Is kendall schmidt really girlfriend with jo

I feel like major media outlets have really left out important bits and pieces of the kids’ testimony (not surprising, unfortunately).
I heard Jessica Machado on LTL say that John’s niece said on the stand that the actual fight in Aruba started when Karen was in the kids’ room before the kids went to bed (being used as a babysitter as always), when John came into the kids room sloppy drunk. He started getting on the nephew about using an iPad, and Karen said something like, “he’s just a kid it’s ok,” and John got mad. I’m guessing that’s when John went downstairs in the elevator and Karen came looking for him.
It seems like Karen was always advocating for the kids to have little privileges and stuff; you don’t do that if you don’t care. I’m kind of disappointed to hear that the kids said Karen was nice sometimes and sometimes ignored them — I’m guessing “ignored” is really just her trying to put her foot down and tell John to parent. Sometimes when you’re the more involved one, you want the other parent to step in and step up, but then if they don’t, the kids miss out and the parent who normally does it gets blamed, not the one slacking. I have two dogs with my boyfriend, but if I said I need you to take care of them and give me a break, they wouldn’t get walked or fed. Not maliciously. He just would forget or not do it or not do things the way they like. Not the same as kids, but you get the point.
I also don’t know what the expectations were — she was John’s girlfriend of two years, not wife, not their mom — and she did so much more than most girlfriends ever would. It’s just really bothering me how she’s being portrayed. It’s okay for her to want time off from them sometimes. Anyone else feeling people and John’s family and niece and nephew are being pretty unfair with their expectations?

Wouldn't it be better to admit what happened? If you go to jail, you are still living, right? Escaping, hiding, eluding, really doesn't look good for you either way. Traveling to a country doesn't stop you from being apprehended. They have international FBI. You would be extradited back to the United States. What's actually worse in this situation is you leaving causing undue stress on your parents. They could be cited as with holding information, knowing the whereabouts, and intensely giving false information on you. Aiding and abetting. You want your parents to take the fall for your crime. And if it wasn't a crime in your eyes, then you would have called the police immediately when you were with your girlfriend. You would not have left her behind. There's really not a good enough reason to leave her behind like that unless you committed a crime. America wants you to turn yourself in. Your girlfriend's family deserves the closure. You owe them that much. I'm just saying what other's have said or thought about. Many of us are parents of children your age. We all want to protect our children and teaching them wrong from right and telling the truth are most important. Being honest to the police. Being truthful.

I wasn’t convicted but admitted to viewing CP when I was 16 (four years ago). I admitted it all and went to therapy which helped me understand my offending behaviour. I know what I did was a disgusting and perverted thing to do and this is something I struggle to live with (not a call for sympathy, just what I feel is the truth). I used to look at sex offenders with the same disgust as the wider society and now feel like a hypocrite because despite not being a convicted offender, know I fall under that label too. It gave me much more empathy and compassion for sex offenders and victims alike. (Although I still feel serial or psychopathic offenders should be away from society).
Me and my girlfriend met when I was 17 and she was 16 knows the full story and we bonded because she was also accused of a contact sexual offence when she was 14 (which she didn’t do, the only difference), and we stayed together despite children’s services trying to break us apart because in their eyes I was a groomer and I wasn’t allowed around her younger brothers and sisters alone (no problem).
Most people I know (e.g friends, wider family, girlfriends family) don’t know the full story because both me and my girlfriend fear rejection and harassment, I say to most I was “accused”, consequently I feel closed off and find it hard to talk about myself. It feels like I’m lying to everyone, and I catastrophise a lot about what might happen if the full story becomes known.
I know this is a bit me me me, but I’m really low because of it and have considered suicide many times, and I’d love to hear some of you guys advice to move on from this.
If it’s relevant, I’m from the UK.
Thanks

A little backstory: I met her Dec 2022, made her my girlfriend March 2023. However, during that period, I was still not over my bad habits of looking at other women. Come June 2023, I had cheated on her by making accounts on dating apps (however I did not meet or talk to anyone), and she had only found out about this recently this March 2024. She broke up with me last January (because of a separate issue) but we have been in constant contact still since then. Recently she has been actively swiping on Tinder for her peace of mind in order to get over the pain and insecurity of being cheated on, and even though I know I deserve it for cheating on her I really love her and I am in a lot of anxiety and pain I just want her to be secure again.
How do I win her back? I want her to trust me again and I want her to feel secure in our relationship like it was when we were innocently in love.
Additional information: She lives about 2 and a half hours away from me, she is especially more busy than I am because she is in a medical course.

So last week I went for a picnic with my best friend, his girlfriend and my girlfriend (separate girlfriends) and the topic of music rolled about. They know I’m into heavier music but were interested enough this time around to actually ask me to play one.
Naturally, I went balls to the walls as this never happens and played one of my favourite songs “The Somatic Defilement”. It was going not great until it got to my favourite part, and needless to say I belted it out. Thing is I can’t growl and I’m not a good singer either so I pretty much said “As I drain the cysts from the gangrenous vagina-“ clear as day. I would’ve continued but it was met with near instant disgust and now both of the girls (yes two of them) think that I want to hurt women and listen to violent sexist music.
I would never hurt women but I’m having trouble finding deathcore songs to substantiate my claim. Even worse is the fact that I want to see Whitechapel later this year and I’m fairly certain that my girlfriend won’t be letting me.
This is where I need help, I need to know your favourite feminist songs in the genre so I can quickly become an enthusiast and prove that I am safe and can be trusted. Sleeping on the couch is also really hurting my back so time is of the essence.

Hi everyone, throwaway account here.
I've been with my GF(20F) together for almost three years now, living together for a year. We usually get along really good, had some arguments in the past, but nothing too big.
The main issue in our relationship is that she is more extroverted, having her small group of girlfriends (all of them are single now) since they were little, why I usually preferred spending time alone/with my family. Before we started dating, she was partying/clubbing pretty much every weekend and with any occasion she got, but after we met she greatly reduced these activities because of me (she also gave up drinking/smoking), but in the same time she also distanced herself from her girlfriends, and now she wants to start going out with them again. I know how important they are to my GF, but I absolutely hate when she says that she will go out with them, going to music festivals, clubbing and so on. I have already said 'no' to her a couple of times, but that won't do any good in the long run.
It's almost like I hate knowing she's out having fun, but I don't know why I feel this way. I am not afraid that she's cheating on me or that something can happen to her, but I just don't like knowing she's spending her nights in clubs or festivals or whatever. She usually texts me and responds to my messages, so she's not giving me reasons to believe she's cheating. Also, if she's gone during the day I really don't mind, but during nighttime it's when I start freaking out.
I have tried doing things while she's gone (playing video games, watching movies, talking on discord with friends), but I can't ignore all my thoughts when she's out. I am also pretty afraid that she will start smoking again or drink too much as all of her girlfriends do, but I don't want to be controlling and toxic for her as these years should the best years of our lives.
Please give me advice on what to do with our relationship. Are we too different and it won't work out, or should I just suck it up and get used to it? We really love each other and we have been together through a lot during these years. Breaking up could be quite difficult for both of us, as this is our first relationship, and on top of that we still have to live together until our renting contract ends (in about a month). Please tell me what you think, and sorry for the long post.

Hello everyone !
I’d like to start this post by thanking the community as a whole for the real treasure trove that is this subreddit’ and it’s wiki in particular, it really contains a lot of information and resources to get started!
After having read everything I could find there very thoroughly, I wanted to get some quick feedback on my plans on how to get started on this investment journey. There are many things that I read where I wasn’t sure if they were still valid, so I would also like to know if some of the assumptions I’m taking make sense.
My personal situation is the following: I’m 29, working as Data scientist in a consulting firm, I earn a bit more than 3.4K net per month (with 13th month, meal vouchers, etc to be added as well), and I spend about 1.8K-2K per month (I pay 850€ for rent). I’ve been quite careful with my money ever since I started working so I’ve managed to put some money on the side, here is the breakdown:

• 10K on my deposit account
• 15K on my savings account (not bringing much in terms of interest but better than on deposit I figured)
• 20K in ‘bons d’états / staatsbonden’, which I will get back in September with some interests
• 9K in Comptes-titres since end of 2022, I deposit 200€ on this every month but return is not great (+- 4%)
• 18K in ‘Argenta Life Plan’ investments since end of 2022, return has been +5% since I deposited
• 8K in ‘épargne-pension’, that I started in 2017, where I deposit 80€ every month (overall return has been +20% since I started)
• 9K in ‘pension complémentaire’ paid by my various employers since I started my career

This means that I have +- 45K in cash (including the bons d’états money coming back in September), +- 25K in investments that I can take back whenever I want, and +-15k that I cannot touch until I retire.
Here are my questions:
​

• How much to invest in ETF?

