How to turn off safesearch safari

TLDR: How often do you need to jump in order to stay proficient (not just on paper, but legitimately proficient).
Hey guys - really would love to do AFF. Here’s my holdup…curious of the experienced guys thoughts.
I live roughly 1.5hrs from the closest DZ. I have a wife, two kids, own my own business, and am just generally very busy. Free time is far from plentiful. I’ve done 5 tandems since last summer. Probably would have been more had I not broken a rib late summer (not skydiving related). After the first one, I felt hooked. It was all I could think about for quite a while. Ever since then, I look for people who say that it’s on their bucket list and try to take them. I feel like that’s got to be one of the best parts of the sport - sharing it with people who wouldn’t do it unless someone else set it up/bugged them to go. I’ve taken quite a few people so far and have 2 more ready to go soon (just jumped this weekend with my wife, a friend, and 2 employees who I hadn’t taken yet).
I REALLY want to do AFF. I’ve told myself that I shouldn’t because I’m concerned that I won’t be able to put the time/consistency into it that’s necessary to get good and be safe. How often do you realistically need to go jumping to be safe? Watched a video today of someone talking through their AFF experience, and he says it took him a year. That’s what got my gears turning - maybe my concern of not being able to go every/every other weekend isn’t necessary.

For better or worse, I'm the type of person to say what they want as soon as they know they want it. In my previous relationships, I was always the first to express my feelings and intentions, and in hindsight I realize that I always did that too soon. It resulted in relationships where I'd later think, "What did I get myself into?", when I thought I was ready for everything in the early stages. Because of this, I've tried to slow myself down with the person I'm dating now. I don't reply as quickly, I don't ask them out as often as I'd really want to, and when I realized I liked them I made a conscious effort to not be their dog (because that's what turn into when I like someone). I'm always itching to shower someone with love, but I understand now that anything I try to build quickly will always be vulnerable to falling apart quickly.
Last we went out though, I felt the need to make my feelings and intentions clear because she let me know that she was seeing other people at the same time. I didn't let the floodgates of my heart open as I usually did though, I just said something along the lines of "I would like to keep dating you with the intentions of forming a relationship, and I'd like to know if you'd be receptive to that", and she said yes, she would be. I don't think it'd stop her from seeing other people, but at least it means I'll still be in the running for a couple more dates.
After clearing that up with her, I also let her know that I was actively trying to take things slowly. I told her that I was the type to rush into things, and I didn't want to do that with her. In a way, I might have still been rushing into things letting someone know what I want right off the bat, but this way, if either of us starts losing interest anytime soon, at least neither party would get hurt so badly from it (versus the case where I rush into a relationship with her and either of us suddenly wants out).
Since then, she seems to have slowed things down when interacting with me. She too would text back more slowly, she responds in a more reserved or lax way (when in the past she was quite warm and welcoming), and overall I just get the feeling that she's put herself in a no-pressure environment around me. Like, "Oh, I can just lay back and take it easy with this guy".
It's hard for me to tell if this is a sign of interest (respecting my intentions to go slowly) or if I'm falling out of favor with her and the air around us is beginning to cool and stagnate. I'm not dating anyone else, so I guess I'll feel pretty sad if it's the latter. It's starting to make me feel like I should have just done things the way I used to--should have just rushed into it because I already know I like this person, should have just showed my hand early on so she could reject me quickly and I can move on, should have just taken a stand and said "I want you to date only me".
It kinda bums me out that this is the first time I've put this much thought and care into dating someone and yet here I am wondering if it was a regretful thing to do. I'm already pre-grieving the case in which I get rejected because I've got a bad feeling in my gut. I think I'd prefer to just get rejected now so this doesn't take up space in my head.
What are your thoughts on this? Am I just beating myself up over nothing? Being a downer thinking of the worst case when I might actually be doing well? I'm trying to manage my expectations, and I think some outside opinions would help.
Thank you for reading this post.

