Office desks virus

Note: I am not subscribed to YandereDev's Patreon nor do I support or endorse his actions - this information was leaked through a Discord server. The leaked information was translated to Spanish, so I decided to translate it into English. Just letting you know, because some part of the translation might be incorrect.
UPCOMING CONTENT PREVIEW
Hello, today I am going to try something new. I'm going to post a preview of the upcoming content, except you'll get a different preview depending on your Patreon level.
$3: A text description of the upcoming content. $5: A screenshot of upcoming content. $10: A 70-second video of upcoming content.
Although I am currently focusing on polishing Amai's week, I have already started requesting the assets I'll need for Kizana's week, and they're being provided to me bit by bit. Recently, I received a very important asset: the building that the player will infiltrate in the "Befriend/Betray Kizana" stealth mission!
I'm not going to reveal the nature of the building to you - who owns it, what kind of business is carried out here, etc. - but I will tell you a few things about it:
It has four floors. The ground floor is the reception area, the upper floor is almost entirely dedicated to the CEO's extravagant office and the two middle floors are for business.
A security guard will patrol the outside of the building. There will be a receptionist at the reception. The CEO and two of his employees will be present in the building and will be a threat to the player.
There will be five ways to enter the building: Front door, back door, second floor window, third floor window, and fourth floor balcony. You'll have to find a way to get the receptionist away from the front desk if you want to get through without being stopped. Entering through the fourth floor is the most direct way to reach your objective, but requires you to infiltrate an adjacent building. If you enter through either window, you'll have to stack things to make a makeshift ladder and then climb it, just like in the "Befriend/Betray Amai" stealth mission. The exterior environment of this building will be smaller than the environment of Amai's "Befriend" and "Betray" stealth missions. This was a deliberate decision: Amai's stealth mission was too big and took a lot of time and work to implement. However, the environment outside this building will still be larger than the environment outside the stalker's house in the Osana stealth mission.
If you watch the video, you'll notice some errors in the environment, such as the stairs that intersect with the windows. Don't worry; These bugs will be fixed before the release of Kizana.
Like the Amai stealth mission environment, this environment has been paid for by your donations to Patreon! Your support continues to make the development of the game possible.
Thank you for supporting the development of Yandere Simulator!

Husband of 20 years is probably cheating on me. So here it goes, sll of my dirty secrets.
I, 45f been married to my husband 46, male for over 20 years to a man I met in my early 20’s. We have been very best friends since the day we met but it has been a rocky relationship. I am from an abusive alcoholic family and I was for a time blissfully an alcoholic along with the family. This of coarse was problematic when looking for a date. More than one boyfriend broke up with me because I drank too much, partied too hard and studied too little. Cue in my dream man, he’s responsible, well educated and a heavy drinker. We partied all night and he got up the next day, no matter how hungover and went to work. My mom said that this is normal, it’s how it’s supposed to be. If a man makes it to work everyday then he’s not an alcoholic. By her definition, only a man who misses work can be accused of drinking too much.
I married this replica of my father and for many blissful years we were married and we partied and drank. We’d drink a bottle or two of wine a few nights a week and on weekends we’d stay up all night, often having parties at our home. It was grand fun, until we had kids. All of the sudden I had to handle night feedings and morning diaper changes while tipsy, drunk or hungover. It didn’t take me long to quit, I had already quit for 9 months while pregnant and I had gotten the idea that life is better sober. But my partner didn’t agree. He was drunk most nights while I was pregnant. When I got annoyed and asked him to quit he hid the bottles. I had a second child with him in spite of the drinking (I wanted a matching set), not my best decision but I don’t regret it. When I was at the hospital he looked exhausted so I sent him home to rest. He went home and drank himself into a stupor. My mom had to drive me home from the hospital and when we got home, he was passed out on the living room floor. He slept for another 10 hours like that and he was drunk the entire first week of my daughter’s life. I had to ask my mom to help care for her since I’d had complications with the birth and had over 30 stitches.
His drinking went on for years with me going from kicking him out of the home to drinking with him. Often I would plead with him to quit and he’d refuse. On 4 occasions we separated, each time selling our home and dividing the property. But he’d get sober and he was always very sorry. At this point we had two kids and I needed the help.
Over time things got better and he went years and years without drinking. I had quit altogether after our first child. In fact things go so much better that he asked to start drinking again. He rationalized that he had been sober for 5 years and that he can handle one of two drinks a week. I agreed under the following terms, he can have up to two drinks with dinner once a week. I know this is a terrible decision, I think it’s fair to say that there is a pattern here of gawd awful decisions on my part. This 2 drink agreement lasted a few months but of course two drinks turned into 3, then it turned into a couple nights a week. I saw it was getting out of hand and I banned drinking again.
In the meantime my partner has gotten substantially better looking. It’s through a combination of favourable genetics, some recent work done and some excellent supplements. He aged well going from a 6.5 in his 20’s to a current day 8.5. More than that he’d recently opened a business and it was booming. For the first time in our married life he started to out earn me. For the first 20 years I was the primary wage earner, but now he’s making the more than me (this is temporary as my wage is about to pick up). The woman are noticing him and It’s not lost on me or him. We went to Mexico last year and women were practically following him around and throwing themselves at him. We go out to eat and woman hit on him. They hit on him at the grocery store and they hit on him at work. To his credit he does not respond to this in front of me or the kids. Nor have I ever heard of him hitting on somebody.
I’m a solid 7 - 7.5. I’ve aged okay, I look decent, I’m maybe a little heavier as size 10. But I’m not a hot young thing giggling at him. I am a wife and a mother, so not always sexy, but still quite a lot prettier than average. But realistically on the open market, I’m probably not attracting an 8.5 that earns his kind of money.
About 8 months ago he started coming home from work drunk. He was hiding it but I could smell the booze on his breath. He claimed it was heartburn but I knew better and I ignored it. I just wanted everything to be okay. There was a woman he was working with, he claimed to hate her, she seemed overly interested in him. There were a few incidents, that made me suspicious but he claimed he hated her. He was never home late from work. She moved away and he seemed fine and I was relieved. But a few months after this the drinking started, along with my denial. I guess I kinda figured that who cares if he cheated, she moved away. Now we can get on with our lives.
Recently he’s coming home from work late, but not too late. It’s an hour late here and there. Sometimes he’d claim that he’d have to stay an extra hour. A few times he went completely missing and claimed to have fallen asleep at the office. The problem is that I don’t really know his hours, it’s possible he’s done earlier. For context, he is self employed and rents a space. But other people rent spaces there too,
He’s been coming home drunker and drunker lately while still denying he’s been drinking. I’m ashamed to admit it but I ignored it to the point where I let him drive the kids a few times like that. I was just so far into denial, but I knew somewhere deep down that he was drunk.
He’s normally off work at 5pm and in the car by 5:10pm. But lately he’s not in the car until 5:45pm, ignoring my calls and sometimes coming into the house as late as 6pm. I mean it’s only 45 minutes right? A few times he’d go missing until 7:30 or 8pm and he’d say that he hate a late client appointment and had told me but I forgot. Strangely he’s never hungry when he gets home, in spite of being at work all day. In fact he’s not hungry 2 - 3 times a week. He told me that his stomach is bothering him.
Last night he went missing so I went to his office to look for him. I found him asleep in his office alone with an empty bottle of hard alcohol on his desk. I checked his office drawer and it was full of empty bottles. The office is a disaster, messy and all that. I’m not sure how he sees clients in a room like that and I’m worried that he’s taking appointments drunk. His business is doing really well and building it up was a joint effort. I’m worried that his drinking will destroy everything we built.
I woke him up and he was visibly drunk. He told me that he wants to stay at the office to sleep it off and that no he doesn’t want to talk about it and he didn’t come home. It’s been 6 hours. The thing is, that he hates sleeping in his work clothes and his office is desperately uncomfortable. I just don’t see him staying there overnight alone.
When the drinking flared up 6 months ago, it was just him drinking alone. But when he was sober he was still my best friend. But over time he’s stopped responding when I speak. He tells me that he drinks because he can’t stand to listen to my problems anymore. If I ask him about his day I get a one word answer. More and more he looks at me with contempt while drinking. But even stranger, he wants sex more often, I don’t know why this is. But he’s weird about it and hounding me. He’s going on and on about how to wants to try a sex position we’ve never done, talking about how much he likes it. He’s also looking over my shoulder and checking my phone, which is new. it’s intrusive as I don’t even know his passcode and feel no temptation to check his phone.
He gets paid in cash and has a drawer full of it at the office so I can’t check his cards.
Now I know what you are going to say. He’s definitely cheating, I mean he probably is. But we live in a no fault place so what does it matter if I get proof or not? Also I have two kids to think of and we aren’t in a financial position to leave. I will need time to pay down our joint debt and I need a new job. I’m thinking that the best course of action is to stay silent and improve my situation so that I can support my kids and myself. I think this works for him too as he doesn’t want to get stuck with all sorts of child support or alimony. Giving me time to get back on my feet and improve my financial position works for both of us.
The thing is that if I even bring up getting divorced or separated he says that I am the light of his life. He says that he loves me and that I’m his best friend. He says that he doesn’t want to leave. Then I feel so badly. If I even broach the topic of separating, he’ll shut it down so quickly. He’s overwhelming and persistent and he out talks me. I think there’s no use in talking it out and I don’t see us living together well under some sort of “arrangement”.
Do you have any advice on what to do next? Do you have any idea why he’s acting this way? If he wants to separate why not just do it? Also what’s with the increased sex drive?
One of the oddities is that I’ve been doing really great lately. I’ve lost some weight, my hair is looking good. My business sucks but I’ve been taking on new gigs and retraining. I’m becoming a person that I’m really proud of and every day seems to be getting better. But the better I do, the more contempt he seems to have for me. I can see the bitterness in his drunkenness. And he gets drunks on nights when I have to work and when I have something important going on. He blames the drinking on me. He says that I only talk about myself (maybe I do, I’m trying to improve). He says that I ask too much of him and that I make him contribute to the house too much but I do 100% of the grocery shopping, cooking, lunches, school stuff, homework and kids activities. He comes home and goes straight to bed while complaining that he’s doing too much. Meanwhile I’m breaking myself trying to make the home perfect enough.
Is there any chance that he’s just old and tired and not cheating? I mean he’s only missing for 45 minutes a day? I should mention that he’s stopped answering my calls during the workday and stopped reading my texts.
The weird thing is that I felt relieved to find him surrounded by booze bottles and I’m glad he’s done tonight. I’ve spent the majority of my adult life begging him to be sober. Tonight I could see the contempt in his eyes towards me. I just don’t know that I can move past it. I think I just want to be free from this now.
Do you have any advice? I’ve never been through anything like this and I could use some support and guidance.
I think that taking 4 - 6 months to resolve the situation might be best. This gives me time to find a new job and to pay down some debt and bolster savings.

“Tick, tick, tick” an antique clock sang its rhythm.
Within a luxurious meeting room, an accord was about to be made. The negotiating parties included the Union of Terra and the Grand Duchy of Gaimellasz. Both nations had grown increasingly hostile towards one another, as straight lines on the galactic map had caused a border dispute.

It was common knowledge that violence is not always the answer. The price for bloodshed, more often than not, outweighed the benefits. You may receive a few systems, but for what? Millions, even billions could die in a single conflict. Those who lost their loved ones would ask for accountability, which would not bode well for the politician’s approval rating. And more importantly, wars tend to cause a dip in a nation’s GDP. No sane statesperson liked the idea of an economic recession.

And so, to avoid a wasteful war, both nations negotiated. The Carparkian Republic mediated the assembly, as well as providing a spot at their grand hotel.
And yet, despite being mediated by a third party;
despite being held in a room designed to ease hostilities with its grandeur;
and despite both sides having no desire for aggression;
Tensions still persisted within the atmosphere of the chamber. Nobody was willing to budge.

The Terran ambassador, Cyrus Rodriguez, sat at one side of the table with his entourage. His posture was firm. Across the table, Guhlor-Marrosz, the serpentlike Ducal envoy, seated straight alongside his assistants. He maintained a fierce eye contact with the human ambassador.

The uneasiness remained, until suddenly, it was disrupted by the avian Carparkian diplomat. “Perhaps the Terran side could readjust their demands?” The diplomat uttered. Tiredness was evident in her voice.

“Very well,” Cyrus spoke. “We are willing to compromise as long as we maintain our possession of the Gallibello System.”

