Firstly case, we got a wonderful hypoallergenic puppy a couple of months before my first seizure, iv never been allergic to dogs or any animal for that case and when my seizures started my Dad was adamant that it was the dog making me have seizures. The dog.
Second case, after telling my step dad about starting with seizures (before we knew it was epilepsy) he kept asking if I was drinking filted water. I said that I just drink tap water and he then went on about how filtered water could potentially be what I need to stop seizures. Oh if only it were that simple.
Third case, a few weeks ago my husband's sister who's 20 years older than us in her 50s came for a visit with her husband. After a lovely visit with nice chit chat, she messaged my husband about an hour after they left saying how the plug in air freshener we have in the hall way could be a cause for seizures and that maybe we should remove it to see if my seizures stop. Again, if only it was that simple.
I understand people want to help and are showing concern, but I can't help but feel annoyed when they believe it could be something so easy when Epilepsy has no cure. They don't see the struggles and dont have to deal with this daily and the way they seem to think it's such a simple fix that will magically fix me just urks me abit.
So I'm curious if anyone else has had odd advice from people in their lives about how to "stop having seizures".

So my mother is co-parenting with her ex for my younger brother (10 M) and my younger sister (9 F). Let’s just say he was a shit partner and getting into being a shit parent. He continuously talks down to my mother when they’re texting about the kids and their activities like sports and his weekends or trips. He never used to do this it has just recently happened since he has gotten a new girlfriend. My little brother and sister hate going to their dads house because of how their dads new gf treats them. My little brother is not allowed to play his video games or watch sports with his father when they’re there on the weekends and his new gf makes my brother play dolls and stuff with my sister and her daughter, what 10 year old boy is going to want to do that? Their dad just says nothing and continues doing what he was doing. My brother is in lacrosse and has missed a few games for his friends birthdays or school events.
Last night my mom was messaging their dad about my brother not wanting to go to his lacrosse game today and their school fair is today and he wants to stay there and play at the fair and see his friends. He then texts her and says “yea whatever” and then texts her “I’ll just take him out of it since he seems to not want anything to do with stuff when I pay for it” which is not true my brother loves playing sports but he is also a kid and wants to go to school fairs and birthday parties. Their dad is also guilt tripping them most times. The most recent time they had gone to visit his new gf family in the valley and my little sister didn’t want to go and their dad told her that if she didn’t come she wouldn’t be able to go to her horse riding lesson(s) if she didn’t come. Of course she’s 9 so she went.
My mom doesn’t know how to go about this at all and just looks defeated every time he texts her about them. She lets him take them during weekdays to hockey games and just recently let him take them on a weeks long vacation on a Disney cruise, which he bought the tickets before even talking to my mom about it so didn’t really give her a choice. He’s legally only supposed to have them on his weekends but anytime he wants to switch weekends or take them somewhere she allows it. Before he has had other girlfriends and has never acted like this. He used to go to Costco and get food more mainly my siblings but would ask if she did need anything but now since getting his new gf he has been extremely rude to not only her but just not treating his own children right. It’s getting to a point that I don’t think they’re going to want to go to his place anymore on the weekend s and I don’t want this to turn into something worse when they do. Me personally my dad didn’t see how his gf had treated my brother and I and we both stopped going to his place on the weekends when we were 14 and 12 (we have different dads from our younger two siblings) because of how our step mother treated us. I am now 24 F and am now just in the last 2-3 year getting closer to my dad again and I don’t want that to happen to my siblings.
If any parents that have gone through this with their kids parent or even kids that were in this similar situation have any advice it would be much appreciated!❤️

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//
[Prolonged contact established. Would you like to drain this creature’s essence?]
It was exactly the prompt he’d been looking for. Markus selected ‘yes’ with a scream of force, all the while clamping himself to the creature’s leg as it tried to kick and flail him off of it.
[Mana Drain initialised. Transferring essence. D Grade Blood Mana, D Grade Ice Mana, E Grade Spirit Mana, and D Grade Life Mana are currently being drained.]
The wave of power hit Markus suddenly. He felt it flowing through his fingertips and into his body, emboldening his grip, keeping him firmly locked in place as the creature flailed.
At first, it had seemed annoyed, but now, it was seemingly pained by the transfer, desperate to get Markus off of it as quickly as it could.
[Level up! You have five unspent skill points.]
Markus couldn’t spend any time on figuring out skill points right now, it was taking everything to hold himself in place as he continued to keep the transfer alive, blood spilling all over him from the power he excised, crowd in a state of bedlam, his mind reeling with all of the cumulative strength he drained as his body swelled to a degree of power he hadn’t felt in all of his life, one that made him feel almost superhuman, incredible.
[Mana threshold at 100% capacity. Excess Life and Blood mana will fuel Regeneration and Growth.]
[Repairing injuries. Regrowing severed limb.]
Markus could feel it, the pinkie finger he lost taking shape once more as even still he clung to the bulleater. In an attempt to dislodge him, it jumped, stamping its feet harder as it landed, but the impact still wasn’t enough to shake him. Markus clung like a mountain climber, determined to take all that he could from the great beast, revelling in the feeling of new power coursing in his veins, the rejuvenation from all this boundless energy healing his injuries and reinvigorating his spirit.
[Level up! You have eleven unspent skill points.]
[Warning! Mana capacity exceeded. Body is now entering Overcharge: all physical stats and Growth are increased.] [Mana Poisoning I in effect.]
In the midst of all the strength he was sapping from the creature, Markus could feel a cloud descending over him. It was like a drunken haze, almost, though it was eclipsed by the strength he continued to gather.
All the while, the monster was now attempting to smash its leg against a barbed pillar to free himself of Markus’ grip, creating new cuts in its massive limb in the process. Whatever Markus was doing to this monster was affecting it so much it’d gladly put itself through pain if only to get rid of him.
He’d seen the system’s warning, but still, he wanted to push further. This was clearly having as many negative effects for the enemy as it was benefits for him, and the longer he could keep this up, the more of a chance he’d have of defeating this monstrosity.
[Level up! You have seventeen unspent skill points.]
[Mana capacity at 386%. Mana Poisoning II in effect. Persistent vitality and mana drains are now in effect.]
It was at this point exactly that Markus was finally thrown off of the creature, flung across the arena at least fifteen feet, his body hitting the ground, bouncing, and subsequently rolling another five feet from the impact.
Still he sprang to his feet in moments. He barely felt it. Not the way he should’ve. Something within him had cushioned the impact. All the while, his energy felt explosive. It was incredible.
He almost tried to levitate his glaive back over to himself if only for how empowered he suddenly felt, only to starkly remind himself that he still had limits and rush over to retrieve his fallen weapon.
It felt lighter in his hands than usual. He swung it with ease. Whatever the fuck mana actually was, it was good shit, and the more of it was out of that monster and residing in him, the more confident he felt about what came next.
“Abomination!” someone cried out from the stands, witnessing him as he stood tall, weapon brandished.
“Ascendant!” came another cry, a cheer. The word seemed to catch attention, as it was met with more boos and jeers.
Markus could hardly pay it mind. He was too occupied with what he still needed to do, the enemy he still needed to put down. He hadn’t gotten a chance to read all those system messages while he was holding on for dear life, but the amount of warnings he saw was enough to tell him that ending this fight quickly was likely in his best interest.
It was only when he twirled the polearm in his hands that he realised they glowed with a faint white-blue aura. His arms did too, perhaps his entire body. He seemed to radiate with resplendent energy, a beacon of defiance in this dark, dismal place.
Must’ve been quite a spectacle if he was getting such a reaction from the onlookers. He only hoped Drathok was watching too, fearful for his prized monster.
He should be scared.
Markus raised his weapon; Markus charged at the monster.
The abominable bulleater seemed focussed on him now, a lot more so than it had been before. It limped a step, then immediately fired more icicles at him. Markus attempted to slash through them once more, not wanting to lose pace, but he missed all five.
For a moment, he felt fear. In his effort to rush the creature’s weak spot before it repositioned, he hadn’t spent enough time on defence. He tried to brace as best he could for the impact, using the same sloppy technique from before to try and focus the energy in his body, but he swelled with so much of it right now that it was like trying to swish water in an overflowing container.
And yet, in spite of his worry, the icicles bounced off of his chest and abdomen without so much as flooring him, feeling more like strong punches than deadly spears, an intense feeling of cold emanating from his chest both before and after the impacts.
A flash of his system notified him that he’d consumed some Frost Mana to mitigate the damage, and that his chest had been inflicted with [Freeze I]. He could tell that breathing had suddenly gotten that bit harder, but it didn’t stop him from running, didn’t halt him in his tracks, didn’t stop him from sprinting straight for the creature’s injured leg and attempting to hack away at it some more, knowing that was his only opening to somehow secure a kill.
The monster raised its leg out of his reach just as he arrived, and ducking under the creature to avoid being trampled once more, Markus saw a new opportunity. He swang upwards with as much strength as he could muster, just barely grazing the bulleater’s underbelly.
It was enough to draw blood, but the creature barely seemed to notice, the bleeding from its stomach slow and incremental, rather than the streams that still flowed from its injured leg. It was softer there, but more durable. It’d take more force than Markus could muster in a few seconds to go for this monster’s centre of mass, and the risk of being crushed under here was definitely far greater.
So he dove onto his stomach and rolled back out, right before the monster could get any ideas about simply sitting on him. As he emerged out into the sun’s glare, he paused, panted for but a second. The sun was almost immediately blotted out by the creature’s head as it leaned down and shot horrific, icy breath down upon him, searing his skin with blistering cold and locking him in place.
[D Grade Frost Mana depleted. Mitigation expired. Freeze II applied to all affected areas.]
[E grade Frost Mana absorbed. Mitigation in progress.]
[Freeze II reduced to Freeze I.]
What the fuck was happening? He was losing the potent D Grade Frost Mana he’d gained from draining the creature, but he was absorbing yet more from being attacked?
He didn’t entirely understand, and he didn’t have time to. He could still move his body, though not fast enough to stop the creature from stooping down and picking him up into its maw.
It was colder in here than a freezer floating in outer space. Markus barely managed to keep hold of his glaive as he was lifted up, its flames the only warmth he had as the creature lifted him up and up into the air, clearly intent on swallowing him whole.
It must’ve expected to inflict a higher level of [Freeze] on him than it did. This was likely how it devoured all of its prey, freezing them and then simply picking them up and swallowing them while they were unable to move or resist. What a gruesome end.
Thankfully, even if it was with extreme and mind-breaking effort, Markus could still move along the icy surface of the creature’s massive tongue, and with half of his body hanging outside of the creature, he swung his glaive with as much force as he could muster directly at the creature’s chin, encased as it was in icy spittle.
A crack, but no greater impact—nothing severed, no blood. He swung again, and while he continued to crack the ice that had so stubbornly formed around the abominable bulleater’s face, he couldn’t cut through it, having no hope of reaching the skin beneath. At the angle he was being held from and with the size of the creature’s jaws, he wasn’t able to push the blade far into the creature’s mouth, but he attempted it nonetheless. It jostled and shook him, clearly alarmed, but attempting to build the momentum for a proper strike from here was pointless.
Things looked hopeless. His attacks were ineffective, even with the extra mobility he’d been afforded. He was going to be swallowed and boiled alive in this creature’s stomach, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Only…
Markus pressed the tip of the glaive to the roof of the creature’s mouth. He channeled the Flame Mana as best he could, just as he had the first time he’d cut the creature’s leg, focussing intently on spreading the flames, the heat. He mirrored the action within his own body, pushing desperately to bring out the fire that still remained inside of him, Drathok’s unintentional starting gift.
Markus pulsed with flames, his body warming to incredible levels, so much so he felt feverish, but still he pushed, forced himself to persevere, to be strong, to be so intolerably flaming hot that the creature would be forced to spit him out.
It was the only way he could think of, the only solution he had, and as the bulleater thrashed and flailed with him in its mouth, attempting to close its jaws and extinguish his life, Markus pushed the blade harder against the roof of the creature’s mouth, forcing it to relinquish its hold, for its tongue to hang limp, and for it to finally, eventually drop him.
Markus must’ve fell seven or eight feet to the ground, winded as he was, all the air forced from his chest. The sand cushioned the blow, but even then, standing was a challenge.
He was sure that before this ability awakened, before he’d taken strength from this creature, he never could’ve been so durable, but here he was, clambering to his feet, forcing himself to stand, using the glaive as a crutch to right himself as he glared up at the impossible mountain that stood before him and dared himself to climb it anyways.
The bulleater was leaned forwards, panting, its maw still barely out of Markus’ reach, dripping water. Most of the ice around the creature’s face had melted away from Markus’ explosive display, and what remained was glistening and slick wet.
He wasn’t sure how damaged it was, but one thing he did know was that his glaive suddenly felt noticeably heavier, as well as somewhat alien in his hands.
[C grade Flame Mana depleted. Imbuement expired. Attunement expired.]
Oh, god… He’d run out entirely? Great. So he was back to being a fucking bozo who barely knew how to use this thing.
He needed to imbue his weapon with something new, fast, or he was fucking toast. He was barely doing damage WITH the enchantment, without it he was truly fucked.
What did he even have? Markus scrambled to remember.
Frost Mana seemed out of the question against this thing, Life Mana might fucking heal it, and who knew what the fuck Blood or Spirit Mana did…
Fuck, why’d he have to run out now?! Fire was so good against an ice enemy. It was practical!
“Grr…”
[Mana capacity at 246%. Vitality levels low. Mana Poisoning II in effect.]
[In order of quantity, D Grade Life, Frost, Mystic, Shock, and Blood mana are available.] [E Grade Spirit and Frost Mana are available.] [F Grade Spirit Mana is available.]
Shock Mana…
…Drathok electrocuted me. Right! Thank fuck I got electrocuted!
It was the only thing he was sure might do some damage. According to the system, he only had a small amount of Shock Mana available, 15% of his capacity, but it’d have to do.
[Attune this weapon to an essence?]
The prompt had appeared as soon as he’d committed his focus to the task, and he already knew the process was fast, watching as the blade quickly became etched with new arcane runes that looked unlike the old ones, carving themselves into the weapon as the blade began to spark with magical lightning, threatening and ferocious in its own right.
Still, that 15% didn’t sound like a lot. He wasn’t gonna get a lot of juice out of this weapon, so he needed to use the charge as best he could.
And if he really needed to make it count, Markus had an idea on how to do just that.
It was a risky one. A risk he wouldn’t have taken if the situation didn’t look so dire, but he wasn’t going to find his way out of this without being daring. He’d known that from the start.
And so he took the plunge. Markus squared his feet, his posture rigid, lining himself up with his target as best he could. A spear would be better than a glaive for this, but beggars and choosers. A lot of things would be better than having to do this.
He’d been decent at shot put in school. He’d never tried Javelin. Guess there was no better time to learn than stood face to face with death.
One good shot. That was all he needed.
Markus brought one foot back, aimed with his left, and threw with his right.
Time slowed…
It landed. Hit the creature square in the jaw. Pierced the skin where the icy barrier had already been melted. Electrocuted the bastard for all of the melted ice still pooled around its face. The creature spasmed and jutted with the force of the Shock Mana coursing through it, stumbling blindly, falling onto its side with a monumental thump.
The crowd cheered wildly, while just as many booed and jeered. Markus watched with incredulity, then excited motion as he realised he finally, finally had a chance to kill this thing.
It wasn’t even that injured, but it was exposed. That was all he needed. All he’d hoped for.
He didn’t squander that chance. He sprinted up to the overturned monster, almost stumbling in his haste, retracting the blade from its face and going directly for its neck.
Once, twice, and five times more he stabbed at the creature, not daring to stop until it stopped struggling entirely.
When the monster was finally dead, and the crowd were finally sated, an explosion of notifications graced the exhausted Markus’ eyes, mainly level ups, stat increases, and skill increases.
He slumped, eyes half-lidded. He didn’t attempt to read it all.
Amongst them was a cryptic offer, one he noticed even amongst the shower of text for how much it stood out:
[Devour the Core of the slain creature?]
Markus immediately selected 'yes'. If he wished to grow strong, he couldn’t hesitate here.
His system erupted in fresh notifications as the core was absorbed into his body, but before he could read even a single word of it, a voice erupted from the stands.
This new voice interrupted the barking of a stunned announcer, one who’d been so adamant he’d die horribly just minutes before, and was now attempting to piece together what the fuck had happened for the sake of the just as confused audience.
This new voice didn’t care. It was louder. More impactful. It carried its weight and strength so naturally that it didn’t even sound magically amplified, that it carried a different kind of force to that of the announcer, who immediately stopped talking.
This was the voice of a god. Markus knew it before he even saw the entity looking down on him from up above, standing inside a fabulous booth that directly overlooked the arena’s chaos. Drathok had said something about gods before, and it’d confused him at the time, but now, seeing this entity stood above him, hearing it speak, he knew within his heart that gods were just as real as demons, and they looked fucking terrifying.
The god waited for silence, and then he spoke:
“You.” The god pointed at Markus. “You appear to have potential. Do you wish for a life beyond this?”
“Preposterous!” another voice sounded from beside the god, just as imposing. “I expressed interest in this one first! How dare you proposition him before me?!”
Before Markus could even react, the arena exploded into a fresh bout of noise, confusion, and chaos as yet more deities began to angressively stake their so-called 'claim' on him.
Markus sighed. Maybe getting eaten would’ve been easier.
//
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A/N: Hey there! Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed the conclusion to the fight and the beginning of Markus' stay in Firrelia! It's gonna be an interesting one, I can promise you! Mana Cores and such get explained in the next chapter, so you'll get to know all the benefits Markus gets from [Devouring] a creature's core like that!
If you wanna support me and this story, or you just can't wait for the next chapter, the next six chapters of this story are available right now on my Patreon!