Having read the wiki and JLCollins Stock series thoroughly, I now see how interesting it could be to invest in ETF and let some of my money work for a couple of decades. My first question is about the money to invest in ETF, knowing the following elements:

• I’d like to keep some sort of emergency fund of about 10K, to pay for unexpected expenses or for my fees during periods in between jobs (I’m thinking of changing job soon)
• I’m thinking of buying a flat or a house in the coming years, my girlfriend will help but she has far less money on the side (15k) and my parents can probably lend me some money to get enough to ask for a loan from a bank
• Given my current revenue and spending level, I put approx 1K to 1.5K on the side each month

I was thinking of investing the 15K I have on my savings account into ETF now, add all the money I put on the side each month in there as well, and then add the 20K I will get back in September to that pile. This would mean I would keep about 40K in my deposit account and other investments where I can take the money back easily, to buy an apartment for instance.
Does this seem like a good ratio?
​

• Which broker?

My second question would be about the broker to go with for this investment. I am quite risk averse in general and reluctant to have to declare some revenues to the tax authorities myself, so I found using a Belgian broker like Bolero quite appealing. Knowing that I do not plan to withdraw that money anytime soon, I don’t know how the different fees and taxes they charge could impact my overall profit vs. If I went with a foreign broker like Degiro.
Could someone help me get a better view on this?
​

• What ETF?

In the JLCollins stock series blog posts, he mentions Vanguard products a lot and their returns seem quite appealing indeed. I originally thought of buying VWCE, but it seems like the TOB has recently been increased, making it less interesting than other ETFs, correct? The wiki also recommends IUSQ, is this commonly seen as the better choice now? Or does it make more sense to buy a Developed markets fund and an Emerging markets fund rather than an All-world one?
Many thanks for your help and your feedback !!

Hi folks.
TLDR - Is delayed gratification really worth it in the end?
I need some advice from people a bit more seasoned and hopefully wiser.
I am 21 going on 22, I want to make drastic improvements in my life.
I have reflected on what I want and it will require at least 5 years of disciplined and consistent work until I reach the point where I’ll be somewhat satisfied with my life.
This means seeing less of my friends and girlfriend, I am very likely going to lose a lot of old connections.
If you have done a similar season of self prioritising and goal pursuing, was it worth the sacrifice in the end?

Deep down I knew I don’t need permission or confirmation that my mother is generally malignant and the ultimate source of suffering in my life right now. But I can’t accept why my own mother would do that to me.
So I am turning to you for advice, support, and insights for ways to separate yourself emotionally and individuate from your parents later in life when you should've done so much much earlier. The adult part of me knows what I should do but there is also a part of me that is frightened. let me give you a snapshot of my life trajectory. The story is long but I want to give you as much contexts as possible. If you want a short summary of the dilemma, go to the last paragraph, otherwise, here is my life story (it is long because I want to give as much context as possible, and also show clues for the many different ways a narcissistic parent can disrupt your life): I grew up in a well-to-do family in an East Asian country, my parents gave birth to me when they were in their early 20s and just as their business started taking off in the 'boom years'. Both of them came from very broken family, my mother suffered poverty, abuse, and neglect from her parents (she did not speak to her dad until he died, and almost never acknowledges her mother). My father was the least favourite child in his family of three, he dropped out of high school, ended up on the street (and, as I learnt a few years ago, later in prison for getting into fights). My mother met my dad (21) when she was 19 and ran away from her hometown, they grew a very successful business together in the early to mid 20s and became incredibly wealthy for a society that is generally still very poor. I had a lot of luxuries in my early childhood, we had a car, I had good clothing, but my parents were never around. I started boarding at the age of 3, and generally spent most of my time outside of kindergarten and school with my paternal grandparents, and occasionally, my mum's mother. My parents fought a lot, and I remember my mother threatening to take me away from my dad and drove away from home with me in a car with nowhere specific to go. Once things got really bad and my mother told me that she is divorcing my father, and we even went into another flat (for a grand total of 1 day) before returning home. She emotionally smothered me, told me that she would die for me and nobody would love me as much as her. As the expression in our language puts it ' You are a piece of flesh fallen from my body'. She hit me a lot, often over small things , sometimes in public, I remember being thrown outside of our apartment and crying in the corridor. But I thought she was better than my father, whom, in my mother's words, would swiftly remarry in an event of her death/departure, and I would then be abused by another evil mother in law and her offsprings. My dad was completely absent from my childhood save for the first year (I remember playing video game, going to the park with him at the age of 3).
Although my family was wealthy, my mother took me out of the posh international school I was in after 6 months and sent me to a state school that is (in)famous for being extremely strict and militant. I was a 'good, smart kid' in primary school, but when I got to the state school at the age around 12 or 13, I became very depressed and that life has no purpose. I was falling at almost all school subjects (except History), and I started drinking (my dad drank a lot, and alcoholism is culturally tolerated if not perpetuated). At this point something happened that saved me in retrospect. My family decided to emigrate to an anglophone New World country and I went to yet another boarding school there. Yes, I experienced racism and generally felt horrible about the way I looked (not good looking in the Western sense or sporty), but I got to be separated from my family and grew as an individual. My grades got better, and by year 12, 13 I was among the best performing students. Between 13-18, I rarely see my father (perhaps once or twice a year), my mother would visit periodically, they bought a house next to the school, so I started to live in the house (mostly alone, sometimes with my mother and whatever hapless young women she manipulated into being her assistant). My parents couldn't speak English, and I dealt with most family matters, as with many first gen immigrant kid. By the time that I was supposed to go to university, I wanted to do law & politics at the public university in my adopted hometown but then my father intervened stating that I would never get a good job at a respectful company with a degree from the backwater 2nd rate university. He insisted that I should go to the U.K. or the U.S. He also stopped me from taking a gap year to travel, so I mostly stayed at home, played game, whilst being a driver and an assistant to them for a year. I regret not leaving home and getting a job. I applied to many universities in the U.K, Canada, and Australia, got into most of them, and ended up choosing the worst ranked university because I wanted to be in London. I couldn't do a conjoint degree so I chose to study politics (as that's what I was interested in). University life was eye opening, I got to see Europe, realised that the world was much bigger than the conformist, conservative East Asian country and the backwater suburbs with strip-malls and junk food stores I grew up in. But the degree did not prepare me for life, and all those years of bad parenting, emotionally under-development made me miserable in my first taste of adult relationships. I chose emotionally distant if not abusive friends, was a horrible person who hurt people who actually liked me and loved me. I did no internship or travel because I was expected to go home during school holiday, helping them move house, looking after guests, and being the 'little husband' when my mother was giving brith to my youngest sibling. I really wanted to stay in London, I looked for jobs, very random jobs because I had no life skills and never ever made my own money. So in the end, I left, and had to return to East Asia. By this time, my father had moved to another, more cosmopolitan East Asian city as his lifestyle became more and more extravagant. I lived with him and started interning at a fancy company in the culture industry. I worked there for almost a year hoping they would offer me a job, they did not. I got another job fairly soon in brand consulting, and finally at the age of 23 started making money. I had a relationship with an older woman, she was kind and tolerant, and I was an arse. I also realised that I cannot combine intimacy and sex at this point. I tried to start my own freelancing consultancy, acquired the ability to impress other people (faking it). Things seem to be working, I almost made enough money to support my life, but I was fundamentally lost and unhappy. I had the first depressive episode in my life. I wanted to go back to London, to get a Masters degree. So I applied and got into my dream school, my father agreed to pay for my education, so off I went to university again. That was probably the happiest year of my life, it turned out I loved elements of academia, research, being with other smart nerdy people. I met an intelligent, caring, and beautiful woman, and we moved in together soon after. I discovered more fulfilling, freer ways to live, I found proofs that a successful life was not just about working for an investment bank, or being rich. I wanted to be an academic, so I applied for a PhD at the school, and I got in after two attempts. Academia isn't all rosy, the work condition is pretty awful, the publish or perish mentality literally sucks every last bit of joy and fulfilment out of research, I loved teaching, but quickly learnt that teaching matters little at a 'research university'. I got fat, my relationship got really bad, sex became non-existent, arguments soon turned physical, and I thought that I was a real piece of shit and better off dead. The only thing that kept me going at the time? Bitterness and shame. I felt indebted to everyone, to my partner because I was an abusive arsehole, and to my family because I was stupid enough to do a PhD and wasting their money (and my life away). The pandemic hits, and sure enough, things got even worse, I felt like I couldn't carry on anymore and that I needed to radically un-f my life. My solution to this: was to finally become the person my family wanted me to be, filial, loyal, and rich. I was ready to threw my life in London away, everything, my home, my girlfriend, my PhD and move back to East Asia to become rich, and 'stop being a loser'. I came home to 'fix my family' and showered everyone with love and attention in ways I never did. I networked and explored ways to get into finance, and I got an at a VC firm. Soon enough, the whole thing completed backfired and my life started to unravel faster than I could count to three. I hated the internship, it fundamentally clashed with who I was and my value, I cried everyday in the toilet at work. I also broke up with my girlfriend for a person who was the poplar opposite of her that I had no attachment to (and sex was great because there was zero emotional intimacy). Within 3 months, I had very little savings left, was living in a short term rental apartment, and spent most of my time in bed and eating very unhealthily. Luckily, I had a therapist, a good friend in Shanghai, and my girlfriend was willing to give me a second chance. It was also around this time I realised how my family's (what do you even call it) emotional neglect might have contributed to my unhappiness and depression. I was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder and medicated, the medicine helped for me to move out of paralysis. But I wanted to tell my family that I am very unwell and get them to love me back, so I confronted them over things they have done to me as a kid and showed them the diagnosis. My mother did not handle this well. She called me horrible names, made fun of me, and accused me for being a horrible son. This whole ordeal made me realise that I needed to break away from them, and what I had thrown away in London was actually the most valuable things I have in life, a career, a family, my own identity. After confronting my mother over her abusive behaviour and emotional smothering, she vowed to never see me again. However, after 6-8 months, she sent me a large chunk of money for my birthday. So I, stupidly, let her back into my life again, a part of the reason was the financial help that I needed (to feel safe mostly), but I also really wanted to see proofs that my parents actually did love and accept me after all. At first, things got better, she came for Christmas, visited a few times, celebrated her birthday, and looked really happy. Both my partner and I spent a lot of time with her, bought her gifts, cooked for her, and hang out with her to make sure she feels loved. But soon, she started complaining that she actually had a horrible time and was mistreated by my partner. To make matter worse, a year and half after I left home for the last time thinking that I would never go back, my parents promise to buy me a flat (and started to pressure me to get married). I accepted the flat, thinking that it would offer stability and freedom (pushing away the past experience of their emotional neglect and abusiveness). Sure enough, the flat became yet another way for my mother to mess with my life. It had daunted on her that I am about to become my own person and live in the flat and start a family of my own, so she lashed out and said if my girlfriend lives there she would sue me and reclaim the flat. She then went behind my back and started disputing the flat's ownership. We have already spent a lot of time and energy planning the move and all of this is happening just 2/3 weeks from the move-in. I have a demand job that requires a lot of cognitive focus, and I feel like I am spending a decent chunk of my day trying to resolve the situation in addition to processing the emotional toll of having my own mother out to destroy my life. I know I have a job, a family, and my own life, and I have a good legal case, but I also feel so unsafe, violated, and confused. I can almost feel the voice in my head telling me that this is all my doing, and that I am too weak. It is like I know what I need to do cognitively but emotionally I am paralysed. Do you think what I mean? What would you do?

