. and the gorōsei said she might have "suffered an accident" *wink wink* if you know what I mean...
  • And Oda made it look like Lili's "accident" was a punishment for "scattering the poneglyphs".
  • Without going too deep in how did she manage to do that, to give poneglyphs back to the close-bordered Wano or to Laugh Tale, really, how did she put a poneglyph on the family's mausoleum if she never returned there???
• Sabo is there, huh?
  • No one noticed.
  • The gorōsei don't have the most basic observation haki to know there's someone else in the room. Neither does Imu. Nice.
  • Is the "smothered mate" move actually Sabo's? It's kind of difficult to be sure who's saying what. Just as it's hard to know what's exactly happening. The gorōsei are met with a huge burst of fire but Sabo sends to Imu a small flame that crawls over the wall and stairs like a snail?? WTF?
• Cobra attacked.
  • According to the position from which Cobra is attacked, it looks like our friend Garcia is the one doing it.
  • The question though is: WHY?
  • Why would they attack Cobra like that so suddenly? Like they just lost their patience when he answered the question. Imu could want to know more. Why attack him like that? The gorōsei never looked to me like the impulsive type of guys.
  • Can Garcia risk killing Cobra while Imu still wanted to get more information from him? What would happen to him if that were the case?
  • By the way, didn't they all prepare their guns a page ago? What was that? You show the gun just to attack with an arrow-shaped tail? O_o

Ch. 1085 p8_9
A Den Den Mushi takes a picture of Sabo next to the injured king Cobra. Cobra recognizes Sabo as Luffy's brother. Sabo tries to leave with Cobra, but the king asks him to let him go and deliver a message to Luffy and Vivi instead.

I was hoping to take you all out in one move. - Sabo

Is this a joke or what?

There's no way I could've known people here would be strong. - Sabo

What are we supopsed to do with this text? It is no more and no less than the principal speech bubbles in this double page. Did Oda forget to fill in these bubbles and then just before publishing someone realized and had to write the first thing that came to mind? As a joke, I would have laughed way more if the bubbles read "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..."
Can someone remind me since when does Cobra know Sabo and Luffy are brothers??
Okay, okay, let's talk about the important stuff. The gorōsei and Imu transformed / summoned a stand / were tag teamed by some substitutes... how could we know, right? When everything is just a big stain of ink.
There are hundreds of ways of teasing about someone's powers or any feature in general and this must be the worst one or one of them. I'm not going to extend on this. Is unacceptable no matter how you look at it.
Some of you who know of the book might find a connection between the ink stains and these guys
Where the wild things are by Maurice Sendak
However, I want to share with you the actual model used for one specific silhouette:
One punch-Man (manga) Ch. 100 (originally 97) p12
I find it astonishing how close to this looks the shadow second from the right.
Ch. 1085 p10
Nefertari D. Cobra, Nefertari D. Vivi... Cobra wants Luffy to know they share the "D."
First, new hidden "D."s, just like Trafalgar Law. They were not special enough and now Oda makes them more special because...
https://preview.redd.it/ev112fgoqa4b1.jpg?width=620&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ed59c05829caa5563b5da1357d6bdfe395d256a4
I don't know... I find this very boring. We started the chapter with the prospect of finally getting some answers about the meaning of "D." but we just got this instead.
And I wonder, why does Cobra want Luffy to know? Cobra doesn't know its meaning, Luffy doesn't know either... this information is totally useless for anyone. Why not tell someone, Luffy or not, about Imu existing? That would make more sense. That is actual information that might be relevant to someone.
I think this message thing was just an excuse for Cobra to confirm on screen that he and Vivi are Ds. Which, again, couldn't not matter any less.
The page ends with the anticipation of the inky tail. Or not. You can't build any anticipation for something we already know you're not going to show us. Least of all when you've got a track record by which we know by the time this is actually revealed, this arrow-shaped tail can perfectly be an octopus' tentacle or something even further from this silhouette.
Ch. 1085 p11
Ink strikes back. Multiple depictions of black shapes that add nothing to the reader. And Cobra stands to let himself be killed as Sabo escapes.
Congratulations! You just made Cobra a D in time so that he could die NOT smiling, and now the only thing we knew about D people isn't true anymore.
We came to the chapter to take something from it, and the chapter took it from us instead. Awesome. Can this get any better?
Ch. 1085 p12
YES it gets even better: Wapol was watching everything through a glory hole in the throne's room. Can you believe that??
The most luxurious place in the whole world and it has a hole in the wall. Why would they not repair that hole? Why would Imu make such a blunder? And she was the one speaking of "blunders" before. The irony...
The gorōsei realize someone's watching through the hole. They, who could hurt Sabo's logia body a second ago, won't be able to get to Wapol now. He'll manage to escape too. The gorōsei and Imu won't take further action to stop Wapol.
Seeing this, I wonder whether Cobra could have actually escaped as well. Maybe he did and will make an appearance later. Fake death's are a classic after all.
HA! I wrote that for a manga where so few characters die and, when they do, it's done in a very epic or emotional scene, Cobra's death was very shallow. Then I remembered Ashura Dōji and Izō so I had to fix this paragraph.
Ch. 1085 p13
Now Oda wants us to remember than in this new reality, the Ryūgū royal family didn't left Mariejoise yet and that the Reverie is still going on.
So... the kings were waiting for Cobra. No one said he wasn't going to attend. Personally, I think Cobra would have attended every meeting and only then, with his responsibilities taken care of, he would meet the gorōsei, but I get this is very nitpicky when the plot is moving forward through glory holes in the middle of the royal palace.
On the other hand, "they just received word" that Cobra and Wapol wouldn't attend. Why? Why would Wapol not attend? What was he doing? I mean, we just saw what he was doing, but what's the excuse? He didn't know what was going to happen there and I bet he didn't knew about the glory hole beforehand, so... what was he doing?
Who knows... the important thing is the kings just received word those two weren't attending the meeting. They didn't receive word, though, about a major terrorist attack two blocks from there, admirals fighting and even calling for a meteor strike.
Why is this meeting going on under this circumstances?? There are actual world nobles hurt over there and even Charloss hurt right there. The idea that these meetings went on like they were completely detached from the world is delusional.
Ch. 1085 p14
Hm... First Vivi was being escorted by Rob Lucci and went all the way to the port (not saying good bye to Shirahoshi, where's her diplomacy??) and now the other CP90 have her kidnapped.
Jabura looking like a maniac is out of character. Kalifa being cruel for no reason is out of character as well. What happened to the cool, fun and easygoing CP9??
No, really, what happened to them? It's been a long while since they've been slowly returning to the story as CP0 agents and... well, so far we've got no explanation why this is the situation.
It's not like they were promoted from CP9 to no CP0. Remember that after losing at Enies Lobby the World Government itself tried to kill them. They escaped and swore revenge against the government. So, I think an explanation is not only in order but long overdue if we're to accept that they work for the government again with such passion.
And why is it so hard to have the characters retain their personality? This is so sad. They were the funniest villains in One Piece (and badass at the same time) and not they're not one thing nor the other.
Ch. 1085 p15
And just like this we go from CP9 bullying Vivi to them having a casual conversation with her. Great. Totally reasonable.
I wonder how relevant Sai and Leo saying they're part of the Mugiwara fleet can be, but I'm way more concerned about why Jabura is speaking in past tense of things that should be happening right this instant. I'm talking about the admirals fighting each other.
Anyway, admiral Broccoli was complaining that they couldn't fight properly against the revolutionaries because of the place they were, but he had no problems in fighting properly against Fujitora at the same exact place. Nice.
And Fujitora let (or helped) the slaves to escape. Sure. He was already threatened by the world nobles that they would have his head if he did anything against them (or just failing) and now we must believe that he openly helped the slaves and later he was sent on another mission like nothing happened.
Ch. 957 p4
That after freeing the slaves of the world nobles, Akainu would be having a casual conversation about how Fujitora got what he wanted regarding the abolition of the Shichibukai and about the SSG and Big Mom and Kaidō. Absolutely.
Akainu practically banished Fujitora just for making the Marines look bad in Dressrosa but he has nothing to say regarding Fujitora helping the revolutionary army against the world nobles and even getting into a fight with a fellow admiral.
Even the surreal glory hole in the throne's room makes much more sense than this.
Ch. 1085 p16_17
Having this final double page is quite nice because here we have a perfect example of reasonable plot convenience. Of all places Wapol could run across, Vivi is exactly on his way. Coincidences need to happen in order for most stories to have surprising elements and, though, an accumulation of them can be jarring, things like this here and there are completely fine.
At the same time we have an example of plot convenience that's not fine (precisely because it's not even a coincidence), the CP0 realize Vivi is gone, but do nothing.
Truth be told, the chapter ends with a fun joke. I don't remember the last time One Piece was funny, but at least with this one I laughed.
https://preview.redd.it/95vear4j2b4b1.png?width=540&format=png&auto=webp&s=bb30f78eb73760a23ecb38de4865f2913f276fef

