When i cough i get a bad taste in my mouth

My dad [55M] has always been conservative. However, as I've [27M] gotten older, it's gotten worse. He constantly goes on about how Joe Biden is the worst president and Trump is the best and how his trial is a sham to get him to not be president again. I'll admit when I was a child I considered myself a republican as I grew up around it and it was all I knew. As I grew up I moved over to the democratic side, and disagree strongly with many of the GOP's values and ideas.
My dad doesn't know I'm a Democrat, but my mom does (she's very rational but also traditional conservative). When he goes off on rants about this economy is "Bidens World" and how Trump will get interest rates down and fix the economy, and how the Democrats are the party of evil, I just go "ok" and try to move on. I don't agree with him but I don't shut it down as I don't want to argue him as he pretty much thinks the Republican party is 100% right all the time, as to him they are the party of God and Christians and Democrats are rhe party of Evil and Satan. One time I let it slip and said "Oh, I didn't know the primaries were going on, I'm a registered non partisan" and my dad loudly said "Well, make sure to vote Trump though!" I honestly didn't know what to say.
He watches fox news every day which is why I think it has gotten worse. I try to turn off fox and say I can't stand Fox, if he turns it on when my family and I visit, but it's mostly ignored or he doesn't react to what I say.
Now you may think he's a crazy nut, but when he doesn't talk politics he's nice and fun to be around. It's the politics that fire him up and get him on rants. We have a 2 year old and as he grows up I don't want those ideas put in his head as I don't think theyre right (he's also anti gay, anti abortion, etc).
So how can I go about getting him off Fox? Is it just not possible? Is my complacency and lack of action or disagreement making it worse? It's just frustrating when he used to not be this bad before. I liked being around my dad more when he wasn't so damn political. It's all this Trump and Fox news shit that made things worse.

I am married to a (wayward) covert narcissist (M/51). One of the many, many things he does that drives me batty is narcissistic monologuing. If you're wondering what it is, here's a really good article about it:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-narcissist-in-your-life/202002/are-you-being-bullied-narcissistic-monologuing
I thought I was crazy for a long time, feeling beaten up and abused by covert narc's and his mom's incessant babble-fests, where they don't let anyone get a word in edgewise. While covert narc wayward husband is bad, the mom is AWFUL. She'll talk a blue streak for an hour straight. Covert narc husband, his sister, and their dad insist she must be permitted to ramble on and on, no matter what, lest she become "upset." Heaven forbid you have to take a piss at any point. But she'll just one-sidedly babble your ear off when you return. Are you permitted to ask a question? Interject? Sip water? No.
On one occasion, this poor guy was at her house to give her a quote, and she bent his ear until he practically ran out of the house. Some endless nonsense about her sisters and the old country that made no fucking sense at all.
I remember we "had to!" let her tell some impossible-to-understand, rambling story on Thanksgiving, which resulted in all of us having to eat stone cold food.
While covert narc husband isn't quite as bad about the verbal dominance in general, he can be sometimes, especially when he has to go on a long monologue about work. We've been in restaurants, and he'll babble for so long without taking a bite of his food that everyone else's plates are cleared, and he'll finally start to eat. I'm like, do you not think about other people's comfort, the timing of the meal, or anything like that? It's all about you HAVING TO tell some shitty, specific work tale that no one gives the slightest fuck about? Do you have any concept that other people exist, and maybe their comfort could be taken into consideration, just a little?
That made me think back to the second time I ran into covert narc husband, LONG ago. We were at a party, and he told some insanely long story about something that had happened at his job. After about five minutes of him running at the mouth about a topic no one gave as much of a shit about as he thought they did, everyone around him scattered, except for me. I was trying to be polite. Holy shit, he did not stop yammering for an hour.
So you have any experience with your spouse's monologuing?

Hello! This week I'm running Chariot of the Gods. This is my first Alien game and at the same time first experience as a GM in any TTRPG. I've gone through several YT videos for tips, this subreddit and whatever I could find, like GM map for the ship, summaries, etc. Honestly, I'm still a bit nervous since the rules are sometimes a bit unclear and the scenario book sometimes doesn't help either. I've read both multiple times and still feel a bit unprepared.
I have some questions and would appreciate your answers or tips in general.

1. Can players just go from A-1 junction to other floors? It looks like they can, so basically most of the ship is opened for exploration since the beginning?
   
2. How does the air scrubber repair work? Can they repair it from just one floor of the ship? The other players just roam the ship in a meanwhile? Won't that just be quite boring for the repairer?
   
3. How do you count turns for the consumables purposes? Do you do it arbitrarily? In general I'm a bit lost with how to track time, do you have any tips?
   
4. If I get it correctly, the Event for auto destruction of Montero happens automatically. Is there any reason for Wilson to do anything?
   
5. I honestly have a bit of a trouble with Stealth system - one of the weird examples for me is the Abomination in Reactor room. The Room description says that if players move there quietly they might not wake it up (Mobility roll). Do I get it correctly that the player would specifically say "Hey, I'm going there STEALTHILY" then roll and if rolls badly, then go to Panic? It feels so weird, when even the rulebook says that you should roll sporadically
   

Thanks a lot for your answers, if you have any other tips I'd appreciate it!