Hello; really loved the interaction with my first post, so thanks so much for that! I'll just reiterate: spoilers for all Star Trek, and everything is just my opinion.
900) Unnatural Selection (1989)
TNG 2x7
Writer: John Mason & Mike Gray
Director: Paul Lynch
We've seen this idea done before and better. Yeah, it's a little bit different this time: it centres around children genetically engineered to be free of disease (isn't that illegal in the Federation?). But the actual plot of the episode is little different from TOS' The Deadly Years, with Doctor Pulaski aging and trying to find a cure for the condition. An uninspired repeat of a TOS episode that wasn't even that good in the first place.
899) We'll Always Have Paris (1988)
TNG 1x23
Writer: Deborah Dean Davis & Hannah Louise Shearer
Director: Robert Becker
Bored me stiff. I'm not always a huge fan of time travel stuff in general, and this is one of the least dynamic uses of that story type I've ever seen. Picard also has some weak character development, in his reminiscence about the girlfriend he left behind to join Starfleet, after he runs into her in this episode. The resolution with Data is fine, though, and I do like that they used him, as somebody less affected by the Maddox Effect, to solve the problem. Functional, just really dull.
898) Angel One (1988)
TNG 1x13
Writer: Patrick Barry
Director: Michael Rhodes
I will say that, as a teenage boy and as a young man now, this episode did give me empathy for what women go through in real life: being dismissed as weak and soft and barred from meaningful work. Beyond that, however, this episode really says nothing. It feels like it wants to be a deep and compelling exploration of gender roles, but apart from that feeling of empathy it gave me it doesn't accomplish anything of the kind. It's just a rote story about an oppressed section of society trying to combat their oppressors, and Riker saves the dissidents from being executed with a dull speech.
897) Silicon Avatar (1991)
TNG 5x4
Writer: Jeri Taylor, story by Lawrence V Conley
Director: Cliff Bole
Oh, just what I always wanted: the return of the Crystalline Entity from Datalore! Most anticipated villain return ever! But seriously, this could have been an interesting episode exploring a decent creature, but all that ends up happening is the Enterprise chasing the Crystalline Entity while Data has conversations with the mother of one of the victims of its attack on his colony. I will say that her hatred of Data got some genuine emotion out of me, as I raise my hackles against anyone who dares attack that loveable android, and seeing her come round to him was reasonably satisfying. But I still wasn't intrigued by their conversations, or the story of her seeking revenge for her son's death. The actual murder of the Crystalline Entity was done with a decent weight, but the episode takes forever to get there, through a slog of boring conversations and virtually no emotional investment for me.
896) The Outrageous Okona (1988)
TNG 2x4
Writer: Burton Armus, story by Les Menchen, Lance Dickson & David Landsberg
Director: Robert Becker
An aimless, artless story of a rogue caught between two fathers hounding him for his misdeeds. I don't find Okona amusing or charming, so his heavy presence in the episode doesn't do anything for me, and the story surrounding him is weak too. Data's stand-up comedy stuff is quite funny; Brent Spiner plays it brilliantly. I particularly enjoy the scene where he's trying out his act on Guinan, and it's just so bad. Also love Whoopi Goldberg's delivery of 'No' after Data asks her if his act was good. But this B-plot has only a flimsy connection to the main story, and therefore its presence leaves the end product feeling messy as well as weak.
895) Bounty (2003)
ENT 2x25
Writer: Hans Tobeason, Mike Sussman & Phyllis Strong, story by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
Director: Roxann Dawson
An A-plot and B-plot that are both very bad. The story of Archer getting kidnapped by a bounty hunter is rote and uninspired, and definitely feels like it was one of the last ideas the writers came up with for the season. They were just filling time with a poor sequel to the earlier episode Judgement. His interactions with the Tellarite do not interest me at all, and I do not care about the Tellarite's lost ship. The B-plot with T'Pol prematurely going through the Pon Farr sees some of the worst sexualisation of the character, plus some cringey dialogue between her and Phlox. Archer's ending escape from the Klingons, with the Tellarite's secret help, is solid, though.
894) The Omega Glory (1968)
TOS 2x23
Writer: Gene Roddenberry
Director: Vincent McEveety
Goes from mundane to insane. For much of its runtime I would give this my label of dull but functional: there's a rogue Starfleet Captain trying to discover the secret to eternal youth on a pre-warp planet, and there's a lot of fighting with some of the savage natives. It's all very boring... until the last quarter.
It gets revealed that this is (yet another) TOS Season 2 Earth parallel, with the savages representing the US and the village people the Communists. There is no explanation given for how the aliens ended up with all the exact paraphernalia of that time on Earth, from the US flag to the American Constitution; it's all just ludicrous.
The crowning weirdness of the episode is Kirk's lauding of the American Constitution as the greatest thing ever invented. Now, I don't just not like this because I'm English; I would feel the same if the British (unwritten) Constitution was being lauded like this. I consider myself a pretty patriotic person, and I believe that every country has equal reason to celebrate themselves, but I feel it is utterly inappropriate in Star Trek for any one country or group to be held up as the ultimate shining example of civilisation. This is because Trek is meant to represent a future where everybody's come together under one banner. There's a lot to praise about the American Constitution, but it's inappropriate for it to be held up as the 'One True Way', if you will. Kirk's final admiring look at the US flag is so cringeworthily saccharine. So, yeah, this episode is boring for most of its runtime, and it certainly isn't in the end... it's much worse.
893) The Muse (1996)
DS9 4x21
Writer: Rene Echevarria, story by Rene Echevarria & Majel Barrett-Roddenberry
Director: David Livingston
The DS9 Lwaxana Troi episodes are largely not a good time, and this is the absolute worst of them. The story of her pregnancy feels so hammy and forced, and the drama with her and Odo doesn't interest me at all. She also doesn't feel like she has much of a presence in the episode, which is shocking given how she came on so wonderfully strong in TNG. The other plotline with Jake is also uninteresting. It's at least not as bad as the Lwaxana storyline, but it's still so very uninspired (you see what I did there?). Annoyingly our last Lwaxana appearance; they really should have stopped her episodes after TNG's Dark Page; that was the perfect ending for her character.
892) When the Bough Breaks (1988)
TNG 1x16
Writer: Hannah Louise Shearer
Director: Kim Manners
Gene Roddenberry did like his kiddie episodes, didn't he? The idea of 'Atlantis-but-a-planet' is interesting, but the episode wastes the concept on a tiresome kidnapping story. The kids are fine I guess, but I'd also rather not be watching them. Wesley feels kinda out-of-place among them, to be honest, considering how noticeably older he is. I will say that Picard's reaction to the abduction: 'You have just committed an act of utter barbarity!' is a superb bit of acting from Stewart, but other than that there's nothing else I'll praise about this outing.
891) Pen Pals (1989)
TNG 2x15
Writer: Melinda M Snodgrass, story by Hannah Louise Shearer
Director: Winrich Kolbe
This always feels like a short to me, despite its forty-five minute length. No time is spent building up Data and the alien kid's relationship; we just see the kid's first communication, then jump into Data confessing to Picard he's been in contact with a pre-warp individual. So I have no investment in this relationship, which is a shame because Data-plus-kid had the potential to be really sweet. They just didn't put the legwork into it. The resolution is fine.
890) Unforgettable (1998)
VOY 4x22
Writer: Greg Elliot & Michael Perricone
Director: Andrew Robinson
Got to be the most ironic title in Trek history, since this episode is extremely forgettable. It's also mind-numbingly boring: Trek does not have a good track record with single-episode romances, and this has got to be one of the worst. I feel zero connection to the guest character and zero investment in her relationship with Chakotay. The idea of a species that you forget after they've been gone for a while is intriguing, but it is wasted on this insipid romance. This was one of the longest forty-five minutes I've ever sat through.
889) Transfigurations (1990)
TNG 3x25
Writer: Rene Echevarria
Director: Tom Benko
Speaking of dull one-episode romances, here's another one. The idea of a species going through a butterfly-like transformation, that is feared and suppressed by the authorities, is again intriguing. It reminds me of the Jon Pertwee Doctor Who story The Mutants, if anyone's watched that, except it's done less well. Again, the good concept is wasted on a boring romance, this time between Beverly and her patient. This is another one that feels much longer than forty-five minutes.
888) Bread and Circuses (1968)
TOS 2x25
Writer: Gene Roddenberry & Gene L Coon
Director: Ralph Senensky
At this point in TOS Season 2, I just thought: 'Really, Mr Roddenberry? Another Earth parallel? I know you like them, but this is getting ridiculous!' Not only is this a tired repeat of an already done idea, but no explanation is given for why this planet parallels the Roman Empire. In A Piece of the Action and Patterns of Force clever reasons were given, but in this it's just presented as a weird fact. That doesn't fly with me.
And even if they had come up with another clever explanation, they have done this idea, which I don't like very much anyway, way too many times this season. I did have some minor interest in the concept of a Rome that never fell, but not enough to sustain me for fifty minutes. Boring and uninspired to the highest degree. I will say there's one really great scene between Spock and Bones in a prison cell, though, when Bones confronts Spock about how he keeps all his emotions carefully concealed.
887) How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth (1974)
TAS 2x5
Writer: Russell Bates & David Wise
Director: Bill Reed
Similar to Who Mourns for Adonais?, in that it gives us an omnipotent alien, who was once worshipped as a God on Earth, and has returned to take charge of his wayward children, only to ultimately discover they don't need him anymore. This is a much weaker version of that story, however, with a less sympathetic godlike character and less runtime to flesh out the idea.
The episode also takes a weird swerve halfway through, from the setting of Kukulkan's city (a nice location, I must say) to his zoo, which I find much less appealing. This episode had an idea, but it wasn't quite sure how to tell the story. Kukulkan genuinely scared me a little, though, and I did feel sorry for him when he flew off, knowing that his former worshippers had outgrown him. But again, that was done better in TOS.
886) Resurrection (1997)
DS9 6x8
Writer: Michael Taylor
Director: LeVar Burton
Michael Taylor is a curious writer for me. He has written both some of my favourite and some of my least favourite episodes, with little middle ground. This falls hard into the latter category. It's interesting to have someone from the Mirror Universe cross into the Prime Universe, rather than the other way around as normally happens, and it's doubly interesting to have that someone be Mirror Bareil. But the episode falls flat on its face: every scene is just so interminably dull, and, unlike his Prime Universe counterpart, this Bareil has no chemistry with Kira. So boring, so pedestrian, and the absolute worst of the DS9 Mirror Universe episodes.
885) The Paradise Syndrome (1968)
TOS 3x3
Writer: Margaret Armen
Director: Jud Taylor
I think this is the epitome of functional but dull. The story makes sense, the characters' motivations make sense, but that doesn't mean the episode is interesting. I do like the idea of the Preservers, beings who transplanted members of endangered peoples, here the Native Americans, to other planets, but the episode flops. Kirk's memory loss leads to a yawnworthy stay among the Native Americans, filled with predictable tensions and conflicts, and a bland romance. The Spock and Bones B-plot is also boring. I feel a little something for Miramanee's death, but only a little something.
884) Assignment: Earth (1968)
TOS 2x26
Writer: Art Wallace, story by Gene Roddenberry & Art Wallace
Director: Marc Daniels
Star Trek without the Star Trek. Deciding not to focus on the main characters for an episode isn't a bad idea in and of itself, but the characters put in their stead hold little interest for me. The same is true of the plot they work within. This was of course a backdoor pilot for a spin-off that never manifested, and maybe if it had come about I would like this episode much more, but as it stands I find the characters unintriguing and the plot uninspired. The climax is particularly poor, with about seventy different shots of the rocket going into orbit, while the characters mill about and do very little. I want me my Kirk, Spock and Bones back.
883) The Red Angel (2019)
DSC 2x10
Writer: Chris Silvestri & Anthony Maranville
Director: Hanelle M Culpepper
Down here for the same reasons as previous DSC Season 2 episodes I've put on this list. It engages heavily in the twin foul-ups of the Spock's sister storyline and the Section 31 portrayal. I hate the base concept of Burnham being Spock's sister, for reasons I've explained in my previous post, so I despise all their scenes together, that build out this relationship that I wish had never been. And Section 31 continues to be portrayed as a public wing of the Federation, with ships and resources provided by Starfleet, which is godawful.
I will say, however, that I do kinda like the sequence where Burnham has to strap herself to a chair and bare herself to the planet's toxic atmosphere in order to summon the Red Angel. And the reveal that the Angel is not herself but in fact her mother is cool. But this is still a really bad episode.
882) The Storyteller (1993)
DS9 1x13
Writer: Kurt Michael Bensmiller & Ira Steven Behr, story by Kurt Michael Bensmiller
Director: David Livingston
A really messy, weak outing. The A- and B-plots have nothing to do with each other, which isn't automatically bad, but here it just makes the episode feel untidy. Of the two, I prefer the Jake and Nog subplot; it's funny seeing them mooning over the female teenage leader of a settlement who comes to the station. Their getting in trouble to impress her is charming. The A-plot sucks, though: the whole business of O'Brien having to become the protector of this village, from an amorphous cloud villain, is just lame, and the resolution is whatever. It is funny to see O'Brien and Julian in their first episode together, though, and witnessing how much O'Brien doesn't care for the good Doctor at this point. Oh, how times will change.
881) The Arsenal of Freedom (1988)
TNG 1x20
Writer: Richard Manning & Hans Beimler, story by Maurice Hurley & Robert Lewin
Director: Les Landau
A ramshackle adventure with a medley of different storylines, all of which are underwhelming. The best is Geordi's plotline, where he asserts himself as commander of the Enterprise over the *rsehole Chief Engineer of the week, but the other two don't really have any redeeming qualities. The Riker and co storyline is repetitive and the Picard and Beverly storyline is dull. I do like that the threat is resolved when Picard agrees to make a purchase from this dead civilisation, though.
880) Move Along Home (1993)
DS9 1x9
Writer: Frederick Rappaport, Lisa Rich & Jeanne Carrigan-Fauci, story by Michael Piller
Director: David Carson
OK, so I said this wasn't the worst of DS9, but it's still really bad. Though I have to say that, after I watched this with my siblings last year, and had such fun doing so, I've never been able to see it quite so badly. It's bad, yeah, but it's so, so much fun. The best-worst bit is of course the alien hopscotch scene, and I also really have to give credit to Alexander Siddig for playing some brilliant cringey comedy with Julian. The scene where he's trying to wake himself up from a nightmare by screaming? So funny. These (sort of) praises made, this is still a stinker of an episode, with a messy plot, too-silly events, and some serious overacting from Armin Shimerman at the end. Definitely something best watched with friends or family.
Allamaraine, count to four,
Allamaraine, then three more,
Allamaraine, if you can see,
Allamaraine, you'll come with me!
879) Justice (1987)
TNG 1x7
Writer: Worley Thorne, story by Ralph Wills & Worley Thorne
Director: James L Conway
I love the basic idea of this episode: Wesley runs afoul of a law on another planet and is sentenced to death by their draconian justice system. Then Picard has to struggle with whether to obey the Prime Directive or save his life. But the episode is dragged down by some weird costuming choices and, most of all, the addition of an omnipotent entity that watches over the planet's people. This should have just been an episode about Picard struggling between duty and conscience; the addition of a mega-powerful being steals screentime from this fine idea.
878) A Simple Investigation (1997)
DS9 5x17
Writer: Rene Echevarria
Director: John T Kretchmer
Uuuuugh; another boring single-episode romance. It's an interminable chore to sit through, from beginning to end, with tired, uninspired romantic scenes and an unexciting criminalistic plot surrounding the Orion Syndicate. I also don't like how the Changelings' linking is equated with sex in that one scene. There are a few fun scenes with O'Brien, Julian and Jadzia when they're playing the spy holosuite program (Jadzia's 'Ooh, somebody stop me!', or O'Brien's 'Hi, Odo!'), but that's about it.
877) Such Sweet Sorrow Part Two (2019)
DSC 2x14
Writer: Michelle Paradise, Junny Lumet, & Alex Kurtzman
Director: Olatunde Osunsanmi
DSC wasn't merely content to introduce a sister for Spock who weakened the story of his childhood and family life. They had to make that sister so important in his life that he'd be willing to go with her into the future and leave his life behind. I hate that Kurtzman and co made this decision, as it makes everything in TOS, SNW etc feel like Spock settling for second-best, when in reality he is fulfilling his life's purpose in those series.
I also never connected with any of the DSC original characters, except for Saru, and even with him I don't feel any emotion at their grand final 23rd Century adventure to stop Control. As I've said before, this evil sentient AI story is a tired, repeated idea, and its connection to the terrible portrayal of Section 31 makes it worse. As a result of all this don't give a single crap about any of the grand-scale action in this episode, and I feel nothing for the loss of the Discovery crew to the far future. I will say that this episode did at least propel DSC into the 32nd Century, which would end up saving the series from being irredeemably awful, and it sets up the phenomenal SNW (although we didn't strictly need all this for SNW to work).
876) Vis a Vis (1998)
VOY 4x20
Writer: Robert Doherty
Director: Jesus Salvador Trevino
A vapid story about Tom feeling dissatisfied with his life on Voyager, and getting replaced by a shape-stealing alien. The concept for the alien is solid, but the execution doesn't fly. It ends up being a limp episode that drags quite a bit, with a bland character arc for Tom at its centre. Shoutout for the appearance of Dan Butler as the alien's main form, though; he played the testosterone-fuelled Bulldog Briscoe in my favourite comedy, Frasier.
That's it for now. Thank you very much for reading, and Live Long and Prosper!

