Not sure the right title for this, but basically I’m wondering if anyone else is im a career where socializing is pivotal. How do you walk that line between keeping boundaries and still being liked?
I’m entering healthcare and the personalities can sometimes be strong with lots of politics that I want to stay out of. I’m naturally quiet, open, very giving, and straightforward. I am more serious with people I don’t know and have difficulty knowing what humour to use so I just try and avoid it altogether. I believe the combination of my stature (shorter, thin and female) and personality might make me more of a target, but healthcare in general can have some two faced personalities and bullies. I have found it hard to differentiate who those people are and find that balance due to my openness.
The most recent event as an unpaid student, for example, was my preceptor letting me off early because I had finished all the work there was to do. I highly appreciated this and thought she might want a breather from teaching. This has happened 2-3 times and I didn’t think anything of it until another employee followed me out of the unit and into the cafeteria (I didn’t even see them). As I was on my phone waiting for a drink and answering a text, they said loudly in front of a few employees “you know the shift ends at X and the unit won’t hire you if you leave early all the time”, then walked off. It caught me completely off guard to be honest and I kept thinking if I did wrong. I was then with a more senior staff member with authority who also let me go early. I asked if that was truly okay and if it looked bad. They said “of course not! Why would that look bad? You’re not paid.” So.. how would you effectively deal with such a situation because these kinds of things always make me anxious.

Okay, so here's my story.
I'm a handheld gamer through and through, despite previously owning an Xbox Series S and prior home consoles. But, as with many, as well as the industry, owning a Nintendo Switch since launch has made me yearn for hybrid consoles only, moving forward.
Since owning the Deck (for about 6 months now) and as an always active Game Pass playemember, I knew that I had to incorporate some kind of solution to play those games - and it got me thoroughly testing apps like XBPlay, and the Better XCloud user script. Both are fantastic solutions in their own right (and they get a lot of use for on-the-go play) but the quality just isn't the same as native play, and I knew that I wanted that experience when playing at home. I got tempted by the idea of dual booting, and about a month after getting my system, dual booted, set up Game Pass, along with Handheld Companion and Playnite for an Xbox console-like experience.
It's fantastic, and I love that I don't have to miss out on games or the value that Game Pass provides. When a game doesn't run nicely, I look up settings on ProtonDB or just tinker until it's the experience I want. For example, High On Life and Forza Horizon 5 took some time to tinker, but both now run beautifully.
Yes, the Deck runs hot, and battery life is an hour or so, but the experience is similar on something like the ROG Ally.
Anyway, I'm rambling.. my question is - of the community, who here has done similar (set up a console-like/clean experience for Windows for things like Game Pass)? I'm keen to know your set ups, what has worked/what hasn't etc. I know this would normally fit well on the WindowsOnDeck subreddit, but I'm keen to hear from the broader community too.
Look forward to discussing!!

I’ve convinced my husband to watch Rome for the first time, and I’m falling in love with the show again. Last time I saw the show was when it first came out and I was still in high school. So long ago it all feels new again. The characters have so much depth and intrigue. I particularly love Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.
The below story is one of many examples of Caesar being a total bad ass. Excerpt below taken from https://messiahhistory.wordpress.com/2019/03/14/hilarious-history-catos-misfortune-with-a-letter-to-caesa
——-
“Poor Cato. He is already having a bad day, having gotten into an intense argument with Caesar in the senate. Cato and Caesar are on opposite sides of the spectrum in regards to the punishment for the conspirators involved in the (Second) Catiline conspiracy, a plan developed to overthrow the Chief Consul of Rome, Marcus Tullius Cicero. Cicero proposed an unconstitutional execution without trial as punishment for the men who committed treason, and Cato agrees. Caesar, however, does not.
Mid-argument, a messenger delivers a little note to Caesar, who silently reads it and returns to the struggle at hand. Cato, however, immediately points suspicion towards the note. In his mind, there is a high possibility that information regarding the conspiracy was just delivered to Caesar, right there on the senate floor. In front of all the senators. What else is he to do? Cato cannot just let that extremely suspicious note go unnoticed.
Cato, in what would turn out to be an unfortunate whirlwind of argument-fueled anger, accuses Caesar of possible involvement in the conspiracy. He demands that Caesar reads the note aloud to the Senate, just to prove that he did not receive such information. In fact, he opts to read Caesar’s note aloud himself, in case Caesar would have the idea to fabricate what the letter actually says.
Probably feeling quite smug, Cato begins to read the note to the Senate, realizing, to his horror, that this note was not a letter detailing any information about the conspiracy. In fact, it was a reportedly “unchaste” love letter written by Caesar’s mistress, Servilia.
Who is also Cato’s half-sister.
Supposedly, Cato then threw the letter back at Caesar, saying, “Take it, thou sot.” I’m sure Cato could never look at Caesar or his half-sister the same way ever again.”
——
Also, I just recently learned that reading silently was a rare talent in antiquity, with most people only being comfortable reading out loud. St Augustine remarked how remarkable it was that another Saint was able to read silently in the 3rd century AD, and was so astonished he recorded it in his writing. So the fact that Caesar reads the note silently attests to his high level of literacy. Reading out loud didn’t become commonplace until the 12th century. I’ve read there are a bunch of reasons for this, firstly many ancient texts were written in scriptio continua - a style where there are no spaces between words, paragraphs or punctuation. So reading out aloud helped decipher the text and find natural pauses. I’ve noticed this before when looking at some Roman marble texts, where there are no spaces and I always wondered why. I love learning something new like that, never too old to find out something new. Also, it reminds me of how we take for granted so many ‘obvious’ things like reading aloud, which to people in the distant past it was anything but obvious.