In just eight years Loom went from $0 and maxed out credit cards to a $975M exit.
Founders Vinay Hiremath, Shahed Khan, and Joe Thomas, along with their awesome team (more on this later) built Loom around customer obsession and creating the best product for that customer.
The Loommates are on a mission to superpower productivity by challenging the status quo of text and live video calls.
To get here though Loom took a bit of a windy road - with two name changes and a few repositioning. Loom launched in 2015 as Opentest, but it was only in 2016, when the Loom we know today started to take shape, launching a Chrome extension under the product name Openvid.
Good thing they changed the name.
Then in October 2023, after having raised just over $200M up until this point, Loom was acquired for $975M by Atlassian.
Today Loom has 21M users at over 350k companies - including Tesla, Apple, Goldman Sachs, and Amazon
But this isn’t about where Loom is today.
This is the story of how Loom went from Zero to One. Click here for the full deep-dive 🚀

Loom’s Growth

The first iteration of Loom launched back in 2015.
The original idea was to help teams gather feedback through video. It was a one-line code injection to enable you to record your screen, yourself, and your audio, and was called Opentest.
They believed deeply in the power of video but quickly realized that this was not the right angle to approach the problem.
So in June 2016 they repurposed Opentest’s video feature into a Chrome extension and launched it as Openvid on Product Hunt - testing if there was interest in its new use case.
Within the first 24 hours they had 3,000 new users.
More than the previous six months combined.
Safe to say there was interest.
They now had their first users. Users who loved the product. A simple free Chrome extension that allowed you to record and share videos via a link.
No clunky video editing software or huge files. Just a Chrome extension and a link.
Then after speaking to some of their users, Loom learned that video could solve communication issues at the workplace - particularly for remote teams.
And so in 2017, they rebranded to Loom and positioned themselves as the go-to solution to replace the hassles of written communication.
Loom also had one more major shift in positioning and strategy - but more on that later.
Ending 2019, Loom was doing $720k ARR.
From here, growth sped up.
By the end of 2021, Loom was doing $35M ARR. And by October 2023, $50M ARR.
To get here Loom raised a total of $203M over the last seven years. But it hasn’t been without some hiccups.
In May 2021, Loom raised $130M at a $1.5B valuation. But for various reasons, some out of Loom’s control, such as mass ending to WFH policies and economic downturns, Loom took a bit of a valuation hit post-Covid.
Loom was acquired by Atlassian for $975M in October 2023.
This decreased valuation was likely also in part to Loom fundraising during an overinflated market.
However, being acquired for close to $1B is still an insanely impressive feat. I just wanted to mention this to give you the full story and perhaps a precautionary tale on raising in an inflated market.
There are still many lessons to be learned from Loom’s journey. Experiencing rapid growth and reaching over 20M users.

Key Success Factors (KSFs)

There have been many reasons for Loom’s exponential growth. But here are three that stood out to me, particularly early on in Loom’s journey.

🗣️ 1. Action user feedback:

After launching on Product Hunt, Loom (then Openvid) grew to 10k users in three months. Users were giving them feedback and they loved the product.
They had validated that video was filling the need to improve communication.
Instead of relying on sales and marketing teams to drive growth, they went all in on a Product-Led Growth (PLG) strategy. A strategy that relies on using your product as the main vehicle to acquire, activate, and retain customers.
But to maximize their PLG, Loom focused on getting two key things right:

1. Fast or instant time to value ⌛️

Loom met this first piece of the PLG puzzle by delivering value within minutes.
All you had to do was add the Chrome extension to your browser and you could start recording. No commitments. No credit card details.
Straight to the value. In less than five clicks.
But for PLG, you need more. You need loyal customers to spread the word.
How do you do that…

2. Building the best product focused on users’ needs 👷

Loom became customer-obsessed.
They completely dialled in on their users’ needs. Asking for user feedback, listening to it, and then building for it.
The team built and shipped features every day. But not just any features. They had to fill three criteria:

1. Fell within Loom’s mission ☄️
2. Users and the team would find relevant. 📚
3. Improved Loom’s product. 📈

This is what led to their rebrand to Loom.
The go-to solution to replace the difficulties of written communication.
Loom had started to reflect their customers’ voices in their product. They had built a product their customers actually wanted and needed.

Loom made sure to show their users how their feedback was being incorporated, they responded to every single email, message, and comment - recording personal Looms. The Founders took turns on support shifts and built relationships with early adopters.
Loom was relentless in understanding its users. Tracking every piece of data they could, importantly: why people used Loom, where they dropped off, and why they dropped off.
From this, the Loom team identified multiple features that we know as key parts of the product today, such as notifications when your video is watched, recording your entire desktop, and leaving the video flipped after you record (they figured out this made users more comfortable with how they looked on camera).
During Covid, Loom increased the features on their Free Tier, halved the price of their Pro Plan, extended the length of their free trial, and gave any educational users of Loom (teachers and students) FREE Loom Pro forever (and still do this today).
Through all of this and more, Loom’s users became ambassadors. They wanted to see Loom grow. They wanted to share what they knew.
Their users wanted to share Loom.

🎯 2. Repositioned to find PMF

When Loom first launched on Product Hunt as Openvid, they had already pivoted from a tool using a line of code to gather feedback via video into a Chrome extension to record yourself and your screen - and share it with just a link.
Loom was used to listening to what the market wanted and adapting.
But critically, they weren’t just building new products all the time. They were making tweaks to find better positioning in the market.
Going from Opentest to Openvid, all the team did was repurpose and reposition their built-out features.
Then, an interaction with a long-standing customer, Scott from Hubspot, would change the brand forever.
The team learned that video was an awesome solution to solving communication issues within teams - particularly for remote teams.
And so Loom was born - a rebranded Openvid. Again, a repositioning to get closer to PMF.
They were now the go-to solution to replace all the hassles of written communication. Even though it was still the same tool as it was previously.
Loom then had one last major transition.
They wanted to now attract the biggest companies in the world to use Loom for internal communication.
Their GTM (Go to Market) strategy here was simple. Launch an existing product in a new market - Enterprise teams.
They accompanied this change in positioning with new features such as the beta Loom for Teams and a centralized video library (think repeatable internal messaging like onboarding).
This launch was perfectly timed.
With all companies forced into remote working and needing better tools to communicate.
Their messaging became more focused:
Sometimes to find PMF, you don’t need to change your product. You just need to find the right audience for it.

🕵️ 3. Intentional about hiring and employee retention:

In around 4 years, Loom reached 100 employees.
But it wasn't linear growth. It was slow. And then all at once.
In 2020, went from around 45 employees to reaching the 100 Loommate mark. Hiring 30 employees alone between February and May.
The team at Loom lives and works in over 11 countries, including Portugal, Brazil, and Australia.
This is intentional. Loom wants to structure its team with the goal of being able to work with the most talented people.
Wherever they are.
And they want to build this world-class global organization without anyone feeling like they’re not part of the Headquarters.
They want Loom to reflect the modern world we’re in.
This includes working with organizations such as Techqueria and Women Who Code to create a more inclusive and comprehensive recruitment process.
The Founders were also very intentional about the roles and types of people they hired. Choosing to hire specific skill sets for their team.
This meant looking for the best video engineers instead of the best general software developers. As well as making very specific senior hires, who had experience with very specific skills, for example, Joshua Goldenberg as the VP of Design, who was the previous Head of Design at Slack and Palantir.
Another critical piece of Loom’s growth has been a focus on employee retention.
They were laser-focused on employee happiness and retention as they believed it would be a key lever for growth. So far, they’ve been right.
To do this, Loom focuses on a few things:

• Extremely competitive benefits package (particularly for their size and funding), including medical, dental, and vision insurance with 99% premiums paid by the company (including dependents!), monthly fitness and mental health benefits, and much more.
• Clear career growth opportunities, with 24 transfers and promotions in 2020 alone.

They want the best part of working at Loom to be the people.
With the Founders stating the order of the focus of their business as:

1. People 👯
2. Product ⚙️
3. Profit 💰

Actions you can take to replicate Loom’s success

Cherry-pick successes to mimic 🍒

One of Loom’s most successful features has been its “someone has viewed your video” notifications.
Sound familiar?
We’ve all experienced the exact same notifications with LinkedIn: “Sabrina and 8 others viewed your profile.”
And we’ve also all had the exact same reaction of wondering who viewed our profile to only find out we need to pay for LinkedIn Premium…
Loom took this feeling and put it into their product.
They created an anonymized notification to let you know someone had viewed your video.
I can only imagine the excitement (and nerves) if you use Loom for something like sales.
This feature spiked the usage of Loom. Creating a curiosity hit in their users - as well as them seeing it working!
This feature was key in scaling Loom in its early days. And helped create a customer base that was obsessed with using Loom. 🚀
So look around your daily and work life. What are some features or products that you love?
Why do you love them? Do they make you feel excited? Curious? Inspired?
Replicate that feeling with a similar feature. Just like Loom did.
But be careful, you need to make sure this feature fits with your product. You don’t want to force a feature that doesn’t fit or doesn’t help your users.
You also don’t want to start looking like everyone else. So as Author Austin Kleon titled his bestseller, you need to Steal Like an Artist.
Add your own spin to a successful feature. Make it fit your brand.
Cherry-picking features also works both ways.
When you look around your daily life: What are some features or products that you dislike or even hate?
Why do you hate them? Do they make you feel frustrated? Angry? Sad?
Avoid features that bring these emotions out.
Don’t only replicate successful features. Avoid unsuccessful ones.