For me it was Hey Arnold.
Some of the characters have some really awful living situations outside of school.
Helga- Helga’s dad is abusive (possibly alcoholic??), and neglectful. The evidence I have with her dad being abusive is there’s a point in the show where her dad is confronting her, and Helga’s mom says “it’s best to just go with it” to Helga.
Her dad is neglectful because he will refer to Helga by her older sister’s name, and whenever Helga corrects him, he just doesn’t seem to really care. In one of Helga’s flashbacks, she tells her dad that she needs to go to preschool, and he straight up ignores her. This results in Helga walking to preschool alone and in the middle of a thunderstorm.
Olga (Helga’s sister)- is a perfectionist to the point that she becomes depressed whenever she doesn’t meet her own expectations, which might tie back into her home life, where her parents pretty much gave her nothing but praise and attention.
Chocolate Boy- He’s a child friendly representation of a drug addict. He tends to get bribed with chocolate for someone else’s personal gains, he’s mocked over his “substance abuse”, and he gets desperate enough to sort through garbage for another fix of chocolate. He does try quitting, but he substitutes veggies for chocolate, which is a pretty accurate representation of what may happen when someone tries to quit cold turkey. Former alcoholics will usually switch over to N/A beer, or coffee, or soft drinks. I believe in the show it’s implied that he blows his allowance on chocolate too…
Stoop Kid- has abandonment issues, he’s sitting on the steps waiting for his parents(?) to return home. Which has taken a toll on his mental health as a result, therefore Stoop Kid is actually afraid to leave his stoop!
Sid- definitely not as bad as the other characters off the top of my head, but he does tend to be very superstitious, he does make a voodoo doll of his own principal. He also develops a real bad phobia for germs in one episode, even going as far as wearing full PPE to avoid germs. Other than that, his home life seems to be a bit of a mystery. He also tends to be a bully at times too.
Harold- he’s overweight, and a bully, which he himself is bullied over in some episodes. Usually IRL bullies themselves are usually picked on by somebody else. He does try to lose some weight, and even goes to “fat camp” in one episode, but iirc he just gains even more weight.

Sorry long one. I just need some perspective.
Hi. I am a sahm of 2 pregnant with 3rd baby. Living with husbands family who speak Spanish( I'm not fluent, and better at speaking than understanding Spanish), who love using Spanish as a way to exclude me from the conversation. Have a household of 10, sometimes 11 people. My husband and his mom were paying the bills, while his middle brother went to school(with the deal being if he goes into school from high school husband will support him until he graduated). His dad is retired. Even though younger brother wasn't going to school( which was said to mean he has to start paying bills), his younger brother( older than 20 yo) was allowed to bring in his girlfriend and not pay anything. Once the middle brother graduated school he started paying bills, while the younger brother and his now fiance got pregnant and he decided to quit his job without another job ready. The fiance and YB constantly complained about how much they were paying for groceries to the house, where everyone in the house was paying the same towards groceries every month. In secret his fiance has said they are thinking of moving in with a friend so they can have more space. I have had many conversations with her and she wants things, but is not willing to assist in getting those things( e.g she wants us to get new washer and drier, she expects us to move to a new house so they can have more space), but currently the YB can barely pay for mortgage and she doesn't want to work. So, most likely my husband will once again be stiluck with the brunt of paying for things while they skate through life getting to do everything without working for it. Come to find out the YB is also expecting help while bashing the people who are helping him.
Most of these side conversations are happening while my husband is at work, and so I feel this need to defend him. Once again these conversations are happening in Spanish, so I can understand maybe half of what they are saying and try responding in what Spanish I know.
Currently, we are dealing with a younger sibling who is constantly changing his job and also has a fiance and a baby. His mom enables him constantly, and he constantly exaggerates or lies as to what people say to make things seem like he is was never told something or he is always not at fault.
So when he once again changed what he wants to do with his life, my husband said he will still pay his portion of the mortgage. The younger brother uses everyone's car to go to school and work, sometimes making people late to work. My husband has offered to teach him his manual car until he gets a car. MIL expects everyone to help him out, saying " the manual is too hard of a car to drive". When he has been using everyone's cars for years and my husband's car has been available for practice all that time.
On the side he complains that my husband never has any time to teach him, but my husband works and said" if he wants to learn HE needs to be the one to pursue learning". It's convenient,IMO, that YB is using this excuse now that my husband is no longer enabling him. I also have a car that is automatic, that I need available for use for me and my kids, I don't feel I should make this car available for use when I bought the car from a job I had and responsibly finished school with the goal of having a car for being a sahm and not need to rely on other people. Currently the car situation is the YB uses the middle brothers car for school and work. And the MB uses his mom's car during the day and then he mom goes to work after he come home for her shift is in the evening.
This morning the conversation was talking with MIL about how the MB got a new job where he can no longer come home in time for his mom to get to work on time. So, instead of saying to the YB he can no longer use MB car, the MB asked if he could use my car. I'm ok with an emergency use of my car, but not as a permanent solution to someone elses irresponsibility. My husband told MB " you have a car, you can borrow it until next week. After that YB needs to find a solution. He has been offered using the manual, he's had plenty of time to learn the manual".As I was having this conversation with MIL, YB walked down the stairs to again complain about my husband not having time to teach him. Which lead to MIL it's too hard to learn. Which I responded for how long has he had to practice. And she said when some one needs help you give them help, going towards him using my car. I responded with, for their whole life? And she responded, no just until he is finished with school. Which I responded while MB was in school, he also had a job, and he bought his car. I said how is it fair for MB to buy a car for MIL to tell him to let YB use his car. I think the responsibility is the YB get the car, and for everyone else to stop enabling him. During this conversation I am getting upset with my heartrate and my face turning red. I didn't expect the MIL to take the stance of just enabling YB to get whatever he want and my husband should just be okay with always be willing to pay for YB if he needs it. I don't want to have it that my husband is being bashed, so I try to defend him. Part of me just wants to never talk to them, If I stay out of it and just leave it to my husband then I can be oblivious to their enabling. My heart just hurts for my husband to never be able to rest and enjoy things because he has been forced to take care of his relatives. He is heading towards a heart attack or stroke at this point and I think that's the only way he will ever get rest and for YB to take responsibility.
it's not my fault he waits until the last minute to say he has no time to practice. I am also angry my husband has been paying bills for the house since he was in highschool, yet MIL expects everyone to allow YB to do things that cause other people to pay for his responsibilities( constantly quiting jobs, adding mouths to the house hold, using his MB car without any compensation).
Whenever I try to talk to my family, they say we just need to move out. Which doesn't help, when my husband doesn't want to leave his family drowning in payments. when YB doesn't help enough to make him confident his parents won't lose the house, he said he will still help pay mortgage.
What should I do?