Platinum Platypus, AKA Doctor Dante Darwin PhD - an evolutionary biologist who was studying Platypodes in Tasmania when things went horribly awry. During an attack by the supervillain Fallout, the Platypus subjects Darwin had been studying grew to incredible size and strength. One male struck him with an ankle spur, delivering a powerful dose of Platypus-venom. With agony and swelling spreading through his arm and towards his vital organs, Dante found himself transforming! Bone erupted from his ankles to form deadly venom-laden spurs, his mouth lengthened to a bill filled with electroreceptors, his feet and hands grew webbed, his eyes developed double cones. With all the powers of a radioactively enhanced Platypus, he was bizarrely well-equipped to fight the forces of discord.
Within an hour he was awake and active, doing everything in his power to fight off the attack and get the dangerously mutated animals back under control. Despite presenting as a perfectly average superhero of his power level in many regards, Dante was very lucky to have his first outing as a hero well documented by press and security cameras, and before the disaster had even passed he already had a huge following online. He had fanart, eager shippers suggesting he should be paired off with Monstra, diehard followers buying his previous scientific works - it was a great boon to his career, and people became very fixated on the whole Platypus thing. They're just a very cool animal.
He only discovered the dark secret of his powers months later.
While troubleshooting some problems a fellow scientist had in his scorpion research, Dante was exposed to the venom of the arachnid's stinger. A transformation soon came over him; a barbed tail, a thickly armoured carapace, additional limbs ready to swiftly carry him into battle. His powers were awakened by Fallout, but in truth they had been buried within him for years. He was an adaptive hero who could mimick the "powers" of living organisms, so long as he was exposed to stimulating factors relating to them.
And he couldn't tell a soul.
Platinum Platypus had taken the world by storm; he had a tie-in comic, he was favourited for a spot on a good hero team, he had a huge number of followers on every platform. What would the world make of him if he were another metaphorical sellout with a boring omni-power? Would he still have his huge fandom if he started going into battle with the powers of a wasp, or serpent?
Desperate to hold onto his 15 minutes of fame, Dante decided to keep the true nature of his powers a secret. Dosing himself with tiny quantities of Platypus venom when necessary to avoid other transformations, he continued to enjoy his good luck in capturing the zeitgeist...

• Variable power with the Distracting and Limited modifiers, defined by an "evolution" descriptor. The transformation is painful and leaves him Vulnerable for one turn, and is Limited by having to be exposed to the venom, blood, sweat etc. of what he is "evolving" to mimic the powers of. For example if he were stung by a bee he might grow wings, compound eyes, sensitive fur, intimidating stripes etc. but he cannot simply decide to take on bee powers at a whim. Unless he were carrying a tiny lancet filled with bee venom, for instance. Generic "biology but better" powers can be accessed also, stuff like regeneration and enhanced skills are fine so long as they make sense.
  
• His default power set, based on a Platypus, has a bunch of senses, a variable attack array with a poisonous kick, a powerful tail slap, a mighty duck-bite and so on. Senses would include sensing electrical signals and incredible vision.
  
• Dante's social advantages, such as his wealth and huge fandom, come with a flaw attached (likely as a Complication); they would take a serious hit if he reveals how flexible his powers truly are. His fandom are deeply invested in how weird and cool he is, and they're less onboard for him having a copout power which can do anything with the right prep. As a result he hides the potentially lifesaving flexibility of his powers to keep his supporters happy. Will he ever be forced to reveal his true power for the greater good?
  

"But with mutational powers such as your own, instant evolution at the slightest biostimulus, you could change the world!"
"Yes, but my fans don't want me to change the world. They want me to be a Platypus."

