Male 32 DX. My partner, 26F is nothing short of an amazing human being. She’s empathetic, kind, strong and there is a lot of love between us.
But there are also a lot of fights. I forget the things that matter to her. I repeatedly forget what she’s told me when it comes to the logistics of our day to day. I clean for sure but in a more systemised way. Say end of day. Whereas she prefers to keep things clean all day.
My interest in my entrepreneurial endeavours, coupled with getting little to no stimulation from the day to day of a relationship has her feeling progressively less valued, and I can see her slowly losing her vibrant energy and becoming more negative.
She likes a man that can provide direction, decisions, etc and I can when do that better than most when the stars align, but that is a rare occasion indeed.
Being quite honest I can’t imagine myself coping with kids in the future. Love the idea. But I’ve never been able to mind or tend to anything on a consistent basis that isn’t work related.
I am medicated with an SNRI, which seems to actually amplify my interests in my various work projects and the external world, whereas unmedicated I am barely able to function.
In a weird way as well, it feels like 90% of my mental bandwidth goes into managing my state, which she sees as me being selfish. But I don’t know how else to someday get to a place where I can step up to the plate for marriage, kids, etc.
I’m starting to seriously wonder if I just let her go it would be better for her, and for me to maybe make peace with the fact that I’m not reliable long term. Maybe I’d enjoy my life more that way and not give people false hope?
Square peg, round hole and all that.
Any advice would be appreciated.

I wanted to reminisce about my time at Best Buy. There are so many negative threads on Reddit that I thought it would be nice to share some of the good memories for those of us who’ve been there through thick and thin.
First off, I absolutely hated the blue shirt we had to wear for the first six months. But once you were on the good side of your General Manager, you could get away with a lot. Be careful, though—that’s a double-edged sword. If management didn't like you, they’d use those same incidents against you!
Let’s be honest, Best Buy’s employee discount on shelved merchandise is pretty terrible. Some of you may know, some may not, but the real treasures were in the warehouse, labeled MDC. I know the name Magnolia no longer exists, but I still call it that! Magnolia was a completely different world compared to the retail floor. It was the reason I kept coming back to work. It offered a wealth of knowledge, and I couldn't get enough of it.
My grievance was never about the pay. I’m grateful I never had to worry about my paycheck or payday. Honestly, I hope people don’t take this job just for the money because there isn’t much to gain. But if you crave knowledge, MDC was the place to be. Sadly, it's now replaced by "Premium Audio."
I got my first set of KEF META speakers (gray enclosure with red diaphragm) for $400. I bought a 10’ AudioQuest Rocket 88 bi-wire speaker cable worth $1,450 for $300. A turntable with a MoonStone MM cartridge was also from Best Buy, and it’s not even listed on our website.
Funny story: Best Buy sells a ridiculous amount of stuff through Tylor that’s not available in the inventory, but not the AMP I needed! I had to buy the original amplifier for $1,000 on Amazon. That’s as much as I paid for an analog turntable. In retrospect, it was a stupid purchase. I can’t remember the last time I turned it on. Even when I used it, I didn’t consider that vinyl records only have four tracks per side, and getting up every four tracks got annoying.
If you know much about audio, names like Martin Logan, Bowers & Wilkins, KEF, McIntosh, and REL should ring a bell. That was our secondary showroom for high-potential customers. The main room was for the right customer, or as I like to call it, my playground. It had two B&W 804 and 806 speakers with black leather tops, connected to a Mark Levinson AMP and then to Marantz Cinema 30. Ugh... (Audiophiles will understand how outrageous that combination is.)
The dream setup, though, was the Pro-Ject Y2 with a MoonStone cartridge turntable, paired with a NAD Master Series M17 lossless DAC, connected to a Mark Levinson 534 two-channel amp with 500W per channel. All speaker cables were AudioQuest Rocket 88, and AudioQuest 2.0M Angle RCA-RCA were used to connect to a 1.4KW McIntosh speaker amp “per side." Just the speakers alone were consuming 2.8KW of power every time you played a song. All that power, precision, and quality went to the one and only KEF Blade Loudspeakers.
If none of this excites you, you’ll probably love the new Best Buy. But if you recognize these names and respect original ingenuity, it’s a shame because they’ve fired most of the designers. No more knowledge-based incentives, no more commissions, and no more passionate people.
Sad but true. I can’t believe our highest educated top executives don’t see the decline of such an iconic brand. All for the sake of claiming diversity with a woman as a CEO. Especially a CEO that comes from baking pizza dough.
The only thing that motivates me anymorr is the hope of seeing Corie Barry fired or going back to "FUCKING" Domino's Pizza. (Kudos to you if you get that joke... someone prove me wrong.)
The end. Share something positive that Corie has ruined for our employees and customers!