My (M44) first wife “Trish” (F41) and I divorced about five years ago because she didn’t want to have sex after the birth of our kids (M14 and F16). So I found sex elsewhere. I was very discreet, but she found out after several years; then she informed me “what’s good for the gander is good for the goose” and she started seeing other people too. That was fine with me, as I was getting sex, and it gave me more freedom and less paranoia about getting caught cheating whist having sex. Trish asked for a divorce within the year, and since my girlfriend of two years, “Annie,” had been pressuring me to leave Trish, I thought it was the best outcome for everyone. Annie and I got married soon after the divorce was final, to which I agreed.
I see Trish every week when we hand off the kids, who are now teenagers, and I dread it. Not because she’s mean or rude … she is beautiful and warm and generous and funny. I recognize that she hasn’t really changed (except about the sex) since we were married. Those traits were always there, but they were buried under my resentment over the lack of sex, the nagging, the financial stress, the lack of sex, and how her mother treated me (this will be important later).
On top of all that, her career as a sex surrogate took off almost as soon as we separated, but not soon enough for me to ask for alimony. She’s now earning more by herself than our combined household income waa when we were together. Her live-in boyfriend is a well-known fiction writer with a very penis and it's well known that she gives him all the sex. They also travel to exotic locales, eat at fancy restaurants, speak foreign languages together, have regular and vigorous sex, and surround themselves with a crowd of well-known writer friends. They’re even taking the kids to London this summer while he teaches a workshop or something.
I, on the other hand, have been struggling financially and having some health issues—the recent loss of a visible tooth I can’t afford to replace hit even harder than the diabetes diagnosis—and my now-wife Annie has developed several health and tooth-related issues of her own that make her tired and irritable and affect her ability to have sex and work and take care of me and our apartment. To which Annie is now denying the sex.
I used to be mostly content with my life, even when I was married to Trish, as long as she wasn’t nagging me or refusing sex.
Her new life makes me feel terrible. I feel like in the game of divorce, I lost big. It’s eating me up. I’m resentful that we had money problems when we were together because she didn’t work very hard—she claimed she was focused on raising the kids and taking care of the house and refusing me sex. Why can't I have the same post-divorce life of money, travel and leisure and sex too that she keeps rubbing in my face?
I hate that my daughter showed me a picture of her mom beaming happiness with her boyfriend on a mountaintop in Patagonia. I hate seeing what my life has become compared to hers. I hate that I'm being refused sex.
How do I live in the life I have now, maybe even improve it, and get some sex, instead of going around and around about all the ways it could have gone differently for me?
UPDATE: To all of you saying that I need therapy: I hate the idea of therapy. I can’t really afford it right now anyway. The antidepressants my doctor prescribed don’t seem to be doing anything. I may have ADHD, who fuckin knows? The diabetes makes me feel too tired to do much besides watching TV on the couch after work and on the weekends. Yes, Annie is becoming more and more like Trish was before the divorce. And refusing me sex. And finally, yes my phone has been blowing up lately. I apologize for not making that clear in the post.