*Basant Maheshwari has raised several concerns regarding Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) in India. *
He notes that the stock prices of PSUs are increasing at a higher rate than their earnings per share (EPS), indicating that while the stock prices are rising, the actual profitability and growth of these companies are not matching up.
Employee Performance and Focus:*
Maheshwari suggests that PSU employees tend to be low-skilled and primarily focused on their salaries rather than performance. This, he argues, leads to inefficiencies and a lack of necessary productivity within these organizations.
Profitability vs. Authenticity:
While PSU profitability appears to be increasing year on year, Maheshwari questions the authenticity of this growth. He implies that it might not reflect genuine business performance improvements.
Balance Sheet Transparency:
Private companies have more room to manipulate their balance sheets compared to PSUs. PSUs, being run by multiple people and entities, are less likely to fudge their financial reports due to higher levels of scrutiny and regulation.
Government Oversight:
In recent times, the government has been closely monitoring PSU employees, potentially leading to better accountability and performance.
Asset Appreciation:
PSUs often own significant amounts of property, which appreciates over time but is not reflected in their book value.
These properties are real assets, unlike many private companies that operate from rented premises.
Historical Performance:
Historically, many PSUs have underperformed, resulting in stagnant or declining stock prices.
However, there have been notable exceptions where non-performing PSU stocks have shown significant returns due to strategic decisions, such as property sales.
Inflation and Real Estate Values:
Basant Maheshwari's analysis might overlook the impact of inflation and the increasing real estate values on PSU stock prices.
For instance, the example of MTNL and BSNL shows how these companies saw a significant rise in stock prices after they started selling their properties. The real estate value, which is not updated in the book value for decades, contributes significantly to the actual worth of PSUs.
Conclusion:
While Basant Maheshwari's concerns about the disconnect between stock prices and EPS growth in PSUs are valid, he might not fully account for the appreciation of real estate assets and the effect of inflation.
These factors can substantially enhance the intrinsic value of PSUs. Consequently, PSUs that own significant properties might experience substantial gains in the coming years, suggesting that their stock price rise could indeed be justified.
Therefore, it's essential to consider the holistic value of these companies, including their real estate holdings and the broader economic factors, when evaluating their true potential.

Overcoming codependency has always been my biggest challenge. And this opportunity with you is seriously showing me how much of that is true. I don’t like how far away you are. No one actively seeks out a long distance connection. Yet the unease I feel around what we are is a result of this fantasy I’ve made about you — a fantasy that’s been filled in by months of consistent messages because it’s all you and I can do. Am I delusional? Yes. This is not reality. This is not a relationship. We are pen pals. But I’m going in spirals from this urge to merge as fast as possible, as deeply as possible, because that kind of connection is all I’ve known. Though the only thing that is for certain is I still don’t even really know you yet. I don’t. And slowly I’ve noticed your lack of interest in getting to know me. Is that even true? Or are you honestly just that busy? The confusion is why I hate this distance. Had you been here, I would’ve had enough information to decide whether this was worth pursuing as a relationship weeks ago. The distance is out of my control, but my mentality and expectations are not. I know that. So here I am, stuck confronting why I’m uncomfortable in this waiting phase; the place where unlearning begins because there is nothing but time to build an awareness and intolerance for old thought patterns and ways of being. I am seeing you in a couple months. And in my excitement, I can feel myself building expectations for what the vibe is going to be like. It is this where the hard work begins. I’m constantly grounding myself in reality. There have been tears. Uncomfortable conversations with myself regarding trust, emotional availability, vulnerability, authenticity. All while maintaining the focus on my life here (eg. still going on intentional dates to find a partner). It’s embarrassing to admit how difficult it’s been to avoid getting carried away by a future with you possibly in it (because obviously you haven’t earned it yet) but that is a testament to how much power I’ve historically put on my intimate relationships — so much so that it has overshadowed my own needs. In whatever this is with you, I am learning how to be an individual. A person with unwavering grit towards their goals. A person who no longer people pleases. A person with opinions and values and beliefs of their own. A person who moves through life in stillness next to uncertainty because of the trust behind knowing what will be, will be. I could get upset at the universe if this doesn’t pan out the way I hope. In fact, I know I will lol I’ll have lots of questions about what the point of meeting you was, and why I’ve been so foolish to think it would work out this time. But at the end of the day, regardless of what happens, I know I will always be grateful for my connection with you. The situation has offered me a chance to change and be free of this unconscious need to attach myself to another person. This letter here is proof that I am already a better person. So thanks.

Anyone ever deal with this? Seems like everything I do and try just goes nowhere.
I get laid off from stuff I like… or it fizzles out. The stuff that sticks I hate… and doesn’t make me any money.
When I try to make going on my own I only make things worse. For example, I quit my job I hated last year to go do marketing contracting work and worked with a company to help me get off the ground.
10 months later, I’m now 19k in credit card debt, 0% apr card. Money is spotty now, so it’s totally unclear how I’ll get out of this mess for now.
I’m 25, and it feels like it’s dawning on me that I’ll never get to do what I want to do. Won’t work my dream job or build a business or make good money while I’m young or travel the world…
Is there a term for this? Like no self belief or something like that? Are their books on this spiritual or otherwise? I’d like to find the root of this unworthiness…
And really I’m just exhausted at trying. It’s always trying, barely getting by. When the fuck do I have some modicum of consistent success and progress that all of this self improvement stuff is supposed to do.
I’ve read 25 books the last year , 1/2 on self actualization and 1/2 on making money and business and marketing… watched thousands of hours of this content too… I’ve put thousands of hours in my craft, spent tens of thousands on courses, education, gear, and software.
I just feel like crying and I can’t, therapy is useless, all my books and teachings feel empty now because it feels like they are the reason I’m in this mess, and now my dreams feel further away because it feels like all my hope has been crushed.
I am being dramatic, but this is how I feel. I just feel crushed. How can I try so hard, care so much, want so badly, and nobody take me under the wing and really believe in me? How come what I want never appears serendipitously? Isn’t that what all of these stupid ass books and advice say???
Most damning, I feel betrayed. The worst feeling is that all of these things I did to try to improve myself and actually live my dreams made it all worse…
What do I do? Career coach, business coach, debt coach? book on self belief? New therapist? Anyone ever surpass a similar rut?