Confusion reigned over the Gaimellasz envoy. Understandable, as the Gallibello System was exceptionally unexceptional. It boasted no resources of note. It was not located in a central position within the intragalactic network. The only central thing was the dim and trivial red star.
It was only one of the systems in the galaxy.

Perplexed, Guhlor raised a question. “Out of our curiosity, what is the significance of the Gallibello System?”

“The exact reasons for Gallibello’s strategic importance to the Union is not of your concerns." Cyrus stated. "However, you should understand that the system is relevant to our ‘Project Highway’.”

‘Project Highway’; one of the Union’s many industrial plans. While it was still ongoing, its impact on the Terran economy was evident. The Union became a manufacturing powerhouse, with factories churning out products that drowned the galactic market with consumer goods.

But what made a useless, backwater system so essential to this scheme? Had the Terrans discovered reserves of energy? Had they found deposits of rare minerals? Or perhaps an ancient artefact was buried somewhere in the system?

With these questions lying within his mind, Guhlor requested. “Our side of this negotiation wished for this meeting to be adjourned for the day and continued tomorrow.”

All sides, exhausted from the dialogue, agreed. All representatives stood up and left the room. On his way to an accommodation, the Gaimellasz envoy contacted the prime minister. They conversed on all possibilities for the Gallibello System; and reimagined how the disputed systems could be incorporated into their plans.

Perhaps the planetary bodies could be surveyed for exotic elements. Maybe Gallibello's sun emitted a special kind of radiation. Or possibly the debris within the system contained precursor technologies. Regardless of the possibilities...
...their perception had changed.

~~~

“Tick, tick, tick” an antique clock continued its rhythm.
Another day, another meeting. All sides of the negotiation sat down at their respective sides. The air of tension began to build up once more.

After a simple greeting, the Carparkian diplomat opened the mediation enthusiastically. Well, at least more than previously. “Perchance the Gaimellasz representatives would like to inform us of their revised demands?”

“We do,” Guhlor stated. “After much deliberation, we consider the Gallibello System to be central to our development projects as well.”

“Pardon me?” the Terran ambassador raised his voice. He was unmistakably confused. “As we have mentioned previously that system is crucial for our projects. What makes it so significant to your nation?”

“Ambassador Rodriguez, would you please calm your voice down.” The Carparkian diplomat mediated. “Ambassador Marrosz, would you like to elaborate?”

Hearing that, Guhlor replied smugly. “The exact reasons for Gallibello’s strategic importance to the Grand Duchy is not of your concerns.”

The Terran ambassador closed his fist tightly. It seemed as if his plans were thwarted. Just as he opened his mouth -- ready to raise his voice once more -- his assistant tapped his shoulder to calm him down. They then had a short discussion.

“Very well,” Cyrus spoke. “Considering Gallibello’s prominence, we are willing to part with it ONLY IF the Grand Duchy is willing to also part with other disputed systems.”

Guhlor tried to maintain composure. He attempted to hide his joy; usually expressed via his species’ equivalent to a smile. Which, coincidentally, is a smile. He felt victorious, as the Terrans were unable to hide their petty schemes from the Grand Duchy.

“That seems to be an appropriate demand.” The Gaimellasz ambassador spoke. “Perhaps an agreement is achievable, after all.”

After a lengthy discussion, both sides settled. The Grand Duchy receives the valuable Gallibello System. While the Union received the rest of the disputed territories.

In an instant, Guhlor-Marrosz became a celebrity. He became a household name, for his achievements of ruining the Union of Terra’s plots.
He became known as the person who provided Gallibello to the Grand Duchy.

~~~

10 years after the agreement…
“Tick, tick, tick” a different antique clock sang its rhythm with a Gaimellasz accent.
In an office in the Gallibello System, Guhlor-Marrosz sat at his desk. His face pressed into the table. Overwhelmed.

A few years after the agreement, the Ducal Government followed through with their revised plans.
They tried to explore the system for energy reserves.
Nothing.
They tried to find any rare mineral deposits.
Nothing.
They tried to excavate to find any ancient artefacts.
Still nothing.
The only thing they managed to build in the system was a glorified warehouse.

On the Terran’s side, however, their systems flourished. They managed to find plentiful reserves of resources for their ‘Project Highway’. New companies -- both private and government-owned -- were set up and extracted the area’s boundless deposits. Some strategic systems were transformed into logistics hubs that could deliver goods swiftly to the Union’s trade partners.

After seeing what a failure the deal had turned out, the Ducal Cabinet was displeased. They repositioned Guhlor as the governor for the Gallibello System. Fortunately for him, he had nothing much to do in this assignment. Unfortunately for him, he had nothing much to do in this assignment. And now, he could only waste away in his office, wondering when things went wrong. If only, back then, he knew…
…that there was no “Gullible” written on the ceiling.

Howdy all. I run opps for a small business and as part of a much larger , back end IT update (Entra, SSO, SharePoint, etc); I would like to move from to teams but need some firepower. Teams would replace Slack, Zoom (to some degree), Dropbox, and Dialpad for Business. We are moving our licenses to E3 small business and F3 (both of which includes basic teams).
I have about 40 users currently with likely double that by the fall, the cost savings are the easy part; it's the pushback from users.
At any one time, we have 40-100 active projects with each project. Currently that means a separate Dropbox folder and Slack channel for each project which don't talk to each other. The plan would be that each active project would have its own Team with our standard template of folder hierarchy to store all project info.
Once a project is compete or dies, it needs to be archived (including all chats) to a local that can be searched in the event we need to reference it at a later date.
The naming convention of the teams channel would allow for users to filter projects per office. "Office name-Year-Project#-Name". Is there a way for a more folder like hierarchy in the teams windows, like in an Outlook inbox?
I have been told some folks at Microsoft to basically never use the word "SharePoint" when talking to people as the user experience has traditionally been so bad.
Moving Diakpad to Teams for all of our desk phones andain company lines seems fairly (for Microsoft) straightforward.
Looking for some pointers to use as I push this internally.
I am a right clicker for life but unfortunately we are about 85% a MacOS/IOS house (entertainment industry)..
Most of the push back is related to user experiences from several years ago.
"I can't annotate on Teams" "The video on teams sucks" "We can't archive on Teams"
Thanks!

I am loving these desk aesthetic posts. Everything about my home office is intentional.

New here! -- have been reading these for a while and felt like I could relate (and how that's probably not a good thing)
I got my undergrad in December and quickly found a job in my field starting in the middle of January at a small (less than 5 employees total) office. My boss and his wife run the company as a duo, where he does all of the work and she takes care of meetings, schedules, hiring employees, etc. My coworker has told me that she tends to hire younger because she can "get away with paying them nothing". I have been grateful to have a salary at all, and don't have any issues with pay.
I signed onto the job and on the first day I was immediately assigned my own projects (no training). We do work where accuracy is EXTREMELY important for liability purposes. In the interview process, both the boss and his wife told me that I'd be able to utilize the first few months as huge learning opportunities, as I told them my undergraduate program did not cover much of what we do. They assured me that this would be "more than okay". In my first few weeks, I had made my fair share of mistakes, and instead of offering any sort of guidance, the boss would snap at me, say things like "who told you to do this?" and "it's not that fucking hard to figure it out" under his breath while I'm at his desk ASKING for information, and then send me back to my desk. About a month into working she pulled me into a meeting and told me I need to stop asking so many questions to my coworkers and start working independently. With zero training and zero references, I reminded her in this meeting that the nature of the work we are doing is not something covered in undergrad, but that I would do my best to minimize questions and try to figure things out on my own.
The "asking questions" problem very quickly turned into a "talking" problem. I thought it was very normal to make casual small talk with coworkers (at decent times) for about 5 minutes at a time. My boss' wife seems to have developed a very particular distaste for ME talking, and has begun to blame me for almost everything that goes wrong in the office. If my coworker takes too long to complete something, she'll come out and yell at me for "distracting others".
I think it is worth mentioning that about 1 month ago she pulled my coworker and I into another meeting and said that she was moving my desk. I used to sit in a position where I could at the very least mouth things to my coworker if I had a quick question, but I now am completely facing the wall with my back turned to everyone else. I have responded to all of these instances with complete honesty and respect, telling her that while I do not ask questions about work anymore, and have completely stopped talking during the (sometimes 11 hour day), that there are just some extremely specific things that i HAVE to ask someone, or else I wouldn't have a clue how to go about it.
Now that I have my seat moved, my coworkers talk (I can hear them behind me) and I very rarely chime in. She will still come in and "joke" with the interns/employees to "make sure I leave everyone alone" and "not let me start talking". I will occasionally hear this over my headphones (which we are allowed to wear at work) and remind her that I haven't said anything to anyone all day.
All in all, (6 months in) I now go into work every day feeling anxious, and leave feeling defeated. I will say that my REAL boss doesn't seem to have any issues with me. He's a generally cranky guy but especially recently he seems to be pleased with the work I put out. The issue now really feels like a peronal one that she has about me. I will hear her asking him if I've messed up anything, and he'll say no. I feel like although I've learned a lot, there are still a lot of things I'm not grasping fully because I'm not allowed to ask about them. My coworkers are all planning their exits in the next few weeks and have advised me to do the same. I've espressed my fears to them about how I may not be picking things up quickly enough, and they all confirm that my work is fine, especially for being pretty new to the job. The only reason why I want to keep this job is because I wanted to have something for my resume for grad school (I'd be applying in the Fall). I'm not sure if it's even worth it anymore, with the mental damage she seems to be doing to me.
Would really appreciate any sort of guidance, because I'm pretty sure she qualifies as a narcissist. I will end by saying she's generally disliked by clients, employees, and argues with her husband in the office almost every day. He'll tell her to "shut up" and "leave him alone" right in front of us. It feels like just a super toxic place to be in in general. I will say again that I'm new to the work field and that I could also just need to grow up and deal with it. My plan was to stick it out until the winter (stay for a year) and then leave.