Give your users instant value ⏰

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But importantly for the Loom team, this also meant that Loom was quick to share.
Remember, you’re trying to make your product as frictionless as possible.
It’s hard to get someone to add a new tool to their life and their routine.
Don’t make it any harder for them.
Make it as easy as possible for your customers to use your product - like Loom did. They didn’t ask for any commitments. Straight to the value.
First impressions aren’t only important when meeting new people. They are also critical in building trust with your customers.
So use this time to wow them!
If they love their first interaction, you will win their trust.
From there you can earn their loyalty by listening to and building for their needs.
To read all the actions you can replicate to explode your growth. Click here.

This has been happening for the past 3 days , i get a one early morning and one late night notification of "Whatsapp registration code was requested for your phone number" and then Logged out of whatsapp "Your phone number is no longer registered on this phone. Tap to view"
I will try to make this short as possible because i really do need help "TLDR BELOW"
Day 1: it happened at late night around 2 am i was still awake and with a friend on a call, i got the two notifications after each other , i didn't receive any SMS for any OTP , i open the app to find myself logged out, i quickly tried to log back in , when requesting the otp it told me "you just requested it try again in a bit" and i managed to get the otp in a few minutes , when i was trying to open it told me it will cancel all of my whatsapp business data which i don't even have one then i asked my friend to check if my account was business and/or online. it was indeed business but when he sent a message it wasn't delivered, then i didn't have two-step verification on ,i turned it on also with the email and thought all was good.
Day 2: i woke up to one of "your code was registered..." but no sign out happened , i thought the 2FA might have stopped them but how did they even get the code if i myself don't even receive it , then i tried contacting both whatsapp support on the app and on email, got both auto replied and nothing helpful, and at night when it happend it logged me out again and when trying to log back in it still showed me to erase my business data again and it asked for 2FA that hopefully only i know it
Day 3: Same thing as day two , no reply from support, and every time there was no linked devices
tldr: For 3 Days now , i get a notification early morning or late night that my account is being registered somewhere else ,i don't know how and im not sure but it seems like they can get the SMS otp code which i myself don't even get when they try to register , i enabled 2FA and email and i don't know if that is stopping them, every time i got logged out i checked whether the account was switched to business "day one only" and if the messages were delivered "none were".
How can i stop this? , i simply can't just everyday log myself back in knowing that someone is getting an otp for my SMS or even something close to that and i also don't even know if the 2FA step is enough to stop them because in the whatsapp FAQ , there is a 7-day time frame where it's possible to reset the pin after
Please help if you know anything Thank you

Well Well Resulta Y Resalta Q La famosa De Sain Has Not Clocked In From Her Maternity Leave. Cobijita Canela Will Be Officially Be A Month Soon. But, Truly WE are not Surprised She Has Not Clocked In Let’s Be Honest©️.
For Those Comadres Living Under A Rock, She Had A C-section And Baby Daddy Was Not Even In The Delivery . And The Emergency 🚨 C-section, Was Done Because, She Developed “Hypertension” During Her Pregnancy. If You Ask Me It Was Cause Of HER Amazing Nutritional Choices. But, What Do We Know. Somos Chismosas Not Drs.©️
On The Vlogs That Have Been Posted . Omg In my opinion it looks like she going thru it . I honestly don’t think the community housing came thru for her like said. I dicen la MALAS lenguas por hay q bebe es bien chillón por cólicos. And that’s probably the reason she won’t go live. And if y’all read those blog comments she truly states. She does not have a set schedule for him. And every time she blogs the little one is crying. Coincidence I don’t know©️. 🤷‍♂️
And to make a blog throwing shade to “someone”‘who is DM your baby daddy . Gurl gurl stop 🛑 that’s So embarrassing 🙈. Do y’all don’t have mirrors 🪞 in Sain, that you would think for one second, someone wants your man. Gurl gurl. Hay Bibi . Mejor Clock in you will feel better. When all your moscas tell you how amazing you are and encourage you to do raffles again. ©️
Rulia rulia . Why would you say you sit on that tiny little chair 🪑 everyday. To do what honey 🍯 bunch. Cause the few lives I have seeing you ain’t doing much to your face honey. So, the math 🧮 ain’t mathing . Honey where is the chisme content . Again no chisme no nothing . Like what the heck . Make one up something for crying Out loud . Like for reals. Even the ppvs are a snooze fest .😴 . Oh but, I did hear right, q alguien gave you an apology. Gurl gurl I don’t know . Sounds like EL BESO 💋 DE JUDAS. If you ask me©️ .
I think theirs torms approaching, certain parts of Mexico . I can hear them 👂. I mean the cups ain’t cupping. The content and ain’t viraling . The access to the coto has been deactivated. Access Denied 🙅🏽. If you ask me, all that work for what. Subs are dropping. It’s crazy to think all that money gone to waste. The good thing “she knew she had, outgrown” the poor people coto. Who is the problem here. The one who still has her rental and access to the coto 🩴’s. Or the one who was made to leave and left everything behind. Let’s put on our thinking hats. 🧢. What you all think. 🤔 PERO CADA QUIEN Y SU RESITOL©️ .
It’s my humble opinion who know one asked for. Aquí Andamos. ©️👂🩴🙅🏽🧢🤔🪑🧮🍯🚨🪵

~~~~~~~
Hello! This is my Ficnapping of Curing Malpractice by u/Cummy_wummys, which can be found Here!
Writing my own take on their novel about Novel was quite the novel experience. Hope you enjoy!
Also I'm going to collapse into bed the second I upload this, so apologies if I don't respond to any comments for several hours.
~~~~~~~
Memory Transcription Subject: Novel, Eager Kolshian Scientist
Date {standardized human time}: October 20th, 2136

Maybe I shouldn’t have stayed up that late into my rest claw. Sometimes I just can’t help it, I get so absorbed in one little avenue of research that the claw begins to slip past. I check the time a while later and, what do you know, the heat death of the universe is drawing just that little bit closer. Was it a bad idea to waste so much time learning about the history of Human clothing? Probably. Was it ever so slightly traumatizing, especially the earlier history? You bet it was. Will I probably do something similar in the near future? Absolutely.
I won’t let my moderately sleep-deprived state stand in the way though, for I have been invited to partake in a Human tradition this paw. It is an honour, one that I must take seriously, and approach with reverence. It is a sign that the Humans have come to trust me, welcoming me into their herd. Of course, I already had my own herd with Ada, Sindre and Hailey, and I’d had pleasant interactions with others such as Bella and Max, but I mean the Humans as a whole! To be fair, it’s probably been apparent that the Humans have been warming up to me for some time… if their insistence of suffocating me with photos of their children was anything to go by.
I shiver at the thought. Never again.
I push that train of thought aside as I approach the security checkpoint to the refugee centre, finding Ledo in his usual place. The Jaur security guard is half slumped over in his chair, absentmindedly scrolling through something on his holopad. I give him a friendly sway of my tail as I approach the checkpoint, and he barely seems to muster up the energy to turn an ear my way.
“Good paw, Ledo. Are you alright?”
He places his holopad down and rubs one of his eyes with a paw.
“Just running on empty over here. My break paws can’t come fast enough.”
I sign my sympathy as I grab my visitor’s badge.
“You’re doing a great job, top notch security officer, really. You’ve earned your rest, and then some.”
He covers his mouth with a paw as he yawns.
“Thanks… enjoy the whole predator watching thing, or whatever it is you do in that place.”
“Thank you! Enjoy your shift… as much as you can.”
With a slightly awkward chuckle, I waste no time in heading into the refugee centre. Just to be safe though… I push open the doors and quickly dash to the side, expecting something to come flying at me like what usually happens. This time though, my precautions seem unnecessary. The lobby is empty, devoid of the children and adults that typically mingle around in it at this time. As I take a few tentative, confused steps inside as the doors close behind me, I realize the reason why. Ada said that the activity I’d been invited to partake in took place outside, in the small courtyard I’d heard mentioned here and there around the centre. Everyone must simply already be outside. Following that notion, I pick up my pace as I walk through the hallways, finding the back door that leads to the courtyard soon enough.
My presumption had been right, as when I go outside I’m greeted with the sound of Human laughter, specifically the moderately pitched squeals and giggles of Human children. The courtyard wasn’t all that large, but by no means cramped, with many children and adult Humans alike enjoying the fresh Venlilian air. Scanning the area, I quickly locate Ada, who is currently engaged in quite an odd-looking activity with Sindre. They are standing on opposite sides of what appears to be a bedsheet suspended between two poles, ties at its four corners so that it's stretched almost flat. They are both holding objects that seem vaguely familiar to me, and which I soon recognize as ‘rackets’, which I’d come across before when researching Human activities on the internet.
“Sindre! Ada!”
They turn to look at me as I rush over to them, faces soon breaking out into wide smiles. Sindre walks towards the bed sheet, bending over to pick up a small yellow ball laying in the grass, while Ada walks over to meet me.
“Heya Nov’, glad you decided to join us today.”
“Well, I couldn’t deny an invitation to be involved in a Human tradition!”
She smirks at my response.
“Tradition? Yeah sure, guess tennis counts as one.”
Information acquired: A name for this event.
“Tennis… It sounds fascinating!”
By now, Sindre has walked over to join us. He lightly taps the racket and yellow ball together, which upon closer inspection seems to be strangely fuzz, with a white line running around it in a wavy pattern.
“You made it just as we were about to start another rally. I’m not the best at tennis, so it’d probably be best for Ada to show you the ropes.”
As he says this, Sindre offers the racket out to me. My eyes go wide and my tail flicks with excitement at the gesture, and I securely wrap two of my tentacles around the handle, making sure that it won’t slip from my grip.
“Ooooo! What do I do with this?”
Ada steps away, back towards the suspended bed sheet.
“You go stand where Sindre just was, I’ll walk you through it. Oh, and don’t mind the bed sheet. We don’t exactly have a proper net.”
I rush over to stand in the spot assigned to me, while Ada mirrors my position on her side of the bed sheet. Sindre tosses the yellow ball her way, and to my surprise she easily catches it with one hand. Well, that was certainly a lucky catch, and an accurate throw from Sindre. Before I can dwell on it though, Ada calls out again.
“Lets just start with the basics. In tennis, you use the rackets to hit the ball when it comes to your side of the court, er- bed sheet. You want to hit it so that it flies over the net and lands on my side, where I’ll try and hit it back to you, repeating until one of us either misses the ball or hits it into the net. If that happens, your opponent gets a point.”
I try and emulate the Human ‘nodding’ expression while listening to Ada. That sounds like an interesting activity… there is just one problem.
“Um, alright. How exactly are we supposed to hit the ball?”
“Just make sure to angle the racket so that the ball shoots back to my side, alright? Since you’re new to this, I’ll go easy on you and just start simple.”
That… didn’t really answer my question. I’m unsure how I’m expected to reliably position my racket to make contact with the yellow ball. Even so, I won’t question the Human. I’ve been invited to partake in this ‘tennis’, so I will accept the opportunity with gusto. Ada shifts her stance slightly, before lightly tossing the ball into the air. As it comes back down, she lifts the racket to meet it, and the ball is sent up and forwards. Alright, here goes nothing.
I lift the racket up into the air and rush towards the bed sheet. As the ball sails over the makeshift barrier, it hits the plastic edge of my racket and falls back down onto Ada’s side. I hear a snicker coming from Sindre, and I lower the racket again as Ada retrieves the ball, my tail wagging.
“Did I do that right?”
Before Ada can respond, Sindre buts in.
“If it worked against Ada, it must be a viable strategy.”
The German briefly glared at him before clearing her throat.
“Well Nov’, running at the net with your racket above your head isn’t going to work in a proper game. You need to figure out where the ball is heading, move there, and then hit it with the racket with the right amount power at the right angle to send it back.”
Oh, sure, might I extinguish the sun while I’m at it? Cure every disease along the way? Of course, I don’t voice these thoughts out loud. Instead, I simply give Ada another nod. She repeats her previous ritual of tossing the ball up into the air before bringing the racket up to meet it. This time, the ball doesn’t come straight on, but veers off to the right. I take a couple hurried steps that way and hold out the racket in the hopes that I judged the ball’s movement correctly. To no one’s surprise, I did not, and the ball thuds into the grass.
“No worries Nov’, let’s try again.”
After I haphazardly throw the ball back to her (and she effortlessly catches it with one hand), Ada hits the ball my way again. This time, the ball veered slightly to the left. A mirror of what happened last time, the ball misses my racket by a considerable margin. In my periphery, I vaguely register Sindre wearing a face of mild concern, though my focus is too homed in on not letting my frustration show to dwell on it. I’m making a fool of myself in front of the Humans.
“Sorry, I’ll hit it next time.”
The next time comes, and I unfortunately can’t stay true to my word. A similar thing happens again and again. Sometimes I just try to shove the racket below where I think the ball will go, other times I try waving it around madly in the hopes that it’ll make contact. It never does.
“One more time! I swear I’ll get it!”
They invited me to take part in this. The least I can do is not be a complete failure. Ada stops tossing to me, concern etched into her features.
“Are you alright Nov’? We don’t have to do this if you can’t-”
“No no, I can. It’s just- I’m a novice. You can’t expect me to just know how to calculate projectile motion in my head… I just need practice.”
Ada’s face morphs into one of confusion.
“Projectile motion… Novel, it’s not that complicated.”
I gawk at the Human incredulously. Before I can formulate a response though, a sigh coming from my left draws my attention back to Sindre. He’s rubbing his forehead with his hand, and sighs in realization.
“Eye placement. Depth perception.”
Ada’s eyes go wide at that, and a hand comes up to cover her mouth.
“Oh crap… Sorry Nov’, I didn’t really uh- consider that…”
I look back over to her, my brain still trying to piece together what Sindre meant. I recall how easily the Humans tossed and caught the ball with stunning accuracy, and how Ada seemed to be able have complete control over the ball with her racket while I struggled to even make contact…
Depth perception…
That… makes sense.
I can’t help but gurgle a little in laughter. So predatory eyes were useful for things outside of hunting… like tennis! I need to jot that down, and make sure to investigate that a little more later on.
“Hey Novel, you ok there?”
I’m snapped out of my thoughts by Sindre’s voice. I give him a friendly tail wag and walk over to him.
“Of course, I’m fine. I’m sorry that I’m incapable of taking part in this.”
I offer the racket back to him, which he takes with a little hesitation when he sees the mucus covering the handle. Ada walks over to the two of us, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment.
“Sorry for all that Novel, we should’ve chosen something else to show you.”
I quickly turn to her and wave my tentacles in a placating manor.
“No, don’t be sorry! I’m honored that you wished to share the wonders of tennis with me. You two go ahead and enjoy it, I’ll just sit off to the side and make notes on the uses of binocular vision outside of hunting.”
I feel myself deflate slightly. I had been excited to play a part in a Human tradition, but it seems that I just… can’t. Not on my own volition, at least. Perhaps the Humans can sense my disappointment, because Sindre and Ada share a glance before the former speaks up.
“Nov’, you don’t have to-”
I interrupt him by wrapping a tenacle around both their backs and lightly nudging them towards their respective sides of the bed sheet.
“I insist! Don’t worry about me, I’m a graceful loser.”