Imagine if you will, me as a spry young whippersnapper, around four or five, with a thirst for knowledge and curiosity for words. At that age, I was like a sponge, absorbing every new word and sentence structure I came across. This was me, a living example of the constructivist theory for language acquisition in action.
The constructivist theory, for those unfamiliar, is the belief that we construct our understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. We do this by relating new information to prior knowledge, re-evaluating that prior knowledge in light of new information, and correcting any misconceptions we might have had.
One sunny afternoon, during a family picnic, I overheard my aunt use the term "austerity measures" while talking to my dad. This was a new term, a new construction of sounds and letters I had never encountered before. I asked them what it meant, and they explained, in simple terms, that it referred to reducing spending to save money in tough economic times.
The mental model I used to understand this was based on a recent experience, where my allowance was cut because my parents were saving for a new car. I related the concept of "austerity measures" to my own experience of reduced spending and made a connection, extending my understanding of language and the world.
This is how we learn language, not just by memorizing words and sentences, but by understanding and experiencing the context in which they are used.
By the way, I hope this gave you a good laugh. It's a bit exaggerated, of course. I was not exactly discussing fiscal policies over apple juice at that age. But hey, it's a fun way to explain the constructivist theory for language acquisition and the use of mental models, isn't it?
P.S. In case you thought I was some kind of child prodigy who was discussing economic policies at age 5, let me just clarify - it was a hypothetical illustration crafted to help you appreciate the beauty of language acquisition and application of mental models in our daily lives. So no, I wasn't that precocious. I was more into mud pies and chasing butterflies at that age.

So I (27M) went through a rough breakup not too long ago. It was really hard for me and took me awhile to dig myself out of the funk. Literally the first day I felt back to myself a coworker I had never met before (25F) was introduced to me, and immediately I couldn’t believe how much we had in common and how beautiful she was. The catch to this though is that she has a boyfriend of 2 years.
Since she had a boyfriend I pretty much dropped any thought of her romantically, but was still pretty stoked to have a new friend that was cool and just so happened to be a hot woman. At first we only talked here and there, but for the last month or so things between us have really picked up. We talk every single day now, and message each other all day while at work. We spend pretty much all break/lunch time together one on one, and we have become pretty close pretty fast.
I never thought of this as flirting but my coworkers told me recently that they thought we were dating and were surprised to find out she had a boyfriend. Some of their comments include things like “jim and Pam”, “I feel like i should let you 2 have the room to yourself”, and things like that. I started thinking about this more and more, and realized that she might actually be into me.
She hasn’t overtly made any moves, but here are some examples of things I would consider odd for someone in a relationship to do. Asking me to go on one on one walks every day, getting lunch/eating lunch together almost every day, telling me very personal things (even about her current relationship) even though we haven’t known each other very long, asking me about what kinds of dates I take girls on, telling me she misses me when I’m not at work, asking me what I think of her, and breaking the touch barrier frequently (nothing sexual).
Would love to hear from someone that has been in this type of situation. Logically I know it’s wrong to even consider someone that is taken, but she’s a perfect match for me in a lot of ways. I’m not putting my life on hold or anything, but I’ve been thinking about amping up my flirting and just seeing how she responds. Any thoughts?

This is primarily focused on United airlines mechanics since the union is currently accepting proposals for the new tentative agreement (hence forth referred to as TA) but the concept applies to most other airlines as well.
Teamsters has just sent out a form for United mechanics to submit proposals for the new TA and I think we need to rally behind one or two major points on this next negotiation if we really want to see progress. I'm proposing we start pushing for retroactive pay being written into the contract because it puts the union in a much better negotiating position for the next contract.
Currently United (/name your airline here) is incentivized to drag their feet on contract negotiations because new contracts almost always involve a wage increase. (If for no other reason than to match inflation) By postponing negotiations, they can avoid paying the new higher wage for potentially several years, saving the company potentially millions of dollars. This is why you hear concerns of contract negotiations dragging out for years and some people were saying we should just sign the last (really crappy) tentative agreement. Retroactive pay may not entirely fix this issue, but it gives the company a big reason to try to get the contract finished quicker.
For those who don't know, retroactive pay means that you will be paid at the new contract rate (or a percentage of the new contract rate) from the expiration of the old contract. This is a very powerful clause for a variety of reasons that I'll be discussing, but for the moment let's see an example:

Say the airline takes two years to negotiate a contract (This is a fairly low number from what I've seen lately...) At the end of those two years, the union negotiates a three dollar an hour raise. With the current contract, you *might* get a signing bonus of a grand or two, and that's about it. With 100% retroactive pay, you can figure 3 dollars an hour times 2080 working hours per year times two years puts you somewhere in the ballpark of $12,480 per mechanic. Obviously subtract taxes and such, but that's a huge difference to the companies spreadsheets when they start owing thousands of employees 12,000 bucks a piece.