So to start, when I play HC I have my system, and I use it. I have a West Coast Zone Block Scheme playbook I created using Mike Shanahan's as a base, and throughout the years that is what I've ran. Updating it from time to time, but the fundamental core of my playbook was 25-30 runs a game with a work horse RB, zone stretch plays in singleback or Near, setting up the play action boot rollout. And for the last 8 or 9 years, It's the only offense I've used. Until this weekend.
This last weekend I was drinking my morning Coffee watching broncos press conference about bo nix, and at the end of the interview YT recommended me the 2006 Rose bowl game, Texas vs USC. (The greatest college football game of all time) as I watched the game on my iPad, inspiration hit me & dusted off my PS3.
For the First time ever in HC I created a College offense. As my Base playbook I used Michigan spread, Knowing how dominant Hammermill is, I decided to use his simple 75 play playbook. I added a single back two TE set to his book, about 15-20 plays in this formation, and added some shotgun passes as well. In total my playbook is 115 plays, which in contrast is rather limited compared to my 160 play westcoast book.
My defense is typically a 3-4 man pressure based off of Wade Phillips playbook. As a Broncos fan, when I play HC I try to recreate the two best era's of Denver Broncos football. Mike Shanahan's offense with Wade Phillips no fly zone defense. In the theme of new-to-me-playstyle, I used the 3-3-5 Mustang and added 14 plays in a 3-4 front. 89 plays total, The 3-3-5 is completely foreign to me, but I did know it requires 2 strong safeties and a single high free safety that is a true centerfielder. the 3 down lineman need to be big & strong, essentially 3 nose tackles
I like to create back stories to my coach, as much as Madden and Head Coach are Football games, to me I play them Like an RPG as well. where did my coach come from, what is his background and how did he become a head coach. etc
"Dom Mastroianni aka 'the Maestro' is a Guru, specializing in getting the best out of his players. He took Ole Miss on a miraculous run in the SEC. Not exactly a mad genius on either side of the ball, his specialty is helping his players maximize their potential. Leader of Men and Motivator."
With my playbooks & lore set, I I took over the 49ers, A team I've never used before. My 50k coach points were to be saved until just before the preseason, where I'd buy Charm > Motivator and have 5k left over to put into performance. as part of my lore after acquiring motivator, I will max out performance to level 4 before buying other skills.
My first move as head coach was to trade for Vince Young & Reggie Bush, two guys who I hoped would become stud's in Hammermills playbook. Coupled with me watching the 2006 rose bowl and rush to motivator on my skill tree, I felt good about what these two could do. No other trades were made. I signed Free agent Eugene Wilson & Stacey Andrews.
As the draft came along, I wanted to target guys who were extreme athletes and use the potential boost of motivator to increase their intangibles and overall ability. Since I was using motivator so early, I gave up most of my 2009 draft to collect players who had great combines and measurables, I wanted to have 8 or 9 very solid picks and turn these players into superstars and maximize their potential.
My Draft went as followed
Limas Sweed, VY's teammate at the university of Texas - 1st Round
Martellius Bennet - 2nd Round
Desean Jackson - 2nd Round
John Greco RT - 3rd Round
Tom Zibikowski SS - 3rd Round
David hale LG - 4th Round
Zack Bowman - 4th Round
Steven Justice - 5th Round
Peyton Hillis - 5th Round
Hank Smithers - 6th Round
Frank Okam - 6th Round
Darrell LongBottom - 7th Round
Sweed, Bennet, and Zibikowski are 3 guys I never draft. But sweed is 6'5 and with his potential boost he can reach a 99 speed, 95 catching. His injury rating is still bad, but not as bad. Zibikowski and bennet had similar changes, bennet is now a 96 potential speed with his 6'7 frame. a matchup nightmare. between him and vernon davis's measurables there isnt a single linebacker who can matchup with them.
The preseason was just as much me learning the playbook as they players. My first game was a nail bitter, 37-34 victory over the cardinals that came down to the wire. Vince young finished 22-31 with 345 passing yards and 4 TD's. Reggie Bush 13 Attempts 74 yards, 2 catches 28 yards and 93 return yards. I wrapped up my season last night and went 8-8. My typical first years are 10 - 12 wins and playoff birth.
But the new challenge of learning both a defense and offense playbook with entirely new players has been a shot in the arm for me. The most fun i've had playing this game in a long while. I apologize about the long blog post, & if you made it this far thanks for reading. I've got a firm grasp on the michigan spread offense which features alot of option plays & overall I'm very excited for the start of this next season.