Memory Transcription Subject: Novel, Sore Loser
Date {standardized human time}: October 21st, 2136

The Venlil I pass on the street are giving me odd looks, all the while I hold my head up high with pride as many of them turn around to do a second take of what I am wheeling behind me. It may be a teensy, tiny bit more complicated than some of the other things I’d previously brought with me to the shelter, but that was only because I had put my tentacles to good use. The splinters I had gotten in the process were testament to that. Should I have focused on getting a little more sleep during my rest claw? Maybe. Is this thing being held together by nothing but hope and super glue? Only the very best. Would the absolute joy that it’ll put on the Humans’ faces be worth it? You bet it will be!
As I wheel my creation past the security checkpoint, I find Ledo staring at his holopad with his head resting on his paws, eyelids drooping. When he spots me approaching, his ears perk up slightly, only for him to raise his head upon seeing my creation. He puts down his holopad and sits up in his chair, trying to get a better view of it.
“Hello Ledo! How are you? Have you gotten some rest?”
For a moment he doesn't respond, only for him to shake his head and rub his eyes.
“Novel, do I even want to know what that thing is?”
“It’s what will allow me to stand on par with the Humans and engage with them on an even playing field. I spent some of my last rest claw building it.”
Ledo looks back over to me.
“And uh, how much is ‘some’, exactly?”
I wave a tentacle dismissively.
“Irrelevant detail. Trust me, it’ll all be worth it. When I leave the shelter later this paw, I’ll tell you all about it.”
Ledo leans back in his chair with a sigh.
“Well, at least it’d be something other than binging movies. You’re a bit of a weirdo, have I told you that yet?”
“Why thank you! Have a nice shift.”
I bid farewell to the Jaur and my final approach to my destiny begins. Victory is so close I can almost taste it.
The lobby is empty again this paw, so I head right on through while towing my creation behind me. I pass a couple Humans along the way, who I give friendly greetings to as they marvel at my ingenious solution to the problem that had plagued me last paw. Since I’ve arrived a little later this paw (courtesy of a productive rest claw), I waste to time in heading directly to the back of the centre and out onto the grassy courtyard that had been the location of last paw’s utter failure. I will not allow that to happen again!
“Ah, welcome to the courtyard Nov-… Uh, what’s that you got behind you?”
Max’s friendly tone gives way to curiosity, and I feel the pride already beginning to swell just a little more. He was just in the middle of a round of the dreaded ‘tennis’ with Ada, who is on the opposite side of the makeshift net, which she leans over once she spots me.
“Novel… why do you have a catapult?”
It seems that my wonderful creation is also garnering interest from many of the children as well, who briefly stop their various running games to watch me. I finish wheeling the mini catapult into place and take out a tennis ball from my bag (turns out I had already purchased one, thanks past me!) while I finally answer Ada.
“So that I may properly partake in your Human traditions, of course! How can I study them if I can’t even participate? This little thing will allow me to successfully serve a ball to you in just a moment, no depth perception required! Watch and see.”
I place the tennis ball into the cup and begin cranking the lever to wind up the device. Max starts looking a little nervous as I do so.
“Um, Nov’? Are you sure that thing is going to work? Is it even safe?”
The homemade gears turn with a slight clacking sound, which tells me that it’s working just as expected… though Max does make me wonder briefly if I should’ve done a test run of this first… oh well, too late for that.
“Don’t worry, I know precisely what I’m do-”
I’m cut off by the rather disconcerting sound of splintering wood. I only have enough time to faintly register that the sound came from my creation, and that said realization is very bad. A resounding SNAP and the disappearance of the tennis ball at approximately Mach 5 tells me that I did not know the tensile strength of Venlilian wood as well as I thought. The rest of the world has gone silent, and I slowly turn my gaze in the direction the ball had preemptively flown, finding Max standing as still as a statue with the tennis ball resting on the ground in front of him. The silence is broken as the Human lets out a whining sound higher pitched than even the smallest of Dossur can produce, before falling to his knees and grasping his groin in obvious agony.
Some of the slightly older kids cringe in sympathy.
Ada tries not to laugh.
Max steadily raises his hand, pointing a shaky digit at me. His voice comes out squeaky, and pained.
“K-kids… avenge me…”
The children’s eyes lock onto me. I learn what true fear feels like.
All at once, the children let out their war cries, and began rushing over to me. I let out a shriek of my own as I turn back towards the refugee centre and start running like my life depends on it because it probably does! I don’t dare look back at the pack of predators pursuing me, I simply run through the back doors of the centre and sprint down the corridor as fast as I physically can. Even so, I know for a fact that it is not fast enough. I’ve studied Humans enough to know that they are built for chasing prey. Right now, that prey is me!
I try to lose the children by utilizing the building’s layout as best I can. I turn past several corners without slowing down, run up the stairs and even hide behind a pot plant at one point, startling an adult Human as I do so, who quickly rushes back inside their room. I make a mental note to apologize to them later, and file it right under ‘RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! GO GO GO!’
I hear it, the sound of light but determined footsteps plonking their way up the stairs. They’ve found me. This pot plant isn’t going to help me at all! I abandon my frankly pathetic hiding spot and dash further down the hallway, determining that my best shot at survival will be to get back to the main lobby and run out through the front do-
A dead end.
No…
Oh no…
The sound of footsteps grows closer. Just a single pair, but that is more than enough to seal my fate. I push myself against the wall, terror coursing through my mind. This was supposed to be a showcase of how much I respected Humans, I didn’t mean to injure one! Is this really it? Is this really how it all ends? Sought out and killed to avenge the fallen? I-I never got to publish my completed study on Human traditions… or binocular vision… or diets or facial express- a whole lot of things actually!
The footsteps pause, and the sound of giggling breaks me out of my mental spiral. There, standing before me, grinning ear to ear, is a familiar Human child.
“Found you!”
“D-David?”
Still grinning, the young boy reaches out a hand towards me. I push myself as far against the wall as I can go.
“W-wait, David! I-I-I thought we got along well! We watched that horrible movie together, remember? We can read that book about cattle again if you want! Or-or anything you want, really! P-please, don’t d-do this!”
I close my eyes tightly, and prepare myself for the end…
…
A hand lightly taps one of my tentacles, then retracts.
“Tag! You’re it.”
I crack open an eye.
“Wh-what?”
David is already running away from me, giggling again. As he reaches the stairs, he calls out as loud as he can, voice carrying further into the refugee centre.
“Guys! I got her! Novel’s it now!”
…
…
What?

Kitchen sink, backs up after a minute or so of running the water. Sewage smell. Kitchen is the only thing on that vent. Snaked the drain myself, no clogs, tried to run up the vent stack but get stopped (unsure whether a blockage or hitting mesh cover on drain).
Called plumber out, snaked out to the street, claimed some small roots but no blockage. Still didn’t fix it, disassembled sink plumbing, nothing there, added a cheater valve, but it didn’t fix it. I mentioned snaking the vent and he refused saying his auger could get stuck.
Tested at a clean out after he left, and it’s positive pressure, not negative, so explains the cheater valve not working. Called several more places, all said they don’t deal with vents.
We live in a tall house with a steep roof so really don’t want to go up there. Even called a roofing company, but no luck.
Thoughts on next steps? All I can think of is opening the wall up on the second floor above the kitchen, and cutting into the vent there to see if I can fix it.

My fiance (let's call him Osso) and I have a friend that is handicapped. He fell out of a window as a kid. The accident left him with one messed up arm and some mental issues (primarily memory issues and seizures). He's 36 years old, but has the mentality of a adolescent.
A while back, he lied to me and I confronted him about it. His initial response was, "Well, Osso must be lying to you and trying to get me in trouble!" (My fiance would never sink that low and is not a habitual liar. Osso also had screenshots proving his side of the story.)
Later, after he admitted he lied, he did apologize (with pressure from his wife), but also tried to say, "I felt attacked when you confronted me about it," and tried to guilt trip me. I said, "Well, if you didn't lie in the first place, I wouldn't need to confront you about it." I felt like my reaction was reasonable.
Our friend also does shady shit like trying to manipulate people about money. For instance, he texted Osso and said, "Gee, I wish I had money for Bingo tonight," after he decided to join Osso for Bingo night. When Osso didn't fall for it, he texted another friend the same thing.
I got into an argument with Osso about all this yesterday. Personally, I don't like the guy and I keep our interactions limited. Unfortunately, he really likes Osso and shadows him every chance he gets. Osso doesn't even like going to Bingo anymore because our buddy started going regularly. Any time Osso does something new, the guy tries to tag along. He also kept calling Osso several times a day until I bluntly told him to stop.
Osso says I should be nicer because "he has the mind of a child." I agree that he's not all there, but I think he uses his disability to get away with bullshit and step over boundaries. I do not treat him with kid gloves the way most people do. I'm not trying to be cruel, but I refuse to coddle him. Idk. Am I being ableist?

Hey guys, so I've been trying the gateway tapes for around 3 weeks now. For context, I'm not majorly spiritual, religious nor have I been meditating for a long time before trying the tapes.
I was a complete skeptic before (and honestly I kinda still am but less so!). I however have a very open mind because I know that I can't just rely on my own knowledge and perspective to know whats real or not. Maybe it is maybe its not, just I gotta take things from all perspectives and see for myself!
So after discovering the tapes, I literally dove straight into the 'lore' of gateway, astral projection, patterning and it's benefits to improve my life!
I read quite a lot of positive stories such as people getting in contact with higher entities helping them out, healing past trauma's and improving their life in general which is awesome!. I've also read a lot of negative stories with scary entities, bad experiences and warnings from religious people to not tamper with the 'unknown' which scared me as well.
I still decided to give em a go however and I went in with a positive mindset and a hopeful spirit. I've attempted the tapes around 5 times now and have only worked up to tape 3 (wave 1 - REBAL).

The vision:

Honestly, I'm still not sure what this was. I don't know if it was a vision, another entity, a dream or simply my subconscious being bored and trying to have some fun.
I was doing tape 2 (intro to f10 - first or second time trying this one) in my bed, sitting slanted with a couple pillows against my back. I just followed Bob's instructions and felt relaxed AF - just like how normal meditation feels. My fingers were interlaced however I felt as if they weren't separate but merged together and were the same limb (if that makes sense). Anyway, my mind was conscious of this and I remember thinking 'dang this is quite cool'. I then just start drifting nearly to sleep but I tried to keep my mind awake. I never hit f10 before so I don't really know if I was in it or close to achieving it?
Then it just happened... like I'm not even sure if I was awake or not (hence the suspicion that this was a dream) - I was still in my room but this time a middle age / older woman, who heavily resembled one of my primary school teachers, was to the right side of my bedroom, close to the wall, and she walked across seemingly with an objective to get to my door. When she neared the foot of my bed to the left hand side of me, she looked at me with a sort of sly smile and said "you really have no idea what you're getting yourself into"
The best way I can describe the smile is with this analogy: imagine you have a friend who is crazy jacked and muscular, but then he says he's never been to the gym. Now you're convinced this mf is lying but then you watch him lift weights and he's actually really weak. You then with a sly smile say "wow you really had no idea what you're doing do you" (same vibes)
Technically she didn't actually 'speak' to me as her mouth wasn't moving or opening but I definitely FELT her energy say that or something along the lines (I just realised how fucking crazy I sound whilst writing this 🤣). I also felt another 'energy' close to the right hand side corner of my room, far from me, I wasn't sure about this one, it was just sort of a dark orb of energy (I don't think it was malicious or anything but I could be wrong - it just sat there chilling, just observing ahaha)
Now at this point I was FREAKED the fuck out. I remembered all the posts (thanks guys) that outlined nothing can harm you if you don't want it to and that you have complete control over yourself or anything that you meet. So I said to myself "Nah fuck this and fuck you, I don't want this anymore, I banish all negative energy from my room so you can piss right off" and then I started praying (remember how I said I wasn't even religious but at this moment I definitely was 🤣). I then returned back to 'reality', with my heart beating so fast. I felt spooked for the rest of the day, until I sat there and forced myself to think about the experience and what it could mean.
My thoughts about the vision:
Now initially I thought: thats it I'm fucked, I've opened the gateway to the depths of hell and its only a matter of time before I'm in the next part of the conjuring films. But then, I genuinely thought more and more about this experience.
There are 2 ways I can interpret what she said to me, positively or negatively. A sly smile with "you have no idea what you're getting yourself into".
This could mean that there is a whole other world out there and truths that I have not yet experienced or seen. She could sense my innocence of the spiritual world and me not believing in it and is encouraging me to go forward and explore it all.
The other interpretation is that it's a warning. That I really have no idea of the magnitude of the things that I'm trying with gateway and that I should not do anything further because I don't know what I'm doing and that it could potentially harm me experimenting with this kind of things.
I'm not even sure if it was my subconscious. I think this because it was my primary school teacher so maybe my mind created her. And as a result of reading all the horror stories, maybe my subconscious made it up to try and stop me from doing this all of this because it was scared.
I'm torn for interpreting this. Obviously I want it to the first option but I'm not sure. I'm very interested in your thoughts as well. What do you guys think? How would you guys interpret this?