Now granted this is just an example with a lot of caveats. Odds are we won't be able to negotiate a 100% retroactive pay clause because it get's kinda wonky if wages decrease, (Do employees owe the company in that case? Probably not, BUT, point being...) but considering wages almost always increase I think at least 75% would be fair. "75%?! Doesn't retro pay being less than 100% still incentivize the company to stall negotiations since they're still saving money by not paying the full amount?" I hear someone asking - No because until negotiations are finalized, the amount of money the company owes employees is essentially a giant unknown. This A. makes book keeping really hard, and B. might effect the company's ability to take out loans. That alone is a massive motivator to start negotiations early and avoid stalling as much as possible.
This also gives the union a lot more negotiating power because they won't wind up in situations where the company drags negotiations out for years until union members are tired of fighting and just sign the next TA handed to them. Considering the number of people I've already talked to who think we should have signed the crappy TA handed out a few months ago to avoid drawn out negotiations, I think this is massively important to keep the union on a level playing field at the negotiating table.
SO what do we need to do to get this on the ballot?
For non-united technicians: bring it up to your union. Get people talking about it before the next vote. Communication is going to be critical to competitive contracts in the next few years.
For UAL Technicians: fill out the the PDF in your personal email. The email is titled "United Airlines Contract Proposal Form." Download the PDF and then you can upload and edit it using this website (That I am not affiliated with) https://simplepdf.eu/ If you disagree with my thesis on retroactive pay, that's totally okay, but please make sure the Union is hearing about the things you DO want to see on the contract. Teamsters may not listen to the rank and file very well, but with enough voices on paper, it should give them an idea of what we want.

Hello all,
My friend will be visiting your dear city in the next month as a stop on her journey further north.
I am compiling some letters for her to open at each of her stops so we can feel connected, but also to inspire and encourage her journey.
We’ve both visited Newcastle together while on a van road trip in 2021 and absolutely loved the place.
However we did not get to see it all and this is where I need your help. We’ve been to the soul sucking hell hole, stayed at the youth hostel and experienced some absolutely insane snoring.
Give me your best cafes for a mocha (her coffee of choice, where makes the greatest ham and cheese croissant/dim sim/potato cake.
Best pub feed? Most dilapidated house? Even an interesting tree!
I’d appreciate greatly your input with this letter and ensuring she has another magical stay.
Many thanks!

I am from India. I will be joining as Software Engineer in September this year in Kyoto, Japan. I will only go out on weekends. I will cook at home on weekdays and eat out on weekends. I will also be joining gym. I drink and smoke but not a party person. I am more of a buy beer from convenience store or supermarket and drink with friends at home. How much will be my expenses per month and how much will I be able to save ? I am not really a shopping person. Also some tips to save money. I will be under 22 when moving to Kyoto if that helps ! PFA my salary structure: Basic Salary JPY 2,964,000 (247,000 JPY monthly pre-tax) Bonus JPY 570,800 (The bonus will vary depending on the company and individual performance.) Overtime Allowance JPY 231,564 (Assuming 10 hours of overtime) Home Allowance JPY 732,000 (For apartment rent with a total monthly cost, including maintenance fees, of up to JPY 70,000, the self-contribution is a flat JPY 9,000, regardless of the rent amount. For Example: If my rent is JPY60,000/month, the company will cover JPY JPY51,000/month. It's acceptable if the total rent exceeds JPY70,000, but any amount beyond that will be covered by the self-contribution.) Employees’ Health Insurance JPY 220,540 Employees’ Pension Insurance JPY 403,588 Sign up Bonus JPY 120,000 (One-Time) Reserve fund JPY 150,000 (One-Time) Relocation Support JPY 150,000 (One-Time) Flight support JPY 100,000 Japanese Language Education JPY 400,000 Temporary Home Return Support JPY 200,000 (The company covers the actual amount of round flight expenses twice a year.)
Note: I have lived for 2 months in Tokyo doing summer intern in which my stipend was 70,000 JPY/month excluding rent, utility bills, commute to office and I was able to live-off it. I used to go gay bars every weekend.