Can someone explain to me specifically why this was removed, and how I’d be able to edit it without defeating the purpose of the entire story?
It was removed for breach of the “CORROBORATION/PROOF” rule, though after reviewing those terms, I don’t believe that I’ve broken them.
“A dream, a nightmare, a hallucination, a vision, a bout of sleep paralysis, is drunk and/or high, was in a coma or otherwise an altered state”— none of these are the reason behind my main character’s paranormal experience, and I’ve given no indication whatsoever in the story to suggest that they are.
In fact, I’ve outright denied the idea that my main character imagined her experience about as much as I possibly could for a story with a first person perspective.
The main character says “it definitely happened. It’s not the kind of thing you can just imagine, and I’m sure now that it wasn’t a dream,” in the second paragraph— a sentiment which she consistently attests to throughout the story, and a sentiment which is never walked back on or brought into question by the narrator.
My narrator was in a sound state of mind at the moment of her encounter, and is practical and methodical in her investigation of what happened. Any implication that she has become mentally unwell occurs long after the inciting incident which the story is built around.
I would like to respectfully request that this story be reevaluated. In the short time that it was active on nosleep, it clearly connected with people. If it cannot stand as is, then I need someone to help me make it fit the guidelines without defeating the entire purpose of the story and betraying its themes.
The nosleep subreddit is filled to the brim with stories in which the narrator’s words are taken at face value. When a narrator in a different story says “I walked to the store,” it’s not like the author HAS to give tactile, irrefutable evidence that the narrator actually walked to the store. The audience simply accepts that the narrator walked to the store. This concept of innate credibility is the bedrock upon which my entire story is built.
I do not believe my work would benefit from being altered to fit these guidelines as rigidly as possible, nor do I think that is a fair standard to hold it to. In fact, if I were to change the contents of my story in such a way, the themes which set it apart from others like it would be lost.
In short, I do not understand why my story was deleted, I do not know how to alter it to fit the guidelines beyond any shadow of a doubt without destroying its central purpose, and I refuse to believe that nosleep is not the right place for this work. I implore you to reconsider my submission, or to at least work with me to find a solution which keeps the story’s themes intact.
Here is my story:
I got grabbed
Last night, when I was home alone, a hand reached out from under the couch and grabbed me.
Nobody was there to see it, and nobody that I’ve told believes me, but it definitely happened. It’s not the kind of thing you can just imagine, and I’m sure now that it wasn’t a dream.
I was watching TV when it happened. The remote fell under the couch and I started fishing around for it without really looking, not wanting to get up from my seat. I brushed it with the tips of my fingers and it slid further underneath.
I was super annoyed— I had to get down on my knees to reach it. I finally found the remote, and that’s when it grabbed me.
As I pulled the remote out into the light, a hand shot up from under the couch and wrapped its fingers around my wrist.
I was able to yank myself away quickly. It didn’t hold on tight— just enough that I felt a little resistance. I jumped to my feet, obviously terrified.
I didn’t scream or anything. I was honestly too scared to even make a sound. My heart was beating so fast that my ears started to ring. The TV was still going, commercials droning on while I tried to process what had just happened.
The hand had only come out about a foot from under the couch. It had an arm attached to it, though I wasn’t able to see past its elbow, and it slinked back below the couch as soon as I pulled myself free from its grasp.
It didn’t hurt, and it didn’t leave any sort of bruise or mark or anything on my wrist, but I definitely felt it, and I definitely saw it.
All I could do was stare at the spot where the hand had appeared. I stood there for what felt like an eternity, until I heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps right outside my front door.
I live in a second-story apartment. It’s a pretty cramped place and a pretty old building, so whenever someone comes over I can usually hear footsteps from the moment they enter the building downstairs.
I guess I was so freaked out by the hand that I didn’t even notice someone was outside until they were already opening the door.
My roommate walked in on quite a scene. She immediately registered how off the vibe was. I could see it on her face.
She found me standing upright in the middle of our living room, TV remote in hand, facing away from the screen while Full House’s laugh track filled the air. I’m sure I’d think it was odd too.
“Hey…” she said, shifting a paper bag full of groceries in her arm while she pocketed her keys, “You good?”
I felt like I was caught with my pants down, but just seeing a familiar face brought some of the blood back to my fingers.
“N—yeah,” I stuttered. I came back online, and flicked the TV off.
I felt her eyes on me as she walked over to the kitchen. There’s no wall or anything dividing the two rooms. Like I said, the place is pretty cramped.
She started putting her groceries away as if everything was normal, but I could tell she wanted to ask what was up.
I kept looking back and forth between her and the couch. I can’t explain it, but I already knew that if I looked under there, I wouldn’t find any trace of whoever (or whatever) grabbed me.
As she started loading up the fridge, I dropped to my hands and knees once again. Without taking even a second to ready myself, I brought my head down to the ground and looked under the couch.
Nothing.
Pretty much what I expected. There was barely enough room for me to squeeze my arm under there for the remote. No way a whole person could fit beneath that thing, and even if they could, there’s no way I wouldn’t have seen them or heard them or something before they grabbed me.