Husband of 20 years is probably cheating on me. So here it goes, sll of my dirty secrets.
I, 45f been married to my husband 46, male for over 20 years to a man I met in my early 20’s. We have been very best friends since the day we met but it has been a rocky relationship. I am from an abusive alcoholic family and I was for a time blissfully an alcoholic along with the family. This of coarse was problematic when looking for a date. More than one boyfriend broke up with me because I drank too much, partied too hard and studied too little. Cue in my dream man, he’s responsible, well educated and a heavy drinker. We partied all night and he got up the next day, no matter how hungover and went to work. My mom said that this is normal, it’s how it’s supposed to be. If a man makes it to work everyday then he’s not an alcoholic. By her definition, only a man who misses work can be accused of drinking too much.
I married this replica of my father and for many blissful years we were married and we partied and drank. We’d drink a bottle or two of wine a few nights a week and on weekends we’d stay up all night, often having parties at our home. It was grand fun, until we had kids. All of the sudden I had to handle night feedings and morning diaper changes while tipsy, drunk or hungover. It didn’t take me long to quit, I had already quit for 9 months while pregnant and I had gotten the idea that life is better sober. But my partner didn’t agree. He was drunk most nights while I was pregnant. When I got annoyed and asked him to quit he hid the bottles. I had a second child with him in spite of the drinking (I wanted a matching set), not my best decision but I don’t regret it. When I was at the hospital he looked exhausted so I sent him home to rest. He went home and drank himself into a stupor. My mom had to drive me home from the hospital and when we got home, he was passed out on the living room floor. He slept for another 10 hours like that and he was drunk the entire first week of my daughter’s life. I had to ask my mom to help care for her since I’d had complications with the birth and had over 30 stitches.
His drinking went on for years with me going from kicking him out of the home to drinking with him. Often I would plead with him to quit and he’d refuse. On 4 occasions we separated, each time selling our home and dividing the property. But he’d get sober and he was always very sorry. At this point we had two kids and I needed the help.
Over time things got better and he went years and years without drinking. I had quit altogether after our first child. In fact things go so much better that he asked to start drinking again. He rationalized that he had been sober for 5 years and that he can handle one of two drinks a week. I agreed under the following terms, he can have up to two drinks with dinner once a week. I know this is a terrible decision, I think it’s fair to say that there is a pattern here of gawd awful decisions on my part. This 2 drink agreement lasted a few months but of course two drinks turned into 3, then it turned into a couple nights a week. I saw it was getting out of hand and I banned drinking again.
In the meantime my partner has gotten substantially better looking. It’s through a combination of favourable genetics, some recent work done and some excellent supplements. He aged well going from a 6.5 in his 20’s to a current day 8.5. More than that he’d recently opened a business and it was booming. For the first time in our married life he started to out earn me. For the first 20 years I was the primary wage earner, but now he’s making the more than me (this is temporary as my wage is about to pick up). The woman are noticing him and It’s not lost on me or him. We went to Mexico last year and women were practically following him around and throwing themselves at him. We go out to eat and woman hit on him. They hit on him at the grocery store and they hit on him at work. To his credit he does not respond to this in front of me or the kids. Nor have I ever heard of him hitting on somebody.
I’m a solid 7 - 7.5. I’ve aged okay, I look decent, I’m maybe a little heavier as size 10. But I’m not a hot young thing giggling at him. I am a wife and a mother, so not always sexy, but still quite a lot prettier than average. But realistically on the open market, I’m probably not attracting an 8.5 that earns his kind of money.
About 8 months ago he started coming home from work drunk. He was hiding it but I could smell the booze on his breath. He claimed it was heartburn but I knew better and I ignored it. I just wanted everything to be okay. There was a woman he was working with, he claimed to hate her, she seemed overly interested in him. There were a few incidents, that made me suspicious but he claimed he hated her. He was never home late from work. She moved away and he seemed fine and I was relieved. But a few months after this the drinking started, along with my denial. I guess I kinda figured that who cares if he cheated, she moved away. Now we can get on with our lives.
Recently he’s coming home from work late, but not too late. It’s an hour late here and there. Sometimes he’d claim that he’d have to stay an extra hour. A few times he went completely missing and claimed to have fallen asleep at the office. The problem is that I don’t really know his hours, it’s possible he’s done earlier. For context, he is self employed and rents a space. But other people rent spaces there too,
He’s been coming home drunker and drunker lately while still denying he’s been drinking. I’m ashamed to admit it but I ignored it to the point where I let him drive the kids a few times like that. I was just so far into denial, but I knew somewhere deep down that he was drunk.
He’s normally off work at 5pm and in the car by 5:10pm. But lately he’s not in the car until 5:45pm, ignoring my calls and sometimes coming into the house as late as 6pm. I mean it’s only 45 minutes right? A few times he’d go missing until 7:30 or 8pm and he’d say that he hate a late client appointment and had told me but I forgot. Strangely he’s never hungry when he gets home, in spite of being at work all day. In fact he’s not hungry 2 - 3 times a week. He told me that his stomach is bothering him.
Last night he went missing so I went to his office to look for him. I found him asleep in his office alone with an empty bottle of hard alcohol on his desk. I checked his office drawer and it was full of empty bottles. The office is a disaster, messy and all that. I’m not sure how he sees clients in a room like that and I’m worried that he’s taking appointments drunk. His business is doing really well and building it up was a joint effort. I’m worried that his drinking will destroy everything we built.
I woke him up and he was visibly drunk. He told me that he wants to stay at the office to sleep it off and that no he doesn’t want to talk about it and he didn’t come home. It’s been 6 hours. The thing is, that he hates sleeping in his work clothes and his office is desperately uncomfortable. I just don’t see him staying there overnight alone.
When the drinking flared up 6 months ago, it was just him drinking alone. But when he was sober he was still my best friend. But over time he’s stopped responding when I speak. He tells me that he drinks because he can’t stand to listen to my problems anymore. If I ask him about his day I get a one word answer. More and more he looks at me with contempt while drinking. But even stranger, he wants sex more often, I don’t know why this is. But he’s weird about it and hounding me. He’s going on and on about how to wants to try a sex position we’ve never done, talking about how much he likes it. He’s also looking over my shoulder and checking my phone, which is new. it’s intrusive as I don’t even know his passcode and feel no temptation to check his phone.
He gets paid in cash and has a drawer full of it at the office so I can’t check his cards.
Now I know what you are going to say. He’s definitely cheating, I mean he probably is. But we live in a no fault place so what does it matter if I get proof or not? Also I have two kids to think of and we aren’t in a financial position to leave. I will need time to pay down our joint debt and I need a new job. I’m thinking that the best course of action is to stay silent and improve my situation so that I can support my kids and myself. I think this works for him too as he doesn’t want to get stuck with all sorts of child support or alimony. Giving me time to get back on my feet and improve my financial position works for both of us.
The thing is that if I even bring up getting divorced or separated he says that I am the light of his life. He says that he loves me and that I’m his best friend. He says that he doesn’t want to leave. Then I feel so badly. If I even broach the topic of separating, he’ll shut it down so quickly. He’s overwhelming and persistent and he out talks me. I think there’s no use in talking it out and I don’t see us living together well under some sort of “arrangement”.
Do you have any advice on what to do next? Do you have any idea why he’s acting this way? If he wants to separate why not just do it? Also what’s with the increased sex drive?
One of the oddities is that I’ve been doing really great lately. I’ve lost some weight, my hair is looking good. My business sucks but I’ve been taking on new gigs and retraining. I’m becoming a person that I’m really proud of and every day seems to be getting better. But the better I do, the more contempt he seems to have for me. I can see the bitterness in his drunkenness. And he gets drunks on nights when I have to work and when I have something important going on. He blames the drinking on me. He says that I only talk about myself (maybe I do, I’m trying to improve). He says that I ask too much of him and that I make him contribute to the house too much but I do 100% of the grocery shopping, cooking, lunches, school stuff, homework and kids activities. He comes home and goes straight to bed while complaining that he’s doing too much. Meanwhile I’m breaking myself trying to make the home perfect enough.
Is there any chance that he’s just old and tired and not cheating? I mean he’s only missing for 45 minutes a day? I should mention that he’s stopped answering my calls during the workday and stopped reading my texts.
The weird thing is that I felt relieved to find him surrounded by booze bottles and I’m glad he’s done tonight. I’ve spent the majority of my adult life begging him to be sober. Tonight I could see the contempt in his eyes towards me. I just don’t know that I can move past it. I think I just want to be free from this now.
Do you have any advice? I’ve never been through anything like this and I could use some support and guidance.
I think that taking 4 - 6 months to resolve the situation might be best. This gives me time to find a new job and to pay down some debt and bolster savings.

My girlfriend and I are moving in together soon (+- 2 months), so I've been looking into setting up a home network. At first, the choice we decided on was a mesh network of 3 Deco XE75s in addition to the ISP's modem (a Nokia XS-2426G-B). After looking into it some more, multiple (in-wall) access points might also be an option. However, this is where things got a bit confusing for me, as such I'd like to ask for help to decide whether a mesh network or multiple access points would be better.
Housing situation: the house consists of 3 levels. The bottom floor has the entrance, kitchen, living room, and garden. The 2nd level consists of the 3 bedrooms and the bathroom. The last level consists of the washing machine/dryer location + a hobby room/home office (basically 2 desks with computers and some closets. Through our ISP we have a 1 gigabit fiber connection.
Goal: (relatively) fast internet on the PCs for gaming/downloading through wired connection, ability to stream movies/series in the living room (Wi-Fi), and fast enough internet for browsing the internet/Reddit etc. on a phone in the living room/garden/bedrooms (Wi-Fi).
Budget: my girlfriend would prefer not to spend more than € 300-400 on this (although I might be able to convince her spending a bit more is worth it if it makes the setup more future-proof).
Questions: 1. We 're planning to run wired connections to either the mesh network or the access points. I've read that if both have a wired connection, there's not really a difference between a mesh network and access points. But I'm not sure if this is true? 2. Would a mesh network or multiple access points be a better option? And how many of those would we need? (Our current plan was 3 mesh nodes; 1 connected to the modem at the entrance, 1 in the hallway on the 2nd level and 1 on the 3rd level, with the last node running 2 cables to both PCs and cables running from the modem connected node to both other nodes. Perhaps a 4th node for in the garden if the normal reception there is bad.) 3. In case a mesh network would be better, are there better options than the TP-Link Deco XE75 that do not cost a lot more? (Right now we don't foresee upgrading to a 2 gigabit connection, so we have no need for multiple 2,5 gigabit ports on the nodes if I understand how it all works correctly?) 4. In case access points are a better option, which access points would be a decent option?
Besides that, I was wondering if it is necessary to buy a new modem ourselves or if the modem we received from our ISP is sufficient for our situation?
Thank you in advance for your help!

Been only to the job for 1week and i feel drained. my introvert self cant level to the tasks of doing calls for costing and talking to co-workers&clients as well. even during break time i want to be alone to recharge, but they dont allow you to eat at your desk (even drinking store bought coffee is no no). so i either eat with them at the lunch table or have to buy food elsewhere and eat there as my recharge. (issue is my dad wants me to eat home cooked food so i usually have packed lunch plus saves on expenses as well--its kinda weird to bring my lunch out of the office)
The job itself is not heavy but there are deadlines soon so it looks like i will be much much drained from the talking. Somehow i want to quit but i only been there for a week. I will feel ashamed and guilty that employer took me in and already wanting to leave in a weeks time.
I have hopped jobs due to poor management but looks like this time, this is a ME problem. I dont know how to cope with this problem at the moment.
add: already cried this morning since i have been looking for a job for months and finally have one but im lost.-- gonna go cry again

Been only to the job for 1week and i feel drained. my introvert self cant level to the tasks of doing calls for costing and talking to co-workers&clients as well. even during break time i want to be alone to recharge, but they dont allow you to eat at your desk (even drinking store bought coffee is no no). so i either eat with them at the lunch table or have to buy food elsewhere and eat there as my recharge. (issue is my dad wants me to eat home cooked food so i usually have packed lunch plus saves on expenses as well--its kinda weird to bring my lunch out of the office)
The job itself is not heavy but there are deadlines soon so it looks like i will be much much drained from the talking. Somehow i want to quit but i only been there for a week. I will feel ashamed and guilty that employer took me in and already wanting to leave in a weeks time.
I have hopped jobs due to poor management but looks like this time, this is a ME problem. I dont know how to cope with this problem at the moment.
add: already cried this morning since i have been looking for a job for months and finally have one but im lost.-- gonna go cry again

I'm writing this because even if I'm the guilty one in the story, I still believe that even one piece of advice will be beneficial for me, thank you in advance.
So I (26F) was truly head over heels in love with a guy (26M) from my workplace (let's call him X) two and a half years ago. From the first day I started working, his interest in me, his disinterest in everyone else, and generally his good character, politeness, intelligence, his loving and subtle flirtatious behavior only towards me, his constant efforts to spend time with me, our great compatibility, flowing conversations, etc., made me fall for him more and more every day. Right after I started working, X moved to the desk right next to mine in the room where we worked and he refused to leave although he was supposed to be in a different department, so we spent most of our working hours, almost a whole year, together. My love for him grew steadily, and the more I got to know him, the more I loved him. Naturally, people in the office were also questioning whether there was something between us. Then X left the office to start his own business. And we never became a couple afterward. After he left, he visited the workplace a few times and sent me messages out of the blue at least five times over the next few months. I also messaged him two or three times similarly. And nothing came of it, and we drifted apart. His business partner, whom I also knew from before, called me 5-6 times randomly, I thought maybe he had him call me. Six months later, when I reopened my Instagram account (which was deactivated the whole time), I added him and he again sent a random message about my cat, and we talked a bit about our new lives, conversations ended him saying I should work with him and maybe our paths would cross again in the future. And it's been about two years since that conversation.
At the time, I thought he didn't confess his feelings to me for various reasons, and that's why this story remained unfinished. One reason was that a very close friend (they went to same hs and university) of his at work (let's call him Y (26M) also tried to flirt with me indirectly and sometimes directly for months, even when X was around. I constantly tried to break this cycle subtly and even hinted at my interest in X, but Y's meaningless interest, which I think stemmed from his generally very flirtatious nature, never ended and persisted. Since Y and I were good friends, I didn't want to do anything that would significantly hurt or upset him, although I should have; looking back, it was a great naivety of mine in my early twenties. Because I was well aware of X's introverted and proud nature. When Y tried to flirt, despite being close friends, X wouldn't join the conversation, would retreat to his corner, and become silent. I made an even bigger mistake; in the last days, when I didn't get any move from X (which might have had reasons, but back then, I couldn't think rationally due to the intensity of my feelings), I immaturely responded to Y's flirtations a couple of times in front of X just before X left the job, thinking X would get jealous and things might gain momentum. I went too far saying after X left Y should take his place and we should hang out with him a bit and X showed his reaction this time and got angry a little bit and said that Y could never take his place because of the office politics. Yes, it was a terrible and childish mistake. But I had convinced myself, "If X likes me, why doesn't he stop Y's actions?" Sometimes, I would also talk about the attempts of people outside the office to flirt with me. So that I look uninterested and cool, fool me. He never talked about any other girl. I don't know why I did that, wish I hadn't.
The second reason, naturally, was that we had a serious and demanding job, so I thought our relationship at work might not be well received, and he might have been afraid of creating an awkward atmosphere in case of a possible rejection since we were constantly together.
As for why I never made a move towards him after he left the job, the few conversations we had afterward and the lack of closure really broke my heart, and since I have also a very proud nature, I wondered if these were instances of "breadcrumbing" or if he just enjoyed getting attention from me. By the way, we went to the same university but had never met. Later, I learned from a mutual friend who knew X that he had been very much in love with a girl in university and after she broke up with him, he suffered a lot. (They still follow each other on social media) We met a year and a half after this happened. He never talked about her, ever. When I heard this, I thought he might not have forgotten her and was using me as a band-aid. And I decided to close this chapter completely. Initially, I was very upset for a while. But eventually, I moved on with my life. Since then, I've had a boyfriend who loved me very much, had people chasing after me, and went on dates. But I either felt nothing or didn't feel the same way as I did for him; I never got along with anyone as well as I did with him. So I always subconsciously avoided relationships to not break anyone's heart.
In the current situation, we're still following each other on Instagram, and we continued to do so even when I had a boyfriend. He never posted about any other girl. Right now, he's watching my stories, and despite not being active, whenever I share a story on Instagram, he shares a story same day as well. I'm aware that I need to leave him behind and not focus on these little things and overthink it, but whenever I see him on social media, I can't help but feel like I'm falling in love with him all over again and I am suffering because of the childish behaviors don't believe I can love someone else like I loved him. Do you think I messed everything up, or did he never love me enough and if he wanted to, he could've made a move?