I am 32w6d now and I went to see my doctor yesterday and they started me on bedtime NPH insulin for my fasting numbers that I just can’t seem to get under 95. Wondering how many days it took for you all to see results when you started on insulin? Last night I drank my shake (my bedtime snack) and then gave myself my insulin maybe 15-20 mins later right before I went to sleep. I’m still high this morning at 98 but it’s an improvement from the 103 I was yesterday. Just wondering if anyone else took a couple days to see results below your goal or if it should be more immediate if it’s the correct dose?

I am currently having feelings of attraction for a coworker. I have no plans on acting on this attraction at all but during my spare time, he’s all I think about.
Aside from this, I have plenty of unused time off that our manager has asked us to use before it expires. I get so bored without any work and the spare time just further ignites this unhealthy attraction.
All this is what I think are results of having no life outside work. All my close friends are from work and I am at my happiest when I am with my team.
Weekends are mostly spent at home doing chores or catching up on Netflix. My other friends either live far away or are married so our schedules very rarely align. I’m bored but Idk what hobby I want to do because nothing else interests me aside from work. Tapos hobbies take up money. Also, ang traffic, hirap magcommute at ang init kaya lalo ko tinatamad lumabas. I travel once or twice a year but other than that wala na ko social life.
I used to love reading, organizing stuff at home, and go out on weekends to have lunch outside pero ngayon wala ako kagana gana na. Bahay trabaho na lang buhay ko.
This isn’t healthy I know but I currently have no interest except going to work and accomplishing my tasks and being with my teammates. I’m already 33 and working for 7 years in the company.
What do you guys do on your weekends off? Is this burnout/quarterlife crisis? Or is this just a common thing sa mga tumatandang tita na introvert.

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Peace be to you all.
Let's proceed to refute the second part of his "rebuttal," providing a brief yet precise rebuttal that will further expose his ignorance in the Hebrew language, and his knowledge of the Bible as well.
He writes:

The prophecy so closely matches those events that even scecular scholars agree which is the primary reason secular scholars date Daniel to just after these events. Their idea is the book is actually recording history but pretending to present prophecy.

But it doesn’t. Not even close. The chapter is about a prophet/messenger of God who brought a Holy Covenant. His successors fell into dispute over who was the rightful heir to his kingdom. The rightful successors were supposed to be his descendants (his followers), but that turned out not to be the case according to what verse 4 states. This is strikingly similar to how Islamic history played out.
He writes:

I'm not sure where Exion found this translation.

I found it here: biblehub - Pulpit's commentary. Literally a direct copy and paste. Not sure how he missed it.
Regarding the "The prophecy describes a sequence of events" thing he pointed out, I had already revised each verse from part 1 in part 2, and it now makes perfect sense. He should read part 2.
He writes:

A few things here. The verb is עמדים. The same verb is used in verse 3 and again in verse 4. Both cases it's referring to a king rising to power rather than rising against someone/somthing else. That context suggests the same meaning for the kings in verse 2. We also see verse 2 describing a king being against a nation when it says "he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece." This is a different verb and preposition.

Yes, I agree. 'Umar was the first king to rise in Persia when he fought the Persians and won. 'Uthman and 'Ali were the second and third kings, and Mu'awiyah was the fourth, the wealthy king. I'm not sure what he thinks he is refuting here because I literally wrote:
"This 'rising' could either be in support of Persia or in opposition to it. Remarkably, this aligns perfectly with the historical narrative of Islam, and here's why:..."
In other words, both interpretations align perfectly with the historical narrative of Islam. I believe he misunderstood that part; regardless, let's move on.

The Hebrew word is גִּבּוֹר which means strong/mighty not righteous

You also missed the part where I said that this would be made clear later in the chapter, specifically here:
Daniel 11:30:

• "...and he will be crushed, and he will return and be wroth with the holy covenant, and he will succeed, and he will return and contemplate those who abandoned the holy covenant."