“Seriously, what’s up?”
I looked up to see my roommate standing right behind me, arms crossed, clearly concerned.
I knew I was acting strange, and I knew that nothing I would come up with in the next five seconds could possibly excuse my behavior. I made a judgement call, honestly not really caring about how it would be received.
“I uh… something grabbed me earlier.”
“What?”
“Under the couch. I dropped the remote, and when I picked it up, a hand reached out from under the couch and grabbed me.”
Took her a second to respond.
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“That’s it. A hand reached out and grabbed me by the wrist. It happened like a minute before you got here.”
That part might have been a lie. I actually have no idea how long I had been standing in the middle of the room before she showed up.
“Wait so like someone broke in?”
“No. It’s just like I said. A hand reached out, grabbed me, and then it was gone.”
She just kinda looked at me for a while. I don’t blame her, but it’s not like there was any way for me to sugarcoat it.
“Are you sure?”
“What do you mean ‘am I sure?’ Yes, yes I’m fucking sure!”
My voice broke a little when I said that. I was still down on my knees, like I was praying for her to believe me.
“Okay well obviously that didn’t happen Sam.”I let out a desperate laugh and threw my hands up in the air. I slapped them down on my thighs dramatically and shook my head in exasperation.
“Yeah obviously it sounds fucking crazy but you asked what happened and that’s what happened. I don’t know how else to describe it. I’m just being honest.”
I pulled myself up to my feet and walked around to the armrest of the couch. She kept studying me, probably thinking this was all a prank or something.
“What are you doing?” She asked, arms still glued across her chest.
“I’m checking under the couch.”
I pushed one end of the couch away from the wall. It was pretty heavy, and the coffee table stopped me from moving it too far. I dragged the coffee table towards the TV to free up some space.
My roommate started staring at the spot I was clearing as if she expected to see something there too.
I went back over to the armrest.
“Can you help me?”
She snapped out of her trance and silently went to grab the other side. We pulled the couch away from the wall, revealing a thick rectangle of dust that had not seen the light of day since we moved in a year ago.
I dropped to my knees once more and began wiping away the grime with my bare hands. There was nothing but the floorboards beneath it. No surprise.
I sat there for a second, eyes darting around the floor. No fingerprints in the dust, no scratches or marks or anything. I felt the tension in the room dissipate as my roommate found her voice again.
“I think you must have imagined it.”
I didn’t. There’s no way.
“Dude, no. I felt it and I saw it. Clear as day. It was a hand, and it grabbed me. That’s not the sort of thing you can just imagine.”
She scoffed, any fear left in her giving way to frustration.
“Whatever. This is fucking stupid. I’m going to bed.”
She stomped off towards her room.
“Wait.”
She spun on her heels as I stood up, probably expecting me to tell her I was joking about the whole thing.
“Can you help me flip the couch over?”
She rolled her eyes.
“Sure. But I’m not helping you put it back.”
She helped me lift the couch off of its legs and tilt it onto its front cushions, exposing the fabric underneath. She disappeared into her room and I went to work studying the underside of the sofa.
There was a zipper lining the bottom, but I found nothing inside when I opened it up. Just a hollow wooden frame and a bunch of crumbs.
I sat back against the wall, more tired than scared at that point.
I can’t believe she thinks I’m making this up. Why would I even do that? What purpose would it serve?
As I solemnly went about rebuilding our living room, I decided that the next day (today) I was gonna take off work, wait for her to leave, and really get to the bottom of this.
I didn’t sleep at all last night. Every nook and cranny of my room felt like a door left wide open, with something sinister waiting on the other side.
What if the hand comes back? What if it wants to hurt me next time? How can I even protect myself?
After like ten restless minutes in bed, I decided to move to the floor. I couldn’t help it. I kept imagining the hand reaching up from under the bed and grabbing me again.
I made a makeshift sleeping bag out of my comforter and some pillows, and I laid on my side so I could keep an eye on the underside of my bedframe while I slept. Maybe “slept” isn’t the right word. Even down there, I couldn’t bring myself to close my eyes for longer than a minute.
Eventually sunlight began to peek through the blinds, and I heard some movement within the apartment. My roommate was finally up. I heard the front door close, and it was time to get to work.
I nearly threw my back out yanking the couch away from the wall to reveal the floorboards underneath. They aren’t real floorboards, just the kind of cheap-o fake shit they put in crappy houses to make them look more modern. Our whole apartment is like that— a thin coat of paint slapped over an old building from the 40s or whatever.
My dad actually owns this building. He lets me and my roommate stay here as long as we pay him $500 a month, which is way cheaper than most places in my area.
It’s not really an apartment building to be honest. You can tell it used to be a family home before some realtor swooped in and broke it up into apartments. There are a lot of those around here.
Anyway, the fake wood came up easy. It was only about a quarter inch thick. I was able to pull up the first plank by hammering a kitchen knife into a slit between the boards, and then I peeled a few more away by hand.
After prying away about a dozen of these fake floorboards, I started to realize that I wasn’t going to find anything without making a significantly larger dent. Right beneath the thin layer of fake wood was a layer of very real, very thick wooden beams that seemed to span well beyond the hole I had managed to claw open.
My back crackled and popped as I sat back on my heels to admire my handiwork and contemplate where to go from there. I knew I would need a power saw or some kind of heavy duty tool to get any deeper, but I was afraid of two things:

1. That these beams were supporting the entire second floor of the building, and cutting through them would make the whole thing collapse
2. That going any deeper would lead me into the ceiling of the apartment below us, and whoever lives there would call my dad before I could see what I needed to see.

Regardless of the risks, I knew I had to keep going. I was certain that something was down there. Whatever grabbed me had to have left some sort of evidence.
I can’t stop thinking about that fucking hand.
I’m not supposed to have it, but my dad gave me a master key for the whole building in case of emergencies. He could really get in trouble if anyone found out, but if this isn’t an emergency then idk what is.
There’s a service shed around the back of the building, which has seen none of the love that the main building saw when it was renovated. Decades worth of rusty antiques and rotting furniture line the walls. A shiny, modern tool bench sits unnaturally in the middle of the chaos.
I rifled through all of that shit as fast as I could. I’m not really close with my dad all things considered, and I’m sure he’d be super pissed if he found me out there. He’s so secretive about random shit all the time, and he’s constantly dropping by the building unannounced.
I found the jigsaw under a pile of old newspapers and ran back upstairs.
I probably should have checked the driveway to see if anyone was home first, because the saw made so much noise. The cord barely reached from the outlet to the spot where the couch used to be, but as awkward as the angle was, I was still able to get it in there.
I went as small as possible with my first few cuts. I started with a single beam, cutting out a section about 6x6 inches wide. I slid the chunk of wood out, and, to my relief, didn’t immediately see the plaster that would be my downstairs neighbor’s ceiling.
A tuft of insulation stuck out where I made the hole. I didn’t know that stuff is made from fiberglass or whatever, and I got a really bad splinter when I went to yank it out.
I fished some leather gloves out of my roommate’s closet and got to work on the insulation. I pulled and pulled but couldn’t get a good enough grip to remove anything more than a few bits about the size of a tennis ball.
I went back in with the jigsaw, cutting bigger and bigger chunks until I had cleared a hole about two feet in diameter.
No sign that I was gonna bring the building down, that’s good.
I hacked away for hours. More wood came up, more insulation came up, and when I finally hit a fragile-looking layer of drywall, I knew the jig was up. That’s definitely my neighbor’s ceiling. Fuck.
My roommate and I got in a screaming match when she got home. I made a pretty big mess but I don’t really give a fuck honestly.
I don’t give a fuck if she believes me. I fucking hate that bitch. I told her if she tells my dad what I’m doing, I’ll bash her brains in with the hammer. That shut her up. She left with a bag full of her clothes like an hour later.
Tomorrow I’m going to wait for our downstairs neighbor to leave and start investigating from the bottom-up. If there wasn’t any evidence on the floor up here, there HAS to be something on the ceiling down there.
If I do find something, I’ll post again. I doubt anyone will even believe me, but at this point I just want everything written down somewhere accessible in case something bad happens.
There has to be something down there. Something grabbed me. And I’m going to find out what it is.

She's an awesome friend. How do I let her down romantically?
I'm currently seeing someone romantically, but lately we've been quite distant, more like no strings attached fwbs. We get out adult fix and go our separate way for days.
When I'm alone, I like to hike and rock climb, but this is dangerous. Recently, a girl slid in my dms asking me out to dinner, but I let her know I was currently in a relationship (not really, just didn't find myself attracted to her off the bat).
A month goes by and I post myself rock climbing alone, and coincidentally she's a solo climber too. What's the harm for a climbing buddy? If I fell at least someone would know. We met up, had an amazing day, then went our way. My gf/fwb hates the outdoors so it's always been me alone until now.
We've had a few of these adventures since, and I noticed her doing things like touching my arm, walking really close to me, constantly smiling at me, sending me cute emojis, good morning every day, still inviting me to dinner (paid). You'd think she was my wife and soul mate. I appreciate how she cares about me - my car broke down and she gave me rides to work for a week no questions asked since we work nearby and my fwb is a half hour in the opposite direction.
But I'm not physically attracted to her, like at all :( she mentioned she was bullied badly and I really want to be careful with how I dial this back. It's puzzling because she's aware of the other woman, but feels like she's trying to steal me?
Everything about us lines up like the perfect couple but it's not what I want with her - just platonic adventure buddies. no other woman has treated me like this to "just be friends".