[INDEX]
I banked the fire and stared into the golden eyes of Beatale before I crept into my makeshift tent.
I still had my auric vision running and couldn’t help but notice the thin silver cord that ran from me to Horse. Firming up my aura, I reached out with my hand and grabbed it. I could feel the nearly imperceptible vibration between my fingers as I used my mind to probe at the thread. I could feel a bright spark of intellect, a light at the end of a tunnel. Pushing with my mind, I slid down the thread until the spark grew larger and eventually filled my inner vision with a hazy white light. Horsey thoughts nudged at me curiously.
I slid into the haze and immediately lost all sense of direction. If it wasn’t for the silver thread, I’d have no idea how to exit this shifting white fog. Horsey thoughts got stronger as I followed the thread while the haze thinned and cleared to reveal an endless prairie of green grass. I found myself standing before a naked man wearing a horse mask and I stared in shock. It was obviously me wearing a cheap costume horse mask — there was no mistaking my tattoos.
“What did you expect?” Horse neighed at me. “I am you and you are me and we are all together. Goo goo ga joob.”
Horse made a shooing motion with his hands and I accelerated backwards through the white haze and slammed into my own body with a gasp. I stared at the tarp overhead for a long minute, processing this new revelation. Horse was a part of me, a piece of my spirit. Whatever psychic stuff I did with that silver cord lead me into a house of mirrors where I got to look at myself pretending to be a horse. I can’t even deal with that right now.
Rolling into my blankets, I dropped off to sleep.
*Ding*
-=- - Welcome to the Dreamworld - Included in the Psychic Skills pack, the Inner Sanctum is your psychic domain. It is the mental fortress that you must secure and maintain to defend against psychic and spiritual assaults. All of your neurosis and fears are symbolised in this realm and must be defeated or subjugated before you can become master of the domain. Good luck. -=-
I banished the pop-up and looked around. I knew I was asleep, but everything was just as real as when I was awake. I was breathing, I could feel the floor under my feet, and if it weren’t for the pop-up, I would have sworn I had been teleported. The room I was in resembled an oversized luxury prison cell, maybe a thirty foot cube. No windows. Rough stone walls with thick mortar. Large brass wall sconces were set directly into the stone and suffused the room with a warm, golden light provided by glowing rocks. The stone floor had colourful Persian rugs tastefully placed. A high plaster ceiling was painted with a rendition of Michelangelo’s ‘Creation of Adam’, depicting me as both Adam and God.
There was a comfy sofa in front of a large screen television that hung from one wall and an ornate grandfather clock ticked loudly in the corner. It was currently 10:08 PM. Another wall was a floor to ceiling bookshelf, stuffed with books of varying sizes. The third wall was covered with pictures and I could see at a glance that they were images from my life. The fourth wall had a thick riveted steel door on the right side, a full sized mirror on the left, and a computer workstation in the middle.
The picture wall was my first target. A few were quite large, nearly life sized, while others were tiny prints no larger than the palm of my hand. Scenes of my life were displayed in each one. The largest was me riding Horse with a shit-scared expression, shooting at a pack of wolves. Others were smaller, each with different frames. Some ornate gold or silver, others plain wood, a few wrapped in briars or barbed wire. Nanny Ramsey holding me as a young child. My dog Jean with a red ball in his mouth. My parents, screaming at me. I turned my attention to the books. Books are safe. Books don’t judge you.
The sweet, musty scent of a used book store filled my nostrils as I drew close to the honey coloured shelves. Hundreds of volumes filled the wall from floor to ceiling, with a ladder that could be rolled along a rail to access the top. I smiled at the sight. I had always wanted a library like this. I pulled a book at random and read the title, “Confused Fantasies about Joseph Harris, part XXIV of the Middle School Years”.
I slid the book back onto the shelf. Let’s see what’s on TV.
The remote was a slim, futuristic looking affair with a minimum of buttons. I pointed it at the television and moments later the huge screen came to life and presented me with a simple menu for movies, divided into six categories: Happy, Surprised, Afraid, Disgusted, Angry, and Sad. I scrolled through the offerings for a minute, reading the titles and reviews about the movies of my life. It really bothered me that there were so few selections in the Happy section.
The number of Sad movies increased by one.
I walked over to the mirror and noticed there was a small sticky note pasted to it. “Astral Realm. Experienced users only.” I shoved the note in my pocket and stared at my image. Sturdy black boots, black denim jeans and shirt with mother-of-pearl buttons, deep brown gun belt slung at my hip, red bandanna and black felt hat. All I needed was a pencil moustache and I would look like the stereotypical villain in any spaghetti western. At that very moment I decided to grow out a goatee. I’d rather be mistaken for a bad guy than a victim.
So how does this astral realm thing work?
The mirror appeared to be nothing more than a mirror. It was cold, smooth glass surrounded by a wrought iron frame, and reflected my image. I didn’t necessarily want to go walking into danger, but I wanted to know how it worked. I pushed and prodded the glass in frustration until I noticed my image grinning at me. I jumped back in surprise and it doubled over in silent laughter.
“Hilarious, dude. You got me,” I huffed. “So how do I get in?”
My mirror-self tipped his hat and stepped to side.
I reached up to the mirror again and my hand passed through, vanishing as if cut off. Okay, just a quick peek and we’ll explore the rest of the room. I stepped through and the world shifted around me. I was standing back at the campsite. My body was insubstantial as a ghost and the tarp was a wisp of substance running straight through me. Non living things don’t seem to have much presence in this realm. Glancing down, I saw my sleeping body rolled up in the blankets, a thin silver thread running from it to me, and another thread running to Horse.
Looking around, I surveyed the campsite. My astral vision seemed to be on and had an unlimited range. I could see the life all around me, the distant forest was a sea of greenish-gold, grasses and brush nearby glowed with spectral light. Tiny ghost insects scurried while ghost mice nibbled at whatever ghost mice nibble on. Ghost seeds and ghost insects, I suppose. I turned my attention overhead and gaped at the sight of a monstrous serpentine spirit flying through the inky void. I dropped back through the tent and rolled inside my body. That was plenty enough for now.
I rolled through the mirror and landed flat on my back, staring at the fresco on the ceiling. Vinnie-God winked at me and Vinnie-Adam grinned. Climbing to my knees, I brushed non-existent dust from my trousers and watched mirror-me doubled over in soundless laughter.
“Hey, laughing-boy!” I yelled at him. “You’re like the guardian or something, right? You got it covered?”
Mirror-me stood and saluted with a smile, then gave me two thumbs up. A moment later, his face took on a serious expression and he wriggled his right hand in the ‘maybe’ motion. Then he pointed at me, tapped his wrist, and then a finger to his head.
It all depends on how fast I learn stuff, I guess.
Two thumbs up and a winning smile reflected back to me.
A large cork board was mounted to the wall over the computer and a small note was pinned to it. “Note to self: Don’t fuck with the Elvish womens.”
The computer screen featured a screensaver of me as Vitruvian Man doing callisthenics over the words ‘HumanOS’. I tapped the spacebar and was rewarded with the sound of powerful fans kicking to life as the computer emerged from sleep mode and prompted me for a password. Should I assume it’s the same as the password on the computer I pawned in my previous life?
Password: *******esi
I was rewarded with a sweet R&M desktop and a couple of icons. System, NeuralNet, My-Tunes, My-Movies, My-Office.
System was just what I expected, lots of .dna files and other confusing scariness that allowed me to tweak my physical body and mental state. My-Tunes was a collection of every song I’d ever heard and My-Movies was a collection of every movie I’d ever seen. Not that I’m complaining, but it would have been nice to have “My-Games” so I could play RDR. My-Office was a clone of the popular software by a similar name. I have no idea what I’ll ever need a spreadsheet for in this world.
NuralNet opened up a search engine called Me-Seeks, featuring a familiar blue guy.
I typed in “beer” and several thousand results were displayed, anything I’d ever read, heard, or watched about beer, including how to make it. This right here made the price of admission totally worth it, access to an exact copy of everything I’d ever read, and I was a voracious reader. Sadly, most of the stuff I read was futurology — solar panels, electronics, biotech advancements, quantum computing. The material for steam engines, blacksmithing, farming and the like, were slim pickings. That’s okay though, I could still reproduce the Gutenberg press, the cotton gin, simple internal combustion engines, and basic batteries along with some sketchy knowledge of metal alloys, acids, bases, and other things I had read over the years. All that wasted time watching “How Things Work” was finally going to pay off. I copied a few likely money makers to My-Office, saved the file, and exported to my Notes, just in case they didn’t exist on Aerth.
A popup covered the screen.
📱 [New Upgrade Available!] 📱
🎉 Enhance Your Experience with the Latest HumanOS Features! 🎉
🌟 Features Include:

• 🧠 Memory Booster: Increase your Memory for smoother multitasking and improved performance.
• 🔋 Energy Optimizer: Extend your battery life with advanced power-saving techniques.
• 🛠️ Utility Upgrades: Access new apps and utilities to enhance your daily life and adventures.
• 🗺️ Advanced Mapping: Never get lost again with enhanced GPS and location tracking.