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

In 2020, I moved over 6 hours away from my hometown in Southern Ontario to attend University up north. I moved into my down with my best friend from high school whom I had known for years. In this building, it is important to note that it has been around since the school was first built however it is frequently renovated and worked on because it more often than normal, catches fire (more details later).
So, to set the scene: it's 2020, mid-pandemic and I had just been discharged from the army. My best friend and I had applied for the same university major and had decided that if we got in that we would live together. Well, sure enough, we got in and the only dorm that could accommodate our room request (i.e. moving into the same apartment with separate bedrooms) was situated directly across from a hospice. and for those that don't know a hospice is a medical facility where people go when they are close to death to live out the end of their lives in as much comfort as possible. This hospice was the only view out of our small windows and was the only one in our area.
Now, as I mentioned earlier, the building frequently caught fire, but what was odd and worth mentioning about it, was that it only caught fire in apartment #5 on any given floor. My best friend and I lived on the 5th floor in the 5th apartment for 2 years even throughout the summer and fortunately, we never had a fire, but frequently found ourselves having to accommodate firefighters and other workers entering our rooms due to the smoke and water damage from various different fires from random floors directly above us. Along with my BFF, I had two other roommates who were very vocal about when they were home or not (we had a group chat), and for all these experiences they were never home. or even in the city for that matter. My BFF and I both got jobs working at a Lvl 1 Trauma Center as nightshift security and thus paranormal stuff didn't scare us as we frequently were forced to work in the morgue and even witness people die on a daily basis, with whole bunch of other things happening (maybe stories for another time).
The main experience that happened early on was when my BFF and I both awoke to hear someone going through our cupboards and garbage in the kitchen, which was right against my bedroom wall, thus making it super loud. it was about 1pm and because we were on night shift, it was our version of 1am. So, thinking my best friend had gotten up oddly early I went to talk to her, but when I opened my door there was no one. I woke her up quietly and we searched the entire apartment and hallways with whatever we could use as weapons. There was no one but everything was open, our fridge, the oven, drawers, and cabinets. As well, our garbage had been thrown across the room. All the breakers in our apartment had been switched off as well, which we didn't discover at first. It is important to mention that the only entry into our apartment, that being the front door, automatically locked when closed so it was most definitely locked 24/7. I called building security and no one had been seen on camera entering our dorm except for my BFF and me around 8am after we had gotten off work at the hospital. there was no explanation for who had done this but still, they took our statements and said they'd do patrols, they never found more information.
Over 3 months later, it was summer and my BFF and I had been 2 of 11 people left in the building over the summer, with the rest being mostly just international students who could afford to do quarantine protocols again in September as it took 2 weeks. We were the only ones on our floor but regularly heard stomping outside in the hall but neither of us never saw anyone through our peephole or even when we often heard knocks on the front door, however when we checked, no one every time. So aside from the knocking and stomping, super quiet summer except for one morning. I'll never forget it it shook us to the bone.
It was 10am and my roommate and I were asleep after work. I never locked my bedroom door as my bff loved to come in and hang all the time but for some reason, I locked it that entire week. and good thing too because I awoke to frantic and I mean FRANTIC knocking- no pounding on my bedroom door. I was obviously super disoriented as I had just finished a 12 hour shift a few hours earlier, but I saw two dark shadows under the door resembling feet. I figured my bff needed something and woke up but I called out before getting up because I was annoyed to be awake this early. The feet stayed unmoving but the knocking stopped. with a heavy sigh, I got up threw on a sweater and checked the time (it was around 10am), and went to open the door, with the shadows still there I assumed it was my bff. When I put my hand on the handle to unlock it, I heard a thud, and then, worried if my bff had fallen, I threw the door open to see my front door closing as if someone was just leaving. I ran over and saw a completely black figure turn the corner. I followed (my security guard instincts kicking in) but when I turned the corner, nothing. I went back and my roommate asked why I was knocking on the walls like that, she heard it from inside my room on an adjoining shared wall to both our bedrooms. we again called security but only I was seen chasing after nothing on the cameras. After my boyfriend, a firefighter started sleeping over frequently because were both spooked, the fires stopped, and most other things did too. We never had another incident on this level. We moved out after 2 years there and beyond hearing the usual bang, no other issues.
edit: also important detail I forgot to add is that we had an anti-break-in security stick against our front door while we slept, and they were conveniently moved into the living room or against the wall after these events. we also tested the stick to see if it actually worked and trust me even my firefighter boyfriend and his bff couldn't force their way in

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.