I bought DI2 just a month ago and have completed most of it with about 40hrs. I personally love the core gameplay despite what everyone says. But after doing almost everything there is to do in this game there are a couple things I want to see added to keep me coming back.
The three major things I want are a horde mode, more zombies in the OW, and more environmental interactables.
1.Horde mode is self explanatory, out of all the things not in this game this should be the most obvious to add and i honestly dont know why the developers aren’t making it a priority.
2.More zombies cause the world really does feel empty a lot and the most fun thing to do in this game is run around slaughtering zombies so to have more is a no brainer.
3.Lastly more interactables like the canisters to add more depth and fun to the combat. For example being able to pickup and throw bowling balls, tennis balls, or even zombie heads at zombies. Another example would be environmental things like the tennis ball machine or large stereos. To be able to turn these on to shoot at or blow away zombies would be so cool and add more versatility to gameplay. Side note, a tennis racket should definitely be a weapon. I also think another cool idea would be to be able to pick up fire extinguishers and use them on zombies.
Those are the three most important changes imo. Small things like mirror reflections i dont really care as much about but i do think they should at least just make all the mirrors shattered. There are some big changes id want to but i dont think its realistic to ask for. Those being day and night cycle, more weapons and animations, and combining sections together to make fewer bigger sections. I do think these changes would massively improve the game like for example combining sections, the pier and venice beach could become one section, beverly hills and monarch studios, and lastly bel air and halperion hotel. Venice beach is really the only big section so combining these sections that are literally right next to each other would fix this. But those changes are pretty unrealistic as the sections and no day and night cycle are literally baked into the game and then more weapons and animations does take a lot of time and resources. The three most important changes i said in the beginning i rlly wanna see tho and would definitely be enough for me.

Using a burner for this because being open is spooky and whatever. Anyways, I 25m work in a shop. I won't bore you with the details but to make the scenario make a bit more sense, it's set up in a way where we have around 20 something locations, we bounce between these locations, and it's one employee to a store at a time.
I'm a relatively new hire, only been working here for about 4 months at this point, the jobs cool, whatever. Anyways from the day I started working there, I was trained by this really cute girl who is 24f. She's like, my type to a T. I immediately gravitated to her because she checked every box for me on a physical level, she's also goth-adjacent like myself, she made the store's playlist that we use that's just packed with artists I really enjoy, and she was super kind to me from the jump. Needless to say I was really interested but haven't been in a scenario where dating a co-worker was either on the table or something I wanted before, so I wasn't sure how to proceed, and given the nature of how our job works, I knew I probably wouldn't be seeing her too much after my two weeks of training was up, so I mostly tried to ignore it and just enjoy that for what it was.
During the training period, there was lots of down time in the store, so with not much to do and a very lenient rule set at this job, we would pretty regularly just shut the store down for a bit after I learned what I needed to learn for the day, head outback into the alley and share a joint and just talk about anything and everything for about an hour before re-opening the store. (I know, this job doesn't pay shit mind you, but it's the chillest most easy going setup I've ever had.)
Skipping ahead a bit, I felt there was sort of a spark there but again, for reasons above I just didn't think to try and pursue anything because a new wrench was thrown into the mix. I got offered to move somewhere pretty far (like, across the country far) in the semi near future (around 4 months from when I'm writing this). And it's somewhere I really and truly do want to be, I have a job lined up there that pays great, I've got some friends that live pretty close to there, and would be moving in with a long time friend of mine as well.
After ironing all those details out, and setting my mind to moving there, I was pretty comfortable with the idea of not trying to get into anything long term with anyone until after I moved. I've never been single for longer than 4 months in my adult life before, and I figured I should try it for that reason alone, as well as not wanting to set up any expectations with anyone only to move that far away in a short amount of time relatively speaking.
Fast forward a month and now our work structure has changed. There's two people assigned to specific locations and our schedules are pretty unchanging, though we'd only really see the other person as we relieved the shift, I however typically show up around 15-20 minutes early for my shifts because I think it's a courteous thing to do. And wouldn't you know it, me and the girl who trained me are set up at the same store now. It's been like this for around 2 weeks and it's been driving me insane. She's definitely sending strong signals, she's been texting me about non-work stuff as well (we all have each others numbers via the work group chat), we send memes and shit like that back and forth, it's been nice. And a big part of me really does want to ask her out, while the other half of me is strongly conflicted, as I know I'll be very far away from here in a handful of months. Not really sure how to proceed with this.
TLDR: Coworker and be get along great, she's been sending signals, I'm obviously interested but will be moving very far away in a handful of months, and won't be returning. Don't want to set up false expectations or get her hopes up, she's incredibly nice and a genuinely sweet person from what I can tell, but I'd feel like such an idiot if I didn't at least try to do something here.

I am a student with a lease agreement on the private market with a minimum period of 12 months and a maximum period of 8 years. The contract states on page 1 that it is a short term (limited) rental agreement.
In order to sign it, the landlord asked me to present proof of enrollment to a university, which I did.
Now, I will be soon graduating, so I decided to cancel the agreement. I learned online that the Dutch law allows doing so for short term contracts, so I cited that law in the letter to him, adding that the contract does not stipulate any fees for doing so. I did this well in advance - almost 2 months before the day of termination, in accordance with the 1 month's notice period.
I also listed 3 points of the agreement that were not realised during my 8 months of stay. Amenities that were not provided and yet are within the agreement, energy label, and a SEPA form for direct debits.
His response was that he's sorry that some things were not to my expectations but it does not affect our agreement, and that our contract is a "campus lease agreement", and because of that the right to terminate early does not apply. He says he will cooperate on early termination but asks for an administrative fee of one month's rent in exchange.
Does he have legal rights to do this? Should I pay, and if not, what should be done instead?