🔥 Special Offer: Only 2000 credits for version 2.0 or 5000 credits for version 3.0! 🔥
[Upgrade Now ✅] [Remind Me Later ❌]
Apparently I could upgrade myself, which reduced the cost of using my Utilities while providing other minor benefits. My Utilities would level up as I used them, which would increase their battery cost, so if I didn’t keep pace with an update to the OS they could become prohibitively expensive to operate.
Stupid pay-to-win world.
So, do I pay 2000 credits for version 2.0 or 5000 credits for version 3.0?
I selected version 3.0 and klicked [Install]. After watching it download the update, it popped up another screen that asked if I wanted to update now, or wait until Midnight for the mandatory update.
I selected [No] just as the grandfather clock chimed 10:30 PM. I wondered if time ran slower in here, because it seemed like I had spent a lot more time on the computer than 15 minutes. Walking over to the imposing steel door, I noticed a bronze key with a thin chain in the lock. There was another sticky note on the door. “Subconscious. Please keep the key with you at all times.”
That’s not scary at all, is it?
I unlocked the door with a loud clunk and pulled it open to reveal a bedroom straight out of some royal castle. I could tell immediately that it had seen better days. The tapestries on the wall were frayed and fading. The canopy over the bed had a few holes in it. A thin layer of dust covered the mantle of a small fireplace set into the wall. There was a window letting in bright sunlight and I moved over to look outside.
I was on the third floor of a keep surrounded by the walls and turrets of a modest castle. A castle that had fallen into serious disrepair. Did this represent the state of my inner mind? One tower was shattered and the curtain wall under it damaged. The lower bailey was full of litter. I could see a few soldiers walking around the allure, keeping watch.
I have people in my subconscious?
Someone behind me cleared their throat.
Whirling, I discovered a familiar old man standing in the door of the bedroom. What was left of his hair formed a white halo around his head, his face was unshaven and covered with several days of growth. He was dressed like a poor and tattered manservant, but carried himself with a dignified air.
“Woodhouse?”
“It’s nice to see the master at home,” He said with a proper English accent. “There are many matters that require the master’s attention.”
“Uh, sure,” I said, hanging the key around my neck and tucking it in my shirt. “And who are you again?”
“Your personal manservant, of course” he said with a slight bow. Walking over to the steel door, he pulled it closed and it locked with a solid thunk. “Master should always keep his inner sanctum closed. One never knows if something nasty will creep in.”
“Thank you, uh, Woodhouse. I’ll remember that,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “So what needs tending and how do things work around here?”
He smiled and beckoned me with a white gloved hand. “If master would be so kind as to follow me, I’ll introduce him to the staff and explain the duties and obligations of his domain.”
I’m 99.9% certain that everyone here is just me wearing a mask, so I shrugged and followed Woodhouse out of the bedroom and into the rest of my subconscious.
Five minutes later I was on the ground floor and seated on a shabby throne with the cast of a popular —and probably very copyright protected— animation in front of me. Woodhouse was the head butler and my personal manservant. Pam was the cook and demanded that I start importing sugar and alcohol before she was shushed by Woodhouse. Carol was a maid. Krieger was chancellor and Cyril was the steward. Archer and Lana were in charge of security. Ray was the marshal in charge of everything from the stables to the blacksmith.
I stared in disbelief at the motley crew kneeling in front of me. No wonder my inner mind was in such shambles. I was overcome with an irrational sense of anger at myself.
“Arright, listen up,” I barked, my voice echoing around the room. “I swear to God that I will fire every single one of you and hire circus clowns to replace you if you keep fucking things up. No joke. Circus clowns, got it?”
I ran a hand over my face as Ray pissed himself. “The only reason I’m not putting a boot in your asses right now is because I realise that you’re aspects of me, and the people you represent are pretty damn good at their jobs when they give enough of a shit to actually do them. As a team, you’re dysfunctionally fantastic and always seem to come out ahead no matter the odds.”
Heaving a sigh, I continued. “Things have changed and I need to get my shit together. I’m going to need every one of you to pull your weight and help me help you. Get back to your duties, I’ll meet you one on one later.”
My subconscious caretakers scurried out of the room.
“I’ll have one of the maids tend to the piss,” Woodhouse assured me.
“Never mind that,” I snapped. “I honestly had no idea my mind was such a shit show. I’m very disappointed in myself.” I pictured the Angry, Sad, and Disgusted counters on my personal movies clicking up. “Show me what needs to be done and let’s get started.”
During Woodhouse’s walking tour, everything clicked into place. This was some altered version of Bodiam castle, a location that was on my bucket list of places to visit. The royal council room, located behind the throne room, contained a “living” tapestry on the wall that showed the castle and surrounding land in real time. The castle was located in the middle of a small lake, and a single wood bridge led to the mainland. A small town surrounded the lake and a wall encircled the town. Outside the wall, the land was an irregular patchwork of forest and field, with a stinking swamp to the south. The entire “kingdom” was maybe ten miles across, surrounded by impassable mountains with innumerable creeks that fed the lake which drained into the southern swamp.
“Zombies are the problem, sir.” Woodhouse said, as I surveyed the living tapestry of my mental domain.
“Zombies?” I prompted.
“Yes sir, Zombies” Woodhouse continued. “Nasty bitey things that come in from the mountains and harass the peasants. They’ve gotten especially worse over the last few months. The soldiers do what they can, but they seem to have lost all motivation. Probably because they haven’t been paid.”
“And who pays them?”
“Typically chancellor Krieger is in charge of financial matters, although Steward Figgis has taken over the duty, sir.”
“Then let’s make Figgis our first stop.”
“Very good, sir.”
The office of the steward was run by Cyril Figgis, who managed the kingdom in my absence. It was overflowing with paperwork and charts, books and scrolls piled high on every flat surface. Cyril was desperately attempting to tidy things when Woodhouse and I walked in.
“Yo..you..your majesty,” Cyril stuttered, bowing low. Scrolls fell from his overloaded arms, spilling across the floor. He dropped to his knees and scrambled to gather them up. “I didn’t expect you to visit so soon. Please forgive the mess, housekeeping has been slacking…”
This was the guy who ran things while I was conscious.
“Shut up, Cyril” I said. “You’re responsible for everything in this office. That includes keeping it organised and tidy.”
“Y..yes milord.”
“It’s my understanding that you’re in charge of making sure everyone gets paid. So why aren’t we paying people?” I asked.
“We’re nearly out of Fuks, your majesty. I’ve been saving them for emergencies.”
“Fucks?”
“Fuks,” Cyril explained, pushing a pile of books off a large chest and opening it. Reaching inside he pulled out two small bags and emptied them on top of his cluttered desk. “Gold and Silver Fuks, the currency of the kingdom. I can’t maintain the kingdom when I have no Fuks to give.”
Behold the subconscious kingdom of Vincent J. Carter, it runs on Fuks.
“So how do I get more fuks?” I asked, examining one of the coins. It had an image of me on one side and symbol on the other that could be interpreted as “peace among worlds”.
“You kill the zombies, your majesty.”
Of course I do.
Woodhouse and I left Cyril’s office and headed towards the office of the chancellor where Krieger worked. It seemed that Cyril took over financial matters when Krieger became erratic and proposed luring all the zombies into the city and setting it on fire. Not sure how that corresponds to my own self-destructive behaviour, but I’ve had some dark thoughts over the last couple of months and I’m sure they’re reflected here.
Krieger’s office was much neater in comparison to Cyril’s, but it wasn’t by much. Shelves lined the walls and were filled with an array of questionable items, including a still snapping zombie head in a jar. While the office of the chancellor was supposed to be in charge of financial matters, it looked more like a dodgy rummage sale.
Krieger was launching sword blades at a pig carcass when we walked in.
“What exactly are you doing?” I asked, standing in the doorway.
“Hm? Oh, your majesty!” he said, turning around and bowing deeply. “I’m testing a new invention. It’s a spring loaded hilt that shoots sword blades. Very useful for our soldiers.”
“Stupidest idea ever,” I snapped. “I hate everything about it.”
“Okay,” Krieger said, tossing the hilt into a nearby pile of junk. “But don’t blame me when you need to shoot a sword at a zombie and don’t have one.”
“So why aren’t you managing the financial affairs? Collecting taxes, paying people, stuff like that?”
“Because the population has declined so much none of that matters?”
“What do you mean?”
“Wellll, the population represents things you care about,” Krieger said, going into lecture mode. “And the zombies and other monsters are real or imagined problems in your way. Since you don’t care about too many things the population has shrunk to just what’s needed to keep everything running on the bare minimum of fuks. And since you don’t seem to have any long or short term goals, there’s no need to kill off the zombies and get more fuks. Everything is fine just the way it is.”
“No, it’s not Krieger” I said, grinding my teeth. “My mind is in a shambles. It’s a joke. I want it fixed. No, I want it better than fixed. I want it improved.”
“Oh! I’ve got just the thing for that!” He said, digging around in his pockets, “It’s a spring-loaded hilt that shoots swords!”
Pam and Cheryl were hanging out a gallery window jeering at Archer and Lana sparring in the inner courtyard.
“What the hell are you doing!” I snapped
They whirled in surprise and then dropped into deep curtseys.
“Your majesty!”
I took a deep breath, trying to regain my centre. “Get to work cleaning this place up. Find a room, clean it, and move on to the next. Start with my bedroom, then the throne room and the council chamber, then everything else.”
Cheryl spoke up. “Can’t do it. We got no fuks to clean with.”
“You need fuks to clean?”
“Gotta buy stuff,” Pam said. “Cleaning supplies, food. You wanna eat, you’re gonna have to spend some fuks.”
“Talk to Cyril,” I ordered. “Tell him I said to get you supplied.”
They ran off in the direction of the stewards office.
I watched Archer and Lana bashing each other enthusiastically through the window.
Several minutes later the sparring couple stopped and bowed when Woodhouse and I stepped into the inner courtyard.
“Your majesty”
“My liege”
“Enough,” I said. “If you have enough energy to smash each other, you have enough energy to smash zombies. Tell me what I need to know so I can start gathering fuks.”
Archer shrugged and spoke first. “You just kill the zombies and other monsters. They drop fuks.”
“Anything special about the zombies?” I asked. “Are they fast? Do people get turned into zombies when bitten?”
“Nope,” Lana said, resting her wooden sword on her shoulder. “Most of them are slow shamblers and just need a good wack to the head to kill them.”
“Some are special,” Archer interjected. “Occasionally you’ll have some fast ones, or those that need holy water to kill. They’re just bad memories, figments of your personality that need to be eliminated. Some are worse than others.”
“The zombies are bad memories?” I asked, imagining all the bad memories that I had.
“Memories, thoughts, insecurities, metaphysical mumbo-jumbo,” Woodhouse supplied. “They are endless, but constant vigilance can keep them under control.”
“So let’s get started,” I said. “Lead the way.”
Lana and Archer lead me up to the parapet over the front gate where I looked over at the dozens of zombies milling about aimlessly in front of the entrance to my mind. Pulling out my gun, I began to pick them off, easy as shooting fish in a barrel. The crack of my spell pistol attracted more zombies and I dispatched them with ease until no more were left around the gate. As I fired each shot I could feel some sort of existential energy flowing from me, draining some hidden reserve.
“Gather up the Fuks,” I commanded. “And Lana?”
“Mi’lord?”
“There’s no excuse for this. From now on, I expect the walls to be clear of all zombies.”
“Yes mi’lord,” she said, giving me a small bow.
Turning to Archer, I shook my head. “You’re obviously my personal narcissism, so just try to stay out of Lana’s way, or better yet - try to kill more zombies than her. If you think you can.”
Archer scoffed. “No contest. I took top marks in sharpshooting.”
“That means I should expect to see results by tomorrow. I look forward to it.”
Archer looked panicked for a moment then smiled. “Sure, I can give you results.”
Turning back to Woodhouse I said “Show me what else need attending.”
Woodhouse led me through the town that represented my mind, pointing out each business that had fallen into disrepair, suggested others that needed improvements, and additions that would benefit me. In the distance, I could hear Lana and Archer shooting at the crowd of zombies and with each echoing shot I felt a tiny bit better about everything.
[INDEX]

Hi I just came across a novel, chosen by the moon novel by izabella W. Its on pay by chapter websites, I've opened and read a few chapters but I can't seem to find any free version or chapter version anywhere. Please help. If anyone has read it I'm willing to take spoilers. Here's the advert I found below of it on Facebook.
Lycanthrope species is a disgusting race. And I, Delan Riley, am nothing more than a human scum in their eyes never expected those species would turn my world upside down. Since when the lycans managed to penetrate our town, like in the early 1900's we have a hierarchy, upper class = the lycans, middle class = mated humans, and lower class = the normal humans, who were basically considered scum. I endured their torment day after day, vowing to run away from them one day, until that day came and everything changed.
Dylan POV "Humans," I scowled at the principal's words from tannoy. "The Alpha twins will be celebrating their birthday tomorrow, as such, festivities are in order." Oh great, the Alphas twin children. Adrian and Arya are the worst lycans alive. I swear just because they are the alphas kids they literally get away with everything. If their birthday is tomorrow, then the wolves are going to be worse than ever. "All students will be present to greet them, two lines will be made, with humans on the left and the lycanthrope on the right. Any mated human will be at the front of the line for their year, you will all also be in order of your school year. That is all." Chat broke out the minute the tannoy was finished. "We haven't had a school gathering since the alpha king visited three years ago, before his sons coronation." Nick was right, the last time we all gathered like that was for the king and queens visit, when he decided to let the world know that he was to renounce his title to his only child, son Josh. "That sick bestard, he wants to make sure everyone is there so those idiot twins can find their mates." Yes I was mad, my fists connected with the table in front of me once more as I thought about how disgusting the situation was. You see the twins will be turning 17, so it's very possible someone in our school could be their mate, finding a mate is sacred to a wolf, the minute they say that one word your fate is sealed. They will turn your mind, morph you into being a lover of their kind, and then you'll give in.