The Holy Covenant was brought by the mighty king, of course. However, he completely missed this point and is portraying the Bible as if it prophesies random historical secular events and secular kings, like a history book, rather than a Holy Book foretelling the era of a prophet and a king, much like King David. He claims that secular scholars date Daniel to just after these events and believe the book is recording history while pretending to present prophecy. What a silly assertion. Don’t you think people would generally reject such false "prophecy" and declare them deviant liars, especially if they depicted events that had recently happened and everyone knew about? Both you and these secular scholars need to rethink your position because it is very unlikely (almost impossible to be true) and rather ridiculous, if I'm being very frank.
The chapter is about a prophet who brought a Holy Covenant from God, which is why it is literally called "Holy."
Definition of "Holy":

holy / ˈhəʊli / adjective
1.dedicated or consecrated to God or a religious purpose; sacred."the Holy Bible" Similar: sacred, consecrated, hallowed, sanctified, venerated, revered. (Source: Google)

The Bible is considered to be the Words of God (or inspired Words of God), and these Words literally call this Covenant "Holy." Meanwhile, you are deviating from this description by portraying an erroneous picture of a bunch of atheist ancient kings fighting each other over various kingdoms.
He writes:

The specific word is וּכְעָמְדוֹ. The וּ is the conjunctive. It's not a vav relative in this case since the verb tense isn't the perfect or imperfect The כְ is a Hebrew proposition added to the verb. The verb is עָמְד and the וֹ is a possesive suffix. The verb form is the infinitive construct. When that verb form is combined with the preposition כְ it indicates a temporal clause which is where the "as soon as" comes from. The possesive suffix indicates the subject of the verb which is where the "he" comes from. Combined with the verb we get as soon as he has risen. Exion's translation ignores the preposition and possesive suffix on the verb.

I will respond to each claim by giving it a short name and my rebuttal next to it:
Regarding: Conjunctive וּ: It is agreed that the וּ functions as a conjunctive "and" or "but," connecting phrases. This conjunction alone does not necessarily indicate a temporal clause.
Not a Vav Relative: Correct, this is not a vav relative case.
Preposition כְ: The preposition כְ does mean "like" or "as." While it can form a temporal clause in combination with an infinitive construct, this temporal interpretation must be contextually supported rather than assumed.
Verb עָמַד and Possessive Suffix וֹ: Correct, the verb עָמַד means "to stand" or "to arise," and the suffix וֹ indicates possession, translating to "his."
Infinitive Construct: Agreed, the form is an infinitive construct.
Temporal Clause Interpretation: While כְ combined with an infinitive construct can imply a temporal clause, translating it as "as soon as" is an interpretative choice. A more literal translation is "when he stood" or "as he stood," and any temporal implication would be derived from what you believe is the context.
Possessive Suffix: Agreed, the suffix וֹ indicates "he" or "his."
Your interpretation that it is saying "as soon as he has risen" adds a temporal nuance that is contextually based rather than explicitly stated in the preposition and verb form. My translation aims for a more direct rendering of "when he stood" or "as he stood," which also respects the grammatical structure without adding interpretative elements not present in the original text.
Let's move on.
He writes:

It can also refer to the 4 generals after Alexander the Great. He came after the Persian kings, conqured all of Greece, had a mighty dominion, shortly after he conqured Greece he died, and his kingdom was divided among his 4 generals none of which were his decendents.

No, it can't, because this is about a Holy Covenant. I genuinely hope you can understand this because I know you tend to repeat the same misunderstandings and rarely admit when you are wrong. However, this is explicitly clear:
The phrase is: "על־ברית־קודש"
Breakdown:

• Word: על־ (ʿal)
  
• Preposition
  
• Meaning: "upon," "on," "over," "concerning"
  
• Word: ברית־ (b'rith)
  
• Noun - feminine singular construct
  
• Meaning: "covenant," "treaty," "alliance"
  
• Word: קודש (qodesh)
  
• Noun - masculine singular
  
• Meaning: "holiness," "sanctity," "sacredness"
  

Literal Translation:

• "Upon the covenant of holiness"

Neither Alexander the Great nor anyone else you mention (or anyone related to Alexander) anything to do with a Holy Covenant. This is beyond ridiculous, and I couldn't believe your scholars were claiming this. I thought it was so absurd that it didn't even need refutation. Yet here I am, refuting you because you actually hold this view.
He writes:

That fits better than Exion's interpretation for a few reasons. First this king came after the 4 mentioned in verse 2. If those in verse 2 are the Caliphs this king can't be Mohammed who was before the Caliphs.