I finally decided to shut down two businesses I had going. One for 3 years, one for over 15. I want to do something else with my life. I failed at both, and it's time to finally call it quits.
First off, the more "real" business if you want, is my computer repair shop. I'm shutting it down. I'm not gonna do that anymore. I don't know if it's being in a small town, but at this point I'm just sick of losing my ass on Facebook ads that give me no customers & google ads banned all 3rd party tech support services.
The company was, is, and always will be A FLOP. There is no way to save it. Luckily the commercial space is still mine, and I'm moving from repair to sales on Ebay & Amazon via FBA. Turn the repair shop into a selling thing.
The other one, less "real", was my YouTube channels. The shit is dead. I've been banned so many times by YouTube for the stupidest shit and now I can't verify my ID anymore no matter what name I give. They don't want me on there, and the one thing that brought me a very nice chunk of side money was banned (aka to catch a predator update videos because they love pedos for some reason now.)
Twitch was never a real business venture, it's too much grind. No real ROI. Too much luck based. Not gonna bother there.
It was a good run for both, but I'm just done. I'm gonna just focus on selling products on Ebay and writing my books for fun (since they don't sell for shit either at this point). Ebay was the only thing I ever did well at in all these business ventures.

So, the time has come for me to start looking into getting a new laptop. My previous laptop is a 2013 15" MacBook Pro quad core i7 (2.5ghz?), 16gb or ram, 512 ssd. It's run like a champ for the better part of 10 years with no hiccups...but it's starting to show its age.
I do a fairly wide variety of tasks...most of which are pretty resource intensive:
Ableton Live (very large audio revording/processing/playback) Fusion 360 projects (normally simple enough projects, but starting to get more involved) Video Editing
I don't really do any gaming, and standard word processing/email tasks are no factor.
At the moment 1080 video editing is painful (DaVinci Resolve), 4k is impossible. During many of my heavier ableton sessions, glitch/pop artifacts are present. And large Fusion projects are very sluggish.
I'm not tied to Apple, and want to make another long term investment here. What recommendations would you all give considering the above considerations.
Trying not to go over 3k... but I can be somewhat flexible.