That won't happen to me, I'm growing old to see the world as it once was, and I'm going to choose who I'll be with. No one will take that dream away from me.

Once dinner was finished, I just wanted to sleep. I'd had a very long tiring day, I quickly sat down on a small stool my mother kept in the storage closet and removed my shirt while my brother Freddy sat at the table to do his simple homework. It wasn't long before my mother came in with a large bowl of warm salt water and some cotton, this was going to sting I just knew it. She was here to help me with the wounds caused by wolves yesterday. She slowly began to unwrap the bandage from around my torso and slowed down drastically when it came to the final layer, I felt it peel off every wound and my fists clenched in pain. "Jesus!" I heard my mom exclaim once the dressing was completely removed. The air on my back was nice though and I sighed as my arm covered my once again exposed brests. "This is more than 15!" I began to hear sniffles coming from her and sighed turning round to look at her face, only to notice tears streaming down it. "Mom I'm fine, it's alright." She shook her head. "It's not alright, I'm your mother I shouldn't let these things happen. I'm so sorry. Your father would have..." here she goes again. Every single time something happened she'd always bring up dad, it really annoyed me because no matter how much we all wish he was here, he just isn't. My father was kiled by THEIR kind, almost 5 years ago when they actually managed to take over. When the lycans managed to penetrate our town my father rose up with some people from the neighborhood, to defend our livelihood, it was futile to say the least. We lost many people and I watched as my dad was ripped apart by two fully shifted wolves, I ended up shoting him to stop his suffering before they dragged me to the courtyard, i was the person to receive the first lashing of the town when I was 12! The wolves have been pretty strict with me since that day. "Stop being stvpid!" Was I harsh? Definitely! Did she need to hear it again, absolutely. "Dad is dead, we don't know what he'd do because he never knew this life. He never knew this world." I know what he'd have done, most likely attacked the guy who held the whip and got himself kiled in the process. "The best thing you can do for me, is stop crying and help me, next time don't insist on helping if you can't handle it." She began to wash my open wounds with the warm salt water causing loud winces to leave me, I knew it was necessary to prevent infection, but my god it hurt like a betch. "Some of these are really deep Dylan!" She sniffed again and my eyes rolled in my head. "I told you, I'm fine, just wrap me back up so I can get to bed." My mom was obviously more impacted by my injuries than I was, I suppose that always the case though. When it's happening to you, you've just got to get through it but when it's happening to someone you love, you just want to take their pain away. She quickly placed a fresh bandage around my waist and chest and wrapped it tightly for compression. The bowl of water that was used was now red in color, I guess from the blood my back was dripping with. "Can you keep your head down please? At least just this week. You can't take any more lashings." I simply nodded before standing up away from the stool, I walked over to Freddie and ruffled his hair in affection. "Good night squirt." He giggled and fixed his hair slightly. "Night Dilly." I smiled walking upstairs to my little bedroom, as soon as I was inside i shut the door and flopped down on to my bed on my stomach and I took a minute to cry to myself at the pain in my back, what my mom did was important but it hurt, not that I'd ever tell her. My hand covered my mouth quickly to muffle any noise I might be making. I couldn't tell anyone, I had to be strong because more and more people were crumpling these days, and my mom would break if she knew how much I was suffering. Sleep followed me shortly after, she was right though about me needing to keep my head down for the time being, I could not take another lashing! After a long night and an even longer morning, we were all finally stood in the hallway at school waiting for the twins to arrive. "Mine!" Everyone that was stood in the hallway tensed up, as we were seniors, me and Nick were stood towards the very back of the human line. All the mated people were situated directly opposite their wolf mates in their years. We stayed silent and still as Arya walked down the hall and stopped directly in front of Nick. His eyes widened in fear, unsure of wether to look up or keep his head lowered. "Look me in the eye, mate." He glanced at me slightly as if asking what he should do. "I said, look me in the eye." He slowly moved his eye line up to look at her face. I took a glance myself to see her eyes pitch black with lust. "I... can't... I mean... erm." Before he was able to mutter anything else, two wolves from opposite, grabbed him out of the line and dragged him behind Arya. "Hey!" My head shot up before I could stop myself. My mouth also forgot its place as I jumped out of line. Everyone's head shot to me as my eyes widened in realization at what I'd done. Adrian, the other twin, walked up to me before punching me right in the stomach, I doubled over instantly. Feeling the sting in my slightly healed back. "I know you... You were publicly flogged only two days ago." God I hate this guy. "I also have it on good authority, that you openly spoke out against our rules and regulations in yesterday's class." My head shot down the line slightly to see Erin, looking a little frightened, her mate, the beta to be was looking at her, nodding his head in reassurance. "You traitor, you grassed on your own kind?" I yelled at her before feeling a fist connect with my cheek. My head whipped to the side from the force, while my class members gasped. I'm so done with this treatment, right then, I wasn't in charge of my actions. My fists curled up and my stance became a lot more defensive. My head snapped up to the alpha to be, and I looked him in the eye. "You don't know the meaning of the word disrespect." I suddenly hurled my fist towards his head, which he easily dodged, but my foot came up and kicked him instead. He stumbled backwards from the force with wide eyes. "You... you Actually hit me!" He didn't even sound annoyed, more shocked. Everyone in the hallway was watching, waiting for the alpha to do something but instead he simply stood up straight, regaining his composure. "I think everyone should get back to class." He began to walk away, following his sister when I called him back. "What about Nick?!" "Simple, He's my sisters mate. He now belongs to her." Argh, he's not an object. "He's not her property." A chuckle left his mouth, before turning his back to me again. "All humans are property." A short while later everyone made it to science class, our teacher Mrs Mathews is mated to the lycans pack doctor, she also now has a four and two year old with him. She was one of the first humans to be cohered into a false relationship. "What were you thinking young lady?" I rolled my head at her before looking at the empty seat next to mine. Nick was with that stvpid wolf girl right now. Being changed, I'm so angry it's ridiculous. "I was thinking, this guy is being a prick. Did you hear him? 'All humans are property.' It's bull shet." I looked up and the whole class looked at me like I had three heads. Talking shet about wolves is one thing, but talking about an alpha is punishable by death, attacking an alpha is an even worse offense. There was then a knock at the door and in walked Erin and her band of mated bestards. "Sorry we're late Mrs." "Erin, how are things between you and bata Monroe?" She blushed, the traitor actually blushed at the mention of his name. "He spoke to me last night about trying for a baby. We need a good strong boy to take over as beta." I scoffed looking at her as she took her seat. "You guys are actually pathetic, why can't it be a girl? Those mutts are basically Neanderthals" I voiced my opinion and saw all the shocked faces around me. Calling the lycans mutts, is the same as them calling us scum. After lesson had ended the entire school was called into the hall for assembly. This is where any human who has been found to have broken the rules were punished, usually 10 lashings were goven out or something similar. "Welcome to the school assembly, congratulations to the alpha twins for finding both your mates. Now on to the business at hand, as the 5 year anniversary of the new world is coming up, we have been informed that the alpha king will be visiting our district next week, this is very exciting news. We want you all to look your absolute best, she wolves and mated females will wear exemplary dresses made by seamstress. Male wolves and mated men will wear tailored suits. Anyone who doesn't comply will be reprimanded." The Alpha King?! No one has met him yet, he took over the throne three years ago when he turned 18. He really didn't make any appearances though, great, this month is going to be a nightmare. "As for the humans, you will be given a new uniform to wear for the visit, these are to be neatly ironed and worn to the highest standard. As for the following humans, based on your attitude this past week, you will be coming to the front and facing punishment. Tony summerset?!" Tony's head shot up as he looked around, he was in the year below but he shared my views when it came to the lycans. He slowly walked up to the front of assembly, almost instantly his top was t0rn in two and he received 10 lashings. A girl named Kara was next and she too received 10 lashings. A few more people went up slowly accepting their fate then suddenly my name was called. "Dylan Riley." Inside I was terrified but I simply shrugged my shoulders, I guess I did kind of expect this. Although I'm not sure if my back can take any more damage. "You attacked an alpha, correct!" His eyes bored into mine as I bowed my head submitting to his authority. "Technically, no." Everyone in the school gym looked on in fear, as my head moved to the front row of the wolf side. Adrian sat, with a werewolf girl in the year below, her name was Jana, I guess he found his mate. Nick and Arya were no where to be seen though. Adrian gave me a shrug as if to say he didn't tell, before smirking at my comment. "He hasn't officially taken the alpha title yet, so he's just..." i looked at the principle and noticed his eyes black and his claws out, he was in what lycans call a half shift, triggered when the subject has become angered. He turned to two security wolves and gave them a nod, Almost immediately i was forced onto my knees, my arm was slammed on a table and held in place by one wolf, while my body was held in place by the other. "Ok, I don't think this is needed, I have alpha blood, a stvpid human girl can't hurt me." My head snapped to Adrian who had stood up in front of the school to stop what was happening. "Nevertheless, humans need to know their place." With that the pressure on my arm increased as our principals hand pulled my sleeve up before a long claw punctured my skin. The searing pain shoting from the fresh wound had my eyes scrunched and my fist clenched, I bit the inside of my cheek hard instantly tasting blood, however no sound left my mouth. He continued to write, using my skin as a canvas and his claws as a marker, it went on forever, my vision blurred slightly at one point as I turned my head away. After minutes of torture, he was done and the pressure on my arm eased, instantly I snatched my arm away, hissing through my teeth at the pain. I was about to scurry off stage, when I was roughly grabbed yet again, my arm being held in the air by the principal while my feet were inches off the floor, blood dripped from the wound and the pattern he had made was on show for everyone to see. Loads of people gasped, even the wolves looked slightly horrified at what had happened. "This is what happens when a human decides to speak out. I can promise, anyone who so much as says one word about our way of life, will have the same punishment." My arm was starting to seriously ache from being held in the air for so long, and the lack of blood flow to my suspended arm was causing me pins and needles, still I refused to make a sound. I held the tears back and I bit my cheek harder causing more blood to fill my mouth. "That's enough Bradley!" Adrian growled, he was still stood up and looking at the scene in front of him. His eyes hard as he stared at the principal a low warning growl erupted from his chest which had the head teacher gulping, he quickly let go of my arm causing me to crash to the floor. A small cry left my mouth as I hit the hard floor. Immediately I scrambled away, my foot just missed the high step leading to the stage and I fell, waiting for the impact of the ground, but it never came. Two strong arms wrapped around me catching my weak body causing me to look up, my eyes widened as I noticed Adrian had caught my falling form. "This isn't part of the human punishment program!" Adrian growled causing me to tense in his grip, I pushed him away from me before fixing my uniform top. The room was deadly silent, taking in the scene in front of them, while I stole a glance at my forearm. Carved into my skin by his devastating claws were two words, words that would most definitely scar my body for life. 'Human scum' "Lessons must be learned, she received lashing merely two days ago, and clearly it had no effect on her." Another growl left Adrian's chest as he stepped on to the stage, I wasn't bothered though, you would think I'd be ashamed but I simply smiled slightly. I fixed my sleeve a little so it wouldn't rub on the fresh wound before speaking. "It doesn't matter," the whole room looked at me shocked by my attitude. "I would rather be labeled human scum, than have any resemblance to your kind. I'm proud of what I am, how many of you can say that?" After my amazing little speech, I walked right down the middle between the humans and lycans and out the door. No more compliance, I'm going to get away with as much as I can without getting into too much bother. There will come a day when the lycans power will fizzle out. When it does I'll be ready, I'll be waiting for the day we take our world back. As for the best part about my plan...

No one can stop me.