I nor my family have any military experiance. My goal is to pursue a career in IT/cybersecurity, yet I am finding it difficult to advance my career in the civilian sector.
I am drawn to the reserves as I want the benefits, I want to find a higher purpose, gain additional experiance and find a more rewarding career.
I have a girlfriend and we share a puppy together and we are both co dependent on eachother. To be honest we are at a turning point in our relationship if we want to stay together and get married or not, but i am committed to her and not sure how joining would affect us.
I will be calling the representative tomorrow to talk. Any insight is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

recently i have been trying to turn to religion, it in a way to help with my mental health issues and it’s comfort and i respect it very much. i don’t come from a religious family or household, they don’t have any belief really. so my question is how can i introduce myself to christianity and correctly follow the ways of the bible?? much love x

Hello all,
I am a bit confused, I'm trying to convert some monsters I've made for another system into OSE/B/X friendly creatures. However, one thing I'm noticing which isn't making a lot of sense to me is the use of asterisks at the end of hit dice entries. The OSE monster books say the following:

Asterisks: The number of special abilities the monster has, for XP calculation.

That's all well and good but the problem I'm noticing is that certain creatures have more abilities/traits listed than they do asterisks. The Black Pudding for example, has 1 asterisk after its HD value and yet it lists the following five abilities/traits

Immunity: Only harmed by fire-based attacks.
Division: Non-fire attacks (including spells) cause the pudding to divide. Each hit creates a 2HD pudding that does 1d8 damage.
Erode wood and metal: Can dissolve wood or metal in one turn.
Cling: Can move across walls and ceilings.
Seep: Can squeeze through small holes and cracks.

With the way these abilities/traits are listed, how is one to tell what is a "special ability" and what are just traits? As someone who is looking to convert my own creations to the OSE/B/X system I just want to make sure I know what I'm doing before unintentionally making my monsters too XP heavy.
Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Ninji

Hey y’all, got some questions about the fitting experience at second swing. First off, how was your experience? FWIW, it’s the Dallas location. I am hesitant to get fitted as I have heard horror stories about fittings at other places so I don’t want my money wasted. I see they offer free fittings if you buy clubs. So you buy say an iron set and then you do a fitting with a similar set to figure out loft angle, shaft, etc.? Then you can pay extra to have them customized for you? Or how does that work? I thought the goal of a fitting was supposed to get you into clubs that fit you and I am having a hard time understanding fitting for used clubs. TIA!

I was just reflecting on how marvelous it is that we were led through a global pandemic by a literal prophet. Remember how President Nelson got up in General Conference in October of 2018 and boldly prophesied that a worldwide pandemic was a little over a year away and that we had time to prepare? I was bursting with pride as the apostles took their turns at the pulpit and shared stories of how they used the banded jasper seer stone owned by Joseph Smith to gaze into and see details of that worldwide calamity.
My heart sang as the church announced that they were investing $50 billion from their rainy day fund for an actual worldwide rainy day to develop an effective vaccine and manufacture 20 billion masks. Tears streamed down my face as Elder Holland announced that they were suspending proselytizing to instead use the enormous worldwide network of missionaries to educate the masses about the risks of this disease.
Then who can forget that never before seen footage they showed at General Conference of the church’s secret laboratory in the granite mountains by Salt Lake with hundreds of church employed scientists busy developing a vaccine so that billions of doses could be ready to ship in February 2020? It was thrilling to see how the brilliance of President Nelson’s medical mind understood the sequence of that virus over a year before all the leading scientists in the world knew about it! It’s so obvious that the Lord selected him, a heart surgeon, to lead the worldwide effort in developing a vaccine.
I’m overwhelmed with gratitude that we have a literal prophet on earth - one who can make literal prophecies, who can literally see into the future, and who can literally reveal new scripture with the voice of God so that we aren’t confused. Surely, President Nelson saved millions of lives. We thank thee O God for a Prophet to guide us in these latter days!

I’m starting to regret sending that wanting get back together text.
The day is over, it’s been hours since I texted. Please tell me how you feel, if you think we’re better off without a relationship or if you want to try again.
What are you thinking?
Are you done with me?
Maybe I’m impatient but it took a lot of strength from me to say how I feel. Never expressed myself to anyone like that.
Just say how you feel about me and I’ll move accordingly.
Anxiety is saying block you to regain control of the situation, but the better part of me knows I shouldn’t. I’m trying to be patient and I don’t want to regret this.
But I will block you if you don’t respond back to me after after 3 days. I don’t want to keep breaking my heart every time my notifications go off and i find out it’s not you.
This is why I hesitated so much- because of fear. It’s not rejection that scares me, it’s your silence.
That’s worst than verbal rejection, because I’ll always feel like I’m in the unknown with you. I’ll always be expecting, hoping that you finally respond.
So please my love, answer me.