The near OBE:

Now this is WAY less eventful than the 'vision' but this was after progressing to tape 3, but then re-attempting tape 2 to get better at f10. Basically I just followed all the steps but this time I was lying down in bed, feeling relaxed af again.
Now normally when I go to sleep, my mind plays out movies and scenarios, which as soon as I get lost in them, I fall asleep. This happened a couple times but every time I realised that I was in a 'movie' and was nearly asleep, I forced my mind to quit the movie and come back to its relaxed state. After the 2nd or 3rd time, I just lying there chilling in a calm state.
Next my body starting slowly vibrating. Initially it was just a small low frequency but I indulged in the feeling and soon it really started to pick up in intensity.
Now I was kind of 'expecting' this because I read a lot of posts previously and they all had in common that the person would start vibrating before having an OBE. When I was in it, I was also conscious enough to make sure that it wasn't some sort of placebo effect that I was experiencing. It legit just felt like I was vibrating but I'm not sure - maybe I was imagining it? (again kinda skeptical but also open-minded) I also remembered reading to stay in the moment and not snap out of it. I tried my very best to do that.
But then... I remember thinking to myself "HOLY SHIT maybe I am vibrating, am I actually going to have an OBE??" along with a little sense of nervousness and open-mindedness to explore. I should have just kept my calm but I really started to overthink ahaha and I quickly just 'snapped' out of it.
I stopped vibrating and I just became REALLY alert along with a crazy fast heartbeat, like it was trying to leap out of my chest. Now I was only 1/2 through the tape but when I tried to get back into it I was just way to excited and restless so I just didn't continue the session. I think I was SO close and along the right lines to having an OBE - What do you guys think?
I think next time I need to remain way more relaxed, calm without any expectations. I should've just allowed myself to feel the vibrations and keep going. Instead, like a dumbass ahaha I got too excited which prevented me from doing so ahaha so that's something to improve on at least :)
Thank you for making it this far! I wrote a lot but I'm grateful that you took the time to make your way through it.
Any advice for anything you think I need help with would be greatly appreciated! I would also love to know your guys' thoughts about the vision as well and it's potential meanings (or if it even was anything significant)? if you've got any questions about anything also let me know down below as well!
Much love ❤️

I'm u/FoundationDone0523. I'm a compulsive eater and your leader for this meeting.
Will those who wish, please join me in the Serenity Prayer: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.
Overeaters Anonymous is a Fellowship of individuals who, through shared experience, strength, and hope, are recovering from compulsive overeating. We welcome everyone who wants to stop eating compulsively. There are no dues or fees for members; we are self-supporting through our own contributions, neither soliciting nor accepting outside donations. OA is not affiliated with any public or private organization, political movement, ideology, or religious doctrine; we take no position on outside issues. Our primary purpose is to abstain from compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors and to carry the message of recovery through the Twelve Steps of OA to those who still suffer.
Our Invitation to You
The Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous .
Abstinence in Overeaters Anonymous is the action of refraining from compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors while working towards or maintaining a healthy body weight. Spiritual, emotional, and physical recovery is the result of living the Overeaters Anonymous Twelve Step program.
The OA tools of recovery help us work the Steps and refrain from compulsive overeating. The nine tools are: a plan of eating, sponsorship, meetings, telephone, writing, literature, an action plan, anonymity, and service. For more information, read The Tools of Recovery OA page.
Sponsorship is one of our keys to success. Sponsors are OA members committed to abstinence and to living the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions to the best of their ability. Sponsors share their program up to the level of their experience and strengthen their recovery through this service to others. To find a sponsor, look for someone who has what you want and ask how he or she is achieving it. Will all abstinent sponsors please identify themselves in their post?
According to our Seventh Tradition, we are self-supporting through our own contributions. Our group number is 99038. Please use the group number when making your contribution. As our virtual group currently has no expenses please consider donating directly through this link to the OA World Service Office, who provides resources for OA groups all around the world to carry the message to other compulsive overeaters.
Suggested guidelines for sharing: As you share your experience and strength in OA, please also share your hope. Please confine your sharing to your experience with the disease of compulsive eating, the solution offered by OA, and your own recovery from the disease, rather than just the events of the day or week. When responding to other member’s posts, please focus on your personal experience rather than advice giving. If you are having difficulties, share how you use the program to deal with them. If you need to talk more about your difficulties and seek solutions, we suggest you speak to your sponsor and other members after the meeting.
**This is a literature meeting. Today we are studying the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous Page 18 *
"Highly competent psychiatrists who have dealt with us have found it sometimes impossible to persuade an alcoholic to discuss his situation without reserve. Strangely enough, wives, parents and intimate friends usually find us even more unapproachable than do the psychiatrist and the doctor.
"But the ex-problem drinker who has found this solution, who is properly armed with facts about himself, can generally win the entire confidence of another alcoholic in a few hours. Until such an understanding is reached, little or nothing can be accomplished."
Closing By following the Twelve Steps, attending meetings regularly, and using the OA Tools, we are changing our lives. You will find hope and encouragement in Overeaters Anonymous. To the newcomer, we suggest attending at least six different meetings to learn the many ways OA can help you. The opinions expressed here today are those of individual OA members and do not represent OA as a whole. Let us all reach out by private message to newcomers, returning members, and each other. Together we get better.

A homeless teenager reaches out to the Shil’vati on first day of the invasion of Earth.
Credit to: who has beta read just about every chapter, and the only reason it's readable half the time
u/bluefishcake for writing the original SSB story.
Pizzaulostin who has been beta reading since the beginning.
Credit to u/HollowShel for getting me started with this!
This story is based in the SSB universe.
Previous
First
Chapter 33:

Reqellia:

It was the darkest part of the night, and yet I could hear the energetic commotion of Ruhal blearily heating up food for a famished human along with the clinks of dishes and silverware.
“One more day.” I felt glued to the bench as I stared back into the silver mask I hadn’t worn for almost [twenty-five years] prior, and had hoped never to put on again. I cursed my old girlish wishes when I first joined up, wanting to be a war hero, and then a mother afterwards. To grow old and see my own child in uniform. I had even wanted a son since I was already demanding the impossible.
I never believed in the gods, but now I’m sure that I’ve tempted Niosa to grant my wishes, but only after I made my peace with them that they would never come true.
Klein bounced around the suite’s kitchen, eating enough for two Shil women and already wearing his armor’s underlayment. The chair creaked a bit as he sat, his own horror-show mask on the dining table next to him staring back at him unblinking.
And It was a horror show.
He’d wake up cheerful and happy, and I’d watch over the day as every bit of his energy was drained out of him. The daily exercise routine of a morning run and gym day in a month being performed in a few short hours. Every time Klein finished a trail faster, or performed a more grueling task, the trainers would make him do even more as his contract offers rose another level.
I didn’t blame the instructors, it was their job to challenge each applicant, but Klein blew through all their expectations, so they just kept piling more onto him. Many of those same instructors had asked me if they were pushing him too far, but all I could do was shrug. Even I didn't even know where his potential ended.
I blinked and looked up. He was in his full armor now, with only the mask off.
“Ready to go?”
I nodded and stood up, quickly heading over to Ruhal, who in turn looked at me with sleep deprived eyes. Worn out as I was, he was worse, playing subject matter expert on all things human around a bunch of high ranking officers desperate for information not tainted by censorship.
“Stay safe out there,” he politely ordered as he kissed me.
I kissed him back and held his hand. “You too.”
Sighing,I left to let him rest, popped my back, and donned my own mask.
As Klein paced the door, I begged for safety. “One more day, please let everything be okay after today.”
I shouldn’t have tempted Niosa again.

Itaro:

I quietly padded out of the children’s den to a chorus of snoring from my siblings. The well carpeted securely fastened to wooden floors muffled my footsteps. I opened the large storm shutters and then pulled open the sliding glass door to the patio. I couldn’t sleep anymore, excitedly bouncing from one foot to another.
Klein and Reqellia were coming home tonight! Reqellia had sent me her contract offers that came from a dozen different Imperial departments and bureaus. Dad already agreed years ago she could move in with us, a pack sister was always welcome. Now she wouldn’t feel like a burden if she had to.
And Klein… Well, I wouldn’t be bothered by a few love-marks.
“I see that smile. Excited?” I heard my father’s deep voice like distant thunder. I turned around to his massive form only a few steps away. We both had learned to walk silently when my siblings were just pups and the discovery that they were light sleepers had been made.
I felt my ears droop just a little to see his melancholic face. He had gone out of his way the last few weeks to spend more time with just me now that I had a pack of my own. There was always a soft smile on his face, but the way his tail hung low to the floor was a dead giveaway on his mood.
I tried to cheer him up. “I am. It’s been weeks since I got to speak to Au’tes, and Klein…” I trailed off, the insinuation clear. He smirked. He had met Klein in passing, but I wasn’t bringing him home yet. Hario on the other hand had made one or two bawdy jokes at the dinner table after a second glass of her favorite liquor.
First time Klein spends the night, you might want to check up on Itaro, make sure she didn’t keel over from exhaustion.
“At this rate I’m going to have to teach you sword fighting to beat back other male suitors from poaching you for their own packs!” My father joked. Stepping off the patio landing, he hit the ground noiselessly, bending his legs to absorb the shock.

After letting out a quiet grunt indicative of an age he tried to keep hidden, he turned around and looked back up at me. “Want to come with me for a walk?”
I jumped down and followed him into our little patch of forest my mother’s terraforming job paid for. The early morning was already warm without a cooling vest, but not intolerable. The chirping of birds and the soft whistle of wind tinged with just a hint of salt made everything feel fresh.
It was like when I came home from school and my father would stop construction for the day. We’d explore the forest, play on the beach, go into town for groceries.
Except now my father didn’t run and have me chase him. He carefully inspected the trees for pests, and our conversation was far more practical than whimsical. “Your mother’s coming home next month. Can you write her a message before she meets Klein, just so she has a better idea of your pack?”
I nodded. “Of course. How long is she going to be home this time?”.
Her terraforming jobs always lasted months, if not years. I never faulted her for the huntress life, but it made connecting with her difficult. She was more a guest of honor than a mother to the household, always bringing a fatted Sou’ta carcass home as a present, but rarely cleaned dishes, or the house.
Or really any chore…
He shrugged before crouching next to a felled tree, trimming away small branches for kindling with a tiny hatchet he hand pulled from his tool pouch. “Might be a good long while this time. The last message I got said her department only had small projects and a few hazard jobs on the periphery. Besides, we might need an extra set of hands more than the money now.”
I scoffed. “Her, a house mother!? No offense, but mom is a terrible cook, and a worse caretaker. Remember the time she nearly burned down our kitchen boiling water?”
He laughed with me as he pocketed the hatchet. Standing up with two sticks, and then threw me one. I caught it as he swung his own stick in my general area. “Defend yourself! I did say I needed to teach you sword fighting. How else are you going to fight off possessive men when they realize what a catch you are?”
He didn’t teach anything but how to rough house on a lazy Shel morning.
We played and swung the flimsy branches until I accidentally hit him square in the chest. The branch, already crumbly and dry, disintegrated on impact. It didn’t stop him from dramatically acting out a death scene. Falling to his knees in an overly theatrical fashion. “Oh, woe is me! Cut down by my own daughter in cold blood!”
I let him pretend to be on stage for a few moments longer before standing over him to offer a hand. He took it, and then yanked me down to the grassy patch, holding me for a long, quiet minute. “I’m going to miss you.”
For the first time I noticed the stray white hairs around his muzzle, I knew what he meant, but I tried to play it off. “I’m not going anywhere.”
He just held me for a silent heartbeat longer, then let go and stood up.
He proclaimed cheerfully to mask his wet eyes. “Now, let’s get you cleaned up. You can’t look like a pup out of a mud bath for your victorious pack! I even scheduled a visit at Tulo’s for a haircut. Ruhal’s treat.”
My mind played with potential futures as we headed home. Between the three of us, we could write our own life together. Maybe I could even stay close to home.
I looked up to the rising light.
“One more day!”