Hello all! I (22f) and my ex best friend (21f) have recently ended our friendship and I am having a hard time. This a throw away.... enjoy my craziness :)
Backstory:
Back in 2023 she had moved into my families house after putting hers on the market. My parents had agreed on letting her stay for 2-3 months just to save a little bit and move into an apartment of her own. During this time her mom was living with a friend out of state. Now her and her mother were never financially responsible people so after 6 months of her living with us my parents were upset because it felt like she was just using us as housing and a storage unit for all of her stuff. We helped loan her money to get for a car and my parents offered to hold some money for her to start a savings pile for her future housing. During the whole year she lived with us she gave money to my parents twice to hold for her. Mind you this entire time she worked 45-50 hrs a week and had no expenses unless she chose to eat out or smth like that. We never charged her rent or anything. So eventually her mom pops up out of the blue and moves back to town with not a dollar to her name and no place to live. So she (my ex bff) paid for a hotel room for them for a long stay which later i found out was like 3 grand. A few days after her mom came back one of our friends came to me telling me how ex bff was talking trash about my family. She also told me ex bff was sleeping with higher management (AND MOVED IN WITH HIM) to try and move up the food chain. Turns out this man she was sleeping with not only was married and had kids but also already had another affair partner. After all of this she "moved" out of my house and never said a word to me. After about a week with no contact I told her to come get her stuff and that was that.
During her living with me there was a lot of things I picked up on that bugged me such as her lack of self awareness, self absorption and her constant need to lie. Some other things that bugged me was her lack of cleanliness, personal space, and personal hygiene. It also bugged me when she would try and turn my siblings against me. Example lol my sister and I were having a disagreement and she would talk to me and agree with me and slander her (which already pissed me off because thats my sister) and then go to my sister (18f) and would agree with her and slander me to turn us against each other.
I guess I should have listened when people told me its not a good idea to live with your friends. lol. I guess im just having a hard time accepting the end of over a decade long friendship and im pissed off at myself for not realizing what type of person she was. Any advice is welcome but pls be nice. :)

(Just a segment I found interesting with how nice he is about it here, compared to how angry he was about it in 2009)
First of all, I don’t think any of those items, whether they are true or not can be purchased at a grocery store. To start with, if you just look at the paperwork that is there now – not all of it is, but what is there. This whole dispute in a legal sense has nothing to do with any of the things that are being said about me. It's really a case about accounting. That's the legal side of it. That is what I know first of all. So it hurts me to know that he would actually go there. You know? He must really have some reason to dislike me that I don’t think has anything to do with money. I don’t know because I haven’t talked to him since October 31st of last year. I think he really crossed the line in a way that truly makes me sad, because I didn’t ask for this relationship between him and I to turn out this way. I don’t know what he's thinking because he stopped communicating with me so I can’t explain it. I'm not going to assume and I’m not going to suggest. I just want people to know that whether he likes to admit it or not, he did not return my phone calls. I was paying his phone bill, I saw the bills so I know that his phone was working. I don't know what he was thinking. I just know he was not in the dark about the record being made. For example, we did an interview months and months before the record and to allege that we did it secretly is absurd. Not to mention in the same way that I said I wish Twiggy was around, it was a time in my life where I could have really used a best friend - Someone that I've known for so long.
Aside from all this, I'm not blaming him. It just makes me really sad that when I was down in my worst place, not only did he decide to turn his back, but then go ahead and kick me while I was down. I have no grudges. I just think people can look at it and see that it's really absurd. It's truly, truly absurd. Musicians have a hard time making money when it comes to record labels. The only thing that really helps a musician be able to do this as a living is by being a songwriter. As creative as Pogo has been in the past, or not been in the past, he is not a songwriter. One song that he wrote for the most part, which is an amazing song is Cryptorchid. He’s participated, but unfortunately he did not play the keyboards on The Golden Age of Grotesque, I did. It wasn’t because I wanted to. It was because even then for whatever reason… I can't explain it because I can't speak for him. He didn’t want to be there, or wasn't there. I’m not trying to take credit for it as much as saying I was inspired, I had a good time and I liked playing the keyboards. I don’t want to be a keyboard player though. I don’t really have a way to explain the situation other than it caught me very much by surprise. All I can say is, I assure people that at no point in our entire relationship as friends or as professionals, did I ever, ever take or hold anything, or spend his money. It couldn’t be more the opposite. It’s just sad that I would have done anything for the guy and I really don’t know why he decided to stab me in the back.
First of all, it is shock value. You have to think, “OK, you're Marilyn Manson.” To assume that I have 20 million dollars to begin with is really ridiculous. You know, I could brag and try to pretend by wearing some jewelry or something. But you know, let’s be serious. I should be entitled to buy things, shouldn't I? It’s just purely for the shock value. It's like he spent his money on baboons and this and that, and blah, blah, blah. I really don’t understand why he thinks it has anything to do with him. I really don’t. It doesn’t. I don’t want to get into it further, other than to say, what do you people think that I would spend my money on? Am I not allowed to buy anything? (Manson laughs)
I don’t know - I just work my hardest and I think I know the guy that's in that band Marilyn Manson, but I'm not sure. I know somebody that knows him. It just strikes me as, “What do you spend your money on?" "I don’t know." My only concern is taking care of my family. Other than that, I live in a hotel now, with a new cat. Two cats, a hotel and I'm happy. It's not because I'm destitute because I’m frivolous at times. Right now I'm going to order Caviar and set it on fire, film it and throw the videotapes into the street. The idea that the lawsuit says I spent the money on Phantasmagoria - I hadn’t even started filming it yet, beside the fact that I wouldn't pay for it myself. I mean, I would if I had to, but that right there is absurd. Then the newest one, that I somehow spent his money on paying Evan to be in Heart-Shaped Glasses. I think he made it pretty clear he wasn't involved in that record, so how does it have anything to do with him? I think it’s a lot about shock value. People thought that would work with the Security Guard. The problem is when you walk into a courtroom - the people that sit on that jury, I like to think, are just like me because I don’t think I am above anyone else. I feel like I work very hard for my money. People are not going to sit there, no matter what you say about me and tolerate somebody demanding money that is absurd and completely uncalled for. My mom and my dad, I have to take care of first and foremost. No one is going to come between them and I. I just think that's uncalled for. He crossed a line and that’s worse than anyone else that has sued me. It was never as personal and as out of nowhere.
He never heard Eat Me, Drink Me. Yeah, I remember calling and being like, "Hey, we're remixing the record in a week or so. I really want you to come over and play on it or at least hear it.” “Hey we're doing album artwork and we can't do a band photo since you decided not to respond." Then even up to the point of "Hey, we're doing the video.” No phone call. So, you know, it wasn’t my choice. As much as everyone likes to think I'm a dick, and I am, but I wasn't a dick to him. In fact, that leads me to my strange day today. I spoke to John5 and Mark Chaussee. They both called me to say Happy Birthday, with absolutely no hard feelings there. In fact, if John 5 will not be a pussy and lower his guitar strap down a little bit more, I'll have him come on stage and play songs with us this first show. It would practically be the Holy Wood lineup.
My point being, that John and I saw things a different way, but it's nice that we can talk. We had a very nice conversation today and he was very happy to hear that Twiggy was back. That's what he called to tell me, aside from wishing me a Happy Birthday. It just says a lot. He's a stand-up person and it meant a lot to me. But still, he eats his own cum. I told him that. He won’t deny it.