What makes you think that the mighty king came after the 4 kings? The 3rd verse only said:

"And a mighty king will arise and will rule a great dominion and do according to his will."

Are you claiming that this must be in chronological order just because the four kings were mentioned before the mighty king? If so, this is the first time I've heard such a claim. Please provide your proof for this supposed Biblical rule; I'd like to read it :). You won't provide any because none exist. But claiming that it does gives you something to "expose," so I understand your motive. However, in the real world, you're just making statements that aren't true.
The 4th verse says:
"...but not to his posterity, and not like the dominion that he ruled, for his kingdom will be uprooted and to others besides those."
The posterity refers to the Rashidun Caliphs, while "to others besides those" refers to Mu'awiyah and those who followed him. Do you know what "posterity" even means? Posterity literally means future followers or descendants. Lol. The mighty king is the one with the followers, which is why he is the one who brought the Holy Covenant from God, not the four other kings. Had you known what posterity means, you would never have written this in the first place, but we will look past this mistake. Now you know a new word and won't repeat this mistake again. Let's move on.
Regarding "The king of the south is prophet Muhammad" I had revisited this verse in part 2.
He writes:

This is false. The source Exion links doesn't give any English meaning. The BDB does give the English meaning. For the former it means sprout/branch, the latter means root.

Noun נֵצֶר (nétser) m (plural indefinite נְצָרִים, singular construct נֵצֶר־, plural construct נִצְרֵי־) [pattern: קֵטֶל]

1. stem, shoot
2. (literary, collectively) scion(s)

References:

• H5342 in Strong, James (1979)
• “נצר” in the Hebrew Terms Database of the Academy of Hebrew Language

The other word (i.e. שרש):

Root: שֹֽׁרֶשׁ (m.n.)

1. root.

2. source, origin.

1. bottom, lowest part.
   
2. root, stem (Heb. grammar).
   

Source: מקור: Klein Dictionary
I don't know if you know this, but stem and branch are synonymous words, they essentially mean the same thing. And lowest part, bottom could also mean stem. Dictionaries define both words similarly:

Word: שֹׁרֶשׁ, שׁוֹרֶשׁ (m.) (b. h.; apocope of שרשר
, v. שָׁרָר) [chain, knot,] root. — Pl. שֳׁרָשִׁים, שֳׁרָשִׁין; constr. שָׁרְשֵׁי, שׁוֹרְשֵׁי. B. Bath. V, 4 העולה … ומן הש׳ וכ׳ that which shoots forth out of the trunk, or out of the roots, belongs to the landowner (v. גֶּזַע), expl. ib. 82ᵃ כל שאינו … זהו מן הש׳ that which does not see the light of day (when it shoots forth) is out of the roots’. Y. Ab. Zar. III, 43ᵃ top; Y. Taan. I, 64ᵇ ש׳ חטה the roots of wheat; ש׳ תאנה of fig-trees. Tosef. Shebi. VII, 17; ‘Uktsin I, 4, v. קוֹלָס. Ab. III, 17 וְשֳׁרָשָׁיו מרובין whose roots are many; a. fr.

Source: מקור: Jastrow Dictionary
Either way, let's pretend you're right (even though you're not) it still doesn't matter because a branch out of her roots did sprout, which came to be a sect called Khawarij. This was explained in part two. The ones that assassinated 'Ali were initially Shiites that later turned against 'Ali and assassinated him. It's interesting how Pulpit commentary writes:

"The version of the LXX. is very different here also, "And a plant shall arise out of his root against himself,"

He writes:

Edit: I just noticed another problem with Exion’s interpretation. They take Ali as both the commander mentioned in verse 5 who is one of commanders of the king of the south, and also as the king of the north mentioned in verse 6. That can’t be since the commander isn’t also the king of the north.

Revised in part 2 already.
He writes:

They show rather than trying to first establish the historical facts and show it lines up with the prophecy they are willing to misrepresent the historical facts to fit their interpretation of the prophecy and as their interpretation of the prophecy changes their claims about the historical facts change to match their new interpretation.