Klein :

The mountains of gear and equipment around us were illuminated by harsh flood lights. We stood in formation with each person, regardless of species, showing physical signs of exhaustion. Drooping shoulders and bent knees, unfocused and slow eye movement.
Instructor Li’kele was wearing full battle rattle today, complete with a compact lasrifle holstered to her leg.
“Good morning applicants! It’s the last day of selection! Your assignment will be to support your sisters in the combat section in the wargames! You see all this critical equipment? Our first assignment will be to load all of it on auto-turoxes and hover-wagons. Unfortunately we don’t have enough capacity , some of you will need to carry gear on your person as we make the [ten mile] trek into the forest. Applicants 849, 734, 236 and 953 step up after we finish loading! You are our extra carriers.”
I knew I was going to be picked. It was easy to not let it bother me though. Reqellia had explained that the instructors were just trying to push us to our limits, and every extra duty and handicap meant a better contract with a brighter future.
Still, after hefting thousands of [pounds/kilos] of stuff onto the squat legged drone’s cargo cages and the little platforms that would float once powered, dread formed in the pit of my stomach as an entire counter-battery system was cinched onto my person. I trudged as we formed up for our road march.
The combat selection team rolled in as we took positions, already covered in mud from what I could guess was their own morning fun, their las-rifles at the low ready. Their own instructor, a severe looking Hyena-like Kortika woman with fur that trimmed short and smooth. She yelled out orders to the gaggle of applicants under her command. “Form on either side of the supply train and defend them at all costs! If they get shot because you weren’t doing your job, then it’s your ass that will be carrying the extra gear!”
We marched out of the base, clinking and clunking as we traveled uphill. The weight wasn’t too bad now that it was evenly distributed on my body, but it would be hell taking it off and putting it back on anytime we stopped.
“Isn’t that the new shock trooper ? What’s he doing with the non-combat selection?” I heard one of the combat applicants say idly. It was easy to pick up conversation in the nearly silent dawn as we marched on a dirt path extending across an expanse of grassland in the reddening sky. It was really pretty, watching the light play on the green forested hills in the distance.
Their Instructor sidled up to the commenting girl silently, ears swiveled back in anger. She grabbed her shoulder, growling low. “Cut the chatter, girl. ”
Silence followed for the next hour in the pre-dawn light.
We got the first taste of the wargames when red beams bolted over our heads and dropped one of our auto-turoxes. “Everyone get down!” yelled one of our instructors, and I threw myself on the path.
With all the weight on me, the impact on the ground hurt . I looked up and saw red beams blink in and out over me. Their flashes brought back memories.
The red glow through convenience store windows . An alien invasion.
I blinked furiously and turned my head to see what was going on with the combat teams on the sides of the road. They had already taken out two of the ‘raiders’ who stood up, hands in the air as they walked away. Another minute clicked by before a squad decided to double check the tall grass and found a third raider hiding. All had the insignia of the instruction cadre commandos.
“Everyone, up !” Instructor Lik’ele belted out in a two-word shout, and I had to push up off the ground, creaking under the weight. My arms burned as I got to my knees, then raised a hand and called out, “assistance!” One of the unnumbered girls gave me a hand to steady myself, and I rocked a bit trying to stand.
“Thank you,” I said, but between the voice distorter and my mask, the girl backed away as soon as I was up, fear registered in her eyes.
[At the bus stop, a classmate backed away from me. scared of me for some reason mumbling ‘you're bleeding’. Warmth on my upper lip, a coppery taste.]

I shook my head, trying to banish the weird memory surfacing, I hadn’t had a nosebleed since I left Earth. I looked back up, but the girl had already gotten back in formation and we started moving again.
It wasn’t quite noon when we stopped for lunch. I got help removing my kit, and stretched to work out the kinks. Reqellia stood next to me as I sat down on the hard packed surface. I took off my gloves, and jammed them under my chest holster.
I was technically ‘armed’ right now. We had gotten the thirty-minute las-pistol training yesterday on how to safely handle them, and then ran through a quick range. They were nothing more than glorified laser pointers though. They could lock up a suit set to respond to the laser signal, but they wouldn’t so much as redden skin otherwise.
Reqellia had let me in on their real purpose, to see if we could be trusted with a dangerous object and not play with it.
Eating was a pain, I had to lift my mask halfway up and eat blind. The meal pack was cold, but eh, it was food. Goddess, I was hungry.
“How are you holding up?” Reqellia asked, the silver mask obscuring any expression, and the voice distorter deadening any intonation, but by the angle of the head tilt, I could guess the question was more concern than curiosity.
“It’s not too heavy, but it’s awkward trying to move around,” I admitted as I put my mask back in place and pulled out my omni-pad. I tried not to boggle at the contract offers I was getting. It was a straight up bidding war, including furnished houses, years of leave after an initial stint, even minor titles.
Ruhal had helped me, even filled out the forms himself with less than a day for submission. He had also messaged me about the fine print of many of these absurd offers. The watch word was ‘Relocation’.
“They will send you back to Earth. Right now, you are the only human any department can recruit who might know an obscure piece of human signage or culture that got skipped during their culture crash courses, has the physical ability to keep up during an operation, and they can implicitly trust it is loyal to the Imperium.”
I scrolled past the too-good-to-be true proposals and to the ones without relocation, not ridiculously overpaying, but still plenty. Maybe I would follow Ka’tel into ICAD, or…
“We need to get moving!” Li’kele barked and I signaled for help again. This time Au’tes was ordered to help me with my gear. Now seeing her up close, she was definitely worse for wear. She smiled, but it was the kind of tired smile that had almost no energy in it. Her usual well controlled movements were slurred by exhaustion, and she leaned on me after buckling the packs on my shoulders, her own extra gear was a large backpack of energy cells.
“Damn, girl runs away in fear from combat selection after spending years in the militia and now plays valet. Bet whatever is underneath that suit is more would eat her alive if unmuzzled,” I overheard one of the combat applicants snicker. Au’tes winced, just a bit, at the barb from her former youth militia group.
“Lift your visor.” I said. It was dumb, it was really dumb, but I wanted to give her at least a reminder of what she had that they didn’t. Au’tes had a flicker of confusion, but flipped up the visor on her suit’s helmet.
I lifted my mask just enough to kiss her. It was honestly a gross kiss and wished I could have brushed my teeth beforehand. But when I dropped my mask down there was the manic Au’tes again, full of energy and gusto. I looked past her to the shocked combat applicants. I put my finger to roughly where my mouth was and whispered in my distorted voice, “No one will believe you.”
Au’tes brought her visor down and squeezed my hand for a second longer before leaning in close “Thank you for letting me know you still exist under there.

Reqellia:

The dirt trail up the hill was easy enough for my legs. I stayed in the same general area as Klein, but with my augments I already had his pinpoint location and medical data, I could even access his helmet camera. I didn’t want to get in his way while the instructors gave him snap secondary tasks to complete on our journey up to the outpost location.
I kept myself entertained by listening in on the comms chatter that I could pick up on the wargames going on about us at large. I had enjoyed playing the no-holds-barred opposing force when I was a commando on rotation here.
Right now there was a particularly fun little drama going on up north of our location. A mechanized assault unit tasked with taking out an anti-orbital battery got one of their exos stuck in mud because of a poor assessment of the ground composition. The armored crane they had first ordered to pull it out was now also stuck.
The Lieutenant was trying to get an exception to the wargame rules to bring a drop ship in to pull them both out, but the higher-ups told her to figure it out. The whole point of these wargames was to discover how things could go wrong. The Lieutenant tried to pull title to overrule them, only to get a nasty conversation from her commander.
A small beep from my monitoring systems told me Klein’s heart rate had slowed and I looked up to see the front of the supply train had been ordered to halt. Up ahead was the “fort,” a clearing on top of the hill with nothing but some half buried holes.
The Kortika woman got to the front of the formation and gave her orders. “Listen up! Combat selection is going to set up a perimeter while the Auxiliary builds us a structure safe enough to hold during an assault. All weapons are going ‘live’, but for those in the non-combat teams I will again warn you to only use them in self-defense. If you wanted to shoot people for a living you should have signed up for it.”
I tried not to flinch as I watched Klein and his compatriots start to offload all the gear they had packed this morning and attempt their best effort at setting it up with basic instructions from Li’kele and the manuals that came with the equipment. Just another test to see how the applicants would handle the technical situation.
At this point they were at their limit, physically and mentally exhausted as they tried to bolt frames together, wrestle antennas, install expandable barriers, and put together the foundations of a forward operating base.
Klein had all but given up on the counter battery system he schlepped here and handed that responsibility off to a Senthe Boy while speaking a rough northern dialect of Satenthia. The boy was more than happy to talk to someone who knew even a few words of his native tongue.
I opened a small window on my HUD and watched with amusement as the early contract offers rose and fell. Klein’s offer from naval engineering, already paltry compared to other, more suitable jobs, dropped to barely above standard. Intelligence and Law branches, however, rocketed upwards again.
I could almost hear the recruiter’s comments as the numbers and terms changed. Does not have familiarity with Shil military equipment. Comfortable with speaking multiple languages. Works well with multiple species.
I watched them work. Klein, in usual Klein fashion, pushed himself. After getting the counter battery laser hooked up, he volunteered for other physically demanding tasks. Pile driving in the foundations that hold the columns of the structure. The rhythmic thump gave me ghost aches when I had done the same thing out in the periphery while getting pot shotted by roaches.
I shook my head. It was going to be another rough night for him by the way he was bunching up his shoulders as he braced the handheld pile driver. Thankfully, tomorrow he’d be home and with an appointment with Cee who might force him on bed rest for the next month.
I started to chuckle at the thought of how protective Itaro was going to get after taking one look at Klein. I came back from deployment once missing three fingers from a plasma grenade and Bahtet waited on me and foot, wouldn’t so much as let me handle a kitchen knife until they were replaced later that month.
A few stray red beams were thrown our way, even a flash bang or two from the commandos tasked with harassing us came and went. As the ramparts of the temporary base were finished, I took up station on the second level to oversee the whole complex. Klien was working with a combat team, helping them put a second defense line in. They had driven stakes into the ground to support parallel knee-high thermocast plates with an arms-length gap between them, which Klein was filling in with dirt to act as a wall and platform for the heavy, crew served lasgun.
I was thankful there would be a shuttle to pick us up soon. I played the opposing force for Selection a few times, and I still remembered the script. Right now we were in a lull that would last until dusk, then at least three full commando teams would assault the base. The battle would be made as realistic and demanding as possible with creeping dark to add to the complexity.
The Selection team would always be wiped out, but it was how they performed against overwhelming odds that would shift the contract offers that last bit before everything was locked in place.
I heard the whirr of a counter battery system swiveling around, and then the crackle of it firing. I turned to see what it was aiming for but all I saw was a cloud of smoke . Then a fast moving object came through the cloud before I heard the crackle again and another exploded .
Blanketing everything in a tar-black fog .
My stomach dropped. This wasn’t the cadre commando team, and they were attacking too soon. I got on the comms with Li’kele “HALT, HALT, HALT! We need to stop the exercise!”
I got a crackle on the comms. Then Li’kele’s voice came in that terrifyingly calm voice used to keep control of a combat operation. “I can’t get a signal out, I need a report on the situation.”
Instead of trying to explain I sent her my video feed as I jumped down from the ramparts and started to sprint for Klein. I needed to get him out of here , but I hadn’t had time to prime my augments. I started the cold power cycle as I cursed myself for letting my guard down.
I was already too late . I watched as our own counter-battery laser weapons were used against us, acting as the triggers for each smoke grenade engulfing Klein’s team right in front of me, their signal dropping right out. I got a response from Li’kele that alleviated at least some of my terror. “Dammit! It’s the 171 st Raiders from the wargames, they mus-”
And then I was enveloped in darkness and static. The smoke was so thick I could only see a few paces away in all spectrums. I tried my internal radio and….
Nothing. I was alone and with nothing to guide me, and then I saw to the right of me a few weak beams of red, and then a ball of light of a simulated explosion. I let my gnawing panic subside and walked their way with a observers flag in my hand. I was practically on top of them before I saw the combat selection team that had been ‘killed’, their frowning faces and hands up as they sat there grumbling.
The Raiders appeared soon after. A four woman squad. Two Helkam, a Rakiri, and a Shil’vati hefting a large antiquated grenade launcher. I called out “Do you have a way to call a emergency stop to the battle?”
The squad leader responded. “Did someone get seriously injured? I can fire off a flare and our medic teams will be here to extract them.”
“No! This is Selection, we aren’t supposed to be part of the Wargames.” I argued, but she waved me off.
“We got orders to assault the base up here. Trust me, our commander is mighty pissed at getting tasked with a frontal assault on the youngest and toughest the Imperium has to offer, with adding insult to injury if we lose to kids. That’s why we broke out the smoke screen.”
“One of the Selection members is the first of their species. Higher ups want them monitored at all times,” I partly lied.
The gears whirred and the team lead brought her weapon up again, eyes a little wider. “ Blue Eyes is here? Shit, girls ready up and head on a swivel!”
The team reformed in a circle facing outwards, a tactic specifically meant for ambushes and roach suicide drones. I stood there, confused. “Blue eyes?”
The team lead started to move into the smoke again, but explained, her eyes darting around. “Yeah, the freaky creature in the mask, toyed with an unmanned Exo before annihilating it with a shipcutter! A close quarters combat specialist with heavy armor and a real mean streak . You’re telling me they’re loose in a forest with enough concealment to sneak up on us and tear us to shreds? Ma’am the only ones in immediate danger are us. ”

Posted in relationship advice also, but I feel that this sub attracts a more mature/goal oriented set of advice! I love my husband and he is amazing + my best friend. I am looking for proactive tips to help us communicate through this issue.
My (F31) husband (M33) and I disagree on when it is appropriate to share contact info with the opposite sex. When is it appropriate to share contact info?
As the title says, my husband and I have had a long standing issue with making boundaries around exchanging contact info with the opposite sex. I told him I was making this post to get insight from other people since he keeps saying what other men are ok/not ok with.
BACKSTORY (skip if short on time): 1. When we first got together—I mean within the first two weeks of him and I meeting—I went to a work conference and got the number of a male coworker from a different location who was grouped up with our location so we could all go out as a group for dinner that night. We chatted a bit (maybe two weeks) after the conference via text until I noticed the vibes were off and I stopped responding. This was almost seven years ago and my husband still brings this up frequently whenever a new, opposite gender scenario arises.