I just went out as a wingman for this young guy who is 19.
By all means, this guy is above average height 1.80m, athletic and he approached me so i decided to go as wingman for free to see where he fails. His facial features are good but nothing remarkable about it. Dresses okay for slightly above middle class, skin color fair. If you saw his photos you'd say this guy is killing it but lack of experience, stupid beliefs abouts what women want, render him paralyzed by analysis.
Mistakes I saw him make, resulting in his first 30 approach failing.

1. Approaching like a sheep, voice shivering, no control over speech, talking too fast like some train is leaving station. Poor socialization by his parents resulted him being like this. Men talk slowly, emphasize each word, exchange gaze, be at ease, spread your body to look bigger don't crumble in a corner.
   
2. Approaching women who clearly look below his looks standard and thinking he will easily get it. Look, whatever league you put yourself in, approach the best looking women in that league.
   

Why? Because all men approach at bottom.

1. Look at how confidently she talks, is she secure in her body? Look at her body language. Do you feel something is off? Is she not comfortable? Does her eyes wander around searching for someone or she's too much sheepishly looking at things close to her body. Approach women who look farrr. If you approach insecure women, while you'll get quick response, the problem is going to be that "she just likes attention and keeps you for that".
   
2. Get the conversation going, talk about something you like in her outfit. Unless you are super attractive, resist making comments about her appearance (no compliment for any body part)
   

I like your boobs and ass is gonna work but when she already likes you and is invested in you. So resist the urge to talk about it, keep it in your head and forget till she considers you her lover then compliment her chest as much as you want

1. Make atleast 20 approach a day. But not daily. Go out on the day when you feel confident, attend college parties, coworker parties, parties of your friends. Make cold approach and forget about getting results.

Life will reject you left and right but as you make cold approach, you'll see some women will be like "ew go away" but some will be very kind to you. It's just random! There's no secret. That's why all of us look different, women like different things. Maybe they've their best friend or dad or anyone close to them, who match one of the feature you carry, they'll treat you kindly and overlook your flaws and give you a chance.
But make tons of cold approach and guess what? You'll never feel like "ohh i just want any woman, you'll be of mindset - I want a woman who likes me for who I am and what I do"

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!

Hello to members of the gaytransguys community. Over the past few days Reddit has made their intentions known regarding 3rd party apps that many of us rely on to browse reddit and moderate these communities.
For those unaware, Reddit has recently announced some significant changes to its API policy. You can read more about it here To summarize:

• Reddit has completely priced out third-party apps by increasing costs and banning ad-supported tiers outright. Using Apollo as a payment example, it would cost nearly [USD $2 million per month] https://www.reddit.com/apolloapp/comments/12ram0f/had_a_few_calls_with_reddit_today_about_the/ to run. If you currently access Reddit through a third-party app, it is very likely that you will no longer be able to do so after July 1st.
• The NSFW API is getting shut down. Soon, the only way to access NSFW content will be through the official App. Even if third-party apps survive the higher costs, they will have significantly cut down access (up to 40% less). This also means that some bots, which rely on cross-subreddit API communication to prevent things like teenagers sharing images on NSFW subreddits, will break entirely.

How it impacts you, and why you should care
Well, the biggest thing is obvious. If you’re currently reading this on a third-party app like RIF, Apollo, or BaconReader, you probably won’t be able to anymore come July 1st. You might have seen popups on the apps themselves alerting you to this. Third-party app creators have all come out to say that the pricing is going to kill their apps - not because they’re against paying but because the pricing is outrageously excessive.
For another reason, official tools for mobile moderation work half-heartedly at best. Many mods on this and other subreddits moderate from mobile, and most often use third-party apps to do their volunteer work. We do this because we often mod from everywhere - on lunch breaks, while on the train, or anywhere we have extra time. By forcing mods to use the ineffective official apps, posts and comments may stay unreviewed for longer, and modmail may go answered as we wait for someone to be on a desktop. Harmful content may stay up longer - or we may be forced to increase our automod filters more extravagantly in order to reduce potential problems proactively. No one likes getting caught in an automod filter, and adding more can take months to hit the right balance.
The effects on NSFW content are also considerable. Many mods working in these communities are seriously concerned that this will hamper their ability to keep Child Sexual Abuse Content and Non-Consensual Intimate Media off their subreddits. Some mods have spent years building and refining bots that will now break and open communities to harm.
An Open Letter and Potential Blackout
The moderator community has been discussing this and has released an open letter here
Part of the open letter involves a potential subreddit blackout on June 12th in protest.
gaytransguys will be going dark for 2 days from June 12-14, in solidarity and protest with the growing number of other subs. We will keep you updated as the situation evolves and let you know of any other major changes.