"Ouch, not so hard." I seethed as the school nurse cleaned my new wound with antiseptic. "If you had of just kept your mouth shut, this wouldn't have happened." I turned to my right looking out the window at the few clouds that were floating in the blue sky. "Like I said, I'm proud to be human, and now everyone knows what I am." I clenched my fist together as the nurse began wrapping a bandage around my forearm. It had been a good few hours since the incident in the hall, and I had been forced to come to the nurces office after I had tried to clean my wound by splashing it with water from the tap, it also refused to stop bleeding. "You are impossible. Can you please just try and stay out of trouble? For one day, that's all I ask." Our school nurse is a wolf, she's one of them. However she hates the way they treat us mere humans, she thinks we should all just live in peace with equal rights. Like that would ever happen. "All I've done is stay out of trouble, but you are just going to humiliate me anyway, so what's the actual point?" "The pack were discussing a public execution, Dylan. You need to walk on egg shells from now on, not just for you but for your family as well." No ones been publicly executed in over 4 months, I'm flattered they're considering it. They only execute people who they believe are the biggest problems to society. "Well then... I'm flattered." I chuckled, before looking at the patch job. 'Huh, not too shabby.' I quickly stood up from the human nursing station and pulled the sleeve of my shirt down covering the evidence of ever being hurt. "This is serious!" I just gave her a blank look before leaving the room. On the way out I heard her call back to me. "Please just think about it." I gave a clipped nod as I walked away wondering how I'm going to tell my mom about this. Later in the evening... "Dilly why you say that?" Freddie looked up at me with a mouth full of bread. "Don't speak with your mouthful!" My mom scolded him as a bashful blush made its way to his cheeks. "Sowwy mommy." His reply was muffled as he swallowed the last chunk of food. "I said it Freddie, because it's the truth. The wolf race are a pathetic excuse for..." my mom cut me off with an extremely stern look. "Dylan! They have ears everywhere, one more word out of you and it's your room." I scowled, my hatred for the Lycan kind growing stronger as each day passes. "What more can they do to me, lash me? Beat me? Brand me? They've ran out of options." I stated slamming my hands down, then severely regretting it as sharp pain shot though my wound. "What was that?" My head shot to regard my mothers worried expression. Her eyebrows were raised and her eyes were dull and judging as she looked at me. "Nothing, it was nothing." I quickly took my plate in my hand and began to walk to the kitchen. "I'm not really hungry, and I have homework to do!" My mom caught hold of my forearm causing me to drop my plate suddenly, I watched it slowly fall before shattering on the floor. I retracted my arm quickly and turned to Freddie. "Stay there and don't move until it's cleaned up ok sport?" He just nodded with wide eyes, I turned back to my mom and noticed her curious stare on my arm. Her grip shifted to the other side as she turned it around before pulling my sleeve up. The bandage was showing and a bit of blood was seeping though after the wound had been disturbed. "What the hel happened?" My moms eyes widened as she began to fumble with the bandage. Before she could unravel any of it I snatched my arm away. "I had an accident at school. No big." I began to gather the large pieces of the broken plate up ready to put them in the bin. "What did you do Dylan?" She looked at me with pure worry and only then did I realize what the wound must look like to someone who didn't know. "For gods sake! I didn't do it to myself! I got publicly punished at the assembly alright? It's no big deal." Her face dropped instantly and she stepped towards me, causing me to step backwards. "Mom, I'm ok. So back off will you." "What did you do? I've never known them to cut someone's arm as a punishment." Her shock and accusation was evident in her voice and I sighed heavily. "I spoke against the alphas son." I may have hit him too, but I wasn't going to divulge that part to her. "It's not one big cut, mom, it's a brand, 'human scum' carved onto my arm." "They've branded you now too?!" My eyes rolled at her hurt tone as I went to get the dustpan and brush. "You're so much like your father." A sigh left her mouth as she spoke, running a hand through her hair, while I quickly swept up the little pieces of the broken plate. "You've had a new uniform delivered. It's laid out on your bed. Dylan, Please just try and stay respectful in the future, I don't want my daughter to be completely mutilated. Although you're not far off." "Gee, Thanks." I then walked over to my little brother Freddy before blowing a kiss into his neck and hearing him giggle. "So sport, how's school going?" "It's ok." He shrugged before going back to coloring a dinosaur picture in. "Well that's good, stay out of trouble, ok little man?" Heading upstairs and into my room, my thoughts wandered to the permanent graffiti scar very slowly healing on my arm. Disgusting beasts. Think they own the world because they're faster, stronger and can shift. Pah. If you ask me they are not all that.

The second I walked into my room my mouth dropped open. On my bed was some grey pants laid out neatly, which wasn't the surprising part, no, what shocked me was the grey high neck no sleeved button down shirt, every single set of uniform had sleeves except this one. They've done this on purpose those, mutts. They want the world to see my arm and know what a disgusting creature I am. They want the world to know that I, Dylan Riley, am nothing more than 'human scum'.

During the last week, I've been horrible, in class I've been loud in voicing my views, I've insulted at least everyone to some degree, I didn't care about the consequences, and I certainly didn't think about them. I haven't seen Nick at all since he was claimed, and to make matters worse today was the royal visit. Oh yes, werewolves and mated humans alike were spending every waking minute preparing themselves to meet his royal majesty, king of the wolves. Unclaimed Humans however would rather stick pins in their eyes. "Dylan, get down now... you're going to be late." She was right, I was dawdling this morning, I really couldn't be bothered today, I gave myself one last look in the small mirror and sighed when my eyes met my newly uncovered brand. It had bad bruising around the letters, and was still extremely tender to touch, it was definitely healing now though. I made my way down the stairs and came face to face with my mother who was seeing to Freddie, she was helping my brother get his coat on when she turned to me. "You ready sport?" Freddie nodded his little head at me and smiled while I quickly slid my shoes on. "Just Remember, the alpha is bad enough, Dylan, please, please don't do anything to anger the king." My mother stopped us from walking out the door to tell me something she had been telling me continuously for the last couple of days, it was almost as if the entire human population of our district was expecting me to do something stvpid. "Try and have a good day." I rolled my eyes but nodded, even I know not to push the king, he could kil me in the hallway like it was nothing. In fact I plan on staying out of his way for the entirety of the day. "We will see you tonight mom." I stated before me and my brother began our walk to school, his little hand clutched my own tightly as we went. Usually Nick would be with us, as he lives next door, well he used to, now he's residing in the main pack house. I quickly dropped Freddie off at his school and watched him get the wolfsbane neutralizer before walking into him building giving me a small wave before he went in. With my new scar on complete show, and my figure being complimented by the skin tight shirt I was wearing, I sauntered down the street to school, I gave my name and year in and took the wolf's bane neutralizer injection with no problems at all. It was finally getting into school that the problem occurred. Walking through the halls I was met by many looks, some of pity some of disgust. You see every single non mated human in the school was wearing a long sleeved version of the uniform I was given. All the Wolves and mated couples were scattered around in fancy floor length dresses or tailored suits. As I turned the corner I noticed a couple, now this couple happened to catch my eye the most out of all of them because it consisted of Arya and Nick, eating each other's faces off. "What the hel!" Nicks head shot to me as his eyes widened. He too was dressed in a tailored suit, a navy blue tie hung on his neck to match Aryas dress. Why was this happening all the time? It's always my friends that get completely brain washed. I shook my head in disbelief before turning my back on him. I heard his fast footsteps behind me as I rounded the corner. "Dylan?!" He ran right in front of me, stopping me in my tracks, making me drop my bag off my shoulder and almost causing me to bump into him. "Let me just explain..." "Has she marked you?" I mean you could almost see it in his eyes, she had marked him, and knowing the way life goes he's probably even mated with her. "Actually... Don't even answer that." I aggressively picked my bag up off of the floor and stormed off down the hall. "Dylan, just listen to me, Erin was right, it's so hard to resist your soulmate, and Arya is actually ok once you get to know her." I just kept walking, he caught up to me walking beside me but it didn't matter, I completely ignored everything and everyone. 'I'm so not in the mood today' getting into class was good though, I said hello to Mr Foley and took my usual seat. Nick sighed then took his bag off ready to sit next to me, but I snapped before he had the chance. "Traitors and mated idiots sit on that side of the room." I didn't look him in the eye as I pointed to a seat right at the front of the classroom on the opposite side. His eyes widened as he turned his attention back to me. "You can't be serious Dylan." I gave him a blank look before grabbing my book out of my backpack, I placed it on the desk then began to write the date on the top line. "I've sat in this seat for as long as I can remember." I ignored him, his voice sounded sad and shocked. "Dylan? Wait! What is that?!" Before I could react Nick had grabbed hold of my branded arm and turned it to see the letters. "Oh my God! What happened?" I snatched my arm away from him and shrugged as I continued to write in my book before grabbing my water bottle out of my bag. "The principal happened, it was my punishment for speaking out against Adrian and Arya. I wear it with pride." He just held a complete look of disbelief. "You spoke out against them?" I shrugged, what did he think I'd do. "It's no secret that I despise this stvpid new world and the mutts that control it. You were my friend, I wasn't going to let them just take you without saying something, although that is exactly what you seem to have done. Enjoy the view from your new seat!" "Don't be like that, Dylan, I'm your best friend, I'm sorry about your arm, but..." my eyes rolled inside my head at my friends words. "Anything with the word 'but' in, isn't an apology, it's a rationalization." I took a drink of water from my bottle and kept my eyes facing forward, ignoring his every attempt to try and talk to me. "Dylan?.. Dylan?... Do you know what? Erin is right, if you push us all away you won't have any friends left." He huffed before walking over to the empty seat and sitting down, I could feel him glancing up at me every now and again but I didn't respond. "Good morning class, please settle down." He looked at me then at Nick and frowned, we've never sat apart, we were friends before the new world even began. I just shook my head telling him to forget it. "So... as you know the king will be arriving in a short while, but until then lessons will go on as normal." Its funny seeing teachers in the same uniform your wearing, mr Foley and his wife are the coolest. Human teachers and doctors only have slightly more respect than we do. Because of Mr Foley's status him and his wife have better access to food and drink, Mrs Foley is cool, sometimes she even makes sure mr Foley brings some in for me. Ya know, coz I'm their favorite student. It's not in a weird way, it's just they were friends of the family before the new wold took effect. Mr Foley and my dad were buddies from high school, so it goes without sayin really. "All the mated humans will be at the front of each years line again, after that you will all be placed in status, Nick, as your mated to Alpha Arya, you'll be at the front of your line. Dylan as you have been branded..." his voice trailed off as he looked at me. "Yeah yeah, I'll be at the back of the line behind everyone. I get it." I huffed, moving my sight towards the window once more. "I am sorry." I turned to face Mr Foley again, he looked genuinely upset and that look of pity wasn't something I wanted to see. I gave him a clipped nod then turned away again. "Anyway, on to the subject matter, 'Of Mice and Men, page 64, Nick why don't you start us off with the reading."

"Of course sir." Nick began reading the book but I switched off, today is going to be a long day. After almost an hour and a half of reading comprehension, the bell chimed signaling lunch. I shot up and out of the classroom before anyone could say anything. Today, I was avoiding drama like the plague.

I wandered the corridors straight to the lunch hall. All the people I would normally hang out with we're all mated so I grabbed my lunch quickly, and sat down at the end of the human table. Let me lay the lunch hall out for you. On one side of the room you have two long rows of tables, with simple benches that make it look like prison, on the other side of the room you have multiple round tables with fancy chairs. Yup you get it. The humans sit at the prison tables and the wolves and traitors sit on the fancy tables, they get fancy food, fancy drink and most importantly they get pudding. what I would give to have some pudding. "Dylan can we just talk?" Nick quickly took the spot next to me as he set his lunch tray down. I looked at his food which had been placed on a ceramic, circular white plate. God that looked good. I sighed knowing he was going to talk anyway. "Fine, you have two minutes." I used my fork to take a bit of pasta off his plate and shoved it into my mouth. God that was good. "After I left school, I was taken to the pack house with Arya, and I really got to know her. It took a few days for me to finally accept being with her, but ever since life has been ok, and the sax... well that's a whole other story." Eww, I didn't need that mental image in my head. "I'm glad your happy." I stated before deciding I had no appetite. His face held shock before he sighed in relief. "That means a lot Dylan, I mean you know that your opinion matters to me." I cut him off before he could say anything else. "I said I was glad your happy. I didn't say I approved of what you've done. You've basically turned into one of THEM, I can't ever forgive you for that." He looked hurt, but I couldn't care less about his feelings. He placed his hand gently on my arm and went to open his mouth when a growl sounded out. All heads whipped to where it came from, Arya was stood holding a glass of soda and a plate, she was looking right at me and Nick and I would totally be dead if looks could kil. Nick quickly retracted his hand, his whole face fell and you could see sorrow flood his irises. "You sit with me now, get away from that, that... scum!" Wow, Nick was such a lucky guy. NOT. "You heard her. Get away from me, go sit with your new friends. I'm happy for you, and I understand where your coming from, but don't come up to me again and pretend you didn't betray your own kind. Don't pretend you didn't betray me." I shoved a little bit of food into my mouth before standing up and walking out of the cafeteria, leaving my tray on the table. I was walking through the hallway to the classroom, you see I decided to spend lunch with Mr Foley in his room, when I happened to hear voices in the corridor. "Is it wise for her to actually be present when the king arrives? Surely she could be placed in the dungeons, it might actually teach her some respect?" My principal was speaking to the alpha of our district, huh, if I stayed and listened do you think they'd notice, maybe they could smell me?! "Everyone is to be present, if the Riley girl does one thing out of line she will be dealt with severely, child or not. That girl has been a blight to the district since day one, she's dangerous, if she puts one hair out of place I will personally break her into submission." Oh shet, they were talking about me specifically, and they mentioned the dungeon, that's not been used in months. Normally I would have listened in more but something about the entire situation didn't sit right with me, all of a sudden, I was on edge, and simply wasn't interested in the slightest in hearing how my misery was to be enhanced. I backed up slightly before turning around and bumping head first into one of the hottest man I had ever seen. I lost my balance immediately and fell straight on to the floor letting out a small grumble in the process. His eyebrows knitted together quickly and his breath hitched in his throat as he looked upon my fallen state and gasped. "Mate!" He whispered, his eyes fixated on mine. Now, I had seen and heard that many times to know what that means, I gasped before taking a step back. 'No, no, no, no, no. This can not be happening.' He growled slightly before stepping towards me. Oh Shet!