BACKGROUND: I wrote this post as a comment on another thread, but thought it deserved its own post. This is the #1 issue the Bulwark (and to be fair most of the mainstream media) is failing to deal with right now.......
______________________________
​
The real problem is that the GOP no longer exists as a political party. They didn't even bother to put out a party platform in 2020. What political party does that? None I've seen in my 52 years on this planet.
Todays' GOP has morphed from a political party into a fundamentalist religious cult comprised of Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Rad/Trad Catholics (SCOTUS, FedSoc) and to a much smaller extent, Orthodox Jews - hellbent on forcing their beliefs on others. Fundamentalist religion affiliation - not race, age, socio-economic status, or geography - is the most accurate predictor for being MAGA.
Because we are afraid to discuss and/or criticize religion in this country, we give this Christian fundamentalist jihad the absurdist euphemism, "Culture Wars," in the same way we now call lies and propaganda, "Misinformation." Nothing today's GOP focuses on has anything to do with traditional politics: Transgenderism, abortion, the Green M&M's choice of footwear, "masculinity," vaccine denialism, Target's choice of merchandising displays. These are RELIGIOUS issues.
Q-Anon, the anti-vax lunacy, Stop The Steal, the trucker convoy, the "groomer" panic, anti-trans protests, abortion bans, book bans, Dobbs - it's ALL coming out of the churches. None of this has anything to do with traditional politics. Go to one of Mike Flynn's"Re-Awaken America" rallies - there are fundamentalist Evangelical altar calls right in the middle of them!
In America we think we are immune to jihads because we aren't a Muslim country. But there are fundamentalists of every faith. Yes, there can be an "American Taliban" - it's just comes in the name of Jesus instead of Allah, wearing a suit and tie instead of a Dishdasha.
What drives me insane is the mainstream media's (including the Bulwark) reticence to face this obvious truth head on. We act as if the 1st Amendment's protection of religious liberty renders the Christian faith immune from discussion or criticism.
It doesn't.
We have to get over the age-old axiom of "Polite people don't discuss religion or politics." If we can discuss politics on the Bulwark why can't we discuss religion? Stop worry about offending Christian jihadists, and start concerning yourself with the truth. It's the only thing that will set us free.