I know it was your first relationship. At 28, you had already been through so much, having been on your own for 13 years. You were forced to grow up too fast, and had to prioritize yourself, building a life from nothing. I get it. It was your fierce independence that made me fall for you in the first place.
I always knew that trying to build a life with you was going to be a struggle. I thought it would be worth it, for both of us. You deserve to have someone in your corner, that always has your back. You shouldn’t have to be alone. I don’t know if you believed the same.
I think I gave up too much of myself for you. Was that my mistake or yours? Did you really ask for too much, or did I give too freely without expectation for anything in return? Maybe both. Probably more on me. I’m not perfect by a long shot.
Compromise. It really does all come down to that. I tried to show you its importance, but in the process I ended up being the only one willing to do it. Me getting to pick what movie we watched or getting to plan a date became something I only got to do on special occasions. You said you felt like you didn’t know me, but so many times in so many ways I offered up little pieces of me to you. I share myself by sharing the things I love with the people I love. But more and more towards the end, all you’d say was “no”. Ignoring any context. Ignoring those pieces of me.
I know you don’t like movies about kids. I know asking to watch Home Alone during Christmas was a big ask. But it was a tradition that I shared with my dad, who I lost just over a year before. I know you think that traditions are pointless, but it was important to me. My earliest memories are of that. I needed to continue on, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it alone. I needed you there, your support. It was such a small gesture I was asking of you, but all I got was “no”. Instead we watched a movie you picked: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. A movie made by the exact same people that made Home Alone, and with even more kids.
We wanted to go to Ireland. Personally I’ve been wanting to go for years, but couldn’t because of my dad’s illness along with everything else going on. You knew that in the last 3 years I lost all of my grandparents, two uncles, my dad. I couldn’t risk going so far away for so long while everyone was sick. My mom saw me giving up the latter half of my 20s for my family, when she was hoping I would be enjoying life and seeing the world. That’s why she was happy to give us the money to have the trip of our dreams. I explained all of this to you while you were struggling to find a way to save for the trip. All my mom wanted in return was a single nice photo of us. That wasn’t even a requirement for the money. She just wanted to see me with the person that I love making our dreams come true. I know you hate having your picture taken. The only attention your dad ever gave you was when he wanted to test a new camera. It’s a trauma trigger. But I was only asking for one picture. You’d compromise for your friends, you’d compromise for your sister. You’d take pictures with them. Why wouldn’t you compromise for your partner, and the other most important person in your partners life? After a year, we have 3 pictures together, none of which are very good. I know that I was asking for a lot, but I felt so less important than everyone else in your life. Maybe you felt that as your partner, I was to be held to a higher standard? I honestly don’t know. All you said was “no”.
You admitted yourself I was so supportive. I always prioritized you. From always making your tea before mine, to giving you the better looking plate at dinner, to planting all of your favorite flowers in my garden. I always complemented you, how smart you are, how beautiful you are, how driven and independent you are. Your friend needed a ride to a 5k and someone to cheer them on? I was there. You needed someone to drive you around while your car was in the shop for 2 months? No problem. Accidentally overdrew your account again, and you couldn’t afford the late fees? Here’s $50. Need to move on short notice? I’m the guy tearing apart and moving your furniture. You have a migraine so bad you can’t eat? I’m bringing you pedialyte and sleeping on your couch, even though I didn’t actually get any sleep. I learned all your rituals so not to trigger your OCD. There are countless other examples. I never said no. I never complained. You rarely said so much as “thank you”.
The big one. The thing that ended us. You’re right, we did sit down like adults time and time again and talked things out. You said you needed me to anticipate your needs. You’d get overwhelmed, and couldn’t articulate what you needed from me. You couldn’t stand being asked what you needed. You just needed me to start helping. “Mental loads” and all that. I took that to heart. But I’m not perfect. Sometimes I’d miss the mark. Tried to support you, but in the wrong way. Even in my failures I showed effort, but you never seemed to see that. You only focused on how I failed.
We recognized that this was a problem caused by both of us. The communication wasn’t getting through. But I had already adapted to your communication style as much as I could. My exited, rambling, almost impulsive way of generating ideas became slow, methodical, thoughtful. I put intention behind everything so not to overwhelm you. I learned not to jump at the obvious solution.
Yes, we sat down like adults and talked things over time and time again. You told me what you needed from me, but I also told you what I needed from you. If I was missing the mark, please just guide me to what you needed. I’m not a mind reader. I did it for you all the time. You were honestly awful at anticipating my needs too. If I was venting, had a bad day, all you’d say was “I’m sorry”, and pat me on the back like a puppy. No effort to dig deeper. No words of support or encouragement. So I had to show you how I needed support. I just needed you to do the same for me. “No”. Again.
One final time, I sent you words of support when you were having a bad day. It wasn’t enough, you wanted more. A phone call? For me to come over so you could vent in person? Did you actually want me to directly help for once? I don’t know. You never told me. Instead of guiding me to what you needed, you immediately shut down. Full silent treatment. I’ve been in abusive relationships where the silent treatment was welded as a weapon. I know you didn’t mean it in an abusive way, you were just overwhelmed again. But I never expected it from you. I didn’t see it for what it was. I only ever asked one thing from you to save us. I put in the work, got us 80% of the way there. I knew I couldn’t bridge the gap on my own. I wasn’t even asking you to put in effort on my behalf, it was for your benefit. I begged you time and time again for help. To communicate. Not to put it all on me, because I couldn’t do it on my own. But instead, you did the opposite.
You said that you felt like you were putting more effort into the relationship than I was. I’m sorry, but I can’t see that effort. I’m trying to give you the benefit of the doubt, but I can’t. Maybe you mean you put effort into forgiving me every time I messed up? Maybe you mean that you were always planning dates, always picking what we watched, where we went, what we ate, what we drank? Again, mental loads and such. But I had things that I wanted to do and share with you that you always turned down. You only had to plan everything after my plans were rejected. It would have been more efficient for you to show love, patience, and compromise. Maybe we would have worked out then.
But you left instead.

Women are very complicated they have different opinions and different tastes in men. But one that stands out for them are bad boys. Why? Why do they go back to the same pile of poop. My friend for example. she has a boyfriend of 4 years (I hope she doesn’t see this) who has been on and off for years. He cheats,insults,her and just is al around bad. Why does she do this its. Not like this is the best she could get. why does she do this to herself?

I recently graduated college and took a research job on a robotics project. I worked on robot/drone projects a lot in college and in my department, I was kind of known for it.
The issue is that I’m the only developer working on the project. The rest of the engineers around me aren’t very technical and their eyes glaze over when I try to explain the tasks needed to complete the project. They mostly work on 3D printing parts for the bot.
I have been put in a position where I have to do everything; making PCBs, designing all of the electronics systems, writing all of the code for the robot, making GUIs, going outside and testing the system, etc.
I can feel myself getting burnt out more and more everyday. I’m scared when I submit my project, it will be looked at by real engineers and they’ll find errors/bad practices that I would’ve never known to look for because I have no mentors in this field.
Am I just being a baby or is this just a bad situation? I’ve noticed more often than not that one person on a team gets 90% of the responsibility and I’m afraid this will be my life; especially in a field like robotics.

She refuses to get professional help and instead relies on spiritual astrology shit and weed. She’s going fucking crazy, and I’m not exaggerating. Yesterday, because my brother made a joke that she took personally, she screamed at him and said that she’ll make the rest of his life miserable, and that it’s going to be a long life with her. The kids fucking 16. And I know she isn’t exaggerating because when she said that to me, she literally did make my life miserable. I have really bad anxiety and depression because of her always screaming and threatening necessities over my head and emotionally abusing me.
I was able to cope before because sometimes she would sometimes listen to reason, but now that she is reaching menopause, she takes everything EXTREMELY personally, even shit that isn’t directed at her or she isn’t even involved, and then she goes on a giant tyrant tantrum to ruin everyone’s lives for making her “suffer so much.” And what she means by suffering is simply making dinner once in a while and giving her kids occasional rides who don’t have a license. She’s fucking unemployed and apparently she’s overwhelmed as shit, even though everybody fends for themselves in this household. Fuck, we often have to pay for our own food with money we worked for because my mom literally doesn’t care about getting food for us. She goes downstairs after wallowing in her room complaining about being tortured as a parent and makes only herself food and then retreats back into her cave of despair.
It’s unbearable now. I can’t take it. I’m supposed to move out in 2.5 months, and she’s making it difficult as hell to move out, because she’s really good at holding necessities over my head if I don’t slave away for her. Help me please. What do I do?