I'm a novice "IT guy" in that I know more about internet/tech things than any of my coworkers and almost as much but sometimes more than my electrician BF (cause he "doesn't do low-voltage"). I don't know the terminology, the best configurations, which CAT cables to get / if that even matters, etc. At home, I have an all-in-one PC with a second monitor connected via DP and USB (touch screen) and an Optimum Gateway 6 router with 1 gig internet. The PC is wifi capable, but my router is like 3 feet away from my desk, so whenever I'm feeling spicy and don't mind the tripping hazard, I connect a CAT 6 cable from my router to my desktop. During these random times of wired connectivity, I never noticed any real difference in speed, and I mostly forgot about the connection anyway (short attention span). I work in an office full-time and bring work home most days without getting paid OT, so obviously I would like to work smarter not harder. Yay for efficiency (I hope). And so, in true ADHD fashion I hyper-focused too hard on this new project, ended up falling down a rabbit hole straight out of satan's shorts, and am both obsessed with figuring out how to get internet that go supa faaaast but also frazzled as fuck and want to give up.
That's all to say that I have no idea how to interpret my internet speeds. The speed test I ran at home vs the one I ran at work show very different numbers, but I think the speeds are honestly the same or at least comparable. I also got drastically different results when running a speed test on Ookla vs through Optimum.
Work wifi connection only: 92.3 download, 49.9 upload. Latency 7ms
Work connection over ethernet: 92.2 download, 50.9 upload. Latency 6ms
Can someone help

Hello everyone,
I'd like to give some unsolicited notes to anyone who's trying to get into law school. It's been a long journey for me so I'd like to impart a few things for anyone chasing their dream.
Before I write those out, I'd like to give some context to my background:
I graduated in 2014 with a 2.78 GPA (last 20 courses) on a 4.0 scale in Poli Sci from the University of Calgary. I didn't care, I was lazy and just wanted to pass. As some Poli Sci majors say, they'd like to study law. I said that too but I always knew my GPA was too low. However, that was more of an excuse forv my laziness.
When I graduated, I worked for the local United Way on a 4 month contract. I was then faced with unemployment for 1.5 months.
I then signed up with a temp agency and worked as a temporary employee for 2 federal offices for 1.5 years. My goal was to find full-time employment which luckily happened at a Canadian tech company in 2016. I have been there ever since where I've been working in Operations-focused roles.
In the summer of 2019, I joined the Canadian Armed Forces as a Reservist while working full-time at the tech company.
In that same year, I saw my spouse get into their MBA program. I was motivated and inspired to try for law school. I studied for a few months and in September 2019, I wrote my first LSAT in which I got a 142. I continued to study and got a 148 in August 2021 for my second attempt. I decided to study some more to get a higher score on my third attempt.
In September 2021, I went back to the University of Calgary to upgrade my GPA in Fall 2021. I knew that to have any chance at getting accepted, I'd need to increase my GPA. I took full-time courses (minimum of 3 courses per semester) and stacked up every spring and summer with courses to get 20 courses done as quickly as possible.
I couldn't just pick and choose courses to upgrade from my undergrad because some courses were no longer offered. I chose courses based on ratemyprof and remote options because I was working full-time remotely. Sometimes, however, I had to take an in-person course with in-person tests. Luckily, my work was flexible and allowed me to go to school on the side. Ultimately, I raised my last 20 courses GPA from 2.78 to 3.89 with no grade below an A-.
In that timespan, I wrote the LSAT 3 more times prior to this application. TRU took my 148 score. I wrote it again this April and got a 153. While it didn't matter for the acceptance at TRU, a 153 is an improvement on its own.
I know this is an overly long post but I'd like to impart with a few notes that I hope can help people with fulfilling their dream of getting into law school.

1. If you really want it, you'll have to dedicate your life to it.

I was 28 when I started this journey and I'm 32 today. Almost 5 years of non-stop push. I could've started my GPA journey earlier but we were financially focusing on my spouse's education first.
Countless hours spent doing homework and studying while working a full-time job, dedicating time to the Canadian Armed Forces and spending time with my spouse. I did homework and studying while on holidays. When we welcomed our child, I was finishing up my courses. All-nighters and falling asleep at the desk to finish some paper all while work was around the corner to start with 1 hour sleep.

1. Ask yourself "how can I improve?"

If you're looking at your background and stats, look at it holistically. Some schools, as you probably know, employ a holistic approach. I'm not going to say that my professional experience is unique or stellar but I can tell a story of persistence. If you don't have any professional experience, try to build on that. It shows initiative and a desire to grow as a professional. UofC even mentions on its website that a lack of professional experience can lead to not being selected.
If you feel that your GPA can and should be improved, go for it. I'd like to think that the LSAT has more weight than a GPA but I'd like to think that the GPA is important as well. A strong course grade can be obtained by getting to know your prof and being efficient with homework and studying. All things I never did while in undergrad.

1. Tell your story

Point to any strengths and improvements that you've achieved in your life. Although I'm not a fan of sob stories, if you have had any hardships, mention those but I'd advise against making them the main point of your own story. Focus on how you overcame hurdles and challenges and how they make you a strong candidate.

1. Make a plan, take it one step at a time and be efficient

If you feel that your only thing that you'd need to improve on is the LSAT, focus on the LSAT. If you feel it's a mix between upgrading your GPA and improving the LSAT, do both but at a reasonable pace. If you think it's gaining professional/extracurricular experiences (and possibly the above), do so without driving yourself insane.
It's important to keep a healthy balance. Even just doing one item will take away countless hours of relaxation/family time/fun and everything in between. I remember telling my spouse "I have homework" or "I have to study" all the time. You might drain someone near you and/or yourself.
Sorry, for the long post but I hope this helps someone to look at their pursuit with a different perspective!

So I work in mental health and I just started a new job. My office allows me to decorate my desk and my own corkboard and I really want to put up some accessible educational things regarding gender and sexuality. I was originally thinking about the genderbread person but I'm not sure. I'm trans but still... Suggestions? (Cross posted)

I dreamt that I went to go get laser hair removal but for some reason it was at a dentists office?? Then I went into the room and Nicki Minaj was the one removing my hair and my classmate was her assistant. I said I wanted a full body hair removal but she said she only did arms so I went with that. She then proceeded to inject me to numb the area but she kept puncturing the wrong areas. I then got scared because I saw she was injecting a pink liquid in me so I panicked and ran away. I started to run as fast as I could but the building was structured like a maze and I was scared she was going to get me. I finally got to the front desk and my mom filed a complaint. The front desk person proceeded to tell us that everyone wanted her fired but the manager didn’t fire her because he wanted to get concert tickets 😭

It starts of following multiple people; a pair of cops, an alcoholic woman, and a man who can camouflage his skin color like a octopus, and a fat man. There is genetic modification in this book as well as a virus or epidemic going around as the plot point. I read this book maybe around 2010-2013 it had a very shiny book cover that was blue and white where I think the white was the name of the book and authors name and that part was slightly raised. I remember buying it at a dollar general with the spinning racks of books for maybe 5 dollars. I read this book like 5 times because it was so confusing and I think that's why I remember so much but can't quite put it together. The cover also might have been an picture of earth but I'm not sure I just remember if light hit that book at a certain angle it would shine. It was a paperback book that was really thick must have been like 500 pages it wasn't long more short and wide.
• The pair of cops are both male. One is an older overweight married man and the the other a younger fit male. The younger guy comments about how the older male should watch his weight since if he is found to be overweight he will be sent to this type of encampment rehabilitation type thing where he will have to lose the weight. He also seems to hint that his figure gaining this much weight is due to his wife's cooking and the cop not looking out for his figure. The older cop does not go to the encampment thing for his weight in the end.
• The alcoholic woman is in a messy apartment surrounded by empty bottles of alchol hiding when she is taken by force by some type of law enforcement. The sent her to the encampment rehabilitation type thing to solve her drinking problems. She is described to be very thin and have pink hair and has been sent to this rehabilitation camp multiple times. She seems angry because she knows that the only reason she is sent this time was because of the person in charge of the encampment so that might mean there is a limit to how many times they can go. The girl ends up being called to the person in charges office, during the physical exercise time, were she proceeds to have sex with him and it is discovered he had her sent here so he can keep seeing her. While they are in the office people rush in and say there is a weird fog approaching that's affecting everyone. She runs away somehow with the fat guy from the camp to the area where his parents live because that area seems to not yet be affected.i think the cop pair shows up for a brief part when the camp was about to be affected but I'm not sure.
• The camouflage guy I don't thing was sent to the encampment thing but he did seem to be hiding from the cop pair earlier. He did have daddy issues since his dad was a magician and used to use the camouflage ability of his as a part of his act but when his son couldn't control his well and his comflouage colors changed based on his mood he would get mad. So to hide in society he uses face or body paint since he can't control his camouflage skills well.
• The fat man seems to be a recluse he gets sent to the encampment thing to lose weight. During the encampment he stares a lot at the alcoholic girl will they do physical exercise and she straight up asks him if he wants to fuck her. His parents are also well of in this sorta gated community. His mother is a scientist or bioengineer. His dad I don't remember to well what he does but he plays a big part in solving the epidemic that spreads.
We find out later the mother is part of the cause of the disease. The father finds out the gated community is producing these intelligent generation of kids by genetically modifying them when they are still in the womb. The are ranked the top out if all schools no one is below a certain level in that school and if they are they get kicked out (might be just the school or even the gated community I don't remember). Somehow though there is this virus in a test tube that is the cause of it and I believe she is on the team to find the cure. The husband tries to get into her work building and talks with the wife's boss, once inside, and is held at gunpoint while the boss turns out to be evil and explains why this is happening but they end up in a fight the husband ends up shooting the boss fatally. The boss does not instantly die but pees his dress pants and says he doesn't want to die. The husband moves on to the lab of his wife and she is in a hazmat suit with the vial of the virus in her hand. I believe she's alone I don't know if it's because she was left alone or everyone else died on the research team. Stuff happens as they confront each other but I remember for some reason she takes of her hazmat suit to save him for some reason. Than it does a time jump were it seems to imply the man was able to live a very long life (thanks to bioengineering) and is pushed in a wheelchair by a pink haired girl (not sure if it's the alcoholic girl or her decendant). It also implies he is the savior of humanity. No one else from before is mentioned this time jump was about a page and that's it most of it is very vague.
Please help me find this. The amount of times I've tried to find this and have come up empty makes me feel like I legitimately just made this up.

I am going to apply for IT support desk jobs in many companies. Before that, I need your opinion on this resume.

Hey guys been on Lexapro for about a year now . For health anxiety Went through all the joys and tribulations of lex side effects through my first few months … but then I found a really good place and felt (almost) back to normal. Feeling good and happy 95 percent of the time, Had some minor anxiety moments spread throughout but all in all I was in a really good space. I decided to ween down from 15mg to now my current dose of 2.5mg over the course of approx 3 months. But I’ve suddenly hit a hurdle. Long story short … I feel like I might faint… having dizzy spells , feeling really tired and lethargic , sinking feeling in my chest and throat from time to time… like my anxiety is creeping back ? I work in an office and sitting at my desk at times I feel like my brain is zapping and could pass out any moment. Just open to the forum… do you think this is my anxiety coming back? Should I up my dose again or is it just me adjusting to the lower dose and should I ride this out?