Part 2
If you travel far enough North on the map, well above where the Civilized Nations stop because no crops grow, you'll find a mountain range. Crossing this range leads to the Monster Kingdom, though for some reason they prefer the name 'TFSU.'
Yes, they prefer.
The literal forces of anarchy and chaos in the universe have a government.
However, ignoring that whole thing, the Monster Kingdom is fine. No armies march on them, mostly because of supply and logistical issues. The Monsters never say how they grow their own food, but given that they don't trade and millions of kobolds worth of food don't go missing every day, it's safe to say they make their own.
Now, that doesn't stop the Civilized Nations to send one hero a decade to 'keep them in check.' Four decades ago, the hero closed off a mountain pass, which was supposed to cause a massive flood. Four days later, it was cleared, and the only thing to show for it were the cities that glow like the sun at night.
However, yesterday, the Hero returned having burnt one of the bigger cities down. It was empty of all monsters, but the act was the first real damage they had taken in seven hundred years, since their founding.For seven hundred years, the TFSU have taken the beating of seventy heroes and simply moved on. But now.Now, millions of kobolds make up heavy 'machinery' units that march in armored, self-moving caridges that spit fire and metal. Thousands of beastpeople make up scouting and light infantry ranks. The TFSU use hellish 'guns' that hit harder than a catapult from kilometers away, all in a single 'bullet' not the size of a human's thumb. Metal birds and dragonflies join dragons as they assault cities.We poke the very literal sleeping dragon in the eye.Yet the armies don't do much. They march for our capitals and leaders, but on the way our civilians live. Surendees live. People go about their daily lives without too much change.Of course, that fact didn't stop the front line from finally crashing over my small village, located so close to the pass for a while we thought they the monsters had bypassed us entirely. The Civilized Nations had decided to send an entire legion to prevent the Monsters from getting across a nearby canyon pass.We were hit with an air-based assault with only dragons and metal dragonflies, our balista uselessly demolished by pillars of metal and flame thrown out of the metal dragonflies. I blacked out when the legion managed to shoot enough arrows to take down one of the dragonflies. I remember it crashing down onto my house... and then nothing.
-----
The elf stirred as they woke up. I'd been raised in the Terra Firma Sapience Union, so I was... less than familiar with the clothing and lifestyle the Southerners used.The elf groaned again, before their eyes shot open and they looked around, quickly settling on my frame."A-Are you going to kill me now?" They asked, their voice shaken with fear.I let out a laugh. "If I wanted you dead, you'd already be dead." I decided to transmorph into my secondary form - a cat - to help the conversation go better. In a land where humans lived to forty, elves only lived to a hundred, and that meant that even I was older than this elf, and they were no older than thirty.The elf, to their credit, quickly figured out I wasn't pulling any mindgames. I'd heard tales from my relatives before the Kobolds founded the TFSU. People, especially when panicked, usual acted with more than enough stupidity to make the situation worse."Where am I?" The elf asked. Their tone told me that they were still suspicious, but it wasn't outright denial of the situation."My home," I answered bluntly. "Your village tried to fight our ground forces when they moved in, so most of them are currently under house arrest." Still in my cat form, I created a portal into my storage cavern and reached my arm through, while summoning a lab coat around my shoulders and glasses. It was a trick I had only learned to do recently."Let's see..." I found the clipboard and brought it out, flipping to the elft's page and taping the pen against the paper. "You suffered a collapsed lung, severe burns on the right side of your body, three broken ribs and two fractured ones, shattered three wrist bones, three breaks in your right upper arm and another two in your lower arm, and on the left side you have another fractured rib and three broken fingers. Your left leg was shattered and your left foot was completely torn up. Healing magic stabilized you and surgery did the rest. You've been comatose for the past three days, and was brought to my home yesterday due to a surge in hospital patients from the seige of Trembolorne."In terms of organ damage, that was also severe. A busted kidney, I already mentioned a collapsed lung, and your entire digestive system was... well, pulverized would be putting it lightly. Also, unrelated to the incident with the helicopter, you had cancer in your liver and kidney."In terms of medical treatment, you've been given an IV line for the past couple days and several painkillers, and you underwent four separate surgeries. We reconstructed your organs, welded your bones to metal plates, and used a genetic printer to replace your skin. You're lucky to have gotten time with the genetic printer in the first place, you know; those things are expensive, and I mean expensive to run. Though it's all billed on the government anyway, but that just means that they'll only run it if they have to."The elf sat up in bed looking at me as I just stood on two paws on the cave floor."Right, sorry, you wouldn't understand most of that." I sheepishly scratched the back of my head with my right paw. "Um... put this way, you were crushed by debris and we basically reconstructed your body before you died. So not necromancy, though you did get close to needing more advanced magical treatment.""Oh," The elf replied. The cat thing seemed to have helped, because they were no longer stuttering with their single word response."Um... do you want anything to drink?" I tried to kickstart a conversation."Where am I?" The elf asked again.I was silent for a second. "My home? It's right on the edge of TFSU territory, one of the southernmost places you can be while still being with the recognized borders. I chose this place because I like to fly out in the summer over the flowers in the forest at the foot of the mountains. Your village is a couple hour dragon-flight time away.""Mmmhm." The elf commented halfheartedly. "OK, um... who are you?""My dragonic name isn't something most can pronounce, so my public name is just Vixie Remminie." I answered. "What's yours?"The elf's eyes narrowed. "Why do you want to know my name."I blinked. "Because... It's a name? I'm not a Fey, you know, it's not like I can tie ancient demons to your soul and call it a prank or something ridiculous like that. Besides, you asked for mine; now I get to ask for yours.""And who says you won't just burn my village to the ground and eat me right now!?!" The elf suddenly burst out. "You monsters ruin everything! You trespass on our land, take our resources, and kill our people! All we did was try to defend ourselv-"I cut him off, and poured just a bit of attention in giving myself an aura. Blue fire licked the bottom of my vision as I rebuttaled his point."Don't forget, you stole the land from us. We were the ones living in the wild when you razed our forests and grew crops. We couldn't even purchase land to live on! So yes, we stole what we could to survive and those who didn't starved and died! And when all was said and done, you tried to kill us and turned it into a war, one where we had no choice but to kill you back. And when we found someplace to run, a spot to hide and do our own thing with our own land? You blistering idiots sent you 'courageous heroes' to try and kill us! What for? Nothing! Just your stupid, moronic fear making, forcing you to decide to 'kill the big thing over there!' We can't even have freaking farmland, we have to grow it all in hydroponic farms and harvest thousand-year-old vines out of caves because this is all we have!"I realized that my aura was burning fully and scorching the ground around me. I let out a long sigh, and it died down. Several memories flashed through my head, but I pushed them away. "Apologies, my parents are still a... sensitive topic for me. It would be best if we just stayed away from talking about the war until the hospital has room for more patients again.""Yeah?" The elf was still enraged. Even sitting down, they were still trying to construct an argument. "You parents who killed how many? Your family killed how many more? You dragons, you monsters are nothing more than one large grouping of murders that deserve to die! As the gods will!" The elf was spitting in rage, but I recognized his determination to hold onto his worldview. It was the one thing I needed to pry away before