I LOVE women. I think they’re beautiful, many are kind and caring too. I REALLY want to have sex, I genuinely do. I’m not gay, but I want to be a sissy, and be denied sex. I want to be humiliated and it’d be really awesome if I had a domme to keep me locked in chastity, and diapers.
I’m very non masculine. I have NO DESIRE to be “more of a man”. I am extremely attracted to women. That’s make it so exciting, my virginity/celibacy isn’t due to lack of attracting the opposite sex, it’s due to me just being undesirable to women.
I was always bullied in school, a girl even pretended to like me for months until she and all of her friends laughed at me for falling for it.
There was also this girl who said “Do you think she’s hot?” And showed me her phone, and it was a BBC.
The fact that I’m NOT gay is what makes the idea of being forced to, serve it, so exciting. I definitely wouldn’t mind stroking a man off. I’d be scared of sucking or “taking” it, but that’s what’s so exciting about it, being hesitant and nervous…….
I definitely want a women to peg me wearing a strap on, that’s for sure.
I’m honestly exactly 6 inches fully erect, and I think pretty thick/girthy, but I still have “small dick ENERGY”. Sometimes I wish I was smaller, like 3, or 2 inches, maybe smaller……
I’ve read that longterm chastity can shrink it, but I really need a dominant woman to be my key holder, so I can’t just take it off.
I genuinely wish I could penetrate a women, experience that physical AND emotional intimacy (still with her on top and in charge, dominating me even in intercourse), but then I could never go back, a huge chuck of the fantasy and humiliation would be gone forever. But actually knowing what I’m missing might be even more torture (and therefore arousing and exciting).
I’ve always been told I’m too ugly and weird anyway.
There’s always the option of paying “working women”, but that requires some traveling (or major MAJOR risk of safety and legal trouble).
I also wouldn’t want to continue to sex trafficking, because without it being legal and regulated, it’s highly likely the women aren’t fully consenting.
I really enjoy this specific type of porn (JOI) where women get fucked by big men, completely uncensored, BUT, I have to close my eyes when the music stops, and can only listen to her getting fucked. Just knowing it’s happening right in front of me but I can’t look is BEYOND arousing. And then when the music stops I can open my eyes, and am greeted with either a pixelated clip of it, or even better, a trans women with a massive cock and balls.
I love being a straight (well not gay, MAYBE A LITTLE BICURIOUS) sissy.
Diapers provide comfort, but also humiliation, and yes, it is highly a sexual thing.
I don’t know what happened to make me have such kinks, but I started having these fantasies LOOOOONG before puberty, they just didn’t become a SEXUAL thing until after puberty.
As much as I genuinely love cisgender women, I do have a turn on for trans women. Women who are really feminine, but then have a big ol dick and balls instead of a pussy (even though I love pussy).
I’m a massive pervert, and even worse, I actually feel like I’m objectifying women (I don’t mean to, it just feels like natural desires).
I never want kids, but damn do I want to have sex. A longterm girlfriend/wife with a true emotional intimate relationship would be nicer too, but I’m really not good enough for women that way.
I’d be lucky if any women even casually hooked up with me.
I get off on the idea of being a 45+ year old virgin who has never even had a girlfriend or kissed on the lips, but I also dread it at the same time. It makes me excited, but also depressed at the same time.
I love femdom and virgin cuckold humiliation so much, but I also do truly want a real (physically AND emotionally) intimate relationship with a woman.