So I’m 28(f) and my mom almost 67. I’ve always known my mom was a little unhinged by the way she treats our family. She’ll cut you off in a heart beat. She’s done it with my other two siblings. I’ve done everything to fulfill her needs. I bought the house we lived in, helped her get a new car, etc. But I’ve finally had enough of her weird tantrums towards me. She’ll get in one of her moods and stop talking to me with out telling me what I’ve done wrong. She’s been doing this since I was 5. She’s tried to kick me out and give me to my dad several times but always came back for me hours later.
So last week I come home from work (10 hour shift) and things are good. I help her with things around the house or outside. We’re talking and joking around. My GF normally comes over a few times a night pretty late but she gets to my house a little early. About an hour later my mom decides to flip out on me. Her entire mood changed. She starts telling me “Go away”, “leave me alone and go back to your little family”. I continue to ask her what I did wrong and how I can fix it. I get nothing.
After continuing this for about 10 minutes she walks to her room and tries to shut me out but my dog runs in. As she’s telling me to get my dog away from her and out of her room I’m asking her what I did. Her response “You know what you did. Now get the dog before something bad happens” I was confused. So she repeated things a little more clearly. “ Get him before I go get my gun”. So I freaked! She went toward the area she normally keeps her gun but instead of getting it she closed the blinds to her window. I immediately got my dog out and left out of her room. I told my GF who was in the other room that we needed to go now and packed my bag and my dogs things and left.
I haven’t been back in almost a week. To my house, the house I pay the mortgage at. The house I bought so we didn’t have to move or struggle anymore. I just left and went to my GFs house instead. Somewhere safe. Well I decided to come back home tonight. What a mistake. I come back home with my dog and I’m greeted to silence. I spoke as I walked in and she just gave me a cold look. An evil look and said nothing. So I just went to my room. Now I’m on edge in my own house wondering if she’ll still get her gun and shoot me down for something I have no idea that I did.
Almost every year we get in to these arguments and go through periods of silence but this one is just crazy. She’s so normal around everyone else. My best friend thinks we have a great relationship but he didn’t know I walk on eggshells trying not to set her off. My siblings have told me stories of her physical abuse. How my sister came home one day to all her things ripped apart or how she would have my brother on the ground with her foot on his neck. I don’t know if I would have been better off with the physical abuse over the mental abuse. I just want peace. Oh well. Thanks for hearing my rant.

I'm hoping this post will result in some ideas to help fire me up about using it more often. Ever since buying it, I've used it Nights and a few other games but it's not really doing much for me. The funny thing is, I've been a diehard Dreamcast fan since the turn of the millennium, so I'm used to the shape and all... but maybe that ends up working against me? Because I'm so used to the DC pad, the small differences are just enough to throw me off.
I dunno, sell me on it! Tell me everything you like about the 3D Pad and your favorite games to use with it.

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.
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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.
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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 got two cats (Margo and Graphite) yesterday. They weren’t a bonded pair, but they lived in the same “cat condo” and got along. I’m not sure how long they lived together.
When I brought them both home they would occasionally bat at each other, but tolerated each other. They would sit together, occasionally rub up against each other, and three hours ago Margo was licking Graphite. Just a few minutes ago I was chilling with both of them on the couch, and suddenly Margo lunged at Graphite and the two were tussling. It did not look like playing. They both ran off and separated from each other but were still looking at each other, and Margo was growling at Graphite. She eventually ran off when I moved.
I don’t know what to do. Now they’re both in the same room and chilling about five feet from each other. No signs of aggression right now.
I noticed that they’ll tend to bat each other only when one is cuddling with me. Are they both possessive?
Maybe Margo is adjusting to the move? Graphite is adjusting very well to moving, Margo is still a bit shy. Graphite is chill and loves cuddles, and will start purring even if I’m just standing next to him. He’s always trying to get on my lap. Margo hid a lot the first day, but by that first night she was cuddling with me. She also purrs a lot when next to me and always rubs her head on my hand, and if I stop she’ll keep doing that. She randomly purrs. I read that purring can sometimes be a sign of anxiety, so maybe thats what it is?