it got out of hand."And you elves killed how many more?" I asked in a low voice. "Can you tell me the number of kobold dens exterminated in caves, the number of beastpeople sent to an early grave in slave camps? Because I can tell you ours. My father's was two, my mother's four, and my extended family including deceased relatives is one hundred and thirty seven."You declared war against monsters, you child of an elf," I growled. "And death the reality of war. We know. The Unification Wars weren't fought with swords and honor. They were fought with artillery barrages and death. They were fought with miniature suns and political backstabbing, with tanks and guns and submarines and warships and all the more death."You say the gods don't like us! That's put lightly. They forsook us! Abandoned us in our hour of need. So we learned to live without them. There are no gods we pray to anymore, elfling. Only each other, our creations, and the universe itself. They don't want us, we don't need them. It's more than they deserve."My aura was once again charring the floor and I had transformed back into my dragon form, but this time I refused to cool it down. "You call us creations of death, the primal forces of anarchy? We are you. You are us. We are sapient, we are all mortals, no matter our advantages. We are bound to this dimensional plane, forced to serve our betters, and live out our lives not with earnest but with trepredition for when it ends. We are all death incarnate, because we can all die. That is just the way it is. Besides, you've wondered about my kill count; tell me, can you tell me the gods'? Can you tell me how many souls they have cut from fate for their own entertainment? No? I can tell you." I growled, moving closer until the blue flames enveloping my body threatened to light the elf's cot on fire. "More people than are alive on this planet right now."I pulled back, bottling up my aura and reverting to my cat form. "We can talk all we want about death and destruction, and I won't lie and say you aren't victims of the war; pre-unification dragons we're exactly kind and merciful to those with treasure hoards. But perhaps, I implore you to consider that maybe we both are victims of the war, and maybe we can one day work together instead of fighting each other."Maybe, one day, we can fight for our rights against the gods."I moved into my dragon form and darted deeper into my cave, moving so fast I could hear the howl of the wind against my ears. Only when I had reached my memorial wall for my parents did I stop and take a breath and think over my conversation with the elf.We had a long way to go, but I hoped I had put a little bit of sense into him.I hoped that the world could change.
-----
When the dragon cat thing sped away, I took a moment to survey my surroundings. Only now did the effects of my first question hit my formerly-groggy head."My home." He said.Dragons live in caves.Oooooh.I'm screwed.However, there were no treasure hoards visible from my perspective; then again, while the Monsters were stupid, they still had brains to them, and carrying me into a treasure room would probably be something they'd be able to tell was a bad idea.Pops said never underestimate you foe, A voice in the back of my head said, and the dragon even launched in a full conversation with you. You're selling the dragon very, very shor-Shut up I growled internally to the treacherous voice in my head.The cave itself was... a cave. There was a metal slab on one end, it went deeper in the other, and that was that. In a 'corner' of the jagged room there were a number of red, glowing rods attached to some kind of giant mechanism three elfs wide and six deep, but the rods glowed against the cave's light-What light source?My eyes darted around looking for one. Only now was I aware of how unnatural each shadow was, how awkward each shining rock looked, how each stalagmite could hide an entire dragon, and that was before they started transfiguring into cats. How bright the ceiling-I looked up. The bright light burned my eyes, but I needed to know what fiendish magic was in play so I could counter it. But the light didn't flicker like fire - they were far too bright for that anyway - but they also didn't have the magical circles surrounding each spell. They were... lights. As if the universe simply willed brightness into existence.Each far-too-bright-hurts-to-look-ats was placed along a main hallway clear of stalagmites running from the metal slab deeper and around a corner where I couldn't see. The lights were only poised above this one hall, and they just... shone one the rest of the cave.Looking closer, I could see thin black lines, too thin to be mana feeds, running along the walls to both the glowing red rods and to the so-shiny-the-lit-up-the-cave. And... that was that.There was no massive pile of treasure in the hall, though I suspected the dragon kept their hoard deeper than... wherever I was. There was no pile of skull trophies or the banner of cities and armies slain, and I noted that while he had told me his parents', the dragon had never told me his own.Then again, the cat thing could be lying.Dragon transfigured into a cat. Probably has Circle Of Truth around his entire den.Nonsense, dragons can only do elemental magic.Evidently not.Would you just shut up already?No-I moved my attention back to the metal slab, cutting off whatever the voice in my head had to say about my current situation; it wasn't every day one just got kidnapped by a nation of monsters, after all.The slab was truly elegant. It was painted with the monster language, and then was painted with some kind of mural. I could barely make out a blue circle with green splotches on it surrounded by twelve rings in the bottom corner because most of the door was taken up by a ice-blue cat with lighter strips engulfed in blue fire.It was a mural of the dragon cat thing.That didn't stop it from being pretty, and someone had obviously put a lot of effort into it. The flames looked realistic from what I had seen minutes ago, and the cat's details were perfectly engraved. It was... acurrate.Yeah, because I think Vixie was just trying to tell you that they built their civilization for a reason, and it wasn't carnage.You don't know what you're talking about.We both know I do. How else to you think-Listen to me, you treasonous voice of a-No, you listen to me, you pathetic excuse for a brain. The dragon was able to hold and win an argument with you, fixed your wounds that would've been a dead write-off for any other hospital, and then you think SHE barely meets the threshold for sapient? THE ABSOLUTE MORON I'M ARGUING WITH IS THE ONE YOU BARELY MEETS IT!!! You moved to your frontier village because the world was changing, Lazerot the Sixth. Congrats, you were right. It did change. Now shut your OVERSIZED EGO up at being bested by a creature ten times older than you, and go appologies before they decide that saving your life wasn't worth it.I... I... OK-No. I'm in control now. Shut up.I....... yes, sir.Good.With new resolve, I stood up. My head throbbed, and the next thing I knew was my face hitting my cot again.
-----
When I heard the thud of something falling in the entrance cave, I carefully moved back into the entrance cave. The elf was face-down in their cot, unconscious again. It looked like they had tried to stand and just.... fallen over.I sighed and used a claw to nudge the elf back onto his pillow, and then covered him with a blanket. I watched him for a minute, and then returned to the deeper parts of my home.The TFSU was completely overloaded with the number of patients needing treatment. Apparently, the Southener's hospitals just... didn't do anything, so in addition to soldiers, there was a massive influx of civilians to our hospitals too. Of course, this meant that they were absolutely overloaded, and the Civilized Nations strategy of fighting to near-death and then surrendering wasn't helping.So, stable recovering civilians like the elf were just... shipped out. When shelters filled up because the Civilized Nations overpopulation crisis was too bad to do anything, people just had to take them into their homes.Long story short, the government was in way over their head attempting upgrade the standard of care in the Civilized Nations while occupying their territory.My job so close to the border was remote infrastructure maintenance, and my ability to change size while not dissolving made me an expert at it - and that was before my two hundred years of experience. And then I didn't need a vehicle to get on-site, and was fast. The alarm pinging me that one of the space radars was down again gave me an excuse to avoid the elf and do some work.I grabbed a pack of supplies, put on my shapeshift-compatible uniform, and wrote down a note on a piece of paper. On my out past the sleeping elf, I dropped it for him.