This is just your faulty conclusion and presumption. I speculated that they might have lied about 'Aishah being his wife. However, I'm not satisfied with speculations, so I revised the entire post of part 1, and it turned out to be even more accurate.
This marks the end of his part 2 post.
Thanks for reading, /Your bro, Exion

I am a dumpee and as of right now, my ex is already with someone else after 1 month of our break up; she’s a fearful avoidant and has some mental health issues like ptsd, major depressive disorder, and bipolar. I broke up with her 2 months ago because i already hurt her a lot and i thought that it was the right decision that time; before that break up happened, we’ve got to many issues already but we did tried to fixed those that time not until i made some sort of mistake that hurt her a lot; i would def admit that it was my fault yet at the first place she also has something to do with it. Days before i initiated the break up, we got that conflict and she was so mad at me that time; i’ve tried to apologize many times but she ignored it; days have passed after i apologize, she finally reached out to me saying that she have forgave me and ready to fixed everything despite of everything i did for the sake of our rs however, i refused and totally broke up with her. After initiating the break up, she eventually agreed and left me hopeful saying that “we never know the future holds, we might still end up together.” After that convo, we undergo to no contact for almost about 2 weeks, I’m surprised that she texted me again; when i saw that message, i got totally shattered into pieces and it deeply sank my heart. She said there that she had moved on already, she no longer have feelings for me and can’t see her future with me anymore. Imagine how it deeply hurt me, the last time we talked we’re okay then now what?? I can’t describe my emotions that time, it felt like i was on a roller coaster :(( after that we undergo to no contact again for another 3 weeks, this time we had a chance to meet up and talked after a month. She talked to me that day like nothing happened and say that she’s already with someone else :(( i can tell that it was the most painful thing that ever happened to me, i thought i already moved on but then i feel devastated again. Now we’re under no contact again, after that day, i never contact her as a respect to myself and healing process. It’s been 3 weeks now and i can say that I’m slowly feeling better but i can’t deny that sometimes, i’m longing to my ex and i still feel the pain of our break up. I don’t know if these things are right, however after watching a lot of psychologist and professionals, i truly got hopes and been trying to cope with it; they said that it’s really the avoidant’s behaviour…they’re good at suppressing their feelings and emotions that’s why they are seemingly very happy right now with their rebound; however those things wouldn’t last according to professionals since those are just a distractions to them. Does anyone have the same situation like me?? I still feel helpless sometimes :<<

I’m really struggling lately with the realisation that events in my childhood were actually COCSA.
I’ve been really obsessing over it (I have OCD) and I’ve been having such horrible intrusive thoughts about the experience and I can’t get them out of my head, so I think I need to speak to him about it, but I don’t know how to speak to him about the thoughts and get the help I need without disclosing the childhood SA, but I don’t really want to do that because I feel like he’s going to judge me and think I’m disgusting and horrible and awful.
So that’s where I’m at.

So as this was my most recent reread binge I’m posting on this sub… Does anyone else experience the feelings of the books? I feel alive and I feel love and I feel like I am part of this world (I know that may sound bananas but still) I just feel so many emotions and feel like I’m not me while I’m reading them and then it’s over and I feel empty.. I have actually been advised to not read books like this by my therapist and GP lol because for months after my depression is so severe that I don’t even get out of bed (another bananas thing)
When the story is over I feel sad and broken and empty and obviously depressed.. I try to find other stories to get into after I’m finished a series so I can continue feeling but it’s hard to find books I enjoy reading which is why I read the same series over and over again. Throne of Glass series, Vampire Academy series and the spin off Bloodlines series and House of Night series I just read over and over and over so I can just feel.

My parents and family caused my cptsd and they are all mad. My mum is currently in a really clingy phase, she’s been like this for 5 years. She constantly texts me messages - probably 30 times a day where she just spits out facts about my childhood “we went to the park and had a bbq in spring time”. Every text enrages me she’s monopolising my little attention and cognitive function that I have - I’m angry and heartbroken. I think she’s actually declining mentally and physically in so many ways but I am too tired to try to assist her to not decline. It’s like I’m watching a sad sad movie where the main character is a complete nut case and they are desperate for intervention but I’m Just watching heartbroken and frozen

Well, I made another, longer version. Here it is. Thanks everone for the input—I didn't incoporate all the suggestions; not because I didn't thought they were good, but because, when I tried to include them in the playlist, I felt that the overall flaw wasn't quite right.
CD 1