Morning all! Just a quick one... I've sent 3 nice looking letters in envelopes over the last month from the post office which is upstairs in WHS Smiths on AB Street, but they never made it to their recipients.
Bought the stamps from the shop there and put it in the post box there.
Has anybody else had issues from sending letters from there? They weren't anything of real value and maybe I'm just the unlucky one...

Am I the Asshole?
My girlfriend 30F and I 29F have been together now for 14 months, and living together for a few months.
Recently I’ve been feeling like I have to do everything, plan everything, organise everything, suggest everything, and it’s really been tiring me. I expressed this to her and said there’s no fun in it for me anymore. We won’t even go out if I don’t suggest where to go, plan how to get there etc. One of the other things I mentioned is how she never surprises me with anything, small gestures. She asked what I’d like and as an example said like bring me a coffee in the morning, plan a date night etc.
Anyway the next weekend comes and we are in Starbucks, she asks what my drink order is so I give her a couple of suggestions which are my fave drinks, caramel macchiato (both hot or cold), the iced brown sugar oat shaken espresso, and a cappuccino. We then discuss the crème brûlée special they have on at the moment to which I said that sounds gross. Why would you want an eggy, custard drink. I then continued with my usual order (iced brown sugar oat shaken espresso from one of the suggestions above given to her).
The next weekend I get woken up by our ring camera telling me someone is at the door, turns out she’d nipped out to fetch a surprise coffee for me. She comes upstairs all happy and presents me with this crème brûlée iced coffee. She said the guy serving talked her into getting it for me and as she doesn’t like coffee anyway she didn’t know if it would be good or not. I said to her thanks, but we literally spoke about this one last weekend, why would you get that? You literally have a list in your phone of the coffees I like. She was immediately reactive to this, stormed off and said she’ll throw it away. She then followed with saying she didn’t know if I’d like it so bought a chocolate Frappuccino incase… again, not on the list. I have never ordered either of these 2 drinks from Starbucks.
Basically she’s now stormed out of the house after kicking off at me that I’m never happy. I get she tried to surprise me with something nice, and she knows I’d appreciate a Starbucks on a Saturday morning; but I don’t understand why she couldn’t stick with the few coffees I like that I’d already given her. Instead she brought 2 I’ve never ordered.
If she wanted to surprise me and didn’t know what to get I’d understand, but I feel like as much as she’s tried to do a nice thing, she has failed at the first hurdle of ordering something I’d actually like (which she literally has written down in her phone). I feel like a knob as we were supposed to be going away tonight for pride weekend at Blackpool, and now she’s stormed off angry (don’t know where she is). Having only just woken up it’s not the best start of the weekend.
Am I the asshole? Should I have just faked reaction to this crème brûlée coffee to keep the peace?
Side note: I don’t even like crème brûlée as a dessert.