1. Last year I was outside and noticed my neighbor who we have lived next to for a few years but never talked to was outside. We have noticed before that they are our age but had never talked to them. I was free that day and had a wild hair up my butt so I decided to introduce myself and my husband (he wasn’t there but I told the neighbor about us both). We chatted for a bit and he showed me a project he was working on in his backyard. We talked about similar hobbies and he asked for my number so we could all get together sometime. We exchanged contact info and when I told my husband (I was all excited that I finally talked to the elusive neighbor we always saw but never interacted with) he was furious and said I was extremely disrespectful and no man would be ok with his partner giving their number to a stranger and on the reverse the male neighbor would have known that asking for a married woman’s number was disrespectful. I was baffled because I truly just was excited to finally meet the neighbor and maybe know some people in our neighborhood.

CURRENT SITUATION: I recently picked up a part time job in the outdoor industry for the summer. There was a week of intensive training with all of the new hires (12 hour grueling days of physical activity—“hell week” as they call it). Understandably, all of the trainees got close from this within the week. Being a male dominated industry, there were more men than women in the training group.
One of the men shared a similar hobby as my husband and I (let’s call it “bird watching” for anonymity). Every time it was brought up in conversation, I mentioned my husband, and even throughout the week I brought up my husband in various conversation.
At the end of the training, as we were saying our goodbyes, the bird watcher asked me for my number so him, my husband, and I could go bird watching over the summer together. Remembering that my husband asked me not to give my number to men, I instead asked him for his number and did not give him mine. That evening I came home and excitedly told my husband about meeting another bird watcher and told him that even though he asked for my number I did not give it to him but instead got his number! (I thought this was a win and I did a good job respecting his boundary). He acknowledged it but didn’t say much and the conversation moved on naturally.
The next morning, he brought up me getting the guys number and said it was disrespectful to our relationship and the boundaries he set. He brought up the two aforementioned situations above and again said no man would be ok with their partner exchanging contact info with strangers. He said he doesn’t need me to get friends for him and that I should think it is suspicious the man asked for my number and not the other women in our training group (I don’t know if he did or not) since I was closer in age to this man. I also am above average attractive (I’m not trying to be conceited I’m just trying to include the facts). My husband frequently points out that men will treat me differently because of this and i need to be aware of that (I can’t help genetics, though, and sometimes feel like I now have an extra burden on my shoulders due to being conventionally attractive)
I am extremely outgoing and my partner is not. To me, I am open to hanging out with anyone who wants to hangout! The man was fully aware this would involve my husband and I and we go bird watching almost every weekend so I figured we could just text this guy to meet up with us every now and then.
What do you think Reddit? What are some boundaries you have in your relationship about this? I don’t want to be disrespectful to my husband, but I also feel like he doesn’t trust my discretion.

TL;DR Chapter preface.
1 Team spirit and perseverance to overcome injuries and the collective effort to win
2 Carlo’s coaching what’s best for the club and not his style adapting against the opponent
3 How ancelotti built the team around the regista - Toni kroos
4 Dortmund’s run to the final and tactics
5 Real Madrid don’t play finals they win them. The unique decades long tradition that will make Madrid win the champions league.
1.
I wanted to take a moment before the final to write about our season. I have written about our previous two knockout ties against city and Bayern but now we have finally arrived to the summit of our season and the summit of a Real Madrid team which we won’t see in the same way without our maestro and conductor - Toni Kroos.
I’m sure a lot of our fans would agree that if you would had to tell me at the start of the season after losing our starting GK and 2 CBs to ACLs (unprecedented in its own regard) and lose the likes of Vini, Tchou and Camavinga for long stretches that we would win the league dominantly with 95 points by over performing our expected XG and reach the champions league final - I would ask you to put down the crack.
But yet here we are almost 9 months later ready to compete to win our 15th what a privilege for our fans to witness this moment. In an interview recently after eliminating Bayern, Carlo said that this was the best group of players he has ever managed. The fact that he said that having coached the likes of legends in Madrid and Milan of the past speaks volumes of the perseverance and team spirit we have shown this season. The team like he said “never complained” and worked hard to overcome all the obstacles thrown at us. We only lost once in the league against atletico and that loss opened our eyes on what we had to fix defensively when we realised we we weren’t defending well from our right side having conceded from crosses. The tweaks made whether it was getting Fede to be more of a defensive workhouse, getting Vini to play centrally, asking Jude to play the free 10 role or making rodrygo and Vini interchange from the left. These are not easy things to do and players need time to adapt but this team has done a momentous job shifting from a 4-3-3 and adapting to a diamond 4-3-1-2 or rather a 4-4-2, and playing for the needs of the team.

1. This is where I would like to talk about Ancelotti and his ability to manage based on what the club needs rather than his own personal style. The reason why Madrid are historically successful is because they don’t have a “style” they adapt and have the clutch factor to win when it matters and achieve the unprecedented.

Managers like pep are positionist and rely heavily on rehearsed plays that hinder the expression of freedom from players. Real and Carlo as of late have always been relationist allowing for a flow or mixture and adaptation. Against city we had to play a mid block in the first leg and stop their build up before they can push into our box to force them wide. In the second leg after scoring we had to play a low block for 60 mins to stop them from scoring. These are examples of a team and manager synchronised in the approach that they must do whatever to win. Carlo spoke about when they played De Zerbi’s shakhtar and not pressing them allowed them to get the ball and beat them 5-0. It our ability to adapt in the moment that allows us to overcome our opponent even if the chips are down.

1. Carlo spoke of his regret when he coached Parma and had the opportunity to sign baggio who was a 10 and one on the best players in the world then, but Carlo refused to sign him because he was adamant to play with 2 strikers. When he coached juventus he realised the importance of incorporating a certain Zinedine Zidane as the central figure of the team.

Those who remember his Milan team played a similar diamond with CFs and a roaming cam in the likes of Kaka who was the main man scoring goals at a ridiculous rate, very similar to Jude this season a lot of people would say that he was the focal point of that team but in reality it was the “regista” in Pirlo who conducted that Milan team and everything was built around how Pirlo dictated the play. And that is why I would like to highlight that our team is built around the irreplaceable Toni Kroos, our regista who conducts and orchestrates the play. It is why we have been successful not just with the system this year but the past decade. Kroos is a unicorn who is capable of escaping pressure and finding the right passes without being over indulgent to a fault like Barca or pep. Kroos’ impact in the final will be monumental and it is only fitting for a legend like him to bow out with a champions league trophy.

1. I think we can all agree that when you look at our side of the bracket in our run of the champions league, every team in our bracket would mop the floor with the teams in dortmund’s side of the bracket. I’m not saying Dortmund don’t deserve to be in the final they have earned to be there playing a defensive approach that sees the entire team defend when they need to. They have fast paced dribblers in sancho and adeyemi and a physical box presence in fullcrug. Their centre backs rank the highest in long ball passes in Europe and they play in quick transitions like a German team. They’ve shown resilience to overcome their opponents but let’s not forget they did top the group of death and that is no coincidence. Upon watching their games I think the one that impressed me the most was their win against atletico at home. They have qualities to cause us problem so we should be vary of how we approach them.

What troubled us against leipzig was when they played to clog us centrally and cause us issues in turnovers. Against Bayern in the first leg we didn’t acclimatise to the width their wingers found to score. My only worry remains our aerial and set pieces defence with the likes of a physical target man like fullcrug supplied by pace around him we need to be careful but I’m sure Carlo and co are well prepared and I trust the team handles this Dortmund side and take them to task.

1. I want to talk about the aura of Madrid in finals and how “Real Madrid don’t play finals, they win them”. Some of you may be supporting them for the first time in a final while for some they may have lost track. Personally this will be the sixth time I will be watching them play the champions league final and in my heart I know we will win it. Real humility lies in accepting that your opponent can beat you even if you are the favourite but Real perseverance lies in knowing that we will never give up no matter what. That is forever ingrained in me from 10 years ago when Sergio Ramos equalised in 92:48 to make us destroy atletico 4-1. I have since watched us win from going behind early on, winning in penalties and brutally destroying our opponents. Just like Carlo says I cannot explain what it is but there is something special about this club, it’s the winning dna, the spirit of juanito the comeback mentality, the myth and legend of this club and shirt that allows us to transcend and excel.

If you believe that there is something special about this club then you will know that we will win tonight. A year ago I’ll never forget how low I felt as a fan when we lost 4-0 to city. We have come a long way since then and a long way in this tournament getting revenge against city and beating Bayern Munich. We have come a long way to this final to lose against a side like Dortmund. And I will back my statement by pointing out a unique tradition that sees us always winning the champions league whenever we eliminate the reigning champions.
We have ALWAYS eliminated the title holders in the UCL era whenever we have faced them in the knockout rounds. And guess what ? Each time that happens we go on to win the champions league!
1998 - Dortmund in SF agg (2-0) we Win the UCL
2000 - Manchester United in QF agg (3-2) we Win the UCL
2002- Bayern Munich in QF agg (3-2) we Win the UCL
2014- PEP’S Bayern Munich in SF agg (5-0) we Win the UCL
2022- Chelsea in QF agg (5-4) we Win the UCL
2024 - Man City in QF … ⏳
So Madridistas I would like to end this reflection by saying that no matter what I am super proud of what we have achieved this season it is the culmination and the complete rebuild of Madrid that will never stop winning.
HASTA EL FINAL, VAMOS REAL!

Decided to take a slow journey home via train after a musical on a Saturday night. While waiting for the train on the platform, I noticed a dad and two of his kids behind me. I wasn’t expecting to get a seat on the train but turns out there was one seat available. A man from the other door was approaching the seat when he saw me moving towards it and he gestured for me to take the seat instead.
I nodded to thank him and as I moved closer to the seat, one of the kids cut in from behind me and dashed towards the seat. The dad said something along the lines of “good job”. I was quite surprised as the dad probably saw that I was going towards the seat seeing that I was the first to step into the train cabin.
At the next station, the left seat next to the ‘stolen’ one freed up and the dad pulled his other kid to take a seat. First kid starts saying she doesn’t want to sit. Dad takes her place instead.
Next station, the right seat next to the stolen seat frees up and dad pulls the first kid to sit despite her saying again “I don’t want to sit”.
The whole entire time I was moving front and back thinking I could finally sit (I was wearing heels, purely my choice and they were not uncomfortable but I could use a seat) but they essentially monopolized three seats.
Overall, I was just so shocked at how selfish and inconsiderate they were considering that they probably saw me make the move for seats multiple times + the first kid didn’t want to sit!! I kept side eyeing them but they just acted like they didn’t do anything.
Question to parents - what’s the appropriate etiquette taught to your kids on public transport and what’s your role as a parent? Keen to hear if anyone else experienced something similar as well.