1. Salt Lake City
2. In My Room
3. The Warmth of the Sun
4. Please Let Me Wonder
5. I’m So Young
6. Kiss Me, Baby
7. She Knows Me Too Well
8. In the Back of My Mind
9. Girl Don’t Tell Me
10. Let Him Run Wild
11. Pet Sounds
12. Hang On to Your Ego
13. Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)
14. Let’s Get Away for Awhile
15. And Your Dreams Come True

CD 2

1. Our Prayer
2. Vega-Tables [Smile]
3. Child Is Father of the Man
4. Cabinessence [Smile]
5. With Me Tonight
6. Little Pad
7. Wind Chimes [Smiley Smile]
8. Meant for You
9. Busy Doin’ Nothin’
10. Cool, Cool Water
11. All I Wanna Do
12. Forever
13. Disney Girls (1957)
14. Feel Flows
15. ’Til I Die

CD 3

1. The Trader
2. Leaving This Town [In Concert]
3. Let Us Go On This Way
4. I Wanna Pick You Up
5. Johnny Carson
6. Roller Skating Child
7. Airplane
8. The Night Was So Young
9. Ding Dang
10. Life Is for the Living
11. It’s Over Now
12. It’s Trying to Say (Baseball’s On)
13. Shortenin’ Bread [Adult/Child]
14. Still I Dream of It
15. Summer’s Gone

Me and this girl have been talking for around 2 months, we like each other / have a crush on each other but neither of us have made a move yet because we have exams at the moment and we don’t want to start off a proper relationship in the middle of them. I was planning to ask her out at prom at the end of this year, but now I’m having second thoughts as I think she’s losing interest in me, for the past week. The reasons I think that is because one, she doesn’t respond to the TikTok’s I send her that are about her, like how pretty she is or something similar, but she responds to any others I send her. And two, her general replies with me have just been drier, and slower too. She just seems like she’s getting bored or something. Does it sound to you like she is losing interest? And what can I do to help it?

I have an LT 1046 with an incredible track record. I’ve been good to it, it’s been good to me. Starting last mowing season, the front right tire came off. Washer bent, pin broke, etc. Got through with a washer and pin until I could get a real replacement part. It keeps happening every so often, and twice already this mowing season. Considering I’m using real parts to keep this thing on, can anyone take a stab on why this is happening or how to avoid it? Thanks

Hello, my iPhone 15 pro is nice, but the battery is just not doing it for me.
When the new 16 comes out, I plan on getting the plus so I can make it through a single day.
My problem is that I’ll only 12 months in on a 36 month plan. What’s the most cost effective way out of this?
I’m okay locking in a new 36 month contract, but I’m also okay going straight to Apple.
Trying to figure out the best move here

Hey all!
Fairly Seasoned GM (across a wide range of systems both light and crunchy) with fairly seasoned players (mainly various DnD3.5/4/5).
Our main group is currently transitioning to 2e after running a couple of the Free one shots and currently working through the beginners box.
Being fairly seasoned players they’re already exploring the edges of the system. We’ve run a few Avoid Notice scenarios now and found the RAW no stealth roll til an encounter and then stealth initiative vs. passive perception. And we’ve found it a little clumsy compared to how nicely the other exploration activities have been going. Some reading on the topic suggests this isn’t a unique experience.
It’s worth noting here that both I and the players enjoy the mechanical density and structure of the game, and are also very narratively and character driven and enjoy failure, we’re not war gamers and we’re not rules-light RPers.
What we’re really loving at the moment is how well 2e’s rules enable interesting role play and bring structure to it in an interesting way.
In particular the table is really avoiding hidden rolls, I even quickly modelled and 3d printed a small dice tower so players can roll their own but only I can see the result. Using it for Recall Knowledge and Grappling Hooks in the beginners box dungeon has been a hit.
Also in both DnD and other systems I’ve always a big proponent of smoother transitions into (and out of) encounters and exploration. I don’t like a clean break from roll play/narrative land into combat encounter land, and try to keep narrative and dramatic tension through encounters. I feel like 2e has really enabled and elevated that one almost every from but this one. My least favourite thing is encounter as a failure state with combat assumed from the outset.
We’re trying to stick to RAW as much as we can before breaking things or reinventing the wheel so I’m here to ask for opinions on potential pitfalls. But this mechanic is cropping up fairly frequently and I trust from reading other people’s qualms that this isn’t just a new-to-the-system issue.
As such I’m considering the following approach to Avoid Notice, trying to keep as true to possible with RAW/RAI but trying to bring the dramatic tension and “rules cinematicness” as I’ve been calling it to the table, and looking for opinions/advice/pitfalls we may not see because of our inexperience with the system.
Worth mentioning this isn’t a recommendation for every table. It’s a little dense but should be intuitive after running it a couple times. I trust it’s within the capacity of our group. Certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.