I was browsing a reddit yesterday and there was a post regarding how new players would feel bad about grinding Bandit Keith to lvl 14 and being upset that they would get a card that can't be used in ranked play. The OP even went into the comments calling him out, and still trying to defend his really silly argument. I wanted to see what happened to that post today so I went to look at my previous comments only to find out that thread was deleted. Op was also a youtuber with like 4k subscribers for Duel Links content.
I just really dislike when people choose the weak approach to delete their asinine remarks rather than just fessing up and saying, "I made a mistake". The previous OP just seemed either looking for clickbait or was actually locked in on his argument.
Anyone have a link to where I could find this post? OP could also just come out on this post and apologize that his arguments had no merit.

I'm currently seeing someone romantically, but lately we've been quite distant, more like no strings attached fwbs. We get out adult fix and go our separate way for days.
When I'm alone, I like to hike and rock climb, but this is dangerous. Recently, a girl slid in my dms asking me out to dinner, but I let her know I was currently in a relationship (not really, just didn't find myself attracted to her off the bat).
A month goes by and I post myself rock climbing alone, and coincidentally she's a solo climber too. What's the harm for a climbing buddy? If I fell at least someone would know. We met up, had an amazing day, then went our way. My gf/fwb hates the outdoors so it's always been me alone until now.
We've had a few of these adventures since, and I noticed her doing things like touching my arm, walking really close to me, constantly smiling at me, sending me cute emojis, good morning every day, still inviting me to dinner (paid). You'd think she was my wife and soul mate. I appreciate how she cares about me - my car broke down and she gave me rides to work for a week no questions asked since we work nearby and my fwb is a half hour in the opposite direction.
But I'm not physically attracted to her, like at all :( she mentioned she was bullied badly and I really want to be careful with how I dial this back. It's puzzling because she's aware of the other woman, but feels like she's trying to steal me?
Everything about us lines up like the perfect couple but it's not what I want with her - just platonic adventure buddies. no other woman has treated me like this to "just be friends".

So im a white guy from eastern europe in country with a lots of gypsies, and i never hated on them or anything however im white not really tall guy im 174 cm and i dont look manly because i have blue eyes, baby face and around 10 cm long hair and i dont mind it i would be aight with it. However everytime i got into any problems theres been gypsies involved just because they dont like me. and it happens quite a lot, i had to cut off few of my friends (white,gypsy) because gypsies dont like me and my friends never really defend me or anything and theyve actually supported them. Now when i see a brown guy i just get feel negativity and hatred towards them. Why are they causing so much trouble (jumping people,robbing etc.) and blaming it all on racism? When i feel like they are the one racist when they can say i have white ass and its socially acceptable but i cant say anything bad about their skin color. Im not racist, they are!

Hello I don’t know if I should do something about it or what could I do, but I have been living with a family in oxford , so it’s the mom dad and her two daughters, and her niece and the niece’s friend.
So recently like the lady and me got in an argument then her daughter came in the kitchen and the lady started complaining her but as I was on a call I wasn’t paying that much attention or didn’t even wanna pay attention to what she said. But after that her daughter started giving slangs and really bad ones. And then when I went to keep my stuff in the fridge the girl shut the fridge door aggressively on me when I was putting stuff in and then when I confronted her she just started shouting out bitch bitch several times. It really made me feel quite bad that time, her mom( the lady) was seeing it and wasn’t really reacting but when I was like what’s up then she just told her daughter don’t say anything. This all just felt super wrong.
Also They have always been super inconsiderate that an outsider is living at their place. Playing excessively loud music always in some other languages, always being noisy , even have banged on my door few times recklessly, have been at a constant bad behaviour. They are not children that I would ignore , they are all above 21.. On some days when the parents weren’t home they played loud music outside my room till 4-5 am got in boys did shit , I ignored because I felt respectful towards the landlady their mother.
It all doesn’t seem right now, it has affected my mental health also a lot. They didn’t care to apologise even. Only the lady next day tried to pretend by asking if I’m okay as she knows I normally pay the rent in the middle of the moth ( which means I haven’t yet ). I’ll leave the place hopefully soon , but if I could get some guidance here that would be really helpful

I have 4 kids and my husband works full time. I just finished school and I don't work (from being in school and taking care of the kids). This is the thing... I CANNOT STAND MY LIFE ANYMORE. EVERYTHING is on me. My house is a complete dump. All I do everyday is clean the same shit over and over again. My youngest is 4 and I am his fucking slave. All day long he purposely fucks with me and hits me and knocks shit over on me. In case anyone is thinking it, it's not because I don't pay attention to him. Even when I do, he's terrible. This has been going on for 3 years. I can't take another day of this life. I have been texting my husband everyday while he's at work that I'm gonna kill myself from living like this. He knows that I never actually would, which is true I wouldn't, but I can't take anymore. daycare is not an option for my youngest because he has anxiety and bringing him to daycare is hard and not worthy he exchange for 7 hours to myself to continue to clean all day.
I don't even know who I am anymore. I got so fat, nothing fits me anymore. When my older kids friends mom see me at his sporting events they look at me like 'wtf happened to you'. I just see it in their face. I'm not depressed, I tried every antidepressant that did NOTHING. I am just severely burnt out and stressed. I don't want to see a therapist because my husband gets home too late. The only family close is my parents and my mom is a lazy narc and my dad is too old and in bad shape to watch my son. Between the house, my youngest son, and this constant burned out feeling , I can't take this