Space radar system needs repair, as it's returning a false positive. It's my job to repair all the infrastructure around here, so I need to go fix it. I'll be back soon.If you're hungry, my pantry is the first cave on the right. You can just eat anything that's easily open-able in there. If it has a lock or airtight opening mechanism (anything more than a clip, really) then don't eat it.If your thirsty, there's a stream in the entrance cave near the heaters.When the door mechanism beeps, step back. Sometimes pressure in the cave can get a bit wonky, and I don't want you to get hurt.Other than that, feel free to explore. I've locked all the doors to the rooms I don't want you to enter.For toilet necessities, the second cave on the left has a properly-sized toilet. And running water, but stuff I can explain later means don't drink it.See you soon!- Vixie.

Satisfied, I left opened the door. There was a puff as the air from inside flowed out to the lower-pressure atmosphere. I could spot a snow squall to the north, and the pressure meant that it was probably coming my way.I moved out onto the ledge and closed the door behind me. At high altitudes this far north, the air was already near-zero and it was still five in the afternoon. I took just a second to confirm with the weather report that the snowstorm was in fact going to arrive on my doorledge using a smartwatch I had strapped around my wrist. When I found that the storm was coming, I opened my wings and flew.Being an Ice Dragon had its advantages, but being a Water-Ice Combined Dragon was much better. The frosty air curled around my wings as the freedom of ignoring gravity filled my brain. Ice and Water dragons both had large wings to deal with the cold air (and lower pressure leading to the requirement for more surface area to achieve the same amount of lift) and incompressable water physics (to let the wings act like a one-way fan blade as they move back and forth, increasing efficient). Dragons might be magestic creatures, but we were still bound to the physics of the mortal plane, after all.Being part of both, my wings were even bigger, making me one of the best high-altitude fliers on the planet. The ability to use both gills and lungs at said altitudes helped with oxygen also helped.Air Dragons were better at flying in normal air, but I liked to think of it like stats from a video game. Air Dragons min-maxed their stats for low-altitude, but I could go anywhere - even underwater - can keep my speed relatively high.I took full advantage of this on my way to the space radar, soaring well above the cloud ceiling and to the point where I could make out the curvature of the planet below me. The ocean spread out to my west, while more land was to my east. Snow covered the north as to the south was the telltale splotchy color of industrialism.My smartwatch beeped, as I crossed the normal dragonic altitude limit. I hadn't realized I'd gone so high; I had a radar to repair, after all. I dove down towards the surface, ignoring more beeps as I crossed half the way to the speed of sound. The wind howled angrily in my ears, but I flattened those (thank you, streamlined water genetics) and came out of my death dive right over the radar.The repair itself went relativity smoothly, though I couldn't find a broken component and chalked it up to more space anomalies. They weren't infrequent, and usually marked where the gods decided to look over the planet. For my radars, anyway. Further north, ignoring the north pole, almost no gods came out and wanted to deal with us. Our unspoken agreement was held that way.I flew straight back for my return journey. The storm was definitely closer, but fifteen minutes of flying later and I was entering the opening mechanism for my door.As it swung inwards, I heard the high-pitched scream of an elf.
-----
When I awoke, I found myself tucked into some covers. It took all of seven seconds for reality to catch up with me.Right. I got into a heated argument with a dragon.I instinctively touched the part of my face that had been closest to the dragon's flame. I'd read about Auras in books, but never thought I'd get to see one. They were only ever found in the most powerful and competent individuals of a race in an entire plan of existence. I wondered which skill gave the dragon hers - Vixie, I reminded myself.Either way, given that Auras are technically illusions, I wasn't hurt. The flames didn't get close enough to hurt anyway, but that didn't stop me from checking.This time, I was much more careful when I stood up. I sat up first, then started to kick my legs back and forth. That's when I spotted a paper on the other side of my cot.I stood up without thinking, but managed to keep my consciousness this time and moved towards the note. It was handwritten and contained a lot of jargon that I wasn't familiar with. Space. Radar. False positive. Airtight opening mechanism. Heater. Beep. Pressure. Toilet. Running water.I could deduce some of it. A message had come in requesting the services of the local dragon to repair a thing that has an issue, and that she would return shortly. I could wander around as I pleased, besides eating food that wasn't open or contained in a clip bag. From the tone of the message, I could deduce what a 'toilet' was. The heaters would logically be things that produced heat, so all I had to do was look for those.I wasn't able to tell time, but I supposed at this point it didn't matter. I moved over deeper into the cave, and quickly heard the sound of a stream. It led directly into a forest of stalagmites.After clambering over those, the temperature started to increase, which was all I needed to know that I was getting a drink of water. I was only now catching up to the fact that I had been out for three days, and that meant that I was extremely thirsty. I wasn't sure how I wasn't dead of dehydration at this point.I found the stream next to the glowing metal rods, and with it a clear path to my location. Sighing slightly at the wasted effort on climbing through Rock Forest, I snatched an undersized cup off a rack built into a nearby jut in the cave wall and filled it, before entering the bliss of fresh water.Back in the village, we had some of the best and cleanest water in all the land thanks to snow melt, but this took that to a new level. Cold, crisp water melted in the sun only minutes ago. It was... pure.I spent the next couple minutes simply drinking and processing everything over in my mind. The gods might have willed the monster dead, but if even the monster gods had abandoned them and survived... then how come the Pantheon never told us?Religious issues aside, there were more practical issues regarding my own survival. How did I get out.There was a thud at the metal slab, and I moved back towards it, leaving my cup to dry on the rack I pulled it from. The engraving of the cat on the metal slab was-BEEEP!What was that sound?There was a hiss, and the slab started to peel away. A gust of frigid cold air washed over me as a mage Ice-Water hybrid Aura-capable dragon that I had argued with stared me down.I did the instinctive thing and let out the scream of a human three year old, squeezing my eyes shut and waiting for the final blow.When the end of my life didn't arrive, I reopened my eyes to find the sky-blue cat standing in the hole where the metal slab was supposed to be. Then there was another... sound, and the metal slab started to move back into position.The cat was surprised for a single moment before simply charging the door and jumping through, skidding to a halt right in front of me. Which meant that I got a closer look at her.Ocean-blue strips crossed an ice-blue body fur in a fifty-fifty ratio. Small crystals of ice twinkled, floating here her wings would be. One tail was accompanied by two more made of pure blue-white energy, and the cat even had a halo. Six orbs of blue-white light hovered in lazy circles around her back, and even in a diminutive form the size of a cat the being radiated the power of an aura-capable creature."Oh, right, sorry," Vixie said, and all the ethirial energy disappeared. Now that I knew what I was looking for, however, I could just barely tell, using my power as a mage, that Vixie was using illusion magic to hide her true energy."You don't need to hide your reserves," I said. "Though if you're shapeshifting into forms so small that you need to expose yours, then you should just burn yours instead. It's not worth the trouble of people bottling yours."Vixie gave some kind of half-shrug. "They're not reserves, no." She said, emphasizing the word.I looked at Vixie with a sharp look, and for a second I forgot I was talking to a dragon. "Then what are they?""They're..." The cat blushed, something I wasn't even aware was possible. She let the illusion fall away, and the tails, crystals, orbs and halo returned. "They're my regenerative baseline minimum."I looked her up and down for a second, dumbstruck. She really is a creature of power, huh?"Um.... uh..." I stuttered. "Is... that where you get your aura from?" I asked.Vixie closed her eyes with an expression on her face, and this time green flame started to peel off her. "Part of it, yeah."To control an aura like that... two auras. Just how powerful is she? I was so deep in thought that I didn't realize that the expression on her face was pain. "I... uh... what happened?" I asked, shellshocked. "Why aren't you fighting in the war?"The worldwide-powerful dragon masquerading as a cat sighed. "I... haven't told anyone. It's... personal.""I..." Only now did it hit me that I was talking with a dragon, not another person. Not just a monster, but a... creature with emotions. "You don't have to tell me." I quickly backtracked."No, no, it's a fair question. It..." The cat let out a chuckle, and it filled the cave with a beautiful sound. "I suppose it's kind of ironic... but it starts with a kobold and a god, back when the Firma kobold tribe decided to travel north to escape the civilized nations, shortly before the amassing of all creatures in these same northern mountains and the Unification War."Back before the gods forsook us."
Original Prompt: [WP] For as long as all the races have known, Dragons have been seen as violent, destructive creatures. After an attack on your village, you black out and find yourself in the den of a dragon. It's rather annoyed that that is how they're seen, and wants to prove that isn't the case.
u/Lycan_Jedi thank you for the prompt!
Part 2