• Characters Avoid Notice
• Everyone Rolls a Hidden Stealth Check
• I note the results
• I begin narrating the sneaking and the characters are free to continue reacting/taking other actions while avoiding notice
• Should a potential encounter arise I compare their rolls to the passive perception of the potential adversaries/noticers
• If they succeed I make the executive decision whether it is more interesting to enter encounter mode or narrate the close encounter.
• If we enter encounter mode, I make it clear to the players that they still have not been noticed but we are entering initiative order using their stealth rolls (they still do not know the order) at this point I roll perception initiative for the other NPCs/creatures per usual. These are also hidden.
• The encounter begins. Each participant (player or GM pawns) has their turns announced immediately after the turn prior ends. Each player remains Unnoticed to any npc/creature they beat the passive of, and remain so so long as they don’t deliberately reveal themselves, they do not have to roll for sneak/hide these unless they become noticed.
• GM pawns who have not noticed any players continue acting as they otherwise would, doing nothing to break a character’s concealment (but able to do other things like recall knowledge, ready, seek, aid, etc.). GM pawns who have noticed players are free to act however makes sense, intelligent creatures who are unequipped may attempt to subtlety equip themselves before revealing to the players that they have been noticed using stealth/thievery or subtly seek to try to spot any characters they may have missed, an unintelligent creature might just attack as soon as its turn is reached (or even as soon as a reaction might be triggered).

Optional additions: - any player who critically failed Vs a gm-pawn Perception DC might spectacularly fail revealing themselves on their first action, losing their first action. - players using Follow the Expert may only take stealth and hide actions otherwise they must begin rolling sneak/hide with their own modifiers per usual. - the first turn after a GM pawn whose Notice was Avoided detects any player they lose an action.
Perks: - fully stealth turn based encounters getting some mileage out of non-combat encounter mechanics mechanics and avoiding the “everything ends in combat” encounter mode. - tasty dramatic tension with the turn reveals and starting an encounter uncertain if you’ve been spotted and creatures taking turns while players are concealed plus the potential for counter-sneaking NPCs - reward players who role high stealth (they remain undetected even while other players may become detected, even if they use their whole first turn before they know someone has been spotted they start their next turn still undetected. - giving the “surprise round” style mechanic a lot of players appreciate and expect form systems as enemies remain off-guard to undetected players - makes the transition into encounter more dramatically/narratively satisfying - Mostly preserves the design ethos (I think) with all checks vs. DCs and hidden stealth roles. - No awkward everyone rolling their initiative but maybe not needing it vs perception DCs then rolling perception for initiative for creature. All of it is hidden from the player and they get a more or less seemless narrative transition staying in the land of uncertainty and tension until the moment combat breaks (if it does)
Cons: - Complicated. I reckon the current group will get it after a single encounter but it’s going to need onboarding if we bring in other players, especially ones with less experience - Will really weigh favour to PCs based on their (very buffable) Avoid Notice rolls. And if they adapt to the system and game it by playing over-cautious and readying actions vs off-guard enemies it could unbalance things. Could be offset with some kind of extra complication like each turn subtracting 1 or 2 from their stealth roll so they’re pressured to get out of the encounter quickly and not be over-cautious. but that’s another layer of complexity.
That’s only 2 cons, and only one of them is a potential dealbreaker for us, but I don’t know what else I might be missing. I’m not too averse to even heavily skewing a combat in the party’s favour (especially as bypassing encounters entirely grants the experience anyway). And if it starts to get gamed I can adapt.
I like that it eases the transition from exploration to stealth encounters without breaking flow to roll initiative and that choices and narrative moments about trying to steal something or gain an advantage can happen in encounter, making the encounter a progressive narrative device rather than a failure state.
I also know that a huge part of the reason the rules as written has been unsatisfying is because the rest of the rules (for which other systems don’t codify) have been so refreshingly satisfying and it feels like an awkward fad for a common (for our group) mechanic. And that 5e stealth rules are just as bad if not worse and have also never been satisfying, but it’s the least of our worries over there.
We’re going to test it next session regardless. But just wanted to field it here for thoughts.