This was originally posted to shortstories
The frigid wind whipped across Marko's face as he trudged through the knee-deep snow. His numb fingers clutching the straps of his backpack. The storm had hit three days ago, and he was no closer to finding shelter than when he'd started. His food supplies were dwindling. The cold was seeping into his bones like a relentless, icy specter.
"Should've listened to the weatherman," Marko muttered, his chapped lips going numb. He squinted against the blinding white landscape, searching for any sign of life. Any glimmer of hope.
As he pushed forward, his mind wandered to the events that had led him here. The hiking trip had been a spur-of-the-moment decision. It was a chance to escape the suffocating reality of his failing marriage and dead-end job. He'd packed light, assuming he'd be back in a few days. Now, as the storm raged on, he realized the gravity of his mistake.
A dark shape appeared on the horizon, breaking the monotony of the endless white. Marko's heart leaped, and he quickened his pace. He ignored the burning in his lungs and the numbness in his limbs. As he drew closer, the shape resolved into a small, dilapidated cabin. The roof sagging under the weight of the snow.
Marko stumbled to the door, his hands shaking as he fumbled with the latch. To his surprise, it opened, revealing a dusty interior cast in shadow. He stepped inside, grateful for the reprieve from the biting wind.
The cabin was sparse, with a single room containing a rickety table, a chair, and a small fireplace. Marko dropped his backpack and moved to the fireplace. His eyes widened when he saw the pile of dry firewood stacked beside it.
"Hello?" he called out, his voice hoarse from disuse. "Is anyone here?"
Silence answered him, broken only by the howling of the wind outside. Marko shrugged and set to work building a fire, his fingers clumsy and uncooperative. After several attempts, a small flame flickered to life, casting a warm glow across the room.
As the fire grew, Marko's gaze fell on the table, where a piece of paper lay, weighted down by a small, rusted key. He picked up the note, his brow furrowing as he read the words scrawled in a shaky hand: "You'll need this. Trust me."
Marko turned the key over in his palm, a sense of unease growing in the pit of his stomach. He glanced around the cabin, aware of how isolated he was. Miles from civilization in a raging blizzard.
A soft scratching sound drew his attention to the far wall, where a small door was set into the wood. Marko approached it, the key heavy in his hand. He fitted it into the lock, and with a soft click, the door swung open, revealing a narrow passageway.
Marko hesitated, his heart pounding in his chest. The passage was dark, the air heavy with the scent of earth and decay. Every instinct screamed at him to turn back, to barricade the door and wait out the storm. But something else, a whisper in the back of his mind, urged him forward.
He took a deep breath and stepped into the passage, the darkness enveloping him like a shroud. The tunnel seemed to go on forever, twisting and turning like the gnarled roots of an ancient tree. Marko's breathing echoed in the confined space. It mingled with the soft drip of water and the scurrying of unseen creatures.
As he was about to turn back, the passage opened into a small chamber, lit by a flickering torch set into the wall. In the center of the room stood a stone pedestal, upon which rested a small, ornate box.
Marko approached the pedestal, his hand trembling as he reached for the box. As his fingers brushed the cool metal, a voice spoke from the shadows, making him whirl around in surprise.
"I wondered when you'd arrive," the voice said, low and rasping. A figure stepped into the light, an old man with a long, white beard and piercing blue eyes. "I've been waiting for you, Marko."
Marko stared at the man, his mind reeling. "How do you know my name?" he asked.
The old man smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "I know many things," he said, moving to stand beside Marko. "I know why you're here, and I know what you seek."
He gestured to the box, his gnarled fingers brushing the intricate carvings. "This box contains the key to your survival," he said, his voice taking on a grave tone. "The path ahead is treacherous, filled with trials that will test your mind, body, and spirit."
Marko swallowed hard, his mouth dry. "What kind of trials?" he asked, his voice trembling.
The old man shook his head, his eyes filled with a deep sadness. "I cannot say," he replied, his voice soft. "But know this, Marko. The choices you make from this moment on will determine not only your fate but the fate of all those you hold dear."
With that, the old man stepped back, fading into the shadows as if he had never been there at all. Marko stood alone in the chamber, the box heavy in his hands. The weight of the old man's words settling on his shoulders like a burden.
He took a deep breath and opened the box, his heart pounding in his chest. Inside, nestled on a bed of velvet, lay a small, golden compass, its needle spinning. Marko lifted it from the box, feeling a strange warmth emanating from the metal.
As he watched, the needle slowed, coming to rest on a single point. North. The direction of home, of safety, of all the things he had left behind.
Marko closed his eyes, feeling a sense of calm wash over him. He knew the path ahead would be difficult, that the trials the old man spoke of would push him to his limits. But he also knew that he had no choice but to face them head-on. Fight for his survival and for the chance to make things right.
With a determined nod, Marko slipped the compass into his pocket. He turned back to the passage, ready to face whatever lay ahead. The storm outside raged on. Inside, a flicker of hope burned bright, guiding him forward into the unknown.

I’d like to start with saying, I am not a feminist and I don’t believe in emasculating men. So please keep that in mind here!
My son‘s dad has recently been spending more time at our house. He used to only visit for a couple of hours, but lately has been spending more time here staying in our basement guestroom. Over the last two years I have noticed urine all over the bathroom floor, splattered on the floor, and on my son’s step stool. The 1st to 5th time I cleaned it up and didn’t say anything. After that, I started to say something because it bothered me and it smelled. This is where my guests also use the bathroom I’d be mortified if they saw this accidentally. So I stopped cleaning it up right away and asked him to do it. 50% of the time I ended up having to clean it up anyway, because he didn’t do it properly.
By the 10th to 15th time, I asked if he would try sitting on the toilet. He said sure. He did it maybe once or twice and then started standing and peeing on the floor again. At this point, it had become a point of tension.
[ Side note: I am a very tidy person. My house is always clean and I spend a lot of time and energy keeping it that way. Even with a toddler, who understands cleaning up after himself. I usually don’t have to ask my son to do it either, and he doesn’t fight when I do ask.]
At this point, it feels disrespectful to me and our home. I have brought it up to him at least 30 times now. In total, it’s probably happened at least 50 times over the past two years. When he left this morning, I just sent three images instead of sending an annoyed text message. I then said, ”At what # ask should I be fed up? And what are the other options are there to deal with this situation?” He claims he will sit moving forward. He is not a tall guy. I really do not understand how this keeps happening. I have reached a point that this is really affecting my mental state, as ridiculous as that sounds. I don’t feel I should be cleaning up the urine of an almost 50-year-old man. I don’t even have to do that for a three year old. What should I do? AITAH?

• Stop living for others, stop dedicating yourself to others so much that somewhere your identity is lost.
• Problem with today's generation woman is we are competing with man in every field and trying to be like a man and prove our points.
• Understand if we 2 (man and woman) are made differently, we are different and that small difference is beautiful and much needed.
• We are trying too hard to be like man in the name of feminism.
• Now a days, woman are working but how many of us take this as a responsibility or this is just an option or you just want to be someone's responsibility?
  • Why a job should be treated as a responsibility?
    • This is bread and butter for our living and that's the very basic necessity.
  • Why job can't be treated as optional?
    • basic necessities are for survival, and you just can't rely on others to fulfill your basic necessities. If you are dependent, there are chances the giver will leave you and you need to keep looking for the next one.
• It's always better to be ambitious, build up yourself and live of your own and be least to no dependent on others.
• We are responsible to trigger Domestic violence
  • Where you don't respect yourself, don't expect people will respect you either.
  • What is self-respect?
    • Respecting your existence, not to beg before anyone instead earn for yourself.
    • Respecting your talents, not to keep on competing with every other person that's where you are disrespecting yourself and your talents too.
    • Respect your body, only right in your body is yours not others. Don't allow everyone to have a control over your body.
    • Get ready for yourself, groom however you feel like but just for yourself not for others.
  • We are too much busy impressing others, especially guys instead please impress yourself.
• Now a days things are turning really in some other direction,
  • we dress up for guys,
  • our body gesture is for guys,
  • our language accent is for guys
  • we maintain standard of living just for guys.
  • Even we are not leaving a stone unturn to harass other woman in front of guys by commenting on their body, dressing style, makeup and this we just do to prove that we are better than her.
    • What brand products the other person is using she know it all.
    • What kind of brazier, one should wear all came to give suggestion. Having no knowledge about the product at all, do you really feel anyone will go for your suggestion dear
    • Giving makeup suggestion and having no knowledge on why do we need makeup in certain areas of our face.
    • All this signs are of jealousy and competition. And the strange part is we are stuck here only and can't step out of our physical existence and do something really fruitful.
    • Do you think, guys will be impressed by all this?
  • We are looking for appreciation only from guys.
• Can you find yourself here in the above points, which means we are over respecting guys and under respecting ourselves and root reason for everything is money.
• Respect yourself and then only someone will respect you

Hi all,
Just wanted to give you a heads up that I have a Limited Summer Collection release today, which includes my Wild Collection and some returning summer scents (and one new GC!). I am only able to do a limited amount of these (except the new GC) so when they sell out , that will be it! The Language of Flowers Collection, however, I will continue to restock indefinitely.
WILLOW WAXCRAFT SHOP
Here is the lineup!
AULD LANG SYNE Reminders of days gone by: strawberry jam filled breakfast pastries, wooden game tiles, pecan pie, and fields of dangerously sweet purple flowers.
ANIMAL ARMY A technicolor blend of ripe passion fruit pulp, pineapple juice, mango, coconut milk, sea salt and sour gummy candy with a faint whiff of ozone.
BIRDIE'S HOUSE Mama smelled like peaches. Bergamot, a steaming cup of green tea, peach nectar and osmanthus, grounded with secrets hidden in a warm, dusty attic.
THE LAST MEN They’re already extinct. They just don’t want to admit it. Burning embers, charred resins, smoked lavender, sage, gunpowder, and birch leaf.
OUT OF THE DEEP WOODS Take the first step into a new world, with new friends to guide the way: prickly pear, Calypso orchid, juniper berry, fresh cucumber, warm earth, evergreens.
A VERY SPECIAL BOY Part deer. Part boy. All hope. His story begins with warm maple wood and leaves, a worn flannel shirt, caramel apples, and maple syrup, on a soft bed of ambrette seed musk.
YOU ARE WELCOME HERE A safe haven from the crumbling world outside: Lush greenery, golden mimosa, lime blossom, petitgrain, tomato leaf, and carrot seed.
RAINBOW SPRINKLES In the backyard, leaping through the sprinkler, watching rainbows shimmer through the cold sweetwater. Wild strawberries, green apple, and pear blossom grounded by wet grass, moss, and clover with a comforting whisper of line dried linens.
WATERFALL HIKE A cool forest walk to a hidden woodland waterfall- crushed fir needle, cedar, flowing water, with the dark berry and green leaf shading of Siberian Rhododendron.
WAVE POOL ‘92 Let go and let the waves carry you to the deep end of the perfect, carefree summer day- pool water, salty skin and sunscreen, soft baked pretzels, cotton candy, and waffle cones piled high with vanilla soft serve.
CITY BLOCK PARTY Step outside, meet the neighbors. Cola on the front steps, gas exhaust and motor oil, green peeking through sidewalk cracks, and the ozonic rumble of an approaching rainstorm.
TROUBLE IN PARADISE (ORIGINALLY FALLOWEEN, SWITCHING TO SUMMER!) You have the map to the hidden rainforest ruins, where X marks the location of a rare, sparkling emerald. But shady jewel thieves are hot on your trail! Who will find the treasure first? A sudden tropical rainstorm, frozen pineapple, Ginger Co2, bergamot, bittersweet tamarind, and glowing green musk.
BEYOND THE INVISIBLE (NEW GENERAL CATALOG) Golden sandalwood, benzoin resin, oud, rose, soft patchouli musk, and a delicate, misty veil of rain.
I also have a new Volume in The Library of Scent! This Volume can be found in the 478 nonfiction section of the library on June 1st, under the subject heading:
LATIN patchouli, rosemary, basil, dried fruit, pomegranate, olive, cinnamon, incense, rose
I took Latin for 3 years in high school (can't remember much except licetne mihi ire ad latrinam si placet :) This scent is inspired by materials that ancient Romans may have used for perfume (per fumum= through smoke). Starting June 1st through June 30th, use code LATIN for $4.50 off your purchase of $40.00+

I’m trying to make sense about an accommodations denial that I received and I would appreciate anyone’s input or suggestions on the matter. (small note: for context, I consider myself fairly new to the whole accommodations thing still, and I hadn’t had comprehensive healthcare until I was an adult; I didn’t even know what academic accommodations were until well after high school.)
I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and PTSD after an extremely traumatic incident years ago, as well as adult ADHD. Years worth of documentation for all from my doctor. I requested extra time to mitigate my symptoms that impair me in the middle of an exam (note to everyone: believe me when I say I wish I didn’t have the attention span of a goldfish and wouldn’t internally freak out and buckle in the middle of an exam due to my ailments. I wish I was more normal.)
The bar’s expert consultant who reviewed my request: agreed with PTSD and anxiety, but did not agree with the ADHD diagnosis that a recent psychologist concluded after weeks of testing. The consultant also disagreed for some reasons which were covered in my original packet, yet he used these reasons as proof for his belief that I don’t have ADHD which makes me think he didn’t even fully read my file? For example: not having testing/signs before I was 16 … I covered the reasons for this in my PS; many other things too). Never mind that I’ve been through therapy and have been medicated for ADHD (on addictive substances, for that matter) for over a decade — the consultant doesn’t believe it. Everyone else for a decade has been wrong, and the consultant is correct … what?
So, with the anxiety and PTSD, the consultant provided me with only stop-the-clock breaks to use to manage my symptoms throughout the test and cannot use this time for testing. The consultant did not provide me with extra exam time due to my application and diagnoses/symptoms “not providing enough evidence of functional impairment due to the diagnoses” …… but the evidence is there?
What am I supposed to do with these accommodations? Raise my hand every few minutes and request a pause? Wouldn’t this realistically distract other test takers too? I received extra time in college, on the LSAT, GMAT, law school, and even the MPRE (which I didn’t even finish, and which I barely passed). I cannot anticipate when I’m going to become overwhelmed and space out. I cannot estimate when I’m going to need to calm down and collect myself to then orderly schedule these breaks throughout an exam. I suppose this is why my schools, other testing agencies, and the NCBE for the MPRE granted me extra time. However, this one expert consultant believes everyone else was wrong? The solution seems more like a deliberate attempt at not providing extra exam time vs. a practical solution for my verified conditions.
How do I even approach this appeal? I don’t want to be aggressive (for example: you clearly don’t know me as well as my doctors over the past 10+ years; you clearly overlooked XYZ in my PS that clearly speaks to something you highlighted as lacking, yet it was right there for you to see; etc.). So, what exactly do I do? My doctors have known me longer, medicate me, and objectively know me better than this consultant, but this consultant’s finding evidently has more weight. I don’t understand this
Between this, bar prep, and family issues, I have a lot on my plate and idk what to do here. I’m like paralyzed at this point.
If you have any thoughts to make more sense of this or any advice regarding this appeals process, I would really appreciate it. Thank you all.