We’re at our wits end. It’s been months (maybe even a year now) that our 3.5 years old toddler violently screams for the other parent when one parent helps him with daily mundane stuff especially showering and getting dressed. For example, when mum showers and dresses him in the morning, he cries for dad. Then in the evening, when it’s dad’s turn to shower and dress him, he screams for mum. Or vice verse. We tried switching the time but it still doesn’t work. Toddler just screams for the other parent who is not there to help him at that very moment.
We’ve been very patient accommodating his requests as much as possible. We thought it was a phase but that’s been probably a year now. Before baby #2 born, we switched for him but now with baby #2, it’s not always possible. This behaviour started way before baby #2 was born. We believe we can’t just let him have his way and take our time away from baby #2, it’s jus unfair to baby #2.
We’ve tried everything we possibly can think of. We regularly said to him ‘both mummy and daddy love you very much and either one can help you with anything’.
We talk about whose turn it is to help him next and reach an agreement ahead of time.
We give him plenty of appropriate choices throughout the day.
We implement consequences such as no screen time for the day (which create its own tantrum for that day but we keep our boundary). This usually works for a few days then the tantrum behaviour comes back.
We hold our boundaries when we said it’s mum’s (or dad’s) turn to help him but that usually turn into a gruelling 15-20mn of fights to get clothes on. And after that, dad usually gives in and I have this rage anger in me come up and I couldn’t contain my emotion better and hit him a couple times. I know this is very wrong. I apologise to him afterward when we’re all calm and we talk about emotions. I grow up in ‘no emotion’ talk household so I’m working on this myself and I’m FAR from perfect.
I can understand that he doesn’t want other relatives (e.g. grandma or grand aunties) but we’re both still his parents and have been with him everyday since the day he was born.
I’m so tired of this behaviour and both husband and I are very upset about it. We’re very discouraged. We see my cousins who have more of a tough love approach and theirs kids listen to the parents with very little tantrum. We have our families questioning our attachment parenting style and we’re very inclined to agree with them at this point.
What have we done wrong? What else do we do? It feels like we’re fighting various war battles everything single day. And it seems we always lose one way or another.
Please help us. We are losing our mind.

Currently the core design features of Forestry are:

• 4 new random events while Woodcutting
  
• New teas/bonfire boosts which enhance skilling and grant other powerful buffs
  
• A boost while cutting trees together with other people
  

The teas tertiary effects specifically do not fit OSRS. They're buffs to sup. slayer monster spawn rates, clue scroll rates, minigame reward points and ranged/magic ammo saving.
None of these effects are the right place for a tea, it feels forced game design and something that reminds me of RS3 with all it's random buffs.
If you want to enhance these areas, enhance them. What minigames aren't giving enough points? Buff them then. The Combat Achievements already enhance clue drop rates. Avas makes ranged ammo cheap and runes are the cheapest they've ever been. If you want to buff slayer master points, just do so or make a new slayer master.
These buffs will fall into two categories: Either they're so good they're required or they're so hard/short to use that no one will use them. If they're the first option then doing these activities without them will feel worse. If it's the second option they're dead on release. It's like adding a potion of clue scroll drop chance. Either the potion is amazing and required everywhere or it's so expensive/hard to make/short it's never used.
Side tangent, but why is the currency called "Anima Infused Bark"? Anima isn't something that's been explored/explained in OSRS at all, but it's a huge part of the lore in RS3. Just call it "Rare bark" or "Golden Bark" or "Exotic bark" or something. Why are random trees dropping anima infused bark? OSRS is a medieval fantasy game, random trees having magic bark feels weird to me (except for magic trees obviously, but that's why they're magic trees)
I'm all for less competitive Woodcutting, but adding an additional buff to cutting trees with others is a bad idea. It creates this aura of "lost xp" because you're Woodcutting alone. Even if you're using full lumberjack at the WC guild, if you're on your own then too bad, you've lost xp. And there's nothing you can do to fix it except make 10 accounts or join a mass world. Gone are the days of Woodcutting peacefully on your own.
It's FOMO but for xp and OSRS is a game where FOMO shouldn't exist.
The 4 random events are weird. I'm not opposed to them, but I really though Forestry would be more. When they pitched it, it sounded like you were meant to go explore and find the right tree in a forest, encountering things along the way.
But 4 random events doesn't change that. Woodcutting isn't changing, it's just getting some random events.
Woodcutting is a skill that needs improvements, but Forestry isn't the right thing for it.
If Forestry goes live, all that's going to change is people will be clumped together on mass worlds, have 4 random events occasionally and some weird out of place buffs from teas. You'll still just afk at the Woodcutting Guild, it's just going to be crowded like Wintertodt with peolple and random events now.
Comment below how you're feeling about Forestry. Am I wrong? Right? This is just my opinion.
Personally, I'm in favour of them scrapping everything except the longer tree cutting time, the 4 random events, the log backback and the regular bonfires that restore run energy. I'm very iffy on the skill boost bonfires