I (f21) am a very tightly wound person by nature. I have been really trying lately to be more relaxed and not let little things ruin my day that don't ultimately matter too much in the long run because it's not good for my mental health or my blood pressure. However, one thing that IS very important to me that I will not let go of because it genuinely DOES effect plans is time. I always plan to be somewhere like 15-30 minutes early depending on the event because that is how I was raised and it is always better. I have adhd and suffer from time blindness, so I understand not being good with this stuff but I know there are ways to keep yourself in check.
Sometimed it seems like my partner (23) is actively trying to ruin my day because he is constantly running behind. This person could get up an hour before he had to and somehow we will get there an hour late. It almost makes me want to leave him at home or tell him not to come with me. We are trying to go to pride today and I told him he needs to leave by 8:15 to get to my house in time at 9:15 because it takes 40 minutes to get to cleveland + a 20-30 minute walk from the parking to the parade. I've never got to see a real pride parade and I wanted to be there start to finish and was really excited about it and he knew that. First of all, he was supposed to come to my house last night but fell asleep until 8 and then "didn't feel like driving".
He fucking left his house at 8:50am. I called him at 8:15 and he was still in the shower and I know for a FACT that he was up at 7am. It's so frustrating that I feel like I have to police him because he doesn't fucking get moving. It's like.im trying to fight a 5 year old to get dressed and ready for school even if the event is something that he also is excited to attend. I'm so sick of it. It's the same no matter what I do. The only time he is ever even remotely on time is if he is coming to a family event where he has to be there in time to ride in the car with my family when my parents are driving, like he's afraid to keep them waiting. But if it's me, the girlfriend he is supposed to love and care for, it's fine, I can just sit on my ass staring at the wall an extra hour, no big deal. Even though I've been ready for the whole time. Ready before he even left his house to drive the 45 minutes here. Whatever.

okay this is gonna be confusing because i’m a bad story teller but for the sake of the story im gonna give my ex a fake name Beck (16 m) and i’m 16 (girl)
this is a very big ramble so my apologies
now me and beck became friends in january 2024 and right off the bat i told him i was bisexual because some people had issues with it and if he was going to have an issue with it id rather it happen now and not when we were better friends but he said he didn’t have an issue with it and it never rly got brought again other then small comments/jokes like sometimes id say something about being bi and he’d say “but you don’t rly know if you’re bi because you’ve never been with either of them” and i’d be like “yeah i do like how do you know you like girls? it’s the same thing” and we would drop it. (this is important i promise lol)
(another thing i feel like i need to say is that im assigned female at birth, but recently ive started to wonder if im trans, and atp im pretty sure i am im just scared because of my parents and other reasons but just keep this in mind)
beck started dropping hints that he had a crush on me and even started telling my friends that he liked me. i tried to be pretty up front with the fact that i didn’t like him like that and he seemed to understand and it was never brought up for a few weeks and then in feb/march ish i started to develop a crush so i told him because i wanted to be up front about it and he said he did like me and we decided to go slow with it because it was just new and we started dating mid march (it was rly fast looking back at it)
looking back, beck had always been pretty standoffish about his sexuality, like he could joke about other people but no one was allowed to joke about his, because he was straight and he didn’t like it when people joked about it other wise, which was annoying because he was being hypocritical but i just wrote it off and ignored it because i thought i was being dramatic. now, around mid april i started realizing how uncomfortable it made me when beck would call me his girl and a woman and i realized i didn’t want to be his girlfriend but his boyfriend. i was scared to tell him because again he’d always been so adamant that he was straight and always seemed disgusted otherwise. i brought it up and he was just kind of quiet and said he’d love me anyway but then a few seconds later called me a girl again so i felt like he wasn’t really listening so i just tried to write it off again
a month ish goes by of me trying to explain my worries about us staying together with me being trans and how his parents would react and how he wouldn’t rly like it when i didn’t look like a girl anymore and he would always write it off and say it wasn’t a big deal and it would be okay. right before the two month mark of us dating i broke up with him because i just felt like we were too different and it just wouldn’t work with where the two of us were at right now because he wanted to have kids and get married and i really didn’t want that so i thought it would be best to end it before either of us got more involved in the relationship. beck pretty much obsessively texted me for around a week after i ended it and the majority of it was just him begging me to change my mind and saying he was sorry and he loved me and couldn’t live without me and that i was his only source of happiness. i’m not going to lie, i really could t take him seriously because we had been dating for barely 2 months, and only known each other for about 6 months. this behavior continues for days on end and he starts posting on socials about how he doesn’t care about anything and he starts vaping and skipping his classes which worries me because i don’t want anything to happen to him and it’s my fault he’s using so i was trying to fix it yk? all my friends said i was being stupid and needed to block him but i felt bad about it. i did eventually block him on some things, but i unblocked him because he asked me why i did it and i didn’t know what to say because i felt bad and thought i was being mean.
he also cried to anyone that would listen about how much he missed me and how he couldn’t eat or sleep. he called a few of my friends and just cried and would be upset if they didn’t answer him.
a few days go by and he’s kind of calm down on the begging and we kind of start to be friends again and he keeps asking me why i didn’t want to try and fight for our relationship because in his words “if i actually ever loved him i would’ve fought for him”
i tell him that it just wouldn’t work out because (among other reasons that are personal) i want to be a guy and that he’s straight and doesn’t like men and beck said “well it wouldn’t even be gay anyway” which was whatever i just kept reiterating that i want to be a guy and he said that he wanted me, as his gf or as his bf, that he didn’t care and that i wouldn’t even really be a guy anyways, that i would always be a girl. that stung, im not gonna lie, but whatever. i ended up asking him the if he was straight, because if he said yes i was going to say “you can’t be with me and be straight because i’m not a girl. i’d be your boyfriend you’d have a boyfriend. not a girl” but then he says “actually i’m bi”
yall. when i tell you my jaw dropped i mean my jaw DROPPED. i was like wtf you were literally ready to fight ppl over calling you gay as a joke.
i asked him if he actually was or if he was just telling me that because it was what i wanted to hear and he said no that he really was so i believed him because i didn’t have a reason not to and he asked if we could get back together and i said no, because of the transphobic things he had been saying and just the way he treated some of my friends bothered me, and he seemed upset and just said agin that if i really cared i would’ve tried to fix it and that i was only hurting myself and i said that i was fine and we have only spoken in short convo since then, which was like a week ago
i know none of this probably makes sense but i need someone to tell me if im being crazy and if i led him on and broke his heart for nothing because i feel rly bad. like maybe i should’ve ignored what i was feeling and let him be happy but then that wouldn’t have been fair to him because he deserves someone who loves him the way he loves and i can’t give him that
my friends and mom think that he is trying to manipulate me and lovebomb me but i don’t think that’s his intention
anyway thoughts are appreciated 😻
some notes in case my rambles didn’t make sense- i’m bisexual, basically everyone but my family knows because it wouldn’t be safe. to the general public, i’m a cis girl, but to my closest friends they know that im thinking about transitioning when it’s safe but i haven’t picked out a name or changed my pronouns yet, if that makes sense
as far as i know im the only one that beck has told he’s bisexual . actually he said during the last convo that he told me he had dated a boy before me but i cannot recall that convo at all?? which doesn’t mean anything but i feel like its worth noting
keep in mind we have only known each other since january and began dating mid march to mid may, so this all happened in the span of 5 ish months. very teenage angst i would think
(i didn’t really proofread so im sorry for bad grammar or mistakes )
View Poll

Firstly, I think Meg Marinis was unfortanete that her first season as showrunner was cut short due to the strike. I'm certain she had more ideas, but had to either erase them or shorten them. I think she did well with what she was given.
Cathrine. Talk about unprofesionalism. She questions Meredith and Amelia, when the time could be better used elsewhere. There's a wildfire going on outside. They could literely be helping out, and so could she. Then she decides to fire Teddy as not only chief, but also as a surgeon in the hospital, while there's a wildfire going on, and the hospital is understaffed. Then she decides to yell at Teddy in the middle of a hallway in a hospital, while Teddy has her hands full with a patient. I don't even like Owen, but I cheered for him when he called out Cathrine for being a big petty baby. She's literely ready to risk patients lives, due to her ego being hurt. Then she fires Owen, simply for calling her out on being more concerned with her own ego over the lives of their patients, and doesn't even let him know in person that he's fired. At this rate, she's going to fire someone just for looking at her the wrong way, and will end up with a hospital with no staff. And c'mon, Tom would support Meredith's ressearch. Cathrine might be his friend, but he would side with Meredith and Amelia. And where is Jackson in all of this. Why didn't Meredith just go to him with her ressearch from the start. isn't he the one running the foundation. He would support Meredith's ressearch. He needs to make an apperance next season. He's one of the few people Cathirne actually listens to. He would call her out on her desicions, and would imedietely rehire everyone.
And speaking of Cathrine. She's litrely ready to fire all of the interns for standing up for Lucas, and say that she could have them replaced, but she wouldn't be able to have them replaced. I do love seeing the interns stick up for lucas, and I think that in return, he'll offer the CHicago spot to Mika.
I feel like Schmidt will end up leaving surgery all together, to be a GP. He would be a good peds gp. His bedside manners are good.
Okay, so Jo being pregnant isn't a shocker. Though, I would have asumed that her passing out was going to be cliffhanger based on the promo. And while it would have been nice with a planned pregnancy, and not just another oopsie baby, and it's not even the first. This storyline could have potential. Given what we know about Jo, and how this isn't her first pregnancy, it could lead to her remember her pregnancy with Paul, or her feelings regarding her birth mom. They could also make it a difficult pregnancy.