Hi y’all,
Long time lurker, first time poster here and I could really use some advice.
I, 33, met my girlfriend, 35 on a dating website about 11 months ago. It was very different to anyone else I’d been with. It wasn’t that intense passionate sexual kinda chemistry, but it was something. We just clicked like I haven't had.
Unfortunately we knew she’d have to move interstate temporarily for a work contract for 10 months about 2 months after us meeting. We spent a lot of time together over that 2 months. During that time I learnt a lot about her and she intrigued me. She was avoidant in some ways. Non-committal, which was fine as we had discussed openness and although we agreed to it and went over rules/guidelines, neither of us have done anything about it. With her leaving we figured it would just be something casual.
However, after she left, I visited her, she visited me, we'd go on trips together, and this pattern has continued up until now. She’ll be back next month. So obviously, it became a lot more than casual - I'd never done long distance either so that was all new.
Since we met, she's had a lot going on in her personal and family life, and her emotions are very fiery and up and down. I have always been there to support her through it all. At about 5 months in, she stayed with me for a long period at one point and we didn’t do too well with it. She had a lot of trouble expressing emotions properly… and I think the hardest one for me was that she could not handle any thing to do with us being serious, whether it be a conversation about ‘us’. I think this was our downfall. We lost the honeymoon period too quickly. We weren’t ready to be in the same house.
Despite that, we continued our relationship, with small problems here and there but nothing drastic. We maintained our visiting, and they were a mix of everything. Not as romantic, but still fun. Not as sexual, but still sometimes. I think the distance hasn't helped because when we see each other, its not our normal lives. Its just us, 24/7.
Fast forward to now, 2 months until she returns. She has been extra distant and avoidant. I know she’s busy but she hardly wants to talk to me, she doesn’t seem to care about what’s going on in my life, and things don’t feel good. I want to make it work because I love her.
She told me that although she loves me and I’m her best friend, she just doesn't know what she wants. She needs time to think about it. She can’t give me an answer. She doesn’t want to end it, but doesn’t know what she wants. She doesn’t like the idea of being with only one person… and apparently this is a normal behaviour from her at this point in a relationship - she gets itchy and irritated and everything the partner does annoys her. I’m meant to go see her next week, I told her I could cancel and she said not to.
When I put it like that, it makes her sound horrible and she is not. She just struggles with feelings and emotions. She’s got a huge heart and I love her so much. I'm happy to give her space and step back a bit if it will help. But I guess what I'm trying to know is, what the hell do I do???
I don’t want to be something someone is unsure about, but I also know how much love there is there and I'd hate to give up on that without trying.
Please help me - be as brutually honest as you need to be!
Thanks!

After doing research here I bought an Arris S33 modem. I just moved and am setting up a new service in an apartment unit. A potential ISP (RCN in Chicago) is mandating I rent a modem for 1000 Mbps. It is fiber internet and the person on the phone insisted it’s “not a regular cable modem” and they want a $75 installation fee.
Questions:

1. I’m fairly certain my S33 has these capabilities - right? I should be able to just plug Ethernet cable I to the wall and into the 2.5 Mb port and run the 1 Mb to my router, correct?
   
2. Is there any other reason the ISP would need to send a tech for the installation? I was under the impression they sort of just turn it on. The apartment building almost certainly has other customers from the same ISP.
   

The T and L being capitalised feels intentional. Now that we know one of the words is secret from the new blog post, my feeling is that the other t word is The. I cannot think of a single noun that starts with L. If it’s a location I’m going to scream in Australian - you Americans are literally so obsessed with geography and knowing places, it’s nuts. We have like 3 cities here that we could give two shits about lmao.
Does anyone have any ideas? there is the ability to make words like ‘is’ and ‘a’ for a longer sentence. I was wondering if because it’s book 4 it’s a 4 word sentence? Dunno if I’m just looking at things that aren’t there.

How did everyone do? I know there’s still a couple days left, but I think I’m meat week worn out got all the plans yay and then some. Had to buy a couple of the plans that I had left. Man looking for the rib plushie was like jumping to find a red dress and thank goodness I finally found someone selling it for 3500 so glad I got it, because I haven’t received it from the event. But I think two weeks is too long for this event. I know some people will have an opinion about this but I wished fasnachs was back on so I can get the remainder of the masks, I have half and I need the other half.