I’m sorry if this post seems a bit odd to people, but for the past year or two i have been really suffering with anxiety over the thought of my parents passing.
I’m a 33 year old single male and also an only child. I had serious drug problems in my twenties and have been clean for over 7 years now. Im back working full time again and debt free and ready to move on with my life. I am seriously suffering (almost every night now) with the thought of losing my mum specifically. She’s currently 62 and at the moment no issues apart from high blood pressure and a bit overweight. She has been my best friend my entire life and always done everything in her power to help/improve me. Even when i was at my worst with drugs i came clean to her and she single handedly helped me get over a £40,000 a year addiction. Whether it was going for a walk with me at 4am because i wrestless, to going to a 24/7 Tesco to buy some sweets for me at 4am because i was withdrawing. I feel like i owe her my life and nothing but happiness; by giving her grand children and looking after her. But despite being completely debt free and also doing well with work etc again i really don’t feel like im in a position to get into a relationship / have kids still. I still suffer with a lot of mental trauma and feel unhappy with myself despite the huge turn around. When i get in bed every single night i get these thoughts of her passing and how lost / lonely id be without her. It’s crippling me and at any point in the day i can have these thoughts which stops me in my tracks. As weird as it sounds i can tell my mum is so happy now that i’ve overcome so much and it truely shows, i spoil her as much as i can / give her money refuarly to show my appreciation for her but i just am not ready for her to go yet, and its something that is crippling me beyond belief. My relationship woth my dad is the complete opposite he’s not really spoken to me properly since i was a drug addict, but i also feel like with him we are just wasting precious time before he passes but we can’t get back to any sort of medium ground since my addiction as he was so disappointed in me and hated what i put my mum through (hes a very cold man).
Im sorry if this seems like rambling witu loads of different information but ive spent over £5000 on councelling etc and none of them have been able to help me; having to repeat stories etc because they neber listen im just done with councelling i just feel like they are there to take my money and dont care. Just wanted some human perspective from real people.
I still feel like the drug abuse (cocaine) has permanently done something to my brain chemistry.
Very much appreciate everyones time

I was with my (now ex) girlfriend for 2 years and 2 months. We met junior year of high school and went to different colleges, with me being in-state and her a 17hr drive away. Surprisingly we made it through somewhat alright. The last 2 months of college however were absolutely hell for me, I spent most of my freshman quite alone as I’m not the type to go out or party. As my ex-gf started getting ready to come home (last month-ish of her academic year) she started getting super anxious, sad, and depressed because her relationship with her family isn’t the best and she didn’t had too many friends back at home. On top of that she was consistently worried about her summer job, she’s a go-getter so she was looking for any and all internships or full-time jobs. She eventually found one and made it through the first two interviews and was just waiting on the email to let her know the final decision. She got home before my school ended so she came up with my mom to help me move out and back home. The day they came up was my last day of finals, call me selfish but I was hoping that it would be a nice time because we finally get to be together for months at a time and I made it through college with a 3.8 gpa. In the middle of packing she checked her email and saw she didn’t get the internship. She shut down the rest of the day and we didn’t get to hang out that night because the car ride back she was crying and talking about how that internship was her one way ticket out of her house. As I got into the motions of being back home, it hit me that my friend group from high school was fragmented and I basically had no one to hang out with and had to come to terms with the fact that this summer was going to be lonely and basically just me working. My one friend only hung out with his own gf and a lot of my other friends all moved away after hs. I fell into a really dark mental pit and talked with my gf because I thought it might be a lot of the negativity bringing me down and I wasnt in the right head space to give her what she needs from me when it came to our relationship. We talked back and forth for a week and I came to the idea that I needs low contact space for a week, well two days later she said we just need to break up because she cant handle the space and the possible idea that im going to break up with her after the week. We went for a week with being broken up before I got severely depressed and regretted everything. I reached out to ask and talk about reconnecting and she said she needed space to heal and process. I respect her and we are minimal/no contact but we both hope “to reconnect in the future”. Im worried this means I’ll never see her again and that I wont have her in my life anymore. My own doings have brought me to the lowest point in my life, and I’m having suicidal thoughts but thats not really from this but it has amplified them. I’m seeking a therapist as I type this so hopefully things turn up soon. I just needed to get this off my chest and put out into the world how fucking regretful I am and how much I fucked up my own life. And before anyone comments it yes I know its my fault.

Recap of last episode
Theme Song Plays
Deliberations: Akira is frustrated at her bad performances so far. The Red and Blue Teams welcome their new members. The chefs fall back asleep, but are awoken by the LAPD. They escort the chefs downstairs for the next challenge.
Challenge: Gordon reveals that, for today's challenge, the Chefs will have to serve breakfast for emergency workers (police officers, firefighters, and EMTs). The Blue Team doesn't get off to a great start, with James serving undercooked eggs and Giancarlo burning the toast. The Red Team is alright to start, but Bryce becomes vocal and leads the Red Team to a dominant second challenge win.
Reward: As the next service was Family Night, the Red Team are brought to Santa Monica Pier to have fun at the amusement park.
Punishment: The Blue Team has to clean the firetrucks and ambulances outside. Candace falls and sprains her ankle, requiring medical attention. She voluntarily leaves as a result, with Gordon respecting her decision and ponders what could have been.
Gordon's comment: "Candace sadly has to leave Hell's Kitchen due to an injury. She could've won the competition, but unfortunately, we'll never know."
Before service: The Red Team is saddened by the sudden departure of Candace.
During service: The Blue Team gets off to their best start since Opening Night. Not one mistake is made during the appetizers. They make it to entrées 18 minutes in, an incredible feat. The Red Team do great as well, making it to entrées 23 minutes in. Five minutes into entrées, Martina makes a mistake so bad, Gordon almost kicks her out of Hell's Kitchen entirely, by bringing up THREE raw meats in a row. The one silver lining being that the meats weren't ordered for the children. Gordon sends her up to the dorms in seconds. Aside from that, the Blue Team is near perfect. The Red Team also has an amazing service, with Akira having her best service yet and taking control of the Red Kitchen. Both teams complete service for the first time this season, but both teams have to choose one nominee each.
Nominations: The Blue Team, with Tyrone as announcer, nominate Martina, for her horrendous mistake on meat. The Red Team, with Kelsie as announcer, nominate Lauryn for lacking confidence. Gordon, impressed by that night's service, says that he doesn't want to send anybody home, but that he's also a man of his word. He calls up Martina and tells her to give him her jacket. He said she started off good, but the wheels came off, and she never bounced back. She is disappointed in herself, but hopes the right opportunity will find her.
Gordon's comment: "While Candace had to leave due to a sprained ankle, Martina was like a thorn in my side. So, I had to grab my tongs and pull her out of the competition."