I am a F 15, my friend is also F 15, her brother is M 16, he is a senior in our high school, before I became friends with her (recently this year) I was friends with her brother. Me and him have been friends for a year and a bit and I'd say we are close? not close enough to be hanging out but i do consider him a close friend. When I first started being friends with him that's all I wanted, to be friends since he seemed cool.
After a couple months of talking to him I realized quickly I began to develop feelings, and this was a big deal for me as he's the only one I've genuinely liked, I thought I've liked other boys but those feelings faded quickly.
At this point in our friendship I did not know that my friend was his sister as I did not yet know her. My feelings for him are fickle, I liked him for 6 months but during those 6 months I was in denial and tried to stop liking him. Then I found out he had a girlfriend, this made me lose all my feelings for him and we remained friends for the reminder of the year.
Then this year I became friends with his sister, this was because we had a mutual friend in our year. I have become very close with her and also consider her a close friend as I am in a friend group with her and 2 other friends. We hang out quite a lot and I enjoy being around her and our other friends. I am also aware of how many girls in my year and Just in my school in general that have had crushes on her brother.
We have had conversations about them and a mutual friend of ours who we aren't that close to has a crush on him and I told her that and she was annoyed by it. She said she is wary of making friends because most of them just want to get close to her brother.
I don't want to be like those other girls and I don't want to betray my friends trust, but no matter what I do my feelings won't go away.
He is exactly my type and his personality and looks are perfect, but again I know nothing will ever happen because it is my friends brother!
She also told me recently that him and his gf had broken up, and apparently they had broken up a while ago. I brushed this off because I thought I didn't like him anymore but I keep thinking about him and dreaming about him so now I am confused.
This is such a cliche scenario but I genuinely don't know what to do. Do I hide my feelings and ignore them? Because after all there are so many more boys than him. Or do I tell her I like him and risk losing a good friend?
This has been stressing me for quite some time, and I have been in relationships but I find that after a month or so I begin to lose feelings, I don't know if it's because I like him or not, or because of the distance (my relationships have been long distance)
Sometimes I listen to songs and think about him, when I'm in school I often search for him, when I'm in revision sessions after school I hope that he also has revision so I can walk with him after. I really do not know what to do!! Please help 🥹

Hey y’all, Im coming into town for a concert in a few months with my girlfriend, I’m somewhat looking to spoil her and myself and kinda treat us so I don’t really want the same old Hilton or whatever. I’m staying for 3 days/2 nights and willing to spend up to $500 ish. Any resort or nice hotel recommendations in the area? The concert is at Jannus Live

Here's a big fat receipt that should be added to the archive, I pulled an all-nighter compiling this into one post. Major credit goes to the vigilant members of this sub & the great information I was able to scour through .
Congrats on identifying Drake's bad behavior with women. I was unsure about the best way to present this because it requires some delicacy & subtlety. During one of my recent deep dives for another piece, I discovered something quite unsettling. I'm aware that there will be a lot of criticism to my post, but I had to say it. People will tell me it's nothing, but Drake's actions speak for themselves.
Before jumping in, I don’tunderstand why this behaviour is getting unchecked. My narrative is completely alleged & all of this is public information.
Let's start from the beginning shall we…
May, 2010: Drake calls a girl on stage fondles the girl and kisses her neck and the crowd cheers along with it. In his defense, he doesn't ask the girl her age but how does it make it any better. He still fondled her without asking for consent in front of a crowd of people.
When the girl tells him that she's only 17 he tries to remedy the situation by saying "how the hell she looks like this" and "you thick". He jokes he can't go to jail and the crowd cheers along with it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp5b9dW1nrA
If this was the only time that Drake did something like this, I would have called it an honest mistake but sadly it's not it.
Year 2016: https://mtonews.com/drake-groomed-hailey-baldwin-at-age-14-then-started-dating-her-at-18
Drake knows Hailey Bieber(nee Baldwin) when she was 14 years old and has been a "good friend" to her. They know each other 'cause Hailey is bestfriends with Kendall and Kylie.
In 2016, Hailey was just nineteen where as Drake was twenty-nine. It's legal but here is the deal. Drake knows her since she was fourteen and Drake is good friends with Justin Bieber, Hailey's then ex boyfriend. Him going after Hailey immediately after her breakup with Justin makes zero sense, ethics wise.https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/drake-is-pursuing-hailey-baldwin-w20858I mean why would someone go after his friends ex who's 10 years his junior?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-90gjG044IQ
Drake also got himself a similar "h" charm necklace that Hailey had a penchant for wearing. Ignore Justin in the background for a second and here it is. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/V_91WJgGVQw
Year 2018: Drake and Bella Harris met when she was sixteen. Her dad's a famous producer. https://www.kanyetothe.com/threads/drake-and-bella-harris-timeline.8088605/
When she turned eighteen Drake rented an entire restaurant for her birthday. Um what? I get that they can be friends but she's just 18 and he's 31. https://www.eonline.com/news/968171/drake-and-rumored-girlfriend-bella-harris-enjoy-intimate-dinner https://www.wmagazine.com/story/bella-harris-who-is-drake-girlfriend
Also, in 2018 Drake went after the weeknd's then ex girlfriend Bella Hadid. Abel and Drake have been mates and collaborates since 2010. Drake helped Abel to step in the spotlight while Abel helped with writing Drake's album, Take care and also lend his vocals.
After her split from the weeknd and around 2018, Drake threw Bella her 21st birthday party. Looks like drizzy really likes throwing birthday parties. https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a21999080/drake-bella-hadid-romance-references-in-finesse-lyrics/
Take note that this has happened two times where Drake has gone for his mates exes and I know Hollywood's chill with it but this just feels emotionally predatory. It's not like he doesn't know these girls, he knows them since they were teens. It's not random.
Year 2019: Billie Eilish defends her texting Drake. Drake's 33 and she's just 18. She even comments that Drake's at a level that he doesn't need to be nice to her but that's a whole different level of power imbalance. https://www.buzzfeed.com/terrycartebillie-eilish-revealed-that-drake-texts-her-creepy
Maybe I'm reaching and they are artists and Drake is interested artistically and helps her with the industry but it just weird.
Millie Bobby Brown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYZPKh74Li8
I can't with this interaction. For one second I was ready to ignore all of the above but this? A 33 year old texting a 15 year old girl that he misses her? and talks about boys? Tf is wrong with people justifying this? People are saying it's innocent but she was 15 and I don't think any grown man should be talking about these things with a 15 year old. Also, Millie posting this https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2018/09/210592/millie-bobby-brown-defends-friendship-with-drake
There is also this thing with Drake and the Kar-jenners and I don't know what to think: https://people.com/tv/kylie-jenner-drake-spending-romantic-time-togethe
https://twitter.com/WizMonifaaa/status/1467919407095681028/photo/4
https://hiphopdx.com/news/id.56014/title.drake-does-damage-control-after-referring-to-kylie-jenner-as-a-side-piece-on-old-song
Drake performed at Kylie's sweet 16:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWX-I6n-AQg
I wonder why no one is calling this out in light of the overall situation. Do other people observe this too but are they ignoring it? or am I overanalyzing this? I'm honestly not sure if this is predatory behavior at this point or if something is being misinterpreted since Drake is in the spotlight. Drake is a wealthy man, so what is going on with his management? If all that is occurring is coincidental and benign, then why are they allowing this to happen? To be honest, I'm not sure about it. I just wonder what Drake is doing with all these horrible stories coming out of the industry. The narrative around him changed over night it seems even though a lot of this has been known, but many just turned the other cheek.
Taking Drake down is just cutting out one head from hydra & another will likely take his place but what it WILL do is send a message to the higher ups that we aren’t slow & it’s just a matter of time until the truth comes out & people will have to face the music.

Ok, so for context, my (49M) sister (51F) has a 22-year-old son. My nephew's dad and my sister were not married, only dating, and they broke up after your nephew was born. Now your nephew's dad is a very wealthy man and was able to provide your nephew and his other kids with a very lavish lifestyle. My nephew grew up very rich. He went to a very expensive private school, always had very expensive designer clothes from head to toe, had a chauffeur, was well traveled, et cetera. My nephew's dad paid $20,000 a month in child support and while this might seem like a lot, my nephew's father is very wealthy and this wasn't much for him. This gave my sister a comfortable life after my nephew was born.
My sister remarried and her husband quit his job to live off my sister's child support since it was enough to support them and their new family but they were very irresponsible with their money, always blowing it on stuff, not saving and investing, and my sister always had a problem with my nephew's life. I love my nephew. He's a very humble young man and I'm so happy that he never had to stuggle and that he's lived an extremely privileged life (especially since we are people of color) and he will never have to stuggle but he is very spoiled and out of touch.
Like I said, he's basically a spoiled rich kid, a trust fund baby (which on the surface isn't bad), but my sister had a problem with it. She didn't like the fact that he went to an extremely expensive private school and that all his friends came from very wealthy families. She didn't like his designer clothes or his lavish lifestyle. When my nephew turned 18, he stopped seeing his mother, went to an expensive college for rich kids and basically had no contact with his mom. My sister also doesn't like my nephew's girlfriend (27F), who also comes from an extremely wealthy family, and my sister doesn't like her for this reason; she wanted him to date a girl who came from a lower-class, working-class, or middle-class background, not an upper-class one. After my nephew turned 18, he went without contact with his mom, and this was very bad for my sister. Remember how I said she was very irresponsible with the money?
Well, since she's not getting child support anymore, they were beginning to really struggle financially, and they ran out of all the money and my nephew's dad won't financially support her anymore. My sister and her husband have teen sons. My sister feels like her son should financially support them and his teen brothers. Like I said, my nephew has a very large trust fund and could easily support his mom and their family, but he chooses not to. I don't agree with this at all.
What did Uncle Ben say? "With great power comes great responsibility." My nephew was born to an extremely wealthy man, which obviously makes him very wealthy. By association, my nephew lives a very privileged lifestyle and has a lot of money and power. With that power comes great responsibility, and that responsibility is using that money to take care of his family.
He has the power to financially support his mother, his stepfather, and his stepbrothers, and because he has that power, he has a moral obligation to help them. I'm not going to sit here and defend my sister and act like she was the greatest person. She didn't like her ex-boyfriends and her son's lavish, wealthy lifestyle, but at the same time, she was more than willing to live off them and the very large child support because they were irresponsible with the money. They are in trouble but that doesn't change the fact that my nephew should help her. What do you think?
TLDR: My (49M) nephew (22M) won’t help his mother (51F) What should I do?

Ok, so for context, my (49M) sister (51F) has a 22-year-old son. My nephew's dad and my sister were not married, only dating, and they broke up after your nephew was born. Now your nephew's dad is a very wealthy man and was able to provide your nephew and his other kids with a very lavish lifestyle. My nephew grew up very rich. He went to a very expensive private school, always had very expensive designer clothes from head to toe, had a chauffeur, was well traveled, et cetera. My nephew's dad paid $20,000 a month in child support and while this might seem like a lot, my nephew's father is very wealthy and this wasn't much for him. This gave my sister a comfortable life after my nephew was born.
My sister remarried and her husband quit his job to live off my sister's child support since it was enough to support them and their new family but they were very irresponsible with their money, always blowing it on stuff, not saving and investing, and my sister always had a problem with my nephew's life. I love my nephew. He's a very humble young man and I'm so happy that he never had to stuggle and that he's lived an extremely privileged life (especially since we are people of color) and he will never have to stuggle but he is very spoiled and out of touch.
Like I said, he's basically a spoiled rich kid, a trust fund baby (which on the surface isn't bad), but my sister had a problem with it. She didn't like the fact that he went to an extremely expensive private school and that all his friends came from very wealthy families. She didn't like his designer clothes or his lavish lifestyle. When my nephew turned 18, he stopped seeing his mother, went to an expensive college for rich kids and basically had no contact with his mom. My sister also doesn't like my nephew's girlfriend (27F), who also comes from an extremely wealthy family, and my sister doesn't like her for this reason; she wanted him to date a girl who came from a lower-class, working-class, or middle-class background, not an upper-class one. After my nephew turned 18, he went without contact with his mom, and this was very bad for my sister. Remember how I said she was very irresponsible with the money?
Well, since she's not getting child support anymore, they were beginning to really struggle financially, and they ran out of all the money and my nephew's dad won't financially support her anymore. My sister and her husband have teen sons. My sister feels like her son should financially support them and his teen brothers. Like I said, my nephew has a very large trust fund and could easily support his mom and their family, but he chooses not to. I don't agree with this at all.
What did Uncle Ben say? "With great power comes great responsibility." My nephew was born to an extremely wealthy man, which obviously makes him very wealthy. By association, my nephew lives a very privileged lifestyle and has a lot of money and power. With that power comes great responsibility, and that responsibility is using that money to take care of his family.
He has the power to financially support his mother, his stepfather, and his stepbrothers, and because he has that power, he has a moral obligation to help them. I'm not going to sit here and defend my sister and act like she was the greatest person. She didn't like her ex-boyfriends and her son's lavish, wealthy lifestyle, but at the same time, she was more than willing to live off them and the very large child support because they were irresponsible with the money. They are in trouble but that doesn't change the fact that my nephew should help her. What do you think?

Ok, so for context, my (49M) sister (51F) has a 22-year-old son. My nephew's dad and my sister were not married, only dating, and they broke up after your nephew was born. Now your nephew's dad is a very wealthy man and was able to provide your nephew and his other kids with a very lavish lifestyle. My nephew grew up very rich. He went to a very expensive private school, always had very expensive designer clothes from head to toe, had a chauffeur, was well traveled, et cetera. My nephew's dad paid $20,000 a month in child support and while this might seem like a lot, my nephew's father is very wealthy and this wasn't much for him. This gave my sister a comfortable life after my nephew was born.
My sister remarried and her husband quit his job to live off my sister's child support since it was enough to support them and their new family but they were very irresponsible with their money, always blowing it on stuff, not saving and investing, and my sister always had a problem with my nephew's life. I love my nephew. He's a very humble young man and I'm so happy that he never had to stuggle and that he's lived an extremely privileged life (especially since we are people of color) and he will never have to stuggle but he is very spoiled and out of touch.
Like I said, he's basically a spoiled rich kid, a trust fund baby (which on the surface isn't bad), but my sister had a problem with it. She didn't like the fact that he went to an extremely expensive private school and that all his friends came from very wealthy families. She didn't like his designer clothes or his lavish lifestyle. When my nephew turned 18, he stopped seeing his mother, went to an expensive college for rich kids and basically had no contact with his mom. My sister also doesn't like my nephew's girlfriend (27F), who also comes from an extremely wealthy family, and my sister doesn't like her for this reason; she wanted him to date a girl who came from a lower-class, working-class, or middle-class background, not an upper-class one. After my nephew turned 18, he went without contact with his mom, and this was very bad for my sister. Remember how I said she was very irresponsible with the money?
Well, since she's not getting child support anymore, they were beginning to really struggle financially, and they ran out of all the money and my nephew's dad won't financially support her anymore. My sister and her husband have teen sons. My sister feels like her son should financially support them and his teen brothers. Like I said, my nephew has a very large trust fund and could easily support his mom and their family, but he chooses not to. I don't agree with this at all.
What did Uncle Ben say? "With great power comes great responsibility." My nephew was born to an extremely wealthy man, which obviously makes him very wealthy. By association, my nephew lives a very privileged lifestyle and has a lot of money and power. With that power comes great responsibility, and that responsibility is using that money to take care of his family.
He has the power to financially support his mother, his stepfather, and his stepbrothers, and because he has that power, he has a moral obligation to help them. I'm not going to sit here and defend my sister and act like she was the greatest person. She didn't like her ex-boyfriends and her son's lavish, wealthy lifestyle, but at the same time, she was more than willing to live off them and the very large child support because they were irresponsible with the money. They are in trouble but that doesn't change the fact that my nephew should help her. What do you think?

My boyfriend and I haven’t been together very long, really only a couple months. But before this, we were both involved in “situationships”; essentially we were giving other people the BF/GF experience without any commitment or reciprocation from the other parties. As a result, this has left my partner needing a little more reassurance via action as opposed to words.
The problem with this, is that I’m his first actual girlfriend, whereas I have had a long string of failed relationships by now. The first serious boyfriend I ever had was very abusive, and most of my partners since then haven’t always been as emotionally involved as I’d have liked. Over time, feeling like I was the only one invested in the relationship has left me feeling emotionally burnt out.
This is all exacerbated by my upbringing. My mother has instilled in me this idea that the more obvious it is I like someone, the more it will repulse them. She’s always saying things like, “don’t get carried away,” which is hard to shake off because she is extremely overbearing and even at almost 30 I will try to appease her to avoid getting berated on the phone every day.
My current boyfriend is the best partner I’ve ever had. He goes above and beyond for the people in his life and I’m not used to this kind of treatment. I was raised to be ashamed of help, to be so little of a burden that I can’t even bring myself to eat seconds at dinner with his parents because all I can hear is my parents telling me how rude that is and implying these people will grow to resent me. Last night I asked him how he felt things were going and he gently, kindly expressed that sometimes he feels unappreciated, and that he believes I don’t care about his interests. I also am not physically affectionate enough, which he says isn’t really that important but I can tell it hurts him given how things went for him before.
The problem is that I care sooooo much. I want to be open and loving, to create that closeness and intimacy that we both seem to want but only one of us is capable of. It hurts me that he feels insecure in our relationship because I’ve genuinely never loved anybody this much in my whole life. I want to be more emotionally available, I want to feel comfortable expressing my love and appreciation for him instead of just being so far in my own head that I can’t even hold his hand.
TLDR: I want to be more emotionally available to my partner because he deserves it and our relationship would be even better if I could get over these mental hurdles. I know I probably need therapy to deal with the underlying cause, but what are some things I can do in the meantime to improve things?